Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes it just feels good to scream "grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" really loud!

Slow Dance

I got this poem from my boss at work. It was written by a teenager who has cancer. I hope you will take the time to read it. I think it is a good reminder for all of us to enjoy what life brings us, every second of the day. I'm so thankful for what I have. I'm so thankful for my family. Here is the poem. It is Called "Slow Dance."

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kidsOn a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.
Do you run through each dayOn the fly?
When you ask How are you?Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.
Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say,'Hi'
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

My Walk To The Car

Another semester has come and gone for me. I took my last final today for this spring semester. I finished my junior year of college, and am now officially a senior at the University of Utah. I have no idea how I got this far, but somehow in the blink of an eye it happened. I always get somewhat nastalgic at the end of each school year. This year, I am especially nastalgic. It hit me today that I only have one year left of school until I graduate with my bachelor's degree. In only a year from now, I have to become a "real" adult. It makes me nervous, scared, and quite sad to think about. I decided, however, that I am not going to be sad and scared that I only have one year of school left. I am going to embrace it and make these last two semesters the best two semesters of my life! I am going to work hard and have fun and enjoy what's left of my college years while I can. I have really grown to love school and to love learning. I never want to stop learning! I cannot wait for what this next year will bring my life! I only know that it is going to be amazing!

My last final today was on the opposite side of campus that my parking permit allows me to park. Therefore, I walked about two and a half miles on campus. It was such a beatuiful day! The U of U campus was absolutely beautiful! Some trees were still blossoming, some were fully leaved, but they were all beautiful against the blue skies. After my final was over, I was really excited! I decided to make a photo journal of my walk back to my car, which was clear across campus. Here are some photo of the beautiful University of Utah campus that I took!

This is the pathway that began my walk back to the care. This is on the north side of campus.

There are so many tress on campus, and it was really pretty to see all the newly grown leaves on them!

The buildings in the background of this picture is the College of Health at the U. This is where I have spent many hours, and even entire semesters studying. The College of Health is on the upper campus, which is one of my favorite parts of campus to be! It has a great view of the Salt Lake valley!

I was really happy to be back to my car after the long walk, and I was even more happy to have completed my junior year of college. Senior year, here I come........but not until the fall; I need my summer break!

Are you ready for this??????????

Hey every one of you little blog readers! I haven't updated for the past month because I have been swamped with school and work stuff! But, now that school is over for the summer, I shall have some very exciting updates! I have to go to work now, otherwise this post would be a bit more exciting. But be prepared, and make sure to check back soon!

What is up with "Cali?"

I hate when people call California "Cali." I think it is so dumb! It seems to be a highschool term to say. All these highschool kids say that they are going on vacation to "Cali." Or they say "Cali is so fun." I don't get it! California is just as easy to say as "Cali" and it doesn't sound so dumb and immature either. I just think that those cutsey little names people give everything are way stupid. Arrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What makes me so sleepy?

For the past week, I have been sleeping 9, sometimes 10 hours a night. I have also been having the most difficult time waking up in the mornings, even after all that sleep. Per haps I'm sleeping too much. Or perhaps I'm stressed about school, and so I'm trying to sleep it all away. I don't know. Whatever it is that is making me sleep so much, it is kind of nice. I just feel so lazy! Oh well, it is good to be lazy once in a while.

Worker's Comp

A few weeks ago, I got hurt at work. I didn't think much of it and thought everything would be okay after a couple days. Well, 3 weeks later, I'm still in pain. I was too scared to tell my boss, but caved in this morning and reported my injury. I went to the FirstMed where I found out I have a strained muscle right near my c-spine (the first 7 vertebrae in the neck). It is really painful. The good thing about Worker's comp is that you get treated for free, and any prescription that is needed is free. I was given a prescription, and was also suggested to do physical therapy. I tood the Rx, but as for the physical therapy, I chose not to do it. Anyways, I have nothing else to say.

Zzzzzzz........Wait, Sunlight?

I have a night class on Tuesday nights. It is my Eating Disorders and Body Image class for my major. It is alot of fun. Tonight, though, I was pretty sleepy. I woke up from a nap at 1:45, and when I got to my class at 4:35, I still felt half asleep! I don't know what my deal was! However, I did wake up at the end of my class tonight when I realized that I do not have to walk through campus in the dark anymore due to the time change!!!! This makes me so happy, because walking on campus in the dark is SCARY!!!!! I've documented the past few weeks of leaving after my night class on Tuesdays to see the difference in lighting outside. Here are the three documentations. I though it would be kind of interesting to show ya'll! Enjoy! The above was taken 2 weeks ago.
This was taken last week. A little cloudy, but a bit lighter outside than the week before.

This was taken tonight! Nice and sunny, and I thought the Institute Building looked great with the sunny, blue skies!!!!!

Stop The Clock!!!!!

It has been one hectic week! I haven't said this in a while, but I think I'm ready for the weekend! This week has been full of crazy, scary, emotional situations, and I want to be done! I can't go into detail of everything that has gone on this week, because it would probably overload blogger.com! One thing I can say, is that I cannot wait to be off work in 3 more minutes!!!! My boss and I have been stressing, running around the pools like crazy, frantically calling lifeguards, and SO MUCH MORE since 9:00 am this morning!!!! (By the way, I don't have school on Thursdays, so I live at work). I did get a break from it all from 1-4 but once I came back, everything was worse! By the time my boss left work at about 6:30pm, she looked like she had been hit by a bus! She was beat! I'm pretty dead myself now, and I haven't even had dinner yet! I'm hungry!!!! But, after this insane day, I just have to say that I'm greatful to work at such a great facility with such great bosses who don't let me give up, even when everything is a mess. I've learned alot here after 5 years, and look forward to learning even more. I do love my jobs!

Bye Bye Birdie!

When my sisters and I were all young, tiny little children, our cousins Annie and Haley would babysit us once in a while. They would always bring over fun movies for us to watch. They introduced us to a classic Frankie Avelon movie called "Beach Blanket Bingo," which is still one my sisters and I like. The other movie I remember that their family showed us one time was a musical called "Bye Bye Birdie." I've been searching FOREVER to find a clip on youtube, from this movie, and I finally found it today!!!!! I am so excited! Here is the clip. It is from my favorite song that Kim , played by Ann Margaret, and Hugo sing together. Enjoy!

Do You Remember?

I am a fan of chick flicks......even the most cheesy of chick flicks, I love!!! Last week I pulled out a popular chick flick movie that came out when I was in 8th grade. I remember this being one of the most popular movies among my junior high school. We use to watch channel one, which is a news station for junior high and high school students, after lunch. The trailor for "A Walk to Remember" was alyways on it. We watched channel one during my naughty science class, in which no one ever shut-up. The moment this commercial came on though, everyone got real quite and actually watched it. We were all so excited for it to come out in theaters. I decided to watch "A Walk to Remember" last weekend, and realized that it is still one of my favorite movies. It is super cute! Here is one of my favorite scenes from the movie. This is from the spring play. If you haven't seen this movie, get off your but, track it down, get back down on your butt, and watch it!

New Shoes!

Happy President's Day! Did anyone do anything cool on this lovely day off of school? I did! I actually went to Famous Footwear and bought myself some new shoes! I have not gotten myself new shoes for almost a year and a half! The last pair of shoes I got myself, are my Nike running shoes. Though they are my work out shoes, I tend to wear them all the time because they are comfortable, and they go with anything. I have been wanting to get me a pair of casual shoes to make for a different look, but I have this problem where I don't like to spend money because I'm a poor, starving college student just trying ot survive through each day. Today I got up the guts! And what a good day it was to get the guts to buy new shoes! Famous Footwear is having some great Preseident's Day sales! I got me some comfortable Asics walking shoes for half price!!!!! I feel very satisfied! I also went to Robert's today to get some more scrapbook supplies. I just need some blank discs to get some pictures developed for my scrapbooking activity!!!!!

Homecoming + Sicklyness = Awkwardness!

I have been sick this week! Not fun! I'm never sick! I blame it all on my co-workers who have been sick. I'm pretty sure they planned to spread it to me next. It all started on Saturday when I woke up with an irritation deep in my throat, kind of near my chest. I didn't think much of it until Saturday night and Sunday morning. I hardly slept a wink that night, and woke up Sunday with pain down at the bottom of my trachea, and a little bit of a hoarse voice. I though to myself, "no, I can't be sick today! It is Jeff's homecoming!" I tried to act like I was okay all though the homecoming, while ignoring the fact that I felt like CRAP! I did a pretty good job, but when I got home, I crashed on my bed for 3 hours! Monday morning I woke up feeling even worse! Not only did I have that pain down my trachea, but it began to spread up my throat, and I had developed a cough. I about ripped my ears off as well! I struggled through my classes yesterday, and worked with my boss to get my guard shift of today, which I was able to do, hooray! Today, I think I'm finally feeling a little better. The pain near my chest is gone, but my throat is still pretty soar. I don't feel like ripping off my ears today either! But my cough is still there. I think my health is finally on the rebound!

Here are some pictures for Jeff's homecoming. Please don't make fun of how bad I look in them. I was sick at the time!

He's Back!!!!!!!

Hey everybody! The day I've been waiting for for 2 years finally came! We got to welcome home Jeff from his mission this week! Here is a picture of me with Jeff for the first time in 2 years!!!!

Jinxed: Gashed Heads and Broken Fingers

Last night at worked, I jinxed myself. I was the headguarding last night. I was talking to a few of my lifeguards and I mentioned that I hoped someone would gash their leg open, so I could use some first aid skills. (For those of you who don't know yet, I'm kind of a first aid freak, and start to intch to use my skills when I haven't used them in a while.) Well, my hope came true, except that instead of a gashed open leg, I treated a gashed open head, which was cool, but way more dangerous than a leg. Some kid smacke his head on the diving board, and split it open. He had a good 2 inch long gash right on the top of his head. It was pretty awesome! Luckily he had no other head, neck, or back injury, because that would not have been so awesome. After I finished treating him, along with my ER Nurse Rochelle, I was called to the front counter to look at a coworker's finger. This coworker was playing basketball, and got hit in the finger really hard. I examined it and determined that I would be very surprised if it were not broken. About an hour or two later, I found out he went to the doctor, his finger was broke, and he now has to see a specialist for it. Basically I had to send two people to the emergency room last night! Is it weird I get a thrill out of this kind of stuff?

I'm Freaking Out!

Jeff comes home in 10 days! It is hard to think it has really been 2 years. I started thinking about these past two years. While Jeff has been gone, so many of the girls in our highschool friend group have gotten married, one of them is pregnant, some of the boys are still on missions, and alot of my friends are all moved out to other places. I'm kind of the old maid who is still sitting around here living my life. But you know what? I've had alot of great things happen over these past two years, which will be saved for another blog. :)

Update On My LIfe!

Wow, I have not posted in a while. I've been kind of busy with a new semester and everything starting.

My class schedule this semester:
1. Health and Human Relations
2. Personal Resiliency
3. Eating Disorders and Body Image
4. Middle Childhood
5. Family Studies

My work schedule:
1. Lifeguard
2. Headguard
3. Supervise
4. Specialty Instructor
5. Scout Merit Badge Instructor
6. Swim Lesson Instructor (only once in a while)

I have 15 more days to have this sick to my stomach nervous feeling!

I'm officially starting to get serious about my training for my triathalon!

I had a sick eye last week, but it is almost better.

I love when I get to sleep in!

Pool Adventures!

Sometimes, I absolutely love work! Especially when my cool friends are there! Tonight the moon was supposed to be the biggest and brightest moon of the year! I was the supervisor at work tonight, and a few of us decided to take a small field trip to the outdoor pools, climb to the top of the white platform, and look at the awesome moon! We had so much fun! It was freezing and the pools were creepy all covered in snow! Here is a photo journal of our adventure. And I admit I stole these pictures from Natalie my sister and Emily Hackett!

I almost jumped of the platform, when I realized the pool is filled with snow and ice. Ouch!
Natalie was a frozen little lifeguard!

We ice-skated on the outdoor rec pool! I think Emily is the next Michelle Kwan!

Don't we look sooooooo cold?

This is our movie poster shoot!

Here is the fabulous moon, taken from the white platform.

Natalie and Amanda's glamor photo shoot!

The whole gang! Emily, Rochell, Me, Amanda, Natalie, and Ryan, our security guard, took the picture for us.

Amanda doing the Gene Kelly pose.

The poor little frozen lifeguard was so cold when she made her snow angel, but she did such a good job!

Eskimos getting ready to head out in the bitter winter night air!

We are going to be models for 7-Eleven hot chocolate!

Certified!

Today was my last day of Safety School. I successfully passed my LGI final, and I am now a certified instructor! I am so happy!

Safety School!

Hello Everybody! I've had quite the first week of 2009! I have been at safety school all week to get my Lifeguard Instructor (LGI) certification. With this certification I can teach an certify lifeguard training classes, cpr and aed for the profressional rescuer classes, oxygen administration classes, and guard start classes. For the past 8 months my boss has been preparing me for this LGI class by having me help out in cpr/aed classes. I have really enjoyed it and am excited about receiving my certification! My LGI class has been really intense, but so much fun at the same time. We are all given teaching assignments to learn how to teach to a class. Yesterday I tought passive submerged rescue, which is where you have to go down to the bottom of the pool and bring a victim up to the surface. It has always been my hardest skill since I took my lifeguard class 5 years ago, but teaching it really was not bad! It wasn't as scary to teach as I thought it would be! Today I had the assignment to teach adult CPR, rescue breathing, and conscious and unconscious choking. I love teaching CPR, so I was really excited about getting this skill. Let me tell you about the coolest part of my lesson today: When you are doing CPR, your chest compression rate needs to be at a rate of 100 per minute. What this means is that if you do straight compressions for one whole minute, you should get in exactly 100 compressions. There is a myth going around that if you do compressions to the beat of the song "Stayin' Alive," you will get exactly 100. I tried this out a few months ago, and found it to be true! So, during my class today, I had another student in my class do straight compressions on a manicin, while I played the song on my ipod speakers. Everyone was supposed to count compressions for a minute, but they were all laughing way too hard! One of the trainers teaching us ran out the door to the water safey instructor training class next door to the the head of American Red Cross Health and Safety courses, to come an watch. It was a hit! But now, I can't get the dang song out of my head!

One of the craziest parts of this class has been how I have pretty much been living with 2 of my bosses and 2 of my coworkers this entire week. Our class is from 9:00am to usually 5:00pm each day. We all car pool together, because Safety School is being held at the South Davis Rec center. It's been like a whole week vacation. Tomorrow is the last day of safety school, and because of all the time I've spent with my 2 bosses and coworkers, its going to be really strange to be away from them.

Long story short, LGI is way cool, and thanks to my boss for getting me into the class!