I passed the NCLEX boards....I'm an offical RN!!!

So the past month and a half, since graduation, I have been studying for the ATI exam that I had to retake for BYU-Idaho in order for them to send my affadavit to the Idaho State Boards of Nursing. I ended up passing that test with 72%...barely by the skin of my teeth. I ended up scheduling my boards for the 27th of May down in Draper Utah and so I went down Tuesday and stayed in Days Inn in Midvale in order to get to my scheduled time for the exam Wednesday morning at 8:00 a.m. I took the minimum # of questions that you can get for the exam, being 75, and the screen turned blank and the test was done! I didn't really have a feeling either way on whether I had passed or failed but tried to hope for the best. Since I finished the exam within an hour and 20 minutes or so I found the Disc Golf Course in SLC at Creekside Park and played 18 holes with two other guys. On the way back to Idaho I ended up stopping by in Pocatello,ID and played their first 9 holes of Disc Golf too since it was on the way. On Friday the 29th I found out that I passed the boards...so relieved to know that I had got that out of the way. The previous Sunday I was asked to speak in the adult session of Stake Conference and speak on the value of getting an education tied with provident living. So another added stress as soon as I found out about my results were to prepare a talk. I ended up doing really good Saturday night and enjoyed the Stake Conference. Currently for the next month Rachael and I are looking for a place to stay down in the SLC area....fun stuff.

Accepted into the University of Utah's Critical Care Internship Program!!!

I had an interview with the University of Utah on the 23th of April with regards to getting into their prestigious critical care internship program. I felt that the interview went well and found out that they had chosen 28 people to interview with them out of several hundred applicants for the positions. I had previously thought that they were going to accept 30 but found at on Thursday that they were only taking 12--at that point I got really nervous. The next day they sent an email to me telling me that I had been accepted and will start on July 13th!! I'm totally stoked seeing that this opportunity is amazing and will be very benefical for me as I take the next step towards my career goals. The program is 23 weeks long and includes 220 hours of didactic training and 600 hours of clinical experience with the five different ICU units. I'll have 3-4 fellows I'll be working side by side with each unit and after the 6 months of training will be matched into one of the ICU's to work with for at least a 2 year committment. I know that I'm going to have a very steap learning curve I'll have to overcome but know that it will be great for me.

Rachael after Graduation

I had to add this photo of Rachael because she looks so cute! I have been trying to practice with the D90 Rachael and I purchased this past Christmas and this picture turned out pretty good.

Alternate Students Class of April 2009

Left to Right:
Front--Nathan Bradfield,Cody Merrill,Chad Allen,Tami Higdon,Kara Birch
Back---George Garner,Jabez Smith,Treana Jones,Josh Bybee
(Meisha Johnson missing in picture from Alternate Students)

Shaking Elder Niel L. Anderson's hand at the Nurses Pinning Ceremony on the 9th of April

I'm a Nursing Graduate!!

This past friday on the 10th of April I graduated from the nursing program from Brigham Young Univeristy-Idaho! It's been a tough year and 4 months of grueling mental toughness needed to endure to the end. Many of the professors, tests, clinicals, paperwork, etc pretty much frustrated the heck out of me but it's over now. I graduated with all A's in the nursing program which could have easily been broken a few times here and there because of the subjective nature of some of the tests. I'm currently studying to re-take this ATI exam and ultimately for the NCLEX-RN Boards here in the next few weeks. Rachael is still hard at work at the Law Firm here in downtown Idaho Falls. I've got an interview on the 23rd of this month at the University of Utah and am hoping that I will be accepted into their Critical Care Internship Program! If I get in at the U I'll probably work there for 2 + years and in the meantime apply for CRNA programs.

January 4, 2009

Well the christmas season and new years has been great for 2008. Rachael and I were able to be with my family on Christmas Eve and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ by acting out the nativity scene 'to our best ability'. It was fun to hang out with family. Rachael and I stayed in Idaho Falls for Christmas day and were planning on going to Sugar City, ID Christmas afternoon but we were stopped by the storm that came in the night before making for icy/snowy roads. We had Garner family pictures on Saturday the 27th of December in Rigby and hopefully they turn out well. Reagan and Sara were having a tough time that morning which made it a little difficult to get the poses and pictures we wanted, but hey they're kids right!! I went snowmobiling for the first time this season on the 30th of December with a friend of mine that's in the nursing program with me, Cody, living in Iona, ID. We ventured out to Fall Creek, Skyline Ridge, and Comessary Ridge out near Swan Valley, ID where Cody grew up. I hadn't ever gone sledding out that way before so that was a lot of fun. When we got out to Comessary Ridge, about 33.5 miles away from the parking lot we left from, the crouch of my snowpants ripped out while I was trudging through hip-deep snow to help Cody get unstuck. We ended up heading back to the truck after that episode so that I wouldn't freeze. Rachael had to work the 29th-31st (half day on the 31st) so we hung out when she wasn't working. On New Years Day the McMurtrey Family and Rachael and I went bowling at Skyline lanes for our traditional day at the bowling alley each year! Rachael struggled a bit the first game but came out throwing some strikes and spares the second game. I scored a 136 the first game and then a 162 the second which wasn't all that bad. We had a lot of fun with the family. Rachael begins work again tomorrow and on Tuesday the 6th I start back with my last semester in nursing school. I believe that I'll be plenty busy so I've tried to make the most of this break.