Butterflies & Friends

My Trip to Houston was, simply, amazing. I loved every single second of being there. I feel so lucky I was able to go and share a weekend with my beautiful family. I am studying for my national boards to become an echocardiographer- an ultrasound technologist who focuses on the heart. This is one of the main reasons I work so far from where we live- it's so I can learn this skill! To become registered you must take a two-part exam as well as have time scanning, etc.

The first part is in physics and the second exam will be focusing on the heart.

I passed my physics exam on the first try on Monday Sept 26th!

Whew!! Wow that felt amazing. I was so nervous especially since I have been out of the academic world for a little bit. My brain is resistant to learning new things it seems so I was happy to have physics over and done with!

The second exam will be more rigorous. I have been studying physics since I began my schooling back in 2004. However, echo I have only seriously been studying since about May or June of this year. So my goal of taking the exam by November (or so) is a bit lofty but I think I can do it with the help of the conference that I went to in Houston. Since I don't have formal training in echo I thought that going to a conference that is specifically designed to help me pass the exam would help me categorize the necessary information in a way that will be easier to recall. Not just for the exam, but for my patients as well.

The conference, an Edelman course, was incredible. It far exceeded my expectations and was totally worth all the time, effort, and money it took to be there. The conference was three days and was from about 1-5pm Fri, Sat, and Sunday. I flew out mid day on Monday to work yesterday (Tuesday).

Having the conference in the middle of the day at first was frustrating because it made going to the beach impossible (foiled yet again :( ) and I thought that overall planning would be harder. However, the truth is that it was perfect. Averie is sooooo happy and alert and talkative in the early mornings and if the conference had began at 8am like I thought, I would have missed out on that precious time with her. It also meant that we could both stay up late and still sleep in  lol :)

On Saturday (Maeby's 3rd birthday) Jenn and Jer drove over from their new home in Lake Jackson to visit me and go to the museum with Steph, Averie and I. This museum is a very special place and I was excited to show it to my friends. My Dad has been taking us there for years, ever since I was about 7. Even since we have grown up, we still go as adults :) They have IMAX, a butterfly museum, dinosaur exhibit, as well as seasonal/temporary exhibits. It is connected to a large park where they have all sorts of events and is family-friendly. I just knew we could all go there and have a great time. It was beyond wonderful to see my friends and to meet their newest addition- Georgie. Seeing Jenn was so... surreal. When we are together it's like we were never apart a single day. One of the things I love about her is that in many ways she is the same as she has always been. It's comforting to be around someone who knows you so well. I don't know why; I can't really explain it, but it simply is. We had an excellent time.

Taking pictures through glass is hard, especially with lots of lights coming from all directions to distract.

I need to work on it a bit more. 

Maeby got these socks for her birthday, she was excited to show me :)

Georgie pretty much slept just like this the entire time. She woke up once when we were reading books and once or so when we were outside eating. But pretty much a lot of cute sleeping 

I love this shot of Jenn and Georgie. She is such a wonderful Mother and already is a great example to me.

These pictures are pretty much awesome because I need to pull it off the other computer but this exact same time last year I have a pic of me and Jenn and Mae on her 2nd birthday! It will be fun to compare them and see how much she has grown!

I'm so lucky I got to see Georgie at this new baby stage. She is a doll!

They had this huge rolling ball- it was 2.5 tons supported by 1.5 liters of water. It had a map of the globe on it and would spin in all directions. Both Mae and Averie were pretty thrilled with it. 

All around it was a great day. Outside it wasn't even humid and we just sat out and ate in perfect sunshine. I miss everyone already and I can't wait to go back!