Christmas is coming!

So now that Thanksgiving is over, I have to say how excited we are about Christmas!! We were practically drooling this morning talking about Christmas break. No school, sleeping in and snuggling cause it's a little chilly, then waking up, eating a yummy breakfast, snuggling on the couch to watch some sweet claymation Christmas flicks, the Grinch, It's A Wonderful Life (my personal favorite), and sip hot chocolate. Oh I could die it sounds so good!

I've just had a full week off of school for Thanksgiving and I'm trying to find the strength within to go back. I really, really, really don't want to. But part of me says I can do it when Tanner tells me it won't feel as good to relax if we haven't worked our butts off first. My last final is the 17th, Tanner's is the 19th, less than 3 weeks left, we can get through this.

Enough school, more daydreaming about Christmas. This year I really can't think of much I want, probably because we never have any money, so I'm used to not worrying about things I want. But I'm excited for the feel of Christmas, walking around Temple Square, which I know might seem cliche, but I absolutely love it! Wrapping my coat as tight as I can and running to Dee's for hot cocoa, hobo sledding, the sound of snow crunching under your feet, or the feel of that slushie snow we all know we love to step on and squish, family parties, white elephant gifts, it's all so fun! The only thing I don't miss is driving and wondering if we're going to make it to the parties alive, but that's part of living in Utah I suppose. Everyone just seems so happy and we all make time for friends and family. It does make me sad that it has been so commercialized, some days I hate Christmas shopping just because people aren't their jolliest at the stores and the meaning of Christmas is lost. But that's another reason I'm grateful for such a wonderful family that shows us the true meaning of Christmas and we can feel the Spirit.

Thanksgiving was wonderful, we all went around the table at Tanner's grandma's and said what we were all grateful for; one of Tanner's little cousins said he was thankful for church, family, and the temple; he's 8 and wasn't raised in the church, hadn't ever been until recently, it was so sweet. My family was great too, my uncle Brent and his daughters came over and we had a great time and Tanner loved having all you can eat turkey since it's his favorite food.

Well, this post is long enough, but before I go, I have to post a pic of this leaf I found outside our apartment, that is not a washcloth it's on, it's a dishtowel!! It's the most ginormous leaf I have ever seen and I thought I should share it with all of you to mark the end of fall. Happy Holidays all!!

Tanner Michael Fullmer: Mouse Surgeon

Tanner is working in a lab where they are studying heart attacks; like if having multiple small heart attacks decreases the likelihood that a larger one will be fatal, rather than only having a severe MI first; or they have diabetic mice and they create heart attacks and see if insulin has any effect on the death of heart tissue in MI. It is so freaking cool! So Tanner begins by catching a wee mouse by the tail, then injecting it with heparin. After it has time to circulate, he then catches it again and injects it with anesthetic. He has to leave it alone until it falls asleep by itself, otherwise, they never go to sleep. After it's out, he lays it on its back and uses tweezer things to pull up the skin over the thorax, then snips off the skin. Then he can see the diaphragm and he actually cuts open the diaphragm to view the heart, rather than through the chest so they don't risk damaging it. He has to be really careful because he has to remove it while it's still beating, so he carefully cuts it, then quickly stretches the aorta and hangs it from a cannula, which is hard to see in the picture cause it's so small, but it is hanging from it and some nutritious solution is running through it that mimics blood..yeah, that heart is still beating up there. Then they stop the solution in parts of the heart and create a heart attack like it talked about before. I just found this whole thing fascinating, and Tanner is so excited, it's such a neat opportunity. Isn't that awesome????

Thankful

I know everyone is doing things like this, but I probably won't be blogging tomorrow since we have three different families to visit. So here are some of the things I'm most grateful for in my life:

~My Savior Jesus Christ, his Atonement, and love for me individually. I am so thankful to have found this church and feel the happiness and true joy it has brought into my life, I can't begin to count all the blessings the Lord has given me.

~My wonderful hubs Tanner. He is so great. I know I say it a lot, but that's because he is! I love him so much and could never imagine my life without him.

~Family. It really is what life is all about, and I am so thankful for that knowledge, and that we really will be together forever.

~Tithing. Being in nursing school has dropped me down to one-third of my old pay every month. We though we were tight then and didn't think it would work out, but we pay our tithing faithfully and somehow it has all worked out, we even have a little extra and Tanner got a letter in the mail yesterday saying the U owed him $200, another amazing blessing from tithing!

~Friends. I have so many wonderful friends that have truly touched my life, from my best friends from high school to my awesome new friends in nursing school, I can't name all of you, but know that I love you and am so thankful for you in my life.

~Good health. I never looked at it as much of a blessing until I began working in healthcare, but it is a tremendous one and I'm glad I am healthy.

~The opportunity I have to be a mom someday (hopefully). The closer it gets to us knowing we'll be able to start trying, the more I think about our future children and the kind of mama I want to be for them and teach them the truth and love them so much!

~Food. I know that sounds lame, but it's Thanksgiving, and I admit, I love food!! I can't wait for the stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy, I even love the memories of my pops making me pull out the turkey neck and all the gizzards, mmm! There are too many others to list, but these are my main ones, happy thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Birthday Dillon!

This is my little brother Dillon, he turns 15 today, woot woot! He has been taller than me for a couple years now, which isn't hard to do, but here's a little shout out to my awesome brother! Happy birthday bro, hope it's a great one!! Love you!

Wisdom Teeth

So I have finally gotten my wisdom teeth out. I had to get them out when my dentist showed me my xrays that they were impacted, but he wouldn't give me a copy, so I had to improvise:

The teeth in the yellow circles are my wisdom teeth, and as you can plainly see, they are pushing right on the rest of my teeth. Ya'll probably never realized either how apparently hideous and pointy my teeth are, it came as a real shock to me too.

The swelling on the right side of my face isn't too bad, but the left side pretty much makes me look like a bulldog. But it's for the greater good and thanks to Ibuprofen 600 and Lortab I haven't had any real pain, though the Lortab doesn't even knock me out, I was awake pretty much all day yesterday. Thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law who was so sweet to drive me there and back, and listen to me try and talk to her the whole way home with my mouth full of gauze. And thanks for the milkshake, it was delicious! It was funny though after she left and I went in the bathroom and saw that I had chocolate milkshake all down my chin, neck, shirt, and even some on my garments...they really numbed me up good, it was hilarious!! This is the only pic I have so far, and most likely the only one I'll post, even though it's so hot you're probably all begging for more.

A plethora of posts...

Jefe: El Guapo, we have gotten you many pinatas.

El Guapo: Jefe, would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?

Jefe: [pause]....yes El Guapo, you have a plethora.

El Guapo: Jefe, do you even know what a plethora is? Because I do not know why you say I have a plethora when you do not even know what a plethora means!!??

The Three Amigos, if you haven't seen it, rent it, love it.

Halloween Rivalry

Mr. Coolpant's Pumpkin

Neener's Pumpkin

So here are some pumkin carvings we did the week before Halloween and I am asking for all of your expert feedback on my pumpkin, because Tanner seems to think his is way better (even though I can't deny its smile is adorable) and kindly named mine the special needs pumpkin and promptly burst out laughing. Now I beg to differ, I think my punkin has some very endearing qualities. I leave it to the people to decide!

Seven Addictions

1. Cuddling with Tanner....it's divine. I could do it all day and die happy. Winter is the best because he doesn't get too hot and push me away, but rather, he hugs me close and it's absolutely delicious.

2. Dancing..I love it! Not so good at it, but it's so fun. You can do it at parties, or just around the house, you don't even have to have music, though I think it's more fun with.

3. Reading..never gets old. Though I wish I had more time, but thankfully I had no clinical this Friday and reread The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis, it's even better the third time, I totally recommend it as a quick, but deep and meaningful read. I read a lot of nursing textbooks, but I am definitely not addicted, I'm positive I could stop at any time.

4. Going for walks is great. There is an amazing neighborhood across the street from our apartments that is just gorgeous, we've named all our favorite houses, like the Italian house, the Disney house, etc. Mostly I just love being outside and getting to spend time with my hubs.

5. Babies is a big thing right now, it's like they're everywhere and calling to me..in case you don't know, we're a little, kinda, crazy baby-hungry. As in, we want to have a baby, not eat one. The big eyes, chubby cheeks, and adorably drooly (word?) mouth, they get me every time. But I keep telling myself, just another year of school and we can hop on the breeding bandwagon, yay!

6. Facebook/Blogger. Picture: Nina gets home, puts down backpack, thinks about all the studying she has to do, then sits in front of the computer for an hour(ish) checking email, then facebook, then blogs.

7. Journals. I have this weird thing for funky journals. I don't write as much as I should, but I keep collecting them and still asking for new ones for Christmas, so I have 3 or 4 empty ones waiting to fulfill their destiny, but man they are sweet journals and someday, I will write in them all. Really, I will!

Aunt and Uncle! Part II

So this is little Noelle Mary, we got to see her for the first time on Friday, she is so beautiful! We were both in awe that she is so little but so strong. She was sleeping when we went down so we didn't get to touch her, but seeing her was just as special. It's so weird to me, I know we'll have babies some day (if everything's working that is), but seeing her made me realize it's really possible, to make a baby; it grows inside of you and is part of both of you....weird! But so neat. It probably doesn't make sense what I'm trying to say, but anyway, our niece is adorable. She's under the lights for her jaundice, so that's why it looks like there's a spotlight on her. But check out her IV in her arm to see just how tiny she is..watching her heart monitor was crazy too, her heart rate was 168, sleeping! And her breathing rate was in the 80s! I don't know much about babies/premies, but that seems fast to me. I have to admit, she looks like an adorable little old person, it's so cute! We can't wait to see her again!