May

I knew that May was going to be a crazy month, what with 3 weddings, 4 birthdays and 1 awesome mothers day, but I didn't know it was going to be this stressful. On May 11th I went to my first ob-gyn appt. As she was doing my breast exam, she felt a lump. Working in a Dr.'s office, I know that a lot of the lumps found are cysts, but it's still a little scary. My Dr. wanted me to get a mammogram, which freaked me out a little more, because I knew there were other ways to know if it was just a cyst without going to a mammogram first. I scheduled my mammogram for May 20th, which also happened to be my best friends wedding. I decided not to tell him about anything yet, because who really wants to hear about that on their wedding day or anywhere near for that matter? I went down to have my mammogram, and the first thing the lady asked me was, "How old are you?" I responded with, "I'm 22." and she said, "Wow, you know that's really young, right?" At that point, I just started bawling. She felt really bad for making me cry and was hugging me and trying to make me feel better, but nothing really helped. She handed me a box of tissues and continued on with the questions. By the way,don't ever let anyone tell you that a mammogram doesn't hurt, because the pain alone is enough to make you bawl. When that was over, I was expecting to go put my clothes back on and go back to work, but instead, they wanted me to stay to have an ultrasound as well. I called my boss to see if it was ok if I missed a little more of work, she of course told me yes. As I sat in the room waiting for the ultrasound tech, I couldn't help but freak out a little. I was thinking about how young I was and honestly if it was a cancerous lump, how lucky I would be to have gone to the ob/gyn when I did. But on the other hand, maybe ignorance was bliss. She called me in and I had my ultrasound and she didn't say anything the whole time. I did notice that she kept going over the same spot. When I was done, I walked in and changed my clothes and walked back to the second floor, and back into Internal Medicine. When I walked in I just started crying again and Kathy, my boss, gave me a huge hug and told me that no matter what, everyone there would be there for me. I can't tell you how freaked out I was. A week later, I still didn't have any results. I called their office and they were out. The next day, I received a phone call, and she asked me if I had a minute to talk. Of all the things to say to me, that wasn't the right thing. She told me that all of my labs came back normal, and my pap came back normal, and that the mammogram didn't find anything. I can't tell you how relieved I was. I got off the phone with her and looked at my boss, and both of us cried again and I told her that everything was going to be OK. It was, in all honesty, the most emotional month, I have ever been through. I now know the meaning of the phrase, "emotional roller coaster." I am so happy that everything is OK. I only told one of my friends and after I told her my results, she told me that she was praying all month long for me, and that she knew everything was going to be OK. I am so thankful for the power of prayer. I know that I wouldn't have made it through this month without it. I am also very thankful for my family and my friends. I truly am very blessed. So I thank all of you!!! And I love all of you. This month really made me rethink a lot of things and I know that's what I needed.

Laziness

I apologize, I have not been very good at keeping up on my posting. So... here's a little recap.

About 2 weeks ago I went to San Diego and lost my phone in a hole in a rock that was filled with water. It was a very fun trip. Very spur of the moment. I was basically told by my boss that I had to go because I work too much. We went to the zoo and played in the ocean. It was a much needed trip. I went with two of my friends, Mike and Holly. It's so weird because for some reason we will not hang out for months and then suddenly go on a trip or an all day outing and we have a blast. It's crazy. But I love it. It was weird because the only day I burned was the day I wore sun screen. Crazy? I think it's a sign that I should not wear sun screen.

I also got a new hair style. I love getting my hair done. It is one of my very favorite things in the world to do. I think it is so relaxing. It was funny because I told Megan to do something drastic and while she was drying my hair this girl walked up to me and says, "weren't you blonde when you walked in here?" I would think they would be used to that. I love my new hair.

Well, I had better go, conference is started once again. I again apologize for my laziness, I will try to be better.

Amazed

Today has been one of the worst days since I have started working at the clinic. I've been yelled at by Dr.'s before, I've been made to feel stupid by Dr.'s before. But never have I physically wanted to harm someone this way before. There is a Medical Assistant that works with me and we all call her princess. She doesn't do her job even a little bit. Everyone does her job for her and yet SHE gets a raise. She doesn't answer her phone calls and I get yelled at for it. She doesn't wish to be paged overhead so WE are to get the information on the patient and IM her who is calling and why and she will DECIDE if she WANTS to take the call. Even if she has called them back and they are RETURNING their call. I had had it today. I wasn't playing her stupid little game. I started paging her overhead, just to show our administrator, Mark, how many RETURN calls she gets. I started paging her from my first call I got for her this morning. At about 10, Dr. Nobuhara comes up and starts quizzing me on why Jen is the only one getting paged. Why don't any of the other MA's have phone calls coming in? What did he think? That I was making up phone calls for her? I seriously got 5 return phone calls for her this morning. And out of the 5 she answered 1. And I had to page her 3 times for her to answer that 1 call. I was so mad I was shaking. I was mad because I was getting yelled at. Then for Dr. Nobuhara to come up to me and start quizzing me on why she is the ONLY one getting phone calls sent me right off the nice edge. I was so mad that these angered sobs just started coming. I ran into the bathroom and tried so hard to control my crying but I couldn't. I was so mad. A few girls from work whom I love dearly came and knocked on the door. I came out and still was sobbing. I went back to talk to Mark and he was in a meeting so I went back to my desk and tried to answer calls as best I could. I was still so mad though that I was shaking and crying. At about 11, Mark came back to his office and I had almost calmed down, but by the time I had gone back to his office, I had started sobbing again. I was a little embarrassed because one of my young women's leaders was sitting in front of Mark's office and here I was bawling. I went into Mark's office and the first thing he says to me is, "Annalisa, you don't look so good. Come in and sit down." Thank you, Mark. I'm glad I don't look so good. But we talked it all out and he told me what to do about it. It made me feel a little better to know that he was on my side and not Dr. Nobuhara's. As I was walking out of his office My old young women's leader said, "Anna, don't be sad." It's amazing how much those four words can really help a situation like that. On the upside my anger did make my morning go by really quickly. I am so very lucky to have such great people working here with me who really honestly care.

Sundance

I went up to the Sundance Film Festival to "star gaze." One of the bazillion times walking up Main Street, we saw Kevin Bacon. I was all sorts of excited because rumor had it, all the stars were boycotting Utah. Not only that, but we didn't really expect to see anyone famous because we just didn't. So I walked up to him to ask him if we could take a picture with him. I said his name and he gets this smug smile on his face and walks passed me. We were talking later and I should have yelled, "My dad wants your autograph!" But I wasn't that quick witted. Not 5 minutes later, the girl I was with started hitting me, HARD. I looked up and saw Elijah Wood. She asked me to go talk to him, so I did. I walked up to him and said, "Elijah Wood?" He turned around and I said, "Can we get a picture with you?" He smiled and said, "Sure, I'm in a hurry though, so this has to be fast." So we quickly got a picture with him. I however was not in the picture because the girl taking the picture took it as I was behind him. All you can see is my hair and my hood. I was pretty bitter about it. We continued walking some more and saw Eve and Mo Nique. We finally decided we had better eat soon because the line outside the restaurant was way long. We were sitting in line and I took out my camera to take a picture of Shalee's picture of Elijah Wood. As I took my camera out 3 big guys came in and saw my camera. They said, "Do you want a picture with us?" I had no idea who they were, so I said, "Sure!" They made the comment that they saw me take my camera out and just figured I saw them coming in. After I sat back down, a TON of people flocked these guys and they got in the restaurant a lot faster than anyone else. So they had to be someone. The restaurant we were at didn't take reservations or anything. We finished eating and trying to figure out who the guys were, and we were once again walking down Main Street and saw TI. In fact I'm pretty sure I bumped into him. I won't lie, I didn't know who he was. I had to ask someone. We saw Jason Ritter and Ryan Cabrera and some very attractive news caster man. We didn't take any other pictures though, because we were very tired and figured they were too. We figured it was a very successful evening. Especially after I spent a fortune at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. It was an awesome day. I will however, never watch another Kevin Bacon movie as long as I live. I am now boycotting Kevin Bacon. I will soon post the pictures I have of the three big guys and if anyone can tell me who they are, I will be very happy about it.

Snow

I can honestly tell you all that I hate the snow. I really thought I was going to die last night as I was driving home from work. I was on the highway heading from Springville into Mapleton. As I got up the hill I thought to myself, "The hard parts are over. I'll make it home now." How wrong I was. Right then the wind started blowing like crazy and my car was swaying. The car in front of me turned off, so I was now leading the line of cars. I was sure I was going to be at fault for leading all of us off a cliff (although there are no cliffs in Mapleton, I was sure I would find one.) I couldn't even see a foot in front of me. I was shaking so bad, all I could do was cry. I could only see the turn to Maple St because I saw the light of a very snow covered gas station. As I turned onto Maple, a very large truck came up behind me and tailed me the whole way home. I was so frusterated because I couldn't see anything and with the trucks lights behind me it minimized my sight even more. I won't lie, I almost hit a few garbage cans because I couldn't see how close I was to the curb. I have decided that Mapleton should get those bumber things like they have in California. It would help for those days that you cannot see. Just a thought. I also was having thoughts of vengence on the Mayor of Mapleton for not clearing the roads. I was not a very happy person. Just so everyone knows, if there is a report of someone egging the Mayors house, just know it was me. Or even better, hooking the hose up to there house and spraying it so everything freezes. Just a few I came up with yesterday on my very stressful drive home.

Whatev's

Apparently, I'm a little bad at math. I will be in Arizona for 6 days, not 4. Also on my non math skills, my boss left early yesterday, so I had to help balance out. I added an extra hundred dollars to the cash. I don't know how I did it, but I did. We were running around like our heads were cut off trying to find one hundred dollars in cash. I've a feeling, I will never live that down. In my defense, my last real math class was when I was a sophomore in high school. I just can't do basic math anymore. That's what calculators are for, right? I'm all about the easy way out.

Also since it is so close to Thanksgiving, and this is probably the only post I will do before Thanksgiving, I would like to make my list. Ready? Read it thouroughly.

I am thankful for my mom. She does so much for me that I don't even notice. She is easily the best mom ever. I do think that was really conversed about in Heaven. I'm sure there was fighting over me. Mostly I'm sure the fighting was because no one wanted me, but mom stepped in because she knew I would be "special."

I am thankful for my dad. He's possibly the funniest guy I've ever met. Sometimes it ticks me off that he can make me laugh when I really don't want to, but in the long run, it takes the anger away.

I am thankful for Christy. She pretty much does things for me that she really doesn't want to. She the best oldest sister I could ask for. Even if she thought I was going to be black.

I am thankful for Josh. He can joke around and make sure people know he's joking. Even if he does go too far, he always knows how to make it better. He is the best big brother I have.

I am thankful for Angela. She brings such an awesome spirit to our family. She also has such an awesome laugh. I love to hear her laugh.

I am thankful for K'Lynn. It's crazy that she already acts older than me. I didn't think that would happen for a while.

I am thankful for Kandace. She is so funny, and just so fun to be around. She's great. I love her craziness.

I am thankful for Joe. He's the best little brother ever. He is always willing to do anything for me. Even pay $100 for me when I missed my flight by 4 days. I love him so much.

I am thankful for Amanda. She is the perfect example of patience to me. She's already teaching me how to be a good mom. I can't even imagine how hard that would be.

I am thankful for Chase. I honestly love how fun he is. Also how he didn't even know me, but it took him like 1 second to come play with me.

I am thankful for Jimmy. I love his "redrum" voice when he gets frusterated. I love talking to him on the phone because I can't understand him and it makes me laugh really hard. I try really hard, I guess I just wasn't given the gift of interpreting tongues.

I am thankful for Melissa. She does stuff for me even if she doesn't really want to. She is also there if I ever need anyone to hang out with, or go to a movie with.

I am thankful for Jaime. I am glad she is so hospitable. I honestly miss living with her. I wish I could go back in time. I miss her a lot.

I am thankful for Spencer. He brings such a great feeling to our family. He is always his best self, and I love that.

I am thankful for Spencer Jr. He is so funny and so fun to play with. I will never get used to calling him spencer though.

I am thankful for Audrey. Everyone at work calls her my mini me because she looks like me and when I tell them stories about her, they think it's something I would do or say. She makes me laugh so hard. She is such a joy to me.

I am thankful for Isaac, even though he doesn't like me so much, I still love him. I love to tease him. Maybe that's why he doesn't like me so much.

I am thankful for Andrea. She is so easy to talk to. I miss living in Provo, because I can't just run to her apartment to talk to her. I love her lifetime of knowledge.

I am thankful for Sean. I don't know anyone better for Andrea. I love how he brings his light to our family.

I am thankful for Haden. I don't know that I've seen a happier baby in all my life.

That is the list of my most thankfuls. I thought everyone should know how much they mean to me. I love my family so very much.

High School

Lately I have had the feelings of being back in high school. One of my friends came home from his mission about 2 weeks ago, and my friend Holly has been texting me just to tell me she's with him as if this is supposed to bring me feelings of jealousy. Really all it does is bring out the snot in me. I guess, I am kind of feeling bad about some of the things I've sent to her in response. My latest one was, "Am I supposed to be feeling like I'm back in high school? Or am I not understanding your texts?" She has yet to respond and it's been a few days. I probably shouldn't have said that. But I did and it's overwith now. What do ya do?

On a happy note. I am going to Arizona to visit Jaime and Spencer and their children. I'm excited about it. It'll be fun. I'm going over Thanksgiving. Mostly because I am going to be there for four days but I only had to take two off work. It's pretty exciting for me.