Don't mind me if...

I sign my name like this from now on: Katherine Ashcroft, RN, BSN

I passed the NCLEX (!) and now I can officially move onto the next chapter of my life. This chapter will be called "No more school for a little or a long while." It's crazy that I have been in school for 17 years!

I have been hesitant to announce this, for fear of failing the NCLEX (which I thankfully did not!) , but I accepted a job offer a month ago! I will be a "Perioperative Trainee" for six months, then will sign a 2 year contract with Huntsville Hospital and work in one of the OR's there. This means that in July and August, I will learn all about being a circulating nurse in the OR. What's a few more months of "school work" to someone who has been in school for 17 years? Then, I will have an orienting rotation through two of the OR's at Huntsville Hospital. I complete the program in December, and work in an OR thereafter. While I precepted in Labor and Delivery, I really enjoyed the time I spent in the OR. I had never really thought about being an OR nurse until this last semester. I am so very excited to begin working, and to do something that I absolutely love to do! I am also excited to start buying scrubs!

This past Thursday was my 22nd birthday. My family (both Zach's and my side) made it so special! Zach got me a bike! I am looking forward to going to the greenway and riding our bikes together (he got one for his birthday a few months ago). They are also matching! How cute! Then we opened presents with his family (Camille and Nicholas came down, too, and it was very fun to see them!). For dinner, we went to P.F. Chang's with my parents, Aly, and Kent, and our good family friend, Mary, served us. It was a very fun day! Zach and I ended the day by watching a movie. I, of course, fell asleep 30 minutes into it.

The next day, Zach and I went up to the Nashville Temple. I love the spirit and the peacefulness that I feel in the temple; it was a great birthday treat to feel of my Savior's love for me. The Nashville Temple holds a special place in our heart since that is where we got married. Zach took me to The Cheesecake Factory for a late lunch. It was his first time, and I am so glad that he loved it as much as I do! We brought our dessert home and shared it with Carolyn and Bert after going to the pool with them and Nicholas.

I took off the majority of the weekend to just relax before my test. Yesterday, I tried to stay busy in the morning, so that time would pass faster. Time was moving so slow before the NCLEX started at 2. I was out of there at 3:45 after 113 questions, and was just hoping and praying that I passed. It is a computer adaptive test, so it cuts off the test when it is 95% sure that you have passed or failed. It was a hard test for me, and I was kind of bummed when it did not cut me off at 75 questions (the least amount of questions that it could give you.) The computer must have known that I was pretty bad at select all that apply questions because at least 1/3 of my test was select all that apply haha. But all that matters is that I passed, and I am an official Registered Nurse.

I am so glad that I can just relax for the next few weeks before I start my big girl job :)

A Morning in the Life of Katie Ashcroft

4:50 AM: Alarm clock goes off
Zach gets up, turns on the light, turns off the alarm, and gets back in bed
Katie covers her eyes with her arm and returns back to sleep
5:15 AM: Phone alarm goes off
Zach rolls over and asks Katie to scratch and/or tickle his back
Katie scratches his back for 10 seconds, and falls back asleep
5:30 AM: Another phone alarm goes off
Katie says, to heck with sleeping! And checks facebook and CNN for the latest news (oh, how she has always loved checking the news!)
5:40 AM: Yet ANOTHER phone alarm goes off
Zach gets up and gets ready for work
Katie gets up and makes her handsome husband's lunch
6:00 AM: Zach leaves for work
Katie either A) returns to bed for an hour, B) browses facebook, blogs, and news for an hour, or C) starts studying for the NCLEX to get it over with for the day
7:00 AM: Katie eats a breakfast consisting of almond milk, special K berries cereal, and half of a banana. YUM!
7:30 AM: Katie exercises before it gets too hot for the day
8:30 AM: Katie showers and gets ready
9:30 AM: Katie feels like she needs to study some more
12:00 PM: Lunch time!

The end! (What a pointless post, though I do find our amount of alarms humorous)

Comments From Strangers and Other Meddlers

DISCLAIMER: The following is a collection of what I find slightly humorous, yet slightly disturbing. It is not meant to be a complaint, and is not speaking to anyone in particular. In all honesty, it’s pretty much talking about strangers who like to get “all up in someone else’s business”. :) ENJOY!

Lesson #1: If you have something critical to say to a parent, don’t say it and go parent your own kids.

I came across an interesting website the other day with stories about rude comments from people to a mother or father. Most of these unnecessary comments had to do with their raising their children. Yes, we all may have our own opinions when it comes to parenting. I know I already have my own opinions and beliefs when it comes to me and Zach raising children someday. Some of these opinions may have to do with breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding, home births vs. hospital births, starting infants on solids at 4 months vs. initiating baby led weaning and feeding, and homeschooling vs. public education. But, you can raise your own kids that way. No one should just assume that their way is the better way, or push it upon someone else. I don’t have any kids yet, so I know I probably don’t know half of it. But, what I do know is that when I do get pregnant and have children, I will be really bugged about having perfect strangers come up and rub my pregnant belly or tell me to put socks on my baby when its 90 degrees outside! Most of these stories are just plain ridiculous. But, the sad thing is that they are TRUE! However, I do believe there is such a thing as a helpful comment. I am not saying that “Katie knows best,” and I am not talking to my close friends/family. But, when people you don’t know or barely talk to come up and give you unnecessary and critical “advice,” I think that is wrong. Odds are that you are only seeing 5% of the story.
Check out the website: http://www.thatbabylookscold.com/

Lesson #2: Try not to be a meddler in someone else’s marriage

Now that I am graduated and Zach and I have been married almost two years, we are starting to get those comments. You know the ones. The ones that someone should just keep to themselves. For example, “You should start having kids.” Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind getting the nice question, “When do you want kids?” occasionally from family or close friends (don’t worry, blog friends. All of you are privy to asking me this question occasionally). But, please don’t tell us what we should do. Isn’t that between me and my husband and Heavenly Father? Isn’t it up to us to pray about it and receive personal revelation for our family? I just don’t understand why I have to explain myself and my decisions to pretty much perfect strangers. Actually, what bugs me most about this is that what if Zach and I were trying to have children now (we’re not yet… don’t start any rumors J), and we kept being told to have kids and get pregnant, when I was an infertile Myrtle (I hope I’m not)! I guess that’s my fear! So, don’t just assume that each marriage is exactly like yours, there are always variables.

Lesson #3: Understand why Katie has been stressed out studying for her boards lately

A client has had a nasogastric tube connected to low intermittent suction. The client is at risk for which of the following complications?
A. Confusion
B. Muscle Cramping
C. Edema
D. Tremors

Answer below:

(The answer is B. Potassium is lost during nasogastric suctioning, and a sign of hypokalemia is muscle cramping)
Do you feel sorry for me? No? I didn’t think so! :)

Leave a comment if you have a story of a stranger telling you how to parent your child. It still baffles me that someone would do that!

Thoughts and Thanks

THOUGHTS

I graduate in 3 weeks and 2 days with a bachelor's degree in nursing. Recently, I ran into someone that once said something impolite about me always being the last to do something. That's enough to cut anyone's self esteem. I was proud to say that I would be graduating with a college degree in a few weeks. (I hope I wasn't too prideful...)

I become an official Registered Nurse sometime this summer when I pass the NCLEX (and if I pass it the first time, I get a kitty!). I can't wait to sign my name on documentation, Katherine N. Ashcroft, RN. Yes, I am pretty excited to have a title haha.

I am so excited for my sister to get married this summer :) I am looking forward to her coming home for the summer so we can plan her wedding. I have missed her so much this year! I am also looking forward to her fiance coming out to visit.

Yesterday was my last day precepting (interning) in the Labor and Delivery Unit at Huntsville Hospital. After 180 hours/ 15 days, I know for sure that this is what I would love to do for my nursing career. It is such a blessing to see at least one miracle everyday, and I learned so much from the staff and my preceptor. I have enjoyed assisting patients through labor, helping in the OR during C-sections, and the delivery experience, among many other things. I am sad that it's over, but I hope I will someday find a job in L&D.

THANKS

Zach is such a great husband, and I am so thankful for the support he has given me through nursing school. He has helped me to achieve all of my aspirations, and I am so happy that he is always by my side. I love him so much :)

I am so thankful for my parents and his parents living so close by to us. They help us out in so many ways.

For our beautiful house. We are so blessed to be living in a safe neighborhood, in a house that is just the right size for us, and for our excellent neighbors :)

That I am graduating college soon, and will hopefully start working a real, professional job this summer.

That both of my sets of grandparents are coming for my graduation. I love visiting family, and I love when family members visit!

That I have achieved many of my goals in life: graduating high school, going to BYU(even if it was only for a year haha), marrying my husband in the temple, and going to college.

I am thankful that I will be able to be with Zach for eternity. I look forward to our future together.

Thanksgiving 2010

I know I would blog more if I took more pictures, so I will really try my hardest to take more pictures from now on!

Zach's brother and his family came out to Alabama the week before Thanksgiving, and we had a really fun time. We got to see our neice again, and spend time together with Zach's family. It was the first time we had all been together just us and Zach's side of the family. We then celebrated Thanksgiving with Zach's family a few day's early. We are looking forward to doing a family vacation every other year starting this next year! :) I only got a few pictures on my phone, so here are a few cute ones of our neice and nephew.

Then, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Aly was supposed to come home! But, there was a snowstorm in Utah and she wasn't able to fly in until Wednesday night :(. We were so glad when she finally made it home, but sad that we lost a day with her.

A few hours after Aly got home, my aunt and uncle and their three kids arrived from Pennsylvania. We had a fun time with them here, but I was sorry I had to study during their stay here, and not spend as much time with them. We enjoyed soup and Gigi's cupcakes that night in preparation for Thanksgiving the day afterwards.

Zach had to work on Thanksgiving this year, which was a bummer, but he still got to enjoy leftovers of our Thanksgiving meal. After our big meal, we let our stomachs rest until we went over to our friends house for dessert. I think there were at least 10 pies total, and they all were delicious. My dad and me making gravy My dad carving the turkey My cousins and Kent at the table The rest of the family On Friday, I spent the day studying, and played with my nephew and cousin (who are about the same age) with trains and marbleworks. The boys enjoyed watching the Alabama vs. Auburn game. As soon as the game ended, we left for Monaco to watch Harry Potter (Aly took the two smaller cousins to Tangled since she had already seen HP, and LOVED it). Saturday, we got up and got ready to go to Nashville. We arrived at the Opryland Hotel around 2:00, checked into our rooms, and walked around a little bit until our dinner reservations. We ate at the Mexican restaurant in the resort, and really enjoyed the fajitas and homemade guacamole. After dinner, we went to ICE!, which is an exhibit that was based on the classic movie Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. All of the ice sculptures were really neat, and then we got to slide down some ice slides at the end. At the end of the night, we said goodbye to our family from Pennsylvania and Aly, then went to sleep and got to sleep in (I hadn't slept in in a long time, so I was excited for that! haha). Zach and I were really thankful for my parents for invitng us to go on a small, relaxing vacation before my finals week started. We had a lot of fun staying at the Opryland hotel, as we had always wanted to stay there. My dad took Aly to the Nashville airport early in the morning, then once we all woke up and got ready, we decided to try a restaurant called the Loveless Cafe. It was DELICIOUS, and I would gladly go back anyday. It is this southern restaurant in the area of Bellvue in Nashville that is famous for its biscuits. Their "Biscuit Lady" was on Throwdown with Bobby Flay and won against him, that's how good this place is. It used to be a motel, so the restaurant is the center building, but in all the old motel rooms are cute, little shops I browsed while we waited to be seated. After we stuffed ourselves silly with a traditional southern breakfast, we headed home where I began to finish studying for finals. I sure have disliked having finals the week after Thanksgiving the past three years since going to UAH, but, GUESS WHAT?! ... Next Thanksgiving, I won't even be thinking about finals at all while I cook and enjoy my Thanksgiving dinner. YES! Now, that is something to look forward to! Sorry this is 6 months late :) I will try to post Christmas, soon. I have been busy with my last semester of nursing school, and I graduate in about a month!

One Year Anniversary!

This past Sunday, Zach and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary! To celebrate, we bought a couple tickets a few weeks ago, and decided to fly to Utah for a few days to celebrate, see family, and meet our new niece. I am horrible at taking pictures (I only took a couple on my phone, and, thankfully, my brother-in-law took a few others that I will get).

Since we would be gone on our anniversary, we celebrated with our parents and families out here in Alabama the Sunday before our anniversary. We also celebrated Kent's 16th birthday that day. After dinner and presents, we ate the top tier of our wedding cake. It surprisingly still tasted yummy and was still moist, after a year in the freezer!

On Wednesday, we left for Utah. We flew in and out of Huntsville for a relatively good price (gotta love Expedia!), and got to Salt Lake City around dinnertime. We stayed Wednesday night at Zach's grandparent's house and had fun eating dinner and talking with them.

The next day, we got up and got ready for a busy and fun day! To celebrate our anniversary, we really wanted to go to the Salt Lake City Temple. We got to Temple Square, walked around, and went to the visitor's center. A fairly recent addition to one of the visitor's centers is a scale model and replica of the Salt Lake City Temple. It really is a beautiful piece of artwork.

Then, Zach and I went in the Salt Lake Temple for a temple session. It was a very spiritual experience, and was a great way to reverently celebrate our anniversary.



Afterwards, we went to pick up our good friend Shane, then drive down to Provo to visit some friends.

We ate lunch with Shane, and then we (I) went shopping! I got my niece a cute present, and me a cute sweater, earrings, and headband from Nordstrom. And, I got a cute skirt from Down East.

I am literally counting down the days until we get a Nordstrom closer than Atlanta. Nordstrom opens in about one year in Nashville! Yay! And, what's even better, is I will be out of school and hopefully have my own grown-up job :)

After shopping, we stopped into Express to see my friend Stephanie while she was working, and drove to meet Chelsy and officially meet her husband Greg at their house. Courtney was also there so we could catch up! It was like freshman year reunion!

For dinner, Shane, Chelsy, Greg, Zach, and I ate at Tucano's which is a Brazilian steakhouse in Provo. It was delicious, and we were all stuffed afterwards.

We had so much fun visiting with our friends who we hadn't seen in quite some time, and cannot wait to see them again.

On Friday, my brother-in-law (L), sister-in-law (A), and their cute daughter (baby A) came down from Logan, and we got to meet our sweet little niece. She really is very adorable and I am so happy I have one precious niece, and one adorable nephew. That night, we got together for a family dinner with some more of Zach's family, and had fun chatting and catching up for a few hours.

Saturday, Zach and I packed our things, said goodbye to his grandparents, and drove to Logan to spend more time with Zach's brother and his family. I love going to Logan and Hyde Park with Zach because I get to see where he grew up, and Cache Valley is a beautiful valley.




We met L and A for lunch at Cafe Rio (my favorite restaurant in Utah), then went back to their house. They live in Hyde Park, which is a cute little town just north of Logan. I love when Zach drives me past his old house because he point out his old house where he lived for the first 13 years of his life, then points at his aunt and uncle's old house next door, and then his grandparent's old house next door to them. I always thought it would be fun to grow up and live down the road from many family members. Within a few blocks lives other family members, which makes it fun and easy to visit everyone :)

We played with our niece, and talked with L and A, then decided to hit up some sales at the mall. Zach got some nice new polos, and so did L, and we found some cute baby clothes. Here is baby A sleeping in her stroller while we shopped:




For dinner, we went to this excellent Steak and Seafood house in Logan called Hamilton's. If you are ever in Logan, I definately recommend this place. We all enjoyed our meals, and left happy and full. A and baby A then came to the hotel that Zach and I were staying in to go swimming. At 5 months old, she really enjoys the water! And, stayed in for a good 20 minutes even thought it was pretty cold water. Meanwhile, Zach and L watched a UFC fight which they really enjoyed.

Sunday was our first anniversary! We both agreed that this year had gone by really fast, and are both even more happily in love with each other after a year being married. We didn't make it to church, but got up and visited Zach's mom's side of the family, and visited with Zach's grandma. Afterwards, L grilled some food for us once he got home from church, and we enjoyed the beautiful weather outside.

Then, we walked to go see Zach's great grandma Florence. I had the opportunity of meeting her 3 years ago, and we got to see her again. She is the awesome age of 100, and is great at telling stories. We had so much fun visiting with her.

After visiting with L, A, and baby A, we had to say goodbye to A and baby A because they had something to go to. L, Zach, and I went to the Beehive Grill, which was another excellent choice. Afterwards, we went to Zach's cousin's place (actually it's his dad's cousin's son... so would that be 2nd cousin? or 2nd cousin once removed?) to catch up with him and his wife. He and Zach were quite the mischief makers when they were in elementary and middle school! Then we said goodbye to L.

Monday, we drove from Logan to the airport. We stopped at a farm and country store called Smith and Edwards and picked up some candy, then left Utah for home.




It was a fun trip, and we already miss our family out in Utah. And, hope to visit again sometime soon to see those that we didn't get a chance to see!

Spring Break 2010

Zach and I had so much fun on spring break with my family to Mexico! It was a week full of at least 80 degree weather, the sun, the pool, the beach, and family. Also, it was a week full of Aly's 18th birthday celebrations :)

We left town on March 12 after Aly and Kent got out of school, and headed up to Nashville to spend the night near the airport. At the Marriott up there is where we had the first of many celebrations for Aly's birthday. My parents didn't want to bring all of Aly's presents to Mazatlan, so Aly was able to open the majority of her presents 3 days before her actual birthday. We let Aly open her presents and we got some very yummy dessert.

On March 13, we got up at 4:30 in the morning to fly to Mexico. We were so anxious to go and get out of the rainy weather!

Our plane arrived in Mexico in the early afternoon, we met up with my granparents at the airport, then we took the shuttle to our resort on the other side of town.

The lobby is so pretty, and smells amazing. The pictures don't do it justice. My mom and Aly bought the fragrance they use to make the lobby smell so good. It's called African Violet--how exotic!!

After checking in and walking out of the lobby, this is the view that welcomed us:

The view from our room was so beautiful. Our room had a balcony that looked out over the beach, the ocean, and some palm trees. My parent's and grandparent's rooms had bay windows that let tons of natural light into the rooms, and had just as gorgeous views.

The rest of Saturday, we ate lunch poolside, went swimming, and took a walk on the beach.

Sunday was the day with the worst weather. And, compared to thunderstorms, rain, and snow, it was not bad at all--it was just cloudy. We began our day by going to La Puntilla for brunch, authentic mexican food, and fresh fruit.

After stuffing ourselves silly, we went to the mercado (market), and were greeted by the smell of fish and poultry being gutted by the butchers. It is a fun place to go, though! Zach and I bought a marble chess set, so now all Zach has to do is teach me to play chess!

Monday was Aly's birthday!

We lounged in the pools the first part of the day, and drank (virgin) miami vices at the swim up bar. (Notice: me holding up Zach's foot...I'm not sure why...).

My parents got Aly a pretty tropical flower arrangement and a spa gift card for her birthday. The flowers made the room smell so good!

That night, we took the shuttle into town for Aly's birthday dinner.

This is probably our best picture from the trip. We were slackers on taking pictures, and some didn't come out so well, but we were having way too much fun to notice!!!

We went to Pancho's for dinner, and Aly was sung to by a mariachi band.

She was also given the BEST CAKE EVER!

She shared dessert with us. As you can see, when it came to my turn for a bite, I stuffed my face. Actually, the cake was very moist and soft, but when I got a (big) bite with my fork, it fell off my fork, I caught it with my hand, then tried to put it in my mouth.... and missed my mouth... haha.

The rest of the week was spent swimming, lounging, reading, eating, playing nerts, and having fun. One night, we went to Los Zarapes for dinner. The owner does some fun and neat magic tricks, they make their salsa right in front of you as hot as you want it, and there are authentic dancers and singers for entertainment. Notice the salads on our table. When all you have had for your fruits and vegetables for the past few days has been refried beans, avacado, and tomato, it was nice to get some lettuce!

We also had another birthday celebration for Aly, and I enjoyed the best coconut ice cream I have ever had, before we headed back for the night.

While the boys played sports...

The girls painted pottery.

I don't have any "after" pictures of our pottery, but the people in charge of the pottery stand at the resort fixed our mistakes, embellished our painting, and glazed the pottery. Now, I have a pretty plate on display in my kitchen, and my mother in law has a flower pot.

There were lots of animals at the resort. There were wild birds, and birds in big bird cages. There were peacocks both white and colorful.

There were iguanas and flamingos. And, there was the returning gecko. Yes, this little guy returned to the ceiling of our balcony every single night after sunset.

Oh, how I love listening to the waves and falling asleep!

On Thursday, we spent the day at Pueblo Bonito Mazatlan (the sister resort to Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay), and spent time jumping the waves and hanging out on the beach, in the ocean, and at their pool. Zach and Kent had fun joking around together the whole week. I think Kent is glad he has a "brother" now.

Kent and Aly also went jet-skiing on the ocean.

Thursday night, we went to this really good restaurant and had some good seafood and Bananas Flambe. You know the good caramely juices at the bottom of a plate? Well, Zach offered some to my mom and said, "Do you want the rest of this sweet stuff?" My mom took it as, "Do you want the rest of this, Sweet Stuff?" :) Now my mom wants to be called "Sweet Stuff" or "Sweetie" for short when she is a grandma (which is not anytime soon!!). Here is a picture of Aly and I before dinner. My grandma picked some pretty flowers to wear in our hair.

Friday, Zach and I got a couple's massage. Isn't he a sweetie? :) It was the shortest 80 minutes of my life haha. I could have laid there all day! Zach has got me massages before, but this was BY FAR the best. The spa at the resort is so nice as was the gym.

We met up with my grandparent's friends who live in Mazatlan part-time and their daughter and grandkids visiting for spring break for dinner. Afterwards, we had to pack up :(. We left bright and early Saturday morning, and after a few delays and a car ride home, got home around 9:00 PM. I was sad to see we never once got a group shot of everyone on the trip. The adults liked to shy away from the camera. We will have to get one of all 8 of us when my grandparents come visit this week.