GREAT NEWS!

 Just loving this week before Thanksgiving! I am really excited to go and be with Brian's family for Thanksgiving. We are planning on heading out to warm(ish) St. George and party with a lot of his extended family.... so much extended family, in fact, that we can't even stay in the house - we have to pitch a tent in the backyard! It will definitely be a Thanksgiving to remember :). I am sure there will be tons of delicious food. Ironically, we are in charge of bringing the olives and I detest olives... haha! I am just happy that other people will get to enjoy them! Brian's family is so great - it will be fun to get to know them a little bit better considering the last time I was around them it was for our wedding and things were so crazy busy.

I cannot believe that school is almost over. I graduate in less than a month! Then I have to be a grown up and get a real job and stuff... which leads me to my next news -

I think I'm almost for sure going to get a job in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit where I am doing my Capstone! WAHOO! It is such a relief to feel like I probably have a job.

The nurse I have been working with this whole semester (my now good friend Becca) went on a "bathroom break" and left the babies to me. When she got back she had this huge grin on her face.... "Hey Rach, I just talked to Jeani (the nurse manager who is in charge of hiring)."

"Oh really? How did that go?"

"Oh, you know... she wants to hire you."

"What?!!"

"Yep. I went in and she said she'd been expecting me to come in and talk to her about you because two other nurses already had. She said she couldn't hire anyone until January and she said that was PERFECT because that's when she was planning on filling the positions that are open!"

So of course I got really excited and had her tell me every detail of the conversation :) They think I'm a great fit and are impressed with the work I've done there so far (and I have tried to work so hard and make a great impression - I'm just grateful it looks like it will come to something!). They love hiring Capstone students because we already know the unit and the nurses can recommend us first hand. Yay yay!

So, I marched straight to her office and gave her my resume while telling her that I have loved my time in their unit and would love to become a part of it. After asking a few questions about when I graduate and such she said, "Well, that shouldn't be a problem. We'll stay in touch until you pass your boards!"

Relief!

Major relief!

I'm tired of living off our savings and plasma money (yes, we are still selling plasma for some extra cash... And I have the bruises to prove it!)

I really really love the NICU. It is very specialized and that worried me a bit because I won't be able to get as broad of an experience as I was envisioning in my head, but if I love it, then why not go for it? I can transfer to another area of nursing later on in my career... especially because getting a job anywhere in Utah is so difficult right now.

So... in a few months I'll be Rachael Pearce, RN at the NICU! :)

Now let's just hope it all works out like it seems like it will. I plan on applying elsewhere as well just in case something goes wrong.

And, for your enjoyment... here is a little video my daddy sent me - I think it's hilarious!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

what do I do when i should be studying?

watch Kid History of course! Oh man, this is one of my favorites :)

baby Gage and other photos :)

doesn't he look like such a fatty in this picture? Love those cheeks!

Brian with the pumpkin cinnamon sugar donut holes we made a few weeks ago. So yummy!!!

Kelly (in the tie dye) came to stay with Brian and me for the weekend before she went on her mission! Laura and Janet came by to visit and see her before she's gone for a year and a half. 

Morning she left for the MTC!

A little late... but here are the mummy dogs we made for Halloween!

Remember this game? Yeah, it's just as hard and frightening as I remembered.

my poor body

It's just been one of those weeks! It has been a great week, but difficult with some (literal) bumps and bruises along the way. I got to work Tuesday & Wednesday at the hospital (15 hrs each day) and loved it! My nurse had to go help another nurse for a few hours and I got to run the show on our two little babes - one was 3 pounds and the other was 1.5 pounds. TINY little guys that are just so cute! They smile, they have personalities, they have preferences and can be very demanding. I just love them! I am definitely going to apply for a job on that unit and then also on other NICU units at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center and Timpanogos Regional Medical Center (both of which have good NICUs). As much as I love adults, I think I get more satisfaction out of helping the little ones. I actually look forward to going! I learn something new every day and absolutely love the nurse I usually work with. She is an inspiration!

So... rewind to Monday. Being dirt-poor newlyweds, Brian and I have taken up prostitution. Prostitution of our plasma that is ;). Yep, we are selling our plasma to get some extra money. It's a great deal, actually. For an hour of sitting there with a needle in your arm, you get $25-$30... and you can do it twice a week... so together we could make $110/week if we were diligent enough (and brave enough - those needles are freaking gigantic). So, that's how it's supposed to go - you go in, wait for your turn, have a short physical, get hooked up to a machine, and voila... they give you your cash as you walk out the door. Supposed to. It didn't work out that way for me on Monday.

Two arms, two ginormous needles, two technicians fishing around (in and out, swirling around, stabbing...) in my arms, two blowed veins, and some very nice bruises. It was not pleasant and they didn't get any plasma out of me. But, I still got my money and left with ice-packs and instructions to drink more water. I had to go to the store afterwards and wonder what people thought as I walked around with a giant ice-pack strapped to one elbow (they couldn't put the packs on both because I had to have some movement in an arm so I could drive home)!  Good times.

Now for mishap of the week #2. Yesterday.

On Thursdays Brian drops me off at school at 7:45 and then he goes home to get ready and rides his bike to be to class at 9. We get out at the same time and he lets me ride on his handlebars all the way home. It's super fun and we've never had problems before. 

Until yesterday.

We were on our street, took a turn, the bike couldn't handle the weight shift and the already loose handlebars twisted weird and... we were falling. You know that slow motion feeling? Definitely had it. In essence, I tried to jump off the front but Brian flew over the handlebars on top of me and my face had a nice date with the sidewalk. I turned it as far as I could and luckily only my left cheekbone made contact.  After some serious icing, a nap, and lots of ibuprofen, I felt much better.

Brian felt so bad. We both felt bad for not wearing helmets and already have plans to go buy some on Monday. But, I am doing better, no concussion, just a nice raspberry on the side of my face (and it doesn't look too bad!) My primary kids are going to think I'm so hard core haha.

ew

So, sometimes you just get weeks like that... when the accident proneness I have been suppressing for so long decides to come out of hiding. 

Moral of the story. Wear a helmet! Helmet hair is better than cement-induced raspberry face.

spider sandwich?

Halloween came a few days late this year. Let me tell you a little story.

This afternoon Brian and I decided we were going to make delicious avocado, turkey, tomato, cheese, ranch paninis and eat them with tomato soup because it is fa-reeeezing out here. So delicious.

Imagine my horror when after making the delicious sandwiches, I saw one of these in between one of the cracks of my panini maker...

Do you know what that is? Well, I'll tell you. It's a spider egg sac. Yes. Likely full of baby spiders. In my panini maker. Maybe partially smashed onto Brian's panini. Happy belated Halloween!!

The good news: all the spiders were dead thanks to the grilling/spider killing power of this awesome appliance.

The bad news: I just couldn't enjoy my sandwich like I should have.

Hey, guess what - it's snowing here in Provo! While I don't relish the feet of snow we get until late March, I am excited for the first real snow storm! Yay!

Halloweeny

Unfortunately I had to spend most of my Halloween writing a research paper... but we still found some time to celebrate! Just some fun Halloweeny things I found on Pinterest.... we bought the stuff to make the adorable Frankensteins (never got a chance, but we're going to do it after Halloween anyway!), made those INCREDIBLE pumpkin donut holes (baked - if you want the recipe, let me know!), made the cute little mummy hotdogs, and saw lots of cute costumes! 

I made Brian promise me that next year we could really celebrate Halloween and not study all night. Mostly I made him promise because I'll be graduated and he'll still be on the road to lovely dental school! He is doing so so well in his classes this semester and I am seriously proud of him! He went from all business classes to almost all sciences (chem 105, physiology, biology, pre-dental, and a personal finance class) - crazy busy and he is rocking them! 

Hmmm... what else is new since my last post?

• I am still loving working in the NICU. I put an IV in a little 2 pound baby!
• Kelly aka Sister Campbell, stayed with us for the weekend before she entered the MTC yesterday! It was so great to see her and reminisce about how I felt right before I entered the MTC - full of excitement, nerves, and the spirit! Yeah!
• My primary class was so well behaved on Sunday. I just love them. We learned about Moroni. I am already excited to see them again this next week
• memorable things from the lesson:the kids decided they want to call us fruit names. I think I'm Strawberry and Katie is Pineapple
• they were really excited about Halloween (one was postiive he had met the real spiderman at the trunk or treat. adorable.)
• I convinced them to sing in sharing time (hurray! seriously an accomplishment for the little boys)
• It's freezing here! 27 degrees. 
• We went country dancing with Ryan and Andrea on Saturday night. SEriously so much fun... and a great workout.
• Hannah and Chris came over on Sunday night for games and treats. We played Monopoly in a card-game style and it was so fun. Waaaay better than normal monopoly. 

Anyway, happy November! I can't believe how fast this year is going by!