Madness...

You may have noticed that I have not posted anything in over a year... Life has been absolute madness for the last little while. Life event#1: graduation! I finished the nursing program at the U and graduated having received a full ride scholarship on my last year and with nursing honors. I am very proud of finishing school at all, since I just wanted to have a college degree by the time I turned 30. I barely made it :) Life event#2: bought a home Doug and I had been looking at houses for months on end and finally found one we could afford, and covered all of my wants and his wants. The home buying process was stressful, and more costly than we could have imagined, but we finally signed documents, got the loan and moved in! ( granted, on finals week...). While the timing wasn't the best, we made it work, and even drove the kids to their school in salt lake city all the way from home in Saratoga springs. Thank goodness for summer break and a new school! Life event #3: puppy I had wanted to have a dog almost my entire married life, and for those 12 years, we were unable to make that happen. As soon as we bought the house and all, I started to seriously look at dogs of breeds that are hypoallergenic (which doesn't guarantee that it won't be a problem, but does mean it is less likely). We found our dog, Colonel Watson, on a KSL ad, and we love him so much! Can't get any cuter! life event #4: boards Some of you may know a little about nursing school... We must take the NCLEX exam to have a license to practice. It is a computer adaptive test, and you must demonstrate your knowledge on increasingly difficult questions of nursing analysis, or you will be given questions that are less difficult and therefore not passing level questions. The exam can have anywhere from 75 to 265 questions, so if your exam shuts down after question 75, you did very well, or you failed miserably. Although I prepared for the exam, I was terrified when it shut down at 75 questions. I found out last week that I passed my boards, Halleluiah!!! Life event #5: the job I had at this point, submitted over 40 applications for employment, and had one interview. I decided, after going to church one week, that I needed fast about this, and so I did. That very night, I got a text from a friend, informing me that she was going to turn down a job in pediatrics, and asking if I wanted to apply for this job. I was of course, grateful for this and applied immediately. The day that I presented the nclex, I found out I had the job!!! I have since started training and working graves (hence why I am up writing this at this time). All in all, a great last few weeks, and while I am leaving out a great deal of unpleasant developments, I am grateful for all of this, and excited for a life full of changes. Thanks for reading, Laura

Birthday time!

Oh, my cute little son, and how I love him!

Yes, I love my boy. He is the cutest little stinker that ever lived. And, boy, do I miss being with him all day... Curse you kindergarten, and nursing school!

Unfortunately for me, I decided to get a college degree a little later than I should have, and now, I am so busy with everything college related, that I almost forgot it was my little boy's birthday (relax people, I did have a gift for him, and Daddy made sure to buy him some gifts after work as well. The only thing he wanted that he didn't get was a piñata, but if you have been to our apartment, you know why that is an impossibility...) No longer is he a widdle baby, he is now a grown up man of 6!

Yep, approximately 6 years year ago, in the frigid weather of Wisconsin, the hubby and I were slip sliding through Madison on our way to St. Mary's hospital, frantically and carefully as we could, given the -27 degree weather, and the iced roads. A few hours earlier, I had attempted to go to a child's funeral and had slipped in the ice falling into a majestic split that I still remember as being oddly painless.

Indeed, like everything else my sweet little guy has done, this was an entrance to be remembered. My little man, was the cutest little blond baby, and everyone was just as astonished as I was. What a wonderful gift, what an undeserving recipient!

Happy birthday Logan, may all your little wishes come true!

First semester, nursing craziness.

First came the excitement, the purchases (stethoscope, uniforms, books), and last came reality...

Truthfully, I don't know how I made it through first semester. The very first day in orientation, when we were given our clinical assignments, I began to understand that my life as it had been was about to change drastically. For those who may read this, understand this: when in nursing school, you must give up control over everything. The most infuriating thing about this was the fact that different clinical instructors had different expectations for the students, and for some reason, I was in the group that had to do a lot of preparatory work prior to clinical. It was so annoying to have to work day and night just to keep up, while others had plenty of time to do all of their assignments. Outside of that, the classes were challenging but still interesting, all the way until the end of the semester, when things became worse after I realized that my most challenging class (pharmacology) would have 3 exams (no, I am not exaggerating) in the last two weeks of the semester. Overall, I had 6 exams, after one was cancelled by the *best* nursing teacher ever! However, just like I imagined, it really hit me like a ton of bricks to have to do all of those, and like everyone else in my cohort, I am just glad it's over. I cannot claim to not have known how challenging this would be, but there is one thing that did surprise me. Everyone said that we would make lifelong friends here in nursing school, and I have to admit that I didn't believe them, but it is absolutely true. We have studied together, shared our lives, hopes and dreams, laughed, cried (OK, maybe it was just me that cried, but my nursing school friends were there for me, with a tissue at the ready) and I am so glad that I got to know these wonderful girls. I cannot imagine it any other way. Of course, now that we are close, the school changed everything around, and I have not a single friend in my new clinical site. *sigh*... Time to make new lifelong friends!! Finally, I would like to add that reading the scriptures before studying for exams is the absolute best thing I ever did in nursing school. I have no way of explaining how in the world I was able to get good grades in some of the tests I took, it had to be the hand of God helping me. For the first time in a long time, I actually had the courage to ask Doug to give me a blessing right before a big test on finals week. The very first thing said was that Heavenly Father was pleased with me and my effort. That was the best thing ever! Of course, I was advised to seek the Lord's help, and that he was ready to help me. Which gave me enough peace to allow me a peaceful night's sleep. I still find it funny that I dreamt of chasing kittens all around my house, picking them up and putting them in my pockets, but still, I slept soundly enough to dream... :) The one thing I do regret is that I was barely able to give my family any attention except for FHE. I made a point of taking that afternoon off and I am thankful I did. Adela was so excited to have me home to herself today, she is so sweet... I can't wait for Christmas, I get to see my family in Houston, and get some much needed R&R. And so it is, until next time!

Summer!!!!

Most of the people that know about this blog are also on my facebook, so I decided not to post pics of my Colombia trip since it will be a little redundant. I had a blast in Cartagena, although it was not without its challenges, and had an even better time in Bucaramanga. Most of my family lives in Bucaramanaga, and I got to see family members that I had not seen since I was 16 years old, way too long ago. It was pretty tough to say goodbye, and although I tried to keep it together the entire last day, I spent most of the plane ride crying uncontrollably. After I got off the first plane, I wondered what everyone else in the plane was thinking about all that, but Oh, well... can't always hold it in, and I definitely couldn't that day.
After we came home, I started to work on some family history research. I went online to find the call numbers for the micro-fiches I wanted to look at, and to my surprise there was a link to view the records on PDF form!! That proved to be the best thing for me. I went to look at my mother's side of the family, since it is the one I know about the least, and I do know where they are from, and found so much information. I was able to trace back ancestors to the 6th generation back, but since they all seemed to die quite young, I went back only to about the 1900's. The next day I looked up my father's side, I was also able to trace back to the 6th generation, but on their side I went pack to the late 1700's. I was so shocked to see on the official records mentions of the cost of registration being in Reales, or the Spanish coins used by the king at the time!!! (Colombia used to be a Spanish colony) It is almost bizarre for me to look at these records... So many children in my family who I never even knew about because they died young, and even a set of twins that not even my dad knew about!
On a more personal note, some of you might even think I am crazy, and to be fair, sometimes I am :) BUT I want to share this nevertheless. A few years ago (before 2005), I had a very interesting dream. I was at my grandpa's place in Bucaramanga, walking on their hall, and I even felt the same familiar comfortable feeling of being home. I looked at one of their walls, which is usually bare, and saw a collection of old pictures. in the center there was a metal family tree with pictures, instead of names on the branches. In it, I saw a girl I didn't recognize, and I just asked out loud who this girl was. My mom and aunt where there and told me that she died very young, and that no one knew her because her work was not done yet, and then I woke up.
When I talked to my mom next, I asked her whether there was any girl that died young in her family, and she said no, that there was an uncle of hers on her mother's side who died young, but no one else to her knowledge. I then told her about my dream, and she said maybe it was her uncle, but I knew it had to be a girl for it to make sense.
So, as I was looking up her ancestors in Simacota, I found a girl, Socorro Gomez, who died only a year before both of her parents died, and this all occurred when my grandpa was only a few years old. He may or may not remember her, but obviously didn't tell anyone about her, and I am so glad I looked them up.
I have a new found appreciation for my little family and my children since I have done this. They are my most precious inheritance, and I should never forget it.
I must go now and do some more mundane things, I have to get ready for nursing school, Emma's and Logan's school shopping, and catch up on cleaning, which I have put off for far too long....
Ta ta!!!

A new journey!

Since I have three finals in a couple of days, I really can't write for too long today, but I wanted to say a couple of things about the latest news... I have been accepted into the University of Utah college of nursing, and will be starting to work toward my nursing degree in August! I am very excited, and relieved... this will be a good thing for us.
For a while there, I was very worried about this whole thing, but Heavenly father was mindful of me, and sent many wonderful people my way lately to be kind and comfort me. The anxiety level was very high for me, for many different reasons, but I found that even the lessons that were taught at church in the last week made me feel better. I started school to ensure a better future for my family, and getting into this program gives me a great deal of peace of mind. In two years, I will be a nurse, and while the program is tough, I know my father in heaven will help me, just as he has so far.
I also want to enclose a picture of Doug and I. He always makes funny faces when I take a picture, so this is the best one of the bunch. I have now lost a total of 18 lbs since I first started, and have a long way to go, but I am confident I will be a lot healthier very soon.
So there it is, I am glad I have people to share the wonderful news with, and very happy that my family supports me in all of this, especially Doug. None of it would be possible without him. I am going to be a nurse!!!!

Recent events

First, I will talk about the mundane, and then I will talk about the exciting stuff!
Today I am at work, and I feel very self conscious because... well let's start at yesterday afternoon. I decided to work out, and used my brand new weight gloves (they have a 1/2 lb weight built in), and because they are rather tight on my hands, I decided to take my wedding ring off. I went to bed, went to work early today, and I feel almost naked without it! It is a very uneasy feeling not having my ring, and nobody else will notice it, I am sure, but this is the second time I have forgotten to put my ring back on after a workout. Hopefully soon, I will no longer need to take it off, if it is not the gloves, then the swelling in my hands do me in...
School has been going well, I had two exams creep up on me last week, and I only had 3 days to study, so everything else was delayed because of it... Next week I have my second pathophysiology exam, and I am trying to prepare for it now. I am also doing other stuff for my volunteer program. I will not run the program next year, so we are in a mad dash to get everything ready for the new program director. I have a person in mind to take it over, and she has applied for it, but we won't know the final decision until the end of March. What's more, I was supposed to let my coordinator know that she is the preferred choice, but as it turns out, the new coordinator will pick the new program director, and that person will not be picked until next week. In addition, I am almost to the end of my program funds, and I must buy more looms, then I can close the program to new people, and the next director will start over next year. I have enjoyed this experience, but in a way, I can't wait for it to be over...
Emma told me very proudly the other day that they had to take exams to assess their level of academic performance at her school, and that the teacher told everyone in the classroom that she was the only one to get 100%. I was very surprised, and almost didn't know what to say. Looking back, I wish I had made an even bigger deal about that, but I will talk to her soon about how proud I am of her.
That brings me to the exciting part: Emma was finally baptized (after many "issues" with the scheduling of the event), and it was a great turnout, more than 50 people were there! Most of Doug's family, and a lot of our ward friends were there, and I was very happy to see lots of kids that day. Doug's dad gave the most wonderful talk about the holy ghost, and it was truly an inspired talk. It was geared to the children, and he had props and visual aids, which made it really exciting for them. I hope that Emma remembers this day. She got a few gifts, and she loves the Book of Mormons we gave her, one in English, and one in Spanish. There was something very interesting that happened in the baptism, Emma has always had a fear of water, and she hates showering, bathing and swimming. It has taken us many years to get her to do all these things without screaming at the top of her lungs (if you are family, you know what I am talking about), and while I was not too worried about that, I think she may have been. When she came out of the water, one of the first things she told me, was that she was surprised that the water "didn't feel like water", and she said that when she was under the water she felt as if she was not in water at all. I knew that I would cry a lot that day, so I tried to stop myself and enjoy the day as much as possible, but I am a sentimental fool, so I did anyway. Most everything worked out just fine, so I was very happy, and exhausted at the end of the day.
This is one day I will always remember.

3 weeks

Well, I thought it was about time for me to post a progress report. It has been a little over three weeks since I started implementing my diet and exercise routine, and although the results have been rather slow, I have seen some changes.
1. I am no longer having breathing problems when I do light walking and exercise.
2. My blood pressure is back to normal, last time it was measured it was 115 over 60... YAY!!!
3. My clothes are getting quite loose on me, no need to get smaller clothes yet, but I am sure I will get there :)
4. I can put my wedding ring on ( it is a tight fit, so I will wait a little longer before wearing it again).
5. I am no longer in a constant hunger state, that was getting old...
6. I have lost 7 pounds since I started.
This is small but encouraging progress, and since I am using a program on my phone to count and track all of my food intake, it has become a lot easier to stop overeating. I am getting very excited!
Until next time...