Fried brain... Want some? I have plenty!

I have officially finished the 3rd semester of nursing school at the U... only one more to go! According to many people, the second and third semester are the hardest. Hopefully this means I am good to go and next semester will be easy compared to what Ive been through so far... we will see. I am a little skeptical but hopeful. Now that I have time to relax and reflect over the past few months all I have to say is that my brain got fried and I literally did not function very well.

Here is an idea of what school has done to me as evidenced by a couple of dreams I have had this semester:

Dream #1: I contribute this dream to the guilt I feel about leaving McKensie.... mixed with guilt about the poor neglected Bailey (our dog).

NOTE: I want to state that what I am about to tell you is fictional and only took place in my dream, I would never do this to any child!

I am out with friends and family. I don't know what we are doing but it is important and fun. Kensie is at home in the dog kennel (which in my dream seemed perfectly normal and an every day part of life). In my dream I could see her playing in there with toys perfectly happy, and peering out the door every once in a while. Although Kensie was used to being in the Kennel during the day I was getting a little worried because she had been in there for six hours and had never been in there that long before.

Talk about WEIRD! I can't even tell you how strange this dream was, it seemed perfectly normal that Kensie was locked up alone in the dog kennel... YIKES!

Dream #2: This dream I contribute to my maternity class mixed with some pediatric patients I had in the hospital one day.

Brett and I are at home alone (I have never seen this house before in real life, but in my dream it was our home). I am pregnant and due any time. I go into labor, but because the beginning of McKensie's labor was very slow I told Brett we didn't need to go to the hospital yet...BUT all of a sudden I realize the baby is coming right then and yell to Brett to call 911. Brett ends up delivering the baby on his own in the living room. It is a little boy but he isn't doing well, he is blue and not breathing. Instead of finding out what is wrong and helping the baby I just keep saying, "we have to do Apgar scores, we have to do Apgar scores!!!". Finally the baby is okay, (although I don't recall us doing anything to help him). Brett and I look at the baby and say affectionately, "Awe.... he is a little down syndrome baby". After a few minutes I think I am going into the third stage of labor (giving birth to the placenta). Brett looks and says, "it has hair, do placenta's have hair?" in reply I say, "hmm, I don't know". Finally we realize that it is not the placenta, but in fact another baby. TWINS! Brett delivers this baby as well which turns out to be another little boy. He is very healthy and Brett sets him on the floor where he crawls off and up the stairs.

What the??? Dreams are psycho, especially if you add the stress of nursing school on top of them.

Note: placenta's do not have hair!

Go Utes! It must be said that Brett is a die hard BYU fan. However, I get to dress McKensie each day and am a student at the U so I must be faithful. SO... here is what Kensie wore for the big game day...

Happy 1st Birthday McKensie!

Hello all! We had a chance to celebrate McKensie's 1st birthday a few weeks ago. Unfortunately I had a HUGE scary essay test on her birthday and didn't get out of class until 4:00pm. That night we had the Stout's traditional carving pumpkin party with Brett's family. We didn't really celebrate her birthday this day but we did have a cute Halloween spider cake which Kensie LOVED. This day we learned what a flirt McKensie is! She made a new best friend with Brett's 16 year-old cousin, Stephen. She immediately fell in love with him and wanted to do everything with him. Kensie only gives about 2 second "loves"and then she is on to the next interesting thing. But she layed on Stevens chest and cuddled with him forever! She followed him around all night, it was really cute.

Saturday November 1st we had a little birthday party with close family. She received a lot of wonderful gifts (which she loved!) and I just wanted to tell everyone thank you for the presents! I hope you like the slide show of her birthday. There are a zillion pictures, I about overloaded the system so I wasn't able to include cake pictures... so I will post those later.

Enjoy...

Birthday Pictures!

Farewell!

Okay, I actually wrote this post a month ago before I started school but was never able to finish it once I started school. Sorry, better late than never...

I would just like to say farewell to all of my family and friends. I love you all, but this may be the last you hear from me for quiet some time. On Monday I go back to school... not just any school... nursing school. It really isn't that bad but between baby, Brett, classes, homework, and clinicals I have no time for a social life or blogging. I get lots of requests (mostly from Amy) for new pictures of McKensie, so I will try to post some every once in awhile... but no guarantees.

Well, awhile ago I wrote a list of things I wanted to do before my summer was over. Sadly enough, a lot of things on that list I never got a chance to do! Tears. It's okay, even though I wasn't able to go to the zoo, boating, or even get to see some of my friends; I did get to do a lot of stuff the last few weeks of the summer like:

1. LOTS AND LOTS OF KENSIE TIME!!!!! WAHOO!!!!

2. Move my family of three from a tiny one bedroom upstairs at my in-laws house to a little apartment in the basement... and Kensie has her own bedroom!

3. Last weekend Brett and I packed up McKensie and all of her belongings and went to Steamboat Springs, CO for a couple of days. I must say that taking a baby on a trip requires a lot of packing (I felt like I brought everything she owned). We had tons of fun however and it was nice to get away as a family before I go back to school.
4. I was able to be here for McKensie's first steps. I was so afraid that I would miss them when I was gone at school. Luckily, at the beginning of this month when Kensie was 9 mths and 1 week old she took her first steps. After about 2 weeks of practicing she was walking pretty good as long as she took her time. She is such a busy girl however and wants to just get up and run, which of course is when she falls down. As long as she takes her time she walks great. I can't believe she was walking at 9 mths! She is on phenobarbitol for her seizures which causes dizziness and a hang over feeling, but even with those obstacles she is an early walker. She is a very strong willed little girl and when she puts her mind to something it is going to happen. I can hardly wait until the terrible two's and her teen years, YIKES! :-)

For those of you who are curious as to what my Fall semester is like, here is my schedule:
The first half of the semester I have a Maternity clinical on Mondays, the second half of the semester this switches to a pediatric clinical on Mondays and Tuesdays. Every Wednesday I will have a community clinical at the Weber-Morgan Health Department. Thursday's and Fridays I have lecture classes at the U which are: Community health home care nursing, pediatric nursing, maternity nursing, and Nursing history and health policy (a writing class). Wish me luck!

Here are some pictures that were taken at the end of August:


"Not another kiss Aunt Katie!" Kensie loves to give us kisses, but every once in awhile she gets sick of them, as you can see... Usually however, if you ask for a kiss she will lean forward and kiss you smack on the mouth with her mouth WIDE open, we call her our little french baby because she tries to give us french kisses

Kensie and her cell phone. She LOVES cell phones and will hold them up to her ear like this. She actually will do it with anything that resembles a cell phone like her baby monitor, SO CUTE!


Grandpa and Grandma Larson

Weddings, Weddings!

Congrats to Kim and Jonathon

The beginning of this month was full of weddings for me. On August 1st I dropped McKensie off at my grandma's house and went to the wedding of my friend Kim at the Salt Lake Temple. I was lucky enough to attend the Temple sealing, the spirit was so strong. I am so happy for her and her new husband, and wish them the best.

Congrats to Bryce and Jennifer
On August 5th I went to the Temple sealing of my cousin Bryce, also at the Salt Lake Temple. This too was amazing, and I am so happy that they made the important decision to marry in the Temple. I am so happy for you and wish you the best as well!

Although there are many people in this world, and even in my own family for that matter, who do not understand why us "Mormon's" do the things we do; I would just like to say that without this Gospel in my life I would not be the woman I am today. I, like everyone else in this church had to find out for myself whether or not it was true. I love the gospel, and have found through out my life that it's teachings are the only way to eternal happiness. Being there for these weddings helps me remember the covenants I have made. I love the fact that I am sealed to Brett and McKensie, and that we will be together forever.

25 Days

I am sad to say that I only have twenty-five days left before I go back to school. I admit that it makes me sad and the very thought of leaving McKensie... well, we won't go there right now. I am only going to think happy thoughts and make the best of the rest of the summer.


Things I want to do still:

• Go boating at Pineview at least twice: dad... I need your help with this :-)
• Go to the Zoo with Kensie
• Study: YIKES... I know that this shouldn't be aloud on my fun summer list, but if I want to pass my boards next year I have to STUDY, STUDY, STUDY!!!
• Play with friends and family (because I won't see them once school, textbooks, and clinicals set in)
• Enjoy being a mom and have lots of fun with McKensie!

So far this summer we have had a lot of fun as you can tell by my previous posts. Other things we have done that I haven't told you about yet include:

Layton High School Friend Party: In June I had a party with several of my friends from high school. We had fun, but it was unlike any party we have had before with toddlers and babies all over the place :-) It was a blast. I loved seeing all my friends, especially Lanaiah who was visiting from Hawaii where she has lived the past few years (So we haven't seen her a whole lot as you can imagine). We have officially been graduated for five years, I am assuming we aren't having a five year reunion... does any one know why?

Spa Day: My mom celebrated her 39th ;-) birthday on July 16th and for a present from my sister Amy she sent both my mom AND me to a day spa for massages and pedicures. It was AMAZING!!! Thank you Amy!

Real Soccer Game: As you know, we have season tickets to Real. Since Kensie's seizures started however, I stopped going to the games and stayed home with Kensie because they always went past her bedtime which made it too hard with her drugs that make her so tired. On July 23rd however, I attempted to bring her to another game which had fireworks afterward for Pioneer Day. Kensie did very well and slept through the second half of the game. She woke up just in time to see fireworks for the very first time. She loved them! She wasn't scared at all and would point and wave to the fireworks. With the attention span of a baby however she would loose interest every now and then until there was a big bright one and then she would point and watch some more. By the finale she was exhausted and layed quietly in my arms with tired eyes just staring at the fireworks.

Hanging out with the family: As many of you know, we are living with my in laws. Here we are barbecuing one Sunday evening.