The test came back negative

Haha! Did you think pregnancy test? Just a tuberculosis test. Just in case you were thinking I had TB, I don't and now I can prove it. I wouldn't blog about this, but when I went in to have the test administered, I was waiting and filling out paper work. A man came in to the clinic and the receptionist asked if she could help him. In a deep and loud voice he replies, "Um yeah...I need to get tested for TB before I go to prison." Ummmm...thanks. You could have just said I need a TB test. He must be pretty proud of himself.
And just so you know, don't go in for a TB test two days before you go on vacation. Because they won't give it to you. And then when you get back from vacation, you have to drive 25 minutes to the clinic for an injection and then 2-3 days later you have to go back so they can look at your arm and see if you are infected. That is my helpful hint for the day.

On another subject, I had my first full week as a dental assistant! The first three days I observed and got to know how the office worked and learned how to sterilize, but today I assisted! On 4 composites, a root canal and a cleaning. It was pretty cool! And I didn't totally suck! (Just spit) The office I am at is pretty small and new and they are all sooo nice. I'm happy to be there. We'll see what next week brings...

Moab Memorial Weekend

Another great Moab Weekend! We all look forward to this allllll year. We started off at 4:00 am. Nate likes to leave early so we sleep the whole time:) Just like last year, we took off in the rain. This time we found some fog as well.

(Whenever I encounter anything besides sunshine, I feel a need to document)
By about hour 7 we were feeling a little bit punchy.We finally made it! I have to admit, I liked Moab a little bit better when we were only 3 1/2 hours away. This drive is the worst. Now, no one knew I was coming, so it was fun to get there and surprise everyone, even if the only ones that really cared were my parents. We got settled in to our home away from home.We went to Pasta Jay's that night. Our favorite restaurant in Moab. MmmMmmm. And it gets better, after dinner we managed to shove the best ice cream ever into our bellies.The next day we thought we were going on a hike. To Nate's horror, everyone wanted to go the Arts Festival that was in town. Here he is having a grand old time. What a good sport!
It's all good, after that we hiked Corona Arch. Megan chose to go to Arches Nat'l Park with my brother, just a few miles away from where we were. They got caught in a torrential rain storm and we barely got sprinkled on. They said they were soaked clear through! Our hike was a lot of fun.

Can you see all the peeps under there? This arch iis huge!

We had our annual Dancing with the Tards.



Afterwards, we went on another beautiful hike, this time my folks joined us. This was the first part of our hike. Not so great when allll the grandkids like to scream at the top of their lungs in here!

My brother Scott.

What a gorgeous day!
We had a fun night of grown ups only. Ahhh the joys of having kids that are getting older. We got some fun pictures that night. Mom? Did you remember that I need those emailed? Just a friendly reminder. Thanks to everyone for a great trip. Once again, it ended too soon. Nate drove me up to Salt Lake and we dropped in on his folks for about an hour. I haven't seen them since Thanksgiving. But time flew by and it was time to take me to the airport. I had to fly home Monday night to start my new job Tuesday morning. More on that later....

Last Day of School

Bittersweet day. I really don't like getting out of my comfort zone, and school has definitely become my comfort zone. But, six months ago, school was definitely out of my comfort zone. I guess I am adaptable.
My last day of school came a day early. I decided to make a surprise appearance in Moab, so my teacher let me take my finals early. And can I just say it one more time??? I am graduating with a 4.0!!!!! Yeah, that's right. I keep telling people, and they are all nice enough to let me keep telling them. I am going to miss my friends and teachers so much!

I like this one of my teacher Sue because she just looks like she is up to no good. And she wasn't.

Donell, Liz, me, and Cherys

I am so glad that I took this opportunity to go back to school. I am grateful to Nate for completely turning his work life and schedule upside down to make it work. I couldn't have done it without my Study Buddy. He helped me memorize countless index cards. And, of course, thank you honey for paying for it!!!

That night we had a celebratory dinner at my beloved Chiles.

MMMMMM, Ribs!

Do you see that sparkling in my ear? Nate gave me diamond earrings for graduating! Sometimes I can't believe that he is mine. He is seriously the best.

I Got Shot

Yep, I did. Immunized, just like a little kid. I didn't cry...but it hurt! I had to get two sticks, and she rammed em in at the same time, which was nice. Needles don't bother me, and the stick wasn't bad, it was the injection. Yowzaa! Hep B and a tetanus. My arm is starting to get a little heavy, I'm sure in the morning it will feel lovely.

Try to take a picture of your own arm. It's a little harder than I thought it would be.
But I got my haircut today. I'm not hung up on length, but I do need to de-bulk every few months. And I loooove having it blown out straight. My hairdresser can work wonders on my hair. (But not like you can, Piper.) Ahhhh. The only downer is that it is humid today. Grrrr! But I hugged my puppy, and it is all okay. Excuse her alien eyes.
I had a hard time with Sammy today. I think it boils down to her having some (a lot) of anxiety about going to Utah for so long. It's always hard on her to have change. That, coupled with the end of school can be too much for her. She fell asleep at 6:00, I hope she wakes up better. She has been sick for about a week and a half, so I'm sure she needs the rest. Nate came home from work sick last night and was sick as a dog all day. Now Megan sounds like she is getting sick. The biggest downer about that news? Moab is on Friday. I hate to think of them sick for the big trip.
I got out the suitcases today and started packing for the girls. I can't believe they will be gone for three weeks! I'll miss them so much.
Just two more tests to go and I WILL BE DONE! WooHoo!

Oh yeah, my kids are done with school tomorrow. Tomorrow afternoon I will be a mother of a sixth and fourth grader. Me! When did I grow up?

Winding down the School Year. Yay!

Ahhhhh, the last week of school for all three of us! I can't believe it! With the end of the year comes all the fun stuff. I guess this part wasn't fun for Sammy, but Nate took her to the dentist to get her cavity filled. I was going to take her, but it turned out I had a final. Really. I did not make that up so I didn't have to take her. There was a plan to use sedation if she couldn't handle it and it is $250, so the night before I started telling her that they would give her the gas and I knew she could do really good. And if she did really good and didn't fuss, Dad would buy her an Egg McMuffin. And if she did fuss, then she would have to drink the really nasty and gross sleepy juice. (I figure a 2 dollar Egg McMuffin is a better deal than 250 dollar sedation and a day missed of school. Maybe that's just me.) Anyway, she did really great! No fuss at all. I'm telling you, not sucking her thumb has made her mature in leaps and bounds. Plus, Sammy's reading has really taken off this year, she has slaughtered her AR goal. This is something she has worked really hard on and now she loves to read, and that makes my heart glow!

Megan has had a couple of big school shindigs. She had a wonderful orchestra concert. She auditioned with her best friend Ally to do a duet and they made it! It was quite the honor and I was so nervous for her because she hates to practice. but they did so good! I thought I would burst.

Megan also had Tea at the White House this week. This is a fun project where all the fifth graders get to pick someone in history and do a big project about them. This has been going on for a couple of months. Megan picked Laura Ingalls Wilder and she was soooo excited to get her. Probably because I'm a nerd and record it whenever it is on and make the kids watch it with me;) Megan was great about working on this and I never had to get after her to finish her work. Except for the poster and that is a whole other blog post. Sigh. But she displayed a hat that she knitted and we made some jam. We tried to make a rag doll, but my sewing machine wouldn't work. I borrowed my friends and messed that one up too, so we quit while we were ahead.

Megan and her friend Angelica. Angelica has a special place in my heart. Last year someone was really out of line with Megan and she came to her defense and got in trouble.

Signing autographs! She looked up at me and grinned. "I really like this!"

I was going to take a half day off of school so I could go see this at the school. But then I realized that for once I didn't have any work due and Megan would need help with her hair in the morning. She was excited to have curls like moms. ;) So I took the day off of school and it. was. fabulous. The whole time I've been in school I've only missed two days, when I had oral surgery and when I was in Utah for my mom's surgery. And it is good that I waited until I only had one week left, because I really liked it and could have gotten into a bad habit. Only 6 tests and 3 research papers and I will be done!

Next Friday Nate and the girls will be off to Moab for our annual trip. I have finals that day and then I start my extern so I won't be joining them. sniff sniff sob. But it is for a good cause and it will only be this once. I know Nate is good and ready for a vacay. He will drive the girls up to Salt Lake after Memorial Day and spend the week there. And then he will come home alone and leave the girls to enjoy their grandparents and cousins. This really helps me because I will be externing full time and was concerned about what to do with them this summer. But I will miss them like crazy!

Extern!

Schools almost out!!! I am ready to be done. 11 school days to go. And lots of test and projects. Yesterday I was working on one of my projects when my school called me about an extern site. Less than a mile from my house and they were wondering if I would be interested. Yep, I sure would. A minute later she calls back and asks me what I'm doing right now. Homework! I reply and instantly realize I sound like a brown nosing suck up. But really, I was doing homework at that moment ;) Anywho...the dental office wanted to meet me and wanted to know if I could run in and interview. I brush my teeth (of course), tidy my hair and head up there. It is a brand new practice, in fact Nate was quick to point out that I am probably older than the dentist, and they said I can start right after school gets out! The pieces are falling into place! I will only be working 30 hours a week, so it will take me eight weeks to do the externship....so I won't be done July 3....guess I need a new ticker at the top of the blog.

Tombstone

About a week and a half ago, Nate and I were lounging outside and Nate mentioned that we needed a family outing. Tombstone was mentioned, and I was game! I fell in love with the movie Tombstone when Nate and I were dating. We didn't watch it a lot.(wink wink) I looooove this movie.We used to have it on VHS, but didn't have it on DVD, so I went straight to ebay and got us a copy. Friday night was movie night and we got the girls excited to go see the town.
Tombstone is about 2 1/2 hours from here. We headed out Saturday morning. First thing, we went to Boot Hill, the cemetery of the town.


Probably not the most PC headstone in the world:) The Lester Moore tombstone is in the movie. The cemetery is a grim reminder of how violent it was back then. We only found one headstone in the whole cemetery that was labeled "died a natural death". They said murdered, shot, killed by Indians and so forth. After Boot Hill, we headed to lunch at the OK Cafe. I was cracking up at this buffalo head that was right above our table. It was too tall to hang on the wall, so they built the ceiling up higher. And for some reason, they painted this little mural around it. Perhaps you had to be there.

It was fun to wander around town. The people watching there is pretty fantastic. A man all dressed up as a cowboy in his Jazzy wheelchair. A man driving a stagecoach on his cell phone. I thought it was wonderful to see all the historic sites. Such as the Birdcage Theater. It still has bullet holes in the ceiling and walls from the cowboys.

See that little black sign in front of the theater? They have them all over the town. It tells you who died right there, who killed them, what day and all the details.
Poor Nate tried to get a nice picture of Allen Street.

We had a fun day, it was nice to devote the whole day to just the four of us. Do I feel a deep need to run back and visit Tombstone? No...but I'm glad I went! I mentioned to Nate that a sure sign a town has crappy souvenirs is when neither kid asks us to buy them anything!