June & July

So I haven't posted since June and it's October. It's been a quarter of a year!! Yikes. Well, in my defense I have been thinking of posting, but since we've just been so stinking busy, it's been difficult to get myself to sit down and write a post.

So let's get started!

I was working hard at my part time job as a PSR and case manager as I did my internship with the drug court. With homework and thesis writing (which is up to 39 pages even before the study, yipes) added, I got 4-6 hours of sleep nightly for several months and I only ended up with a 3.64 for the semester, bringing my cumulative GPA to 3.84 - dangit, that is not a 4.0! Also, I had to drop my macro/administration concentration as I was planning on moving and so now "only" have two concentrations: mental health and addictions. I'm not too heartbroken. I also arranged my classes so that I can graduate early in August 2014 instead of December 2014! One more year of school and I'm gonna be a therapist, woo!

Work was much more enjoyable in the summer sun and I got to get a lot more creative with the kiddos I worked with instead of just doing homework, cleaning rooms, and playing the occational board/card game. We got to participate in the summer reading program at the library, I practiced adapting DBT and mindfulness skills for little kids (as young as 4!), we went to the park, and we used coupons we got from the library for ice cream. We also cleaned rooms and did timeouts and all, but we tried to have some fun while skills building.

I really enjoyed my internship and got the privilege to cofacilitate DBT groups with my mentor who is about my age. She was really great, supportive, patient, and authentic. I loved the atmosphere, team, and the program and if I had planned on staying in Idaho, I would have pursued doing my more intensive internships there next year and applied for full time work there. I learned a lot and I hope to work in a similar environment again soon. I kept up my professional blog for my internship, delving into DBT skills mostly, but other than that have been too busy to keep it going. I need to start that back up again!

I could get used to dressing nice

Jed worked hard to finish his semester strong with all his crazy projects and presentations, running a website for class, making a portfolio, etc. And hallelujah the man graduated!!! I'm so proud and glad that that leg of his life can be over with. Little secret: Jed hates school, lol. Jed opted not to walk in his commencement/convocation (much to my chagrin) and we went out with our buddies Mike and Janay to the fancy Cellar in Idaho Falls to celebrate their graduating and moving to San Diego as well!

we'll miss these guys

We went to SLC for the weekend June 22-23. We met up with Jed's sister and brother-in-law, Melinda and Matt, with their daughters, Adelaide, who just turned 3 in July, and Eleanor, who was 1 in February. We were supposed to watch our nieces while they both went in to the Draper Temple for Matt's sister's wedding, but since the girls wouldn't let Melinda go, we all hung out outside and blew bubbles and goofed off with Matt's other sister while he went in. It might have helped if we had seen Adelaide in the last 2 years and Eleanor at all! Oh well.

nope nope nope

bubbles are always entertaining

We chilled at Ikea while I attended my class on Skype on my phone, then got some Swedish meatballs and salad. We then met up with our friend, Matt, and his girlfriend Mika, in Sandy to eat some delish Indian food, catch up, and meet the gf who softened our buddy's heart. Awww. (By the way, she's awesome!)

totes adorbs!

This was followed by jumping over to the aquarium to play with our nieces, post reception (and nap!). We had a ton of fun looking at fish, otters, and creepy-crawlies while winning over Adelaide's affection (not so much Eleanor today, oh well) and continuing our competition for most fun and awesome aunt and uncle. We got us some Mexican food with the bro/sis/nieces and good times were had by all (Eleanor slept through dinner, ha).

raaaaar!

d'awww

The partay continued as we met up with Brendon (who graciously let us stay at his lovely new house all weekend) and his roommate, Trevor, at the nickel arcade and played old school and new school games alike. Then got some In-and-Out and headed back to their place to hang out. It was quite a Saturday. Did I mention we eat our way through our vacations??

On the drive back up the following day we went to the best Thai restaurant ever for the last time. :(

Other happenings in June and July in pictures:

We attempted to do Insanity again. It lasted longer this time for me but I still didn't complete the 60 day program. It's hard to make yourself get into the habit of a hard workout (I'm talking 180+ bpm heart rate for 20+ min within a 40 min workout) 6 days a week when you're working 25+ hours a week, doing 20+ hours internship per week, and going to school full time. Yuck. Well, I did loose some weight and got a little less pudgy though.

collage from my daily check in with my coach

There was much Costa Vida visiting and it frequently ended up being lunch and dinner as their portions are so huge. We don't have Costa Vida out in WA so we are going to miss it!

this is why America is obese! this was lunch and dinner for us though!

I rescued a 2 week old robin who had fallen out of his nest and took him to Fish & Game to rehabilitate and hopefully successfully release back into the (urban) wild. I fed him soaked puppy kibble with chopsticks like a pro mama bird lol.

isn't he ugly -er- I mean cuuuute? :\

I got my hair professionally colored with highlights for the first time! I have really been enjoying it. :)

Nova had her first heat at 9 months old and that happiness lasted 4 weeks. We had been advised to let her go into heat once before having her spayed so that her inverted vulva might self-correct, which we're not sure it has. We tried having her wear dog diapers but her short stature made them wiggle off so she just had to do without. The spotting wasn't really that bad, but the disobedience and inattention because she only had one thing on her mind (puppies!!) and our not being able to go to the dog park or be outside without worrying was a little annoying.

I hate you guys so much..

We were working on some obedience training including off-leash boundary training (she isn't allowed off the curb without permission) and slack-leash walking. We found a frisbee at the park and it became her new favorite toy. She purposely threw it over her head to carry it on her neck. Silly innovative dog. 

And we always enjoyed playing with Mike and Janay's dog Eddy, who Nova grew up with basically and who she knew by name (we would tell her who was coming over and she would start barking and loosing it). Nova really misses having a playmate and we hope to get another dog in the next year so she has a sibling to play with.