Two Weeks Notice

For the record, I don't really enjoy the show Two Weeks Notice. I do like Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock but NOT that show. That's all.

On the other hand, I did put in my two weeks notice to my job. Yeah! I did it! I worked my last shift on Thursday morning! It was quite the emotional rollercoaster for me. I was so relieved, especially after my incident with the emergency room. However, I was really surprised how sad I felt to leave the girls and my co-workers. I can definitely say that I had the best co-workers EVER! It's inevitable when you have such a crazy stressful job that you learn how to laugh and have fun with each other. I definitely did with my co-workers and they are one of the biggest reasons that I was able to stay as long as I did at that job. I also realized how much I genuinely cared about the girls I work with. Yes, they were difficult. Yes, they were annoying. Yes, they were entitled. But they all had good qualities about them that I learned to seek out and enjoy. The job was definitely the most stressful thing I have experienced and it will be good for me to move on but I am grateful that I did have the opportunity to have this job because I learned a lot and grew a lot. It's much easier for me to see how much I gained from this job now that I am not in it dealing with the stress of it.

In the meantime, I am enjoying my time off. My oldest sister came from Lebanon this week to come to my cousin's wedding and as I don't get to see her but once a year or so, I was pretty excited to come down to spend some quality time with her. Also, wish me luck in seeking out a new job and if you have any connections, let me know!

Sleepless Night...

 Showing off some of the places that they had wires attached to me.

In this picture, you can't even see half of them.

 Here's all the stickers that were once on my body.

My cool hospital bracelet!

I have never been to the hospital for myself, let alone an emergency room since I was born in the hospital. I take that back. One time, when I was about 12, I went to the emergency room because my cousin accidentally threw a handful of sand in my eye. But that doesn't really count. So, back to the story. I went to bed Sunday night, putting my alarm on for 5:30am because I was working in the morning. Whenever I work in the morning, I sleep quite poorly the night before. So here I was, going in and out of sleep. I woke up around 1:30am and felt a crushing pain in my chest. I tried to move around to see if it would go away. When it wouldn't, and it started to get worse, I got out of bed and began walking around. It was becoming hard for me to breathe. Joe was now out of bed asking what was wrong. I tried to answer but all I could get out was, "I can't breathe." I kept repeating this and he asked if he should call 911. I didn't know what to say because I had no idea what was going on. It continued to get worse to where I was gasping for air and getting dizzy, sweaty and clammy. Joe then called 911 and explained the situation. They told him to have me lay down. So I sat down on the couch and tried to get myself to calm down. It didn't get any better. At that point, the paramedics had arrived and began taking my vitals and asking me questions. "On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the worst pain you have ever experienced, what is your pain?" I can now say that I understand where Brian Regan is coming from when he says, "Say 8!" If you don't understand this, please educate yourself and follow the link. Anyway, the paramedic who was asking me the questions, Rick, then told me, "Well, I think we'll go for a ride, ok?" Oh, Rick. I began getting shaky and twitchy on the ride there. Rick was literally a lifesaver. He made small talk with me which helped me to feel a little less like I was dying. Once we got to the emergency room, they continued to ask me question after question. The doctor asked if I was usually twitchy. No, no I am not. But I felt a little crazy at that point! They did several tests on my heart, and I had an IV put in me for the first time ever...talk about uncomfortable! Well, after hours of tests that all came back negative, they decided that I was probably having a panic attack. A panic attack! When they told me, I was not surprised at all. I had never experienced a panic attack before, let alone anxiety until I started my job. Since then, I began experiencing anxiety which has continued to get worse the longer I work there, and has now escalated to panic attacks. In any case, this was the first time I've been rushed to the emergency room and the first time that my husband has called 911! While it's a good story to tell, it was one of the scariest moments in my life - and that is not an exaggeration. I am grateful for my Savior in moments like this. It's amazing how amongst the panic, comforting words of the gospel came to my head. I also was amazed at the calmness of my husband. He did so well throughout this whole thing and was by my side the whole time. He didn't even flinch when they put the IV in me - and if you know my husband, you know this is a huge feat! I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for all the tender mercies that came out of this event. And to all of you, my friends and family, who supported me through this. And if you made it through this post, it must have been a more riveting story than I thought.

Bear Lake Excursion

 A view from the loft out the deck to the lake.

 This was the bed that Joe and I got to snuggle real close in.
All the other full size beds were taken once we arrived.

 My gimp husband watching Kung Fu Panda.

 The view from our cabin. Beautiful!

 When Joe and I went to the lake, we saw this gem near the beach we sat on.

 Our tired selves enjoying the calm of the lake.

A view of the bench that Joe and I sat on near the
water and enjoyed the lake.

This last weekend, we rented a cabin with some friends near Bear Lake. It was such a fun weekend and I wish it could have been longer. I had to work Friday night until 12am so once I got off, I picked up Joe and we made our way to the cabin. On Saturday we did a lot of playing games and eating yummy snacks. A bunch of people went down to the lake but as Joe sprained his ankle a few days ago, we opted to stay at the cabin. There was also a hot tub there which we spent some time in. Saturday night, the boys stayed up way late playing the xbox while the girls played dominoes and then watched a movie. Sunday morning, we cleaned up, packed up and left! Joe and I drove to the lake since we didn't do that on Saturday. It was so calm and beautiful. The weather was a little chilly, but the beach was empty. We enjoyed the peacefulness of the lake and the stress-free weekend that the cabin offered us. It was so nice to get away, even if it was less than 48 hours away. Thanks to our friends, the Petersen's, for getting this all together. It was an excellent weekend!

Ragnar Rapture

It's official! I am part of Team Chugga-Chugga for the Wasatch Back in the Ragnar Relay Series. (Don't ask about the name...I didn't choose it.) I cannot tell you how psyched and terrified I am. I was invited to be on the team back in January but it ended up not working out. Because of that, I didn't keep up the running as much as I would if I were training for the Ragnar. I continued to run but only a couple times a week around 15-30 minutes. Now, with just over 2 months to go until the relay, I was invited again because someone else dropped out. This time it actually worked out and I am officially on the team. Unfortunately, I am not in the shape that I should be at this point to be ready for the relay. I am going to have to really get my butt into gear if I want to be in good condition! I am excited though because the last race I ran was a half marathon and it was back in 2009. It's been a long time since I've been a part of the adrenaline flowing phenomenon that is running a race and I can't wait to be a part of it again. This is something that I've been wanting to do so I'm excited to check another thing off my bucket list! Wish me luck on the long (or not long enough) training road ahead of me!