What Makes Me Inexplicably Happy

Do I need say more? Something about these little puffs of goodness warms my soul. Don't they say something about us reverting back to our childhood ways when we're under stress? I must be quite stressed then, with the way I fly through these bad boys. I held off at my last grocery store visit, thinking that I needed something healthier. Usually I enjoy a good bowl of Raisin Bran Crunch or Special K or Wheaties. But lately, it's all about the Golden Puffs. After two weeks of denial, I finally gave in today. And bought, not one, but two bags. Super sized. :)

urinary chorionic gonadotropin

Should I explain the title? I went to put "Update" in the title, and a bunch of things starting with "U" popped up. And this was the funniest one. What's ironic though, is I just graduated from nursing school and I can't remember what in the world that is!! haha!

So much is going on. I am terrible at keeping up. First of all, I (randomly) applied for a job at the VA's SICU where my friend Laura works, and thought there was pretty much no chance of me getting the job. But I got it! It's kind of sad though, because I have to leave a job I love. I know that making the switch is the right choice for me right now, and I am very excited to get some good critical care experience. But it will be hard to say goodbye to all the people I love at my work, and the job that I know so well and I'm already good at!

Secondly, I took a couple days off last week, so that Rob and I could go enjoy a few days in the SUN during his spring break. It was AWESOME. And very much needed. We've definitely been seeing the sun more here in Utah lately, but the sun in Vegas is so different. We could wear shorts, and lay out at the pool, and complain about being hot. It was so great. We stayed at a sweet hotel the first night, because being a Thursday, even the nice hotels had great rates. And we saw Phantom of the Opera that night! It was so good! I am almost embarassed to admit, but at the ripe old age of 23, I have never seen the play, read the story, or watched the movie. So it was a first for me, and a very well-worth-it one! However, the next night, we definitely experienced the ghetto of Vegas. haha. We are cheap, and so not wanting to pay a lot of money for a weekend night's rate at a hotel, we looked up a bunch of motels and called around to find the cheapest one. Picture this: we spent $30 to stay in Vegas on a Friday night, right on the Strip. Can you imagine how bad it was?? haha. It will definitely be a fun memory, even though at the time, waking up multiple times to make sure the sheet wasn't actually touching me, wasn't my idea of a good night's rest. :) I took some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

























That night, we also walked the strip, which if you've never done it, you need to be warned to not look on the ground. And I almost freaked out on a bunch of guys trying to hand my husband porn! So gross!! Don't they see he's WITH a girl?!

And last of all, we finally made a trip to the dentist after 2 years! We both hadn't been since before we got married. Partly, because the first year we didn't have dental insurance. But since we've had it now for about 11 months, I guess our excuse is just that we're busy. (Or lazy, one of the two.) But it was great, we both had great teeth, and no cavities! I took this cute picture of Rob getting his "fluoride treatment." (The last picture is to show you how cute Rob really is. The fluoride picture doesn't do him justice. Here he is cuddling with Jack and Lucy, the cutest twins in the world!)


























**Addendum to Post: I think I just remembered what the title means! To my nursing friends: is it like beta-hcg, but measured in the urine??

hmm...

I can't decide if it's AWESOME or pathetic that my first paycheck as an RN more than doubled the amount in my checking account...

Time Well Spent

So how does a college graduate who just passed their NCLEX spend their free time, you ask?

Cleaning a much-in-need house?
Studying for ACLS?
Training for the big run in a few months?

No no, none of those useful things. This beautiful Monday morning that I didn't have to go to work, I have been blog stalking, and FB stalking, and shopping online. And it feels GREAT! A free day, to do with what I will. And that my friends, is time well spent.

Just wanted to share a picture or two. Amy and I attempted making t-shirt scarves. Too bad the instructions said you only needed a size M adult shirt. Boy were they wrong.

And this is really just a continuation of the last post... We went on our first cruise! It was a BLAST. We spent 7 days cruising down the Mexican Riviera, from L.A. to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. Here are some of our favorite pictures! It was so nice to see and feel the beautiful sun instead of the ugly Utah inversion!






This is us getting onto the ginormous ship.












This is the first formal night. It was so fun to get dressed up!
















This was my one of my favorite of the little animals we found in our room every night. So creative!







In Cabo San Lucas, we went to the Rock Island and spent the day on "Lover's Beach."







Playing mini-golf on the Sports Deck of the cruise ship. They even had a rock climbing wall and an ice skating rink!!


Why are sunsets so much more amazing in Mexico?





















This is a little town called Boca de Tomatlan, where we took army trucks to this little rural place, then rode donkeys up a mountain, and took a bunch of zip lines back down. We even got to repel down waterfalls! It was awesome. Too bad they didn't let us take any pictures during that part :(


This is another day when we went horseback riding and hung out at the beach. We had a cool little guide named Martine, who knew very little English, but somehow we managed to get along.






This is a picture of the inside of the cruise ship. It was so huge! 14 floors of everything you can imagine.



And this was my entertainment on the 12 hour drive home. Can you see I got 3 Yahtzee's in one game?!? Pretty sure that's gotta be the ALL-TIME high score!

Fun in the Winter Sun

Believe it or not, we're still alive! It's been a crazy couple of months, with tons of changes, accomplishments, and best of all...vacation time! Here's a look at what we've been up to:












Seeing the lights at Temple Square, a classic, and must-do every Christmas season. You can't see Drew, Leah, Saige, and Lilly, but they were there too.














Then... GRADUATION of course! Official this time. I am done forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and. . . (Can't you tell how grown up we are??)




Best nursing friends ever! These girls are lifers.









Our first Christmas on our own! It was so cute--Rob got up early and made my favorite hot chocolate, and had it in cute new mugs for us to sip with some donut holes while we opened up presents. LOVED it! (I look slightly possessed in this picture, but it was the best one to represent the wonderful morning)



And time spent at the cabin! It was way fun to have Dev and Jennie in town, and to act like no time had gone by. While we were at the cabin, we slept in, had couples tournaments of Rook/ping pong/foosball, days of snowshoeing and sledding, and basically SO MUCH FUN! I was the lucky one that got to hold Lucy during the only time she would go down the sledding hill!

the little things

today was a great day. why, you ask?

1. I got a Level 3 on my Community Nursing test, which class I despise, and test I did not study for. (A Level 3 is the best level, it means I get 100% on my grade, and I've only gotten like 2-3 in all of nursing school)

2. On my way back to work at 10:30AM, when I was dreading the already-full parking lot (which are terribly shaped to begin with and don't facilitate easy access, if you know where I work), I decided it wouldn't hurt to drive right up to the front. And ya know what was waiting for me? The very FIRST spot, closest to the door. (Okay, I just realized how ridiculously lazy I sound, but I did label this post "the little things" right?)

3. My work does pay by the fifteens, which means if you clock in between 7:52 and 8:07, your pay starts at 8. If you clock in between the 8:08 and 8:22, your pay starts at 8:15 and so on. I always shoot for the 7's and the 22's and 52's, and after my amazing parking spot, I got in at 10:37 on the dot! If this makes ANY sense to any of you, then props.

3. I did my presentation for the ER, which means I am OFFICIALLY done with clinicals. Forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4. I had a productive day, which is a definite endorphin-releaser for me, so I am in such a good mood :) and my husband just got home, which makes this day keep getting better!!