Getting Married!

So I realized that I never blogged about getting engaged, but it happened on August 14! If you want more details about the proposal email me or check out the knot website.

This weekend I went home to go wedding dress shopping and had so much fun! Here is a picture at Circle Bridal in Addison where we found THE dress!



Because we found THE dress at the first appointment we had, we used the other appointment at Alfred Angelo's as a bridesmaid dress shopping appointment. Here are some pictures from that.

get fit and stay fit...

I love being active! I love the outdoors! Bill and I love to workout together and train for things together. This February, Valentine's day actually, Bill and I are going to be running in a half marathon in Austin! This means I really need to get into shape! I do not think I have ever run more than 5 miles at one time before, so 13.1 miles here we come...

This year I did my first real triathlon. We did a triathlon at TWU in 2005 for softball for fall training to stay in shape. We wore our softball helmets as bike helmets. This year's triathlon was at the rec center at Tech. The swim was 400 meters, 13 mile bike ride, and 2.5 mile run. It was really cold in the morning so getting out of the pool was freezing.

The girl on the left is Marcia, she is my friend and bootcamp instructor. She does triathlons and marathons all the time. She didnt do this one because she had done one the day before. Then there is obviously me. Erin is next to me, and she also came out to support me. Next year she is doing it! NO EXCUSES!! Whitney is on the right, and she is my buddy from nursing school. I convinced her to do the triathlon as well, and she did awesome!

Just dont stop!!

In August, Bill and I rode in the Hotter n' Hell bike race. This year we rode 100k which ended up being about 66 miles. This was me showing off the jersey from this year...

Bill is much better than me!!

Weird?

Is it weird that we like to practice starting IVs on eachother in nursing school? Here is a picture after a successful IV start on Erin...

Today I registered for classes for my LAST semester! It is my 6th year of college, and I am more than ready! I started as an elementary education major and did 2.5 years of those classes until God called me in a completely different direction in a very unique way. I cant see myself doing anything else except for something in the medical field. I plan to get my master's and become a nurse practitioner, which only means more school ahead. I guess it is a good thing that I really do enjoy school.

If anyone has any tips on how to make my blog not so plain and boring, let me know!!

ER/ICU

Ever since I entered nursing school, I have really enjoyed acute care. I always want to get the most critical patient in clinicals, or always want to get in on any exciting action happening on the floor. I found out today that I got into the ER/ICU elective for my last semester of nursing school and I am very excited about it! We become ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) certified in the course. I am also excited because Erin got in as well.

I had an amazing weekend with Bill. We got to spend Friday night, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning playing golf together. Our time together lately has been limited because of nursing school, so it was amazing to get to spend so much time together!

CODE BLUE!

Well, today has been an interesting day! We got to run code blue's in the simulation lab, and that was pretty fun. I really enjoy working on adrenaline, and like when things are happening fast. I have been able to experience and do CPR on a real patient in a Code Blue situation, but the doctors were telling everyone what to do. Today, we had to figure it all out on our own as nursing students who arent ACLS certified. Good thing it wasnt a real patient! Nursing school has been consuming my life this past month, but I only have a few weeks left until I get a long break for Christmas! Only two exams left until finals!

I am doing a half-marathon in February with Bill so I really need to get the training into gear.

Intramural softball is still going on for both the coed and the mens team(which I play for). Both teams are in the playoffs, and tonight will be my 4th game of the week! If we continue winning on both teams, I will play 6 games next week!

National Blogger Month

OK OK!! I know that I have sucked at blogging and every time I say that I am going to get better... but its National Blog Month, meaning you are supposed to post every day, and I know I am a few days late... but I am going to try...

This is the story of my life lately...
This is at daybreak... where I spend most of my time studying. It is my favorite coffee shop. In fact three people who know me VERY well got me gift cards for my birthday, totaling 70$!! This has really helped out with the wedding budget. This is Erin in the picture... she is one of my bridesmaids, and also one of the ones who got me a giftcard. She has helped me have some sanity in nursing school. She is way smarter than me though!!

I have played intrameural softball the past two nights. We are in the playoffs. And yeah, I am on a men's team and a coed team. Dont ask how I ended up on the men's team, but they asked me to play.

Ok, so for those of you who actually read this, keep me accountable with blogging!!

SUMMER!

So I really suck at doing this blog thing so I am going to try to set a goal for myself to blog AT LEAST once a week!

This summer has been awesome despite being in school. The first half of the summer I took my OB course which at first I thought I was going to hate. I ended up loving it! I got to experience the birth of two babies, one of which was a natural birth. It was truly amazing to see God's miracle right in front of me. I promised myself that I would not cry, but I did anyways. Even though OB is not really my thing, I learned so much and thoroughly enjoyed the experience on the floor. We had to make a drug commercial for our OB class and here is the one that we made... I am just posting the link because I do not know how to post a video on here yet, if anyone knows please inform me :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1irlun-ZfI

I am now in my psyc nursing rotation which I was really excited about at first. I am now a little more hesitant as the clinical draws near. I leave for Big Spring State Hospital on Thursday and I am looking forward to see what that brings.

Bill got a new job recently in pediatrics and he loves it and he is good at what he does. I am so proud of him for working so hard! Even though at times things can be stressful, he still keeps going and keeps up with his training and I look up to him for that. He turned the BIG 27 this week and we had a great weekend. He is going to be the best man in Mike and Christina's wedding this weekend but I dont get to go :(. And its in my hometown even! Gotta love nursing school! MAY!

Also, I had the privilege of housing 15 guests a couple of weeks ago. If anyone knows where I live, you know that its not a place meant for 17 total people. There were air mattresses in the kitchen and in every crease of the house! We had such a blast though! The Serenity Church youth group from home came through Lubbock on their way to their mission trip in New Mexico, and I was able put them up for a couple of nights. We had a blast! I took them on a tour of the Tech campus, took them to the 8 million dollar leisure pool, and we had an awesome worship night in my living room. When they came back through, they stayed at my house again, and once again we had an amazing night of worship at my house. Vanessa, my roommate, did a Jesus painting that was incredible and touched my life as well as the lives of those who were here. Thanks Vanessa! I miss all of the people that came and am excited I will see them again in 25 days!

I also started working at the Heart Hospital this summer! I really enjoy working there as a nurse tech!

I will post some pictures soon.

start of my Holidays

So sorry I havent posted in FOREVER! As you know from previous posts my life has been a little bit crazy lately! I finally finished up my last clinicals this semester and all I have left is 5 tests! I am off for Thanksgiving now, and I dont go back until the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I have a test Monday, practicum Wednesday, test Friday. Then tests the next Mon, Tues, and Wed, and then I am all done until the new year!

I have got to spend some good time with Jeff and Sarah (brother and sister-in-law) this week and I met my new beautiful neice Harper Joy. We had a lot of fun together.

I also missed my cousin Wesley's wedding last weekend which I am sad about, but thats the life of a nursing student. "I'm sorry I can't" seems to be my most common phrase lately. I heard it was fun and everyone looked so cute. I really miss my fam up in Wyoming. I miss Kalen and Kaleb especially. Here are some pics of the family at the wedding...

I cannot believe how big they are!

All the cousins minus me.

Jeff, Kalen, Kaleb, and Gram
AKN and Aunt Sue

This afternoon I am off to the Ganns to spend the break with them. Tonight, Texas Tech plays OU! We are going to a "Texas Tech fans only" watching party at our pastor's house.

WRECK 'EM TECH!!

LOOONG WEEK!

Wow! So I did not do well at keeping up last week was so busy and here is why....

Monday- I had a Pathophysiology test and a Healthy Aging Quiz
Tuesday- I had a Fundamentals test and a double header in softball
Wednesday- Pharmacology practicum and then chart review for first day of clinicals at the hospital and women's softball game
Thursday-1st day of clinicals! I also had Celebration at 7
Friday- 2nd day of clinicals ALL day

So it may not sound like a lot to you guys but I was sooo exhausted and felt like I couldn't keep up.

About my clinicals...I got to scrub in on two procedures! Oh and I got to ride in an ambulance...and I wasnt the patient! The first procedure was a gallbladder removal and the second was a colonoscopy. I am going to do a little patient teaching here for a second... When you go in for your colonoscopy...MAKE SURE you follow doctors orders the night before and take the laxatives you are supposed to. That's all I have to say about that.

After the long first part of the week with all the tests I was able to go into the hospital for my clinicals, and it made it all worth it. Everything seems to finally be coming together and starting to make sense.

I also did race for the cure this weekend...5k run. It was really fun and there were a lot of people out there. It's great to see that many people come out for such a great cause.

Busy Busy Busy

I do not know why I do this... it happens EVERY semester. I tell myself I am not going to be so involved. And what happens? I become more involved than I was the previous semester. Nursing school is way more time consuming than I ever imagined. This is my first fall as a nursing student and the work seems never ending. The thing that is so different from classes in my prerequisites, is that all of the information is so critical. The information we learn has to do with real patients who are real people who really put their lives in the hands of the medical professionals. I cant just blow off the material or try to just memorize the night before the exam.

So about the over involvement:

-Mondays at 9 coed intrameural softball
-Tuesdays at 8&9 coed city league softball

-Wednesdays at 7- coed football

-Wednesdays at 8- women's team softball

These are only a few of the extra activities I have committed to for the fall. I am insane.

I feel like I missed out on the life of college football being at TWU, so I feel like I must go to EVERY game here at Tech.

I did hotter 'n hell bike ride this summer and it was so fun. I trained for the ride and rode the ride with Bill. We had so much fun! We did the 100K and hopefully next year will do the 100 mile.

I also am an aunt! My beautiful neice harper joy was born on 8-28-08. I cant wait to go see her!