Rocky Mountain Rivals

Our soccer teams played our final games of the season. Joe's team took a trip up to Couer D'Alene to play the college of Northern Idaho. After driving all night they were completely exhausted and got dominated 3-0, but both of our awesome mothers came along for the trip, and my dad drove across from Richland where he was on business, making it well worth the drive.

Joe's team redeemed themselves by ending the season with 2 huge victories. First, they beat the Mexi League All-Stars 5-4 (they beat the Real Salt Lake reserves and defeated Joe's team 8-1 earlier in the season) and in their final game they defeated Utah Valley University (formerly UVSC) 3-2.

And we are the cheering section. Go my favorite sport's team, Go!

Seattle

I flew from New England (see post below) to Seattle. I had originally planned to drive up to Seattle with Joe's sister Amanda, her husband, and five children, but took a 2000 mile detour to New England when Joe research trip got planned for the same time. When I arrived in Seattle, I spent a couple of days with the very awesome Jen and Mike Kelley (It was sooooo good to see you guys). They live downtown in a beautiful apartment. Jen took me on a tour of downtown Seattle (including a stop at the famous Pike's Place Market).

Then, I met up with Manda, Teri (Joe's other sister who lives in Seattle) and all of their adorable children. I spent the next few days exploring other parts of Seattle with them including the aerospace musaum, Snoqualmie Falls, and Ensign Ranch. We stayed at Teri's beautiful home in Duvall.

It was a wonderful trip. The only hitch was a snow storm that hit as we were driving home across the Idaho/Utah border. We traveled approx 2 miles in 3 hours. Our fourteen hour drive turned into 20. It is definitely an adventure to spend 20 hours in the back of a suburban with 5 kids. Luckily, they are five of the cutest, coolest kids ever, and even a 20 hour drive turned out to be fun and memorable adventure.

New England in the Fall

Well, I have been somewhat of a slacker lately (haven't posted anything new for 2 months) so I guess I have some catching up to do.

Joe made a trip back to New England to do research for his thesis at the beginning of October. I spent the first half of the trip with him. We drove around New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. It was the beginning of October, and the autumn colors were beautiful.



We spent some time in Laconia, NH where his mother grew up and visited the famous Lake Winnipesaukee (even spending a night at the Margate resort with the beach right out our bedroom window.

While in Maine, we visited some old family friends. They live on a fjord in Bar Harbor. We walked down to the ocean (only 20 yards from their house) and collected sea water to keep our lobsters fresh until we were ready to cook them; I ate and cooked my very first Maine lobster while watching sail boats out their picture windows as the sun set. Maybe we should move to Maine . . . .

(I have to credit google maps for the above 2 photos, both were taken very near our friends' house. The pictures recreate very well the atmosphere from their beautiful home).

Leaving ER LAND : (

Well, I had my last full time shift in the ER last night. Tomorrow I am starting a new job in the Medical Oncology Unit at Central Utah Clinic. It is with mixed feelings that I leave the ER; while I am excited to have a job with normal hours (no more nights, weekends, and holidays for me) I am going to miss my awesome co-workers and all the crazy, exciting, and unpredictable nights that I have spent in the ER. I am a little bit afraid that my life will seem dull and all too normal in the coming months; after all, there is a reason that so many TV shows (although dramatized) originate in the ER.

I would like to point out the clock on the wall is reading 4:51 A.M. and that I am drinking a half gallon of Vodka that was most likely left (or confiscated) from one of our grateful (or inebriated) patients. At this point I have to give a shout out to the patient that we were trying to sober up a few nights ago. After waiting and waiting for a drop in her blood alcohol level and watching her stumble around the ER for 8 hours someone finally realized that her "water-bottle" was actually filled with something a little bit stronger than water. Go team, Go!



We all look happy enough (see above) (and we all love the night shift) but this (see right) is how I actually feel at 3:00 A.M. when I realize I still have 2 more hours left in my shift. It makes me smile as I think of Bret, one of our nurses who swears that he could be sound asleep one minute and doing CPR the next without missing a beat.

Last but not least I have to include a list. Anyone who has been a nurse for any length of time will appreciate this list (and it makes me chuckle as it reminds me of my last 2 years of dedicated service :)

You know you are a nurse if...

1. You would like to meet the inventor of the call light some night in
a Dark alley.

2. You have ever had a patient look you straight in the eye and say "I have no idea how that got stuck in there".

3. Your sense of humor gets more warped each year. Almost EVERYTHING
can seem humorous eventually!

4. You are able to identify different diarrhea by the smell.

5. You check the caller ID on your day off to see if anyone from the
hospital is trying to call and ask you to work.

6. You've been telling stories at a restaurant and someone at the next
table throws up.

7. You notice that you are using more four letter words than you did
before you started nursing.

8. You believe that all bleeding stops ... eventually.

9. You believe that "shallow gene pool" should be a recognized diagnosis.

10. You've told a confused patient that your name was that of your
co-worker and to holler if they need help.

11. Your bladder can expand to the size of a Winnebago's water tank.

12. You say to yourself "great veins" when looking at complete strangers at the grocery store.

13. Your idea of gambling is a blood alcohol pool instead of a football pool.

14. Your finger has gone places you never thought possible.

15. Your idea of a good time is a cardiac arrest at shift change.

16. You disbelieve 90% of what you are told and 75% of what you see.

18. You believe that unspeakable evils will befall anyone who utters the phrase "Wow, it's really quiet, isn't it?".

19. Your most common assessment question is "what changed tonight to make it an emergency after 6 hours/days/weeks/months/years?".

20. Your immune system is so well developed that is has been known to attack squirrels in the backyard.

21. You find humor in other people's stupidity.

Redemption

On Sept 13th my soccer team took on Western Wyoming again; we were determined not to lose to that team a second time. The game was intense. Wyoming players didn't like the possibility of losing to a non-college squad. They had players crying; one girl picked a fight with one of our players . . . punches were thrown . . . red cards given . . . even Wyoming's coach (6'3" and 250 lbs) decided he needed in on the action. He started throwing elbows and pulling hair. I am very happy to say that, despite the heated emotions, we were victorious with the final score being 3-1.

Joe's team also played 2 games this weekend against Utah State and Salt Lake Community College. They didn't win either game this week, but are hoping/determined to have better luck next week.

Our trip to Houston

Coming soon . . .

The Rocky Mountain Rivals

Joe and I are playing on some awesome soccer teams as part of a"college development program." It's a program that has a guys team and a girls team for people that are looking to get exposure to some universities and colleges, has-beens that have used up their eligibility and can no longer play for a school, and never-beens (like Joe and I). Officially, we are named the Rocky Mountain Rivals. We are playing a few local college teams and other amateur developmental teams. On August 23rd we traveled to Rock Springs, WY where we played Western Wyoming Community College, where unfortunately my women's team did not come away victorious, but luckily the men's team saved face by squeaking in a game-winning goal in overtime.

Joe actually made this divot in the grass with his knee when he went down in a slide tackle. His knee was bloody, but the grass definitely got the worst of it.

A Good Week

Well, Joe just left me to spend the week in Logan, UT to take a short course in stream restoration at Utah State. While he spends 13 hours a day learning how to restore streams to their naturally beautiful and environmentally friendly state, I will spend 12 hours a day saving lives and hanging out with crazy people in the ER. I am definitely going to miss my wonderful husband. Hopefully the awesome week that we spent together last week will hold me over until he returns home on Friday.

Since I moved to Provo 6 years ago, knowing that I wouldn't live here forever, I started creating a list of things that I absolutely wanted to do before we leave. One of those things was to snorkel in the Homestead Crater in Midway, UT. On Tuesday, this lofty dream came to fruition. With our good friends Chad and Sara Tibbits, we put on our flippers and masks and snorkeled in the 65 foot deep natural crater, filled with 96 degree mineral water. This crater is the famous scuba certification site in Utah, and I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I believed reports that at the bottom of the crater lives a large fresh water shark. When I realized that what I was actually snorkeling in was more of a giant hot tub sitting under a 90 foot limestone beehive, I was only a little disappointed.

On Thursday, we had the luck of attending a Brian Regan comedy show with Amanda and Pete Nettisheim and our good friend Tim Whiting (who just moved to D.C. . . we will miss you Tim!). Brian Regan is one funny man.

The rest of our week was spent camping in our living room, with every blanket we own (which is a lot of blankets) spread out on the floor, falling asleep watching the Olympics (and cheering particularly hard for the US swim team with Dara Torres, Jason Lezak, Michael Phelps, and company). GO WORLD!!!

Congratulations Jeremy and Callie!!!

Demo Derby!!!!!!!!

Joe and I attended our first ever demo derby in Heber, Utah this weekend. I love small towns! (and demo derbies I just learned) Demo derbies are amazing. Drivers in little cars (and sometimes in big trucks as pictured above) drive around and ram into each other. I cannot believe how much damage some cars can sustain and yet continue driving. Luckily, the worst human injury we saw was a bloody nose (when this truck rolled the ER nurse in me definitely imagined the worst).

We attended the event with Caleb & Kendra and Amanda & Pete and their adorable family (Sydney and Lily are pictured above).

The end of our great adventure in Central America

They say that all good things must come to an end. On June 8th we traveled from Belize to Cancun. We spent an enjoyable day soaking up the sun and the beach for the last time and then reluctantly boarded a plane to return home, having had some awesome new experiences and having made a lot of great memories.

Central American Adventure June 7

On June 7th we stayed in Corozal in Northern Belize. We visited the beautiful Mayan Archaeological site Lamanai meaning "Submerged Crocodile." The site had to be reached by a scenic boat ride down the New River, which we nearly missed because the public bus took more than an hour longer than expected. Finally, at one bus stop (where the bus was going to have an unanticipated 20 minute wait) we managed to find a phone where we called the guide. He told us to get off the bus (we were still several miles from the destination) and he would come pick us up. Because of his kindness we were able to make the boat and visit Lamanai. We spent the day climbing the massive limestone pyramids and listening to more howler monkeys howl.

Central American Adventure June 6

On June 6th, we left Caye Caulker. We flew off the island in a little 15 seater airplane. The airport staff asked us to arrive 15 minutes before flight departure; we each received a boarding pass made of a 8 x 11 green laminated paper, labeled BOARDING PASS which we had to return prior to boarding the flight.

Only a few minutes into the flight we were completely surrounded by clouds.

This is the view of the landing strip as we approached and a picture of our little airplane.

After spending a few hours in St. Petersburg on Ambergris Caye, (the rich man's version of Caye Caulker: very developed with large resorts, nice restaurants, and shops), we traveled on to Corozal, Belize where we stayed for the night.