Reno, Graduation, and the start of SUMMER!

I had my first clinical experience in Reno for four weeks. I was working at Renown Hospital under the supervision of a licensed PT. It was an experience for the books! I have always been a wimp when it comes to smells and working with older patients. I could not handle any gross smell or I would gag, but now that I worked in a hospital I think I am cured because the smells are everywhere. I love older people so much but I get so emotional when working with them. I become too attached and end up crying thinking about their future. I only cried once during the clinical when we lost a patient who had the sweetest husband in the entire world! I'm such a softie sometimes..Reno has some interesting people, that's for sure! I have visited Reno in the past but never had lived there for an extended period of time, it is an experience I will never forget. My clinical instructor was also Basque! We had so much fun together. She taught me so many valuable qualities to have as a physical therapist. The last night I was there she took me to Louie's Basque Corner! It reminded me so much of growing up and having big family dinners at my amumas. Also, when I was in Reno I took Basque lessons from a professor at the University of Nevada-Reno. It was so great to learn a little bit of the language that I grew up hearing. I can count to at least 100 and can use some basic verbs in sentences! I stayed with one of my good friends from high school, Kelsee. It was a blast having a sleep-over every night for a month! I sure did miss her! She has the sweetest dog that cuddled me every night before bed. She's off in France with her boyfriend and his family, what a lucky gal!

After my clinical was over I headed back to the Valley to say good-bye to my cousin and tia as they are in Mexico for the summer. My tia is the director of a Spanish course for UO and my little cousin is taking the class! How fun!

Carraig graduated from Western June 14th! It was so awesome being back in Monmouth for a long weekend visiting old friends, my old boss and all the places that we would hang out at during my undergraduate career. I sure do miss Monmouth! Carraig is a third generation graduate from Western in his family. We are a third generation couple to get their education from Western too! Grandpa Graves and Nana in 1960, Papa Flug in 1965, Tim in 1981, Marcie in 1983, me in 2013 and Carraig in 2014! His graduation was lovely and not nearly as hot as mine was, thank goodness! We had a nice little party for Carraig where friends and family visited with us, it was great. After the party we went out in Monmouth to the local bar (one of two in the whole town) for one last night in Monmouth. Carraig was one of the last ones to graduate of all the "group" in Monmouth. We still have baby Leah to graduate next year though! I can't wait to head back to the Monmouth area to take engagement pictures in September! Wahoo!

Real summer has officially started for both Carraig and I. Carraig is fighting fire again for BIFZ but has been interviewing for parole officer jobs all over Oregon, we are praying he finds a "grown up" job soon! He has been on one fire already this year near Lakeview. It is boring when he is gone but it he enjoys fighting fire and the paycheck isn't half bad either :) I am working at Eastern Oregon Agriculture Research Center for the 5th summer! I switched crews this year so skin can look normal this summer. If you didn't know, I am highly allergic to sagebrush (real fun living in Burns) and the crew I was on worked primarily in sagebrush. Let's just say that I was not cute when I would work, hives and all! We are busy planning our wedding and working out all the logistics! I'm kinda sad that once the wedding is over I will no longer be reliant on Pinterest for inspiration and my years of pinning wedding ideas will come to an end. We hope everyone has a great summer!

1st Year of Physical Therapy School: COMPLETE!

Today I finished my first year of physical therapy school! This year has been a blast. I have studied more than I have every studied before and also gained a new family. Every one of my classmates means the absolute world to me. We met in August and I honestly feel like I have known them my whole life, it is actually kind of odd that I feel so close with people this quickly. They have seen my cry, laugh and tell dumb jokes. God sure did bless me when he put these people into my life. 

Since it is the end of the year I thought I would share the best/ funniest moment of this last school year! Our fall semester ended with thirteen finals...THIRTEEN! It was outrageous. If you know me well, you know I was all sorts of stressed and picking my hair left and right (I'm pretty sure I have anxiety). One of my last finals was a practical for our Modalities class. We randomly got picked with partners and I luckily got one of my best friends in the class, Ernesto. When it came time to the practical we could either get Electrical Stimulation or Massage. I was hoping and praying that we got massage. Low and behold, we did! I was pumped. Our massage professor was a little old lady that used to be the director of our school. She was the type of lady that probably had little hard candies in her pocket and you wanted her as a grandma. She was the absolute sweetest. Anyhow... We learned that in massage when you treated the low back you also had to rub the buttocks. When I drew my scenario I was hoping to not get low back so I would not have rub Ernie's rump. Well, lucky me, I drew low back. Great... I started the massage by working on his mid back and butt. I was just starting with the butt region when the professor stopped and corrected me! Usually when a professor stops you and tells you that you are doing it wrong you have failed. INSTANTLY I starting freaking (typically me) and crying. Yup, crying, RIGHT ON ERNIE'S BUTT. I'm sure the stress of the other twelve finals that week had something to do with it. Cool, if it couldn't get any worse, the professor comes up behind me and starts rubbing my back and tells me that I am doing just fine...Picture it: Me crying on Ernie's butt while massaging it and having a older women rub your back telling you that everything will be just fine. Pretty pathetic, I know. Ernie said that it was probably one of the worst massages that he ever had but my whole class got some great laughs.  That is one story I will never forget and I will be sure to tell my future kids that I rubbed Uncle Ernie's butt in the worst possible way. 

Summer is starting and I could not be more excited. I will be in Reno working at my first clinical for a whole month. I am so excited! I am living with a great friend that I have known since elementary school. In the evenings I will be taking Basque lessons from an UNR professor and to top it off my clinical instructor is also Basque! I cannot wait to explore Reno, learn the language of my culture, and learn and grow in my future career. 

While I am in Reno Carraig will be finishing up at Western. This past term he has been interning in Marion County working as a future parole officer. Currently he works forty hours a week and still has time to participate in track. This weekend is his last conference meet. Unfortunately I am going to miss his last track meet because of the long drive to Reno. Carraig graduates from WOU June 14th. He is pretty excited to be done with all of his schooling and get out into the workforce. 

Here's my fiancé brag of the day: Carraig has a 3.96 GPA! He has only had one B+ his whole college career. It amazes me how smart and hardworking that man is! Boy, I am lucky! 

I can't wait for a summer working as a PT (kinda), my last summer at the USDA (hopefully), and wedding planning! Ahhh! I'll leave you with some great memories from my first year of PT school! 

First Blog Post!

Well, we started a blog! When I say we, I really mean me. Carraig knows that I made one and said it was "cute," but wasn't overly excited. He hates social media but that's okay with me because I think I could really like this whole blogging thing. I have always wanted a blog but never really had any reason to. Now that we are going to start a new life together I figured that this was the perfect time and it would force me to take pictures.  We aren't getting married for another 438 days (but who's counting) but I figured that we could share our adventures of an engaged couple. Along the way I will probably be posting about my physical therapy school experience, Carraig's adventures, and anything else that tickles my fancy!