::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Dallin and Megan Thatcher::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Dallin and Megan got married this last Saturday February 26, 2011 in the Salt Lake Temple!

We had a good time at the wedding dinner, ceremony, and reception!

We are happy for them and hope to spend more time doing things together!

The reception was fun, it was like a carnival as most people would say.

Megan did an awesome job with making most of the decorations!

Ice cream, cupcakes, eclairs, cotton candy, popcorn, and an assortment of candy!

We love you both!

I only took 3 pictures the whole time, so I will share what I have!

Speeding?

3rd time in my life getting pulled over yesterday. 

I was speeding..it's one of the roads that are very hard to go 25 mph on.

Thank You police man for just giving me a verbal warning!

My last ticket cost me nearly $300! But it was Jesse's fault! ;)

How long do tickets stay on your record?

Yes I will pay more attention to how fast I am driving.

I feel like I really have seen a lot of cops out lately,

and a lot of people being pulled over.

Be careful!

First Night Away

Last night was our first night away from each other since we have married...and I did not like it. :(

Two reason what made it even harder and worse to spend the night away from each other:

1. It had to follow the day after Valentine's Day.

We had a wonderful day! After a long day at school and work Jesse surprised me with making reservations for dinner to Market Street Grill, had flowers for me-he had the same florist that did our flowers for our wedding make a beautiful bouquet-a thought that was neat-, and he made chocolate covered strawberries for me (delicious!) He made me feel like a Queen! :)

2. I had to spend two days up in Evanston, Wyoming at the State Psych hospital!

From the moment I got on the hospital grounds I just had a creepy/eery feeling.

The old buildings and unique staff did not help that.

I spent the two days basically hanging out with all the psych patients, going to their groups with them and just learning about their lives and "trials" (best word I think I can use for it right now) they have to go through. quite sad. It definitely makes you grateful for your life and health-never take that for granted! 

I am definitely happy to be home and able to sleep in our home with Jesse tonight! I hope we don't have to spend too many more nights away from each other. I know a lot of married couples can say they have spent countless night away from each other-but I hope it does not have to be that way. I enjoy and appreciate being with Jesse at night!..and all the time! :) Did I ever mention being married is the best!? :)

Crafty?...

This last Saturday Jesse and I can admit we were bored and didn't know what to do.

I am not a creative or crafty person-I could always rely on my sisters or someone else.

(and their is probably a good reason why)

I attempted to make a valentines day craft. 

I would say it looks quite cheesy.

But it my first attempt to do a craft alone-(without someone making me)

I have been wanting something to hang my necklaces on for a while 

-because I hate when they get all tangled up-

So while I did my lovely craft, Jesse decided to be the handy man and make this for me!

Drilled holes, glued it together, and painted it!

(cost about $3)

But I must say Jesse's tie collection looks even better!

( and thats not even all of them)

Yes, He loves ties! and he sure does look good in all of them!

National Carrot Cake Day

Yes, February 3 is National Carrot Cake day! 

And I decided to celebrate it! And I am pretty sure Jesse didn't mind! Or my Mom and sister 

who came over to enjoy the cake!

-Well anything I can find to distract me from studying for a test...I can do assignments for school but when it comes to studying for test I have THE hardest time!-

Go ahead, go google it! National Carrot Cake day.

Today is the starting of the Chinese New Year of the Rabbit as well.

Carrot cake of course has carrots in it which are good for you...I just wish that made the cake healthy.

So maybe its not a huge holiday but its a good reason to celebrate something today!

I wanted to decorate it a little bit to make it look nice.

When Jesse came home I told him I wish I could of made cool carrots. Thanks to Jesse and his artistic skills (and maybe his love for watching the food channel) he did the carrots to make the cake look even better! :)

Tomorrow I am hoping to make homemade soup. Yes tomorrow is National homemade soup day! (Trust me I won't keep this up, its just fun for now.)

Being A Nurse

Yesterday I did my first shift alone working as an LPN at a long term care and rehab facility. I think I can say I was excited for it because I have done clinicals and trained and followed around nurses countless times-it feels like-and to do things my way would be nice. 

Well..I guess I can say hopefully it can only go up hill from here. The nurse the shift before me decided she did not have time to do most her med pass and left it for me to do. I was only there for a small 4 hour shift-the time it takes to do the one med pass I am responsible for that night. Being optimistic and naive about it I figured I could do it-no big deal. 

Minus all the details of the crazy shift I ended up leaving almost 2 hours later than I was scheduled to be there because I was so busy! But that is part of nursing as I hear. I got home real late and the worse part of it all I would say is I could not sleep! ( Most people know that sleeping is very important to me.) My mind was racing about everything I did. What if I messed up?-because I was in such a rush to do things. What if I end of killing someone? What if I get fired because I did such a horrible job? 

This isn't the first time I have had this problems of not sleeping because of work. When I started my life guarding job in high school I wouldn't be able to sleep because my mind would fake me into thinking my dreams and thoughts were reality. I would sit up in bed looking around the room thinking I was life guarding and couldn't fall asleep. Yeah I guess you can call me crazy.

So right now in school my nursing classes are management/leadership and psych. I think I will have to learn from both of them from the stress nursing causes me!

I always question myself if nursing is the thing for me and if I will enjoy it.

I have another 4 hour shift tonight. I just hope I will be able to sleep.

Calendar!

My Calendar I made for 2011 finally came the other day! Yes it is almost the end of January but I didn't order it till the last week of December! I waited to make it because we didn't have any pictures for December! I tried to have pictures of things we did that month, but some months we slacked with taking pictures!

( I took pictures of pictures so of course the quality is not as good on here.)

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Logan

This past weekend we went up to Logan. To start with the not so good news, we bought a car up in Logan in April and we have enjoyed it. A 2009 black toyota Camry! We made an appointment for some maintenance work (another reason to go up to logan besides to hang out) which actually ended up being no big deal at all. What makes me really sad is this past week some one hit the side of my car. Since my car was rather dirty with all the salt and snow I did not notice it at first and don't know when it happened. Yes that does mean it was a hit and run. BUMMER! I have a nice dent in the side on my car now and it appears that my door might not shut all the way. I wish that everyone could be honest in this world and at least left a note. :( Now more money down the drain when we get to fixing it. My mama always said their are for sure two things in life that you will always have to pay for that are a pain-car problems and taxes.

Anyways on with our good weekend in logan. On Friday night we hung out with Courtney and Christopher and Max (sister, brother-in-law, nephew) we went out to dinner at Bluebird Cafe-I wanted to go somewhere that is only in Logan-and it was delicious. The rolls superb as well as the other food! Then we went back to their place and played the game LIFE. It was quite a good game with my salary being at $100,000 and Jesse painting family portraits for $35,000!

Saturday we drove up to Idaho to watch Candace race. She ran the mile and did well. I always enjoy watching her race-I haven't really been able to much when she has been in college..but it also kills me because I get butterflies for her! That night we were able to hang out with friends (Jordan and Kylie) dinner and catching up. One day Jesse and Jordan will start a business together while Kylie and I will work as nurses..we have quite a bit in common. We had a good time!

As of Lately..and A very special day!

School has started but it hasn't hit me yet..I have to admit I haven't done much for it because I have been waiting for my books to slowly come..and nursing school seems like it mostly consist of reading the books and studying-could be the reason why I have been struggling to enjoy it since I really don't like reading! I tell myself someday I will enjoy reading when I don't have to read text books. I feel that school will get busy real fast here and the stress will come on..probably starting this next week.

As far as work I quit my home health and hospice care CNA job..I have to say it was kinda hard to just tell them I quit because I don't think I have ever quit a job. Usually my jobs have been seasonal or I moved away. But within 30 minutes of quitting I got a called from a nursing home in north ogden and asked me if I wanted to work PRN (as needed) as an LPN! Also I will be starting a new CNA job with a home health company but I basically choose my own hours. So I hoping this will all work out and be for the best.

This past week we had a very special event happen in our family. Eria, Brooke, Kimberly, and Eijah were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on January 10, 2011. This was a special day for them because that was the birthday of there first born Kimberly Mae who passed away only 13 days after being born. It was a very neat experience. We are all very happy for them!

Kimberly Mae Tokanang

The experience of having a family member pass away was very difficult but we are very fortunate to have the gospel in our lives and know Heavenly Fathers plan and find comfort.

Sealed together as the Tokanang family Jan. 10, 2011.

Baby Eli!

New Year!

New years weekend I thought wasn't going to be too great since I had to work all weekend and we didn't have anything planned to celebrate/party- but it actually turned out quite well. We were able to hang out with my family and play games and eat all night!

They all look so great..

My Moms way of saying "cheese"

Playing rockband which Jesse is the only one you can really play.

New Years Day I had to work 7:30am-7:30pm..sittin with a lady who lives at an assisted living home. I was not looking forward to that. Jesse decided to come visit me at work. He brought us lunch, we played card games and played games on our i pods (the family feud game I downloaded (: ), and watched planet earth..and possibly took a small nap. He was with me for about 5 hours..it was great! Can't complain too much after that.

So now that the holidays are over its time to get down to business and actually start trying to be healthy again. We sure do love the sweets! But we do think it is important to be healthy. I am only saying this because it puts more pressure on me now that people know...maybe?..

We are excited for this new year and hope it brings us the best! 

I will be graduating the nursing program this spring and Jesse starting the MBA program in the fall.

We will celebrate our first year anniversary! :)

and hopefully much more great things to come!

Holidays and Hunting

Christmas came and is gone and it was good! I am enjoying this Holiday break but I can't believe school starts again this coming Monday. Last semester until I can be an RN! :) We have enjoyed all the parties and time with the family. I forgot to mention while sitting on Santa's lap he decided to make us kiss because we are still newlyweds..a little embarrassing..but we got what we wanted for Christmas so it was worth it! ;) Clothes, boots, rice cooker, wheat grinder, camping/backpacking stuff, movies and a new t.v. stand and more. Thank you!

Monday morning Jesse and I woke up earlier and went rabbit hunting with his brother Matt and Dad and a bunch of other guys. We drove up to Snowville-didn't know the town existed out in the middle of nowhere in Utah. I wasn't sure about hunting rabbits at first..why kill innocent little rabbits? Jesse assured me that "they" wanted us to kill them because their are too many and they are causing problems (I am not quite sure if he said that to make me feel better or if its true). I had never gone hunting before so I figured why not give it a try. The first little while of walking around..Nothing! I finally saw a little bird walking on the ground and pointed it out to Jesse..and then yes he shot and killed it! I think I saw one jack rabbit within the first hour...I have to admit I thought hunting was pretty lame and then thought maybe guys go hunting just to feel tough but nothing really happens when they go. But the second half had a lot more action. The first rabbit we killed I stilled felt kinda bad..Jesse gave me the honors of finishing it off but I just couldn't. After the 2nd one we killed I figured finishing it off would be putting it out of its misery..and shooting a gun is fun! We ended up killing 4 jack rabbits. (When I say 'we' I mean Jesse did, I might have slightly nicked one or two to slow it down enough for Jesse to blow off its foot or other body part) Jesse has quite the shot and I felt confident that if hunting was our only means of food I would not go hungry.

Tis the Season!

Wow! Since school as gotten out it seems like so much has gone on. I feel that I have been way busy but doing fun things! That is how the holidays are! :)

It's our First Christmas together! :) Therefore we didn't have much to decorate with but we do love the little we have. I actually even made one. We love our small tree because our parents have gotten us ornaments every year so we have quite a few-we will have to upgrade to a bigger tree in the future.

 

We went to Salt lake to see Temple Square lights with my sister and brother-in-law and my little nephew Max!

The weekend after finals were done we went up to the Jensen Cabin in Bear Lake just for Friday night and Saturday morning. We went with Megan and Dallin-the newly engaged couple :) -Megan is Jesse's sister-Trevor and Kelsey-Dallin's brother and sister-in-law-, and my sister Courtney and Christopher and Max!

That Saturday night we had my friend Christmas party had a wonderful dinner and white elephant. It was so good to get together with all of them!

This pass weekend was the weekend of parties for us. 

Thursday-we had Jesse's work part at the Lion house. 

Friday-we skipped out on our ward party to go to dinner and Ogden lights with the family. 

Saturday-we had the Haw's party-Jesse's Mom side of the family-up in Newton-by Logan-which I was reminded of my wonderful ticket I received for speeding out in the middle of nowhere when Jesse and I went up there to stay when we were EFY counselors together-good story...big ticket.

Sunday-We had the opportunity to go to The Motab Christmas concert with David Archuleta we both really enjoyed it besides we waited in line to get in the building for around 40 minutes-their was huge lines everywhere but it was worth it. We got together as Jensen siblings and did our Christmas present exchange and after we went down to my Grandparents house and had the Eddy Christmas Party. We had a good time with the ugly sweaters.

 

Monday night we went to the big Jensen Christmas Party out in Plain City. Santa comes every year and I figured out Jesse and I have to sit on Santa's lap till we have kids of our own. It is a tradition to play Mexican horseshoe-its fun I just wish I was a little better because you play for a little cash!

Now I think we will be able to just hang out and relax till Christmas.

"First we'll make snow angels for two hours, then we'll go ice skating, then we'll eat an entire roll of Toll House cooke dough as fast as we can, and then to finish, we'll snuggle"!

watched that one already..I am hoping to get in all of our favorites this week!

 MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Today.

So as most know I work as a CNA doing home health and hospice care. I enjoy it for the most part, usually I think its better than a CNA job at the hospital because I can basically choose my own hours and work around my school, my patients aren't always really sick, I do a variety of things from cleaning to showering to shopping/running errands to doing hair and nails-basically anything you can think of. The majority of my patients are pleasant and nice for the most part. Of course I am sick of CNA work and wish to get an LPN job since I am licensed to be one and of course I have bad days and mean patients. Today I had an experience that made me want a new job even more. 

Warning the following story is a little disturbing..I probably shouldn't share it but..

I will leave out some details.

So Today I went to an older person who lives in a trailer home with 5 other people who I think all of them have some type of mental disability. They are all very kind and nice to me while I am there and love to talk to me. Today I had to be there 3 hours to clean their place. Now think of one of those people who have a really dirty house and have way too much stuff for such a small place...now think of that times 5..thats about how this place looked. I decided to start in the kitchen. The floor was covered with a bunch of their belongings and trash and whatever else. One of the men who live there decided to help me and move the stuff to other places so I could sweep and mop the floor. Very nice of him. I probably swept up at least 5 huge dust pans full of stuff. Now to the best part...

The guy picked up one of the big boxes and bugs scattered everywhere!!

I don't even know what kind of bugs they were but it just reminded me of little cockroaches.

I absolutely freaked as one almost crawled over my feet!

They scattered to under the fridge or oven or anywhere they could go.

To make it even better that man decided to try to kill them..with his own bare hands..then wipe it on his pants! I could not believe my eyes!

The rest of the time I was there I felt like there were bugs crawling on me.

I immediately came home after and cleaned my clothes.

But just so you know I am now one step closer to being done with school and getting my RN. Then I am hoping to move up on the job world. I am officially done with this semester of school! Took my finals..satisfied with my scores! Such a relief!

Today Jesse and I also went and cleaned the Mill in Kaysville. If you ever want to get into a big flour fight that is the place to go. I have chocolate cake powder up my nose from sweeping so much of it up.

Gotta Love My Ankle.

I have been playing indoor soccer on a women's league the past little while. I was leaving to my game and Jesse had to come later because he had to workout as well. Right before I leave Jesse says something like "Love you..Have fun...Don't break your ankle"

(I have hurt my ankles quite a bit growing up playing soccer.)

Yes..10 minutes after Jesse got to my game I TWISTED MY ANKLE! 

Unbearable pain for the 2-3 minutes as I squirm on the field.

Please just let me walk tomorrow without looking like a complete fool as I go take my final.

Actually I hope its not so stiff and painful so I can drive and go to work tomorrow.

Gotta love my ankles!

Where are you motivation?...

Goodness..I have no motivation to do anything with school.

This is another way I find to avoid studying.

I don't remember being this burned out with school! 

I am having the hardest time..I just stare at my books getting no where.

I thought maybe the whole little Thanksgiving break and getting away for the weekend would spark some motivation to finish off the semester but I think it made it worse because I just feel like that should of been the end of the semester. I am not meaning this is a negative way I am actually worried that I am like this..but I feel that many people are also struggling with this complete burned out feeling with school-or maybe I have been surrounded by a bunch of nursing students who have been overloaded for the past year. I usually enjoy school and learning so I think that is what makes me harder for me. 

But I must say I am glad I have Jesse here with me. He helps me get through school. The only problem is right when he gets home from work I for sure don't want to do anything with school-its Me and Jesse time the rest of the day! :)

As far as Thanksgiving-We spent the day with the Eddy family. The usual overeating and wanting the throw up feeling. It was good to be together with all the fam! 

Friday morning we flew out to vegas to be with the Jensen family for Matt's football tournament. Sadly I have to admit I think I ate buffet style for 4 days straight at least one meal a day.. Wow..

We did a lot of eating and shopping. Sounds pretty typical.

We drove home Sunday. It took us a good 10 hours at an average of 45 mph. We saw at least 2 dozen cars off the road. Good thing that motor home is heavy and didn't slide around much and I was able to watch 2 movies to pass the time! (2 of my favorite: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Toy Story 3)

2 finals to finish then almost a month of no school! I can do this! I know my hard work will pay off! I am excited for the holidays and the spirit and happiness it brings-but especially the fact that we can relax and not worry about homework! :)

Fall Delight!

This past week we finally were able making carmel apples! I have been wanting to make them all season and we finally decided to buy the stuff and do it! We had a fun time making them and even better time eating them! They don't quite look like the Rocky Mountain Chocolates Carmel Apples-which I love-but they were cheaper and fun to make! :)

It was also my Mother's birthday this past week. It took her a while to figure out how old she was turning..45?..46?..its all the same once you get that age anyways I guess! ;) We surprise her with a little "Over the Hill" party! I love my Mama! She's the best!

On Saturday we went to Boondocks and hit up the arcades with the Jensen fam! We found a couple games that help you win quite a few tickets! 500 tickets can get you this little guy! :)

Jesse and I also did something we don't do very often. Saturday night we went to the movies.. a 9 o' clock movie..which is late for us! We went and saw Inception at the Kaysville Theatre. We enjoyed it besides the fact that we might of been afraid of going to sleep. I forgot how much a love the Kaysville Theatre. 

1. It's close by and it just makes you feel proud of Kaysville for having such a convenient little theatre!

2. It's cheap!-you can buy 2 tickets, popcorn, and a small drink for the price of basically one ticket at the other movie theaters.

3. The old school preview commercials are still there where everyone yells "EWW"

4. You almost always see friends you haven't seen for a while and it's so good to run into them! (especially when they let you come in line where they are..I don't want to call it butting in line...)

I am glad we are able to spend our free time doing things we enjoy-especially together! It gets me through school! Yes I am still counting down the weeks till the semester is over..

End of October..Wow that went by fast!

So I am a little late with posting Halloween but better late then never.

We didn't really think of a costume until the day before.

(But yes I have already bought my ugly sweater for Christmas-it's pretty good!) 

We decided to be a Biker Chick and Biker Dude. -something easy that we could throw together!..

We went to a friend party with Jesse's sister Brooklyn and had yummy food. Too bad we couldn't say longer but we were able to go to the family party at the Jensen's house and play games with the fam!

Jesse bobbing for apples. I attempted for a second but decided I did not want to get that wet when its cold. Good thing we had the boys to entertain us.

Eating donuts off the string. I might of gotten a bite off..but Jesse did the rest of the work!

We went up to logan for Halloween day and we're able to hang out with some friends up there. We went shooting..until it started raining. We had delicious chili and played games. Jesse and I stayed up much later than we are used to. I have to admit I haven't seen that late (or I should say that early) on a clock since we were dating. It probably wont happen again for a long time. We enjoy our early bedtime..and we will as long as we can! :)

I try to think of different dinners to make to mix it up but have a hard time with being creative. I tend to use allrecipes.com and it does me well. But if anyone has any good ideas for dinners that are easy, cheap, and yummy feel free to share! :) I enjoy cooking but usually find myself not having much time to think about what to make and actually make it. 

So this last week I decided to make pizza. Jesse and I both like canadian bacon and pineapple. I took my time to make it look good and have the canadian bacon and pineapple perfectly spaced so every bite would be great. I put it in the oven and look back on the counter to noticed I missed an important ingredient...the pizza sauce! Dang it! I had to scrap off all the stuff-that I put so perfectly on and just throw it back on AFTER I put the pizza sauce on. We still loved it and gobbled it up though!