"So, how did the DAT go?"

Seems to be a common question nowadays. Well, after all the painful days of studying, waiting, and agonizing over the dreaded exam, Brian took it on Monday :). We were just so ready to have it be done. Part of me didn't even care if he did awful on it just as long as he quit studying and hung out with me.

Seriously. He studied ALL THE TIME.

Good thing hard work often pays off :)!

I am generally against bragging, but this is something to be proud of! He did better than we expected. Better than he had on all his practice exams. He got a 22 overall and a 23 overall in science! Not only that, but he got a 29 in organic chemistry. 29. According to the percentiles, that's better than 99% of people who take it. And.... he hasn't even taken the 2nd half of o-chem yet. He taught himself the reactions he needed to for the test. Oh, and special thanks to "Chad's videos." If you're taking the DAT, Brian highly recommends them for o-chem. For those of you who wonder "well, is that even good?", an 18-20 is recommended to have a competitive score. So, yay!

I won't go into detail about all the individual parts, but I am just so proud of him! Way to go Brian! He is such a smartie. So, applications are in, fees are paid (well, the ones we know about so far anyway), and now we just... wait. It will be so exciting to see where we end up :).

So, SO glad the DAT is over. May we never have to talk about it again.

#8. Five passions I have

8. What are 5 passions you have?

1.  My family - both my immediate family that I grew up in and my new one (Brian!). I really believe that family is the most important aspect of life!

2.  My future. Maybe that sounds weird, but I think about my future a lot. Mostly my future family and what I can be doing now to help make it great.

3.  Adventures. I like to experience new things and places! My new adventure is this new job. I'm loving it, but it sure gives me a run for my money!

4.  Food. I sometimes think I have an unhealthy relationship with food, but I seriously love it. Mostly sugary stuff. 

5. The Gospel. Right now my passion is trying to figure it out better and get my questions answered so that I can do what God wants me to do! It is such a struggle sometimes to receive/recognize answers to prayer.

____________________________________________________________

Work on Thursday was rather stressful. I had 3 needy babies who all wanted to be bottle-fed (which is difficult to fit in when I only have 1/2 hour scheduled with each baby and I have to do a full assessment, meds, diaper change, etc each time PLUS about 1/2 hour for bottle feeding. The time there just doesn't add up. But, somehow I was managing by starting early and ending a little late with their cares.... until 6:15 rolled around and the doctor wanted to do a lumbar puncture on one of my kiddos! Well, that was quite the time-consuming experience and I frantically had to try and get caught up again afterwards. Oh well. I survived. The babies survived too :).

Classes are over for Brian and now he is studying like crazy for finals. Right after finals he will continue studying like crazy for the DAT. Then he will apply to dental schools and take the DAT. Then we will hold our breath and pray that he gets into a good school. Then we will hold our breath and pray that he gets an awesome scholarship. Whew. This will be quite the year. Last year was quite the year too. Maybe every year is going to be crazy from here on out! 

Oh, and I've been having a bad case of "I want a baby." That could make this year interesting too. Not yet though, we're not quite there - so don't get too excited! 

Went to a a cute little market with Andrea today and saw a quote that I think I'll just have to put somewhere in my kiddos' rooms. I've heard it before, but this one had a bunch of little drawings of kids doing different things (ballerina, student, soccer player, cook, etc etc) and the quote "Whatever you are, be a good one." - Abraham Lincoln. Inspiring. It was much cuter than the pic I could find online ... Though, this one is alright too :)

courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/27655120@N06/4037122001/

moving to Alaska

I am going to be a BYU graduate very soon. Soon as in my last class ever for my nursing degree is on Thursday. Talk about crazy!

While I am very happy about this, I am also filled with this weird sense of dread... What does graduation mean? It means that I have to grow up and get a job. No more fun classes, rushing to get homework done, BYU stuff, seeing Brian on campus, etc etc. Once I walk out of the classroom on Thursday, that's IT. I think I am going to feel very weird.

So weird, in fact, that I am already planning on attending some of Brian's future classes with him. NERD ALERT! Can you believe that I don't want to quit going to college?

But I am excited to get paid. Real excited.

looks like fun!

It will be so nice to not have to live off of our savings anymore :) Now we can start saving for cool stuff like children and ... dental school. I read somewhere yesterday that the average dentist gets out of school with $100,000 of debt. Yikes. That is better than the $400,000 that I heard somewhere else, but it is still a kick in the stomach.

Brian came up with a genius plan to get out of debt after graduation. MOVE TO ALASKA! Not only does the government pay you a bit extra to live out there, but salaries are a bunch higher. I decided to do a little investigation and found this nifty website. The subsidy isn't as great as I expected and apparently the cost of living is rather atrocious. But hey, it could still work! Anything to get out of $100,000 of debt, right? Nurses there make over twice what they make in Utah it seems....

Now, to be clear. We have not decided to move to Alaska and that wouldn't happen until Brian graduates from dental school - which is in at least 5 years. But, we're keeping it as an option!

this doesn't look so bad!

this does, however. BRRRRRRR!

I could get a pet moose!

Or at least a wolf puppy :)

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!

fake GRADUATION!

That's right, I am a fake graduate. I walked even though I still have school until December! At BYU they do not hold graduation in December, so our choice was either to walk early this August or walk late after we graduate next April. So, we decided to do it early and get it all over with :). It was fun! My parents came out for the occasion (as always I was thrilled to see them!), Brian got off work, and we all celebrated my fake graduation together! I am excited to be a real graduate in a few months... but then I'll have to actually grow up and get a real job. At least I'll finally get paid for the work I do in the hospitals! 

I am super excited for my time in the NICU next semester. I talked with my preceptor and she seems really awesome. She told me that her favorite thing about being a nurse is teaching new nurses and students.... that is a relief to hear! So many times I feel like a burden when I go to clinicals because we have to follow our nurses around everywhere and some of them just do not appreciate that! But, it sounds like my preceptor is going to be awesome! Yeah for NICU!

aren't those flowers BEAUTIFUL! He does a good job :) I love him!

I had a hard time with the hat all day... it just didn't want to stay on!

my wonderful parents! Love!

Add caption

When we walked across the stage they put a big picture of us up on the screen and our favorite quote. My favorite quote of the day was "The only true gift is a portion of yourself" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

it was SO HOT outside! I was happy to play in the stream!

if you're happy & you know it...

What a great day! I just finished my last final (yay!) and now I will finally get a little break from school. I have been going to classes without more than a few days break since last May - and back into February if you count the classes I took in Guatemala! That's more than a year straight - and it has been wonderful. I have learned so much and feel much more prepared to be a nurse... although still hardly prepared at all! I just have one more semester and then I am DONE! Real world watch out - here I come... Rachael.... PEARCE. Oh yes, that is the other happy thing of today - it's hard to wrap my head around the fact that I am getting married a week from tomorrow. A WEEK FROM TOMORROW! :) I am officially moved out of single housing and turned in my key yesterday. Married housing is kind of lonely when you're by yourself though - I need my roommate! Hehe - soon enough!

Tonight will be great - I am going to go do a "practice run" on my hair so we can figure out what style looks best, how long it will take, etc - here are some pics of ideas I like:

Then Brian and I are going to go visit the Salt Lake Temple - because we're going to do something very important there next weekend! So much to do - but all worth it :)

school is nuts, but I like it

School is crazy and that is my excuse for not having updated this thing in a bit... it's been great getting back into nursing though and I am happy to report that I did not forget absolutely everything from before my mission like I thought I did... just most of it. But, it's coming back pretty quick, so that is a relief! I am studying pediatrics, mother/baby, and labor/delivery... 3 things I am SUPER interested in, so I am loving it! Unfortunately there is a lot of work... reading... essays.... reading... clinicals....more reading... studying... projects.... more reading... good thing I like the subject matter. I am also still enjoying my job at Jamba Juice and work the (very busy) lunch shift on Monday and Wednesday. I'm still finding time to have fun though! Brian and I went to Cache Valley 2 weekends ago to pick up the rest of my stuff and visit with grandma - she is soooo great! I love Cache Valley, it is absolutely beautiful and oh-so-peaceful. I'm going to go to bed so I can study lots again tomorrow, but I'll include some pics!

beautiful Newton!

an awesome old firetruck on the side of the road in Newton :)

aren't we cute?