Glimmers of Hope.

I feel like the past couple of months have taken their toll on me when it comes to my job.

I love it, but sometimes it hurts my heart a lot.

The love I have for these patients and their families is so big, so naturally when these patients I have come to know and love just can't fight anymore, it is heartbreaking.

As a nurse, you become these kiddos' biggest cheerleaders in life next to their family.

It sucks.  Plain and simple.

There are glimmers of hope.

Like for instance, today a cute kid who I hadn't seen in a few months walked into our unit...With the most beautiful  re-grown blonde hair and those same smiling eyes of his.  We all yelled "Spiderman!" as he walked in (a superhero nickname for a superhero kid).  He immediately retorted with "It's NINJA BOY now!!"   

I hope he always knows he can be whatever he wants to be, as long as he loves it.

So tonight I sit here, reflecting on these last few months and hoping I can always find the little glimmers of hope to get me through.






(INSERT picture of me dressed up in a Spiderman mask with my patient...It happened, and is somewhere out there on the world wide web.)

Visits, Ski, Hike, Denver.

This update will be random.

It's hard to catch up on three plus months worth of life events.

My little sister Ali finally came out in April to see what Utah was all about...And I'm pretty sure she loved it.  It was so cool to be able to take my sister around and show her that Utah is actually amazing and not weird...She actually called me the night before she flew out here to ask if there were any malls in Utah.  Operation: get my family to move out here has officially begun.

Sistas forever

I skied on May 16th, which was cool because it is my dad's birthday...But, even cooler because it's MAY 16th!  I skied in the middle of May!  Another perk of living in Utah, except skiing in slush is way harder than it looks.  I went with my rad friend/coworker Kristin.  It's always a party when we work/play together.

We may or may not have given up early...

Next, forget how terrifying I may look...But know that I have the coolest friends to go hiking with, ever. Taz, Vater, Jadie and I are the greatest of hiking pals.  I can't wait to go on more hikes this summer with our group! 

Last but certainly not least, I went to go explore Denver, Colorado for the first time the other weekend.  Although I didn't get to explore as much as I would have liked to (I lost my ID on the second day there...Major fail), I had a lovely time with this sweet guy!

Somewhere in Boulder, Colorado.  

Bike ride selfies.

More later..This summer should be pretty sweet!

Update Intro.

Heads up: I wrote this about 3 weeks ago...I think.

I woke up this morning thinking about my blog.

It's been nearly a three month hiatus.

It's time to update!

(Fun fact: at that time, I saw an anonymous person commented on my blog saying they wish I'd update again.  Well, Anonymous...Today's your lucky day.)

A lot has happened in three months.

Two and a half of those months have comprised of me adjusting to being a dog mom.

I love it, and Taz does too.  I call it Taz's "retirement" phase of life.  He's almost nine, and in dog years that's AARP-worthy.  

Taz started out his retirement by a cross-country trip to from New York to Utah, followed by lots of hiking in the mountains.  He's discovered a love for dog parks.  He has also discovered that water is okay to casually wade through.  I think he's also discovered he's a dog...He has made a couple of dog friends, finally!  

He has even hiked Nevada..How many of you have hiked in Nevada?  This is one lucky dog, living it up!
      

 (At this time, he also rolled around in cow manure out of excitement..I hope none of you have done that)

I'm lucky to have extended family live just a two and a half hour drive away, and that they live in such a beautiful part of this country.  Yes, Nevada can be beautiful!  No, it's nowhere near Las Vegas.  I stay away from Las Vegas like it's the plague.

I'm just pretty lucky is all...

Except when I sliced my finger open with my brand new chopping knife and landed myself in the emergency room with 5 stitches.  My bad.