School is almost over...now what?

I will be graduating in three weeks with my RN in nursing. It's been a long road in finally getting to this point and I'm so happy to have it done with. But I have to admit that I'm nervous now that the long road is over. Where do I go from here? I've been wanting to be a nurse for years and now that I've finally reached my goal, I'm kind of feeling stuck. What do I do now? Where do I want to live? Where do I want to work? Will I actually be a good nurse? It's a huge responsibility and I want to do the job well, but what if I really suck at it? What if I can't find a job? Way too many "what ifs". It's a little scary to think of making some huge life changes in the next few months. I don't mind small changes but big ones scare me. Sometimes having too many choices is harder than having none at all. Something to think about I guess.

Summer fun

This summer has been a busy blast! We crammed in tons of camping, my brothers came up for the 24th of July and we all went to Lagoon! I turned 35, completed by 2nd and 3rd triathlons and had fun with family. It was my little nieces first time at Lagoon and I think it was a hit! I love it when my family can all get together! We went to the parade, explored the mountains and slipped on the slip and slide. Jason made amazing food and we had a fantastic time together! Wish they all lived close so we could do this every weekend! Oh well. My littlest niece Marlowe is walking now and Aspen just started school! My how the time flys! They are growing up so quickly! My sister, friend Kim and I went to see Sugarland in concert and had wicked awesome seats! Here are some pictures of our escapades this summer.

March Madness

Went to Las Vegas for the big Mountain West Basketball Tournament where the mighty Cougars came up a little short of winning. That was OK because their outstanding record pretty much guaranteed them an invitation to the Big Dance. It was really fun to go with my dad and watch the championship games. My parents go every year for the whole tournament and I usually go down with my niece for the last couple of days. This year I was solo as my niece wasn't falling for the promise that the pool at the hotel would be open this year for sure. It never is and it always breaks our hearts as we stare out our hotel room window at the perfectly good pool that is just sitting there, mocking us, because it isn't open yet. One day Sunset Station I will stay at your establishment when that pool is open! Maybe I should shoot for May or June instead of early March. :) That might help a little. My Mom decided she'd had enough b-ball games by Saturday and they Y had been eliminated, so I got to go in my Mom's place for free! It was awesome! SanDiego won both the Men's and Women's championships. Anyone but UNLV or New Mexico my family says so we were pretty happy. One funny story that happened the night I got there. Some background into the story is my parents hate the New Mexico and UNLV basketball fans as mentioned in the "anyone but UNLV or New Mexico" comment before, and this year they were pretty much surrounded by Lobo fans thought the tournament. So anyway, my dad had a feeling that he should bring some napkins with him on his way to his seat. Well the Lobo's fan that sat behind him had his feet on my dad's chair. So when my dad got over to his seat he said to the Lobo's fan, "Lobo's are like dogs. You always have to clean up after them." Then he wiped off his chair and sat down. My Mom almost fainted and thought my Dad was about to get beaten up, but apparently the Lobo's fan was caught off guard by my Dad's comment that he didn't even say anything back to him. I would at least have given him the finger had the shoe been on the other foot but this only goes on to prove that my Dad is awesome, a little crazy, but awesome! Who else would even of had the guts to say that? I rest my case. Love ya Dad! I left early Sunday morning to drive back home and ran into the craziest snow storm I'd ever driven in! It hit right after St George and lasted for about 3 more hours! It was crazy! Here are some pictures right outside of St George before the storm hit. The roads hadn't been plowed so the mountain passes were just covered in three or four inches of snow which made it interesting to drive in and very slippery. I passed crash after crash with tons of spin outs on the sides of the road. I'd prayed before I left and I was constantly praying as I drove that I would make it home safely and Heavenly Father was watching out for me. My car handled like a champ and I made it home safe and sound.

What a fun Valentines Day

My sister loves holidays and Valentines day is no exception. The house gets decorated and lights get put up and she always makes her super fantastic Valentines dinner! This lady goes all out! We devoured strawberry daiquiris (sans alcohol of course) shrimp, a strawberry and spinach salad and a fabulous main course. This year it was steak! Yeah, meat! For desert she has my favorite, chocolate dipped strawberries! It's a little bit of heaven her on earth! Who needs a valentine when you have an awesome sister like I do!? Well...it wouldn't hurt. Maybe next year. :) Hope you all had a fantastic Valentines day and got to spend it with those you love like I did.

Dreaming of a Green Christmas!

Almost every year for Christmas, the Leffler family finds themselves gathering together in Phoenix to celebrate. We pretty much do the same things over and over again, but I love it. We had a new addition to the family again this year as Joe and Teri welcomed their third daughter named Marlowe in August. Here she is in all her naked splendor! Check out those rolls! Yep, she's a Leffler alright. You just can't miss their first Christmas so me and the Grossmans decided to pack things up and head on down to Phoenix! This year I flew down, when normally I drive with my sister and her family, but I couldn't take very much vacation time so flying was the best option. Anyway, my sister and her family always bring an extra cooler to fill up with snow when they hit Flagstaff and bring it into the valley so the little girls can have a snowball fight! They brought two coolers this year so they had ton's of snow. It's always fun to run around the back yard surrounded by orange trees, throwing snow at each other! It's great fun and the little girls love it. Christmas morning we woke up early and opened presents. I got Jason a Colt's Snuggie that he LOVES!!! I'm pretty sure the reason why the Colts made it to the Super Bowl is because I bought him that Snuggie! We all had fun opening presents and we all got a bunch of good stuff. Santa was very good to us, again. Thanks Mom and Dad! We had our big Christmas breakfast that Jason whipped up. I was his sue chef, but I put milk in the scrambled eggs which is apparently a no-no. Almost got demoted for that one. :) Jason planned a scavenger hunt for the girls that had a big surprise at the end for them. He, Michelle, Chloe and Israel decorated the back yard like a winter wonderland and put up a huge inflatable snowman. They wrote notes that they attached to candy canes, that lead them from one clue to the next and hide them around the house and front and back yards ultimately leading them to the side of the house where Jason had wrapped up a big slide. It was hard waiting for Joey, Teri and the Girls to come over after their Christmas morning. They finally got there and we tore into more presents then it was time for the scavenger hunt. They were so excited going from one clue to the next, and when they finally got to the back yard and saw the decorations they were jumping and squealing with joy. They loved the slide and even the candy canes were a big hit. Christmas day is usually pretty lazy. We eat, watch TV, play games, take naps and just enjoy each other. Joey told us about their Christmas morning and it was great. Aspen and Paisley had asked for new bikes from Santa so they got them the bikes with their other toys, but they hid the bikes out on their back patio and pulled the drapes so the girls couldn't see them when they first walked out into their living room to look at their toys. But they did put helmets out for the girls to see. So after the girls had opened most of their presents Joey and Teri started asking the girls why they think Santa gave them helmets. They started to think for a second and then Teri asked Aspen to open the drapes to let in some sunshine. When she opened them she didn't really look outside so Teri had to say look outside. Aspen finally saw the bikes and let out a big gasp, then Paisley saw them and ran over to the window. Paisley pointed at them and said "I gotted a bike, Mama!" and started jumping up and down and clapping her hands. Aspen started in on the jumping too, then Paisley ran over and grabbed her helmet and put it on! Aspen was still kind of confused but Paisley was ready to ride! Joey recorded the whole event on their camera and showed it to us. I've got to get a copy of that because it was the cutest thing I've ever seen! There's nothing like watching Christmas through a child's eyes. Everything is so exciting and new and just plain magical. Nothing beats it. The whole trip was so much fun but way too short. It was sad when it ended but that just makes me even more excited for next year!

My Nieces are cuter than yours!

I'm pretty sure you'll never find cuter kids than my nieces! Go ahead, I dare ya to give it a try! Love ya, Chloe, Aspen, Paisley and Marlowe!

Family Fun and Cougar Wins!

Thought I'd catch up my blog with everything that's happened this last month. This is a long one, just to warn you. Thanksgiving this year was a little more low key than normal. My little brother and his family couldn't make it up so we didn't have any little kids to play with but it was still a bunch of fun. My big brother Jason made the long drive up and it was so much fun to see him! He came up a week early to go to the BYU/AirForce game with me and he was a good luck charm because they won! We lucked out with getting a win but it turned out to be the coldest game day of the year! It was FREEZING!!!! We all had on about 5 layers of clothing then we wrapped up in blankets, hats scarves and gloves. That worked until the sun went down then it just got colder and colder by the second. We stuck it out for most of the game but did end up leaving early so we could thaw out. We still had a really great time. We ended the day by eating dinner at Famous Dave's. They have the best BBQ! It was a great day! My Mom treated me and my sister to a girls night out and bought us tickets to Bravo Broadway, that played at the Utah Symphony. It had three Broadway singers that took turns singing well known Broadway hits. It was one of the best nights ever! We had so much fun! It was over 2 1/2 hours long but the time seemed to fly by! We really hope they do put it on again next year so we can make this a girls' family tradition. Thanks Mom!!! Dad turned 66 and we had a little party for him. I love that his birthday is always around Thanksgiving so I get to spend it with him every year! Love ya Dad! The morning of Thanksgiving was our wards annual Turkey Trot around the neighborhood. We had a few more people show up this year than last, which was still not as big as we'd like but I'm sure we'll get more each year we do it. It was freezing cold that morning also but we all had a great time. For as much food as I ate later that day, I'm really glad I got some exercise that morning. :) Jason got sick the day before Thanksgiving and ended up not even eating anything the whole day. Poor Jason! Fortunately he felt better in time for the biggest rivalry in college football, the BYU vs. Utah game! But unfortunately, by Dad caught his bug, so my sister went in Dad's place. Poor Dad! This was only the 3rd BYU vs. Utah game he has ever missed since he started getting tickets in the '60's. But Michelle had fun in his place. Michelle ended up sitting with me and Jason was with Mom. You couldn't have asked for a better game! The Coogs were sleeping for most of the first quarter. It was pretty scary there for a bit. They got their first, first down with 6 minutes in the first quarter!!! Thankfully they woke up and put a bunch of points on the board. Then they fell asleep again and let the Utes slowly chip away at the lead until they ended up tying it at the end of regulation play and they had to decide it in overtime!!! Talk about a nail biter!!! The Utes got the ball first and the Coogs held them to a field goal. Then it was the Coogs turn!!!! The Utes were all over the Coogs and it was third down. We needed this play to work or we'd have to settle for a field goal to tie. Max Hall found Andrew George in double coverage, he hit him right in the hands. George grabbed it and held on for dear life expecting to get creamed from both sides, as the two Utes were running at him from opposite directions, but they missed him! They went for the ball instead for going for the tackle and the two Utes ended up crashing into each other and George ran it in for the touchdown and the win!! I still get goosebumps thinking of that play!!! Tons of people stormed the field, I was too chicken and up too high, but everyone went crazy including my sister and I! We were jumping up and down and screaming like little girls! My Cougar Tail I'd bought to bring home was trampled in the excitement. We cracked up over finding it smashed on the floor. (That's a really long maple bar for those not in the know.) What a great game!!!! I love it when the Coogs smash those wimpy Utes!!! Bragging rights until next year are ours!!! You gotta love it! A few days later we went over to Winder Dairy for our annual tradition of eating hot yummy scones with honey butter! I love Winder Dairy! I love that you can still have milk delivered to your house by a Milk Man if you want! I just love it! The Winders had all decorated their houses with cute cow lights. It just isn't December without a drive down Winder Lane. A few week ago we got our first big snow storm and man oh man did it dump on us. We had over a foot of snow that day. We're supposed to get another big storm like that starting tonight. I'm happy about the storm because the snow had almost melted away. You gotta have a white Christmas! My dear friend Shelley found out that she had uterine cancer and had a complete hysterectomy the first week of December. She is a wonderful and amazing woman! As the day of her operation approached she decided to have a "Farewell to my uterus" party. It was packed with her friends and family that love her and we all had a blast. She found out a few days ago that they got to her cancer before it had spread! Thank you Heavenly Father for watching out for my friend! I love you Shelley! My friend from work and I send out Christmas Cards every year as a joke to everyone in our office and a bunch of random people too. Here is this year's picture. Anita is the best! Last but not least this weekend was a time to fit in as many get together as I possibly could before leaving for Phoenix. We had our Relief Society Christmas dinner, a get together with some old mission companions and a "Chocolate and Cheese" party at my place with some wonderful friends from the neighborhood. I didn't get any pictures of the last parties but rest assured we had a blast! I'm so grateful to have such amazing and wonderful friends and family in my life to share the holidays with. You all bless my life more than you'll know! I wish you all much love and happiness and a very Merry Christmas!