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.