July Adventures

We’ve already established that I really stink at the whole blogging thing, but I still like to put them up every now and then. So here are a few adventures in the month of July I thought were worth mentioning: (ordered oldest to most recent)

TACO BUS
I had never even been to a taco van when I stumbled upon this newly opened taco bus. It looked really cool from the outside, so naturally I needed to take a closer look. So a few friends and I drove over one night and checked it out…not only was the food good, but the bus had been transformed into a mini restaurant. All the normal seats have been taken out and two long benches were installed on both sides of the aisle along with little counters (I guess you can call them) under the windows so you have a place to eat on the bus.



FOURTH OF JULY
This year for the fourth of July I decided to stay in Rexburg so that I could see the Idaho Falls Fireworks Show. (Everyone said it was worth seeing…and they were right!) Most of my friends left for the weekend, but I was still determined to have some fun. Cliff left me his Wrangler since the weather was going to be nice and he knew how much I love driving it, and Jake had invited me to go with him to the Rexburg parade. So the morning started out with Jake and I walking all over Rexburg because every time there was a break in the parade we would walk further and further down the street to find the next attraction, which brought us to the fire station where Jake and I hung out with friends who we knew through the EMT program and Jake working at the station. Then we moved on to Smith Park where we watched his grandfather receive recognition for his service in the armed forces, bought a water balloon launcher and shot some balloons off the stadium with Erica, and then we headed down to IF to walk around until the fireworks started.

This is me laughing in front of the IF temple.

Having fun at the stadium and the fireworks :)

DEMOLITION DERBY
The weekend after the fourth of July, the roommates, friends, and I attended the Madison County Demolition Derby. We all, of course, HAD to dress up for the event. It was fun watching cars crash into each other, but I think the most fun came from finding the perfect outfit to wear.

The paramedic on the left was one of my instructors and someone that I really look up to.

These were the outfits, the cars, and Tom helping out with the tow truck :)


BRIDGE JUMPING
This is something I refuse to do. It looks like fun, but I still get nervous about things floating down the river that could potentially leave me paralyzed or brain dead for the rest of my life… that and I don’t really like the idea of getting a mega wedgie from hitting the water super fast when I’m hanging out with a group of guys. Anyways… I still go along for the adventure because I enjoy being in the water. I wouldn’t say that I love swimming or anything; I’m more of the wading type. Here are some pictures of the guys I went with jumping off the bridge:




YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
Who doesn’t love the word “free”? On July 18, Yellowstone had a free admissions weekend where they waived the $20 fee to get into the park. The park is only 2 hours away from campus, so Erica, John, Jake, and I jumped into a vehicle and headed to the park for a day of adventure. It was really cool to see all the hot pots, wild animals, and Old Faithful. I’m glad I got to go with Erica since she had never been in the four years she had lived out west and now she’s graduated and who knows when she’ll be able to make it back out again.

Sometimes I don't know why he lets me drive.

The weather is FINALLY starting to get nice around Rexburg, so naturally that means it's time to cruise around in the Jeep again. Cliff lets me drive the Wrangler around town ALL the time, and last week I swore he was never going to let me drive it again. Around town the maximum speed limit is 35mph which is perfect for a Sunday stroll, but we had just made a sweet new "cruising jams" cd and when you crank up the tunes you naturally want to crank up the speed! So with Cliff's permission I drove a little ways out of town to Sugar city so that I could get up to 60mph.



Up to this point the drive was going perfectly, but once we got back into town we took a turn for the worse! I turned into a parking lot so I could start driving and the next thing I know the Jeep had mysteriously hit something and it kinda ramped up into the air! I really don't know who was more surprised because neither one of us saw that curb coming, but after the Jeep stopped bouncing around I realized Cliff's Powerade didn't have a lid on it and I was wearing it along with the rest of the car. I thought Cliff was going to kill me, but as you can tell he didn't. We had some good laughs about it and went back and took a picture. That wet spot on my jeans was Powerade... I promise!

i really need to be better at this...

I constantly take pictures for the sole reason of putting them on my blog and then I never get around to posting. Let's see... where do I begin?

Let's start with my 23rd birthday. The original plan was to go to Yellowstone National Park because I had never been there before, but the weather didn't agree with us that day so we went to Fort Hall instead. Fort Hall is an Indian Reservation that has a casino, buffalo burgers, and a trading post with some pretty sweet jewelry and moccasins for sale. Erica, Katelyn, Tom, Cliff, and I spent about an hour playing the slots and after $4 or $5 being lost between the 5 of us,we decided to call it quits. The trading post was the next stop on the birthday list of adventures. I got some copper plated postcards to send to some friends and family, bought a really pretty bracelet, (got another beautiful bracelet from Cliff as a present), and Erica bought a pair of moccasins. Here is a picture of Katelyn trying on some things at the trading post:


Then we all went bowling, where we ran into these dashing young men....


and we all decided to grow mustaches as well...




You'd think after all of this excitement I would have been ready to call it a night, but the fun hadn't even started yet! For the second year in a row, Bubbles the Clown showed up at my birthday party. Last year he showed up at the door; this year he popped out of a closet. What a jokester...
This was last year's meeting:


and this is this year's reunion:



we have some good times.

and who could forget this little gem...

Cliff has modified his old XBox and has downloaded every original and super nintendo game ever made, sega, nintendo 64 and playstation. While we were scrolling through the 900 super nintendo games we came upon Michael Jackson's Moonwalker game. The goal of the game is to save little children and it is HILARIOUS. The theme music is Smooth Criminal and the video wouldn't upload so here is a picture of it:

I'm still trying to be better at this blogging stuff!!!!

Where do I begin? It’s amazing how much (and how little) can happen in a week! I’ll start with last Friday when I went to the drive-in that reopened just a few miles down the road from campus.

It was a double feature opening night, so Cliff and I went to see the new Star Trek movie and The Soloist. Both were really good movies (I still like The Soloist more even though I had already seen it), but they didn’t end until 2 AM and I’m not used to staying up that late anymore. I took a power nap during the second movie, but it got really cold and breezy outside so it was short lived. We were sitting in the jeep with the top down, so I should’ve known I was going to get cold and next time I’ll be better prepared. I had one of Cliff’s hoodies on and a blanket, but I should’ve brought a comforter!

Saturday was really nice out, so I got to bust out my shorts! Cliff, Brandon, and I went to the park (I drove the jeep-and yes the top was off!) and we threw a disc around for awhile. Once we started getting sweaty we went to Horkleys and got one of there super big/super cheap drinks! 60 cents for a 57 oz drink… what a deal. (it might be 55 oz… I don’t know for sure). This is a picture of me driving the jeep… I should’ve put my hair up!


Now for the big adventure of this week!!!
This semester I only have one class on Mon, Wed, Fri., so I usually just sit around and hang out all day after class. Well, this past Monday I was texting a friend and he asked me what I was doing all afternoon. My reply was of course NOTHING, so he asked me if I wanted to volunteer to be a patient for the paramedic student’s scenario they were running that day. After a short phone call, one of the paramedic students told me to wear clothes that could be cut up and to wear a bathing suit or something like it underneath and to meet up at the paramedic room a little before 2:00. Once I arrived, I was told to get in a car so that we could leave. I thought we were hanging out in the paramedic room all day, but the scenario was going to take place in Mesa Falls. (the waterfall place I blogged about a few weeks ago). So Stetson and I immediately got on the road, and the ambulance and the rest of the students were about 30 mins behind us. Once we got to the falls, we scoped out a good place to carry out the scenario. I was a 69 year old woman who was visiting the falls with her grandson (Stetson) and my pacemaker stopped working causing me to fall down a flight of stairs. To make the students really work, we made the fall at the bottom of all the staircases so they would have to carry me all the way back up on the backboard. It was fun to listen to everything that was going on (I was pretending to be unconscious so I couldn’t see what they were doing to me). They picked up really quick on what had happened, and got things going right away. They cut off my pants and shirt so I was left lying there in a tank top and shorts, which wouldn’t have been bad if there weren’t 10,000 mosquitoes lurking around trying to find someone to feast on. Stetson tried to keep the bugs off me, but sitting here 2 days later I’m still a little itchy. The students broke up into two groups-the guys went to the bottom and carried me to the top and the girls waited in the ambulance to take over. The guys tried to get IVs started while we were at the bottom, but someone forgot to pack alcohol swabs in the bag, so they waited until I got in the ambulance to do that. I was attached to an EKG and SPO2 monitor and had a nasal cannula put up my nose, a c-collar put on, and my head was taped down to the rock hard backboard. It was fun to see how they did everything since they have a lot more training than I do in medical emergencies. (for those of you who didn’t know I’m a certified EMT-Basic now). Anyways- I did a pretty dang good job of staying unconscious during the entire scenario, but a few things did make me crack a smile. When the guys were carrying me up all the staircases Stan and Craig were talking about how they were glad I was the patient and not the other guy that was going to volunteer because he weighs twice as much as I do. But jokingly, Craig said “yea, but she’s still heavy.” And Stan replied with “yea, lay off the cafeteria food.” After that comment I couldn’t hold in the smirk. Then Craig mentioned how beautiful the falls were and I think he asked Stetson if he liked it up there, and quickly Stetson responded, “No, I hate this place! My grandma is going to die here!” Again-couldn’t hold in the smirk. Once we got to the top, the backboard was put on a stretcher and the girls got right to work on the IVs. I let them actually try to put the IVs in to let them practice but I was kind of cold at this point because it was cold, rainy, and breezy up at the falls, so I think it was harder for them to get the stick. They missed in both arms, but at least they tried. This is what my arms look like after 12 hours.

It was fun and we stopped half way back to Rexburg to get lunch. I was glad we stopped so I didn’t have to be on the backboard anymore. We ate lunch, got back to campus; I changed my clothes and started to help teach the EMT lab. It was 6 straight hours of medical emergency fun. I really like what I’ve learned and wouldn’t mind learning even more about first aid, but I’m still not sure if I really want to go into the Paramedic program. I figure I have a year until I can apply for the program now anyways, so that gives me plenty of time to figure it out!

hangin at the hospital

so we're all chillen in room 510 waiting for the baby to be born. it's gonna be awhile before chellie gets her induction meds so it's gonna be a looooong night! i can't wait until baby rowley gets here... pics will be up as soon as he comes out!

27 hours later....
he's here!!! Kyler Rhet Rowley, my amazingly cute nephew, was born at 8:07 weighing 7 lbs 15 oz. on Saturday May 23,2009. here's a pic of the happy family!


p.s. thank you cliff for skyping me all day and keeping me busy while i waited!!

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Yesterday afternoon, Erica and Katelyn thought it would be a good idea to take a trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Why, you ask? Because we live in Rexburg, Idaho and sometimes you have to outsource for fun. So, we gathered up some friends and drove an hour and a half to Wyoming. This is what we saw when we got there:





We hit up some shops after we took pictures and saw a lot of dead animals hanging up on the walls and chillen outside on the side walks:



After we walked around for awhile, Cliff, Brandon, Tom, Katelyn, Erica, Vickie, and I decided we were hungry and we went to BUBBA'S BBQ! (it was delicious...but it still doesn't compare to Virginia!)


After dinner, Cliff, Brandon, and I went back to the arches and played some hacky sack. It's my new hobby, and I'm getting better at it... I promise!


It was an eventful day. We tried to take pics of the Wyoming sign on our way home, but it was really dark and Erica has shaky hands. Once we got home, the boys and I watched a few episodes of 24. I'm hooked on it, and I'm actually watching the second episode of the day as I write this.



oh, and I almost forgot... this sign was posted on a stop sign and it made me laugh. Usually you see lost dog signs on posts like that, but not in Wyoming... this is what I saw:

PLASMA CENTER NIGHTMARE!

A “quick and easy” way to make a few extra bucks around here in Rexburg is to go to the local plasma center. You “donate” plasma, but it’s not really donating because they pay you to do it. I figured since I donate blood all the time, that the plasma thing would be no big deal… WRONG! I made an appointment yesterday morning to go in and get my physical and to donate. While I was getting asked a million questions in the physical room, my right contact popped out of my eye! I should’ve known that was foreshadowing of the events to come. Sooo-I get through all the questioning and the physical and I’m called back to get poked with the needle. First off, that man jabbed that thing into my arm so hard I thought he punctured all the way through my vein! It hurt! The procedure of it all goes like this: they suck out your blood, separate the plasma, put the blood back, and repeat until they get all the plasma they want. I was on my third and last rotation of this and all of a sudden I started getting really hot and really sweaty. (and when I say really sweaty, I mean Kobe Bryant at the end of the fourth quarter during a playoff game sweaty!) My vision started getting a little more weird…remember it was already weird because I was a contact down at this point… and I started getting some hearing loss. So I shouted out to one of the workers that I was going to pass out, and he came over and reversed the blood process to put some blood back into my body. They elevated my legs and put an ice pack on my neck, so I sat there and waited a few minutes and then I finished up. I stayed lying down for a few minutes and drank some water, but as soon as I sat up I got nauseated and had to yell out to another worker to get me a trash can! I threw up three times! What a nightmare… but it wasn’t over there. Finally I felt good enough to drive home, and when I got home I had a headache and I had some really bad chills. I took a nap with 6 blankets and a comforter on top of me and I STILL couldn’t get warm! I texted a few of my friends to let them know what a nightmare I had experienced, so after my nap Cliff and Brandon came over to make sure I was alright. They asked me if I needed anything and wouldn’t leave until I told them something they could go buy for me. I told them to pick me up a candy bar because Erica had already gone to Horkley’s (the gas station down the street) to buy me a Powerade. So Cliff and Brandon went to the store and when they got back they had picked me up a funny card, some kit kat bars, an apple (because an apple a day keeps the doctor away) and a carrot (to help with my vision since I couldn’t see after I lost my contact). They are so sweet! I thought it was really funny and it really cheered me up! I still felt crappy all day and I missed two of my classes, but I did make it to the third. I had a headache all day and I never could get warm, but today I’m feeling much better and I’m deciding that all of that misery was not worth the $25. If I go again I get $35, but that’s not gonna happen!

Lesson learned.


this is my arm after two hours.... those jerks...

Welcome back to my life!

I’m going to make it a goal to write on my blog at least once a week from now on! And I will start back up with a few brief recaps of what has been going on during the last few weeks.

ICE CAVES!

Last weekend I got to experience going to the Ice Caves, which were absolutely amazing! The cave floors are covered in ice all year round, so it’s very slippery. I had fun army-crawling and getting on my back to push myself through the tight spots in the cave. If you make it to the end of the cave, there’s an ice slide at the end, and naturally I had to go down it! My clothes were really wet when I got back out of the caves (which was really hard to do because you’re trying to climb up ice hills… not that easy!). A large group of people went to the caves that night, so we had a bonfire and hung out before we called it a night. The funniest part of the night was off-roading to get to the caves. I’m almost positive every jeep and truck got stuck on the way down there. It should’ve taken us 20-30 mins to get there, but it took my crew over an hour because we had to keep towing people out and then we needed towed and no one could help us! It was fun, but I don’t know if I got more bruises climbing through the caves or from hitting my knees on the dashboard! I wish I would’ve brought my camera because I could’ve taken really cool pictures in the caves… oh well. Hopefully I’ll get to go back there again before I leave Idaho.

MESA FALLS!

I went to the Ice Caves last Saturday, and Sunday after church the same friends were adventuring up to Mesa Falls and invited me to come along. Cliff packed a picnic lunch for the two of us, which we ate once we got up to the falls. I got some pretty pictures while I was up there, so I’ll let those do the talking!

This is me in front of the waterfall and pictures of the scenery around it.