I'm in!!

Today I received my acceptance letter into the 2009 summer nursing program. Baby steps... this time next year I'll have completed my LPN and then on to my RN after that. I'm so thankful that I have had the opportunity to finally go back to school, for the support system of wonderful family that I have and that everything has just fallen in to place for me. I guess that timing is everything and I'm in the right place at the right time. Yeah!!!

The concert

For my birthday, Heather bought me tickets to the Blue October concert in SLC. Our friend Kirstin also had her 30th b-day in March so she was also treated to the concert. We left on Tuesday afternoon and met Kirstin there.

The venue was The Depot, which none of us had been to. We were there early enough to have gone right up to the front of the stage, but we are older now and didn't feel the need. We found nice seats at the edge of the room. It was perfect for us. We had a great view of the band and we didn't get smooshed.

I brought my camera but, being the braniac that I am, left it in the car with my coat/purse. We all had our cell phones so we did get some pic's. Also in the attempt to not bring those items in, I wore my cell phone on my belt. This is something that I DO NOT DO but I didn't want to loose it. I made fun of my "bulge" all night. Here it is:

It was a great concert. The opener was not bad, the lead singer was a little dramatic and we laughed a lot at him. That's right- at him. Blue October was great though. They played all of the songs from their new album and several favorites of my favorites from other albums. Here are some pic's of the concert. We had bought the edited version of the CD and so there were a lot of words in the original songs that we didn't realize were there. We looked at each other and giggled every time that he swore in a song. It made me appreciate the edited version though.

Lead singer, Justin Furstenfeld

Now the story of the girl-

After the concert, we went out on the floor to take pictures of ourselves. One of the band members, Ryan Delahoussaye, came out and was signing tickets so I of course went to get mine signed. This girl (totally drunk) came up to the stage and started telling him a sob story of how she had lost her kids (possibly something to do with her being a crazy lush) and that the band was the only thing that helped her get through it and begging him to give her something. He gave her a guitar pick and she thanked him and then asked him if he was part of the band. I bust up laughing and I was right next to her. She said, "you can all laugh at me but I got something that is worth a lot" Again couldn't stop laughing. Here are some pictures of me standing next to "the girl" she is the one on the right.

We laughed and joked and Kirstin did her best to talk the security in to letting us back stage but it just didn't happen. We got t-shirts (thanks again Heather) and were finally told that we had to leave. Here are a couple of pictures of us being groupies. Notice that Heather is not in any of the pictures. She was the photographer. She is the most successful person I know when it comes to staying out of pictures.

As we walked outside it was raining. We looked down the street and low and behold saw the lead singer getting off the tour bus. He decided that he would greet his fans and sign some autographs. Here he is with some of his fans.

drum roll please....

That is really Kirstin and I in the picture with the lead singer of Blue October!! He also signed all of our shirts. He was very nice (and very high).

We then stayed at hotel Bybee again. It was so great. Kirstin & I stayed up half the night talking and laughing. It was absolutely the best birthday present ever. Thank you so much Heather for everything. I had the best time and I really needed it. Thanks Kirstin for coming with us and for letting us stay at your house. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. If I'm going to be away from my kids, I couldn't ask for better people to be with.

SPLAT!

I have been picking up extra shifts at the Sheriff's Office to help supplement Christmas. I enjoy the people there still and it is nice as I can do some homework if needed.

Well today as I came in to work, I parked as usual, got out of my car as usual, and started walking in to the building as usual. Somehow, I tripped over the curb coming in and before I knew it I was on my knees on the pavement. At first I was concerned that someone had seen me bite the dust but after a quick look around I knew I was safe. It wasn't until I got up that I realized how hurt I was. I could barely walk. Going down the 2 flights of stairs to the basement of the building, I talked myself in to not crying. Many of you know that I am a bawl baby (somehow crying makes it hurt less).

I told the ladies what happened and sat down to log in to the computers. After sitting for a few minutes I realized just how sore I was. I called my supervisor and told her of the mishap, I then got to go to the patrol sergeants office for an accident report and then off to the medical clinic to be checked out.

Diagnosis: strained rotator cuff, sprained ankle, contusion on my big toe and a scraped knee. The biggest injury was to my pride which the ibuprofen, ice and rest won't fix. I was able to go back to work and finish my shift with just a few friendly comments about my fall and a new nickname of Crash.

Corn maze

We visited the corn maze at Swore farms last weekend. It is just for kids. This is the second year that the H's and I have attended. Heather helped me with the kids and Heidi Graham also came with her kids.

There is a farming question at each intersection with a direction for each answer, if you choose wrong, you get a dead end, choose right and you end up at another question. There were also several kids handing out candy throughout the maze as well.

At the end, they had a activity center and the kids got their face painted, did leave rubs and made bird feeders. It was a fun little trip and one we will try to make every year. I was so proud of myself for remembering my camera but when I got it out, the battery was almost completely dead. The best of intentions (blah, blah, blah)

Back to school (after a LONG break)

Well it's official- I'm a student again. I've made it through my first week of school. All I can say is that I hope my 30 year old brain is capable of retaining all of the information that it is expected to. My friend Heidi went back to school a few years ago and she said it took her about 3 weeks for her brain to get back in to school mode. Well I'm holding her to that- one down, two to go. I really like being back in school. I'm excited to learn again and to start a new chapter in this thing called life. My first class is at 7:30 in Idaho falls so I have to leave the same time that Shawn does to be to work 10 minutes early. As we were leaving on Tuesday 8/19 (my first day) Shawn got the camera and took my first day of school pictures just like we did Hayden last year. It was funny. I am so lucky that he supports me in this decision and I couldn't do it without him. Heather is watching my kids while I am at school. She gets off work at 3 a.m. and sleeps on my couch so she can get up with my kids. I am so thankful that I have such a great support system.

My friends and family are the best!!

Seattle or bust

Being the Twilight groupie that I am, I had to attend the latest Stephenie Meyer book signing in our area. Unfortunately, the closest one in our area was in Seattle- an 11 hour drive away. Luckily, I have the best sister's in the world. Heather said that she would drive, and Brooke watched my children so that I could go because Shawn was scheduled for 12 hour days each one of the days I would be gone.

Heather, Brandi Hunter (our co-worker/friend), and I left on Monday 8/11 for Seattle. It was a long drive but was not a bad one. Heather did the driving, I read and Brandi slept. We talked and laughed. It was actually fun. It's a good thing Heather likes to drive so much. I was the navigator (ie: read the mapquest directions to Heather) and a poor one at that- I think. We got to our hotel at 11:00 p.m. When we pulled in to the parking lot, there were 2 police cruisers lit up. We were all wondering what kind of hotel this was. Not to worry, it was just an accident that had pulled in to the parking lot. We got in to our room and turned on the olympics. Heather and I had the giggles and were making fun of the commentators for the gymnastics. I'm sure Brandi thought we were crazy.


The next day 8/12 we got ready and headed into Seattle. We went up the Space Needle, to the market on the pier, and out to lunch. I would love to live by a market like that. The fresh fruit and flowers alone would have me there all the time. The book signing started at 7 so we left early so we had plenty of time to get lost, etc.


The signing was also a concert. It was a signing with singing. Justin Furstenfeld, the lead singer of Blue October, sang songs on a acoustical guitar. It was awesome. Justin came out first and sang a couple of songs, then Stephenie did a Q&A and then Justin came out again. He and Stephenie told about the songs he sang- which characters the songs related to for Stephenie and what the song meant, or how it came about to be for Justin. It was great!! Then it was over and Stephenie had over 2,000 books to sign. We had to wait about 2 hours for our turn to stand in line. It wasn't bad, they let us sit in the nice cushioned auditorium seats to wait. It was air conditioned in there and we just sat and read our books. Heather and I had made shirts- the front said "Team Nessie" and the back read "more than my own life". That won't mean anything to you if you haven't read the books.


We left first think in the morning 8/13 and drove all day back home. Again, not a bad drive. Heather and I each took a turn driving (mostly Heather), we slept and read too. I personally had a blast and am so thankful to those that made it possible for me to do it- Brooke, thanks so much for taking such good care of my kids so that I could go and Shawn wouldn't have to miss work. Heather, thanks for donating your car for the drive. Brandi, it was so fun to have you with us. I hope we weren't too wierd for you- at least you got a good laugh. I now have a signed copy of all but one book that Stephenie Meyer has written. Some day I will get my Eclipse signed. I am a nerd!!!

Heather & Brandi in front of the Space Needle:

Heather & I in the Space Needle:

The auditorium full of over 2000 people:

We in our auditorium seats (I'm taking the picutre):

Me in my homemade t-shirt:

I love the Twilight books! And I'm not ashamed of it. I was so excited for the final book in the series, Breaking Dawn, to be released. Heather and I went to the midnight release party on 8/2/08 in Idaho Falls at Barnes and Noble. We got there at about 11:30 and there were already SO many people there:

Many were dressed up in their prom gowns:

Some more goth:

And some just plain funny, this girl was dressed up like Bella in the hospital:

We got our books at 8 minutes after midnight and went straight home to read them, over 700 pages and one day later, I finished my new favorite book. Luckily, I have several people in my life that also love these books- Heather, Kirstin, Heidi- thanks ladies and may there be many more discussions to follow.