And life goes on...

I am avoiding writing a paper right now. I have been trying to talk myself into writing it for the past week, but I just can’t do it! Unfortunately, it’s due tomorrow so I don’t really have a choice but to finish writing it today…

I had clinicals again today. They went well but my clinical instructor was with me a lot so I was trying hard not to feel awkward. She’s really awesome. I was just a little intimidated.

I got to go to the temple this week which was really nice. It’s been a while since I’ve been and I have now made the commitment with myself to start going every week. Also we had a really great stake conference this past Sunday. Elder Hinckley (Pres. Hinckley’s son) came and spoke. He talked about Easter and it made me really miss his dad. He looks just like him! And talks a lot like him too. So overall, my week was pretty darn spiritual. It was nice.

David got invited to dinner with a law professor. I think I mentioned that last week….Anyway, we’re going this Friday night. Hopefully it’s not too awkward. I’m thinking it will be a lot of fun and who doesn’t love free food??

Speaking of law school, my cousin Tori is in her last semester at BYU law and she is doing a mock trial next week. David and I are going to go and be jurors. I’m pretty excited to see Tori strut her stuff. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. And this way, if I ever end up on jury duty, I will have some “experience”…

David and I have decided we’re going to visit Beaufort this summer. It will be nice to go home as I haven’t been back for quite a while. We’re going to bring his parents along and I’m so excited! We’re thinking we’re going to get a beach house which will be absolutely AMAZING! I can’t wait for a vacation as it is definitely needed.

Beware the Ides of March....Playa!

Day one of clinicals: complete. Patient Status: alive. This morning I had my very first day of clinical as a nursing student and I actually feel that it went pretty well. My patient and I are pretty much best friends by now. Anyway, I sort of felt like I knew what I was doing which is exciting. I got to go around with the nurse first thing this morning and take blood sugars on almost all of the patients. I’m really glad I got to do that first because pricking fingers is my expertise and I had no hesitation at all. It made me feel a little more competent than I was feeling while driving to the clinical site. So, pretty much, day one was a success and I still think that I’m going to love being a nurse! Yay for having a major!

So nothing bad happened on the Ides of March. Which is a good thing. In fact, it was a pretty good day. I had class in the morning. We did GI evaluation so I got to listen to someone's tummy with a stethoscope. David got a call from a BYU law professor. He wants to take us out to dinner sometime this week. David has decided to put off accepting his position at BYU as long as possible because they keep giving us really awesome free stuff to try to entice him to go there. I tried to go to bed early because I knew I would have to wake up early this morning, but I was so anxious I couldn't sleep. I woke up at 2 am and have been wide awake since. I'm planning on taking a long nap later, though. Spring break is this week which is really exciting. It starts tomorrow which means I have Wednesday completely free—no work AND no school! How lucky is that?? Hopefully, I'll be able to catch up on homework.

I know I forgot to post the picture of David's drawing up here last week, so I'll do it this week. I think the camera made it's way home yesterday. I'll have to double-check. Hmmmm....David is designing a chemical plant this week as a project for one of his classes. I think that's pretty impressive. Something I know absolutely nothing about. Just goes to show you that his 4 years of being a chemical engineering student have paid off!

Nothing else is really going on. Life is good. Snow has been falling. We're still training for our half-marathon...etc. etc. etc.

Happy Tuesday, Everyone!

This past week has been crazy with school. I had three tests fall all at the same time—don’t you love that??—and I almost drove myself crazy trying to study for all of them. I took my last test about an hour ago, though. So I think this upcoming week will be much better! David has been pretty busy with school as well. He's had a ton of homework and projects. If any of you are wondering if we have fallen off the face of the planet...we haven't.

This week I finally broke down and went to Ikea to buy stuff to decorate our apartment. You’re probably thinking… “Wait. Haven’t you lived in your apartment for like a year and a half??” To that I would respond, “Why yes, we have. I have just been lazy and had an apartment with blank walls.” But that’s ok. Because our walls are bare no more! I’m pretty excited about it because I feel like people can come over without feeling like they’re in a building owned by the government or something. Exciting stuff. David also painted/drew a picture for the living room. It's of a shrimp boat. We want to have a Beaufort-themed living room eventually. I'll take a picture of it and post it on here when David gets home. He has the camera in his backpack.

We ordered David's cap and gown and graduation announcements. You should all be very excited because you'll be getting them in the mail as soon as we get them and fill them out. It is so exciting! I wish I was graduating...

Next week I finally start clinicals for the nursing program. This is our nursing home semester so I’ll be going down to a nursing home in Springville next week where I will begin what will be three years of slave labor. I was thinking that it was going to be pretty easy and that another nurse would be on my tail all day so I don’t hurt anyone, but today I found out that they are going to give me one patient that I will take care of all on my own. One patient may not sound like a lot, but the all on my own part is pretty scary! I don’t know anything yet and I’m hoping I get a really easy patient. Not likely in a nursing home. I’m pretty nervous about it now and I probably won’t sleep for the next week. I’m planning on asking everyone a lot of questions because I refuse to make a mistake on whoever the poor soul is that they assign to me.

David and I officially began our training for the half marathon we're running in June. The weather was moderate enough for us to go running outside (Caitlin, your primitive tribal weather dance must have worked. Thanks!) so we put on our running shoes and took off! It was actually really nice and I'm feeling like I'm in pretty good shape again and that this half marathon may actually be doable. Let me know if any of you guys wanna run it with us. It's going to be the most amazing experience of your life.

Other than that, life is good. I'll let you guys know what happens with clinicals.

A Little More Excitement...

So remember how I said I would try to make life more interesting? Well, unfortunately, life got a little more interesting this week. The day after my last blog, we got a knock on our door at 7:00 am. It was the police. David answered and they asked him about our neighbor, whether we've noticed anything weird going on the past few days. We hadn't, but we later found out that our neighbor was murdered by her nephew sometime on Sunday. It's been all over the news here in Utah and if you're interested in more information, it's on KSL.com. It's very sad for the family and our hearts go out to them.

The past couple of weeks have been pretty fun in school (besides the crazy amount of work and tests I've had). We've been learning how to give injections which is surprisingly more complicated than it looks. Also, today we learned about administering oxygen, enteral nutrition, and wound drains. Pretty fun stuff. Yesterday, we talked about assessing the integumentary system. Despite my rather strong stomach and ability to not be grossed out by things, the integumentary system can get pretty gross sometimes. No bueno.

David got ordering information for his cap and gown in the mail this week. It makes it seem real that he'll be graduating in April! It's so exciting. Then on to a new chapter with graduate school. David has had several tests this week as well. He taught me a little bit about what he was studying and I nodded my head and pretended to understand what he was talking about. I may have even said a "uh, huh" or two. I'm glad I'm not a chemical engineer. It's some pretty tricky stuff. And I don't like math...

I played my violin in church this past Sunday. This was probably the first time in three years and I could tell. I got all nervous and my hands were shaking. I'm thinking about taking violin lessons in the Fall from the music school at UVU. I think it would be a lot of fun to have a reason to practice again. I love the violin and I think it would be great.

Hmm...not a lot else is new. This is birthday season in the Smith/Zirkle household and so David and I have been travelling the parent's house a lot recently to celebrate someone's anniversary of their birth. It's been a lot of fun but it is making me feel really old. My neice is already 6 months old and Kelsey and Tanner are turning 16 and 14, respectively. Kelsey can date now. Weird.

Anyway, life is fabulous. David and I will be hitting our two year mark in April. I must say, the past two years have been the best of my life and I'm so thankful to have that kid around! He's amazing.

As life continues, I'll keep you all updated!