Late night conversations

I realize this title might lead you to assume that this conversation took place at least at midnight, but let me remind you that we are generally in bed by about 9 pm every night. So, when Peter gets home late from visits, it really throws us off.

He got home at about 10 pm the other night and these are a couple little snippets.

We were discussing the calling and the visits that go along with it and Peter said this:

"I just think this calling is for people who don't know how to have fun."

And then we were discussing the conversations that they have in the car in between visits:

Me: Sometimes I wish I could be a fly on the wall and listen to your conversations. Not the stuff I'm not supposed to know, but just because you're such an interesting mix of men. 
Peter: Most of the time, I'm just a fly on the wall. It's usually just Bishop and Brother Gridley talking.

This second little snippet had me laughing so hard. Probably because it was so late....

Snowy Picnic

I have this weird thing about picnics. I always think we should go on more of them, but I really haven't been on very many picnics. 

Anyway, a few weeks ago, Peter decided that I needed to get away from school for a bit and declared that we needed to have more fun! So, we decided to go up the canyon to escape the inversion as well. One of his convincing remarks was that we could take lunch and have a picnic up there. I couldn't say no to that...

It was so beautiful up there. In the picture above you can see the inversion over the valley. I kept saying that I didn't want to go back. Thankfully, that was the worst of the inversion this year.

And, for your viewing pleasure, a video of my running like a crazy person in my snow shoes.

I'm so lucky to have a husband who makes me get away from real life and reminds me that having fun is important, too! Plus, he's pretty cute and he makes Oakley's look good. 

I made a bench

If I were a real DIY blogger, I would have pictures of the whole process. But, alas, I am not a real DIY blogger, so you'll just have to imagine. Plus, I did half of this project in my parents' garage in the middle of winter, so the lighting would have been terrible and my fingers were much too numb to push the shutter of a camera.

Imagine two boxes painted dark brown, some foam, a big piece of particle board and some zebra fabric.

I just sanded the boxes down, painted them white, and laid them on their side next to each other. 

To make the top part I put foam on top of the particle board and wrapped the material around. I stapled the fabric to the underside of the board. I tried to pull it all tight, but there are parts that give a little too much.

But, all in all, I think my first project involving a staple gun was a success. 

This little bench has proved to be very useful so far. Even Peter said this was a great project idea. Win!

My last, first day of school!

On Wednesday, I had my very last, first day of school! Yay!

It seems as if it was the most pointless first day of school I can remember in a long time. Most definitely since I started nursing school. We got out of the first two classes about an hour early each, but of course, the last class went all the way to the end. Isn't that always how it goes?

I am doing my clinical capstone at the NICU in IMC. I had my first day on Friday and I loved it! The 12 hours seriously flew by. I hadn't ever worked a 12 hour shift so I was a little nervous, but it really went by so fast. I guess that is to be expected when I get to cuddle and take care of adorable babies. I cannot imagine a better job. Except when I get to cuddle my own babies, of course.

I am also taking a Spanish class that is focused on communication in the healthcare setting. Peter is really excited about this. He has been wanting me to learn Spanish for a while, so this is a start. We think it would be really awesome for our kids to learn Spanish in our home, but we haven't come up with a good method for this so far. (Peter wants a Spanish nanny. We'll see about that. Other suggestions are welcome.) 

I always think that the semester won't be so bad and then I go to the first day of class and hear about how much work is really involved in each class and I realize that I will never be bored.

But, less than 4 MONTHS until I graduate! I need to start celebrating now.

By celebrating, I mean doing homework.

Snippet of Conversation

Peter complains about me cuddling up to him in the middle of the night, but I know he really loves it. As evidenced by this conversation we had last night as we were lying in bed.

Peter: Are you going to harrass me again tonight?

Alicia: (through laughter) Most likely.

I probably laughed for three minutes straight. We were just talking and he all of the sudden throws that in like it's a normal, every day question. Silly boy.

That one time we got robbed

The day after Thanksgiving, Peter and I headed down to Provo to meet up with Krista, Kate and Ryan to go to Sammy's wedding in Arizona. We left our car in the parking lot at Kate and Ryan's apartment and rode in their car. 

When we got back, I looked inside our car and saw that the center console was open (where we had $500 worth of sunglasses). I asked Peter if he had forgotten to close it. He said he must have, but oh well. We noticed also, that the passenger door was unlocked and there were papers from the console on that side on the floor. Upon further investigation, we found that our sunglasses were gone. There was no sign of a break-in really, because older honda civics are really easy to get into. 

The Lindon/Orem police were SUPER helpful, not. After the officer finally stopped instead of speeding past us twice and leaving the complex without circling around again to actually try to find us, he didn't even listen to us. I had told him how we had parked our car there for the weekend, and later when we asked him what we could to do to try to get our glasses back, he said, "Well, just look out your window. If you wake up in the middle of the night, look out your window and see if there is anyone suspicious around." Umm, thanks sir, but I'm prettttty sure that I can't see for 50 miles.

So, to all you who think Rose Park is sketch, we haven't had any problems with theft in our 2 1/2 years here, but the one weekend we leave our car in Orem, and we are out our favorite sunglasses!

One point for public transportation

Since moving to Salt Lake, I have become very familiar with public transportation. It has provided some of the funniest, scariest ie. when a man was foaming at the mouth and no one was doing anything about it, sketchiest experiences of my life thus far. 

I rode trax to work for a few months and walked about 6 blocks in the snow to get to and from the mall. 

I rode the bus up to school for a few months before losing faith in the fact that the bus would actually come as scheduled. 

This semester I had taken to driving to 9th East and taking the trax from there. It reduces my travel time by about an hour each way and my headaches by half. Cigarette smoke doesn't exactly agree with me.

But, since it is winter and Peter can't ride his motorcycle to work anymore, I am back to relying solely on public transportation.

Three days ago, Peter dropped me off at work at 6:30 am in 24 degree weather. I had to ride the bus home at 2:30 pm. I walked a block over and waited for a few minutes. All went according to plan until my transfer point. I waited for about 45 minutes for my bus that never came. Apparently its route changed and I was unaware. Lucky for me, I am not a newbie to public transportation, so I knew what to do so I could still get home, but adding 45 minutes to an already ridiculously long route home from only 4.1 miles from my house.

My faith in public transit was partially restored today as I went from my house to IMC with no glitches to speak of. I had knots in my stomach as I waited for the bus, trying to decide what I would do if it didn't show up, or if it was late, because I only 7 minutes to transfer from the bus to trax, and if I didn't catch that trax, I would be late, which would obviously be the end of the world. I'm not a worrier at all.... 

It still took me about an hour and a half to go 10.8 miles, but at least I got there!