Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Christmas Lights

I love to look at houses covered in Christmas lights when it's cold and dark outside. Fortunately, I've been able to do this very thing the last two nights with friends!

On Monday night, I went with my cousin Tracie and our friend Johanna, who is home from Boston College for Christmas. We looked at the lights in Morgan Ranch (really big, beautiful houses in the hills of Glendora), then near Tracie's house.

We found one house that had the lights choreographed to music (my favorite!), and two houses that had snow makers! (Really just soapy bubbles that look kind of like falling snow- which is the same thing that Disneyland has at the end of their fireworks show.) One of these two snow houses also had a whole village scene in front of it, so we got out of the car to take pictures there.



Last night, some of my friends from the Quaker Meadow staff had a Christmas party. We wanted to go caroling afterward, and we ended up looking at Christmas lights as well.

We went down Yale Street in Fullerton which was absolutely amazing! They hang colorful lit-up balls from every tree that lines the street. I've never seen a street like it! My pictures didn't turn out so great, but this might give you an idea of what it was like:


We also went to a place called East Lake, which was a beautiful man-made lake that is completely bordered by houses so that their backyard is a lake! Most of them had little boats anchored outside their back door. It looked like a fun place to live! It was also very decorated with lights. We sang some Christmas carols for a boat full of people that was passing by, and they enjoyed it!

Again, my pictures didn't turn out that great, but it kind of gives you an idea of what it was like.




Both nights were very fun, and they definitely got me ready for Christmas. I can't believe it's just 2 days away!!!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Recent Happenings

I haven't blogged in a few weeks, and so much has happened! Here's just a quick list of a few things that went on recentely:

*Andrew is done being in the Marines! His last day was this past Thursday. He had to get a bunch of signatures from people at Camp Pendleton, but they had failed to tell him that they needed his medical records too. My parents and I met him in Irvine that evening to give him his records, and we were able to have a nice dinner with him at BJ's. It turned out to be a very nice surprise!

On Friday, he turned in his medical records and got his last signature, so now he's on "terminal leave." This means that he is on vacation until January 30, when he will officially be out of the Marines and once again become a civilian. It's so great to have him home!

*In a flurry of final papers, presentations, and final exams, I finished my fall semester of classes! I had all my finals this past Monday, so now my classes are over and I'm on Christmas vacation!!!

The last week of school was really tough and I had to stay up late almost every night to finish papers. My nursing classes required presentations as well, which I always dread. What a relief to be done!

(Some of the textbooks I used for my case study earlier in the semester)

(Lunch with some of my friends at a nursing conference we were required to attend)

(One of the "dress-up" days in the nursing theory class we just finished)

I'll start the Spring semester on January 4th, even though I won't be leaving for South Africa until January 21. I have to start my community nursing class early so that I can get in 105 hours of clinical and lecture time before going to South Africa, even though I'll be doing plenty of nursing clinical work there too.


*I'm on call for jury duty this week and next week for the federal court in Los Angeles. Thankfully, I didn't get called in this week, so I was able to go to Disneyland with my family yesterday!

Andrew was given 2 free tickets to Disneyland and California Adventure for being a Wounded Warrior. I have a season pass, so we just had to pay for one ticket and my mom, dad, Andrew, and I were all able to go together yesterday. It was lots of fun!





Andrew was able to walk around the entire day without needing a wheelchair or anything! He was also able to go on all the fast rides without his back being bothered. Thank you God for how much he has healed!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Thanksgiving Highlights

Thanksgiving was pretty fun this year. I usually don't get too excited about the holiday because I'm a picky eater and I don't like a lot of the traditional Thanksgiving foods (especially the big one, turkey). But, I do love potatoes and corn and the rolls that my mom and I only make for Thanksgiving, so I manage to find enough food to feel pretty full by the end of the day.

This year was very different from any other year because the only guests were my cousins- the Uphuses- and my grandpa. The Uphuses have never celebrated Thanksgiving with us before because they usually travel to their dad's side of the family for the holiday. And we normally have Gram and Grandfather over, but this year they were celebrating in Puerto Rico with Jen.

It was still a very fun day, even though the guest list was different. Here are some of the highlights from the day:

*Jello competition (Tracie brought "Green Jello" which has applesauce and Sprite, Tyler brought "Ice Cream Jello," and my mom made "Lemon Cloud" which is also made from jello. We never did vote on the winner, though.)

*Grandpa creating his own addition to the jello competition by spilling an entire cup of Orange Soda on top of the Lemon Cloud (thankfully we had all gotten a piece already!)

*Playing the "Thankful Game" that I'm pretty sure my dad created on the spot (we had to say one thing we're thankful for in 2 words or less, and go around the circle as fast as we could. My favorite: Tyler was thankful for indoor plumbing.)

*Jen and several people with her calling every phone and cell phone in the house at the exact same time

*Playing Hucka Bucka (an Uphus tradition that they taught us)

*Skyping with Jen, Gram, and Grandfather

*Skyping with Dana and Carl

*And eating a yummy cocoa cream pie with oreo crust that I made from scratch!!

All in all, it turned out to be a very fun day, and I'm already looking forward to next Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

No Swine Flu For Me!

I finally got the H1N1 vaccine yesterday from my school's health center. My nursing program is requiring us to get it, and I finally had a chance between classes yesterday. I was surprised that it really didn't make my arm that sore! (And Jen- if you're reading this- it was only one injection, not two, so don't worry!)

This is the third vaccination I've gotten in the past month and a half, so I'm feeling pretty invincible. I dare any germs to try and make me sick now!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

1 Down, 6 to Go

I am currently in the middle of reading 6 different books. That's right, 6! And I'm not talking about textbooks or anything required for school. They're all books that I'm choosing to read in my free time. How in the world did I end up reading 6 at once?!?! I honestly have no idea...

I even have a special bookmark for each one. And as you can tell, I'm not very far into any of them, even the ones that I started months ago.

Here's a little summary of them for you. I'll go in the order that I started reading them in.

Book #1: Isle of Fire by Wayne Thomas Batson

I bought this book solely because I liked the cover. Isn't it beautiful? I was walking by the fiction aisle in my school bookstore one day when this cover jumped out at me. I LOVE anything pirate-y, and this is exactly that! After reading the back of the cover, I realized that this was the 2nd book in a series, so naturally I had to read the 1st book first. I bought this one and immediately bought Isle of Swords from Barnes & Noble when I got home.

I enjoyed the first book quite a bit, but I'm not liking this one as much. I think it's mainly because the author is focusing more on different characters than the ones from the 1st book. But, if you're in the mood for a pirate adventure story, you can give this series a try.

Book #2: Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell

I had heard from several people that this was a good book, so I started reading it as part of my morning devotionals. I'm really enjoying it.

Book #3: By the Light of My Kerosene Lamp by Ivah Heneise

This little book is a collection of letters that Ivah wrote while living in Haiti as a missionary, starting in 1947. She and her husband moved there as newlyweds and started a small Christian college. They had 4 children and raised them there.

Now, one of their daughters is a nursing professor at my school, and the other one still lives in their house in Haiti. I met the daughter in Haiti when I went on my missions trip this summer. She read us an exerpt from the book, and I knew I had to read the rest once I got home. It was difficult to find a copy since it's out of print, but I was able to order one online.

I absolutely LOVE this book! The letters are so well-written and touching. I definitely recommend that you read it if you can find a copy.

Book #4: Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane

If you didn't already know, I'm going to study abroad in South Africa next semester! I chose this book off of a list of suggested readings for South Africa study abroad students. It's an autobiography of a young man who grew up in South Africa in the midst of apatheid.

I haven't gotten very far into it, but so far it's an extremely sad story. I can't believe that people really live like this still.

Book #5: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

I read this book when I was a junior in high school for a book report, and loved it. When I got Barnes & Noble gift cards for my birthday, I knew this had to be one of my purchases because I had been wanting to read it again for a while. The problem was that I was already in the middle of reading all these other books, so I figured I would set this one aside for a couple years.

Recently, I didn't want to read Kaffir Boy just before going to bed because it was too sad, and I was suddenly in the mood to read Wuthering Heights instead, so I started it (not that it's much happier). Every once in a while I get in the mood to read it (especially when it's really windy outside) and I pick it up again.

Book #6: Crazy Love by Francis Chan

I bought this a while ago because the author is one of my favorite speakers from my school's chapel sessions. I hadn't started reading it though, because again, I was already reading all of these other books. But, Francis spoke in chapel at the beginning of October, and of course I wanted to start reading his book after hearing him once again. I haven't picked it up since then, but I intend to pretty soon.

And if all this wasn't enough, I started reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy while I was baby-sitting in the spring because the little girl's dad recommended it to me.

I don't own a copy myself, though, and I stopped baby-sitting a while ago, before finishing the book. The problem is, the movie adaptation will be in theaters in two weeks, and I wanted to finish the book before I see the movie!

I was excited to find the book at the library two weeks ago, so I checked it out and added it to all the rest of these books that I'm reading. And surprisingly, I managed to finish it on Sunday!!! It was pretty sad, and the ending seemed kind of abrupt, but overall it was very good. I'm just proud that I finally finished a book! Now I just have 6 more to go.... Time to get reading!

P.S. Shane Claiborne spoke at my school this morning, and now I want to start reading his book (Irresistible Revolution), which I own, too! But I've convinced myself that I have enough to read already, so I'm not going to start on it, yet.

Friday, November 6, 2009

First Experience of Mental Patients

Thursday was a lot of fun! I loved hanging out with the adolescents at the mental hospital. They were way more normal than I expected. Sadly, most of them were in there for drug problems or for being suicidal. A few of them had admitted themselves, but most were brought in by their families.

I felt like I was back in high school again- with the cool older boys picking on the geeky younger boys, the girls talking constantly, especially while the teacher was talking- you know, all that fun stuff. I mostly talked with the boys, although they weren't too willing to tell me about all the personal stuff I was supposed to ask about.

I got to go to an arts & crafts session with them where they were split into three groups. Each group was given a word to depict through any type of art medium on a poster. My group (mostly made up of the cool older boys who didn't want to be split up) was given the word "fun." I was really saddened to hear the boys disappointment that they couldn't draw any form of drugs as their depiction of fun. I asked them if they ever did anything besides drugs, and they had a hard time coming up with an answer.

I left the hospital that afternoon with a very different perspective on mental health and the issues that contribute to it. I have been praying for all of the kids I met, and I am hoping that their time in the hopsital will be beneficial.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

First Day

I started a new nursing class this week, and we had our very first day of clinical today! For whatever reason, the APU school of nursing decided to split the 5th semester of the nursing program and make us take two separate 6 unit classes this semester instead of just one. If you ask me, it's not a good idea to cram a 6 unit class into just 7 weeks! But, no one asked me.

My group survived the first class (rehabilitation nursing) and we are now beginning the second one (mental health). We had our first day of clinical today at the psychiatric hospital. It wasn't anything exciting- we just took a tour of the building, then listened to our teacher talk for a couple hours.

On Thursday, we'll actually get to start working with patients! I'm really excited, but at the same time nervous because we don't get to do the normal nursing stuff that I'm used to. We're just supposed to talk to our patients the whole day about their particular mental illness. We don't even wear scrubs! This will be a very different experience than all my other clinicals.

I'm excited that I'll get to work in the adolescent unit first, rather than with the adults. It seems like they will be a little easier to talk to.

I'll let you know how it goes on Thursday!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

...never mind

I figured out how to make my blog cuter! What do you think?

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Blog Help

I need some help on how to make my blog look prettier. I have no idea how to change the background or put a picture at the top of my page. Can someone please tell me how to do that?

Then the only problem will be trying to pick just one picture to display...

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Halloween Haunt

I've never been the kind of person that enjoys being scared. I don't like watching scary movies, or even going into rooms with the lights off after the sun goes down. I never even dreamed that I would ever enjoy something like Knott's Scary Farm.

But then I met Big Drew.

We were both staff members at Quaker Meadow in 2006, back when I was 18 and he was 17.

We were on staff together again in the summer of 2007, and that fall, he got a job as a monster at Knott's for its seasonal Halloween Haunt, also known as Knott's Scary Farm.

A couple of other staff members were going to Haunt to see Drew, and they invited me to go along, so I did. I was so scared... until I realized that all the monsters are just people like Drew, and it's just fun for them to try to make you jump. That made it a lot less scary, and a lot more fun for me. In fact, I ended up loving it!

In 2008, I couldn't wait to go to Haunt again, and I went with several of the new staff members from that year.

It was a ton of fun! We were able to visit Drew in his maze twice, but we weren't allowed to take any pictures in there.

We made friends with some of the other monsters while we were sitting down for a break. They had fun smashing a penny for us!


The best part for me, though, was watching my friend Beth (the girl with the red hair) getting scared by the monsters. You see, when I get scared, I try not to react, and then the monsters leave me alone. But Beth always screams and runs when a monster scares her, which is exactly the type of reaction they like to get.

Any time they find people who react like Beth, the monsters keep scaring them for as long as possible, chasing them through the rest of the maze or around the streets. They also point out to other monsters ahead of them that this person is coming, so those monsters scare her too! I figured out that if I just stood back a little bit, then all the monsters would scare Beth and leave me alone. It worked beautifully, and I had a ton of fun watching Beth get scared in the process!

Just this past Sunday, I went to Haunt once again. Beth and I had been trying to get a group together to go for the past month, and it finally worked out. I was sooooo excited to go again!! I had no idea I had fallen so in love with being scared!

Drew was promoted to being a "street monster" this year, which means that he gets to wander around the streets of the park rather than being stuck inside one little, hot maze. It also meant that we got to hang out with him more and take pictures with him!

Drew just got married two weeks ago, and his wife was a monster this year as well. She had to quit just before we went, though, so we didn't get to see what she was like as a monster. I was kind of sad about that.

But, it was a very fun night anyway. Once again, Beth attracted all the monsters and I got to just stand back and laugh. We were able to go through all 12 of the mazes, plus ride a few rides, and get home before 1am- which gave me just enough time to get some sleep before taking my rehab final the next morning!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Yuck, It's Raining

I can't stand this weather!

It started getting cold a couple days ago. I had just painted my toenails a really pretty color that I fell in love with, and now I have to wear socks all the time and can't even see my pretty toes!

And to make matters worse, we got the first rain of the season today! I hate rain even more than cold, which is exactly why I live in warm, sunny Southern California. I don't like to get my clothes wet, so I can't stand walking in the rain, and I'm especially horrified of driving in it. And of course, it was my turn to drive to clinical this morning.

I carpool with two (and today, three) other girls from my clinical group. We each take turns driving all the way out to Downey on Tuesday mornings and Thursday evenings for our rehab clinical. It's always a traffic-y drive anyway, but today was much worse because it started pouring! I could barely see through the rain and glare of the oncoming headlights. One of the girls in my car even saw an accident happen! It was pretty scary.

Thankfully, the rain had stopped for most of the drive home. As soon as I got home, I changed into warm, comfy clothes, complete with two pairs of socks, and determined to not step foot outside again for the rest of the day. And I haven't!

On a happier note, the good thing about this weather is that it convinced my mom that it's time for fall decorations! She just put them up two days ago. I love decorations!!!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Friday was my grandpa's 80th birthday! He's an avid bike rider (he usually rides about 16 miles a day, 3-5 days a week), so he decided he wanted to ride the bike trail that goes from Azusa Canyon all the way to the beach! It's a 38 mile ride. My parents and my cousin Dana's father-in-law rode with him. I had a class in the morning, or else I would've attempted it too!

I drove with my cousin Tracie, Aunt Cheryl, and Uncle John to be there at the beach once they arrived. They finished strong!



We had a picnic lunch there at the beach. Uncle John barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs for everyone.

My dad gave Grandpa a birthday present to use at the beach- a kite. It was tough to fly, but fun trying!



Tracie and I declared ourselves the "favorite" grandkids for the day since we were able to go to the beach with Grandpa.

Later on in the evening, we had dinner at John and Cheryl's house, and since Jen couldn't be there, we called her with Skype and let Grandpa talk to her. We even sang Happy Birthday while she was there on the computer!



Happy birthday Grandpa!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Let's try this again...

As you can tell, I haven't been very successful at this whole blog thing. I've been to the DR & Haiti and back, and I didn't post a thing about it. In fact, it's been 5 months since I started this blog, and I still haven't posted anything! I really have no excuse- I just haven't done it. I actually forgot that I even had a blog for a couple of months!

Lately I've been thinking of lots of random things that I could blog about, so I've decided to give it another shot. At the moment, my life completely revolves around school, so that's probably the main thing I'll talk about. I hope that's interesting enough.

With all that said, welcome to the life of a distracted, procrastinating nursing student!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!

I'm starting this blog for two main reasons. First, to share news about my upcoming missions trip to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. I'm hoping to post a few pictures and stories while I'm on the trip so you all will know what we're up to over there.

My second reason is because several of my family members now have blogs, and I figured I might as well join in the fun! I've really enjoyed reading the stories posted by my sister, aunt, and cousins, so I thought you all might enjoy a few stories from my life too.

I'm sorry in advance if I can't find enough interesting things to blog about. Since today was my last day of school (I can’t believe I’m done with my junior year of college already!) my life won't be too exciting for the next couple of weeks. I do have some stories to share about the past semester though, so keep checking in.

I hope you enjoy reading!