I Can Adult

So! It has yet again been a huge chunk of time since I last blogged (I  blame school!)

Just real quick I'm going to cap up all the things I've done since January so bear with me... I hope to make this blog a bit more regular with fun posts about my new hobby (See an upcoming post to find out what the hobby is!!)

So I finished out my last semester of my undergraduate! I worked full time at my job with the troubled youth and continued on at my internship as a medical social worker at McKay-Dee Hospital. I switched floors though and had a much more interesting time there and truly learned a lot.  I worked on the Surgery floor and got to see a much wider variety of things.  I worked with patients who were in car accidents, gang stabbings, as well as people having their appendix removed. It offered a lot more variety and a lot more ways I could help.  I got really good at talking to drug addicts/alcoholics during this time period as well as really helping people more than the usual walker.

Something else I really loved about the second half of my semester was the opportunity I got to sit in on a support group for cancer victims.  This was a really amazing experience as a future social worker to see how a group really works with all it's dynamics. It was also really great to get to see strangers come together to support each other--I was able to witness some pretty touching moments which seriously tested my ability to not cry and seem professional. All in all a pretty great experience! AND.....

I graduated!! It was (and still is) a kind of surreal experience to think that I've earned a degree and will not be attending school this fall. It hasn't sunk in yet and to be honest a big part of me is kind of scared to get out there and be a real adult.  Being a student is a lot less scary than being an adult because now people are going to assume I've got my act together and that I'm "responsible"... whatever that means!! I really am glad to have graduated and look forward to when I'll head back to get my Master's Degree in Social Work. In this same vein I took my licensing exam, PASSED, and recieved my official Social Work license! That's right--I can now officially call myself a social worker! Still seems weird... still tell people when I meet them that I'm going into social work and have to correct myself to say that I actually am a social worker.

I didn't really do much beside school and internship besides go on adventures with Brooks spend time with my family:

Grandpa... what fun!

We found Buffalo!

Emmaline & Lydia 

https://goo.gl/photos/wzQskWMZcURBhUZN6

I'll go ahead a have a completely different post for my trip! 

Goodbye 2014!

I really need to be a bit better at updating this, but at least it's happening--right?! Since I last posted in August of 2014, we are now in a new year (barely) and I figured I'd post something so you guys don't think I've died or something.

So today is a new year and I spent a lot of time reminiscing on what happened 'last year'.  Since August I of course started school again. It was a pretty easy semester overall but I really struggled getting up for my classes in time (as always) and my 9:00 class which would normally be something really risky for me to take because of how early it is in the morning (don't judge) was nothing compared to my 7:30am class...yup... Don't know how I did it people, but I did!! I got pretty decent grades and really enjoyed my classes--I took 3 this semester. School Social Work: I loved it, definitely something I'd be interested in; Social Work Policy: essentially a debate class, it was pretty fun; and my Practicum class.

First day at McKay-Dee

My Practicum class was something pretty different this year from most classes I've taken. It was a class/internship. My internship was at McKay-Dee Hospital and to be honest it wasn't really everything I was hoping it would be. I worked on the Joint and Spine floor and I had a really amazing supervisor who I got along with really well. I picked up on what to do pretty quickly and do a pretty good job there but it's just not something I want to do for the rest of my life or something that would make my life fill fulfilled--to be truthful I feel much more fulfilled at my job where I get paid not very well (more on that later). My supervisor applied for a new job at a school and got it--I'm so very happy for her because it's something she's wanted for awhile but it now leaves me without my awesome supervisor and I'm currently still in the lurch for where I'm going to end up next semester, so fingers crossed that it all works out for me.



The best part about school this semester was that it was basically my last semester of school!! Next semester I will have my practicum class which only meets once every other week (regrettably at 7:30am!) but I already have the syllabus and it has about 3 assignments and no tests. I will go to maybe 7 class times.  It's kind of strange to be finally finishing up school--I've been doing it for so long (19 years) with no breaks so it's hard to imagine life without it.  While I'm finishing school for right now, I don't plan to finish for good; I plan to go back to school within 2 years or so for a Masters Degree in Social Work but I definitely need a break from school for awhile (again, 19 years).

I'm still working at the boys home Youthtrack and I really enjoy my time there--for the most part. I spent Halloween, Christmas and New Years Eve with the boys and was happy to be able to make the holidays a bit better for them.  I'm not worried about not liking my internship because I really enjoy my job here and it reaffirms that I really do want to be a social worker. I've developed a lot of great relationships with the boys there and my co-workers and will a little sad to leave when I have my degree--but will definitely appreciate a better paycheck and the ability to help out on a bigger scale as an official social worker.

Quick follow up on my neices and nephews: I finally got to meet Emmaline for her baby shower but I completely spaced taking pictures with her!! It is one of my biggest regrets as she and her family have now moved to New Mexico and I missed out on all the aunt cuddle time!


Lydia Belle was born on October 31--Halloween and a week late just as her mommy planned (Poor Lydia, her mom was micromanaging her before she was even born *wink*) I got to spend a lot of time with Lydia as Megan--her mom was staying with my parents and I spent at least a night a week there for my internship.  She is just the cutest! My internship is going to be a bit harder this next semester without Megan and Lydia to hang out with afterwards as they are heading back to Grenada with Bryant at medical school there.

Lydia and I cuddling after a long day at McKay

My hand bandage made me feel like Cyndi Lauper

I hurt myself a bit this year... up until this year one of my coolest facts was that I had only ever had one stitch, it was in my lip and I pulled it out when I was a toddler. This year destroyed that fun fact as I had stitches for my mole removal, then just did a lot of stupid things. First stupid thing was the first day of school I was all excited about getting off on the right foot and having breakfast with Brooks before school and cut my hand instead of a bagel... just dumb. In Novemeber I outdid myself by slicing BETWEEN my toes by stepping on my bedframe. Can't really explain how I managed that--but don't worry I did. When asked at the E.R. if I had been drinking I answered "Nope, I'm this stupid sober!" The nurse took a couple minutes trying to figure out how to even go about stitching between someone's toes and that was pretty painful for me. The worst of it was trying to explain to everyone how I had managed to slice between my toes I wasn't entirely sure myself.


Brooks and I hit our 3 year dating anniversary on December 23. It's crazy to think that we've been dating for so long! It's crazy to look back on how much our relationship has grown and changed since we first started dating and to emphasize that we redid our first date to Temple Square, and celebrated Festivus as we did 3 years ago on our anniversary.  We've done a lot of fun things together since the summer including: visiting Tony's Grove, throwing rocks at a moose (Brooks--not me, first time seeing a moose and thought I was joking when I warned him that they charge, thank goodness it didn't), changing 6 tires (don't ask), dressing up for Halloween, going to see the lights at Temple Square, wrestling (Festivus), and just general fun and happiness. It's been a good 3 years, can't wait for what the next year brings for two adventurers like us!

Working out in style!

AND the biggest achievement of the last few months: I'm actually cooking and sort of working out now! So that's awesome!! Looking forward to another year and all the changes that will be coming!!

 Photo Dump:

Cut my hand

The moose

Tony's Grove

Brooks at Tony's Grove

I get crafty with some Pumpkins!

Harry Potter day at work with the boys

Keagan and I--he's a goof!

Max and I--when he decides it's okay for me to hold him

At the E.R. for my foot

Brooks and I were able to go to a Voice Male concert with the boys
I sort of successfully curled my own hair!!

My dad got a helicopter and my brother got it
horribly tangled in my hair

"That summer seemed to last forever!"

As summer slowly comes to a close (9 more days until school starts?!), I look back and see that it was pretty full for me of a lot of different things!  

First thing is the same old thing-- working at my wonderful job! As of the 5th, I have officially been working for a whole year!! It's something I've really enjoyed doing a lot and not to put school down or anything but I've learned more about becoming a social worker in my one year of working there than I have in my years of schooling! It's also been very interesting to see how the boys I've worked with have grown from the time I first met them--it's really amazing sometimes to look back and see how much change someone can undergo.  I have one boy right now who has made a lot of amazing changes and personal growth over the past year that I just want to go around bragging like a proud parent about it to everyone I meet!! I've had a lot of fun working with the boys but it's definitely tough work but they make it oh-so-much better by often times having such great attitudes!! 

The boys picked me a Dandelion Bouquet one day--this is cute, right?!

Next on to the update of what happened with Brooks' summer Grassroots Shakespeare tour this summer: it was amazing!! I saw each play at least 3 times and loved it every time!  It was a whole lot of fun to see Brooks doing something he loves and that he's freaking good at too!! The plays were a huge success and it was the most popular and profitable tour they've had to date! Brooks' acting got some people to take notice of him and he had a lot of offers to have parts in various plays and requests for him to audition at places like the Hale Center Theater! If you don't know Brooks, he's apparently a pretty big deal! Unfortunately because of his schooling he's not able to take any of the offers up but just wait until next summer--he's going to be all over that!!  Here's my favorite scene of his where he plays Pistol-- I just love the way he plays this old man and how well all the characters interact with each other. Brooks is super funny and (dare I say it... attractive) as an old man! (I've watched this at least 20 times because it makes me so happy!)

"There were some aspects of the production that were of particular enjoyment to me, such as the commedia dell’arte take on the scenes with Bardolph, Nym, and Pistol, complete with stylized masks and melodramatic acting. As Pistol, Brooks Lindberg displayed some wonderful physicality, bending his body into overwrought positions and shuffling across the stage in a hyperbolic portrayal of the elderly character."~Utah Theatre Bloggers Associate Review 

Speaking of Brooks, because of his ongoing tour of awesomeness sadly I did not see him nearly as often as I would have liked this summer.  When I did get to see him though it was absolutely amazing!! I made it out to see his plays as often as was possible and he tried to come see me as often as was feasible (not often). We were able to have a lot of fun those few times we were together--I freaking love this man!

Hike to Bridal Veil Falls

View at our favorite places to eat out--The Crepery

Playing on the beach at Bear Lake

Eating out and showing off our Poutine

For our family vacation this summer we went to Montana to visit my grandparent's farm and then we headed over to Glacier National Park.  It would have been a super amazing trip... if it hadn't rain nearly as much but even as wet as it was it was a very fun experience and I saw some very pretty things!! 

Those are pictures from my phone--gorgeous!! I saw some Bald Eagles, a beaver, a moose and baby moose. 

To update for the neices and nephews of 2014, Max and Parker are doing great and I love when I get to see them.  

Parker  (L) is not nearly as enamored as Max (R) is! 

Jake and Brook and have welcomed little Emmaline--I on the other hand haven't yet gotten that priviledge... oh the woes of a not so great work schedule!! I'm looking forward to meeting this little girl sometime soon!! (poor Jake is slowly getting more and more outnumbered by the lovely girls in his life!)

Megan and Bryant still haven't had their baby, but they do know the gender: Female! So that makes the result of this year 2 neices and 2 nephews! That'll be fun! I just had Megan come over and spend a few days at my apartment which was a whole lot of fun for me!! We shared a bed like we did growing up again but this time when we stayed up until 2 am talking dad didn't come downstairs and yell at us to be quiet!! It was a lot of fun to spend time with Megan and I'm happy she came and visited!

Prego-Mego at 29 weeks!

I've gone through a pretty big change this summer through finally making the decision to have the 2 moles on my face removed.  This was a pretty tough decision for me to make--the decision has been about 9 years in the making and I finally decided to just get it over with.  The reasons I ended up getting it done was as follows; still on parent's insurance, they kept getting bigger every year, there was a little bit of insecurity, and there were some weird/gross things going on with them that I'll save you the trouble of thinking about.  

The night before my procedure I had a little break down because I was worried what others would think about me for having them removed or that people would assume I didn't love myself the way I was. The main reason I was worried though was that I've had them for as long as I could remember and I was worried about not recognizing my face or losing part of my identity. Brooks was there to help me through all my crazy emotions and even held my hand during the procedure the next day (which I imagine had to be really super gross!) 

This is about 2 weeks after having the stitches removed

In the end, I'm happy I finally got up the courage to do it, I'm a little sad they're gone but overall it was the best choice.  The scars will take up to a year to fade really well but I'm really kind of happy with where they are now.  I've been asked why I don't try to cover them up with make up by the boys I work with and I shrug and say that I guess I'm just really confident with the way I am.  Now I truly know that I am and that though my moles at times made me feel a little self conscious overall I'm a pretty dang confident person and I know that I didn't have the removed out of shame or a negative self-image. I had them removed because their role in my life was getting complicated, and I didn't need them.  Right now I'm loving my scars--it would be nice if they healed and faded more but I know I'd be happy if they stayed this way forever!  So next time you see me, don't be alarmed by my 'unsightly' scars or surprised if you hear me refer to myself as 'Scar Face' I really am happy with my decision and I'm proud to be my beautiful self no matter what!!

School's Out: Revenge of the Babies

SO! It's been awhile! School is pretty much officially over for me! I've finished all my assignments and everything, there's just one test that I'm taking that's unrelated to any of my courses that I need to pass if I want to go on to a Master's Degree. (I can retake it once a month if I need to but that'll get pretty pricey so I'd like to pass it my first try to keep options open) That's not until Thursday though, so I still have plenty of time to study for that. It's such a great feeling to be done with school this semester, it's felt like I've been dragging my feet through sand uphill. Yeah... It's been a rough semester filled with pretty much zero motivation for school but I think I scrapped through alright and look forward to the next semester and the opportunity to take some classes that I'm actually interested in again!

Brooks and I at Bear Lake

Speaking of next semester, I finally got my practicum placement! For those of you who do not know, a practicum is essentially a class I have to take that has an unpaid internship that I must participate in as well. I got my first choice as a medical social worker at McKay Dee Hospital in Ogden working in the Joint and Spine unit! That should be a great experience and I'm really looking forward to it. Plus: my mother works at McKay Dee so I'm looking forward to having lunch with her and hanging out with all the sick peoples! I'll be working there about 16 hours a week on Tuesday and Wednesday so for those of my friends still in Layton that means I'll be at my parent's house every Tuesday night so we should hang out for sure!

Something else that is new with my life is that everyone in my family is having babies this year!! Like literally every single one of my siblings are either expecting by the end of the year or have already delivered, it's the year for babies and I'm kind of left out... I'm thinking about making Brooks buy me a baby hedgehog so I'm not left out. He promised me once that if I caught a fish with my hands and he has yet to follow through... plus, just look at how CUTE!!!

 

I mean I need this right?! 

But in all seriousness:

Trevor & Brynn gave birth to little baby Max Gotberg on February 10th. He has gotten so big and I got to see him today for his baby blessing, he's a cute little boy!

Jessica and Mike gave birth to BIG baby Parker Tiberius (Yes, really) Stagg


On the way to see baby Parker, Aunt Nikki's car broke down and would not go faster than 20mph on the freeway. It's officially dead and gone now which is a bummer for sure.... I guess that's just the price you have to pay for adorable nephews. Speaking of nephews, Parker's older brother Keagan is not very thrilled currently about the new addition.

Keagan's not too sure about Parker yet

When asked if he wants to give Parker a kiss Keagan says NO! He's not a fan of having to share his mommy and daddy.  My mother tried bribing Keagan with pop to get him to like Parker more. She gives him some pop and says "Parker told me that you could have pop, Keagan! Isn't that nice of Parker? Say thank you, Parker!" and Keagan says "Dank oou Pawkew."

Brook and Jake have announced that they are expecting a baby girl on July 24th! This baby gets blessed to have 2 of the most adorable older sisters!! Girl power! It'll be fun to have a new baby neice after 2 new nephews.



AND! Megan and Bryant recently announced that they are expecting!  This is really great news as some of you may have known they have struggled with fertility issues which makes this baby an extra little miracle (to read more about Megan's super empowering story you should read her blog at http://bryantandmegan.blogspot.com/2014/04/two-very-different-announcements.html. They are due on October 25th and I get the privilege of getting to spoil this baby rotten because I will be seeing him at least once a week when he's born because Megan is coming back to the USA (YAY!) and living with my parents (DOUBLE YAY!) so when I'm home for my practicum dates I get to see Megan and new baby.  I'm really looking forward to Megan being back in a very selfish way because I've missed her a lot since she left to the Caribbean last year so Bryant could go to medical school and I'm happy to have her so close again without the distractions of having a husband (no offense Bryant). She'll be coming back in the end of May. The only thing I'm not too excited about is to be standing next to her in all her tanned glory while I'm still ridiculously pale.

I mean look at that tan... no one can compete with that!!

Yay for babies!! Something else that is going on this summer is Brooks has auditioned for and made it in the Grassroots Shakespeare Company!! It's very exciting for him to get back into the acting saddle. Grassroots Shakespeare Company is really unique: they don't have a director, a costumer, or light designer. The actors themselves collaborate together to put the show together. This is the way that it was done back in Shakespeare's time. They have limited rehearsal time and then they will begin touring around Utah performing outside at parks and Renaissance festivals. All the shows are FREE but the suggest you donate $3 so it's really not that big of a monetary commitment if you'd like to go see him. He's the leading man in As You Like It he has the part of Orlando.  He also has the parts of Westmoreland & Pistol in Henry V. I'd recommend seeing As You Like It if you have the choice. You can see the dates for upcoming performances here: http://www.grassrootsshakespeare.com/summer-tour.html to see if there's anything playing near you. They don't have all the performances up yet so keep checking back. Here's a sneak peek of what they're up to, I'll post more videos as time goes on!

My phone did this automatically... I think it's funny.

Now for some random pictures of what I've been up to:

Brooks at Bear Lake on the prettiest day in the whole universe!! It was gorgeous!!

Keagan and Ginger at the park, I'm not sure who liked going down the slides more!

Courtney Dixie and I at my girl's night over Spring Break

Girl's Night with my roommates and a friend