Cleveland in January

Before the California trip was ever even in my sights, I planned a trip to go out the Cleveland to visit my sister in January. My niece, Robyn was born on November 18 and January was my trip to meet her. Even though I got to spend a week with her at Christmas, I decided to take the trip anyways since I already had the plane tickets. While we were in Cleveland Janelle, Julie, Robyn and I went to the new Cleveland Aquarium.

Julie was loving the whole thing. She was scared of the sharks on the first time around, but she got more excited and we did the shark loop 3 or 4 times. Her favorite part was the turtles!

Silly faces :)

Some other fun pictures and little videos from the week:

 I might have dressed the girls on these days :)

Christmas in California

Long over due post. Last December I was excited to get some time off to be with my family over Christmas. At my job, I work every other Christmas and this was my year off. Three or four days before I was supposed to leave for Connecticut, I got a call from my mom that my grandmother in California was sick and in the hospital. After a fall and multiple transfusions, the blood work came back showing she had an advanced case of Leukemia. She decided to come home and be with family for the couple weeks she had left. Janelle and new baby Robyn flew to Utah, and the three of us drove out to California to be with family. There was a lot of blessings in disguise, a very bittersweet Christmas. I was able to see a lot of family that I hadn't seen in years! I was able to see my new baby niece. Unfortunately this trip meant that I didn't see my dad at all over break. I was disappointed about that, but made up for it in January (I'll tell you about that in the next post).

The road trip was sooo long on the way out the California with a 3 week old, frequent stops, diaper changes, but it was some good times with Janelle, snacks, music, and fun stories.

I already put up a lot of pictures from the trip on facebook.Click here for the link.

These are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip:

A few of the cousins at Cousin Kiki's on Christmas night.

Aunty Yiyi, me and Aunty Judy

Aunt Debbie and I (my dad's older sister)

Cute little baby Robyn, Santa's Little Helper

Robyn all bundled up in my coat to see Temple Square with the lights

Grammy and Robyn

My Gra'ma and Robyn

Nap time together. The drool rag was supposed to be for Robyn :)

My sister, Janelle and I standing in front of the house that my Gra'ma grew up in. This was my great-grandmother's house, Bobbo. 

A special picture for me always :)

 Grandpa Rountree with the Rountree kids. 

Update Overview

The last time I posted was in June of last year! A few big things have happened to me.

Work life: I have really settled into my position at work. The planner in me wants to keep planning for the future. Every other week I say to myself I'm going to go back to school, no I'm happy where I am...currently I am happy with things! I took on more responsibilities at work and joined the "Balloon Team" at the hospital. I don't carry balloons around to the patients, although sometimes I wish it was that stress-free! I am on a team of Thoracic ICU and Cardiac ICU nurses that are specialists in the function of a special pump called an "Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump" that decreases the workload of the heart after surgery or a heart attack. Part of the team responsibilities are to be a member of the LifeFlight team to transport patients to our hospital from other facilities.

Last week were my first shifts off of orientation. The team generally only does five or six transports a year. Two days back to back I did two transports! Both were ground transports, by ambulance but it was still a great learning experience. So far am really enjoying the balloon team, the people I work with, the patients I care for, and learning a TON!

Family life: Where do I start? I am a proud Aunty again! My sister Janelle had a another little girl back in November. Robyn Ruth Nutter joined the family and we all love her so much! Very close to Christmas, my family received some sad news that my Gra'ma (my mom's mother) had an advanced untreatable case of Leukemia. Part of the family gathered in California over Christmas to say goodbye. She passed away a few days after Christmas. In January, I went to Cleveland to see my favorite girls! I spent a week with Janelle, Julie and Robyn...and Ben :). Since I was so close to home I surprised my dad on his birthday and went to Connecticut for a weekend. It was a much needed trip to see the family! In other news, my brother Clayton has turned in his papers to receive his mission call! He should hear within the next 2-3 weeks! I am so excited for him and so happy that he has made the right choices in life to be able to serve a mission!

Future plans: I am going to California in March over Clayton's spring break to hang with my bro, will be so happy to get some sunshine! I am going to Florida in May to attend a HUGE national critical care nursing conference. I got a grant from the hospital to be able to attend, super pumped! Not going to lie...I really want see Harry Potter land at Universal! :) I haven't made any concrete plans yet but I have started looking into going to Peru, Machu Picchu sometime at the end of the year...we'll see!

I will make more detailed posts in the next few weeks about each of these.

Fresh Start

I'm not sure how many people are out there that read this, and I know I've said it in the past that I need to be better about keeping up with my life, but this time I'm really going to try to stick to it! I changed the name of my blog to Cando Can Do! Cando is a nickname I've had since I was in 2nd or 3rd grade that has stuck with me through high school, college, and now at work. "Cando can do" is a phrase that a favorite teacher in high school always used to say to me. I've always liked it, so if you read this, thanks Binger! So I know the time for new year's resolutions came and went 2 months ago, but here's to fresh starts!