Done, done and done

The beging of the end. My parents and my brother flew into Massachusetts last friday to come to my graduation and drive my car home to SLC with me. We spent a day in Boston and a day in New York (watching Wicked). Sunday was my graduation- the best day of my life!!!! Monday we started driving home. It was a tight fit in my car but it was fun. We stopped in Palmyra, Niagra Falls, Kirtland and Nauvoo. Here are some pics.

Trisha, Mike, Mom, Dad, Shayne, Jana

New York had some crazy street fair and we benefited with some delicious food!

The set of Wicked

Shayne, Mom, Mike and Trisha in Times Square

Me receiving my diploma!!!!!!!!

All my fans cheering me on at graduation!

Jana, Shayne, Keaton, Trisha, Mike, Mom, Bentley, Riley, Gage, Cutler

Sacred Grove in Palmyra, NY

Niagra Falls

Carthage Jail in Carthage, IL

Mike, Dad, Mom, Shayne in front of the Patty Sessions log home in Nauvoo, IL

We are descendants of Patty Sessions, who was a midwife for thousands of births as the Pioneers crossed the country into the west
The Nauvoo Temple
After 4 days of driving and a really sore butt, I am home in Salt Lake City. It's so great to be home but I must admit that it is really weird to drive my car around Salt Lake. Its crazy to think that my days in MA are over and I really moved back to Utah.

Somethings fishy!

I went to school and then worked until 10pm. Upon reaching my house that evening, I opened the door to my room. I was hit with a foul smell. I walked up the stairs and the stench increased. I went into the bathroom assuming that someone had defecated and forgotten to flush the toilet (which randomly happens sometimes...). I opened up the toilet totally expecting to see a nasty, foul smelling, probably completely bloated terd. Nope. I was shocked to find this -->

A big, nasty, foul-smelling dead fish. I immediately started gagging once I opened the toilet lid and got a good whif of it. My cousin thinks he is so funny!! I need some ideas of how I can get him back for all of his dirty tricks that he has played on me for the past 3 years. Any ideas???

Also, we took some engagement pics yesterday and Trisha posted some on her blog if you want a little preview :)

I'm done with school and so happy about it!!! Yipee for me!!

It's the Final Countdown

It is coming to an end....

I have 4 days of rotation left...

6 days til I am done with school for the rest of my life...

16 days til I graduate...

17 days til I move back to Utah...

56 days til I get married!!!

Am I wrong?

Background: It's Easter Sunday, so I am at church along with other members of my ward. We are prepared to hear great messages of the Savior and his mission. After Elder's Quorum meeting, I found Trisha and she told me the following story: Apparently during Relief Society they sang the hymn "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" and some free-spirited person in their congregation decided to start playing a bell as background music (this was not a planned thing). Am I wrong to think that is inappropriate? Well, the story doesn't end there. This sister (who will remain nameless), who frequently wears pants to church and always talks about feelings and spiritual connections and other such mumbo-jumbo, was not done with her antics for the day. We happened to sing the same song as the closing hymn for sacrament meeting and what does she do? Thankfully not ring a bell, but she stands up in the middle of the song and puts her head high in the air and smiles from ear to ear while shouting along to this hymn. I nearly died!! I wish my family would have been there because we all would have been rolling on the floor! Everyone stared at her awkwardly for a few seconds until then the bishopric felt obligated to stand and then the whole audience rose. Except for me, I chose to not stand because I felt this was ridiculous. Am I wrong in thinking that this is completely inappropriate?

35 days

I can't believe that I have reached my last rotation and I only have 35 days left until I am done with school, its crazy! It seems like it can't be possible for me to almost be done with school for the rest of my life. I have so much stuff to do in the next 5 weeks that I'm not sure it will all get done, but by May 18th, I have to be ready to drive away from Princeton and back to Utah. For those that don't know, I have taken a job in Vernal, Utah with an independant pharmacy. I'm really excited for the opportunity but a little bit scared to grow up and have so many changes in my life all at once. Currently I'm trying to figure out the cheapest, easiest way to move mine and Trishas stuff across the country and also trying to figure out where we might be able to live in Vernal? If anyone has any suggestions, I am open to recieve them. I am also trying to collect addresses for wedding invitations, so if you are one of my followers and you want an invitation, leave me a comment with your address (all comments come to me before being published and I will not publish them if you leave your address). Only 85 more days til the big day!!

JUNE 27, 2009

It's finally official: Trisha and I are getting married on June 27, 2009 at 11:00am in the Salt Lake Temple!!

The Mountain: snowboarding=fun

The ring came on our second to last run down the mountain The flowers

For another version of this engagement story, see Trisha's blog. What I'm going to do now is tell you the story from my point of view and fill in some of the blanks...

Back in October I started researching rings. I had some help- I had a private investigator of sorts. Kirsti, Trisha's roommate went ring shopping and relayed all information to me. (Thanks Kirsti). After months of looking at rings and trying to find the right one according to the information that had been relayed to me, I was finally able to pick the perfect ring and buy it. Five weeks ago I bought it. I checked my email every day waiting for the blasted thing to come and apparently it takes a long time to get a custom made ring. It finally came on Tuesday and I have been so excited ever since! I told her that I really wanted to go snowboarding before the resort closed and so we planned a date for saturday night. I called her dad on friday afternoon and asked for his daughters hand in marriage. It was a great conversation, one that I will remember forever. I was really nervous but her dad is such a genuine, loving guy. She comes from a great family and I have so much love and respect for her parents! Her dad gave us his blessing so I ordered flowers that were delivered on friday and things were all set up and in place. I got off work a little bit early on saturday and headed to the craft store to get a ribbon to replace the most ugly ribbon that I have ever seen that they put on my flowers. I got home, put the ring in a small, homemade envelope to protect it from the snow, and headed to the mountain with Trisha. It was such a fun night. We both really love snowboarding and had a good time cuttin down the mountain. I was starting to get a little nervous and kept trying to find a good moment to pop the question. I knew that I wanted it to be one of our last times down, toward the end of the night, but I didn't really want to do it while tons of people were around. I got the perfect opportunity when we found ourselves all alone on the slope and Trisha took a crash to the rear. I went to the side of the slope and sat down beside her and told her how much I loved her. I then tried very hard to throw my snowboard around so that I could be facing her. I helped her up so that she was standing in front of me. I took off my gloves and started to dig through my pocket for my homemade envelope. I got it out as I told her that there was something that I had been dying to ask her. (This is where it gets slightly funny). I couldn't get the ring out of my envelope. I was shaking it and digging for it and it wouldn't come out. I'm sure she thought that I was slightly crazy there on the mountain. Finally as I kneeled before her, I presented her with the ring and asked her to marry me. She said yes! And so the story begins with the woman that I love!

Prasugrel vs. clopidogrel

It has been a long time in the works and now it is finally done! I have been working on my poster presentation (the capstone of my program) for the past 6 months. It has been a long, tough road to get to this project done. Yesterday, I had to take it to the school and present it to faculty members who graded me on my research, presentation and ability to answer questions. It was crazy intense and I'm so glad that it's over. (I am most proud of the second slide from the left on the top row cause I created it myself!) Just one more milestone to pass leading up to graduation in only 84 days!! My days at the state psychiatric hospital are over and I'm moving onto another community rotation. Bring it on!