Another last first day...

And now....MY last first day of school! (although I can't say with certainty that I am done with school forever...I am definitely done for the next long while :)

(hate this pic-but due to tradition I was forced to post it :)

Also this week, I had a first day of work. I quit my job as a transcriptionist during my med/surg semester last year because it ended up just being too much... Below is what I wrote in my journal on my last night of work...
"I just finished typing my last report as a transcriptionist for Intermountain Healthcare. I have been working at this job for almost 4 years (the longest I've ever had a job) and although I am thrilled at the idea of not having to work on holidays, actually getting breaks from school, not having to work at 4 or 5 am before going to a full day of school, etc. I was surprised to find out how incredibly sad I am about leaving. This has really been the ideal job for so many reasons. I was able to move thousands of miles away, yet still remain tied to Utah through my job. I didn't have to look for a new job when I got here, and had the familiarity of working with people I "knew" in a place where I knew no one in the beginning. I'm not sure why I am so sad about leaving this job, but I think it signifies a big change in my life, one that I apparently wasn't totally mentally prepared to make. I learned SO much in this job that will truly help me be successful in my career as a nurse and also in my life in general. I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to work in this capacity and although I did not foresee quitting so soon, I know that it is the right decision at this time. Here goes to life as full-time student, without working. It's been a long time since I've done that, but I think I'm ready for it again...."

Well apparently I wasn't ready to be done working for too long, because here I am, less than a year later working again. Don't get me wrong, I was LOVING life as a full time student without working, but the realization that graduation is less than a year away, I will have to find a job in another state where I likely will have no connections, etc. led me to the decision that I need to get some more experience to put on my resume. So...once I had finished enjoying my last summer break, I started a job as a nursing care tech in the Emergency Department. Already I have learned a lot and am excited to advance my skills and gain some experience. Emergency nursing has always been an interest of mine (the reason I applied to nursing school in the first place after volunteering at the ER in Provo), so I thought this would be a great place to work now that I'm familiar with the role of a nurse, etc. to see if I can see myself in this capacity in the future :)

Carpinteria camping (how to...)

Our family has been camping at Carpinteria since I was about 4. We took several years off when we were all young, but for the past 10 years or so, it has been renewed as an every other summer tradition. It is really quite the process, but this family (my mom's cousins, their families, friends, etc) has it down to a science. I always say that this is the only kind of camping I really enjoy. We are right on the beach, yet close to Santa Barbara and some good shopping, bathrooms at the campsite, and warm water (that you pay for in quarters) in the showers. You still leave smelling like campfire and feeling sandy and dirty, but considering I get to spend all day at the beach and all night around the fire, while eating well the entire time, it's a pretty good deal.

I decided to document a little bit of the process.
Set up:
-Empty campsite (we try to secure as many sites as possible, but the process for reserving them is ridiculous! We were lucky to get 2 large adjoining sites and then 2 others nearby). We made the largest site the central location where we set up picnic tables, food tent, etc.
-Tent: When it comes to tents...in my opinion, the bigger the better. Karleigh "stole" my parents' old tent to use in Utah, so they bought a new tent this year, a 10-man tent-and the 4 of us shared it. It was perfect size. Enough room for 4 air mattresses, all of our stuff, and still room to walk in and out. The greatest part of this new tent, the hinged front door. I didn't realize how nice it was going to be until we set it up and started using it...SO nice!Karleigh and I took the smaller "room" on the side with it's own escape door, and we could close it off with the zipper room divider.

My parents enjoyed the luxurious larger room ;)We set up the "community site" which takes a bit of time, but is so worth it for the enjoyment of the rest of the week. We get the picnic benches from all of our campsites, but them together, cover with table cloths, and put up shade canopies (which double as beach shade during the day). We have a huge camp grill and several little stoves with burners.

-Meals: Breakfast we occasionally do cereal, but more often have awesome breakfasts full of pancakes, french toast, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns and/or eggs. Lunch we have chips and sandwich goods for everyone to take down to the beach. And for dinner, each family takes a night and makes something of their choosing. Our family did carnitas burritos, which were awesome!

-Campfire: Everyone brings a camp chair and we set them all up around the fire pit (again, double as beach seating during the days).
Days: Like I said, our days are full of beach time. I was really bad at taking pictures (partly due to the fact that you are camping and don't feel cute)... But, I did take a few...

This is a bit of our group, all out enjoying the beach.

The kids were all out in the water...with Karleigh the "teacher." I think she should forego a teaching job and just come be my nanny when we have kids ;)

The waves weren't great there this year, so playing in the water wasn't as fun, but we had a great time on the beach. Played some smashball, did lots of reading, and drank Cherry Coke Zero and ate candy on the beach...hard to get much better than that :)
My friend Jeff (from Davis) called one day, said he had seen on facebook that I was in Carpinteria (sometimes it pays to put stuff on facebook). He and his wife Klisa (who we were also friends with in Provo) were driving up the next day to look for housing as he had just landed a job in Santa Barbara (congrats!) He just graduated from dental school and made us look forward to a year from now even more :) They went to dinner with us and hung out for a bit before heading out for the night.

And in case you weren't sure how beautiful the Golden Coast was...here is some evidence.

Hope to see you again in 2 summers!

Sun, Sea, Surf, SanD…iego

As I walked out of the airport in San Diego at 5:00 pm, the first thing I noticed was that the air was almost chilly with little to no humidity. It was the greatest thing I had felt in months :) I hate the summer humidity in Kentucky and it was a welcome change in weather. From the airport, we went directly to pick up my Grandpa and joined my aunt Judy for dinner at BJs.
We REALLY missed Holly and Grant, but they are the responsible adults of the family that can't just take off to the beach for a week ;) The next morning we headed out to Del Mar for some delicious Mexican at Robertos and a perfect day at the beach. Karleigh and I did some serious boogie boarding.
Even though I packed like 10 bathing suits...I opted to sport one of Karleigh's new ones, thought they were pretty cute :) That night we checked into our hotel at the Embassy Suites in La Jolla (the same hotel Grant and I stayed at the night we got married ;), showered and headed to eat dinner with my Grandpa again. We did Costco pizza, and while we were waiting I bought the book "The Help" which was an awesome beach read (I highly recommend it for anyone who hasn't read it yet!) Breanne and Landon met us for dinner, and it was great to visit with them too.
We tried not to eat too much dinner, because we were saving room for our extraordinary desserts (one of our favorite downtown places as of late)! Even though there was a bit of a wait, the time passes quickly as we stare at all the gorgeous desserts deciding what to order.

On Saturday we drove up to Randy and Cindy's to visit for a bit before we drove north to Ventura. It was so great to see them and I especially enjoyed visiting with my cousin Danielle and meeting her CUTE little girl Lila. I cannot believe we didn't get a picture :(

Then, we drove north, as I thought about where I would want to live if we are lucky enough to be stationed at San Diego or Camp Pendleton next year!

Surprise ending

I had a very exciting and unexpected end to my summer break. I got a new job (more on that soon), and thought I was going to have to start August 1. However, they didn't get all my paperwork together in time and changed my start date to Aug 15...which left me with 2 extra weeks of summer! I had quite the trip, and it all started 2 weeks ago here, in Lexington. Karrie, Al and "the babies" came for a short weekend trip! I hadn't seen them since Utah, and it really is astounding the changes babies make in such a short period of time. In this time, I also bought a flight to California to go to the beach with my parents and Karleigh for a week.

It was fun to see the triplets in their "first home"...crazy how different it would be if they were still living in this house!

We unfortunately didn't get very many pics of this trip...it poured all day Saturday and we just hung out...

In trying to find a flight to California (very last minute) I discovered that it was almost $200 cheaper to fly out of Charlotte than Louisville or Lexington, so I made the trip back to North Carolina with them and hung out til Thursday when I flew out :)

In that time, we had a lot of fun. I had some serious guilt for missing Grant's birthday and first day of school (I know he's not 5, but it still made me sad). I think he sort of enjoyed the fact that I missed his b-day since he had missed mine a couple of times in the last few years so now we are "even."
Karrie and Al had plans to go out one night, so I triplet-sat for the evening, and we had a great time. I played with the girls' hair...and we even got Madi's little bit of hair into pigtails, did some reading, eating and lots of fun!

And just because I think these kids are so fun...here are a few more pics of the fun we had :)

And because of the cheap fare...I flew back into Charlotte, and Grant came down for one last weekend of fun, before school and real life set back in! Grant and Al went to the US National Whitewater Center and did some crazy rafting and a few other fun activities there. They said that it was a really neat facility... check it out if you're ever in the area! Karrie and I had a lazy day, accomplishing "nothing" (besides caring for 3 babies), but managed to still have a great time. Sunday, Grant and I made the beautiful drive back home!

A last first day

And here it is (although a week late)...Grant's LAST first day of school picture! I was out of town for his first day and was adamant that he get a picture of himself...thank you Grant :) And a shout out to Tricia for his cute tooth lunchbox.