Bryan's 35

I surprised Bryan with skydiving for his birthday.  It was his best birthday gift ever!

August 2017

A month of change.

I have been so focused on raising my children, I have neglected myself and my husband.  This is an easy thing to do.  Children are very demanding.  Your husband is gone for most of the day at work. When he comes home, you have a couple of quiet hours alone and then you go to bed for 6+ hours.  I would say, you get about 2 hours of husband/wife time each night.  But this is often distracted with technology or chores or laziness.  In Germany, it was difficult to go out or find date nights because we didn't have a lot of close friends without children or with older children.  Everyone we knew was in the same stage.  Now we are in San Antonio, and we have friends and we have lots of options for babysitters.

I have been trying to re-discover myself:

I love to dance.  I used to religiously watch Dancing with the Stars every season.  I used to go salsa dancing with my girlfriends in college at a local cafe.  I don't believe I was ever any good, but I loved it.

I wanted to do so many adventurous things when I was growing up.  I wanted to skydive, bungee jump, white water raft, visit the Pyramids, scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef, ride in a hot air balloon, learn how to drive a standard vehicle, move to a foreign country, ect.  Fear took over.  I want to live everyday, like it was the last day of my life.  I do not want to regret anymore.

I have always been self conscious about my body.  Always.  What girl isn't? I have so many moles and so many scars from mole removal and surgeries.  I never appreciated my legs.  I always thought I was doomed to have the "Harris thighs".  My boobs have been turned into hanging mosquito bites after nursing two children.  And my stomach has never been muscular.  I want to change.  I want to quit complaining about what I don't like and fix it.

I love to accomplish a hard/achievable  goal.  I have always dreamed of being a nurse.  I knew BYU had a super hard program and I was determined to be accepted.  I graduated the nursing program with a 3.7 GPA in 2007.  I wanted to be an ICU nurse while I was in the army.  I always admired the nurses that worked in the intensive care unit and was determined to become one.  I worked my way into the unit and was accepted into the Army's ICU nursing program in 2011.  I graduated with highest score of all the ICU students.  I wanted to have a natural birth.  I waited to go into the hospital, until I felt ready, and both my children have been delivered without any medication in 2013 and 2015.  I have always wanted to run a marathon. I trained for one of the hardest marathons- Athens, Greece.  My goal was to complete under 5 hours, I got 4:50!  Right now, I am working on my Masters in Nursing Education.  This is a pretty tough goal, while raising two kids and soon to be working full time.  I am also taking yoga classes, and I have a few hard and achievable goals I hope to accomplish over the next few months.

I love theater.  When I played the piano, I always picked out music to play from musicals.  I loved to watch the movie version of musicals- West Side Story, The Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Hairspray, Grease, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, Annie, The Sound of Music, The King and I.  I was in show choir during high school.  I have never had a passion for acting, but I enjoy watching others showcase their abilities.  I have not been to many musicals- Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King Junior.

I love 80's rock n roll.  I just do.  It makes me feel happy.  It could be that I was born in 1984?  I wish I could attend more concerts that play this awesome music!

I used to pamper myself.  I would go to the beauty school and get my hair colored at least twice a year.  I used to fake 'n bake in one of those cooking beds OR bought that lotion that makes you feel orange after you put it on.  I loved following the styles in magazines- heck I just enjoyed looking at fashion or pop culture magazines.  Over the last couple years I rarely got my hair cut or colored, put on make-up, dressed up, or did anything for just me.  Now is my time.

Lastly, money.  I have always been so careful with our money.  And I have no idea why.  I just like watching the number grow larger and larger.  Often, I would forego doing something because of the cost or the risk.  How awful is that!  Again, I want to live everyday like it might be my last- no regrets.  (I promise I will not blow money on stupid things like a Starbuck's coffee every morning or the more expensive brand at the grocery store).

I love my children.  I love my husband.  But, I need to spend a little time on me too.

Goodbye ICU friends and family

My last day of work was sometime in August. I actually can't remember when I really "worked" this summer because it seemed like I was always on leave or working on out-processing. My fellow coworkers put on a wonderful farewell party before I left. I have truly learned so much from each of them over the past 3 years. I won't say I will miss working at Darnall, but I will miss my friends and my Texas family. 

The ICU: Jimmy, Monty, MAJ Yarde, MAJ Row, Merri, Rosa, Jeff, Jeanne, John, Rebekah Angela, Cline, Joan

I got some maternity scrubs for my new civilian job!

 A scrapbook with all my accomplishments while stationed at Fort Hood.

Texas Memorabilia: blue bonnet seeds, chili powder, Christmas ornament, Texas flag, and chocolate covered pecans!

 I guess I am going to have to learn to make crawfish etouffee.

 I was awarded an ARCOM for my service in the military at Fort Hood. 

Birthday Celebration

I celebrated my actual birthday-DAY at Old Chicago and got my favorite hawaiian style pizza with the best "on tap" drinks with Katie and her kiddos. Oh, I also colored my hair medium brown if you were wondering why it looks darker. Bryan had school, so he wasn't able to surprise me on a Wednesday.But he made up for it with these roses when he came to Killeen on Friday. Aren't they beautiful? Then I had a fun birthday party with some of my friends from work and church. I got the best cake ever- oreo ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. It was a big hit, we just forgot to let it defrost before putting the candles in and had to wait a grueling 15 minutes!

Bryan surprised me with a new trailer hitch, trailer hitch bike rack (since I ruined the one on top of my car), tinted windows on my Subaru, and a speedometer for my bike. I guess this years theme was biking and car upgrades? He is always so good with birthday presents. Thank you sweet heart. Happy 27 years to me!

Austin 2011 Olympic Triathlon

We competed in our first olympic traithlon on 5 September 2011, in Austin Texas. It involves a 1500 meter swim on Lady Bird Lake, a 40K or 25 mile bike ride around the state capital building and parks, and a 10K or 6 mile run through the parks. It was very intimidating seeing all these triathletes with muscles and fast looking bikes, while Bryan's running around in his Army gym shorts and I'm in a little girl swimsuit. But looks can be deceiving:)
Here's Bryan coming out of the lake. All his pictures were awesome. He is super photogenic when it comes to races. He was the second group to start the race, while I was the last (1 hour later!).See the capital building in the background? The audience was fun to see too. We had people dressed up as tacos, watermelons, summer Santa Clause, and penguins. Keep Austin Weird.Now this is my favorite! Bryan has his mouth open either trying to catch his breath or cheering because he is about to cross the finish line. Love it!

Me and my little girl swimsuit. Glad I had a matching swim cap. The water was super warm, so it wasn't a wetsuit legal race. I kicked Bryan's trash by 3 minutes on the swim, but he kicked my trash in the other 2 events.


I was so glad to be done. I was sick all the week before the race and was working night shift and had a mountain bike. I know, I know. Excuses. Excuses. The run about killed me though. Bryan was kind enough to run with me for 4 miles. My goal time was between 3 and 3:30 hours. I got 3:25 baby! My next goal will be under 3:15. Bryan did amazing as usual, 2:40. Thats probably why he had his mouth open gasping for air at the finish line:) Anyways, it was really fun. We will definately be doing more of those.

Happy Birthday to Me!

CCRN

One of my goals for 2011 was to pass the CCRN exam. Yesterday I did just that. The CCRN certification validates my knowledge of nursing care in the acute and/or critically ill patients and it promotes continued excellence in the critical care nursing field. It has been a gruelling 7 month process as I completed the Army's 4 month critical care nursing course and then another 3 months of self studying. Now I have to start working on my other goals?

Graduation

Here is my 2011 graduation class from the Critical Care Emergency Nurse Course. It wasn't the best time in my life, but I definitely learned a lot about myself and my capabilities. Oh, I also learned a lot about nursing too.

Top: CPT Denson, 1LT Ahlborn, LTC Munari (Instructor), CPT Johnson, 1LT Darrenkamp, 1LT Bautista, LTC Dickens (Instructor)
Middle: 1LT James, CPT Dluhos, MAJ Gibbons (Instructor), CPT Wolf
Bottom: CPT McDonough, CPT Tuft, 1LT Gilbert, 1LT Quitugua Graduation day was awesome. I was mostly worried if I was going to stand up and turn around at the appropriate times (not so good at D&C anymore). It lasted about 30 minutes and then we had to out process. I was surprised to find out I was valedictorian for the ICU section of our course. Glad all that study got me something!
This was probably the best day of the whole course. For nurses week (May 9-13), we raised over $1800 throwing pies at VIP. All the students pitched in and threw pies at our instructors faces. IT WAS AWESOME!

These are my bestes, Dara and Joyce. They helped get me through the course. We studied together, we ate together, and we cried together. That is about all we did over the 17 week course. I didn't enjoy every minute of it, but I am pretty sure it was worth the pain an anguish.

Spring Break

Bryan came to visit me in Washington over his spring break. Unfortunately, we mostly studied. He had his optometry board test the next week and I was always studying for something with the crazy course I was taking. Seattle was our BIG adventure during that time. Of course we visited the Space Needle and Pike's Place, the two famous Seattle attractions.

We had fun just being with one another, even if it was just studying. It was sad to send him back to Houston, but I knew I'd see him in a couple of weeks for my graduation.

Almost There

All the studying is over for me! I finished my 4 hour oral presentation yesterday. It was the worst anxiety I've ever encountered. I am so relieved it is over with! Now, all I have to do is complete my 68 hours of preceptorship on the ICU. Bryan should be visiting me next Friday and our class graduation day is the April 25th. After that, we are off to drive down the west coast. This time I won't be driving by myself the whole time. I don't have any set plans, but I do want to go camping at the Red Wood Park and I want Bryan to see where I grew up in San Francisco. I've got about 12 days before I need to report back to Fort Hood, so I hope to get some good relax time.

Critical Care Emergency Nursing Course 2011-A

40 Days

That is how many days I have left of school. This course has taught me a lot. I am not sure if I ever want to go back to school again. It has been more than tough. I feel like I don't even have time to go to the grocery store or put gas in my car. I am so ready for it to be over. I know it will be well worth it in the end. I am just tired.

Out of Office

I made it safely to Tacoma, Washington on Monday night. It was a very long drive. I stopped in Phoenix, AZ (15 hour drive) for 2 days to visit my brother Brandon and his beautiful family/new baby boy Benson. My mom and dad were down there as well for the baby blessing that Sunday. I wasn't able to make it due to the long excursion to come. I headed up to Utah on Saturday (10 hour drive) and visited my youngest sister Linsey and her cute family for only 2 hours. Boo. After the short visit, I spent the night at my oldest sister Kim and family's house, went to church, and then we hit the road to Eagle, ID (5 hour drive). Kim was such a sweet heart to offer to drive with me the rest of the journey. She brought her sweet baby Norah, and we trekked the rest of the way together. We stopped at one of Bryan's sisters house (Wendy) for the night in Eagle, ID and then made the last leg to Tacoma, spending the night in the hotel (8 hour drive). Kim helped me to get all settle into my nice hotel room for the next 14.5 weeks. This course is going to be one tough journey, so I probably won't post anything for the next 3 months or so. Thanks to everyone for letting me stay with them. Thank you Kim for ditching your family for me. I had fun catching up! Please pray for me on this educational journey!

Thriller

I am in the peach cardigan behind the pole.

Fabric Headboard

This is my first (that I can remember) Do-It-Yourself project. I've seen a bunch of great results from others' blogs and DIY websites and really wanted to do my very own home decorating project. The website I copied was herecomesgina.com

I had a hard time picking out a fabric I really wanted. I wanted something feminine, but not too feminine. Mostly floral. I also wanted something to match the comforter we already owned... it's some kind of purple. Then I wanted to incorporate some greens because I love greens. Well, I thought the fabric I bought had a olive green (it does look like it), but it is really tan. The fabric is beige with dark brown, tan, and some kind of fuchsia. Bryan wanted me to paint the headboard because we bought really cheap plywood and it definitely had the potential for slivers. Plus, it makes the back look a little less "home-made"?
This picture makes the headboard look extra big. I am not sure yet on the height I want. You can either secure it to the wall like a picture frame, make legs with 2x4's, or use 2x4's to screw into a bed frame.

Now all I need is to find fabric for pillows. My sister offered to help me with this project. I have left over fabric (1 yard) for some fun pillows or art on the wall, but not sure what to do style wise. I was thinking big fuchsia pillows with some olive greens or dark brown pillows with small accents from the headboard fabric? Somebody help me! Kim?

Fort Lewis

Long story short: I am going to be in Washington State from January 2011- April 2011 to get my nursing identifier for Intensive Care. I was actually suppose to be moving there for the remainder of my Army contract because they didn't realize Bryan was in Houston TX going to school. This happened because the Army doesn't recognize Bryan and I as dual military right now because he is in the reserves or school. Therefore, they were going to move me far, far away. I cried a lot when I first found out. I talked with a bunch of people about what to do. My family and I fasted and prayed a bunch. Things finally turned for the best. I am coming back to Fort Hood after the course. I have learned patience and trusting in the Lord through this trial. I just wonder what more the Lord has in store for me in Central Texas?