BraceFace

IT'S OFFICIAL! I'M 12 AGAIN! Thanks to my Momma Mia, who insisted she come to my appointment with me, I have a plethora of pictures for remembrance.

BEFORE

DURING (and my favorite for obvious reasons)


AFTER -
I had to get a pic next to the board with my name on it! My mom actually got a pic of me AND Duncan (my fellow BraceFace). He was arriving as I was leaving. I made sure to wish him luck :)

I'm quickly remembering what braces were like. Wax is my new best friend as well as anything of an edible nature that is smooth, soft, and creamy. Really, the only downside of all this is having everyone I know see me and say "Why did you get braces? Your teeth are straight!"... I don't have a short/easy answer so instead I think I'll start saying "It's part of my Halloween costume."

Redefining Beautiful

I heard about these girls on the news this morning (not this exact video, but very similar)

"Too often in our celebrity-driven culture, beauty is defined by the products a woman puts on her face. But a group of teenage girls in Texas has set out to change that idea, one makeup-free face at a time. "

I LOVE this! Way to go girls!

A Series of Unexpected (but not unfortunate) Events

1.
My retainer no longer fits correctly despite religious wear-age from the day my braces came off
2.
I found out that my insurance covers (and has covered) orthodontia
3.
I found out that my insurance cuts off coverage at the age of 24 (Happy 24th Birthday to me on December 1st)
4.
I was squeezed in today for what I thought was a consultation to discuss my options to fix the problems I have with my teeth/jaw
5.
The secretary apparently scheduled me for a retainer fitting...
6.
Consequently, over the course of 3 hours the Dr. who, granted, was very nice, knowledgeable, and did not make me feel rushed, flitted from other patients, to me, to other patients to me (luckily I had an open schedule today)
7.
I'm getting braces...again...oh, and that is just prep for the jaw surgery I need...

I can't believe it! First of all I walked into that appointment thinking "Ladi-da, I'll just get Invisaline and that will fix everything, ho-hum" Apparently I was a little naive. It shouldn't surprise me that I have this structural defect - my mom had the exact same problem and surgery I'm needing and my original braces were in effort to avoid this step. I guess it was so long ago that I had braces or talked to anyone about this that I thought the problem was gone *magic*

Second, I feel like I'm reverting back to age 12. You would think that being older and more "mature" ;) would keep a person from feeling insecure about getting the dreaded braces, but I can't help myself - the feelings are all coming back to me.

So not only is this happening, but it's happening quick. I got a workup done then and there at the office today. Then I got spacers placed to get ready for the braces that I will be getting *drum-roll* next Wednesday! Ahhhhh! I thought for sure I was going to have a breakdown when I got in the car, but I didn't (still don't know how I avoided that).

Of course the biggest stress-er is the money issue ~ I don't need to go into it too much, but anyone who has had/paid for braces knows they are expensive and even with insurance the cost definitely won't go unnoticed. Luckily since my problem is a functional problem (the doctor says I'm probably only using maybe 1/2 my teeth right now) insurance SHOULD cover the surgery portion when the time comes. The definitive "will cover" won't be ultimately approved until I get closer to the actual surgical event.

So these have been the events of my day. I'm still stunned, questioning myself about the triviality of it all. Luckily have a wonderful husband who is supporting this decision ~ thanks Sweetie <3

PHOTOGRAPHY

So my brother in-law (Skyler's brother) and sister-in-law who live in Baltimore just got there family photos. I can't help but rave about this woman's talent! I saw these pictures and decided I want to have a child and move to Baltimore right now, just so Katie Ash can be our photographer.

Look at this adorable family! We sure miss you guys :)

I can't get enough of cute Brooklynn's Smile

Unfortunately Baltimore is the key here, but check out these other photos, if for no other reason but for the "awwww" factor

http://katiesphotogblog.blogspot.com/

Las Vegas

Skyler and I were able to take an awesome and much needed vacation between summer and fall semesters. We went with 2 other couples in our ward, Marta/Andrew and Rick/Brittni.

In our rented Suburban we began our trip which first led us to Las Vegas.

The ceiling at the Venetian

INSIDE THE VENETIAN: I've never seen the real thing, but this place was pretty amazing. I actually got this pic from online, but it looked exactly like this. We walked through at about midnight and it looked like midday.

If you've ever been to Las Vegas you can imagine what it looked like on a Saturday night. Although it was fun to see MOST of the sights, I told Skyler that I think we experienced enough Las Vegas for ourselves as well as our future children's lifetime.

The ceiling at the Bellagio is made up of 2,000 hand blown glass flowers. It was gorgeous.

We managed to keep our eyes open (mostly) for one last pic that night before we went to bed.

3 pictures I can't get enough of

#1
Dr. Alissa

#2
Dr. Abby

It just so happens that I'm going through my Pediatrics class right now and pics #1 and #2 are PERFECT theme pictures to decorate my school folders. I love showing off my nieces to all my fellow classmates.

#3

Handsome Haven and Lovely Lauren

This gorgeous pic of these two gorgeous babies (siblings of above nieces, so a.k.a nephew and niece) make me smile every time I open my computer (it is currently serving as my desktop at home). I look at this picture which to me emanates complete contentedness and love.

**These are my sisters kids - she is amazing at photography and picture editing and I can't get enough of all the perfect moments she captures ~ of course this means I'm constantly yoinking (is this a word?) her photos :) Thanks sis!**

New Camera

Part of the treat to ourselves before we went on our post-summer/pre-fall semester vacation was to purchase a new camera - my 2005 Kodak camera was just not cutting it anymore. We purchased a Panasonic Lumix from Costco. Now, we are not anything near camera/photography experts, but we L.O.V.E. this thing. It's perfect for what we needed ~ small enough to carry around for all-purpose use and the pics turn out pretty good, plus it has some fun features.

I was trying to hurry up and learn this new technology before we left on vacation so I was taking pictures of EVERYTHING lol Here are some of those oh-so-pointless pics :)

This is probably my favorite pic of my Chet-ster. I love how he's peeking out from under his bangs...yes, our dog has bangs

This is my self proclaimed mascot at work. Really I just like to look at it after having to deal with a difficult/mean/angry patient and then daydreaming about becoming green and powerful

My workin' legs

Self Portrait: I call it "Chompers"

This is our pepper plant from our garden ~ de-lish!
Garden Lantern
Scratching
I really liked the "film grain" feature, hence all of the black and white - it just seemed to make everything look better.

Fall is in the air

Well, I can't believe it but August is almost over...where does the time go anymore?! Skyler and I are just getting back into the swing of things with school after enjoying a glorious break from it. We even got to go on a vacation during the break to the happiest place on earth ~post on that to come~ Although I am a warm weather lover all around, I'm finding it hard to fight the realization that, yes, I am kind of excited for Fall (and don't tell anyone, but even the thought of the first snow around the holidays makes me feel all cozy). I'm sure I will be writing another post come January about how I can't stand the brown winters, but as for now I guess I will welcome the beauty and blessings that seasons bring.

Summer Time

So, as I'm sure it has for everyone - this summer has been CRAZY! Skyler and I have been running around doing all sorts of fun stuff: school, work, scouts, primary, family, some fun - a lotta-bit of everything :) Hence why I haven't been able to blog. That and the fact that there really aren't any interesting pictures - but oh well, I'll post what we've got.

Father's Day

Here is my dad on Father's Day Sunday. We went over to his and my step-mom, Joan's house to eat dinner and celebrate dads. I think I must get my not-sure-what-to-do-in-pictures attitude from my dad. That explains his goofy smiles LOL

I told my dad I wanted to get a picture with him so that I could see how much we look alike - he wouldn't smile, but I'm still amazed at mine and his resemblance. Yep, I'm his daughter.

Who would have thought aviators could look so good?? ;)

Bells Canyon

We went on a hike up Bells Canyon here in Utah. It was such a hard but beautiful hike. We were able to get my friend Aleta, and her friend Amber and Amber's boyfriend Sam to come with us. It was a gorgeous view from the top. We actually ended up missing the turnoff to the waterfall on the first go around, but it was okay because the canyon was beautiful and we found a nice place to snack and rest.

On our way back down we found the correct turnoff. As we made our way down to the falls we could hear a helicopter and we were kind of joking around about how maybe another person fell off the falls (a man had fallen off the falls the week prior and the Search and Rescue team had to retrieve him and life flight him out) Then we saw a group gathered around somebody lying on the rocks - Turns out a young man and woman were trying to cross at the top of the falls. She started slipping and he went to try to save her and they both went over. They had just pulled the guy out when we got there so Skyler rushed down to see if he could help with any first aid. Luckily he was prepared with all sorts of stuff - especially the space blankets. The guy was right in the spray off from the waterfall and even with the blankets he ended up going into early stages of hypothermia. The kid was in shock, and had 3 head lacerations and a laceration under his eye. As we waited for Search and Rescue they just tried to keep him talking to assess his level of consciousness. They couldn't find the girl. After she fell they didn't see her again. It was really sad to think how quickly things happened. Even with search and rescue they weren't able to find her body for a few more weeks because of the incredible force from the large amount of snow melt runoff coming down the falls.

This pic was taken from the KSL news report helicopter. Skyler was assessing the wounds on the guys head. He and another man that was there were able to give him a Priesthood blessing. Despite the situation it was really amazing to be able to see the priesthood used like that. I've never witnessed it like that and it strengthened my testimony - probably sounds strange in this context...

Luckily they were able to get the guy loaded up on the LifeFlight helicopter and could get him to a hospital. The 3 head lacerations and eye wound ended up being his only injury.

Manti Pageant

I had my first experience at the Manti Pageant this year. My mom and step-dad Vince invited Skyler and I to attend with them. I may have enjoyed it even more had I not been so tired, but it was fun. My favorite part though was seeing the Manti temple. I had never seen it before and it was so gorgeous.

Nursing School
For me this summer has been full of new experiences in clinical. My clinical group started out on the Med Surg. floors. I was able to go to the Surgical/Telemetry, Surgical/Oncology, Surgical/Transplant, and Surgical/Trauma floors. I got to help take care of patient's with Steven Johnson's Syndrome, Bacteremia, Autoimmune Hepatitis (recovering from a Whipple surgery), and a patient who was lucky he wasn't worse off (and lucky to be alive for that matter) after crashing on an ATV which then landed on top of him and crushed one entire side. I really learned a lot and saw and participated in some new things I haven't been able to do/see (on a real person) before.

Now it is nearing the end of the summer and I have only one of 3 maternity clinicals left. The first clinical day my instructor put me in Labor and Delivery. Knowing that I wanted to see a Cesarean Section she placed me with a patient who was going to have one (and with twins, too). I had hit the jackpot...I thought. I met my nurse who was already getting the mom ready to go into the OR. As I followed her into the room I was surprised to realize that ironically I knew the soon-to-be-mom. Unfortunately it turned out that she didn't feel comfortable with me in there as she delivered - totally understandable :( I mean I wouldn't want some random person I happened to know seeing me and my who-ha just hangin' out there to the world (I'm sure that was the issue). Luckily for one of my classmates it wasn't a Student issue, just an I-know-you-in-a-very-different-context issue, so she got to go watch that delivery and I went to Postpartum. Ironically (again) that mom that I knew ended up coming to my floor, and became one of my nurses patients - I couldn't get away from her!! I didn't want to make it awkward for her by pushing the issue of me taking care of her so I just stayed out of the room. BUT, since she was the only new admit to the floor that my nurse had I had nothing to do for the last 2 hours. Luckily my friend Katie was in the nursery on that floor so I went in there with her and held the cutest little baby boy ever, who I named Hurley (I think that was actually the doctors name LOL) I may have not learned a thing for that last hour except how to swaddle a newborn, but I can't say that I wasn't perfectly content :)

My second Maternity clinical experience was a little more exciting. This time I did get to see a C-Section. I helped get the mom all ready to go in; made the mistake of putting the wrong time on the lab samples (0657/0757 same difference, right?) so they had to come poke the mom 2 more times to get the draws :( Won't do that again! Poor mom. They got her into the OR and first attempted a Version where they try to turn the baby. After attempting this though, they couldn't find the fetal heart tones so it then became an Emergency C-Section. I've never seen anything like it; they moved so quick. Then there I am trying to stand out of the way while still trying to see everything. At one point my nurse is yelling at me to get that blah, blah, blah on the counter --- I had NO idea what she was talking about so after a couple of "This?" "This?" she yells "Just grab whatever and give it to me!!" So I grab this huge armful of crap and run over to her with it. My knees have never shaken so hard in my life! Talk about feeling like an idiot.
P.S. I still don't know what it was she was asking for
They probably had that baby out within 1-2 minutes from start - what a neat experience! I was worried that I might pass out or something, but the thought/feeling never crossed me in the moment. I did however have to look away as the new daddy went over to his little girl and started talking to her minutes after she was born- I almost started crying. It was different than I thought it would be though. Even though I saw it, it was sort of unreal how this baby was just pulled out of some girls stomach. One moment she was pregnant, the next they're sewing up her uterus as it sits on her stomach. Weird. I can't hardly wait until next week where I have requested to see a vaginal birth and then follow the baby up to the nursery. I imagine that will be an even more emotional experience.

Here are some more pics of my clinical group. Unfortunately we can't really take pics as we are taking care of the patients so all of our pictures sort of look the same. Hey, but here I am "delivering" a baby...a mannequin baby :) The poor mannequin mom's va-jay-jay kept falling off as the baby was trying to be born so the lab tech is trying to hold it on as our instructor tries to pull the baby out LOL Good times!

Dad Muhlestein's 50th Bday
My dad turned 50 this year on July 2nd so Skyler,my step-mom Joan, and I threw him a party. Skyler themed it "pushing him over the hill" and we catered it with all the sweets you could eat - perfect for my dad. Skyler made 3 kinds of Dutch oven peach cobbler (cinnamon, pineapple, and plain). Then he made Dutch oven smore's - AMAZING! We had birthday cake, pie, cupcakes, RedVines, DoubleBubble, a Chocolate Fountain, a cotton candy machine, and to top it off, Little Debbie Snack Cakes. Other than having to wear the giant birthday hat and pin that said "over the hill" :) I think he had a pretty good time.

4th of July Fireworks
After my dad's party we went to see the 4th of July fireworks at Murray park. Of course my dad had us hop in the old Flatbed Chevy truck, so we could enjoy the show from the back but they switched the place they set the fireworks off at, so we had to jump out and set up chairs in the lawn - that worked too :)

Adams Canyon
We were able to go on another waterfall hike that, luckily, was a little less eventful than our first. The hike wasn't quite as tough as Bells Canyon which made it a little nicer. The view was gorgeous and it was fun because the trees and plants were different than we are used to seeing in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons.

Joan's Birthday Celebration
Joan just had her birthday last week and although it's a little backwards, she and my dad took me, Skyler, my bro Clay, my stepsister Ashton, my stepsister Maddie and her boyfriend to Buca di Beppo's for dinner. I've never seen meatballs so big! It was really good and I'm sure Joan's favorite part was when the staff all came to sing her their birthday song LOL

So, I'm not the best story teller, but believe it or not those were the short versions of those stories. That is pretty much what we've been up to so far.

Week 18 Through Arrival!

My sister Heidi and husband Nick just had their 3rd...and 4th children :) They were born 7/7/10, Lauren at 5lbs 15oz and Haven at 6lbs 9oz - good sizes for twins. Lauren is home with the family and Haven is recovering well in the NICU from his surgery to fix a diaphragmatic hernia. Hopefully he'll get to come home soon!

CONGRATULATIONS HEIDI, NICK, ALISSA, and ABBY :)

WELCOME TO THE WORLD LAUREN AND HAVEN!

Alissa the Dancer

Skyler and I got to go watch our niece Alissa at her first dance performance yesterday. She was so cute. My sister Heidi said Alissa was terrified, but for being terrified she did a great job. She looked so cute in her costume.

Here she is with some of her neighbor friends who are in the same dance class.
I told Alissa to strike a pose for this picture and this is what she did - silly goof :)

Then I had way too much fun cropping this pic in different ways.

She has these stunning eyes and they really stood out in this pic.

I'm not the expert cropper/photoshopper that her mom is, but I liked how these all turned out.

Then there's this cute mommy/daughter pic

Here's Skyler and I, just being in love

And here's Heidi and I. She looked so cute and SO pregnant. She grew 8cm this last week - I don't know for sure, but that sounds like a lot to me. She's hoping to make it a couple more weeks before they pop out, so I'm excited to see how much more she will grow (she's probably going to read this and say "ya, real exciting!" What are sisters for? :)

Race For the Cure

Skyler and I ran the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure this year. This race earns money towards the fight for breast cancer. My friend Amanda and her mom had done it last year and said it was an awesome experience and that we had to do it. They were right about what a great experience it is.

This is a picture of the race map. At the point on the map where the yellow line first starts to bend is where I turned around to look behind me. It was an amazing sight! There was a solid mass of people behind me - You could see masses who were still crossing the finish line. And then on top of that, there were masses in front of me too! It was enough to make you teary eyed if not balling! There was such a spirit of togetherness. What was really neat was to see the survivors wearing their solid pink survivor shirts (different from the shirts like the ones we're wearing). Some of them had been survivors for years and were running the 5k, and others were still working on surviving. There were ladies who were practically being carried by their family members through the mile walk. It made me think of how amazing our bodies are - what they can go through and survive. It also made me grateful for my body and it's strength...I don't know. I'm probably rambling, but if you ever have the chance to run a race where you get to support amazing people and/or an amazing cause, I would definitely recommend it. The whole time I was running I was thinking about how blessed I am. Usually I'm just praying that I don't trip and fall or pass-out from exhaustion :)

Here we are, posing before the race - Right to Left: Amanda (a BFF), Skyler, me, and Lisa (Amanda's mom)