Happy Birthday Dad!

You're the best dad EVER and I hope you enjoy your special day!

2011 Baby!

I know this is a little late but Happy New Year! I am very excited for 2011 for lots of reasons, but mainly because it is my last year of nursing school. This semester is going to be a little scary, however, because it is suppose to be the hardest of all. I am a taking Med/Surg II, Women’s Health, and Pediatrics. We have 96 hours of clinicals and tests every week, sometimes twice a week. If I can make it through this, I think I can make it through anything.
This year also marks the BIG 3-0! January 12th was the day of doom, but it turned out to be like any other day. Oh, except for the fact that I was in Germany eating bratwurst! Woop, Woop! Yes, for 2.5 weeks I was visiting Matthew, Stephanie, and Co in Germany. It was so nice to have a break from New Mexico. It was great to see so much of the countryside there. I think that is my favorite part of Germany just seeing all the little towns and driving on the country roads. Also, Stephanie and I went to Spain for 2.5 days! I don’t think I could ever thank her enough for taking me. Valencia is such a beautiful city and I think it was even more beautiful at night. I will try my best to post pictures of my travels, but it will take time considering all the studying I have to do. Thanks again Matthew and Stephanie!
Hope everyone has a great New Year!

Fall 2010 Review...

…And so this marks the end of my second semester of nursing school. My last exam was on Dec 14 and I am officially half way done. It is so crazy to think that this time next year I will have my ASN and will be stressing over state boards. With any luck all will go well.
This semester went pretty well. I finally got to do clinicals in a hospital (first semester we have clinicals in a long term care facility). It was so great to be in that setting and to get to see in person so much I had read about. Along with meg/surg I had mental health and OR clinicals.
Mental health clincals were in Albuquerque at the UNM Hospital. A fellow student and I got to interview a young man with schizophrenia and a girl major depressive disorder. It was so interesting to interview a person in a acute care setting with schizophrenia who sincerely believes in the hallucinations they are experiencing. That was the first night we were there and I must say when we were locked in the unit it was scary. The setting made me feel like I was in prison.
The second day I was in a long term unit for kids ranging in ages from 13-18. I got to sit in on their goals meeting and listen to then give each other encouragement and constructive criticism. After the meeting I was talking to some of the kids as they stood in line waiting to get to go out to the basketball court when one boy asked me if I worked at the adult unit. I told him no and that I was just a student and I was only there last night to observe. They asked what it was like over there and I told them that they have very little privileges there, they could not even go outside. Upon hearing this, the boys were shocked and one stated that he would go crazy if he could not go outside. I found this a little ironic considering where he was and could not help but chuckle.
The sad part was when I finally got to read their charts and found out what they had done and all the crap that had been done to them. In the adult unit the patients suffered from real mental disorders. These children did not. They were the victims of all sorts of abuse and as a result suffered from depression and PTSD. It made me so mad to realize that if these children had been born into a different family/situation they would have turned out fine.
During the first part of December I was finally in the OR. In a previous post I told a bit about it and the lovely needles that I saw rammed into a woman’s pelvis. I must say though it was so much fun to start an IV.
One thing I have learned about myself is that I LOVE needles; giving shots, drawing blood, and starting IVs. One of my classmates joked that I must love hurting people, but really I think it’s cool that I can do it in the first place. I did not grow up wanting to be a nurse, it just kind of fell into my lap. When I am learning these skills it’s so surreal and I think “I can’t believe I know how to do this.”
So now I am half way done and I have to say that is even more surreal than anything else. It was a crazy semester, but I made it through and am continuing to learn.
As I said before my last test was on Dec 14, but my break did not technically start until today ( at least that’s the way it feels). As soon as school ended I started to work full time again at Cracker Barrel, I still enjoy it, but man the Christmas rush has been so nuts.
To celebrate the “start” of my Christmas break I tool Harker and Hyrum out to breakfast today. It is always fun to sit and talk with them. Then we went to Wal-mart and I let them pick out a toy. Tomorrow night the fun continues with Natalie coming for a sleepover. Disney movies and Happy Meals are on the agenda as usual.
On Christmas Eve I have to work for a few hours then I will be off to party with the Mangums and the Maynerichs. Then on Monday I am off to ABQ and Tuesday morning I will be on my flight to Germany to visit Matthew and Stephanie! I am so excited! I will be there for New Years and my 30th birthday. Although, I have to say I am not too thrilled about the latter. I will try to make the best of it with my travels. Europe is always a great cure-all!

(The pic is of me and my friend Erica during OR clinicals)

Showed up at my sister's house to find this...

What is the world coming to?!
Poor Nathan. hahaha!

OR Clinicals

I was in the OR for clinicals the past two days. I got to take a shot at starting an IV for the first time and to my surprise I did it! It was so easy and I was on a high until my second attempt on another patient failed. Oh well, the nurse with me told me not to let it get me down because even a practiced nurse will miss every once in a while.
That was yesterday, and today I got to see a cystocele (prolasped bladder) repair. It was painful to watch, but not as bad as when they surgically placed a sling inside of her to hold up her urethra. They jabbed these spirally needles into her groin and through an incision attached the sling to each needle, then pulling the needled out of either side made the sling taught. The sling will stay in her and the tissue will bind with it.
Very hard to watch this happen to a fellow female and I could not help but clinch my legs with every cut, jab, and suture.



This is a picture of the slings and insertion needles used. Now imagine these needles jabbed and twisted into your groin!

Happy 40th Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Thanksgiving Decor

One thing I have always disliked about the holiday season is that it seems to go from Halloween then straight to Christmas. Hello!? Thanksgiving! Well, I finally found a decent Thanksgiving piece. My little pilgrim nutcracker!
(made in China of course)

The Army: A Westhoff Family Tradition

Happy Veterans Day! Thank you for your service!


TSGT John Kenneth Westhoff


Major John and LTC Neva Westhoff


Maj John Westhoff


Capt Matthew Westhoff

Post-Halloween Sales!

OK, here is my last "discount" post for a while. I just can't get over the savings. So I went back to CB and bought some great stuff on sale and even ran into a co-worker who let me use her discount which is even more than mine. If none of this stuff was on sale I would have spent $203 (plus tax), with everything on sale it would have been $90, but I only paid $60!!!!!! I LOVE discounts! Oh, and this dog I got would have been $40, but was only $8! Cute!

Party at the Mangums!

Tonight I got to help Rachael and Brad host a Halloween party for the kids and some of their friends. I LOVE Halloween!


I have always wanted to order a costume and this year I finally splurged! I decided to take advantage of my current hair style and be Snow White!


The kids looked great of course!


The manly pirate and ninja did not mind being seen with a princess.


The Princesses!


The party bunch!


Nathan trying to eat his donut as fast as he can!


I always knew pirates loved M&Ms!


Hyrum getting mummified.


Natalie getting mummified.