The Ultimate Goal

Starting IV's is the ultimate skill to learn in nursing school. My clinical instructor prefaced the lab by saying that she has been doing this for thirty years (she is really good) but it took her about ten years to get it down. I was nervous. The fake arm trial went okay, but boy does that thing bleed. A lot. It looked like a massacre when I finally got the dang thing in. Then there were four of us in the class who decided to try putting one in. On each other. So today after lab, we all headed to Louisa's house. Haley successfully put one in my arm (my veins stick out but she did a fantastic job anyway). Then another person tried. The alcohol swab wrappers started to pile up. Finally my turn came. Poor Louisa let me stick her sooo many times but she wouldn't let me give up until I got one. :) Her antecubital vein proved to be my best bet and success was mine. :)

Distractions

I love my nephews. Kayler is 9 (he is on the left) and Evan is 7. And they are such boys. Its hilarious.

And I know I'm wearing the same hoodie as in the last picture but its one of my favorites. :)

Studying

I don't have class today so my goal was to get some studying done, specifically working on my study guide for Pharmacology. My four year old nephew Kellan wandered into my room about an hour and a half ago and has been here ever since. Reading of Parkinson's has been punctuated by questions like "what happens when you warm a car up", "Heavenly Father loves all of his creations" (yeah my heart melted too), and for some reason, a repeated chanting of "nude! nude! nude!". My room is very warm because he likes to have my heater on, smells like popcorn (we each have our own bowl), and there are Skip-Bo cards everywhere.(I was trying to keep him entertained).

So while I haven't gotten a whole lot of learning in, at least I got some aunt-nephew bonding. Okay better go- I think he is going to break my heater...

Respectively Agree

http://www.newsweek.com/id/216210?GT1=43002

It Happens Every Year

Actually it happens twice every year. Around September and April, my mom would always comment "Look how light (or dark) it is at five o'clock." It happens every year- the days get shorter (or longer), signaling either the start of school or the beginning of vacation. Well the days are getting shorter. I've been trying to deny it for awhile now but here it is, 8:30 and its completely dark outside. And its been like that for a good hour. More things I've tried to ignore? The leaves aren't green anymore but vary between crimson red to golden delicious yellow. School buses appear in the morning and afternoon. Grocery stores now carry pumpkins and advertise costumes. Normally I LOVE autumn. I'm all about covering up and what better season to break out the new hoodies and long pants than when the weather dips into the fifties and it rains every other hour. But this year, I go back to school. And I like school, especially since I'll be learning something that I can earn a living off of and help people (working in scrubs is a nice plus). I just really dislike change. Any kind of change. I didn't want to leave Astoria last June. I don't want to leave Portland this September. And I'm pretty sure when graduation rolls around next June, yes of course I'll be ecstatic but you know that nagging feeling that sometimes happens when you have a paper to write that is ten pages long and its due tomorrow? Or how you have a great weekend planned...right before finals? Its that kind of feeling. Ugh. I really would rather things stay the same. Or at least change a little bit slower.

Twenty-Six

One week ago, my sister and I turned 26. As birthdays are when you get older, it was pretty much another ordinary day. My older brothers and sister had a barbeque for us since our parents decided to go back East (our nephew was being baptized so we figured he deserved to have them their for his birthday). I went for a run. We both took naps. The birthday was a mere blip in the year so I decided to find out what was so interesting about the number 26. So, thanks to wikipedia, here it is.

26 is:

-the atomic number of iron

- the only number between a squared number (five squared) and a number to the third (nine to the third)

-the number of letters in the English alphabet

-the number of miles in a marathon (rounded down from 26.2)

-the age at which males can no longer be drafted in the US

-Michigan is the 26th state to be added to the union

Okay so apparently 26 isn't that spectacular of a number. Maybe I'll just say I'm 25 since my older sister got me a card that says I am. :)

The Reunion

The second week of June, all the Randalls and a few Newby's convened at Aspen Grove in Utah for a family reunion. The last one we had was five years ago and this time, there were quite a few more children. And though none of them were mine, I spent time holding Reese, chasing Cameron, and trying to get Brian to smile. It was a great vacation, especially since I had just finished all my finals for spring term. And somehow, I pulled straight A's this term. :) Even though it rained most of the time, it was still fun. I shot a rifle with my brother's and sister making quiet jokes about the adult counselor who was there. I convinced Elizabeth to play paintball and she did well- except when her paint bullets started to hit me and I was on her team. One of the best parts was late at night, I played Phase 10 with Elizabeth, Eric, and Seth. Elizabeth zoomed ahead in the phases (I think she had the deck rigged), while Eric and I lagged behind. I don't know if it was the late hour or all the candy we had eaten, but we all lost it when our nephew's cell phone started buzzing. Pretty sure we were all crying. 

Acute Mountain Sickness became the phrase of the reunion. The director of Aspen Grove explained that this can occur to those not used to high altitude (yeah like me coming from the beach to the mountains) and can result in headaches, dizziness, etc. Pretty soon we were all coming down with AMS, though I'm sure it was the steep incline up to our cabin that caused our being out of breath every time we came back from a meal. 

I love my family and am so happy OUR family is forever. :) Joanna took the pictures above.