For those of you who wonder why we have dogs and not kids...

A much better day...

Yay! My sister Leslie finally had her baby girl yesterday! This is her 3rd baby and she was 3 days overdue and very ready to deliver. Her water finally broke on its own for the first time yesterday around 6am and they headed to the birth center around 845 while she went through transition IN the car! She delivered the baby in the tub 20 minutes later. Crazy huh? Did I mention the baby weighed 9 lbs 6 oz?! I really admire her. I was sad to not be there with her and it was one of those twin things where I really was feeling for her. She is so tough and such a good mom. Way to go sis!

Welcome to the world baby Howlett!

Not a good day...

So I was really looking forward to my Saturday yesterday but I guess it wasn't meant to be. It was my 1 full day off between 10 and we had planned to take the dogs to the beach. Well it started off wrong when Ryan rescheduled his scout fundraiser (airating lawns) for that morning. He assured me he would be home by 10am but I know him better than that and I knew it would be at least noon before I saw him. Well it was 1pm before he came home do work on our own lawn then our annoying neighbor conned Ryan into doing his lawn as well while he watched him and smoked a cigarette. Back to the story though. He returned the machine and loaded the dogs up at 2 for a 2hour drive. I wasn't in the mood anymore and just wanted to pout but he insisted. So I climbed in the back and off we went. 15 miles later, his trusty 4Runner lost power on the freeway and we glided to a stop in the emergency lane. He couldn't get it started again so it got towed home. The poor dogs had to stay in the back because there wasn't room for them in the towtruck. My poor babies were so scared!

Anyway, this was more of me venting my frustration than an actual post but thanks for reading and sharing in my frustration all the same :) All I can say is if I don't get to the beach next week I might have a meltdown...

This one's for the Ladies

Okay girls, I have to share my favorite new find. So we all know what a pain (literally) shaving can be. I'm sure you know the Venus brand razors already but they make one called Breeze and its fabulous!! It's like the other razors but it already has shaving cream on it and seriously is the best, smoothest shave ever! Plus its quick, you don't need extra shaving cream at all. It's definitely worth the extra couple bucks. You gotta try it and let me know how much you love them!

Surprise!

I haven't posted in awhile but I've been anxious to fill you in. After a couple months of planning and anticipation I flew back to the SLC and threw a surprise 50th birthday party for my dad. He is not the social type at all and was totally caught off guard. It was awesome! My mom told him that she and my brothers were taking him to dinner for his birthday and when he got there we were all there waiting to surprise him. The look he had when he saw me was priceless and I'll remember it forever!! Anyway it was a great party and I know he both needed and appreciated it.

It's always good to come home and while I was out I got to spend a lot of fun time with my family, in-laws, and a couple friends. I'm sorry to those of you I didn't get to see- I had so many people I wanted to see and too little time to do it. But if we don't make it out this summer we will for sure come around Christmas time. Wow, that sounds so far away!

I've spent like 3 hours and countless attempts to put a slideshow together with pictures and I think it finally works. (It views better when you click on "view all images" and mute my home page music). Hope you enjoy!

Happy Valley

So I just saw the documentary Happy Valley about the drug problem in Utah. I wasn't quite sure what to think before I saw the film but it actually was pretty good but very sad. I am certainly not new or nieive to the drug problem that haunts the entire country. I see too many people every day abuse the ER because they are addicted. That is probably the only reason I would ever burn out of nursing someday. It's so tiring and frustrating to see emergency rooms and medicine in general abused and taken advantage of. Not to say it's all the patient's fault, there are plenty of doctors who are too liberal with prescriptions. It's just a huge mess of a problem.

Anyway, enough rambling. One thing that did stick out to me in the movie was when they pointed out that there is a lot of judging that goes on in Utah (though it's certainly not limited to Utah). One man made the quote, "we need to start looking in the mirror and quit looking through the windows." I really liked that because I need to work on being more accepting and loving people for who they are and to look past their faults. We all have struggles, but I'm grateful for those because if handled properly than can be opportunities for enormous growth.

All right, I'm done now. Thanks for reading-if you actually made it this far :)

Cancun here we come!

Yeah! I'm so excited! We finally made our minds up and booked our trip to Cancun! We are going next month for our anniversary and I'm so excited for a break and some warm sunny weather which = a much needed tan for this albino couple :) Plus we haven't spent 5 whole days or nights together since Christmas! We are staying at a new hotel on the beach called the Great Parnassus. Anyway, I know you're all jealous now but I just had to share!

Beautiful Michigan Morning

Finally! A sign of spring after a very long winter. I know it's tradition in Salt Lake to get rainy weather on conference weekend but that's not so here in Michigan! Finally a sunny day above 40 degrees! I couldn't sleep much last night so I got up early (5:30) and checked blogs till the sun came out. Then I couldn't stay inside any longer so I made an early trip to the grocery store. I was feeling so good I even took Ryan's 4Runner "Elias" (who has since returned from the car doctor) to the store. It's a clutch and he supplied me with a few lessons but I'm a big baby and only drove it twice in Utah when I worked nights at St Marks and that was out pure despiration- either walk or drive. I should add that those 5 minute drives were filled with fear and dread and included running as many lights as I could to avoid stopping and starting again :) But high five to me, I made it all the way to the grocery store (1 mile) and back without stalling once!

Anyway, we have been in Spring Cleaning fever and Ryan is attempting to grow grass in a few bare spots in the back yard. The first pic is of the baracade he rigged to keep the dogs out. The second pic is proof of how well it worked :)

Code Orange

So as you know I work in the ER and I LOVE my job! I can't imagine doing anything else or in any other department. One of the cool things about the ER is that you always see new stuff. So tonight I was at triage and the security guard got up and said they were just alerted about a "Code Orange" which is hospital lingo for a bomb threat. Apparently someone within the hospital called 911 and reported a bomb. We were all kind of laughing about it but just a little leary about the whole thing. Anyway a little while later cop after cop starts coming through our door and we found out that that "call within the hospital" was made from one of our patients by one of our employee phones she borrowed! Needless to say there was no bomb, just a stupid patient who thought it would be funny and was mad about being in the ER. Little did she know she would be taken to jail and charged with a possible felony!
That's all for today. Stay tuned for future editions of "The ER Chronicles"