Return to Normal

It appears that after such a long absence, our faithful readership has dwindled under the belief that surely gravity has lost its hold on our mortal frames, and we have "fallen" off the face of the Earth. Or perhaps, our last update was comprised of such an overabundance of words as to overwhelm all but the strongest of readers before reaching its conclusion. If that be the case, then the return of our usual one-week update (and a punctual one at that) will serve as a means of revitalizing each peruser's will to read on. But if not, no matter. . . regardless of readership, the blog must go on.

Monday, September 11
[Jordan] I don't think I have talked much about my return to school this semester. That is probably because, at least in my mind, I still haven't started school yet. This mindset, as you may presume, does not help me much in my scholastic endeavors; I have not missed a test or an assignment yet (although I did, to my chagrin, turn one in late), but I definitely need to make a shift in gears in the very near future. I am enjoying my nursing classes so far, although they already have presented their fair share of busy work. Clinicals are going well; I am especially enjoying the fact that since I have worked as a nurse for a few months in an extremely difficult environment, doing eleven hours of clinicals seems almost like a vacation. I can focus on actual nursing and not feel like a burden to the nurse I am working with. I am starting to (finally) reap the benefits of intentionally choosing a job that requires good time management.

Anyway, today I went to class and then to lab (we talked about NG tubes and first-year nursing skills). Alison picked me up and we went to my parents' house for dinner and FHE. For the lesson, we brainstormed a "top ten list" of ways to invite the Spirit into our homes. It was an edifying experience for us all and perhaps when we are near the piece of paper we wrote it on we will type it up in the blog for your collective benefit. We had pasta Lugano for dinner, settling for thickly sliced fresh bacon after an exhausting (and maddening) search for pancetta. For those of you who did not serve in la Missione Italiana di Milano, the dish is made by mixing cubed and fried pancetta, diced fresh mozzarella, olive oil, halved cherry tomatoes, and a little balsalmic vinegar into cooked and cooled penne. Mediterranean olives are optional.

Tuesday, September 12
[Alison] I ventured out for my first extended, unassisted errands excursion with Isaac. We took a roll of film to Sam's for processing and went to Harmon's for groceries before heading to Albertson's to pick up some sale items, which were out of stock and made it rather pointless to get Isaac out of the car for "one last stop." We got home at about the same time that Jordan finished clinicals (he was in the OR which he enjoyed, but wished they would have let him watch one of the total knee surgeries) and proceeded to make a pre-planned, homecooked meal. I'm sure many of you understand how exciting this truly is. Making dinner is much more entertaining when one knows what is going to be made before one gets hungry. I proceeded to make a big batch of meatballs (we froze most of them for later use . . . we'll see how it works out) while Jordan prepared a red sauce, both of which were subsequently put on top of spaghetti and covered with cheese.

Wednesday, September 13
It turns out that typing a blog update in Word and pasting it into the blogger dashboard isn't as simple a process as Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V. It just so happens that one of the two programs likes to add all sorts of random html coding. So, as I finished the last remaining bag of laundry from our "vacation," I slaved over our blog update trying to make it all look the same. I deleted all of the erroneous coding and published, but lo, a new tag would be added which would need to be deleted. Jordan joined me after work and we were finally able to get our post published with the appropriate font size and type. That will teach me to try writing our update a bit at a time! Fixing the format took just as long as the composition (so, not literally, but it sure felt that way).

Thursday, September 14
It happened as Isaac and I were playing on the floor. I bent down and playfully kissed his adorable belly, when I heard it. Clear as a bell, I heard it. But could it be true? I bounced another kiss off and there it was again. A laugh! A real, genuine, unmistakable laugh! Wanting to immediately share this new element of interactability with Jordan, I rushed for my cell phone and called him in the middle of work. Of course, as I tried to have Isaac replicate that glorious noise for his daddy, he would have nothing of it. He did, however, make some amusing squeals of delight. His adorability quotient certainly increases daily.

Not nearly as exciting, but also of note, we had a glorious downpour today. Isaac and I bundled up and went outside to watch and listen (from the covered protection of our balcony, of course). He quietly listened as the wind swept waves of rain across the covered parking awning. The air had the crisp smell of approaching snow and campfire smoke. Unhappily, the smoke turned out to be a full-blown forest fire, but the rain helped to get it under control.

Friday, September 15
Both expecting to be husbandless and being unaware of the forecast, my sister and I had decided to go to the State Fair. As Thursday's rain continued into Friday and temperatures continued to drop, we decided that was a less than appealing entertainment option. Also, unbeknownst to me, Jordan had decided not to take half of his co-workers shift, but instead maintain the day-off and spend it in the pursuit of happiness. This, of course, involved whiling away the hours with his loving wife and adorable son . . . after his work meeting and test were out of the way. Emily joined us for an afternoon showing of Cars at the Kaysville Theater. In true Pixar fashion, it was thoroughly entertaining and original. For any who haven't seen it, I would definitely recommend it.

After the show, we all went up to the Johnsen^' house for dinner. Isaac had assisted his grandma in making a delicious Chicken Pot Pie. With a little encouragement from his Auntie Em's tickling fingers, he treated us to a little after-dinner show and delighted the entire company with fits of giggles. Good times were had by all.

Saturday, September 16
Sometime during Isaac's morning nap (for which, prompted by the frigid apartment, I was obliged to join him) Jordan called to say that the BYU game was on if I wanted to listen to it. So, Isaac and I put on our Cougar Blue and tuned the radio to KSL. Now, having first-hand experience, I can say that listening to a football game on the radio is not nearly as entertaining as watching it on TV and both are incomparable to being in the stadium. However, it did make for good "background" while I bathed Isaac and fixed frog-eye salad for our ward party. Despite the disappointing finish (BYU lost by a touchdown in double overtime), the game was fairly well played and fun to listen to.

At five o'clock, Isaac and I went over to our church building for the ward party. It made me painfully aware of how few people in the ward I really know. I think it would have been slightly less awkward if Jordan had been able to join me, but as it was my introverted ways kept me from doing much socializing. Isaac was tired enough to fall asleep sitting in my lap while I ate dinner, so we didn't stay for very long. Instead, we headed for home in anticipation of my parents' promised visit. We watched one of my dad's latest shows (a family folk band) which was really quite enjoyable. Jordan arrived home from work just in time to join us for an episode of Monk (lobby lobby lobby...) before my parents left for the night.

[Jordan] After having driven to work through the (!) snow, I was excited to find that I would have the opportunity to do a sterile dressing change for a stage IV coccygeal pressure ulcer (exposed bone, as the reader would presume, is my friend). I haven't gotten to do a sterile change since nursing school last semester and I find much satisfaction in doing things which take technical skill, especially since it seems like all I do sometimes is pass pills (which any monkey can do, albeit with several med errors). Yes, I thought as I set up my sterile field, THIS is why I decided to become a nurse. Incidentally, I am thinking of specializing in wound care at a later date since I figure I have a comparative advantage in tolerating yucky wounds.

Sunday, September 17
We found out a couple weeks ago (as you may recall reading in our last update) that we would be speaking in church this week on the topic of keeping the Spirit with us. Naturally, we approached the assignment without any apprehension whatsoever, and were both prepared in all respects over a week ago. The morning was spent in mere peaceful reflection. When I awoke Sunday morning from this beautiful dream, I still had preparing to do (as did my stressed-out wife [despite having tried to prepare for three weeks - A]), and as we arrived at church we were feeling our old friend Anxiety Over Public Speaking asserting his influence (I think he punched me in the stomach). I can't exactly speak for my wife (or she would have had me do it...cha-ching!), but I just sort of got up and blabbed for a while and then sat down again. We both received compliments on our talks, so either they went all right or all the people who didn't like them were late returning with their pitchforks and torches and missed our exit. Incidentally, I would be more than happy to expound to any interested parties on the role of the Holy Ghost in our progression. It's my new favorite topic...what fun!

After church we ate some stuff.

Tune in next week for the next installment of our blog. Hopefully, we won't be plagued by the terrible "network lag" that prevented our last post from being published for almost an entire month despite its punctual completion and submission. We appreciate your readership and interest in our lives, and would be happy to treat each commenting reader to a homemade cookie* (what more motivation to set up an account could one possibly need?).




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