Wow. So I'm falling behind at this whole blogging thing. I guess that's what 8hr+ school days will do to a person. Here's what I've been up to:
1) Clinical shadowing--finally starting to feel good about the medical interview!
2) Birthday--my sisters say I'm getting up there in age... I disagree with them. I was home for spring break, so my family made me the yummiest Strawberry Poke Cake with whip cream--yum! I was also able to spend time with my grandparents over spring break--so much fun to hang out with them. Oh, and I went to see the Secret Life of Walter Mitty... go see it if you haven't. Seriously, it's a feel good and if you don't leave wanting to go backpacking or learn how to longboard, something might be wrong with you ;)
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3) Bumblebee went to prom! She looked beautiful and had so much fun paintballing on her date!
4) IAPA Conference in Sun Valley. Nope, didn't get to go snowboarding, but did have lots of adventures running around this little resort town. And I finally got to meet my Meridian classmates--they're much cooler in person!
On Fridays it's important to have good music to jam to. I suggest Bastille. Really loving this song right now:
Seriously, check them out. I don't buy music very often, but their album "All This Bad Blood" just might make it to my birthday wish list this year...
In other news, I went snowboarding for the first time EVER. So much fun! Seriously loved it! Now I've just got to get through graduate school so I can afford to pick it up as a winter hobby. Oh, and gotta' get me some core muscles to go along with it, too... I am still sore from all the times I fell and had to get back up!
And speaking of sore, if you want a good indoor workout, check out the Total Body Workout for Beginners on Blogilates... I didn't realize I had so many muscles in my hips until they were hurting the next day!
Hey. It's been awhile, huh? Guess finals, Christmas break, and the past month have kept me busier than I thought :) Good news--I passed all of my first semester classes! Yay! And I finally hit my year mark in the state, so now I qualify for in-state tuition (saves me about 7,000... I can appreciate that).
Christmas break was lovely--nice and long (3.5 weeks) and just what I needed to get me through the next semester. So much fun spending time with family and friends! Made tamales, got caught up on movies ("Frozen" was so cute!), and spent time babysitting Ellie-bellybutton's cute little boy! I made beard-beanies for my dad and a couple of my close guy-friends. Hair bows for my sisters. Played in the snow. Went four-wheeling. So much fun!
Christmas Tamales!
Time spent with Ellen's little man--what a cutie!
(He's going to be a 1st-time brother in June!)
Highlights of this month included getting my new glasses (did I mention I'm extremely near-sighted?), going rollerblading at a real-life roller rink, ordering a diagnostic set for looking in ears and eyes, and getting a new muffler on my car (it's so shiny and quiet!) It's funny the things that make your day when you're a young adult...
New glasses!
Finally broke down and ordered a diagnostic set--
Welch Allyn, so excited!
Anyways, that's what's been up. Hope you enjoy the song--I've been a little stuck on Bastille lately.
Today was a special Sunday in my church--the first Sunday of every month we have "Fast Sunday". "Fast" as in we fast from food for the day, not go through our meetings faster. ;) Fast Sundays are a special opportunity to share our testimony with others. I have a very deep testimony of the gospel, but I'm not the biggest fan of speaking in front of big groups. So today I'm sharing my testimony with you.
Where to start? Well, when I got to church today, I wasn't sure there was anything specific to bear my testimony about--I mean, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is one of the biggest anchors in my life, and it can feel like a lot to examine something that has affected my life so much and try to sift it down into just one thing to share. Where do I even begin with something like that? A scripture in Helaman 5 came to mind:
"And now my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
What do I love about this scripture, and how does it help me bear testimony of the gospel? One of the first things I notice each time I read this verse are the repetitions in words. The word REMEMBER, for example. I think sometimes one of the hardest things about this life is that we struggle to remember--to remember who we are, to remember our worth, to remember what we have already learned and overcome. Because of the gospel, I know that I am a child of a Heavenly Father who loves me, I know I have eternal potential and eternal worth, I know I can do hard things and that I have done hard things already! Of course, there are days when I forget this--days when I feel like a sad little lump instead of a daughter of God, days when I feel lonely or frustrated or discouraged, days when I wonder if I have what it takes to succeed at this whole grown-up-life thing. Fortunately, I DO have a Heavenly Father who knows and understands my weaknesses and is there to help me remember the truth. I am so very grateful for this!
The other emphases I love in this verse are those on Christ and on the sureness of His foundation. Like I said before, the gospel has been an anchor in my life, and that is in large part because the gospel focuses on Christ. There are few people who can truly say they understand how you feel when you're going through a hard time, and there are even fewer people who know how to make things better and help you heal. Christ has that power--because of the Atonement He understands our pain, our loss, our confusion. And He knows how to heal us--whether that means helping us to repent of a bad choice we made or picking us up when life knocks us down, because let's be honest, life can hit hard. Life hits hard no matter who you are (um, anyone heard how the ancient apostles died?), but I know that His is a sure foundation, and when we anchor ourselves to someone that immovable, we can keep moving forward in our progression, no matter what life dishes us. This is what I believe, this is what I know.
I finally got around to downloading some of the pictures from my computer... it only took me 6 months. Oops. Here's a flashback of some of the things that happened the past half-year:
Visiting a couple of my favorite guys in the
whole world--my dad and my grandpa.
This is pretty much what all of SE Idaho looks
like in the middle of the summer... so many bales!
I made apricot-pineapple jam! Who says you have
to be a pioneer to can some summer fruit?
I loved this abandoned house I saw on the drive to Bear Lake!
Spotted this cake at the SE Idaho State Fair--
it's a Sound of Music cake, can you tell? :)
Back when the people in my program were pretty much
still strangers... we went on a field trip to the state fair!
Because you should always keep the mountains in sight!
I passed my Physiology test, my Clinical Assessment test (Cardio/Chest Exam), and (most likely) my Pathophysiology test. Yessssss!
I watched World War Z--it's a zombie apocalypse/epidemiological action movie starring Brad Pitt. As far as movies to watch during October go, it was quite excellent--scary, but more in a suspenseful/danger way than disturbing. Plus it was funny to catch myself thinking about it from more of a science/medical viewpoint, now that I'm taking pathophysiology and learning about injections/vaccinations in my classes at school :)
My sister interviewed with her first choice nursing school--she did awesome! She finds out next week if she's in or not, so keep your fingers crossed that the admissions committee recognizes how awesome she is!
Girls' night, complete with virgin Margaritas, nachos, and fingernail-painting... so much fun!
Potluck at school on Friday was fun--we had a short talent show to go along with it, and it was fun to see what talents are spread throughout our group... leg wrestling and bare-handed fly catching, among other things!
I vaccinated probably about 10 people against the flu at a service learning event in the community. I loved being able to put some of the skills we are learning to good use helping people who otherwise might not get immunized--it was humbling to witness their gratitude, and in a few cases to see their bravery (there was one little boy who got his shot like a CHAMP--no crying, no wiggling, not even an 'ouch!')
Also I realized that I failed to celebrate BYU homecoming last weekend with blue pancakes. *sigh* Where has my brain gone these days? Oh wait, it's busy trying to retain 21 credit hours of information... :)
Only picture I had from this week, a little shout-out to my friend Adam:
