INDEPENDENT!!!!!

When you become a flight nurse with Eagle Air Med they have orientation set up and you are labeled as Non-Independent. To become Independent it requires the non-independent individual to sit down with our Chief Flight Nurse and our educator. They then ever so kindly sit down and have you list of protocols and procedures off the top of your head. After the one on one discussion, they put us through a scenario. Can I tell how badly I DESPISE scenarios? Needless to say I finished!! It's officially official now! I can now get paid more and have more flexibility in my schedule! Most importantly, the cloud over my head is gone and I can now focus on other studies and learn what I want to!

Ice Castles

I love days off!! Especially when Shaun and I can have them at the same time.  My schedule has been a little crazy lately and I only had 3 days in between my weeks off.  Yeah, its not long enough trust me. But lets just say we crammed a lot into 3 days. The best day was Tuesday. Shaun took time off and we headed up into Park City.  I've never seen the outlets so empty. After we stuffed ourselves with Cafe Rio we headed out to Midway. I've had a bunch of people tell me about the Ice Castles. What could be better than playing in the ice with my man? Though we did have to sit in the car for a bit. Apparently, the lights only come on at night so we simply watched the sunset sink into the mountains. 

 

 

One thing I would recommend is dressing warmer than we did! Granted I had an awesome coat on, but my heels didn't do much to keep my feet warm. Luckily, Shaun kept the rest of me warm through the whole adventure. We had fun getting lost in the small tunnels and taking pictures of the ice under different colors. 

Oh I do love this crazy boy of mine. He keeps me laughing and lets me take all sorts of crazy pictures of us together.  Plus, its fun to make him jump when my lips are cold. 

The moon decided to be bright and shinny during our adventure. I love the light it brought to our pictures. Shaun brought out his artistic side and took a bunch of pictures playing with the moon. 

Yup Olaf decided to photo bomb us. Crazy Snowman!

Yeah my butt was wet and cold after sitting on here but it was worth it!! The rest of the night was spent relaxing and eating Thai Food--that we are both addicted too.  I can't wait for another date night. Next time we will definitely dress warmer!! 

Hi Ho Hi Ho . . . . . . .

The Holidays never seem to last long enough. I had a bit of a break but too soon I had to get right back to work. The highlights though is I flew for 3 days in a row!!! In remembering my need to be more grateful, I took the time to appreciate the amazing view I get flying during the day. 

The only thing I cannot seem to get use to is the early mornings. I am pretty sure seven years of working nights sucked years off my life. Now I need at least 7-8 hours or I walk around like a zombie for most of the day. Lets just say that getting up at 0530 doesn't work well with my morning grumpiness sometimes. One day I will be a morning person again. Yeah I know I started laughing at it too.  However, I am happy anytime I get to fly in the pretty bird. :D Though our pretty bird needed some routine maintenance on it so we were getting a new bird. To be honest I was a little sad when i said goodbye and left our pretty helicopter at the airport. She will be back soon. 

I also was able to fly a patient up to Utah Valley and had a blast with the patient. One thing I love about my job is the one on one time I get with them. The ER was just crazy busy all the time I never felt like I was able to talk to my patients. But I still loved being able to run into my friends in the ER and goof off with them. Though it was weird giving report to the docs instead of getting orders from them. I called that place home for so long that its still weird to go back sometimes. I do miss the Docs though. Maybe one day I will stop saying, "Utah Valley Clear," over the radio. 

We also got to do a few test flights with our pretty bird this week. The mountains and sunset always make the perfect back drop. The pictures were worth pushing the helicopter in and out of the airport. In case you were wondering--Helicopters are incredibly heavy. I do get a good workout every time I do it though. Its a good thing I work with a bunch of guys that are a lot stronger than me. 

A lot of people ask what I do when I'm not flying. Well I do take naps, study--this job has reminded me just how much I don't know--eat great food, play with Jack, and catch up on the TV I miss. Its rough to be honest with you. But I love it more when I get to fly. I love taking care of patients and using my skills I've used for so long.  Though I do get pretty excited when it's time to go home. 

New Beginnings

Lets just say 2013 was probably the opposite of what I expected to happen. Everything from overcoming from personal struggles to a brand new job to meeting an amazing guy. I definitely learned a lot about who I am and what's important to me this year. But 2013 is over and 2014 has started off with a bang.  I already can't wait to see what happens this year. 

But like the beginning of every year I try to set some things I want to accomplish that year. Things that will push me to go beyond what I have done and things that will make me a better version of myself. When thinking about what I wanted to focus on this year the phrase, "Simply Grateful." One thing that I've neglected on a regular basis to recognize how awesome my life is and how much I have in it. I hope that by writing down one thing each year I can really start to appreciate my life. 

That being said I also have a few things I want to do this year. Attempting to stay balanced I have focused on a few different areas.

GOALS 2014

1) Career: Actually study and pass both the CEN & CFRN. 

2) Financial: Stick to a budget and begin putting a nest egg together for our future. 

3) Physical: Complete a Marathon--by being consistent with my exercise.

4) Social: Reach out and make a new friend this year.

5) My Relationship:  3 Planned out dates per month Picture documentation of each. Complete our projects together that we have started.

6) Intellectual: Take the time to take pictures--Edit them with my newly expanded knowledge of photoshop. 

7) Family: Take the time to improve relationships with family members. 

8) Spiritual: Attend the temple twice a month-Doing one endowment and one initiatory session. Study Each conference talk, Entire Book of Mormon, and the topic of Light and its power in my life.  

As always time seems to be flying by way to fast. Let's see if I can actually keep up this year.