excerpts.

co-worker: "that girl could be a diva &she doesn't even know it" [about me, i overheard].

patient: "i've been thinking about you a lot..."
me: "oh really."
patient: "yeah, just hoping you'd be back tonight."
me: "so you missed me..."
patient: "yeah... i missed you."

patient: "i really appreciate all the time you've spent with me."
me: BIGGEST smile/heart ever.

nickname at work: "RED"
pronounced... "REIII-ED" [2 syllables]

(after explaining his dream to me)
dan: "would you care if beyonce kissed me?"
pause...
me: "no, i'd just be excited."
dan: "that's what i figured."

my patient's sitter: "she looks like a barbie doll doesn't she?"

"you are the best nurse around here. once your older you will REALLY know your stuff, but you already do."

REALLY??? how are these people so sweet to me??! it's love.

life is good.

huckleberry finn & jim.

hurricane creek: one of dan's fishing spots, a really pretty river. he discovered a rope swing on his adventuring there, &it's our favorite!! on friday AND monday we took our fishing poles and our little raft &headed down the creek, fishing as we calmly floated. it was divine. then once we got a ways down the river we get to our final destination [for now, at least]- the rope swing! we then swim, jump, swim, jump, fish, jump, explore, etc.


i caught a NINE pound monstrous catfish from the raft. it was quite terrifying. i excitedly started to reel it in and once i got a glimpse of how monstrous and disgusting it was i nervously made dan finish reeling it in and got all frantic, almost cried &kept saying "don't let it touch me! get it away from me!" that feroucious fish broke the line right before we got him up, which i wasn't heartbroken about. it would have been a LITTLE crowded on that 2 person raft with all 3 of us. needless to say, it was one of the prouder moments of my young life. didn't have the camera on that trip- BUMMER.


the rope swing is our favorite. we swing out so far over the river and i just love the feeling of flying through the air! we even met the guy who made it and he did some rope swings tricks for us. very entertaining.


we then trudge through the woods and walk back up to part of the river where we started. last time i trudged through a barb wire fence (which dan so conveniently stepped over without even realizing). i have some scratches, but i felt pretty tough with bloody scratches on my legs like no big deal. we got sonic after with coupons and they basically paid US to eat there... and they didn't take our coupons so we can go get some more 49 cent milkshakes!


we're huckleberry finn and jim. i'm jim be default. :}

one year of blissful adventure.

april 11, 2009: dan and i were married in the las vegas temple, to be together... forever.


april 10&11, 2010: we celebrated!!


"the first year is the hardest." we heard that far too many times. i guess it's a breeze from here:]. we had some emotional times, it's true. but i blame that on YAZ (i would strongly recommend it to NOBODY). we have learned so much about ourselves &each other. it has been so wonderful to have such a strong bond &connection with another person, who i know i will always have. i love him 1000x more &so much deeper &more true than one year ago. i don't have to rely on just being "in love" anymore, it is so much more than that. [although we are, &i'm happy to say, as cutesy, cuddly, &in love as we were one year ago].

let the adventures begin...
here are our our top picks from the photo shoot. shnazzy.

might be my profile pic right now.

it looks better sideways:]. ps- very proud of dan for his artistic styling &flattering angles in this one; we've been working on that.

content... i was.

our dining locale of choice...

here dan goes again with his artistic skills taking over. pretty cute little place. we're all for early dinner with the golden agers.

"will you take a picture of us? it's our anniversay...."

we were UTTERLY bamboozled &flabbergasted by these noodles DYED WITH SQUID INK... have you ever heard of that before in your LIFE? i know, me either. i was literally yelling when i saw them. "WHAT IS THAT!?!??!?!" everyone was so amused by my childlike enthusiasm. they were big raviolis. [we made sure to avoid anything with spinach.]

macro shot.

our personalized, grafitti-ed aged wine bottle [2004 probably].

look at how cute our town is.

we so pleasantly stumbled across the sweetest banjo player. he played us dan's favorite song, "dueling banjos," which he pulled off very well for playing by himself. he even gave me a t-shirt (picture to follow). there were a couple little girls dancing right behind us, &dan loved it so much he did a jig or two of his own...

we then ventured off to one of dan's natural discoveries. [dan often stands in model-esque positions like this without even realizing it. eye candy, i'd say]

outfit change! this is the shirt that was so kindly given to me to promote his "firehouse lodge" if we ever need a place to have a party. i bet he would even play the banjo for free.

the flowing river we were playing next to. this outfit change is most true to the alabamian inside. &i'm holding the sweet little flower dan picked for me.

what's next? none other than the m o s t divine, delicious, &delectable cherry cobbler. and a relaxing night by the fire.

lake nichol.

how cute is he? he doesn't even try.

we then had a very exciting late night adventure at PUBLIX [the bogo's blew our mind] &look at ALL these flowers dan got me!! he pays no expense for my glee...

our actual anniversary was on sunday, i was a little tired at church that day. this our sweet friend max/teng buo from taiwan. he's probably a prodigy... learned how to tie a tye in one try! i feel like that's not normal.

one year exactly from our wedding! same dress i wore to the temple, same suit:].

so after church i slept &slept... and what did i wake up to??? THIS... carrot/roll faces and everything. REALLY???! i know. those pork chops were brined to perfection.

this is my happiest, groggiest face.

and then off to work that night!

overall, a SUCCESS. we love being married for one year. according to john bytheway, we are no longer "newlyweds." woah.

"HE IS RISEN"

What a beautiful day to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. it takes me back to when i was able to go to the breathtaking garden tomb and feel of the reverent Spirit there. General Conference has been so uplifting! Those men have the most special, endearing Spirit about them. Happy Easter and I hope you enjoyed conference! If not, enjoy it here!

lovely&lively: FADS.

my fad is not your fad.

fads can be quite deceiving... so please be cautious. a fad begins, usually, when a little designing man or woman somewhere thinks something up &puts it on the runway, it then makes it's sneaky little way into magazines, billboards, stores, and before too long- onto your legs, body, face, hair, or where ever else it decides to go.

many times, by the time it makes it all the way to you it has been diluted &adulterated, not what it was intended to be &not being worn the way it was intended to be worn.

also, that previously mentioned designer designed that piece for a 105 pound, 5'10'' woman. which i, and most women, are not and nowhere near.

what i'm getting at- just because it is a "fad," or popular, does not mean it should be worn by you, or your friend, or that lady you saw at crosswalk. we must use our better judgement &ask ourselves if what we are about to purchase is flattering to our own body. do not wear something just because it is popular!

ex: skinny jeans/leggings. tempting on her:

not so flattering on her:

also, these leggings are improperly worn by the woman below.

this is probably the most common downfall of leggings. they should not be worn under every skirt you have, mini to knee-length. your outfit will look better without them 90% of the time. do not wear a skirt with leggings that you wouldn't wear withOUT leggings. they do not make your outfit "modest" if it wouldn't be without them. and please, do NOT wear them to church. they are far too casual.

you do not have to have a body like miss model above to wear leggings, she was simply used as an example. &yes, i do own, wear, &love leggings! but please evaluate your use of them. and remember, they should be worn with caution &fit to flatter!

stress mess.

stress CAN make you sick! [&by you i mean me].

i love my job. i've even been loving it more &more the more i am there, learning and getting to know my co-workers and loving my patients. but last week i had a bad night. ughh. i only remember key points by now because i have blocked it out.

i had a sweet, sweet young girl who had a spontaneous pneumothorax and she had a chest tube. i have never had a patient with a chest tube before so i was just being extra careful &asking questions and monitoring her closely. her pneumo had healed and she was recovering. so i go in there and she's complaining of tightness in her chest &a cough and i could hear air leaking from her insertion site... not good. i got help from one of my older/more experienced/extremely sarcastic/thinks he is superior co-workers [who is nice sometimes &even helped me out later in the shift]. anywho, after getting chest x-rays done, calling the doctor in the middle of the night twice, trying to reinforce her dressing on her insertion site, switching the chest tube to suction... a couple hours later we got another chest x-ray done and her pneumo came back &was WORSE. so i call the doctor again &we transfer her to ICU and she has to get her chest tube reinserted.

i had 8 patients that night, one of my other ones was confused from some medication he had been given. i went in there to check on him &there was blood everywhere from the bed to the bathroom and he was just standing there trying to figure out what was going on. poor thing. ended up he had pulled out his IV, i made sure he was okay (stopped the bleeding), reoriented him, cleaned up the blood, got him back in bed, and started a new IV. poor thing. [but he was so cute &his 85 year old wife slept next to him every night he was there on the COUCH... married for 70 years, i asked him for advice &he told me "make it stick"].

it's... a LITTLE stressful when i have patients like this and then on top of those 2 i have 6 other patients i am taking care of all my by myself, constantly needing me for this& that. i wish i could paint of picture of what those nights can be like.

i am supposed to get off my shift at 7:00, had to stay until 9:00 finishing everything- making dan late to his chemistry lab from having to WALK... miles... my fault, which i felt so bad about &might have called ten people from the ward at 6:30 in the morning for a ride.

as i was finishing up my work i got a drink of water because i was starting to get a headache. i started to feel a little nausea, but i finished my work and headed out. the second those big automatic doors opened and i walked outside i just burst into tears, which decided they did not want to stop any time soon. i called dan just so i could here his voice &leave a message on his machine, but he picked up! blessing: he had gotten out of his lab early so i jeered off course so i could meet him. by this time i was feeling ill: my body was aching, i was feeling weak, nauseated, and i had a headache. i met dan and by that point i could barely walk. he lovingly walked me to the car as i cried and cried and took the tiniest grandma steps and stopped in the middle of the road. we had to stop twice on the way home as i got out of the car on my knees and had to throw up. i managed to throw up all over the street [i did feel a lot better afterwards]. i was the most pitiful, writhing, moaning &crying soul we had ever beheld. we got to our apartment complex & because i could hardly walk, dan carried me [in his arms, like a baby] all the way down three long hallways and up a flight of stairs to our apartment. i have such a good man.

i fell asleep and felt better when i woke up, still yucky tho. and then off to work again that night. stinky. i managed to get mildly sick with different things the next two nights. i would go to work and be sick by the morning, go home, sleep all day and evening, wake up and try to regain my composure for 2 hours so i could go back to work. not the best week,

i will not forget or fail to add, i was blessed with strength. Heavenly Father answered my prayers in so many ways and helped me get through the nights.

it really amazed me how i became so physically ill from stress. it is so real that our mind can affect our bodies. how true that we must take care of both accordingly. i learned how important it is to always have emotional composure at work. thankfully, i was able to stay focused and take care of my patients... but it was obviously building up inside &all hit me the second i finished.

i also learned that my husband is even more wonderful that i had ever had an opportunity to realize. i slept for days &days and did not do a thing. he cooked, he cleaned, he planned family home evening with a sweet friend, he babied me, he took care of me, he would come to my side &love me all that i needed. did i mention i am soo lucky to have such a good man who adores me?

i am going to start doing a post about nursing every week, just so i can chronicle all the hilarious, sweet, and unpredictably loco things that happen to me. only time will tell.