800 plus miles

30 hours and about 800 miles later we are home again. Kim and I wanted to "just get away" so we planned a little 2 day trip. It actually ended up being only 30 hours. Kim forgot he had to give a High Council talk at 9am Sunday so we cut the trip short.

1st. The Titanic Exhibit in Idaho Falls. It was a very interesting and sad at the same time. You were given a Boarding Pass as you entered with information about who you were and why you were aboard the titanic and at the end you find out if you lived or died. Kim was the famous Margaret Brown, unsinkable Molly Brown, I'm sure the older generation have heard of her, she lives, I was Jane Carr, traveling alone, back to the USA, only to finish up some business and then to return to live in Ireland with my family. I didn't live. All the way through the exhibit you read stories about those who survived and those that didn't. A Mother who stayed behind because her 2 boys, age 12 and 14 were considered to be men and were not allowed to go with her on the life boat. Wives who chose to stay with husbands, men who paid to board life boats and then sail without being full.

Great stories.

Next onto West Yellowstone, where we ate dinner and went to the musical Guy and Dolls. It was a lot of fun. The cast members were very talented and had such great energy. I at least knew the story, from seeing the old movie on TCM, Kim didn't know the story, but he loved the play too. Besides the acting and singing the costumes were amazing. I honestly thought it would be more like a high school musical or local theater, but they were very professional and I would love to go back and see another play sometime. Finally to bed. I had only slept 3 hours that morning after working all night so I was exhausted.

On to Old Faithful. It's been years since I've seen her erupt. I guess it's a her, only hers erupt, right? A few buffalo, other stops of interest and we continued home. A shake stop at La Beaus and then home.

I dose off a lot, Kim drives all the time, we got great gas mileage, from 19.6 to 24.6, lots to talk about and times of silence, making plans for family, and then plans for ourselves, that's what "get-a-way" trips are for and that is just what we did.

Just fun

Great weekend. Friday Mel and I went to a bunch of Parade of Homes homes in salt lake and then Kim & I got to tend Hyrum. He is crawling and getting all around and is so happy to get the things he wants when he wants them. He is getting big and even cuter, if that is even possible.

Sat Kim and I ran errands together. We don't usually do that. We seem to be going in different directions most days, and Sat. we were just heading in the same places all day. Then later in the evening we went to our old wards High Priest dinner. It was so nice to sit and relax and visit with friends, friends that most of whom are now in a differnet ward(our old ward). Then we went to our new wards High Priest dinner with another couple. It was great. Almost everyone there came up and introduced themselves to us, I won't remember their names yet, but they were all so friendly and kind and there are a few people who I actually know, one is a good friends sister, and another is a gal I knew from my college dorm life. I'll say it again, I want to handle this with grace and maturity and know that everything will work out.

Moving onto Sunday. Kim and I went to the 9am session of the Oquerrh Temple Dedication service. It was packed, and worth the hour wait. (I just got there early). There were a few talks directed to the youth about Temple Preparation, but I must be young at heart because I felt like they were for me too, in staying worthy to always be able to attend and receive the blessings that the Temples offer.

Then it was Kid Sunday. Which is what is says on my calendar. But what it means is everyone comes for dinner and I love it. The noise, the mess,the clean up, the food, the baby, the dogs, the conversations, new news, updates, teasing, jokes, remembering stories, or at least retelling them, who's doing what and going where, and planning our girl get-a-way weekend. It is what we do, and I'm sure most families have the same weekend stuff, but this is my family and our rituals, and they make me happy, and the Lord wants us to be happy.

Got change?

Never ending changes.
The weather, our hair, our weight, wall colors, family size, cars we drive, money we spend, money we save, decorating, vacation plans, mood, clothes, work, friends, our memory, price of gas, things we must have, addresses, habits, the list goes on and on.

Things that never change. The truthfulness of the Gospel, our love for family, change, 1st day of spring, (except leap year), and holiday dates. This list isn't as long.

Someone told me while visiting teaching last night that you can tell how mature and graceful someone is by the way they handle change. I have given this a lot of thought today because change is all I seem to be experiencing at the moment.

I am changing my job and my responsibilities, I will stay with my old job and also do the new one as needed and this is a huge change. I will be continuing my education starting on Sept. 1st. no more lazy days off and playing games on the computer. We have changed our internet provider, so I had to change my e-mail account and learn how to run our new TV remote. I recently left my comfortable ward calling in the RS and became the nursery leader. But Sunday will be a really big change. We are having our ward boundaries changed. All the wards in the stake will be realigned. I am 52 years old and have never been in a ward that needed to be divided. I have loved this ward and have made a lot of friends in the 7 years we have been here.

I exercise with a very good friend, in the ward, and we have been just sick and worried about this. We are 100% sure our little subdivision will be moved into a different ward. but the advise I got last night has helped me remember, the Church is True, no matter what building we drive to or who we sit by. I want to be one who is graceful and mature and know that this change was inspired by the Lord and I can flow with the changes and be happy.

Melt down

Melt down. That is what I had a few days ago, a melt down. I go through my days reading other peoples blogs and thinking I don’t have anything that needs to be said, and this probably doesn’t need to be read, but I need to write it anyway.

About a 6 weeks ago I had a friend say to me “you really should apply for this new job” and then gave me a brief description of what it was all about. I hadn’t heard about the position because I had been off for 6 weeks for surgery and had only been back to work for 3 shifts. So I left work at 5:15pm, went to a play, in SLC, at 7pm, and by 11:30 I had applied for this job, the deadline was Midnight. Needless to say I really didn’t give it much thought.

Within 2 days I had an interview set up, 2 days after that interview I had the second one arranged. One week later I was hired for this new position, new department to the hospital , new computer system to run the department and by accepting this position I was also committing to finish my nursing degree with a bachelors degree, (I have 2 associates but it is required to have a bachelors).

I have been in training for 2 weeks. Now remember this is not nursing practices that I am learning, that would at lest be building on things I had a base knowledge for, this is all computer interactions and multi tasking with every department in the hospital, along with every Team Leader for each department and making decision as to where that patient will be placed and how fast that needs to happen. There is so much more to it than this but to try and explain it all would cause a melt down here at the key board. But after each training day we all leave just over-loaded with too much information and they keep telling us, “it will come, just relax”.

So now, I have applied to the Western Governors University, which is a non-profit on line university, to complete my degree. Tuesday night I had to take a qualifying test on line for acceptance. They said allow 2 hours to complete, it took me 3 hours and 15 minutes to complete, the questions were not easy and the essay question took me 30 minutes just to come up with an idea for the topic they assigned. I was so tired and frustrated that by time I was done I was asking myself, “why was I doing all this, did I need a new challenge in my life, was I trying to make my life more difficult, weren’t things going along just great, I Loved my schedule (that has been totally thrown off kilter). I love the people I work with, SO WHAT AM I DOING”?

Thus the melt down that night. Could not sleep, could not turn off my brain, could not relax, crying, worrying about the future of my church calling, time spent with family, Sunday dinner with the kids, working an occasional night shift, ( I really don’t care about that), not working with my friends as much, having a Dr. get mad for a decision I’ve been instructed to make, taking too long in getting the patients placed, trust me the list goes on and on. Just typing this has made me tear-up.

So here I am, with only about 10 years left to what has been a good career, doing something so new, so out of my comfort zone, my knowledge scope, trying my very best to develop skills, that until 6 weeks ago, I didn’t even know existed. I want to do my best, to prove to myself that age doesn’t matter in the learning realm, that I can be put out of my comfort zone and be OK.

So if you are trying to do something that seems hard, give me a call and I tell you good luck, relax and it will come and my favorite “If I can do it anyone can”.