Corian

Thursday, July 11, 2013

The Only Constant in Life is Change

No...

I'm not pregnant.

I found out last Friday that I didn't get accepted into the nursing program at SLCC. I knew it was a long shot, so I wasn't really surprised by the rejection letter.

A few months ago, Ian and I spent a weekend in St. George. As part of the trip, I met with Alice Clegg, the nursing advisor at Dixie State. I've met with a fair share of nursing advisors in the course of my education, but Alice was the only one that made me feel like I had an advocate in this process. She had a 3x5 card with the range of scores of the people who had just been accepted, and she looked at my transcript and showed me exactly what I need to do to get accepted. She even took the time to show me what the nursing program schedule looks like. I left her office feeling that, not only was this possible, I was going to do it!

So, it is with excitement and a whole lot of nerves that I announce that we're officially going to be Southern Utah people.

It hasn't been an easy decision for me. I've gone back and forth about it in my head over and over and over (and over). I absolutely love my job. My coworkers are like family to me and the kids I interact with brighten my day. I feel important and satisfied in my job, and I have "What in the world are we doing" moments all day long at work.

The ultimate decision-maker, however, is that we both really feel like this is where we're meant to be. There are a lot of reasons for this too. The biggest one is that sunshine makes me a different person. The weeks of inversion in the winter turn me into a not nice person to be around. We're in a good position in life right now where we have the ability to relocate relatively easily, so really why the heck not? I do find it funny, too, that I'm finishing my education (well, for the time being. Are you ever really finished?) right back where I started it.

I'm truly am excited about the new adventure we're about to embark on. There's always some anxiety associated with a big change, but it's time. I'm in the process of applying for the nursing program at Dixie, and, after retaking some classes this summer, I feel like I have a good shot at getting in. So, we'll see.

So...that's that. Wish me luck!

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Ok, I guess I can be done with my blogging hiatus

Wow, how can it 10 months have gone by so quickly? I pulled some pictures off my phone to highlight the adventures over the last little while.

We had our annual Summer bash in Shanna's backyard in Santaquin. It was a night of dancing, food and fun! It was so good to connect with my cousins that I don't get to see very often anymore.

The band

The crew dancing the night away

We bought a new car in September. Ian decided he didn't want the Jeep to be his daily driver any more because of the less-than-ideal gas mileage. We found this 2005 Civic and just couldn't pass it up. We're blessed and grateful to be able to afford all three vehicles. :)

The family took a trip down to St. George for my cousin Ricqui's son's baby blessing. We stopped in a ghost town called Frisco, west of Beaver. Here's the remnants of the old mining town. Dad brought his metal detector and we were able to find some treasures.

Halloween came and went this year without too much of a fuss. Quite frankly, I don't even remember what we did. We did carve some pumpkins on the Sunday before.

I don't know whether to laugh of be creeped out.

Wendy became the 4th of the 5 ding dongs to get married on November 3, 2012, and now lives in London with her husband, Tom. It was an absolutely beautiful ceremony on a gorgeous day! We were the "backup" bridesmaids, and had a blast reconnecting.

Ian got to take paragliding lessons in November. He spent the next few days researching paragliding equipment online...

After a flight

We resumed our family tradition of going to TSO the night before Thanksgiving. I can't believe how they manage to outdo themselves year after year.

After 3 months of Ian driving the Civic, it got hit by a school bus in the high school parking lot. Of course it had to be the newest, nicest car that we own... It was just a little fender bender though, and it was fixed well.

Christmas Eve was spent at the Capua's. Santa (Chris) made an appearance, and the grandkids were thrilled. I love the magic of Christmas, and I might as well be one of them.

Ian got me a sewing machine for Christmas, and I've had lots of fun being "Martha Stewart" as one of my friends calls me. Here's a few of the things I've been working on:

an overnight bag

A receiving blanket

a pillowcase that I ended up sending to Japan for Ian

There's a lot more than that, but these are the ones I have pictures of.

We made a trip to St George at the end of March. The blossoms were out, and the temperatures were in the low 80s. It was the perfect trip!

Well, there's the highlight reel. I feel like we have some pretty exciting things on the horizon, so I'll blog more as it all pans out. Life is good!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Happy Anniversary to us!

I can't believe it's been 2 years already! We decided to skip town this year, and took a week-long cruise to Mexico. It was absolutely fabulous, and I'm avoiding real life by blogging about it. I usually catalog my trips each day in my journal, but I didn't do that this time around and decided to blog instead. I'll just warn you now, this post might be a little long.

We drove to St. George on Saturday and stayed over night at Grandma's, then drove the rest of the way on Sunday morning. It was a pretty uneventful drive except for a stop for gas in Barstow.

We splurged a little for the Oceanview room, and I'm SO glad we did. We ended up following a storm into Puerto Vallarta, so it was some pretty rocky sailing. It was nice to be able to look out the window and watch the water. It was also good to know what time of day it was.

The Queen Mary next to our boat.

Getting ready to sail away!

Off to Mexico!

The first two days were "A day at sea" as they like to call it. We mostly laid out on the deck and read, ate, and did a few activities on the boat. We had a little cabin fever by the end.

Wandering around on the mini-golf course.

I loved having dinner each night on the cruise. Our waiter remembered our names and our dining preferences. Ian ordered a steak and Armando, our waiter, said, "Medium rare, right?" I was impressed. It was also fun to get to know all the people at our table. One couple was even from Ogden. Small world!

Ian has a knack for catching the worst photos of me...

Armando was also an excellent dancer.

Puerto Vallarta was the first port we got to. It was a beautiful city, but after 3 days of solid rain there, it was overwhelmingly HOT and MUGGY! We had a great day, though. The original plan was to go to the beach, but Ian negotiated a deal with one of those guys who sells excursions on the pier so we could go on a zipline canopy tour for $40! How could we not?? Hind-sight we probably should've gone in something other than swim suits, but what can ya do? We rode in this sketchy van without seatbelts to the place. As we were driving I asked Ian, "Does any of this remind you of Argentina?" It wasn't until we drove by the most ghetto parts of town that he started to see familiar sights.

Bievenido!

"Is that Danny DeVito?" -Ian

He wanted to take the parrot home.

I must've rubbed up against the cable at some point.

Tribal tattoo, maybe?

Sailing away from Puerto Vallarta

Thursday and Friday we were in Cabo San Lucas. I went there with Ian's parents and sister on my last cruise, and it was so fun to go back with Ian. We spent the first day on the beach, and shopped the 2nd day. I guess the water is too shallow for the boat to dock in Cabo, so they have a tender that takes people from the boat to the pier. It was a bumpy ride!

We were on the Carnival Splendor

Ah! Waves! His face kills me in this pic!

The pirate ship heading to attack our cruise ship.

Tropical fish in the water

Apparently Cabo is known for its massive waves. Wow!

The famous arch

Pancho, the lone sea lion that we saw.

The view from our spot on the beach.

I insisted we buy a beach umbrella before we left.

Best idea I've ever had, truly.

The very persistent table serenade people.

I'll tell you, people in Cabo are not shy about asking for tips for the smallest things.

It got a little annoying.

There was a chocolate buffet on our way back. How could I resist?

Just FYI, a chocolate apple is not the same as a caramel apple, and is much more difficult to eat.

We spent most of our evenings here. They had 4 different comedians.

Some were better than others, but we had fun sitting with our virgin drinks and laughin' it up.

And who could forget the cute little towel animals that they leave on your bed every night?

Just getting off the boat. I was so bummed to be going home... :(

The last day back in California was one of my favorite days of the whole trip! Our friends Cinthya and Creggan go out there every summer for an internship, so they took our car for the week, and spent the day showing us the sights. They live at Oakwood apartments, which is kind of famous. I even saw an MTV special about it. They see Jay Leno every so often and apparently Hilary Duff moved there when she first came to Hollywood. They're right in the heart of the action with WB and Universal Studios right across the street. Lucky ducks!