Tuberculosis I hate you

Winter semester in Nursing is proving to be an annual pain. Last year when I was starting the program I had to turn in a lot of paperwork, some of which verified that I was current on my immunizations. Well, the secretary lady told me that my TB (tuberculosis) test wouldn't last long enough so I would have to get a new one by the next day. First off, it "expired" one day before the end of the semester, and I would definitely not be in the hospitals at that time. Second, you have to wait 48-72 hours to get the results of the test so there was no way I could turn in a new test the next day. But after a lot of crying, praying, and stressing it all eventually worked out.

Next year

Well, the time was approaching for me to get my annual TB test so I could continue on in the program. Went in and got the shot and then finished up all of my finals (so 1 year of nursing is officially over!). I was a little concerned because I had a bump on my arm from the test. It wasn't red and inflamed or raised a ton so I didn't really know if I should be worried. After showing some of my classmates (I figured I'd let them be nurses and tell me if the test was positive) I was pretty convinced I had nothing to worry about. I guess it's a good thing we still have a year to learn because we were wrong. It was positive.

So instead of being really excited that I had finished finals I was really scared that I wouldn't be able to continue on in nursing. I had to get a blood test that day before we left for Nevada (on Thursday) and wait until Monday to get the results. That was a fun waiting period. And, of course, that test also came back positive. So I am starting to freak out. I've been contaminating people for who knows how long. And I had just barely visited my pregnant friend and her little baby, that scared me the most. But the next step is to get a chest X-ray to see if you are actively contagious or have ever had active TB.

It was quite the process trying to get in to get that taken care of. It was hard to get the appointment and when we finally did we had to do the X-ray 3 times because the machine wouldn't work right. But low and behold, I don't have TB. So all of you who were getting nervous reading this because you have been near me, don't worry. I didn't pass it to you. And I am not going to get kicked out of the program as I feared so Nursing is still my second major. I just have to take meds for 6-9 months to make sure the TB doesn't become active. Lame, but better than being sick already.

So that was my stressful holiday story, but now it has been resolved, for the most part, and I can just enjoy hanging with my hubby and my family in the nice desert rain. Merry Christmas!

Beautiful

My Wife is Hot

Couches, Count-Downs, and Christmas

Well Christmas is fast approaching, bringing with it the end of the semester. Thank Goodness. I know my finals are going to be rough, and Karl's will probably be worse, but at this point I just don't care very much. I just want them to be done. So that's what we are counting down to. In roughly 11 days Karl will be done with his undergrad (and I will be done with one more semester)! I am so proud of him. He has worked so hard and it's paid off.

There have been some changes around the house in the past month. When Cami and James left they took their lovely couch that was in the front room, so it was completely empty. That meant we got to go furniture shopping! But not for us, with Rachel, which I think is even better. I got to see all the furniture, find things that I really liked, but in the end I didn't have the final stress of having to pick THE ONE (or pay). So here is the new living room.

We also got Rachel an early Christmas present, which we have been enjoying for the past month or two. You've got to admit, some presents are just too exciting to wait for. Especially when there are football and Jazz games to be watched. This makes it a little easier to see than the other tv we had been using.



And for those of you who have never been able to visit I thought I would post a picture of our, well, Rachel's house, in which we currently reside. Thanks Rachel!
We are right across from the club house, pool and hot tub (which unfortunately is not in operation during the winter months)
And finally, here's is our Christmas tree. We got it over thanksgiving with my family and brought it back to Utah in our trunk. It fell over twice while we were attempting to set it up, breaking a few ornaments and landing on one of Rachel's friends, but eventually we won and the tree now stays up all by itself. Now if finals would just end we could sit by the tree sipping hot chocolate and watching a Christmas movie. Fortunately the countdown has begun.

Holidays

So I am behind again. What's new. It always takes me forever to post. I apologize about that. And as a consequence My posts are always super long. I'll try not to be too boring.

First... Halloween. We have nothing to make costumes with. So we usually don't dress up. But we had to go to our ward trunk or treat so this is the best we came up with. I made a superman shield with permanent marker and highlighter, we taped it to a blue shirt, had Karl wear his glasses and Voila... Clark Kent/Superman. So of course I had to be Lois Lane. I know I look nothing like her but it works. Nice quick and easy costume. As for the pose, we obviously watch too much Lois and Clark (but it is an awesome Superman tv series).
Then on actual Halloween we got together with some friends to make root beer, carve pumpkins, and watch a movie. I got to do the stirring.
Karl and Nic decided to have a steam war. Nic won pretty much every time.And here are mine and Karl's finished pumpkins. Guess who's is which. (I LOVE Batman. While I was making a superman shield I did a batman symbol too. I figure all black and that would be a super easy costume too.)

And now for thanksgiving. Karl and I decided on Tuesday that we would rather try to beat the storm to Nevada than deal with the after effects on Wednesday. So as soon as I got home from clinical we threw our clothes in a suitcase, loaded up the car, and took off (unfortunately I forgot my camera so there aren't any pictures). We didn't hit any bad weather. Not the case on our way home. It took us 8 hours to get back to Draper and our average MPH was about 30. But we made it.

We played a lot of sports while we were there. Made and ate TONS of great food. Got to relax and hang out, and did our Thanksgiving tradition of going Christmas tree hunting on Friday. Karl and I even found a little tree to bring back with us. I hope we keep that tradition. It's a fun, cheap, all day family event. I love it.

But I think one of the most entertaining parts of the trip was our Saturday night game of Disney Charades. It's fun for everyone but I just love watching Tay. He thinks that if he looks just like the card everyone will understand what he is. My favorite was his little mermaid impression. He studied the card for like 3 minutes. After laying on his stomach he studied the card again to make sure he was just right, then turned his head dramatically to look at us and... smiled. Ok, you had to be there, but it was hilarious. After some coaching he did really well with all his cards, but you had to let him try first just to see what he would do. I can't do it justice with words. Over Christmas I'll try to get a video, but if you ever get a chance to play charades with Tay DON'T pass it up. He is one funny kid.

BEST (and first) Fall Break EVER! Part 2

I apologize in advance. This is another super long post but I wanted to show everyone the pictures. First off, here's the "cabin" we stayed at. It is huge!It comes complete with an upper pond and hot tub. The water was FREEZING! We jumped in off the dock and then ran to the hot tub to get warm. Fun but cold. We also we canoeing on the lower pond. That's where the boys were moving the rocks.

Here's a view of the house and surrounding area. Lots of pasture land.

And here's a side view of the house. Now for the fun part, the rooms. This was ours. We were in the Ranch House. So we basically had our own apartment in the basement. Complete with living room and kitchen. Next is the theater room. Those couches were so comfy. We watched a lot of movies. I totally recommend "North and South". The British movie, not civil war series. It's long, but great.

Waking up Nic. We wanted to explore.
The house had so much detail. Each room had a different theme. I just loved this tub. But I have to admit this one is pretty awesome. And the faucets that went with it were pretty sweet.

This is the bear room. The head boards are so fun but the beds themselves were really narrow. This is the bunk house.
The best part of this room was the loft with all the toys.

As you can see we had a lot of fun.
There was also a window that overlooked the walkway. Karl and Nic had fun trying to shoot me. And I have to admit I ambushed them a bit too.
And Nic started modeling the bison hide for us.
This is the entry way. Notice all the wood? I got to help stack all the rooms to prepare for winter. It was fun, but there are a lot of fireplaces in that house. (And I look like a ghost in the picture. Could I be any whiter?)
Besides the hikes, exploring, watching movies, helping out, and hanging in the hot tub we also blew fire! It was a little scary, the first time I tried I about inhaled it. That wouldn't have been good, but I learned the next time around. This last picture is just a beautiful sunrise. It was like the perfect end to the perfect trip. Thanks Yarringtons!

BEST (and first) Fall Break EVER! Part 1

This October Karl and I were able to discover one of the best inventions in college history. Fall Break. Getting a few days off in the middle of the semester to do something fun really helps rejuvenate you and get you through til finals. Karl didn't really get a fall break, thanks to BYU, but he took one anyways. We went up to Idaho with our friends the Yarrington's and hung out at a "cabin". The rest will be told in pictures.

We went on a lot of four wheeler adventures (as you can tell it got a bit cold)On one we found an abandoned cabin. Of course we had to investigate.
There was a "shower" and bedroom on one side (complete with gun rack overhead)
And kitchen/storage room on the other.
Karl found the outhouse and had to take a peek.
Poor Nic was working so hard he couldn't come with us. So we decided to help. Actually, Karl helped. I supervised.
The rocks were so HEAVY! Probably around 300 pounds (so they tell me. I wasn't about to try and lift one to see if they were right) After getting stuck in a few places They finally made it. (The rock ended up partway in the water and looked great. Yay for landscape design.) Then they got smart and used a wheelbarrow.

On our next adventure we found the old dredge. That thing is HUGE!
We also found an old ghost town. Custer City. You can see where the boys were headed.
I on the other hand, ended up in jail. Karl G. Maeser style.
We decided this was a hands on exhibit and tried a few things out. Too bad we couldn't tell what half the stuff was.On the other side of the valley we found an old mine. Unfortunately we were blocked. But we got to test out the old mine cart track. Karl tried to kill me and got splinters. Serves him right.
We also went exploring in "The Drunk Goat" and went on a hike to a lake.
Karl started testing out his skills. This brought back bad memories from Keel's class in high school. (Does anyone else remember the javelin scenes from "Worst Sports Bloopers"?)
But we finally made it to the top. Nic apparently couldn't keep from singing and the two of them got a little too close on this trip.
But have no fear, I got him back.
It really was a great trip full of beautiful hikes, fun adventures, gorgeous views, and lots of food. I didn't put any pictures of the "cabin". Those will be coming along with a few other stories from the trip. Hope the post wasn't too long!