Christmas Fun!

This Christmas break has been so much fun! Man! I just love not having school and hanging out! I like to be lazy a little too much. :)

Me and my neices Grace and Madi got to go stay in Heber with my sister Wednesday night then we headed back to stay in Midway Thursday night with my cute brother Mark and his family then headed to the Soldier Hollow tubing hill on Friday. It was a BLAST and totally worth the $20 bucks for 2 hours of happiness. It's crazy this year because there was NO snow at all in Midway so we got to experience the man made stuff.

We also went to see sweet Gage at the cemetery. His headstone turned out completely perfect and it was good to go there and just think about all the memories I have with that darling boy. I miss him, especially during this season. It's crazy how much his baby sister reminds me of him. Merry Christmas Gagee.

Christmas was great! I can't believe it is already over. We spent Christmas eve with Heath's family eating yummy food, playing games and acting out the nativity. This year I was excited that I just got to watch the nativity. :) Heath was a cute wisemen though.

Christmas we spent with just us at our new home which was so much fun! I loved seeing Heath open his presents. I didn't get him anything too exciting just the usual stuff. Coat, shoes, shirts, a watch and stuff like that. My favorite present was some cute four wheeling gloves that are pink and black! :)

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year!

Last day of Clinic for my first semester

I can't believe that I am coming to the end of my FIRST semester of the hygiene program! I am 1/4 of the way done can you believe that?!? I have been reflecting on how far I have come in the past 3 months and its crazy how much I have learned. I still have a long way to go, but I am on my way. Weber State's hygiene program is tough and a lot is expected from you. Being held to such a high standard has really pushed me and I am so thankful for it. I have never done so well in my entire life. I love dental hygiene and am so glad I kept pushing for it. It's that much sweeter because I have tried so many times and kept trying since I knew its what I wanted to do! Hard work really does pay off, I am a huge example of that. Don't give up on your dreams!

REAL life patient day

I am SO glad today is over! Okay, honestly it wasn't that bad just got off to a rough start. My brother was supposed to be my patient. Had him scheduled, had his health history and treatment record all filled out and ready to go and then this morning 30 minutes before he was supposed to be there I got a text saying that he just couldn't make it. (which means, I HAVE TO FIND A PATIENT or else i fail!)
I panicked.
Luckily Heath had a 7:30-8:30 class that he had to go to, but he told me he would come up after and let me work on him.
He honestly saved my day!
So, he came up and it was so fun getting to work on him. We took X-rays and even got to scale 1 quad which I was super proud of!
husbands are the best!
I owe mine big time today!
Better find something good for dinner to make! :)
Only one more day till Thanksgiving break!!!
happy thanksgiving everyone

Mock patient day 2!!

Come Monday I will be seeing my very first real patient! Today we finished up our mock patients. It was a good day. I still DO NOT feel ready for Monday! Good thing its my brother that is coming, I'm sure he has no idea what he is going to be in for and we will keep it that way! :)

Life is good. I can't complain. We got all moved, boxes unpacked and now we just need to decorate and get it looking more like home. It is SO nice! We are both loving it so much and we are glad we made the decision. The drive isn't bad at all and its fun being so close to my mamacita! Untill next time folks!

On my way to becoming a pro?.... I think!

I cleaned my first set of pearly whites today on my cute friend Candice. I had a nightmare last night about it and could NOT sleep at all since I was so nervous! I'm happy to say that it went actually pretty well. Candice's teeth were so clean and she had like one tiny piece of calculus and NO plaque at all. It was a good clinic day, but I am glad its over. Hopefully I will get the hang of scaling and eventually become a pro! Anyone want their teeth cleaned? It's only $32 dollars at our clinic and $2 for each x-ray! I will need a lot of people next semester so let me know! :)

I feel like a new woman!

With my pearly whites all clean! Next week I will be the operator, so It will be alot different than clinic this week. This week I got to come in normal clothes and just hangout in the chair. Next week it will be stressful to put all the skills I have learned thus far to work! :)

We are also moving on Friday and Saturday which adds a ton of stress! We are excited though and it will be so worth it to be closer to OUR families!

keep me in your prayers!! :)

Patient day!

Today I got to be patient! It was so fun to come later and get to have my teeth cleaned! Candice did awesome and it was so much fun! It makes me so excited to get to actually see patients. It's crazy to think that we are already nearing the end of the semester. :) I love this time of year and am getting anxious to move on FRIDAY!! Untill next time!

We've hit a milestone!

LAST 2 PE'S for the semester
=
1 Happy Girl!!

Can you believe my first semester of hygiene school is almost over?!?? Nuts huh? From here on out we have mock patient days for the next two weeks and then....

NOVEMBER 21ST is when we see our FIRST patient!

I am excited, scared, nervous, anxious, and don't know if I will ever be quite ready. :)

It is going to be super busy for us the next few weeks as we pack up and prepare to move to my hometown of Brigham City! We are so excited to have our very own place, but we are so grateful for the time that we have gotten to spend in South Weber.

Let the fun begin!

Sealant day, my favorite day!

Today we got to do sealants on each other! It was so much fun and takes me back to my assisting days. Laken was a little easier to work on than a child though, which made my job a BREEZE! It was so much to feel comfortable doing them. I knew exactly what to do and how to do it which doesn't happen very often in clinic. Happy Halloween! Me and my hubs are going to carve pumpkins and watch a scary movie to celebrate this scary holiday! :)

Treatment planning

Today we learned how to enter a patient into the computer software program that we use called eaglesoft. It was pretty easy, but I do have to say I am more of a Dentrix kind of girl! (thats another type of computer software that most offices use.) We got a pretty "chill" day in clinic which was way nice.

This weekend was such a GREAT weekend, fall break was Friday, so Heath and I got to hang out then My Mom and I went shopping at Kohl's where I purchased my new white comforter!!! I am re-doing our bedroom and I can't decide if I want to do blue with the white or do green and refinish my furniture black... any suggestions?!?! My Mom also bought us a Memory foam for our mattress and I swear by it! OUR bed is heavenly!! It as originally priced a little of $300, but we got it for $108 and it was worth every penny!

Yesterday was my sweet nephew Gage's birthday. He would have turned 5. Sad day, but I enjoyed watching videos of him and remembering his sweet spirit. WE celebrated at the cemetery where we wrote messages to him and tied them to purple balloons. It was priceless and something I will never forget. I love you Gage!

Also, we ARE MOVING! To Brigham! IN a week and a half! Crazy I know?!?! We will miss SOuth Weber and our cute family that lives upstairs, but we are excited to be in our own new place!

What a day!

I love today! More news to come about why....

But, Clinic today was pretty good today, I passed off posterior scaling! Woo Woot! I really cannot believe it. I got to work with my bestie Candice today and it was so much fun! she is so good and easy to work on. :)

Other than that, I have to take an anatomy test by Friday and things are just as busy as ever.

Hope everyone is enjoying there Fall!

Intra oral camera and practice day!

Today was a RoUGH day in clinic... it was an easy day as far as the intra-oral camera, but we had to start at the very beginning with what we've learned and practice on out patient. This is what we had to do:
Health History- have patient sign if its been longer than a year, if not write HHX no changes and status RX no tx alterations
Extra Oral exam
Intra Oral Exam
Chart occlusion and all restorations present in the mouth
Probe
OD check by instructor
OHI
Scaling
and the list goes on and on....
It was hard to remember EVERYTHING, and to remember when we needed to get signatures from our instructors before we proceeded. I really am struggling lately, I'm ready for fall break on Friday that is for sure! Thanks Erin for being such a Great Patient! You are awesome! :)

Dental Screening

Today we learned about charting what we see in the mouth. I was worried at first about being able to see composite fillings, but it was actually easier than I thought. I also passed off TWO PE's which I am totally stoked about! PE's are the most stressful things ever! We have to pass off everything that we learn, so an instructor comes over and watches you! It's nerve racking! Today was a fun day in clinic and I am feeling a little more comfortable everyday. Happy Wednesday!

Bleeding Purple

My last blog title is actually quite funny seeing that right after that post I got SUPER sick and was throwing up more than I have thrown up in my entire life! Good thing i can laugh about it now... Anyway today I am back to feeling normal and it is so great after feeling so crappy. Today clinic was a lot of fun. WE used that purple disclosing agent that shows plaque on your teeth, so you can know where you need to brush better. Of course all of us are freaks when it comes to brushing and flossing our teeth so it wasn't too exciting. We got time to practice scaling which I needed and it was a great day at clinic today! Until next time :)


Oh P.S.... We just got the news Saturday that Heath's sister Aubree and her cute husband Cory are having their first baby in April, and my brother Mark and his wife are expecting their 3rd baby in May! YAY! We are so excited! Congrats guys!

I think I am going to throw up

But first I have to tell you about last Tuesday

9.20

when we celebrated my mommy's B-day! It was so much fun! Jill came down from Heber and suprised my mom at dinner at the Olive Garden. After dinner we went and had cake and ice cream at my Brother's house. It was such a fun night! I LOVE my Mom so much! She really is the most amazing gal on this planet!

The gang, this is only a small part of my family. We were missing my 3 other siblings. Doesn't Jill look so good? :) It makes me happy

Oh and one more thing before I get to the throwing up part......

We went to the UDHA convention on Friday

I rode the frontrunner for the first time

I LOVED it!

And love these chicas..

We skipped out on covention for a few hours and went shopping at the gateway. :)

Loved that day!

But not today as much,

Today in clinic I about threw up...

Not even kidding.

Am I really cut out for this?

This week has just been so stressful.

We had a our first test in Professor Costley's class which was super tough

Today in clinic we learned... what did we even learn?

It was such a blur, we have so many things that we learn and has to pass of so fast I don't even know anymore.

Oh yeah, we learned about instrument design and which instruments are used for what teeth.

We practiced probing and exploring,

It was horrid,

I'm so not even good at it

We have no time to practice

and

we have to pass them off next wednesday

It's been one of those days!

Explore with me!

Clinic today was all about exploring with an explorer. It was pretty hard, I'm kinda stressing. I can't even figure which end is the RIGHT end to use! They both look pretty much the same to me. I will have to practice.... AlOT! We also learned a little about adapting the instrument with the line angles of the teeth. Hailey was a trooper and let me poke her gums! Thanks Hailey! :)

AND I was like Probing, Probing, PrObing OH!

I have no idea why I have Justin Bieber's Baby song in my head. Hahaha, but I do. OH my, don't even ask. Today in clinic we got to probe on an actual person! It was rad. We first practiced on the typodont which kinda sorta helped, but not really. Then we got to practice on a real live person and it was so much fun! I need alot of practice, but I loved it. I also am so pumped about America's next top model all star season. :) Happy Wednesday! No more classes for the week oh ya!

Intra Oral Examinations

Today in clinic we learned how to do intra-oral exams. Intra: meaning INSIDE the mouth for all of you bloggers who have no idea what that means. :) It was fun if you like sticking your fingers in people's mouths and filling all around.. which I'd admit I LIKE.

It was neat learning about all of these structures that we all have in our mouths that I never knew were there. Example:

Fordyce's spots, ever heard of em?

Don't worry, me neither untill today. I personally do NOT have them, but my bestest pod partner Jacque did have them. They are little spots inside your cheek just inside the corners of your mouth. Check and see if you have them. They aren't bad, just something new to learn. :)

So far I am LOVING every minute of school! Here are some pics.... ENJOY!

SPA day... Sorta!

Today in clinic we learned how to do exra oral examinations and boy did it feel lovely! I closed my eyes and for a minute I thought I was at the spa getting a facial. Then I woke up to reality and realized I was in clinic supposed to be paying attention. It was a pretty neat day. Learned alot about how early detection with cancer screenings are the key!

Vitals.. Nurse April to the rescue

Did you know that I have my very own purple blood pressure cuff aka a sphygmomanometer?
Pretty cool huh?! :)
It's dang cute and we even learned how to use it today. You may ask why we learn about vitals when we are studying dental hygiene, but we do vitals ( BP, pulse, and respirations) at the beginning of every appointment to make sure that our patient is healthy and that we are able to treat them without risking their health. I have only worked at 1 office in 6 years that actually practiced this. It was at Logan Dental where it was my job as the hygiene assistant to take the BP. It was easier though because we just had one of those cuffs that you place on the wrist and it takes the blood pressure for you.
I think it is a great idea to take vitals, I think that its something that I would promote when I get out of school.... someday soon! :)
Today was a good day, following a good weekend with my sis!

MeeT ViOlet

Labor day weekend was so much fun! I mean how could driving for 12 hours in two days with the Lewis family not be the best trip ever?

And our destination?... Yep, the prettiest place in the West

WYOMING!

We went to celebrate Heath's great-grandma, Violet's 99th Birthday. The drive usually would've made me SO car sick, but I got all doped up on motion sickness pills which are my new best friends. The way there I sat in front of the Yukon as Heath drove and just studied and read my little heart out. It was perfect. We left bright n early Saturday morning and arrived around 1. We had our taste of real Wyoming food at the Sundowner diner (YucK!) and did you know ppl can still smoke at places like that outside of Utah? Heath and I snuck out and went to Taco Bell for Chalupas instead. :) Sunday we went to see Grandma Violet and attended her Birthday party. It was alot of fun. She is the cutest little lady, and she LOVED having Heath close to her. She kept kissing him and hugging him. It was precious. Violet has kind of a hard time remembering ppl so before she realized who Heath was she said," I wished I would've danced with you a long time ago. He had so much fun seeing his grandma. She danced with her son, Heath's grandpa Max and Heath got so choked up. It was so sweet seeing Heath get so emotional and I just realized how AMAZING my husband is. Honestly, I have never met someone so caring, so tender hearted, so handsome in my entire life. I love this picture of him and Violet. Anyway, I am so glad we got to hangout with the Lewis families for Labor Day. Now, for this weekend.....

PEACH DAYS

and

my sister Jill is coming to spend the weekend with us so i'm really excited!

Weekend be here already please?

Clinic and my first test day

Today clinic was super biz! We learned all about Health history's and how medications can effect so many things in our patient's. It was a good day and clinic went by so fast! I also took my first test in the dental hygiene program and I PASSED! :) what a great day!

What a day!

Today was such a fun slash hard clinic day. First, I have to say Happy 25th B-Day to my cute hubby yesterday! I suprised him with a pizza party with our families. Heath's mom, sister, and brother came all the way from Smithfield! It was so great enjoying everyone's company. The homemade German chocolate cake even turned out! Anyway, It was a fun day. Today at clinic was Super BUSY! We learned how to properly hold the instruments and different positions to sit around the patients head. It was kinda confusing and hard, but I am going to take my instruments home tonight so I can practice. Another successful day.... SO FAR SO GOOD... :)

Clinic Day #3

Today in clinic we learned how to set up and tear down. It was a very busy day and a lot to learn, but I'm so excited to start using our tools and working on each other. We got to practice air/water and suctioning on our partner and it was great! Happy Monday!

In Memory of Gage...

I haven't had the time or the energy to post for the past few months. There has been so much going on and it has been such a weird summer for me and every single member in my family. June 19th has always been a hard day for me and my siblings just becuase we have never had a Dad in our lives so that day is always an extremely hard day for me. Now, it will be much harder. June 19 2011 will be a day that we will never forget. This year for some reason we decided we would go to my mom's first since most of my siblings were going then we would go to Heath's parents house later that night. We arrived at my mom's house at 3:00pm and quickly went next door to my grandma's to eat. We hardly ever eat at my grandma's anymore since our family has grown so much but, for some reason we went over there this father's day. We ate, played outside, got the frisbee stuck in the tree and were jumping on the tramp. Heath, me, and my 2 nieces went over to my mom's to check our laundry.... the phone rang and my niece Shaylee answered it and hurried to give me the phone. It was my brother in law Brandon's sister crying and saying that my sister, her husband and 2 kids had gotten hit head on coming down Provo canyon and my 4 yr old nephew Gage didn't make it and that Jill and Brandon had been life-lighted to the U of U hospital. I cannot even begin to describe how I felt at that time, I repeated what she said and hung up. My Niece had heard what I had said and was already out the door to my grandparents next door. I made it over right after she had told everyone and repeated it again hoping that it wasn't real. Each family hopped in their cars and Heath, my mom and I jumped in ours and drove the hour long drive to Salt Lake not knowing if they were even alive and going to make it. We arrived as they were prepping Jill for surgery, she looked so awful, she had a huge laceration on her shoulder where she had lost alot of blood, she had an oxygen mask on, and I will never forget seeing her like that, but so glad she was okay. She had multiple breaks and fractures, her knee shattered into 50+pieces, she broke her shoulder, wrist finger all on one arm, and her ankle. Anyway, after a long few months with losing my sweet nephew gage, moving, and starting school it has been crazy. I miss Gage so much and wish I would've been a better aunt. I will never forget the last time I saw him on June 6th how cute he was. We colored for ever! He kept saying April I can't do it, I kept telling him how great at coloring he was. I love that little boy! He was always such a busy body and so much fun. He had the most contagious laugh that was so precious. Good thing I have such a strong testimony and knowledge of the gospel. I know that I will get to see Gage again and I also know that he is back home and in a better place than we are here. I can't wait for that day!

Wednesday Happenings

It is SO hot today! In clinic while we were sitting listening to our instructor and our presenter (Ann Arrington) my cute old neighbor and her cool Blue Boa thing-a-ma-jig, my back was wet from sweat! I know, to much information right? Anyway, back to my second day of clinic. It went well, I passed off my very first PE and you might want to sit down for when I tell you this.. I PASSED! Good thing it was just on the computer program which I would hope I know how to do after working as an assistant for so long. We also had a guest presenter like I mentioned earlier with this really great suction called the Blue Boa. Val would love this! Its a suction that you can have in your patients mouth while you use the ultra sonic, you don't have to hold it so you can still hold your mirror in your hand which would help you to see all surfaces of teeth without compromising your posture. Click here to watch the video. Hope you are all having a fantastic day, I'm off to the Box Elder County Fair tonight! :)

My very first clinic Day!

Today was our first day in clinic. It went alot better then I thought it was going to. I couldn't sleep last night because I kept dreaming that I was going to wake up late and that everything that could possibly go wrong would. Turns out I came prepared, got to school in time to find a parking spot and get everything ready. We learned the basics and put all of our instruments in our drawers. I think I am going to love it! Yay to the WSU- Dental Hygiene class of 2013!!

The end to all of "Our Firsts"

It was our FIRST anniversary on May 22, 2011! So weird that it has already been a year since I married my bestest friend and made the best decision of my entire life to marry Heath. This year has been such an amazing year. I have learned so much about loving another person more than myself and learning how to put someone else's needs before mine. Here are a few pics from our engagement pictures (taken by Jacey Jordan) and wedding day...

For our anniversary I had a couple of suprises in store for my hubby. I sent him on a scavenger hunt around Logan to all or our favorite places including the logan temple and the scavenger hunt ended with me waiting for him at the anniversary inn. :) It was so fun to plan it and to see his face when he came to the inn. We stayed in the Hawaiin Paradise room to re-live our honeymoon to Hawaii and it was so much fun! I also suprised Heath with his Quilt! He loved loved loved it and it was so worth all the time and hard work. It was such a great weekend! Spent Saturday at the temple doing sealings and then we went to dinner at Le Nonne. It was a perfect end to a perfect year!

Best BIrthday!

A little late, But I just had to post about my fun birthday weekend that my cute husband suprised me with.

First off.. Heath told me I better have my bags packed and ready to go Saturday afternoon for the night. He wouldnt tell me where we were going but I kinda thought it would be Park City. (seeing that I wanted this cute fossil watch for my b-DAY and thats the only place that has a fossil outlet) Well......

I know my husband too well......

OFF TO PARK CITY WE WENT.

We had so much fun! We shopped at the outlets, rode the alpine coaster, went to dinner, and just had fun spending time together! And guess what I got?!?!?!!?

MY WATCH :)

Thanks for the best birthday ever babe! It was perfect!

UPdAtEs

Lots of updates!!! This week at work was CRAzy HaiR DaY! We had a contest to see who's hair our patients liked best. They each got to vote and winner got $40 bucks. Of course Dr. Allen won, but he gave the winning pot to the first runner up.... which was ME!

This is Ilse, Tori, and I. I thinkTori got robbed. Her hair was soo cute! she had floss and toothbrushes in it!

Monday, I had an orientation for Dental Hygiene. I was kind of nervous, but I am way glad I went. I got to meet my 29 other classmates (including 2 boys) We ordered our cute lab coats and had dinner. Oh how I can't wait for August to come! :)

Conference weekend is always my favorite. Heath and I got up Sunday morning and made breakfast then watched the first session here at our apartment then we headed to BC to spend some time with my fam. It was soooo good! My favorite was Richard G. Scott's talk "The eternal blessings of marriage." It was BEAUTIFUL. If you missed it you have got to watch it!

My very first

My mom came up last Saturday and had this huge wrapped present in her hands. I said who is that for? and she said oh its your early birthday present, its nothing exciting. I hurried and opened it..... GUESS WHAT IT WAS?!?!?!

My very own Sewing machine

I am so excited, I can't even believe that she got me one! Well I can because she probably got sick of me always borrowing hers. Haha but I am so excited. I love it and have already used it alot making this.

This is a camo quilt for my cute husband for our 1st anniversary present. He has seen it, but he thinks its for my grandpa. Its so cute because he keeps saying... that is so cool! Can we make us one after? Little does he know its for him! I finished sewing the squares today and now just have to figure out what I am going to do for the back. :) I can't wait to give it to him next month. Thanks Mom, you're the best!

The Longest Flight

Heath and I had such a great trip to Tennessee. We got to do so many fun things with some of our favoritest people. We went to the Nashville Zoo, saw Blake Shelton, the band Perry, David Neal, and even Brad Paisley at the Grand Ole Opry, visited the Opryland Hotel, celebrated my sister's B-day,stayed a night by the Smokey Mountains, and enjoyed alot of time reading books and playing Just Dance with our nieces. It was Awesome! We got to spend 9 days just hanging out with my sister's darling family. Here are some pics from our trip....

Saturday, the day before we were supposed to come home I made Heath text our cute landlords/friends that live below us to see if anything had come in the mail from Weber State. Sure enough guess what? Dallin said there was a letter that came for me and anyway I had the hardest time debating on if he should just open in for me so I wouldn't have to wait almost 48 hours just to know if I got accepted or not. I decided not to let him open it, It has been too long awaited to not open it myself. Sunday we left TN at 6:30pm and our flights home were both packed which means I didnt even get to sit by Heath due to Southwest's dumb seating arrangement. It was the longest flight of my entire LIFE! We flew in to SLC at 11:30pm and didnt make it back to our apartment in Logan till 1am. I knew the second I LAYED eyes on the big white envelope in our mailbox that I GOT ACCEPTED! So, pretty much we were so excited and I just sat there and kept reading the letter. Needless to say we are sooo excited to start this new journey. We will be moving to Brigham City or Ogden in the next few months depending on if Heath decides to transfer schools or not. Life couldn't be any better! :) Did I mention how HAPPY I am! Finally my dream has come true!!

Weekend Recap

Heath and I had the funnest weeked! We headed to Syracuse Thursday night to sleep over at my brother's house, so we could get an early start Friday morning driving to St. George. We left for St George at 7am and cruised straight there. We arrived at 11:30am. We got to grab some lunch at Subway (love the $5 any footlongs!) then I headed to the hygiene building to take my tests. They went REALLY well and I met so many cute girls! Seeing that this was my third year going down to St. George they know me by name which is really kinda funny. We will find out by the first of March if we got in or not, talk about nerve racking!!!

After my test we were able to enjoy the rest of the weekend in the beautiful weather! We checked into our hotel then headed to fiesta fun to go mini golfing! I usually rock at mini golf, but Heath killed me this time. Afterwards we met up with our friends Tim and Dani and went to eat at the Brick Oven. We ended the night by watching the Jazz game at our hotel. Such a fun day!

Saturday we got up bright and early and headed to my favorite St. George temple to do a session. Talk about breathtaking!

After the temple we headed to sin city... thats right....

LAS VEGAS baby!

We stayed in the nicest place called tahiti village South of the strip. They had a shuttle that ran all day to and from the strip. We had so much fun walking around, gambling, tasting 12 different kinds of pop from around the world at the coke world, shopping, eating, etc. My favorite stores were H & M, and Juicy Couture store! Heath was soo mad when we went into Juicy and they had all these elk heads hanging on the walls with lipstick and jewelry and such on them. Hahaha. That's a hunter for ya!

Valentine's was fun. Since we got back Sunday from our trip we just decided to lay low and have Valentine's dinner right at home. Heath got my flowers and a box of chocolates. We just ate dinner and watched the Bachelor. It was perfect! I love my Valentine!