Nurse Amber!

I am officially a nurse in the state of Utah! I took the NCLEX (nursing state boards) on Tuesday the 17th and found out on DOPL's website on Wednesday night at midnight that I passed and was a nurse! I was so excited! I started training at my job, still Draper Rehab where I have been a CNA for 4 years, on Friday 6-6 and Saturday 6-6. It is a whole different job and so much stuff to learn! My brain is fried and on information overload right now trying to remember all of the things I have to do in a 12 hour shift. It feels good to finally be a nurse and to do what I have been always wanting to do!

LPN Graduation!

Nursing school officially ended December 15th, but graduation didn't happen until January 6th. I am so happy to be done with this chapter in my life! Now I get to take the NCLEX (state boards that determine if I get my licensure as a nurse) and then I get to apply to RN schools! I am halfway done with my online class... I have taken an exam a week since I graduated and am now on week 5 and exam 5 out of 9 :) It feels good to take a test a week and do well on them, I am getting better grades on these exams than I did in nursing school... and I am teaching myself all of the material! Graduation was much better than expected. The class presidents made awards for each individual... I got "always crosses her t's and dots her i's" because I was the most organized and always prepared. HECK YA! Then the teachers did the pinning (a nurses pin that represents welcoming into the medical field) and then we did the traditional lighting of the lamps. It has something to do with Florence Nightingale... but we all got a lamp and passed it down to the end of line line. Then we read the Florence Nightingale prayer together. I was lucky to have my dad and my mom both there and g&g maxwell... and of course my hubby! 

Passing the lamp

Saying the prayer

 My cute cap :)

 Calendar my mom got me! 

Flowers from my mom & KC

Flowers from my hubby

Josh's Birthday!

Josh turned 22 on January 5th. I don't like having birthdays during the week because we are so busy, it doesn't really feel like a birthday. I had IV certification from 8-5 Tuesday through Thursday and Josh had work 8-5. So since I wasn't going to see him all day, I got up really early to make him breakfast before I went to school. I made him one of our favorite's, pancake french toast. For those of you who haven't had it, it's AWESOME! I never really liked french toast because the eggs always made it "eggy" on the edges and it's a texture thing with me and would make me gag. Well if you make just normal pancake batter then you just dip the bread in the batter and fry it! Since pancake batter doesn't have eggs, it isn't eggy, and it has a thick outer coating like a pancake! Josh opened all of his presents after we ate breakfast. I love spoiling him! He got 8 2L bottles of pop  (since he will be starting school soon and will be staying up all night doing homework), a couple sweaters for work, a stainless steel clutch set for his car, interior detailing for his car (shampooing the seats and carpets to get all the nasty pop spills out he has accumulated and cleans all the air vents and dash and cupholders), and the main gift... Jazz tickets to watch the Kings play... Jimmer! He is so excited to get to see Jimmer play in person :) After work/school, we got ready and went down to the Gateway to Josh's favorite place of all time... Tucano's. It is meat heaven, which Josh loves because he doesn't get much meat at home since I hate it. Its like the Rodizio Grill, they have meat boys who bring around sticks of all different types of meat (like 25) and they slice you off a chunk of it. They bring out steak, chicken, all types of meat wrapped in bacon, buffalo flavored meat, grilled pineapple. It's all you can eat, so the perfect restaraunt for Josh. They also have an awesome salad bar with sushi, shrimp, salad, fruits, veggies, pastas, mashed potatoes, rolls,etc. After dinner we went and saw Sherlock Holmes at the Gateway theater. It was a fun filled night!

 "You are special today"

Tucanos! 

I forgot to say I made Josh these yummy Oreo chocolate chip cookies and took them to him and his co-workers :) YUM! 

New Years

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We are excited for 2012 and can't wait for what it brings for us! We went to Idaho for new years this year. Tawni was nice enough to let us stay with her all weekend because Stockton is allergic to Roxy :( we can't leave her home because we live in a basement and she would have no way of going potty. and we just love her too much to leave her! We got to Idaho Friday night and stayed until Monday. It was nice to sleep in and spend time with the family. On new years eve, some family and family friends came over and we just hung out and ate lots of food. A bunch of us started playing Phase 10 around 11 o'clock and we didn't get done until after 1 am. We love Phase 10, we seem to play it every time we get together. Josh, Tawni, and I had fun making food before the party at Tawni's house. Tawni made our favorite cupcakes (rainbow chip) while Josh and I made muddy buddies and my famous ranch dip with Doritos (OK my mom's famous dip... but still..we LOVE IT!). We are so glad the weather was good for us for the drive there and back.