Dreaming of Boston

For the past several months I have had the urge to go to Boston (I guess there's no need to tell you who is writing this post anymore). In an attempt to satisfy this urge I pulled out my mission pictures and found some gems. My favorite vacation ever was when the fam came to pick me up. I can't imagine anything more fun than having the entire fam in Beantown. I really hope we all get to do it again someday. Can you believe that Steph hasn't been! That has to change, and soon!

Mission Home Pick Up
(I realize that Dave looks 21 here and I only look 17, but I assure you this is in Boston.)

Minuteman National Park
(The Shot Heard Round The World)

Old Ironsides (Remember Charlie?)

Lobster in Maine

Sharon Vermont

Don't ask me how, but somehow Mark, Allis, Em and I got away from Fenway with no pictures! I'm ashamed. See, that's why we need to do it again! Go Sox!

Graduation!

So it's done! I've finally graduated from nursing school. I never thought I would see this day! It was so fun to have mom and grandma here to celebrate with Greg and I, but the visit was not long enough. I have to thank Lara, Mom, and Grandma for the cute scrubs. I think I will be the most fashionable nurse out there! It's such a relief to know that I am done, but I can't get to lazy because I have to study, study, study for the state boards.

When we got home from graduation, this is what I found. Greg was so nice to get me a graduation present and let me tell you what the ribbons say, becuase they describe me to a T. "Super Grad" and " "I am Special" Oh and I can't forget the balloon that says ALL STAR! Thanks babe!!

Pinning ceremony!

Resiting the nightengale pledge!

Me and my two friends that got me through! (Andrea & Lacie)

I am not sure why these pictures turned out blurry so don't be alarmed, it's not your eyes!

Running

To all those runners out there this probably doesn't seem like quite the accomplishment as it does to me. Anyway... I used to run a lot and ever since we got married I have let myself go to say the least. I have been working on getting back into shape, and today Greg and I ran 3 miles without stopping! You would think that I ran a marathon with how proud I was of myself. It felt good and we will kept going up on the miles! By the way a marathon is not on my list of things to do!

Hooray!

It hasn't even been a week since my interview, and I got a call this morning. I got into the residency program at the hospital! I am so relieved. That is one stress gone , but I still have to pass the boards and that is pretty stressful its self. I start on January 7th and then about five weeks into the program I apply and interview for a position. I just hope that there are open positions on the floors I want to work on. Greg and I were so excited today and we wanted to celebrate, but he had to work. So I am celebrating by writing a paper that is due tomorrow. Yes I am a procrastinator.

Out with the bangs...In with the short hair!

So Lara asked me the other day why we even had a blog because we never post anything. Well let me tell you why. Either we go do something fun that could make a really good post (i.e. Going to Thriller) and we forget the camera, or there really is just nothing going on in our lives. So now I've decided to carry my camera in my purse so we don't miss out on anything! We went to Thriller on Tuesday night and of course I forgot the camera much to Greg's dismay, because he would have loved a picture of my face when the crazy zombies were walking around the stands scaring everyone including me. It was really fun and the show was interesting. We had never been and it wasn't quite what I was expecting but we were glad to know that Lorena Bobbitt joined the show and had some good songs to sing to us! (Yes this was seriously part of the show!)



I decided it was time to cut my hair. I was so sick of it being long and boring. I was sick of the bangs and I never did decide if I liked them and they were just too much work. So I just did it and here are a few pics of different styles. We will see how long it lasts. I can't be satisfied with my hair lately. Right now I'm thinking of going a little shorter next time.

I did my first shift in the NICU on Thursday and to say the least I was tired after 12 hours. It's hard work. But it was very fun too. I learned a lot and will be going again on Tuesday. I have an interview on Wednesday with IHC to get into the new graduate residency program and I am very nervous. I have had a lot of good advice on interviewing so I hope all goes well and I will get the job!

Good News!!

I am so excited! After all these years of being unlucky, it's finally paid off! I found out today that I was one of many qualified people that wanted to preceptor in the NICU, and my name was chosen out of the hat!! I will start in about 3 weeks and I can't wait!

Boring!

So everyone is buging us to do a new post, and I have been trying to think of something to blog about but no luck! This is going to be a boring post with no pictures but at least it is new! We went to the St. George Rodeo last week which was about the most exciting thing we have done since we have been home from Alaska and that's been over a month. School is taking over our lives!! Greg is taking classes to prepare to apply for the nursing program. We hope he starts next fall! I will be done with school in December! YAH!!!! I start my preceptor on October 22. They still haven't told us where we will be doing them, but when I find out that will give me something to blog about! It's finally starting to feel like fall down here, at least for a few days, I think it's going to be around 90 again later in the week. I will keep thinking of something good to blog, but for now this will have to do!

A Night Out

So I know we are behind on out posts, but last Friday we went to dinner at Olive Garden and then to Tuacahn to see Cinderella! It was so good to go out and not have to worry about what is going to happen at the stores while we are gone (so good to be home)! It doesn't cool down enough at night yet to make it really enjoyable. To say the least it was hot and sticky, but it was a good show.

Alaska Wrap Up and Shmoopiness

Two posts in one. . . lucky you! So we've been home from Alaska for about two weeks now and I just realized that we never reported on our awesome last week. Just to recap, our last week included a rip roarin' ride on the worlds longest zip line, and an amazing helicopter ride over the Juneau Ice Fields. I think we had more fun in the last few days than we had the rest of the summer combined. As beautiful as these pictures are, they still don't do the scenery justice.






Well that's the last of the pictures of Alaska that we will post. We have plenty more if you would like to see them. Now on to the shmoopiness. That one word basically sums up Mark and Amber's wedding. I didn't really think that it would be appropriate to talk about it at the wedding, but now is the perfect time. Everyone knows exactly what I'm talking about. . . including Mark. In fact, I hope Mark and Amber read this because I think they will look back and laugh. And to quote another famous Seinfeld line, "not that there's anything wrong with that."

College football starts tomorrow and I can't wait! BYU opens on Saturday at home and the next week Allis, Em, and Me will be there as they play at UCLA! Oh and the Red Sox play the Spankees tonight (Wednesday the 29th) on ESPN 2. Don't miss it.

P.S. School started last week. Yippy

Home Stretch

11 days!! It's crazy how fast this summer has gone, and yet it didn't go fast enought! We are excited to go home and start school. Especially Steph because she will be graduating in December.

We went kayaking again on Thursday. It was amazing as always! We went to Amalga, which is about 30 miles north of downtown Juneau, and then kayaked to Eagle Beach. We saw lots of eagles, a couple of porpoises, and a baby black bear. Unfortunatly the porpoises and the bear were too quick for the camera, as was the bear we saw today by our house!!

As mentioned before, we will be going helicoptering and dogsledding on Friday morning and then to Hoonah on Saturday. So we have some super fun things to look forward to before we go home!

My Dream House! (Not Steph's)

The Management Team
(Me, Steph, Liz, and Chana)

Too Busy

Man it's been too long. This summer has not been nearly as care-free as last, and that's been bugging me. The reason that we haven't blogged for a few weeks is that we haven't done anything but work! Now with less than 3 weeks to go I have decided to get out and do something. We went for a little hike the other night and were reminded how beautiful it is here. The water in these rivers is soooo clear and blue!

We had an awesome surprise a couple weeks ago. Ben brought his family up with him on his monthly trip. It was such a blast! Alex loves everything Alaska and it kind of reminded me how cool it is here. In Alex's eyes float planes are way cooler than cars and trucks. As fun as it was to see Ben, Kurstin, and Alex, the highlight was definitely seeing baby Mya for the first time. Steph was the happiest she's been all summer.

We have a lot of cool things planned befire we go home. Next week we will be going on the world's longest zip-line in Hoonah which is a little bit west of us. We get to go through Icy Straits on the way there which should be awesome! We also get to go on some bear watching excursion while in Hoonah. Then the week before we leave we get to take a helicopter ride up to The Juneau Ice Field and go dog sledding. The helicopter ride was the highlight of last summer. After these trips the only thing I will have left to do is go fishing. I think it's going to be a fun couple weeks!

Fourth of July!!

Happy 4th! The Fourth of July is deifinitely one of the highlights of a Juneau summer. This year was no exception. The fireworks start at midnight (on the 3rd) because it isn't dark enough until then. They shoot them off from a barge in the middle of Gastineau Channel. It had been a nice day but got a little rainy just in time for the fireworks. It wasn't too bad though and we still had a blast. Before the fireworks started we went to see Transformers. We bought our tickets a week in advance so we were excited that the time finally came. And it was bargain night so the tickets were only $7.50 instead of $9.50! It was a really good movie and I think it was the highlight of Greg's week. He wanted to watch it again as soon as it was over.

This morning was the big parade! It was fun becaus it went right by Alaska Apparel so we just rolled out our office chairs and waited for it to start. It was the most interesting parade we have ever seen. To top the day off we got caramel apples (the 4th is the only day you can get them in Juneau)! They were so good and messy!! The only thing that could have made it better was some sunshine, but we are in Alaska so rain is to be expected!

Kayaking

This weekend was great! We got to go kayaking, and it was a blast! Steph had a great time too, which gives me hope that we might own kayaks someday. I think there are some things here that you just can't experience without a kayak. For example, I have never gotten so close to an eagle, or been able to listen to a few of them have a conversation. This deer was on an island about the size of the Cottonwood Mall. . . how did it get there? I hate to sound sentimental, but the only thing that would have made it better is if Dad, Mike, Mark, and Dave were here to see it with me. I hope we can all come up here together sometime.

Bears and Celebs

That's right! We had our first bear sighting today! It was awesome! It was a pretty big black bear and it came right down onto our stairs and tried to chew open our trash can. After about 20 minutes of trying it decided to give up, much to the dismay of the hundred-or-so people that had come to watch it. As you can see from the picture I was able to get pretty close without it even noticing me.

When we got back to work there was a big ole group of people in the store and they were ready to buy. The guy walked in and handed me his card and then told his group of about 20 to get some stuff. That alone was pretty exciting. Then I saw his wife. It was Jamie Gurtz. You may remember her from Twister (the therapist fiancee of Bill Paxton), or from the sitcom Still Standing, or if those don't ring any bells she was Jerry Seinfeld's girlfriend that couldn't spare a square for Elaine. She was super nice and she even took a picture with some of our girls. She loved our store. In the end they spent about 800 dollars which is the biggest sale we have ever had here. It was a fun day!

Take A Hike

I can't believe that I'm saying this, but we have been so lucky with weather! Every day off that we have had has been sunny! Apparentely last year was like the worst summer in a while and people are saying that we are due for a good one. So far so good. Steph and I took advantage of the weather by going for a hike. You all probably get sick of me saying this but it is so beautiful here! Mom told me that Grandpa Garner said that he couldn't imagine anywhere being more beautiful than this. I agree.

Steph and I have decided that it is high time that we go on a cruise, and you're all invited! We found a SWEET deal to the eastern carribean that goes December 16th-the 23rd and only costs $450! This is seriously a great deal! Here is the link so that you can all get details. Let us know what you think. https://www.ovscruise.com/cruises/cruisedetail.jsp?cobrand=17664&pid=2&langrecno=1&sessionid=7C2EE1FD7347836252EB8E154EF3D7A3.tomcat&javascript=&jsessionid=7C2EE1FD7347836252EB8E154EF3D7A3.tomcat×tamp=20070603175651&customerid=gpWF18hnOmD5dtDcl6Z3pw%3D%3D&recno=7280457&specialtype=2&isgalileo=true&clr=3

Hot Dog It's A Beautiful Day!

When people ask me about the weather in Alaska I always tell them that it rains a lot, but the good days are absolutely perfect. Friday was one of the perfect ones ,and lucky for us it was our day off! Friday made the past couple weeks worth it. If we have one of these days to every twenty rainy ones I will be just fine. . . it's that nice. There's something about extremely fresh air, eagles, waterfalls, glaciers, and sun that just recharges you. And what current or former boy scout wouldn't love to skip perfectly smooth rocks on a glacial lake. The glacier was amazing as usual, but it was definitely smaller. To top off the day we went to see Spider-man 3, which dissappointingly ended up being the least cool part of the day. Not that it was really bad, but it definitely wasn't as good as I expected it to be. All in all it was a great day.