Finding Joy in the Journey---Now

Well, it's almost time. I’m about to embark on the last semester of my undergraduate career. The semester officially started Monday, but for me, all classes are on Thursday. Besides the emphasis this semester on Public Health Nursing, I will be completing my Capstone project which entails 210 clinical hours at a hospital with a “nurse preceptor” (basically, a nurse, that I work with at the hospital), a scholarly paper, and a project. I will be doing my hours at Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake. While I’m not looking forward to the hour drive from Provo, it will definitely be worth it. In doing my Pediatric clinical there a year ago, I fell in love with the hospital and the Infant Medical Surgical Unit—the same unit on which I get to do my capstone hours!

Primary Children's has a different feel than normal hospitals. Colorful children’s artwork covers the walls and there’s cute, seasonal, kid-oriented décor everywhere. A happy and hopeful atmosphere radiates there. The first time I walked through the hospital, I saw a nurse coming out of a patient’s room and the nurse immediately spoke into his phone “Hey, I need to find a way to get a Play Station up here,” as if it was a vital medication. Right from the start, I knew Primary Children’s hospital was special.

Yesterday, to ease myself into the school year and the crowds of people, I made the trek up to campus to do a few errands. I picked up an academic calendar—the same one printed by BYU that I purchase each Fall Semester. On the first page of the planner, there’s a quote by President Thomas S. Monson:

“Day by day, minute by minute, second by second we went from where we were to where we are now. The lives of all of us, of course, go through similar alterations and changes. The difference between the changes in my life and the changes in yours is only in the details. Time never stands still; it must steadily march on, and with the marching come the changes…I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now.”

The moment I read this, while walking down the hill from campus, I silently declared it my motto for the semester. I want to leave BYU feeling like I took advantage of all opportunities. I want to make sure I gleaned everything possible from each small learning experience. I’m feeling the significance of being done with school soon, finding a job in the real world, and many other big changes that life is about to throw at me. What better counsel is there to follow than from the living prophet?

So here’s to early morning drives, to lots of 12 hour shifts, to my umpteen page scholarly paper, to 4 hour classes and weekly quizzes, to bazillions of NCLEX prep questions, and to hours of reading and studying. Here's to learning how to really be a nurse, to my last semester of college, and to finding joy in this journey.

Family Pictures

Last weekend Pete and I went to Nyssa to hear my younger brother, Eric, speak in church. Then we brought him back to Utah with us to drop him off at the MTC! He will be serving an English speaking mission in Jacksonville, Florida. It was fun to have him stay with us the last few days before the MTC. As Pete was working most of the time, I was Eric's "companion" and we went tie shopping, got miscellaneous odds and ends for his mission, and went to the Salt Lake Temple together (where I saw an old friend that thought Eric was my husband. I was like uh, no. Brother. Younger brother.)

We got some family pictures taken while we were in Nyssa. Here's a few:

My 14-year old brother, Quentin...

I just had to post this next picture so I could tell the story of what me, Pete, and the rest of my siblings were talking about at this moment in time. We were all just in a circle chatting, and Eric says, "Dad definitely turned out the least hick-like out of his whole family." Then we turn around and see him chewing on a piece of dry grass. Classic.

Here's the non-hick version:

Nate woke up the morning of the picture day and was super excited for them (we had been building him up for days by now--hoping he would cooperate). He wanted to put his "picture clothes" on right away and was flashing his "picture smile" right and left. We had to explain to him that we wouldn't be doing the pictures until that evening. By the time this picture was taken, he was definitely getting grumpy.

So all the boys did a grumpy picture especially for Nate...

The Girls...

and, of course, the missionary...



Since this is the first missionary my family has sent out I think we are all kind of oblivious to what is going on. Noone cried saying goodbye or anything...I think it just hasn't hit us that he will be gone for two years.

(photos taken by Kevin and Maria Draper: http://kandmfamilyphotography.blogspot.com/)

Here's us right before he went into the MTC.

Good Things Happen in Threes

At 9:24pm on Sunday the 15th of August, we were still trying to decide how to celebrate our two year Anniversary. Hmmm. I like that both Pete and I are not too extravagantly minded when it comes to these things. About a month ago he asked me what I would like to do for our Anniversary.
I replied “I dunno, something simple.”
Pete explored, “Like…go camping?”
“Um, maybe” I said
“Like…get to sleep early?” He asked.
I said, “Yesssssss!”
Apparently I was a little sleep deprived back then.


This weekend, my family came to Provo for my graduation! It was so fun having them around (side note: I’m actually NOT graduated…technically I still have one semester left and will be done in December). As it ended up, the weekend kind of turned into a big family reunion. Almost all of my mom's siblings and their families were in Provo, along with my Grandma and Grandpa. With all the family in one house, chaos (a good kind) ran rampant. Many small feet running through the house, nerf darts whizzing through the air, the deck full of swimsuits hanging out to dry, playdough covering the counters, growing piles of BYU paraphernalia by the day, and never a dull moment. Just a few things I did with the fam include picking apricots and making jam, playing legos and watching Star Wars with Nate, doing a little craft with Mallory, and spending a day hiking and shopping with my mom. Now I wish I lived closer to my family! Luckily, we are going up to Nyssa next weekend.














With all the family in town, Pete and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to let everyone in on a little secret. Here’s Nate, my 4-year-old little brother:




(You can tell that he's trying REALLY hard to do a big smile)

Now that I’ve told my family and closer friends (well, almost...a letter is high-tailin' it to Poland as I type), I guess it’s finally blog-post worthy: New baby Hoyt is due March 17th---a lucky day (St. Patrick’s Day)! We would have liked to wait longer before making it public, but we just couldn’t resist with all the family in town.

Pete and I are super excited and feel so blessed to be married for 2 beautiful years, almost both be graduated, and to have a baby on the way! We feel even more blessed to have such wonderful, supportive families that help us in so many ways!

On July 1, 2008...

My dad invited me to go with him to his doctor appointment and hiking afterwards in Jump Creek Canyon. Jump Creek is an obscure little desert place in Idaho near the town of Marsing (which is another obscure little place—I tend to like places like that). In my un-makeuped and frizzy-haired condition, I consented.

We parked the car in the gravel parking lot and walked in on the little trail to the waterfall. While my dad stayed below, I climbed up the rocky ridge to the top of the waterfall. You can almost straddle the top of the waterfall up there, it’s really just a simple creek that falls over a rock and becomes something beautiful.


I looked down and waved to my dad.
He waved back.
I explored a little bit and placed my hands in the cold, clear water.
Then I looked down and waved to my dad.
He waved back.

Each time I looked down, my dad was a little further back on the trail--heading toward the car. He would stop and look at me and wave, then continue on his way, always at a greater distance than he was the time before.

Assuming that it was time to go, I went to climb down over the small rock face I had climbed up. I turned the rocky corner facing the narrow space between two rock formations and was surprised to be facing a sweaty, backpack-laden, supposed-to-be-10-hours-away-in-Washington Peter, about 7 feet below me. My mind went blank and I stared.

To say I was surprised would be an understatement.

When I noticed the roses sticking out of the backpack up over his head, I knew.


I then proceeded to ungracefully climb/slide and ultimately fall down the rock face where Pete tried to catch me and I nearly knocked us both over (quite romantic, I know). I don’t remember the dialogue too well at this point…it was probably me asking a lot of questions trying to understand when and how he got there, and how he didn’t get lost.

We continued in a half-climbing, half-sliding fashion down the rest of the rocky ridge and once on the trail found a little cave below the waterfall near the creek.


Here, Pete pulled sandwiches and snacks out of the gigantic backpack and we had a little picnic. We ate and we talked and I waited (by now I knew what was going on). He continued pulling thing after thing out the backpack—things that wouldn’t normally be put into a backpack: roses, a bottle of Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider, a fancy glass...

and I kept waiting.

Finally, he turned toward the seemingly bottomless backpack and said “Well, I might have one more trinket in here.” He pulled out a little box with a beautiful, scintillating ring—the prettiest one he could find at Wal-Mart :)

Then he cried a little bit and asked me to marry him.

And I said yes.

Looking back, I’m amazed that after driving over ten hours to find me on a rock in the desert looking kind of like I belonged there (dirty tennies, no make-up, frizzy hair, sweaty faced), he still wanted to marry me!

Two years later, he never ceases to amaze me.

Happy Anniversary!

from seed to spread

Perhaps this is childlike, but it is still boggles my mind to understand how seeds this size can turn into plants this size.




It's amazing!




This is what my little garden looked like before I harvested the basil and made pesto (excuse the dead cilantro there on the end that speedily went to seed and then died...I guess I'm still having a hard time letting go :)











I was sure the pesto would use up tons of the basil…but it didn’t even take half. Anyone want some?

Remember my favorite couple from several posts back? Well, they got married two weeks ago! Pete and I were able to fly out to Boston for Brian and Ashley’s wedding and spend a week in New England.

Here’s what we did:

Drove to Lexington and rode bikes around town to see the sights---the Battle Green where the Revolutionary War started, Buckman tavern (tiny headquarters of the town’s militia), etc. Next we drove to Concord, to Walden Pond (famous because Henry David Thoreau lived there for two years—and mentioned by Elder L. Tom Perry in this awesome talk). Pete needed a break from all the historical sites (and the humidity that we are so not used to), so we swam for a bit in the pond-that’s-more-like-a-lake. However, there was one more place I wanted to go see in Concord…the house of Little Women! Louisa May Alcott wrote and set her book, Little Women, in this house, known as The Orchard House. Since I really love the book, seeing this house was pretty neat. The only sad thing was that it was closed…we got there too late to tour the inside.











Went to the same beach in Ogunquit, Maine that we had gone to on our honeymoon two years ago. So fun and nostalgic! The only sad thing was that the tide was coming in, so rather than hop in the river and float in it out to the ocean, the river was flowing backwards. Though the day was a little overcast, we still got deep enough into the ocean to taste some salty water. After the ocean, we went to some little shops, didn’t buy anything, and then ate at a little café (which I thought was yummy, Pete thought was mediocre. To be honest, the cuteness factor probably had a little too much play into the fact that I approved so well of the food—how adorable sounding is “Wild Blueberry Café”?). On the way back to my uncle’s house, near Boston, we decided we needed to stop at Wal-Mart to grab a few odds and ends. The Wal-Mart we happened to be closest to (according to the GPS) was the same Wal-Mart we had gone to on our honeymoon once. We got lost trying to find it then, and let’s just say the same thing happened this time. Eventually, though, we made it 











Wednesday was a day of much driving. In the morning, we left my uncle’s house at 8am for Manchester, NH where we picked up a 12-seat rental van (which will fondly be referred to as the “fun bus”). We then drove to Burlington, Vermont where we picked up Pete’s parents and younger siblings from the airport (hence the need for the fun bus). After that, we went and checked into our hotel in Burlington and ate lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent driving through beautiful Vermont (I basically fell in love with this state from the time we entered it). There are so many rolling hills covered in trees, along with beautiful rivers and lakes. The highlights of the day were touring the Ben & Jerry’s factory near Stowe, seeing the house-now-made-into-a-lodge where the von Trapp family lived after leaving Europe, and watching the sun set over beautiful Lake Champlain.









The next morning, Pete and I went running on a trail along Lake Champlain, and then John B. (Pete’s older brother) gave us all a tour of the Medical School at the University of Vermont where he just finished up his first year. It was cool to get a taste of what Medical School is like. Next, we all rushed to get ready and packed to head back to Georgetown, MA for a family dinner with all the Hoyts and Ashley’s family. I must mention the wonderful place we got breakfast from in Burlington that day, the Pennycluse Café. The most beautiful, fresh, and delicious tasting fruit tray plus these incredible ginger pancakes (http://www.pennycluse.com/recipes/) are reason alone for me to visit Burlington Vermont again. Soon (I wish).

After getting to Georgetown, we went to Ashley’s house. It was super fun to meet her family, see her and Brian (It had been a while since we had seen those two as they were off on all their almost-married adventures like finding housing in Texas, visiting the Hoyts in Washington, etc.). Ashley’s house has this amazing pond IN THE BACKYARD (and when I say pond, I mean more like lake). So we swam and ate food and had an all-around good time.

Friday, July 23rd, was filled with wedding festivities. The morning consisted of breakfast and swimming and getting pretty (as well as me running through the hotel buildings in high heels trying to help people get ready). In the afternoon, we went to Brian and Ashley’s sealing in the Boston Temple. The temple was so gorgeous and Ashley’s grandpa sealed the couple which made it extra special. It truly was a beautiful time. I am so happy and excited for them! We then ate sack lunches and Pete and I headed back to my uncle’s house to drop off his car (which he graciously let us use during our whole trip!) Pete’s older sister, Elise, and her husband picked us up from my uncle’s house and we went to Brian and Ashley’s reception (note at this point in time we spent over two hours in traffic making what should have been a 40 minute drive…thus I became slightly disenchanted—for the first time—with New England). The reception was beautiful—it was so fun to celebrate with the new couple!





On Saturday, the Hendricks family drove us to the Boston airport on their way to the Plimouth Plantation and we flew back to SLC. It should be known that I hate flying and shall have a loooong break from it now.

All in all, our entire trip was so fun! We are so happy for Brian and Ashley and so happy that we were able to have such a fun vacation! Thanks Hoyts, Hendricks, and Morrisons for making our trip sooo fun!