remember. remember.

I remember my generals, and I remember them in a way of who was in my general classes with me. For example: Everyone bonds in general classes when you meet someone from your same major, not nursing majors. You say you're a nursing major and it's instant competition and you start sizing each other up like I'm so gonna get in the program before you do!! I wasn't that bad but I do remember that was where the conversation usually tended to end unless they added in one last thing like "So when are you applying??" competition in generals is what nursing students find.

I used to sit in my generals and think the exact opposite, it never felt like applying for the program was ever going to happen so I used to automatically think oh man they are gonna be done way before I am!! This thought got worse as I watched on facebook girls I went to BYU-I with who weren't even interested in nursing graduate from the program up there. I however moved to Cedar.

I'll never forget my nutrition class with Professor Schmidt ( he still says hi and acknowledges me everytime I see him to this day). I love that guy and have so much respect for that man, I may have loved him enough to want to set him up with my roommate but that's a different story : ) Anywho, his class is in the general classroom building on the first floor. I used to sit outside his class waiting for it to start on a bench that if I looked to my left this is what I saw..

I would sit and stare at this sign and everybody that would walk up and down the stairs in envy! I used to wonder what it would be like or if I'd ever get to be one of those people going up and down those stairs. There's no bathroom in the basement, so the nursing students would have to come up to the bathroom right outside Schmidt's classroom. At the time my cousin was actually in the nursing program, and as I would run into her in the bathroom I knew it was her classmates discussing nursing and medical terms through the stalls and I would once again start envying them and wanted what they had. My envy was such that I used to stumble across these Mosby skill videos on the library computers where I would browse through the tabs and picture myself as a nursing student. I'm weird I know.

I remember when Tamara got her acceptance letter, I was so excited for her and I wondered how excited and awesome it must be to get that letter! Then Candice got her phone call saying she'd been accepted and I thought the same thing all over again. Not gonna lie I was a little jealous that I wasn't in with them : )

My first time in the nursing department was with Candice. I finally got to go into that mysterious basement, past that sign I'd been staring at forever. I was her live IV poke so I got to even go back into the lab! I was in awe as I looked around at all the mannequins and I even thought Janet was cool haha!!

then finally my time had come. I was ready to submit my papers and when it came down to sending them in, I just didn't feel right about it. I felt like I needed to wait until it was time to apply for the upcoming fall semester. So that's what I did but when I met with my advisor the second time I suddenly was somehow missing 3 credits. shoot! I was so mad and irritated as I left his office so I called me mom and she talked me in to applying anyways. so I turned in my application and that was that.

Spring break that year I was in Arizona having the best spring break trip I've ever had. I started getting texts from people at work who had also applied for fall. I was surprised when my boss text me saying she was an alternate. I was instantly scared to go home knowing my rejection letter would be there waiting. Sunday afternoon we're on the drive home to Utah when my roommate Julia calls me. I answer thinking something must be wrong with the house when she tells me there's an envelope waiting for me at the house. I go on to freak out saying I don't wanna know because it's gotta be bad, and I've had such a great trip, in a car full of people etc... When she could finally get a word in through my rantings she said "Britt, it's kind of a big envelope." having confidence the rejection letters were in small envelopes I felt better and proceeded to put her on speaker phone for her to open it. As she said the word accepted I started screaming and cheering and shaking so violently my phone shut off somehow. I was SOOO excited and SOO happy!! The day I'd been envying all this time was finally there for me!

And now here I am about to graduate. I've walked past that sign so many times but yet everytime I really look at it, I think about those days where I used to sit on the bench and want to be a nursing student so bad. I'm now one of those nursing student freaks that sit in the bathroom with all the girls in my class and swap inappropriate stories and such and is one of the people that bust out laughing when a poor innocent non-nursing student comes sulking out of a stall scarred for life. We tend to forget we're not always in our own little bubble like we are in the dungeon, we even forget over lunch in the rotunda that is until everyone at all the other tables are looking pale and then we quiet down our conversation.
That lab I initially went into for the first time is the Validation lab and I hate that room now. The anxiety and stress levels that build in that room is insane. just thinking about validations can make a nursing student wanna throw up.
I teared up at Candice's pinning ceremony last year, cheesy and lame I know, but now I find myself a week away from pinning and just knowing as soon as that slideshow starts I'm toast. I flip through pictures and watch how far we've come and start to remember all the good times, crappy times, laughs, and tears we've been through and I just wanna drag my feet a little bit to hang on to the time we've got left. We're all going separate places soon, and have different life changing events that are taking place: 2 weddings this summer, a baby next November, boyfriends coming home from missions, and moving out of state.
Point is: those people I used to envy and looked up to, never looked as miserable as nursing school is! If they would have always been coming up those stairs crying and pissed off I probably would have changed majors, but the misery was hidden on their faces so away I envied. However, as miserable as the past 2 years have been, my class has helped me survive it. We're there for each other and we've seen the worst over the past two years. The experiences, the professors, the class, and even that dang dungeon all to our disturbed selves was worth envying. Because even though I didn't know what I was fully getting myself into.... I'm now very aware of what I'm getting myself out of. And even though I've not been a nurse for a year or so like I thought I would be by now, I'm grateful for the brick walls, and stumbling blocks to put me in with the class I have because I wouldn't want it any other way!!

flashback.

from this...Original class of 20

to this...Gaining Katie and losing Karissa

From this....1st semester "CNA" clinicals at Kolob...

to this... Flu shot clinics...

To this... Experiencing high acuity areas such as life flight.

We've come a long way BSN class of 2011!! 10 days until graduation : )

Yesterday I ran into my food friend stacie, who've I've known since my very first trip to Cedar. She's my old landlord and I can still remember first meeting her, and how I was certain that's all she'd be was my landlord, but here we are years later still friends. We bumped into each other at pizza factory, as always, and she looked at me out of the blue and just told me how's really proud of me. Meant a lot, especially coming from someone who's known me for 4 years.
Last night my good friend reminded me I'm leaving forever and then told me how much he's going to miss me. Between these two experiences today it's settling in even more that I'm leaving this place. While I'm for the new experience and changes coming my way, I've met some awesome people in this town! Thanks friends : )

because I need it...

"It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It all works out in the end. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers."
— Gordon B. Hinckley

"None of us will become perfect in a day or a month or a year. We will not accomplish it in lifetime, but we can begin now, starting with our more obvious weaknesses and gradually converting them to strengths as we go forward with our lives. this quest may be a long one: in fact, it will be lifelong. It may be fraught with many mistakes, with falling down and getting back up again. And it will take much effort. But we must not sell ourselves short. We must make a little extra effort. We would be wise to kneel before our God in supplication. He will help us. He will bless us. He will comfort and sustain us. He will help us to do more, and be more, than we can ever accomplish or be on our own."
— Gordon B. Hinckley

up.

Wednesday night I slept with my window open, sign summer is coming and i love it! now when I say slept....I didn't sleep. I laid awake majority of the night thinking about life and what's about to happen. I was daydreaming about the place I wanted to move into(no particular place, just the idea of a place), and the new people I'm going to meet.

Thursday I had my last day of classes EVER!! no more college classes for me, just HURST review and finals. I even skipped out on class an hour early in honor of the celebration carpooled home with Steph. It was a great drive, and we still find ourselves catching up on life the past year. We also had fun at the pit stops(scipio had no power thanks to the storm), and tried to finish a bag of Jerky by Springville. Easily entertained!!

Jenny Graduated from BYU yesterday, GO JENNY!!! J.Pate is seriously the smartest girl I know and I'm so proud of her for surviving mechanical engineering and not only just surviving but kickin butt at it!! Jenny, you rock and I'm so glad you're done!

Tanner aka baby of the family went to prom last night. holy moly if that doesn't make me feel old!!! However, he looked dashing and let's just say him, like taylor, know how to treat the ladies!! It was fun to go watch him and his friends promenade, and everytime I watch promenade I'm grateful I never did the prom thing. I for sure would have biffed it down the courthouse stairs.

I love my friends up North. Seriously, they make me so excited to get up here and start playing and having adventures like crazy! Candice, Erin and I met up with Brynn and Justin in Sandy and we ate, laughed, partied, and some even snoozed a little : ) I always have so much fun with them, and the best part is there's no work! It's awesome.

I found an apartment!! well technically speaking it's a condo : ) however it's going to be my new home come May 9th, that is if all works out with the application and contract process. I'll be saying hello to a large master bedroom, my OWN bathroom(peace out high maintenance roommate), and my own covered parking stall!! I'm pretty happy about the deal and finding it has made me really excited about this upcoming adventure.

Tomorrow is Easter, and I love Easter candy! Especially can't wait to find the peeps from the Easter bunny in the morning! It's been so fun to watch Kez actually understand the concept of Easter egg hunting this year and she loves it!

Not only is tomorrow Easter but tomorrow is also my parents 30th wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary mom and dad!! Ash made a video for their anniversary and entitled it the Journey of 30 Years and let's just say my sappy self teared up watching it. Not gonna lie it was kinda fun to watch the past 30 years for them through pictures and see all they've gone through together, as well as bring back lots of memories for myself! Man mom and dad if I can be half as lucky to be as happy as you are and as strong as you are someday, I will consider myself VERY lucky.

Anywho.... enough about me, except for I probably should mention my career portfolio is still not done. Problem!! It's like a big black cloud hanging over my head that I just don't wanna deal with or even start. But won't dwell on the negative, in stead I'll just say Happy Easter!!....let's hope it doesn't snow!!

F-R-I-E-N-D-S

A true friend is someone who:

Loves you all the time. Tells you they love you often. Keeps your secrets. Tells you their secrets. misses you when you're gone. Gets excited when you come back. Gives you hugs. Is honest. Tells you about all your good qualities. Lets you know about your bad qualities. Is on your side. Lets you know why they're not on your side sometimes. Never talks bad about you. Wont let anyone talk bad about you. Laughs with you. Is never bored with you. Shares the greatest times with you. Is there when you cry. Cries with you. Understands your humor. answers your phone calls. Doesn't look down on you. Wants the best for you. Listens. Listens to your dreams. Helps you achieve them. Gives advice when you want it and sometimes when you don't. Teases you about your stupid mistakes but loves you for them. Can read your emotions. You can be stupid around. Values your opinion. you respect. You look up to. Forgives easily. never forgets your birthday. takes time for you. makes time for you.

blah. blah. blah

please feel free to ignore my random ramblings from the brain of a current crazy person.

-Nursing school not only turns you into nurses but also turns you into a horrible person as well. or at least that's how it feels when everyone wants to you yell and fight with you over the stupidest things saying "what's wrong with you?? you used to not be like this!" Go through what I've gone through the last 2 years and then tell me that.... or don't because you won't wanna tell me that if you understood. Sorry I've got a back bone now. Sorry I don't put up with the bull crap anymore.

-I've got a guardian angel!! or at least that's what it felt like today.... My car died in St. George yesterday in the hospital parking lot as me and my car load of people showed up for our 12 lead EKG interpretation certification class(say that 5 times fast!). After having my sub in southern Utah dad Daron jump it, after the class, and fill the battery with water he followed me on the freeway to make sure we didn't break down. I drove straight to the car repair shop without stopping, seriously not stopping for fear of dying at the stoplight, and after leaving it there overnight I got a phone call this morning saying that my battery and alternator was fine. Turns out it was only a loose connection and $27 repair. Talk about saving me stress! I hate car repairs and the thought of spending even more money on car repairs was making me sick. thank you guardian angel!!

-Cedar Sucks. The only thing that gets me through the days anymore is Brad's Diet cokes and my nursing friends. other than that I prefer to be gone on the weekends and home alone at nights. Lonely quiet nights at home are not always fun but at least quiet means no drama : )

-The Sunshine is amazing!! makes me smile no matter what! Saturday felt like summer hanging out outside and eating on the patio with the fam, and today was amazing playing Frisbee at a park in shorts and a tank top feeling the burn start on the back of my neck. Bring it on summer, I can't wait for you for more than one reason.

-Yesterday I got to get a "tour" of the lifeflight aircraft in Dixie. It's hard to call it a tour when the area of the aircraft is such that you can see the whole thing from just one side of it. Anyways, my Critical Care Professor Aja is the bomb. Seriously her stories would amaze you, that woman has done and seen everything!! Her and a fellow lifeflight employee showed us pictures from a recent head bleed call along with the equipment and such used for lifeflight. They were nice enough to even satisfy my wants of a photograph. In fact Aja was all about it haha! I love that lady, she's so cool!


I can only hope that one day I can be as confident and knowledgeable as Aja.

-my family's the greatest. Cheese moment but seriously just need to acknowledge the fact that without them particularly my parents I would not be surviving. for examples... Car problems stress me out more than anything and on top of everything yesterday my mom was so great. Called our family friend in St. George gave me his cell phone to call when we were leaving and he'd come help then she says..."relax and enjoy and we will figure it out." Last night my dad on about the 12th phonecall told me to take a deep breath and relax, then today he responded to my text about the car's situation with "That is great news. Have a good afternoon. Love you". They know me all to well to know that all I need is a lil reassurance sometimes. They are always positive and I deeply appreciate it sending a little bit in my negative direction.

-I need to find a place to live in provo. I've got an idea as to what I'm looking for but finding it is going to be the tricky part... I don't know where to look and I've got to do it on Friday while I'm there cause that's my last time up there before graduation. Basically thinking town home set-up, definitely my own room, and preferably a bigger room than what I currently have. Cross your fingers for me and if you find anything I might like please do some roommate screening. too many bad experiences lately : )

-I'm officially done with DRMC. seeing some of the nurses from there at the EKG class yesterday made me really sad surprisingly. I hate the thought that I've become so comfortable in a hospital with such great staff and now I've got to leave it all and go out into the unknown. sounds more dramatic then trying to be but after a year and a half I've spent many many many many hours in the that place and it's weird to feel more at home at that place than I do my own apartment these days. DRMC and staff you've been so good to me, I hope I can be lucky enough to work in a place like you with people like you someday in the future.

-I'm getting really excited for graduation. Mostly just excited to have all my family in Cedar and show them around my second home as well as have them meet my classmates. It's gonna be a long but fun weekend!!

-Jessie aka J.Love had her second baby, baby girl Avery, last weekend. I haven't met her yet but I'm excited to see babe and mama! I can't imagine having a kid now let alone two let alone a husband so kudos to you Jess. I don't know how you do it!

well that's probably enough depressing rantings and ravings for now. I promise I am happy despite the above : ) Things are looking up for me, a new change is coming that's allowing me to leave the negative and crap behind and move on to a new adventure and new opportunities. I'll leave you on the positive note that I got to see my beautiful friends Brynn and Candice last weekend. We went to dinner in AF, ice blocking in provo followed by a cardboard bonfire in a backyard and it was a party : )





Happy Hump Day tomorrow!! one step closer to the weekend : )

make my day

I always hear the expression "you just made my day!". Well I am one of those people guilty of saying such things but lately I need those little things that make my day. Allow me to share a few that I've had lately:

-Waking up from sleeping 4 hours after clinicals to play with this little girl. I couldn't resist having a little dress up time with auntie brittany's nurse materials... -a superb text from this lady Sunday night! After a rough, busy, sleepless week I get the nicest text I'd gotten all week. Thanks for the encouragement stephy and for always making me think I can do this! -Visiting Jeni at school on my way home from one of my trips to Salt Lake : ) It was fun to see her in her work environment and laugh at the awkward moments, "You should count those hours towards your exercise" "Why would you say that?? he's pushing a copier down the hallway! he's obviously not interested in talking right now!" haha, I love it Jeni! While I missed out on making an idiot out of myself in front of the kids again it was nice to catch up!!

-Getting rid of the metal on my teeth!!! Yes it's true, the braces are gone! been off about a week now. I had my orthodontist take them off for graduation but I'm sure they'll be back on or my jaw will be broken by june so it's only temporary excitement.

-Checking my e-mail after the dreaded return to cedar city Monday to find not only one e-mail but 3!!! I got an update e-mail from my amazing brother who's kickin butt down in Mexico(more baptisms already), and I FINALLY got word from Sista Shields. I got ahold of her e-mail address last week and resorted to that since snail mail takes forever and it worked. She's doing great and I'm so happy to finally hear she's alive. Talk about words of encouragement from both of them! I love and miss them both so much.

-Checking my mail tonight to find.... a hand written letter from my my best friend in Chile!! 2 e-mails were great for the week but to get a letter too! totally made my day : ) is this girl great or what?? haha. Can't wait for the next one!

-crossing all but 2 major projects and papers off my to do list!!! that puppy is getting shorter by the days!! can't wait to be done with all the stress.

-Lastly can't help but love these pictures that I stole from my sister. made my day when I saw them. My dad is such a stud!! A great dad, and a fantastic grandpa!!

.we.are.family.

seeing as I always talk about nursing school I figure I'll give it a break and talk about my class : ) we truly are family!! After spending the worst 2 years of our lives together, and seeing each other in very personal settings we have gotten to know each other so well!! I always joke that Cyndi is my second mom but she truly is, Analisa is another mother figure but more towards older sister status, Jessica and Melissa are just like sisters to me. I love these people(along with other classmates but these have become my best friends)!! This past week we had a National Student Nurse's Association conference that was taking place in Salt Lake and since we had an involvement project we had to do for one of our classes we were basically required to go. We got a hotel together with the level lower than us and what should have been a conference turned into a boring event during the day where our classes were filled with photo shoots but the nights were a blast!! Let's just say we got to know each other even better, and some in ways we wish we never would have : ) Speaking of photo shoots I obviously have tons of pictures so enjoy... Dress shopping for melissa's upcoming wedding, I think we've for sure found the winners : ) Never a dull moment with this gang!! Hilarious dinner at olive garden So while we we're up in Salt Lake we decided to stop by DOPL(Department of Professional Licensing) and take care of applying for our license instead of dealing with mailing in the application. This is us astounded with electronic fingerprints : ) Celebrating the fact that we're going to be professionals. Apply for license?? CHECK!! Our friends Jessica and Danielle live in salt lake so they joined us for lunch our second day there, they are also nurses(Dani LPN, and Jess RN) so we all get along well discussing disgusting things over meals!! my kind of friends!! I love this crazy girl so much!! Deina Ige!! My friend from high school who's in the nursing program at BYU, ran into her at the conference. brought back the memories from HOSA conferences in high school! As you can tell it was an interesting week to say the least!! We didn't sleep unless it was napping in classes, we laughed a ton, and took way too many pictures! I love these people so much, we are like family so we have our "hate" moments and frustrating times with each other but in the end we're there for each other in a way that no one else can be there for us. No one truly understands what we've gone through, are going through, and still have ahead of us except each other. These are the ones I'm going to miss.

April fools

I love to play jokes and tease people all the time so naturally I have to take advantage of a day set aside just for this.
This year April fools was of course on a Friday and it just so happened to be my day to present this big News Hour presentation for my class, my partner Cyndi and I had to do something! So after brainstorming and coming up with nothing we(Melissa, Cynd, and myself) took off to walmart for inspiration. Let's just say being a nurse has it's advantages : )
After a quick phone call to my old pharmacology professor to double check a medication we were back at home cooking up a concoction of cupcakes that turned our class's urine orange or red depending on how many cupcakes they ate. They all fell for it and didn't think a thing of us bringing treats on April fools day since we were presenting. It was awesome, until a girl in our class who in her recently impregnated body with a heightened taste realized just how bitter they tasted, and then we were busted! oh well I still enjoyed it. hope everyone took advantage of this fabulous day.

John Wayne also made an appearance in the nursing department for the special day, naturally it was a photo op moment.

Things learned from Clinicals

Today was my FINAL day having clinicals as a student. I'm done!!!! no more of those awful scrubs that I've hated along with those terrible white shoes that have brought me no support all these shifts. But in honor of no longer having the comfort of student clinicals allow me to share some knowledge I've learned through clinicals:

-How to steer with your knees while choking down breakfast aka cereal in a cup while driving to get there on time

-the gorgeous hilarious cath lab tech goes to lunch at noon or 12:30 on Tuesdays : )

-how to get ready and be in the car and on your way within a half hour

-VH1 is the only channel worth having your tv on to 4 in the morning. They actually play music videos while every other channel is sales pitches and advertisements.

-wear decoy wedding rings. otherwise nurses will try to set you up with their sons, doctors will try to set you up with patients, or patients will try to set you up with themselves

-Dr.Pepper can be used as an alternative to diet coke but only at dixie hospitals

-Care plans are the devil, and I will forever cringe at those words

-Be a happy nurse, welcoming of students. Always scope out things for my student to see or do

-pack snacks. eating breakfast at 4 in the morning makes me ready for lunch by oh 8am. although, never plan on being able to eat those snacks, or better yet don't even plan on a lunch break majority of the days

-the computer screen can actually be switched by holding Ctrl and which ever one of these arrows <-, ->, or the up and down. Whichever way you plan on moving it

-what happens at clinicals, sometimes stay at clinicals. ex: code blue room 135. Lonna will never know...

-chest compressions are HARD!!! you will sweat. you will be sore the next day.

-gloves are not needed when hanging IV piggyback medications. thank you for making us paranoid lonna!

-don't leave your stethescope unattended at the desk, even if only for a few minutes. still have yet to see my 1st stethescope again.

-classmates are lifesavers. at times the only thing that gets through a clinical is looking over the floor or unit to see your friend just as miserable and sleep deprived as you : )

I've had some amazing experiences and learned much more than what's listed. I've met the most amazing people, sickest people, funniest people, and weirdest people that have probably taught me more than I've taught them. I've laughed, I've cried, I've loved, I've lost, and I've definitely learned. Look out real world, this girl ain't gonna have her student badge for much longer!!!

PS. this week success was measured Sunday night at about 3 am in Salt Lake's ER when I got a forearm IV stick without nurses supervision on my first try!! talk about a self esteem booster!! I know I'm messed up...

a picture is worth a thousand words.

life. sure something isn't it?? one minute you're feeling great and the next minute you just wanna punch someone square in the face! only joking(well kinda), but life has been going crazy yet again,so in order to try and keep my thoughts straight allow me to tell through pictures... So I failed to mention that I had a fabulous spring break. the majority of the time was spent in Provo with the family attempting to get caught up on school work but ended up hanging out the kiddos all day instead. I did other things of course like hanging out with these 2 cool cats!!! It's always a party when Dustin, Candice and I get together. I did nothing but laugh the whole night!! we're pretty much the funnest, coolest and funniest trio that's ever existed. Also that night I learned a hilarious prank that I will be doing all the time once I get a smart phone that is capable of such things : ) Love you crazies, and can't wait to party again soon!!

Over Spring Break I also had a much needed reunion with this young lady, my friend Daphnee. I haven't seen her since way back in November before jacqui left when the 3 of us used to have the most random adventures. It was good to see her and catch up on everything that's occurred over the last while as well as remember how much fun we used to have and will have this upcoming summer when I return to the 801. I'm so lucky to have such a great friend like Daph! welcome to my h-e-double hockey sticks week last week!!! remember previously when I mentioned my friend/Cyndi's ex fiance was in a rollover accident?? well more details is me and Cyndi were on our way to st. George for clinicals in horrible weather when we start seeing rollovers on the side of the road. about the fourth one we see we realize that it's Tim and so to make a long story short we drive to New Harmony to turn around and drive the 7 mile stretch of black ice to get over to him and spend the morning at the hospital in Cedar-Not getting clinical credit. Really hard day for me especially since the whole morning as I was sitting in the emergency room all I could think about was that stupid comp predictor I had to take the next day and how I should be studying. Anywho, Tim broke his C1 and C6 vertebrae which is very bad! the C1 is too damaged to operate on so he'll be in this lovely metal halo for 3 months and then do a CT scan to determine if surgery is possible yet. He's in for a long road but happy to report he's rehabilitating in St. George and has learned how to walk and balance and is very pleasant spirits despite screws in his head. The checklist. I was feeling extremely overwhelmed the other day trying to remember all my projects and papers that are due before Hurst Review in 2 weeks so I made a dreaded checklist. talk about a lot of stress right there!!! because of that I spent 2 full days in the library on campus and eliminated a couple things off my checklist. Although more has been added to it such as registering for the lovely NCLEX as well as applying for my license which I will be doing this upcoming week in Salt Lake. SCARY!!! even more scary is that these things listed are still not the only things left to do before graduation....

ps. can I just mention that I wrote one of the papers listed on here in the library last week and not only did I struggle after not writing a paper all semester but after talking piute so long it was really hard to remember how to talk and sound educated!! I actually wrote wanna and cause in my paper. talk about a problem... This is an old picture(obviously before the metal mouth days) but is to represent that Last Saturday Night was one of the funnest most care free nights I'd had in a long time!! I went and kidnapped these two hooligans and we went and got frozen yogurt than hit up Toadz for the funnest night!! Turns out other nursing students needed a break from life and stress cause we ran into about 8 other students from our program. So we partied and danced the night away together! It was very needed, thanks ladies and thank you fellow nursing students : )

This dashing young man pictured here is no longer in the area this picture was taken. In fact he's not even in the same state. Also not even the same country!! that's right Elder Olsen is officially in Tijuana. He left Tuesday morning and called from the airport which turned out to be emotional for everyone due to the fact that he hadn't gotten the e-mail saying to call mom's cell phone so instead he left a message on the machine telling us how he was on his way and was terrified. He wrote a letter before he left the MTC which specifically placed me in the mom grandma category when he said "tell mom, grandma, and brittany not to worry about me". Well bro unfortunately I worry about you everyday, even more so now that you're not in happy valley a couple blocks up from our house. I still couldn't be more proud of this kid, I can tell in his letters and e-mails that he's already changed! Also should mention that in his weekish he's been in Tijuana he's already gotten his first baptism : ) keep up the great work Elder!!


Lastly this blurry picture is to show what I've been up to the past 2-3 days. This picture was taken outside of St. Marks Hospital in Salt Lake at 7:15 in the morning as I was walking to my car after a 12 hour shift in the NICU. It had been a crazy eventful and busy night and I walked outside to find snow. I probably would have been a lot more mad had I not been exhausted! Something that was hard for me that night was I had 2 drug with drawl babies on my assignment that night. It's such a hard thing to look down at the baby you're cuddling and trying to console and just wishing them luck that they even stand a chance out there. This darling baby didn't do anything to deserve this yet for the rest of their life they will struggle knowing that something is missing. It will forever struggle with an unattainable craving due to the mom being addicted to both Heroin and Meth. Some people seriously shouldn't be allowed to be parents. Good luck out there kiddos, I hope the best for you!! On a slightly more positive note, but still depressing note, there was a code for two newborn twins where all the nurses in my portion of the NICU left to go assist with leaving myself and my friend Melissa in charge. We ran the NICU for about an hour with 16 babies!! No big deal just running the NICU with 16 babies as student nurses : ) Last night's shift wasn't as exciting-I was in the ICU so still interesting and lots to learn but with it being a slow night and decreased census we ended up leaving a couple hours early instead of sitting around at the nurses station doing nothing. But something cool that happened last night was I did have my first experience in a morgue....creepy!! Walking the body down with a police officer and being in the actual room in the middle of the night was a little eerie feeling. Nonetheless happy for the experience : ) Thank you St. Marks. See you next weekend when we do it all over again...