One More Week!

I officially have one more week until I will by on my way home! Yesterday was my last day of classes and it was a good day. We learned how to handle reptiles and we passed snakes, snapping turtles, lizards, and alligators around the room. Also, I got to hold a King Cobra! Yes, they are venomous but the one I held was devenomed but it still had fangs and could bite if it wanted too. Luckily it was a pretty nice snake. I kept thinking that my dad would think this was so cool and my mom would be totally freaked out like some of my classmates were. I took a few pictures on my phone.



I just wanted to post this complicated model that me and my friend Alexis made to help us study the arteries, veins, and nerves of the dog and cat. It's pretty chaotic but it sure helped us learn the names of the arteries and all the branches off of them.

I'm so excited to be going home and I can't wait to see my family and my dogs! Here is a picture of the snowflakes I having hanging all over my apartment. They were fun to make (:

3 Weeks Left of winter term!

Well, I can't believe how fast my first term of Vet School has flown by! In 3 weeks I will be on my way home for Christmas break! I can't wait to have a nice break and to see my family and my dogs. Vet school is hard but I love it. I feel like I have learned so much already! I've been able to participate in many cool activities. Today, for example my class went on a field trip to the coast. We went to a marine center and learned how to safely capture, handle, and examine fish. It was neat but I don't really see myself ever being involved with fish. Also I got a chance to touch an octopus. It felt really weird because the octopus can really suction to your skin!

Pictures of me catching and handling a fish (Koi) and the octopus I touched named Ursula


It will be strange to be away from home for thanksgiving this year. I will miss our small family dinner and spending time with my family. My plans are to have a small thanksgiving dinner with my friends from Moab. We've split up the cooking duties and I think it will turn out good. I am truly thankful for my family and all the support that they give me. Thank you for all of the cards, letters, and comments!

An Update

HaPPy HaLLoWeen!


I am officially halfway done with this term and I can't believe how quickly it's flown by! The workload has escalated but I still try to find time to do fun things once in awhile. This weekend, for example I carved pumpkins with my friend Alexis and her husband.

Despite the hectic schedule, I am enjoying vet school for the most part. There are days when I just wish I could take a day off and read a book or watch a movie but then I think, I'll be able to do that over Christmas break which really isn't that far away.

I really like when I get to actually handle live animals and not just sit in a classroom all day. The other day we learned how to handle llamas and alpacas. That was really funny because who knew that they were so temperamental. There was one llama that would scream whenever you touched him and if you tried to grab his foot he would lay down and shift his weight to prevent you from getting at a foot. Also, they kick, bite, and spit and when they spit it is actually stomach contents and not actually what we would consider spit. Fortunately the animals we were working with didn't spit at or bite anyone. A few attempted to kick but we've learned to be careful.


Outside my bedroom window I commonly see deer and a various assortment of birds. It's really cool to see the deer and the other day I finally got a picture of one of them. On the down side, the deer often cross busy road nearby and so you have to be careful especially when it's foggy to keep a look out for the deer. The leaves are nearly all changed here to vibrant yellows and reds. It reminds me of home minus the mountains. The 2nd pic is just some pretty trees outside my window.

In my Second Week of Vet School

So, I am in the middle of my second week of vet school and I feel like I have been in school a lot longer! I am in school all day and then I study all night. It's all part of being a vet student.

I've been able to do some cool things already like wresting calves, grooming horses, and catching sheep. This week we started dissecting dogs and cats to learn the muscles and bones.

I'm slowly getting to know the people in my class. There are 56 of us total which isn't many when compared to class sizes of other schools which are closer to 100. This should make it easier to get to know everyone and for the professors to get to know us too. So far I've enjoyed my professors and my classes. It's amazing how much you can learn in just a week and a half!

Here are some pictures on my white coat ceremony from Orientation the week before school started. My parents flew up to attend and it was a great night. Every student received a white doctors coat with their name on it as well as a stethoscope.


I will try to keep this blog updated as I have cool experiences and such but I know life is only going to get busier from here! Unfortunately, I can't post pictures of any of the animals I work with due to a confidentiality thing so there probably wont be many cool pictures ):


Grandma - Thanks so much for the Card and for all the Blog Comments!

Day at the Beach

Last weekend I went to the coast with my friend Alexis and her husband. Alexis is also from Utah State and will be in the vet program with me. We drove to Newport on the coast, about an hour drive, and just spent the day at the beach. It wasn't warm enough to swim but we were able to wade in the water and take beautiful pictures. We saw a bunch of harbor seals on a rock and that was really neat. Here are some pictures that I took while at the beach.

Pictures

Here's some pictures of my apartment! It was kind of fun to figure out where to hang my pictures and decorations. It's small but just right for me and my turtles... and my frogs and fish (: I have a nice little deck off the back of my bedroom and it's nice to open the door and get fresh air and a breeze. I just hope it stays this clean for awhile.

At Oregon

Now I am moved into my apartment in Oregon. It is odd to have a place to myself with no room mates or family but I think I'm going to like it. My parents are on the return journey home right now and that is certainly a long drive. I'm so grateful for their help in moving me up here and helping me get situated!!

My car was broke into at a hotel on the way up and the thieves, thinking they were stealing a purse, took a bag containing a cute scrapbook that my mom had spent hours on with pictures and notes to me from my family. I never got to read the notes! The bag also had my t.v cable, power cord, and remote inside but those things were easily replaced. Needless to say, the drive up here was tough for me and I hope things get better from here. So far they are looking up. It worked out that tomorrow I will get my car window replaced without having to go very far.

So, now its just getting used to Oregon and waiting until school starts on the 27th. I am looking forward to vet school orientation on the 22nd and seeing my parents again on the 24th for my white coat ceremony.

I'm not able to upload images right now but hopefully I'll be able to soon so I can post a few pics of my cute apartment that will be my home for the next little while.

I Hiked Mt. Timpanogas

A few weekends ago, on July 23rd, I hike to the peak of Mt. Timpanogas with my dad and Morgan and a few of my dads' scouts. It was a beautiful hike, as you can see from the pictures. The hike was 12 miles round trip and took us almost 12 hours to complete. We had a lot of fun and we were all exhausted by the end. It was so cool to stand on the top of that mountain, the second highest on the Wasatch front, and be able to see the cities on both sides of us. Provo and American fork on one side and Heber and Park City on the other. Rather than hike down the same way we came up, we opted to slide down a glacier to cut out some time. It was a neat experience! I was terrified but I was all for cutting out some of the hiking down steep switch backs. We slid down a narrow chute of snow and went as far as we could go, which was pretty far. It was freezing wearing nothing but thin shorts and a lite jacket! It was worth it though because it did save us time and it was kind of fun.

Nauvoo Trip!

My family recently went on a Church History trip. We started in Independence, Missouri and drove to Nauvoo, Illinois and ended in St. Louis, Missouri. Along the way, we also stopped in various places like: Liberty, Carthage, Far West, Adam-Ondi-Ahman, and Hannibal. We were our own tour guides which each member of the family learning about a few locations and teaching the family about them. It was a fun trip and we were lucky that the weather cooperated while we were there.

In Nauvoo, while my parents did a session in the temple, Morgan and I were able to do baptisms. It was beautiful inside! We had to wait for awhile, but it was worth it.

Camping!!

We pulled our trailer out on Memorial Day Weekend and we expected to have cold, rainy weather. We were pleasantly surprised to have mostly sunny warm weather and get sunburned!

One fun thing we did was shoot guns at pop cans that we had left in the shed from last year. The cans looked ready to burst and they certainly did when we shot them.

This year we had a record of five dogs camping with us! I love it that we are such dog lovers (: I was glad that they all got along pretty well.

We look forward to going camping again soon and hopefully it will be warm enough to go tubing down the river.

My next post will be about our family church history trip to Nauvoo which we are very excited for. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures while were there.

An Update

Well, I graduated from Utah State on May 8th and it was a great experience. My family came up and spent the night in a hotel. Danny Glover spoke at the graduation for all the students and that was just alright and kind of boring to be honest. My college graduation was slightly better and in this one I actually walked as they read out my name. I was surprised to find out that I graduated Cum Laud. I didn't know until that day. It was fun spending time with family and after the college graduation everyone got free Aggie Ice cream which is really delicious.


The following week, my dad and I headed to Oregon to look for an apartment for me during vet school. We found a few good ones but I couldn't put my name on one now unless I want to move now. So, I have to keep checking availability as it get closer to August and September and just hope that I can get in at one of my top choices. I also toured the vet school and got excited to start. I was able to talk with a first year student and she answered a lot of questions and gave me some valuable tips. We also had a little fun while we were in Corvallis and went on a hike and to a movie.

One day we drove about an hour to the coast and went to the beach and toured a lighthouse. It was windy and kind of chilly but it was really neat. We saw a baby seal and we climbed nearly 100 feet up to the top of the lighthouse to look out from the top. On the day we were flying home, we had some extra time and we drove up to Portland early and went to the Oregon Zoo which turned out to be one of the best zoos I've ever visited.






































Now I am working on getting a decent job for the summer to earn some money for vet school. My family is also planning a church history trip to Nauvoo in June and I'm looking forward to that. We are also excited to take our trailer out soon and go camping.

Today in Logan

It feels like it should be getting close to Christmas, not Easter in Logan! I wish the weather would just decide to stay warm and quit teasing us!

It's Official!

I just wanted to post that I am officially accepted and planning to attend veterinary school at Oregon State University!! I am going to be a beaver! Here's some pictures I found of the school and of Corvallis.

The Vet School entrance









Logo










Corvallis.







OSU Campus