Having A Ball

BARN

Grassy hills rolled into the blue winter afternoon. We drove up to the barn in Park City. I spied a few cats near the barn who politely ignored me as I walked through the mud caked parking lot. I had just circled back from the partially snow-covered pasture where the dairy cows grazed. Inside the ice rink, an electric light ran across the beams overhead. We watched a dozen kids, sauce, and snipe. Sweet warm laughter filled the air. I secretly hoped we could stay for lunch and into dinner.

Last Class of This Semester

Done

{Marina - one of my favorite professors}

Sometimes people are beautiful not in how they look, not in what they say, just in what they are. Like Marina, who taught the last Community Health Nursing class of this semester today. She was also my Mental Health instructor last semester. I think the most memorable thing she taught me this semester is that fake people have an image to maintain, real people don't care. Study guide for the final from her class on Tuesday:

2300 Final Review/Spring 2015 Unit I, II, III IV (14 questions) • Health Care Delivery Systems:Understand primary, secondary and tertiary prevention; understand political activism for nurses; define aggregates, different government healthcare delivery systems (ie: Free market, Socialism, etc), detecting health quackery.  • Roles of the Community Nurse:attributes & functions of the Community Health Nurse (CHN), role of the case manager. • Cultural Diversity:know about cultural competence, health concerns of different cultural groups Nurses negative and positive responses. Unit V, VI, VII (10 questions) • Role of Epidemiology: disease reporting, epidemiological terms (incidence vs prevalence, mortality, morbidiy, etc) • Know types of immunity, understand drug resistance; know types of transmission • Patient education on communicable diseases such as mono, croup, and lice • Disaster preparedness – purpose of mock drills

Unit VIII, IX, X (12 questions) • Violence: types (ex.elder, domestic, physical, emotional, dating) , risks for violence, gang affiliation • Homelessness:  contributing factors; common health care problems by age; ethics of care; priority interventions • Rural nursing: challanges • Home health/Hospice:  plan of care Unit XI, XII, XIII, XIV (29 questions) • Family nursing:  dysfunctional vs. healthy family characteristic, family system boundaries/styles, cultural families • Senior care:  ageism, medications that should be avoided by the elderly, safety, risk for abuse, goals of health care, creatinine clearance (math) and decision making, difference in symptoms of illness • Women and Men’s health:  Cardiovascular risk factors; cancer, screening tools & prevention; issues with the homosexual/ LGBT client; BMI calculation (math); women’s research • Occupation health nursing:  ergonomics • Adolescent/children’s health/school nursing:  Suicide interventions; medication administration in schools; goals of school health, teenage pregnancy and associated problems, prenatal care, teenage sexuality issues; assessment priorities • Correctional Nursing: challenges facing correctional nurses;epidemic of incarceration Review primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. This may apply to all units. There will be math calculations – BMI, Creatinine Clearance (both formulas will be provided within the test question) Pharm II Final on Wednesday   List of drugs for units 9 & 10 - final. Antineoplastic drugs: Cytokines- interferon alfa-2a Immune modulators- cyclosporine Anti-angiogenic- thalidomide Antimetabolites- 5-fluorouracil (5-FU Mitotic Inhibitors- vincristine, etoposide, paclitaxel Camptothecines- topotecan Alkylating agent- cyclophosphamide Nitrosureas- carmustine Antitumor antibodies- doxorubicin Hormones and antagonist- tamoxifen Drugs used to control pain /inflammation Tumor necrosis factor- etanercept Morphine, fentanyl, hydromophone Oxycodone, oxycontin, tramadol Narcotic antagonist- naloxone Serotonin-selective agonist- sumatriptan-“triptans” ​

Medical-Surgical 2 Final on Monday. 

Yet To Be

I love you

For all that you are

All that you have been

And all that is yet to be...

Moxie Award

The Moxie and Star Defensive player award was presented to Markus tonight at the Regulators Award Party. Coach Greg presented him with a puck with the team name on it. 

Both Coach Greg and Coach Mikko took turns telling Markus and the rest of his teammates what they liked about his progress and then presented a slide show from the year. 

Coach Mikko also told about having each of the boys write an essay on what leadership means to them at the beginning of the year. Here is what Markus had to say: 

A captain is a leader. A leader has to be smart, trustworthy, truthful, helpful, brave, and kind. You need to be smart to know what to do on and off the ice. A captain needs to be trusted and can trust his teammates. If you are a captain you need to tell the truth and have integrity at all costs. Captains need to be helpful to not only their teammates but to everyone. You must be brave to play every game hard and fast. A captain must be kind to his teammates, former teammates, rink staff, coaches, parents and the game officials. A captain must work together as a team and (be) unselfish. A captain is not only a captain on and off the ice but in his life. If you use these traits you will succeed in life. A captain is and will always be a leader no matter what. Hockey is more than a sport, it's a part of life. 

Markus, Cole, Jaxon, and Beau will always be teammates. And friends. After the party Markus came home and drew this...

Wherever you go, go with all your heart. 

It's A Good Morning Beautiful Day

Someone once told me to always live for the little things in life. Live for 6am sunrises and 8pm sunsets where you'll see colors in the sky that don't usually belong. Live for road trips and bike rides with music in your ears and the wind in your hair. Live for days when you get to talk to your favorite people who make you realise that the world is not a cold, dreary place. 

Live for: 

• raspberries
• shutter clicks
• aviator sunglasses
• thick novels
• accelerating
• music
• open windows
• hope
• maps
• sparkling lemonade
• baggy t-shirts
• dark chocolate
• remembered dreams
• freshly vacuumed carpet
• saved ticket stubs
• new thoughts 
• happy memories
• possibility
• bare skin
• simplicity 
• vitamin D
• drives to nowhere 

Live for the little things because they will make you realize that this is what life is about, this is what it means to be alive. 

Free Spirits Welcomed

I'm incredibly comfortable with my body and will display it without thinking twice. Sometimes I wish we could all go back to Eden (which I recognize as a metaphor, but go with me here) and walk around the garden, naked and unashamed. My body is a wonderland and I don't mind it being appreciated. I do believe there is a difference between appreciation and objectification. I realize that I can't control thoughts or actions towards me, but I don't think it's my responsibility to hide who I am.

My body isn't perfect. I have stretch marks from pregnancy, one on my stomach and a few on my boob and the weight gain that was beyond my control... and a much better option than having morning sickness. My stomach had always been tight, especially when I was grossly underweight and more so when I was in amazing shape. I don't wear glasses and refuse to even consider breast augmentation. My nose is slightly scarred on the top. 

But I've embraced my body. I've embraced my imperfections. I think I'm beautiful because of my flaws, not in spite of them.

I strongly believe in the five-love languages: gift-giving, words of affirmation, physical touch, quality time, and acts of service. For example, mine is physical touch, and one of my girl-night-friend's is gift-giving. It's important to learn not just your own, but also the language of the people you love.

There you are. 2 random things about me. I can handle being a free spirit. The question is:

Can you?

Try

http://youtu.be/1SCOimBo5tg

Labor And Delivery

I'm so excited! Between the snow and receiving my capstone assignment today it feels like Christmas. :)

You're The Light

Late Sunday afternoon I felt a heart-stirring sense of urgency so I said no to another request. I said no to a pile of laundry. I said no to my notebooks of homework, my dust bunnies, and my dirty dishes. I said yes to blading down a trail with my boys.

We got to the end of the winding pathway along the river feeling triumphant and connected. After we ate our pizza, I stretched out my tired legs. The sun relaxed me as the spring breeze blew back my hair. The next thing I knew, there was one son on each side of me. With no space between our hands, we skated in silence warming our dry winter skin in the sun’s warm light. 

That’s when Markus turned and looked straight into my soul. He said, “This is pretty cool, Mom.” But what my joy-filled heart heard was, “Life is pretty cool.”

Life is the party.
Life is the gathering place.
And the heartbeat.
It is the celebration.

By the grace of God and many, baby steps toward the light, love and connection, I am fully alive and well with my soul.

My friend, where do you find yourself today? 

Starting Pitcher

Nest: (n.) a place of retreat, rest, or lodging.

As I was sitting on the porch swing after church today, I noticed the little nest on my porch. Can you see it up in the left hand corner? I love watching birds make their retreats. I love that making them is accomplished by both the male and female birds. 

I'm not a feminist. Still - I love this story of the one time pay inequality worked out well for women. 

A friend and fellow nursing student - Kim told me about her daughter and some friends who hosted a bake sale last month selling cookies to men for $1, while the same cookies were sold to women for 77 cents. 

"Because in America, for every dollar a man makes, a woman only makes 77 cents," Kari, a member of the Young Democrats Club at their high school. "So we're raising awareness for this. So boys will pay a dollar and girls only pay 77 cents."

Not everyone at the school appreciated the price difference, with some calling into question the accuracy of the statistic.

"They didn't think it was fair and I said yeah, it's not fair. That's why we're doing it," she concluded.

It made national news and it made me think. 

A flower doesn't compete with the one next to it. It just blooms. 

I can't promise to update daily, or post pretty pictures all the time. I doubt I'll ever host a giveaway, and I'm probably not the most fashionable blogger.

But I promise always to be genuine, authentic, honest, ME.

Because what's the point of being... 

if I can't be myself? 

You Are What Happened When I Wished Upon A Star

From Coach Oly: 

I didn't get a chance to talk to you at the banquet. But just wanted to let you know that Bucky had my vote for the most improved award. He had a fantastic year he's got to work on his leg strength his core to get to the next level. But overall fantastic year from a fantastic kid! He actually came over to me and spoke to me first time all season and said thank you for everything. Ha ha!! Hope he has a good summer training and I can't wait to coach him next year.

In my experience, most of the time I'm simply trying to do my best to raise my boys in a beautiful world full of imperfect people. I applaud families that find productive ways to work through divorce and single parents who work so hard for their children. 

My reasons for doing so are varied but they all come down to helping every member of our family thrive. There were some wonderful messages in conference last week about the things that make a diverse set of families work, as a spiritually mature adult it is my responsibility to sift through and find the messages that are positive and uplifting for me. I accept that responsibility. 

I wish there was more love and less fear over family structure. As Elder Uchtdorf said to resist the temptation to judge families by the boxes they can check with their outward appearances and instead focus on their desire to love and serve one another. 

There is so much the gospel can give us in supporting the family in ways that are difficult to see. 

The gospel teaches us to be kind, to forgive, to serve and to love. 

At the end of the day it is more important to all families of all kinds to do these things rather than to "look right." 

Markus told me about Elder Uchtdorf's talk from Priesthood session so I looked it up. I believe it is one of the best conference talks of the conference. Maybe ever. 

The pressure to keep up appearances at church is very strong. The white shirt and suits every Sunday. Max told me tonight that he needed a new one since his is too small and he can't pass the sacrament in any other color is just one example. 

I poignantly remember a few years ago one Sunday that one of the apostles was walking out of our nice, urban stake center where he had come to attend Stake Conference with three of his daughters who live in our stake. I overheard him talking to one of his daughters as they walked down the hall of the building to the parking lot, "Some day when I get my act together, I am going to be better about..." But he's an apostle! I thought as I left to go home with my family. The fact that a modern apostle didn't think he had his act together seems to say that Mormonism is a place where appearances seem to matter, even more than in most places. Elder U. called it as eloquently as anyone I can remember.  

http://youtu.be/UL_EXAyGCkw

CONGRATS

The Jr. Grizzlies had two teams represented at this year's USA Hockey Tier II National Championship's. Both 16 U AA and Bantam AA teams earned invites to the event after celebrating state championships last month. 

Max and his squad punched the ticket to National's after forging a 3-0 record in Park City culminating in a 2-1 Shootout victory over the Ice Miners in the finale. With 11 first-year players on the roster, Coach Oly was nothing short of impressed with the efforts of his team, which also competes in the National Junior Prospects Hockey League (NJPHL). "It was an eye-opener for them playing in the NJPHL, as well as the intensity of the practices which they have never experienced here in this state before," said Oly in a recent article I was reading today at Player's Bench while getting Max's skates sharpened. "I liked the fact they came to practice wanting to learn, but we needed to find our work ethic; the boys had to make that choice to work to improve." The team's growth since the start of the season has been nothing short of dramatic, he continued. "You have no idea. These first year players (Max is a first year Midget) have improved tenfold..."

He goes on to say, "It takes a good four years of proper training and development to see the proper results."

At Nationals, which was in Plano, Texas, Oly expected his team to bring plenty of grit to the table. "We want to be the hardest working team every game. We may not win every game, but every team that plays us will remember us. Promise."

Baseball

Markus had his first game of the season tonight...

Easter 2015

I listened to Conference this morning.

And I cried. Several times.

I had forgotten how much joy I can feel in the right church setting.

I had forgotten how light my heart feels when I'm worshiping God, when I can feel His love pouring over me, when I'm just so happy to be in His presence. Especially This Talk.

It's been six months since I've listened to Conference. I only remember the choir singing I Am A Child of God last Fall.

I haven't attended Conference in a long time, since Markus was a baby, in fact.

It made sense at first. I woke up so early most of the time, and I just wanted to sleep in on Conference Sundays. Then I am working two jobs, and I often had to work on Sundays.

But reading that paragraph, all these decisions that made perfect sense at the time now just come off as excuses to me now.

Max and I listened in the car on the way to the Oval, for his second hockey session of the morning. I need to set a better example, and today I took that first step.

As Max was getting dressed and undressed in the locker room, I walked around the track. I was raised in a conservative Mormon home, but I knew I needed to find a better way than trying to buy my Salvation with good works. The merger of Christ's grace with my good works is a contender.

While I didn't completely follow the entire afternoon session of talks (there's a lot of repetition, and they used interrupters for reading stuff), I did love the talks given this morning. Plus the choir sang my two favorite Easter hymns!

After we left Market Street for brunch, I've been a bit busy with Max's hockey development camp and my parents visiting, but I loved sitting down with my mom on the swing and enjoying her company, it has been years since we have done that.

I want to feel this joy and peace again. I want to celebrate God's love every day, not just on Easter Sunday. I just hope that I remember how I feel today in a few weeks.

I'm not fooling