The move...

I was planning on extending my CA visit to Wednesday before heading to VA, but come to find out, I have to have my pre-employment physical done on Wednesday so I flew out to VA today. When I arrive at the rental car place to pick up my car (who knows when mine will actually arrive) it's softly raining. When I finish my paperwork and walk outside it's softly raining. When I arrive at my car (50 feet away) it's a torrential downpour. I'm soaked through by the time I finish putting my luggage in the car. So I bust out my new GPS and map it for home. About 5 minutes later the battery dies. So I'm on some freeway, somewhere near Dulles airport, in a downpour, with no directions. And no pen. So I pull over and scramble to the trunk (confident I will be run over by an 18 wheeler) to try to find a pen in my luggage. Once located I called my friend who directed me home and invited me to come watch him play basketball. Ohhh, fun. But I'm a sucker for socializing so I did. He arrived 30 minutes later than I expected so I sat on the stage with a bunch of sweating guys I didn't know. I'm pretty sure they thought I was some kind of stalker freak/desperate social retard. Seriously, who goes and watches church basketball on Tuesday night?! It was pretty funny and I was very happy when he finally showed up and demonstrated that I was not quite as big a loser as they may have thought.

So tomorrow I start unpacking. I have way more stuff than I realized but I think I have enough space for it all. My roommates seem really nice - they've done so much to make this move manageable for me. I don't know what I would have done otherwise.

P.S. Last night my family had a combined Family Home Evening at Dave & Crissie's house. It was so much fun and I loved watching my nieces and nephews participate in learning the gospel. Listening to them sing "I am a Child of God" about made my heart burst. I hope they take the message to heart and always remember who they are and how much they are loved, both by their Heavenly Father and their earthly family. I don't know if there is anything I wouldn't do for those kids. I miss them dearly when I'm not there and leaving is always painful. On the happy side, I took a ton of pictures, some sweet ones and some funny ones. I'll post them soon so come back and check...

Leaving CA...

I had a bit of a breakdown on Friday night. I just wasn't ready to start my new adventure in VA. I wanted to stay in CA, visit with my family, read, go to the river, and just relax after the stress of graduating, planning the move, studying for and taking the NCLEX, and then fixing my disastrously botched move. I just needed a break. So I changed my flight to go on Wednesday. Today I called to reschedule my physical (required before I start working next week) and they said, "oh no, if you don't come in on Wednesday we'll have to reschedule your start date." Such is my life. So after some scrambling I managed to get on a flight for Tuesday. Yea for me. So today will be a whirlwind of packing and highlighting my hair. Yes, I started highlighting my hair last winter and while I love having my bright blond hair back it makes me a bit sick to have to dye it.

Other than that, last week I took the three nephews on our "date". My favorite activities when I visit are my dates with the little boys. I usually take J&J out together and C out by himself. In the past we've gone to movies and Chuck E. Cheese (my favorite). So this time I really wanted to take them to the climbing gym and introduce them to my favorite sport but they wanted to go bowling. Bowling. Yes. Okay. I picked J up from school then the other J. Little J started preschool this year and loves it! He was so excited when he came out - he's going on a field trip to the pumpkin patch and just HAD to call his mom to tell her all about it. Darling. We jumped on the freeway and headed for Livermore to get C. About 10 minutes later Little J asked if we could go home. I said we were on our way to get C and then to go bowling. He said, in his little 4 year old voice, "but I have to go pee-pee and I can't hold it." Panic. So we got off at the nearest McDonald's. Whew. We picked up C and headed for the bowling alley. When we got there Big J promptly (though accidentally) slammed Little J's fingers in the car door. I hear this little voice, "open the door... open the door... open the door." I think I was more freaked out about it than he was. He was not about to go home and since his fingers weren't broken... So we bowled and played video games and got bouncy balls and were generally loud and crazy. Then headed over to McDonald's for dinner and more playing. We were all disappointed to go home. The boys were so cute and so good. I think I heard more giggles over pee pee and underwear than a gaggle of 12 year old girls could produce. I tried not to encourage it but it was pretty funny. I just love those boys. They are so delightful and loving. I miss them so much when I'm not around!

I AM AN RN! Couldn't have done it without the love and support of my family and friends. Thank you!

Good boys become good men...

I'm babysitting my darling nephews and tonight the oldest (age 6) said the bedtime prayer, "Please bless me to grow up, and go on a mission, and get married in the temple, and be good."

The past few weeks I've been studying for the NCLEX. The NCLEX is the national licensing exam for nurses and it sucks. My life is very, very boring. I stare at a women in a 1"x1" box on my computer as she talks about all things nursing. Then I take practice test after practice test. Kaplan recommends taking 1200 questions before taking the exam. I'm at 900. Now, I don't spend the whole day studying, I have found many ways to procrastinate. Namely, Crewe and Dayne. Sadly, they're in UT now so I have no excuse. I am feeling confident about the test but I also know that I have to be over-prepared or I will freak out and panic. I take the test on Tuesday (so special prayers this week and if you feel the need to fast... well, spiritual blessings will never be discouraged ;)

Oh, and my stuff is being picked up in Tucson today between 2 and 4pm to begin its trek to VA. I leave a week from Saturday.

More Glider Flying...

Sunday, before leaving Tucson, I had one last flight with Jeff. Still amazing. We got up to 10,000 feet - and I contributed several thousand of those feet. I thoroughly enjoyed the flight - even the part where I threw up all over my self. Yes, it was pathetic but I felt great afterward, good enough that we did some dives and high speed turning. Falling is far more comfortable than Gs (in my opinion), and more fun. Again I had a great time and, even with the nausea/vomiting, would go again in a heartbeat. There are ways to overcome air sickness. Few things beat the feeling of flying. Thanks Jeff!


10,000+ feet

Another glider we were flying with

So my aim wasn't the best for this picture

Me, pre-airsick

I can hardly believe Jeff was willing to touch me at that point!

Gliders

Glider flying with Jeff...


Gliders waiting to be towed into the air


Me... waiting to take-off

Being towed


Jeff with his glider


I absolutely loved glider flying. Got a bit nauseous but, apparently, that's to be expected. We were up for just over 30 min., did some circling and some soaring, and Jeff let me fly. That's my favorite part. We're going again before I leave. Amazing...