:: We are officially on the bandwagon ::

Well it is my final day of Spring Break and I am officially depressed and stressed all over again. Last night we wanted to make sure we did something fun. We wanted to get out of the house and have one last hoorah before it is back to the grind for the remaining 4 weeks of the semester (p.s. SOOOOO EXCITED ONLY 4 WEEKS LEFT!)

So what did we decide to do? ... We jumped on the band wagon and became fans of

REAL SALT LAKE SOCCER!

B pretty much loved the game! We got tickets from Jeremy's brother so we were 6 rows up from the field and it was amazing! (sorry this is the only picture of B I took actually clapping and enjoying the game it was a little cold!)

There are now officially only two sports that I am willing to bundle up for and that is Utah Football and Real Soccer!

Real played the LA Galaxy which is the home of the one and only David Beckham. I hate to break this to all the ladies out there like me who have a crush on him but he is not as attractive in person as he appears on television and in magazines. Maybe its the uniform but i'm guessing not. Oh well at least I got to see the famous Beckham play his sport (didn't really do anything magnificent but whatever he is Beckham!)

Happy Sunday and Happy end of Spring Break!

::Spring Break::

Is here and let me tell you how much I needed this week to come. 12 weeks of school, clinic, studying, testing, homework, etc etc is way to much for me to handle! Another plus ... only 4 more weeks of this semester!!!

Happy first day of spring!

::Half way there::

My limited posts have been very very boring and only about school lately so I thought before I started in on the boring stuff about school I would post a few of my favorite pictures from lately!

isn't he the cutest Bronco's player ever!

This is Hailey my cousins daughter. She loves B (when I say love I mean when she sees him she loves to yell at him really really loud and he just laughs!)

We are missing our Utes so we went to a gymnastic meet one night. Good times for sure .. good pictures not for sure!

Now on to the boring stuff!!!!

I have discovered today that I have 5 weeks left of clinic (this means only 10 sessions for one client and 5 sessions for my other ones!) and 6 weeks left of the semester and let me tell you I have never been so ready for a semester to be over. I can't even tell you why I am so over it I just am.

Spring break is super late this year - I still have two full weeks of classes and clinic before I get a break :(

On a happy note I feel that I have mastered the concept of time spent on school and clinic being equal or less to the time spent with my little family!!!! Wahoo ... this is great news in that last semester I was still gathering my bearings about being back in school and working in the clinic ... this semester is WAY WAY WAY more intense however I am trying to make time for my little family. They are the most important and I need to remember that!

I am beginning the process of interviewing for my externships (scheduled for Spring 2012) yes super early but with 50 students just from the U competing with students from USU and BYU they have to get the process going so they get to know all the awesome people (i.e. me!) Wish me luck on these!

On a side note I have never been more exhausted in my life ... what is that all about? Oh well ... happy Tuesday night!

::Nothing Special::

Well, I am sitting at work B-O-R-E-D out of my mind when I log onto Facebook (something I do ALL THE TIME!) and I see all these blog updates from friends and decide that since I am caught up (this term ‘caught up’ is used very loosely) on clinic meetings, sessions, SOAPs, etc., have completed my first test, and haven’t yet started studying for my second test I might as well blog about something (not that we have anything going!)

Christmas at The Sutherland’s was a great time! My parents gave us golf clubs this year and I must say we are getting pretty good, granted we have only been to hit a couple buckets of balls and haven’t yet ventured out on the greens but the weather is getting great and it is in our near future to get some good use out of our clubs!

New Year’s was spent at a bar in PC, this is all you need to know!

B is continuing to surprise me everyday! This kid is amazingly funny, generous, loving, etc, etc! He turned 9 on December 27 which was oh so very weird for me mainly because Jeremy and I started dating when B was approximately 1 and a 1/2 years old. The kid got spoiled for both his birthday and Christmas and I don’t think there was anything he had asked for that he didn’t get! His little sister Kira turned 4 on December 29 and is as sassy as an 18 year old! That girl will be trouble (well more than she is now) when she is older. We love spending time with her and we are so grateful her mom let’s us have the time we get to have with her!

January was one big blur of nothingness. I hate January in Utah all we have is snow and cold with nothing to look forward to, at least when we have snow and cold in December we have Christmas coming our way but in January we simply have more cold and more snow and I frankly hate it. I live in the wrong state for sure and I am trying my super hardest to convince Jeremy to move us to the wonderful state of AZ when I graduate! I still have 15 months to work on this goal!

School started up again in January and I can’t believe that it is almost March. I have discovered there is 8 weeks left (WTF how did that go by so quickly???) I have a love/hate relationship with school right now. I love what I am learning, I love working with clients in clinic, and I love love love all of the amazing friends I have made who fully understand all that I am going thru each and every day. I do however hate all of the work that comes with getting my Master’s, I hate that I have given up on being a wife and step mom, I hate that I can only do laundry on Sunday’s inbetween trying to catch up on readings and studying, and most of all I HATE HATE HATE that one day I will be expected to do this all on my own with no one there to complain to about not feeling 100% prepared! Some of the people closet to me know how much of an emotional person I am so I feel that a major accomplishment in my education is that I have never up and cried or got emotional at school in front of professors, clinic supervisors, or peers ... well my friends I can no longer count that as an accomplishment :( Two Thursday’s ago I was to my breaking point and I lost it right in my clinical supervisors office. From the beginning of this semester I have been feeling very ineffective as a clinician, which totally sucks because if I am feeling this way now how will I feel when I start doing this full time. Thoughts were going thru my head “I know this is what I want, but is it the right fit? I know I want to work with kids, but am I meant to work with kids?” you get the idea! Well my supervisor (amazing woman that she is) talked me down and I am here to say I am back, this is for me, this is what I want, and I will one day be an AMAZING clinician! Feels very good to put that out in the world right now! I have to start applying for my medical externships this month by writing my letter of intent (why I want to by an SLP in the hospital?) well I am not sure that I do, but I want to make sure that I get the experience just in case maybe I do, but you can’t write that in a letter so here I sit blogging instead of working on my applications and letters because I have no idea how to start or what to say! Suggestions are being accepted!

A lot of this post takes place in the past and we have much to look forward to in our future of 2011 and I am oh so very excited for all the things we have to come!

Happy February to everyone and hopefully I can continue updating the blog on a more regular basis, but I wouldn’t hold your breath!

::Catch up Time::

Well, I gave up on blogging while I was in school mainly because I felt so busy and any time I did spend on the computer was doing homework, research, typing notes, homework. research ... well you get the idea I am sure. The first semester went by so quickly I can’t believe it is already over. I thought this 2 years would go by so slow and drag on but here we are in December and getting ready for my second semester. I love grad school, I love what I am learning, I love the people I go to school with, I love clinic, I mostly love my professors ... however, I hate how intense it is, I hate how much time is involved, I hate all the homework, I hate all the studying, and I hate being away from my little family. I can say with 100% certainty thought that

I love it more than I hate it.

When I applied to grad school and got in I was just so excited that I failed to read thru all my paperwork, I failed to fully understand exactly what was expected of me. In grad school there is this word the professors use on a regular basis .. this word is “REMEDIATION” .. big word - yes, scary word - absolutely! In grad school if you get below 80% on ANYTHING you have to re-do it. Homework - redo, Test - re-take, you get the idea. Let me tell you everything in grad school took me at least 3 hours to complete so you can imagine one would not want to re-do or re-take anything. Well this word pretty much gave me a heart attack each time I had an assignment or a test. I took my last final on Thursday December 16th and I am having mild heart palpitations everyday waiting and waiting to see my grades. One thing about grad school is there is no relief until you have the grade in front of you that you can see and look at and is something tangible that you can use as proof that you know and understand what you are talking about. So until this Friday December 24th I anticipate being overwhelmed, stressed out, and praying I don’t have a heart attack before then!

I don’t think we have really been doing anything since I started school but let’s try to back up to September and see what we have:

SEPTEMBER:

My beautiful cousin Deveree got married to a wonderful man named Lucas and they are going to live happily ever after. The got married at The Canyons resort in Park City, Utah and it was a gorgeous wedding! We got hotel rooms and got to spend the weekend up there hanging with our family, shopping, eating, and having a great time. It was a fun little break from real life!

September 12th was this wonderful man’s birthday

he is my hero and I couldn’t imagine my world without him in it. I can’t remember back that far to what we actually did to celebrate his big day but I am sure we did something fun!

September is also Fair time which I love! We took B and Kira to the Utah State Fair and had a great time, we saw seals, rode the big yellow slide, bought some Fair food, and did some great fair shopping! Of course I didn’t have my camera at the fair so you only get to look at my words!

September was also the start of Utah Football! We had season tickets this year and had a great time at all the games!

OCTOBER:

Nothing exciting happened in October that I can remember. I had a much needed Fall break from school that was spent studying for two tests. Our good friends Josh and Danielle came in from St. Louis and stayed with us which was fun to have some company for a week. Halloween came and went and B had a great time. Jeremy and I went out and watched the Utah game that played on Halloween and B hung with his mom and sister and went trick or treating.

NOVEMBER:

November was pretty much the same as October. It came and went and I have no idea what we did or what happened. I do know Jeremy and I decided to go watch the Utes play against the Fighting Irish in Southbend Indiana! We flew into St. Louis and met with Josh and Danielle, from there we drove to Chicago and hung there for the night (such a fun place by the way I love it there and can’t wait to go back and spend a whole weekend there exploring the awesome city!) Saturday November 13th we drove to Southbend Indiana and unfortunately our Utes lost but it was still such a fun weekend with a much needed break from school!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days because Jeremy’s mom makes the best mashed potatoes and gravy ever. I don’t what she does or how she does it but they are amazing and I love going to her house every year for dinner!

Black Friday is my favorite holiday! I love it! Chelle and I started at 10:30 pm on Thanksgiving day at Walmart ... people there are crazy and ruthless and it wouldn’t be Black Friday without a little attitude from other women! Once we got our midnight specials we headed over to Old Navy for some new clothes and long lines! We never really have something to go out for but we always have to go out, it’s just who we are! After Old Navy we headed off to Kmart for some much needed items for B-money’s Christmas fun and then to Smith’s Marketplace for our annual sock run! Nothing to fun and exciting but we sure love it!

The end of November brought more tests and some papers to finish but it also meant 3 more weeks of school and then I was free .. I had a count down for sure!

DECEMBER:

This month was uneventful until December 16, 2010 as I was studying for finals and finishing presentations and papers and homework.

Bryson started Jr. Jazz and has been so good this year. He is running hard and fast, fighting for the ball, and he even hip checked a kid that stole the ball from him! I am so proud to call him my step son after I saw the hip check!!!

My aunt Wendey came into town for a pre-Christmas weekend and we had so much fun hanging out with her for a bit! I love being with my family they make me laugh all the time and I just love them to pieces!

I finished up my finals and got thru my first semester of grad school in one piece which was good! Once finals were over I finally started Christmas shopping. I haven’t been able to get in the Christmas spirit because I have been out fighting traffic, going to the mall, and trying to find the perfect gifts for everyone (which is impossible by the way!) We did attend Zoo Lights with Jeremy’s family and it was so much fun to actually see Christmas lights and spend time with his family!

It is now 2 days before Christmas and I think all the gifts are bought and wrapped and we are finally ready for the holiday to come! We have a big Bowles’ family party Thursday, Christmas eve movie and dinner Friday, and Santa day on Saturday! B is so excited and it is so much fun having a kid around during this magical holiday! One day we will have more kiddies running around with excitement for this day but for now it is just the three of us and Marley (the dog) to enjoy our holiday’s together!

B’s birthday is Monday December 27th and he will be 9 years old ... are you kidding me?? I can’t believe he is that old it seems like just yesterday he looked like this ...

and now he is in 3rd grade, he will be 9 years old, and he likes girls and has a different girl friend every week! He is so big and we love him so much!

Since that is all I can remember I would officially say we are caught up on the blog and maybe just maybe I can figure out to spend a few minutes of my time to blog about the nothing that we do!

Hope everyone has a MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

::Wow ... So Busy::

Well, I started Grad school on August 23rd and I have been loving every minute of it ... although I have 0 time to do anything but study, homework, study, read, study, homework, oh and read ... it has been very busy and so much to learn and get done. It has literally flown by since I started and I can't believe I am 1 month down and only 17 more to go! Just wanted to give a quick update that we are alive and if I ever have time I will update on what we have been up to lately!

::Heart Walk 2010::

Hello Blogging Peeps! As some/most/none (I don't really know) may know my dad has recently been affected by heart disease ... We are completeing the 2010 Heart Walk on 09/18/10. Please go to our page and sign up to walk with us. The walk itself is free so bring the whole family. There are also links if you wish to make a donation to support research for heart disease and/or stroke! Here is our website link:

http://heartwalkutah.kintera.org/bowles

Please let me know if you have any questions!