The Fate of the Chalkboard Paint and Other Unfortunate Events…

A storage bin, a stomach virus, and a drive to the gym. So began three separate events that have incurred some high costs over the past month.

First, the ever-growing-weightier storage bin full of craft items suffered an acute 10 foot fall during an attempt to place it high on the shelf in our bedroom. Unfortunately, the only casualty was a pint of black chalkboard paint. Despite our best cleaning efforts, we now have a 10-inch diameter, deep black stain on our bedroom carpet. Not sure how our landlord is going to feel about that…but I have a feeling we can kiss our $500 security deposit goodbye.

Secondly, due to some forceful vomiting, intense stomach pain, and advice from the doc in the family, we went to the Emergency Room on a Sunday night and incited $3000+ in total expenses. Good thing we have health insurance and will be paying substantially less than that! (and good thing the Dilaudid made it all worth it).

Third, while our own vehicle sustained minimal damage, making a too sharp turn in our underground parking garage didn’t fare so well for our good neighbor’s car. A patch of paintless metal and some rubber from our tire are what now remain on the once shiny silver corner of said neighbor's bumper. We’ve offered money and free carpet cleaning so far…we’ll see how that one pans out.

Now before you think “Well, this really isn’t too much to expect from Steph,”
I’ll let you in on a little secret:
Pete sent the craft bin crashing to the ground,
Pete was the happy recipient of the dilaudid in the ER, and
Pete ran into our neighbor's car.

Surprised?
Me too.
Because Pete's stressing enough for the both of us, I simply refuse to.

Life is good :)

Happy Birthday Hailey!

(Hannah, Hailey, Heidi)

My sister in law, Hailey, is one of the most pure, kind-hearted girls I know. My favorite things about Hailey are her cute laugh and her love of animals (especially kittens). I also love watching her interact with her little nieces and nephews. When I look at pictures of Hailey, I can’t help but smile.

Hailey is also very creative. Shortly after Pete and I got married, she made us a big binder with a few scrapbooked pictures of me and Pete---I was impressed with how well she made the pages! The binder sits on our bookshelf in our living room and has become a place where we store recipes, favorite church talks, and FHE lessons. We refer to it often and I think of sweet Hailey every time I pull it off the shelf.


I’m glad you were born Hailey! Can’t wait to see you in a few weeks!

Still enjoying the journey...

Caitlin, me, Karli at our pseudo-graduation in August--right before the start of our last semester

Well, I thought I should follow up on my previous post about making the most out of my last semester, because now it's halfway through! As predicted, the days are going by speedily. Projects and papers are underway and I’ve only got 558 of the 1500 NCLEX questions left to go. Also, after 6 or 7 more hospital shifts, all my clinical hours will be done!

Honestly, the hardest thing about this semester has been clinical (and probably the paper I should be writing right now instead of this). I don’t know whether being pregnant has something to do with it or not, but waking up at 5am, driving an hour to clinical, spending 12-14 hours at the hospital, then driving an hour home is just plain exhausting. Add in 12 hour night shifts--driving through stop-and-go traffic on the way home in the morning--and my body has come to know a whole new feeling of “tired.” Taking turns closing each eye one at a time to try to relieve the constant desire to close both, hitting myself in the face, calling my mom to talk to me, and smacking the muscles of my hands and legs to keep them from shutting down are all methods I’ve used to cope with the exhaustion on the drive home from a night shift. Ultimately, I’ve come to know that there is nothing better than crawling into bed after being up all night.

Luckily, I have several things that keep me motivated and many beautiful reminders of how good life is and how blessed I am to be having these opportunities. For example, when my sick patient barely at talking age has been in the hospital long enough to know her medications by name, I have new determination to handle 12 hours a couple times per week. Also, I couldn’t have asked for a better preceptor---her patience and teaching have definitely been a blessing this semester (check out her blog here!). Listening to the words and music of Mo-tab on my way to the hospital remind me what nursing (and life) is all about, and the hot dinner and big hug Pete has waiting for me when I get home at 9pm make it possible to do it all over again the next day. The beautiful red and gold colors I see creeping over the mountainside on my way to a night shift remind me how fast time passes and how soon this time of my life will be over.

Better enjoy it while I can!

VA clinical group and instructor ---Winter Semester 2009



Nursing peers and dean at the Sigma Theta Tau 5k---Fall Semester 2009

Happy Birthday John B!

(John at Medical School in Vermont)

Once upon a time, me and my brother-in-law, John, became quite adept at "pushing each other's buttons." I'm not sure how it evolved...I guess it just came natural. Then one summer we found ourselves job-less and bored in the same city.

Hence, we bonded.

First we realized that we had some similar qualities, one of those being that we each just tend to think we're right. And sometimes our "right" ideas happen to be opposites.

So...now we have a point system based on who is right (usually according to the authority of google) and can respectfully disagree with one another :)

Here are some of my favorite things about John B:

The first time I met him, Pete had just picked me up for a date and we were at his apartment, standing in the kitchen. All of a sudden, a guy that looks a lot like Pete that I had never met before (John) enters the apartment, exuberantly says "hi Stephanie!" and before I know what's happening, gives me a big hug. To me, this is the perfect example of John's warm personality and his caring nature.

Another thing I love about John is that he's never too busy to gmail chat with my 9 year old little brother, Wyatt. This summer when my family was visiting Provo, John took time from his busy schedule to hang out with Wyatt; The two went to the BYU bookstore, the Provo Bakery, etc. Needless to say, Wyatt pretty much thinks John B is the coolest person on the planet.


I like that John is so adventurous but smart and safe. He took me on lots of hiking trips and helped me get into better shape even though he had to physically push me up the mountain sometimes (Refer to this post). He also showed me an awesome "pondering spot," cooked food with me, and has made awesome pizza on more than one occasion.



When I think of my BYU school years, I will probably remember eating lunch in the Cougareat with Pete and John and sometimes other Hoyt boys, having awesome discussions about life and the things we were learning. Hanging out with John B is like finally having an older brother :)

Happy Birthday John!
Hope it's a good one!

Pumpkins, a table runner, and more cookies...

For our Relief Society Opening Social, we decided to have lunch, play a game, and then do some fun Halloween/Fall Season crafting. We painted and glittered pumpkins as well as frosted spider-web cookies (sorry to post more spider-web cookies...I just love them, and these turned out much better than the ones a few posts back).

I used to think my ward calling as Relief Society Meeting Coordinator (formerly Enrichment Leader) was stressful, but lately it has turned into a great excuse to do fun creative things instead of doing homework.

(find out how to make these here. Super easy and so fun!)

We spray painted some pumpkins gold and some pumpkins white and left some natural. Then we used acrylic paints and stencils to do all kinds of fun designs on them---lettering, polka dots, etc.

(thanks again, Mom, for the cute table runner!)

We glittered tiny little pumpkins. You just paint Elmer's glue on, dump glitter on it evenly and shake off the unused glitter. Then you let it dry for a while. Some women did orange pumpkins and then glittered the stem green--so cute! I'm sad I didn't get any pictures of the little glitter pumpkins, but this pic that I found through google is what they looked like:

Happy Birthday Hannah!

(photo by Nicole Guidry-Medcalf)

In a nutshell: She plays the guitar, runs, sings like an angel, throws a football better than I can even hope to, and turns 18 years old today!

Seriously…check out how hard core this girl is :)



I can’t believe that Hannah is 18! And by that, I mean, only 18. She is so mature and real. I think that once my maturity level reaches Hannah’s, I’ll be doing pretty well in life.

I love her quiet strength, her easy-going and fun-loving attitude, her creativity, and her eyes (especially the one with the cool brown fleck in it).

(photo by Nicole Guidry-Medcalf)

Fun times with Hannah include running around “the block” together in beautiful Washington, playing kickball in the front yard, searching all over Bellingham for chalkboard paint, and hanging out in Utah running, shopping, and making cupcakes. Hannah is always up for anything. If I say something random in my nerdy way, like "Oh my gosh, that rock candy matches you! let me take a picture," she runs with it:



The other day, I felt so grateful for life and realized that happiness is not an event that simply happens. Rather, It’s the sum total of consistently making correct choices. I love how Hannah lives her life and the choices she makes. I think she has so many beautiful and happy years ahead! You’re awesome Hannah!

(photo by Rachel Tomco)

Fall is here

I always think Summer is my favorite season…until Fall comes along. The colors in Utah are beautiful! Pete and I went on a Sunday walk in the canyon a week ago. I collected some leaves with which to do something crafty (or just scatter around the house for fun:), and we took some pictures: