No More Graves

Tonight is my very last grave shift for 4 months!! I have about 5 hours left tonight and then I'm done. I have been looking forward to this for a long time, but especially this week. It's been at the top of my list of things to look forward to. YAY!! NO MORE GRAVES!!!

Now, I just want to state something for the record. I make no promises that in a month or so I won't be complaining because I so desperately want to go back to graves. I love grave work. I don't particularly love graves in the winter because they are so quiet, but I love them. I'm just ready for a break, and this is perfect timing! And I'm excited to get my social life back...also a VERY convenient time for that situation! =D

Timpanogos Storytelling Festival

Today I volunteered at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival. I have never gone to or helped with the festival the many years it's been going. This year I got an email sent city-wide saying they needed more volunteers, so I told them I'd help. It was a pretty easy shift...drive the shuttle van back and forth between the festival and the 3 church parking lots that the city had designated as shuttle parking lots. It wasn't bad at all.

I did learn that stopping in a 15 passenger van is much more difficult and takes alot more time than it does in my little 5 passenger veh. (That lesson was learned without any passengers in my vehicle...fortunately!) I made about 19 or 20 round trips in and out of the canyon, and for an hour of that we were fighting BYU traffic. It was quite a day. I have never been to the festival (I wasn't able to use the 4 free tickets they gave me for volunteering) and until this week I never thought I would ever want to go. But hearing all the talk and seeing some of what it's about it seems like a great event that maybe next year I'll try to attend.

This is the van I drove. It was HUGE! I have never driven a big vehicle before so starting with a huge van was an experience. I feel a little bad for my very first van-full of festival-goers!
Here is another view of the van. It's a little closer view. I did get pretty used to it after awhile. I was like a big-van professional! =D
This is the lot that I always had to stop at. I would shuttle to all 3 lots and always pick up from this lot. They had 3 shuttle vans and 8 school buses. I never knew so many people attended.
Just another view of all the cars in the lot. (There wasn't much to take pictures of...a van, the lot and me...that's it!)
And here is a picture of me. I do not look happy. I really did enjoy myself, but it was hot and I sat in a car for 3 1/2 hours straight. I took this picture right at the very end and I was glad I had only volunteered for 3 hours. It was enough service to help out and enjoy myself but not enough to ruin the experience for me. It ended up being a very good day.

Hard Work...?

I actually kind of feel a lack of hard work tonight. I got to work at 5pm and sat down on radio. We had some calls, but it wasn't busy by any means. It was just a normal night at work. Well I stayed on radio until about 9:30pm and then I took an hour of "administrative time" to update the birthday list. I spent an hour blacking out names we aren't putting on our list and then retyping the papers...very difficult... At 1030 an officer came into dispatch and picked me up and I went on a ridealong for the rest of my shift. I LOVE RIDEALONGS!! They are so fun to me. I know alot of people would rather not go on them and are happy if they never have to go, but to me they're exciting.

Tonight I rode with Officer Rich. He's a pretty nice guy. I got to know him better when he helped teach our self-defense class. I had a really good time. We were SO slow tonight. There were seriously no calls. We took a barking dog complaint and he helped on a family problem but then we just drove around for hours. (Ok, maybe "hours" is a slight exaggeration. It was awhile though.)

At one point a car passed us on Center St going about 70. He flipped around on it to cite them (the speed limit is 35). He finally caught up to the car and pulled it over. He went up to the car and about 20 seconds later came back to his car laughing. I wondered why he was laughing when he was just adament (sp?) about citing the driver. It turns out the car was full with a family who was trying to get the hospital in time to see their daughters baby be born. It was pretty funny. That's definitely not something you hear every day. We drove around for a long time, he backed a few officers on different traffic stops. He went to a park and ran people for warrants after the park was closed and then made them leave. Nothing too exciting.

And then we went on "the call". The one that sounded like it was going to be great. A possible home intrusion. We pulled up and Officer Rich pulled out his shotgun! That's when I knew it was serious business. All 4 officers parked a little bit away and walked in to what they thought was maybe a hot call. The screen cut and windows open on a home. It turned out not to be a home intrusion after all (I don't really know why the screen was cut) but for a few minutes the adrenelin was pumping and it was pretty exciting!

It turned out to be a great night at work filled with not a whole lot of hard work. I love nights like this. I love having a night that's a break from the normal craziness. I love that I got to "chill" a little at work tonight...especially with the weekend coming up...guaranteed craziness!! And ridealongs are great to me. I want to be an officer. I love seeing what actually happens. And Officer Rich was so nice to me and let me ask him all my police questions. He even helped me understand the difference between the level of stops and what is allowed (and how it's allowed) on a traffic stop. I know that doesn't sound very exciting to most of you, but to me it was great! All-in-all a very good night!

Good Nights!

So I just decided that I love hanging out! Alot of times I miss out on playing with my friends because of work. I'm either getting ready for work or going to work or sleeping because I've spent hours at work. I only get to hang out on my days off and only IF there's something going on. It stinks!

This week I've had the chance to hang out a few times. We did our movie night last night and we had game night tonight. We had the guys over to our apartment to hang out and they decided they wanted to play games. They played a few different games before I got home (I was getting a calling from the Bishop--VT Coordinator) and then we played spoons after I got home. We played for about an hour and it was fabulous! Katie came over after she got out of school, Meg and I were there, and then Cordell, Aaron and Kevin came again. I think Kevin thinks we're a little crazy, but he still comes! =D

I just really like the company I've been in this week. We have some great friends. Sometimes I hate all the drama, work, etc of being in a BYU ward...but this week it's been great! And I feel like there have been some improvements. Improvements that I'm VERY happy about! I'm looking forward to the next hangout night. Too bad I won't be able to hang out again until the middle of next week. I guess it gives me something to look forward to, right?

Movie Night!

So tonight we had an impromptu movie night. I worked a day shift today and since I had the night off I wanted to do something exciting. So what did I do?? Called up the guys and invited them over for a movie night. We started the night off with Me, Cordell, Aaron, Kevin, Katie, Megan, Tim and Josh (I think those are their names...we're still getting to know them) and Abderrahim. The 2 new guys left shortly after starting the movie, then Kevin left, Megan left to do her laundry, Katie and Abderrahim went in and visited with Jessie when she got home, so by time the movie was over it was just me, Cordell and Aaron. We do a pretty decent job apparently at weeding people out! =D

It took us awhile to finally decide on a movie. Apparently we mostly have "girl movies" which weren't winning over the guys. Then they thought it would be cool to watch a scary movie, but I'm not a big scary movie fan so I ruled that out. So what were we left with? A very random selection of church movies, weird movies (I say weird because I haven't seen them and there must be a reason, right?) and musicals. We finally got the selection down to Paycheck, Les Miserables and Galaxy Quest. (I think those were the 3...) After the final vote we decided on Les Miserables. I was super excited because I hadn't seen it ever.

It turned out to be alot longer than I thought, but it was worth every second...both for viewing and "chillin" purposes. It was an amazing movie and I can't believe I've gone 25 years without seeing it. And then there was the company. I'm sure you all remember the days when you were single and you'd have guys over for movie night. You would strategically pick your seat so that you got to sit by a guy you were interested in. And then, especially during a long movie, you get tired and eventually get to cuddle... Oh the days of being single. What would I do without them?? (Let me count...)

After the movie the few of us that were left hunkered down on the couches and talked until it was curfew and time for the guys to leave. We had great conversations and just had a really great time. This is what we learned...no boy cuddling, it's ok for girl roommates to all lay in bed together talking but it crosses a very weird line if guy roommates ever did, and last but not least, world of war craft is not an interesting subject (thanks Abderrahim) but does allow for some VERY interesting break-off conversations. All-in-all I would consider this a SUPER successful night!! =D

Differences

Sometimes I like being different. I like not coming from a cookie-cutter and being the person that everyone expects me to be. My roommates always joke (at least I hope it's joking) that they think I have a "secret life". While I wouldn't go as far as to say I have a secret life I would say that people don't know everything about me. Not even my roommates know everything. I think it's fun to have some suprises. I think it's fun that I'm not exactly the person that people are expecting or think I should be. It keeps people on their toes, and it keeps my life interesting! =D

Counting down

The countdown is on!! After tonight (which I'm not counting because I'm already here) I have 3 grave shifts left at work before I go to 4 months of day shifts!!! YAY!!! I am so happy to have a break from graveyards. I love day shifts because I can have my normal social life back and my normal sleep schedule back! (And it can't be bad for my health (and sanity) either, right?) I must say, I am very excited!

Good company

It appears that freak diseases come on in groups. =D I have a friend who just had to have emergency surgery due to some problems that came on just in the last week. I mentioned to him in an email about my health problems and he told me he had just started having his own; pain, medication, the whole bit. Next thing I heard from him, he had just gotten home from the hospital.

So even though being sick totally stinks, it appears I'm not alone in my misery. It was actually kind of nice talking to him knowing that he's in the same boat that I'm in. (Now don't get me wrong, I wouldn't wish pain or illness on anyone. I'd suffer alone if I had my choice!) But it looks like I'm in good company. Not the type of company I'd like to be a part of, but company none the less. =D

Woe is me...

Ok, so I just realized that my last post totally had a "woe is me" feel to it. I apologize for that. I wasn't meaning to play the pity card. I was just really not feeling well and we all get a little "woe-ish" in those times. At least I know I do.

I am doing ok though as far as my health goes. I'm not really feeling any better, but I'm seeing my pancreas specialist again and I feel like even though nothing has been fixed yet, just having him aware of what's going on is a relief. And I've discovered something. I'm kind of in constant pain right now but it's tolerable. It's not comfortable, but I can live with it. However, when I eat the pain increases. After eating anything the pain becomes almost intolerable and I have to take some type of medication. I was telling my roommates this today and Megan pointed out that anorexia is not a solution! It's true. It seems like an ok temporary solution, but long term it's no good. So what am I going to do? I don't know. But at least I have my doctor on my side now to help me.

So thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I really appreciate it. They didn't go unnoticed! And I'll keep you updated on my condition. But I'll be ok. No more woes on my part! (or at least that's the goal) =D

Sickness... =(

***This may be kind of long. It's more for documentation. So if you don't want to read all about how I've been sick this week you can stop reading now! =D***

I have been sick this whole past week. It started about Monday with some mild pain in my stomach. I didn't think much of it. I went that day to the hospital to have my blood drawn (as I do every month) and everything appeared ok. I didn't think much of it because having a slight pain in my stomach and side isn't a big deal. I'm used to it. On Tuesday I actually felt a little better. There was still pain but it wasn't even an issue and I was able to go to Megans birthday celebration with no problems. Wednesday I woke up not feeling very well (sore throat and headache) along with a little more severe pain in my side. Starting Wednesday night the pain slowly kept getting worse. By Thursday morning it was pretty bad. By thursday morning I was also unable to keep anything down. Everytime I ate or drank anything the pain increased and I would throw up. (Sorry this is a little graphic)

So the pain kept getting worse and worse and finally on Friday night (well Saturday morning) around 2 AM I decided I couldn't take it anymore and drove from my apartment to my parents house. Have you ever been so sick and all you want is your mom? I haven't been that sick in a long time, but I needed her that night. So I drove out to her house and woke her up. She let me lay there in her bed with her and just cry because I was in such awful pain. We eventually got up and went and laid on the bed in the guest bedroom together. I laid there and cried and cried and she rubbed my back and rubbed my head and just talked to me while I cried. We finally came to a conclusion that I needed to go to the ER. I hadn't had anything to eat or drink since Wednesday night and I was dehydrated. And I was in such awful pain there was no way I was going to make it through one more night without some type of intervention. So off to Timpanogos ER we went.

Once we got to the ER they started trying to help me right away. I think they felt bad for me becuase I was crying and didn't look too good. My dear nurse came and tried to start an IV but wasn't able to so she asked another nurse to come help her. After 5 unsuccessful tries, they finally got an IV started in my foot! By this time I was so tired of being stuck by needles I was willing to let them go just about anywhere as long as they were sure they'd get it. So the IV finally started giving me some much needed fluids and they doctor gave me some much needed pain medication. However, my pain was so awful that it took quite awhile and quite a few doses of medication to get me to even be able to calm down. The doctor and my nurse were so patient.

The doctor finally came in and said my blood work looked normal and she was going to send me home. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't looking forward to staying in the hospital, but I also wasn't looking forward to going home untreated. They gave me one more dose of the medications, unhooked the IV and sent me home about 8 AM on Saturday. I slept most of yesterday morning and then woke up in extreme pain in the afternoon. Extreme pain that has continued and continued and is apparently going for some kind of record and not stopping. I have spent the last 2 days laying in bed, sobbing at times due to the pain. It has not been a good experience. I said yesterday that I hope after all of this there is something to learn. And I found it.

Today we went to my parents for dinner. Since I can't eat or drink anything I just layed on the couch while they ate and played games. I was so miserable. I slept a little, cried alot and just tried to forget for a second how bad it hurts. After dinner we were getting ready to go and my dad asked me if I wanted a blessing to which I immediately agreed. My dad and Russell blessed me and it was such a nice blessing. Of course they didnt' say "this will go away and never come back". As far as I can tell it won't go away or at least won't stay away. But something in his blessing touched my heart. He said "Heavenly Father loves you and forgives. Don't let the past play into the future. He's forgiven you and it's over. He wants you to do what you need to do now to get help and feel better and he's there for you no matter what!" Now, you may wonder why I wanted to share that, and there's a reason. A few of you know what happened last time (about 4 years ago) when I got sick and after my surgery. I've been so worried thinking about last time that I wasn't making good desicions for this time. I told my mom last night that I hate going to the ER. That was because of last time. I needed to go and I finally did and my Heavenly Father wants me to. Even though I'm laying here in severe pain typing this, I'm comforted. I'm grateful for blessings and for the Priesthood. I'm grateful my dad and brother are worthy to be called on whenever I need them and I'm grateful that they're willing to use their priesthood to bless me.

Here's the frustrating part, and maybe some of you have experienced this. I hate being told "nothing's wrong" when obviously there is something wrong. My blood work shows normal. It ALWAYS shows normal. When I got sick and they found my appendix was about to rupture my blood work showed normal. When I got sick and they found my gall bladder was working at less than 10% of what it should, my blood work showed normal. When I've had pancreatitis in the past, my blood work showed normal. So normal blood work to me means nothing. I'm frustrated because I'm laying here crying in pain, knowing there is something wrong inside of me, and I'm being told that I'm fine and that nothing is wrong. I have to say that's the most frustrating part.

Ok, now I feel I've vented and hopefully will feel better about at least saying my opinion to someone! Wish me luck and if it's not too much work, keep me in your prayers. I could use some blessings right about now!

Favorite Pictures!

These are a few of my favorite pictures. Most of them are from this summer, but there are a few other random ones in here. I was going through all the pictures on my computer and thought I'd share some of these with you!

This is Jessie, Heidi and I. We were in California and for the trip from the airport the first day we were all 6 squished in a car that seats 5. So Heidi layed down on our laps and as you can see we were so comfortable that she fell asleep. For some reason I just think this is such a good picture!
I love this picture! This is Dave and I. This is right before he left us forever...(ok, a little dramatic) but it is right before he left. His parents came out for his graduation and we all went bowling. It was such a fun night!

I just think this is such a funny picture! Nicole and I were not in the mood for pictures. And I love that our chocolate advent calendars (yes, we each had our own so as to not have to share the disgusting wax chocolate) are hanging right behind us on the wall.
Here is Megan, Jessie and I at a BYU intermural soccer game. It was really cold and really fun. We made up some cheers that night and had a very entertaining night watching a certain friend get a red card for sitting on the ground. Very entertaining!!
Here is a family picture that I like. We took pictures right before Thanksgiving last year since we didn't have any recent family pictures. Jessie and I picked the color scheme and I think these turned out pretty well!
I LOVE THIS PICTURE!! We took Brad and Dave with us to visit my dad at the fire station and they decided that they wanted to take a "calendar" picture on the fire engine. It cracks me up how into the picture Dave was! =D
Here is the other picture. At least they're both equally posed in this one. These seriously are some of the greatest guys!

For some reason I really love this picture. It's not even the best side of me, but I think it's cute. And, it's a great picture with 2 of my best friends!
How cute is this picture? This is my cousin Cameron. It's about 2 years old (maybe not that much). A bunch of people went swimming and someone said to Cameron jokingly to go sit in the locker and he did. Doesn't this look like it could be in one of those Anne Geddes calendars? He is seriously even more adorable if that is possible!
I just love this picture of Jessie. I think she looks so good! (And I hope she doesn't yell at me for putting it on here)
Jessie and I wanted to take a picture with us both kissing my dad on the cheek. We were so excited and we got all ready adn kissed him and THIS is the face he made! How funny is my dad? He made sure to tell us he wasn't grossed out by us and now I love that we have this picture forever! =D
And our lovely photographer (aunt Lori) snapped the after-picture. I seriously love my dad. He is one of my best friends and he is my hero. I can't think of a better person than him and I am so lucky to have him in my life!

Noise...GRRR!!!

I have been home sick for 2 days now. (Small complication with my pancreas) I've been hanging out in my room laying in bed just trying to not feel too sick or too dizzy. So here I am laying in bed trying to feel better and I feel like I am going crazy. A group of people from my apartment complex have set up a HUGE outdoor movie screen with surround sound directly outside my bedroom window and they've been watching Transformers for what seems like hours. It is seriously so loud. I feel like my walls and windows are shaking because of the noise. It's awful! Maybe I am extra annoyed because I'm sick, but I really feel like it's SO LOUD!!! Grrr... =(