After my weekend in California I went back to work for 5 days and then headed to Fort Collins for a quick but much needed break from Denver, work, and my hectic schedule. My best friend from college flew in town for Memorial Weekend because conveniently, she is dating Andrew’s brother! Just call me matchmaker 🙂 From the time I met Andrew’s brother I had a feeling he and Kristine would hit it off. Two long years later I finally talked them into talking to each other and now they are slowly forming a long distance (AZ to CO) relationship. They’re super cute together! And – BONUS – since Gary lives in Colorado, Kristine has another reason to visit 🙂
So though we didn’t get to spend a ton of time together because she and Gary had things planned and because I was a huge ball of stress because of school and work, we did get to go on a hike and grill a fun dinner. The weather was decent, although it could have been better (thanks odd Colorado weather) and overall – it was a great time!
Reunited! We took the boys on a hike to Devil’s Backbone in Loveland, Colorado!
Copper came with us! See Devil’s Backbone in the background
After Memorial Weekend I headed straight back to Wyoming for three days of intense classes and exams. I have never studied so much in my life. Nor have I taken so many notes. I can honestly say I have taken more notes in my first few weeks of nursing school than I did all through college. No lie.
Notes and more notes… Copper has been such a trooper living in two places. He is the most resilient dog.
And then I did something a bit crazy considering the massive amounts of studying I have to do all of the time — I spent a few more days in Fort Collins. After class on Thursday I stopped at Andrew’s in Fort Collins on the way back to Denver and ended up staying until Sunday morning. We played with the dogs (including our new addition, Sawyer – pictures below!), attended Andrew’s niece’s pre-k graduation, went out to a nice Greek dinner (my favorite food!), fished on our small boat and watched a lot of baseball. Much needed time with my wonderful boyfriend who I don’t get to see nearly as much as I’d like.
My week was so stressful at school (with my exams) that Andrew surprised me with not one, but two bouquets of flowers. The first he had waiting for me when I arrived in Fort Collins after my day of skills testing. The second he picked from his yard and brought to me on one of the mornings I was there. He is so sweet.
In nursing school we learn various skills and are expected to know them when we enter the clinical field in the fall. We have to memorize the methods and then perform them, at random, for our professors. We have labs with real mannequins and real hospital beds in what look just like real hospital rooms with real supplies. It is so life like. For this past skills assessment test we had to know how to change a colostomy, insert a nasogastric tube, insert a catheter (indwelling & straight) using aseptic technique, change and care for a wound dressing using aseptic technique, manage a feeding tube and insert an enema. We all partnered up and each two students had a set time to enter the lab and perform each step of the skill chosen on our patient while the professor or assistant watched and evaluated our performance. I studied, and studied, and studied. And passed! Andrew knew how stressed I was about the exam and when I showed up in Fort Collins and saw a bouquet of flowers and a card waiting – I couldn’t have been more surprised or thankful for his support during this stressful time.
Our weekend was so nice and I hated to see it end. Sunday morning I drove back to Denver, did some homework and had to work Sunday and Monday night at the hospital. That brings us to TODAY. I have tomorrow, Thursday and part of Friday to study, study, study before I go to work on Friday and Saturday and then head back to Wyoming on Sunday for classes Monday through Thursday. I don’t know how I know what day it is today…. but thank God for my iPhone and new iPad (I made a big splurge purchase!!) because they have calendars on them to remind me that today is Tuesday! With my busy schedule, I completely forgot it is June (Today I seriously thought I still had a week before Memorial Day), let alone June 5th.
Meet Sawyer, the newest addition to our little family. Copper isn’t too fond of his brother yet… but we’re working on it. Andrew is so happy to have this little guy in his life. He’s missed having a dog after Bishop passed in September. Sawyer is an 11 week pure bred yellow lab and was born in March, just like his Shiba brother! Sawyer is about 30lbs already, has huge, HUGE, paws – and is a bundle of furry fun.
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