It's Over!

The NCLEX is OVER!!!

First of all, I slept horribly last night. I woke up twice from Jacob talking in his sleep. I woke up twice from the loud thunderstorm. I woke up many times to look at the clock to make sure I hadn't overslept (I haven't woken up before 8 am in ages... well, since I graduated anyway. It feels like ages!). I tossed and turned all night long as I suffered through a night of lame dreams that mostly involved 1. forgetting to bring my ATT (Authorization To Test) 2. bringing the ATT and discovering it had been printed incorrectly and was thus unacceptable 3. getting lost on my way there and detouring into Kansas (which actually happened when I went to find the testing center last week) 4. stopping at a copy center on my way there to print off the ATT and running into Matthew McConaughey, who wouldn't let me leave because he wanted to practice his wit and charm on me, which I found to be intensely annoying and which made me even more late for the exam.

So I woke up exhausted and irritated from a night of ridiculous, exasperating dreams... but at least I woke up on time, remembered to bring my correctly-printed ATT, and found the testing center easily and in a timely fashion. I was one of the last people to be escorted to a computer for my test, and I was one of the first to leave! I breezed pretty quickly through the minimum 75 questions (well, it still took about 90 minutes) and I felt pretty good about the whole thing. I was pleasantly surprised that there were relatively few questions that contained content I had never heard of. However, I did get a ridiculous number of the "select all that apply" questions, which I despise (it's like having to answer 5 or 6 true/false questions all in one! no partial credit given!). I did feel legitimately confused on many of the questions (as a result of constantly having to choose which RIGHT answer is BEST- ugh), so I'm just going to hope for the best!!!

Tomorrow I'm off to Nauvoo with my little family and David/Kylee/Hartman/Dallin. Then Joshua and I head off to the Ozarks for a massive Geddes family reunion that has been planned for two years. Good times are ahead (but probably little blogging)!!!

It All Comes Down to This...

I'm taking the NCLEX tomorrow!!!!!!

Much has led up to this point: 5 years of college. Burning the candle at both ends for most of those years. Busting my brains to get scholarships. Working hundreds of clinical hours worth *zero* credits (and no pay) for the sake of learning. Subjecting my infant child to 24+ hours of babysitting every week during the 3rd-6th months of his life. Eating out of the SWKT vending machines for several meals on class days. BS-ing enough "reflective writings" to substitute writing in my journal for the rest of my life. Being a zombie of a wife for at least 6 days out of the week during school. Going straight to work for a night shift after doing school all day. Going straight to school for the day after working all night. And last but not least... jumping through every hoop placed before me by the BYU College of Nursing. I don't expect anyone besides my fellow BYU CON alumni to understand that last one. :)

I've done over 5,000 practice questions (that I can remember... there's probably been more). I've pushed myself for 5 years now to be the best student I can be, so I'm going to take this stupid test and PASS IT tomorrow!!!! Yeahhhhhhh!

The Dilemma

Every time I sit down to blog, I experience a dilemma of sorts: What the heck do I blog about?? There are a number of reasons for this recurrent scenario, and ironically enough one of them is NOT that I can't think of anything to say... it's more a matter of choosing which of my thoughts to publish in cyberspace for the rest of the world to read. Anyone who even remotely knows me can understand that I am never short of deep thoughts or random ponderings. It's just that there are a lot of things I think, feel, and believe that I just don't feel like sharing with the world.

Anyway, blah blah blah, right? So today, to solve my blogging dilemma, I going to do another tag... yet again. :) For some reason it's easier to do those than to decide which of my thoughts to publish for the day. So thanks, Jessica, for doing the tag and subsequently inspiring me to do it too. :)

10 years ago: The summer I turned 13. Oh yes, that was a good summer! I flew out to Arizona all by myself and lived with one of my best friends- Barbara- and her family for a month! We had a blast going to girls camp, going on hikes, watching movies, and doing whatever 13-year old girls do best. Later that summer, I went to a Hanson concert in Milwaukee, WI, with two of my other really good friends- Annie and Sara. I was SO fun, I'm not gonna lie. We were all obsessed with Hanson so it was a dream come true of sorts. And I really wanted to marry Taylor Hanson at the time, so to see him rocking out on his keyboards onstage was about all I could think about for the rest of that summer.

5 years ago: The summer I turned 18. I had just graduated from high school and I was working two jobs... 12 hour shifts at the nursing home on Mon-Wed, then 6 or 8 hour shifts at the waterpark Thu-Sat. I was so busy and I had a wicked awesome tan. I was also involved in an excessive amount of relationship drama with my highschool boyfriend, Matt. This resulted in more crying, DTRs, and lectures from my parents than I EVER care to experience again. Thank goodness I left for college at the end of the summer!

5 months ago: February 2008. Joshua was turning 4 months old. This month was significant because it was the first and only time that Joshua has been sick (so far), and it was also the last time that he woke up during the middle of the night. It's a beautiful thing. I was also insanely busy with my last semester of nursing school, working part time, and being a wife and mother. I am SO glad that's over.

5 things on my "to do" list:
1. Pass the NCLEX next Friday!!!!!
2. Learn more vegetarian recipes
3. Call some friends I haven't talked to in a long time
4. Pay the rest of this month's bills
5. Play with Joshua every day (as in not do ANYthing else at the same time, which I am really good at doing! What mother isn't amazing at multitasking??)

5 of my favorite snacks:
1. smoothies
2. crackers and cheese
3. Tostitos multigrain chips (soooo good)
4. Kashi cereal with Rice Dream milk (delicious)
5. carrots and ranch dip

5 purchases:
1. diapers, wipes, and formula (always)
2. windshield wipers for the car (it cost $450... you heard me right. The motor was shot. It's ridiculous, I know.)
3. rechargeable batteries (it's about time!)
4. family "portrait" at Wal-mart (I do NOT recommend this. haha. Good thing it only cost me $3.99. I refuse to pay a lot of money for pictures I could take better myself with the timer thingie on my digital camera. Now we have a gazillion copies of a "portrait" that looks horrible, with the exception of Joshua, of course. He actually looks really good. It's the ONE redeeming quality of the experience! haha I guess I could blog about hilarious stories like THAT one. Oh wow that was a good one...)
5. New pajamas for Joshua

5 places I've lived:
1. Minnesota
2. Wisconsin
3. Idaho
4. Utah
5. Missouri

5 things you may not know about me: (I might run out of these if I keep doing tags. haha)
1. I have recently become a vegetarian. I am actually really enjoying this. Probably because I will still eat salmon, which I love and crave all the time.
2. I am a fan of Ron Paul. I would vote for him if given the chance. However, this is tragically unlikely.
3. I still use an email address I set up when I was 14.
4. I snuck a boy over to my house when I was 13 while my family was out trick-or-treating on Halloween. We sat on the couch and talked, and then got caught. I know, it was so rebellious.
5. I can't remember the last time I let my toenails go unpainted. It's probably the only part of my "beauty regime" that persists no matter my life circumstance.

5 best friends throughout my life: (well, I have lots of great friends, but I guess "throughout my life" will have to narrow it down a bit.)
1. Jacob. He tops my list because I do believe in "soul mates" in one form or another. I can't really explain why or how I believe it to be true, but I feel like I've known him forever.
2. Gina. My sister and I have been so close growing up together. She is so loyal and unconditionally loving to me. I love this girl!!!
3. Barbara. We've literally known each other since birth, and we wrote letters for years and years since we didn't live near each other. We still don't live close by, but we have a strong friendship and a special bond that has weathered the distance and the years.
4. Annie. We were childhood best friends, growing up a few houses away and doing everything together. We are SO different in so many ways, and yet we've remained close friends.
5. Nicole. We have the "same brain," I swear. We became close friends in elementary school/middle school and when she came to visit me last month, we realized that even after not seeing each other for 7 years we still have an incredible friendship.

(I hate to end this list now because there are so many other friends I have met and grown close to in my life!! Many friends I didn't meet until high school or college and I love them dearly. Oh well, on to the next item!)

5 things I love:
1. My marriage. I am a very, very lucky girl.
2. Joshua! What can I say... being his mommy is the best thing ever. I love love love that little boy.
3. Joshua's sleeping habits. Seriously, I love being well-rested and having plently of time to myself and with my spouse. And I still spend tons of time with Joshua, so I'm pretty content with it all!!
4. Having meaningful conversations with Jacob, my family, or my friends
5. Learning new things, accomplishing things, meeting my goals, challenging myself, and thinking outside the box

Again, this list could go on and on. :) But that's all for now.

Okay Fiiiiiiine...

I'll do an update already!!! With everything that has happened in the month of June, it's no wonder I haven't blogged in ages:

1. Jake flew to UT for his grandpa Andersen's funeral. I stayed home and got to be husbandless for a few days.

2. I shopped EVERYWHERE for little baby boy Sunday clothes and found none. Not even a white collar shirt! This was part of my preparations to fly out to UT for...

3. My sister's wedding! It was so fun to be there and watch her and Rob tie the knot. Gina was absolutely stunning and I must say weddings are a lot of fun when you don't have to plan them. (Joshua ended up borrowing baby Hartman's Sunday clothes for the wedding, which he despised wearing and which were too small anyway. He looked pretty handsome though!)

4. I spent the week after the wedding up in ID with my family. I had a blast hanging out with my two youngest sisters and my parents! And they, of course, adored Joshua and gave him all the attention he could possibly get in the week we were there.

5. I had a follow-up appointment for my Lasik surgery and found out I now have 20/15 vision! I'm pretty excited about that after wearing glasses and contacts for 12 years. Best money I ever spent. :)

6. One of my best friends from MN-- Nicole-- came to visit me for 5 days! We had an amazing time together and it's crazy how close we are after not seeing each other for 7 years. Some of the things we did... Shakespeare Festival, Bodies Revealed, drive-in movie (saw Get Smart- sooo funny!), Cheesecake Factory, Buffalo Wild Wings, River Market, shopping, lounging at the pool, etc etc. It was SO fun and I wish she would come back already!!!

7. I'm also studying for the NCLEX every free second I get (okay, not EVERY free second... obviously). :)

So there you have my excuses for ditching the blogosphere for a little while. And now it's 1:59 pm and I need to wake Joshua up at 2:00 pm so I can go grocery shopping. Here are some pictures from June! ... Okay just kidding my computer is being lame and won't let me upload any more pics than that first one. Oh well.