Siblings

Here are some pics from visiting my brother Jason this weekend and my sister Courtney happened to be visiting for spring break as well. It was fun to spend time together although we missed Amanda and Grant who were visiting her family. We all wished our missionary brother Cameron was there to use as bait for Jason's cat who likes to attack(Cameron was the bait for our cat Peepurrs at home). Brett and I also scored a free washer and dryer from Jason and Amanda. I think I will put it in our front room and "play house" by pretending to do the laundry at home, haha. Some of the pictures are from eating at Goodwood-we had to go because Jason had never been there!!! (the chicken fried chicken and st. louis ribs are the best!) The other picture is everyone playing board games.

Sigma Theta Tau International

Brett was invited into the worldwide nursing honor society called Sigma Theta Tau. Im not sure of the exact requirements but he was in the top percent of his class and therefore nominated to be inducted. It was held at Westminster College. We had some appetizers, cake, speeches and then after everyone taking the oath, Brett was inducted! It was a fun night to celebrate his acheivement. Out of 60 nursing students in his semester, these were the others who were inducted(more than that were invited but didnt come). They also gave them cords to wear at graduation. Of course they were purple and white but luckily Brett is confident and man enough to wear purple and be a male nurse -hehe.

A good day at work

So after posting my "bad day at work", I thought I'd follow it up with a good day. As mentally and emotionally hard as this job can be, it is very rewarding. I often wonder the purpose of the lives of these residents who are gone mentally or in so much pain or who have been abused and abandoned. Many of them seem to be in a state of innocense now and therefore are not held accountable. I have come to believe they are here for us, for family, friends and total strangers who need to learn patience and to see how we treat them. Just like children, they lose their ability to reason and can be very demanding, mean, and annoying. But they can also be loving, sweet and hilarious. They teach me so much, even if its because they are demanding, I learn to be patient. These are amazing people who have done amazing things with thier ordinary lives. I go home everyday grateful to shower myself, feed myself and communicate easily my needs and wants. Most people who walk in our door say, "oh man, I hope thats not me in the future. If Im like that, please shoot me." I have come to hate this saying, are we not to "endure to the end" and "press forward"? Should we not be encouraging these people and telling them they have a purpose? And what if that really was going to be you in the future, how would that change your life now? I hope this answers some of your questions that I am often asked about working in a nursing home. Its interesting to hear people reactions because they often give one of two reactions. 1. oh, I could never do that, how can you see people like that. (how can you not? are we just to ignore the growing population of elderly and sick?) and 2. Oh, how wonderful, that must be a "feel good" job. (yes it is but it is also very draining).

Well, here is picture of me and a resident before the Valentine's Ball this year. She is mentally retarted and has been institutionalized her entire life with no permanent family. Thus, she becomes VERY attacted to staff and often gets angry, sad and depressed when someone leaves. She felt so beautiful this night because she was all dressed up and had her hair done. My friend caught this picture of the two of us practicing blowing kisses, in case she won the title of Valentine's Queen (which she did, and cried when her name was called).

Brett's very own Easter Egg Hunt

Thanks Mom for the candy! Brett was upset when he opened the package and was promptly told he needed to wait for Easter, haha. Well, the Easter bunny hid the candy and Brett had fun working for the sweets. The other picture is of me and my peeps, yo!

We had a lot of fun with Matt and Ellen for dinner too, but no pics of that. Their boys, James and Scott had fun climbing all over Brett and playing with the parachute men we brought for them.

Blessed by my calling

I have been looking for my Girl Scout Cookies EVERYWHERE! I even looked up locations and times they said they would be and no one was there! My friend who was on vacation in California offered to bring me back some, but I was confident I would find them here. I had faith. Well, then one day I had to go to Sam's Club to get food for our Relief Society dinner and low and behold, there they were! Now that's what I call being blessed for doing my calling!

Tagged

My friend Debbie tagged me,so here it goes:

4 jobs Ive had:
1. Recreational Therapist
2. Daycare worker
3. Nanny
4. Loading boxes on a semi-truck at Panasonic warehouse in the middle of summer with no a/c- aka- sweatshop. But it did help pay for the diploma hanging on my wall :)

4 movies I could watch over and over:
1. Pride and Prejudice (the old long one)
2. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
3. Old home videos (anyones- I really do like watching everyones home videos- so fancinating! Im a people watcher)
4. Funniest Home Videos best of kids and animals (kinda goes along with home videos. If you want to see me belly laugh with tears, turn this on)

4 shows I watch regularly:
1. Supernanny
2. Lost
3. Biggest Loser
4. The Today Show (while Im getting ready- Meredith Viera makes me smile in the morning!)

4 Places Ive lived:
1. Nauvoo, IL
2. New Fairfield, CT
3. Rogers, AR
4. Alpharetta, GA

4 of my favorite foods:
1. Cafe Rio
2. Boulder Canyon Sea salt and malt vinegar chips
3. Trinity Mission bacon
4. See's Nut n Honey chocolate bar
This is todays selection, Brett will tell you it will be different tomorrow

4 Favorite Colors:
1. RED
2. creams and browns
3. black and white
4. blue (for BYU of course!)

4 places Id like to be right now
1. Snuggling with Boo Bear (If he was in a good mood- otherwise-dont wake the grumpy bear)
2. somewhere tropical
3. shopping with tons of money that I won and had to be spent or they would throw it away
4. getting a massage

Well, there you have it. Maybe you enjoyed it, maybe it bored you, but either way you probably know more about me! Im not tagging anyone specific but if you want to tag yourself because you havent done this on your blog then do it!

Twilight- The Cullen Family

What do you think? I am a Twilight fanatic and cannot wait for the next book (August 2nd people!)and the movie is very exciting too. But of course I am very opinionated toward the actors who will play the characters I'm obsessed with. At first glance I wasn't too happy with the picks, but the more I look at it, the more I like. By the time the movie is out, I'll be on board I'm sure.

Picture was taken from stepheniemeyer.com