- I got a new job with Nevada Health Centers as an RN Care Coordinator. I was so over working at Seven Hills, and it was nice to be able to find tolerable employment in Las Vegas. Though this job wasn't my favorite and definitely had its struggles, I'm grateful that I was able to work full-time for a lot of the year (and make money for some fun trips!). Because I just couldn't last any longer at Seven Hills… I also have to be grateful for the things I learned at this job, since it's the first purely medical (not mental health) RN job I've ever had. Oh, and did I mention that most of our patient population spoke Spanish? So yeah, I learned some of that, too. :) And it was nice to be able to help out people who just didn't have a whole lot, whether it was coordinating an appointment for a sick person without insurance or just being there for a lonely person to talk to.
- Jack and I got to go skiing at Brian Head with a group of his friends from Maverick. It was a bit crazy (I'm okay that I missed out on the whole non-LDS college lifestyle, and I definitely don't need to go back and experience it now). But we had fun skiing for a few days and enjoyed the beautiful snow up there.
- I got called as the second counselor in our ward's Primary Presidency. And what a welcome change it was from teaching Sunbeams! I like kids, but I don't like being the hands-on disciplinarian. Put me up there teaching sharing time or music time, and great. But don't make me sit with the kids and try to control them. Maybe that's my problem - I'm a control freak, ha ha. Anyways, I didn't get to stay in this calling very long since we ended up moving, but I enjoyed it and wouldn't mind a repeat one day. :)
- Jack and I got to take another trip to Hawaii. I am so grateful for the fun adventures we get to have. I realize that we are really blessed in this aspect. If were in total control of our life, I'm sure it would be very different. We would have kids and all that goes along with that. But really, I love our life right now. It's very different than the typical LDS family life, but great in its own ways. And really, what is normal or typical anyway? :) We got to go the Big Island this time, and it was so cool! We saw volcanoes, lava going into the sea (we saw land being formed!), lots of sea turtles, huge manta rays (one even touched me!), and drove a crazy steep road down to a black sand beach. We also went back to Maui, which is awesome but honestly wasn't as exciting the second time around. We found a great condo with an ocean view, so that was neat. We got to see more sea turtles and even a few sharks, plus the beautiful Waianapanapa black sand beach on the way to Hana - probably the most beautiful beach I've ever seen.
- Jack got a job with Classic Lifeguard based out of Vernal, Utah. He decided he'd finally had enough with Maverick and Grand Canyon tours and put out applications in Philadelphia, Chicago, North Carolina, and Utah - Salt Lake City and Vernal (not to mention an offer from a friend in New Mexico). We really thought we would have ended up in Arizona - we have a friend who works for PHI there and was going to help Jack get on. But we didn't like any of the locations. So then all of the sudden we were talking about all these different places. When he first told me about Vernal, I was like: no way! I am not a fan of small towns, and it's pretty far from where my family lives in Utah. But the more we talked about it, the more I realized it could be a great opportunity. We originally had planned on living in Vernal, but we had a hard time finding housing, and then my friends from Valley Mental Health (Artec) told me they were re-opening through the U and would need a nurse. Yay! That was one of my favorite jobs ever, so how great would it be to go back! So then we started looking for housing in Utah Valley and decided to go with Draper (halfway between SLC and my family in Utah County).
- I went to Europe with Erica and Jen. Wow, what a trip. We went to London, Paris, and Rome. So amazing that we got to do this. We saw so much, ate lots of good food, and just got the most we could out of these places. Oh, and ate tons and tons and tons of macaroons. :) We saw the Changing of the Guard and toured Buckingham Palace, rode the Eye, visited the British Museum and National Gallery, shopped at the Portobello Road Market, toured Westminster, saw Big Ben, visited the Tower of London, experienced the amazing Evensong performance at St. Paul's, climbed the lions in Trafalgar Square, visited Versailles, climbed millions of stairs in Paris - Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, Arc du Triomphe, toured the Louvre and Orsay, ate macaroons and crepes!, took a night tour on the Seine, took a tour of the Coloseum (including the underground area) and Forum, ate yummy pizza and pasta and gelato, shopped in Rome!, saw the Pantheon, toured the Vatican Museum at night and got to sit and study the Sistine Chapel, climbed to the top of St. Peters Basilica and went inside the church as well where we saw the Pieta, saw the sculptures and art at the Borghese Gallery, rode crowded subways, and ran through airports. Whew! What a trip. :)
- We took multiple trips to Utah. I quit my job at Nevada Health Centers in August and stayed behind in Henderson while Jack started work in Vernal. He was able to come home every other week (except when working overtime), and I went up to visit him there, too. We got to see lots of my family, which was fun.
- We moved to Draper! I seriously love being back in Utah. I found a great town home, and even signed the lease without Jack seeing it. (He agreed to it of course, and luckily he's happy with the place.) It's brand new, which is always a plus in my book, plus it has a 2-car garage! I never realized how fantastic a garage is during a Utah winter. And the location is AMAZING! Like I mentioned, it's between SLC and my family in Utah county. So it's fairly easy to get to either place. And there are restaurants, a movie theater, stores, temple, library, etc. so close by.
- I started weightlifting with Jack. We started at Gold's Gym in Henderson, but I threw out my neck one time, and he moved to Vernal, and we just stopped going together. But then once we moved to Draper, we started going regularly, and I haven't stopped. I really like it! It's fun to see yourself gain strength and be able to do new things, like a pull up! I have not been able to do a pull up in probably almost 20 years, so it's kind of amazing. And just last week I did 4 sets of 2, so 8 pull-ups on my own. I also dead-lifted 135 lbs! I was pretty excited about that. My squat has gone up - I can do low reps of 165 lbs, and yesterday I did 15 reps of 135 lbs! Like I said, I'm enjoying it. :) My upper body isn't the strongest, but my bench press has gone up to 80 lbs (low reps). I remember when I couldn't hardly do the bar! Jack is such a good trainer. :) I feel like heavy weightlifting is also the best exercise for really seeing changes in your body. And it helps that I have tons of free time to be able to get in some good, long workouts at the gym.
- Jack and I have had tons of time together! Since I haven't started working yet, we get every other week together to just hang out (and sometimes I go to Vernal to visit him). It's been great, since in Vegas for awhile we didn't have any days off together. So I figure we kind of deserve this. :) We of course go to the gym almost every day, but we also got skis and season discount cards to Alta, which has been really fun. We've gone 3 times so far (plus I went with my Mom and Erica), but hopefully next month we'll get in a good bit more.
- We live so close to my family now, and Jack got Thanksgiving and Christmas off! He really lucked out with that, and it was our first Christmas to spend with family in four years! We never got to go anywhere for Christmas while living in Vegas, so again I figure we deserve it. :) We've been able to spend the holidays with family, go to one of Anna's soccer games, make gingerbread houses with Anna and Evie, see Erica's latest show, meet Ryan's girlfriend, etc. I love my family. :)
- Jack's Maw Maw Mable passed away, and we were able to go to Louisiana for the funeral. It was nice to see family, and luckily the plane tickets weren't too expensive since we had to buy them last minute. Funerals are of course sad, but I love how all the family gets together for them. So you get to see everyone. I also got to see Jen and Sharon, and we had fun with Dar and Amanda making sweet potato pie, eating yummy food like Blue Bell ice cream, and visiting the Blue Bell Factory.
- I got a new car! With Jack's car not being so practical for long drives, he drove our Toyota Corolla back and forth to Utah and I got to upgrade to a Honda Civic. It's fun to drive a new car, and it was nice to not have to worry so much about breaking down when making long drives by myself.
- I got to go to San Francisco with my mom and all my sisters. It was a gift to my mom last Christmas, and great that we all got to go. We drove from Utah (Jamie met us there since she lives in Sacramento), and they dropped me off in Vegas on the way home. We had fun riding the cable cars, eating delicious food at Dottie's (whiskey fennel sausage scramble!!), touring Alcatraz, walking along the Coastal Trail, seeing the Full House park/Victorians, eating yummy food at the Ferry Building, etc. We fit a lot into just a few days!
- I went to Disneyland! I'd never been before, and Erica, Christa, and I went during a short weekend trip to California. It was really fun! I was skeptical, but with three grown-ups and Erica as a guide, you're bound to have a good time! We also got to go boogie boarding at Huntington Beach and had a really yummy breakfast at the Beachcomber Cafe (beignets!).
- I got called as the ward music chairman. Originally I was just asked to be the chorister, and then they added on the whole calling. :) I can't complain, though. It's not too intense of a calling, and I'm not too nervous to get up there and lead in Sacrament Meeting. It helps that I did it before in our Wymount ward. Our ward is pretty good so far. It's an older ward than I'm used to, but I like older people. :) And there are younger families, too. And I really like our Bishop.
- Jack and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. Wow - we are old! :) It's funny, because I'd had big plans for our 10th anniversary. I mean, it's a big one! You have to go somewhere cool! I'd even dreamed of Tahiti… But with just Jack working, we kept it a little more reasonable. We thought about staying at the Blue Boar Inn where we went on our honeymoon, but in the end we just opted for a nice dinner at Bambara in SLC. We also had the day to spend together, so we worked out in the morning, then did a little skiing up at Alta in the afternoon. Our dinner was really good, and I liked the ambiance of the place. I'm sure we'll be back. I do really like downtown SLC. It ended up being a very nice day together. I sure love my Jack. :)
- I've had a nice little break from work - since August! That's going on five months. Wow! I didn't intend for it to last this long. The re-opening of the residential girls unit through the University of Utah has taken longer than expected, and still probably won't happen until March or later. But this long break has given me enough time to about feel ready to go back. :) I feel like I haven't been too bored or miserable, but I'm ready for a job again. And Jack and I are ready to be DINK's again!! Some things I've accomplished in my spare time: learned how to better curl my hair, read books and listened to books on tape, spent hours trip planning (mostly for Europe), practiced skiing, got stronger, tried some new recipes, finished the first three (and almost fourth) seasons of Dawson's Creek, blogged, slept in, hung curtains and pictures, watched The Voice, etc. I didn't get to everything, but I've sure enjoyed this time. And I'm also hoping to be back to work soon. :) I guess…
Here's to an awesome 2014!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment