Taste of Cali!

Here's a few pics of our fabulous week in SoCal! Sad it has to come to an end and back to work too soon!  We had a blast! We went to Disneyland, California Adventure, Huntington Beach, Cali Angel's game-they won, and seriously had tons of fun!

Crystal Hot Springs

This past weekend, some friends and I went up to Honeyville to hit up some natural hot springs! We had a blast despite the thousands of peeps there. It was a gorgeous spring night! On our way back we crashed at my parents house, and they loved the company. We got up Saturday and made breakfast, then headed home! Fun start to the weekend!

St. George

The last of week of April, me and some friends and part of my family went down to St. George for a race. I have been training for a half marathon since the beginning of February. Unfortunately do to a back injury at work, I wasn't cleared to run it. So me and Nick ran the 5K and cheered on Katie, Natalie, Beth, and Mandy, as they ran the half marathon. Nick forgot running shoes, so Friday night we ran to Wal-Mart and got him some $16 shoes...they were falling apart by the end, but he won 3rd in his age group no less!! It was way fun, but a short trip for sure!
Highlights included four wheeling in the sand dunes out in Hurricane, game night, church, stroll around the St. George temple, and of course, road trip adventures!

Making a Difference

Yeseterday I got an email from a friend.

Hey Becky! I went to Judy Dimond's funeral yesterday (I would guess you weren't there). Anyway I just wanted to tell you how much their family talked about the amazing nurses at chemo that kept her going and how much she loved them and how kind they all were to her. They said they kept her hanging on much longer than she probably would've because of their kindness and friendship. Here's the email I already told you about...
Friend,
Today at my chemo, my favorite nurse told me that this is her last week working here. She's been at UVRMC working in the ER room part time, and is now going full time. Her name is Becky Beard! She said that you two used to work there together. Small world. She told Dave and me the story of you guys on slow nights playing the washing machine game on the elevator and the Zamboni game! How hilarious! I could see you two together! I'm going to miss Becky soooo much. She has always cheered me up when I come.
Love you,
Judy
Anyway, just in case you weren't aware, just wanted you to know what a difference you made... That's really neat to be able to have such a positive influence on someone's life! Hope you're doing well!

It's amazing to know what a difference the small things you do for people, may make the world so much better for that peron. It makes me want to be an even better person, and find ways to reach out and help others even more!

A Great Woman...

Tonight, I had the privilege of visiting with the Dimond family. Judy was one of my favorite patients at the clinic. I remember the first time I met her, I was bugged because she had come in for new treatment, late in the afternoon, and she had a long treatment. Her IV's kept hurting and we had to move it a few times to get a good one. I had to stay a few hours late and I was bugged, to say the least. But what a misjudgement...Judy became one that I couldn't wait to see! She was so full of goodness, light, humor, strength, and had a will and determination to live, to beat the odds. And boy did she....she surpassed the odds by far!

I loved getting to know Judy and her family, and she became one that I took "special care" of. I tried to make things easy for her and frequently went the extra mile; perhaps because she reminds me so much of my own mom. As I learned more about her trips, her children and grandchildren-constantly seeing pictures and videos, blogs and texts, I felt like we were family pretty quick! We got all the details when her youngest daughter was getting married, and saw all of her young woman projects and specials projects for her children and grandchildren. She was determined to do everything she could, and not leave anything undone.

What a wonderful, amazing woman, mother, friend, grandmother, sister, young woman's president, and wife! I am so grateful that I didn't let a day of frustrations jinx a future relationship.

My heart goes out to the Dimond family. It was so good to spend a few minutes in their home tonight, and feel of their peace with this new reality. They are wonderful people.

*Go here to read more about this great woman! Cancer sure sucks!

**Well, I realized that my last couple of posts are a bit on the depressing side, and this one is similar, so sorry. :) More to come on the good things in my life! I am so blessed!

As usual, I am a pathetic blogger, but it's ok because I'm having way too much fun! So lately, I have been up to this:

*Moved from North Provo to South Provo....love the change, so glad I did it! Although super different

*Homeless for 2 weeks in between apartments

*Lots of family time--family pics, boating

*Adorable little brother left on his mission to Chile Rancagua! Miss him so much already, and it's only been 3 weeks!

*Awesome Lake Powell trip!

*First car crash (more info. and pics to come)

*Planning trips to Maui and New York in the next 60 days!

*Hiked Stewart Falls with friends

*Working in the ER, loving the trauma!

*Took on a little extra job at work-fun to learn new things and a little pay raise too!

*Working more days shifts, definetly a bonus!

*Back to running, which means my ankle is so much better!

*Took on an extra job at work, which means I'm learning something new and a little pay raise!

*Missing summer

*Seeing old friends around town

Gratitude

Today I worked in the ER and ran into an old patient from the Clinic I had take care of for about 9 months. After talking with him and thinking about him, I began to think of the lessons I have learned from him. He has taught me so much about love. He had an amazing gift to love others for who they really were, regardless of any differences in personality or lifestyle. He is an example of what it means to comfort those in need of comfort, mourn with those that mourn, share in the struggles and joys in life. I am so grateful for the way he has impacted my life and has made me want to grow and become better. I'm so grateful for all the people in my life who teach me through their examples--in their actions, words, and attitudes.

Snow storm to Sunshine!

(John, Caitlin, Lori, Me, Nick(taking pic))

Welcome to Utah! It's pretty amazing that in the space of a few days you can have a full on snow storm, play in the snow and make a snowman/woman and then have 60* weather! But I love the sunshine! Today I went on a beautiful bike ride with my friend B and we had so much fun! It was great to be out in the fresh air and get some sunshine therapy!

This has been a super fun week! Lots of time with friends, going to L and E's concert, ice cream at Farr's with friends, going to the temple, eating brownies and watching Youtube movies with friends, washing and vacuuming my car, going to the gym, good chats with friends and catching up with old friends, being with family. So wonderful!

Go Jazz!

It seems like all I have done lately is run around and stay busy, which is great! Last week I went to the Jazz vs. Rockets game with friends, and we had a blast! We totally had the game, until the very end, and we lost by 1 point! Such a bummer! But we still had a ton of fun laughing and cheering!

(Jeff, Jeff, Dan, Garrett, Lori, Madalyn, Nick, John, and me!)

After the game some of us went to the Pie and ate some delicious pizza! Probably the best ever! I sure do love the friends...they are all so great and fun to be around!