Clincal rotation...check. Birthday...check. Not being homesick anymore...we're still working on that.

Today I'd like to give a shout out to my nephew Porter who is one year old today! Happy Birthday Porter Man! I love you!

Well, it has been awhile since my last post. Not a lot has happened lately, but here's a few pics to show what's been going on. First off, I cut my hair. It's been fun. As many of you know, I have never been a big hair fixer, it's just not my thing. I like when I can make my hair look fairly good with minimal effort, and when it will last all day. My hair seems to do this best when it is short, so I decided it was time to go for it again.

Some other pics of what's been going on....I love this little guy!

....And this little girl!

I had my 23rd birthday this week (Monday) and I was able to go home President's Day weekend and celebrate it there with my mom, Tysi and Ron, and Kelby and Amy. I got the first season of Psych, which was the only one I didn't already have, so that was very exciting.

My mom made this for me! Isn't she awesome? I love it and I love my mom!

The next weekend on Sunday (the day before my birthday) I was back in Boise and we invited my Uncle Kendall and Aunt Anne who live in Kuna over for cake and ice cream. Tanner and Nathan LOVE playing with their boys, so it was a fun time. This is the cake that Fran made (chocolate, from scratch, I might add). She had lots of fun making a pink cake for once! Thanks Fran, it was great!

All in all I had a great birthday and I was spoiled as far as gifts. Everyone was far too generous.

Other than that life has just been chugging along. I have been super busy. I finished my clinical rotation exactly one week ago. HAPPY DAY! I was so excited. I liked the rotation, but it was just stressful and busy, and it's nice to be done. I handed my 13 page paper and case study in on Monday, so that's done. This Monday I give my hour long clinical presentation in class on cystic fibrosis (which I havn't started), and then I will officially be done. Yay! I think it will all be downhill from there. This week I got to spend at Humphrey's Diabetes Education Center here in Boise. I loved it! All the ladies who work there are a hoot! I laughed really hard every day at lunch. I was never very interested in specializing in diabetes, but I took their four session class before I started and I learned so much. While I was there I taught the label reading portion of one of the classes and I had so much fun! I also got to sit in on a lot of interesting individual appointments, and even counseled a couple people in a room by myself. I would have actually liked it if the rotation was a couple weeks long instead of just one. There is actually a small possibility that I will get to go back next week because it is my elective week, but it is still up in the air, so we'll see. It's my backup in case my other plan doesn't work out. So since I have my elective rotation next week, I will have a pretty relaxed week as far as homework goes. HOORAY!

Well, I wrote in my last post that I had had the flu awhile back. Ever since then I have been soo homesick. For a couple weeks right after it was really bad. Worse homesickness that I have ever felt. It was so bad that I would be at work and the dietitian would be talking to me, and all of a sudden a wave of it would come and I would be fighting the tears. One time I went in the bathroom and the tears just came without warning. I had to quickly compose myself. It was ridiculous. My original plan was to go home President's Day weekend, but I had to go home the weekend before as well even though I had tons of homework because I was so miserable. I missed my mom! Anyway, it is a strange thing. I have never ever felt that homesick. I think because I have been so busy and stressed, and I was sick, and just everything added together. The last couple weeks it's been lots better. If I didn't have a presentation and a Relief Society lesson to prepare this weekend I would have gone home today as well. Next weekend my mom is coming to Boise for a wedding and I will have no homework whatsoever so I am very excited. This is pretty silly that I miss my mom so much, but what do you do?

So today I was at a diabetes conference with about 25 other women in the room. When we started we all went around the room and introduced ourselves. We were supposed to say who we worked for and what we wanted to learn and then share what we would rather be doing if we weren't at this meeting. Most people were saying things like they'd rather be gardening, or skiing, or hiking with their dogs, or with their grandkids, etc. When it got to me I explained that I was student intern with Humphrey's this week, and that I'd rather be in Burley with my mom, and that I was a little homesick. Right away I got a big AWWWWWWWWWW from the entire room. Keep in mind I was a good 20 years or more younger than most people in the room. At lunch I sat by some people from Humphrey's, but also next to a lady who I didn't know. She said to me, "Do want to come over for dinner tonight? I can make you a homecooked meal!" She was joking of course, but it was so funny. A nurse from Humphrey's gave me a hug and said, "Did you like how we were all being your mom this morning?" Anyway, it was pretty funny.

Well, that's my life right now. My birthday starts a whole slew of birthdays in my family for the next two months, with birthdays literally every week, sometimes just a few days apart. It's pretty crazy, but fun!