Cha Cha Cha

I'd like to formally announce how totally awesome my roomie Cha is. She was accepted to the Accounting program at BYU which is among the highest ranked, most competitive programs in the country. The Marriott School surpasses even some of the Ivy League schools with this program.

CONGRATS CHA!!!!!

Picture taken by my other totally awesome x-roomie, Sarah.
Breanne, you're totally awesome too!!!!
:)

PEACHES!

I've discovered something strange about myself since coming to school (a pretty broad statement I know). It's about my eating habits. When I lived at home, mom did the groceries (or at least she made the list for groceries) and the food that was in the house was there for the eating. I used to be a picky eater growing up, but I'm not so much anymore. I'll eat almost anything. Now when I go to store I'll see something (like peaches) and say in my head, "I don't like those." But then the next week I'll come back the the store and see them again and say, "peaches sound good. I think I get a couple." So I'll buy some. Then when I am sick and tired of doing homework, I'll walk to the kitchen eat a peach and be amazed at how delicious it was, then come tell you. So I don't really get me. How could I think that I don't like peaches? They are so yummy!

...speaking of peaches, I saw A League of Their Own for the first time this weekend. Good movie. Their baseball team is "the Peaches"

I love to laugh, ha ha ha

Name that movie, anyone? Well I am writing a paper for my nursing research class right now on the topic of my choice. I decided to write it on the current research regarding laughter. I've found some pretty amazing stuff so I decided to share it all. First all in order for humor/laughter to work, you have to laugh out loud (that's what the findings are saying). Being exposed to something humorous and not laughing has bad effects on your body. So let yourself go and laugh at things, don't hold back. Laughter boosts the immune system. Your immune system cells can stay elevated for 24 hours after exposure to laughter. People that laugh in groups have a more positive effects than people that laugh alone. Laughter also increases levels of Dopamine and Seratonin which are the hormones low in people with Depression. People that laugh out loud have a higher pain threshold, meaning they can tolerate more discomfort without it becoming pain. Laughter has a long term effect on cortisol levels. Cortisol is the stress hormone in our body. The laughter decreases levels of cortisol thus allowing us to cope with difficult situations. One study found that people with Atopic Dermatitis (a chronic allergic reaction of the skin) had less severe outbreaks following times of laughter and that the blood components that fight off the reactions were higher in these individuals. These are all the physiologic parts of laughter. You don't have to have a PhD to know that laughter is good for you. So go ahead, laugh your heads off.

Have you ever asked your child a question too many times? My three-year-old son had a lot of problems with potty training and I was on him constantly. One day we stopped at Taco Bell for a quick lunch, in between errands. It was very busy, with a full dining room. While enjoying my taco, I smelled something funny, so of course I checked my seven-month-old daughter, she was clean. Then I realized that Danny had not asked to go potty in a while. I asked him if he needed to go, and he said "No". I kept thinking "Oh Lord, that child has had an accident, and I don't have any clothes with me." Then I said, "Danny, are you SURE you didn't have an accident?"

"No," he replied. I just KNEW that he must have had an accident, because the smell was getting worse. Soooo, I asked one more time, "Danny did you have an accident? This time he jumped up, yanked down his pants, Bent over, spread his cheeks,

And yelled, "SEE MOM, IT'S JUST FARTS!!"

While 30 people nearly choked to death on their tacos laughing, he calmly pulled up his pants and sat down. An old couple made me feel better, thanking me for the best laugh they'd ever had!

Telephone Pictionary

We had a good Family Home Evening tonight. We played this really hilarious game. You should try it sometime with a group of friends. It's called Telephone Pictionary. Everyone sits in a circle. Each person writes a sentence at the top of a piece of paper (full 8 1/2 x 11). They pass it to the next person and that person draws a picture of the sentence. Usually it's good to set a timer of maybe 2 minutes for the drawing parts. After the person is done drawing they fold the top sentence down so that the next person can't see it. You pass it along and the next person writes a sentence of what they think the picture is. You keep passing it around the circle making sure that the next person can only see the last step above them, whether it be a picture or a sentence. You stop when the paper gets full or the story gets back to the original person. Everyone reads their stories aloud and shows the pictures. Guaranteed to make every laugh!
Here are some of ours from tonight:

The past few days

I haven't said much in the past days about things going on. The past week has had its ups and downs. I started getting sick on Tuesday and by Wednesday I KNEW it was a sinus infection, not good news for me. I got them a lot when I was younger and they will last for 2-3 weeks at a time. I went into the doctor Thursday and got some antibiotics (it feels weird writing that out, we have so many abbreviations in nursing, and we can make just about anything into an abbreviation. Antibiotics is abx.) I'm doing much better now. Wednesday and Thursday were my first day of clinical and Thursday was my first day of being a nurse. I gave medications to my first patient. :) After clinical on Thursday I went home and napped because I wanted to make sure I got better as soon as possible, I cannot afford to miss any school, as much as I'd like to. Friday I was a little more productive, we had no classes. I cleaned my room a little bit (and by a little bit I mean picked up dirty clothes) and did some laundry. Friday night I watched the fireworks, totally amazingly awesome. Saturday I did some homework and then volunteered at Freedom Festival. Freedom Festival is an event that the city of Provo puts on each year for the few days before and after 4th of July, it's basically like a county fair. I helped with some kid crafts, that was fun. Sunday was really nice. We had some great lessons at church. It was sort of a bittersweet day as my family is gathered in Cleveland for Julie's baby blessing and I'm not there with them. Which brings us to today, Monday. I got onto Janelle's blog and saw her template layout and got jealous so I went to the site that she got hers from and got my own. I really like it, I think I'll keep it around for a while.

Tagged

Jeannie tagged me!

8 things I'm passionate about: (no particular order)
Nursing
Sleeping
The Gospel
Not stressing out over stuff I can't change
Cooking
My family
Learning what I can
Ice cream

8 books I've read and enjoyed:
The Book of Mormon
Angels and Demons
Harry Potter series
I have to come up with 8...?
My nursing textbooks
The Secret Life of Bees
The Brothers Karamozov
The Odyssey

8 Things or words I say often:
I love you
I hate nursing research (a totally pointless class that I am in right now)
What's for dinner?
What's due next?
I'm tired
It's a beautiful day outside
How'd the test go?
I miss you

8 Things I want to do before I die (not in any order):
Visit all 50 states
Be an ER nurse
Visit Italy and Greece
Be a grandma
Be an emergency natural disaster relief nurse (work for American Red Cross)
Be married in the temple
Own a second house in some really cool getaway place in the middle of no where
Race car drive

8 Things I have Learned (or remembered, again) this past year:
I don't stress out over stuff that isn't in my control
Reading the scriptures makes my day better
Tolerance of annoying people
Forgiveness of those that have wronged me
Going to school year round isn't fun
Procrastination isn't healthy
I have learned a lot of academic stuff and skills :) not necessarily life lessons, but important
To be less judgmental of people

8 People I want to Tag:
Well, I don't really read that many blogs so I'm not going to tag anyone. :)

Happy 4th!

Just want to write and wish everyone a Happy Independence Day this weekend. Remember that this holiday isn't just about barbecues, pool parties, and fireworks, although all very important. Think about the ability you have to celebrate in these ways because of the sacrifices our fore fathers made to let us live in The United States of America. BE SAFE AND HAVE FUN!!!