Long days and short nights

So all of you who know me, know that I live my life at a high level of stress. I think about things way too much and always feel like I am never getting enough things done in the day. Well the past couple of weeks haven't been much different. As I have ventured into the world of Graduate School, I decided that I need to learn how to take life how it comes and chill out a little.

The first couple weeks of school were pretty laid back. I was confused by the amount of free time that I supposedly had. I don't think I have ever had a semester that seemed this easy at the beginning. I knew that it was too good to be true.

In the next two weeks, I have three presentations due, two exams and all the other filler homework for my five classes. It has all caught up pretty fast. I guess I wouldn't view as too horrible, if I didn't know that it wasn't going to thin out a little. We have at least one test a week for the rest of the semester.

I was talking to my roommate last night about how much we had to do and we both laughed knowing that we signed up for this. We knew what we were getting into and we did it anyway.

I think life is like that most of the time. We signed up to come here. The lord told us what challenges we would face and we did it anyway. We wanted to learn and to grow, to experience what life had to offer. As we go through hard days, I think it is easy to lose that perspective. But just as I have to take my day one assignment at a time, we have to take life one day, on trial, one blessing at a time. It is easy to look at all the hard things we have to do and forget about how blessed we really are.

I am blessed to...

Be in the Physical Therapy program.
Learn to help others.
Have amazing roommates.
Have a family that loves me.
Have an inspired ward and bishop.
Have friends and classmates that are always good for a laugh.
Have a Heavenly Father that loves me and knows everything that I am going through.

There are so many other things that the Lord blesses me with everyday. I hope that I never go through a day without acknowledging his hand in my life.

Enjoy your trip...see you next....fall!

So this is another adventure we went on. Michael and Amanda went on a hike I am sad to say I didn't go on, darn boys. They hiked into Union Falls in Yellowstone. To make up for my lack of adventure they took me to Fall Creek Falls. Not quite the 17 mile hike that I missed out on, but it was pretty spectacular. This waterfall is sitting right off the road. You would miss it if you weren't looking for it. It flows into the Snake River a little ways down from the Palisades Dam. It was fun to scamper on the rocks and just get outside.





















We went on a short hike after this, but I didn't get any pictures. But the canyon we hiked up was just as beautiful as the waterfall. I hope that I never lose my love for the outdoors and everything that God has blessed us with. Don't forget to get out and enjoy God's glorious creations!

deep breaths

The day is soon coming for me to move. I'm getting to the point in my life where this is no longer exciting to me. I've moved over 15 times in the past 5 years and to tell you the truth I am sick of it! Honestly, I don't even know why I unpacked this last time. Did I use any of the stuff I continue to haul around with me? Not really!

I'm excited to start school, but the first two weeks of school is always stressful for me. I think the stress will catch up with me sooner than I would like. Graduate school is going to be an all new adventure and I don't really know what to expect.

I'm moving back to Pocatello. I haven't lived there for over three years now. This means that I don't know anyone anymore. Everyone has moved on with their lives, gotten married, or graduated, and I feel like I am moving backwards. I know that I am moving on to higher education and not really going backwards, but I never thought I would end up back in Pocatello.

Life has a habit of putting you in places you never imagined being. I guess the trick is to figure out why you are there and make the most of it. Life is going to be crazy, but I am interested to see what happens in the next couple of years. I have a feeling I'm going to be surprised where life takes me.

Where do you reside?

So I just wanted to let you all know that I am officially a resident of Idaho again. That is such a relief!

Burr it's cold in here

So this week has been full of new adventures. Most of which are firsts for me.

To start it off Michael, Amanda and I decided to venture out to the ice caves on Friday night. We were all down with work and decided it was the best thing to do with our night. First we went to Walmart and each got our very own head lamp. Let's just say that is the best purchase I've made in a while. Then we headed out to find the cave. None of us had ever been out there, but we has some general directions. Michael proved his driving skills on the treacherous terrain. They tell you to be careful after a certain point because you may drive into the huge hole that is the entrance to the cave. We finally spotted it and may our way down. It was pretty much the coolest thing I have ever seen.








Just to give some perspective, this is Michael and Amanda siting on a ledge just about the entrance to the cave.









That is just a piece of our adventure.

The next day, one of the girls I visit teach text me and asked if I wanted to go 4-wheeling. I was all over. She was excited that I was coming. It started pouring rain in Rigby and I wasn't sure if I wanted to go play in the rain. She assured me that it would be fine. It turned out to be a perfect night. We went out to the sand dunes past St. Anthony.

A couple weeks ago, I actually went to the sand dunes for the first time for a ward activity. We just played around on the sand, so this was a whole different experience. As we were driving out there, I made them promise that I wasn't going to have any near death experiences or end up in the hospital. It still took me a little while to get my nerves under control and really enjoy myself. My driver was very considerate of my feelings and played it fairly easy to begin with. Then we had a lot of fun later doing some crazy things. If it was going to get too crazy, he had me get off and he tested it out himself (such a gentleman, I know.) So I had a lot of fun and the best part is that I remember having it. :)

Next adventure. Michael and I have been talking about hiking Table Rock in the Tetons all summer. So we decided that we all had Monday off of work and that would be the best time to go. So we headed up Sunday night and camped out. Then we headed up the mountain around seven. We had a great time for the most part. Amanda and I have matching wounds on our right shins. We hiked up one trail. All green and luscious, five feet tall vegetation. The top was glorious as always. Such a beautiful view. Oh how I love the mountains! We talked to a couple of hikers at the top and they said they had come up the face trail. So we decided that was the way we would go down. We found out that was a bad decision. It was so steep. Let's just say I am going to be recovering for a couple of days. But it was Awesome!!!


This is my shin. As we were crossing a river, I tried to jump onto a little island in the middle. The branch I was trying to jump onto turned out to be a lot slicker than I was expecting. This was the end result.

I need to sharpen my pencil

So a friend of mine showed me a bunch of drawings he had done. He kept telling me, "This one is okay. I don't really like how that one turned out." etc. I thought they were amazing and couldn't even comprehend how a blank piece of paper turned into a person, or an animal or a beautiful landscape.

So today I was bored out of my mind after church. Michael and Amanda had gone to my parents house to visit, so no one was home to talk to. I decided that I would see what I was actually capable of in the drawing world.

I started off trying to draw a landscape. I soon decided that was a harder task than I had anticipated and maybe I should go for something with more lines. I love music and want to one day own a baby grand piano. So I googled piano images and this was the first one on the list.



I looked at it and decided it was worth a shot. After about three hours this is what I came up with.



It is by no means a perfect rendition, but I did a lot better than I thought I would. I have a better understanding of why my friend wasn't 100% please with what I thought were amazing works of art. There are so many things that can be wrong; lines at wrong angles, shadowing in the wrong place or you just can't create the right affect. So after my attempt at being an artist, I have decided not to make it my day job. :)

Just had to laugh

So I went apartment hunting in Pocatello the other day. This has to be one of my least favorite activities. I do it so often that I should be a pro by now, but I'm not.

About a month ago, I got an email from one of the girls that will be in the Physical Therapy program with me. She asked if I wanted to look for an apartment with her. She recently graduated from BYU and figured that since I graduated from BYU-Idaho I was a safe bet. I agreed this was a good idea and our search began.

She isn't in the state right now, so I agreed to look at apartments and let her know if I found one I liked. She called a few places for me and I went to check them out. I had set up a meeting with one for Monday afternoon. She lived in American Falls, but would come show me the house.

We kept having scheduling difficulties. I was in Salt Lake City and had to drive two hours to meet them. I had some things come up, so I called and pushed our appointment back an hour. I ended up getting there sooner than I thought I would so I headed over to the institute to look at the housing list. Sharon had call me back saying they might be a little late. I took that opportunity to call some other apartments. I wasn't really looking at the numbers I dialed and ended up calling Sharon by accident and tried to set up a meeting with her. Then we figured out that I was already meeting with her.

I called my dad while I was waiting, wondering if he could mapquest something for me. It was then that I put two and two together. Sharon was the wife of my 7th grade math teacher/drivers ed instructor. I laughed so hard.

When I went to meet them, I had the upper hand. I already knew who they were and they were in for a surprise. I met Sharon outside. She acted like maybe she recognized me, but didn't say anything. We went inside, where she was going to introduce me to her husband. I said, "Hey Mr. West." Sharon was shocked that I knew him. I told her I was from Aberdeen. She said she thought she knew me, but wasn't positive.

They gave me a tour of the house (sorry I didn't take any pictures.) I had a couple other places to look at, but it was a good possibility that this was the one.

After a long day of hunting, I wasn't sure if I had found what I was looking for. I had an apartment I was waiting to hear back from, but wasn't really getting anywhere with them. I tried to call my friend to tell her what I had found, but it turns out that she is an EFY councilor for the summer, so I was pretty much on my own.

I waited a couple days hoping this other apartment would call me back. Sharon called me yesterday morning to tell me that they were showing the house to four people and wondered if I had made a decision yet. I tried to get a hold of Sarah, but to no avail. I had to make a decision. So I thought it over, said a quick prayer and called Sharon back. "I will take it!" I said.

Who would ever have thought one of my teachers from middle school would be my landlord? I never did.

The point of this story is that I now have an apartment! Things are really starting to come together for school. I've gotten all my immunizations done, background check turned in and got certified in CPR (amazing class, by the way.) I have all my documentation I need to get my residency back. I just have to have it notarized today. I am going to buy all my supplies, hopefully today. That just leaves books and actually moving. I am so excited to start this new phase of my life!

I love the mountains!!!

I went to Glacier National Park a couple weeks ago. I can't believe it has been that long. It seems like just yesterday we were driving through the vast openness. Taking in the wondrous smells of nature (this doesn't include the wet puppy smell that David kept pointing out.) The trees, flowers and streams all contributed to the beautiful aroma. We drove with the windows down so that we could take in as much as we could.

Then we arrived at the campground. We were all a little disappointed by that fact that would could almost reach over and touch our neighbors, who's tents were set up just feet from our campsite. For some reason we wanted that quite, you are in the mountains by yourself feeling. It was decided that the next morning we would pack up and find something more suiting to our needs.

One thing that this site did have was the lake. David and I took a canoe out (after we had tried to man the three person canoe with four people, doesn't work so well. I am surprised we didn't end up in the lake.)The was was pristine. The only ripples were made by our canoe, random fish jumping and bugs playing on the water. We were surrounded by lush, green pine trees and the snow dusted mountain peeks in the distance. As the sun started to set you couldn't help but be captivated by tapestry painted in the sky. Only to look down at the water and see the scene reflected off the smooth surface. There is no way someone can witness that and deny God's power.

The next day we broke camp and went in search of the perfect place to settle in. We hadn't traveled far when we stopped to fish. This was a fishing trip after all. We parked and set out into the wilderness, blazing our own trail. I had rolled my pants up to just above the knee, trying to avoid getting them wet as we were wading down the stream. As we hiked through the underbrush, I got some pretty sweet scratches on my legs. David and I were comparing our battle wounds and came up with a system to determine who's would win most impressive. (Everything is a competition with us. I know what you are thinking, but it is not entirely all my doing. He is almost as bad as me.)

We were trying to make a lot of noise because we were in bear country. None of us really wanted to run into a bear, so scaring it away from us seemed like a good idea. We fished for a good while and then went to find the rest of our group. In the end, we had to cross the river. So much for not getting my pants wet (I had a good reason, by the way, for desiring this.)As we made our way back to the truck, we all stopped and looked up. There was a young black bear walking out of the bushes that we had entered an hour before. I was pretty happy to see him from a distance and not up close and personal. He kept walking across the bridge and into the trees on the other side.

We drove around for a while looking for the perfect place to camp. It was surprising how long it took. We were surrounded by forest, but the road didn't follow the river too well. Everything seemed to be private land with no trespassing signs everywhere. We finally found the perfect place.







Our campsite was over looking the river. Surrounded by the forest. We had a perfect view of the high peaks over the trees.

The girls stayed at the campsite to start a fire, while the men ventured off to do some more fishing. After everyone started trickling back to camp we had a bald eagle fly over the river in front of us. I wish I could have gotten a picture.

The next morning I got up to use the bathroom. I walked back up the road to the out house not thinking about the fact that I probably shouldn't be alone. On my way back to camp I heard something running through the forest to my right. I thought maybe it was a deer. As I strained to see through the trees, I picked out the figure of an animal. It was no deer. This was the second bear I had seen in two days. Lucky for me it was running away from me.

We had breakfast, broke camp, and headed back to Missoula. It is amazing how tried you get after trying to sleep on the ground for two days and not really sleeping. By the time we got back all we wanted to do was shower and take a nap.

The drive back to Utah the next day was beautiful as well. We left in the evening so we caught an amazing sunset. Everything was so green with all the rain we got in June. I was so glad I got to go on this adventure. Being out of the city for a while really renews your energy.

Was that a Goblin? I think it was!

So I haven't written in a little while. My life has been all over the place. At the end of May my summer job started to slow down so we all got laid off. Lucky for me it was just in time for me to go on a trip with some friends down to Goblin Valley. I had never been into the actual Valley of Goblins so it was a neat experience. We camped for a few days and went hiking it was amazing. Just what I needed. This was the first real break I had had since January and it well past due.

I forget sometimes how much I need to be outdoors. The lord has provided us with so many wonders that we forget to take advantage of. Nature is all around us. We don't even have to go very far. No matter where you live there is always something to be seen and discovered. My friend David and I often talk about how so many people are missing out on the true beauty all around us. The world is full of life in the most unlikely of places.

I love going to Southern Utah and seeing the red rock. There is something about it that just warms your soul. We hiked Little Wild Horse Canyon. If you know me, than you know that I like to climb on things. My group was not as adventurous as I had hoped, but I tried to climb on anything in my way (or out of my way). It was a lot of fun. There were quite a few people that were coming out of the slot canyons as we were going in, so we had to get a little creative to let them by.


Everyone in the slot canyon


Me about 15 feet up the slot wall


Little Wild Horse Canyon


Goblin Valley

My next adventure consisted of painting Christopher and Laura's new home. They were about to move in and the house needed a lot of love. So pretty much in between adventures and getting things ready for school I have painted their entire first floor. This was done with some help from family and friends for the first week and then it was just a way to keep me busy. I painted the living room, kitchen/dining room and hallway, master bedroom, girls room, playroom, master bathroom, main bathroom and have started on five doors and the molding for the kitchen (removed so they could put in the kitchen flooring). All in all that has kept me pretty busy.

In between painting, as mentioned, I went on another adventure. I have always wanted to go white water rafting. Last summer we tried to go in Moab, but that was more of a lazy river, not too much white water to be seen. So when I got invited to go on this trip there was no way I was saying no. We went over to a campsite between Alpine Junction and Jackson Hole. The drive past Palisades was enough to make the trip worth it. The forest are so green right now with all the rain we've gotten this spring. I sadly didn't get to go hiking in it, but rafting was awesome.

There were times that I would get frustrated with my boat members because I just wanted them to listen. If we all listened to the guide and worked together as one the ride would be amazing. As I thought about this I starting thinking about how life is. God is our guide and Christ in our boat member. I wonder how often they sit there thinking if Brenda would just listen to us she would have a much more enjoyable trip. How often do we ignore instructions or guiding words from our father? How often do we try to take control of everything even when we are working against the rest of the team (the God head)? How often do we just not paddle because we don't feel like it or think that someone else will carry our weight?

There were those times on the river when we all worked as one and hit the rapid just right. We had the ride of our lives, but we all stayed in the raft safe and sound. It is times like these that I love nature and the lessons that it can teach us.

I'm excited for all that the summer holds for me. Next week I get to go up to Montana and try my hand at canoeing, hiking, fishing and some good old camping. I've got to get my fill of adventures, before my nose is stuck in a book for three years.

I'm not a resident of any state....what!!!

So when I applied for graduate school I just took it for granted that I was going to be awarded Idaho Residency. I've lived out of Idaho for seven months, on two separate occasions and didn't think it would be a big deal. Turns out it is. Now the problem is that to reestablish residency you have to live in the state without the intent to go to school. How am I supposed to do that when I am going to school when I apply to graduate school? They don't provide any clauses on how to establish residency while going to school.

I'm not really sure what to do now. The difference between going to graduate school as a resident and as a none resident is a little over $7,000 per semester. That is the difference!!! So the only way for me to establish residency quickly is to marry an Idaho resident. So if any of you know any amazing, talented, driven, honest, kind, sincere, hard working, spiritual men that are looking for a girl like me, would you mind sending them my way? I'm not going to marry just any old Joe off the street. He needs to be a legitimate great guy.

I am not really desperate, but it just got me to thinking. I wasn't really planning on putting marriage on the top of my priority list for at least a few more years. If it happened to happen as those things seem to for most people who get married, that would be great, but it wasn't on the list of things to do at the moment. I guess the lord has a funny way of reminding us what his plans are. Maybe that isn't what he is doing, but it sure seems like it.

Life continues to happen to me

There are some things in life that you just have to learn over and over. I seems that we are all privy to our own special temptations that no matter how hard we try to get over it, seems to come back haunting us. There has to be some way that we can truly overcome these trials and be happy with ourselves. I know that I am a daughter of God and I know that I am stronger than anything that Satan can put in my way. I will put my foot down! I will stand up for my beliefs! I will stand strong for my values! I will not trust where trust is not earned!

Okay now that I am done venting. I started a new job working for the USDA. I've only been doing it for about a week and a half, but it is kicking my butt. Pretty much I walk in straight lines from one end of a field to the other putting dirt in a brown paper bag. It requires a lot of stamina, which I am still developing. On Monday, a small crew traveled to Burley where we have been working. Today we did a pretty large field. I think that we estimated walking about 12 miles today. To make that even better the wind was blowing the whole time. One direction it would blow against your back, only to blow dust into your eyes. The other direction it was blowing in your face making it hard to walk. This was on top of the fact that we were walking in soft dirt with rubber boots over our sneakers. Pretty much what I'm saying is I'm pooped.

Another exciting story. I was supposed to have graduated from BYU-Idaho in July 2009. I changed my graduation date a number of times trying to get things worked out to get into graduate school. The last email I got from them informed me that I would be walking December 2009 and my graduation date was April 2009. I thought that a little odd being as this email was sent to me in July 2009. I wanted to graduate April 2010. I figured it was just a typo in the email and everything would be fine. Well after my name wasn't in the program for December's graduation ceremony, I figured it would be in this semesters. I had a friend that had graduated and I look at his program, my name wasn't in it. I started to get a little worried. So I looked at the email again. It definitely said April 2009. I sent the registration office an email asking them to look it to this for me. Sure enough they had entered my graduation date as April 2009. Hopefully I will still be getting my diploma in mail soon. I can't go to graduate school without it.

Moral of the story, life is never easy and hardly ever turns out how we expect it to. We must continue to push forward with determination to take what ever comes our way and make the most of it. There is always a way to make your circumstances bright, even if it just a better attitude.

I almost forgot to mention this. I had to be to work on Monday at 5:30 a.m. I live in Rigby and have to drive to Idaho Falls, so I left my apartment at around 5:00 a.m. Just as I got up to speed on the highway my car started to act funny. I didn't quite feel right so I pulled off to the side and flipped on my hazard lights. I got out and went to my driver's side front tire. I couldn't see very well because the sun wasn't up yet, but just by feeling it I knew my tire was dead. It wasn't like it had just gone flat, no I pretty much blew it out. I still had to be to work on time so I called Michael. He and Amanda had planned to go to Yellowstone early that morning so he happened to be up already. Being the amazing person that he is, he came and gave me a ride to work. I gave him my key and asked if he could get my car off the highway. I was going to be out of town for a few days and didn't think it would be a good idea to leave it there. Amanda text me later telling me what a pain it had been. My wrench didn't fit my lug nuts, luckily Amanda's did. My tire pressure in my spare was a little on the low side and I had completely shredded the tire that blew out. I am so lucky to be surrounded by people who love me and are willing to save me in times of need! Thanks Michael and Amanda!

Undergraduate studies....

So it is official!!! I am finally done with my undergraduate degree and my prerequisites for graduate school. It was an interesting semester that is for sure. I had awesome roommates, met some great people and learned that I can get all my work done if I just put my mind to it. I also learned that even though I have a lot to do, if I plan to have fun with other people I get my work done faster. Life isn't always about just working and getting through it. It is also here to be enjoyed. I am still learning how to apply this, but recognition is the first step.

I got a job working for the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) for the summer. I start on monday. I am also moving in with Michael and Amanda tomorrow. I think this will be an interesting experience for us all. :) But we will have a lot of fun. We plan to go hiking a lot.

I start graduate school in August. I still have so much to get done before August 20th. It is amazing how quickly life passes us by. Anyway life is awesome and worth living for!

To learn or not to learn? That is the question.

As I check the blogs of my friends and family everyday, I look at the experiences they are having and wonder if the same thing is happening in my life. Am I having experiences that are note worthy enough to write a blog about and inspire people or even give them a little laugh. I've never considered myself to be good with words. I don't have the quick wit of my twin Michael, or the vast vocabulary of my brilliant sister Heather. But what I do have are all of the experiences that God gives to me everyday.

School is crazy right now. I feel like all I ever do is study and when I am doing something else I am thinking about all the homework I should be doing. Every so often the thought creeps into my head, " Why are you doing this to yourself? Why are you putting yourself through this? You were done with school, what more do you want?" It is at that point that I evaluate why I am going back to school, why I am putting myself through this. D&C 93:36-37 states "The glory of God is intelligence or, in other words, light and truth. Light and truth forsake that evil one."

We can't grow and learn more until we have learned what is in front of us. You can't do calculus until you have learned to do algebra. You can't do algebra until you learn how to add and subtract. Everything that we are is built on a foundation of what came before. If we truly want to progress we have to learn what we have and then seek for the next step. How many of us fulfill the requirements set before us and then don't pursue greater knowledge? God is not going to force us to learn anything, but he gives us every opportunity to learn.

Perfection can not be obtained by sitting idly by and letting opportunities pass us by. Every experience we have is an opportunity for growth and learning. Whether we take advantage of this is completely up to us. Will we ignore lessons to be learned, only to have them effect our lives over and over? Or will we act upon our circumstances, enlighten our thinking and grow in knowledge? We are given experiences that would have meant nothing had we not taken the steps to move ourselves to a level of higher enlightenment.

I guess what it all boils down to is this, I want to continually learn. I want to improve myself and help others along the way. Experiences I am having now aren't just for me. They are for every person in the future that I can help by learning the lessons life has presented me with. I want to progress so I can lift others up with me. Every time I come out of a test and know that I knew the material, not that I just spit it back out, but I knew it, studying is all worth it.

I know that someday I will be done with college, but this won't be the end of my education. The earth is the school of God. He sent us here to learn, to become like him. God is truth. We are given the chance to grow and learn everyday. The question is what will we do with that chance?

What you've all been waiting for....

Well maybe you weren't all waiting, but I was. I got a letter today from Idaho State University, (vicariously through my parents) and they offered me a spot in their doctor of physical therapy program starting this August 2010. On to another part of my journey in life!!!!

Tired of the waiting game!

So I really should be studying for my Anatomy and Physiology test right now, but I just had to get something out really quick. I've been waiting since January 16th for a letter from ISU's physical therapy program. This letter will pretty much decide my fate for the next little while. I know they said that I would get it in the next three weeks. It hasn't even been two yet, but I was hoping that it would come early. To make matters worse, I can't even check the mailbox for it. It will be arriving at my parents house. I've given my mother the horrible task of opening it and telling me what it says...when it finally comes. So sorry to all of you who got exciting thinking I had it already, but no, I'm just complaining about not knowing yet. So there you have it. It would just make school a lot easier if I knew that it was all worth it. I'm having a really hard time putting in the "A" effort not know if it is even going to make a difference in my future. But I will keep plodding along and let you know what the final verdict is hopefully sometime next week.

Back to BYU-I

So about three weeks ago I moved back to BYU-Idaho. The lovely land of Rexburg, Idaho was covered with it's usual snow. In the three weeks I have been back the weather has been crazy. It went from unseasonably warm to -16 degrees. Then it went back up to our usual January weather. Then it warmed back up yesterday and everything was melting. I didn't even need my coat on in the middle of the day. Then today back to a little colder with snow. It's been a very interesting January that's for sure.

The first week of classes I did 24 hours worth of homework. I felt like I was going to die. By the end of the week my brain was no longer functioning. I tried to do homework that Friday and found that nothing I read would stay in my brain. Over the next two weeks, I have figured out what I don't need to do and what is really important. While I still have a lot of work, my material is making more sense and I am spending a little more time having fun with my roommates.

I miss all of my friends that I made in Salt Lake City, but I know that I needed to come back to school. I have applied to the Physical Therapy program at Idaho State University. I made it through the first screening process which put me in the top 70 applicants. I went to a reception held in Pocatello on Saturday and found out that ISU doesn't do interviews. So I will find out the out come of their final screening process in the next three weeks. I would be thrilled to get an acceptance letter, but as long as I make it near the top of the waiting list I will feel successful. It has been an interesting journey trying to get everything done to get in for this fall, but I'm hoping that all my hard work has paid off. Wish me luck!

December and other adventures

So I realized that I missed the whole month of December in posting. Does anyone else feel like December didn't exist? It went by so quickly and I had so much to do that is seems like it disappeared and I wasn't even part of it.

The first couple weeks of December were full of finishing up last minute things for school. I had to take a Medical Terminology Final and I needed to find a proctor. This was accomplished by the help of my roommate, who just so happens to be a high school English teacher. One of her coworkers graciously offered to do the duty. I had a headache the night before and didn't study enough. But we get out what we put in. I ended up with an A- in the class. Not what I was hoping for, but there is nothing that can be done about it now.

I finished up my application for Physical Therapy school at ISU. That was a long hard process. I am either really supposed to go to PT school and am being opposed on every side, or life is just hard. :) I finally got my last reference letter, finished my observation hours, printed off the tenth draft of my essay, wrote out a check, put the application in a envelope and sealed it with a prayer that I had filled everything out right. I put it in the mail and washed my hands of it.

I received a letter from ISU the next week telling me I had made it through the first stage of the application processes. I told my mom that meant I had filled all the information out right and included all the letters to their liking. It left me thinking how many applicants there had been, how many of them didn't get the letter I just read and what were my chances going to be? I'm not sure what the answers are to those questions, but all I can do is wait in anticipation to hear from them again.

Now with my class done and my application in I expected life to be a breeze. This was cut short while I was driving to work on the 11th. I turned the corner probably a mile from the office and all the sudden I had lost power. I hit my hazard lights and muscled my car in to a parking lot. There was nothing I could do. The car wouldn't start and I was going to be late. I called my boss and he said our first patient had canceled. Lucky me, now I had an hour to figure out what to do. I called some friends and they came to give me a ride.

This began an almost two week saga of getting rides to work (thank you Amy, Jared, and Kim). My boss drove down from Park City, drove me to work and then brought me back. Heather gave me a ride to Logan so I could got to Christopher's graduation from USU. His in-laws gave me a ride back to Salt Lake, lucky for me he has awesome in-laws. The next week I was walking in my graduation in Rexurg, Idaho. I called my grandparents and asked if I could have a ride. I pointed out that there was no point in going if they didn't because I wouldn't be there. They were kind enough to oblige. Then I came back and watched my home teacher (Levi you are amazing, thank you!) change my distributor, all the while hoping I had guessed the right size at Checkers (don't worry I had them measure my old one, when I took the core back. I picked he right one.)

I discovered through the whole experience that I am surrounded by people who love me and are willing to do so much for me if I just ask. I love my independence and it was so hard for me to have to rely on people for just about everything. My parents, uncle, brothers, roommates, visiting teacher, home teacher, friends, ex-boy friends, and many others who helped me should all know that I couldn't have done it without them.

By the time all of this was done it was Christmas. It just kind of snuck up on me. I just spend more money than I was planning on car repairs, so I had to think of other ways to show people that I loved them. I wrote my roommates all individual letters, expressing my gratitude to them. As I was writing them it made me think about all the things they had done for me, all the fun times we had had and that I needed to tell them more often how much they meant to me. I think this same principle can apply to many individuals in our lives. You never know how much a letter or note can mean to someone. Just knowing that someone cares about you can brighten any ones day.

The next week was filled with working and training replacements. I worked in two different locations for one physical therapy company. One was for a PT in Murray and the other was a Hand therapist in Park City. I've found that training others is both satisfying and frustrating. First off I tried to do a better job training my replacements than the people who trained me did. I tried to think of all the things I wish I had know when I was first starting. All the things that I had had to figure out on my own, that would have been so much easier if someone else had let me in on the secret. Although I did learn really fast when I had to figure things out from making mistakes. I feel like I did a pretty thorough job of training them.

The frustrating part comes when you have to let them do everything. You have to make sure they can actually perform the tasks when you aren't there. I am pretty good at my job and sometimes I forget that I did things slower when I was starting off. I hate the sound of timers beeping. I don't like to leave patients sitting for too long in between exercises. It is instinctual for me to want to help them. So I just had to take some deep breaths and try to be lazy my last week of work.

My favorite moment came when I was trying to let my trainee work with our last patient all by himself. I had been working with this particular patient for the last couple of weeks and had gotten to know her pretty well. When he came over instead of me, she was a little upset. She told him that she didn't want to be rude, but asked if I could work with her. She had been with me the whole time and this would be my last day and she just wanted to spend that time with me. I felt pretty special. Sometime you wonder how much of an impression you make on people.

That day was hard because I had to say goodbye to a lot of people I had gotten to know so well. It is hard to leave patients you have been working with for months, and not knowing how everything will turn out for them. But we all have to move on and progress in our lives. I am so grateful for the opportunities I had to work at Hand and Ortho, for the things I was able to learn and the love I have gained in helping people recover.

On Friday my friends helped me load up my car. Moving is always an adventure for me. I have just the right amount of possessions to fit into my car. Anymore and I would have some problems. Two of my guy friends (don't be offended by this story) decided that they could pack my car. Really I just needed them to carry my heavy boxes down to the car. I reluctantly let them loose and they started putting things in while I was packing up a few last things. When I went out side I just laughed inside and knew I was going to have to start over. I have moved enough times that I know packing my car is like a puzzle. Everything has to go in a very specific place or it wouldn't all fit. I told my friends that it was nothing against them, but I was going to need to do this myself. After another half an hour, I had everything neatly packed and could even see out all of my windows pretty well. Another victory for the pack man's daughter.

After saying goodbye to some very unhappy people, I headed up to Aberdeen to hang out with my parents. I missed the snow storm for the most part and arrived safely. We ate dinner, played games and stayed up talking way too late. Yesterday morning, I woke up and headed to Rexburg. I saw one of my roommates briefly for maybe fifteen minutes and then she left. I had two of my good friends come over and help me move some furniture and boxes. Then I went about the task of unpacking.

I hate living out of boxes and I'd been doing it for about a week and a half. So within a few hours I had most everything in it's place. It's amazing what you can get done when no one is around to distract you. My friends invited me over for dinner, which was so good. We had breakfast for dinner. Then we played some games and had some ice cream at Brother Wilson's house. I came home, finished unpacking and went to bed before one for the first time in two weeks.

Pretty much my life has been crazy busy and full of adventures. School starts at BYU-Idaho on Tuesday. I'm taking 15 credits of prerequisites. My goal is to get good grades, retain the information and still find time to have a little fun. So one more day of freedom and then the race is on.