Plus 1.

2012 has been a crazy year for us so far. Many exciting things have happened...

Scott was accepted to UCLA dental school.

Scott was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the US Army.

We got a new little niece.

We went to Ingrid Michaelson for my birthday.

Scott graduated.

In addition, we have some exciting things coming up this summer...

Scott will be going to Officer Basic Training at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio Texas (this is mostly good news. I'm still not exactly sure how I'm going to survive six weeks without him).

I will be starting -- and finishing -- my capstone at Primary Children's on the cancer and transplant floor.

My little sister will get married on June 16 to the handsome Alan Reintjes.

I will be graduating from nursing school and taking the NCLEX to become an registered nurse.

We will be moving from Provo after six long years (minus two for Scott because of his mission to Italy) to California! Because I will be working so hard this summer, I am excited about living in a place that feels like summer as a reward when I am done.

Scott will be starting dental school.

But the most exciting thing of all is coming in the fall...

Our little family of two will become a family of three.

Baby Lemmons is currently the size of a lemon, and should be coming along on or around November 16, 2012.

:)

Pinterest.

I feel the need to report that Scott made his first Pinterest inspired meal today. (He has a recipe board on my Pinterest -- his manhood just can't take having his own.)

He made pesto and feta covered salmon with roasted potatoes and asparagus.

It was amazing.

Now not only does Pinterest give me good ideas, I get the added benefit of having them cooked for me now. I love that my husband cooks.

Now I need to go get my white-chocolate s'mores blondies out of the oven.

Oh Pinterest. How did we ever live without you?

WOW! Have you missed me?

You know, every semester I think that I can't possibly get any busier. I have reached the limit; I have filled all of the hours in the day; I have exhausted the allowable amount of semicolons.

Every semester, I am wrong. Thus, it has been over two months since I've blogged. Here, at least. My book blog is the favorite child.

Anyway, many things have been happening. Updatesreadygo!

Christmas Break
We started out in LA and headed off on a cruise to Mexico. Other than being sick for half of the cruise (some obscene and torturous form of laryngitis), it was great fun. I am still trying to lose the weight I gained. I've decided cruises are a foodie's greatest dream and simultaneously greatest trap.

Obligatory Titanic picture.

Other than the food, the best part of the cruise was definitely the excursions. On the first day, we went to Cabo San Lucas and went snorkeling at Lover's Beach. Scott's wedding ring was swallowed by the Sea of Cortez, but we did get to see some cool fishies. Afterward we had Mexican seafood and shopped around. I bought a Mexican nativity to add to my slowly growing collection.

The next day we went to Puerta Vallarta and spent the first few hours at the beach, after which we had more Mexican food, and then on an "extreme canopy adventure." It was seriously one of the most adventurous and awesome things I have ever done. First we rode on a Zodiac for about 45 minutes across the ocean, then hopped in an old Army Jeep from WWII and rode up a crazy mountain trail. It was like Indiana Jones except REAL LIFE. Then we rode mules up the mountain further. My mule had a serious attitude and bit everyone until it was in the lead. Then we rode zip lines down an amazing jungle and went straight into a waterfall. I was a little wary of the zip lines at first because I have a friend who died on a zip line, but these were double-lined and secure and it was amazing. 

Indiana Jones Jeep

Scott had the slow mule

Awesome zipline!

Going down the waterfall

Jenna going INTO the water. Yup, we all had to do this. 

California and Christmas
After the trip, we went to Modesto/Visalia/San Francisco for a couple of weeks and hung out with Scott's family. It was my first Christmas away from my family, but Scott's family made me feel very welcome. All my presents were also from Anthropologie, so basically all of my wildest dreams came true.

Scott also had his interview for UCSF on the last day of our trip, so we went with his dad to San Francisco for a night. While Scott was being interviewed, Bill and I went to the science museum, Golden Gate Park, and Haight Street. Scott was underwhelmed by his interview, which was surprising for us because it was our first choice. While we love the city, the school didn't really do it for us.

UCLA
Scott had one more interview at UCLA, and we weren't really sure why we were going because he didn't seem that interested in the school. However, after his interview, he said he really thought this was the place, and I was excited because just driving around the campus had me excited. He was accepted a few weeks later, so this is officially where we are moving. I am already trying to plan restaurants to try and hospitals to apply to, so if you have any suggestions, please let me know. We will be in the Westwood area, and I have already located the two nearest Pinkberrys, as well as multiple Coffee Bean and Tea Leafs (Leaves?). I think I know where I'll be studying for the NCLEX! Also, Santa Monica beach. Hopefully by the end of this UCLA experience we'll have cute little baby people that we can take pictures of sticking their toes in the water.

Military
Scott also joined the Army. He is a 2nd lieutenant, and will be a 1st lieutenant when he graduates from dental school. So we don't know where we will be after dental school, but I love it. I am not ready to choose the place that we'll spend the rest of our lives yet -- I am excited to travel. There is a chance that he could be deployed for up to 12 months, but I am avoiding that in my mind for now -- no use worrying about it when it is so far away. The military will pay for all of Scott's dental school expenses and will also give us a living expenses stipend. I will still need to work to keep us out of debt, but it is definitely a huge weight off our shoulders.

As for me -- I am just trying to keep my head above water with school. I just finished my pediatric oncology clinical and now am about to start an adult oncology clinical. I will just be happy to be finished with school after 20 years of almost non-stop education. 

what we've been driven to in the Lemmons household.

Scene: a girl in her twenties sits on the couch surrounded by textbooks while a boy in his twenties does the dishes, vacuums, and sweeps.

Girl: Aaaaah FINALS SUCK!! I am so stressed!! AAAAAAAAAAHHH!!

Radio: Plays "Everything You Want" by Vertical Horizon


Boy: I clean everything you want, I clean everything you need.
I clean everything inside our house that you want to be clean
I clean all the right things, at exactly the right time
But it means nothing to you and I don't know why!

Welcome to the Lemmons household.

finals.

Finals is a rather ugly time of year, don't you think?

We are supposed to be full of Christmas cheer, singing carols and rejoicing in the birth of the Savior, giving gifts of love to people we know and some that we don't. Instead we languish in dark windowless libraries, trying in vain to cram our little neurons with information from the last four months that was bypassed the first time around by blithe excursions on Pinterest and surreptitious Netflix watching.

My finals week is actually much lighter this semester than it has been in the past. I don't know if nursing is easier than neuroscience or if the University of Utah is easier than BYU, but my class load isn't nearly as heavy as usual. While I'm still really busy, most of the issues come with traveling, not studying. However, that dark, nasty finals feeling is still surrounding me, obscuring the fact that in four days I will be in California and in six, on a ship to Mexico; obscuring the fact that three weeks of blissful freedom {in which I am going to try very, VERY hard not to bring an NCLEX study guide into my vacation time} are ahead of me. I really think that finals week contains the longest, dreariest days of the year.

Bear in mind, I am being facetious. I know I am very lucky that finals are my biggest problem right now. That, and the fact that everywhere in Provo is out of mistletoe, and December 12th and mistletoe combine for a very special tradition for Scott and my relationship and I am sad that we can't have it this year. But I digress.


However, despite the fact that finals cannot be skipped, only pushed through and endured and beaten, there are a few solutions to the finals woes. Disclaimer: Solutions are in no way proven to positively affect G.P.A.


1. Blogging. Obviously. I am at this very moment experiencing the effects of this cheap and effective therapy.

2. Pinterest, which goes hand in hand with blogging. What better way to revive your dead spirit than by being creative {or envying those that are?}

3. Eating Nutella out of the jar with a spoon. Anyone who chooses to consume alcohol or abuse illegal drugs is clearly missing a key point -- Nutella is a much quicker route to happiness. The onset of a Nutella high is only 0.27 seconds. Also, it is cheaper, not to mention legal.

4. Spend time in a beautiful place and get a dose of eternal perspective while you're at it. Today, I left campus a few minutes early for some surreptitious Christmas-ing at the Gateway Mall. I then had to make the journey back to my bus stop on the opposite end of Temple Square by 3:15 to catch my bus home. As I walked by the Salt Lake Temple in the almost completely abandoned Temple Square, I felt so peaceful and so lucky. When I looked at the Nativity scene in the reflecting pool I loved the juxtaposition of the Savior, who gave us the opportunity to receive eternal life, and the Temple, that more or less opens the door to let us through. I was grateful that in a few mundane moments of my busy day, I had the opportunity to walk in a quiet place and remember what eternity is about -- not my tests and whether or not I get an A or an A --, not whether I have the time to do all the little traditions for Christmas that are meaningful, but not essential the way Christ is.

{Image Source}

5. Take a deep breath, grit your teeth, and get back to work. It won't be fun, but you can do it. And there is light at the end of the tunnel {but have the fortitude to leave your textbooks at home, no matter how much you think you can get ahead!} {Okay, that last bit was mostly for me.}

smarty pants.

This person works very, very hard. Can you tell by all those papers on his lap (if you look closely, they are covered with nasty things like physics and chemistry)? Can you tell by the determined expression in his eyes?

He has been working hard for the last six years -- two of those years were spent as a missionary, learning how to work hard and dedicate himself to something higher than himself day in and day out -- and the other four were spent doing what you see him doing in this picture -- studying like crazy, as well as shadowing dentists, doing service, and teaching Italian.

After all of that hard work, he has gotten his reward -- acceptances at Midwestern University and Roseman University!

Midwestern is one of Scott's top schools, with a unique curriculum and a great reputation. Some of our friends will be there next year, which would be fun if we end up going there. Scott likes the fact that it is in Arizona, aka never being cold again, and I am kind of curious to see what it is like because it is located in the city I was born in {but have no memories of}.

Roseman is in Utah. We probably won't be going there, although it would have been nice if only because we would be closer to family. However, I feel obligated to brag because I know that Scott won't -- his interviewer personally went to the admissions committee and told them by name that he wanted Scott to be at their school.

Does this mean that we will be living in Arizona? We don't know yet, because Scott has one more interview, at University of California - San Francisco, which is near his family and also his dad's alma mater. We should know whether he is accepted to that school by the end of January, and then we will be able to make our permanent choice.

I am so proud of Scott for working so hard. He has worked for this for years, and he has definitely earned it! I should know, because I took all of the same classes {although I didn't do as well as he did}! We will keep you posted on where we decide to go. We have to put down a deposit {about $1000 - ouch!} before the UCSF interview, so that interview will have to be pretty stellar to change our minds, but we will see. I am excited for what the next four years have in store for us, and happy to have it a little more narrowed down. 

Thankfulness: Days 14-20

I really am grateful, even though I didn't write about it all week. It's been a little crazy!

Day 14: I am grateful that our car works. I've put it through a lot, and sometimes I am surprised that it is still creaking its way down the highway. But without it, I would have to spend four hours on the bus for a half hour assignment at the hospital on Mondays.

Day 15: I am grateful to be healthy. Spending time all day with miserable patients has really helped me to appreciate health and ability. I know that I may not always have it, so I want to spend my time trying to be as healthy as possible and taking advantage of the body I've been given, that so far walks, talks, sees, hears, breathes, and moves pretty well.

Day 16: I am grateful that I had a great nurse preceptor on this day. They can be few and far between, and I really needed one that day... it had been a rough last few couple of clinicals.

Day 17: I am grateful I can sleep on the bus. Because sometimes, I just really need it.

Day 18: I am grateful for DAYS OFF.

Day 19: I am grateful for my lovely grandmother and great-grandmother {happy birthday}

Day 20: I am grateful that I got to spend time with my little sister yesterday.