Made With Love.

I completely forgot to share this little gem. I made it for my cousin's baby and he was only 2 months old when I finally finished it. ha

When Macy and I were born my aunt made something like this for us and my mom made one for my cousins Ashley and Jeffrey. So I thought it would be neat to make one for Ashley's baby. 

It took me quite a while and I probably used it to procrastinate from studying a few to many times but I'm so happy with how it turned out. 

I already love little Chase and I haven't even met him yet. That's changing spring break though! I'm headed out to Cali to meet him and see my cousins! I'm really excited! :) Plus I should get to spend some quality time with Shari as well. It's going to be a great trip!

Weekend recap.

I had another fun weekend in Arkansas. These weekends usually involve a lot of laughter and forgetting that I'm in vet school. :) Here's a peek into the excitement. 

We played a pretty hilarious game of Aaron's twist on pictionary. 

Sabbath afternoon the boys played catch and us girls froze our little fingers off. I wasn't about to try to catch a ball. I'm pretty sure my fingers would have just fallen off but it was fun to watch and chat with the girls.

We went bowling Saturday night. Sooo fun! Lots of pictures were taken while we waited an hour and a half for a lane. Apparently this is how Aaron smiles because I have about 5 of these. Silly boy.

 Apparently Christy is the professional bowler. She beat us all! The first "A" is me and the second one is Aaron. He beat me by one point... but if you could see the first few frames you would see why. I started out terrible. (Actually he should have beat me by a few more but he decided to stare me down during his last bowl after he new he beat me. ha. ha.)

I really had a great time and am having such a hard time getting back in the groove of studying. 

Thanks for entertaining me guys! Let's do it again! :)

(all pictures taken with my iPhone)

2 things.

I love cows (even when they get out of the pasture)...

... and I love Gus. and his long, velvety, soft ears. (even if he smells like a basset hound, drools all over you, and barks to much.)

(Photos taken on our Sabbath afternoon adventure)

oklaHOME

When we walked out of church Sabbath it was abnormally warm for it being January 19th. Not complaining though. Sabbath afternoon Andrew and Elisa decided to go for a walk and I decided to join them. It was so nice to be outside and I always enjoy there company. We walked down the dry creek bed looking for new unexplored (by any of us) places. 

Gus came along.

A "perfect" seat.

This was my favorite spot that we came upon. 

So we rested. We are getting old, don't ya know?

We journeyed back home through the pasture. 

Even if it does seem brown and desolate. I love it. It's home and it's just where I want to be. 

Good or Bad?

Today was... interesting. I would say it was just a bad day but it really wasn't. A few things happened that just make it seem like it was a rough day. ha

1.) I came home for lunch and forgot that I had 2 hours instead of 1, like usual, and decided to make some quick nachos. I needed to go grocery shopping. :) Well I had chips and beans and salsa all spread out on a plate and I dumped cheese on the top... Cheese was super moldy! :( Threw that away and realized I had more time than usual.

2.) I decided to make some pasta. I was making the sauce and was almost finished when I decided to add a little more garlic. Well the garlic doesn't come out very good so I really shook it... about 5 tablespoons of cinnamon came out! All in my sauce! Goodness... I have got to start paying more attention. So I started over. It turned out being quite yummy but good thing I had a little bit of extra time. 

3.) I went to go running around the lake so Cooper could enjoy the nice weather and I could get some exercise. Got to the lake and couldn't find my earphones. Get home and remember to look for them. I had dropped them in the driveway and ran over them when I came back home. I think they are okay but a little thinner. Not sure they will stay in my ears comfortably. ha

See?? Could have been a real whopper but it really wasn't. I can't complain. Unless the shower doesn't come on in a few minutes when I try to take a shower... that's happened before, for no reason. I'll keep you posted.

Thankful this is a 4 day week for me!

Give Me Jesus.

I feel the closest to God when I am playing the piano and singing. Not in front of people but in the comfort of my own home. It's my favorite thing to do on a Friday night. I enjoy getting together with others or just having that time for myself. 

One of my favorite songs is "Give Me Jesus. " So simple but so powerful. 

One of my goals for the new year is to be better about showing people Jesus. I know, something I should be doing anyway. Many times at school I get asked questions about my religion, which is good, but I don't want it to be about my religion I want it to be about my Jesus. Once they get that part down the rest just falls into place. 

Spring 2013 Semester

I had every intention of getting on my soapbox and going on a rant but I decided I need to cool off before I write about it because I honestly don't want to offend people. 

So, instead I'm gonna fill ya in on what my life looks like this semester. I have class at 8 every morning until spring break and then I get 2 days every week that I get to sleep in a bit and have class at 9. Plus I don't have near as much lab time as last semester so I'm pretty excited about that. Lab can really zap my studying energy. I was thinking about how much time I spent in lab last semester and I was just amazed. Every afternoon, way to much! And often it was kind of a waste of time. Anyway, without further ado... my classes for the spring 2013 semester. 

Epidemiology, Food Safety, and Public Health- I'm not sure how I fell about this class. Doesn't seem to difficult yet but it is starting out pretty slow. For the first 6 weeks we are talking about evidence based medicine and as the teacher says "this part of the class is to make you skeptical about everything your teachers tell you, go do your research." I'm kind of a "just tell me how to fix it" person so this can get a bit frustrating. haha

Infectious Diseases II (Virology)- I have a love-hate relationship with this class. I actually enjoy the material and feel like I have already learned so much (second week of class ha) but we already had a quiz and I was reminded why I do not like the professor that teaches it. I had him last spring for immunology... all the feelings came back. I knew that material forwards and backwards and he goes and asks something totally off the wall. So annoying! It's going to be another frustrating fight for a good grade but I do like the material.

Pharmacology II- This class is just... okay. This semester we are learning about antibiotics mainly, along with a few other things in. I think it will be much better than last semester just because the teacher is a little better and more organized. 

Anesthesiology- Not my favorite. I don't feel like it is something I'm going to do a lot of when I get out into practice but I know it is good to learn just in case. Just not my favorite thing. I don't plan on doing a lot of surgery that needs to put a patient completely under. 

Diagnostic Imaging- I don't know how I feel about this class. I think it is really neat but sometimes I feel like you have to have a good imagination to find the problem. haha I will have to get back to you after we have a test. It also comes with a pointless lab so that automatically docks a few points in my book. 

Hemolymphatics/Oncology- I'm a little bit confused about this class so far. It just seems like it should go in third year when we have all our systems courses. So far it has pretty much just been review so not to bad. Plus it only lasts until spring break so that is nice!

Intro to Beef Production- this is an elective that seems like it is going to be pretty interesting. Probably a lot of information I already know but I don't really care. I like cows. :) Plus it's nice to have an easy class.

Small Ruminants- This is also an elective with a really long name. I just call it small ruminants but it basically encompasses everything you need to know about sheep, goats, and llamas. Plus the teacher is a retired veterinarian with all kinds of fun stories! It should be a pretty fun, informative, easy class. 

Zoonotic Diseases- This elective is going to be a lot of review but it will focus more on which diseases are zoonotic and what problems they cause in the human population. We don't really talk about this part in our other courses. I think I will get a lot of good info out of it.

Food Animal Techniques- This elective is only for 5 weeks of the semester but it is basically all lab. We are going to get some hands on experience with cows. I'm super excited about this one! It doesn't start until mid February though. 

That's a total of 21 hours folks... I think I might be crazy. I could knock out an elective but that would just mean I would have to take more next year when we are busy with surgery and such. I think it should be okay though. None of the electives are to terrible and all seem interesting. Plus the core classes seem a bit easier this semester and I'm really working on not getting so behind. :) Plus if this semester goes as fast as the last one, it will be over before I know it! And then.... it's summertime!! 

calving trouble.

Sabbath was a very cold and yucky day! By the time we got out of church and had finished eating it was starting to drizzle. And by the time it got home it was raining/sleeting and was FREEZING! I had thought I would have time after church to get Cheyenne's blanket on her before it started raining but that didn't happen. It was just starting to really rain hard when we got home so I threw on my coveralls over my church clothes and ran to the barn to get the girls in the warm barn and get Cheyenne's blanket on. (She wears it because she can't shed water anymore so, unlike the other two, the water goes right to her skin.)

After I had the girls taken care of I headed back inside to warm up by the fire and take a nap. It was a perfect day for it. Just after I had woken up, Elisa calls me to say they had a cow that was having problems with delivery and I should come over for the excitement! I again threw on my coveralls and headed out the door. 

By the time I got there Luke was shoulder deep in the cow trying to rearrange the calf because she was breach and there was no way the momma was going to deliver on her own. She has already been working at it all day. 

After a few calls to the vet, a lot of blood, and a lot of digging around and pulling, the calf was delivered. She didn't make it but the momma was saved. I think that the umbilical cord probably got caught in the OB chain and probably ruptured. Luke and Andrew tried there best to resuscitate her though, while I relayed messages from the vet, who was on the phone.

By the time we had taken care of the dead calf and given the momma antibiotics it was sleeting and the wind was VERY cold! I went home and unthawed by the fire. We decided to just go to Pizza Hut in Bristow for supper and watch a movie. I think I went to bed at 10 o'clock. I know... I'm such a party animal! 

girlfriends.

Just dropping in to say that I had a great night with my closest girlfriends from vet school! We exchanged Christmas presents and ate supper while the dogs ran around the house. I love having them over and playing hostess. :) It was so nice to just chat and laugh about all the crazies (girls=drama, even in vet school) at school and not be stressed about tests yet. Plus, Cooper gets to play with all his buddies and is worn out for the next week. ha

And somehow they managed to escape with no pictures taken! 

This week seems to be dragging on forever but thank goodness it is almost Friday. Just 4 more hours of class! 

2013... Can't We Be Friends??

One of my goals for this year was to get back into blogging. I really love being able to go back and read about things I got to do and look at pictures. I have a terrible memory and can never remember the little stories and things that happen to me. Blogging is the perfect way to help me remember the little (and big) things.

As you can see we are already a week into the new year and I'm just now posting this, so I'm not off to a great start. ha! Anyway, I'm not going to make excuses! 

Last night poor Cooper got really sick. He threw up 16 times!! I ended up taking him to the emergency room because I didn't think he was ever going to stop vomiting. Every once in awhile he will eat to much, or eat something he shouldn't, and he will throw up but nothing like this. 

Julie was so sweet and came and got us because I didn't think I could drive and keep him from throwing up all over my car. When we got to the emergency room they quickly took him back, ran some tests to make sure he wasn't to dehydrated and by the time they were done and brought him back to the room he looked so much better. They didn't give any medicine, but he sure looked more comfortable. He even ran and jumped on my lap! He wouldn't even move when we left the house, just look at me and whine. Anyway, I opted to just take him back home and watch him instead of doing a bunch of tests. He was so much better when we got home and all he wanted to do was drink water. He hasn't vomited anymore and seems to be back to normal today. I think he had a reaction to the dewormer I gave him. 

That is just a sample of how my year seems to be starting out. I sure hope it starts getting a little better!