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.