Celebration Time! I passed!!!

I took the NLCEX (nursing boards) on Tuesday June 15th. I could barely sleep a wink the night before. It had been a busy week before. I spoke in church. Packing. Studying. Going to class. But I was ready! Not so much in the sense that I knew everything, but I just wanted to take it and get it over with. So after tossing and turning all night long, 5:55AM come and my alarm rings. I get ready. Eat breakfast, grab my snack, and suitcase and head out the door. I had no idea how long the test would take me. You are allowed 6 hours for it.

I get there. I am the 3rd person in line. Then we have to go through all of these security measures. They scan your hand, fingers, show id...I even had to take my headband off because it was too big! Nothing on your wrists. Then you go into another room, they repeat the process. Finally I am seated in booth #6. The test begins. I was calm. Some questions I knew. Some I didn't. But i just kept a steady pace. Then I noticed that I was on question #70. The minimum number you can get is 75. I keep answering. Question 75...and I hit the next button. The test shuts down. My test is over! That is when my heart started to panic a little. Could my test already be over! At 75!? Did I really get the minimum? Did I pass? They come and get you at your station and then you have to do the security measures again to leave!

And there I am 9:15 AM-done! I had scheduled a flight to Las Vegas for later on in the afternoon. Since I had so much time....I got my cracked windshield fixed and went shopping and out to lunch. It was such a relief to have the test over with!

I headed to Vegas to 1. celebrate if I passed or 2. drown my sorrows if I did not pass. The thing about the NCLEX is that you do not find out if you passed right away. It takes a couple of days to get your results!

Jeffrey bought tickets to see Tarzan at the Tuacahn theater in St. George. So Wednesday night we drove there. Tarzan was great! It was really windy, but it just kind of added to the jungle feel! We got home close to 1Am...and MY RESULTS WERE POSTED! JANET MARIE HILTON: REGISTERED NURSE!!!!

I was so excited!! So its official now. I am a registered nurse. I can work as a nurse! That sounds so crazy to me! So now I am busy trying to find a job!!

So we spent the rest of the week celebrating in Las Vegas! We swam, played Bocce ball, ate cafe rio, went to the strip, went shopping, ate at the cheesecake factory, made tie die shirts, practiced piano, did homework, watched the world cup, took naps, did p90x, mowed the lawn, stopped by my favorite Las Vegas lookout, and celebrated fathers day! It was a great week.

Now I am back at my place in Provo. Its back to real life. And my REAL LIFE now includes me being a NURSE!! How cool!!! :-)

My ride

Some of you may have seen this video. SO funny! And it just makes me so proud!

Can I just say that I have been rocking the Swagger Wagon for several years now. Yeah-you have taken a ride in Tic Tac. You know how great it is. Before this video some people laughed. But not anymore.

Will I ever be able to move onto another car?

Shout out to my SISTAS-Lise and Lani- who also are van drivers.

#2

I graduated again. Woohhooo.

It started off with John's graduation and a fun graduation party. John spoke at convocation and did such a great job!!

Then, there was the pinning ceremony. It is a traditional nursing thing when you license you get pinned. I wrote new lyrics to the song Mama I'm a big girl now from Hairspray, and a bunch of us performed it. Then my MOM was able to pin me a nurse! It was so great! She is an RN too!!



Next was UVU commencement and convocation. Just of few of us girls walked. It was very fun and I cant wait to do it again next year!


Final step-take boards! They are coming up soon!!

Pathophysiology

I just finished 17 pages of notes on pulmonary diseases. Then tomorrow morning i will study those 17 pages for 5-6 hours. Then i will take a patho QUIZ. Not a test...and quiz. Yes, that much studying does go into just a quiz. This class is hard. Sometimes i cant believe that I am study the body so in depth. I may not like studying for so many hours...but I LOVE this class. It is so interesting! It even can cheer me up when i am sad!

Example:
Me: "I am so stressed, i have so much to do. i dont want to do any of it. I just want to cry."
Jeffrey: "Would you like to tell me about your patho class instead?"
Me: "YES! that would be great."

Then i proceed to teach Jeffrey things about the body and i am happy and destressed once again!

Im almost done with my second college degree! WHOOHOOO! Im gonna be a nurse this summer! Does that sound as crazy to you guys as it does to me!???

Expanding your Horizons event-teaching young girls about becoming nurses

Sister Appreciation Night

I am on the activities committee and we put on a Sister Appreciation Night! We made this video to give ideas on how women can be appreciated.

Watch the Video HERE!!

Then on the actual night we had a formal dinner and dance! Jeffrey and I mixed up Italian soda drinks! They were a hit! Raspberry is our favorite. They showed two more movies-one of all the girls as babies and then another one interviewing the guys in our ward about their thoughts on women. Sooo funny! Each girl got to take a rose home-but less people came than we thought, so I made out like a bandit with 2 dozen red and orange roses to take home! sweet!!

First time for...

Hello. Life is busy. But so fun! Did I mention busy though? Yeah, time is flying and I feel like there are a million things that need to get done. And i am working on that list. But, I can't work all the time, and a little fun was in order. So Jeffrey took me...

snowboarding.

My first time. It was hard. Harder than skiing. But I looked like a pro out there on that bunny hill! It was a blast to go night skiing and then out to a favorite pizza place in Salt Lake!

We have also spent time watching the Olympics!!!, babysitting, a murder mystery party, broom hockey, courgarette concert, and making homemade chocolate chip cookies! All of this has happened in between trips to the library! Don't be fooled, I really am studying a lot!

California Dreamin'

Hey Friends-

I find myself with a little extra time tonight. Time for a new blog post!

I will post pictures and fun stuff...but a little reflection first.

Time is really going by fast! I can hardly believe it! It is already February of 2010 and I will be graduating in APRIL and will start working as a nurse. That is so soon!! It is hard to think that almost two years ago I started nursing school! I have changed a lot from that first day of nursing school. Mom was here helping me move. I was SO nervous. I didn't know anyone at UVU and my teacher kept sending these emails telling us that we had to have all this stuff done on the first day, but i couldn't find the information i needed to complete the assignments. I was so worried that I would be the only one who didn't do the work. Turns out...no one did. I was so glad to have Mom there as I started nursing school! I think it is so cool that my Mom is a nurse and that i am going to be one too! I'm doing my capstone right now and I am half way done. It is going really well! I have a great preceptor and I think i am starting to get the hang of things and i am realizing that i do know what i am doing, I just need to be confident!

Jeffrey and I went on a trip to CALI with some of his family. We had an awesome time listening to books on CD, eating at In n Out, the BEACH!!, being with family, playing card games, and seeing Riverdance. Thanks to Jeanne and Ryan for letting ALL 5 of us kids crash at their house!

One thing that was especially fun is that I got to see my brother Bryson. It had been way too long. We ended up having an extra ticket to Riverdance and Bryson loves the theater! It was perfect, I am so glad that he could come with us!

We also had such a great time at the beach!! It had been rainy on our drive to California, but Saturday was sunny and beautiful! We had a picnic lunch, played in the waves, and then Jared, Jeffrey and I build this awesome sand castle.