Clinicals

Today was my last day of clinicals for this semester! I spent the 5 previous Mondays on different floors at Intermountain Medical Center and enjoyed each day. I had great nurses, learned a lot, and experienced so many new things! Today I got to spend the day in the O.R. and loved it! Again, I learned a lot and I finally got to do a catheter and actually did 2. I know it doesn't sound like something most people would be excited about, but I was so excited! I had only done it on a dummy and it's not the same! I watched 4 surgeries today: a total knee replacement, a pubic symphysis fusion, a hip replacement revision, and most of a hemi-colectomy. After our group got together to study for our test tomorrow. I think we were all so relieved to have our clinicals behind us that we couldn't concentrate. Or maybe it was a case of the "tired sillies" because we didn't get a lot of studying done. Oh, well, it felt good to just hang out and laugh. I love my group! We have gotten really close this semester and it has made school and our clinicals so much better. Our instructor told us today that we were all doing great and that she was impressed with how we all helped each other out. She advised us to keep it up and we will continue to do great. It was so nice having an instructor who was encouraging and not intimidating. Too bad we aren't' going to be so lucky this next semester. At least we have each other! I love my girls! Now we just have to make it through a test tomorrow and 2 finals next week. Then we get a much needed month long break!

Just a few of the good times the last 14 years!

Galveston, TX

San Francisco, (at a Ween concert)

Our home, one Christmas

Memphis, TN with the Mississippi River in the background

14 Years

Today is our 14th anniversary! WOW!!! I cannot believe it has been that long. Some days it does seem that long, but often it seems like just yesterday or last week that we started our life together. As with any marriage, ours is far from perfect, but with that being said I would not trade it or Mike for anything - at least most the time ;-). We have laughed together, cried together, become parents together, traveled together, struggled together, played together, and worried together. I would not being "surviving" right now without Mike. Our life right now is not exactly what we want or where we pictured ourselves at this point in our life, but we both know it is where we are suppose to be right now. We know that with each other we can make it through anything!

2

I have not been to a movie in months and saw 2 this weekend (New Moon & Blindside) and LOVED them both!

I only have 2 more care plans this semester. YEAH!!

I have 2 tests on Tuesday this week. Ahhhh!!

I have 2 boys who are begging for a sleepover this week.

I have 2 girls who need haircuts.

I was lucky enough to see my 2 month old nephew 2 times in the last week.

I am in charge of bringing 2 items to Thanksgiving dinner (rolls and my favorite cranberry jello salad).

It started snowing about 2 hours ago and I am wondering how much we will end up with? 2 inches, 22 inches?

Lighter...

is how I am feeling after today. I wish it was because I had lost weight but I am slowly working on that. Today I made another kind of change.

I went from this:


And this:

To this:





I decided awhile back that I would cut my hair and donate it to Locks of Love, but wasn't sure how long I wanted to grow it or exactly how short I would go. Lately I have been feeling....blah (stressed, stuck, in need of change, etc). So I decided to cut my hair now, it was long enough to donate, and I was hoping it would make me feel a little less blah. It worked! 15 inches of hair later and I feel lighter. Not just my head but my heart as well. I don't know how something as simple as a haircut can make me feel inspired. Inspired to try harder, inspired to make some much needed changes, inspired to smile more, to want to smile more.
Now, I just hope Mike likes it too! He is out of town working for a few days and I have not told him about lightening my load...can't wait to see his reaction!

The New Cast

Jenna got her new cast last week and it's so much nicer! She chose bright orange, perfect just for Halloween! Now she can get it wet and play soccer again. I am so glad it is healing like the Dr wanted.

My Kiddos

I am a proud mom! My kids always make me proud but it has been fun lately watching them learn and try new things.

Cole got his guitar for Christmas almost 2 years ago and we finally found a teacher for him, my dad! He LOVES playing and he is pretty good. He enjoys the time with my dad and he even enjoys practicing, I don't even have to remind him. He is learning to play a bit of everything from primary songs to Neil Young and now he is working on some Beatles songs. (You could probably guess who his teacher is without me telling, you just from the song choices).

Rylee is taking band this year and learning to play the clarinet. She seems to enjoy it and we get a kick out of listening to her practice. The best is when she is playing a song and doesn't quite blow enough or maybe too much and it squeaks like a barking seal. ;-) Mike tried playing the other day and could not get even the tiniest sound out. Go RY!

The other night we had the privilege of attending an art openhouse for Noah's class at the SLC library downtown. They had an art teacher come to their class and they made these neat paintings and now they are on display for a month. Noah's work is titled
"The Everlasting Ocean."

Babies, babies, everywhere...

and I still have no desire to have another one...
I have had the privilege to witness some births, assess and bathe newborns, and hold & feed lots of sweet tiny babies lately. I recently finished my OB clinicals for nursing school, visited a good friend and her new little guy, spent a few hours with my 1 month old nephew, and attended a baby shower for my pregnant niece. WOW! It's funny because many people have asked if it makes me want another one, without hesitation the answer is no. I am very content with my cute family and feel that it is complete. That's not to say I don't love having lots of babies around to hold and love on!

They are so cute, especially this little guy. Roran is such a calm baby (so far) and just seems so happy and content.


My kids all keep telling me we need a baby at our house. That's what they now want for Christmas, sorry kiddos, ain't happening. You can play with Roran anytime you want though.




Here is my cute niece, Jacque. She is not due until January but lives in CA and was here for the weekend for a baby shower. Mike was telling her how weird it was to see her pregnant, he remembers holding her when she was a newborn.

The Green Casts

I forgot I had promised to post some pics of both my girls in their green casts. Jenna's is a brighter green and a bit bigger. We are hoping to get a smaller cast next week! Poor Jenna is so tiny and that cast seems to way as much as she does. She has been really good, hardly complaining. She did ask me the other day how to spell sad, nothing unusual, she often asks me how to spell stuff as she practices writing. So I had her sound it out and figure it out herself. A few minutes later she handed me a note that said "mom, I am sad." I asked her why she was sad and she said because she can't dance or do the monkey bars with only one arm. Ahhhh. Then today she told me she likes having a broken arm because people wrote on her cast and they are extra nice to her. OK.



Rylee broke her arm the same time of year, in a similar way (those darn bars). Luckily her break was not quite as bad so she had the smaller cast the whole time. She informed me the other day that even with her cast she still did the bars at school. Luckily she didn't tell me until now.

I Got It...

the dreaded phone call from your child's school. "Carly, I have Jenna here in the office, she fell off the monkey bars, and her arm doesn't look so good". Luckily it was Tuesday, my only somewhat "free" day and I had just gotten back into Bountiful from my test at school. They said she was being very brave and not crying. Then when I got there she saw me and she lost it. So sad....

On the way to the Dr. to get an x-ray.

This is what it looked like, not extreme, but pretty obvious something is wrong...

The x-ray, can you see the nice fracture?

My tough little girl all splinted up and doped up (no, the pain meds didn't seem to do anything to her besides help with the pain).

Even though this was a stinky thing to have happen I have plenty to be grateful for in this situation: Jenna's left handed, an awesome Dr. who I totally trust, that it happened on a day when I was around (My schedule is soooo crazy and I worry all the time about not being there for my kids and this is definitely a time I would hate not being there), a tough kid, modern medicine, ....

So now both my girls have broken bones while playing on bars...after Jenna gets her cast (which she informed is going to be green like Rylee's was) I will post pics of both my girls in their casts.

It's all a part of growing up right?

Soccer

Jenna started bugging me back in the spring about playing soccer so we signed her up. I was a little hesitant due to the fact that all 3 of the other kids played at some point but didn't really enjoy it and just kind of stood around or played around when they were on the field. Jenna seems to be enjoying it and although she hasn't scored yet she tries!

Typical Jenna!

Here she is kicking the ball.

And here she is running for the ball.

Hopefully by the end of the season she will have scored at least 1 goal and still be having as much fun as she is now.

Roran Philip Delozier

My brother Devin and his wife Karissa are the proud parents of my newest nephew, Roran. After 26 long hours with the help of forceps he entered the world on September 8, 2009 at 7:54 a.m. He weighed 8 pounds and was 19 inches long. He spent a few days in the NICU due to possible infection, but he his home now and we are all so glad he is here safe and sound. He is definitely a Delozier, he looks so much like Devin. It is going to be so fun to watch him grow! We love you Roran, and Devin & Karissa!

WEEN!!!

Our favorite band, WEEN, was touring again and once again skipping SLC, so we decided to go on the road again to see them. Mike & I left the kiddos behind with Grandma & Grandpa (THANKS mom and dad!) and made a little get away out of it. We went to Denver where WEEN played at Red Rocks. We had seen them once before at this beautiful outdoor amphitheater, but this time they were headlining. I don't know how many people Red Rocks holds but it was packed! (see we aren't the only crazy WEEN fans out there). Anyway, it was nice to sleep in for a couple days and just hang out with each other. We also got to spend an afternoon with Joan (a friend from back in the day that we love and miss who lives in Colorado Springs).

And Mike got a few minutes of skating in at the new park in Colorado Springs, it's HUGE!!!

Mike & Joan

Waiting for WEEN!!! Can you see the beautiful red rocks in the background, it is an amazing place to see a show.

Dean Ween rocking out to "With My Own Bare Hands"!

Gene, Dean, and Mean Ween!!! They put on a great show!!! They have such a variety of songs and they played a bit of everything that night.

Firsts

Today was a day of firsts:

Rylee's first day of Jr High. (I cannot believe it!) She has been so excited and was so excited this morning that when for some unknown reason her alarm went off at 1 a.m. she got up and got showered and all ready before she looked at the clock. She decided she would just stay up but was too tired so she went back to sleep until her alarm went off when it was suppose to at 6:30.
Isn't she so grown up...


The first day of school for my other kiddos without big sister around to watch over them.
They were all excited for school today as well!

My baby's first day of first grade. Yep, I now have all my kids in school all day, what am I going to do with all my time?!?!? Oh, yeah: work full time, go to school, do my clinicals, etc....Not exactly what I thought I would be doing when all my kids were in school but I know it is where I am suppose to be right now and it will all be worth it in the end. (Today was my last real "free" day before my schedule gets crazy again so I pampered myself with a mani/pedi, it was heavenly)

The first walk around the new track they built at the elementary school. They did the traditional flag ceremony this morning and then the whole school walked around the new track, it was really fun! I love Orchard Elementary!

My Giving Man

The last month or so Mike has been working downtown right across from Pioneer Park where a lot of homeless people live in SLC. He had one guy help him work a couple days and gave him so money to help him out. The guy wanted to work some more, but Mike didn't really have anything for him to do. He took him to dinner a couple times. One day he came home for lunch and left with a bag of clothes. When I asked him what the clothes were for he said my friend downtown. Luckily they are about the same size and when he told Mike he could use some more clothes Mike was glad to help him out. Mike will do anything for anyone and that is one thing that I have always loved and admired in him.

Girls Camp

You know your old when your daughter is going to her first girls camp...
I really cannot believe Ry just got back from her first Girls Camp, where has the time gone?!?! Well, she had a blast! They went to Bear Lake and hiked, biked, rock climbed, rappelled, water skied (wakeboarded, tubed), etc, etc etc. Ry didn't try rock climbing and rappelling which I was bummed about. Those are 2 things I have never done and always wanted to. I was upset she didn't try until she told me she thinks she is afraid of heights and cried when she was up at the top of the cave they were repelling into. She tried wakeboarding and tubing and loved it! She had so much fun taking pictures and hanging out with her new BFF's. I am glad she enjoyed herself and am grateful to the ladies who put so much time and effort forth for the girls.


Ry took a photography class this summer and had fun taking some neat pictures at camp. She said this was one of her favorites:




Isn't my girl so cute!!!



Ry with Mandy and Danielle, it was the first year at camp for all of them and they LOVED it!!!

Finally....

I know Mike doesn't want to admit it, but I think a part of him has been bummed that neither of the boys really had an interest in skateboarding. Skateboarding is such a big part of Mike's life and has been for years. The last few months Noah has finally taken an interest in skateboarding. Actually, it's all he wants to do these days. Mike has been taking him to the skatepark and he is really enjoying it, both of them are! Here is a picture of Noah dropping in on the ramp in our garage.

A Fun Holiday Weekend

July 24th is a holiday in Utah, Pioneer Day! Our annual tradition is to go the parade on the 23rd in Bountiful and then over to my brother and sister in laws for food and fireworks. So that's what we did again this year and it was hot and fun (as usual). The next day Mike decided to take the boys and head to Montana for a few days to visit a friend of his and do some skating and fishing. They ended up in Butte one day and it happened to be Evil Kneival Days, the boys weren't excited at all! ;-) Then they decided to drive home through Yellowstone and loved it! While they were off having fun us girls were here having fun of our own. We hung out with Mike's sister and her family, watching movies, swimming, etc. I had to work 2 of the nights the boys were gone so the girls stayed with Mike's mom one night and at my parents the other night. It ended up being a nice weekend for everyone!

The girls at the parade!

Jenna enjoying the slide! She only went of the diving board once
and I didn't have my camera ready.

Ry doing a flip off the diving board. My nephew-in-laws were having a contest to see who could make a basket throwing the bball while in the air off the diving board into the hoop at the other end of the pool. They each tried a number of times when Ry decided she wanted to try. Yeah, she made it on her second try before either of the guys made it. You go girl!

This is the picture Mike texted me from Yellowstone. I love my guys and missed them while they were gone. I am glad they all had good time, I know it's a weekend the boys will never forget!