Bummed Out

I'm feeling way bummed out today. Do you ever feel like sometimes you try so hard and put in so much effort, and yet it just gets overlooked?

Engaged

Nate and I got engaged on May 11th! We will be married and sealed on August 2nd and I cannot wait! If I can make time I will try and update my blog with wedding stuff. I figure this is a great way to save some of these moments I am experiencing right now. It is amazing!

The End of Nowhere...

Yesterday, I went to the end of nowhere.  I don't know if you've ever been to the middle of nowhere, but if you keep going passed the middle of nowhere, you reach the end of nowhere.  That's where I went yesterday.  I have a really fun job with the American Red Cross.  One thing I do, is I go all over our chapter and teach health and safety courses to businesses and organizations.  Yesterday, I went with 3 other instructors, and our location was seriously in the end of nowhere.  We drove for an hour to get to this place.  I'm not kidding, the one road that lead out to the location kept going, and going, and going.  I really wondered if we would ever actually get somewhere.  It was quite interesting.

The location we went to is a place that deals with a lot of hazardous material and nuclear crap or something like that.  Basically, it could potentially be a very dangerous workplace if workers are not careful.  I got a little scared by some of the things I saw.  At one point during our class, I got pretty freaked out.  All of the sudden a siren was blaring over the PA system in the complex.  I was about to jump up and book it outside.  But all the employees sat calmly in there chairs as if they had heard nothing at all.  Eventually a voice came over the system explaining that this was just a test of the emergency system.  Thank goodness!

The other thing that feaked me out were the guest day badges that we were given.  One side of them had emergency alert codes and what they meant.  It said what to do if you hear a yellow alert or what to do for some other types of alerts.  One of them was a red alert and it said if you hear that to run away from the location as quickly as possible!  I was scared!  But I guess it made our teaching experience just a little more interesting. 

The best part of the day was after our class was done.  We were teaching very close to where my friend Nate lives.  That means I got to hook up with Nater after class.  We had a little picnic in a park and then took off on a beautiful hike.  We hiked up a peak and was seriously 2.5 miles, straight up to the sky!  It was steep!  But it was great.  The higher we went, the more gorgeous the autumn leaves became.  We also had some amazing views of the valley.  We made it to the top, enjoyed the scenery and the reward of the steep climb up.  We headed back down the mountain, and met up with his family for dinner.  It was one exciting and awesome day!  I'm happy!  Here are some pictures of the hike.  These were taken only about half way up, so you can see how steep/high we climbed.

End of Summer Review

Summer time is over!  Fall is in the air.  I love summer.  Sometimes I wish it could be never-ending.  But this week, I'm feeling fall in the air, and I'm pretty excited.  Change always brings new things.  The chaning of seasons brings new sights, smells, temperatures.....etc.  But I feel pretty lame for not blogging all summer.  I guess I got pretty busy this summer, and I kind of forgot that I had a blog.  This summer was great.  I'm so thankful I came back home for summer.  I needed to be here this year.  I feel like I actually accomplished a lot this summer.  I have been working part time with aquatics at the pool, and I got hired at the American Red Cross part time.  Finally, I got my foot in the door with public health!  Don't know where it will take me next, but for now, I am content, and comfortable.  I also accomplished to huge goals of mine this summer!  I wanted to run a half marathon this year.  I ended up running 2 half marathons, and am training for my third which will be in October.  My other goal was to do an open water triathlon.  I've done a couple of pool tri's, but have been too scared to do open water.  I guard open water tri's all the time, and I finally braved up and did one!  And I loved it!  Way cooler than pool tri's!  Our summer ended by helping our mom and grandma get through total knee replacement surgery.  THAT, has been an adventure in itself.  Here are some pictures of my summer 2011 adventures.  The above was the summer kick-off team adventure.  We went to Las Vegas for the Glee concert!!!!  We spent about 3 hours pool side at our hotel, trying to get some sun and vitamin D.

 This was my fist time staying on the Las Vegas Strip that I can remember.  We chose the Excalabir.  We even hit up the hotel buffet.  Yeah, it was great.

 This is the Team.  Angie, Rachael, Natalie, and me. 

 Glee!

 I kind of started the summer with a crappy running accident.  I had to wear a wrist splint after this!

 Lagoon with one of our bff's, Shelley.

 My first Half!  Freedom Half on July 4th.

 Cole!  My cute little nephew.  We played with Cole ALOT all summer.

 4 of the Headguards at Fire Water Ice Festival.  We were in control of about 65 lifeguards for 4 hours!

 The annual Fire Water Ice Festival lifeguard tunnel run.  My friend and I started this a couple years ago.  I love to see that we still do it.

 Part of our first aid team at FWI.

 Yeah, these 2 paramedics were pretty easy on the eyes.  We got to play with them all day!

 Modeling the first aid table.

Oh yeah, I met a new friend at the end of summer.  This is my friend Nate.

Well, that's that I guess.  I have to go to work now.  Goodbye summer!  Hello fall!

New Comforter!

So, I decided to get a brand new comforter for my bed. I was so excited about it and it finally came today! It has palm leaves and flowers on it! Its so soft and fluffy and I can't wait to cuddle up under it and sleep. :) I've never had any bedding this nice before so I'm totally freaking out! Well, goodnight all!

Cole's First Birthday!

My little nephew, Cole, turned 1 year old this week! He is such a cute, funny little boy and I love him so much! During the week, Cole and him mom come over to our house to exercise. During this time, we get to play with Cole! It is a lot of fun. One day this week, Cole was playing with us while Maddie was working out, and he started barking at this little dog toy we have. It was the cutest bark! Maybe even cuter than the bark is the funny face Cole makes with his lips in order to do the bark sound. It was so cute! After hearing him bark, I decided to get Cole a puppy stuffed animal for his birthday. I went and found the cutest, softest puppy I could! When we gave it to Cole, he was all over it! Maddie said it makes him really hyper. Mission accomplished! He hugged the puppy, barked at it, shook it, and rolled on the ground with it! I think he likes it. It was even hard to get a picture because he wouldn't hold still with it. It was really cute! Here is our attempted picture: Anyways, I think we had a pretty fun birthday celebration for this little guy. I know I had fun. I love watching Cole and playing with him. His favorite thing to do lately is to headbutt us all. I don't know why he does it. It is funny, but you have to be careful or it really can hurt. He has also started walking, which is fun. Happy Birthday Cole! I love you!

To Haley:

31 years ago, on this day, April 8th, my cousin Haley was born. Haley Quinn. Haley is my idol. Her birthday is the one day I look forward to all year long. I celebrate her birthday more intense than I do my own. Haley said that I'm her favorite cousin. She also said that she is intimidated by me. But she still likes me alot.