Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999!

Well I guess it's time for my once a month blog and I guess the end of the year blog... What a year this has been! It's been full of highs and lows. And for as high as the highs were, the lows were just as low (if that makes sense).

The year started with me still looking for a job after graduating with a bachelor's degree in July of 2008. Shortly into the year, tragedy struck... My cousin took his own life on January 18th. Though we weren't close, it stung. A death by suicide is like no other death you will ever experience. People say incredibly insensitive things: "it's the easy way out", "it's very selfish", etc. If you feel this way, you should actually speak to people who have attempted. Those who have survived their suicide attempts will tell you it took an incredible amount of courage to not only decide to end their lives but to actually carry it out. It's very far from easy nor is it selfish. If you would look someone in the face who is in so much pain that they can't stand to take another breath and tell them they need to live because of you, then you are selfish, not them.

February was the same old, same old until close to the end when I was offered a position as an Americorps VISTA in Denver, Colorado. I had the option of waiting until after PSO to move there or I could have left earlier. I chose to wait until after PSO.

Pre-service Orientation (PSO) took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico in mid April. We stayed in a Hilton down there and met lots of new and interesting people. There were quite a few of us who would be serving in Denver so it was nice to meet people prior to moving there. I moved to Denver on April 25th and made the mistake of finding someplace on Craigslist and moving there before having seen it. I will never do that again! My land lady was NUTS!

I got to the breaking point in early July when I moved in with some friends who live in Highland's Ranch Colorado. (It's a suburb in the southern end of Denver Metro) They let me stay with them for two months and then I found a roommate in Eastern Denver which was much closer to work. She is a personal trainer from Tremonton, Utah.

I have been enjoying Denver a lot more now and hope to be able to stay there. Although, I am no longer working... It's a long story and I won't go too much into it now as there is a potential lawsuit looming... But I will say this, I do NOT tolerate abuse! And what goes around comes around, karma is a bitch, whatsoever ye sew, that shall ye also reap, etc. I am so tired of all the social injustice out there and people being made to think they have no power, I'm currently contemplating going to law school. I've heard that if you can't decide what you want to do, that you should go back to what you wanted to do as a child, and I actually wanted to be an attorney when I was younger.

Anyway, here are some of the major lessons I've learned this year:

1-Don't move into a place before seeing it and meeting anyone else who might also live there
2-If you want to do a term of service in Americorps, VISTA is the worst choice! Do a state or national term or if you want to dig ditches, paint houses, etc do NCCC.
3-October is still potentially really cold in Colorado. If you can't feel anything, maybe you should leave your camera at home...
4-Listen to your instincts more. If you feel uneasy about anything even at all, there is a reason.
5-I can survive on my own
6-Pay attention to the air level in your tires. If they're going flat, you may potentially need new tires or have a nail in one.

Well that is enough rambling for one posting. I hope everyone has a fantastic New Year and that 2010 will be better than 2009!

November post

Well time has sure flown right by! I can't believe it's been almost two months since my last post! I'm not sure if anyone is actually reading this anymore which I don't blame anyone for giving up on me due to my lack of posts...

Anyway, as I mentioned in my last post, we went to California at the end of last month for my nephew's baby blessing and we had a great time! It was really warm the entire time we were there and we even took a trip to the beach. My nephew seems to be doing well but doesn't use the left side of his body much (he had a stroke on the right side of his brain sometime before he was born). They think maybe some physical therapy can correct that. I think there still might be some time for other effects of the stroke so show up, but so far he is doing great and there didn't seem to be too much damage. He is also incredibly happy and friendly! Luckily for them since Christian (the 2 year old) was NOT! Christian has developed that way though... I was actually quite shocked at how much he liked to talk to everyone but I guess personalities change rapidly.

I have been home more this month than I was last month, but did house-sit a little at the beginning of the month and just got back from Utah for a brief Thanksgiving trip. I wasn't planning to go home, but my parents bought me a plane ticket home since they knew I couldn't afford it. It was nice to be able to spend Thanksgiving with them and I will be back in a few weeks for Christmas.

I have also started to look/apply for new jobs. I've been told it takes 6 months to find a job so hopefully this means I'll have something waiting for me when I'm done... I've also been mulling over going to nursing school. There are a few schools in the country you can apply to grad school for nursing even if you aren't currently a nurse. I have been considering becoming a CNM (certified nurse midwife) but I need to take several science classes prior to applying. I still have 5 months left so I don't need to decide right now...

Logan at 5 months

Christian at 2 years

October!

This has been a busy month for me and I don't think it will slow down either... Which I guess I can't complain about. Last Monday I had finally had enough with my ingrown toenail and went in to have it fixed. It was incredibly infected and painful so my health coverage should pay for it... Stay tuned! Then the very next day I went down to southern Colorado to conduct some networking meetings for work. Probably not the smartest thing since I was in a lot of pain and on pain medication but oh well. We first went to Alamosa which is a 4 hour drive from Denver and then drove back up to Pueblo which is about 2 hours south of Denver. We stayed overnight in world class accommodations... A Motel 6. I have stayed in worse but I've definitely stayed in better! The next day we also went to Canon City which was about an hour west of Pueblo. Southern Utah is much prettier than Southern Colorado and although I have been accused of being biased in this area, it's not an opinion, it's a fact!
Then this weekend my brothers, Jeremy and Ryan- the two oldest, flew in to watch the U take on Colorado State. I have never been so cold in all my life! When we got there, it was 26 degrees and that was at 4 o'clock and the sun was somewhat out. By the end of the night, I couldn't feel anything! Which is probably why I lost my camera... which I'm super bummed about. I need a new camera anyway, but being an Americorps VISTA isn't exactly lucrative! Plus I had a lot of good memories that that camera captured: my first Yankees game, my first trip to Denver where I was mere feet away from one of the most beautiful men on the planet: Ace Young, the first time I met my oldest biological nephew, and of course the adventures I've had since moving to Colorado. Hopefully some good samaritan picked it up and turned it into lost and found.
The next day we went to the Broncos vs Patriots game. It was still really cold but not nearly as cold as the day before! Much to my surprise (and I think everyone else's), the Brocnos were able to pull out a win. I have a few pictures that my brother took on Sunday but all of the ones I took at the U game are obviously gone...
Then today and yesterday we were at an Americorps conference in Estes Park, CO. It was nice and luckily got warmer since it was actually in the mountains (as opposed to Denver which is NOT in the mountains, don't let anyone tell you that it is either, because they will try!). The next week shouldn't be too busy but then on the 24th I am flying to California for Logan's baby blessing. I'm excited to be somewhere warm but I'm really excited to get to meet my newest nephew and see the older nephews and niece. Hopefully I will have a camera at that point but if I don't, I'm sure my mom will have hers.

The Utes after their victory on Saturday

My brothers trying to warm up at dinner after the Broncos game on Sunday

My oldest brother Jeremy and I at the game... as you can see, we are cold!

Good to be a Yankees fan!

Congrats to the 2009 Yankees who have clinched the AL East division title! Their first in two years, which may not seem like a long time, but they consistently won it for at least 12 years in a year. Good job guys! This year started off rough for them... Their "star" player had hip surgery here in Colorado just to go to Spring Training immediately after and admit to using steroids in the past... But they not only just won the AL East, they have now won 100 games this season so it just goes to show, perseverance goes a long way!
As my last post indicated, I have now moved into my new place. It's nice to see some of my stuff again, although some of it I can't figure out why I brought it to Colorado with me... Oh well, there are clothing donation drop offs on every corner here so I will just have to dump some of it... One thing I didn't bring was any sweaters! Okay I did bring some, but only one long sleeved sweater and it was extremely cold this week and I could have used more. I actually had free tickets to the Rockies on Tuesday but didn't go because it was raining and 40ish degrees... Luckily my brothers are coming to pay a visit in a couple of weeks and I am hoping they will be nice and bring me a sweater or two... If not, my Mom may have to ship some to me. I will now post some pics of my new place... I just barely bought the two drawers and book shelf and the desk was left here by my roommates prior roommate. I am also using her old mattress which is just a twin mattress on the floor... Hopefully that will change but I have things about using used mattresses from sketchy places and since I can't afford a nice new mattress and bed, this will have to do... I'm posting a couple of pics of my room (yes I am currently watching the Daily Show), and then three of the Yankees today... haha, all of them contain Derek Jeter! But they were the best pictures I've seen so far, I swear!

Moving day!

Well the day has come... again! I have finally found a new roommate in Denver. I have been staying with my friends for the last two months since I up and left the first place I moved into, which is longer than I had hoped. They have been nice and welcomed me with open arms, but I don't want to be one of those unwelcome guests. So my plan was to email every single's ward bishop in the Metro Denver area and see if there was anyone who was looking for a roommate. The second bishop I emailed put me in touch with the ward housing coordinator who told me there were several people in the ward looking for roommates and put me into contact with one of them. She lives pretty close to where I work, which is nice, the first place I lived was always a 30-40 min drive (sometimes an hour) and my friends live about 15 miles away which depending upon the freeway flow, can take 20 min up to who knows how long! Anyway, last week I signed the lease and paid the rent and moved in most of my stuff... We went camping at the Sand Dunes National Park in Southern Colorado from Saturday through Monday and I wanted to make sure the space I've been using is spotless when I leave so I've been sleeping at my friends house still while I clean and pack the rest of my stuff up... Tomorrow is the big day! I'm moving into a 4 plex, and it's a two bedroom, one bathroom with washer and dryer inside the apartment. Rent is $425 a month which includes everything but electricity. We won't have internet either so I'll have to have that set up and then I'll be responsible for that on my own.
Camping was fun, except I've had a cold and my nose won't stop running. This has been going on for almost two weeks now and all of my coworkers keep telling me that I have allergies... we'll see about that...
Since my last post about "the incident" my back and neck had been hurting more so I have started seeing a physical therapist/chiropractor. I really wanted to see a chiropractor and my health coverage (it is NOT health insurance as I have been repeatedly told) will only cover physical therapy so my physical therapist also being a chiropractor makes me incredibly happy!
Work continues to go on... It gets rather frustrating at times but I'm also starting to see where I might be able to leave my mark. I've been here for almost 5 months now so I better get on it!
Something has been hanging heavy on my mind lately and today being September 11th gives me the perfect platform... Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Mental Health has come a long way in this country, but still not far enough. Being involved in two wars means we will have more and more members of the military coming home who may have PTSD. 10 Soldiers here in Colorado Springs have recently been linked to murders or attempted murders and others in the same unit have committed or attempted suicide. This is a real problem that needs to be addressed better. These are the men and women who are willing to give their lives for our freedom and they deserve better treatment. For more information, check out Mental Health America's website: http://www.nmha.org/index.cfm?objectid=C7DF91D3-1372-4D20-C8E6CFE1B56A38AB

The "Incident"

So my last few post titles have been lyrics from songs but I had a little mishap on Friday night that I have been referring to as the "incident"... I want to keep my new theme for songs so I just looked it up and there's a band called Porcupine Tree who is releasing an album entitled "The Incident"next month...

Anyway, Friday night was the annual barbecue at my boss' house in Evergreen, Colorado. We closed the office down at about 3:00 and drove up since it's close to an hour drive there. (Evergreen is actually in the mountains, which, as I have mentioned before, Denver is NOT.) So anyway, we get there and eat a few of the appetizers and my fellow VISTA decides it's time for the zip line. I agreed to go on it but I wanted to eat first (I lost out on that one). So three or four people go on it, no problems... Then it's my turn... I get up the ladder and somewhat don't feel like I have a good grip on the handle but I figure it's fine and push off... Well then my hands slipped off and down I came from about 10 feet... Right on my back! I got the wind knocked right out of me and wondered if I would breathe again. Eventually I was able to and respond to the frantic coworkers who are now scrambling to make sure I'm alive. The only thing that hurt at that point was my lungs but they were all extremely concerned so they told me not to move and called 911. When the paramedics arrived, my first aid class came back to me. I knew what they were checking for when they were pressing on me and asking if it hurt (although they didn't have me squeeze their fingers...), which at that point my head hurt a little (obviously since I hit on my back my head smacked the ground pretty hard) and part of my back hurt but other than that I felt okay. So he asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital for x-rays and I told him no that I thought I was fine. Then he asked if I wanted to sit up and I said yes so he let me sit up. Next he asked if I wanted to stand up and at that point I realized I was shaking so I took a moment and then stood up and walked with him to the ambulance (my coworkers were at this point clapping, that wasn't embarrassing at all...). He checked my vitals and said I was fine so I signed the release form and they left. While in the ambulance I did notice seeing "stars" so I probably did have a concussion. This lasted for maybe like an hour and then my vision evened out. And of course by this time, I'm starting to feel it. So I had an ice pack and some Ibuprofen and stuck it out. I didn't sleep well that night as I was in a lot of pain (even though I had taken Advil PM) and had a massive headache on Saturday. Sunday my headache came and went but I was still extremely soar! This morning I woke up and could move my neck without as much pain so today was promising and I'm hoping each day will get like that until I'm pain free! I am incredibly grateful that it didn't result in something worse though... The paramedic told me people often die from a fall that distance and as I was rolling around on the ground trying to breathe I did wonder if I had seriously injured myself... Here's a picture of a similar zip line:

I am still staying with my friend who has said I could stay with them for another couple of months but I am keeping my eye out. I am in contact with a girl living in Provo currently (yes she's a recent BYU grad so I'll have to let that go... If I can...) who wants to move out here. The only problem is she doesn't have a job so I'm a little hesitant about signing a lease with her but she speaks Spanish and doesn't seem to be too picky about finding a job and if you can speak Spanish, then you shouldn't be without a job for long... You may not like the job you end up with, but hey a lot of people out there would settle for anything. I will try to get better at posting but lately I haven't felt like there was much to post about... Until the "incident" of course!

There's a time when you're right and you know you must fight...

I had set a goal to post a new update every week but as you can tell that fell by the wayside... A lot has happened so I will fill everyone in here:

Two days after my last post (July 8th), I headed back to the place I was living after work and really had the feeling that I didn't want to go there... I always feel that way but it was really strong that day. I should have trusted that instinct because I go in and the psycho woman I was living with was waiting and says "I need to show you something" so I followed her down to the bathroom where I was showering and she says "you haven't been closing the shower door so it's been leaking out and now I'm going to need a new floor, blah blah blah" so I said "no I close it, the door doesn't fit all the way into the frame" and I stuck my fingers in there so she could see... "oh well, we haven't had this problem before blah blah blah and you're going to have to take a bath from now on, blah blah blah"... So I had decided that I had had enough and called a friend who has graciously allowed me to stay with her and her husband while I look for another place. I told them I'd be out at the beginning of August but I haven't had any success finding another place so today they told me I could stay for another few months if I wanted. I had emailed another ward's bishop who forwarded my information to the ward housing coordinator who responded and said there are a few possibilities but asked what I was looking for. I responded but haven't heard back yet... I do like the area I'm currently in and would like to stay in this area, but it's a little better off and apparently poor people don't live here... :(

I also went home this weekend which was nice, except it was hot! The humidity was really thick on Friday (okay I think it was like 25% humidity but that's a lot for Utah in the summer) and we went to the "Bee's game" (they didn't actually play) that night and I thought I was going to melt! The trip didn't start off the best, first of all, the cheap parking at Denver International was all full so I had to park in the "economy" lot which costs $10 a day (it ended up costing me $36 to park there from Thursday night at 5:00 PM to Sunday night at 10:30 PM)! What a rip off! Then the security line was ridiculously long, which it always is at that airport... Then when I went to check my bag, they have my flight coming in at 8:30 instead of 7:00. I figured this wasn't too bad and went on my merry way... Well by the time I went from checking my bag to getting to the terminal, the flight was now scheduled to take off at 9:20. So I called home and told my Dad the status and got something to eat. After I was done, I checked the departure time again and this time it was at 9:40. Eventually it became 10:05 which is where it stayed but was not when we took off... We probably were boarding at around 10:05 and then didn't actually take off until after 10:20. So I didn't get into Salt Lake until around 11:45 PM. Other than the Bee's game on Friday night, we ate at Cafe Rio (which I have been missing), went on a bike ride in City Creek Canyon (which I once again showed how out of shape I am and only made it for 4 miles), went to Leatherby's, and went to Logan for a family reunion and visited the Logan city cemetery where pretty much all of my relatives are buried (I wanted to go see my cousin's headstone) and stopped at my aunt's house where we saw a snake on the way out and I of course had a little freak-out... I don't care what kind of snake it is, I hate them all! It was a great trip and I was very unhappy to be coming back to Denver! I have decided I need to get more involved in things and maybe I'll enjoy it more out here...

Work has gotten more busy which I'm grateful for! I am currently doing some research for my boss on populations we need to better target for mental health messaging, working on some curriculum for our WE CAN! program (it's a program for mental health consumers in the state of Colorado), and continuing on with the volunteer management system... I have decided I hate volunteer management so don't expect me to look for a career in that when I'm done!

The pictures are: the view of downtown Salt Lake up by City Creek and the state capital, there is an entire building there that wasn't there when I left 3 months ago and I bet the city will be completely different the next time I come home! My little bro and I after our pitiful bikeride (that was my fault), and then my little bro and I and my mom and I at the bee's game on Friday night.

You don't know what you've got til it's gone...

So first of all, I don't know how I never saw this background before... I looked all over for one relating to the Yankees and never saw one! This one is my favorite player, Derek Jeter their short stop who was just voted yet again to the upcoming All-Star game in St Louis (yes I assisted by voting for him several times). But enough about that...

As I'm sure you are all WELL aware, about a week and a half ago, one of the biggest superstars of all time died... At the time, I didn't think too much about it. I was actually more worried about getting home from work... It was raining/hailing so badly at one point you couldn't see out the windows of the building! When that haze finally settled down, you could see the parking lot and Colorado Blvd were beginning to flood in certain spots. As I drive a Honda Civic, this worried me more than just a little bit but I decided to find a new way home from work and I made it home just fine. On my way home, EVERY station in Denver was playing Michael Jackson's songs and were talking calls from HYSTERICAL people... I was actually quite shocked at how many of the songs I knew and enjoyed! This continued for the next day or so and I decided I needed to download his songs since I enjoyed so many of them! It's quite funny too, because here we are on July 6th and I'm still not sick of them! I wish I would have enjoyed his music more while he was alive. Love him or hate him, the man was a musical icon and truly THE King of Pop.

This has gotten me to thinking about many things, but one in particular: enjoying what/who we've got while we've got them. Not that I needed a high profile death to help me realize that. It has been a dream of mine for quite some time to move out of Utah and more specifically to move to Denver. As my previous posts state, I have a love/hate relationship with this city and the constant hate that started a few weeks ago continues. I grew to hate, not even just hate, I LOATHED being in Utah over the last few years for many different reasons but now I can see what I loved about it: the fact that there are mountains over the entire state and Salt Lake is in a valley (Denver is on the front range of the Rockies so everything east of it is completely flat... this is shocking as Colorado has a reputation for being so mountainous but I don't think they deserve it!); my family but most especially my Mom, living where I'm currently living and seeing somebody else's parenting style has made me appreciate my Mother so much more; I can find plenty of LDS roommates to live with; people do other things besides drink; the streets made more sense (although I'm picking up on it more here, but they tell you all the streets are in Alphabetical order and they are NOT! mostly they are though, but not always!), and I'm sure there are other things I'll think of later but this post is becoming ridiculously long! On the flip side, I really do need to start enjoying Denver and Colorado more while I'm here. We did go camping this weekend in the Comanche Wilderness Area which is close to Roosevelt National Park (I think) in Northern Colorado and I actually enjoyed it! We backpacked into our camping spot which was about 2 miles in... I made it the whole way without needing somebody to carry my stuff and I had close to 40 lbs on my back! This is quite a feat for me as I am horribly out of shape! (I'm surprised my CHES has not been revoked!)

Lastly, I have AGAIN given my 30 days notice to my land lady and this time I will for sure be moving out! Not sure quite yet where I will go but I will NOT be staying here!

Pictures: obviously Michael Jackson from when I liked him best because he's Bad! (okay sorry for that...), and one of the Rockies here in Colorado, the trees are red because there is a huge pine beetle infestation that if not corrected will destroy all the pine trees in the mountains. (the only way it can be stopped is if there is an incredibly cold winter this year, meaning it would need to stay below freezing every day... even though it's cold in the mountains, it usually does not stay that cold every day) The first one is me with Sophie (left) and Amanda (center) being silly (you can tell I was more cooreced to do this, maybe because I'm sober?). I didn't get very many photos so once I get more I will post them and explain more about the trip.

Cellulitis Take 2?

The saga continues... So as I mentioned in much earlier posts, I had thought that I had cellulitis in my big toenail but after seeing my podiatrist he said that it was not cellulitis but just an infected ingrown toenail. Well, he fixes ingrown toenails a little differently... He cuts out the ingrown part first and then 4-8 weeks later he goes back in, cuts out more, and kills the nailbed... Everyone I've ever talked to who has had it done has said that they have had this all done in the same visit. So this last time I went to him, I explained that I was moving out of state in a week and my insurance won't cover anything pre-existing blah blah blah but he still wouldn't do it and said he could code it so they wouldn't think it was pre-existing. So I get my new insurance card and fax a copy of it to them so the MA there calls to verify they'll cover and mentions it's pre-exisiting... Yeah, thanks for that one genius! So she calls me and asks if I have a letter of prior coverage, which at the time I didn't but now I do... Although it does me absolutely no good because I'm an Americorps volunteer and we don't have "employer-sponsored" health coverage... I think it's total crap that the Federal Government will pass a law (HIPAA) that they will make everyone else follow but exclude themselves from! So anyway, I do not have my toenail completed because they've now been tipped off by both the Dr's office and myself when I raised the ruccus about the pre-existing thing (which is when they told me they were HIPAA exempt... B.S. I say and I think insurance companies should be suing the hell out of the feds for that one!!!) Anyway so my toenail is looking pretty bad and this past week started to hurt so on Saturday I went into Urgent Care (I'm going to quit doing that). He told me I need to get it killed and that I have cellulitis... So back on an antibiotic I went! I'm not sure if it's the antibiotic or if I caught some stomach bug but I have been really sick since Saturday night. I figured it was the antibiotic (although I was on it the first cellulitis diagnoses and was fine!) but after speaking to my mom tonight, she told me there is some stomach bug going around in Utah so maybe it's out here too... Who knows? Both Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon were benched this weekend with the stomach flu so maybe it's nation wide??? Well, since I feel every post needs a pic and I don't think anyone wants to see a picture of my toenail, I will post a couple of Derek Jeter and the backshot is him and Johnny Damon. This was last Thursday, right before he got sick... And celebrated his 35th birthday. Happy Birthday again Derek!

2 month anniversary!

Well I haven't posted a new entry in quite a while so I thought I would do that now. It's especially fitting that today is my two month anniversary of living in Denver. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I go back and forth between loving it and hating it here and this week I have been hating it... I'm not really sure why, maybe because the place I live doesn't have air conditioning and it's been really hot! I have been EXTREMELY grateful for the rain we've had this week to cool everything down! It was hailing so badly this afternoon you couldn't see outside the windows at work. Here's to hoping for more rain! I just hope the tornadoes don't come back... There were at least three a week it seemed for several weeks! I may have found a roommate so everyone keep your fingers crossed that I am out of here by August 1st and into somewhere clean and cool!
Work continues to improve and I'm starting to be able to use the skills as a health educator that I went to school and paid thousands of dollars for, as well as picked up during my many years of employment at the Utah Department of Health. Although I have been somewhat stumped as to what exciting things are out there for mental health to use at health fairs, so if anyone has any ideas let me know!
I have no new updates on Logan... They took him to the Children's Hospital in Fresno last week where they ran a ton of tests on him but won't get the results of until next month when they will have to take him back. It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive from their home in Nipomo and they took Christian with them and he did not do well on the trip so they've decided that Phillip (my brother) will take Logan by himself when he goes back. Anna would do it but she has really bad back problems and has a hard time driving that far. Logan is well behaved and will take a bottle and pacifier so they think it will be fine. Christian would not take either a pacifier or a bottle but because Logan was in the NICU for so long, he had no other choice. He does breastfeed well and he only gets breastmilk if he does get a bottle. He seems like a normal baby so they're still waiting and hoping for the best.
Well I have rambled on long enough. I always feel like I need to post pics so here are some of City Park I took this week when I was bored stiff.

Logan, blanket, and randomness...

It was finally determined the other day that my nephew Logan has had a stroke at some point and that has more than likely been his problem the entire time... He saw a neurologist who determined the three blood clots on his brain had dissolved and gave him the okay to go home. He still has clots in his Renal Vein and a small one in his Vena Cava but they are starting to dissolve as well. The Dr's believe he has a blood disorder that is causing all of the clots and he will be seeing a hematologist and pulmonologist in Fresno in a couple of weeks. It is not known what the long-term effects of his stroke but the neurologist said most of her patients go on to lead normal lives. About 30% of infants who experience an Ischemic Perinatal Stroke suffer from a form of hemiplegic cerebral palsy but it doesn't show up for quite some time so for now they're just going to wait and see while hoping for the best. My parents flew out on Memorial Day and spent the week out there so I'm attaching some pics of him and one of my other nephew, Christian.
I finally finished the blanket I was knitting for him so I will send it to them sometime this week since they can finally use it. I am attaching pictures of it as well as the outfit my mom bought for him that matches it.
As for finding a new place... Most large apartment complexes in Denver require that you make three times the monthly payment each month so I will more than likely not be living alone... My landlady kind of talked me into staying here too and it is really cheap... I need to find things to do so I am not ever home. This weekend I did okay with that... Friday night we played Frisbee in Cheeseman park (which is a really big park here in Denver that I guess was built on an old cemetery or something) then went to dinner at Chipotle (a little burrito joint that is not nearly as good as Cafe Rio) and then I was supposed to volunteer at an ice cream social put on by one of the politicians here in Denver but it was raining/hailing so we watched a movie at one of my friends house. Yesterday I went to a concert in Loveland, CO with my friend who lives in Fort Collins, CO so I was gone for most of the day. Our tickets were free and the acts were: Josh Hoge, Eric Hutchinson, We the Kings, Plain White T's, and some guy I don't remember... We actually didn't stay for the last two acts but had fun for the other three!

Back by popular demand!

Although I didn't really think anybody was reading this, I found out today that people actually are and have been waiting for my updates... I have now been in Denver for over a month! It's hard to believe! I vary between loving it and hating it... Today was probably the best day at work I've had since I've been here! I am in charge of creating the volunteer management system and it's been sort of slow going... But we had a meeting today to discuss what I've done and everyone seemed impressed so that was a good re-enforcement as I have been second-guessing my decision to come out here lately... I have not really been enjoying where I'm living so yesterday morning I gave my landlady my 30 days notice that I'm leaving. I don't think she was too happy but oh well. I think I'd like to live by myself so I'm going to look at a studio tomorrow. It's more per month than I'd like to pay and I don't have any furniture but I would really like to live alone! I may change my mind though and just find another roommate or something... Last weekend, some of my friends I met at pre-service orientation and I went up to Fort Collins to spend the day with one of our other PSO friends on her birthday. We ate at Beau Jo's for lunch which is a local Pizza joint that is a Colorado classic apparently. Then we toured New Belgium Brewery which I knew this before but I can now say from firsthand experience that if you don't drink then brewery tours are no fun! So here are some photos from last weekend... You can tell in the second one how much I was enjoying the tour...

New Nephew Logan Marcus Olsen!!!

Logan was born on May 4th, 2009 at 11:59 PM via emergency cesarean. He weighed in at 7 lbs 4 oz and was 21 1/2" long. The cord was wrapped around his neck three times causing him to be in severe distress. There was also some sort of infection (I'm still not sure what kind and I don't think that Phillip and Anna know either). Logan's heart was very weak when he was born and he had fluid in his lungs that would not go away so they rushed him to the NICU. They decided he needed to be in a higher level NICU and transferred him to a different hospital. He has made little improvements every day and today they took him off the oxygen so he is now breathing on his own! He's also able to be breastfed now! HURRAY!

I'm back... well sort of...

I'm here in Denver now and I must admit it has not been what I had imagined... Oh well. It has only been a few days and it has gotten better so maybe it will get GREAT with time! Tonight I finally ventured out... I haven't dared to do it because of fear of getting lost... Which I still did a little but I made it back to where I'm living and that's all that counts right? I went out to the temple and the tulips are in bloom and are beautiful! It made me happy to do it even though I had a hard time finding the road to get to it... Maybe that's a metaphor for my life I don't know... I have been having a hard time staying awake at work so I'm going to go to bed now but I'll post a few pics from moving and the temple.






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