Extra time....

Finally a little extra time to sit down and blog about life in general...

I can't believe it's already been a week since I've been back from Mexico.. It's already a distant memory like a dream or something like that.. Something surreal.... I feel so very lucky to be able to go on trips like that. I wish I could do more of them and to different countries. Even though it's nice being able to go back and see the people you've helped and to see the kids growing up too. That is a great feeling. Definitely a yearly tradition for me....

Every morning while in Mexico, we had announcements and our prayer for the day.... We had a pastor there from South Africa. His name is Andre. I don't know what it was about the way he spoke or the things he said, but he really touched my heart. One evening, while at dinner, he spoke of his experiences while doing missionary work in other countries and even spoke about his near death experience where he laid on his bed and basically spoke to God and surrendered himself to God. It was so emotional, I was riveted... He said if he died there he knew he would be OK, because he surrendered all of himself, and his life to God... What an amazing experience. Later that day, I thought to myself, where do I stand?? I talk to God, and have my a personal relationship with him, but where do I stand??? I don't go to church, but I believe in God. This is something I'll be contemplating and diving deeper into...

Work has been good. Constant, which is good. It seems like our surgery center is restructuring from the inside out, so there's lots of new little policies and stuff like that to learn... But nothing we can't handle... On the other hand, my other job, is running low on techs so they will be using me every Saturday at least from now through March!!! That means only one day off a week until then... Really, I don't mind.. I enjoy working there because I get to do cases that we can't do at the surgery center. It helps me keep up those hospital skills that techs need to have... I think techs that stay at surgery centers for too long become stagnant from only doing the same kind of repetitive surgeries. But I do love the surgery center schedule!!! Can't beat it!!! Well work is good....

I hadn't really said much about it before, but I've been reducing my caloric intake and with these walks that we've been taking, I have lost some weight. I usually don't like to weigh myself because I'm never happy with the number staring back at me.... (and I do mean, NEVER happy with it) But lately I've had to actually go out and buy new pants because the ones I owned were literally almost falling off of me. When I weighed myself, I was happy to find out that I've lost 25 pounds!!! I am so proud of myself!!! Now, I've set my goal for another 25 the end of July... 5 pounds a month till then... I am going to try really hard to work out more, and continue on my path of shoveling less food in my face. I've never actually been this close to my lifelong weight goal... and now that it's within reach. I will make it there!!! So wish me luck!!! I know I'll need it!!! I told everyone in Mexico I was a recovering food-a-holic... Sometimes it feels like I really am...

Did I mention my hubby??? I know I wrote a little blurb about him regarding Valentine's Day, but I don't think I did him justice.... You know, he worked a regular day last Wednesday, came home, AND THEN drove all the way to LAX to pick me and 2 of my fellow travelers up.... Did I mention it was around midnight??? Then he drove the 2 girls home, and we finally went home... And yes, he went to work in the morning after taking Noah to school, so I could sleep. He is amazing... and he's mine!!! Yay!!!! I wish I could really make him understand how lucky I feel to be his wife, but I can never find words meaningful enough to get it across..... Someday, I'll find them.... But I am so lucky, and blessed to be his wife. And I just hope he realizes that....

My Noah poo.... He's growing by leaps and bounds every time I turn around. He's trying really hard to get straight A's in school because we promised to take him and the friend of his choice to Johns Incredible Pizza Co. (it's like chuck e cheese on crack!!!) This place has rides and all kinds of other fun things in there... Mark and Noah went there while I was gone, and Noah hasn't stopped mentioning it since... So hopefully soon we will get his progress report and be able to go there... He is an official green belt in Tae Kwon Do. So far he is doing great... He has learned about half of his form already.. I must admit he hasn't been practicing at home very much. Since we have started our walks, we don't really have much time at home other than for homework and dinner. I think we'll have to make time for it as the forms get harder. Which they will very soon... I think there are only 3 or 4 more belts until he gets into the higher ranks and things really get tough.... But in general, all things are good with Noah. Here's his pic that I had promised to load a long time ago.. I finally figured out what was wrong with my scanner and was able to fix it...

Our little Obi, is not so little!!! He also is growing so quickly!!! He keeps getting taller and even a bit fatter these days.... We changed his food and I think he is gaining weight from it... Little pig!!! He is very obedient too... He scratches at the back door when he needs to poop, and he hasn't missed his pads in so long for pee.... It's awesome!!! I'm so glad Mark decided to give in and get a puppy... I think he has been so good for our family. and especially for Noah. He loves Obi so much. He runs when we get home so that he can be the one to let Obi out of the bathroom!!! I call him Noah's little brother.


Last weekend we went out with one of my friends from work to celebrate her cousins birthday. It was so much fun to meet her brother and all her hilarious cousins!!! They had me laughing so hard!!! We went to the Yard House at the Victoria Gardens mall. We got there early and had enough time to walk around for a while, just the two of us, which was so nice!!! Then we headed over to meet everyone and had a great time!!! Lots of yummy drinks!!! Pomegranate margarita, mangolicious martini, and a new fav. -the Colorado bulldog!!! mmmmmm...it's like a coke float!!!! the silent killer!!! it sneaks up on you!!! after a few of those, I started drinking water and sobering up!!! Aren't I responsible??? hahahaha!!! OK. All in all, it was a fun time... I love my friend Frankie!!! She's great!!!!

Kimmy, myself, the birthday boy Bruce and Frankie....

Frankie and me

The cutest couple in this pic....

Hey that's my jacket!!!! Ur stretching it!!!!!

Mark forwarded me an email with a personality test attached to it today. So I took it and here's what it said about me.. It was actually really accurate... You should try it... It's fun to read about your personality.. The website is www.similarminds.com

ENFJ

"Persuader"

Outstanding leader of groups. Can be aggressive at helping others to be the best they can be.

2.5% of total population.

outgoing, social, attention seeking, emotional, loving, organized, comfortable around others, involved, open, hyperactive, complimentary, punctual, considerate, altruistic, easily hurt, religious, neat, content, positive, affectionate, image conscious, good at getting people to have fun, easily excited, perfectionist, assertive, ambitious, leader, hard working, seductive, touchy, group oriented, anti-tattoos
favored careers:
casting directory, film critic, wedding planner, work in the performing arts, teacher (art, preschool, elementary), actor, fashion designer, news anchor, fashion merchandisier, school psychologist, broadcaster, stylist, interior designer, event coordinator, restarant owner, childcare worker, hair stylist, film director, counselor, dancer
disfavored careers:
race car driver, scientist, computer specialist, airline pilot, computer programmer, financial manager, epidemiologist, truck driver, electrical engineer, software designer, web designer, business consultant, dj, bookseller

Here they are...

I was going to try and load pics 5 at a time... and then came to my senses when I realized that I had over 50 pics I wanted to share... So I loaded them on slideshows to save time and space on here...

The trip was amazing... When we arrived there, Friday and Saturday seemed to be very long days, but after that, the days flew by and the next thing I knew, it was time to come home and I was sad that I wasn't able to stay the whole week.

We all met at Loma Linda at 430 am and piled into the car and headed to LAX.. We got there around 7am, and our flight wasn't until 11am!!! So needless to say we waited around a while... We all finally checked in and eventually got ont the plane... The flight was 3 hours and 15 minutes long... We arrived at Guadalajara airport on Friday evening and it took us over an hour to get all of our baggage together and onto the bus we were going to be traveling in... Then we had to rent the minivans that we would be driving around town for the week... Finally, we were on our way to El Ranchito which was 3 and a half hours away from the airport... I slept most of the way there, because it was dark and there were not really many street lights, and I was so tired... We stopped about half way to grab a bite to eat.. And then more driving...

When we arrived at the house, we all tried to find a place to sleep and got comfy and ready for bed... Sherie and I decided to sleep outside on the hammmocks... So we all went to bed. Saturday morning was church service. Last year it was held outside of an open building under a tarp tent... This year they held it inside a disco club building.. (Every year they seem to upgrade, the first year it was held under a large tree...) After service, they had a huge potluck meal and we all just chatted. I brought candy bracelets and Valentines pencils for the kids and handed them out.. They loved them!!!! It melted my heart.

After church we all went home to pack an overnight bag because we were going to stay at the cabins on the beach as a bonding night... It was beautiful there... We laid out at the beach, had dinner as a big family, and just hung out till we went to bed... Unfortunately we suffered 2 incidents this night... One was our coordinator Dianna who fell in a little ditch and sprained her ankle really bad. The other was one of the docs that fell into a bunch of sea urchins at the beach and got spines in both of his hands, his side and legs. (He later got them taken out of his hands and there were over 300 just in his hands) We slept 7 in our cabin that night.. There were 2 beds with 2 people on each, and 3 people on the floor... But it was great!! I enjoyed it...

The next morning we had breakfast at the top of the hill and then went back to the house to get ready to sort the medical bags and organize ourselves at the hospital. We went there and unloaded all the bags, then headed off to the clinic to do some minor procedures.

Monday we headed to the hospital. Where I would soon find out that I would not be scrubbing as much as I thought I would since Dianna was hurt and couldn't really walk around, she asked me to take over for her. So I ended up admitting our patients to the hospital (yes all the paperwork was in spanish and had to be written in spanish), write orders for them, take their history and physical, take them to the Operating room, and even recover them... Wow... Dianna does so much work behind the scenes... I was amazed and exhausted!!! So this is the reason I wasn't able to get as many pics as I did last year. I was way too busy. We admitted 3 patients so I had to write orders for their overnight stay, and then do rounds on them in the morning. I felt like a doctor!! The staff from the hospital even asked me what kind of doc I was, and were surprised when I said I was just their right hand woman doing all the leg work..... We were at the hospital from 630 am until 1 am this day.. By the time we got home and took showers and got in bed it was nearly 230!!!! Just enough time to get some sleep and get up again around 6am....

Tuesday we had 2 septoplasty cases (noses) and then called it a day because both of our plastic surgeons were leaving. That was an easy day for the OR crew, but I did paperwork for all the patients for wed and thursday.... Since I would be leaving on Wednesday. After work, we headed out to a beautiful beach called La Privada (the private one) here we hung out for a few hours then went to a different beach to have dinner. It was a great last night in Mexico...

On Wednesday, I got up at 430 in the morning with the other tech, and we went to the hospital to sterilize instruments for the day. We threw trays together, pulled our supplies for the day, then went back home for breakfast... We returned to the OR around 8am to do a vaginal hysterectomy and a circumcision, and then it was time to go... I stopped by our patients room (the latissmus graft) and said goodbye. She started to cry and made me cry because she was so grateful for what we had done for her. We stopped at the clinic to say goodbye to that crew and the dentists... Then went home to gather our stuff and off we went.

It took another 3 and a half hours to get to the airport (10 of us squeezed into a suburban) and we were 3 hours early so we just walked around, took pictures, grabbed some hot chocolate at starbucks and waited!!! I slept on the flight home and was sooo happy to see Mark when I got to LAX.... I missed him so much!!!! We didn't get home until nearly 2am, so I was glad to have the next day off.

So that's it... The run down on the trip. We helped a lot of people, I met a great group of new people, learned some new stuff, had a great time, and well...It was just amazing.

So these are some of my pics. As soon as I get more from the other people I will load them up.... Thanks for reading.... Here they are.....

A quick hello

Hey everyone.. I just wanted to write a quick hello.. and let everyone know that I made it back safely and without any big incident (other than being attacked by mosquitoes)... thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

The trip was amazing but since it's Valentines tonight, I will be loading pics tomorrow. Tonight I want to spend with my hunny!!! He surprised me this morning with a scavenger hunt around the house, with cute and so very thoughtful gifts at every clue!!! What an amazing man!!! I am truly so lucky to have him... He's the bestest ever!!!

I spent today sleeping till noon and then picking up Noah and going to my moms for a bit till tae kwon do... Then I stopped at my big sisters house to say hey and then we went home. We had dinner and watched my tivo'd episode of prison break over some pizza and now it's time to snuggle up!!! It's cold outside!!!

So thanks again for your thoughts and prayers.. and pics will be up tomorrow. If you're on my myspace, there are a few pics up there already, so check em out and leave some love.

Goodnight and





love,
Kat

Over a week...

Wow, It's been over a week since I posted last.... I know I slacked on getting those pictures on here, but we've just been busy and I was so frustrated the day it kept giving me the error message.... Oh well, I'm over it, and the pics are loading quickly today!!!!

Still Go Karting!!! Man, it's so much fun. I think Christi and I have infected a few of the other girls at work because it sounds like they may also join in on the fun with us too!!! Here's a pic of us at the track with all our gear on...

Here comes the majority of the pics... Noahs birthday party at Air Kids...The pics are mostly cloudy and out of focus because it was dark and everyone was jumping around... But I take it as everyone was having so much fun no one wanted to sit still for a pic!! It's a good thing!!!!!

Our walks are still going great... Did I mention I've lost some weight??? Not that I jump on a scale, I hate doing that!!!! But the clothes are fitting better, so I'm going to stick to it!!! Obi loves them too!!! He gets to burn off so much energy when we go!!! It's a win-win!!! I love walking by the park so Noah can get some fun time in too... Here's Obi and Noah on the slide....

This last Saturday was Noah testing for his next belt. He was testing to get out of Camoflauge and into Green belt. This was the first test that he actually had to spar to pass onto the next. Luckily I was called off of work from the hospital and was able to go support him!!!! It made my day!!! He did a great job. His form and one-steps were awesome. His sparring was very basic. Punches, side kicks and after the first segment, he actually did some reverse spin kicks!!! I was so proud!!!! So he passed and this Thursday will be his awards and belt ceremony. I think his new uniform came in too. So he will be lookin mighty fly for his ceremony!!!

After testing we went to Jamba Juice (and Starbucks for Noah) and just hung out at home. It was so important for me to spend some major quality time at home with my boys this weekend. I am going to miss them when I leave this week!!!! So we hung out at home and actually started getting the house and some of the food prepared for Super Bowl Sunday. Mark invited some of the guys from the office and his bro Tim over to watch the game and play some Rock Band. After everyone had a few beers and got lubed up... Everyone was having a blast playing the game.. Even SINGING!!! (huh Mel, and her Metallica!!!!) What a great time!!!! I love having people over!!! The game was alright. You know I wanted to see the Packers there (Where's Favre???), but I'll settle for an Eli Manning victory.. Anything but Mr. Cocky, Tom Brady!!! UGH!!!! Glad he lost!!! Anyway, here's a picture of the band, and my little niece Haylee having some dinner....

Finally yesterday, Monday February 4th.... Noahs actual birthday... He is now officially 8 years old!!! I was able to get out of work early enough to pick up some cupcakes and take them to his class at school. I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it, so when I did, my little guys face just lit up!!! It made my day to see him so happy!!! After I left his school, I went home for a bit and then took some more cupcakes to his Kindercare class too. They all loved the cupcakes and Noah was happy!!!! Later that night we went out to dinner with my mom, sisters Jay and Little B.... Noah got to pick the place and of course he picked Red Robin. It was great to have the family together. I love them so much!!!! And so another birthday passes for him, and we look foward to the next...


And so it's Tuesday... and I can't believe in 2 days I'l be leaving for Mexico. I know it's going to be such a wonderful trip, with lots of opportunity to help people. But, man, am I going to miss my family. I love them so much. I have to meet the group at 4 in the morning!!!!! That means I have to WAKE up at 230??? Uhhh, I think I will just be staying awake the night before, because I think it will be harder for me to wake up than it will be for me to stay awake that late!!! I think one of the final counts is nearly 45 people that will be staying at this one house with one bathroom for all this time that we will be there. Too much fun!!! Actually I am really looking foward to it. It's like camping.... I think I saw an internet store there last year. If it's not too expensive I may hop on a computer and try to get a blog in, if not expect one MASSIVE overload of pics when I get back. We arrive back around 11pm next week but I got the next day off from work, so on Valentines Day I will definitely put up some pics.

There's lots of traveling going on this month for people I know. Tomorrow morning some of the guys I go Karting with are leaving for Costa Rica. I am so jealous!!!! They are going dirt bike riding in the rainforest for a few days. My Xray tech friend is going to San Jose for her sons hockey championships, and of course our big group is going to Mexico. So please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.

Ok... I will try my best to load those pics of the awards ceremony on thursday.... Take care everyone!!! Talk to you in probably another week and a half!!!!