A lot has happened!

Looking back on my blog posts I realize how much I love the documentation of our lives, but then I look at the last entry and it's from Sept of 2013 or something like that. It's now 2015. A lot has happened since then!

*I graduated nursing school and have been working as a nurse for a year now. It was a hard adjustment-a HUGE learning curve. Now that I somewhat know what I'm doing, I do like it.... on most days. :)
*We got a new pup... Miss Maddie. She is the sweetest. We got her from another family a few years old and she has a lot of anxiety due to her previous living situation, but we got her on some meds (Prozac of all things) and is doing much better! She loves to play ball, loves her brother Trout, and loves to barrel roll into you... It's her way of cuddling.

*We took a trip to LA for Josh's best friends' beautiful wedding and we made a big trip of it. Josh and I went through a difficult miscarriage days before we left and this trip was a huge relief...a lifesaver. We had time to let go of the stress and sadness we were feeling and had a good time. We went to Universal Studios, just the two of us and it was the most fun thing we have done in such a long time. We paid extra for the front of the line passes...BEST investment ever!!!! We skipped lines on every ride, sometimes lapping people in line when we decided to ride 2x in a row! It was the best! We then ate at Bubba Gumps Shrimp. It was such a fun time. Later in our trip we got to ride beach cruisers at Manhatten Beach. Another amazingly fun experience. Everyone should try it! I could go on and on, but this was one of the best trips ever! Thanks to Byron and Julia for getting married! :) I think we have decided the best trips we have had are the ones that we go in with little to no set plans and we just go with it. We don't have an itinerary maybe at the most just a list of things we might like to do while we are in the area. Leads to less stress.

*We bought a new car right when we got back from the above trip. Let's just say we went in looking at Sentras and came out with a loaded Altima. Josh says its my fault, I think he definitely had a part in it too!

*We had a fun staycation for our 5th anniversary up in Park City. We spoiled ourselves staying at an awesome resort, massages, amazing food, swimming, hot tubbing and bike rides on our new bikes we bought for our anniversary. I love that we have such a fun place to go just an hour drive from our home. It was a nice relaxing weekend! Can you believe it's been 5 years!?!

*Josh switched over from patrol to a HOST position. Essentially its homeless outreach. Getting the homeless in downtown the resources they need to get home, housed, jobs, or even just the beginning-an ID. I'm proud of him. He is doing great things!

*Last, but not least...we are going to be parents to a little baby girl due May 1st. I can't believe how fast it's coming, but nervous that it's coming that fast! :) We are still struggling finding a name... Or should I say...I'm struggling finding a name. Josh has one he is set on. I like it, but I'm having commitment issues! She already seems like a feisty one, during our big 20 week ultrasound she kept punching the ultrasound probe and then putting her hands over her heart when they were trying to check it out. I can't wait to see her, to hold her, to overall just love on her!! Most of all I'm excited for Josh to be a daddy! I can't wait to see her have him wrapped around her finger. He's going to be an amazing daddy!

*There is probably so much more I've missed..hence the importance of doing more frequent updates. I'm pretty sure they will become more often once our little one arrives! I can't wait!!

P.S. I'm sitting at the hospital doing an awesome 3 hour glucose tolerance test cause I failed my first one...so I'm doing this update on my iPad and can't figure out how to add the pics from the iPad so those will be added soon. Sorry for the long post with no pics to accompany it!

Our Life in Pictures

One of the teachers at school stressed me out for awhile there tonight...so I had to do something to ease my mind (and my stress).....So here is our life from the last few months (maybe more than a few) in pictures.
Pictures are from our trip to Disneyworld (there's a lot more from where those came from), planting our garden, Trout making new friends and having to say goodbye to his first, road trippin' to SoCal to spend time with good friends, enjoying time with family and the Yamashita family reunion.
We had a great summer....a REALLY GREAT summer. Now it's back to the grind of tests, homework and clinicals. But we are almost done!
Now I should go back to studying for my test...I feel much better! :)

Family Pics 2013

Last Saturday my friend (and co-worker) took some family pics for us. They blew me away...I fell in LOVE!!! She is a natural talent! Here are some of my favorites (or maybe just a good chunk of the ones she took...they all are just too good!)....


See more of her work at gretasohaphotography.blogspot.com

I told you..she was amazing! :)
Thanks Greta for capturing some beautiful memories for us!

Belated

School has once again taken over my life! Can you tell?! Last update was from THANKSGIVING people....yes, Thanksgiving...it's now gearing towards the end of APRIL. Craziness. There has been so much that has happened that I didn't blog about. But here are some reminders for myself...
* Megs came home from her LDS mission to Korea. She loved it. They loved her and now she's onto other fun things in her life.
* 2nd Semester of nursing school came to a close and 3rd semester is almost complete! Craziness. After a much needed summer break we will be headed into our 4th and last semester. I will then be a RN...can you believe it? It's been a long time comin'.
*Our little man Trout has completed 2 obedience school courses. We have been proud Ma and Pa. He still doesn't understand the no jumping situation, he gets all crazy excited when he gets around people but other than that he is just crazy and fun.
* Spring break people was a blast this year! We went to visit Josh's sister Toshi and her cute fam in Florida..and Reiko and Ari came too! We went to Ft. Lauderdale to see the fam, had a fun beach day then it was off to Orlando/Kissimmee with everyone to visit Mickey and friends at Disneyworld. A dream of mine come true! Trust me...major posts to come about that! :)
* there's so so much more!
I am seriously a slacker.
Until next time...here is one of my new favorite spiritual thoughts.



"Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory." -Dr. Seuss

Happy Thanksgiving!

Did you know Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday? I love the meaning behind it, I love the family gathering, the good food, good conversation, and just all around family time. I think each year that goes by I am more and more grateful for our families for the love and support they give us. I got pretty lucky with my family, immediate, extended, in-laws, my sister and brother-in laws, etc, etc. I feel extremely blessed. I'm thankful for a loving and supportive husband who motivates me and helps push me (sometimes drags) me along whether it be thru nursing school, church, or just life. I'm grateful for my nursing school experience, I know the Lords timing is everything. It's been amazing to see things unfold these last few years and how it's been all in his timing.
It all started when we were looking into moving to Arizona. Josh had been applying at some departments there, even tested for one. During that time we ended up finding our home in Herriman, when we stepped inside we knew it was it. I know I had the strongest feeling that this is where we were suppose to be. Shortly after Josh got the notice that he was to test for SLCPD. The weekend in July that we moved into our home he tested and later found out he made number 2 on the list. A short time after that I found out I finally was to start nursing school. Then I found a position at Riverton hospital (literally 10 minutes from home) that I could interview and transfer to...doing the same thing I was at Central Lab. These positions don't come up very often at Riverton. It was definitely a blessing. The people at work have been AMAZING with working with me so that I can work and go to school. It was meant to be. I couldn't do it without them. The group of people in my classes, we've bonded. There is no group like it. I KNOW Heavenly Father knows our needs and puts us where people can bless our lives or we can bless the lives of others. There is no doubt in my mind I was suppose to be with the group I'm with!
I'm thankful that I have a loving Heavenly Father that knows who I am and knows whats in our best interest. I'm grateful for the knowledge of the gospel, it means everything to me.
I hope that today on Thanksgiving we take time to thank our Heavenly Father for everything that we've been given and we take time to truly reflect on the blessings that's he's given to us, big and small. We take so much for granted and I'm grateful for a day that helps humble us and remind us that we need to be thankful!
I'm sad that we can't be with all our family on Thanksgiving, everyone is so spread out, work, or whatever else gets in the way, but know we love you all and are thinking of you!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Now go eat some good food! :) Stuff those bellies!

Gimp

So, I broke my foot. Yep, that is the truth. It was the first night I had Trout by myself, Josh was working, and the poor litle guy was not feeling well. It seemed that I was headed outside every hour or two with him. Around 2 or 3 AM I headed out with him again and stepped out onto my porch and I caught the edge of the doormat. Well, snap went the foot and down I went. It probably wasn't a pretty sight, so good thing it happened when no one was outside! :) I thought I just sprained my foot and decided to tough it out. Well, a week went by and it wasn't getting any better. I finally decided to go to the instacare and sure enough the x-ray pulled up and there was a nice fracture across my 5th metatarsal. Wonderful. I still had 4 clinicals left and I got to wear this pretty thing.....

stylish eh? :)
It actually turned out to be not that bad, I survived clinicals and am now boot free!

Trout

We added a new family member last month. Our little chocolate lab was born on August 30th in Preston, Idaho. We found him on KSL one night and I just had a feeling I needed to contact the lady about the puppies. Turned out someone was over at her home looking at the puppies when I contacted her. The people were trying to decide between the last chocolate lab (which we wanted) and a black lab. Lucky for us they chose the black lab and our little guy was left for us! We were so happy, he's the perfect match for us. When we found out he was ours the search for a name was on. We came up with some pretty good names, but we kept coming back to TROUT. We wanted something unique, something we've never heard another dog called, and of course being named after an awesome Angels baseball player (Mike Trout) was definitely a plus! :) We drove up to Preston and got him on October 17th. He's been so much fun. We love him so very much. He definitely is SPOILED, mostly due to the fact that he is our only child! His favorite toy is a stuffed cat, which we hope won't cause issues, it hasn't been so far since he's been around my parents cats. He loves his stuffed duck and can relate it to the real thing in the local pond. He also plays fetch with his tennis balls and can sit, stay, shake, wind, rewind, and lay down. He goes with us anywhere and everywhere (within reason), he's gotten really good in the car and is getting better with his kennel. Trout has been an awesome addition to our family and we love him so much!
Here's some pics of our little guy...


Right after we picked our guy up:

My two guys:

There are two mornings during the week when Josh and I overlap with work and Trout has to be in his kennel for a few hours. I usually leave the TV on so he has some noise and one morning when I turned on the TV this is what I found.....PERFECT! :)

This is one of the more recent shots of him...he's growing way to fast!