365 days

Happy one year to the elder O!!!
can't believe it's already been a year, gone by so fast but yet so slow...
tonight we celebrated Mexican/American style aka Gringo(I believe that's what it's called). Mostly because Tay jokes he's only 99% mexican : ) Ash made a delicious dinner of enchilada's, rice, beans, corn, Tres Leches etc... and my sombrero that Tay gave me back in 09 made an appearance at the partay.

(Yes we even "Burned a Tie" as is tradition in the mish...)

Congrats on the year Bro. Here's to another one, and the last one : )


Ps. He and his comp saved this dog. Still don't understand what happened exactly but something about it being in a member/investigator's attic and they had to get it out. hilarious I think.

best buddy.

my job has been so HARD lately. I hate hating work, I hate dreading going to work, but nonetheless this is the story of my last 2 1/2 weeks. Life is life lately and I tell ya what if it weren't for my family I'd of been on the quickest flight out of here to who knows where-basically any where with no snow or no cold weather. Thank goodness for the great familia!!

times like these it's nice to have a best friend. Even if our hangouts are all on her(or her mom's terms) and we always have to do what she wants to do, I'm grateful for her. love you lil girl!


ps. love life and see good days!!! (I have to remind myself that over and over everyday!!)

yee-haw

Everything's bigger in Texas. This is a saying I'll be witnessing for myself March 1-6.
J.Pate and Kyle currently live in Houston and J.Love and I will be visiting them for a week (well almost), and I'm stoked because we've been planning and talking about taking this trip forever but as of yesterday tickets are purchased and we are GOING!!!! I got the news at work last night and I seriously started jumping up and down. seriously can't wait.
Highlights of the trip will include:
-Houston Rodeo!!! and since there are concerts every night the rodeo is on we are going the night of Lady Antebellum performing. perfect.
-Houston Marathon/Team Relay Marathon. okay seeing my love hate relationship with running this may not be the highlight of my trip but it's gonna be pretty awesome to say we did it. Kyle will run the marathon for reals and Jess, Jenny and I are running the relay. So if you seem me walking funny and/or unable to get out of bed until then it's because I'm training(going to start training) and I'm extremely out of shape.
-Eating. Lots and lots of eating!!!
and many more things-we've only yet planned those so far but I can't wait to see what else we'll do. I hope to get a peek at the medical district and seeing as how once I get there I probably won't wanna leave house hunting for Brittany may have to be part of the plans : )
Bring on cowboy and country heaven!!! March 1st can't come soon enough.

lately.

Today was a great day.
I woke up late-I was supposed to go meet up with Brynn for lunch but after a rough night I snoozed through my alarm. Worked out okay, Brynn and I rescheduled, I went grocery shopping( and by grocery's I mean cold cereal and bread shopping). I decided since it felt like spring I'd celebrate with using my 20% at Red Mango. Ate my Red Mango along with my 44 ounce diet coke for my breakfast and lunch while watching Season 3 re-runs of Grey's anatomy. I finished the second book of the Hunger games(yes I've been reading them since November, and yes I got hooked like everyone said I would). finally played my moved on everyone on words with friends-got a 105 point word against my cousin. Did laundry, cleaned my room and bathroom from the wrath they receive during my 3 night work streak. Ordered Cafe rio phone order style, then brought it home to watch more Grey's-only this time it was the current season 8 and I enjoyed it finally re-airing after being on it's holiday break. And yes I cried, but man it was a great day.
Besides the point of bragging about how awesome my lazy day was, and how much I enjoyed the simplicity of it I needed to mention a few other things I've been up to lately.
1.sold howie. Howie has since moved on to continue to live out his college days only this time with someone named Phil. As my dad and my left the credit union and drove away in my truck leaving my lil car behind with a stranger it felt real weird.

2. Wore legit footie PJ's on Christmas Eve. Channy and I found them at Target and bought them for us girls to wear. They were really warm-hot actually, and super fun to wear momentarily.


3.had a five hour chat with cyndi loo aka my second mama. Part was via facetime and we shared a coke, and I saw her Henderson home, and we caught up on life. As always she had great advice : ) miss and love her.

4. bought myself an early new years present aka 2 new pairs of cowboy boots and I love them. Yes I've always wanted red boots, no it has nothing to do with footloose.

5.Rung in the new year. Nothing extravagent and a totally different evening then what I originally had in mind but it was fun and revengeful. Perfect way to start fresh.




Life's been good lately, of course 2012 has brought fresh starts and new goals that I'm not totally decided on what I specifically want to accomplish yet, I do know that I'm going to be more positive, and try to really finally pull me out of a much to long funk. I bought 2 self help books(don't laugh) at desert book last week and to quote the title of one to really state my biggest goal for the year is to "LOVE LIFE and See Good Days".
I've been working on doing just that...

clean slate.

fresh starts. clean slate. new clothes. new journals. new shoes. new year. i like new things.
As cliche as it may seem I love seeing the cheesy year in review on the news, Internet, etc... I love seeing where something/someone started and where they end or where they go in life. a new year starts with such an unknown of whats to come or what's to be expected, it's exciting to see where life goes. Years go by and each one of them hold good things and bad things but nonetheless all still make us who we are. So in honor of the new year here's my own version of year in review month to month and of course with a picture or two here and there to go with it:
2011
JANUARY

-started preceptorship meeting my nurse Miriam and began the "love affair" I developed with DRMC 3rd floor.
-Taylor's farewell followed by him entering the MTC.

-Jessica & Jordan wed!

FEBRUARY
-George Strait in Vegas (all expenses paid) with the piutes. Seeing the King and Queen of country live was unforgettable.

-My Grandma Olsen passed away joining my grandpa after 29 years apart. As prepared as I may have thought I was for her death, it was much harder than expected, and the rest of the year was hard to adjust without her being around.However, her funeral was a family gathering that ended up bringing family together from all over the country-just as she would have wanted.

-Finished preceptorship
-Attended my final basketball game as a student of SUU.

MARCH
-Was involved in my first code blue. did IV's without nurse's supervision.
-Partied in Vegas to kick off Spring Break @ stoney's meeting random strangers and ending with a $60 black suburban ride back to the car.
-became ACLS certified
-Taylor left the safety of the MTC or as he called it "Spiritual Prison" and took off for Tijuana.

APRIL
-NSNA convention overnighter in SLC. Partying with classmates soaking up all the time we could together in a relaxed environment.

-Registered/Applied with DOPL to get my license

-Finished clinicals as a nursing student (mixed emotions) and continue to finish school work, portfolio's, HURST review, and other things to prepare for graduation and NCLEX. School, school, and more school.
- Parents celebrated 30 years of marriage.
-Class bridal shower for Melissa. Partaaaaayyy!

APRIL
-pinning ceremony and graduation!!! enough said there.

-Said goodbye to my best friends that'd become family and moved out of cedar and back to the UC.
-Talked to the Elder on Mother's Day.
-Said goodbye to another dear friend of mine as I attended hilton's funeral.
-STUDY STUDY STUDY!!! test prep as my book became known as Uncle NCLEX by my family aka Ash.

JUNE
-NCLEX. June 2nd and 2pm is a day and time I'll never forget. Worst day ever!! how lucky I was that I had such an awesome support system. Including Melissa who was for a period of the test sitting roughly 3 cubicles away : )
-Melissa & Evan wed! I drove to Cedar (trying to escape the NCLEX worry in my mind), we all drive to Kanab, party at the buckskin in arizona, and attended the beautiful outdoor wedding. (ps. funnest moment was in the morning as we're all running back and forth through rooms in the hotel and melissa's mom pulls me aside wondering if we'd found out test results yet, and when I assured her we hadn't she said oh good. I was hoping they wouldn't be posted until after the wedding. haha)

-RN status. pulling up the test status online and seeing passed=priceless! freaking out and being surrounded by those that I went through it all with in the town it all began was awesome. and hearing my mom calling to my family out in the field at my grandma's over the phone saying "We have a nurse!!"= also priceless.
-beginning of the rodeo season/obession! I attended rodeo's this summer in Nephi, Lehi, Pleasant grove, fairview, spanish fork, etc...

-got a job! and thus began the learning, fighting, struggling, frustrating, and hard days as a new nurse.

JULY
-Brad Paisley concert @ stadium of fire with the fam.
-J.Wride concert
-Golden birthday! turned 23 on the 23rd and partied all week long to celebrate.

AUGUST

-Steph & Ryan Wed!!

-Cedar city trip with an overnighter in Vegas supporting mama Cynd at an interview.
-Work. work. more work.

SEPTEMBER
-Rascal Flatts Concert!! rocked out in the rain, and fell in love even more with my favorite band.

OCTOBER
-California roadtrip with Candice. Six flags, staying at beverly hills hilton, hollywood, santa monica, etc... great way to spend first weekend of october.

-Cornbelly's, pumpkin carving, caramel apple making and other fall festivities.
-Cartel Concert @ USU howl.

NOVEMBER
-reuniting with old friends @ celebration of Southern Utah Nursing. Celebrated our class's 100% pass rate.

-Thanksgiving with the fam at my parents house.

DECEMBER
-bought a truck, and gladly welcomed Hank into my fam.
-Jaxon turned one!
-work. work. work. worked so much it didn't even feel like the holidays.
-celebrated a great christmas and enjoyed traditions. also loved visiting with the elder and the best part was hearing him laugh.
-Brought in the new year.

2011 has been a wild ride, full of up's and downs (and many more things not mentioned on this long post). I'm excited for a fresh start, for a new year to have new adventures and experiences to go through. Who knows what will happen but all I can say is bring it on 2012!!!! cheers.