National Boards Are Over

It's weird that I've taken the 8 hour 350 question test, it's in the past, but somehow it's still managing to ruin my life. Things would be much better right now if I knew whether or not I passed. I don't find out for at least a month, Boo!! I thought I was ready for the test, but it totally rocked my world. By the end I was so brain dead I like couldn't function. We got a lunch break after the 1st 4 hours and my brain was so fried that I couldn't remember my locker combination that I've had for 2 years. I was totally panicking because my ID and admission ticket were locked up and the test started in 5 minutes. Thank goodness for prayer. I prayed, walked up to my locker, and without even thinking managed to unlock it.
Becky Powell is so cute and so nice. She got me balloons, gum, Hawaiian flowers hair clips, a lei, and 2 cards to congratulate me on taking boards. I'm so thankful to have such a loving and thoughtful mother-in-law.
Dave wanted to make this milestone event special so he took me to the Jazz game that night. We got the VIP tickets ($425 each!! Thanks Tony!) so that means VIP parking, pregame buffet dinner, and row 1 seats(so I can really see my boys in action). Normally I love going to games, but I was still so tired and the game wasn't very exciting since they were playing the Bobcats, so I wasn't really able to fully enjoy the experience. The game had it's moments and by the end I loved being there. After that we went to the Raddison hotel downtown to stay the night. We swam and soaked in the hot tub which was fun and relaxing. The hotel pillows were awful so we didn't sleep that well and the alarm went off at 4am and we didn't sleep for a while after that. So needless to say, we don't recommend the Raddison. Never again. The next day we woke up and went to the infamous Paradise Bakery in downtown SLC. It was a huge let down. Everyone acts like it's the greatest place ever, but I would take Old Grist Mill any day over that. We then went shopping. And then it was time to go home and face reality...Yard work. I'm sad that it's that time of the year again because I'm really not a fan of working in the yard, especially because our yard needs a lot of work.
Well, this post has been pretty pessimistic, so I better end on a good note. I love my hubby!! He is so cute and works so hard to make me happy.

Boards Are Tomorrow

I can't believe I am finally to this point in my dental hygiene career. National Boards are tomorrow morning bright and early 8am. I'm feeling pretty confident, but at the same time super nervous. I've been trying to do some last minutes review/cramming and it has only stressed me out because I realize there is a ton I don't know. Hopefully no one else knows anything either, than I'll be just fine since it is graded on a curve. Celeste and I have studied our brains out for months now so I should be fine. I don't like the idea of sitting in a classroom for 8 hours with only 1 break for lunch.
Dave got a new bike today which he is super excited about. Neither of us have rode a bike in years so it was kind of fun to fulfill that old saying, "It's like riding a bike." You really never forget. Dave has been so supportive of me and my studying and for that I am very thankful. He has even helped me study for the last few days, he's so cute. I love listening to him try to pronounce all of the dental terminology that is totally foreign to him. It reminds me of how I felt when I first started in dental.
You may be wondering why I'm blogging at 10:50 the night before the biggest and most important test of my life, well, blogging has been a serious outlet for stress these last few weeks. I can blog for hours and it totally relieves all of the stress that I may be feeling. I'm really glad that blogging has really caught on because I enjoy reading other peoples blogs.

This Weeks Exciting News

Joni: I learned that the "&" sign is actually called an ampersand. I always just called it the and sign. That's just one of those serendipitous things you learn from spending too much time with your Professor.

Dave: Was asked to join the Hookers and Slicers golf league with my dad.

Joni: Received my Local Anesthetic Success Card in the mail :)

Dave: "Learned that his wife is the only thing that makes him truly happy in this life." (Direct quote)

Birthday Day!!

Today has been full of birthday parties and I'm beat!!
We put on the annual Relief Society Birthday Party which was a lot of work and no one even showed up. We had 65 girls sign up, so we planned for 70 just to be safe. I counted 25 people including both presidencies. How lame is that?! At least I've learned a valuable lesson early in life. If you can possibly attend, sign up. If you sign up, show up. It was pretty discouraging as this was our first big activity since we were put into the presidency.
After cleaning up the church I was off to help with Becky's birthday party. This week has been crazy busy with party preparations and studying for boards. Thank goodness Brittany was able to take care of most of the party details. Britt, Nick, Trin, Dan, & I spent hours setting up at Ruby River. It was worth it in the end because everything looked great. Britt had a great vision and she was able to bring it to life. The party was really fun and I think Becky had a good time. I'm so fortunate to have a mother-in-law that I actually love and appreciate. She is so great and does so much for us. Without her our yard would look pretty scary :)














When Dave was running for office in high school his mom would help him make posters. They would get old movie posters and cut and paste his picture onto the poster and change the wording. That is one of Dave's favorite memories, so Dave and Britt decided it would be fun to make posters for their mom since she always made them for him. They took forever, but in the end it was totally worth it.

New Baby Konner!!

I'm so excited that Tesha and Ty had their new baby boy Konner. I've only seen pics so far, but he is so cute and so tiny. I hope to go see him today.
Yesterday I passed both my written and clinical local anesthesia boards!! What a relief. It wasn't as bad as I expected.

Nevi Is Here

Marky & Dan's baby Nevi was born tonight around 9pm. She is a perfect baby girl. 8lbs 1oz, 20.5" and cute as can be. It was so cute to see Dan talk to her and see how she looked at him. Marky looked so good after, I hope I look good after delivering a baby. I'm so happy for them and I'm thankful they are both healthy and well. It's so cool that she was born on her actual due date, that never happens. I'm excited to go to the hospital tomorrow so that I can actually hold her.
Tomorrow I have local anesthetic boards, hopefully I pass. We'll see tomorrow. I feel good and prepared, hopefully all that studying pays off.

Bowling Bonanza

We went out to dinner at Eastern Winds to celebrate everyone's birthdays: Nick in January, Joni, Dave, Dan, and Marky in February, and Brittany and Becky in March. Then we went bowling at Hill Top. We had so much fun just hanging out with the fam. We need to do more fun family activities like this. My favorite part about bowling was hanging out with my cute little nephew Owen. He kept saying, "I'm a winner," as he watched people bowl. I let him help me bowl and after he bowled he would jump up and down with his arms in the air just like he had seen his aunts and uncles do. He is so cute. Thanks Kirk and Becky for the good times!! This picture of Owen and I was taken at Sea World in August 2007.

Our Cute New Nephew

Charlie is so so cute!! I've never even met the kid, but I already love him so much! The 1st pic I saw looked like a James, but now he definitely looks like an Erekson with those cute dark eyes. I can't wait to go to San Fran to see him.
I should be studying for Local Anesthetic boards right now since they are in 3 days, but I feel pretty ready for the test, so I'm going to try and enjoy my last spring break ever. Thank goodness for graduation!