I'm back.... and better than ever!

So, I know that it has been a while since I posted on this blog... I am sorry.  But, I am back, and boy have we been busy.  I really do write my entries, I just fail to put them on the blog, so here is this weeks, and hopefully I can post a little about our family each week as we have so many new things going on!

Top Stories to catch up on:

• We are having a Baby Boy!
• I finished Nursing School!
• Jordon has made so many paintings it is crazy!
• And we love spending time with our family!
• We had a little baby squirrel!
• We have a little baby bunny!
• We went to New York City!
• I have been crafting believe it or not!

September 9 - September 15, 2012

 

This has been a week of so many blessings, it is quite unbelievable. It was my last week in the PICU, and I was really sad to leave that fantastic unit. I know that if my child was ever severely injured, they would be in the best place possible. The love, care, support, and dedication that each and every individual working in that unit has for every child is unimaginable. I loved that unit, and I hope to someday go back to that unit, for I believe that miracles and blessings truly happen. It was an honor to work there. Next, I took my NCLEX test.. It was a nerve wracking experience, and one that still has me in amazement. Everyone gets between 75 and 265 questions, and it doesn't matter how many questions that you get, you can still pass or fail the test. So, I took question number 75, and the test turned off.  All I could think was... "that's it?? it's over??" I was so shocked. I sat there for a moment, and then realized that I should probably leave. I was the first one to walk out. I texted Jordon immediately, and said, well, "I either totally bombed that thing, or I passed with flying colors!"  He replied, "How many do you think that you actually guessed on?"  I said, "More than I think to pass that test." Well after almost two days, I got up on Saturday at 5 am and checked DOPL. There it was, my name. I couldn't believe that I passed that test. So, now I have a license, and I can start my new job next week. I couldn't be more blessed.  On Friday, we had dinner with the Knudsen's who live down the street. They had us over for a pizza dinner, which was lovely.  It was nice to finally meet some people in the neighborhood.  I hope that we can have them over for dinner one day.  They have a very lovely home and two little girls.  After that we went over to the Petersen's.  Reece had a bit of an accident this week and ended up getting a few stitches in her chin when she fell off of a barstool.  Ooops.  Oh well, by Friday, she wasn't too bugged by the fact that there were stitches in her chin.  Then came the biggest blessing of them all.  The baby shower on Saturday was such a lovely affair.  I am so blessed to have such wonderful sisters, families, and aunts who put together the most amazing baby shower.  We received so many wonderful items that this baby is sure to be spoiled rotten forever.  My co-workers and friends are so generous, and we are so blessed to be surrounded by all of the wonderful people in our lives.  I couldn't have asked for a better day or a more wonderful shower.  The best gift was probably a picture of Jordon when he was little in a fire truck that his mom had framed.  I was so happy when I opened it, and even more happy to know that he had seen the picture.  My mom and dad bought us a car seat and stroller, and we couldn't be better off, nor could our little one.  Speaking of baby news... we ordered a crib... and it came!  I love it!  Well, the box was severely banged up, and I wasn't too happy with it, but my husband is very handy, so he fixed it in a jiffy, and we now have a place to put our little boy.  Bunny and Bella also checked out the crib, I hope that they are getting ready for baby as well.  We are 29 weeks now, and baby is as big as an acorn squash.  I finished up Saturday attending Melissa's bridal shower, which was a blast. I am looking forward to her wedding in October.   Jordon has been working on his new painting, and I enjoy coming home each day and seeing what new little surprise he has added to his drawing.  He is so talented.  His skull painting is getting framed and printed at the copy shop, so I know that he is excited to see if he can sell it.  I just hope that he sells it for what it is worth, which is about $1,000,000 for all of the love, time, and dedication that he puts into everything that he does.  September 11th was this week, and it helps remind me why I love my husband and what he does every single day. I can't thank him enough. I thank my lucky stars everyday for how blessed our little family is in this little life.         

 

Our new crib and car seat



Little Jordon



Opening up gifts



The side profile... not very flattering



All of our gifts



More gifts

How I love bows



Our cute presents

The crib box :(

Melissa's Bridal Shower Card

Inside

Gift from my friend Beth :)  Love the Binkie!



 

I will try to add about five extra photos each post to catch you up on our lives and my crafts that I missed:

Bella and Bunny

New York City Skyline from the Statue of Liberty

Ground Zero

Ground Zero



Our Baby Boy!

xoxo Britt

Our Crazy, Hectic, Wonderful Life

So, I know that it has been forever!  I am just so dang busy lately and haven't been feeling very good.  I am not sure if life is catching up with me, but I am exhausted every day!  School has been very busy and we have left the apartment in Salt Lake for good!  Jordon is helping me get the house put away so that I can take pictures.  I just can't believe how fast time has gone by.  Work has been pretty busy as well, as the respiratory season has hit, and the kids are finally starting to pile on in.  I am still working straight night shifts, which makes it a little hard to drive home in the morning, but I like them.  I can't believe that I only have 17 weeks left of school... kinda seems a bit crazy! 
Jordon and I celebrated our 'engagement anniversary' on March 22.  He was so cute.  He came into the office the night before, where I was doing my homework, and opened the door, threw up his arms and shouted, "Isn't it Happy Engagement Anniversary???"  Oh how I love him.  I said, no, it's tomorrow, but I should have just said yes!  We went out to dinner and spent a nice night in our new home. 
The house is coming along nicely, as we are putting things away.  The only room really a disaster anymore is the office/craft room, because I refuse to put things away right now during school.  Yes, I can be stubborn, just like my husband.  I love our home, and I have learned to love it more and more each and every day.  The view off of our back porch is so picturesque.  It reminds me of some mountain retreat.  Jordon and I could sit and stare at the mountains and lake forever! 
Jordon is super busy.  He is a work-a-holic, and a study-a-holic.  I get sad sometimes because we can't hang out, but I know that he is working hard on the things that he loves in life.  He has been looking for an airplane to buy, but hasn't had much luck yet.  Hopefully he can find something soon.
The crafts have been put on a HAULT.......what??? Yes, I am afraid I haven't crafted in weeks due to the finishing of moving, and school.... and this crazy illness that I have.  Oh well, I hope to feel better soon, so that I can get training for my various runs I am signed up for.  I have learned that everything happens for a reason, and sometimes that reason is yet to be learned. 
Have a good week everyone,

xoxo Britt

I am getting a few days behind on blogging each week, but hopefully this week, as it is Spring Break, I can catch up!  I completed my first clinical at Primary Children's on the ICS unit, and I just loved it!  While it breaks my heart to have so many kids with cancer, it is amazing how these little souls can just brighten your day!  I love them all!  I only have 19 weeks left of Nursing School!  Oh I am getting so nervous!
Jordon has been super busy lately.  He finished his PILOT LICENSE!!! That's right folks, my amazing husband, who seems to know how to do it all, got himself a Pilot license, so he can fly planes... well small ones, but they are still real planes that you can sit in and go see the world!  I am so amazed at what he accomplishes each and every day.  Here is a picture of him with his pilot instructors and their plane.  I love him so much, not only because he has a billion qualities, but because his determination helps me understand that you can accomplish ANYTHING that you set your mind to.

Jordon and his flight instructor

Jordon and the plane

Jordon and his testing instructor

View from an airplane

View from an airplane

We are still moving, and hopefully will finish this week.  Jordon set up the bedroom, but we spent the first night in our new home on the living room floor.  It was kinda fun, but we realized that we have a lot of windows, and the sun comes up pretty early up there.  I am going to take pictures this week (determination at work!)

And finally, my life... crafts!  I have been working on  a few projects this week.  First is a card for Jordon's brother who so kindly let us have his fridge since he was moving out of his town home.  It fits perfectly, and we love it.  He has been so nice to us for the past year, letting Jordon live with him, and helping with the wedding.  We hope that this new apartment, brings him happy new beginnings, as we know that starting over can be difficult, but very rewarding!

Stone's Card

Inside of Stone's Card

I wanted you all to know that I spend about $3000 a year on text books, and I use them all... every day... it may not be for reading, but they come in handy for working on some other serious subjects!

Next up, we have a card for Jordon's flight instructors (yes, my husband sells me out to all of his friends and acquaintances) .  I had a blast making this one, I mean when else am I going to make an airplane card except for my husband?


Plane card front

Plane card inside... with his cute picture!

Finally, the last one is a card for our Realtors and loan officers.  They really helped us with this home, and I wanted to say thank you in a little way.  I hope to start making "change of address, we got a home" cards soon for all of our family and friends, so that they know where we live! 

Front of new home card!

Inside of card

Have a great week!  I will it's SPRING BREAK!  Nothing but moving, crafting, and spending time with my love... oh and a little work.

xoxo Britt

Wedding Response Cards

The wedding craft of the week, is our response cards... I again, stamped them from the Letterpress in which I purchased, and hand inked every one.  I also stamped them with our monogram logo for our wedding on the back with our special custom made stamp (another blog posting).  And then had cute little brown envelopes to go with them.  However, this item gets a little special attention, as my darling, sweet, husband showed me that even the most simple wedding task of sending back a response card can be quite amusing and lift your spirit.  Here's the funny little story: The response cards for our wedding were addressed back to my parent's address.  One day my mother received a response that did not have a name on the name line, just a check in the box.  She called me in a panic... who was it from?  how many were coming?  how was she ever to figure this out?  A few days later, she received another response card that was exactly the same, no name.  She was beginning to get frustrated, as we needed an exact count for meals.  I brought the cards home to my husband, who proudly stated that they were probably from guys at the fire department.  He then stated so proudly, "you should be glad that they used a pen and didn't color all over it with their favorite crayon!"  I didn't think much of it, until we went over to his parents house the next Sunday and he asked his mom for one of the response cards.  She asked why and he stated, "because he wanted to send a response to the wedding."  Well, as we all know, one of my husbands many talents is his artistic ability, and he colored all over it, as well as putting his name on the line as "Both of Us".  I laughed for hours.  He then proceeded to send it in the mail, which in turn would arrive at my mother's house.  She called me the second it arrived.  She said, "we got a response today, and you have got to see this.... it is quite interesting, and I guarantee you it is from the fire department."  We went over to her house and finally told her that it was Jordon.  She got a good laugh as well as us.  That little card created so much happiness that surrounded the wedding.  We proudly displayed it at the wedding, as we will also display it in our home.  I love that little card.  Every time I look at it, that card makes me smile.  I never knew the simple pure joy of a piece of paper and a box of crayons until that card.  Needless to say, "Both of Us" showed up at the wedding, and "Both of Us" will live happily ever after with a little card sitting on a shelf in our home that started it all.

response card with envelope

response card

response card back and envelope front



my husbands cute response card



the back of the response card :)

xoxo Brittany

Climb, Work, Craft

Hmmm.... so the week has been interesting and I am a little on the tired side, but all in all, it hasn't been too bad.  I started my pediatric clinical rotations.  They put me on the ICS (immunocompromised services) unit.  The kids are really fun up there, but they are SUPER sick.  The kids either have cancer, or a platelet disorder, anemia, or are a transplant recipient of usually a new liver or kidney.  They always seem to bring a smile to my face, even though they are really sick.  The rest of school seems to just be busy work, but I am trucking along.  Hopefully I can make it one more week, and it will be spring break!
Work this week has been pretty crazy, and very humbling.  I saw a few angels receive their wings this past week, and while it breaks my heart, I know that they are watching over all of us and making sure that we safe.  I am so blessed to have a job that teaches me how to smile, laugh, cry, and pray, and rejoice all in one twelve hour shift.  I hope to be able to get a job at Primary Children's after I graduate.  It is such a special place, and filled with people who truly love what they do.
Jordon is so busy, he has been gone most of the week.  People always ask me what it is like to live with a husband who is as busy as I am.  I tell them, " I wouldn't know any different."  While sometimes it makes me sad that we are both gone so much and are so busy, I know that we are pursing our dreams, and maybe one day they will all pay off.  Jordon has been working hard to finish classes for his masters degree as well as finish moving all of our stuff into the house!  This past week he completed the Fight for Air Climb.  This is where the fire department puts on all of their fire gear, and races to the top of the Wells Fargo Building..... well my amazing husband completed all 23 stories in under 6 minutes....WOW.  Most days I can't believe what he accomplishes, I just hope that I can keep up with him as we get older.  I couldn't make it this day, so this picture was snagged by someone that works for the climb, but I spotted my adorable husband right in the middle.

My adorable husband with all of his buddies.



Jordon getting ready to climb!

The house....is coming along quite nicely.  We have moved everything out of my parents house except for Bella's stuff.  So, next up is Jordon's parent's house.  We are working on getting things put away, but it is taking longer than we expected, as the mattress currently resides in the family room :)  I am kinda hating mother nature, as she has held out on this snow business, and now our new house resides on top of a hill, where we get copious amount of that white fluff.  Here's a few pictures of our house with the two and a half feet of snow that I shoveled!  Horrible!  Thankfully, I was able to meet our neighbors, as he came over and offered to let me borrow his snow blower.  I however, do not operate those things well, but managed to clear most of the snow.  I told Jordon' that a snow blower would be a lovely gift for my up coming birthday :)  The last picture below is our neighbors right across the street.  While we may have a much better view than they do of Utah Lake, they only got about four inches of snow that stuck around in their yard.... the horribleness of your house facing north.  But, I wouldn't change our house location for even five more feet of snow... alright, I will shut my mouth now or I may have just jinxed myself. Our apartment still mostly has my stuff in it.  Of course I haven't been able to pack my crafts, but I will soon. 

Our House :)

My huge snow pile!

The 3 inch thick slab of ice that is covering our driveway, where I have run over it with my jeep :)



Neighbors House

Speaking of crafts.  This week I finished a few cards that were a long time coming, such as my friend Nicole's wedding in December (yes, I am a horrible friend!)  I am not caught up yet, but I am working on it.  She is such a cute girl, a great friend, and I hope she forgives me.  I also finally took pictures of our Christmas card for this year. I just loved it!  Making them was a bundle of fun as I found all sorts of vintage finds to past all over them. 

Christmas 2011

Inside of Christmas Card.


Nicole and Joel's Wedding Card

 

Inside of Nicole and Joel's Card



All Wrapped up, ready to send!

Hope you all enjoy yourselves this week, as I hope to make it though one more and then onto SPRING BREAK! 

xoxo Brittany

Wedding Invitations

 
So, this week I decided to highlight my wedding invitations.  The invitations were all handmade, mostly by myself, with a few little helpers.  I got most of my supplies from Roberts whom I just adore, but no longer is in business.  I got most of them at various sales throughout the year, so they didn't cost me as much as they look like they cost me :)  I got an idea from my friends Sarah and Kirstin to do hand stamped letterpress invitations.  I found a letterpress that would fit into my cuttlebug that I already owned called L Letterpress.  Then, Kirstin and I designed various templates that we sent out to New York City to get made into my custom plates.  The plates are plastic, and they adhere to the letterpress.  Each plate costs $40, but the plates can be cut, so you can put lots of objects on one plate.  Kirstin did a fantastic job with this.  Next came the learning how to use letterpress and stamping.  When it said that you only needed a little ink..... they mean A LITTLE INK!  I learned this the hard way and me and the Clorox company became business partners as I used a lot of Clorox wipes to clean the plates off... again.... and again.... and again.  (It was the only thing that would take the ink off!)  The punch around the edges is a Martha Stewart punch that my mother-in-law had used before, and I knew it would be perfect for my invitations.  Then I added some lovely twine to the invitation, a maple leaf cut from my Cricuit, and my favorite... a little wooden button!  There is a stamp on the invitations that was custom made (another blog post to follow).  Inside the invitations were a map and driving directions as well as a response card and where we were registered along with our cute picture provided by Kirstin Roper.  I believe that they turned out better than I had ever imagined them.  However, I do believe that I learned a lesson here, my cards are fantastic in small supply, not quantity and demand!  So, unless you are family, I don't think that I will be making any more wedding invitations in the near future as over 300 of these babies took quite a while to make.  Cutting, punching, stamping, drying, gluing, tying, embellishing, and putting together took a process that I don't even know what kind of hours we could calculate.  Again, another DIY project of love that my family and friends came together on for our wedding.  Jordon said I was crazy for making all of the invitation, but I loved do it, as I am a card lady, who knew that handmade wedding invitations would make the difference for our wedding.  Although I do not really believe that anyone saved their invitation, I would hope that it is framed somewhere in someones house, as I loved making them for everyone.  (It will soon be framed in our house!)  A huge thanks to my Mother and Mother-in-Law for sending these babies out and putting them together, my mother and sisters for finding the cute envelopes, my sister in law Sable for puting "b & j" on the little maple leafs, my Mother in Law and Father in Law for making those cute buttons, my Mother in Law for helping me punch the edges on the invitations, and my whole family for helping me pick out our wedding photo that we all loved!  Pictures courtesy of Kirstin Roper.  

Invitation set (minus the gorgeous brown envelopes).




Invitation




Invitation



Wedding Photo :)



The reply cards are not included in these pictures, becasuse I wanted to save that for another blog post, as my darling Husband filled out one for himself and sent in to be counted towards the wedding... another day, another time.  Enjoy!

xoxo Britt

Moving on up and out!

Another week has come and  gone, and we are busy as every packing up and moving on out.  Jordon got all of his stuff moved this past week (well his three boxes) and I, well.... I have a few things moved, but it's difficult because I want to keep crafting, and I don't want to pack everything up and move it somewhere where I won't see it for a while.  So, as usual, I will probably pack everything up except my crafts, and save them for last!  Bella likes to help me move my stuff, which can be a little bit tricky sometimes.  She always likes to get in the car first, so that she knows I will leave a spot for her.  The other day, she jump right on in when I opened the door, but she didn't look to see what she was getting herself into.  She got tangled in a chair, and wouldn't get out.  After about ten minutes, we finally coaxed her out.  She was afraid if she got out of the car that I wouldn't take her with me.

Disregard the filthy car :)

The new house is so beautiful, and they moved the "for sale" sign that was out front, so now I feel like it's "our home".  I am loving every second of it!  No pictures for now, but I am working on it!
School was a bit busier than usual this week, as I picked my capstone location.  The Capstone instructor at the U of U said that I should be somewhere busy and that will improve my educational experience.  While I love pediatrics, I sure wanted to do something that would keep me on my toes.  I wasn't able to do my capstone where I currently work in the PICU/CICU at PCMC, so instead I picked Shock Trauma ICU at IMC, the Thoracic ICU at IMC and the NICU at PCMC, so, we will see what I get.  It is a big surprise!  This was also my last week of clinicals for psychiatric rotations.  I will miss this rotation as I have learned a lot about myself during this time.  I really enjoyed the experiences that I received while on this unit.
Jordon is busy as ever, he is going to run a race tomorrow in his turn-outs!  It is the fight for air competition, where they run to the top of the Wells Fargo Building as many times as they can in full firefighting gear!  He is super excited!  I am not sure if I will make it to take pictures or not, but we will see.  Jordon's sister and her family were in town this week.  I was only able to see them for a short time, but they looked so good.  Jordon was able to spend more time with them, and it sounded like he had a blast.  They are all so adorable, and I wish that they lived closer.  Reece and Porter, his sister's kids, are so cute and funny.  They make me laugh constantly when I see them.  Reece calls me "Britain" and Jordon "Jordy"  it is so adorable!
Finally, I broke our house for the first time.... big mistake.  I was pulling out of the garage, and accidentally backed up too soon.  All of a sudden I heard a loud crash!  Oh gosh, I had backed into the garage.  The damage is minimal, and you can barley tell that the garage was hit, but my heart is still broken that we haven't even owned this house for a week and I broke it!  Hopefully I will feel better about it soon, but it makes me sad every time I see it. 
I have been busy making up for lost time with the cards this week and have a few new ones to show off.  I made some thank you cards for my psychiatric teacher and the unit that I did my clinical hours on as well as Jordon has a co-worker whose wife is having a baby girl.  I love making baby cards, but don't get to do it very often, so it it quite a treat when I do get someone who needs one!

Thank You card for the Unit

Inside of card

All wrapped up!

Thank you card for my instructor.



Inside of card (some people had already signed it).



All wrapped up!

Baby Card for Reaggan and JJ.

Inside of card

All tied up.

So, we are going to be busy again next week as I start a new clinical rotation (Peds) I will love it, and Jordon continues to move stuff into our house.  But, we are loving life and having a great time as newlyweds!

xoxo Britt