9th Ward Cartoons

Thanks to my sister, I just discovered this website. I quite literally was laughing out loud at some of these. These guys are a group of cartoonists that basically tease fun at Mormon culture. My two personal favorites:

This one is all too true sometimes here at BYU!

So long winter!

I'm getting excited for spring in case you couldn't tell from my new color scheme! Weather here has been so beautiful. I didn't wear a coat to class today for the first time in months, I loved it! I actually wore flip flops the other day and didn't get cold. This weekend I'm planning on going on a hike and playing tennis...OUTSIDE!!!!!! Hooray! I'm so glad that we had a short winter this year. Past winters in Utah have been bitter cold and snowy until the last weeks in March, or early April. I know Mother Nature will probably give us one more storm, but I'm just so happy for the weather we have had. Here are some pictures from this winter:
The first two days of winter semester it snowed for 40 hours straight, I think. It was a really long time. We had close to two feet on the ground!

This guy really wanted a parking spot!

I took this walking home from school one day, you can just see the coldness in the air!

The FHE family sledding at Rock Canyon Park

The real family sledding down our driveway.

WELCOME SPRINGTIME!!!!!!!!!

You watch it, we live it

I saw this article one time about ER nurses and how at one hospital they all had matching T-shirts that said: ER: you watch it, we live it. I thought that was cool. The reason I bring this up? To let you know that I am going to be a pediatric ER nurse. I had a rotation there last week and it was the greatest thing in the world!!! I absolutely LOVED IT!!!!! I've never really watched ER, but it doesn't matter because I've spent enough time in them that I know I want to work there :)

It's a beautiful day! Don't let it get away!

Today was a particularly good day for me. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, but it was a just a good day. I made it to class on time, without running to campus. It was cold but the sun was out and shining all day. Classes today were great. I learned a lot and actually was very attentive, which is kind of out of the norm. One of the things that I love most about the human body is the heart and blood. Today in pediatrics we talked about blood disorders. I think the reason that I like the topic so much is because I understand it so well. Kidneys with electrolyte balances, and endocrine with all the crazy hormones, and repro with all the random cycles I just don't grasp real well. The heart and blood I get, I live for this stuff! In mother/baby today I learned a lot also, mostly because we talked about blood again...sort of, more about the lack there of (postpartum hemorrhage). I won't go into the details because I'm pretty sure you don't want to know, but today was just a fascinating day! In ethics, which is usually SOOO boring, we had a very interesting, stimulating conversation. We had watched the movie "Miss Ever's Boys" about the Tuskegee study that took place from 1932-1972. It's rather graphic, so I won't describe it but you can read about it here. Overall it was an intellectually stimulating day. After class I met up with a friend and we talked for an hour and half, which made it that much better.

Some completely random things I learned today:
-A kangaroo's breast milk is pink.
-Postpartum hemorrhage is the number one maternal killer worldwide.
-It really hard to swallow with your head in any other position than looking straight ahead.
-Most of the fortification in cereal comes off when you pour the milk on because the vitamins are sprayed onto the cereal at the factory.
-IV drug use is the number cause for heart valve replacement surgery.
-I miss mint cookies and cream ice cream. The ice cream place in the WILK hasn't had it for a long time =(

AB-

That's right ladies and gentleman I am AB- blood type (the rarest there is). I gave blood today which is super exciting for me! This is only the third time since I've lived in Utah that I have been able to donate, my iron always seems to be too low. Today I cleared it with flying colors. And I had one of the fasted bleed times I've ever given. I usually tend to be a slow bleeder but this time the needle was in and out in 6 or 7 minutes, glorious! I was however an doofus and decided to go sledding tonight for FHE. It was tons of fun going down the hill, but hiking back up just about killed me. I was so out of breath and ready to pass out, but I was having anyways :).

JUST FOR FUN
In the Japanese culture, there are personality traits based on your blood type, here's what mine says I am, is it a true description?:

People with blood type AB are hard to categorize. They can have characteristics on both ends of the spectrum at the same time. For instance, they are both shy and outgoing. They easily switch from one opposite to another. AB people are trustworthy and responsible, but can't handle it when too much is asked of them. They don't mind doing favors or helping out, as long as its on their own conditions. People with this blood type are interested in art and metaphysics. AB is considered the worst blood type. In predictability-loving Japan, they're loose cannons. They also like to set their own conditions and reserve the right to drop out when things don't meet their expectations. They're known to be sensitive and considerate—at times—but it just isn't enough to balance out the flaws in this blood type. For a while, some companies tried dividing their employees into work groups based on blood type, and no one wanted to work with the AB group.

http://www.issendai.com/rpgs/takemywings/bloodtypes.htm

Another website says this:

Blood Type AB - Tend to be very charming and popular. They don't sweat the small stuff and can be seen as spiritual and even at times a bit "flaky". Only about 2 - 5% of the population are blood type AB. There is never a dull moment in a AB's life, so if you find one for a friend, consider yourself lucky! You'll enjoy some exciting times together! Like blood type A's, AB's react to stress poorly. They are stronger and more active than type A's, but need to pay attention to stress levels so that they don't compromise their immunity. Sometimes it is difficult to be an AB. AB's don't like to fit in anyone else's "boxes". If they feel too confined, they'll break out of that box and do things their own way. When it comes to food choices and AB must discover when they are more B-like or A-like. For example, dairy foods like milk kefir can be excellent for them or not good at all.

http://www.bodyecology.com/07/03/01/link_blood_type_personality_diet.php

GOOGLE "blood type personalities" to see what it says about you!

The Wandering Yard Ornaments

We didn't have lights on the house but we had lawn ornaments for decorations. They proved to be trouble with the winter storms that we had this Christmas season as fun as they were out on the lawn...and in the woods. The ornaments had stakes attached to the bottom of them to hold in, but winds and snow, and perhaps the critters overcame the stakes. Here is the journey of the wandering yard ornaments.

Chapter 1--Dad sets up the ornaments in the not yet snow covered yard. I wasn't here for this part.

Chapter 2--Mom takes pictures before the snow comes.

Chapter 3--LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!!! Pretty snow pictures of the "little" sister getting a nuggy (spelling??) sandwich. There is frost on the ornaments that make them look really sparkly and shiny!

Chapter 4--The yard ornaments wander...all over!

Chapter 5--Dad rounds in the ornaments and shows them who's boss...sort of.


Chapter 6--WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY, it actually says that holiday decorations are likely to blow away from wind gusts. This time I collected all 15 from the yard and put all the ornaments in the garage so they wouldn't blow away in the storm. I could find one that had ventured into the woods because it was dark outside while I was doing this. We found it the next day half way down the driveway, figures.

The End

PJ party!

This year we all had matching pajamas, even the boys and the baby, courtesy of Mom. We used my camera's timer thingy to take the family shots and it was an adventure. After the family shots, Julie got to have her photoshoot with everyone. She had to of felt like a celebrity, between my mom, me and Janelle I think we took well over 100 photos in about 20 minutes.

I must have had something on my lense, unless Clayton has a glowing heart because anatomically speaking it's in the perfect spot :)




I find it funny how Grammy and Gramps are perfectly normal in this picture and the rest of us are all crazy. And then Julie's looking at me like I'm nuts :)

The sibs




Grammy and Gramps