Useful Life Lesson

When wanting to make hard-boiled eggs.... the proper sequence is as follows:

1. Put eggs in water.

2. Boil them.

Should you decide to switch these steps and try to add the eggs to water that is ALREADY boiling... this is what happens...

Not quite the same thing.

Lesson learned!

TEAS Examination

I'm getting closer and closer to turning in my Nursing Application!! Which is also tricky... because I'm trying to find a balance between being excited for maybe getting in and not so excited that I entirely fall apart if I'm not accepted...

But anyways! Today I'm going to complete two of the remaining three pieces of the application process.

From 12 PM - 4 PM today I will be taking the TEAS - or Test of Essential Academic Skills. Its a standardized ability test (think ACT/SAT type of thing) that covers Verbal Ability, Mathematics, and Science. I'm inclined to brush it off and not worry about it, as I have NEVER had a problem with standardized tests. But it's been 3-4 years since I've taken one!

After the test is complete, I will spend from 4 PM - 5 PM writing an impromptu timed essay. Which... again... I used to be AWESOME at. But AP English Junior year of high school is looking pretty far away right now.

These are two of the five or so things that are actually scored to rank me amongst the other applicants and determine who will be admitted. So here's hoping they go well!!

New Acquisitions!

We are beginning to experience the wonderful sales that happen at the end of the school year as people move out of Wymount and can't/don't want to take everything with them!

Thanks to these opportunities we have added two new pieces of furniture to our apartment!!

The first is an old yellow rocking chair.

Which Jake was manly enough to carry home. I helped... by carrying the seat cushion!

Here is the new chair at home in our apartment. We are still working on exactly where we want to put it in the apartment. We have a few ideas... but we might just move it back and forth depending on where we want to have it at that time.

Personally, I'm planning on setting it out on the balcony some mornings this summer to read/work on cross stitch/etc. How fun!

Here is the before picture of Jake's "Desk" space....

He has been using our card table.

NOW!! The after picture!!

A cute, little, REAL desk! With shelves for books, the printer, and office supplies! And I don't have to worry about the weight of the massive monitor warping our nice card table!

AND it even matches the rest of our living room stuff well.

All in all...$40 well spent.

Spring Cleaning

The weather is getting nice! The semester is drawing to a close! Any other year, it'd be time to start packing and cleaning to move out. BUT NOT THIS YEAR!!!

I am excited that we don't have to move out immediately after the last final! We get to stay in our apartment! That really helps lessen the stress!!

However... I think the cleaning needs to stay. :-)

So today I'm starting on Spring Cleaning. It may not be a one day thing. It may get spread out over a week, or even two. But today I start!

Right now, I'm working on the kitchen. I won't make too much progress on the deep cleaning stuff until I catch up on the dishes though... Which is one of my least favorite chores. But I'm working on it! With the help of Pandora and 80s music, progress will be made!

I think my reward for when I finish cleaning will be starting my balcony garden.

Jake's Last Day of School!!!

Today was Jake's last day of classes for the semester!! He is pretty excited! And I'm proud of him for working so hard! He has had some hard classes - Organic Chemistry, Physics, Human Biology, and Pearl of Great Price. He has two days off before he starts finals on Friday.

We are going to go to lunch at Olive Garden tomorrow after my Physiology Test (I don't finish the semester until the first week of May) to celebrate! Unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks for $7 a person! YUM!

Is Spring Finally Here??

I'm ready for Spring to get here already!!! It seems like Spring today, but Mother Nature keeps teasing us!! We've had 2-3 snowstorms this week! But there have also been days where it has been in the 50s and 60s! I want the weather to even out so I can enjoy it!

Of course, with spring comes the end of the semester! Jake finishes his final exams up in two weeks. Butch and Patty (Jake's parents) are coming out to visit for a week at the end of this month. Jake starts his Spring Term classes April 27th (I think). I finish my finals on May 6th, and my Nursing Application is due the end of May. So there are some sources of stress coming up.

NOT THAT JAKE'S PARENTS COMING IS A SOURCE OF STRESS!! HaHa. I just realized what that could sound like. We look forward to their visit! :-) It will be the break from our stress.

But I want to be able to sit on our balcony in the evenings! I want to be able to go for walks! And drives and hikes in the mountains! I want to go tubing down the river and go camping!!

MOTHER NATURE!! PLEASE LET SPRING STAY THIS TIME!!!

Today I Appreciate My Job

So... there have been times over the last few months that I have REALLY wanted to quit my job. For real. But, today was not one of those days. For a few reasons.

First, we had THREE people come in wanting to fill out job applications. Two CNAs and one RN. We aren't hiring. But it just reminds me how much it sucks to be looking for a job right now. I already knew this, as I've been keeping an eye out for a Phlebotomy position. But... I'm so glad that I have a job! It's really hard. Especially in this valley where there are 3+ colleges/universities with students who will work for tiny wages, etc. I'm SUPER glad since Jake hasn't been able to find a job since we moved back here last June. So at least one of us is able to bring in some moneys to offset the student loans.

Secondly, I had a little bit of time at the end of my shift that reminded me that I really do enjoy what I get to do. We got a new patient today and right before my shift ended (my TWELVE HOUR shift, I'd like to add), her husband came down to our desk and asked if we could come help with some stuff. As I was walking down to her room, I saw the girl who was arriving for the next shift come through the front door. Because I knew they weren't short handed or anything, I was able to take my time working with this patient and getting to talk with her and her husband for a few minutes. It reminded me why I'm in this business after all. :-)

Festival of Colors

Last weekend, Jake and I went down to Spanish Fork for the Festival of Colors at the Krishna Temple. Last year was our first year going and we had a blast! We rode the bus down for an afternoon of fun and excitement! And the weather was great!

The festival is about spreading love and cleansing the air of evil spirits for the year. They burn a straw effigy of a witch goddess and then everyone throws colored powder into the air/at each other which is supposed to chase away demons. It makes for some pretty good pictures!

I brought some isolation masks from works so that we'd still be able to breathe as the air clouded up with the chalk.

While we waited for the throwing of the colors, we visited the llamas that they raise on the temple grounds. This one had already gotten some color!

Here's the two of us after we were covered in powder!! Remember, that both of our shirts are actually black! That's how much we have on us!

This is maybe one of my favorite pictures of Jake from the day! He looks like the villain out of some post-apocalyptic horror movie!

The mass exodus of people leaving the temple after the festival was over. We were in that crowd too. Parking gets backed up along the road for miles. So we hiked several miles (at least it seemed like several miles... I'm not sure how far it actually was), into Spanish Fork. A restaurant - Lon's Barbeque - was having a special for people returning from the festival. They were right across the street from the bus stop, so we decided to have dinner while we waited to return to Provo.

We tried FRIED CAULIFLOWER! I was really skeptical about it, but Jake wanted to try it so we did. It was DELICIOUS!!!

The two of us after dinner, ready to go home and get cleaned up.

Nursing Application

This is my application for the Nursing Program. I picked it up in February, but have decided not to do too much with it until I was back from Nebraska.

Now I'm back.

So today I started working on it for real.

Today, I signed up for a CPR class. I already have the American Red Cross CPR/AED for Professional Rescuers certification. But... they require the American Heart Association's Basic Life Support for Health Care Providers certification. So I have to redo it... Hopefully it'll be easier since it'll be the third CPR class I've taken in just over two years.

I also ordered a copy of my ACT scores. (If I submit verification of an ACT score over 21, then I don't have to take a college placement test... Since my score was over 21 I'm going with that route). If you aren't still in High School, it's kind of a lame deal to get your test scores. I have to pay $17 just for them to LOOK for my scores in the archives! With no guarantee that they will find them! That is in addition to the fee for them to send them! How silly!

Tomorrow, I need to send my Utah CNA license back to the licensing people... I need it corrected... Right now it says "Mary A. Herrington"... but last time I checked my middle name wasn't "Alizabeth"... I figure maybe I should make sure it matches the name on my application when I submit it.

I still have to round up some verification of paying my application fee, High School Diploma, etc. and sign up for my essay and the standardized entrance exam I have to take. But great progress is being made!

Safely Back in Utah!!

I made it safely back to Utah!!

I flew out of Omaha late Wednesday morning. That's my plane up there. The first flight was rather uneventful, BUT there was some excitement during my 3 1/2 hour layover in Denver!!

I ran into my best friend from when I attended Kindergarten/First Grade in Wyoming - Rickay Pillen!! I haven't seen her since we moved to Nebraska. It was fun to catch up with her and get to meet her new daughter Paetyn. It sure can be a small world.

After getting to Salt Lake, we found out that my bags had taken a different flight from Denver than I had and that they'd been temporarily misplaced. We hung around the airport and eventually they located them - on a delivery van in Park City! We did get them that night AND the airline gave us a $50 travel voucher for our troubles!

Jake treated me to dinner at the new Sizzler's in Orem on our way home (I told him I didn't want to cook!). It was great!

Now I'm safely back at home and VERY excited to be back with Jake.

Norabel's Wedding

I flew out to Nebraska last Thursday. One of my best friends from growing up - Norabel Martinez - who was the Maid of Honor for my wedding (see below) got married on Saturday!!

My camera hasn't been quite the same after it took its trip down the Provo River last summer... so despite having JUST replaced its batteries, it decided to die on me. Consequently, these were the best and only pictures I wound up with.

As I side note, I feel like I was cheated out of this shot at my own wedding. Everyone I know who has been married at the Winter Quarters Temple has been able to take the staged "coming out of the temple doors" picture. But the day we tried to do it, one of the temple ladies got all mad and kept saying that we weren't allowed to take the picture and that no one was ever allowed to take that picture.... despite the fact that *evidently* I still haven't let go of that, I am glad that Norabel got the picture.

After attending the sealing in the morning, we got to go to the reception that evening. It was great, good food, good music, the whole deal. (I was particularly impressed by the DJ's decision to play Single Ladies during the bouquet throw! Win.)

They also had the neatest mementos on the tables at the reception! Bookmarks with the basic theme of "Love Grows", and a part of the design was a detachable segment with seeds in the paper. So you're supposed to rip it up, plant/water it, and then you get a lovely plant that will grow like their love!! Awesome. Perhaps I shouldn't admit this on the internet, but I raided some of the empty tables as we left and took home a couple extra. I thought it was the best wedding idea yet!

Here's the picture of the two of us from her reception. In my defense, I was diagnosed with strep the day before and spent the rest of the night after the reception sick in the bathroom. So I'm not looking my best, but she is beautiful!!

Olympics

Okay... So its been forever since we posted... But.... Oh well. Life gets crazy.

Jake and I have had fun watching the Olympics. And my favorite at the Winter Games is always the ice skating. So I made a fun little video tonight!

Hospice Volunteering

Remember last month, how I wrote about finishing my training as a Hospice Volunteer? Well, I've finally been assigned to a patient! And I got to meet her today!

She's not *actually* a patient. Her husband was the patient, and recently passed away. But they also offer bereavement services for I think up to a year or so. So my visiting her is part of her bereavement services.

But anyways, her name is Bluette. She's from Switzerland and is spunky as all get out! And her favorite color is... you guessed it!... Blue! :-)

I'm excited to get to know her and spend time with her! I hope we have a lot to offer each other!

Omaha Steaks

YUM!!

Last week, we got a BIG styrofoam cooler full of Omaha Steaks goodness! Steaks, and burgers, and steaks, and potatoes, and all sorts of yummy things! They filled up almost half of our freezer!

Tonight, we grilled up some of the burgers for dinner. And OH MAN were they good! A great dinner after a day full of classes and frustrations with financial aid, etc. :-)

Batman vs. The Giant Robot Monster

Last night, Jake and I got to go babysit Mike and Karen's two kids so they could go out on a date. We had a lot of fun.

We brought our Wii with us. So the evening started out playing a few games with Ethan. He really like the boxing games.

Halfway through a game of blocks, the Giant Robot Monster attacked and entered into epic battle with Batman!

I told Ethan to make his best "Giant Robot Face"... this is what I got!!

What a handsome superhero I married!!

And Emma was a cute adorable baby, as usual.

Trip to Salt Lake

Jake and I took a trip up to Salt Lake this evening! It had two parts.

PART #1

So.... I've been working on getting my Phlebotomy Certification for... about a year now. I enrolled in the six week course last January. I finished that at the end of February. I also had to complete a 40 hour externship. The only place around the valley that I could find that accepted externs was the BYU Health Center. Because of this, they were booked solid until September. So, in September through the middle of October, I worked at the health center and had a blast! So I've been DONE with all of my requirements for about 3 months now. We've just been dealing with a ton of drama trying to get my certificate from the Phlebotomy School. They have been trying to feed me some line about how the envelope they use to send them sometimes doesn't get delivered by the Postal Service. Whatever the reasons were that I wasn't receiving it, I got tired of them. And we finally told them that we would just drive up to Salt Lake and pick it up ourselves! And we finally got it!!

So I am now an official Phlebotomist!!

PART #2

Since the phlebotomy office is only open in the evenings, we obviously had to make an evening trip. Which meant that we were gone during dinner. I happened to find out that there was a Crown Burger restaurant only about 5-6 blocks from the office! And I LOVE Crown Burger! All the yummy pastrami goodness on a burger!

These burgers are so huge and yummy and filling!!

We also tried sweet potato fries for the first time! They were good. But every time I had one, my mouth had this strange transition to go from pastrami burger to sweet potatoes. haha. So... I would definitely eat them again... but maybe in a different meal combination!

Bringin' Home the Bacon

As I have previously discussed on this blog, I work as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) at a rehabilitation center in Orem (the next town over from Provo, for those of you unfamiliar with Utah Valley geography). It's a small facility, with a maximum capacity of 16 patients. We took a big drop in patients during the holidays, and for a long time were down to only 4 patients. So a lot of the CNAs took some big cuts in their hours. Up until we got back from our vacation, I hadn't worked since Thanksgiving. But... we got back the 30th and since then I have been working like crazy!! It's good, because right now this is our only source of income and we could use the money.

Here is my schedule for the last little bit:

Thursday, Dec 31: 7 AM - 7 PM (12 hours)

Friday, Jan 1: 7 AM - 7 PM (12 hours)

Saturday, Jan 2: 6 AM - 6 PM (12 hours)

Sunday, Jan 3: 4 PM - 12 AM (8 hours)

Monday, Jan 4: 7 AM - 7 PM (12 hours)

BUSY BUSY BUSY!!

Note especially that between Sunday night and Monday morning, there is only a 7 hour break! I stay till midnight and come back by 7 AM!

So far, I've survived. It's been tiring. But we could use the income and I really do love my job. Besides, after Monday I get the whole week off! And since I don't start classes until the 12th, I have a whole week to get things done around the apartment, play on the Wii Fit Plus that we got for Christmas that I haven't been able to explore yet, etc, etc, etc.

Only two days left!

Happy New Year!

We got back from Nebraska the evening of December 30th. So we were able to celebrate our first New Year's Eve as a married couple together in our apartment!

We still hadn't been grocery shopping. So rather than cooking, we ordered pizza. Which I was excited about. I LOVE pizza!! Possibly my most favorite food EVER!

We had picked up some sparkling cider before we left after finals. So the "bubbly" was on hand and chilled! I picked up the hats and glasses at Walgreens on my way from work. I worked a twelve hour day shift, which is why I look so tired/out of it.

The stems of the glasses lit up and changed colors. It did fun things with the bubbles, but its hard to capture that in a picture...

We watched a show on Discovery while we ate and then played a new Wii game for a while.

I had to be back at work by 7 AM on the first for another twelve hour shift. So we did our countdown and New Year's kiss at 10 PM instead of midnight. But it was a lot of fun and worked out just about right for us!

We are excited about this upcoming year and all it will bring for us!

Our (Short) Visit to Nebraska

We got to Nebraska about a day later than we originally planned (Thanks to the snowstorm). We arrived early the afternoon of the 26th. After some rest time, we had another Christmas present opening session with my family. Sunday evening, we headed out to the cabin my family had rented in Mahoney State Park by the Platte River.

I think this is such a funny picture! Jake took it from the backseat of the van as we drove to Mahoney. Laura and I just look so much alike!

The fireplace in our cabin. Kept us nice and toasty warm! I even got to light the fire one night.

This is the living room/dining room area in the cabin. It was a lot of fun. And mom made prime rib on Tuesday in honor of our last night there and an early celebration of her birthday (which was on Wednesday).

This is the view from the balcony of the cabin!

One night while we were there, Laura and I went ice skating.

It was a fun visit. And although it felt way too short (especially since we lost a day having to rearrange our travel plans for the weather), I'm really glad we got to go!

Christmas in Minnesota

After a sledding trip on Christmas Eve, we spent the ACTUAL Christmas Day (Dec. 25) in Minnesota with Jake's family. Because of the blizzard that hit the midwest the night before, we were unable to fly down to Nebraska until the 26th.

With over 20 people there for Christmas morning, there were WAY too many presents to all fit UNDER the tree... so we settled for them being near the tree.

Waiting for everyone to arrive. (Jake and I wore our footie pajamas)

Butch and Patty got a recordable storybook for each family with kids. As the kids open each page, they hear their grandparent's voices reading them the story. Here, Nathan and Daniel (two of Dave and Jocelyn's sons) are trying it out.

I held Emma (Mike and Karen's daughter) for most of the morning. She was such a good cheery baby through the 2 1/2 hours of present opening!

This is my favorite picture of the morning! Jake and I in our footie pajamas holding two babies in their footie pajamas. I'm holding Mike and Karen's daughter, Emma. Jake is holding Dave and Jocelyn's newest son, Asher.