kush 5k race day

some pics from the race- (sorry about the random half naked girl in the back)

our team was me, gene, big gene and karen my parents-in-law, hannah is there too, she ran for a family friend named amy something.... im not sure of her last name but shes 51 and came in a little after 26mins. our results are going to be posted at this website...

http://www.arizonarunningeventsco.com/Kush09.htm

it was a fun morning! my gene is a stud and ran with dylan in the stroller the whole time! he came in super fast considering he was pushing a massive 30 pound boy! dylan did perfect the whole time too- i was worried that he'd freak out half way through but we gave him some fruit snacks and he was good to go;) thanks for being good sports everyone and running! Big gene beat us all;) the race was actually his bday present from gene and i- happy bday!! see you at the turkey trot!

Instead of thinking this life is about having a physical body with spiritual experiences, i would prefer to look at life as having a spiritual body, with physical experiences.

-me

not for the faint of heart...

sorry if you've tried accessing my blog recently without any luck, it has been under construction...well that and i actually was super busy studying for my test at school. its over now and i passed;) when you get to this point in nursing school, for most of us who have lives out side of school, all you care about is passing, not A's. thats where im at at least! only 4 weeks to go....

clinicals have been so crazy. i have spent 6 days total in different areas in the ICU- Cardiac, Trauma, and Neuro. I have probably learned more in the last few weeks in those areas than i have in my entire program. my last 2 days there on monday and tuesday were so crazy. it was hard, both days i had patients that were extremely critical. on monday, i had a young guy, in his 20's. he was so sick that he had a DNR order (do not resuscitate). it was decided to take him off life support bc there literally was nothing else any doctor in the world could do for him, and he was only getting worse. He did end up passing on while i was there outside the room, watching his monitor. his whole family was in there with him. it was hard for me, to be honest. i guess something like that would be hard for anyone. the worst part was his mom- she was holding him and kept calling him her beautiful baby boy. i kept thinking... hey, i have one of those. it also was so sudden. he got an infection that spread faster than anyone could have predicted and within 2 days he was in the icu and within 4 days, dying. it had attacked everything in his body. i will never forget his tattoo on his arm that said 'don't count your days, make your days count'.

the next day on tuesday, i came in the morning to a women with a pelvic fracture that should normally be uncomplicated but bc of other health issues, her body could not stop bleeding internally. from school i know the seriousness of her condition so i was getting nervous seeing subtle changes in her vital signs of her going down hill. fortunately, i was with probably the best nurse that hospital has to offer (shes been there for 33 years). she had bled so much it got to the point that there was medically nothing left to do to help her. the doctors asked her daughter that day what she wanted them to do. she just cried.

i hope i havent disturbed anyone. My main reasons for posting this is because stuff like this happens all the time, without notice. i had a serious reality check over the past few weeks and i have contemplated many things that i have never thought to before. i am grateful for my family everyday. and i am starting to realize the importance of living close by. Gene and i have always wanted to move far away and do something new, and i was annoyed bc thats just not practical right now. but i have been coming to an understanding of only having one life to live, and the importance of the people in it- more so than places to see...the importance of being close, while you can.

"Don't count your days, make your days count"

-any of us

sweet emotion

i thought it was so funny that dylan was wearing his elephant hat while riding his horse after bath time, i had to get a pic...

of course he then wanted the camera...

and i said no, so off with the ugly hat and freak out time....

and then off the dumb horse and here it comes...

wo. hes over it now. put the cool hat back on, saddle up on the fun horse again, he has a more important agenda then trying to get that silly camera anyway....

i thought boys were supposed to be the ones with less emotion!!!
after he got over it he let me take more pics without interuption;)

anyway! school is madness! right now were doing neurological intensive care- and i actually should probably be studying right now so im going to keep this short. i just really wanted to get this pics of dylan up. gene's a mad man taking 3 classes and working full time right now. hes super smart so hes got it under control:)

all clear

block 4 is way more challenging than i anticipated! but i guess thats expected. we just had our 2nd intensive care test over cardiac- so if youre needing a open heart bypass surgery, valve replacement, long term antibiotics for endocarditis, pacemaker or internal defibulator, or, like in my case, needing to actually have unsynchornized cardioversion (because nursing school makes you go into ventricular fibrilation)-i can tell you all about it. i spent monday and tuesday in the CVICU (cardiovascular intensive care) for clinicals. i loved it! i know this whole time ive been saying i am going to work in peds, but i think im expanding my horizon slightly. the cvicu is where you get the fresh postops from open heart surgery- rad! they're all on breathing machines (ventilators) and have like 10 lines hooked up to them. ya i know thats not everyone's thing but it was soooo cool. this next week we will be in neuro ICU and then trauma ICU all at good sam. cool! trauma! hey, someones gotta like it.

besides crazy school, everything is going really great! genes busy with his online classes, and work. dylan is talking all the time! he tries really hard to make sense too.

Dylan's Blessing june 2008

I know these pics are from soooo long ago but im on my sister's computer and I dont have these ones! aw he was so little.

my blonde baby- dylan 21 months

aw i miss his long hair when i see pics like this!! :( he is almost 2!! i know hes not a baby anymore, but he'll always be my baby:)

"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

For babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs

Dust, go to sleep

I'm rocking my baby,

and babies don't keep."

-Anon

here's to marriage!!

so this saturday is our 6 months anniversary! and its been a year since we met. we first started talking on the phone and from the very first time i heard his voice, i loved it. i loved everything about him from that point on. he really was like a dream come true. i even loved how shy he was! it was so cute. he got over the shy thing after a couple months haha. i truly have never been happier in my life and i am so grateful! there is nothing else in this life i can ask for at this point, having a family is the best.

"If I know what love is, it is because of you"
-Herman Hesse

the last six months of being married to gene have been the best 6 months of my entire life, forever doesn't seem long enough with gene. he is so supportive of everything i do or would like to do, whether its my education, running, playing volleyball, doing races...not only by just saying 'sounds fun, you should do it' but he encourages me and does whatever he can do possible to help me accomplish the things i want. when we first met, i really thought he was too good to be true, but its actually just how he is all the time, and he is too good, but still true;)
genie me gustaria decirte cuanto te quiero (es muchisimo;) , pero no puedo porque te quiero mas que te puedo decir! eres el jim mio;)

also, i never really posted any wedding pics, of gene and i- so whats a better time than 6 months later!haha. heres a couple...

switching gears here... so this morning i went to wake dylan up for church and he was completely naked, well actually he still had his lighting mcQueen shirt on, heaven forbid he takes that thing off. ew. who knows what hour of the night that went down. anytime at the store when i would see onsies for 24 month old kids i would think... ew, what kind of weird parents would make their 2 yr old wear a onsie!! and how goofy that kid would look! well im the weird parent and dylan is the goofy kid now. funny how those things back fire on you.


oh following up on an earlier post... i finally got placed for my preceptorship!! i got my first choice- st joe's pediatric intensive care unit!!! wow it was so neat to learn that. before we found out our instructor said that less than 1/3 the class got thier first choice. i was sure it wasnt me so i prepared myself to be bumed- but it worked! yay! im so excited! but at the same time scared out of my brain tissue i think i may be accumulating increased intracrainial pressure...that could be very serious, you know. jk but seriously, this is the best hospital in the state, and maybe top 20 this side of the Mississippi for critical care. it will be a really good experience tho... i have my final for block 4 Nov. 16th and everything is down hill after that;)




gene and i went to my cousins show the other night and it was awesome!! im a huge fan! not just bc he's my cuz either! (hes the one with the long hair) they have a song out that actually made it to a movie!

ps dont forget were going private! leave your email... ;)

going private!!!

so ive considered this for a while, especially hearing a few creepy stories recently, and by gene's request...i know its so convientient this way sorry! but i figured if you are really interested then it wont be a big deal to put in the extra step to read about our lives!! please leave your email address in the comment box!!! maybe in about 3 weeks?? thanks;)

i dont have any new pics yet, just old ones...

dr. garmin

9/1/2009



Total Distance-4.26 miles

Total Time- 36:22 minutes

Avg Pace- 8.46/mi

Avg Speed- 6.4 mph

Max Speed- 8.9 mph

Total Calories- 392

Total Ascent- 238 ft

Total Descent- 233 ft



this is the information that spits out of my Garmin that Gene dear got me;) pretty nifty. I am just figuring out how to use it and its the coolest. it helps me pace myself. and since im training and trying to get faster, i dont want to under eat, so it gives me a good idea of how many calories i need to add (which is never a prob;) so i dont exhaust myself throughout the day. It also gives me a detailed map of my route with a graph that shows my pace. i also have a heart monitor that i havent used yet-maybe i'll give it a shot next time tho. im training for half marathon in january, but theres also a 5k in October that Gene and i are doing with his mom and dad. its not a big race or anything, but i still want it to be faster than my last 5k which i think was around 23:45 or somethin. so i finally got up this morning at 5:15 and went running! finally! it was pretty hard and it definitely wasnt my fastest pace so i just focused on distance. i only had 40 mins to run bc gene had to leave for work...but i imagine if i make a habit out of it, it will get easier. i totally cheated and went back to bed until dylan woke up haha. im not that hard core apparently.

block 4 started and its going to be very challenging, to say the least. not only it the content intense (which makes sense since its critical care haha, sorry im done with the bad nurse jokes) but i am completely strapped. clinicals are 2 days a week and i am working part time at the hospital, and trying to be a mom and a sain wife. i dont even want to think about the madness, i'll just take it day by day, by day by day lol.

Gene is fabulous, as usual, just going to school (online) and working. hes pretty excited about football season starting...i already know im going to need to forewarn our new neighbors so they dont call the cops on us bc he freaks out at the game. the other night he was watching a game and i fell asleep on his chest and numerous times he actually jumped up and started yelling some gibberish at the tv, i was like excuse me! do you not see me trying to sleep here!? haha he was completely oblivious. i laughed about it the following morning, it wasnt as funny in the moment:) i guess you can say that he gets really into it. ;)

dylan is getting so BIG! and we had a major accomplishment this week!!! yay he did peepee in the potty!!! woo hoo! it only took 25 mins and 3 books but it happened! he of course got a cookie and went on his merry way. i wonder if he even tried or if he just sat there long enough he had to go?? either way we celebrated!

About this pic on top- he was completely covered in applesauce, i think he pretended it was shampoo. so i decided to just take him in the shower w me to hose him down. so i take him upstairs while trying to hold him away from me and try to go in our bedroom and its locked!! dylan locked us out of our room at some point. so i ask gene to come and try to open it. so all of us are in the hallway im trying to keep dylan from touching anything, gene had to remove the handle. we looked pretty silly.

"I have never been hurt by what I have not said."

~Calvin Coolidge

so officially done with block 3!! on to block 4 now. wow that was pretty difficult! but its over yay!! just one block left then graduation in December!! i have just been enjoying my break by working haha jk, well it is way nicer going to the hospital as an employee as opposed to being a student. the new children's tower is coming up at banner desert too and that will be way nice. At this point im still planning on working in pediatric intensive care, so just need to wait and see if banner is planning on it too ;)

Dylan is so big now. his favorite words consist of, 'banana, leche, momo (elmo), erealeal (cereal),' and of course, the infamous 'no'. although occasionally we get a 'yea' out of him. he got a hair cut recently, which was so traumatic. i messed up, of course, and made it too short- which is probably a good thing since it spaced out the time that he will need an other one. its still cute tho! as u can see he started walking around with his hands in his pockets! i love it. he is so fun.

Gene is doing fabulous- just working and starting school next week. someday we'll both be done with school and get to enjoy life a little more! At this point he is going for his master's- and just for clarification, this was HIS idea, mainly, i only strongly encouraged it ;) idealy, he wont work as much and i can work for us so he can focus on school, but we'll see, i probably need to get an RN job first. we originally planned on him going to med school- but that would take a minimum of 8 years, and lets just say that there are other things we'd rather do with the next 8 years than be in med school;) his master's will prob take around 3 yrs.

nothing else new- no upcoming trips at this point. although, for genes bday i got him tickets to the colts/cardinals game- i think its this next month- woo hoo football. no actually it will be a lot of fun! im not a huge fan, but im a fan of my husband being a fan! haha. most wives hate their husbands watching sports, but i love it! it gives me time to study/ read and still hang with him and not be distracted by the tv, bc im not super interested in it. whatever i can do to spend more time with him basically is great;) dont get me wrong, its not all we do, he is very good about making sure we have 'date nights' and things planned for the weekends. which is good bc i get busy and forget!

"The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for."

-Allan Chalmers

aerosmith!

here are some pics from our aerosmith concert;) sorry, they're not so great but it was kinda dark and i took them with my phone. It was actually a lot of fun! We were out of there by 12am, which was good news for me since i had clinicals at 6:45am the next morning! (i thought it was going to be way later than that.)

I'm almost done with block 3 now- my final is next thursday! yay. then i have a short 2 week break, and then back to business with block4 starting. i cant believe i will be a nurse soon! wow this has gone by so fast. we picked where we want to do our preceptorship, which is kinda like an area you pick to focus in for a few weeks in block 4, and i picked the pediatric intensive care unit at st. joe's. its completely nerve racking, but i will love having to use my brain like that. i actually had the chance to spend the day there in clinicals- and i loved it. its so different than regular floors, in the ICU youre actually taking care of every system in the body, and i think thats awesome! i still need to wait and see if i even get that spot- we picked several choices, i also picked adult ICU and ER, but i find out where i go in a few weeks. its all coming to an end now and so excited to not be a crazy wife/mom who is studying all the time! im sure my husband and baby will appreciate it too;)

its been soooo hot, as you are well aware, and im not going to be one of the many people to start complaining about something we all already know about, but i will say that the heat encouraged gene and i to go up to flagstaff for the day on monday. we definitely enjoyed the 85 degree weather, and it even sprinkled. we just walked around, went to lunch, and brought some books to read with a blanket in the grass. sounds silly, i know, but we both love being outside but havent been able to be outside in a long time, and wont be able to for several months to come...so we enjoyed it while it was here.

dylan is becoming such a big boy! he is starting to put two words together now, and he tries to repeat everything, which is good and bad, haha. the other day he said, 'dangit', hearing him say that made me say, ah crap' , and then he said 'crap', so i just quit talking after that. haha. hes so fun.

dylan, 19 months

thanks for the shirt from China aunt sarah and uncle adam!

so my ob portion of block 3 is done! only 4 weeks left of this block then on to psyc! woo hoo. this is the first weekend in the last 2 months that i have not had a major exam around the corner so i have been able to take it easy and live the good life! i finally organized a closet that has been driving me crazy since we moved in, i cleaned every room in the house, played all day with my baby, watched a movie with Gene, baked cookies, read something other than my nursing book, and just enjoyed not being a stressed out student for a couple days. Thats pretty much sums up a good life for me;) im learning that even though i spend all day cleaning, it only last until nap time is over, but its worth it for that hour!
today tina and i did a race- she finally talked me into doing one of her adventure races with her. i tried to stay positive, even though i knew it was going to be frikin hot! during the race we had to find check points from looking at a map, and at certain stations we had to do activities like find one word out of a pamphlet, and memorize objects on board. A lot of the check points were up on top of the mountain, which stunk, but for the last portion we were in the river. It was at coon's bluff- and we had to run 1.5 miles with our inner tubes, life jackets, and paddles. eh. i thought my running races i do were hard, but ive never had to carry anything! apparently we did really well, bc we came in 1st for the girls' team. it can easily be attributed to tina's navigation skills, i was just barely able to keep up with her. the river was way fun, and a great way to end the race. im not too burnt either.
so our aerosmith concert is in a couple weeks- ya thats right, i said 'aerosmith'. haha when gene and i were dating something he told me was that it was one of his life's ambition to attend an aerosmith concert. so, naturally, when i found out they were coming to town, i knew what that would mean. of course he was soooo excited- how could i not go with him? not that i dont like aerosmith, they're just not particularly my cup of decaffeinated tea. haha. and i figured they wont be around to do many other concerts so we need to go while theyre still kickin. and we can cross one thing off gene's list while were at it. so i will be posting that shortly;) the best part is- i have clinicals that next morning at 7am!!! i better get some cool wife points for this one.
nothing else is new with us- gene starts school in august, hes not sure what exacltly he wants to do but maybe a PA or NP or something... he has plenty of time to decide.

1st place is better than 2nd

i dont think ive gotten 1st place in many events in my life

but its pretty fun! it was actually 6th overall and 1st for the girl

teams. were soaked bc the last 1.5 miles of the race was down the

river in an inner tube with a paddle.

.

dylan at one with the animals

Dylan is fairly limited on his vocab but loves to imitate animals!

the doc says animal noises count though and its pretty cute:)

ready for the day

most kids refuse to wear stuff like this, but if dylan sees other

people wearing it, he puts it on himself!

labor of love

In school we are doing our pediatric/OB rotation...Its going really good so far! We had clinicals on Monday and I was able to be in the L&D area- I wasnt sure if i was going to like it or not- its not for everyone, ya know. Well right after i got there the nurse i was with asked me if i had eaten breakfast... I said yes, but i have had a baby and i think i will be fine. She insisted that it was different and she has had several students pass out or throw up or something. Haha, well i wasnt too worried about it - nothing could be worse than the movies they made us watch in class! Within an hour our patient was ready to have her baby and the doctor got there just in time...It was so incredible! seeing the little baby take his firsts breath was overwhelming and i was trying not to cry bc i thought that might look silly. Wow, it really is so amazing. It of course reminded me of when i had my baby- they are so sweet. im sure all the moms know exactly what im talking about, and if you dont yet, im sure, or at least i hope, its in store...

the best thing that could ever happen to a girl is this....



"Making the decision to have a child... is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body."
~Elizabeth Stone

Dylan haning out with his gene when he wasnt feeing good :(

See what i mean!? (post)

this pic has nothing to do with father's day, i just liked it;) a walk through NYC at night

for fathers day

So im going to try to have at least one post that doesnt mention anything about nursing school- All that i will say is that its pretty stressful. So enough of that! I dont know if i have even introduced my husband yet...So, Gene. Hes wonderful, so fun, way smart, um i guess i can sum it up with 'perfect'.

Sorry to disappoint everyone out there but i really have the best husband- you all can stop looking now, he's taken;) We were set up kinda on a blind date by my sister who knows his cousin...(thanks again tina and caroline/natalie!) so we dated for 4 months then got engaged.
Now we have been married 3 months and since then i think i have done laundry...twice? he always gets to it before i have a chance! i dont think i have ever come home to dirty dishes. he is so helpful and so supportive for me during school. There have been times when I have had to make him go watch sports center for a while and stop cleaning, no complaints from him there;) (although, usually, he does remember to watch it even when i dont remind him haha;) [on that note about sports center- i actually indirectly love sports center! I am able to study while sitting next to gene and not be distracted by any of it! and its never anything bad, just sports:] anyway!

he makes me laugh all the time, whether its about the fact that he likes watching old Bruce Lee movies or that hes trying to iron the new sheets we bought for our bed;) he always plugs in my phone bc i always forget and he always orders me fries when i say i dont want any- haha hes learning. Everyday i feel blessed that he wants to be with me! I love him more than i could ever explain in a post. I could go on but i know everyone is enraged with jealously by now so i'll stop- haha jk but i haven't even got to the 'dad' part yet-

he is so cute with dylan, he loves him, and is always concerned about him. while im at school they go shopping together, go swimming, play with puzzles, read books, watch baseball, they have fun. Dylan loves him to pieces too- its so cute. The new father role for him is so natural, its wonderful. i dont know what ive done in my life to deserve to actually live in a dream world. i couldnt ask for anything more perfect than these two boys in my life- i havent always felt that life has been wonderful, but now, at the very least, life has been overly generous and i couldn't ask for more, only that it stays the same, everyday. The best part about my Gene is that he loves me back;)

An other "Dad" in my life is Daryl. I am so grateful that him and my mom found each other- they are so perfect together. Daryl is such a good grandpa (papa)! He is definitely on Dylan's fav 5 list haha. He is so quick to help anyone in need, he is such a great example to everyone around him. Thanks for being a wonderful dad and papa!

This post wouldnt be complete without mentioning all the dads in my life- i have a new one now- Gene (Gene's dad;) he is so great with dylan, its so cute. It makes me laugh when i notice all the similarities between my gene and his dad. big gene is such a great example of a worthy priesthood holder and i am so proud that hes my husband's dad. He is a good man.


Happy Father's Day!!!!


"I viewed with regret the many hours I have spent in indulgence, and now sorely feel the want of that information that those hours would have given me had they been judiciously expended. But since they are past and cannot be recalled, I dash from me the gloomy thought and resolve to double my exertions, or in future, live for mankind as I have hereto lived for myself."
~Meriwether Lewis

at last!

So i finally finished block 2! yea;) i didnt even want to post anything until i knew i passed haha- i wouldnt enjoy spreading any bad news! but i actually got a "B" (anything below 76% is failing in nursing school and a "B" is a 84-92%, cruel, i know!) now on to block 3 which i love so far- our content is pediatric care and ob...its only been two days of lecture and we already have our 1st test on wed! :/ that's ok tho- im just looking forward to graduation in December.

So Dylan is doing so great- hes sooo big and very independent. his new fav words are "no!" and "mine!" wow- so it starts already! when hes not trying to eat my chap stick or wear my mascara, hes actually a very lovey baby. he gives hugs and kisses all the time and pats me on my back:) thats my favorite! he dances when he knows im getting him milk, sings in the car seat and laughs when he finds his bellybutton:D I once had a lesson in church about being a mom and one of the things that was said that really stuck with me was,"moms, put down the dishes and hold your babies!" I have always tried to do that. Dylan does want to be held a lot, and i have realized that he is not always going to want me to hold him, so i will get away with it as long as i can. Also, the stage he is in right now (1-3 years) developmentally is one of the most critical period of their lives (next to the birth-3 month stage). He needs an excess of love and positivity to feel secure in his own little world. i know im preaching to the choir for most of the moms reading. Oh and an other thought about that...im sure you were listening in conference when pres monson made the comment about the fact that all too soon there will be no tiny hand prints to clean off the windows. That made me sad! not that im going to just let my place go to crap but as i am cleaning up his little messes i want to remember that these are the few moments in this short life that i will be cleaning up the art work off the tile, folding cute little baby clothes, or hearing "oh no!" when he dumps his yogurt on his head. I know everyone thinks im crazy or maybe you just relate entirely. just trying to make the best of every stage of life...

boston/new york

Anyway on to Boston!! So we left on a sunday night and got there monday- i just have to say that that is probably the coolest place i have ever been. if the winters werent so atrocious i would love to be there. its so clean and there is so much history! gene and i are way into american history so it was a dream come true for us. the city is so easily accessible and user friendly with the local subway (t-stations) you can go anywhere for $2 one way. the entire week we never rented a car, we just took advantage of every public mode of transportation known to man. Between boston/new york we: walked (for sometimes up to 5-6 hours a day!), took the subway, a train, a taxi (thought i was going to die might i add!), airplane, ferry(to ellis island) a gondolla thingy (to get to new york city from rosevelt island), a bus...cant think of anything else. anyway
we went to 2 red sox games (if you werent able to guess whose idea that was, i'll give you a hint...it wasnt mine!) ha. it actually was so much fun. both games were incredible, seriously the entire town had to be there and acted as though those games were life or death. It was so cool.

we saw everything in boston! china town. little italy, bunker hill, harvard, paul revere's house and grave site, site of the boston tea party, wow too much to remember. this is a park about 5 min walking distance from our hotel.

we also went to salem, ma where the witch trials were. it was only a 20 min train ride from boston, we had to! it atucally was a beatiful little town with green grass and white picket fences. only a few actual original buildings intact- most were restored. while we were there we had the famous east coast clam chowder- super good!

Then we went to New York- it was way cool but i dont have any big aspirations to go back there...it was cool to see once- but it was kinda dirty. slightly cooler than vegas in my book- (which i dont think is very cool at all ha) actually, we did have a ton of fun in ny. we got tickets to the letterman show, we went to ellis island (a must see- it was overwhelmingly amazing) we spent 2 hours there and probably saw 20% of what we wanted to see...but gene has learned that when the wifes hungry, nobody is happy haha, so we left. yea my fav pic!

ok so now im officially blogged out.