No-Shave November

It's that time again. Time for all the college aged men to see how much facial hair they can grow in a month. Have you ever heard of No-Shave November? I only heard about it in college but Justin has decided to do that this time around. I think last year he forgot until it was already halfway done. But he has been dutifully NOT shaving all month long and at halfway this is what he's got.

His hair pattern is really funny. Where you see it is where it goes. That is no shaping or tweaking. I especially love the part on his chin, nothing is growing right there. =) It is mostly on his neck which we lovingly call  " his neard."

I do however make him shave his mustache. It just get way to pokey to kiss and it doesn't connect to the rest so it just looks funny. By now the rest of his facial hair is long enough that it's soft so I don't mind it. I think it makes him look manly. =)

I jokingly said that I would join and not shave my legs for the month of November. That however you don't get a picture of, cause that's just gross. hehe =)

He's so cute. 

Bittersweet

So I have been thinking about this all night at work. My newest patient is now on Hospice care. For those who don't know what that is, it basically is care to die at home. My patient is 7 months old. To give a little background on my patient. During or right before birth the mom had I think her placenta abrupt. That is a VERY bad thing to have happen. Not only did my patient suffer injuries from that but the cord was also looped around a couple of times.

So the results of this unfortunate accident was that my patient has no gag or swallow reflex, so that meant either a tube down the nose or implanted in the stomach to get food. That also meant that the normal saliva that builds up in our months just sits there and either drains back down into lungs or gets suctioned out. My patient also has very spastic and tight muscles and is very developmentally delayed.

As you can see the prognosis for this patient was not very good from the beginning. My first look at my patient and I knew that they would need care all their life. My patient has been in and out of the hospital with respiratory problems and having too much junk in the lungs. I guess last week my patient had a really bad seizure and was life flighted to Primary Children's. At this time they decided to sign a DNR ( DO not Resuscitate).

Now I cannot begin to imagine the sorrow that they are feeling that the death of their child is of their own doing. I so desperately wanted to share a comforting message of the Plan of Salvation but knew that I would get into major trouble at work.  I know that each culture handles death differently ( thank you nursing school), and you can see that for some of the family that was there they understood and were ok and others kept hoping for a miracle.

So along with this process and current family situations I have been thinking a lot about families and the plan of salvation. I am so grateful for it. I know that losing anybody is heartbreaking but the knowledge that you may be able to see them again seems to lessen the blow a little bit. I was also thinking just how ingenious the whole plan is. Who do you love the most? Family, parents, spouse, children, siblings. They truly are the most important relationships here on this earth. What a comfort it is to me to know that I can and will be with my family forever! Not only my siblings whom I love so dearly but the family that Justin and I will have. It makes my heart just burst with happiness. =)

My little patient might not have much longer but I know that they are Child of God and that they came here for a purpose. If anything to teach me to love my patients more and be attentive to their needs.

Halloween Happenings

We've been having some fun Halloween activities this year. We went to our ward Trunk or Treat to see the kids in our Primary. That was fun, they had some cute costumes and kept trying to come back for more candy. Then we carved pumpkins with the Messengers. It was actually a lot of fun because we had really good tools. I even got a little drill tool for Justin. He gets excited about the funniest things. 

Jinni made a big ole' hole that just about fit our heads. =)

Justin hard at work with his drill. 

My Vampire face is actually working! I can never get my pumpkins to look this good. I am totally sold on the tools we got.

Jinni's final carving.

Jyana working on her flower pumpkin. It was a perfect shape for a flower.

Ben's Jack King of the Pumpkins from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

He is so skilled he just looked at the picture and drew it out. I needed a stencil. =)

Justin's Hulk on the left and my Vampire on the right.

Jyana's flower on the left and Ben's Jack on the right. They look even cooler all lit up.

Cecilia's carved by Justin( hehe) on the left and Jinni's Ghosts on the right.

Grandma and Grandpa wanted a picture.

Then it was time to celebrate this lovely lady's birthday. She is so old, 17! What she was most excited for was Dinosaur fabric to make blanket or pajama pants. She loves Dinosaurs.

And, She's just cute. Love that chubbers 

Yum....that is some delicious cake. 

Happy Halloween!

The Maze Runner series

Have you guys heard of this series? It's called the Maze Runner by James Dashner and it's pretty good. I have had to be on the waiting list at the library for the first and second one for a good while before I got them. They are that popular.  I THOUGHT that the newest and final book wasn't going to come out till December. I thought "oh that's okay by the time I get the second one it will be close to that time." Come to find out that it came out last week! and I just finished the second one. I am wanting it but am unfortunately hold #150 out of 268. So I may not even get it till December anyways. =)

So these books are actually pretty cool. They are a little bit like Hunger Games in the sense that's it's this futuristic type scenario and it's a bit gory at places. But you end up being a little more sad about the deaths because you grow to like the people more, and they aren't "supposed" to die like in the Hunger Games.

In the first one it starts with a guy named Thomas coming into the Glade as they call it with all boys and  his memory wiped with  no idea about anything. They teach him the ways of the Glade and he tries to understand it. Then the next day a GIRL comes and brings a message " The end is coming." Everyone freaks out because a girl has never come before and the adventure begins.

This is the second one in the series and honestly a bit more scary then the first. The first is more of a mystery while this one was just creepy. These people have this disease called the "Flare" That supposedly turns you slowly insane. Let's just say I didn't read this one alone at work. You learn more about the trials and what is going on. I read this one super fast, I had to know how it was going to end.

Now the last one. Once I found out that it was already out I had to go and check it out online. After work I came home and read the first 3 chapters from the online excerpt that they had. It's going to be madness! The mysteries and anger that you feel for the WICKED people is all coming to surface now and all our questions will be answered. 

So if you liked Hunger Games you might like this series. One thing that was slightly annoying was that they had  made up slang words but they were very close to the real slang/swear words so sometimes my brain would just read the other words, whoops. But it is a bunch of teenager boys so there ya go.

If you like mystery, action and some drama check it out. For more information go to: www.jamesdashner.com

Booties, Beanies, and Babies.

There have been a lot of people I know who have either had their baby or are going to have one soon. It has been fun trying out different beanie and little bootie patterns. 

Go BYU! or Aggie's, whichever.

This one I think is my favorite. It was so soft and the colors look so nice.

These turned out super cute. It's kind of hard to see but near the top it gets all lacy. This pattern would be super cute for some blessing booties.

I made some pretty sweet boy looking booties but I can't find their pictures. They were tan with some leather ties, you can't have ribbon on boy's booties. =) 

Now almost all the babies are here and I am out of projects again. Anybody know of any babies that need a hat or booties?

Jyana and Ben

Last Sunday on October 9,2011 Jyana and Ben got married.

It was a beautiful ceremony right at what I like to call " golden hour" with the sun.

They got married outside on Fort Douglas up at the University of Utah in a cool Gazebo type place.

I was having lots of Gilmore Girls flash backs and kept thinking of the fun times they had in their gazebo. =) 

The first picture is from the Genius of Jyana. She got the idea and then got us all to make it happen.

Isn't it so cool?! It's a bunch of paper squares strung on string , then on a hoop.They suspended it from the ceiling of the gazebo.It caught the light and blew in the breeze to make it very picturesque.

Grandma and Grandpa Michilena waiting for the ceremony to start with Ali and Lourdes in the back. ( Justin's aunts.)

Grandma and Grandpa Messenger. This is the first time that Grandpa has ever been in a tux! He looked pretty good too!

Here they come! Jourdan first.

Jyana's Best friend since forever as the Maid of Honor.

The cute little flowers girls and ring bearers. I loved their puffy dresses.

Here comes the Bride!

A little bit closer!

Jyana looked absolutely beautiful and just glowed the whole day. 

Ok, so I love this picture. This is Ben's face as Jyana came toward him. It is so sweet and made me the most teary. I love the bit from 27 dresses about how the Groom's face is the main character's favorite part of the wedding and I have to agree. I was working to get that moment captured. So sweet. 

Getting the ceremony started. Funny side note, Ben is over 6 feet tall, like well over and Jyana is barely over 5ft. So she brought a stool to stand on so that they could be more level. I am bummed that I didn't get a picture.

Ok so another funny moment. The ring bearer boys were being little boys during the ceremony and I just love Jourdan's face looking at them. They were pretty quiet just busy.

So pretty. They had a poem like thing that they said as their vows and it was beautiful. One thing that I really liked from it was basically saying, I love what I know and what I don't yet understand. Or something to that effect. I really liked that because there is a lot you don't know about someone when you get married no matter how long you have known them. Which in a way is one of the best things about marriage, finding out more and more about your spouse and trying to love all that they are.

The Wedding party...looking not at me. hehe.

The cake! Yes it is wood on top and I think that they made it. The girl one has wire all on for a dress.

First dance, please excuse the lighting on some of the pictures it was a little bit tricky. Their first dance was so special and beautiful. There was a hush all over the room and you felt like you got a peek of the love that they have for each other.

After that we had some fun Latin music and we got taught some Salsa and other dances. It was fun and I actually got Justin to dance with me. =)

It was a great day and we are so happy for them. 

Cute

We hope our babies are as cute as these.

WHEN they come.