WOW!

So i know it has been almost a year since my last post but so much has happened since and my life is so busy, not to say that no one elses is but once school is over my life will definetly be a lot less stressful but only in a different way. So for the last year I have been working 40 hours a week and taking anywhere from 12 to 16 credits going to nursing school. All I can say is that it is extremely hard and I do not reccomend it, but if you have to do it, it can be done. Some days I wonder what I got myself into, other days I know Im doing what I want to be doing and other days I think I should be in a looney bin with all that is on my plate and all that I deal with. It is not healthy, but is anything we desire and work so hard for easy? Though it is all worth it in the end. So what I want to say is if you have dreams and desires pursue them and don't ever let excuses or money or life get in the way, becuase no matter what happens there will always be those excuses and you just get to trust that Heavenly Father will provide and look out for your best interest and he knows what we can handle and how much. Im so grateful for this opportunity in my life at this moment and more importantly so grateful for my loving family and friends and all of their support through my journey. Thank You! I Love You ALL!

I just wanted to add this picture. Is it not the cutest thing in the world. These 2 are my light and saving grace! I love You Noah and Ali Jae!

Baby Noah

On Sept 10, 2010, my beautiful sister Ashley gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, and they named him Noah Beau Flowers. He was 8 pounds and 3 oz and 20 inches long. He is the apple of my eye and I am so so jealous that my family gets to be with him 24/7. I miss him so much already and its only been 2 days. He deinetley is my "Angel" and holds a special place in my heart. I love you Noah

Nursing School

Oh, I am so excited, so its official, I start nursing school Sept 14. This is something I have wanted for a really long time. I was going through some old journals a couple of months ago and found the journal I got around the time I graduated highschool. As I read it, I realized that my goal right out of highschool was to go to nursing school, I talked so much about it in my journal and how long it would take and what it would take to accomplish that.
Well its amazing to see that my life didn't turn out the way "I" planned it, funny how that is. It has been 9 years since highschool and since I wrote in that journal and not a whole lot of what I visioned at that time in my life has happened. But what I have experienced the last 9 years and the journey I have taken I would not trade for anything. I have learned so much about life and the lessons it has served up have been so perfect for me in each moment. Also If I had done nursing right away I would have never had the opportunity of being a Surgical Tech. Being a surgical tech is such an amazing job, and I am so grateful for that knowledge and the people I have worked with and the friendships I have made along the way.
You know life always turns out "Perfectly" even though at times I don't always know what to expect or what it has to offer. One thing I can always count on is my Heavenly Fathers love and support and I know he never sends me more than I can handle.
He allows trials in our lives, not because they are easy or desired, but because it teaches us to LOVE, and thats why we are here.

New Shoes

I am so so so excited. It has been 2 years now since I have had my road bike and I have never bought shoes for it. Shoes are so expensive too, anywhere from $100 to $300 dollars and so I have just ridden without them. Well this last week I found a pair on ebay for $10.00, I was stoked. They finally came today and I can't wait to get out there and ride. I have been ridding to work this last week and it has been awesome. 7 miles to work and 7 miles home, it will be a lot funner with shoes and clips. Yeah

My First Triathalon

Lissa and Me at the Finish after the race!

Saturday I had the opportunity to compete in my first Triathalon, oh what an experience. I have been wanting to train and do one for several years now, ever since I bought my road bike but the opportunity was never there. Then in Jan a group of people from work decided they were going to train for one in April, I thought I would train with them and compete in April, well that never worked for me.
My friend Lissa and I decided we would do the next one, and that ended up being June 12th. The Triathalon was a sprint triathalon, that meant it was a 300 yard swim, a 12 mile bike ride, and a 5k run (3.1 miles.)
Its hard to find olympic size pools that are 50 yards long, the pool we practiced swimming in was 15 or 20. The week before the race, we went to Golds Gym and swam in their pool, theirs was a little longer than one we had practiced in but nothing compared to the real thing. I guess what you don't know can be a good thing. :)
The morning of the race I was getting my bike all ready to go and checking the tire pressure, when the gold presta valve (the valve that it used to pump the air up in the tire) broke in half letting all my pressure out. I felt awful, I don't know a whole lot about bike tires, but knew this could not be good, and I would not be racing. There is not a bike store open at 5 am and I did not know anyone with a bike I could call and borrow. I called Lissa and told her what happened and she said, "Well if your not racing I'm not either." I told her, "No she has too and I would be there to cheer her on." She called back a few minutes later asking if I had a spare bike tube, I said, "Yes, I have two." She said that Cory, her husband, said that the presta valve is attached to the tube so I would just need to change my tube out and I could still ride. I was excited, I could still compete. YES!
I hurried and put all my stuff in my car, woke my little sister Kyla up, (she was staying with me for the weekend, and my little cheerleader for the race) and we left for the tri.
I changed my bike tire with the assistance of Cory, (Lissa's husband) and Lissa and I went and found a place for our bikes and met up with a co worker named Oscar that was competing with us. We got our racing chips and then went and lined up at the swimming pool. The way the swimming works is they have each individual enter the water every 10 seconds, and they have you line up in the time it will take you to swim. I knew I could swim it in about 8 1/2 minutes and if worse came to worse 10 minutes at the most, but to be safe and not have people kicking me and up in my face I decided to stand with the 12 minute swimmers. Lissa did the same. That was a good and bad idea, good because I didn't feel pressured or pushed during the swim, but it was a bad idea because It meant we were close to the last ones, and there was about 20 people behind us.
So I will not lie the swimming was a lot more challenging than I anticipated or practiced for. It definetly makes a difference swimming in a 50 yard pool as opposed to a 15 or 25 yard pool. But I finished and thats all that matters.

This is at the begining of the swim, I am waiting for them to tell me to start!


This is the last lap, Yeah! I was tired


Finished with the swim! Lissa was right behind me

I got out of the pool with Lissa close behind, and ran over to my bike and started putting my bike shorts and shirt over my wet swimming suit. (Fun, not:)I Put my shoes on and ran out of the bike area. Got on my bike and away I went.


Transition area, I am putting my biking gear on. Lissa is on my left.


Start of the bike ride, Lissa behind me. We are leaving the transistion area.

I had rode the bike route twice before and my best time was 50 minutes, I was not worried about it at all, and it ended up being pretty good. In all the effort that morning to get my front tire ready I forgot about my back tire, so I was a little worried and just trusting that it would be fine.
The first major hill I came to, I was not paying attention to my shifting and what gear I was in and my chain came off, that was a little frustrating. I hurried and put it back on and continued on. I passed Lissa as I was coming back, she had about a mile to go before the turn around and I could tell she was frustrated and tired. She had hurt her wrist very badly at work a few weeks ago and had a brace on, and she also was having bike troubles. I guess her chain had come off twice, and her first bike she had, broke on wednesday before the race, and Cory had gone and bought her a new bike on thursday, so she was still getting used to it. ( I don't reccomend that, but you do what you have to.)
I rode in, in under an hour and put my bike away and started the run. Now I had not really practiced this part. The longest I had gone was 2 miles if that and I have not ran in about 9 months. If worse came to worse I knew I could walk 3 miles so I was not too worried. Well I surprised myself and ran the whole way, it actually felt really really good.

Coming up on the last little bit

I ended up finishing in 1 hour and 59 minutes, which I was super stoked about. My goal was to finish in under 2 hours, so I did it with a minute to spare. :)


The Finish Line. Yes!

Kyla was waiting for me at the finish line like a good little sister would do. (she is the best.)


Kyla and I

This was a great experience and I am excited to train for more. There is a lot to learn from the first, the do's and dont's and I definetly know what I get to do differently the next time.
I am so grateful for my body and for the health I am in, I started getting all emotional right at the very end, with gratitude to my Heavenly Father for the beautiful, amazing body he has blessed me with. Thank YOU!

My Tooth

So it seems like my life never has a dull moment. Which is good because it would be very boring if it didn't but lately I am fed up and have had enough.

I have this tooth that is the size of a baby bicuspid and it should be an adult sized molar, that is located in the very back on the top of my left side. It never formed like it should and has been causing me a lot of hassle, grief and money the last little bit.

In Nov of last year it abcessed and I had to have a root canal which the recovery for that was the most painful experience I have had in a while. Well the tooth was so little that they don't make crowns small enough for that size so the dentist created a temp crown until I could have one specially made. The permanent one cost $1200 (thank goodness for insurance it paid for most of it) and the permanent one was placed the first of Feb.

The middle of April I was eating dried mangos, and after I was finished I ran my tongue along my teeth to get the excess mango off and realized my $1200 crown was gone. I panicked, and started to feel sick. What was I going to do, I didn't have more money to just go get a new one. So I decided I would have to retrieve it however that looked, assuming I had swallowed it. So I quickly went into the bathroom and made myself throw up. I continued that for quite some time until there was nothing left to throw up and there was no tooth. Ohh, this can't be happening, so then I did the unbearable, started checking my poops. I checked my poops for several days and still nothing. I was SICK :(

I went to the dentist and told him what had happened, he was wonderful. He told me not to worry about it and he would take care of it. I said I don't have money to pay for another crown, he said, its ok that he would pay for it. (Awesome)
I had my teeth cleaned and the hygenist notice that my gums around the tooth with the missing crown was swollen,(which is no surprise becuase I swear my left check still looks swollen to this day from the root canal in Nov.) She tooks some x rays and sure enough I had another infection which is only the 3rd this year. I have been on and off anitbiotics since Oct. So back on antibiotics and I reschedule and go back 2 weeks later.

2 weeks later, my gums are still swollen my jaw bone hurts most of the time and the Dr decides its too risky putting the permanent crown back on, which he had remade and attached to a post so he could just glue the post and slide it in and that way the crown would have something to grab to.
While I was there he made up a little temp crown to get me by till I saw the Endodontist,(which is this week.) Well that came off fri in the middle of surgery. I had to have the nurse pull my mask down and I spit it into a cup. What a nightmare.

My question is this? What am I suppose to learn from this?
Why, does this keep coming into my space? Meaning the infections and the never ending tooth issue. I just want to know what I get to learn from it, and learn and then move on.
So is it really just that simple to ask to move on and create the learning and be done?

The Move

So this last weekend I moved from Centerville Utah to the Avenues in Salt Lake. I love love love my new place and it is so convinent and close to everything. I can walk to to grocery store, its only a few minutes from work and I am so Happy! I am still figuring out my room and where I want to put everything, but its coming along and I only have 2 more boxes to unpack. Yeah!
I have 2 roomates named Jessica and Emily, they are both full time students at the U, and are a lot of fun and I feel very blessed to know them and have them in my life.

I am so grateful for my life and the paths I have had the opportunity to take and the lessons I have learned. Most of all the friendships I have had along the way, and the beautiful people in my life that have shown up for me in the most perfect way. Thank You and Namaste!