Secrets

I HATE keeping secrets. I'll do it if I have to, but it's not fun, especially when the news is so wonderful! Well, I can finally tell one of the secrets I've been keeping to the whole world!

MY BABY SISTER (okay, my twin sister who is younger than me by a whole 30 seconds) IS ENGAGED!

I've known about it for three weeks, but I had to keep it a secret from everyone, including (and especially) Sean! Uh! So hard! But I did it, and Leslie and Pieter are now officially engaged.

Congratulations Leslie and Pieter! <3

Last Weekend

I went home last weekend! It was so nice just getting away for a while. I flew home Thursday night, and Sean picked me up from the airport. We drove across town (in Oakland! On the freeway, though) to Fentons, and then realized that it had closed 15 minutes prior to our arrival. Sad story. So we went to a 7-11 and got slurpees. Sean was laughing at me because there were too AMR (American Medical Response) ambulances parked outside it and I was spazzing out. I kind of have an obsession with ambulances. :)

We drove back to Pleasanton then, and went to Sean's house. I said hi to his family, hung out for a little while, and then drove Sean's car home so he wouldn't have to pick me up the next morning, as my car is in Utah!

Next day was Halloween and also Sean's stepdad's birthday. We had to go shopping for his birthday present, and we also went out to dinner (Outback). By the time we were done eating, both Sean and I were in a food coma and too full to go to Great America (amusement park) like we were planning that night (the park was open from 7pm-midnight), so we decided we would just go on Saturday. We went back to Sean's house and passed out candy to the trick-or-treaters, which was fun. I got to wear my Renaissance princess dress and Sean dressed up as a Jedi Knight. He had a way awesome costume! Oh, and we also got to go on a late-night adventure to the store because I didn't have any contact lens solution! So we went to Safeway and I got the stuff I needed, plus a movie - GATTACA. He bought a bag of Warheads that had 175 Warheads in it. Then we proceeded to act like little kids and eat some. The first ones weren't bad, but the second ones both got to us! I had my second one first, so he just laughed and laughed and laughed as I was dying from the sourness. Oh, but then I got to laugh at him as his second one nearly killed him. It was sweet, sweet revenge. I love it.

Saturday, I woke up, and it was RAINING! Dang it! Anyways, Sean had to work for a little bit this morning in Danville, so we drove up there together, and while he was working, I took his car up to Walnut Creek to the Kaiser hospital to get a flu shot after failing at getting one on Friday (long story). Sean's mom is a nurse up at the hospital there, so she was able to hook me up with one, which was so nice of her. Sean's family is wonderful! It was absolutely POURING when I was driving home, and Sean has this tiny little 2-seater car (a 1994 Civic del Sol), so it's not heavy at all, and we all know that I'm not very heavy. I hydroplaned like, four or five times, and everytime it was sooooooo scary. I was almost crying, I was so scared. So I called Sean and said, "Sean! We are NOT going to Great America! I would rather lose the money I already spent on tickets than DIE on our way down there." He agreed, and then we went and got new tires for his car because his were wearing out. Of course, while he was driving, he didn't have any problems with hydroplaning. It was just me. Luckily, though, he listened to me and fixed one of the problems as soon as he could. We had lunch while we were waiting for his car to get worked on at this place called Athens Burgers. It was so good! We had gyros and fried zucchini. Mmmmm...it was delicious, but so much food. Then we walked over to the Dublin Library and read a children's book and part of a comic book while we were waiting. I was exhausted, so he kept reading the comic books while I put my head down and took a little nap. Hmmm. What else did we do on Saturday? I can't remember.

On to Sunday! I got to sleep in an extra hour because of the time change! It was wonderful! I woke up on my own, without an alarm, at the time that I would have gotten up if I were going to my family's ward, so I decided to go with them. I went to Sacrament meeting with my parents, saw a bunch of old friends, and headed over to Sean's before the Tri-Valley Ward started. He wasn't even out of bed yet! Lazy bum. Anyways, we went to church, and because it was Fast Sunday, there was Break-the-Fast afterwards, and because it is November, it was a complete Thanksgiving dinner! It was amazing. And, just like a true Thanksgiving dinner, there were tons of desserts! So yummy. We also went to my house and had the leftovers from my mom and dad's dinner (steak wrapped in bacon!) and had a birthday party for MY dad, whose birthday was the Wednesday before. We had Maple Nut Cake, and it was gooooood. I went BACK over to Sean's and hung out with his family for a little while (and one of his sisters was in town with her baby), and I finally decided to go home because my flight was supposed to leave Oakland at 6:45 the next morning. Ew. Well, it was 1:45 before I got home, and then I had to pack all my stuff before I went to bed.

So I went to bed at 2:30, and set my alarm for 4:00 so I would have time to shower in the morning. My alarm went off, and I said to myself, "just a second longer..." and next thing I knew, it was 4:45 and Sean was calling me saying he would be there in ten minutes to take me to the airport. Alas, no shower that morning. So he drove me to the airport (what a sweet guy - he is NOT a morning person, but he did it for me), and I got to the airport with plenty of time to kill - I think I was at the gate an hour before my flight was supposed to leave. Anyways, I fell asleep as soon as we reached our cruising altitude, and then woke up less than a minute before we landed. It was beautiful. I was able to find my car with no problems, and then I drove back to Provo, where I took a shower once I got to my apartment. I went to class (and basically slept through both of them, so I shouldn't have even bothered going because I was so tired), and then came home and slept for a LONG time. And then slept a LONG time that night too. It was wonderful.

On Tuesday night, I got to go to the MTC for the Tuesday night devotional they have every week, and Sister Julie B. Beck was the speaker! She's the General Relief Society President (head of the church's women's organization), and she and her husband's messages were wonderful.

Nothing too exciting happened the rest of this week, besides getting to register for classes. I officially have the WORST schedule known to man. Except that I don't have class on Mondays.

Anyways, I need to go get ready for church, so I'll just say one more thing - BYU's football team won yesterday! We played San Diego State University and won 41-12, which wasn't all that surprising, but a win is still a win! Yay!

Have a good week, everyone!

YIPPEE!!!

This post was written on 10/30. I didn't have an internet connection at the time.

I am on top of the world right now! I have the best news!

I GOT INTO THE BYU NURSING PROGRAM!!!

I found out this afternoon via email...I wasn't expecting to find out until tomorrow! I really didn't think I was going to get in, especially after not getting accepted to the program last time I applied. I read the email as soon as I got it (I have this program that pops up when I get a new email and it includes a snippet of the text of the email, so I was reading it with bated breath when I opened it), and I let out a full-on little girl scream. Sheri heard me from her room, so I told her the fantastic news. I had to call my family right away and let them know, so I called Laura's house because Mom and Dad are visiting right now and staying with them, and had everyone get on speakerphone together. Well, darn it, they guessed what I was calling about before I could tell them! They were all so excited for me, and then Dad said something to the effect of, "You must be living right." I was so proud at that moment. Then I immediately got off the phone with them and called Aly and Leslie to tell them. I actually didn't call Sean because, guess what! I'm on an airplane right now flying to California to see him! I wanted to tell him in person! Anyways, so I am just floating on air right now (Southwest Airlines should give me a discount for making the plane easier to fly!) Anyways, I was so excited that I called one of my friends who was accepted to the program for this fall. I told her that I got in and that I was also going home to see Sean, and she said that I was having the most absolutely perfect day. So then once I got on the plane I called Sean and was telling him what Stephanie told me. He was all confused (remember, I hadn't told him that I had been accepted yet), and then he just flat out asked me if I had gotten in. I couldn't deny it or even hide my excitement. About ten seconds later, unfortunately, the flight attendants came on the intercom and told us to put our phones away, so I wasn't able to keep talking to him. But from what I heard, he's so excited for me and proud of me. He said that he'll never comment on how much time I spend doing BYU EMS (because believe me, he's commented on it before). Uh! I'm just so excited that I can't stand it! It feels like I'm just living in a dream right now. I actually did pinch myself to see if I was dreaming, but I'M NOT!!! It makes all of the tears, anguish, and stress that I've experienced since beginning to apply to the program the first time just kind of melt away and make them all so worth it. I have so much more appreciation for my acceptance than I would have had if I had gotten in my first try. I am so grateful for this second chance that I've been given. I know that this is what I need to be doing. My dreams of becoming a flight nurse are finally taking flight! (haha, pun intended...) Life is good.

Like I said earlier, I am headed home to hang out with Sean for the weekend! Tonight after my flight lands, he and I are going to Fenton's to get some ice cream, and tomorrow night (Halloween), we're going to Great America! We had bought tickets this summer to go, but the day we tried to go, the park was closed, so we had tickets that we needed to use up before the season is over (which is this Sunday). I'm not sure what else we'll be doing while I'm home, but I suspect that it will include a trip to San Francisco for dinner. Other than that, though, Sean's going to surprise me! Good thing I trust him, right? I'll be at home until ridiculously early Monday morning so I can get back to school and homework. You know, that "real world" stuff.

**Sorry if this post seems so disjointed, but I'm spazzing out about getting into the nursing program still...and I likely will be for a while yet to come!**

Let's see. So I know that I'm horrible at blogging frequently (both Aly and Laura have been bugging me to update it more often), and it's not because nothing is worth blogging about! So many good things have been happening this semester!

-I got a 96% on a Statistics test! I was sooooooo excited about that because, as you probably know, math is NOT my strong suit, and I've always had Dad around to help me with math. Well, he's 800 miles away and has never taken a Stats class, so he hasn't been able to help me.

-I got my hair cut at the Paul Mitchell Beauty School and I love it! It's just about shoulder-length now and one layer (except for where I'm growing out my bangs). It's super easy to take care of!

-Leslie is going to move into my apartment when we come back after Christmas break! I have a good feeling about it. I hope we'll be able to get along, and I think things will work out. Living apart this semester (farther than 30 yards away, unlike last year) has proven to be a little bit of a challenge sometimes. I miss her!

-Laura gave birth to her third son on October 9th. Miles Samuel belnap entered the world at 7:45pm, weighing 7 lbs 4 oz and 19.5 inches long. I got to visit Laura and him in the hospital before he was even a full day old! He was so tiny and adorable. Scratch that. He still IS tiny and adorable!

-Well, this one won't sound like a good thing at first, but bear with me for a second. Three weeks ago tomorrow I was running while on duty for EMS and was responding to a call. I was trying to run around a corner and was wearing slippery shoes on a marble floor. Bad idea, let me tell you. I slipped and fell, landing right on my left hand. The good news here is that it is NOT broken! After two trips to visit a doctor and two sets of x-rays, it was diagnosed as a "deep bone bruise," whatever that means. I didn't know that ones themselves could get bruised! It sill hurts when I'm doing things with that hand and it hurts to bear weight on it, so I've been wearing a splint everyday, but at least it's not broken!

-Sean got his mission call! He has been called to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for two years in the Texas Houston Mission! He reports to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) on January 7th, and he will be serving in Spanish! He doesn't know any Spanish as of right now, but he'll learn!

(Have I mentioned yet how happy and excited I am to have gotten into the nursting program and to be going home right now???)

Sorry, told you I'm spazzing out about it. But that's to be expected, right? Most of you would probably be worried if I wasn't, I think!

YAY! Only 50 more minutes until we land in Oakland! So only like an hour until I get ot see Sean!

Funny story. The person I am sitting next to is from my home ward! How crazy is that? He came to Utah just for the day to drop his stepson off. What a small world! It's a beautiful thing.

Anyways, this post is long enough for now. I'm just so thankful for all of my wonderful, wonderful blessings. like I said earlier, I know that LIFE IS GOOD.