I Gone Done Graduated!

Yes, I did it! I graduated from Nursing School three weeks ago. Sorry it's taken so long to finally post some pictures. I'm just waiting for my temporary license to get here (hopefully in the next few days) and then I can begin training on the Med/Surg floor and in the Emergency Room at Bingham Memorial. I will hopefully take Boards in the next two weeks.

I've found that the last few weeks have been bitter-sweet. I'm bored, and I really miss my friends from school. I never would have guessed it would be like this. But, I'm working as much as I can, studying for Boards, and reading books that are NOT textbooks...yae! I'm also taking a 3 credit Critical Reading and Writing class this semester. Yes, I'm continuing on with my education! I really have a strong desire to get my Bachelors and then my Masters. We'll see how my sanity holds up. But, the ultimate dream is to finish my Masters and practice as a Nurse Practitioner.

This is Rachel, Pam, Tammy, and Crystal. They were my sounding board, my shoulders to cry on, and my constant entertainment throughout school! Amazing women!!!
Pam, Tammy and I.

The reason I did it...my boys! I'll admit it was pretty exciting to share that evening with them. They were all so proud and kept telling everyone that their mom graduated from college. I'm hoping they will gain a knowledge that college is really important.

Josh, Jill, Addie, Me, Mom, Tristan, Tyler, Kaden, Dad, Rob, and Connor

This is me right after the "pinning" ceremony.

A special thanks to all of you who have supported me throughout this endeavor! This is only the beginning, but I couldn't have done it without you.

Brain Overload

Easter proved to be a nice, relaxing day spent with family at my mom and dad's house. The kids, of course, were on a sugar high that started about 7:00 a.m. All the way through Sacrament Meeting they were complaining of upset stomachs and like any other good mom out there, I told them to buck up and they deserved to be sick for eating candy for breakfast:).

Later that night Connor found my Maternity text book and started looking at pictures, something I think he will regret as long as he lives! But, he wanted me to tell him about all the pictures. They started out pretty mellow with simple drawings of fetal development...and then came the pictures of live deliveries. I've always been one who feels it's best to just be up front with kids, so I didn't hold anything back from Connor. It was like a really bad trainwreck. I know he wanted to put the book down and leave the room, but his curiosity got the best of him. So, after 750 pages of pictures (I am NOT kidding!) and lots of "that's sick", "are you serious, Mom?", and "that's just wrong in sooo many ways" from Connor, I leave the room and come back in just a minute to find this.....

I don't know if it was from a serious sugar level drop or if he was just plain overwhelmed by the whole, "so this is how I got out of my Mom" concept.

Thank Goodness for Equal Opportunity Employment

For Connor's birthday, he informs me he wants an ice cream cake. So, a few days prior to the big event, I go to the local ice cream store to place my order. To protect the identity of the store, let me just say, it's initials are DQ. On Saturday, an hour before the party, Rob goes into DQ to pick up the cake. The girl at the counter tells him they "messed up a little" on the cake and gives him a coupon for a free mini ice cream sundae. Rob brings the cake home and tells me what happened. I was a little fearful of what the cake looked like, so I opened the box. Now, I hadn't asked for anything extravagent, just a baseball overlay and the simple words, "Happy Birthday Connor". So, I open the box to find a cake with about 1/2 to 2/3 of a baseball overlay. I don't know what happened to the other 1/2 to 1/3, but it obviously didn't make it on the cake. And then, I notice the wording is barely legible and situated on the cake completely crooked. So, you could either look at the cake and see the sloppy overlay, or you could turn it about 180 degrees and read the Happy Birthday Connor. Needless to say, I was mad!



As you well know, ice cream cakes are not cheap, and this cake was so horrible, it was almost funny. Tyler said there was no way anyone who was sober could have done this. Plus, the piddly free mini sundae was pretty much a slap in the face. Any of you that know me, know that I am not much of a complainer. I'll usually just make do and not say anything. But, this was an exception and the "not so nice" Trish came out swingin'! I called the DQ manager and explained that I wasn't happy with the cake and I had a house full of people coming over in 45 minutes for a party. She quite rudely said, "Well, what do you want me to do about it." to which I replied..."Um...decorate a new one and I'll be there in 40 minutes to pick it up". She agreed and hung up.



I really wish I would have taken a picture of that first cake...So, I show up at the local DQ to pick up my cake. I was then informed that they didn't have anymore baseball decorations, so they just wrote Happy Birthday Connor on it. I was fine with that. Then, the manager pulls the cake out of the freezer and it has Connor's name spelled as ConnEr. I proceed to tell her it's spelled wrong and her response is, "Are you sure?" I'll be honest. As I stared at her in disbelief, I was thinking to myself..."of course I'm sure, you moron...I gave birth to him and I'm pretty sure that when I wrote his name on his birth certificate it was spelled ConnOr. But, I calmly replied that, "yes...I'm sure". She acted quite put out to have to wipe the E off and replace it with an O. She then puts the cake in front of me and says, "well, is that OK?" Here is a picture of the cake...

I then inform her that Birthday is misspelled. And then, this is what I hear..."well, do you want me to change that too? (Not said very politely, mind you) To which I say, "you know what, just give me the cake!" I honestly couldn't tell you which of the two cakes was worse!



At this point, I am beyond frustrated with the whole thing!! But, because of my obvious disappointment, she begrudgingly gives me a gift certificate for a free ice cream cake. I have vowed to NEVER order an ice cream cake from this particular store again!



We ended up having a pretty good laugh over the whole thing as we sang "Happy Bithday" to Connor:) So, here's to you, Equal Employment Opportunity...for keeping so many of the "not so bright" employed!

Happy 7th Birthday, Connor!

Connor celebrated his 7th birthday on Saturday, the 21st. It's a great day to have a birthday, so his cousin Kylee decided to be born on the same day. He loves sharing his special day with Ky. This year we had a big family birthday party with pizza for lunch and then presents and cake and ice cream. (There will be a future blog about the ice cream cake...ugh) Anyway, Kylee got lots of girly stuff, and was so excited about her princess dress up kit from Grandma and Grandpa. Connor wanted all baseball stuff for his birthday. Here are a few pictures of him opening his gifts.

Grandma Smith found this shirt for him a few weeks ago. Aly and Annie helped her pick it out because it reminded them of Connor:)

New baseball cleats were a must!

He was so stoked to have a bag to carry all of his baseball equipment in. He is really talented at baseball. The 8 year old travel team tried to recruit him this year. They were really disappointed to find out he's only 7. But, next year, he'll definitely be playing with them!

This picture is "classic Connor". He is always making us laugh! We are so blessed to have him in our family. We love you, bud!

My Redneck Hubby

My dad has converted pretty much every one of his sons and sons-in-law to the "sport" of NASCAR. They are addicted. In fact, last year during General Conference, the local TV station broadcast the afternoon session of Conference right during the race. So, my dad and the boys all congregated to the car and listened to the race on the radio. It was hilarious! Of course, they'll all deny it to this day:) For the last two years, the boys make it tradition to go to the race in Las Vegas. This year only Jared, Rob, and my dad were able to go. But, the weekend before, Jared got called into the High Council in his Stake and had to miss the race to be sustained in Stake Conference. He will forever get grief from the "boys" for having such a "lame" excuse for missing the race:). So, my dad and Rob converged on the "City of Sin" for a weekend of NASCAR. They had a great time...except for when dad had to smack Rob to keep him from snoring all night:) Here are a few pictures of the race. The weather was beautiful and they both came home with a sunburn.

One Less Thing on my "Bucket List"

Rascal Flatts is my absolute favorite band ever. I've wanted to see them in concert for years. A few months ago I heard they were coming to Salt Lake so my mom, my sisters, my sisters-in-law and my brother all got tickets. When we arrived at the Energy Solutions Center, our tickets were in the nosebleed section...seriously, you could have touched the ceiling from our chairs. But, when Aaron and Kara got there, their usher convinced Aaron to go tell the "boss" of the ushers that she was beatiful and see if he could get better seats. So, Aaron tried it out and yes, got us better seats! I say better because we were in the front row...YES the front row...standing at the stage. I've never been so happy to have my brother hit on another woman (not that he does it often, Kara:). So, needless to say, it was AWESOME!! In fact, we were so close that most of my pictures didn't turn out...Bummer! But, I got some great video, and amazing pictures. The opening act was Jessica Simpson and she was horrible. I apologize to any of her fans in advance, but she really was awful! She forgot words to her own songs, and didn't interact with the audience at all. You couldn't pay me enough to see her perform again. But, then Rascal Flatts came out and the party started!! I actually had to back up to get this one. Besides being hot...they can play some pretty amazing music:)

Yep...within touching distance! Most of all of us shook hands with them!

This is how they made their entrance...singing and coming from the ceiling of the Energy Solutions Center.

Here we are...a bunch of Rascal Flatt groupies:) This is before the concert at Jared and Mary's house in Smithfield, UT. I am so blessed to have awesome sisters (and brother) and a "way cool" mom to have fun with. Thanks Erin, Mom, Jill, Mary, Katie, Aaron and Kara for one of the most memorable nights of my life. Especially, a big thanks to Aaron for going out on a limb for all of us and getting the wonderful seats! I'll never forget it!!

A slow, painful death

Today I noticed my dear friend Lyle had posted a "dead blog" alert here for me. Tonight I got on and all of my posts are missing...coincidence?? Maybe my blog was dying such a slow, gruesome, smelly death that even the people at blogspot felt bad for it and put it out of its' misery. Either way, hopefully by posting a new post, the old ones will want to come back. I apologize to all who witnessed the sad event.

Now, just a quick update! School is kicking my butt...thus the lack of blog postings. I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Rob is staying really busy with work and being YM President in our ward. He, Tristan, and Connor went on a campout last night and slept in snow caves...so, Rob's a little grumpy today:) He loves working with the boys though. Tyler and Tristan are getting as much snowboard time in as possible before it starts to get warm and the snow melts. Kaden is spending as much time as I'll allow playing the Wii and the PS2. Connor has already started indoor training for baseball. He is really a great player and has already been recruited to play on the 8 year old travel team next year. My sister Katie is here from Florida for the week and all of the "girls" are heading to Salt Lake on Thursday to see Rascal Flatts in concert and the "boys" leave Friday for NASCAR in Vegas.

I know this is short, but...I have two huge tests to study for on Monday. I will make a better effort of keeping the blog alive.