v.e.g.a.s

We went to Vegas for a few days to celebrate B-rad's 23rd birthday. His birthday isn't until June, but because of school and work this was the only time we could really go. I did all the planning and it was a surprise where we were going up until a few days before we left. We made our way down Sunday night and the weather was awful! It was raining so hard and it took us a lot longer than 4 hours to get to St. George. But we finally made it and we stayed overnight with Catharine and Kirk. On Monday it was off to Vegas. We got there and the first thing we did was find a Buffalo Wild Wings. Brad used to eat there all the time on his mission and he and his mission companions talk about it all the time. He was like a little kid while we were waiting for our food, he could hardly contain his excitement. It was cute. After lunch we went to check in at our hotel. I made reservations at the Luxor hotel (the one that looks like a pyramid) I thought it would be way fun to stay there! We got there and at first it was cool but the more we saw of it the less I liked it. After getting lost and going on 3 wrong elevators, we finally made it to our room...I was less than impressed. It wasn't horrible, but for $200 I expected it to be a lot nicer. I was getting really sad and I was begininning to feel like this trip was going to be awful, but then Brad came to the rescue. He got all serious and called the front desk and asked for our money back. After a few minutes of heavy discussion she finally told us she'd refund our money. I was so happy! We called the Paris hotel and the rates had dropped like $100 from when I checked online, so we ended up staying there the first night and Planet Hollywood the next. These rooms were so much nicer and because we booked the day of they were even cheaper. It was awesome! Our view from the Paris hotel was of the water show at the bellagio. It was perfect! While we were there we did some shopping, went to margaritaville, ate at the harley davidson restaurant, saw Penn and Teller which was so awesome, ate at buffalo wild wings again, and did some gambling. It was such a fun trip and it was so nice to get away!

Brad and his wings

we even got some sauce to take home.

Brad loves the "homies" and made a new friend

Brad tells me one day we're going to own one of these...

These nachos were HUGE

Inside the Penn and Teller box

Happy 23rd Brad!

Easter Weekend

Easter was awesome. The whole weekend was awesome actually. It started out with me finishing my last clinical for the semester. Then we hung out with some friends. Had some dinner, played some games, dyed some easter eggs, it was great! On Saturday we went to fast kart and did some racecar driving. I got a little car sick and had to sit out a few laps. Brad is pretty much an amazing driver and passed me a whole bunch of times. I blame it on the fact that I was sick :) we're going to have to have a rematch. On Easter we went to our aunt Karen's house for dinner. It was so fun to get together with Brad's side of the family. Then on Monday it was Brad's mom's birthday so we all went out to Silver Fork Lodge up the canyon. mmmmm delicious!
our eggs :)

the easter basket Brad made for me, complete with an easter egg hunt! :)

               

I made some easter themed pancakes for B.

Rollin in style

This has nothing to do with Easter, but we were able to go to the Ogden temple on the last day before they closed it for remodeling. It was fun to go and I'm glad we were able to see it before they closed it.



The worm

On Tuesday I woke up and walked in the bathroom to take a shower. I don't shower with my contacts in because they get irritated and blurry, and I am SO BLIND without my contacts in. Brad reminds me of this daily. Anyway I pulled open the shower curtain and saw a big long reddish pink thing on the shower wall. I was curious as to what it was so I put my face about an inch away from it so I could see it clearly and... it moved!! It was a giant slimy worm in my shower!!! I jumped back and screamed (a very normal response to a worm in the shower) I ran and got my glasses so I could see just exactly what I was dealing with. I texted Brad in a frenzy and all he could say was, "that's weird, how did a worm get in our shower?" Less than helpful babe. So I did what any normal 22 year old would do, (picture this image in your mind) I went and put on my yellow dish gloves and got a hanger. My goal was to hook the worm on the hanger and drop it in the toilet. That didn't happen. I touched the worm with the hanger and of course it moved, and I let out another scream. I tried again to hook the worm and it rolled up into a ball and fell in the shower, so I scooted the worm with the hanger to the drain and then turned the water as hot as it would go and let it run for about 5 minutes. I'm fairly certain Brad put that worm in our shower to get back at me for locking him out of the car while it was raining. He won't admit to it, but I'm convinced it was him.

Dallen's Blanket

My darling sister in law Catharine is pregnant with her first baby. She is so adorable and is going to be the cutest little mom! She's due at the end of May. They live in St. George so we don't get to see them very often which is a total bummer. I wanted to do something extra special for her, so I decided to make her a baby blanket! I haven't ever sewn anything start to finish in my life. I've made little stuff here and there but usually my mom or sisters end up doing the sewing for me. But I decided that I better learn. It took 2 long days but I got it finished and she loved it! I think it turned out so cute and I can't wait to see cute little Dallen all wrapped up in it :)

The finished project!

clinicals

Today was my first real day of clinicals. I went to an actual care facility. got report from the nurses. followed a nurse around all day. did a physical assessment on my patient. passed medication to my patient. gave my patient an insulin injection (which by the way is terrifying to do.) wrote a care plan on this patient. that is a joke, it takes like 7 hours to complete the whole thing. awful. just awful. got hit on by way too many confused but cute little old men. It really was a great day. I finally feel like I'm actually in nursing school. These are the stories you hear about from other people. Care plans, no sleep, tons of homework, no social life, knowing more about your classmates than you would ever like to know, late night study sessions, red bull and chocolate becoming your new diet...I'm dreading all of that and at the same time I'm so excited for it! I can't wait for next semester, I have Labor and Delivery and Med Surg! Awesome.

Jen, Brooke, me, Devon at the VA

MOAB

In March Brad and I took a little weekend getaway to Moab. It was a blast! Jeff and Holli came down with us and Melinda was there running a race so we got to see her too. It was so beautiful down there! We went hiking, I got stuck on a rock, we made smores, had a campfire, ate at a little cafe called the Love Muffin cafe :) It was a great weekend. Here are just a few of our pictures!

   mmmmmm smores

April Fools

I decided that since this was our first year being married I needed to play a really good April Fools joke on Brad. i thought and thought of what I could do and what scares Brad most of all...then a light bulb came on and I realized that Brad is terrified out of his mind of me getting pregnant right now. Its not that we don't want kids, we do. We are just not anywhere near ready to take on the responsibility of another human right now. So I asked my dear sweet sister Courtney, who just happens to be pregnant, if she would kindly pee on a stick for me. She did and on Friday morning I left Brad a positive pregnancy test in the bathroom! I sent him a text message with a picture of the test and told him I was too scared to tell him in person. Right away he didn't believe me. He kept telling me that this was just a joke and I couldn't really be pregnant. I kept on pretending and trying to convince him. Finally he walked out of his class and called me on the phone. Anyone who knows me knows that I am terrible at keeping a straight face while a joke is being played and Brad can always tell if I'm tricking him. I played it off really well on the phone, and luckily he couldn't see my face because I was smiling the whole time. I had a really nervous tone of voice and I just kept asking him what we were going to do. Finally he believed me. He got really quiet for a few minutes and took a few really big deep breaths. He stuttered some words and I really thought he might cry. :) It was the best april fools joke ever. He was so mad at me, which made it even better! Then we decided to play the joke on my family. Some believed it more than others, but I'm pleased with my joke and the way it turned out. I thought it was hilarious.