Once upon a time, I got married!!!

So 11 days after I got back from Belize and the day after I took my final I got married in the Washington DC Temple. I truly had the PERFECT wedding day!! Not one thing went wrong on my wedding day. It was perfect! It was beautiful outside and not too hot or humid, we were even early to the Temple, the ceremony was beautiful, and we had a blast taking pictures. Here's a few in case you haven't seen any:

Also, our amazing photographer has some of our pictures on her website. They are under her wedding pictures "Chris and Jennie" if you want to see them! She did an INCREDIBLE job!!

April Fools...NOT!!

The word is out...I'm engaged! No this is not an April Fool's Day joke, but I thought it would be funny to post this today because it is April Fool's Day and most people didn't even know I was dating someone. :)

Bad traffic? I'll take it.

Last week was my spring break from school, so naturally I wanted to fly somewhere. Bad idea. Apparently, I am not meant to fly anymore. If you don't recall my last experience flying, then read this blog from January. Well, needless to say they lost my luggage AGAIN. That's 3 times in a row. What are the chances?! I was so frustrated I was nearly in tears. The Boy, who was with me, was really good to me though. I learned the valuable lesson to never leave anything in your luggage that you can't part with. Seriously.

Anyways, I just had the weirdest dream. I was in this room of luggage and clothes were strewn everywhere (including my underwear, niiiiccceee). There were people all over the place, my family was all there, and the Boy too. I had my suitcase and then someone moved it and I couldn't find it. I was searching everywhere for it, under all of the clothes, all of the other suitcases, between all of the people (while grabbing my underwear)....yeah, I woke up before I could find it in an utter panic. Stress. Ugh. What a nightmare.

Oh, and on the flight back I was once again sick, like Christmas, our plane was delayed, like Christmas, and something happened to ATC (Air Traffic Control) like someone cut a cable or took out a pole or something weird like that and no flights were going out so we sat on the tarmac for an hour and 45 minutes before we took off, like Christmas. I was having flashbacks. You have no idea. At least this time I had someone with me. It made it bearable and we made our connection fine. I told myself if I didn't get my bags for the 4th time, I wasn't flying again. Luckily they arrived when I did. I'm just not sure I'm meant to fly. Seriously. I'm having nightmares about losing luggage now. I'm stressed about situations that aren't even real. I like cars. Cars are good. I'm going to stick to cars for a while.

Too bad I'm from Colorado.

My Superwoman Complex

On my first day of Kindergarten (age 5) I walked in and met the two girls that would become my best friends for the next six years of elementary school. We'll call them Superwoman and Reen. (Superwoman, another best friend, me, another best friend, and Reen- age 8...complete with whipped cream) Superwoman (actually we still call each other this on occasion) and I stayed best friends all the way through high school and are still really close today.

(me and Superwoman- yes I did actually have a Superwoman sign on my graduation cap, haha)

(Superwoman, me, and Reen at our High School Graduation Party) She's one of those friends that no matter how much time has gone by when we get together nothing has changed. Anyways, as kids sometimes we played dress up. I know for me that's really girly, but don't worry that was mixed between our times of playing outside. Reen could also go by "horse enthusiast." So we spent a lot of our time playing (or rather working) with her horses in the dirt (of course), if that makes you feel any better about the girliness. Anyways, when we played dress up we used to run around the house in Superwoman underwear. I guess they made us feel powerful or something. haha Yep, those are great memories. But, I'm thinking that may be where my Superwoman Complex started...

I have these phases in my life where I decide that I must be Superwoman. I know I'm studying Multiple Personality Disorder (actually it's called Dissociative Identity Disorder now), but I think this is taking it a little far. I think I can take on the world. Yeah, unfortunately I am quickly reminded that I am not a superhero and I am only human. Booooo. Last week I spent 3 or 4 days under so much stress I was actually physically shaking. I looked like I had Parkinson's tremors (yes, everything is a medical analogy for me, you'll get used to it). Something major was going on with every member of my immediate family and unfortunately I live in Virginia which is approximately between 1700 and 2400 miles from my different family members. Entirely too far away for me to do much of anything. I have this problem with wanting to take on everyone's problems and take away their pain. Not that this is a bad thing, but unfortunately I've found you can't really solve anyone else's problems and you can't take away their pain. You can be a support (which is hard from this far away) and love them, but you can't things away. Yeah, I'm not a superhero and I am not God. He is the only one who can really do this for us all. Anyways, you add all of this stress plus enough homework to last me into the next century (at least that's what it feels like) and other stresses which I won't get into here...but it turned me into a complete disaster. I wasn't sleeping and when I slept I had nightmares. Plus I was still sick (yeah, for the last month). Unfortunately my family and my best friend got the brunt of this hyperventilating, sick, basket case. Poor things. Bless them for sticking by me. Then it occurred to me that I was trying to be Superwoman again. This has happened many times before (you'd think I'd learn). So I finally had to admit that I can't do it all, I can't fix everyone else's problems single-handedly and I'm not Superwoman. Damn. Hmm...maybe I just need a side-kick. Nope. No. No. Jennie, you're still not Superwoman. Back to reality...until I try to be Superwoman again. "Up in the sky, look! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's....[Yeah, it ain't me, so keep looking]!"

The best cure for self pity

So I got up at 5am after a pretty rough night, spent all day at clinicals at a Psychiatric Hospital, and then came home exhausted and I wanted to just sit here and whine about my life falling apart, but I have to say I've been humbled today. I won't go into details of why because it is too difficult to explain. But, I will say that today made me very grateful for my relatively simple problems. I do not have to deal constantly with delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, psychosis, etc. Thankfully, that is not part of my reality. But it is part of many people's lives and I am learning to really appreciate how difficult life must be for them. I will continue to strive to develop empathy for those people who are not as fortunate as I am to have a relatively blessed life. But, I am humbled and so I decided that my best solution is to list all the things that I am grateful for today. Here goes...I am grateful....
That I only got semi-lost in Seven Corners today (and GPS units)
That I didn't lose my brother last week
That I have a brand new beautiful nephew and that my sister-in-law is doing well
That even though I'm horribly homesick that means that I have more than one place I can call home
Eternal Families- I can't think of anyone else on earth that I would rather spend eternity with than my family
Good Music
True friends who stick with me even through the worst of times
Friends who text you just to tell you that they're thinking about you and love you (thanks for that!)
Modern technology that allows me to stay in touch with my family and friends no matter where they are
That it's not snowing
That I can be in school to do what I've wanted to do since I was 17 and that I'm just as passionate about my career as I was back then. I still love what I do.
An incredibly compassionate Bishop. He is a great man.
My Testimony of the Gospel, the Scriptures, and the Prophets (past and present)
Last, but definitely not least, President Hinckley. I am grateful for the life he led. The example he was. His sense of humor. His love for the Lord, Gospel, and for all people. I never had the priviledge of meeting this incredible man and yet I mourn his death as if he was a good friend. I remember every time I had the opportunity to be in the same room as the Prophet though. It is impossible to explain the Spirit that that man radiated whenever he walked into a room. You could physically feel the change as soon as he entered. I was moved to tears every time I watched and felt this happen. I cherish every one of those experiences. I knew he loved me every time I heard him speak and I knew the Lord loved me. I thank my Heavenly Father for sending us that wonderful man to guide His church for a time. I am thankful for President Monson who is an amazing man as well. I am grateful for modern day revelation. There is not much I can say that my friends have not already all touched on in their tributes to President Hinckley but I will miss this man. He taught me to:
1. Be grateful.
2. Be smart.
3. Be clean.
4. Be true.
5. Be humble.
6. Be prayerful.
Relatively simple, but profound instructions that have guided me over the past almost 8 years since this talk was given. The day after his passing I was emailed this video from BYU. I thought it was a nice remembrance of him. I second that, "thank you President Hinckley for our journey together." While he will be missed I do not begrudge him the opportunity to be reunited with his sweet wife. In his book, "Stand A Little Taller" the quote for today, February 4th is this, "Your best self: Keep faith with the best that is in you. Your own constant self-improvement will become as a polar star to those with whom you associate. They will remember longer what they saw in you than what they heard from you. Your attitude, your point of view can make such a tremendous difference."

"Come Fly Our Friendly Skies"

(This is really long, sorry...it's more me de-stressing than anything. You don't really need to read it all. I won't be offended if you don't) :)
So after 3 weeks of vacation in Colorado and Utah I finally flew back to DC a couple of weeks ago. It was by far the WORST trip I've ever taken. Everything that could have gone wrong (minus crashing the plane) did.
This was the sequence of events that fateful day (I added that for dramatic effect :), you're welcome):

I had a really bad night because I was really sick coughing and I was on narcotics so I didn't get very much sleep...

I ran out of time getting ready so I didn't get breakfast (my favorite meal of the day), then we took my nephew to a friend's house before Kindergarten and I said goodbye to him.

My Sister-in-law drove me to the airport, but by the time we got there, both of my nieces were fast asleep so I didn't get a chance to even say goodbye to them. Booooo.

Salt Lake International Airport is not exactly a large airport and I usually don't have problems flying through there because it's small enough that checking in and security doesn't take very long (nothing like DC). That shouldn't have been any different this day right? WRONG! I waited a good eh, 45 minutes in line just to check in my baggage because there were families all over the place from Europe with skis and a freakin' ton of bags. Lovely. Good thing I got there early and my flight was already delayed.

Getting through the security line took another probably 20 minutes, the line was all the way out into the hallway. But of course, what should happen when my purse goes through the x-ray? TSA person: "Who's bag is this?" Me: "Mine" TSA person: "We need to run it again" Me: "That's fine" (what did they think I was going to say? No? Yeah right.) They run the purse again. Nada. Me trying to be cooperative: "Do you need to look through it?" TSA Peeps: "Yes." Me: "Go ahead." At this point they proceeded to rip apart my purse piece by piece, which is an ordeal in and of itself. Nada. TSA Peeps (who is obviously new and being coached by someone else next to him): "Can we run this through (the wallet, the purse without the stuff in it, etc.)?" Me (annoyed by this time, but acting very nice and calm and cooperative...and glad my flight is delayed since this is taking forever): "Of course, you do whatever you need to." They finally told me what they thought they saw, a pocketknife. Are you kidding me?! A pocketknife. In my purse. Yeah right. I don't have any clue what they thought they saw that looks like a pocketknife in my purse, but I'll tell you this much, I don't have a pocketknife in my purse. They finally let me go when they didn't find anything. Good grief.

So I get to my gate and my plane is delayed....like a while. So I get something to eat, oh and I get my seating arrangement since I didn't have an assigned seat on my ticket (nice one). But only after standing in another line for a good 30ish minutes. Then....*Ding* "Attention: flight 522 (or whatever it was) to Chicago O' Hare your flight has been delayed" AGAIN. Ok, so that's not exactly what they said, but close. Apparently the President of the United States was in Chicago so NO flights were going into or out of Chicago. I guess he's more important than we are. :) Well, a lot of people were already going to miss their flights out of Chicago and the more we got delayed (since they kept changing the time we were leaving) the more concerned I got about missing my flight.

Salt Lake to Chicago was ok. Then run to find my gate....phew, made my plane. But, I'm absolutely miserable by this time because I'm coughing and I'm on a narcotic and I'm feeling somewhat sick. So we get on the plane and we sit and we sit and we sit. The Captain finally gets on the intercom and proceeds to tell us that for some reason (we switched original planes or something) we have no crew and not only do we have no crew we don't have gasoline. Say what?! That definitely got my attention. I looked at the two men beside me and we were like, that's never a good sign. I was more than nauseous at this point and basically conked out against the window. We sat there forever though. We finally started taxiing and we taxied and taxied and taxied and then STOPPED. What? Why did we stop? Runways are for taking off. Not stopping in the middle of. Needless to say, Chicago is not know for its good weather. There was actually lightning and rain that was visible out the windows of the plane. Back on the intercom, "Sorry folks, no eastbound flights are taking off at this time." They did let us talk on our phones though. I was quite possibly the shade of green by this time and it was roasting on that plane. Their idea of a free movie to show everyone was Jane Austen's Book club or something like that. Uh, no. I didn't watch it. We sat on the tarmac for about 2 hours and 15 minutes. On the runway. We couldn't even re-route because, oops, we don't have enough fuel. At one point I saw the line of planes behind us. It was long. We finally got in the air for one of the bumpiest rides I've ever had (and I was already nauseous). I don't think I've ever come so close to having to use one of those barf bags before. I actually had my head between my knees for a long time. I could describe how sick I was in detail for you, but I won't. Narcotic + Motion sickness (which I get really badly) + bad turbulence + little food (airport food for that matter) + sinus infection + cough = recipe for disaster. It was pretty darn close. I have never been so glad to see the Washington Monument and the Kennedy Center!!

I felt horrible for my roommates, by this point, who were supposed to be picking me up because I knew they both had to get up early the next morning and it was getting later and later and I had a lot of luggage: a huge suitcase, a Massive duffel bag, my laptop bag, and my purse. I had some serious issues carrying all of those at once. Moving on....I made it without puking all over everyone and everything. I'm sure United appreciates that, as do the guys sitting next to me. But, now I have a headache headed toward a migraine. Who wouldn't? So I wait for my bags and duffel bag? Yes. Suitcase? No. They delivered it the next day (I didn't get it on the way there either) Booo....That officially made this the worst trip EVER. I'm NEVER EVER EVER flying through Chicago again. Not if I can avoid it at least. By the time my roommates showed up and I had filled out my missing baggage claim ticket I was nearly in tears. I was dry heaving when I got home and then the trip from HELL was over. The End.

My family puts the "func" in dysfunctional!!!

Not the fun (although sometimes we are that too). Or as my ex-Aunt's twin sister (yes, you read that right) said, "Well sometimes family is the 'f' word." I've decided that every family is a little bit dysfunctional. I'm not always talking immediate families, but if you include extended families then we all have some element of dysfunction in our families. My family (extended) are pros at dysfunction. I love them to death, but at times they drive me crazy. This story is in no way meant to be demeaning or derogatory towards my family or my family name because I'm still a part of this family at the end of the day and I still claim them as my own dysfunctional as they (and I) may be. Yes, I am part of the dysfunction too. :) I love them to death and of course I'd do anything for them which is why I can say we're a bit dysfunctional. Anyways, on with the story...

My beloved Grandmother after 99 wonderful years of life passed away at the end of last year (2007). So less than two months after I visited New Hampshire on vacation this fall, I flew to New Hampshire again, the weekend before finals. But family comes first, so you do what you have to do. My Uncle is a pretty opinionated person (must run in the family), love him to death, but it's always his way or the highway. I'm one of the few people who dare to talk back to him. Anyways, he wanted one of my brothers and I to be pal-bearers at the funeral. I'd never heard of a female being a pal-bearer before but it was ok with me as long as I wasn't the only female doing it. My Grandmother's cousin was one as well (actually I don't really know what she is, I just know she's related, oops). Anyways, I was picking my battles with my Uncle at this point so I accepted his request. However, his next request is NOT one that I was willing to do. He was making the funeral into a freaking huge production. Kind of ridiculous. As much as I love my Grandmother and Uncle it was a little bit out of control. He decided that he wanted all of the pal-bearers to wear matching purple neck ties that match the sweater that my Grandmother was wearing. Uh, pause one minute there please....matching neck ties?! This isn't a wedding and I'm sorry but that's a little morbid. Yes I do know how to tie a tie, I have 3 older brothers. However, I am still a girl I will NOT wear a tie in public (unless it's for a good reason, this did not qualify). When my Uncle told my mother this she was like "Uh, Jennie will NOT wear a tie for you." My Uncle's response, "she won't? Really? Huh....Are you SURE she won't wear a tie." Mom: "Yes, I'm sure. She's a girl. She doesn't wear ties" (those may not be direct quotes, but they're pretty darn close). When my Mom told me this I was like, "uh Mom, I'm not wearing a tie. I may be a tomboy at times, but I'm still a girl." So my Uncle's next proposition was "well, will she wear a purple scarf then?" "Yes, she'll probably wear a scarf." If it'll make my Uncle happy I'll wear the darn scarf. Good grief. A tie. Honestly. The funeral went well and we (me and the other lady pal-bearer) did not end up wearing purple scarves, but the guys all wore the purple ties. I won't go into the rest of the details of the weekend, but it was definitely an experience. Needless to say I did not get a lot of studying done and my finals didn't go so well, but I passed all my classes and I didn't even get any C's so I'm ok with that considering everything that happened this semester. Yes, my family is still very dysfunctional. With everything that happened that weekend, it definitely reaffirmed that, but I still love them unconditionally. It was still worth it to go. A tie. *SNORT* Wow.

A review of 2007

I stole this survey from someone else :)
[X] Became single
[X] got kissed
[X] kissed someone new
[ ] kissed in the snow
[ ] kissed in the rain
[ ] kissed on the beach
[ ] 'fell in love'
[ ] 'fell in love' with a fool
[X] had my heart broken
[X] broke someone else's heart
[X] had a stalker
[X] lost a friend
[X] had a good relationship with someone
[ ] came out of my closet
[ ] got married
[ ] had a divorce
[X] kissed someone of the same sex (on the cheek)
[X] dated someone that you will never forget
[X] did something I regret
[X] lost faith in love
[ ] kissed under mistletoe
[ ] got a promotion
[ ] got a pay raise
[ ] changed jobs
[ ] quit my job
[ ] dated a co-worker
[ ] dated my boss
[ ] dated my boss's son/ daughter
[ ] got fired from my job
[ ] got straight A's
[X] met a teacher who I became friends with
[X] met a teacher who I really hate
[X] found the subject I love
[X] failed a class (since a 78% is now failing for me. Booo)
[X] cut class
[X] skipped school
[ ] got in a fight with a classmate
[X] did something I was proud of
[X] discovered a new talent
[X] proved myself that I'm an idiot
[X] embarrassed myself in front of the class
[ ] fell in love with a teacher
[ ] got the lead/minor lead role in the school play
[ ] made a team
[X] was involved in something that I will never forget
[ ] painted a picture
[ ] wrote a poem
[ ] ran a mile
[X] listened to music I couldn't stand
[X] double dipped
[X] went to a sleepover
[ ] went to camp
[ ] threw a surprise party
[X] laughed till I cried
[X] flirted shamelessly
[ ] visited a foreign country
[X]visited a state
[ ] cooked a disastrous meal
[X] lost something important to me
[X] got a gift I love
[X] realized something new about myself
[ ] went on a diet
[ ] tried to gain weight
[ ] dyed my hair
[ ] came close to losing my life
[X] someone/thing close to me died
[ ] got arrested
[X] read a great book
[X] saw a great movie
[ ] saw a movie so scary that it made me cry
[ ] saw a favorite band live
[X] did something that I wanted to tell everyone
[X] experienced something new
[X] made new friends
[X] found out who your real friends are
[X] lied to your parents
[ ] snuck out
[ ] got in trouble with the po-po
[ ] kissed in a pool
[X] kissed under the stars
[X] had the time of your life
[X] danced
[ ] fell out of love
[X] had a crush on someone
[X] swam in a pool
[ ] made a snowman
[ ] went snowboarding
[ ] went sledding
[X] slept in past 2pm
[X] held someone’s hand that you care about
[ ] got wasted in a public place
[X] told someone you like them as more than a friend
[X] gone on vacation
[X] gone on vacation with a friend
[X] driven a car
[ ] danced in the rain
[X] got in a car accident
[X] seen someone get in a car accident
[ ] got in a fist fight
[X] laughed until you couldn't breathe
[X] missed someone
[ ] sent someone to the hospital
[ ] got a new pet

A YEAR-END SURVEY1.) Who was your best friend at the beginning of this year? The end?
At the beginning- friends from home and Utah, End- Still friends from home and lots of new friends from Va and DC.
2.) What was your status by Valentine's Day? Single.
3.) Were you in school (anytime this year)? Yes, the whole year.
4.) How did you earn your keep? Ha. Doing homework and more homework and more homework and going to clinicals. Did I mention doing homework?!
5.) Did you ever have to go to the hospital? hahahahaha all the time....for clinicals.
6.) Have you encountered the police this year? :)
7.) Where did you go on vacation? Utah, Colorado, NYC, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts
8.) What did you purchase that was over $500? Tuition, books
9.) Did you know anybody who got married? Of course
10.) Did you know anybody who passed away? My Grandma died :(
11.)How many times did you go on facebook/myspace? many many times
12.) Did you move anywhere? To Virginia
13.) What sporting events did you go to? Caps, Nationals (is that it?! Ugh. That sucks)
14.) What concerts did you go to? Harry and the Potters is the only one I can remember. Lamesauce.
15) Are you registered to vote? In Colorado
16.) If so, did you do your patriotic duty on Nov. 6? I didn't get my absentee ballot. I suck.
17.) Where do you live now? Arlington, VA
18.) Describe your birthday. I sent all of my friends and family an email describing what they could and couldn't talk to me about (see in one of my previous blogs) and CRD brought me DP (he is awesome!!). Then my roommies took me to dinner at P.F. Chang's (the only Chinese food I like- not really Chinese, but very good). It was fabulous!!
19.) What's the one thing you thought you would never do but did in 2007? make it through my first year of nursing school (I knew I'd do it, it's just amazing it's done)
20.) What is one thing you regretted this year? Don't really want to rehash bad memories, thank you
21.) What's something you learned about yourself? That I'm a different person on the East Coast than I am at home
22.) Any new additions to your family? Not yet...unless you count the nephew in my sister-in-law's belly
23.) What was your best month? Do people have "best months?"
24.) How would you rate this year with a scale from 1 (crappy) to 10 (amazing)? I dunno. 7 maybe

I am like a "Stah" from "Bah Hahbah"

(So I started this, but never finished it and now I’m going to try before I fall asleep). Like I said before, I flew to New Hampshire 2 weeks ago. My mom was born in Massachusetts (which is a really hard state to spell, by the way) and lived in New Hampshire for most of her life until her 20’s. So her family still lives in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. If you’ve ever seen “What about Bob?” the movie, Lake Winnipesaukee in that movie is where she grew up and where I go to visit. I’ve been going there basically almost every year or every 2 (sometimes 3) years since I was a baby. If you don’t already know, Boston is absolutely my FAVORITE city. I’m so in love with that city. I love everything about it. That’s a long story though and not something that I necessarily want to explain in this blog because it would require real writing (which, believe it or not, I can actually do…but you have to be pretty special to actually get to read something that I’ve written without sarcasm or anger and with actual sincere feeling). That’s pretty heavy writing and a little too deep for a blog though and that’s not what this is about, so moving on…Anyways, I’ve spent my fair share of time in the lake’s region of New Hampshire and in Massachusetts and Maine too, but I never get tired of going there and New England in the Fall is AMAZING!!

One of the reasons I particularly love going to New England is because I absolutely LOVE their accents. I think they’re hilarious! I do everything within my power to get my Uncle to say Porsche just so I can hear him say “Porscha” like we’re in Europe or something. Well he drives like we’re in Europe so we might as well be. He drives like an absolute maniac!! VERY fast and tails someone, whips around them, and then pulls right in front of them. People in New England are NOT nice drivers. They yell, honk, make rather rude gestures, etc. while driving. We told my Uncle that he drives way too fast because he was doing 90 mph driving to Massachusetts one day and he’s like “No I wasn’t.” Well on the way back, he of course was doing it again, so we pointed it out and he was like, “wow, well I thought I was going 60. Well it is 60, just upside down.” LOL, right. That’s SO comforting while we’re flying down the road doing 90 in the pouring rain with a psycho in the driver’s seat. It’s even better because they have these road signs everywhere that say “Drive courteously It’s the New Hampshire Way!” Yeah right. I burst out laughing when I first saw one. I really wanted a picture of one. I could never tour Europe with my Uncle either because it would be like “oh and that was Switzerland that we just passed. If you blinked, you missed it and we’re not going back.” My Uncle knows how to get to and from places, but the concept of being a tourist and wanting to take pictures and get out of the car is completely foreign to him. It’s like, what you wanted a picture of that thing, oh that one, that we just passed. Oops, sorry. Good grief. My smart ass comments from the back seat were pretty bad this trip, I do have to say. But there’s just something about my Uncle and his “My way or the highway” mentality that I just can’t keep my mouth shut. I guess I’m the highway. He’s never had anyone stand up to him before, I don’t think, so having his 25 year old niece (he’s in his early 70’s although he doesn’t really look it and he’s in better shape than most people I know) tell him off probably doesn’t go over very well, but he just asks for it. I am not a soft-spoken girl and I’m NOT a push-over, unlike my Mother and he’s used to that, being able to get his way all the time and push people around. It doesn’t work with me, though. I dish it right back and I think it ticks him off but it’s a challenge at the same time. I actually at one point during the week when he was arguing with my Mom started screaming at him and totally told him off. I called him a 5 year old and basically told him to shut it. It was awesome. He deserved it, though. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family and they definitely love me. I’m probably the favorite since I’m the only niece and the youngest grandchild/ niece and I still come to visit unlike my brothers. They spoil me and I know it, but they also irritate me. But what would a family be like if they weren’t dysfunctional on some level. Mine is just extra specially dysfunctional all the time. :D Not all of them, of course, just some of them, lol.

Anyways, I loved going down to Massachusetts to see more cousins too. One of my (I think we decided he’s a second cousin?, eh, they’re all just cousins to me) cousin’s wedding receptions was a couple of weeks ago while I was there, so we went down for it. I wish I knew those cousins better; I really want to spend more time around them. Especially the second cousins who are around my age. Maybe someday I’ll get to live in Boston. *Sigh* I would LOVE that. The accents when I’m around my family from Massachusetts are even better, too.

We also went to Maine. Maine has a very distinct smell. It’s like a mix of seaweed and saltwater. I love that smell though and I’ve discovered it’s very unique to Maine. I would live there too except that it’s stinkin’ cold, except when it’s really hot in the summer. New England is a summertime kind of place to be, but once it turns cold it’s REALLY cold and I HATE cold weather. I know, I know, the Colorado girl hates cold weather. Blah.

Oh, what I was saying about their cool accents...in Maine, Mass., and New Hampshire the accents are all slightly different. They all add and subtract “r’s,” and they just have slightly unique accents. Like in Maine they say… “A ‘Yuh Been to Maine.” Which comes out sounding like “a-ya ben tah Maine” or “ben they-yah” that’s about the best way I can describe it without saying it. They also add a "h" to the end of words when they take out the "r." Like I saw a t-shirt that said "Green Monstah," so typical to Maine. At the moment though, you’re probably saying here’s a quarter (pronounced kinda like Cor-ta with the Cor like you’re gonna hock a loogie, no I’m not kidding. I’ll even say it for you sometime) call someone in the “nahth” who cares. :P

Why I don't go on blind dates anymore

So some friends and I were discussing malpractice insurance for Doctors the other night and it reminded me of the time that I could have sued a Doctor for misdiagnosing me....We were also discussing dating which reminds me of the same story. This is why I will NEVER go on another blind date again. This is also why I don't have an appendix, or a belly button either.

I woke up at 12:30am with the worst pain I've ever experienced. Actually, it's a toss up between that pain and the pain of having the packing removed from my nose after that surgery. But, that's an entirely different story. I can tolerate my fair share of pain, really at it's worse I've only called my pain an 8 out of 10. For me to call it a 10, I'd have to be unconscious from the pain, nearly dead. Anyways, I suffered through the night somehow until 8:30am and then convinced one of my roommates to take me to the Health Center at BYU (this is no way degrades the care of the Health Center, they are great!!). Let me back up just for a second, my pain was in my abdomen, but was not localized like appendicitis usually is. Since I knew appendicitis is usually pain in the lower right quadrant of the abdomen I figured that it was not appendicitis so I could put heat on it, which I did. BAD BAD idea. NEVER EVER put heat on appendicitis. It can kill you! I'm an idiot. Luckily I survived my stupidity. Back to the Health Center....I received IV #1 and fluids. They took a x-ray of my abdomen and the Doctor determined that I was constipated. Are you freakin' kidding me?! Worst pain of my life and he's says it's just constipation. Yeah right. He wouldn't give me any pain medication because he said that would make the constipation worse. Lovely. I stayed in misery for the next 4 hours at the Health Center. They finally sent me home sometime after noon (they took out my IV) and told me to call if I started vomiting.

I went home and of course...I started vomiting. At this point they decided that I needed to get in to have a CT Scan. So I drove to the Imaging place, bawling my eyes out. At this point, I called my brother and sister-in-law and asked them to meet me there. At the Imaging place of course they had to start another IV (IV #2) to do a contrast CT Scan. If you've never had one of these done, I'll just tell you this, it leaves a copper taste (kind of like penny's) in your mouth and also makes you feel like you peed your pants. I know, awesome. At least I can have empathy for my patients now, I guess. They did the CT Scan and I sat in the waiting room with my bro and sis- in-law and nephew for a while crying until they told me to go straight to the hospital, I had appendicitis, I have to have surgery immediately. Basically, do not pass go, do not collect $200. So, luckily the Imaging place was around the corner from the hospital. I was no longer in any shape to drive though, so I had to leave my car and have my sis-in-law drive. I'm so grateful for the Priesthood in my life. My brother gave me a blessing on the way to the hospital, it wasn't the only one I would get during this hospital visit.

We got to the hospital ER (I don't remember what time it was). So much for being an emergency, though. I sat in the waiting room of the ER for like another 2 hours, puking my guts up in a bucket. Oh the joy. I vaguely remember that one of the bathrooms was flooding in the waiting room too, but maybe I just made that detail up, I don't know. My brother called my Mom while when we got to the ER waiting room to tell her what was up. Unfortunately, I had not warned her of what was going on, so she just got a phone call from my brother saying..."we're in the ER, Jennie has to have surgery." Hahaha, my poor Mom. My brother thought I had talked to her earlier, so that news was a bit of a shock to her. Luckily my home in Colorado is only a 5 hour drive from Provo, so she left right away. Now, to the blind date part....

I had a blind date planned with a guy who's parents were good friends with my parents for the night after my surgery. Well...as I was puking in a bucket in the ER waiting room, my date called me to finalize details. Of course I didn't want to answer, so I made my brother answer and explain to him that I was in the ER and about to go to surgery for an emergency Appendectomy, so the date would have to be postponed, obviously. End of story, right? Wrong! But I'll get back to that a little later.

I was finally admitted to the actual ER around 5pm, where they FINALLY gave me Morphine for the pain. YAY for narcotics!!!! Big fan!!! So basically I hadn't had ANYTHING for pain for the past approximately 17 hours since my pain had started. Yeah, it was the day from Hell! Well, I had never had Morphine before and it works great for me, but it also knocks me out and makes me pretty loopy. Basically I am NOT responsible for ANYTHING I say when I'm on narcotics. I DO NOT edit what I say and basically you could probably get me to tell you anything. I'm pretty sure it would NOT make any sense though, sorry. I'm not sure if I received IV #3 or if they left the one in from the Imaging center. I thought I spent like 2 hours in the ER waiting to go into surgery. I found out later that it was actually 5 hours. My poor brother, who must seriously love me, sat with me for the entire 5 hours. I love him dearly!! Poor guy! Apparently there were like 3 or 4 more cases of Appendicitis in the ER at the same time I was there, which was really random. I was finally taken back into a prep room for surgery at about 10pm. They gave me something that they said would make me kind of drowsy. Hahahaha, yeah right. I was completely out in like 30 seconds. I don't remember anything until they were taking me into my room 3 hours later. I wasn't even awake to go into the OR. I woke up at 1am as they were wheeling me into my room on the Med/ Surg floor and my Mom had just barely arrived.

The funny thing is they put me on the floor below where I worked. 3 weeks previously I had started work on the Medical/ Oncology Floor as a PCT (Patient Care Tech- basically a CNA who gets to draw blood and put in catheters, woohoo :P). I was even supposed to work that weekend. That obviously didn't happen, but I did go up to visit my co-workers, IV pole and all, just to prove that I wasn't just skipping out on work for fun. :) The next day was pretty blurry for me. I was on a lot of drugs, which not only knocked me out, I was also in pain. I know a bunch of people from church, who I didn't know yet (later we became really good friends) came to see me. I don't remember the details though. The funny thing about narcotics and me is that, like I said, I don't have the ability to edit things when I'm on them. So, apparently I told me brother something that is entirely too graphic to put on here (I've taken so many medical classes that I tend to use correct medical terms. This isn't coming out right. Ok, I described something in detail in medical terms that normal people don't use in casual conversation). My mother was mortified, though. I think it's hilarious, but my brother was kind of horrified. Anyways, me on narcotics is dangerous for casual conversation.

Back to the blind date thing. The evening after my surgery, we got a phone call in my room that my Mom answered and guess who it was? My blind date. Yeah, guess where he was? Downstairs in the hospital. Oh yeah. No, I'm not kidding. He drove like an hour and a half to get there, it wasn't like I could turn him away. Another note on narcotics, they make me incredibly emotional. So I was completely irrational and had just been crying about something. So anyways, I got to meet my blind date while lying in a hospital bed wearing literally nothing but a hospital gown, no make-up, I've just been through surgery, and I'm totally loopy on narcotics. Lovely. Talk about embarrassing. He does get points for making me cookies and bringing me a card, but I can't quite forget how humiliated I was. Now it's just funny, but it wasn't very funny at the time. Apparently, my Mom spent almost the whole time talking to him. I was too drugged to be very conversational. That may be kind of rude, but considering the state I was in, I didn't care. I did end up going out with him later on our date, which was disastrous, by the way. It was awful. He was sizing me up for marriage the whole time, basically. But, I don't want to totally trash the guy, so back to my hospital story. Nope, I'm not done. It gets better, although the blind date part is done.

I should have gone home the next day (Post-Op Day #2?), I think (I don't know, the days all kind of ran together). But I do remember the PCT coming in the next morning and taking me vital signs. She stuck a sat monitor on my finger and nearly panicked when it read my Sats as in the 70's. Yeah, VERY bad. Ok, your "Sats" is your oxygen saturation in your blood. Basically you want it to be above 90% (my nursing professors say much higher, but basically when it gets to 88% it rapidly drops)...so the fact that I was in the 70's was a bit of a panic moment for them. I had to get a chest x-ray, which showed that the bottom of my lungs were starting to collapse (I had atelectasis, my nursing friends will appreciate that diagnosis). Basically, that put me at a big risk for getting pneumonia, unless I started moving around and coughing, deep breathing. By the way, when you've had you're stomach muscle cut through, the last thing you want to do is cough or deep breathe. Yay for nurses who told me about using a pillow as a splint. Ok, I better stop there before I get really carried away with the nursing stuff. They also sent me down for ultrasounds on both of my legs to check for DVT's (blood clots) from lying in bed too much (a cause of the atelectasis). It was a rough day. I finally got to go home the next day (I think). Recovery was like 3 weeks at home and another 3 weeks not lifting anything. That was just a laparoscopic appendectomy. (P.S. Yes, this means I have 3 tiny scars, one of which is in my belly button, basically he destroyed my belly button. I don't really have one anymore). I can't imagine what an open appendectomy would be like. Recovery sucked, to put it lightly. Lortab (Vicodin) was my friend for weeks! Thank goodness I only had one appendix, I NEVER want to do that again.

Anyways, the good thing is it did give me a lot of empathy for my patients. I know what it feels like to have a sore throat from being intubated. I know what it feels like to be in pain from having air inflated into your abdomen for surgery and then to have to burp it up for the next day (yes, they do that, and yes, it actually hurts). I know what real pain feels like (to a degree, of course, pain is subjective and different for every person). I know what it's like to need pain medication and to have to wait forever (or so it seemed) for your nurse to bring it to you. Ok, I should stop. Basically, I learned a ton from the experience.

Hmm...did I forget anything? That's a really long story, sorry. It's better when I tell it in person, with my voice inflections and facial expressions, of course. I'm not telling this to be cocky or dramatic, it's just a great story. Anyways, I refuse to go on anymore blind dates. They're not worth it. What would happen next time? I'd probably get hit by a truck and have to get my spleen out or something. I can only lose so many internal organs. Yeah, it's not worth it. No go. (because I'm morbid and like pictures) :)

"Take 'em back, take 'em back..."

I realize I haven't written in awhile and people have been asking about it, so here's the deal....I'm taking OB and PEDs this semester (aka children and mother/ baby). So...a lot of our lectures, at least in OB, are really graphic and pretty awkward subjects outside of nursing (even in nursing). I'll try to tone it down for the blog, but you've been warned, k?! This commentary from today's OB class was between a friend and I. I'm not going to distinguish between who said what, but they are direct quotes mostly. :) Oh...and most of it shouldn't be said out loud, as usual, last warning...

Male determines gender of new baby
X = girl
Y = boy

I believe the response to this picture was:
"Cute."
"You just called sperm cute."
"It looks happy."
"Not THAT happy, it hasn't been fertilized yet."
"Why does the male get to determine the gender?"
"Because they don't really get much of a say in anything else." (Oh, soooo true, poor men. I almost feel bad for them, almost).

A fact on another slide: "Sperm: Live 1-3 days after ejaculation"
Response to that slide: "AH-HAH! That's how they do it. Otherwise they'd never survive in our world. We're very mean to them." (Ouch, that's actually true too...hmmm, but they might deserve it).
In response to this slide and my professor's rather terrible explanation of it my friend wrote on her slide "WTF?!" "Look up in book!" Hahahahaha...that's pretty bad when you have to write WTF? on your notes b/c your professor sucks so bad at explaining the material.

On the "Infant State-Related Behavior Chart" descriptions of actions of the infant are evaluated on scales. Under "Cuddliness" the "Implications for Caregiving" are stated as: " cuddliness is usually rewarding behavior for the caregivers. It seems to convey a message of affection." I do believe, we volunteered to spoon at this point...cuddliness IS, indeed a message of affection. Hey, guys are good for something, at least. Yay for LoveSac's which facilitate great said "cuddling or spooning." ;-)

Last Saturday I went to my bro's house for their going away party. Boooo....they're abandoning me in DC. Gaysauce. I'm really too bitter about this subject to talk about it right now. I already whined for a good half an hour about it today alone. Anyways, I went to their party with a bunch of married people, oh the joy, actually that really has nothing to do with this except we were talking after. OK, I am tired. Moving on. My sister-in-law works at an all girls private school. One word, "MONEY." Their tuition is more expensive than mine, good grief. Who pays $25,000 for their 7 year old to go to school? The answer is lots and lots of people in the DC area. Anyways, Carly was telling me a story that one of her co-workers, an alumnus (is that the right word? whatever) told her. The woman said she knew that she went to an all girls school one day when she saw a girl walking down the hall, grab her stomach and say "Ah, my uterus hurts." Uh yeah, only at an all girls school would that happen. My sister-in-law is also pregnant and due in February with their first baby, YAY (except they'll be in Littleton, BOOOO, again). The problem is, my brother gets horribly queasy when it comes to blood and guts. Yes, we have VERY different tastes in life. Poor guy can't even handle me telling stories...he turns a little green. It's kinda fun. :-D I'm so evil! He's convinced that he's going to be in the Labor/ Delivery room with Carly when she has the baby though, I'm convinced he's not going to make it. He'll pass out, I'm sure of it. He's so determined that he'll be fine and that he's just going to stay at the top of the bed. He thinks he'll rally when he has to though and be just fine. There's a slight possibly that might work, but there's NO way he's going to make it through the after-birth. The placenta is probably the bloodiest thing I have ever seen/ touched. I used to have the oh so pleasant job of cleaning the birthing carts and bagging the placentas to freeze them. My professor tried to describe a placenta today, but until you hold one in your hands there's no way you can possibly sum up how bloody, rubbery, and disgusting it really is...and yet that sack allows a fetus to grow for 9 months, amazing. Truly incredible! There's also nothing like holding a brand new, literally, baby in your arms. It's a pretty special experience. I would never do OB, it's just not for me, not enough excitement, surprisingly enough, but it's fun to do every once in a while. I enjoyed the time I worked there as a CNA and a secretary on a Mother/ Baby Unit.

Anyways, that was quite the tangent, sorry. I hope I didn't gross anyone out too bad. Oh, I just realized I didn't explain the title line. We also talked about twins and how they're formed today. My friend decided she definitely does NOT want twins and if she has them she's going to be like: "take 'em back, take 'em back!!" hahaha...yeah, I would probably feel the same way. In fact, by the time this class is over we're probably not going to want kids at all. Thank goodness for nieces and nephews. LOVE them, especially since you can give them back!! ;-) So this semester promises to be an entertaining one full of lots of blogs, probably. For now, it's late and I need to be sleeping.

Durnit....

It's almost 3:30am and I totally can't sleep. Why?! This sucks. My nephew and niece will probably wake me up in about 3 1/2 hours. Awesome.

Who needs a conscience, I have a nephew...

It was my niece's turn to say the family prayer tonight, she's 2 1/2. (Oh, P.S. I'm in Utah with my bro's family right now, yay!) So she said her prayer, but then my nephew (he's 5) decided he needed to say his own prayer too. I don't remember exactly the words he used in the prayer, but it went something like this..."please bless that Aunt Jennie will not be good and will not be mean to Daddy and put hot sauce in his water again like she did last time." He struggled through that part trying to put it into words, but by that time I had my hands over my face trying REALLY hard not to laugh out loud. Once he was done, I burst out laughing. I couldn't help it. That was 3 months ago, he has an amazing memory. Apparently I traumatized him by doing that. I was just getting my brother back for something he did to me, I don't even remember what. Welcome to my family! That's what siblings are for, right?! My brother was like, "yeah, he's got my back." Blah...now I feel a little bit guilty. OK, maybe not. Kids are great!!! He repeated the "Aunt Jennie will be good" part at least twice. So apparently I'm supposed to be good this vacation. Hahaha!! We'll see.... :D