I'm famous...AGAIN!!!

Well, Medical Solutions has done it again!!!  As I clicked on Facebook today the first thing on my news feed was my own face as the FEATURED TRAVELER OF THE MONTH for my company!!!
My recruiter called today, and we are keeping our eyes peeled for the next perfect job to begin in the middle of Sept.  I ask for prayers, as I really want to be in Kansas City for the next 3 months!!!  After this week, I only have 4 more weeks left in Hays, KS and it has been a different experience then I have had as a traveler!!  Although, I love being able to just jump in car and an hour later I am in my hometown enjoying my family!!!
 I can't believe that summer is almost over!!!  However, I am ready for cooler weather...FALL, WHERE ARE YOU???  Have I mentioned that I am counting down the days until the NFL season starts...10 more days until the kick off of preseason!!!  GO CHIEFS!!!!

Bullet Points...

Wow...it's been a long time since I have updated!!!  The summer seems to have flown by...and I wish time would slow down, but I'm enjoying every last bit of it!!!  There has been a lot going on...so I'm going to hit the highlights with bulletpoints to spare you from run-on sentences!!!

* I have about 6 weeks left of my contract, so I am half way there!!!  Boy, am I ready for this contract to end!!  I love spending time with my family & friends, but this job is less than perfect!  Let's just leave it at that!
* I have a new best friend:  my 8 yr. old cousin!!!  She is my shadow on my days off that I stay at the farm and she is always sitting right next to me telling me every detail of every day that I haven't spent with her!!  The other day I laid my head in her lap while it was story telling time and I got an hour and a half head rub...let me tell you...I WAS IN HEAVEN!!!!
* After a 2 month break, I have taken up my running again.  I quickly reminded myself that I will never take 2 months off again.  It is no fun getting back into shape!  However, I have a new doggie friend that runs with me every day and we have quite the adventures!! Almost getting ran over, chasing pheasants & deer, & avoiding snakes are just a few!
* I attended the Ellis County Fair where my cousin won Grand Champion bucket calf!!!  I got a play by play from my aunt on the steer and hefer shows as I had NO idea what was going on!!!  It was interesting and I learned a lot that night!
*  I referred someone to my company and she signed a contract with my fabulous recruiter and became a travel nurse!!!  So excited that I was able to help both the nurse and my company out with a new adventure!!
* I went to KC last weekend to baby Easton's 1st birthday!!!  She is soooo cute!!  It was great to catch up with my friends while there too!!!  I always have a blast when I am with them...and I found out that Midwest sushi is good too!!!
* There are some days that we have the white leg show around the farm!!  Sometimes they just sneak up and blind you so fast you don't know what hit you!!  I am talking about my uncles white legs!!!!  You can't tell where his sock starts or ends!  He is headed to Vegas next week, so if you are going to be there...BE AWARE, you might wanna put on two pairs of sunglasses if you cross his path!!!  HAHAHA!!!  Since I know he is going to read this...Pat, I just had too!!!! 
* Some exciting family news is that my uncle was appointed ArchBishop of Philadelphia last week!!!  So, I am busy planning a trip to Philly in Sept. with my family!!!  I can't wait for his installation and some time with my family!!!  Hopefully there will be a trip to Rome next summer when he goes to get his pellium from the Pope!!! 
* I'm planning my first baby shower...and after several bridal showers this one is definiately different.  However, I'm loving every minute of it!!  It is bittersweet because I planned/hosted Kendra's bridal shower a couple years ago and now it's time for her baby shower!!!  I love planning parties!!!

Well...that about sums up the highlight of my last month or so since I last updated!!!  I am still looking forward to the birth of my neice or nephew in January...I actually can't wait!!!  I would love to hear updates from my fellow bloggers...hint hint, Jenna Lechner!!! 

ONE YEAR!!!

It's just a few days shy of being one year when I first annouced my first travel assignment in Corpus Christi, TX.  Since then, I have experience so many new things, meet many new people, driven countless miles, and had the time of my life!!!  I can't imagine my career without the experience of being a travel nurse!  I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that I stepped out on a limb and took this chance at life!!  I wouldn't have gotten through it without my family, friends, and fabulous recruiter!  All of whom have kept me sane, made me laugh, listened to my "can you believe this hospital does this?" moments, and just sat on the other end of the phone while I just needed that sense of someone who cares when I'm lonely!  I am excited to continue this career and see where is takes me!  There is always those thoughts of not having a place to call "home", not being in a central location, missing my family and friends that have made me think about quitting this traveling business, however I am trying to make some life decisions, and in those I see at least one more, if not two more assignments in my future.  We'll see what life, love, and the future bring me in the next few months before I make any big decisions!!! 

I'm surviving...

I have survived the first two weeks of my contract in Hays!!  Orientation was like it always is...and I'm beginning to hate that I have to go through orientation every 3 months!!!  This last week I was on the floor learning the in's and out's of a rural/tertiary hospital...let me tell you that is a little different than the big hospitals that I have worked in!!  I was on floor orientation for two days and then they wasted no time to float me the first day on the floor by myself...but I guess someone's gotta do it!!  All in all, it's going great and it felt so good to get my first pay check yesterday in 3 weeks!!! 
I have also survived my first 2 weeks as a farm girl!!  I have offically moved in and taken over my aunt and uncle's upstairs of their house and their DVR!!!  I would have to say that majority of the shows that are now being recorded are mine!!!  My aunt has not failed at keeping me nice 'n plump!!!  She has made the most delicious food and she even makes it for me before I head to work! I love bragging that I got my aunt's famous cheese dip for supper one night, my little sister can't stand that I got it for supper and it's not just a special event cheese dip!!! After talking to my sister about my stay there, she has determined that my aunt takes better care of me than my mom!!!  I have also, been exposed to walking a 4-H bucket calf, going on runs/walks along country roads and seeing all sorts of wild life, toad hunting with my 8 yr. old cousin, having a dog that loves to lick my toes, and becoming closer to this part of my family!!!  I am sure that the next 11 weeks will be even better and I will be exposed to far more farm life than I ever thought I would in my entire life!!!

7+1=8

Our family grew by one more person on June 11th, so now we are a family of 8!!!  Tori (my baby sister) got married to her high school sweetheart!!!  The day was just perfect!!!  As we all look back and discuss the wedding day, and beyond all of the we should have done this and should have done that's, this day was a magical day with great meaning!!  It is a day that our family will always remember, every year that comes around when we are preparing a card or gift for Tori and Darren's anniversary! Of course, like I predicted I shed a few tears during my maid of honor toast, but in the end the night ended in complete fun!!!  Here are a few more pictures of the big day!! 

The only mishap we had on the wedding day was that the limo broke down after we got to Colby and were taking outside pictures!!!  When the ushers got out of the limo and started rocking it like they were going to push it, I was immediately on the phone with my dad!!!  A few short moments later, here came a caravan of wedding guests in their cars to pick up all 20 of us that were on the limo!  It isn't wedding day without at least one mishap, thankfully it was only the limo and we weren't on the highway!!  Now that I have gained another new brother, life seems to be more than perfect!!  Darren is a fabulous new addition to our family and is much loved...sometimes I wonder if my mom loves him more than she does me!! :)  I can't wait to watch these two lovebirds grow in their relationship and expand our family even more!

I'm famous...

The company that I work for (Medical Solutions) has just updated their website...and by doing so they asked several travel nurses/allied heath to submit a photo and answer a few questions about travel nursing...so check out the website and find my claim to fame. www.medicalsolutions.com

Anxiety, Miles, & BABY!!!!

Once again it has been a while since I have updated my blog...I made it back alive from my journey from Delaware....thankfully! This time of the year the Midwest has quite the storms! I got the privilege to drive through one, now I have driven through nasty storms before, but with the thought of the tornados that had hit Missouri and Kansas a few days before I began my journey, I was a little more than concerned! The tornados never crossed my mind until a friend that lives in KC text me to tell me that there were tornados touching down in KC, then I became a little worry wart! However, I did have my very own, personal weather lady back in KC that was watching the doppler for me (Thanks Karisa!!!). Everything was great and the sky was clear until I hit Illinois...and I could see the nasty clouds! I would describe this rainfall as a monsoon, the wind was blowing, it hailed, and I could see the clouds moving....thank god they weren't spinning...I seriousy had an anxiety attack like I have never experienced in my life! Now, I had just told my friends in Delaware that I have never had any anxiety before, and I seriously don't want any anxiety for the rest of my life after experiencing that! I had my hands wrapped around the steering wheel so tight that my knuckles were white when I finally let go, my heart was beating so fast that I swear it was laying on the dash of my car, I was sweating, and my face was so close to the wind shield that my chin was sitting on top of the steering wheel....every car in front of my was pulling off, but I knew that if I would have pulled off and stopped to wait until the storm passed I probably would have ripped the inside of my car up...so I continued through it and finally made it through the storm without a tornado! Thank goodness, I said so many prayers as I was driving through that storm!!

Since that crazy long drive, I have been here, there, and everywhere! I spent an evening in KC with some great friends, back to Oakley for my sister's bridal shower, to Manhattan, KS for my sister's bachelorette party, to Lincoln, NE and spent several days with my sister and her fiancé, to Omaha, NE to meet my nursing recruiter, and finally back to Oakley where I will stay until next Monday when I start my new assignment in Hays, KS!

We have a big week ahead of us with my little sister getting married this weekend! We can't wait to add one more person to our family! My maid of honor speech has already made me cry!

On another note...we were surprised to find out that my older sister is expecting in January 14th, the same day that two of my best friends celebrate their birthday!! It's been 12 years since Nicholas was born so we are all so excited! I can't wait to be an aunt again!