been a while

February left me working alot of hours at the hospital. Matt still works at Freedom Urgent Care Clinic and started school. He is taking two history classes and will have to take a full load during the summer as well. Matt decided that he wanted to plant a tree in the backyard since we have nothing that blocks our neighbors view beside the fence.  Also, we have nothing that gives any shade in the yard for bailey, thus our first Peach tree was planted.

March was spent celebrating my birthday and I turned my packet in to get out of the army! Big woot woot for that 🙂  Our peach tree that we planted in February was eaten by Bailey–and died.  Matt planted another tree and put a fence around it this time so bailey wouldn’t get a hold of it.

April my Mom came out for a week! So excited to have her here in Texas and to be able to do things with her while she was here. I had an OR class for two days, so it was nice to have an 8-5 schedule.  We were able to have dinner and were able to spend the other three days eating lots of barbeque.  We went to Saltlick for lunch one day. We painted my whole upstairs 🙂 And just spent lots of quality lazy hangout time together. It was sad to see her go home, but hopefully I will be able to go to the Van Meeteren river trip this year and will then take three weeks to go home!  I passed my last Army PT Test! So glad to be done with that and to NEVER have to do that again 🙂  If you haven’t forgotten about our lovely peach tree situation… well, Bailey reached over the fence and tackled the tree.  Another one bit the dust. Therefore, we have planted another tree but Matt made the circle fence around it bigger so she can’t reach it. I wish he would just get over this whole tree planting business but it has just progressed even further.  He has plans to plant a garden in the backyard. We have started out with a pepper plant and strawberry plants. I did not inherit my mother’s greenthumb AT ALL! I would like to one day plant flowers but really im not quite there yet.  Matt, on the other hand has become a little farmer because in

May our third tree died because of the heat and lack of water that we refused to give to a tree that really didn’t look great at all.  So, our fence has been torn down and Matt has posted his spot for the garden along the right side of our yard against the fence.  He has added a blackberry plant, a tomato plant, and bought another tree, however this is still in a bucket! We went to San Antonio the first weekend of May to celebrate our 2 year anniversary (technically May 13) and Cinco de Mayo.  Matt’s favorite comedian is Kevin Hart so we saw him at the AT&T Center on Saturday night….

2012 will be a busy reading year

January:
1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling

February:
6. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by  J. K. Rowling
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by  J. K. Rowling
8. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

March:
9. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
10. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
11. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

this is more so for my mom and matt’s mom… they always say they need updated pictures of bailey.

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2012 has arrived!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! 2012 is looking to be an amazing year and I am so excited for the challenges that lie up ahead. I am not making the typical list of resolutions that most people do, to be quite honest, I never keep them, so I’m hoping to live day to day by living life to the fullest.

2012 has already started out great. I worked, but that meant I was able to work with some amazing people! Plus, I delivered the only new years babies at our hospital! One was delivered Sunday morning and one was delivered on my next shift late that night! Ha.

Upcoming events/challenges to take on:

1. House projects: Organize Pantry, Set up office/craft room, Redecorate master bedroom/bathroom/closet

2. Fall: begin taking Family Nurse Practitioner and Nurse Educator courses

4. July-Aug: 3week road trip (Grand Canyon, Drive up the california coast, San Francisco, Yosemite) RIVER TRIP! 🙂

5. October: obligation done with Army Nurse Corp… who knows what I will do after?! 🙂

theres an idea about what to expect from me this next year!

the reading continues for 2011

Last year I made resolutions to read a book a month and I have definetly achieved that plus more… i made it to 22! 🙂

21. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (5 stars)

22. Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (5 stars)

Books to be read in 2012:

– Harry Potter series
– Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Series
– The Hunger Games series

Hospital staff during the holidays

I was reading my facebook feed and one of my friends had this story posted to her wall and so i read it… yes please keep nurses in your thoughts during the holidays.  They give up lots of time with friends and family in order to be working at the hospital.  I know that I grumble at times, but most often when I get to work I’m excited because my patient’s make my day. So if you enjoy a good read, please click!

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/21/please-thank-your-nurse-this-christmas/

I got to go HOME!!!!!

I took one of my four day weekends to go home. It had been over a year and a half since I had been back to california, so it was nice to be home to say the least.  My weekend was jam packed of family time.  Saturday started at 0800 for Shane’s graduation from the Rio Hondo Fire Academy.  Lots of people were able to make it out to help celebrate this special day with him.

Then for dinner we all met at Frantone’s Pizzeria to celebrate Shane’s hard work as well as to surprise my Grandma and Grandpa Van Essen with a 50th Wedding Anniversary Party. Some of their friends were able to make it out to celebrate with them.

On Sunday, we took family photos since all of the Van Essen side was in So Cal.  So my Grandma & Grandpa, Stacy (youngest sister) and her family, Lisa (middle sister) and her family and my mom (oldest) and our family went to a park in Cerritos and took pics then headed back to mom and dad’s for lunch. The rest of the day I spent relaxing and watching football!

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It’s Official!

Well, it is finally official… Matt is out of the army! He doesn’t yet have a job but has applied at a few places and can’t start  school till the Spring semester so he is on full-time puppy duty, lol 🙂

Bailey is not quite fond of the leash and collar idea yet, so walking her has been difficult. She prefers to wander and explore.  She used to be good about being let loose out front, but has recently become less scared of the street and is starting to scare me more so her front yard time has been limited.  We have a fenced in back yard so that has been helpful in getting her active.  Here is a picture of their daily routine… standing guard and watching the birds on the fence-line.   Exciting huh?! 🙂

 

 

Happy Halloween!

Hope you have a safe night! Here’s a pic that has been going around alot and I thought it was humorous.  Enjoy some humor from an L&D nurse 🙂

Rain and Lightning

Texas has had record temps this year, with the worst drought since the 1800s.  I think we hit 75 straight days of 100+ degree temps.  Well, on Monday we had rain! We had a huge thunder and lightning storm, so much that the power went out for about 3 hours. We lasted for awhile in the dark, however found our oil lamp and hung out in the kitchen. The puppy even did good and just played with her toys, the thunder didn’t even bother her.  She didn’t even hesitate when going outside to do her business… she ran right out into the rain!  I took a picture of the oil lamp and caught a lightning burst in the background… it was kinda cool 🙂