Thursday, July 15, 2010

I'm a nurse!

Right after getting back from my trip to California, I found out I got a job at Primary Children's Medical Center! I had interviewed there right before leaving but wasn't sure how it went. Most of the applicants in my group interview had either worked there as a tech before or had done their capstone internships there. I had done neither so I felt super blessed to even get an interview. When I got the phone call with a job offer, I was ecstatic.

Trisha was a pal and took me out to celebrate my first real job!

When I was little I would tell my parents I was going to be a professional baby holder. My mom informed me that profession was called being a mother and I wouldn't get paid. Well, I'm just about as close to a baby holder as I can get! I feel really lucky to have gotten a job and especially lucky to be working at such a special hospital. It is one of the most colorful and happiest hospitals I have ever been in.


The final step to my journey of nursing school was passing the NCLEX. I did practice questions and flashcards everyday from April to June until my mind couldn't take it anymore. June 17th I took the test. It was pretty rough. Most of the time I felt like I had no idea what the questions were even asking. I got to my 75th question and the computer shut off! A few days later I looked up on the Utah DOPL website and searched my name. I was so relieved to see "Allison Joyce Holt: Registered Nurse". Here is the screenshot to prove it if anyone is skeptical....

So it's a done deal! I even passed the drug screening. I will be working at the Children's Medical Unit so my patients will be two to eighteen years-old. I love working with children and their families. Learning "the Healer's art" at BYU was incredible and I am so excited to finally do so as a real, live nurse!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Random trip home in May....


So I went home in May for no apparent reason. It was a decent trip. Nothing too big to report.

Boating at Folsom

A bridal shower for Sonya

Mother's Day


Took a casual trip to the airport


Then ran into this old friend...



Okay so the trip was a really big deal. I was a nervous wreck but it was so fun to see my best friend again. Life is good. :)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Always a Cougar.....

Because the last post was so wordy, I'll keep it short with this one.

I graduated. It was good. We took lots of pictures.

Here is a sample of the many pictures.


The "Sweet Sixteen"- My bffs from nursing school

Obvy I had to take a jumping pic (please notice the high heels)

Sistas

Daddy. My academic moral support. Love him.

So fun to graduate with Sonya! That was a little perk of setting up your brother with your nursing school friends....
They're now married!


Three poses with the cougar was plenty.


I started getting restless and pictures like the following resulted:
Mom and Kimber weren't too happy but they giggled. Yay for graduating and pictures.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

How to run a triathlon for idiots (because I was one)

Bree (the pro) and her amateur roomies


So my lovely roommate, Bree, works at a residential treatment center for teenage boys. Part of their focus in treatment includes training for and doing triathlons. Their treatment center, Telos, even puts one on! Last fall, the girls split up and each did a leg. Then this spring Trish said she was going to do it all on her own. Naturally, I had to do it with her. With minimal training and no experience, we had quite an adventure. In hopes that no other amateur triathlete will make the same mistakes we did, I include the following advice:

1. Register for the triathlon before the day of. So unfortunately registering slipped my mind until 12:30 on the day online registration closed. I thought the extra $15 fee to register the day of was lame. Little did I know I would get four hours of sleep the night before, arrive 30 minutes before the start of the race, find out they didn't accept credit cards, sprint to my car, speed over to a bunch of broken ATMs, buy a pack of Mentos at Target just to get $40 cash back, and borrow three bucks from Bree just to register. I was having a panic attack before the race even started. Hence my next advice....
2. Get more than four hours of sleep the night before.
3. Arrive more than 30 minutes before the race.
4. If you don't follow #1, bring some form of payment other than a credit card.
5. Bring a helmet. That's right. Trish and I failed to bring helmets to a triathlon. I do not own a bike helmet, only a ski helmet. Being ever so fashion-conscious, Trish and I decided the ski helmet would be much too embarrassing and tacky. Sweet Trish said she would leave hers at home, so I would not be the only one without a helmet. Bad, bad idea. So after the registration fiasco was figured out, an official kindly informed us we could not ride with out helmets. Trish and I started the run not knowing if we would actually be able to ride. But luckily, we have an awesome friend, Zach, who found us helmets and handed them to us as we ran in. Close call!
6. Don't use a hybrid bike you received for Christmas as a preteen. I'd like to think Trish and I were doing pretty good after the run. But as soon as we jumped on our rusty hybrid bikes, we were in toast. The bluish-purple dandy I received for Christmas when I was thirteen is great for riding around the Weddington Circle, but not much for a triathlon. While others sped past on their fancy road bikes, Trish and I struggled to say the least. By the time we got in the pool, we had fallen so far back in the pack I had to swim with a bunch of old men. No bueno.
7. Learn to swim. Unfortunately I only lasted through one season of swim team as a child. Most meets were spent standing stubbornly on the starting block and whining to my parents that it was "too cold!!!". So my swimming skills are definitely subpar. While attempting not to drown, I managed to kick the aforementioned old men a few times. Because the swim portion took place in a pool, the elderly competitors decided just to wade through the shallow end. I don't blame them, but them walking through the lanes while I'm clumsily making motions resembling breast stroke is not a good combination.
8. Wear an ugly Speedo swimsuit. So this is totally against my fashion taste, but I would advise you to wear a less-than-flattering Speedo one piece. I did not own one and was forced to wear a cute black swimsuit. Unfortunately it is a halter so my little straps were poking out behind my neck tied it a little bow. If anyone was confused whether I was an amateur, the bow was a dead giveaway. Also, running in a halter swimsuit was not fun.
9. Train. So I went running a few times and went on an afternoon bike ride one day with Trish, but I'd hardly call that "training". I don't know what training for a triathlon would entail because I didn't do it, but I bet that would have been beneficial.


I can't believe I was such an idiot or that I lived to tell the tale. I think I made almost every rookie mistake possible. But now that you're ready to do a triathlon, how about some pictures!

Trish and I after I survived the swim

Zach our helmet hero!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Spring Updates

I always have good intentions of updating the blog but alas, it rarely happens. Now that's we're well into summer I've decided to post some updates. To be honest, this spring was pretty darn exciting so these updates will be worth reading. Well, at least it was all exciting to me so I hope it's at least semi-exciting to you.


Here's a teaser to start.....


Booyah. I bet you're gonna read those updates now, huh?