Thursday, November 29, 2012

One Down

Today I had my first "final" for this semester. This was the first semester of Nursing School, and our first nursing course was Health Assessment. The lab portion of the class was learning how to perform a complete head-to-toe assessment of an individual and document normal and abnormal findings. We picked our lab partners the first day, and lucky for me I lucked out with a great partner for the semester. Totally down to Earth, comes from a big family, goes with the flow, smart, etc... Loved having her as a partner! Stephenia and I had our final assessment today where we completed the head-to-toe on each other for our lab instructor, and we passed and have completed the lab portion of the course. One final down, just a few more to go, and then I'm out of here for the break.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Four Eyes

A few weeks ago Mom took Evan to get a pictures taken. As she was reviewing the pictures and having them printed, she realized that Evan's eye looked a little bit funny. We all called it his Lazy Eye, because it wasn't aligned with his other eye. Nobody else realized it except for Mom. So she got him into the doctor to check him out, and the pediatrician agreed and sent Mom and Dad and Evan on their way to the optometrist.

  

Evan had his appointment this morning, and he went with Dad. Mom was down in Richmond at a dentist appointment. Mom came over to campus to have some lunch with me, and so as we were sitting down to eat, Dad called multiple times to inform us about the appointment. Little Man has to get glasses! Turns out he is far sighted, which has made his one eye slightly weaker. The glasses will hopefully help to correct that eye and help him see better.


Although it would be awesome if Evan had 20/20 vision and his eyes were strong and saw everything crystal clear, I think glasses have so many pros to them. First, glasses on a little baby--adorable. This kid just gets cuter and cuter every day. Second, when you see a baby/toddler with glasses, don't you immediately  think GENIUS? Yes, you do. As if this kid wasn't smart enough already. We're just creating a little Einstein over here. Third, the glasses are supposed to help correct the problem, which is awesome, too.


So Evan had his little eyes dilated and everything today. Tonight Mom and he are going to go get some fresh new shades. We're going to have to start fighting off all the little baby ladies now.

UPDATE: Little Man found himself a nice pair of shades:



 And seriously? So cute.
I rest my case.

Friday, November 16, 2012

#$&@!

Yesterday I was in physics and my friend reminded me of a funny story that I had forgotten. I want to make sure I have this written down, because I know I'll forget again...

Last year during my first semester I was taking a required Honors Creative Writing course. The "professor" was just a graduate English student, and so she wasn't very old--somewhere in her mid twenties. We read a lot of poetry throughout the course, and when we were in class she would call on people to read and then we would all analyze the poem as a group.

One day she asked me to read a poem--I don't even remember what it was or anything about it for that matter. Anyways, I was reading and got to the last line of the poem. The author had decided to end his poem with the "F" word.

I generally do not use profanity--especially the F word. I suppose they are all bad, but there are definitely varying degrees of profanity. So as I got to the last line, I just didn't read it--it isn't a word I can ever remember saying in my life, so why would I say it now just because I was in a class? The teacher just sat there for a minute, then said to me, "You can say it in this class. It's fine."

I said, "I know, but I don't want to." I think she, and a lot of the class, probably thought I was such a weirdo. After all, I hear words like that about every other second walking around campus or on the floor of my dorm. However, after being reminded about this incident, I am glad to know that by not saying something I didn't believe in saying, it made an impression on at least one person.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Pumpkin Patch 2012

For Halloween, my friend Kavya and I went home to spend the weekend with the family. She's from Canada, so her family is just a little bit farther than mine is. I met Kavya last year on the crew team, and now she's my closest friend here at school. Anyways, so Kavya had never been to a pumpkin patch or picked her own pumpkin before, so we definitely wanted to go to Belvidere Plantation one weekend we could both head back to my house. We decided to go back the last weekend of October so we could squeeze in the family/church Halloween Trunk-or-Treat, too. 


My family has been going to Belvidere Plantation for years now, and this year Mom got seasons passes from work for super cheap for the family. Also, Suzanne worked as a Farmer this year for her first job! She because a master at making Fresh Lemonade and looked so cute dressed in her farmer overalls every weekend. 

The weather for the day was perfect--a little cooler, but definitely not cold enough to warrant wearing a jacket. That Saturday was actually pretty busy and there were a million things going on: I had to get some lab work done, Mom was preparing a dozen things for the ward's Trunk-or-Treat, Bryce and Ryan had a Halloween party, etc., but since Kavya had never been, we were definitely going. Kavya, Suzanne, and I took all of the little kids and Kyan with us, and Mom and Rachel stayed at the house.

Kavya coming out of the big pipe slide!

Evan LOVED swinging on the rope, too. In general, the Pumpkin Patch was a huge hit for him!


We all had a blast. We played around in the pipe slide and in the big rope barn. My favorite part was splitting up into two teams and taking on the corn maze. Kavya, Harrison, Evan, and I were on one team, and Suzanne and her friend Aaron were paired with Kyan, Bryce, and Ryan. For one who works right next to the corn maze, Suzanne really didn't have an advantage at all. She got lost as could be and even tried to cheat her way out of the maze. 

Suzanne's group wondering how in the world they could have lost :)

 Suzanne's group still stuck in the corn maze

 
 One of the "Farmers" Suzanne works with--Farmer Skipp. Evan was enamored by this farmer for some reason. Was very curious about him!

 
After the corn maze, we took the hayride out to the pumpkin field and all picked a pumpkin together. It was quite a challenge finding a good pumpkin--the were pretty small and a lot of them were rotten. Evan LOVES pumpkins, so he was in heaven just spotting out every "umpkin" that he saw. He did not want to leave at all!

On the Hayride out to the field

Bryce, Kavya, and Kyan

Evan exploring every single pumpkin possible. LOVED them!

Harrison trying to help find the perfect family pumpkin

 Kavya is studying to be a neurosurgeon right now, so she has a LOT of schooling still ahead of her. However, when she does have kids one day, she will sure be a great mom. She loves all those little, crazy guys in my family. 



Our whole group in the patch! 

Kavya--so proud to have picked her very own pumpkin for the very first time.


Suzanne and her friend, Aaron

So grateful for such a great friend and a great fall day spent at Belvidere with the family!