The Starr Life

It's a GIRL!!!

2011-12-13T10:57:00.000-08:00

I'm a little late in posting this since we found out the gender a few weeks ago! Oops. But we did find out that we will be having a little girl :) Brian told me he had a feeling it would be a girl while I was suprised cause I was thinking boy. :) But we are both so happy and excited!!

Things are going great. The baby must be growing cause my belly has sure gotten bigger! haha. I have felt some small movements here and there. Hopefully in the next week or so I will start feeling a little more. It's amazing that I can't feel something the size of a mango moving inside of me. :)

We are looking forward to Christmas. We will be going up to Idaho/Washington for several days. So excited for some relaxing time with no work! Not looking forward to leaving Magnus for 9 days though :( Wish we could take him with us. But happy to be spending Christmas with family. :)

Hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far! Here are some new pictures...

Our little girl

Magnus the Great

Arms/Hands

16 weeks

19 weeks. Getting bigger!

Fall Update

2011-11-15T10:18:00.000-08:00

Well things have been going great! I'm now over a week into the second trimester and I'm feeling good. I haven't been sick at all. Just tired and hungry all the time! But overall I can't complain too much. I'm already feeling huge though. I know I'm not but it's strange having this belly that I can't suck in! Haha. It's for a good cause though ;)

Brian is doing well. Work is good and his new business is coming along. He's part owner of a Veterinary Imaging business. They have had several clients and things are starting to pick up now that more vets know about them.

And our new pup Magnus is great. He's a pain sometimes but overall he is a good dog. We are working on all the fun training stuff. He doesn't mind the kennel and walks well on the leash (most of the time). It's great having a dog in the house again. And he's pretty darn cute so it makes up for the times that he's not so good.

So that's whats been happening here in Ventura.

P.S. We will be finding out the gender the week after Thanksgiving :)

Here are a few pics...

The peanut

"The Belly" @ 15 weeks

Brian and Magnus at the pumpkin patch

And now for my next trick...

2011-09-17T12:26:00.000-07:00

Some big changes are coming our way!! First we decide to get a puppy. We will be picking him up in October. His name is Magnus and we are very excited to have a dog in the house again. (for those that don't know, we took Freya back to the rescue because of some health issues). Well, now I feel a little like those families who decide to adopt a child after trying to have their own for so long, and then get pregnant as soon as everything is finalized. Haha. Cause that is basically what happened, except our adopted child is a dog. And now I am PREGNANT!! This is going to be interesting! We are both so excited and still a little in shock. I'm due May 7th. I'm feeling great so far. No morning sickness....yet...and let's hope it stays that way. I get tired here and there and I am constantly hungry! But otherwise it's not too bad. So I will try to update more often and let you all know how things are going. Here is a picture of my announcement while we were at the Magic Castle. I tried my hand at a magic trick and it didn't turn out exactly as planned but I still got the point across.

And here is a picture of our first ultrasound. It's a little hard to see but you can kind of make it out down in the left "corner". The round part is the yolk sac and the little blob next to it is the embryo. :) We were able to see the heart flicker. It was beating at a healthy 130 bpm.

What's been going on...

2011-04-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened in the last 4 months!! We moved last month to a new townhouse (it's awesome!!), bought a new car (a Prius!!), became Vegan (yes, you read that correctly), and yesterday....we rescued a dog!! Her name is Freya. She is a Pit-bull/dalmation mix and she is great! She is about 1 year old and needs a little training but overall she is a very sweet dog. It's great to have a dog in the house again. We are off to take her to the dog park right now so this is just a quick update. I will post pictures soon.

2010-12-19T12:02:00.000-08:00

Gidget Starr 11/19/04 - 12/16/10

Such a loyal, loving companion and friend who will live in our hearts forever.

Gidget

2010-12-08T20:24:00.001-08:00

Rainy Day

2010-10-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

It's raining here in Ventura...and I'm loving it! We had 3 super hot days last week and then bam...rain. It's kind of a bummer that summer decided to skip us this year but I am happy that it is fall and getting into the holiday season...although I am in no way prepared for it! Haha. But I do love rainy days where I can enjoy being in the house doing whatever. It is deffinately putting me in the baking mood though! Which is good and bad...good for all our friends and coworkers....bad for my waistline! So that's what I'm doing today. Just taking it easy, enjoying the sounds of the rain and contemplating what to bake next...even though I should probably fold the laundry....nah!!!

Catching up....

2010-08-27T10:27:00.001-07:00

I guess I have some catching up to do! I have been really busy with work and have just forgotten to blog! The past 2 months have been busy and fun. We have gone on some day hikes, traveled up to Sacramento for a few days to visit with my family, camped over night in Malibu, gone to Solvang a few times, went to the Fair (mini donuts!!!) and saw Sublime in concert, gone to Santa Barbara several times and walked along the beach and down State St, visited with Brian's parents (that was just this week!), and lots of other stuff I'm forgetting at the moment. It has been a good summer for sure. Other than the crummy weather here in Ventura. It has been gloomy since June and is finally starting to warm up but it is supposed to be cold again next week. Maybe we will have a warm fall...

We had a nice visit with Brian's parents this week. They were down visiting from Idaho. Yesterday we met them in Santa Barbara and drove up to Solvang. We ate at the Red Viking and had Shmorgisborg, walked around town - I got an Aebleskiver pan!, ate Aebleskiver from Solvang restaurant, and got fudge. It was a fun, hot! day and it was great seeing Brian's parents since we haven't seen them since New Years!

In other news...I just transfered to Labor and Delivery!! I am really excited about it. The first 2 days of training went great. I remember a lot of stuff from last year when I precepted there at the end of school, so I am picking things up pretty quickly. I know there is a lot more to learn though and I am looking forward to it! :) I am so happy to finally be in the department I have wanted to be in for so long! I really like post partum but it was getting very monotonous, but I still am doing 1 day a week at VCMC in post partum. Working 4 days a week keeps me really busy. I really appreciate my days off!!

Brian's work is pretty much the same. It's really nice that it is so flexible most of the time though. He is usually able to take a day off if I am off too so that we can spend the day together.

And Gidget is Gidget. :) She is just a happy dog who enjoys laying in the sun and chasing her ball. And of course going on any of the trips we go on too. She is such a good dog in the car it makes it easy for us to take her with us pretty much any where we go. She will be 6 in just a few months!! How time flies!

Well, that is life right now here at the Starr home. Here are a few pictures of our adventures the past few months...

Happy 4th!

2010-07-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July to everyone out there in the blog universe!! I hope you have a wonderful day celebrating life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!!!

8 YEARS!

2010-05-19T21:25:00.000-07:00

I still can hardly believe that it has been 8 years since Brian and I tied the knot! It sure has gone by fast! We had a great weekend down in San Diego to celebrate. We went out into Mission Bay on a paddle boat, walked around Coronado, had dinner in the Gaslamp district, and went to the Zoo!! It was a fun weekend and even though it was overcast pretty much the whole time, it was still nice to get away and spend a few relaxing days together. Here are a few pictures from our trip. :)

A little update

2010-02-26T23:04:00.000-08:00

No...we haven't fallen off the face of the earth! I have just been busy with work and nothing too exciting has been happening. I am still working 3 nights a week at CMH on the Post Partum floor. I have also been floating to Pediatrics here and there. And next week I start my training over at VCMC. I am really excited to be working there too. I will be in Post Partum over there but will just be per-diem (so a few shifts a month). It will deffinately take a little getting used to, having 2 jobs and all, but I figured I might as well do it now while I am still young and while we don't have kids! So my life is pretty much work, walking Gidget, the gym, hanging out with Brian when I can, baking goodies here and there, and sleeping. Haha! Brian is doing well too. He works 4 days a week and occasionally gets called in on the weekends for an emergency CT but it's not too bad. I usuallly get to see him for a few minutes before I head off to work in the evening and then an hour or so in the morning while we have breakfast before he goes off to work and I go to sleep. That's the life of a night nurse I guess! Brian is doing an on-line class right now and is planning on taking another class or 2 during the summer. Our plans after that...not too sure at this point. We would really like to move up to Washington but not sure if it's going to be the end of this year, begining of next year or later! I do really want to move but I also love California!! So we will see how this year goes and decide from there. So as you can see, our life is really exciting right now! I will try to be better about blogging and get some pics up of something....of what I don't know... maybe of Gidget at the beach. oh, oh, oh....one exciting thing...I got an I-phone! K, maybe that's not exciting to you but I think it is fantastic! Don't know how I lived without it before!!

Trip to Idaho/Washington

2010-01-06T18:34:00.000-08:00

Our trip up north was awesome! Christmas was pretty relaxed. We had Christmas morning at home after I got home from work, then I slept most of the day. We left the 26th and arrived that afternoon in Spokane WA! We had the big Christmas dinner that night at Brian's parents' house in Hayden Lake, ID. They live on Avondale lake which freezes during winter. It was so cool to walk out on a frozen lake! We saw ice fishermen almost every morning, as well as some hockey games. We went on a little "cruise" on Lake Coeur d' Alene one night, we went snowboarding, drove around Spokane (which we may call home in the not to distant future), and just hung out. It was a great week and we were so glad we were able to see Brian's parents, 2 of his brothers and their kids. And we loved the snow!! It was great...until it rained and melted it all!! haha. Luckily that was the last 2 days we were there. We got home on Saturday and settled back into "regular life". Gidget was deffinately happy to see us...but we were probably were more excited to see her. So that is our vacation in a nut shell. Here are some pictures...

It's Christmas time!!

2009-12-15T18:09:00.000-08:00

I love our lights! But as you can see, we like to combine our holidays....yes those are our uncarved halloween pumpkins by the door :)

Gidget waiting for Santa...or just fed up with me. Take your pick :)

She was so excited

Our tree!!!

So that's pretty much all our decorations except for a few other little things around the house. We had fun decorating and putting up the tree. Gidget especially liked helping us pick it out. There are many things to smell at a Christmas tree lot!!! Hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season so far. 10 days to go!!!

Gobble, Gobble...

2009-11-26T09:54:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving!!! I am thankful for a beautiful place to live, a roof over my head, an amazing, handsome, loving, most best husband ever!, and for the best dog in the world...and of course for all my family and friends!!! Have some yummy food for me! I will be working tonight and I'm sure all my co-workers will be bringing in some good food...but there's nothing like sitting around the dinner table with your family (or friends in Brian's case...He's going over to a friends for dinner tonight). So enjoy!!! And I will be seeing all my Sacto family tomorrow night! Love to everyone!!! Happy Turkey Day!

Birthday Time!!!

2009-11-02T22:08:00.000-08:00

My birthday was great!!! We had some friends over the Saturday before and enjoyed some Costco pizza and other yummy goodies. Monday Brian took me out to breakfast at one of my favorite breakfast places here in Ventura - Cafe Nouveau. So delicious. We spent the afternoon walking on the beach with Gidget. It was a great "day before my birthday". Then on Tuesday we headed out for Disneyland. It was a perfect day. It was only about 70 degrees so it was never too hot. The park only stayed open till 5pm which was kind of a bummer but we had plenty of time to get on all the rides. We only had to wait maybe 5-10 minutes for most! We had a really fun time together. After Disney, Brian took me to dinner in Venice Beach at an awesome restaurant called Baby Blue's BBQ. It was the best BBQ I think I have ever had. If you are ever in Venice be sure to check it out. It is amazingly good. The day after my birthday my Mom came to town and we went to lunch and then went for a fun shopping trip. Thanks Mom!! I love all my new clothes. So that was my birthday! It was a very fun couple of days. Here are a few pics...I pulled it out...It's now hanging on our wall...Thunder Mountain...Here we are at Baby Blues...

What's been going on...

2009-10-07T15:48:00.000-07:00

Wow it's been a while!! A lot has happened in the past 2 1/2 months! First of all, we moved into our new place! It is so awesome. It is just across the street from our old apartment but it's like a whole different world over here. It's much bigger and nicer than our old place and it has an attached garage! Which is absolutely amazing! We are pretty settled in and are now just working on the little things like decorating. We are hoping to paint a few of the rooms soon. And Gidget is loving it cause we have a nice large patio out front where she can lay out in the sun, which I think is one of her favorite things. There is also an orange tree out there! The oranges are delicious! It is so nice having a place that feels much more like a home.

Next up...Brian got a motorcycle. 2001 Honda Shadow. It's his new love. He is very excited about it. Still need to take some pics of it and then I will put some up.

And then...my good ol' nissan sentra bit the dust. Basically the transmission went out so we were pretty much forced to get a new car since it would cost more to repair the transmission than the car was actually worth. So we shopped around a bit and found a great car. It's a 2007 Toyota Camry. I love it!! It is an awesome car. It's so nice to drive, the interior is great and it has really low mileage. It's so nice having a reliable car. No more worrying if it is going to start or not!

Work is going well for both of us. I am working the night shift now. It's taken a little getting used to but I have adjusted pretty well. I think Brian has too :) Luckily our new bedroom stays pretty dark during the day so it is pretty easy to get to sleep when I get home in the morning. Brian's work is pretty much the same. He works 4 days a week (Tuesday - Friday) but is on call the rest of the time for the most part. He doesn't get called in all that often which is nice. He is the "Lead" in the radiology department so he is pretty much in charge :) It's hard to believe he has been working there 5 years! Crazy!

Speaking of 5 years....Gidget is going to be 5 years old next month!! Wow! She is deffinately not a puppy anymore! Although sometimes she acts like one. But she is a much more mellow dog than she used to be. She just had her teeth cleaned, a tooth pulled, and her nails clipped the other day. So she has been a little out of it the past 2 days because of the sedation and being in a little pain. She is much better today though. She is outside laying in the sun as we speak. :)

So things are good here in Ventura. It's starting to get a little cooler in the evenings but still somewhat warm during the day. I'm excited that it's getting into fall and will soon be winter!! Well, I need to take Gidget for a walk, so that's all for now! I will try to get some pictures up soon of our new place. Until next time...

Jewel!!!

2009-07-26T12:36:00.000-07:00

For my graduation my good friend bought me tickets to go see Jewel!! She is my favorite artist of all time for sure. So we went to the concert on Friday (Cassie and I). It was great! It was at the Hollywood Bowl, which is awesome!. The LA Phil Orchestra performed first and then Michael Feinsteine sang a few songs with them and then Jewel sang some of her most famous songs. It was so awesome to hear her sing with the orchestra!! Then they did a duet and fireworks ended the show. It was a really fun night!!

Sacramento trip

2009-07-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

So last weekend we went up to Sacramento for the Richard Oran Ashby (i.e. my Dad) Family Reunion. We had such a fun time even though it was WAY hot...like 105 degrees hot!! Brian and I went to the Museum of Medical History. It was way cool. Most of the pictures below are of that. We spent a day at Folsom lake and had fun taking pictures at the Capitol. It was great hanging out at my sister's pool and just spending time with everyone. It was a short trip but we had a great time. Can't wait to see everyone at the next reunion in 2011 up in Washington!!!

4th and beyond...

2009-07-07T17:17:00.000-07:00

So we had a pretty relaxing 4th. We went to the car show out in Fillmore mid day. It was fun to see all the cars but weird to not go back to Dave and Cheryl's! We are happy that they are happy at their new place in Idaho but miss them a lot!! And of course Gidget misses Shadow. After the car show we stoped at Foster's and got chocolate shakes and then came home and took a nice afternoon nap. :) We hung out at home for a while and then took Gidget to the park for some energy releasing frisbee. Then we went to In-N-Out and headed down by the beach. We thought it was strange cause there weren't a ton of people down there. So we asked a security guy and he said to head to the high school for the fireworks. So we parked along Catalina but when the fireworks started they were not coming from the high school! They were way over by the college! So we drove closer and enjoyed the firworks from the truck while enjoying our burgers :). When we were driving home we ran into all the traffic behind the college... Apparently everyone else knew that the fireworks were going off there! It was so weird cause they have always been fired off down by the beach. It was fun anyway. So it was a fun 4th.

Things are going good here. I started my new job as a real nurse!!! haha. It is in the same department that I have been working in for a year and a half so it has been an easy transition. Brian is taking an anatomy class this summer. It's a lot of work cause it is every day, 4 days/week. Only a few weeks left and then on to fall semester which will be physiology and a couple on-line classes. And after that he will apply to the radiology tech program and hopefully start in spring or fall of next year. It's weird to have our roles reversed. I had been in school for so long it is weird now not to be and to have Brian be the one studying and going to class!

Today I got to take Gidget to the beach. It started out overcast (would you expect anything less from Ventura?) but cleared up around 2:30. I threw the ball to her almost the whole time we were there. She was loving it. She also LOVES to dig in the sand. She will have the ball in front of her and then kind of jump on top of it and start digging. It's fun to watch. She is such a great dog. I can't believe she will be 5 this year!! She was totally pooped after. She is now dead asleep here in the living room :)

Oh yeah. I don't know that I have told everyone...we are not moving up to Washington this year as we had planned to. We decided to stay here and have Brian finish his radiology program. Plus we love So Cal! So it really wasn't a hard decision to stay. Maybe in a few years we will move up there but for now we will be here. :) So that's the 411 from Ventura!! Hope you are all having a great summer!

ATTENTION!!!!!

2009-06-24T22:30:00.000-07:00

So it finally happened....I'm a nurse!!! Officially and legally as of this morning! I am so excited. It made my day at work much better. I had been so stressed out this last week so it is a huge relief to know that I passed my test. I will be starting on Monday on the post partum floor (which is where I work now) as an RN! I will train for about 4 weeks on the day shift and then after that I will switch to the night shift. It isn't my ideal, I would much rather work days, but right now I am just so thankful to have a job so I will take it! Brian and I went out and had a yummy sushi dinner to celebrate :) Such a good day!!!

D-Day

2009-06-16T17:58:00.000-07:00

Well tomorrow is the big day!!!! I take my RN licensure exam tomorrow!! It's at 2pm in Westlake. I'm a little nervous and stressed out but I have been studying and I feel ready for it. So keep your fingers crossed for me! Hopefully I will find out by next week if I passed so I will let you all know when I hear. It has been a long journey and I can't beleive this test is already here!! Off to do a few more practice questions...

Fun filled weekend!!

2009-05-20T16:06:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend really flew by!! It was quite a whirlwind. Friday evening was my pinning ceremony. It was so much fun! Thank you to all the family who made it out. Especially to those who came from so far away! I am so thankful to Kirsten for making the trip. It was an honor to have you pin me and pass on Grandma's legacy. :) Thank you to Mom for getting all the food! It was so, so good! And of course thank you to Dave and Cheryl for opening their home for us to celebrate in! And thank you to Margaret for the new stethoscope! It is awesome. Saturday was much calmer. Brian and I went to breakfast and then I hung out with Kirsten, Michelle, and Mia downtown. It was fun going to all the little shops. Later, Brian and I met up with them again and had dinner at Anacapa Brewery downtown. Then us girls went back to the hotel and reminisced, watched a movie and ate way too much junk food! So thank you to everyone for coming and celebrating this big event in my life!! It was so great to have you all there.

Monday was also a great day!! It was our 7 year anniversary!! Wow, time sure flies! It was a really nice day. We took it easy in the morning then we went to the movies and saw Star Trek. What a great movie!! I am totally not a Star Trek fan by any means but the movie was really good. The action was great and the graphics were awesome. Brian even liked it too! Later that evening we went to a great restaurant on the Malibu pier. It was soooo good!! It's called The Beachcomber and it's right on the pier so you have a nice ocean view. We had calamari for an appetizer, Brian had the seared Ahi Tuna and I had Swordfish. It was delectable!!! We walked on the pier then drove back to Ventura and got Cold Stone for desert. :) Thank you Brian for making it such a wonderful day and for being the amazing man that you are. I love you...forever!!!!!!

So that was the weekend.....and then today (Wednesday) was my official college graduation. We have our separate pinning ceremony and then we can choose to walk in the main graduation if we want. I'm really glad I did. There weren't many people from my class but we had fun. We get to wear white so we stood out from the rest of the grads in black. It feels so weird to be done!!! Now I just have to pass my boards and get a job!!! Wish me luck!

Thanks again to everyone who has supported me through my schooling. I really couldn't have done it without you!!

It's Time!!!!!!!

2009-05-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

Today's the day!!!!! Graduation is finally here! Thank you to everyone who has supported me these past few years. I sure needed all the support and you all were always there for me. Thank You!!!! K. Time to get ready for rehearsal....

Newish Hair

2009-05-07T22:42:00.000-07:00

So I got a free hair cut today thanks to a nurse's day raffle at work! I didn't want to do anything too drastic since my pinning is next week. So I just had her blend my layers a little bit and add some subtle highlights. I really like the way it turned out. I will probably go back in a month or so and have her kick up the highlights a little more. Something fun for summer. Here are a few picks. The lighting really doesn't do it justice. You can barely see the highlighting! I am really pleased with it though. And I really liked the hair stylist. She was really easy going and very nice. We got along really well, so I think I will return to her for future hair adventures! That's all for now. T minus 8 days to pinning!!!!

Birthday

2009-03-22T16:52:00.000-07:00

So last week was Brian's 29th birthday. Luckily he was able to take the afternoon off work so we were able to go on a great hike up to two trees. It was a beautiful day so the view was great when we got to the top. Later that night we went to a new restaurant out in the harbor called Moqueca. It is a Brazilian restaurant and it was a-mazing!!!! We had lobster and it was just to die for. The deserts were so good as well. It is our new favorite restaurant. :) So it was a pretty fun day. Here are a few pics...

Nursing School Photos

2009-03-11T22:57:00.000-07:00

So these are a picture of a picture but I wanted to post them! I am going to scan them when I can so I can make more copies (shhhhh....don't tell anyone). But here they are for now. I am pretty excited about them

Respiratory Exam

2009-03-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

Just quickly, before I go to bed....I got a 96% on my respiratory exam!!!!! I thought I got an 86%!! I guess I counted wrong when going over the key (and I think my instructor must have given us some "freebies"). So anyway, very excited about that!!! That means I finished NS 40A with a 91%!! Go me! K. That's all....

Last day of lecture!

2009-03-04T12:03:00.000-08:00

So excited!!! Had my last day of lecture today!!! (at least for the first part of the semester). I have a test on Monday (on respiratory problems) and then on Tuesday we will have Ethics lecture every day for 2 weeks. Kind of sucks but it should go by fast. Then after that is...PRECEPTORSHIP!!! This is where I will be working eleven 12 hour shifts. I will be assigned a nurse (my preceptor) and will work his/her schedule. I requested Labor and Delivery but don't know yet where they have put me. Should find out next week. During this time I will be learning from my preceptor and will pretty much be the nurse for our patients. It's very exciting!! Only 10 weeks to go till graduation!!!! I can't wait. Thank you to everyone who has supported me these last 2 years. Couldn't have done it without you!!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-16T22:07:00.000-08:00

So let me just say that...I LOVE MY HUSBAND!!!! I had to work on Valentine's Day but Brian made my work day great when he brought me a Corrales burrito for lunch. We sat out on the tailgate of the truck and ate our lunch. :) Then when I came home, Brian had the table set and a yummy dinner prepared. It was so good, cheesy pasta with shrimp. Pretty much an awesome combo in my opinion!! So that was our nice evening at home. Then Sunday morning we were on the road at 7:20. Heading where? I didn't know!! About an hour later we were in....Solvang!! Brian took me to a great restaurant (The Solvang Restaurant - Home of Arne's Best Aeblskivers) for THE BEST aeblskivers. It was so good. 3 huge aeblskivers covered in rasberry jam and powdered sugar. I called them little balls of joy!!! We had eggs, hashbrowns, toast and hot chocolate. It was all sooooo good. I think we will be making the trip to Solvang a lot more now!! After breakfast we walked around the town and checked out all the fun stores. We found a cute magnent to remember our trip and got some cool sweatshirts made. Then we headed home. All in all it was an awesome 2 days!! Thanks babe!! You made this Valentine's Day one of the best!! Hope everyone else had fun this weekend too!

Crazy trip to Big Bear

2009-02-12T12:04:00.000-08:00

So here is the story...we left at 6:30am on Monday morning, headed for Big Bear for a day of snowboarding. After an hour of driving I realized that I had forgotten the "buy one, get one free" passes we had for snow summit. So we turned around and went home to get them. Left Ventura again around 9:00 which got us to San Bernardino around 11:30. Well the 330 was closed (the main road to Big Bear) so we had to take the 38. We stopped when it started snowing to put on chains and also helped some guys put their too small chains on their truck. That took about an hour. It was slow going up the hill due to heavy snow and VERY low visibility. We finally got to Snow Summit at 4pm, just when the resort closed. We decided to head home and as we were leaving the parking lot the chain on the back tire snapped and broke the brake line. We were leaking brake fluid and therefore could not drive home that night. We spent the night and took the truck to a mechanic on Tuesday morning. He said he would have it done by the end of the day so we decided to go snowboarding that day. Great day!!! The snow was awesome and we had a great time on the runs. The mechanic called us mid-day and told us the part he needed would not be in until the next day. So we called Brian's parents and they said they would come pick me up since I had class the next day and had already missed a day of lecture, and Brian would stay and wait for the truck to be done. Around 3:45 when we were done boarding we got a call from Brian's parents saying the 330 was closed. And then we found out that the 38 had just closed as well due to a tipped over tanker. The only way for them to get to us would be to make another 3-4 hour trip around to the back of the mountain. We did not want them to have to do that, so I decided I could miss another day of school (even though I have a test next week). So we stayed another night. The truck was finally done today around 1pm on Wednesday and we made it home around 5. So all in all, we had a great time on Tuesday snowboarding, but did not like having to walk around in the snow due to not having a truck! And my cell phone battery ran out, and Brian's was very close to running out!! And having to replace the brake line on the truck really sucked. Missing class really sucked for me and Brian had to miss 2 days of work and I missed a day of work too. So what was supposed to be a 1 day trip turned into the 3 day trip from "almost" hell. The day of snowboarding was the saving grace. So there you have it. One thing we learned from this...no matter how short your planned trip is...always bring your toiletries and a change of underwear...

Starting the last semester on the right foot

2009-02-04T21:20:00.000-08:00

Got a 90% on my test!!!! Just had to share. I'm very happy. Only 14 weeks to go!!! Holy cow...I should go study...

My Favorite New Toy

2009-01-11T16:44:00.000-08:00

So I FINALLY got a new computer!! It is so awesome!! I totally love it and am so happy that we found a good deal on it. Oh, and thank you US Government for giving me my grant check which allowed me to get this awesome laptop! I got it yesterday (Saturday) which is perfect timing cause I start school tomorrow. Here is a picture of my new Sony Vaio!Isn't it nice?!! :) Finally no more turning off randomly, overheating, being way heavy, or having to keep it plugged in to use it!! Oh happy day!!

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-02T17:26:00.000-08:00

Wow. I can't believe it's 2009!! This past year went by so fast. So I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years! We had fun traveling up to Sacramento on Christmas day. We had dinner with my Mom and Dad and my brother Jeff and his family. The next day we went to the movies and saw "Marley and Me". So cute...not as good as the book but a very fun movie. That night Brian and I went to a little restaurant called Squeeze Inn. It's this little tiny place (no really....it's extremely small) that has some awesome burgers! We were watching "Diners, Drive ins, and Dives" and saw another restaurant that made a tribute to the "Squeeze Inn" burger, and we found out that it is in Sacramento so we had to check it out! So it is a huge burger piled with grated cheese that they let melt all around the burger so it creates a cheese "skirt". It was so good! Definitely check it out if you are up that way. Then we went to Mark and Mia's and Brian helped Mark with the granite counter tops while I played Rock Band with the kids. Your kitchen looks great Mark and Mia!! On Saturday we had a big dinner at Mark and Mia's with everyone. It was so fun. We played rock band and visited with everyone. We left the next day even though we really wanted to stay! But we had to get back. We decided to check out San Francisco on our way home. So we drove towards the coast and got to San Fran in the early afternoon. We crossed the Bay Bridge which was way cool and drove to see the Golden Gate Bridge. We walked along the beach a little and got some pictures. Then we had lunch and got back on the road. We decided to go down the coast and we were able to stop and see Nate and Susanne. What perfect timing too. We got to their house right when Nate was getting off work. So we were able to visit with them and the kids. Thanks for having us guys! It was so good to see you. And then off we went to Monterey for dinner at the Fish Hopper restaurant. Again..totally recommend this place! The clam chowder bread bowl is so delicious!! We have eaten there before so we decided to stop since we were so close. Then we headed home. And that was our trip (much of this trip would not have been possible if we didn't have our new navigation system that Brian's parents got us for Christmas. We made a lot of last minute travel decisions and were so happy we had something telling us where to go!). We had a really great time visiting with everyone. Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us stay at your place. Wish we could have stayed for New Years!! We had a fun New Years at a friends house and then went out to Fillmore to see Brian's parents and younger brother on the 1st and watched the USC v Penn game and caught up on some sleep. And now here we are today. We are about to head out to our favorite Sushi place, Sumo. SO GOOD!! And I start school in a week and 3 days!! Ahhhhh!!!! I can't believe this is my last semester! It will go by so fast I know it! So everyone mark your calendars for May 15th which is my pinning (graduation) ceremony! (I'm almost positive that is the date - I will let you know for sure soon). Love to you all. We hope that 2009 brings many good things to you!

Happy Holidays!!!

2008-12-23T15:21:00.000-08:00

What?! It's Christmas already!!!....So I didn't get Christmas cards out this year (I could order them today but I will be in Sacramento on Thursday and therefore wouldn't be able to get them out till next week), so I figured I would send out some electronic holiday wishes to you all! I hope that you all have a wonderfull time celebrating with your families and friends during this joyous holiday season. As I look back at the past year I am very gratefull for these things in particular; that Brian and I are back together and are more happy now than we have ever been, to be almost done with nursing school (one more semester!), and to have such wonderful family and friends near and far who love and support us. It was a wonderful year for us and I hope it was for you too! You are all so awesome and I wish you all the best in the year to come. Happy Holidays everyone!

Oh, by the way...I did pass my final with a 96%!!! So I am officially in my 4th semester now! Yay!

Here are some pictures from our work holiday parties...

Grade

2008-12-05T19:44:00.001-08:00

Got an 82% on my midterm instead of 80% like I thought it was going to be!!!! Go me! Have an 83% overall! Just had to share my happiness! :) yay!!!

School and such...

2008-12-04T21:16:00.000-08:00

Inconceivable!!! (haha, I'm watching one of the best movies of all time...Princess Bride!) That statement was directed toward the fact that my third semester of nursing school is almost over! Only a week and a half left! Yay. I took my "midterm" today (this last "half "of the semester is 4 weeks so this is the middle even though its the end). I'm pretty sure I got an 80%, so I am pretty stoked about that. Just need to study, study, study for my final on the 15th.
Something else cool...last night in my clinical I was able to see a natural delivery of a healthy baby boy (got to do the assessment on the baby, give vitamin K injection, and help the mom with the first breastfeeding too!), and I got to stand in on a cesarian birth! Whoa. Nothing like you see on "A Baby Story" (haha!). Deffinately confirmed my thoughts that I want to avoid a c-section unless it is completely necessary! That was some crazy stuff. But way cool too. I'm really excited about Labor and Delivery. I only got to spend 2 days in L&D during this OB clinical rotation (the others I am in Postpartum), but I have to say that I really like the environment and think that I will deffinately consider being an L&D nurse. But you never know, I could end up somewhere completely different. So that is about it for now. I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. You all ready for Christmas? I'm not!!!!! Keep your fingers crossed for me on the 15th that I ace my final!! Now back to Princess Bride...."The minute his head is in view...hit him with the rock!"..."My way's not very sportsman like". Oooooooo and then The Office! It's recording so we get to fast forward through all the commercials....

Starting to blog

2008-11-24T18:44:00.000-08:00

So I thought I would jump on the bandwagon of blogging. I figured it was about time. I can't guarantee it will always be kept up to date but I will give it my best.

A few updates:

I am in my 3rd of 4 semesters of Nursing School. Which means I am almost done!! I am learning obstetrical nursing (labor and delivery, etc) right now which I love! It's most likely where I want to end up when I'm done.

I am working in the post-partum unit at CMH (taking care of mom's after they have their baby)

Brian is the Radiology Lead at the veterinary hospital where he has been for about 3 years. He runs the CT and x-ray and is the "commander and chief" of this department.

Brian will be taking a few pre-requisite classes soon and will then start radiology tech school when we move to WASHINGTON (state) next September! :)

That's right! Our current plans are to move to Spokane in August or September of 2009. We are really looking forward to it!

Well, that's about it for now. Hopefully I will keep this up to date! :)