I'm BaCK!

There is snow on the ground, the sun is still shining, my husband needs a haircut, I have 14 recorded shows on my Tivo, the garbage needs taken out, the fridge is completely empty, and I missed all of it. One week of my life that I can never get back... And I wouldn't want to! Finals are over! I have to admit, it was really rough on me. Some of my finals were VERY tough. After my physiology final I felt like I had been bludgeoned in the face. But none of that matters anymore, I very well just ruined my 4.0. But, I can't take it back... and now I get to join the rest of the world and celebrate Christmas! It's good to be back! 

This is how you know...

When it's finals week! 

MiNnEsOtA

So for Thanksgiving Landon and I headed on a road trip with my parents to Duluth, Minnesota to watch my brother, Colby, race his snowmobile. It was such a fun trip! 18 hours there... 18 hours home... talk about family togetherness. My parents are so funny and Landon and I got a real kick out of being around them for 7 days straight. My Mom has got my Dad trained, that's all I have to say. 

When we arrived at Duluth, we met my Aunt and Uncle and Colby for Thanksgiving dinner. We ate buffet style in this restaurant that spun so you could see Lake Superior. It was really an amazing view, but quite the strange way to celebrate Thanksgiving. 

Saturday we went to the track and waited, and waited, and waited and waited for Colby to race. It was fun though and we got great seats indoors so that we didn't freeze all day. 

The track was overlooking the lake and it was gorgeous. All of this snow was man made. 

Here my little brother is riding onto the track with his mechanic to get ready to race. I would get so nervous for him! I know this is important to him and so I wanted him to do well, but mostly I was super paranoid about him getting hurt. 

The starting line 

Here's colby coming over the finish line on his last race. I'm really so proud of him. I know that so many little kids say they want to be astronauts, doctors, firefighters... or snowmobile racers. I also know that it's so rare for them to go for their dreams. Colby always knew what he wanted to do and has really fought to accomplish it. I love you Colby, don't forget about me when you are famous. I couldn't end this post without giving props to my parents... who beat us time and time again at Spades. They are by far the most ungracious winners I have ever seen. They insisted on calling us "losers" the whole trip. My Dad, who is the worst singer ever, even wrote his own little jingle about it. Jerks. Just wait until Christmas guys, you're smoked. I'll leave you with a picture of my Mom on the ride home. What a crack up. I love you guys so much and Landon and I really had such a great time hanging out with you. "Shootin' the moon are ya?!"

That's the Spirit

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

HaPpY ThAnKsGiViNg!

Happy Thanksgiving! I love this holiday. I feel like it really does give me such a great opportunity to reflect on all of my blessings. I could literally fill books with everything that I am grateful for, but above all... I am so grateful for family. 

I am grateful for the Fullmers for countless reasons. I felt welcomed into the family the first day I met them. My mother and father in law are such great people and I genuinely look to them as a second pair of parents. I am so lucky to have married into such an amazing family. Thank you so much for all that you do. We will really miss you this Thanksgiving! I love you guys so much! 

I am also so grateful and blessed to have been born into my own family. We are all so close and always support each other. I love them all more than I can even begin to say. I wanted to take a moment and say that I am grateful for Nic and his example to me. He was such a great Dad and his passing was a shocking reminder of how precious this life is... and to live each day to the fullest. 

My brother and sisters mean the world to me. I am so glad that I have them in my life. There literally is not one day that passes where I don't think about all of them... wonder what they are doing that day, and wish that I could just meet with them for lunch or something. I love them all so much. 

Last, but certainly not least... I am so grateful for loving and caring parents who were married in the temple and first introduced me to the Gospel. The biggest comfort to me is that we will all be families forever. What an amazing blessing. Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone. Take a moment to think about YOUR blessings. Love you all! 

Want some extra C-notes/cash/money?

So lately I have been hearing everyone's fabulous stories about saving money while grocery shopping. I was a skeptic. I have never cut a coupon in my life.... in fact, I used to get super annoyed when they came in the mail. Never again! I have seen the light! 6 weeks ago Landon and I joined "thegrocerygame.com" and we love it! Our first month we saved $236.00! The last two weeks we have saved $153.00. I know it sounds too good to be true, but come on... would i lie to ya? So, out of my deep love for all of you I must share my wealth. Cut coupons, only shop the items that are on sale and have a manufacturer's coupon. You will seriously be amazed at how fast your food storage grows, without spending any extra money! At least check out the website. There are other good ones that I have heard about too: pinch your pennies, coupon sense, smart shopper and probably many more. Whichever one you choose, start saving some serious money! (Don't lie... we would all rather spend our food money on shoes). Thanks Cariann for the initial shove. I should buy you a gift with my grocery savings! If you have any questions about getting started let me know. Warning: Starting the grocery game could and will cause you to LOVE grocery shopping. Frequent side effects are checking the Albertson's weekly ad everyday and becoming over excited for "the list" to be released. Some have experienced shaking and cold sweats while waiting for their receipt to print in anticipation of savings.

Typing as You Talk... not paying attention to you....

So we have this little structure here made up of these parts. One part is called the maculadensa. If you look you can see the cells are large, if they are budding the glumerulus they become very large. Then they come to the distal convoluted tubule. The book is wrong. The point is, that is why they are called the maculadensa. Ok? Kidneys are going to try to compensate, ok, by doing things by the bicarb, then if we get metabolic problems lungs are going to try to compensate from the O2 side. So the places you would get a metabolic, as opposed to a respiratory acidosis... we have too many so they get shoved off to a place where they make keto acids. Our pH is going down, not from a CO2 source, our kidneys are one of the few places where we can make bicarbonate. Kidneys are going to try to compensate by increasing their bicarbonate excretion, but again they might not do that adequately enough, which is why we have all these sorts of problems. That's why you need to know pH or your patients are going to die! Don't blow off pH like it's no big deal, because it's not! If you go on and take pathophys you will see that people can have one or two or three of these at the same time... you HAVE to know how to deal with the pH so they don't die! pH is really critical. I have had students who don't know if your Hydrogen ions are increasing if they are acidodical. I'm sorry, but I'm tired of people not knowing pH! 

Oh how I miss the days that my teachers spoke english.... (oh ya, and didn't make me feel like I'm probably going to kill someone)