Journal – Page 11 – All That is Gold

Approaching Nursing

Sunday, February 1, 2015 by Sarah 1 Comment

Chemistry, anatomy, and physiology classes are behind me now, and only a few prerequisites to are left for me to take before the nursing program begin full throttle next fall. When the spring semester begins on Wednesday, my classes are narrowed down into specific topics like pharmacology and microbiology.

I just finished my introductory nursing class that ran for the entire month of January. Many topics we examined were already familiar to me, touching legal issues, ethics, and what it is to be caring. Others sections were more useful, such as safety methods and communication strategies for patients and doctors. A few things were completely new to me, like learning how to navigate academic journals filled with articles on which nursing treatments had the most successful outcomes. But the most interesting moments were when the teacher went off on a tangent and spoke of her personal ICU nursing experiences. The class also included a group project where we role played a scenario of the best way for a nurse to work with an upset, elderly patient at risk for falling. My group had a lot of fun and even decided to dress up:

Daniel

Tuesday, January 13, 2015 by Sarah 2 Comments

Daniel, my little sweetheart, no longer calls me Pumpkin. (sniff). He can throw a tantrum with the best of them, but most of the time he wears a cute smirk.

He’s growing tall, and learning to read quickly. He likes to find words that rhyme, and if the camera comes out taking a picture of him is mandatory.

He likes to write out words on paper, and seems to have an artistic bent. He is ever fond of silliness, and has a wide variety of faces up his sleeve.

If you can get him to stand still for a moment, he is very good at cuddling and giving you a good, long, hug.

Christmas Snapshots

Friday, January 2, 2015 by Sarah Leave a Comment

A gate guarded the gifts while they were displayed for a short time before we opened them:

Claire learned very quickly how to open presents…

…and was on to the next one.

The whole family caught the stomach bug right before Christmas. Landon was the last, and he was still recovering until the day after Christmas.

Note that our family is growing-a little brother coming in May. I cannot wait to hold a little newborn again. Luckily, I’m so busy with school it seems like this pregnancy is passing by more quickly than any of the others. I think it will be spring before I know it.

Gardening Year in Review

Monday, December 1, 2014 by Sarah 2 Comments

Now that everything in the garden is in hibernation, I’ve started going through the photos of the garden to see what really worked, and what didn’t. I planted quite a few new perennials, and all did very well the first summer. I loved the flowers, so I just hope everything makes it back up in the spring. I’ve lost quite a few plants to Old Man Winter, so I’ll be excited to see what survives this year. Here are a few things that really performed well this summer:

Mom and I got this unique ‘strawberry and cream’ hydrangea in May, and I was really impressed with it. At first I thought I liked the pink and blue ball shaped hydrangeas better, but now I think these might be my favorite. They began the season a lovely and delicate white:

Then they blushed to pink over the course of several weeks, making them very long lasting.

My Grandma sent hollyhock seeds to me a year or so ago, and since they are biannual they waited to their second year to bloom. They were worth the wait, since once they took off they bloomed all summer. I wish I had planted some years ago since they were so pretty.

and the ruffled hollyhocks were really nice as well, and they came from a seed catalog.

The results of my vegetable garden were a little bit sad this year. The tomato plants were very sickly, and only a few tomatoes were produced. And the chickens ate them. They ate the beets and the eggplants as well. This prompted Landon to build a really nice run for them, but it was too late to save this year’s produce.

One plant that really excelled was a Sungold cherry tomato. It produced so many tomatoes that there was enough for the me and the chickens to share. It had bright yellow orange fruits, and they were the sweetest tomatoes I have ever eaten. Picked and eaten straight off the plant, they were closer to candy than a tomato. I’m definitely planting them again next year.

The end of the gardening season is probably the hardest thing about winter for me. I wanted to make sure to start spring off nicely next year, so the boys and I planted close to 50 daffodils right before the first snow. I really like tulips, but daffodils have been the best performer in my garden since they last longer and are poisonous so the pesky wild rabbits don’t eat them up. The yellow river should be a good way to begin next year’s growing season.

Moving Along

Saturday, November 15, 2014 by Sarah 1 Comment

Time is surely marching on, and the end of the semester is only about four weeks away. Homework, college activities, and work keep time moving quickly. I don’t think anything makes the days fly past as a test date that seems oh-so-distant, and then is suddenly tomorrow. I’m unable to believe that Thanksgiving break is the week after next. Today the first snowfall fell, (5 inches!) so maybe the world’s new white wardrobe will help convince me that the end of the semester is almost here.

The Mission-California Part 4

Wednesday, October 22, 2014 by Sarah 1 Comment

On the last day of our stay in California, we visited one of my favorite places on the trip: the mission San Juan Capistrano.

The architecture was beautiful, and the history felt so near. It was founded in 1776, the same year the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the thirteen colonies, by Blessed Juniper Serra. From the information at the mission, we learned that Father Serra is considered to be the founding father of California, as he founded nine missions across California.

There were lots of artifacts from the daily lives of the Indians and priests who lived at the mission. There was a vegetable garden, a furnace for melting metal, and this millstone for grinding grain.

I wish they still made buildings with so many arches and bells! I counted at least seven bells around the mission.

There was a lovely garden inside, featuring a fountain, lots of flowers, and exotic looking cacti. There were also dozens of large butterflies and hummingbirds flying around, mostly species I had never seen before.

I love vine covered buildings:

arches, arches…

and more arches!

The town around the mission, also named San Juan Capistrano, featured the bells in their streetlights. They were very unique.

San Francisco-California Part 3

Sunday, September 21, 2014 by Sarah 1 Comment

No other view says ‘California’ quite like this one.

The Golden Gate Bridge was very pretty, and its renowned color did not disappoint. The bold orange color formed the perfect contrast to the crystal blue water and sea.

It had a beautiful view of the city and the bay.

This is Alcatraz on the island. I never realized how near it was to such a large city. I wondered if the criminals found the nearby metropolis tantalizingly close.

This is one of my favorite water landscape scenes I took. The wall lining the marina is so picturesque!

We traveled through San Francisco on our way to Los Angeles, and spent just enough timing driving through to get a feel for the atmosphere of the downtown region. Beautiful architecture lined the city streets, and historic trolley cables hung above us.

Sometimes it seemed like Chicago and Florida ran into each other and got a little mixed up about which was which.

We left San Francisco that same day, but if we had stayed we would have been there for the strongest earthquake since 1989. The hotel where we stayed the previous night was actually within a few miles of the epicenter of the 6.0 earthquake that struck less than 24 hours later, at three o clock at the morning. While I’m happy we escaped being in an area suffering major damage, part of me still thinks it would have been cool to feel an earthquake. Maybe not one that is greater than 4.0 though.

Apple’s company headquarters are very close to San Francisco, and Computer Man Dad thought they were pretty cool.

Lastly, a few more photos from the Redwoods. Here Joseph found some bracket fungi.

This was the view in all directions:

Redwood Forest-California Part 2

Thursday, September 11, 2014 by Sarah Leave a Comment

The first destination on our trip was the Redwood Forest in Northernmost California. My Mom had wanted to see the largest trees on earth for a very long time. We stopped to see the largest tree in the region, known unceremoniously as ‘The Big Tree’.

The name was an understatement.

Then we explored a forest trail, surrounded by thick forest as far as the eye could see.

There were lots of new things for Claire to see.

We were fortunate to see two of these unusual creatures. They are called Banana Slugs, and only live in pacific forests. The first one we saw was quite large, and it moved slowly along its leaf, disregarding us completely.

In Memoriam

Thursday, September 11, 2014 by Sarah 1 Comment

Today I am remembering that morning twelve years ago: the victims, those who lost their loved ones, and those who valiantly gave their lives in the rescue mission. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let Your perpetual light shine upon them.

Road Trip! California-Part 1

Monday, September 8, 2014 by Sarah 2 Comments

Our family made a last minute decision to take to the road for the last two weeks before school started. After much deliberation, my parents decided to try to drive all the way to the West Coast. We weren’t sure how one year old Claire would deal with all of the driving, but she actually did quite well. (When supplied with adequate amounts of candy.) The first state we crossed after our own was Montana. The landscape once we hit the mountains was rugged and had lots of interesting rock formations.

We also passed close enough to the Bear Tooth Mountains to see their snowy caps. That was one of the first exciting moments of the trip, since none of the kids in our family had ever seen a mountain. Then we traveled along the Columbia River for quite a while, seeing the same landscape that those on the Lewis and Clark Expedition had seen about two hundred years ago.

Some bridges spanning the Columbia were very picturesque:

and this boat looked like it came right out of Tom Sawyer:

You can just barely see Mount Hood in Oregon in this picture through the hazy clouds. I would have loved to see it on a clear day, since its lone snowy top was just beautiful.

The moment of victory: passage into California! For such a big state, they sure had a tiny welcome sign.

When we arrived in California after about four days of driving, we stopped in Crescent City to stick our feet in the ocean for the first time.

Landon and I quickly tasted our wet fingers to experience the salty sea. Everyone else began inspecting the remains of sea life scattered around. All of the kids, including me, quickly began collecting souvenirs. We were astonished at the great number of shells, sand dollar fragments, and dead crabs on the shore.

I loved little Claire’s footprints in the sand:

As the sun began to set, we finished up muddy but content.

September

Saturday, September 6, 2014 by Sarah 1 Comment

Yesterday was my first day of school, so I’m working on readjusting to the rigors of college homework. This is a little bit of a shock, since my family just arrived home last weekend from spending two weeks on vacation in California (pictures coming soon). The weather is taking a sharp turn also, towards decidedly cooler temperatures. Autumn is approaching faster than I expected it.

Tech Genius

Wednesday, August 13, 2014 by Sarah 2 Comments

Claire has become extremely tech-knowledgable. She knows that she only has to delicately tap on the keyboard with a carefully pointed finger to cause the computer to wake up. She does this frequently and then beams at her own cleverness. She also knows what the iPad is, and that she can interact with it by touching the screen. One day she happened to found it charging, and grabbed it- cord and all.

Here she tries to turn it on:

But she doesn’t understand the concept of ‘out of charge’, so she was a bit confused when it didn’t turn on.

And she realizes she is caught!

Curiosity

Thursday, August 7, 2014 by Sarah 1 Comment

I’ve let milkweed grow in my garden for four years, and this is the first year I have anything to show for it. This week I found not one, but three monarch eggs attached under the leaves, so I brought them inside. Many of the younger boys have not seen or don’t remember the butterfly life cycle, so I’m excited that they can watch the little miracle this summer. Dominic and the other boys could not believe how small the caterpillar was when it hatched.

(Mom says to tell you that this is bedhead.)

All That is Gold

Wednesday, August 6, 2014 by Sarah Leave a Comment

The last time I updated my blog was March of 2010. When I named it ‘Pointe Shoes and Paper Airplanes’ I was just about to turn fifteen, raising sun conures, starting geometry, and didn’t even have my drivers license yet. Things have changed a lot since then, and I started wanting to rename my blog to reflect that. I also was itching to change the appearance to allow larger pictures more ways to personalize this little corner of the internet.

Finding a new title was hard. Mom suggested that I find a phrase from a favorite book, and Lord of the Rings came to mind. The author, J. R. R. Tolkein, wrote many beautiful poems in it, and his wording is lovely. The first line of one stuck out to me: “All that is gold does not glitter”. A turning of Shakespeare’s warning against trusting outward appearances “All that glisters is not gold.” In Tolkein’s rewording, it becomes advice to look deeper than the surface, for the most precious things are not often of monetary value. The most beautiful moments of life may appear dull and drab to an outsider. It seemed perfect for this blog, which chronicles the small but golden times in the life of our family.

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.