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Sunday, August 26, 2007

Our New Adventure!


Saturday was a very big day for us! Derek and I started the process of building a new home! We started by walking through a model of the home that we liked. It is a one story, 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2 car garage home. Next we looked at lots that we liked. (This is a picture of the lot that we decided to build on!) After that we talked a lot, said a few more prayers, got some input from Derek's Mom and decided this is what we wanted. So we sat for a lot time signing paperwork. Then the fun part came! We got to pick out everything that we wanted in the house! We had a lot of fun! We are building through Centex homes. The deals that they were offering was 40% off on upgrades and they upgraded the floors in the kitchen, bathrooms, and entry to tile for free! It will take about 6 months to build. So another adventure begins!

Monday, August 20, 2007

Almost Done

So this is my last week of orientation. With orientation they pair you up with a nurse and you work the same schedule they do. It is great because school can only prepare you so much. The goal is to make an easier transition into being a nurse. Well this Saturday is my last day. After that I am on my own. I am a little nervous about this. There is so much to know and learn. The good thing is that I work with some pretty good nurses that I know will help me. I was talking to Ron (the guy that has been training me) and he said that he has seen nurses the first day off of orientation standing at the PIXIS (the machine that hold the medication) with trembling hands. I am going to laugh if that is me.

I found a great poem about being a nurse.

Being a nurse means...
You will never be bored.
You will always be frustrated.
You will always be surrounded by challenges.
So much to do and so little time.
You will carry immense responsibility and very little authority.
You will step into people's lives and you will make a difference.
Some will bless you. Some will curse you.
You will see people at their worst and at their best.
You will never cease to be amazed at people's capacity for
Love, courage, and endurance.
You will see life begin and end.
You will experience resounding triumphs and devastating failures.
You will cry a lot. You will laugh a lot.
You will know what it is to be human and to be humane.
~ Melodie Chenevert


Friday, August 3, 2007

Our Trip to Hawaii!

So I can't add all of the pictures that we took because I took about 250 and Derek took over 500... so that would be a lot to add. We we went to Maui and the big Island.



Derek and I both love Mustangs so we had to rent one when we were on Maui. This is outside the hotel that we stayed in.










We took a bus tour of the Hana Highway. It was so beautiful. We stopped at several waterfalls, Oheo Gulch, some black sand beaches where we walked through a lava tube, some white sand beaches, and a few more stops. There was one cove that if you looked down into the water you could see the outline of a car that had fallen in.








The next day we woke up early and went up the mountain to do a zip line tour! There were 5 lines each one getting longer and better. Starting at the third one you could start running to get more speed. The last one was over 700 feet long! This was our favorite activity! We also went to the Maui Ocean Center and went to the beach to watch the sunset.






Then we went to Lanaina. We walked around and did a lot of shopping. We saw a tree that took up one entire city block, the old Banyan tree. We also went to see a show called Ulalena. It was a musical production about the myths and history of Hawaii. It was amazing!








The last day in Maui we did a lot! First we work up early to see the Iao Valley and hike around. Then we went to Twin Falls. Now the name of that made me think that there were two waterfalls in the same area... not so they did have two waterfalls but in not very close to each other. It was still a beautiful walk. These were very small waterfalls compared to the other ones that we saw. After that we went to the Maui Tropical Plantation and had lunch before we flew over to the Big Island!!





We got to the Big Island got our car and started to 2 1/2 drive to our hotel. By the time that we got there it was pretty dark but in the morning this was the view from our room!! It was such an amazing hotel!







We went to the Place of Refuge. Derek loved the Tiki's! We really enjoyed learning some history about Hawaii here.













We also went to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. This was right outside the Thurston Lava tubes. We also saw steam vents and Halema'umu'u crater. Still have no clue how to say it.









That night we went to a Luau. Derek got some pretty cool pictures of the Fire Dancer. We watched them did up the pig from the Imu. We had some poi, neither of us were big fans of that, but overall they had good food.










This is Akaka Falls. It is a 420 foot drop! It is at Akaka Falls State Park. There is also another waterfall that is a 400 foot drop but it is hidden a bit by all of the trees.
We also went to Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens. We learned that when they actually sell mosquito repellent before you go into the park there is a good reason why. We were eaten alive! We had so many bites when we came out. It took about two hours to walk all the way through it. It has amazing flowers though!


So if we had to do it all over again I don't think that we would hop around to the different islands. There is just so much to do! We had so much fun!