Neglected Posts

Ryan's Birthday 8/16/09

We went over to JaNel's house for a party for Ryan's birthday. We had tacos and nutty torte and played games outside. It was a good time. This is a rather funny video of the birthday song. It was a little slow. But very pretty, I think. ;)


Donut Falls

Loufa and I took a hike up to Donut Falls. It was really fun to hang out with just each other for a nice little hike. It's a really pretty and shady hike. I'll have to remember that one as one for the not-big-into-hiking types.
We heard the new Blackeyed Peas song "tonight's gonna be a good night" like 4 times while we were driving to and from the hike and each time we turned it up and danced in the car. It's been a while since I've car danced, and no one brings out the car dancer in me like Loufa, so it was awesomeness all around. We went back to her house because she had to whip up some frosting for some cupcakes for someone's wedding. Then she came over to my house for dinner with Ry and I. We poked fun at her when she was complaining about something, I don't remember what it was now. We were teasing her because we hadn't actually officially invited her to dinner, and here she was complaining about whatever it was. It was funny because it came up later in the evening again when we were taking pictures with Mary for my Graduation announcements. Laura's always good for a tease! That's what happens when you're the youngest! :) I thought it was a great day, and way better than how I was planning on spending the day: doing school stuff.

1st Volleyball game of the year!

We were reunited with one of our favorite activities this last Friday: U of U Volleyball! We invited our friends Mary and Vince. They live up at the U and we knew at least Vince could get in free since he's a student, so we asked if they'd come. Turns out both Mary and Vince can get in free!
It was a great game. We played Arizona State University, and won all three sets. The first set we killed em, but the last two had some pretty close moments. It was fun to see Sarah Hibbert play more. She started every set and rotated out periodically like they all do. Her dad, Kim, was there, along with Amber and Jason and their cute twins.
After the game we went back to our place and watched a DVD of Jim Gaffigan--so funny! We always have a lot of fun at the V-ball games, and with Mary and Vince, so it was a great combo! I'm sure we'll be making it to many more games over the next couple of months.
See Mary's blog for some pics of the game.

Activity Day

Yesterday was another ward Activity Day planned by me. It was awful. How can a bunch of 8-11 year old girls make me so nervous? Okay, it wasn't awful, I just imagined it going much better. I held it in my apartment, which I've never done before. I thought, it's only 5 girls, it'll be fine! But I kind of team teach, and the other teacher brought over 3 extra girls! They apparently live in our ward, and are not members. Which is totally great, but it threw me off! My activity was somewhat spiritually based, and not that that is a problem with non members, I just hadn't planned on it. I didn't know if I should change it in anyway, and I had no time to do it. What I meant to be a more meaningful introduction to the activity turned into me sounding like a retard and the girls getting distracted and obviously not listening cuz I was stuttering and spewing word vomit all over the place. ugh. I don't think I got my point across very well.

I had each girl bring a bag full of items that represent who they are. Like soccer cleats if they play soccer, something of their favorite color, their favorite book, etc. I wanted them to get to know each other so that they have a support group within the church. They all go to schools that they are much more of a minority than I was as a church member. I always went to church cuz all my friends were there. I ended up having a lot of testimony building experiences as a sort of side effect of going to church to socialize. I wanted them to bond a little so that even if they are not friends outside of church, they will be when at church. Our new bishopric have a new aim to bring the ward closer, I thought I'd contribute by bringing my activity day girls closer.

The bag sharing went well. Even if the new girls stared blankly during the opening prayer. Then we had extra time, so we went outside to play Ninja Destruction. The new girls were skaters, and participated in only one round of the game until heading off on their skateboards with their hair weaves glistening in the sun. (yea, colored hair at age 9! Am I really that old that I'm thinking things like "kids these days" when they color their hair that young?) After everyone left I was left feeling exhausted and wondering if every adult gets this intimidated by kids.

I found out my preceptor-ship for nursing school is at Primary Children's Medical Center with a float pool nurse. I had totally forgotten I'd put Primary Children's as my first choice! We got to put in our requests right after finishing our semester of Pediatrics. I had loved it, and loved the hospital most of all. All the nurses are so great, and they actually like their jobs. But I have almost no pediatric experience. I don't know what I'm doing. They appeal to me, because you get to play most of the time. I also think I'd like to have an excuse to dance and sing at work without people wondering about my sanity. Cuz it's "for the kids", not because I'm entertaining myself. :)
But seriously? What am I thinking?! Kids are hard! I'd take an old person anyday, even one with dementia.

Side note: About half the girl's favorite movie/book was twilight, and their hollywood crush was Robert Pattinson or that Taylor kid that plays Jacob. Oh the horror. The horror! The things these girls must be thinking about romance and boys and...ugh. I was glad to hear most of them were not allowed to read the last book. But one girl has read all 4 like 3 times each! book 4!! with all the sex in it!! The HORROR!!! I think our next activity day is going to be all about how Twilight is not real life and what real men are like.

Side note #2: The skater girls were in my dream last night. They were riding their skateboards all over the church property and I was yelling at them about private property and respect and stuff. So weird.

In Memorium

Grandpa Vern
You will be Missed

What have I become?

The other day I went hiking with my sister, Laura.
We got to talking about how college years are the only time of your life where it really is all about you. It's about finding out who you really are and what you want to do with yourself. As we were talking, I realized that that part of my life is nearing it's end. I mean, self discovery and improvement continue through a lifetime, but the time period devoted solely to it is ending for me. I got to thinking, what is it I've learned through those years of exploration and growth? Here's some things I've decided about the person I've become at this stage of my life.

-I'm really really bad with money.

-I want so badly to be a really great nurse. I want to make a difference in someone's healthcare experience. It's cheesy, but I really want it.

-I know Jesus is the Christ and the redeemer of my soul, and I cannot deny it. Whenever I read about him, or speak or think about him, or hear others talk about him, I just know.

-I hate it when people have horrible posture. It's usually tall people who are somehow trying to shrink. I hate people who are disrespectful or rude for no reason. I hate people who hate everything. I hate talking about politics because I am usually in a continual state of limbo on my stance on things. People who want to talk politics usually just want to argue, and are not open minded so there's no point in participating. I hate it when I don't know what to say when a patient is telling me all about their really really sad life.

-I love my skin color, body shape, and cup size. Which are all things I hated in high school.

-People tend to describe me in evaluations and things as "bubbly". I've never thought to describe myself that way. I'd say something more along the lines of "loud and obnoxious". Maybe people say bubbly to be nice.

-I think my favorite thing to do is laugh. Long, hard, and loud.

-I will probably never dance, or river guide again. Most of the time I'm okay with that.

-I am a science nerd. I learned that I love science and everything about it while taking my prerequisites for nursing school. I am a closet Trekky, and I love science fiction movies and books. The only problem in the whole science nerd equation is I hate math.

-I, like many healthcare professionals, have developed a very twisted sense of humor sometimes. It's a coping mechanism. If I didn't laugh, I'd have to cry.

-My greatest repeat sin is coveting the things of the world. And then shopping for them. And then justifying it. I hate that I'm a member of the me generation and all their stuff and things.

-Most really good things I do I don't usually do on purpose. Like any of my paintings, and falling for Ryan.







I am generally pleased with the person I have become at this point in my life. I am happy that I am happy with myself. I sure have a blessed life, and I look forward to continuing to grow. That's one of the things I'm most grateful for, the chance to better myself for my whole life.

Last day of our trip to Alaska

The last day of our trip hardly counts as a vacation day, but we weren't working or in school so I guess it's still a vacation.
We spent the morning trying to get our luggage to be under 50 lbs, then Brad took us to the airport. The flight was uneventful. We had a 1 hour layover in Seatle so we had a sit down dinner in one of the restaurants in the main terminal.
We had to cut it pretty close, the system went down when the waitress tried to run our card. Luckily we had cash and took off to catch our flight which was in a different terminal connected by a train.We made it back to Salt Lake City, without a hitch, and only about 10 minutes late. My parents where there to meet us and take us home. We watched a private come home from somewhere come down the escalator to a cheering crowd and propose to his girlfriend. It was very cute.

I really liked Alaska a lot. It was beautiful, and the people there are really cool. I didn't see any women looking like they had to leave their house looking perfect, and there was a definite lack of Utah hair. I liked that about Alaska. I like that, like Utah, you can step out your back door and be in wild natural areas. It was just wonderful. I'd tell Ryan we should live there if it weren't for the long dark winters. If it was summer all the time, we'd for sure never leave. :)

Alaska Trip Day 7 8/12/09

In the morning we went to Ryan's grandparent's house so Ryan could go through boxes of his stuff that are being stored down in their basement. While Ry and his mom went through their stuff, Ryan's grandpa showed me his very cool gun collection. I know nothing about guns, but Grandpa was willing to tell me about the history of all the different guns in his collection. It was pretty cool.

Afterward the whole fam met up at the mall for lunch.

Then Ry, Julie, and I visited Lindsay at work downtown. Then did a little souvenir shopping.

We went to the museum, but most of their exhibits were in transition and not open yet. So we just visited the gift shop which had a lot of native art work.

This Ryan in the souvenir shop we went to. He was like, look! "I can smile even when I'm not smiling!" Now looking at a lot of our pictures from this trip we probably should have purchased it for him so he'd look happy in more of our vacation photos.

After shopping, we just kind of hung around home with Ryan's mom. That evening we went to dinner with Ryan's grandparents. We felt like we hadn't seen a lot of them, or had a chance to talk with them much, so we all went to dinner. Grandpa thought we had something specific we needed to talk to them about. But never fear, we just wanted to have a night out together.

We had fun talking to G&G about how things used to be. Grandpa talked about a lot of his military training, like parachute training and getting out of cockpits in water and such. Grandma talked about how it was to be a nurse way back when. It's always fun to talk to people who have been around a long time. It makes me realize how much I really don't know about life.

After dinner Grandma and Grandpa dropped us off at the temple for a session with the whole family. It was really nice to be there with everyone in the temple. We were only missing one person from the family who is yet to be decided out of Kevin's 42 girlfriends.

After the session, and after running back inside to retrieve my necklace I'd left behind, we went for some ice cream at McDonald's. (they have McDonald's in Alaska too!)

Alaska Trip Day 6 8/11/09

The evening before, on our way to Coldstone, Ryan's mom found two more vouchers for a free glacier cruise in Prince William Sound. So Ry and I decided to go. This one left from Whittier, which you can only get to (on land) through a tunnel that is only open for 15 minutes every hour. We got there with plenty of time and had to wait for about 5 minutes for the tunnel to open.
Ry and I had sort of a standing joke while in Alaska. I'd see something and say "look they have ______ in Alaska!" or things like "there are so many trees in Alaska! Where'd you guys get all these trees?" "They have Chili's in Alaska!" " They have Lowes in Alaska!" etc. etc.

This picture is to show that they have live train tracks in Alaska. "The train tracks are alive in Alaska?"

Heading into the tunnel

On the way out

The tunnel was originally built for the railroad and you're actually driving on the train tracks!

We checked in to our cruise and then had some time to kill. So we went and got like a million mini donuts from the Donut Depot. They were quite tasty and fresh and warm.
Whittier is tiny, but it's in a really pretty area. 90% of the town lives in one building.
It's the tall one in this picture:
They used to live in this one:but obviously it's a little run down. I thought it would be fun to explore until the captain of our boat said that bears tend to use it as their home.

We wandered around the little touristy area while we ate our donuts and waited until it was time to board our ship.Here's the boat we spent the day on:
We started outside on the boat like we spent almost all of our previous cruise, but this day was cloudier and colder. We had to keep coming inside to warm up.

Our first wildlife sighting was a rookery of seagulls. Although we were told by the captain there is no such thing as a seagull. There are lots of kinds of Gulls, but no seagulls. The gulls were freaking out because there were two bald eagles hanging around trying to eat them.Someday I'll get Ryan to smile in a picture. I promise, he did enjoy his vacation.

They fed us our lunch just shortly after boarding, and it was rather tasty. I noticed there were more crew members on this boat than the cruise we were on before. It's probably because of all the food serving.

Side story: I've made many a joke about Patchouli, aka hippie perfume, to Ryan and he just stares at me blankly. Now Ryan knows what I'm talking about! There was a perfect Patchouli specimine on our boat. She had dirtly blond dreadlocks tucked into her knit hat and she had a nose piercing and looked like she'd been up all night. If she had been more awake, she probably would have been discussing something very left sided political or expressing her wish for hard liquor or that her dog should be allowed on the boat. (You may say that I'm stereotyping, but I know it's true. I was a river guide, remember?) Her boyfriend looked like a jewish rabbi with long curly black hair and beard. Seriously, perfect patchouli wearing individuals. Now maybe Ryan will know what I'm talking about when I make patchouli jokes.

We stopped by the Esther fish hatchery. The fish were jumping out of the water like crazy everywhere!
Ryan and I noticed Otters and Sea lions that the captain didn't point out. We thought this cruise might not be as nice-wildlife wise- as our last one. But then we decided the captain just knew there would be plenty of otters and sea lions later. We saw all these guys on our way out to Prince William Sound. There were some HUGE sea lions in this bunch. As we got closer to the glaciers, there were tons of otters all over the place. It amazes me that they can just lay in the water like it's a nice warm swimming pool.
The glaciers were amazing! The battery of my camera was slowly dying, but I couldn't resist taking pictures of all the ice floating in the ocean. It was so cool! like, neat cool. It was pretty cold cool too, but not aweful.
Surprise glacier was our destination, and it was so cool! We sat there for 20 minutes with the engine off and listening to the glacier. We heard and saw in calve several times while we were sitting there. There were also seals and otters just hanging out on the floating ice like it was a cozy little raft. It was seriously an amazing sight! My camera died while we were there, So I never got a picture of us with the glacier. But we were there!
There's something about a boat that just lulls you to sleep. When we were repeating the area we had been in on the way back, we just stayed inside where it was nice and toasty warm. With the gentle rocking, and the constant hum of the boat engine, I had to fight to stay awake to enjoy the scenery. We drank so much pepsi to stay awake, I also spent a lot of time in this lovely spot. It was a really nice cruise and the scenery was once in a lifetime. I really enjoyed it.

The evening after our cruise we had salmon--yum! We played 7 Up 7 Down, and Kevin kicked everyone's trash before heading off to see is 22 girlfriends again. Then Ry, and his parents and I all played Tripoly. I totally kicked trash on that one!

Alaska Trip Day 5 8/10/09

The morning of day 5 Julie drove Ryan and I to hike Flat Top as seen below:

It's a really popular hike that is in the immediate Anchorage area. I've gone on a lot of hikes in my life, and I have to say... Flat Top is a lousy trail. (sorry Alaska!) The view from the top is fabulous, and the trail is pretty. It's just too steep. Apparently Alaskan's haven't heard of switchbacks. It was like hiking straight up the mountain a lot of the time. There were stairs made from railroad ties, but I still say switchbacks would be better on everyone's knees.
Ryan's family warned me about the last 1/4 of the hike, saying it was the hardest. But I'd say it was the most fun. It was pretty much scrambling up class 4.0 climbing. I like rock climbing, so the last part was the best! I liked it better than the gravelly trail below that constantly threatened to send me down the mountain. Overall though, it was a fun hike, with some really fabulous views. I'd do it again.

Here's Ry resting at the top

I told him to show how he really felt.

I tried to take a timed picture, but I put the camera a little too far away. I didn't quite make it in time.

I wasn't even ready when I put it closer either. I'm fixing my shirt!

Here's Ryan pointing to where we just were. (on top of the mountain)

After returning home, Ryan was so excited to go to Benny's Food Wagon. It's a van that sells mexican food on a corner of Anchorage.

Nothin like mexican food eaten in the car!

After eating we went to the Dimond center mall. (It's really spelled like that. It's someone's name, Alaskan's do know how to spell diamond.) Ryan was looking for some shoes (of course), but because he's not willing to spend more than like $25 on shoes he had no luck. He did find some cheap new khaki's at Old Navy though, and I confirmed once again that Old Navy Jeans don't fit me.

Next we went to Potter Marsh

We saw a Juvenile bald eagle just chilling out and freaking out some ducks. He's in the red circle.

We also saw LOADS of Salmon coming in from the ocean.

That evening Michael and Lindsay came over for dinner, then we all headed over to the temple grounds to take family pictures. You would have thought someone was torturing Ryan slowly. Maybe we were.
I haven't seen the pictures yet, hopefully they will be good.
After pictures we convinced Kevin to put off seeing his 14 girlfriends so we could all go get some ice cream from Coldstone. Julie picked a seat by the bathroom and we eventually had to move because of the delightful smells lingering around it. It was another nice day on our Alaska vacation.