Harkness's in the Everglades

I can't believe Laura and Gordon have come and gone.  It is a trip we have been planning for so long.  We planned it at the tail end of school for Darren.  He was done with clinicals, and had a week before graduation.  So Laura and Gordon came and we vacationed together.  We had a great time.  They brought Isaac and Jacob with them.  The first day we went to the Everglades and did an airboat tour.  We saw about 15 gators- it was awesome! I have never seen that many. Usually you just see 1 or 2, but that day the water was crawling with them.  The guide said he didn't see 1 the entire day before, so we were lucky.  It all has to do with weather and tides and temperature so it can be such a hit or miss.

After the airboat ride we headed to one of my favorite places- Skunk Apes!  Here are Isaac and Jacob hanging out with the ape.  I have been here a couple times- you can read about it here http://ernstfamilyfun.blogspot.com/2013/11/skunk-ape.html

Our favorite bird, Dodo! Dodo loves kids- and me:)

Yes, he missed me and snuggled right up. 

Isaac

Jacob

Gordon

This bird, Patches, is the bird that chooses 1 woman a day to let hold him and he finally came to me! I have been there 3 times and he hasn't ever let me hold him- but today he did! I think it's just cause last time he had a crush on Malinda, and he  remembers I was with her.  But then amazingly....

He went to Laura! The guy said very rarely he will go to sisters, or mother and daughter.  It was awesome!

I learned on this trip that Gordon hates snakes.  that's why you will see no pictures of Gordon holding a snake.  Isaac also hates snake- but because he is a kid he was pretty much pressured into holding this pretty one.  He was a good sport.

Jacob, Gordon, Isaac, Laura, Paul, Gabe and me.  Ellie and Kyle were in school and Darren took a day to study for Boards.

That night we went to a fun place to eat- Bravo in the Mercato.  Laura and Gordon's treat.  Thanks guys for the fun night.  It couldn't have been more fun.

Raising an Edison

Paul almost never stops talking. Like never.  His mind is always going- like the Energizer Bunny.  He always has questions.  Most of the times I just say, "I don't know" because, usually I don't.  I started writing down the questions he asked in one day.  Here is a little peak into what it's like to be Paul's mom for a couple of hours.
-Mom, why is nothing exciting happening in the world, I mean, there's zombie movies, and giant alian movies, I mean, I think something like that should happen.
-Mom, Why is there a chain link fence around this park, I mean it's a public park.
-Mom, is Lord of the Rings popular?  Didn't it seem like the last movie went on forever? I thought he was never going to drop the ring!
-So mom, how does your appendix ruptur? it doesn't make any sense to me- how it can just go boom.  How does it rupture?
-Are you excited for a movie to come out this Easter?
-Mom, remember in Going Solo the crazy lady that hated her toes? It's just funny that she hates toes. 

-Mom,did you know that my jaw is really wierd, I mean it's really messed up.  
- Hey mom, how far are you in that book?
- Mom, did you know some people are born with tails?
-Hey mom, do you think the apocalypse is coming with Obama in charge?
-Did you know Bill Waterson the maker of Calvin and Hobbes didn't draw dinosaures for 6 months after Jurrassic Park came out, cause he thought people would be critical of his dinosaurs drawings?
- Mom, Elli and I have a secret organization called the SOB's.  The Secret Organization of Buddies.
-Mom, do you know how to throw a boomerange? Do you know anyone who does?
-Mom, people need to build more bridges.
-Mom, I mean if a Kaiju attacked San Fransico don't you think it would kill more that 10,000 people?  If a Kaiju came out of the Gulf of Mexico, what would you do, just drive and drive and drive?
-Mom, we should try and be vegetarians.  I just wish someone would invent a plant that tastes like bacon.
-Mom, why do people need to eat so often, alligators only eat every 2 weeks! And if they eat a huge meal they can go months without eating!

It goes on and on and on. And on.  I don't mind- I know someday he will grow up to do amazing things.  Recently we went to Thomas Edison's Winter Estates.  Listening to stories of him as a child made me laugh- it sounded just like Paul!  Did you know when Thomas was 3 he climbed a ladder to the top of his father's grain elevator, then fell in as he leaned over to look inside. Fortunately, his father witnessed the fall and rescued him before he was suffocated by the grain. Then when he was 6 he started a fire in his father's barn just to see what would happen. The barn burned to the ground.  When he was 12 Edison accidentally set fire to a train baggage car when one of his jars of highly flammable phosphorus fell to the floor.  All this sounded just like Paul.  He was an insane toddler.  We used to call him the "Destroying Angel" or "Tasmanian Devil"  People would encourage me to discipline him more- but I just laughed at them.  Why should I discipline a child for being curious?  Now he continues to do things that make me laugh, cry, drop my jaw or just get angry.  There isn't a day he doesn't' have some sort of experiment going on. 

Just the other day we were going to sell his bike- he thought it would be a good idea to spray paint it baby blue.  Wires and all.  Seriously kid. 

The other day he was turning on the barbecue and waited to long to push the spark button.  It didn't light, so he used a lighter.  I saw this huge ball of fire go up on the back lanai.  Thank goodness it didn't hurt him- just scared him.  And singed a little hair. 

 Paul has been so much work- but such a joy to raise. He always keeps me on my toes.  I wonder what great things he will do in life.  

Landing a Job!

This is almost the most exciting thing I have posted about in a long time.  Darren got a job!!!!!!  And not just any old job- pretty much him dream job. Do you want to know where? Take a guess...

 Yea, we are moving to Oregon! Hermiston to be exact.

See that star? That is Hermiston.  (I know, my Photoshop skills are sweet) North-central Oregon- right by the boarder.  It's in the dry part of Oregon- not really green and lush.  It's pretty much the same landscape as Rigby, or Idaho Falls- So it's really not that pretty- but it will be home. It is 3 hours from Athena & Ben in Portland and 4 hours from Mark & Malinda in Boise.  And 10 hours from Provo.  I am so grateful to be going out West!  We had almost given up on finding a job out West, when this came along.  Some more of the awesome things about Hermiston are... It is 35 min. from the Tri-cities in Washington.  Which means we will be 35 min. from a major airport and from a temple.  There are 4 wards in Hermiston, so there will be other LDS families in the area.  The gardening there is awesome- it's a zone 7! Booyah! They grow lots of watermelon's there- and I have heard the soil is like magic soil.   It will be like the Garden of Eden compared to Rigby.  I am so excited to have a garden again. The population is 17,111.  So it's not too big, and not too small.  Darren says it's like Rexburg or Twin Falls.  It is close to so many fun things- like Portland, Seattle, Boise,  and the coast. There is a Home depot and a Super Walmart.  What else do you need, right? And the job is exactly what Darren was looking for.  It is an all CRNA practice- which is exactly what he wanted.  We are so excited and feel like it was meant to be.  We have a busy schedule ahead of us- as we will be moving in 3 weeks! 

Job Hunting

In order to understand Darren's job search, you need to understand how varied CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist) jobs can be.  Most CRNA's work in a practice under an Anesthesiologist.  In some practices the anesthesiologist let the CRNA's do everything, and in some they don't let the CRNS's do anything.  As Darren says, they are just "Chart Jockey's".   In some places they can do spinals, epidural, and regional blocks.  And some places they just intubate and extubate, while the Docs (Anesthesiologists) do all the good stuff- like spinals, epidurals, and regional blocks (the hardest).  It's all very complicated, but basically how much you can do as a CRNA is called your "scope of practice".  It is very important to get as wide of a scope of practice so you have a wider range of skills, which leads to the better jobs, and better pay.   Now, in some hospitals, there are only CRNA's.   They run the show. They get respect, and get to make all the decisions and do everything. Basically, they get to do their job. The down side to this is it is a lot more responsibility. They have to be good at their job and know what they are doing, because it all comes down on the CRNA.  Typically you need a couple of years of experience before you can get hired on at an all CRNA practice- and it takes a certain kind of person.
 Different jobs are good for different people.  Some people are happy just going to work and letting the Doc tell them everything to do. Darren, however, is not.  He wants to work at a facility where there is little medical direction.  The way he puts it is, "I want to do my job, I want to do what I was trained to do." Our end goal is to get a job at an all CRNA practice. 
 
 Let me tell you a little bit about our job search journey. Lets start a year and a half ago when Darren started clinicals and voluntarily signed up to go to all the outside rotations without even talking to me about it.  Remember when Darren was gone ALL the time- yea, that was all voluntarily.  But Darren had a plan.  He wanted to get the best experience possible so he could get the job he wanted.  It was hard when all the other student husbands were home and Darren was gone.  He kept telling me, "It will pay off babe."  I thought, "It had better!"  One of his rotations was 8 hours away in Marianna, Florida, at an all CRNA practice.  He was gone 6 weeks. It was the hardest 6 weeks of school.  He went to Tampa for 4 weeks, and Davenport for 4 weeks.  All the clinical rotations have given him pretty good numbers.  For example:

So we started looking for jobs last year in Sept.  We were hoping to have a job by Thanksgiving or Christmas.  My mom said, "Look at Provo and draw a 6 hour circle around Provo and try to live within that circle."   The more we looked, the more we realized that was not going to happen.  Our search widened and widened till we were applying pretty much everywhere in the US.  By Thanksgiving other students were getting jobs and Darren and I were getting pretty discouraged. He had applied to about 40 jobs.  Our family prayed and fasted that we could get a job by Christmas so that we could relax and enjoy Christmas.  I had a specific impression that there was a special job out there for Darren and it wouldn't become available till January.  So we could enjoy Christmas.  It brought me a lot of peace.  Darren still applied like crazy.  The beginning of January Darren's phone started ringing and the e-mails started pouring in.  He had 3 serious potential jobs.  By the 2nd week in Jan. he had 2 interviews set up and 1 job offer in Bay City, Michigan. His job offers were in Hermistan, Oregon, and Bradford, Pennsylvania. We weren't really interested in Michigan.  Pennsylvania would be a fun place to live.  But we were REALLY hoping to get the Oregon job.  It is an all CRNA job and pretty much Darren's dream job.   Oregon flew Darren out to interview.  They wanted me to come too, but Marilyn and Malinda were coming for our girls week.  So I didn't go.  The next week Pennsylvania flew Darren, me and Gabe out to interview.  It was fun to be together, but Gabe made it next to impossible to enjoy going out to eat.  

Darren and Gabe on the tram to the airport.  Love those 2!

When we arrived at the hotel Gabe was being so cute I couldn't resist taking these pictures.

Little did I know what was to happen in just a few moments.

Shortly after this picture he was playing on the bed and reached over to play with the phone and fell off the bed.  He hit hard and was crying pretty bad.  I was pretty sure he broke his arm.

So we spent our first night at the ER at the hospital where Darren would be interviewing the next day. 

Yes, it was broken. They put it in a splint and told us to get it in a cast when we got home. The hospital was paying for all our meals so I was super excited to go somewhere nice to eat for dinner.  I ended up getting a sandwich from Arby's at 11.

  At least Gabe was cute and the ER staff was really nice. 
Anyways, Darren interviewed the next day and the day after that we went and looked at houses.  Stay tuned to see what job we ended up with....

Gabe is Two!

There is so much to blog about! Life has been busy, and happy lately.  And a lot has happened. but lets start with Gabe's 2nd birthday!  Gabe is, of course, like the puppy of the family.  Everyone loves him and gives him so much attention. Sometimes it's too much and he'll get mad- he will yell, "Paulie!"  
The baby is insane.  He loves to be crazy, and climb on everything, and I mean EVERYTHING.   He recently broke his arm falling off the bed at a hotel in Pennsylvania while Darren was interviewing for a job.  I'll get to that on my next post.
 Laura and Gordon were here for his birthday, and I have all sorts of stuff to blog about their trip- but that's for another post too.
Let's talk about Gabe.  About his crazy little, sweet little angel baby- that isn't really a baby anymore.  In fact, I am coming out of the closet and admitting, I still nurse him! Ahh! Yea, with Kyle, I was what Laura and I call a "closet nurser".  We both have been guilty of closet nursing.  When Kyle was almost 2 I had a friend ask me if I was nursing and I lied and said no.  I have thought about that a lot and decided I will never be ashamed of nursing my babies again.  I have "come out of the closet" so to speak.  What can I say, I love to nurse my babies! but seriously I need to stop nursing that kid.  We are going on a cruise in 2 weeks and my mom has said,"That kid has got to be weened before you go!" AHHHH!  Why can't I just leave and let my mom figure it out. I mean, she had 7 kids right? 
Ok I'm getting distracted again. Back to Gabe.  Gabe is pretty much Darren's clone.  Just like Kyle.  I thought Kyle was the only one- but there was another.  Now there are 3.  The 3 amigos.  They are all crazy, but still so sweet and sensitive.  They love adrenaline and motorcycles.  When Gabe see's motorcycles he gets all excited and says, "mocycle!"  And then make engines sounds. He is also a climber.  His favorite thing to do is push the chair over to the counter and climb up the back of it like its a ladder.  Then he gets in my fruit bowl and throws all the fruit on the ground.  Then he pulls everything out of the cabinets and eats butter by the handful.  We all love this baby.

"Fire! Fire! Hot! Hot! Blow, Blow" 

Look at this cute kid!

Ok, I'm a total slacker and didn't get him a thing.  Good thing my mom is so on top of it that she sent him a present with our Christmas gifts, but then she forgot she sent it so she sent him another birthday gift! Thanks Grandma Rita for saving the day!

I think he actually understood what presents were and he loved unwrapping them.  I am so grateful for my little guy.  He is a perfect gift from heaven.  Naming him Gabriel was perfect- because, even though he is crazy, he is such an angel.  We love you Gabe!

Childrens Museum

Gabe is insane.  Seriously, he is a crazy baby.  He never stops moving, climbing, running, etc.  His favorite thing to do is push the chairs over to the counter and climb up onto the counter.  I have to get him out of the house to run around at least 1 time before his nap, and once after his nap.  We have been going to the Children's Museum a lot lately.  It is so nice because it is close to us and the kids love it.  Gabe is so cute when we go.  Well, he's cute all the time.

I love this picture because it shows the speed at which he moves- one second he is there, and the next second- Zoom! He's only a blur!

He loves the magnet fishing pond!

And he loves coloring.  He calls every color, "yellow!"

 Some of his favorite phrases are,
I try it!
I do it!
No!
Why? Why? Why?
It's really quite hilarious when he asks "why?" Because when he asks, he really wants to know! This can go on forever.  "Gabe, time to get go home", 
"Why?"
"Because the Museum is closing"
"Why?"
"Because the workers can't stay all day."
"Why?"
"Because they need to go home and be with their families."
"Why?"
"Because they love them."
"Why?"
You get the picture.  This can continue on for minutes, until he will finally say, "Ohhh."  Then I laugh because of his pure cuteness.

I had to add one of these signs that are in the best 4 parking spots in the Children's Museum parking lot.  Seriously?? I am all about loving the Earth, but this just gets under my skin.  So someone with a hybrid car should get special parking? Give me a break!