Hobble Creek Canyon Campout

Truman & I are excited because we are already making some friends in our new ward! A couple, Jeff and Shelley Brown invited us to go out on a one night camp-out with some other couples from our ward up to Hobble Creek Canyon.

Truman & me were really roughing it and got Subway on our way up.

My cute husband!


Shelley Brown & Me
She actually went to my dental hygiene school and was in the class a year ahead of me. It is fun to talk dental hygiene with her, Truman tends to disappear at those times ;).

Gangster

The whole group

These people were great campers and chefs. Everyone could cook their own dinner on the grills, and they were creative! There were zucchini skewers, rice dishes, grilled chicken, tin foil dinners and more. Everyone also brought a dessert to share after dinner around the campfire. I made muddy buddys ahead of time, but one couple made a peach cobbler over the fire, and another couple had Costco churro dough that we could toast over the fire and dip in a cinnamon sugar mix, Mmmm!

There was plenty of room to camp out and it was really nice campsite on someone's property. There was also this beautiful creek adjacent to the campsite.

Truman had fun washing his hands and head in the creek. If it would have been deeper, Truman, for sure, would have jumped in.

Fun swing!

Our New Place

Some people have asked to see some pictures of our new place. We enjoyed our last place, but we were hoping to get a garbage disposal, dishwasher, and washer/dryer amenities. We have a lot more room to spread out, it is so cozy and nice. It has 2 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, a spacious laundry room, actual place for a dining room, and a wonderful kitchen.

We are loving it here!

Kitchen

Dining Room

Family Room/Hall

Half Bathroom/Laundry Room

Bedroom

Truman's Office

Jack & Jill Bathroom

New Dining Table

Truman & I were using his brother Joe and his wife Tracy's dining room table at our previous place. They just recently needed it when they moved to California, so it was time to finally get our own. Some assembly required.

Truman did most of the assemgling. I pretty much just did what he said , and made piles of the screws, haha.

First chair done

Bleu trying to help

The finished product

Moms & Flowers

When some of my family came out for my Graduation, they had to leave the day after to get back to the real world, but my Mom was able to stay! She stayed a few days longer and stayed at Truman and mine's place. It was a joy to have her there and get to spend some time together! Something that my Mom has always had such a talent for us is gardening. I swear, she must know everything about every plant --it's name, what season's it blooms in, if they're perennials or what not, shade or sun, how long they flower for, how strong their scent is, how often you should water --yeah, pretty much everything! I know I'm not saying any of that stuff above right, but you should hear her talk about plants!

My primroses and parade roses that Truman had bought me were growing out of their pots. My parade roses also needed to be pruned, and that's just one more reason why it was great to have my Mom in town! We went shopping for some flower pots, and she also bought me a new plant! I found these yellow lilles that were darling and I just fell in love with! Not only do I like the blossom, but the leaves are really cool, so even when they're not in bloom, it'll still look great!

We got a yellow pot for the yellow lillies, and a red pot for the parade roses which will bloom red. She also got me a watering can, a bag of potting soil, and Miracle-Gro to get me started. It was fun to sit out on the lawn in the sun and give my plants a make-over. It felt like I was in Achievement Days again. Thanks for everything Mom, it was great fun!

Salt Lake City

I drove all my licensing paper work up to Salt Lake City yesterday! You can mail it, but then I would have to give them all my originals. If you bring it to the office they can just make a copy of your originals there, and then sign that they saw them. It was so exciting to hand them over my paper work, my certificates, and my application --a little less exciting to hand over the check. But I guess I should be used to dishing out money at this point to pay for school, supplies, and tests. Perhaps I'm getting a little numb to it now, anyone else want some money?? Put it on my tab. haha.

As I mentioned, this was in Salt Lake, and let me tell you, I hate driving in unfamiliar places. Home, school, grocery store, gas station --yep, that about covers familiar and comfortable. In fact, we just moved and I don't even know how to get to our own church building yet! Truman drives, Amy doesn't pay attention --very typical day. Story of my life.

When I moved out to Utah and had only been here for about 3 days, I was up in Salt Lake with my Mom and brother. After the festivities, I had to drive back to Provo by myself and got majorly lost trying to find the freeway entrance --construction blocking off roads, one ways, dying phone, lots of tears, and my brother having to come find me-- He then drove me to the freeway entrance, thank you Marshall. Embarassing...yes, so as you can imagine Salt Lake & I still aren't on the best terms. I haven't quite healed from the incident yet. haha. Mapquest wasn't much help either, it would say things like go west on E 300 S... First of all there is no street named "E 300 S" which is it E or S? And which way is west again?? haha. I eventually gave up on that and called the Department of Occupational & Professional licensing place, and had someone give me directions. Then of course, I had her give me home directions as well because, let me tell you, you cannot go back the same way you came! So...driving up to Salt Lake City, all the way down town, 600 South exit, was a big feat for me. Suprisingly, I did not get lost on the way there, I found the building, and got back on the freeway to home without a single mistake --Impressive? I would say so.

Truman & I love love love our new place, everywhere has plenty of storage...except the bathroom. Suprisingly, our former place had a lot more storage in the bathroom. In our new place, there is a small awkwardly shaped space to the right of the vanity, and we were looking for some kind of shelving unit. We checked various places and finally decided it was time for IKEA. We found something that looked like it would just barely fit and the perfect color. They were out of stock though, and it was on backorder.

I've asked Truman a couple times if he wants to go to IKEA with me and pick it up. He gets this look on his face like I'm asking him if he would mind if I punched him in the face. Apparently, since our recent visit, he now HATES IKEA. haha. I can definitely understand his frustration though. It is like a maze in there! You're thinking, I'm just going to go to the bathroom accessories section, no problem. Then you can't even get to it without winding and ducking through the bedroom furniture area, kids furniture area, kitchen and dining area, etc. And by then you just want everything and they've caught you in their evil IKEA web!

But...I suppose that's the whole point of it.

So, on my way back from Salt Lake, I could see IKEA and knew the chances of Truman coming with me again weren't great, haha, and I get off the exit. Of course, I can't just be there for 15 minutes to pick up the shelf; I end up being there for like an hour! How? I don't know, it's the web, I'm telling you! And then of course the alluring smell of those heavenly cinnamon rolls for only a $1.00. Trapped! I finally find and retrieve the shelving unit and narrowly escape just purchasing the shelf and these awesome curtains on super sale, darn it! haha. Then, time for the journey back home. The only thing is, I can't figure out where the freeway entrance is?? haha. Ahh! I have to call Truman to help me figure it out while I'm being frantic--this isn't the first time Truman's received a phone call like this. Unfortunately, there isn't a GPS navigator in me, and Truman can't magically orient himself to my location. Come on Truman, why not?! haha. I'm already going the wrong way and hello Bangerter Highway. A wrong turn and 20 minutes later, I eventually get back on the freeway thanks to Truman (and yes, in the right direction). I don't think I'll be going up to Salt Lake anytime soon if I can help it.

Here is the shelving unit from IKEA. We assembled it last night (and when I say we I mean Truman, I think I handed him a few things, that counts right?) Amazingly enough, it fits in the space perfectly! This picture makes it look smaller than it really is, it will actually hold quite a lot. I'm going out today to get some basket type things for it. It will be so nice to have some more organization!

Aurora Strawberry Preston

Look at those pig tails!

Look at the piggy beanie! And is she holding a pine cone?!

That is so awesome!

Look how cute this little Princess Aurora is?! This is my neice, daughter of one of my older sister's, Rachel Preston. She was born November 20, 2007 and is a super sweet little girl. Rachel, her husband Dave, and Aurora live in California so I don't see her that much, but Rachel sent me these pictures via email and I just had to share them!

YIPEE!!!

I had 4 different Boards that I had to pass in order to be licensed to become a dental hygienist. The Boards were March 24, April 30, and May 2. And now they're over!

The first I had to take was a written National Board that was an 8 hour long exam that tested my knowledge of pretty much everthing from the last 4 years. I got my results back a few weeks ago, I passed!

Check!

The second test was a timed written anesthesia exam that I got one chance at, or do not pass go...do not collect $200 dollars. (Basically I couldn't move onto the practical portion of anesthesia). I studied hours upon hours for it, and I had heard that three girls in my class that had taken it the day before me had failed, so as you can imagine, I was really nervous. I start taking it, and the first three questions I have never seen anything like it, and I don't even know how to answer. I start freaking out of course, but about a half hour after the exam, you can pick up your results. They are in an envelope with your candidate ID # on it on the table. I run over there, open it, and I passed!

Check!

The third test was a practical anesthesia test, where I got to use my friend Shantay as my testing subject. I had to give an inferior alveolar nerve block (IAN) and a posterior superior alveolar injection (PSA). Pretty much everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong --just my luck. Two examiners watch over your shoulder as you do the injections and one says, "I see" and the other, "Proceed" at different points. Can anyone say nerve racking? No pun intended. I did the IAN first and kept running into all these problems I had never run into during all my time at UCDH. I was so nervous by now after feeling like I blew the first one, that when I went to do the PSA injection, I was shaking so bad, poor Shantay, haha. I definitely should have done the PSA first! haha. The examiners tell me to stay with my patient and wait there. They come back in a little bit, and tell me they need to see the IAN on the other side. Which basically means, one of the examiners failed me and the other passed me. Luckily they grade us independently, and both examiners have to agree --so here we go again. I start again on the other side of her mouth, and it's the exact same problems, haha. I was still able to get to my optimum depth and angle after a bit and finished the best I could. They told me to excuse my patient and clean up my area. I'm sitting there, sure that I failed, waiting for the dreaded envelope with my ID number to be on that table to confirm my fears. I go out to the table, open the envelope, half squinting my eyes to lessen the pain, and...I passed! I barely passed, by the skin of my teeth I guess I should say! haha. I think they probably took into consideration that it was a difficult situation due to my patient's anatomy, and I handled it the best way I could. But hey, it doesn't matter, I passed! haha.

Check!

Then the fourth and final exam, not to mention the one that I was the most worried about, was my clinical practical exam. You pretty much have to be in dental hygiene school or dental school to realize how hard it is to find a qualifying patient for this exam. I can't just have any old patient like Truman for example who brushes two times a day, flosses one time a day, and has regular 6 month cleanings and check-ups. I needed someone who had at least 12 definite bindable subgivgival clicks or ledges of calculus. That pretty much means that they need to have not had their teeth cleaned for at least 10 years, maybe even 30 years, or never, depending on how fast they build up calculus. I needed there to be so much calculus below their gums that the patient would pretty much have to have local anesthesia. There would need tobe so much that it would take me hours to clean it off the roots of their teeth in just one quadrant of their mouth. So basically, not your typical patient. My friend Hailey and I shared a patient, and bought him lunch inbetween and paid him to be our patient because he had to be there 5 separate hours for each of us. The exam was very stressful to say the least, and I felt horrible afterwards. I didn't know if I passed, but if I had to guess, I would have leaned towards not passing. The Western Regional Examination Board (WREB) told us it would take up to 4 weeks for them to mail our results. So I was sitting impatiently for 2 weeks, and I get something in the mail from WREB, and I'm frantically trying to get it open. If I did not pass this Board it wouldn't matter that I graduated from dental hygiene school or passed the other Boards, I still could not become licensed until I passed it. I could wait some more months, and pay another $1,000 dollars, but I wanted to become licensed, like yesterday. I'm scanning and scanning the paper for some type of answer, yes or no, yes or no!!! haha. I see this list of states and these phone numbers to call and I start freaking out thinking that it's telling me that these are locations that I can re-take the test at. Then I finally see the Congratulations!!! And wow, was I special, it was the first word on the page, but I skipped over it somehow haha. That paper was telling me states that I could be licensed in, not where I could re-test, haha. I started to cry a little just because it was such a relief for so many reasons, what a weight off my shoulders! My success cards were included, and I passed!

Check!

Check, check, check, check!

I am always really hard on myself, a perfectionist, my worst critic, and I guess a bad judge if I passed or not. I couldn't be happier that it's over. I'm as light as a feather! Now all I have to do is turn in all my licensing papers through the state and I can finally be what I've been working towards for so many years, a Registered Dental Hygienist!!!

My Graduation

Well, I did it! I finally graduated from dental hygiene school! I officially have my Bachelor's in Science in Dental Hygiene, my paper says so! haha. It's so exciting to finally be done and never have to go to school again unless I want to. And best of all, I have a useable skill! I always knew I wanted to go into something that I could use right away and there was a defined job for it. You still have to take four different Board exams to become licensed as a dental hygienist, but at least I'm graduated and have my degree!

A good portion of my family was able to make it out for my Graduation. It was so fun and exciting to have them there. It just makes that celebration that much better. It was so nice to have them there supporting me, thank you family!

My Parents & Me

My Mom was so excited that I graudated, thank you for everything Mom!

Sister Tara, Me, Newphew Reis, Brother-in-law Mike

FLC, May 2007

Sister Tara, Me, Nephew Reis, Brother-in-law Mike
UCDH, April 2009

I can't believe how much that little boy has changed!!!


Reisy & Me

Reis loved trying to get into every picture ;)

What a little character! This is him trying to be a monkey.

Tara & Me

The picture didn't turn out so good, but it was my favorite! :)

Just a little gangster

Now a little love

Now "up in the heezy" as Truman would say

Smooch!

Shelly & Me sporting our attire

Marshall & I and our muscles

Mike & Reis getting some food during the Graduation

Brandi & Me!

Heidi Johnson, Angeli, & Me

Suzy, Kris, Michelle, & Me

Me & Laura

Natalie, Suzy, Misty, & Me

Me & one of my favorite instructors, Dr. Allan

__________________________________________

Graduation was so much fun! It was held at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo. It was about two hours long and a great ceremony. It felt so surreal to graduate! The whole time all I could think was ...don't trip, don't trip..., haha. Then before I knew it, it was over, and I didn't trip thank you. I will miss my UCDH chicas class of 2009, and all the great friendships that I've made. I guess it's time to move onto the real world.

Thank you for everyone who came out to my Graduation!