Winter Wonderland

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW

The Shrubbery by our house

They say it was a freak storm and that Vegas has not seen this much snow in decades. However, it is now a comfortable 60 degrees during the day.

Jump Starting

Despite the Christmas pumpkin's we still haven't been much in the Christmas mood. It might be the warm weather or the fact the the leaves have just recently changed color. So we decided that if Christmas would not come to us, then we would go to Christmas. We spent last weekend in Beaver visiting my grandparents. We went and looked at Christmas lights, helped decorate the tree, and went into the mountains and cut down our own tree to take home with us. We even saw snow! It was nice to relax especially since last week was finials week, which went fine. I also some how had time to decorate the whole house, read a book and do almost all of my Christmas shopping. So here is the before and after pictures of the tree.

More Christmas

Let me begin by saying that I LOVE pumpkins. So every October I go and buy the perfect pumpkin. Well this year I didn't carve my pumpkin. So it sat at my house all October long and come November Justin decided that It needed thrown away. So I explained to him that pumpkins are not only Halloween decorations that they are Thanksgiving decorations too. He gave in and the pumpkin was spared. Well come December Justin decided that since Thanksgiving was over, the pumpkins should go. I argued that they are not bad yet and should get to stay. I temporarily won that fight, but decided that I needed to have a back up plan and lo and behold CHRISTMAS PUMPKINS.

Plus these are my newest Christmas decorates, You can thank Jess for taking me to Pier One!

Pictures of Crafts and Chirstmas

Grandmas Christmas Decorates she gave us

These are the first Christmas Ornaments that I have bought since we have been married, I inherited most of my Christmas decorations from my College friends. And the plate is one my Grandma gave us.

This is one of the baby blankets I made, I don't know what I am going to do with it but for now it is going to live at my house so that when babies come over to visit I have a blanket.

New pillows for my couch

And the bed

RENO

We spent the holiday in Reno, it was fun to see all the family. Justin, My Grandparents and I started the trip at 4:00am Thanksgiving morning. We arrived in Reno that morning and spent it talking, playing with the kids and taking naps. We ate Thanksgiving dinner and watched Gilmore Girls. Friday, Michele and I got up early (around seven) and went shopping. I found lots of good stuff, most of it was for me! We all went to Katy's work for dinner that night and then Michele, Katy and I went to see twilight! I liked it just as much the second time. Saturday there was more shopping and Sunday we went to church, finished some sewing projects and did homework. Oh, the guys went golfing while we went shopping. It was nice, somewhat relaxing and a good break from school. I have two weeks left and then the fun will really began.

Birth, death and twilight

It has truly been a crazy week, Last weekend we spent some time in the hospital with Jess, Von and baby Samantha. We are both very taken by her and Justin spent most of sacrament pointing out all the babies that were not as cute as Samantha. He also likes her because she sleeps a lot and doesn’t cry.
But on a more somber note, last Tuesday while I was at the hospital I had my first death. I was very worried how I would respond to having one of my patients die but I feel that I did very well. Then on Thursday, the Chaplin from the hospital came to our class as a guest lecturer to speak about death and dying and asked me to discuss my experience with the whole class. This was much harder and made the day somewhat sad. Well Justin had a hard day at work too, so we decided to have a date night. We started out at the mall, window shopping for Christmas presents. Justin hates window shopping but was a good sport. We then went out to dinner and got appetizers, dinner and a dessert. I had to laugh at the menu because it said “Happiness starts with dessert.” So true. We then spent the next three hours wasting time until 12:15am when we went and saw Twilight. I enjoyed it greatly. We got to be around three, which wasn’t the smartest move, seeing as how I had a test the next morning, but it was very fun and I got an A on the test.
I am very excited to go to Reno, even though we haven’t even started to pack yet. But when we get back I only have two weeks of school left.

We have internet!!!

Now that we have Internet I can post some pictures

This is our new table

This is Miceala's pumpkin that we decorated, she did the nose and the mouth

And this is our new sewing machine

Not having the Internet has been somewhat of a challenge to me. I find myself parked out side of the school at late hours using their wireless connection. I have to have everything done in a fifteen minute intervals because that's how long my laptop battery last.

So the break down,
School is going well, I am very excited that there is less then one month left and very excited for next semester where we get to spend time in the ER, Labor and delivery, Mental health and pediatrics.

We are going to Reno for Thanksgiving and have no plans for Christmas yet, It was suppose to be spent with Justin's Family but they decided to cancel Christmas this year and I might just have to boycott their decision.

I got hit by a guy on a bicycle, and lets just say that it was very traumatic. I had no idea what to do, I was driving through the parking lot at Home Depot and out of nowhere a guy on a bike ran into the side of my car. I was going relatively fast for a parking lot and he skid down the side of my car, and of course I pull over, run out to make sure that I didn't run him over. Embarrassed, the kid (by kid I mean a 14-16 year old on a midget bike) got up, said he was fine and left. I freaked out, it was horrible to here the thud and then look behind you and see a kid rolling on the ground. So I spent the next two hours trying to find the police station to file a report in case the kid ended up needing to be hospitalized, so that I wouldn't be charged with a hit and run. AHH and my car has a nice dent in the side but I guess I would rather have a dent in my car then in my head, which this kid must have because he wasn't wearing a helmet.

So I have two days off this week and am suppose to be doing homework, so I will post again soon.

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Tagged

Tagged

Yes it has taken getting tagged for me to blog again. We are still trying to figure out how to get Internet at our house so I am stuck using the Schools computer. When we do I will post about the house and everything else.

But I have been tagged by Jess, So here are six random facts about me.

1. I love living in Nevada again. Their are many reason why, but here are the random ones. I like having all the restaurants, and I like driving on the roads, their is no snow or ice and they have little rumble strips in between the lanes. I always try to avoid them, it has become sort of a game.

2. I look forward to getting the mail, I always have the mail key with me to make sure that I get to be the one to get it.

3. I love foods that start with the letter "C". Cookie, chocolate, cake, cheese, candy, creme bluet etc.

4. When I am sad, I like to go to Hallmark and read the cards, and often I will laugh out loud, then I will laugh at myself because I look silly.

5. I hate writing and I can not spell, I almost refuse to take hand written notes. I still cant believe that I got a college degree sometimes.

6. I am really excited about becoming a nurse. I like my classes and can pass medications out and give shots now. I threaten Justin that I am going to practice on him.

August Rush

Finally August is here, but I am not sure that I am ready. Here is what is happening in the Gorringe life.

Aug 10-Last day of School, finals
Aug 12-Last day of work for me!
Aug 13- Scarlett's Birth (hopefully)
Aug 15- Wedding
Aug17-23 Moving to Vegas
Aug 26-Start nursing school
Aug 27- Justin's last day of work

and somehow I am suppose to pack everything into categories, things we need now, things for me to take and things to come with Justin whenever he can come, plus pack for a week in Utah (wedding outfits, play with baby stuff and so forth. If anyone wants to help, Please do!

Weekend Fun

This last weekend we spent some time with Justin's Parents, and despite the fact that we live with them, we do not get to spend a lot of time with them. Well Dan, Justin's Dad's work got us ticket to the air show. It was fun watching the planes, they had lots of food and we had fun. After the airshow we went down to Shoshone falls and we saw a beautiful elk, It made Justin and his Dad droll. After a long day in the sun we went and saw the new batman movie. It was a nice weekend and we will miss them when we are gone.

We also had our niece Nikole.

The Blue Angels

Making The Cut

The Cut

Minus


Equals

The House

As of today we should be in escrow. I have been hoping that everything would work out and so far everything is good. Mom and I have even decided that I can start decorating! However, me being me failed to take any pictures of the place but I have complied some pictures of similar houses in the same area so you can get a general idea.

The outside view, It would be the middle garage. Its two car and has an apoxy finish which Justin likes.

The Master bedroom and Bathroom

The Kitchen

The door to the back yard...its tiny but big enough for a table and a BBQ

The Living room

The stair case

Vegas Update

Last week we spent some time in Vegas. We found a townhouse that we really like, so everyone lets cross our fingers and pray that everything works out. I will post pictures as things are finalized. We were also able to spend the weekend with my parents. It was so much fun to have them all to ourselves. We spent Friday showing them the houses we liked. It was good to get their opinion, Mom is so observant and caught a lot of details that I would of never seen without her. We really like our Realtor but it was nice to have someone else's opinion. We also went to the Mirage aquarium. I decided that if we live in the Vegas area we need to go and check out all the attractions so that we know what to tell people when they come and visit.

Shark!!!

Dad petting the Sting Ray

Justin petting the Sting Ray, I touched it to put have no photographic proof!

The Jellies!

Busy busy

This month has been so busy. So here is a quick run down

• I went golfing for the first time, I maxed out on every hole but I managed to hit at least one tree and three of the other balls while on the green. I guess I am good at hitting things


• I went to girls camp, It was absolutely wonderful


• While at girls camp I made up four new verses for "boom-chicka-boom" including twilight style, Napoleon style and my personal favorite Jeff Dunham style.


• Watched a boat capsize on the river.


• And we are heading the Vegas on Tuesday to find jobs/house etc.

Are are a few pics of camp, I need more but I failed as a photographer.

This is the water fall that we found on the hike that I single handily took my girls on.

This is what I look like after camping for three days and I get suckered in to repelling. But hey, whenever you say "I will do it if you do it' you are kinda asking for it, and by the way I rocked the wall.

More Weddings

Here are some pictures of another wedding we went to. Justin was the Best Man. He took his responsibility very seriously. He planed a Bachelor Party, carried the rings and even wore a pretty pink tie! It was nice wedding but unbelievably cold, especially for June.

Justin and I

Justin, Korrie, and Wayland

And Most importantly Justin was in charge of decorating the Truck.

Flowers

Wednesday night about 11pm Justin got a text from one of his best friends. It said the fallowing, "I am getting married tomorrow at 12:45 at the courthouse. Be there at 12:30 if you want to come." So, immediately after we read this. Justin freaked out. I on the other hand decided to be supportive. I didn't know what to say. So, I fell back on my typical response, "well, do you need help with anything." The only thing that they really need was flowers. I offered to help out. My Mom was a florist, I worked at a floral shop, I should be able to help. Being part of the Internet generation I googled "how to make a wedding bouquet" and found a great website. Needless to say this is my first attempt to make a bouquet, but I think it turned out well. I even tried a Boutonniere.
The wedding was interesting, my favorite part was the picture of George Bush in the background.

Making the Rounds

May has been an intersting month. As most of you know I got excepted at Nevada State College. So this has brought on a lot of excitement but also a lot of worring. Now we know what needs done and have to find a way to get it done. So about two weeks ago, Justin and I decited to head to Vegas and see what we could find out. The first leg of our trip took us to Salt Lake. We were able to go to dinner with Michele, Miceala, my Grandpa and Kristi. The next day before heading down to Beaver to see the Carters we went to Costco and Baught "The Host" on CD. This made the drive almost fun. We spent mother's day in Beaver and were excited to see and play with my cousins. Justin loves playing with the Kids, I do not have the energy to keep up with him. We made it to Vegas and were able to spend alittle time with Jess and Von. We joined them and some of there friends for a scavenger hunt in wal-mart. We lost but took some fun pictures.

We spent the next day house hunting for over six hours. We found a good realitor but I didn't find any places that I loved. Oh, and while house hunting we found one of the old casino's was on fire. We called 911 and reported it. We sat for a while and watched it burn. The pyro in me loved it.

We made it back to Idaho in time for Celeste's graduation. She is our neice. It's always a little weird to me that I am closser in age to his neices then to his siblings. I had fun playing volleyball, gitar hero and we even went to the "Progect Graduation" Fairfeilds verion of safe and sober night. The graduating class was 18 people so the party was open to all the high schoolers. And now I am just waiting for the children to get out of school so that I can go to work full time.

THE VEGAS

Its Official I have been excepted into the Nevada State College Accelerated Nursing Program. Which means we are moving to the Vegas. Well the Henderson at least. We are both really excited and will keep you posted on the plans. Class starts Mid August. Now I just have to find the motivation to study for Finals. These are the flowers that Justin Gave me. And the Daffodil that my niece pulled out of the neighbors yard.

Check out my Slide Show!

Thursdays in the Life of a Gorringe

This Thursday played out in an all too familiar way. I ended up waking up that morning and debated on whether to drive to school. School is about 45 miles away and on Thursday one of my classes was cancelled and the other one I could watch online. I decided that it wasn’t worth getting out of bed. Well around three o’clock p.m. I was working on my school work on the computer and I heard Justin’s Voice upstairs I ran up to see him and I found him using crutches and he had a walking boot on his foot. His response was “Oh, Hi Honey, I just spent two hours in the ER. I got ran over by the forklift.” I freaked out and almost started crying. After I made sure he was OK. I got really mad. It is sad that it has become such a common event to go to the ER in my family that he didn’t even think to call me and let me know. He claims that he didn’t want to worry me at school. Well his foot is now a lovely shade of Blue but it is not broken. He has stopped using his crutches and has been working on the truck all day so I assume he is feeling better. I have since forgiven him for not calling but made him promise to call me next time he is admitted to the hospital. Oh, by the way this is the third Work Comp. case he has had in the two and a half years we have been married. I was just glad that it was Thursday and that Grays Anatomy was finially back on.

The Good Life

I have really enjoyed the last few weeks. I am finally done with my online classes which drops my course load from 20 credits to 13. This not only makes my life less stressful but allows me to do more of the things I would like to do. One of the things that I really missed doing, even though I know it sounds corny, is doing house work. I truly believe that this last week has been the first time I have been caught up on laundry, dishes and cleaning it quite some time. Justin has honestly forgotten where things “really” go, he didn’t even think to look for his clothes in the dresser.
Last weekend we went to Salt Lake City. We spent the previous weekend there too, but I ended up having to go down again to take the TEAS test (it’s a test to get into nursing school). I did really well on the test. It was also part two of birthday week (Justin’s birthday). Michele took us out to a lovely birthday dinner where we shared Justin’s special day with the table next to us. We always enjoy spending time with the Michele’s Family and we all enjoyed the birthday brownie.
The only other thing that has been going on here in Burley is that last night I volunteered at an AIDS awareness convention. It was put on by the World Vision Company. It was very moving and I enjoyed volunteering. I spent the night handing out head phones and IPods for the guided tour. I have to admit the reason I signed up is because I got extra credit in my Microbiology class but I have vowed to do more volunteer work. Life is slowing down and now we are in the waiting stage. I sent in my Application for nursing school on Tuesday, all fingers crossed.
Oh and Justin got a promotion at work, which means a little raise but also working some nights. So it looks like I have the bed to myself tonight.

SPING BREAK

These last week was my spring break and in appropriate co-ed form we decided to head somewhere warmer. We decided to take a trip to The Vegas and visit our friends Jess and Von. We then flew to Phoenix to visit some of my favorite people. We spent the first few days with Vince. We walked around a lot, hung out at the pool and ate a lot. The makings of a great vacation. We enjoyed spending time with Vince and I fell in love with his puppy. Her name is Maddie.

For our birthdays Vince took us to the Texas Roadhouse for some yummy food. They made Justin and I sit on the "birthday" saddle and sang to us.

On Wednesday we went to the Mesa Temple and walked through the visitor center and did a session. We also took lots of random pics. This is me hugging the cactus.

The last few days we spent with my best friend from elementary school, Stephanie Rider, who was also celebrating a birthday her mom got giant cup cakes for us all.

We spent Thursday at the Grand Canyon. It was quite some hole. The day was perfect and the views were unforgettable.

The last night we were in Phoenix we went to the Easter Pageant at the temple. We met up with Katie, Brian, Chris, Kira and their baby. It was a blast catching up with everyone. I miss them all already.

We flew to Salt Lake on Saturday and spent my birthday and Easter with the Rands Clan.

Oh and more importantly I got a car. I love it, it is so bold that there is no excuse not to see me coming down the road.