The Dark Knight

Ryan and I had the opportunity to see Batman: The Dark Knight this morning. I truly don't know what to say about this movie to give it it's full glory. We both were blown away by this film. Every single actor in the movie did an incredible job! I have to give extra kudos to the performances by Heath Ledger and Christian Bale. But it was the full ensemble that really made the movie amazing! We were able to see the movie on the IMAX screen, which just added to the incredible special effects. It was an almost non stop action movie. Very dark and very intense. I would advise anyone (except children) to go see this movie. Just to give you an idea, our hands were still shaking when we left the theater. It was full of emotions. There were times where I wanted to cry, scream, laugh (because it was funny), and laugh (because I was scared out of my wits!). We keep recalling the thrilling moments in the movie and we cannot wait to see it again! I'll get off my soapbox now. But GO SEE THIS MOVIE! You won't regret it (at least I hope you won't)!!!

A Thoughtful Time

I love my new job more than I could have imagined. My co-workers are amazing, and the job itself is better than I could have hoped for. But it is also very difficult as I expected it might be. When I went in for my interview, I was able to sit in a lobby for 10-15 mins and just watch people come in and out of the hospital. (Just as a reminder, I got a job at Primary Children's Medical Center) Just in those few minutes, I saw some amazing children come in and out. Some who were without a limb, some who obviously were there for some kind of cancer treatment, and various others. I was almost in tears just watching them and admiring the strength they have.

In my first week, there were a few patients that passed away. Now while I usually don't deal with the serious cases very often, I still pass by those kids and come to know who they are. It was very difficult to hear and deal with these patients death's. I can only imagine what their families are going through.

With the sadness, there is happiness also. I have heard so many stories from my co-workers of children that come in not expecting to make it through the day, but somehow they pull through it all and leave healthy. I go into these children's rooms and find smiling faces. Being at the hospital and seeing these amazing kids has given me a little different attitude than I had before. I love Alex more than anything, of course, but I think I have been a little more understanding with him this past week. I've really tried to focus more on really enjoying the time I have with him and making the best of everything. We don't know what our plan is, and things can be taken from us with little or no warning.

I am so grateful for this day and age we live in, that we have so many advances in health care. To know that serious diseases can be cured. It is truly a miracle. I am so blessed to have a healthy child! I have become very grateful for that blessing this past week.

Anyway, I don't mean to upset or depress anyone, but I really felt it was important to share the experiences that I've had.

So Many Babies!!!

This is my third time announcing I am an Aunt again since I started this blog in October last year. And also once again, it's another nephew! Ryan's brother Russ and his wife Nancy had their 4th boy this morning. From the info I got, his name is Brett Charles Wood. He was born this morning and weighed in at 8 lbs 1 ounce. Mom and baby are doing great! I do not have any pictures to show off right now though. Hopefully I'll get some soon.

So as of now I have a total of 10 nephews and 2 nieces. Sadly there are no nieces on Ryan's side of the family. And it's really up to us to have any girls on that side. But hey, boys are wonderful and I wouldn't care if we had a whole bunch of boys.

I'll post pictures when I get them!

AHHHHHH!!!!

While I was up at the fireworks on July 3rd, my sister Bethany sent me a text asking was my shirt size was. I replied and asked if she had found a cute shirt for me. She wrote back saying she wanted to get shirts for us sisters for a concert she just got all of us tickets to. Immediately I knew what concert she was referring to. NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK!!!! I knew they would be coming in November and we had talked about going, but I had given up going since we have been very poor recently. I actually screamed when I got her message! I am really sad that it's not until November, but that will give me time to get really excited for it. We are already trying to find our old barbie dolls to bring with us. If we can't find them, we'll probably buy some off eBay. And we will be staying as long as we need to after the concert to get autographs and pictures! I can't wait!

New Job

So during these past couple of crazy weeks I got a new job. I quit both of my part-time jobs to get a full-time job so Ryan can go to school and only work part-time.

My new job is located at Primary Children's Medical Center. My title is a little harder to describe. I will be working in food services. I am a liaison between the dietitians and cafeteria. I get to visit the kids and order their meals. It's unlike any job I've had before, but I am really excited about it. I love children, and to be able to help them (even in a small way), will be a great job for me! I start on Monday, so my schedule is going to get a little crazy soon. But I'll get into the hang of things soon enough!

Independence Day

I'll make this one short (I'm a little tired of blogging). We went up to the Eaglewood Golfcourse for the fireworks on the 3rd. My cousin, Leslie, was able to come up with us this year. She has moved here from California and is attending BYU, so it'll be fun to see her a little more often now. There were a lot of the blow up obstacle courses to play on and fun music to dance to. It was a relaxing evening and we all had a lot of fun! As usual, here are some pics of the evening.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Girls Camp at Piuta

I am a Laurel advisor in Young Womens in our ward. So I was extremely excited at the thought of being able to attend girls camp this year. Normally work would be in the way, or something would prevent me from going, but I was determined to go! And I am so glad I did.

This was the first year I have been to girls camp since I was a Laurel.... so about 10 years ago. WOW! I remember camp being so fun and so spiritual, and couldn't wait to spend those fun and spiritual moments with the girls in my ward.

I left around 9:30 Monday morning with Tammy and Kaylene. We were able to get up there before the other wards and before the rest of our girls got there. We got camp all set up, picked out our bunks, then sat and waited for our girls to arrive.

I won't go into tons of details, but we had some of the most amazing speakers. One described her early childhood in Indonesia and her family being forced into a prison camp during WWII. Her story was both heartbreaking and touching. It amazes me the things that people are put through and then actually survive. I can only imagine the courage and strength it would take.

One of my favorite moments was taking the girls "Snipe hunting". Most of them had never been. The older girls were aware of the hoax, but the younger ones were excited (and a little scared) to go. I am a little brutal with snipes, and a few of the girls were horrified that I could be so cruel. In fact, my award at the end of camp was "vicious snipe hunter". I think it will be a time they will remember :) Thanks girls for putting up with me!!

All in all, camp was a wonderful experience. I will be making up for lack of sleep for a while, but it was all worth it. Here are some pictures from camp.

This was our waiting room (campfire pit) and pharmacy (crafts, food, etc.). Our ward was the cardiac crew, so we decorated accordingly.

This was one of our cabins. Some of our Miamaids and all the beehives stayed in this cabin.

This was our other cabin. I stayed in here with the Laurels and a few Miamaids. We were the party cabin. And the girls in my cabin were responsible for most of the pranks that were pulled. :)

A few of our girls after arriving to camp. We all got matching scrubs, which was really fun. We also got name badges with our Doctor name on them. I was Dr. Bugg.

The rest of these are pictures of some of the girls and leaders.

I had to include this last picture just to show off the background. We were up in the Uintas and the surroundings were gorgeous. But it was really hard going back to mid 90 degree Salt Lake weather from the mid 70 degree weather we had at camp.

I'm already looking forward to next year!

St. George

How fun it is to go to St. George. It's always fun watching the kids play together and this time was especially fun, since I got to meet my new nephew, Brayden.

One of the highlights of this trip, other than meeting Brayden, was being able to see Les Miserables at Tuacahn in St. George. I have always been a huge fan of Phantom of the Opera, and have somewhat like Les Mis. Ryan and I have seen both in Salt Lake when they have come. But the performance of Les Mis was not that great, therefore, I've never had a deep connection with the music or characters. The Tuacahn performance completely changed my opinion. I was amazed with the actors and because of that, fell in love with the music. Ryan has always hoped that I would love it like he does, and he was very excited to hear about how much I do love it now.

One of the other really fun things we did was taking the kids to a place called Jumping Jacks. This place is full of all those fun blow up bouncing contraptions. And luckily, as adults, we had the option "supervise" the children on the equipment. In other words, PLAY TIME!! So, my sister Bethany, brother in law Mike, and myself volunteered to do the supervising. I think we had at least as much fun as the kids, if not more. On some of them they had tunnels you had to go through to get on. I'm sure I looked ridiculous trying to climb and out. Oh well! I don't live there, so I most likely won't see those people again. But it was great fun, and we were all very exhausted after we left.

I forgot my camera when I went down, so the only pictures I have are from my camera phone. So I apologize for the poor quality.

Proud Aunt Mandi holding Brayden at Jumping Jacks while everyone else was playing.

A very sleepy little Brayden. He must be exhausted with all that eating and pooping he does. :)

The boy cousins all together. Alex loved holding Brayden while we were there. He's such a good cousin.

And as always, we must have a silly picture of the kids. They just really love being around each other.

Park City

I went with my 3 best friends Tammy, Kaylene and Holly to Park City from June 19-June 22. We had the greatest time there!

We were able to go up to the Olympic Park and go on one of the zip lines and an alpine slide. I loved both! We also did a little.... alright, a LOT of shopping at the factory stores. But in our defense, we found some amazing deals! We went to see Get Smart (which I loved), sat in a hot tub, walked Main Street, and stayed up late giggling like teenagers.

My favorite activity we did was taking a ski lift up from Main Street into the mountains and went hiking. I cannot even describe the beauty. It felt as if all cares were lifted for those few hours and we were on top of the world.

We had so much fun and really want to make it a yearly trip. Thanks girls for one of the most memorable vacations! Holly posted a great collage of pictures and video from the trip. Click here to view those clips!

Where Am I?

What a couple of weeks!! I have been quite busy for the past couple weeks, and it's finally over! Just to give an overview, I went to Park City with 3 friends from June 19-June 22. On June 22nd I came home, did some laundry and left that afternoon with my Mom and Alex for St. George. I was in St. George until June 27th. I came home and was able to take a two day break. On June 30 I took off to Girls Camp and just came home yesterday (July 3). I am exhausted and can hardly remember what day of the week it is. I am so happy to be in my own bed again and cannot tell you how happy I am to be with Ryan again. He was not able to come with me on any of these trips, and I missed him terribly. We must have spent a good hour just holding each other this morning. Alex is also happy to have his Mommy back (which makes me feel very special). I will give an overview of each of these trips in separate posts. It'll take way too long for just one!