You Won't Even Believe It

You won't even believe where I am writing this post from and more importantly you won't even believe why. I am currently in a Marriott just down the street from my house. I live here for the moment. Why, you ask. Oh, that would be because my house flooded! Belee' dat! :D

On Wednesday night I got home from what seemed like the longest day of work in the history of work. I was so excited to be done with work because the next day we were heading to California for a wonderful Christmas time. I wanted a night full of relaxation (with a little bit of laundry and packing thrown in). I was so happy when I got home and then Ryan said, "You won't be too happy when you go see what is in the kitchen." So I look past him into the kitchen and see water all over the floor and towels laid over it to try to sop it up. Ry said the dishwasher had broken. Bummer. I decided to do more investigation and found there were big puddles in the bathroom too! We did some more investigation and found that the owner's side of the basement was more flooded than our side. I think I would rather have the dishwasher break because the next 5 hours was trying to shop-vac the water up and getting all our stuff off the ground (which meant up to their garage!). We were up till about 1 am tearing carpet up and eventually just letting the water win because we could not keep up. It was rough packing from the garage and finding clean clothes to bring because I had no time or the place to do laundry. It was nice to simply leave to sunny CA and "forget about it" for a couple of days. However, then we came back and not much had changed. Yes, there was no more water but everything is still torn up and fans are drying out the place. So here we are in the Marriott. I think we'll have to go swimming tonight just because we can. Complimentary breakfast is the best too. But my favorite thing about staying in a hotel are the great curtains that keep the sunlight out forever so I can sleep in as long as I want! It's a great thing!!! So we are hoping that our house is fixed soon, but in the meantime, it isn't too bad taking a mini-vacation!

Aspirations

Today I was driving home from work and saw a billboard that said this:

Turn your ASPIRATIONS into REALITY

If you're a nurse, aspiration means something totally different to you than it does here in this billboard. So since I had just spent the last 13 and 1/2 hours thinking about nursing related subjects, I thought to myself, "Why are they talking about aspiration on a billboard? Like a person who could drive a car could actually aspirate!!!" Ya, I've been at work too much lately!!

Quilt Camp

I saw this really cute pattern at the quilt shop the other day and I just knew I had to make it. It was just too cute! I bought the pattern and only then did I realize it was not a blanket... It was actually a table-topper. Oh well, I still wanted to try to make it. I used some of the same fabrics I used in Olivia's quilt (found here) and picked up some new ones too and made this little beauty. All in a day's work too. (Yes, by the end my back and hands were definitely hurting, but I only bled once!) It is a nice little addition to our table, although every time we eat it has to be moved, but it is still fun nonetheless. It is so far from perfect but I kinda like it that way, it gives it character. Maybe I'll make it a seasonal thing and make some for each season. We'll see!

Gavin Turns ONE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAV!!
This is Gavin's shy look. He didn't appreciate everyone looking at him. He likes to hid behind his little arms! It is adorable!!

He needed some liquid so he could keep going on his own little cupcake. It took him a while to understand what he was supposed to do with his own cupcake but once he figured out is was actually OK for him to get messy, he was a pro at it!! This is what you get when you tell Gavin to "Give me kisses!" He loves to give us all loves!!!

Smashing that blue cupcake in his face!!! (Like I said, once he figured it out, he was a pro!)

Holding up our present to him. It looks like he is saying, "Hey, look what I got!!"

In his rocking chair made especially for him by Grandpa Gardner! It is so cute, I just might ask for a full-size one for me and Ry! (Just kidding!)

Gavin had such a fun birthday. We were so glad we were able to make it to see him turn ONE!! What a big boy he is becoming! We love you Gav!!!

How 'bout This!!

I showed her this...

and got this...

What do you think?

Sophomore Year Reunion

We had so much fun yesterday with these fun girls! My sophomore year at BYU was one of the best and it was definitely because of these fun girls (plus one who was too busy being pregnant in Ohio to make it... darn it BECCA!). We had the best apartment. It was on the ground level and the window from the living room opened up to the parking lot right outside and we had no screen so people would just knock on the window and jump through to come see us! (Sounds totally weird but when you're in college, it was great). We always had people at our apartment and one of our favorite things to do was to play nertz. It was this year that we would play at least once a week and we would have about 10 teams of people playing (that is 20 people total). It was the best and the games would go by so fast! I totally miss those days. Last night we had so much fun talking about old memories and just remembering fun times. We ate pizookie and played some good old nertz! It was so much fun. I hope we get to see these girls more often! Love them!

The delicious Pizookie!

Lauren is so darn funny, I just love her!

These girls are my favorite!

Apparently the front row only got the memo of making funny faces...

Love them... Brooke, Me, and Lauren enjoying the Pizookie

Tarali Marie

Pizookie with Brooke, Lauren, and Mel

Pumpkins

This year I carved pumpkins with my good friend Rach! Love that girl. It was a really fun time and we got very very creative! :)

Me with my shape pumpkin

Us with our finished products.

You can see in the background what Ryan was doing during our girl party... BASEBALL!

Getting started...

This is where we were pretty creative. We used the cookie cutter to cut the top off of Rach's pumpkin. It was a lot harder than it looks. It required a hammer and a wrench to get the cookie cutter out once we got it in. It was pretty comical.

All in all, it was a great Halloween!

Dad, this is for You!

The Best is Yet to Come

"We can’t predict all the struggles and storms in life, not even the ones just around the next corner, but as persons of faith and hope, we know beyond the shadow of any doubt that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and the best is yet to come." L. Tom Perry

Confessions

Today, I got off work early, around noon. I headed to Provo to hang out with anyone who would make last minute time for me (thanks Tarali). On my way there, what did I pass? Yes, the ever-craved Krispy Kreme Doughnuts! I felt slightly guilty as I pulled into the parking lot, walked in, watched the doughnuts fry in all that oil, and order my lovely doughnuts. And let me tell you... it was SO worth the wait. Who knew that dreams could be so dangerous at changing your cravings. I hope tonight I dream of broccoli :)

Donuts

Last night I had a dream. We were working on cleaning up a park for a ward activity and when we were about finished, my friend and I went to find some donuts to reward those hardworkers who helped clean the park. So, off we go to find some sort of donut shop. I really wanted to find a Krispy Kreme because honestly, it's the best. Anyway, we walk into this store which I think is a Krispy Kreme, but is really this wonderfully awesome donut shop. It is like all those new cupcake shops that are super cute and totally over-priced but everyone will pay for them because of the funness and cuteness. Ya, except it was for donuts. The glazed were normal and really delicious (Krispy Kreme style) but then they had all these other kinds. They had a chocolate bar that was called "Can't stop." Haha, get it, like you can't stop eating it because it is too delicious. They also had cake like things that you could design yourself. You pick the cake and the frosting and then they put it together and heat it all up. It looked DIVINE! And then they had all this cute paraphernalia and I remember specifically thinking... "I have GOT to bring Ryan back to this place" (he loves donuts).
Needless to say, I woke up hungry and really wanting some Krispy Kreme donuts. If there was a donut shop around, I would be there right now! Mmmm... donuts! I also woke up with a new desire to open a fancy donut shop like this one. Do you think it would survive? Maybe we could call it "Go nutz for Donutz" Ok, fine we could work on the name. But I thought it was such a brilliant idea. Oh the ideas that come from dreams!!

Back to Work

Today was my first day back to work. I was totally nervous about going back to work. I mean, 2 months off may not seem like a long time, but to me, it totally was! I felt like I was gonna go back in and totally not remember how to be a nurse. I was so stressed about it that I slept HORRIBLE last night, which doesn't help with being a good nurse the next day :)
Anyway, it actually turned out to be a really good day. The beginning was a little scary: getting report and not remembering what I was supposed to be asking about the patients. I even got some scary patients that had things that I'd never taken care of before (insulin drips, which are normally only done in the ICU!) Talk about scary. But, I was really surprised how fast it came back to me. I had my rhythm within the first assessment and I was caught up all day long, even having enough time to help out the other nurses on the floor. I was really proud of myself! And I'm happy to report that I actually enjoyed it today. I was totally dreading going back to work, but today made me realize that I have a good job and I work with great people, so I should be more grateful!

The Boys

In case you can't tell, the one on the left is Mr. Owen (AKA mini-Dave) and the one on the right is Cameron (AKA mini-Brian).

Elder Whitaker

Can you believe it. Look at him walk away from the car so happy to go learn Portuguese and more about the Gospel! Wow, he is so old, which I guess means that I'm really old, but oh well! He is the cutest little missionary in the whole world!! Way to go Jepps!!

Going Private...

Ya, we're doing it... Send the email addresses to me.