We are Family.

FAMILY ---------------------------------------------

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.

~Desmond Tutu

I have to say that I am so thankful for family. We had such an amazing week and I can't believe they are already gone :( But. We had an incredible time climbing mountains, drinking beer, watching baseball, joking & laughing, and truly enjoying each other's company. It was a well needed break from trying to make people like you at work just so you have someone to talk to. Life does go on. And here I am beginning another week of work fun and daily humbling experiences. Colorado has a way to rejuvenate you though, every weekend that I go hiking I seem to come back refreshed and ready to take on the week...I'm already planning outdoor weekends in advance. Like the trip to Taos, NM for Mike's 30th birthday! Exciting!

This weekend, however, is the annual Skaggs Family Reunion. Filled with familiar faces and names that only make it to the tip of my tongue. Smorgasbord of food adorns 10 tables pushed together and we all shake our head in awe of Cousin Larry's house. It's that first "Can I have your attention" by Uncle Wayne that truly brings us together; celebrating births, deaths, marriages and other achievements. Even though granny and grandaddy are gone, the family still grows. Out. and Out. Healthy. Happy. I am so grateful for my Eastern Kentucky roots.

"Lord I'm lonesome for Kentucky,

Dixie's Darlin' my pride and joy,

Yeah I'm lonesome for the Bluegrass Country,

'Cause I'm a Bluegrass Country boy.

I see those blue misty mountains in the moonlight,

And hear the sound of the wind in the pines,

the lonesome pines,

Lord I'm lonesome for the Bluegrass Country

And for the Bluegrass home of mine."

-Del McCoury Band

Ok, so back to the weekend. We dined for David's birthday:

We cheered on the Rockies Baseball Team:

We climbed a mountain:

And we visited the locals:

Oopsie, that one is crooky.

All in a days work, ya'll.

Basically, life continues to move on, whether we are prepared for it or not. Colorado keeps getting better and better.....but we know there are other places out there we want to experience. Love Wins! I need to update twice a week. I think that would be better.

Oh yeah, Life goes on!

Time to update again! Mike and I purchased an awesome new/old table from a second-hand store. My camera has lost it's charger so I'm not able to take a picture of it right now, but we're really pleased with it. It's amazing how a relationship changes when you don't have to use TV trays and sit in front of the TV to eat your dinner. YAY for dining room tables. Hopefully it'll keep us going until we can buy a really nice, big and new table and chairs. We are cleaning, hanging pictures and doing other odds and ends to prepare for Amanda and David. Just a couple more days!

My job continues to provide me with challenges every single day. I find myself soaking in every opportunity and utilizing the resources around me (3 other speech therapists) to truly comprehend a situation in its entirety. 6 years of school and 4 completely different practicums can never prepare you for the responsibility of treating the cognition and swallowing difficulties of a patient. But, I'm up for it and I hope that I can continue to be a life-long learner not only in this profession, but in other areas of my life as well.

We bought our tickets to go HOME the first weekend of August. We are attending the Skaggs Family Reunion (woo hoo!) and spending some time with Ken and Becki as well. It'll be nice to be in someplace familiar where you know people.....we're still in a slump as to where to meet friends. Although, we are going to a church tonight and hopefully, eventually, we'll find a church family and small group that will help us feel more connected within the community. That is something that we are looking forward to as well.....being able to serve the needs within a community. I'll keep you posted about our upcoming church experiences. The Lord is good but we are both a bit skeptical about "church". We LOVED Hillside Community Church in Ashland and we are really wanting to find a place that is similiar. No worries, the Lord is faithful and we are willing to look until the right place pops up!

The weather here is unbelievable. I wish everyone could experience the Colorado NON-humidity. I wish you could see how beautiful the Rockies look when the sun sets over them. I wish you could experience my drive to work everyday and see Red Rocks appearing out of nowhere to make you feel extremely small. I wish you could experience the love for the environment as the people do here. I wish you could feel the importance of taking care of your body, not only physically, but with what you eat as well. And in it's own way, Colorado feels more like "home" than any other place that I have lived. My only hang up from moving here forever is the winter.......but we're planning on buying our own skis and season passes and experiencing the Rockies in a more physical manner.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Thanks for listening, reading, and being supportive of our life here in Morrison/Denver. Please come and visit :) Please!

You don't have to be rich, to rule my world.

Happy Middle of July!

I cannot believe it's been another week! They are starting to go by so quickly now. Work continues to improve as a I build self-confidence and our house continues to feel more like a home. This past weekend Mike and I went to New Belgium Brewery with our friends Jessica and Paul and had a blast. I forgot my camera :( but we bought a disposable one (hadn't used one of those in a while) and after we take the rest of the pictures I'll post them. Or, I have a feeling that we will be going again here shortly when David and Amanda arrive. YAY company! In fact, I think we are having visitors every month almost from now until Thanksgiving. That really makes the homesickness subside. I know I've said it before, but we are so content here. I talked to my parents on the webcam today; what a great way to keep in touch. Plus, the iChat is pretty amazing too!

So, for the first time in a long time I feel like I have nothing to say. Life is good. We are healthy, happy, and living life everyday. I try not to think about tomorrow, just let today happen. I know that tomorrow has enough worries of it's own. Love Wins!

Happy Birthday America!

Happy Fourth Ya'll! We had a great time at a Rockies game (we got free tickets) and watched the fireworks on the field afterwards!! It was really, really fun. We have big plans for tomorrow: clean the house and go for a hike. We love it that there are so many places to go hiking around here.....we won't ever have to go to the same place twice.

Everything seems to be settling down a bit. I realized today that I LOVE Colorado. Don't get me wrong, West Virginia and Kentucy are beautiful, but really nothing can compete with the Rocky Mountains. Let's be reasonable here. They say that there is a curse that those who come to Colorado never leave. I can see why....the people live an active, healthy, lifestyle (YAY!), the landscape cannot be captured by a picture (guess you'll just have to come see it yourself), and people RECYCLE. We were at a bar today that said they recycled over 70,000 bottles last year alone. Their cups were made out of corn. I love being in a place that takes the ecological state of this earth as serious as we do. There was not a place in Huntington, WV that would take glass or plastic. Ridiculous. I guess my soapbox here is do your part, please. Reduce the amount of trash that you have by recycling....even your cardboard. We average about a bag of trash/wk b/c of the stuff we recycle. There are no excuses.

Work? It's okay. We are REALLY slow right now, so I've had to learn how to screen, verify funding, deal with insurances, put people in the system, write up the eval, set goals, figure out how many times you want to treat/week, set up a weekly note, write a clarification in the physician's note, clock in and out, then do it all over again. Whew. It's a rule that you have to stay 75% productive during the day, meaning you should spend 75% of your day with pts. That doesn't include paperwork. OMG paperwork. All the paperwork here is hand written and I'm so freaking slow right now writing up reports, weekly notes, etc. I'm pretty sure that I was 50% productive on Friday and I even left at like 2:30. It's going to be a long next couple of weeks b/c now there are 4 SLPs and I just don't think that we have the caseload to handle that many. Ever feel like you're not needed?? That's how I feel right now. There was some talk in the beginning of me traveling to different facilities....I'd be okay with that. Just as long as it kept me at 40hrs/wk. We'll see what happens.

Mike is still looking for a job. He really wants something within the recreation field and I don't blame him. So, we'll keep waiting for something to pop up. The thing is though, our lease is up in a year and I really feel like we are not going to stay here very long. I want to see other places of the US and although I love long term care, I don't think it'll be my area forever. Hospitals will not hire new grads (thank heavens b/c I barely know what I'm doing now), but hopefully once I'm finished with my CF I can find a hospital. Don't know if it'll be in CO or somewhere else. I don't think the traveling thing is out either. So many fun options, but what I've come to realize is that I am really happy where I am right now. YAY!

David and Amanda Curry are coming to visit in like 3 weeks!! I cannot wait! I love my husband very much but I really need a new face (and girl talk) like crazy. I have also started to become very disciplined with my running. I have found that when I become disciplined with the running that other areas in my life follow suit. Planning on the Denver 1/2 marathon in October....still trying to convince Mike to run in it with me. A lot going on.....I need to update more often. I feel like I just vomitted a bunch of random stuff out. But GOSH I need that. So thanks for listening. Love Wins! YAY fireworks!

Thriller Night.

I had to pry myself away from the tv to update....I've been catching up on my Michael Jackson videos (thanks VH1)! In fact, here is a little tribute to MJ; Marshall University Communication Disorders style. Pretty freaking funny if you ask me. AHH. Life with friends; it was nice while it lasted.

It'll get better. We'll meet people, eventually. We thought about butting in on a party some people (our age) were throwing down the street. But alas, we ended up coming back and doing nothing. Oh well.

Today Mike got an Arc'Teryx jacket on sale at REI. It's great to have that store just right down the road. Denver in general is a fab town. The downtown area is really not that big and the sky rises are few and far between. We seem to be the norm over here, not the abnormal hippies that like to recycle (as it was in Huntington). I like it a whole lot, and you really can't beat the scenery.

One of the residents at Bear Creek said she would teach me how to knit. It's something that I've thought about doing and it really can't be that expensive. I'll knit a few scaves and gloves before the winter comes, it'll probably take me that long. I'm also waiting to get a driver's license to get a library card in order to check out the Harry Potter books. I've heard so much about them and after reading Twilight, I think I might actually like them. Never thought I would be much of a fantasy/magic person, but I need a good series to keep me busy for a while.

One last thing, how do I get those adorable backgrounds for my blog? I tried today and failed miserably. It all seems too complicated to me. If someone could help me out with that, I'd appreciate it. Love Wins.

It's a Brand New Day

Just got back from m 3rd Colorado Rockies game, and I must say that I'm a fan. Of course, it's easy to be a fan when they've won the last 14 of 15 games. No, I'm not leaving my beloved Cubs, but its nice to cheer for another team. We love Coors Field......its got a beautiful view of the Rockies. Makes me realize that I'm not anywhere near home; and then I miss home. But not for long because there is so much exploring yet to do here. And I love exploring! 

Work is better. I'm getting used to it, I think. Everyone that I talk to says it just takes time, but I just want to be a pro now! I want to know the exact words to say to a pts family when you are the one to bring up, "You know, from my professional opinion, I really don't think it's a good idea for your dad to go home." Or, I've already gotten this one a MILLION times, "Speech Therapy, I don't need that I can talk just fine." It's always PT, OT, then ST. Geez people, if you had to choose between rehab with your knee or your BRAIN which one would you choose? I've been kicked out several times already as well. I can feel my skin getting thicker by the days. It's a good thing....I need to learn how to be more assertive and tell people exactly the way it is. My CF supervisor is really good at this. I'm taking good notes. 

Overall though, everyday is new and I try to keep it that way. No need to carry the burdens of yesterday through today. So, all those little things that I forgot to do today will really just have to wait until Monday. I'm more positive and attempting to keep the positive energy flowing through my veins throughout the day. Still exhausted, but glad to be busy. We've been slowly decorating our house. David & Amanda come on July 21st, things will definitely be in place by then. Decorating requires money, and boy, we are fresh out of that right now. That reminds me. Pay Day is MONDAY! Life is good again. 

The Real World

Who is MTV kidding anyway? I am not a regular viewer of The Real World (only when they were in Denver working with Outward Bound, thought that was pretty kick ass), but every time I turn it on, I think to myself, "That's a terrible name for a show." I think it should be called, "The UNreal World" (pretty clever, I know). And now that I have been drop-kicked into "the real world" I resent the show even more. I thought my job would be easy..working 8-5 Mon-Fri would be no big deal. I mean really people, I went through 6 years of school working my buns off while juggling my friendships, boyfriend/fiance/husband, planning a wedding, working as a GA, running, entertaining my dogs, and being domestic. Not to mention hours of homework and free labor.

But nothing, nothing compares to the exhaustion I feel right now. I am so overwhelmed at work with the incredible amount of paper work, new faces and residents to learn, adapting and building my clinical skills, etc. etc. It is so very draining. Someone please tell me that you get used to such a schedule. And, I find myself thinking about doing this for the rest of my life. Yikes. YIKES people! I thought that I loved what I did, but can I really make it work for 35 years? That's another topic to address I suppose....for another day and time.

But anyway, my point is that I am coming face to face with my real world...and I am scared. Scared all the passion I developed in Graduate School will slowly deplete and I'll have nothing left to give. So, if MTV really wants to present their reality TV show as such, that's fine. But I'm telling you (or me, really) that the real Real World does not have flashy cameras, cute boys, and lots of alcohol. It's full of hard work and determination....but most of all.....it's doing what you love. And I hope that can carry me through. I need advice. Support. Help!