Because I have 20 other things to do...

I decided I would spend time blogging!

I really should be studying for my national boards that are coming up on May 6th, but I just can't seem to find the motivation... Maybe when I realize I have 2 years worth of material to study in 6 weeks and that the outcome of that exam decides our future... then maybe I'll find some motivation to study :/

...Still not coming...

This past weekend, Dan has gotten really interested and intrigued by this Project 365 idea. I don't know if you've heard of it, but you take 1 picture a day for an entire year of just the everyday things you do. Then at the end of the year, you can look back and really see what you're life is really like, by looking at all the trivial things you spend your time doing.

He hasn't really been totally into blogging or anything like that, so he's trying it out to see if he'll be able to do it before officially starting it up. If you'd like to see what he has so far, and maybe even leave a comment, the website is here.

My gardening has started to come to a sad close...since the other day I came home to my daisies outside, and they looked like this

I'm not sure what happened to make them get that way? They were perfectly fine, standing up straight and blooming when I left that morning...but then when I got home, they looked like that. I suppose I just need to wait to plant anything else until I can do it outside and really spend the time they need to get them growing strong.


I started another project over Spring Break, that I haven't decided if I really know what I'm doing. I have been wanting to make a quilt out of all of mine and Dan's old t-shirts. We have so many just laying around and taking up space in our drawers, and we never ever wear them. So, since I didn't feel like I just wanted to cart them off to DI, I got the idea to make a blanket out of them.

Well, I don't have a sewing machine...or the knowledge of how to sew more than a button on a pair of pants or a small hole closed...but I figured "hey, it's Spring Break, why not try to figure it out?" So I borrowed an awesome sewing machine from a sister who used to be in our ward. Dan teaches her early morning seminary class occasionally and is scheduled to teach it toward the end of April. So I figured I would try it and see how it goes/how much I can get done by then, and then he can bring it back to her at the end of April.

I brought the machine home, got it all set up, went to Joanns and bought a rotary cutter and a cutting mat, and then came home and didn't really know where or how to start. I ended up just starting to cut the shirts into 12x12 squares, using a piece of scrapbook cardstock as my stencil. I have 5 shirts cut...

and probably about 20 left to do...

I am really excited about it, and am enjoying making it, but I seem to get a little overwhelmed sometimes because I don't want to mess it up or have it not end up working when I get ready to put everything together. Have any of you ever made a tee shirt quilt before? Have any pointers? Any just basic sewing knowledge that you can share? I think the cutting of the shirts is going to be the easy part. Once I finish all the cutting and get ready to use the sewing machine to sew them all together, then I think I might freak a little. We'll see...more updates to come.


We have planned and are getting ready for our annual April Conference trip to Utah next weekend. Dan always has a mission reunion the Friday before April Conference, and they insist that he comes to play the piano for it. They say it wouldn't be the same without him. Every year he says it will probably be the last one, because most of the elders he knows have been home for 3 or more years and generally don't come to the reunions anymore. But every year we go back for one last time. I enjoy it though. Since I had never been to Utah until I married Dan almost 3 years ago, I enjoy going everytime and being able to feel of the spirit that is there. We figured it out, and realized since we've been married, we have only been home for 2 General Conferences. We have been in Utah for every other one. This year we are planning to take his 15 year old brother Kyle, and his 12 year old sister Lacey with us. It should be an adventure!

Well, I have finally run out of time, and need to go get ready for class and clinic tonight. May can't come soon enough...

Gardener?

A couple of days ago, I had the idea come to me that I wanted to learn how to grow flowers. I love flowers and they bring so much color and beauty to the earth; so I decided I wanted to learn how to grow and cultivate flowers so when we move into our house later this year, I'll be able to plant a flower garden in the backyard and maybe even some in the front to add some color and life to our yards.

I had no idea where to start. I have no experience with flowers to know what flowers grow at what time of the year, which ones need constant sun vs. shade, which ones grow well in pots in the house vs. in the ground outside, etc. So...I called my grandma.

My grandparents in Chicago have different types of flowers and ferns, etc. growing all around their house outside. They have the sun needing ones on the south side of the house, the part shade flowers on the east and west sides, etc. I knew she'd be able to help me, and always enjoys when I call to ask her how to do different grandmother-ish things.

She advised me to get some geraniums, petunias and a few marigolds to put in a pot out on the porch. It sounded like a good plan to me, so I went to the garden center at Target. I didn't realize how big those 3 plants would be, and realized my grandma was thinking of a medium-large sized pot to go outside. I was wanting more something to grow inside in a small pot to prevent any of the random animals & people that roam around my house outside from eating/knocking it over, etc. So I looked around for a good 30 minutes, reading the cards inside the plants, looking at the different sizes of pots, and deciding what would be best for me.

Here's what I came home with...



I saw the African Daisies, and fell in love. Daisies are my favorite flower, but I wasn't sure if I could grow Gerbera Daisies inside... So, these white African Daisies were perfect!

Then I saw these cute pink primroses that were $1.29, so I thought why not? I wanted to have a couple different kinds to get some good experience, but didn't want to spend a ton just in case I ended up killing them.

The primroses are supposed to be in partial shade, and therefore sit on my kitchen table next to a western window. The daisies are supposed to be in full sun, but are a hardy type of flower, which means they will grow even in less than perfect conditions. They sit on our new kitchen table in front of the other western window.

When I bought them on Tuesday, they each had 3 blossoms on them. Now, as you can see, the primroses have about 5 open, and a couple more that will probably be open by tomorrow. The daisies have 5 or 6 open today and a couple that look like they might be open by tomorrow.

I'm very excited about my new found love for growing flowers, and am excited to move into a place where I can actually make a garden for them. Also, in this exploration of growing things, I decided I'd like to try to grow vegetables in a garden as well. That I won't attempt to start until I have somewhere that I can plant things in the ground, but I think it would be a good hobby and a great way to save money on vegetables!

Do any of you have flower or vegetable gardens? If so, what do you grow in them and can you give me any advice?

Anesthesia Certified!

Last weekend I finally took my Anesthesia Board Exam. I had been studying for close to 2 weeks straight, and was SO ready to get it over with. My sweet husband was helping me study almost the whole week before, including taking a packet of practice questions with us to Oregano's on Saturday night for dinner and quizzing me all through dinner. I love when he helps me study because he often doesn't know how to pronounce half the words, and even if he does, he usually makes some random hilarious joke about the material that I could never forget.

Friday night we drove to Mesa after leaving our dogs with Dan's brothers for the night. (They came for a spring training game and took care of our dogs for the night) I wanted to keep studying that whole night, but I didn't really know what else to study. I felt good about all the material I had studied and felt like I knew it pretty well. But I just felt like the night before a huge exam I should still be studying. Dan was good at keeping my mind off of it and talking to me about other things like spring break that I was excited to get to.

I had come down with a cold the week before, of course, and had an extremely stuffed nose and a slight cough. I had called in sick to school 2 days that week in hopes of resting enough to get over the cold before the test. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well as I had hoped...

I hardly slept at all Friday night, between the nerves, running through all the material I had studied, not being able to breath through my nose, which meant sleeping with my mouth open (which I hate more than most other things), and my queezy stomach. I think the amount of sleep I got the night before amounted to about and hour and a half. I finally got up at 6 am on Saturday and got all ready to go. We left around 7:30, and drove to downtown Phoenix to the Hygiene clinic at Rio Salado.

The test was at 8:30 am. 55 multiple choice questions, and I had 60 minutes. I opened the test to the first page, and immediately thought "oh no, I'm done for"... Good thing I think they put the 4 hardest questions on the first page. I skipped the first page and went onto the rest of the test. I finished the entire exam with about 15 minutes to spare. I was actually the first one done, but didn't want to be the first to get up and turn it in. So I checked, and double checked, and triple checked my answers until one other girl got up to turn her test in.

I came out and waited for the results...As some of the other girls started filing out, I could hear a lot of them saying "that was so much worse than I thought it was going to be!" I hoped I wasn't just over-confident, and wondered why I thought it was overall a fair exam and was over exactly what I had studied, just not as in depth.

The results came out about 10 minutes later...The examiner brought out the stack of white envelopes with each person's results and sat them in basket. Most of us just sat there, almost too afraid to get up and look at the results. After a few seconds, I got up and found my envelope...

I had passed the written exam and could move onto the clinical portion that afternoon!

I was so relieved! I knew that the written was the more difficult part and that if I could get through that part, I would be ok.

Dan came back and picked me up, and we went to eat lunch and share the good news of my passing before we had to be back for the clinical at 2 pm.

Dan, his mom (my back-up patient in case I failed the first set of injections) and I arrived back at the clinic at about 1:45 pm. I was sitting in the waiting area filling out my paperwork, when they called my number. I scrambled to get my things together and head into the clinic to set up my operatory. I brought my good husband back into the chair and got him all ready.

*Side Note: Dan volunteered to be my patient for my anesthesia board exam. He knew it involved getting 2 shots in his mouth for no reason other than for me to be tested on it, but he agreed to do it anyway. What a wonderful man I married*

The 2 examiners came over and I gave the 2 injections as practiced. After a minute of talking, they instructed me to dismiss my patient. I knew then that I had either passed both injections and could go home, or I would have to bring my mother in law back for a 2nd attempt at the injection I failed.

I cleaned up my operatory and walked out to the waiting area to find my envelope, the same as that morning, with my results from the clinical exam...

I PASSED and was ANESTHESIA CERTIFIED!!!

It was such a relief to have it all over with and know that all my studying and sleepless nights over the previous couple of weeks had paid off. I was and still am so grateful to Dan for all his love and support in helping me prepare and for allowing me to use him as my patient.

I could finally relax and enjoy my Spring Break!

(A few of the girls from my class and I after a long, but successful day!)

Exciting Times!

There has been many fun and exciting things happening around our house the past few weeks, and there will continue to be more to come throughout the next few months as we wind up our time here in Tucson.

Exciting Thing #1: A couple of weeks ago, I registered and paid for my board exams. As small and insignificant as that is, it actually means so much to me! The fact that I have a date set in stone for my final board exams before I am a registered Dental Hygienist is very exciting to me. All of the non-sense and stress that I have dealt with over the past 18 months of hygiene school will soon all be worth it. When I am able to provide for my family on my own so that my husband will be able to completely focus on school and put all of his effort there without having to worry about keeping the lights on.

May 6th is when I take the written/computer board exam for the ADA here in Tucson. It's a 300 question exam that takes 8 hours.

May 7th-10th is the weekend that I will take my clinical exam in Phoenix. I still don't have an exact date on that weekend yet, but I do know it will be sometime during those 4 days.

Exciting Thing #2: I have 5 weeks until I take my Anesthesia board exam! I go to Phoenix for the written and clinical board on the same day, either March 12 or 13. This is the first weekend of Spring Break and it will be nice to have it over with and hopefully be Anesthesia certified before Spring Break really starts!


Exciting Thing #3: We found out on Friday that some of our best friends, Wesley & Tiffany Webster are coming to Phoenix again next weekend! We get so excited when they come to Phoenix and always try to do what we can to see them. Next weekend we were planning on going up to the valley to go to the temple on Monday morning anyway. So, it will be fun to maybe go to the temple together and be able to spend some time together. We're not quite sure if we'll even have a Valentines Day really since it will be on Sunday and we'll be driving to Mesa, but we'll see...

The exciting thing about it is that they are moving to Queen Creek or thereabout this summer also! Wes graduates from Dixie State in May and then they will be packing up to move so that he can start his MBA at ASU in the fall. We are very excited to live so close to them and not have to drive to St. George or them drive all the way here just to see each other. The other exciting thing is that their sweet baby boy is due April 4. So it won't just be the 2 of them moving but they'll have a sweet new baby too!


Exciting Thing #4: Dan was readmitted to ASU for this coming fall! We weren't worried about it per se, but were just anxious for it to happen so we would be all set and ready to go for August. Some un-expected changes have come about in his school plans, but interestingly enough we feel good about it instead of being discouraged or upset. It has changed a lot of ideas that we had, but I think that it will end up working better anyway. I'm actually kind of excited about this new change... I'll have to wait to get permission from Dan to share it with everyone, but in the mean time just know that we're excited about it!


Exciting Thing #5: We started working on our kitchen table last week. One night, we took it apart and brought the pieces into the garage to start sanding. I did most of the sanding with my dad's power sander. (It would have taken FOREVER without it) Then yesterday we decided we were going to try to get as close to finishing it as we could. We went to Home Depot and bought stain, paint, brushes, and a little more sand paper. We finished the rest of the sanding, stained the whole thing and painted the first coat of paint on the table top/sides, and 2 of the sides on each leg. It is starting to look really good and will look like a whole new table when we finish. Pictures to come...



There is sure to be many more fun and exciting events to come in the near future so stay tuned!

Odds and Ends

Today is my last first day of school! Unless I decide to go to grad school later on down the road, this will be my last semester of college! I don't know if I can actually describe how exciting that is for me, all I can say is that I am so ready to finish and be totally done in May.

This semester is mostly clinic, only a couple of lectures one day a week, and then studying like crazy for boards! I looked at my class syllabi last night and seeing my board exams scheduled into the class schedule is VERY exciting!

In other news, I teach the sunbeams in our ward and I absolutely love it! Those kids are so sweet, and so innocent and real. While I don't have kids of my own yet, I love my sunbeams as much as I think I would love my own kids. Definitely probably the best calling I've had yet.

Update on my Clinique products...
The cleanser, etc. is still working wonders and I love it. The powder face make-up however, I had to stop using. It was working, and I loved it, but it drys out my face so much and makes my skin look like I'm about 85 years old. I have come to the conclusion that I just can't wear make up on my face. But now that I've found a cleanser that works, it is helping the blotchy redness in my face go down, so I shouldn't need much make-up anyway. I just have to fix my face up again from being so dry for 5 days with make up.

On Saturday, we went to the Coyotes game in Phoenix with Dan's cousin Jamie and his dad. It was a lot of fun and a very exciting game! I even got made fun of for eating Dippin Dots ice cream while sitting in a cold hockey arena!
On our way to Phoenix, we stopped in Maricopa to pick up a new kitchen table from someone I found on Craigslist. The kitchen table we have now has to stay with the house for my brother when we move. So, we had to find ourselves a new kitchen table. We wanted a counter height table and chairs, since we really like the one my dad has, and the one that our friends Wes and Tiff have in St. George. This table I found was just the table, no chairs, and has a few scuffs on it, but it was...$20!
Counter height sets of tables and 4 chairs sell for between $500-800 new in the store! We're going to sand it down, fix it up and paint it, and then it'll be like brand new! It's in great shape except for the few scrapes on the top. More pictures (before and after) of that project to come later...

After the game, we went to another stop in north Phoenix to pick up a new La-Z-Boy rocker that I also found on Craigslist. It is in perfect condition and doesn't look like it was ever even used. Still very plush and comfy. It also matches the rest of our furniture. I put my foot down and said that the old pink chair that we've had that came from my in laws, will not be coming with us to our new house. It is probably at least 10 years old, probably more. It doesn't recline anymore, it squeaks when it rocks, and it's disgustingly dirty. But Dan loves to sit in a rocking chair while watching TV, doing homework, etc. So we had to find a replacement... Well here it is! (Excuse the dog in the pictures...she wouldn't move)

Old pink chair...

Awesome new chair!
We went to see The Blind Side last night in celebration of our last day of break before crazy madness school starts again. What a wonderful movie! I can't think of another movie that I like more that I've seen in a long time. Such a great story and was played so well. It is now one of my favorite movies.

Anyway, I need to go get ready to leave for school. Thanks for reading, and keep watching for more updates, as I'm sure there will be many more to come throughout the semester and our last 4 months in Tucson!

Clinique!

For Christmas, my step mom got me this set of cleanser and moisturizer from Clinique.

I absolutely LOVE it! I have terrible eczema, so my skin is horribly sensitive to just about everything! Up til' now, I have only been able to use Aveeno hand lotion on my face because it's the only thing that doesn't burn and make my face feel/look like it's going to burst into flames.

But my skin is still always red, dry, flaky and blotchy. Until now. I asked for this set for Christmas because people were getting desperate for gift ideas for me. I had heard about it from a couple girls at school, and had done some reading about Clinique online that it was made for sensitive skin and is fragrance free, etc. I even read a few comments from people who had eczema who said that Clinique was great for them. So I decided...what the heck? If I don't like it and it doesn't work, then I won't feel bad that I spent $50 on it.

I completely love this cleansing regimen, and use it everyday now. Before this, I have tried to wash my face everyday, but wasn't too strict on it because my face never felt that much different afterward.

So, now I'm like totally addicted to Clinique products. I want to try everything now. Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't wear much make up, and what I do wear is just on my eyes. The reasoning for that is because my skin is always so dry, no foundation or face make up ever looks good. It always looks flaky and gross. So, I just don't wear any because I've never been able to find a make up that works with my skin.

Well, after using this cleanser and moisturizer combo for a week or 2 now, my skin is much more soft and controlled, and much less dry. So i've been intrigued and wanting to try Clinique's pressed powder make up to help with the red and blotchy problem. It is their top selling make up and is very lightweight, natural looking and mineral enriched, which is a plus for my skin. (Another reason I haven't been too hyped about face make up is because I hate feeling like I'm wearing 10 lbs. of make up and like my skin can't breathe)

I have also been needing new mascara for a while now, and they are almost just as much at like Target, so I figured I'd try Clinique's too.

When we went to get Dan's textbooks in the UA bookstore on Monday, I remembered that there is a Clinique counter in there. I went to look, and the girl told me they were having a bonus that started on Wednesday, so if I could wait until then, it would be much more worth it.

So I did. We went back last night to get my make up, and a couple of fun reading books for Dan. I bought my pressed powder make up...
and got all this, plus a compact mirror and cosmetic bag FREE! (Notice the mascara, which I would have paid for otherwise)

The lipstick is a dark purple color, which I'll never wear, and the eyeshadow is a purple since that was all they had left, which I probably won't wear too often either, but it was good to try the stuff and I do want to go get a brown palette of eyeshadow now that I will wear regularly, and a light blush to go over my new make up! The mascara is awesome. The make up remover is also great and doesn't burn my eyes!

If anyone is unhappy with their skin care system or their make up, I highly recommend Clinique products! They are wonderful, and are actually good for your skin unlike most products out there. Coming from me, who never wears make up, and who has terrible skin...you know it must be true!

(I just re-read this entire post, and it really sounds like an advertisement for Clinique. But really, it's 100% true. This is a GREAT product line, and it works wonderfully! I'll have some before and after pictures to post shortly)

Christmas...

I apologize for being so horrible at keeping up with this. I always say that I'm going to be better, and I update once or twice and then I slack again...lol I'm really going to try to be better, but we'll see what happens when school starts.

Our Christmas this year was definitely one to remember. We debated back and forth (and by we, I mean I did) about what we should do for "our" Christmas.

Our first Christmas together ended pretty rough because we spent the entire holiday running from house to house, visiting everyone, and never had our own Christmas together.

Last year, we stayed at Dan's aunt Rita's vacant condo over Christmas. We brought our small fiber optic Christmas tree to set up on an end table, and woke up a little earlier on Christmas morning to open each other's gifts and have somewhat of our own Christmas morning. Boy, it made ALL the difference! We were so much happier and enjoyed Christmas so much more just because of that extra 15 minutes we spent together first.

So...I was debating, because the vacant condo is no longer vacant, and we didn't really have any other options of places to stay alone. The thought of staying home, and driving up to Mesa on Christmas Day crossed my mind...and quickly left. I did not want to make that drive on Christmas morning, plus we always spend Christmas Eve with my dad. Which in turn alleviates some of the demand for us on Christmas Day.

We decided to have our own Christmas on Christmas Eve, here at home before we left for Mesa. Dan worked until 1, so I made a small lunch to tide us over until we had dinner at my Dad's and then we opened each other's gifts and let the dogs open their stockings. We also decided to stay at my mom's on Christmas Eve. Our dogs would be there also, and we would be able to keep them calm and sleeping well, so as to not disturb the rest of the house on Christmas Eve.
Well, it didn't really work out quite as we'd hoped...

We spent Christmas Eve at my dad's like usual. Everything went well there. We got back to my mom's around 9:30 or so, and did a few things before going to bed.
My brother Alan, after the festivities at my Dad's went to meet a couple of his friends to play basketball for a few hours. He got back to my mom's around 1am, and went immediately into the restroom. He was SO sick. We weren't sure if it was something he ate, but since none of the rest of us got sick, it wasn't very likely. He ended up sleeping on the bathroom floor because of his frequent vomiting. With the bathroom being right next to the room Dan and I were sleeping in (which is normally Alan's room), we didn't get much sleep either. I kept getting up to see if there was anything I could get Alan to help him feel better. I felt awful as he laid on the bathroom floor with one hand sticking out into the hallway as he moaned "Jill...help me". He just kept begging me for water, since he was getting so dehydrated. He could hardly keep it down though.

Finally around 3:30 am, I went up to get Alan some more water, and my mom was standing at the top of the stairs. She looked like she had been hit by a truck, and said "Annie started throwing up about an hour ago"...

My 9 year old sister with Down Syndrome was also in her room throwing up, the same as Alan. My step dad was in her room with her, holding a bucket underneath her, since she doesn't understand throwing up in the toilet.

Obviously this wasn't something Alan ate. My other brother Leo, had come down with a bad case of the stomach flu himself the weekend before Christmas; and it was becoming obvious that this was the same thing...All on Christmas Eve.

I finally fell asleep at around 4 am on Christmas Day. We woke up at 7, and I went to see how everything was going. My mom was still at the same place on the stairs, but sitting now with her head in her hands. She said that she was starting to feel really nauseous and she didn't know what to do about Christmas? My grandparents were scheduled to come over around 11am with a full meal and gifts. So my mom asked me to call my Grandma and let her know what was going on and see what she wanted to do. Grandma decided they would drive over (from Sun City) and leave the food and gifts at the front door, but wouldn't come in. (My grandma has COPD, and is incredibly frail and weak. If she caught something like the stomach flu, she very easily could die from it)

Dan and I wanted to get out of the house as quick as we could, so we didn't catch this stomach flu that was spreading fast. We got dressed (somewhat), loaded up our stuff, grabbed our dogs, and went to his family's house to have Christmas morning there. I was so exhausted that I could hardly function. After we opened gifts, I went to Dan's grandma's where we normally stay, and took a 3 hour nap.

Alan was texting me around then (about 11am) asking when we were going to open gifts, and saying that he voted this the worst Christmas ever. I felt awful. He was still in bed, terribly sick. Annie was at least down on the couch, but was still sick, and my mom was up in bed with horrible nausea, aches and pains. The worst part, was Leo, my 13 year old brother who had the stomach flu the week before, was having to just sit around and not really do much of anything on Christmas Day because everyone else was so sick. They didn't open gifts or anything in the morning, so for him it was just like any other day.

We had lunch at Dan's grandma's, which was most enjoyable. We were able to spend some good time with her and even play a game or two. She loves having us over now that she's a widow and lives on her own.

We then went back to his other Grandma's (where I had slept earlier), and met up with some of his cousins and other family. I was finally able to shower and put on clean clothes. Which after the night and day I had, made me feel like a million bucks! We played "Loaded Questions", and had fun visiting with family.

Finally around 9pm, Alan called and said Leo couldn't wait any longer and that they were going to open gifts. He was feeling well enough to at least come sit out on the couch, Annie was asleep, and my mom was also able to at least come sit down and open a couple gifts. We were nervous to go over there, and my mom was "scared to death" for us to come, in fear that we would catch it. But we wanted to spend at least a little bit of Christmas with my family, since we had been with Dan's all day. So we went for about an hour, and opened gifts and were able to enjoy some Christmas together.

It was definitely a rough Christmas, and not one that you would wish on anyone. But, at the end of the day, it will definitely be a Christmas we will never forget.