Happiest Birthday Mom!

We celebrated my Mom's birthday this past Tuesday with some cake and presents!  She said she wanted home-made angel food cake with cream cheese frosting and strawberries like my great-grandma Phillips used to make. So, me being a good daughter and all, decided to tackle this feat.  I was worried because I am honestly not the best cook in the world and usually mess something up ha ha!  But it ended up tasting yummy and looking pretty!  I really enjoyed making something that my great-grandma used to make, it made me feel good!  I took a couple pictures of the cake because I was so proud! My Mom and Jim went to Savannah, Georgia this past weekend to celebrate and I was working of course so I missed out on the adventure but they really enjoyed the town and it will be on my list to see! :)  Those who were here to celebrate with us were of course Jim and then Kay, Don and Colton joined in to celebrate.  Jim actually blew out my Mom's candles prematurely and there is a funny picture of her dirty look! I'll have to get the pics and add them on! Enjoy!

With all the fixins'

After a hurricane comes a rainbow.....

Well so much for keeping up on the blog ha ha!  I have totally slacked but I honestly have been non- stop busy it seems since February.  I haven't taken the time to keep up with this as I was hoping to but I'm gonna keep trying! :)  I'll start back in February with my update.  I got a job at a hospital nearby as a unit secretary in the middle of February.  I was sooo excited when I got the job and it seemed to happen so fast I was shocked!  I decided to apply for the job on a Thursday night and didn't actually submit it until like 9pm.  The next morning at like 11 am I got a call to set up a time for an interview.  I had the interview the next week and was hired not long after that.  It was shocking because I had heard it was near impossible to get a job at this hospital unless you knew someone so for me to get a call back and hired that quick was crazy to me but I couldn't wait to get back to working and getting out there outside of just going to school.  Well I didn't even know what a unit secretary did when I was hired so I went into the whole thing kind of blind.  Boy was I in for something new.  The floor I work on is a medical/surgical floor and it is a busy floor.  Busy does not even really explain how crazy it can get in there.  I have really struggled with getting the hang of things and all the different people I work with but so far I haven't given up and don't intend to anytime soon.  I had no idea how stressful the job can be when I went into it and and to be doing school full time it has definitely been an interesting few months.  I am looking at this time in my life as a learning and growing experience for me.  I knew moving away from all I knew would be the biggest challenge I could give myself and I was sure right about that!  It has been tough for me but I'm getting through it and learning new things every day so I will be stronger in the end. 

As far as school goes this semester was a challenge, as well.  I ended up the semester with an 'A' in 3 of my classes and a 'B' in one class.  That 'B' was hard for me to swallow but it taught me that it is ok to get a B, I'll survive it ha ha!  In my anatomy and physiology class my average in the class ended up being 99.7 which I am very proud of because that is a difficult class but I totally kicked some butt in it!  :)  I enjoyed most everything I learned this semester and enjoyed learning most of it.  I did not enjoy one class, which is of course the class I got a B in, but it is over and in the past and I at least got a B in it! :)  Again, learning experience! Ha Ha!  I should hopefully be receiving my letter of acceptance in the nursing program here soon and I am looking forward to seeing it but a little nervous too.  I hear a lot about how hard nursing school is and how it is "the worst time of your life" but if I go into it thinking all these negative things then that is exactly what I will get out of it.  I'm going into it knowing it is gonna be hard but I'm gonna work my butt off to learn as much as I can so I can be a good nurse in the future!  My biggest fear is that I will fail out of the program but that is something I push to the back of my thoughts and focus on learning all that I can! :)  Life is such a crazy roller coaster and it is interesting to think where I'll be in the future because right now I have no clue where that will be.  I titled this blog with "after a hurricane comes a rainbow" because I just love this thought.  I believe that when you get through things that are hard and difficult to get through there is something beautiful on the other side waiting for us! I'll always be looking for and enjoying those rainbows! :)

Another new thing that has happened is that my step-dad's mom and step-dad came out to visit.  While they were here they went and looked at a log cabin house and fell in love with it.  They decided to move here and they will be closing on the house this week and will be out here by next week.  I never thought any other family or friends from back home would be living so close to us here and I'm so excited to know someone familiar out here! :)  While they were visiting we went to the botanical garden they have in Columbia.  There were some pretty flowers blooming and it was so great to get out in the warm weather so early in the year!  Some pictures of the garden will follow!
Ok.... so I took a break on this draft and a month later I am just now getting back to it haha the stuff I wrote before now was from May 16th :)

Soo... another update :)  I started summer semester and am just taking 1 class which has been a nice little break but it still keeps me busy enough because it is microbiology which is a toughy class.  I enjoy the lab because we get to grow and look at all different kinds of gross bacteria but the lecture can be tedious and A LOT of info to learn. I got a 93 on my first test though so that was a relief!

Kay and Don moved into their house and they seem to be enjoying working on their yard (2 acres) and the warm weather.  It hasn't been too bad yet but the next 10 days are supposed to be in the 90s so I'm sure I'll be sweating it up!

I received a letter that I am now qualified for the nursing program!!! Yaaayy!!! Now I just have to go to an orientation, pay to save my spot and get my start date! Fingers crossed I can start in January!! :)  Other than all of this I am soooooo excited to be going back to Utah on July 5th! I am going up there for a bachelorette weekend for my friend Kerry and we are actually going up to Jackson Hole, WY to got white water rafting! It is going to be soooooo nice to see my friends and some family! I seriously can not wait! I learned that my favorite item to but is now a plane ticket!! It is the best feeling to know I am going to be headed back to see a bunch of people I love and enjoy spending time with! I seriously am dying for a break! :) Well I am going to keep up on this thing if it kills me haha! Until the next post..... "It is attitude, not circumstance, that makes success possible in even the most unlikely conditions." :) I've got to keep this in mind!

 My cute Mom taking my picture while I take hers :)

This is how I find Sable some days half under my bed!

Bruno enjoying the fan on a warm day!

Such a model dog  ha ha!

Oh and we took a quick day trip to Isle of Palms beach.  It was a MUCH needed trip that I needed to get away and just relax in the sun! It was a really neat beach with bathrooms and other things with easy access. 

There were never ending people going one way on the beach though.  It was great though cause all the people seemed to be just out enjoying the day and it didn't seem bad when all the people were so friendly and enjoying themselves!  I think it might be time for another beach day soon! :)

20 Years, how fast it seems to go by...

When I think about 20 years I think "wow that is such a long time."  However, now that I sit back and think about how quickly 20 years has almost seemed to have flown by, it is such a weird feeling.  January 29 marked twenty years since the day that my Dad passed away from cancer.  This passed Sunday it crossed my mind quite a few times that it was that same day twenty years ago that I lost someone who is such a big part of most people's lives.  I was only 6 years old when he passed away and I don't have too many memories of him but there are a few that I've managed to hold on to.  I remember that I used to like to take a nap on top of his chest and I remember trying to breath at the same rate he did and listening to his heartbeat.  I also remember just having a feeling of such love for him and that I was a little bit of a daddy's girl. :)  We planted a tree up in the mountains and spread his ashes around the tree after he passed away because his favorite place to be was the mountains.  Every year my Mom liked to try and make a trip up there to visit the tree and see how it handled the winter.  I love to go up there and be out in the middle of the forest, it has always brought such a calming feeling over me.  I think that I got some of my love of the mountains and the outdoors from him.  I always feel such peace when I am up there around his tree.  I hope that it is somewhere I'll always be able to come back to and feel that feeling. 

On Sunday I took some time to sit down and just think about the past twenty years(what a long time) and all that has happened in my life. and what he wasn't able to be here for.  When I was little there was the school performances and family vacations.  Then as I grew up there was all the "fun" teenage years, learning to drive, going to dances, dating, falling in love, graduating high school and college, getting married, buying a house, getting divorced, finding out who I am and where I want to go in my life, not to mention all the other "smaller" events.  Through every great up I've had I always remember thinking about him and wishing he was there to see me accomplish and do the things I wanted to do but somehow I also always felt that he was there cheering me on in the silence.  Through every down that I've gone through I always wished that I had him there to help pick me back up (and maybe kick some people's butts haha) but again I knew somehow he was there giving me the encouragement to get back up and move on.  Even though he wasn't able to physically be there I am so thankful I had my amazing Mom to be there for me.  She has been there through all my great ups and downs and I honestly don't know what I would have done or who I would be without her.  I've had some of the greatest family and friends that have also been there for me who I would never trade for anything. 

It has definitely not been easy growing up without my Dad in my life but at the same time I don't know anything different and it has just become a part of my life.  I love that when I think of him I can remember the good times and I do not have any bad memories.  There are pictures and videos that I can thankfully look at and those help also.  I felt like I wanted to write about him in my blog because even though he doesn't come up in many of my conversations his memory is still always in my heart and mind.  I'm thankful that I was able to be his little girl for 6 years and to have those memories with me forever. 

Michael Stephen Franich 7/21/1951-1/29/1992

"Don't think of him as gone away- his journeys just begun, life holds so many facets-this earth is only one.  Just think of him as resting from the sorrows and the tears in a place of warmth and comfort where there are no days and years.  Think how he must be wishing that we could know today how nothing but our sadness can really pass away.  And think of him as living in the hearts of those he touched... for nothing loved is ever lost- and he was loved so much."

Week in review..

I thought I would do a little catch up on last week because there were a couple highlights. :)  Last Thursday I finally decided to apply for a job because I feel like I really need to get back to work.  I really miss working at the clinic in Utah, it was always a place to go where I didn't have to worry about everything going on in my life and  I could just focus on the patients and doing the best I could at work.  I am hoping to find a job that I love even a little bit close to the one I left behind.  So, I applied for a unit secretary position at one of the hospitals not too far from my house.  The hospital has a good reputation as a hospital and a place to work.  I thought it would be a great opportunity to get my foot in the door there and get some experience in the hospital setting.  They called me Friday morning and offered to have me come in for an interview.  I was shocked they called me so soon, I thought it would be a week at least before I heard anything, if they called at all.  Fast forward to this week, I had an interview on Tuesday.  I had to interview with a person from HR and then the nurse manager on the unit I would be working on.  I feel like it went pretty well and I'm keeping my fingers crossed because I would really like the job! They said I should hear something by the beginning of this next week so stay tuned for the outcome!



This is the "pond"

Also, last weekend I got outdoors some to enjoy the weather.  It has been so nice here in the 60's and mid 70's even today.  I found this park that has a "pond" in the middle of it.  OK, so they call this a pond but really it looks like a small lake to me, it is much too large to be a pond in my opinion.  It is called Gibson Pond and it is a really pretty area with porch swings right on the edge of the pond you can sit in, a dock to walk out on, a little walking path, picnic areas and just places to relax.  My Mom and I went and walked around the area to check it out.  Then, the next day, we all decided to go to Congaree National Park.  We decided to take the trail that came out to be about 4.2 miles, I think that's how long it was.  I really liked going through the park, it almost a little tiny bit felt like being in the mountains but not really ha ha.  The trees are huge all throughout the park and the Congaree river flows through the park as well.  I think it would be really fun to canoe through it because the water is so calm and it is peaceful. We didn't see much wildlife besides squirrels and birds which I thought was weird because through most of it I felt like I was literally in the middle of a forest and I should be seeing some wildlife. :)  The scenery was really pretty and I would like to go back when the trees start to grow their leaves back because I am sure it would be full of green.  Some of the trees there have roots that grow things called "knees" and they make it look like you are in a different world almost, or like a sci-fi movie.  I'll post a picture of them.  I love to get out and see what there is to offer here, it is a really pretty area and there seems to be places to see.  Hope you enjoy some pics of the forest. Also, I'm going to put a link to the national geographic website that has a little article about the park. Enjoy!! :)  http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/congaree-national-park/





Some of the walk was on a boardwalk like this

Here are those "knees"



Awesome picture with the Spanish moss hanging from the tree



This was what it looked like most of the time walking on a path



Huge tree that fell over



Tall trees

The water looked blue and purple in this light

Annnndddd I have to end with my sunset pictures! :)

I'm baaacckk!!!

I'm back to the blogging world! :) I decided to get back into blogging because I think it is a great way to document what is going on in my life and I can look back on it in a few years and see where I've been. I am mostly just going to blog about my life in general down here in South Carolina. I am going to school to get my RN here and will probably talk about what I'm doing in school so when I get that degree and I can look back and see how I did it and what it took. I'm excited to get back to blogging! I moved down here in August of 2011. I left behind A LOT of things to come down here and experience something new and different. I started school in August and went full time. I took medical terminology, psychology, anatomy and physiology (BIO 210) with a lab, and a freshman seminar class. For my freshman seminar class we had to do 10 hours of community service for the class. I did my hours at Harvest Hope Food Bank. It was really a great experience to get in the community here, see how many people are going hungry and to know there are places they can go. I worked there the day before Thanksgiving and the amount of people they had come in was shocking. I really enjoyed doing the community service and the experience it gave me. Getting back into the "school mode" was tough and it was definitely a semester of getting back into the groove of school. My A&P class was definitely the hardest class I had, it was the most interesting but the toughest as well. I ended up getting a 4.0 for the semester and that felt great because I really put in a lot of work to do good and with all the stress from moving and everything else going on in my life I'm glad I proved it to myself that I could accomplish that!

My life down here is different and I'm still trying to adjust and accept all the changes. I kind of made a New Year's resolution but really it is just something I really want to do. This year my goal is to accept that this is where my life is right now and to make the most of it. I want to take advantage of the opportunity I have been given and have a great year. I'm trying really hard to forget things in my past, learn from them and move on to be a better me. I have a lot to look forward to this year and that will definitely help to make it a great year. Two of my really good friends are getting married and I can not be more excited or happy for them! I am super excited to share there special days with them! I'm going to spend a lot of time this year trying to find out who I am, I know that it is a lifetime journey to find out who you are, but I need some time to focus on my life and what I want my future to be. I'm going to be positive and know that everything will work out how it is supposed to!

I just finished my second week of the Spring semester and so far I really like most of my classes! I am taking NUR 115, which so far is my favorite class, it basically teaches an overview of the nursing profession. I love learning about being a nurse it makes me excited for the future. The first day of class we watched a video of some nurses that worked in the hospitals during disasters like Katrina and what they did and how strong they are as people, it was very inspiring. I am also taking BIO 240 which is a nutrition class, which I am really liking because I love learning about how to be more healthy. I'm taking BIO 211 which is a continuation of anatomy and physiology which also has a lab. Last class we got our fetal pig :( to dissect. It was sad to see a cute little pig that I had to cut open but once we had it cut open I forgot what it was and was just having fun looking at all of its' insides. Haha I think that may sound bad but really it was super interesting to see all of its' organs. I really like my teacher this semester for this class, she is really nice and actually teaches instead of reading a power point. My last class in NUR 163 and I honestly don't quite understand what the class is about. :) I know it has some psychology topics and it all relates to nursing. Hopefully I'll like it a little more as the semester goes on. I am going to apply to the nursing program the beginning of next month and will get a start date after this semester is over and they see my grades for these last classes I need to qualify to apply. I am also going to apply for the merit program which will hopefully get me a sooner start date because as of right now the latest I could start is 2014 it think :(. It is all a process and I know I have to be patient but when you just want to get school over with so you can start your life with a new job and you gave up so much for this, it is hard to be patient. :)

"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."

One of my favorite things down here is I live pretty close to a lake and I love to go watch the sunsets there. They are always so pretty over the lake! It is a place where I can go to relax and just enjoy the view. Here is a couple pictures of the last sunset I captured. EnJoY!