Can't Get Enough.... Good Times....

It's been a while since Mark, Noah and I have had a great family filled couple of days.. This weekend was certainly one of those...



Friday night we spent with my older sister Terri and Little B...... She is such an artist!!!! She is sweet enough to always do awesome designs on my toenails.... My personal pedicurist!!!! This time she did pink, silver and white zebra stripes on my toes!!! I love them!!! After we left her place, we came home and it was time for me to pack my overnight bag and get some rest since I was on call starting at 11pm..... Luckily, I didn't end up getting called in to work, but unfortunately I slept really crooked on the couch and woke up with a sore neck!!! hahahah.... Just can't win!!!



Saturday was work as usual.... We were pretty busy but no huge cases... Just got through the day... After work, it was a family reunion at our place.... Marks mom, grandpa, uncle and his girlfriend are down from Alaska.... So we decided to take this opportunity and have everyone get together so we could all visit.... It was a great time, ate, watched football, got grandpa drunk, played a little Rock Band.... Even my mom stopped by to say hello to everyone which meant so much to Mark and myself.... It was a great night... After everyone left, Mark and I played some more Rock Band, and then we called it a night!!!! I was soooo tired by the last song, I was literally falling asleep while I was supposed to be singing!!! LMFAO!!!! I knew it was time for bed when I popped up and didn't remember what song I was supposed to be singing....



This morning we got up, had some quick breakfast, and headed out to Carlsbad to meet my friend Edlyse, her hubby and @ 2 kiddos at the beach.... We went, played a little football, watched the kids get in the freezing water and play in the sand.... I know, I know.... You never really hear about us going to the beach... Maybe once or twice a year.... I gotta tell you... I am not a beach person, and luckily for me, neither is Mark.... and well up until today, Noah wasn't either.... Today Noah and Edy's son Alex played in the water for hours!!!!! Mark took some really great pics that I'll load later... We were so happy to see Noah having a great time with his new friend...we didn't want to leave and make him get out, but it was getting chilly and I promised I would make a cake for someone, so I had to get home!!!

Tomorrow after work, I am going to hang out with Edy and her kiddos at a shallow river that they visit down in Temecula.. I guess it's really beautiful and unspoiled.. Something you would see in a movie... Big shady tree hanging over the water with a rope swing on it.... I'm excited... So after work, I'll zoom home, grab Noah and head over to the river, then to Edy's place for a BBQ..... What a great end to a great weekend, and an even greater start to a new week....

This week I will be able to get back on my running regimen.. Lately I have truly been so busy that I've completely slacked on my routine.. This week that will end... That's my promise to myself... Gotta get back to my 4 days running, 3 days walking and hopefully some weights at home.... I have to!!!!

OK, my cake is almost done and I gotta get the frosting together, so I will load pics soon.... Really... I will.... Have a great Monday!!!!

Finally... A Slideshow of pics....

Wow, I know that I've been mentioning how we have seriously been getting busier at work.... Well, we are also up for a JCAHO inspection... JCAHO is one of the accreditations that our surgery center maintains as a standard..... Well, they can drop in and inspect us anytime between now and February, so we are trying to tidy up and re-educate ourselves on things we may have let slip.... With that said, I have also taken on the project of reorganizing all of the operating rooms, supplies in the rooms, and our sterile supply room.... Pheeeewwww!!! That has been quite the undertaking.... Each OR has a specialty, and our supply room has EVERYTHING we use including our sterile instrument trays.... Well, after about two weeks of moving, cleaning, organizing and labeling, I am close to completing this project.... I just keep running out of labels for the machine.... I've only been able to work on it when I haven't been scrubbed in.... Which is not often at all... I'm so proud of how it looks... I think I will take pics of all the rooms tomorrow, so I can keep a pic of when it looked nice.....

Well, I just wanted to write a little something and post those pics that I had been talking about..... Hopefully I'll be able to write more from work this Saturday... Till then, I hope everyone is doing great!!!

Am I a slacker or just busy????? It's been a long time....

Just busy!!!!


I know I just haven't had time to hop on the computer and really spend some quality time blogging for a while now.... Just so busy with work and home life that I haven't really had time for sitting and thinking and typing.... Seems like I'm just running, working and sleeping....

That said... My trip to Vail was AMAZING!!!! You probably read my little mobile blog that I wrote from my phone while I was there..... It was so gorgeous there... On the way to our hotel, we had a hard time finding a place to eat because we wanted to get closer to Vail before we stopped since it was a 2 hour drive there from the airport.... So when the Dr started threatening us with eating his own leg, we stopped where we could and had a quick dinner... Then we were off again!! When we got to the hotel, the boys went to their room and I went to my room... as soon as I got to my room, my phone rang and it was Dr. G... He said they gave them the room with only one bed and they gave me a room with two beds... So after I made fun of them for being a very metro gay couple, we switched rooms.... And it was time for bed!!!!


The cadaver lab was sooo cool!!!! It wasn't how I pictured it in my head... You know, the full body cadaver set up on a table so we could do the arthroscopy... No, it was just a hip from the waist to the middle of the femur and only one leg... It was pretty weird.... To do a hip arthroscopy, you have to have the patient on what we call a fracture table.... Here's a picture of what it looks like.... This attaches to our regular OR table to modify it for the procedure... Pretty cool....

It's a break apart table that can bend and dislocate the hip joint so that the surgeon can get better access to the joint... So on the cadaver they basically attached the top of the hip to a base.... and then half way down the femur (the long leg bone) they drilled a hole through it, put a wire in and attached it to what looked like a reel so we could distract it.... I know it sounds crazy... It was.... So the docs were able to do a hip arthroscopy on the cadavers and a repair with anchors... When they were done, the rep that went with us (Matt) and I took over a cadaver and we did a hip scope of our own... It was awesome to be able to do a surgery like that.... We dissected the labrum (the inner covering of the socket part of the hip) drilled in a couple of anchors, tied the labrum down and walaa!!!! We were surgeons for a moment in time!!! We left there accomplished!!! If for some crazy reason you want to read some more about it... Here is the link to the information.....
http://global.smith-nephew.com/cps/rde/xbcr/smithnephewls/1030203F.pdf


Other than our awesome learning we did there.... We went out for dinner and watched some football.... We walked around the awesome town, and took a road trip just to enjoy the scenery.... Did I mention it was gorgeous????? We hit the pool and the jacuzzi.... Relaxed.... I even went on a solo nature hike while the boys decided they needed to work on their tans....


It was a great opportunity to bond with my surgeon and our rep... We are now called Team Gregorius!!!! Which is too funny because while we were in Vail, in the mornings I would get a text message saying "TEAM GREGORIUS ASSEMBLE!!!!" when they were ready to meet up....

We are the trifecta.... as Dr. G called us.... Good times!!!! We even have our nicknames..... Dr. G is well, lovingly named "Rumplestilsken", because he loves to brag and get every ones attention.... Matt's nickname is "The Beav" as in leave it to beaver..... That comes from him being the most genuinely sweet and good guy you could know... He would do anything for Dr. G.... Then there is my nickname.... it's "Phelps"... because he is the best swimmer EVER and Dr. G and Matt say I am the best tech EVER!!!! Really cute... So needless to say we are a tight little bunch now... All in the name of Sports Medicine!!!!

So the trip was a success... I learned sooo much and can't wait to begin doing hip arthroscopy at our surgery center... I'll keep everyone posted on that!!!!

When I came back it was time to celebrate my Mommy's birthday!!!! We had a family BBQ at her place, ate, relaxed, chatted for a while... I was tired from the plane trip so I pooped out early.... It was time for me to go to bed.... Back to work on Monday!!!! Another week of work and call as usual.....

The next weekend we went to my friends Veronica and Daniels place.... They are hosting a foreign exchange teacher from Germany and wanted to have a little get to know our group mixer... Her name is Sara and we want to keep her now!!! She's so awesome!!!! We are trying to find a nice guy to marry her off to soon so she can stay forever!!!! I love her accent tooo.... I told her I want to plan a trip to visit her in Germany so she can show us all the cool places... She said she and her friends hop a train and can be in Paris in an hour or so... AMAZING!!! I can't wait!!!!

I hope everyone had a good Labor Day!!! We didn't do much other than BBQ at my moms place.... I love hanging out with my mom and sisters.... and that little Brayden!!! I LOVE to see him smile... He has the cutest mischievous smile!!!! It makes me smile thinking about it.... It was nice to have an extra day off.. I usually only get one day a week!!!!

The week went by pretty fast... We were really busy at the surgery center... I slept at the hospital Tuesday night because I got called in.... Worked through Saturday which was super busy at the hospital.... We did a total hip replacement, which is so unusual for a Saturday.... and then 5 other surgical cases.... I was pooped!!!

Pooped as I was, it was time for a GIRLS NIGHT OUT... So my friends and I headed out to Pasadena to show Sara a good time.... We all met at Veronica's house, had some pre-drinks, then hopped on the freeway.... In usual fashion, we stopped about half way for a pit stop, and then made it the rest of the way..... We started out at our usual place Bar Celona... Had some sangria and tapas...danced a bit... Then we walked over to Villa Sorrisso, some of us had a few drinks here too..... Then we headed over to another place and did some more dancing... We had a great time till it was time to go.... We lost a few people, had a hard time finding them, found them, had some drama.... Well long story short.... We didn't leave Pasadena till nearly 5AM!!!! Woooo... At this point I had been up over 24 hours and kinda tired!!!! We didn't even do our traditional IHOP breakfast.... So tired and hungry I got home around 615 in the morning as the sun was coming up..... I had a bowl of cereal and went to bed...

Mark had planned on going with his brother and some friends to watch opening day of football..... So he got up around 9, and well so did I... I couldn't sleep anymore!!!! I made Noah some breakfast, made a pineapple upside down cake, hopped in the shower and got ready because I was taking my friend to get a few tattoos done by my brother in law.... Frankie got a heart with wings and a halo on her foot, and an initial on her wrist.... She toughed it out really well, and My Bri.... He did an amazing job!!! Such a great artist with steady hands.... He can tattoo me any day!!! And actually maybe someday soon... Once I figure out where I want it....

This week was exciting because we took family pics... My momma, sisters and us 3 haven't taken pics together since before Brayden was born... So we all met up one night this week and had our pics taken by this really great photog that took Braydens first baby pics.... We get to view them in a week or so, and get them back a few weeks after that... I'm so excited to see them!!!! They're gonna be great!!!!

Did I mention Noah no longer goes to KinderCare??? Oh he is sooo happy.... My mom said she would love to hang out with Noah more... So Mark drops Noah off straight to school and my mom picks him up after school and he gets to hang out with her and my little sis... and sometimes with Brayden too.... How awesome is that???? That is family love!!!! Noah is a total grandmas boy too... Lovin every minute of it....

Tonight we are going to the Pasadena Pub Crawl with most of the girls from last week and a bunch of other people that didn't get to go.... Which is going to be great!!! I'll take pics as always... Just not sure when I'll ever get them up here!!! LOL!!!!

As for me, and all my emotions.... I'm taking everything one day at a time.... Feeling better.... Trying to work on upping my exercise routine.... Trying to keep everyone happy!!!!!

I know my work is intruding into my family and personal time, but at this point in time, I feel like the commitment I make to my job, is going to help me and my family in the long run.... It may lead me into the next steps of my life and career.... So I am hyper focused on it right now....

Noah loved going back to school, and then the homework began..... He is in the GATE program this year and it is a little different.... After a rocky start, we are picking it up and he has shown a great improvement by becoming student of the week last week... He also has earned his last stripe on his blue belt which means he will be testing for brown belt next Saturday.... I'm so proud of him.... even through the emo and attitude days, he's still my little guy and I couldn't love him any more!!!!

This coming Friday is an awesome day!!!! It's our 4 year wedding anniversary!!!! We had planned on going to Vegas with some friends so I took the WHOLE weekend off, but that plan fell through, so I think we are going to have an awesome dinner and night out just the two of us!!!! My hubby... I love him sooo much.... 4 years married and going on 9 years of being together.... I think we have both changed soooo much in all these years, but what remains the same is the love we share.... It's awesome!!!!

Well, I've spent a long time blogging today..... I am at the hospital, we haven't had a case all day, just hangin out and on the general computer so I cant load any pics... But I promise I will get some on here soon!!!!!

Miss everyone... Thanks for checking in.....