Aquarium

The group shot in front of the South America exhibit. Funny thing is, Brooke and her family just moved to Peru. 

Alli and Teagan playing in a little cove.

The Aquarium in Utah is certainly nothing compared to other's I have been to, but it was so fun taking Teagan to see all the fish. He loves seeing fish and has gotten quite good at sucking his cheeks in to make the fish face. We had a great time and it was SO fun to get to see Brooke and her daughters Alli and Kennedy. I haven't seen her since she got married. It was fun to catch up.

Father's Day

I woke up on Father's Day and looked at the clock and realized I must have over-slept! It was nearly 10:00 a.m. Darryl slipped out of bed early and when he heard Teagan wake up, he let me sleep and got Teagan up without me ever hearing Teagan. I ran out of our room to find breakfast already made and waiting for me on the table! Wait! This is Father's Day, not Mother's day! I felt so guilty and horrible. I started to apologize and realized that Darryl didn't even realize it was Father's day! He just knew I recently started working full time again and thought he'd let me rest and make me breakfast. What a wonderful guy! Good thing I got him a really good present since I wasn't able to make him breakfast! I found a steal of a deal on a propane BBQ grill. He has been wanting a grill for so long! Our apartment complex doesn't allow charcoal and propane grills are expensive, so I lucked out. (It was only $40! And it's a pretty good one too.) 

Half-way through Father's day we realized we had a bit of a dilemma. We had accidentally double scheduled our evening. My family was having dinner together for Father's day the same time Blake, Kayce and Glade were planning on visiting. We so desperately wanted to do both and luckily my mom cooks up a storm and invited Blake, Kayce, and Glade over to join my family. It was the best of both worlds. Darryl got to be with his twin on Father's day, (I can't imagine a better gift.) and we still got to spend time with and honor my dad. It was a great day. 

I have the most amazing men in my life! I was raised by a man of honor, integrity, and value. My dad has taught me so much. There aren't many people who could have accomplished the things that he has given the life he was dealt. He has endured many hardships to get to where he is today. I am grateful for and amazed at the dedication, commitment, and love he gives unconditionally to our family. He's the best. When I was little, he told me that nothing melts a man's heart quite like a daughter can. He told my sister and I that if we were to ask for something and say "Please daddy, my sweetest daddy?" He had no choice but to say yes. We were wise for our youth and used that tactic sparingly and decisively and sure enough, we got a yes every time! I have so many fond memories of my dad. The smirk he gets on his face before he tells a joke, the way he rubs his hands together when he is excited, how he turned his entire family (girls included) into Utah Football fanatics, his thirst for knowledge, his unwavering testimony, and his completely contagious love and appreciation for music are just a few of the things I love the most about my dad. I am so proud to have him as my father and I feel so blessed to have been born into his family. 

My father-in-law, Curt is also a man worth mentioning when talking about the wonderful men in my family. Curt is not a man of many words, but when he speaks, it's always worth hearing! It's rare to meet someone with a sense of humor quite like his. He probably doesn't know this, but I love watching him interact with my mother-in-law, Reita. The way he talks to her is so endearing. He never acts like a guy who is bored in his twenty-something years of marriage. He has a positive and upbeat attitude almost all the time and keeps things fun. I love when he teases her. It's always positive and playful and she giggles like a school girl with a crush when he does it. It's adorable. They still have the spark I hope to still have 20 years from now. He has been a wonderful example to Darryl and I know Darryl hopes to be like him someday. 

Speaking of Darryl, he is the love of my life. He is such an incredible father and husband. I can't fully express the love I have for him and how proud I am of him. He goes out of his way on a daily basis to make me feel loved and special. I am so grateful for his thoughtfulness and patience. (I am not an easy person to get along with sometimes.) He is so wonderful with Teagan. My heart just melts when I get to witness his interaction with Teagan. He is gentle and playful and always encourages him. It's so fun seeing him teach our son and seeing the joy he gets out of being a father. I am so blessed to have a family and I am so lucky Darryl is a part of it. I couldn't imagine a better guy. I love you Darryl! Happy Father's Day!

Moab and Cedar City

This weekend was an eventful one. My family had a river trip planned in Moab. Darryl and I had planned on going and we were going to bring Teagan along but not on the river. Darryl ended up working that weekend and couldn't get out of it. So, not only would Darryl miss out, but we didn't have anyone to watch Teagan while the rest of us were on the river. With my whole family going out of town, and Darryl's family living far away, I didn't see any feasible babysitting options. I was getting pretty bummed at the thought of missing the trip. My family used to go river running all the time and I have been wanting to go again for years. 

Kayce heard about our dilemma and offered to watch Teagan for the weekend! Luckily, Pam and Ray (Darryl's grandparents) were driving to California that week and were able to drive Teagan down to Cedar City to stay with Blake, Kayce, and Glade. My trip wasn't until Friday, but Pam and Ray left Thursday for California, so Teagan got an extra day with his cousin. He seemed to have had TONS of fun. Kayce sent me some pictures of Glade and Teagan playing together. I am sure Blake and Kayce had their hands full with two toddlers, but I was glad Teagan got to play with Glade and that I got to go on the trip I have been looking forward to for so long. 

Darryl was the only one not having a fun weekend. I suggested that he drive to Cedar City to pick Teagan up and to spend some time with Blake. He was all for the idea. After Darryl got off work Saturday, he drove to Cedar and he and Blake stayed up all night partying. :) He and Teagan came home Sunday afternoon. 

So, about my weekend: Moab was really fun. My parents, Garrett and I came down Friday morning to find a campsite. They were all pretty full, but we were SO lucky and got the very last site! We dropped off the tent trailer and went to lunch at a local diner. After lunch, we went to Arches National Park and hiked up to Delicate Arch. This is stuff I haven't done since I was a kid. The hike to Delicate Arch is only 1 and 1/2 miles but during that time it's a 500 ft ascent. Parts of it were down right exhausting, but then you get to the top and turn the corner and BAM there it is! It's gorgeous and well worth the hike. 

We had some dinner and went to the campsite where we met up with everyone else who had to come later. Danny, Ali, Andrew, Devin, Amanda, Cambria, and my friends Andrea and Shane came and camped with us. It was really fun sitting around the campfire quoting movies and just being silly. 

The next morning we met and headed up to the drop off spot on the river where we were launching the rafts. An old family friend, Mark Voorhies met us there from Grand Junction where he lives. It was so fun to see him. I have known him all my life, and it was fun to reminisce on the good old days when he and his sister Leah would babysit us. Most of the times my family went river running when I was younger was with Mark and several members of the Voorhies clan. I knew I would feel safe in a boat with either Mark or my dad as captain. I ended up in Mark's boat.

We had a great time down the river. The water was freezing and Mark made sure everyone went in before the end of the day. He had to "help" (threaten) Andrea to get her into the water. I was only safe from him by getting in mere seconds before he lunged at me to throw me in. My favorite was when Amanda got in the water. We were by the shore and it looked shallow and since we were careful not to leave any foreign objects in the water, Amanda saw a bottle of sunscreen floating in the river and hoped out to grab it. We were seriously close to the shore and I was shocked to see her feet splash in and then her head completely disappear under water! It was a deep spot. She thought she was only getting in about knee deep and what a cold surprise! But she saved the sunscreen and mother earth all at once. Way to go Amanda!

Right after our boat passed through the worst of the rapids (Which unfortunately were pretty weak this year) a boat after us hit the rapids at an unmanageable angle and capsized. There were about 8-10 people in the river. The water is pretty high this year and although the rapids were on the weak side, the current was very strong under the surface and the people floated really fast down the river. We hurried and pulled in the only woman who was close enough for us to get. The other boats managed to get everyone else and turn their boat ride-side up and get them on their way. I was glad nobody got hurt. It was sort of exciting being on the rescue mission. I was so glad to have been on a boat with a good captain. (The people who capsized had NO clue what they were doing and no one to take charge and captain the raft) Mark took charge and was a great leader. It's one of his many admirable traits. (His license plate cover on his car years ago said: "Mark Voorhies, a unique individual." How true that is.)

It was a fun trip but I was SOOOO glad to get home to my boys! I missed Darryl and Teagan so much. I was glad they both let me go on this trip that I have been wanting to go on for years, but next time they will come with me!

A tender hearted little guy

Today I bore my testimony in Relief Society. I felt very moved by the spirit and even though I had Teagan, I went up anyway. It was one of those feelings I just couldn't shake, and I had to go up. I started talking about how blessed our family is to have the Lord's hand in our lives and how much we love being able to rely on him. I got pretty emotional and started to cry. I was holding Teagan through all of this and he sees that I am crying and immediately starts kissing me on the cheek. It made me laugh and I somehow fumbled through the rest of my emotional mess of a testimony and sat down. 

Needless to say, I had several women stop and tell me how cute he is. It certainly made me smile. Teagan is a big hit in our new ward. Especially since 80% of the members live in a neighboring retirement community and are over 65 years old. He is the ward's grandson, and man does he love the attention! At first I was a bit disappointed in the lack of young families in the ward, and then we sat through Gospel Doctrine and I changed my mind completely. I have never had such a profound and deeply spiritual Sunday school lesson. I really admire the things these ward members contribute and I am excited to learn all that I can from them. I think this is just what our family needs. 

A Whirlwind of Change

Darryl is now a nursing student! Classes start Monday. Darryl has been working on a few pre-requisite classes for nursing school. This came after changing his major a few times. It's hard when the thing you are going for doesn't work out the way you expect. (i.e. firefighting) It took Darryl a little while to decide what he wanted to do instead. Well, he decided on nursing. I work with a Pharmacist whose wife and daughter are both nurses. He and I would talk about nursing schools and about the job in general. He told me that his daughter (who I worked with for a while when she was a pharmacy tech) went to Ameritech College and loved it. I was interested and thought I would go online to check it out. 

Their website doesn't have a whole lot of info about some of the things I wanted to know about. (Mainly the cost since it is a private school) I sent an email to request additional information. I left Darryl's contact information since he is the one who would potentially attend the school. Darryl received a phone call and scheduled an appointment to see the campus and discuss the questions we had. The appointment ended up needing to be rescheduled a few times due to things that would come up with either the academic advisor or our schedule would change. We finally went in late Tuesday afternoon.

We arrived at the college and walked in and immediately felt great about it. We met with the councilor and she told us about the school and how the graduates have a very high pass rate for the NCLEX test which is required for licensure. (97%!!) We found out that their are no pre-requisite classes for this college. All those classes are included in the program, and the program is only 18 months! We found out about the cost and their accreditation and then toured the campus. It was something we continued to feel very positive about. We decided we would think about applying for fall semester. In the mean time, my dad told me I needed to take due diligence when making a big decision like this. I made phone calls to Major companies who hire nurses and asked their thoughts on the school. I called IHC, University Hospital, Jordan Valley Hospital, and even the government Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing and asked about the school. They all said they weren't allowed to endorse a school, but they do hire nurses from that school. And DOPL told me that the school does have the accreditation required to take the NCLEX and apply for licensure. 

The councilor told us that an extremely rare circumstance had come up and there was a spot open for the summer semester that would start next Monday. (It was Tuesday, so that was less than 1 week!) She suggested taking the entrance exams right away and if Darryl passed and wrote his essay as soon as possible, he might have a shot at starting nursing school right away. 

Tuesday evening we discussed everything about five times over, and spent a considerable amount of time on our knees. We decided that this rare opportunity happened for a reason and we should try for it. Wednesday after Darryl got off work, he went in and took his 3 and 1/2 hour test and passed with flying colors! We filled out all the FAFSA forms and submitted them online for our student loans. We wrote out an essay and he took it in Thursday evening after work along with receipts for his background check and drug test. He met with the financial aid advisor and went over a few things and she said the Dean needed to look over his paperwork and make a decision. Friday morning is the orientation for the nursing students, so he needed to be there if he was accepted. Darryl didn't know what was going to happen when he woke up Friday, so he went in to work for a few hours and left to find out what to expect. 

Right after he left, he got a phone call from the school saying that he had been accepted and he needed to go to orientation. (They happened to call the home phone so we didn't get the message until it was all over) Thankfully, he was already on his way. He made it to orientation, and is SO excited to be starting classes Monday. I can't believe we got everything together that fast! We had 2 days to get it all finished and turned in for approval. We had to work both days and we still managed it, but with lots of help. (Thank you Devin and Amanda!!! Cheesecake Factory on us. You pick the day) I am so glad. It was the most stressful two days of my life! I can't believe Darryl will be graduated in 18 months! January 2011! I am so proud of him. It took him a while to decide what he wanted to do, but he found it and I think he will make the best nurse ever. 

Friday after we knew it was all going to actually happen, it didn't slow down. He still needed to get supplies required for class and he still needs to get transcripts sent from Snow College and the U. After I got off work Friday, we went to get the laptop for his classes and buy some scrubs and a few nursing things. That was the fun part. They have a variety of scrubs these days and a lot of them are pretty girly. It's hilarious. Darryl liked the "bootcut" ones the best because they were the most comfortable. (He wouldn't let me call them flared or bell-bottoms cuz bootcut sounds manly) The sign did say unisex so they really didn't look girly or anything, I just had to tease him a bit. My favorite part was playing with his stethoscope and pen light. I found out what the very back of my mouth looks like today. That was fun. Then I listened to my lungs and heart. My assessment shows: healthy :)

It has been such a crazy few days for us. We are still taking it all in. We didn't even have his class schedule for Monday until tonight at 5:00 pm. I am so glad the stress is over (I know a few people would vouch for me when I tell you it was MAJOR stress, and I was a little snippy with a few people. My bad.) and now we can focus on getting him through the classes. Monday after class, he has to go to the police station and get fingerprinted to send to the FBI for yet another background check. (These guys mean business) I just hope they don't find out about his past life as a pyro/arson. Thank goodness firefighting didn't work out after all. ;)

Thank you to everyone who had to deal with "the monster" (a.k.a. me) while I was so stressed. My mom got the worst of it. I needed someone to listen to me while I worried and even freaked out over everything. (Naturally, I would go to her. That's what moms are for. To help calm you down when you need to freak out.) So while I am calm, I have organized what we still need to do. They gave us an extension on the admission requirements since it was such short notice. We need to get his immunizations up to date, or find the record of them. We also need to get his CPR certification renewed, and he has to become a CNA before the end of the first semester. Busy busy. Now I just need to find full time hours and a daycare for Teagan. Yikes. That one will be rough. I can work full time for 18 months if it means Darryl will be GRADUATED!!! I just hate the thought of putting my baby in a daycare to be taken care of by strangers!

Thank you for the prayers, encouragement, and well-wishes (and babysitting Teagan so we could get it done.) It meant a lot to have someone to help us deal with our crazy stressful few days. I am so grateful to the Lord for directing our path. I know without a doubt that he did. I am so grateful he answers our prayers, and knows what is best for us. I am so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father. 

And now a big "Whew" and then "Ahhh" and finally "Oh yeah!" The stress is over! And on a side note, Darryl looks pretty sexy in bootleg scrubs!