I finally made it through one of the craziest weeks I have ever had in college. Ontop of all of the extra stress at work, this past week I had four tests and four assignments due. I had my first test in the class that will decide if I get to leave this town in May or not and I did so so. For some reason on the first test in any class I take, before I know how the teacher sets up the tests, I make the same average on every test-around a 70. This time was no different. I was a little dissappointed since I did study for about twleve hours straight for it, but the grade could have been a lot worse considering it was over tube feedings, lab values, calculating nitrogen balance and more fun stuff I know sounds really boring.

Ryan's parents made it into town this weekend. Friday they were visiting Quala's parents, so Ryan and I drove to meet them there. It was only a two and a half hour drive, but we had all kind of craziness on the drive-out of nowhere in the dark, we had to slam on our brakes for a balloon!!!, the moon looked creepy-just like a classic halloween movie moon, we almost hit one deer right in the middle of the road, and saw seven more, we saw two porcupines!!(I have never seen one in person i don't believe!) We made in to see O'ma and O'pa about ten, talked and then hit the sack. In the morning we got to spend a little more time talking and then drove back to LBK for the big game! I don't know if anyone actually got to see the game, but we won 75-7. A blowout, but our defense needed to work on things and I thnk this helped. I felt bad for the otehr team though. Afterwards, we ate Olive Garden(yum) and came home to settle in for the night. For me it ended up only being two hours because I got the pleasure of working this morning! Now I am nuturing myself as it seems I am getting a cold or some kind of sickness. Go figure!

During all of my activities last week, I really needed a haircut. I wouldn't let myself get one since it would take some much time away from studying. Instead it was my incentive to finish the week.I got my haircut on Friday and I pretty much let the girl do what she wanted to. I trust her a lot since she is a friend of a friend and has done a super job on everyone else that I have seen. I don't think I was an exceptino to that! My hair is definitely something I have not done before and to me is daring compared to how long it used to be. Anyway...you can tell me what you think. This is actually the way my stylist fixedit, and I don't think some people liked it too much. I fix it differnently though and will have to post a pic of that way when I get it.

I am going to straighten up a little here and chug down some fluids to fight this yuckiness I have. Have a fantastic week!

The week in Review

Since I did not have any time this week to post, I figured that I would just give you a summary of how crazy this week was. It all started last Sunday when I got called into work at 8:00 AM because the supervisor who was there needed to go to the ER. So, I rushed my tush to work and stayed there until about five. Then I got to do the really fun stuff called homework. I had three assignments due this week already. Monday started later, thankfully. I had class at eleven until five thirty, then came home to clean house and start on more assignments. Tuesday marked the best day of the week! (totally sarcastic!!!) I woke up at six, went to class from 8-12, rushed to get to work by 12:30 and then had a terrible day. We were so short handed that I did the jobs that four people would normally do. Oh and let's not forget that I just about put in my two weeks notice because I was so mad our manager and staff. I got home that night around nine. Suddenly when I walked in my front door, my mood changed immediately. Allison had cleaned our house and got me supper!! Ryan had to work until 11, and he was surprised too. Wednesday I slept in, ran errands and then went to class at two until five. Thursday was also exhausting. I got on campus at 7:30 and didn't leave until 8:30 that night. The whole time I was in class, working on homework or attending meetings. Friday things started looking up. I woke up early, got lots of homework done and then went to work at three. It was actually a good day at work too. Then today hit....a relatively good day except that the same supervisor that was mentioned in the beginning as going to the ER last weekend had to made another visit there last night. So, she will not be working all weekend now. Jordan came in this morning to cover the other girl's shift today and now I have to go in tomorrow morning to cover tomorrow. I guess the week is beginning the same way it started last week. I will have to be there at 4:30 in the morning. At least I will have the afernoon to rest some and finish the homework I had planned on doing tonight.
I have my first test next week and it is guranteed to be a doozy. The teacher said if you have doubts about something now to come talk to her because if you wait until after you get your first test score back, then you might as well plan on failing! Thanks for the encouragement, right?! Good things to look foward to! :) I really hope all of your schedules are more flexible and easy going than mine. Enjoy the fresh start to a brand new week.

Just a Real Quick List...

Ok, so here is what I have been up to in a summary...
-started school
-majorly stressed already
-overworked from having the pleasure to work 5-eight hour days in a row ontop of all the school
-bought new tires today
-starting on homework for next week
I know I really haven't put much up here lately, it has just been really hard to make extra time so far. I still don't have all of my finanacial aid in so I have been working with fixing that and I am in the process of getting all of my "school supplies." You know the usual....white dress shirt, books, a scarlett tie, binders, black non-slip shoes, etc. I am working in a restaurant for part of a lab that is why I have some funny supplies thrown in there. I actually have to wait tables this semester. Fun fun!! I gotta get back to some online homework! Have a great end of the week!

Just wanted to see if I can make everyone happy like me today....It is the "baby's" LAST first day of school!! Now all I have to do is make sure I pass everything! :) Have a Happy Monday!

Finally Something to Look Foward to!

Ryan and I decided before school starts for me on Monday that we would take some time off together from work. Well, that is where I am at right now...on a mini vacation with my sweetie. It definitely was something to look foward to all week long for me since work has been so unpredictable and for Ryan, since his boss is such a you know what. So, we are only about an hour and a half from Lubbock, but we were able to go see Palo Duro Canyon like we have been saying we were going to since we moved to Lubbock-three years ago! I went in May with Quala and Alli, which meant that this time I kinda played tour guide. It was a lot of fun. Ryan and I really enojoy hiking(when we both don't have bugs swarming us!). Today we didn't even hike a whole mile and we weren't climbing up a mountain at a steep elevation. Either way, I think we both wished that we lived closer to mountains or valleys that we could hike up. Really great exercise and So much to see!!

After we were done hiking and souvenier shopping Ryan wanted to go to another place he learned about in his Art class-Cadillac Ranch. So, we look up directions on the internet and we drove out there. All it is is old Cadillacs buried half way in the dirt, sticking straight up in the air. It really doesn't sound too great, but you are encouraged to bring paint and then paint anything you want on the cars. Funny as it sounds, it was a lot of fun! The wind almost knocked us over in both places today(excuse the hair) but it was tons of fun just relaxing and exploring new things together. Here are some pictures and I am sure Ryan will post somethng later too.

(by Ryan)

The following website gives the story about Cadillac Ranch. it's considered a modern public art piece, and people come from all over the world to dusty old Amarillo, Texas, just to see it and add to it.

http://www.libertysoftware.be/cml/cadillacranch/ranch/crabtr.htm

Ryan's famous pose:

Can you see the amazing canyon behind us? It is really hard to take a picture yourself and try to get a great background too.

Here is the view without us hogging the frame.

Just a pretty background:

Can you see Ryan in this picture? He is wearing a red shirt and kahkis shorts. I had to yell at him to come back because I thought I heard a rattlesnake! I guess it was just me being a pansy!

Now you see the "cave" from the outside or from the road...

Now you see it from the inside....

This is the Cadillac Ranch. I thought the cars might be kinda old and rusty since they have been there for so long, but the paint was so thick on them that you counldn't even see the lug nuts on the tires!!

I decided to get inside the car to paint something. Less likely that someone else will paint over it!

I figured that the cars would be pretty much multi-colored and no matter how dark you sprayed something on, it was not going to show. So, Ryan and I bought black paint to put a backdrop and then red to write ontop of black. It was a good idea since the most popular colors on the cars were red and black!!! Ryan did a really good job painting after all his experience painting racecars.

His finished product:

Ryan helped me stand on the top of the car to reach a place that was still blank.

Ryan didn't need my help climbing up his car to write on the top. Ryan was in a big climbing mood today...everything he saw he told me, "hmmmmm I wonder how I can get to the top of that!" I told him he must have that in common with John!

We had someone take our picture, thankfully. You actually get the whole view!

It does not seem like it has been too long since I posted. I guess when you really are doing nothing more than working, the days just all blend in. Work has been driving me crazy this past week. One of the supervisors had a nasty rumor that someone started, then she was having problems at home too. So, she called in a couple of days and also has a sour attitude when she is there. Usually when she calls in I work, unless she "fixes" the schedule before she leaves the next day. Instead of calling in, she will call the third superviser and ask if she wants to work, therefore bypassing me completely. Mom heard a lot about this last night. It is okay now I think. Sorry I hate talking about work so much, but that is really all that I am doing right now. Today I got the day off....practically had to beg for it and I have to be at work at 4:30 in the morning. Anyway, I spent my day cleaning mostly. I washed clothes and wanted to wash my car. It has been drizzling and just gloomy outside all day. Not a good day to wash the car.

It is good that I work in the morning tomorrow since Randy, Quala, and Allison will be in town tomorrow night. They are moving Alli up here. The plan right now is work, nap, then they get here, move in, eat, sleep, etc.... I am really looking forward to seeing all of them. I guess I will get to see Alli a lot more now since she will be up here with us! Cooking supper for three some nights?? We shall see.

Classes start in a week. It is crazy to think this is the last fall that I have in classes and even here in Lubbock. Exciting!! Bailey and I are going to go on Monday or Tuesday and look at Tech rings so that we can get one!! This is my senior year! It might be a tough one though with all the classes I am taking-15 hours. It really doesn't sound like a lot just thinking about the hours, but the classes are all really involved. Plus, I might be working Saturday and/or Sunday mornings this semester, which will give me time in the afternoon to do homework, as long as I am not dog tired from getting up so early.

I better go. I need to call John back. Have a great weekend.

Out with the Old, In with the New(er)

Ryan has conquered his task of learning to ride a motorcycle. Today he actually took his driving test and got his motorcycle license. So why the title you ask? That is because he bought his current bike as a learning bike and now that he knows how to ride and is confident he will not drop the bike, he has purchased a new(er) bike. I really was worried about what he was getting himself into, you know the normal gilr/fiance freak out moment. But, he was smart about it all and got a really good deal. The bike he got is a 2001 Honda CBR 929 RR. It is in mint condition though and only has about 2500 miles on it. Apparently, anywhere he rides it, he gets comments on how great it looks. Since I don't ride with him, I don't know but I do know that he is about as proud of his bike as I am of my ring! That is pretty proud!! We named it already too...Maverick 2.1. Pictures following!...

I had a big issue today too. When I was home in Houston, Mom, Dee, Sue and I went to a jewelry store. There was a necklace that I bought that was glass, which I have only worn twice since I bought it, and it was my favorite necklace! Well, today I was putting it on and I had a vision of my dropping it and I told myself don't do that. Do you know what I did next? Yup. I dropped it. The glass pendant shattered all over the bathroom floor. I was so pissed at myself!! That started a series of brain farts for the rest of the day.



Everything else around here is business as usual. Ryan is supposed to be part time at his job and this week he was scheduled for 47 hours. He has already talked to his manager about it and they told him until they find him help, that is how it is going to be. I feel really bad for him. I know exactly how that feels and I wish that I could do something to help him with homework or work. The best I can do is just keep washing his clothes and make sure he wakes up on time. :) He will see my crazy side once school starts. One of our supervisors at my job is most likely leaving(the one that works like 50 hours a week). That could make an even tougher fall for me if they rely on my to take most of those hours on myself.

Making it through-

Ryan and I are making it through the summer. I can't believe it is already August-I am still trying to get money for school in order! The good news...this is the last year I have to worry about getting money in order for school!! Next, I will have to worry about money while I am interning! Woo Hoo! I am ready to take the next step to my career. My car has crossed a mile stone also, Betty now has 100,00 miles on her! I still love my car though. Ryan and I have to get my transmission fluid and filter changed though(didn't know that was supposed to happen every 50,000 miles) and my oil needs to be changed again. All routine checkups for her. Ryan's car is in good shape, however Maverick 2.0 (notorcycle) isn't in such good shape. Ryan has been taking him to work everyday and on his way home Monday, something started knocking. Anyway, this motorcycle was just his beginner bike to start with and now he is looking at getting something newer and more dependable. He didn't buy the bike he wanted to start with because he didn't want to scrap it up or anything while he was learning. Now he feels like a pro at riding. I will keep you up on that.
I cut my hair yersterday too. Nothing really different, just a trim. I actually wanted more cut off, but Ryan said he likes it a lot plus it is easy for me to fix. Bailey got her nails done while I got a haircut. Tuesday was her last day at work, so after work we all surprised her by having a get together at my house after work. She had no idea it was coming. Usually for someone's last day we have cake, so all night long she was hinting how disappointed she was that noone thought to celebrate her leaving. I think she rethought that when I opened the door to my house though! Good food and good friends!
I already told Sue, but if anyone else has read 'My Sister's Keeper" you might be interested. They are making it into a movie. Cameron Diaz will play the mom. Something else for me to go see!
Now, I have to wash some dishes. I made crab stuffed salmon last night, but I didn't do any of the dishes yet. Some nights I feel like Dad and do the dishes right away, others I am Mom and just rinse and finish washing in the morning! Thanks for the great mix of both of you!

First Day Follow Up

Ryan didn't really have any complaints about his new job yesturday. He sounded excited about all the things he can do to pass the time compared to his previous job where he just walked around Sears all day long. I just got back from Ace actually. Ryan forgot his keys for the store on his car keychain and drove his bike today. So, I got to the store and an employee had to page him! :) It was kinda fun. Oh plus Ryan sold me some screws to hang up a shelf.

I had a rough day at work yesterday. Thursday are always bad, plus there was a meeting for the whole staff except for supervisors. So, dinner was pretty late for the hospital last night. Plus, we have been waiting for the health inspector to come and guess waht!! Yesterday was the big day! The good news is that my boss recognized and complimented me on how good of a job I do and how mature and responsible I am compared to others that we have. That made me feel great since I was really starting to get down on my job! :) To end the day, I usually get home at 8:30 but I got home at 9:45 last night. Yuck! Today I am off and then I have to work 4 days straight, one of which is a 10 hour day and the others are 8s. I am going to be exhausted.

After printing out my school schedule, I realized I will not have class at all on Fridays this semester!! I have class at 11-5:20 on Mondays, 8-5:30 on Tuesdays, 11-11:50 on Wednesdays, 8-5:30 on Thursdays and then nothing on Friday!! Woo Hooo. We will see what days I will get to supervise at work now.

I was looking through some pictures and found some really cute ones from different times in the summer. I thought I would post them since I haven't really seen them on anyone else's blogs yet. Have a great weekend!

Backl Down to Two

Yup, Ryan and I are back to two pets-Raider and Star. Usually cats are really clean, but Scarlett was a mess! Our whole guest bathroom was covered in litter and when she ate, she got food in the water and all over the counter. Basicly, I think we learned that we are not cat people. We will be sticking to dogs from now on.

Today I pretty much spent the day cleaning up after our orphan. Plus I made cookies for tomorrow at work because I know it is going to be a rough one. Ryan and I rearranged our media room last night and finished it today. We put our big chair back in the room so that I can read textbooks in here comfortably and so he could play Xbox in here without driving me bonkers in the living room and kitchen.

Ryan got a job too! He starts work tomorrow at Ace Hardware. He is really looking foward to it. I could tell he was getting really iritated with no call backs from a lot of applications he put in and from the lack of jobs to apply for.

Ryan and I went out with some friends last Friday night. Here are a couple of pics of that fun.

More pictures of Scarlet

i doubt anyone is looking at our blog lately but i'll post some more pictures of the new kitten

We adopted another one!

Once again one of our neighbors got a pet they couldn't keep. They told us they had gotten a kitten this past weekend and already last night they were talling us how they didn't want the kitten. So this morning Ryan and I are leaving and see the kitten on our front porch(we share one with the neighbors) by itself. We played with it for a little bit and then walked to the car. Well, she followed us! I put her back on the porch and ran to the car, but then she chased us into the road and sat there waiting for us to come back! We turned around, knocked on the neighbors door, and somewhere in the short conversation we had, I had volunteered for us to take the kitten. Ryan and I weren't planning on gettting a kitten, but we didn't want to come home to kitten splat either. The neighbor actually told me they had left her outside hoping someone would take her or she would wonder off!!! Anyway, we have her now. She has already taught Star a couple of things, (since Star acts like a cat half the time anyway) like how to meow! Plus, being a typical cat, she has already found the aquarium all by herself! We have named her Scarlett. Sue wanted me to post a picture of her so that she could tell me if the name fit. So what do you think? Is she a Scarlett?

Montana: Part 2

Alright, I am starting with Tuesday for this part of my Montana adventure. Tuesday we got up early at about six and left the house at seven in the morning to go to Glacier National Park. It took two hours to get there and most of that time was driving in mountains, so you know I got car sick. Dad was really nice and let me sit in the front to prevent the car sickness, but we didn't expect to have bumpy roads along with all the other condidtions. We reached the park and bought some souveneirs, fudge and then started going up the mountain! First there was just a lot of driving and then scenery, but once we got to Many Glacier(hiking trails) that is where the fun started. Here are the pictures to prove it.

This is on the way up to the mountain. The railroad goes really far in the land oh and that is one of the rivers that drains the melted snow from the top so it is extremely cold.
Finally, we reached the park, officially. I was hoping that seeing animals and wild life would wake me up from taking Dramamine. John was making fun of me during the drive because I couldn't keep my eyes open!

While we were stoppedon the side of the road I took this picture.

Just one of the amazing views. The trees grow in strange directions in the mountains. This one was just wide enough for me to sit in, but John had to help me down since I got stuck! he is helping me down in this picture.

Another gret view, actually behind the tree in the middle is a tiny island. It is called Wild Duck Island I believe. Are you jealous of all the beautiful sights yet?

Mom just had to pose infront of the bear warning sign. They posed here last year too.

If you look close, you can see the Moose walking out from the woods and getting in the water.

Moose! Eating! It was really cool watching him eat. He would dive to the bottom, pull us some moss, and then come to the top with it dripping and chomp on it. At some points it looked like he was swimming.
Rams. When we first reached Logan's Pass(the highest point we went to) they were up the mountain about a half mile grazing. People were standing in the parking lot with binoculars watching them. Once we were about to leave though, a whole cluster of people was forming aroung one area, because the goats were running down to the parking lot. Right here they are just outside of the parking lot, grazing.
I just love this picture of the waterfall from top to bottom.

We started traveling back down the mountain and this little guy stepped onto the road. Once we turned and parked, he was just standing in the middle of the road holding up traffic. He eventually climbed up a couple of feet and made himself comfortable for everyone to see him.


Ok, July 4 starts. The outfit Gabe is wearing, Ryan and I bought him and it was the first of MANY that day. Usually they let him wear a bid all day to catch the drool or just crawl around in his diaper, but he just had too many outfits to wear on the fourth!
Melanie and I at the parade. Gabe had fun seeing all the new cars.

Happy baby.

Can you see his teeth?

Sorry if this last part is kinda small and short. I just got called into work early again so I have to get running!

Fun Times in Montana!!

Warning.......Long post ahead! After returning to Lubbock from Montana, Ryan and I took yet another trip yesterday otherwise Iwould have posted already. We drove to Lake Graham and got to see all of his family. It was great. Then today, after working a long gruesome 11 hours, I am ready to post all of the story! Here is all the fun Mom, Dad and I had on the ride to Montana, at John and Mel's and then on the way home a little bit.

Dad was so excited that the train tracks drove through the mountains. I thought it was cool too though.

I thought this picture was a lot cooler though. Can you see the little black tracks? Yup that is the railroad! Just hanging in the mountains!

This is actually a picture while driving on the interstate. It must have been a point where we were going slow since the road went straight up the mountain. At one spot, the raod was actually at a 6% grade and the speed limit for trucks was 25 mph!

Finally the view to Polson! The road on the left of the picture is the road we came in on and as soon as you get ontop of the hill you get an amazing view of Flathead Lake.

Somebody woke up early on Sunday! He did NOT want to go back to bed. So, John and I packed him up and took a walk to the lake. It was only like two blocks from his house! I am so jealous! Gabe loves that pack too!

Here is a shot of the lake. It does not do justice to how gorgeous it is though! This particular day the lake was really choppy and John told me the story about why it is also called the Widowmaker. Just ask him......he will tell you.....

Later on in the day John decided to take me on a hike. I thought it was going to be a small or easy hike, but I was really wrong. Good thing Pat and Allen came with us since they were well prepared with food and the bear mace! This picture is at the beginning of the trail...that is why I am still smiling! No really it wasn't that terrible,but my knees do still hurt!

Can you see that big drop off behind me? Imagine someone who is scared of heights going through there...oh wait....that is me. It was amazing though.

I have no idea what those white flowers were, but it was the best smell ever! Plus, they made a perfect picture frame here.

John being John and climbing some rock that really was not meant to be climbed on. Luckily he got down safely, although he did scare us on his way down.

This was our actual destination. We made it all the way to the top of it, as you will see next, then John and I practically slide through a little trail to take these pics. By the time we were finished I was soaking wet with mist, but the water felt so great and so cold!

The view from the top to the bottom. I did not take this shot though-I was way too scared to get that close on slippery rock! Can you see me and John down on the rocks taking the previous picture?

At the top, pausing for a quick snap. Tucker was right in the middle of it all too. He was playing the rocks the whole time. He acts like they are balls pretty much; throws them in the air, chews on them, pushing them with his nose. It is so funny!

What a cute little man! The chicken noodle dinner he ate matches his shirt!

First Aunt Missy had a great idea to play with the sticks....Grandma didn't like that idea too much.

Second idea, lay down so that I can be at Gabe's level to play with him.

Gabe's idea: Let's play with Aunt Missy's hair and eyes and nose.....

Next, Gabe uses my face as a stabilizer to stand up....somewhere around this time I decided I shouldn't lay down with him. He is a pincher!!! Oh and perfect timing too; right as I sat up, Gabe threw up that great chicken noodle dinner all over the blanket!! Good thing it wasn't on me. :)

All suited up to go for a hike down 252 stairs to the Kerr Dam.

Going down the stairs with him wasn't all that easy; it felt like I had someone pushing me down the stairs almost. Of course the stroll up was such a picnic! :( Even though my calves are still sore from this, I am really glad that I was able to carry him.

Mom and I finally made it to the bottom of the dam. Gabe loved the view!

This is the dam. It is actually 204 feet higher than Niagra Falls. Pat told us it is really amazing when all the gates are open. Here there is just a little spill over that is coming out.

Sorry, I thought I was going to be able to post every day I was there, but I am exhausted. I started this somewhere around eight and now is is ten fifteen. You all will just have to wait until tomorow to see the rest! Have a great night!