Christmas Time.....

Before Christmas means it's concert/program time. It's so fun to watch my cute kiddos perform. Jake made the cutest Santa and Dallin/Katelyn sang great!

Christmas time also means treats and PJs. 

Christmas Time also means going to Kara's and visiting playing with the kids. We headed out to Kara's house Christmas night to see what presents Santa brought and play with all their new toys.

It was so nice to visit with my family. I absolutely love Christmas and I'm sad it's over!

Community Rotations.....

For my last two rotations I've been working at Albertsons. In July I was in Cheyenne & now I'm in Laramie for August. I absolutely loved the rotation in Cheyenne. The people that I was able to work with were amazing & I feel like I fit right in. It was such a fun environment to work in. I was really sad when my time was over there - actually I may or may not have cried.

My final project was making a poster about Shingles. My preceptor was impressed with the final product, which makes me happy because I spent hours making it. Garry ended up displaying it right outside of the pharmacy.

The people I've had the privilege of working with at all my sites have made me feel very welcome and I learned so much. It affirmed to me that I love what I'm going to do when I graduate, and it makes me excited to go to work every day. I can't wait to graduate so I can work every day and not have to worry about doing homework. 

Pictures With The Kiddos.....

I was looking through my phone today and realized that I had a lot of pictures that I took while I was home with Kara's kids. I absolutely love all my nieces and nephews. They are the opitomy of unconditional love. No matter what I do they still think I'm one of the coolest people in the world.

I have these pictures from Kinlee's birthday. I can never get a normal picture with all of these kiddos, they definitely like to ham it up in front of the camera (but that just makes them even more fun)!

For Katelyn's birthday she got an eisle because she loves to draw. While we were talking before cutting the cake, Katelyn whipped out a great sketch of the living room. I'm pretty impressed by her skills and with a little practice, she's going to be quite the artist!

The Sunday before Memorial Day, we went to set flowers out at our family's grave sites. It was so beautiful and nice that I couldn't get Kinlee to stop running around for two seconds to take a picture with me.

Nothing makes me happier then looking at these pictures, getting lots of hugs & kisses from these kids, FaceTiming with Darius & Draya, and texting Kate & Jake. All of my nieces and nephews have stolen my heart and they can pretty much get away with anything with their Aunt Bethany (and I'm pretty sure they know it)!

Visitors.....

After being down in Laramie for a couple weeks, I was lucky to have some visitors at my house. Kara, Jason, and the kids came down Friday the 13th to stay with me for a couple days before heading to Denver on their family vacation.

To say the kids were excited would be the understatement of the year. After I got off of work and cleaned the house in a quick hurry, the troops arrived. Luckily I had iPads, Movies, Nerf Guns, and Stuffed Animals to keep them entertained or I'm pretty sure my house would have been a little boring. After getting some energy out from the long car ride, we went to Applebee's to eat dinner then finished off the night watching Home Alone 3 and eating popcorn. 

The next morning we all woke up bright & early. After getting the house picked up, everyone else went out to eat breakfast while I got ready. We spent the day at the Rec Center swimming, playing basketball, and ended the adventure at the play area. After a few hours, we'd had all the fun we could handle, so we headed to Walmart to get some ice cream before heading home. 

My room became the dedicated TV room since it was right next to the living room and kitchen so we were able to keep an eye on the wild bunch.

Katelyn & I had a nail party, and I helped her paint her toe nails because both of our old nail polish needed a touch up! Luckily, Katelyn is easy to please because my technique is not the greatest :)

Kara, Jason, and Kinlee went out to eat at Corona Village for dinner while the kids and I sat at home watched Surfs Up and ate Little Caesars for dinner. It was a fun night and I loved spending time with my crazy kiddos!

To finish off the weekend, we went to church on Sunday and then Kara cooked a big lunch since it was Father's Day before everyone left for Denver to go to the Zoo and spend a few days in Colorado. I had to stay in Laramie because I had to go to my rotation on Monday. 

It was nice to get to see everyone and have a good break from school work. It was a great weekend, full of lots of activities and fun (it's about time they came back here to see their old home, hopefully it was everything they ever dreamed of). Kara & Jase sure did a lot and I'm thankful they brought the kids down to spend some time with their Aunt Bethy!

Week One.....

Well I've survived week one of my first rotation. I've really enjoyed being at the Board of Pharmacy. There's been lots to do to keep me busy. Already I've answered about 10 questions regarding the law, prepared presentations, read 2 books, written my newsletter article, and met with the FDA/Wyoming Attorney General's Office. I get to meet with the FBI next week, give a couple of presentations, and go to the Board meeting and WPhA convention at the end of the month. Luckily, I have some down time which means that I've been able to get a head-start on my Seminar Presentation too.

The days are kind of long because I have to be on-site by 8:00, five days a week, so driving from Laramie means waking up by 5:30 to get ready to be sure that I'm on time every day. I don't take a lunch break usually so I can head home by 4:00, otherwise I would have to stay until 5:00. All I can say is I'm glad that I'll only be commuting to work for a few weeks, I definitely couldn't do it every day.

It's nice to be able to get my feet wet before jumping in head first to the demanding rotations that I'll have later on. The people I work with every day are the sweetest and have made me feel very welcome. Not a day goes by without receiving a compliment from my preceptor. I'll be crossing my fingers that the rest of my rotations go as smoothly as this one has been so far!

Last Piece of the Puzzle.....

I was happy when I got my Rotation Schedule, but I still couldn't relax fully because I was waiting to hear about my Seminar Topic. Over the course of the year of rotations, we have 3 separate Reflective Weeks (after 4 months of rotations) where we have various presentations and assignments due. At one of the three reflective weeks, each student has to give a 35 minute presentation and then answer questions for about 10 minutes. It's a big part of determining my grade for my final year of school.

Luckily I got assigned to present in the Reflective Week that I wanted, the 1st one, at the end of September. My topic I was assigned wasn't at the top of my list, but I was happy with it overall. I get to speak on Diabetes Insipidus. I don't know a lot about this topic, which is a bit nerve-racking, but I'm sure it will turn out okay.

This is one of the things I was most nervous about because I get very uncomfortable when I speak in front of people. So I will be very happy when this is over, and I can relax & enjoy my rotations.

**My blog has been pretty boring for the most part, but I don't really have much to talk about except for school & getting ready for my final year of pharmacy school. It's a huge part of my life, it takes a lot of my time & effort, and it is pretty much all I think about. Hopefully once I'm done with school I'll lead a little bit more of an exciting life!**

Done & Done.....

I am officially a P4 student as of an hour ago. I just finished my last final ever, and I couldn't be more excited! The only thing that can top how I feel right now is next year when I'm completely done.

It seems surreal that I am so close to the career I've wanted to have since I was a little girl. As excited as I am, it's a little weird to think that the life I've known for the past 6 years (waking up, going to class, doing homework, studying, and wanting to pull my hair out) is never going to happen again. I'm going to miss my friends that I've made, and it's bittersweet to know that I won't be seeing them every day anymore.

I snapped this picture my final day of classes, and I can definitely say that I won't miss listening to lectures every day.

I'm so blessed to have been accepted and survived this difficult program, and I can't wait to get to the final stage of my education so I can be finished with school for the rest of my life.

Easter Break 2014.....

Easter Break was a nice quick trip home that got me ready to finish up the semester. We headed to Lovell Thursday afternoon after Zac Haskell got out of class. As much as I enjoy getting to go home on Thursday, I'd much rather have the Monday after Easter off so I could send the entire holiday with my family.

We spent the weekend at home. We got home Thursday night, ate some dinner, headed out to Kara's to see them, and spent the rest of the night talking to my parents.

Friday was a lazy day, my mom and dad headed to Billings to get things for Easter and Kinlee's birthday present. Dani, Emi, & I spent the day at home playing basketball, watching TV, and taking a nap. Later on after my parents got home, we headed out to Kara's house to Kinlee's birthday. I can't believe how fast my little princess is growing up. It's crazy to me that she's 2 years old already, but at the same time I can't remember what is was like in our family before her. Once again, the night ended by talking with my parents.

Dyeing Easter Eggs was on the agenda for Saturday. I decided to try getting creative like my sisters and parents do by drawing on the eggs with crayons. Usually I'm pretty boring and only make them solid colors, but I tried to branch out this year! After we finished with our masterpieces, we cooked some hamburgers on the grill since it was finally nice outside, and got my parents to watch Frozen while we chowed down. Thanks to the kids jamming out to the Frozen soundtrack the night before, my mom & dad heard all the songs before watching the movie. :) Dani & I headed out to Kara's house to say goodbye to her family since we were leaving the next day.

Sunday we woke up, saw what the Easter Bunny brought us, and hunted eggs. After we got done, it was time to pack up and head back to Laramie because I had an exam I had to study for on Tuesday. It was a quick trip home, and I was sad to come back but luckily it's only for a few weeks. Finals are in 2 weeks and we'll be heading back to Lovell in no time. I'm thankful that I got to spend the weekend with my family and am especially grateful to my parents for everything they do for us!

Finally!!.....

After what seems like forever, I finally received my Rotation Schedule. For the most part I'm pretty happy with it, and got a lot luckier then some other people in my class. While I might not have gotten my first choice on everything, I at least got one of my top choices. Some of my other classmates got assigned to places that were their seventh or eighth choices or ones they didn't even choose. Overall I got pretty lucky, and I'm happy with my schedule. I get to stay around the areas that I wanted. I'm close to home or around Laramie within driving distance.

I get some time off in the summer, get my harder rotations done towards the beginning, and get to be in Laramie right before I graduate.

I've still got so much to do this semester, not only with my classes, but also with getting ready for rotations. I still have to do CPR certification, finish my Immunization training, applying for licenses, getting drug test, liability insurance, background checks, and meeting with my adviser to help make sure I have everything ready to go. I can't wait until everything is done and I can be on my Rotations. It's going to be a nice change for going to class every day and studying for exams. I'll get a glimpse into what the rest of my life will entail.

The Next Great Baker.....

I love Pinterest! There are so many great ideas on there. Most are just wishful thinking because I don't feel like truly creative or talented enough to make it look as good as it does with the pictures. A majority of the items I pin, I haven't even attempted. I'm not brave enough :) Now, Dani on the other hand is willing to try new things. We both love to watch baking shows, and one of our favorites is Cupcake Wars. She wants to try and do the different piping techniques that can be used to frost cupcakes & cakes.

The other day as she was searching for new ideas, and she found a recipe for Snickerdoodle Cupcakes. They looked really good, the recipe looked fairly easy, and she wanted to try them out. I love Snickerdoodle cookies, so I was excited she was feeling ambitious.

 Here's the recipe. It says at the bottom of it, but this came from Deliciously Sprinkled.

I'm so glad that she made these because they were excellent. The frosting reminds me of the frosting from Cinnabon. I'd definitely recommend these to anyone. Dani's a pretty good cook and can make me these cupcakes whenever she wants. I think she could be The Next Great Baker if she's going to make delicious things like this!