This Crazy Life

DIY project

2011-08-20T21:51:00.001-07:00

Ok...I'm a terrible blogger.

I've been really into DIY-ing and repurposing lately and here is one of the projects I've done recently! I love having a place to put photos and fun scraps of things. It helps keep my desk de-cluttered and they always brighten my day!

Before:

After:

I looked into buying frames at craft stores, but it was going to cost me at least $80...a little steep for a student budget. So I went to home depot and the nice guys there helped me build frames. Then I bought spray paint, gorilla glue, and new ribbons. In total it cost me about $25 dollars for both of them!

The waiting game...

2011-03-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

Don't you think it's ironic that doctor's call the people they see "patients"?

Because I'm in the medical school here, I have the privilege (and responsibility) of having access to all the medical records on file. I've really grown to love sifting through the files of kiddos that I'm going to be observing during therapy and evaluations. I used to think "I really think parents would love being able to see all the stuff in these charts! It's like the Wal-Mart of medical records and results." Not any more.

It has been an entirely different experience reading/stalking my medical record, waiting (somewhat anxiously) for results to come back. I write, hear, say, or read the word "patient" everyday. Today, the irony of the word "patient" hit me. I was pondering on the virtue of patience and reminding myself "be patient!" and my smart-aleck side argued back "I am a patient! and these doctors are taking forever." So to satisfy both my virtue-pondering and smart aleck sides of my personality, I adopted a new little mantra...at least for the next little while: Being a patient takes patience.

2011-03-23T12:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I got to go to Memphis for a Myofascial Release Therapy conference. I got to stay in this sweet hotel on the 17th floor:

I felt a little bit like Willy Wonka because the elevator walls are made out of glass and it moved so fast.

This is my gorgeous hotel room. I felt vaguely like a rockstar wish such a luxurious place to rest my head!

View from my window...still a bit brown and ugly in Memphis =P

Also as a side note....love love love room service. SO nice!

So it's been a while...

2011-01-23T14:27:00.000-08:00

Alright....I'm guilty. I promised many that I would keep this blog up-to-date and I have failed. As much as I would like to share every adventure I've had here with ya'll (a new word in my daily lexicon...), here are some of the highlights!

Moving Day!

Exploring Nashville

Labor Day trip to North Carolina! So fun!

Celebrated my 21st birthday with new found friends

Lots of live music venues!

A newfound love for baking, decorating, and eating cupcakes!

Fall Break camping trip!
Enjoying the spectacular change of the leaves

Haunted houses
Halloween!
Learning that being an adult on my own is hard and scary at times...especially when small fuzzy 8 legged crawlers sneak into your apartment
Sampling from the many delicious restuarants in the area

Movies!

Skating!

Visitng the Gaylord Opryland all decorated for Christmas!

Thanksgiving with my beautiful family and seeing my adorable niece and nephew

My new Mark Mabry painting of Christ - a beautiful reminder of what I believe in every time I walk in my door. (Thanks Mom and Dad! I love it!)

The most amazing family a girl could ask for - celebrating Christmas...missing David, Mel, and the kids tho!

And my latest adventure: day trip to Chattanooga to go the aquarium!

Sting Rays!

What an amazing and blessed my time here in Nashville has been! I have met some truly amazing people who have loved me and taught me some very important lessons. I've grown an increased appreciation for my family and have found what I like to call my Nashville family here in my ward, friends, and colleagues. I've been challenged academically in a whole new way. Most of all, my faith has grown as everything has fallen into place as I create a life here. I couldn't be more grateful for all the blessings and comfort I have received and I'm loving every moment of it!

Crazytown!

2010-04-26T22:30:00.001-07:00

My soon-to-be new home! Officially going to Vanderbilt in the Fall!

What a year!

2010-04-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

Well so much craziness has happened and I have done so poorly at keeping up my blog! Hopefully I'll be better about it from now on! Here is a quick re-cap of the last 6 months!

I flew a plane!

Graduated from college!

Christmas with the WHOLE family! So fun! :D

Mary Poppins in Denver!

Learned how to snowboard!

Took a daddy/daughter trip to Copper thanks to a friend selling us lift tickets super cheap!

In other news, I also got a new job with a company called ACES doing behavioral therapy with children who have autism. I also got accepted to graduate school at the University of Utah, and Vanderbilt and I'm still trying to decide! Hopefully I'll have a decision to share soon :D

Most Epic Concert

2009-09-20T20:39:00.001-07:00

So my latest adventure was a BRAD PAISLEY CONCERT! :) This was the best concert I've ever been to! Dierks Bentley and Brad Paisley are so talented!

The Big 2-0!

2009-09-15T23:41:00.000-07:00

First things first....Shelby is growing and learning and is all around cute! She is now 4.5 lbs and is expected to double in weight by the time she is full grown! Here are a couple cute pics!

candid pictures of her are my favorite!

The B-Day celebrations began with a tasty dinner at Red Robins!

Then off to this place called Itz with Lori and Kevin too! It is basically a big arcade place and it was super fun! :)

Thank goodness families are forever :D

A big thank you to my family and friends for making my birthday so wonderful! I love you guys!

Welcome the newest member of the family...

2009-08-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

Shelby Lynn Wilson!

Born: June 14, 2009

Weighs: A lil over 2 pounds!

Summertime!

2009-07-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

This summer has been a crazy one! Camp has been a great learning experience. Most weeks are really fun! This next week is deaf week and I'm anticipating learning a lot of new signs! I'm really excited to use my tiny sign vocabulary. I had this last week off and I got to spend a lot of time with my sister, and I spent a lot of time especially in the latter half of the week studying for the GRE. Here are some pictures from the last few weeks!

There have definitely been some storms to remember this summer! That white stuff? Yep that is hail!

I have some pretty mad skills when it comes to stoking fires...especially with s'mores for motivation!

KIP! He is one is one of my all time favorite campers! He is non-verbal but he CAN say "no! don't want!" He bites his arms when he gets upset but he has no teeth...so needless to say it's pretty cute!

Scott :) He is so kind!

Debbie. She was a CRACK UP! Her speech is not understandable but pretty high pitched. When she says curse words her speech is crystal clear tho!

We get really cool moths up in the mountains. This thing was probably about 4 inches across.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer! Love you guys!

Weeks 1, 2, & 3

2009-06-20T22:01:00.000-07:00

e last few weeks have been a great experience for me and I have really been enjoying my time up in Woodland Park. The few precious hours I have on the weekends have been packed and I haven't had a chance to update lately! Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Hope everyone is doing well! :D Love you all!

Training Week

2009-05-30T22:31:00.001-07:00

Hey Everybody! :)

Here are the photos from my first week up in the mountains!

Monday morning I was all set to drive up the canyon!

I was so excited!

Welcome to Lions Camp!

The Dorms

My adopted dad/executive director

Neighbors!

Team building exercise...figure out how to get untangled!

All of us counselors decided to go on a hike one evening

It is so beautiful! This is literally minutes up the trail!

We also did ropes training this week too...this is the low ropes. It is harder than it looks!

Ready to climb up to the high ropes!

I'm a monkey :)

High ropes are such a blast!

Repeling down

It was a great week! I really looking forward to getting my campers tomorrow! :) Have a great week everyone! You'll be in my prayers! :)

The Infamous Manitou Incline

2009-05-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

So my good friend Becky and I have been talking about hiking up the incline ALL semester...so to celebrate basically being done with finals (we both have one more on monday...LAME!) we decided that today was the day to conquer the incline! It is a 1 mile climb up to the top, and you gain almost 2,000 feet of altitude. THEN! to get back down we took Barr Trail...which is 4 miles. It took us about 3 hours and we were tired and hungry by the end, but we felt so accomplished!

The crazy part about this picture is that what looks like the top really isn't the top...there is about 1/4 more of the way to go once you get to the "fake summit" as we dubbed it!

Some parts of it are SUPER steep and you end up kinda crawling up the steps as opposed to just walking!

The view the whole was was so beautiful...I just love Colorado!

We made it to the top! :D

2009-05-10T16:23:00.000-07:00

Well after a long hard week of studying, my good friend KayCee arranged a big group date and we had a blast! We all went bowling at the Air Force Academy...only we changed it up a bit! We had something different be had to do for whatever number of pins we knocked down...So for 0 you had to go sing to someone...for a 7 you had to do a cartwheel...for a 1 you had to do five push ups...and for a strick you had to make and X with your arms. We had a ball! We all laughed a lot and had a good time :) The boys beat the girls by a lot for both games. Afterwards we went to Denny's for a late dinner. Good times!

The Girls!

This was such a fun group!

Go Rapids!

2009-05-04T22:40:00.000-07:00

So the last couple saturdays, Jonathan and I made the drive up to Denver to the soccer stadium to see the Rapids play...I must be good luck because the first one they tied and the other they won! :) I'm quickly learning all the lingo and tactics of this super cool sport :)

So I'm not very good at this...

2009-04-27T22:24:00.002-07:00

Ok...I know I have been really inconsistent with keeping this blog up...mostly because I always think I have to have a good picture to go with it. SO! Here is what's new!

So... since February...I got a new calling - Institute Council! I love it! This is such an awesome calling and I've really enjoyed it so far! I ended up moving to the singles ward because the meetings for my calling conflicted with my home ward schedule. I am pleasantly surprised to say that I really love this ward. I think a big reason for that is because I met the other Council members (who are absolutely amazing) first and so my circle of friends started with them. They are such great people!

School has been crazy this semester. I can't believe I'm in my senior year! Time has just flown by and sometimes I stop and realize how little time I have left at UCCS (then I get inspired to START TAKING PICTURES!) I literally have 8 months until I walk across that stage and get my diploma..well...I fake diploma that is. I really hope my family can be there for that. Nothing would make me happier than to have their support that day! I'm starting to look at different graduate programs and I'm really excited about the path I'm chosing to take. I have finally settled on Speech Language Pathology. I think I can make a difference in this field.

As far as things on the dating front...things are pretty interesting! God certainly has a way of making you see his will I think and I've learned a lot about that this year. I can never seem to see what turn my life will take next and my faith is growing through this process. As far as my previous relationship...I think God made it so I really had time to think about what I want. I finally made the big leap of taking down all my pictures of Taft from my room and cleaning his stuff out of my drawers. It was a surprisingly unemotional experience. I have gone on some really fun dates with people from ward and I'm enjoying that right now.

Summer is quickly approaching and my anticipation grows stronger every day I think. I am spending the majority of my summer up in Woodland Park working at as a counselor for a special needs camp. I couldn't be more excited about this opportunity! It is so different from anything I've done before and I know I'll have the time of my life! I'll try and keep this blog up on the weekends so you guys can see what all I'm doing up there!

I hope everything is going well for everyone! And thanks Tarina for reminding me to update my blog! :D

The Tale of the Missing Egg Noodles

2009-02-22T19:29:00.000-08:00

So the other day Mom and Dad put out some frozen egg noodles in the sink to dethaw so they could make chicken noodle soup....lo and behold that afternoon they came upstairs to discover the empty egg noodle bag on the floor. Lily (Bailee's constant partner in crime) had somehow mustered the strength to get the bag OUT of the sink, onto the floor, and into Bailee's paws...an entire pound of egg noodles later, we had a very bloated Bailee.. (note, these noodles expand in liquids! and a pound is about 1/16 of her weight....the equivalent of 10 pounds in a human weighing 160 pounds in one sitting!) Unfortunately that night we had a very sick dog :( But the hilarity of the scheming of the animals was entertaining!

Christmas in Cody, and Shooting with Kevin

2009-01-02T14:25:00.000-08:00

Grandma's beautiful Christmas tree!

The feast!!

Grandma and I!

We took the kids skating a few times...my skates were at home...these are the awful rental skates!

Joey loved the ice! He was a scooter!

Cute little Olivia!

Cousin Alye and I on Christmas Eve!

This pretty much sums up Jay and Kim! haha

Dad and I took a drive up to the area where he lived when he was a kid...it was beautiful up there and I loved hearing Dad tell stories he remembers growing up! Thanks Dad! :)

Auntie Ida was not only kind enough to let me stay at her house for 2 weeks, but she also let me help make apple and cherry pie! They turned out pretty tasty!

Alye and me treking to the sledding hill!

Then today (January 2nd) Kev got me up at the break of dawn to go shooting with him...we had a good time! We went to the range up near Garden of the Gods and the sunrise was amazing!

and the mountains were beautiful!

Me shooting kevs littler gun (not sure on the name haha) I especially love this picture because Grandpa loved shooting and during the reunion in September, Mom showed a big slideshow and there were pictures of most of my aunts and uncles in this same pose! The dream lives on :)

Kev made sure I was totally safe :) Thanks big brother! As you can tell, it was cold AND early...I was pretty tired when we first got there!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!

My Grandpa

2009-01-02T14:18:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, December 30, 2008, Grandpa Meister passed away. A lot of his family was right by his side, and I feel honored that I was able to be there during his final days even though it was hard watching him suffer. Grandpa lead such an honorable life and was a great example. It was interesting to see how kids (including my awesome mom!) have some of the same traits that he had. He will be grately missed, but I know that we all have a guardian angel now and that some day we will be able to see him again! I love you Grandpa!!!

Christmas Trees, Institute, and Sugar Cookies

2008-12-10T20:01:00.000-08:00

So I have been trying super hard to always have my camera with me and take more pictures! I did some fun things in the last week:

Oh Tannebaum!

Lily was trying to help (and is still trying to help by climbing up the inside of the tree!)

My good friend Becky came to help me put the tree up!

Today was the last day of institute for the semester...This is my AMAZING teacher Bro. Hasler!

This is my intitute class:

Then, I went to Cindi's house and made sugar cookies!! This is Cindi's neice Emily and her son Aiden (or is this Chase? they are twins and I always get them mixed up!)

Me cutting sugar cookies into Christmas shapes!

Me and Aiden post-flour fight!

They were so yummy! :)

Hope everyone is doing well and getting into the Christmas spirit!!

Turkey Day!

2008-12-02T22:27:00.000-08:00

Ok so I know it's been forever but I'm FINALLY blogging!

Thanksgiving was so much fun! I had a blast hanging out with the family, but missed Mel and David and my cute niece and nephew!

Wilson Family Tradition: Pineapple & Rice and Broccoli Salad!

Our new fun board game: Ticket to Ride!

It snowed the day after Thanksgiving!

Also, Jarad and Ashley had this wacky idea that they would get up and go shopping at 4 AM on black friday...and guess who go take them....me! and I also happened to be house sitting last weekend too so I had to get up extra early so I could pick them up in time! I was very suprised at 3:45 to find my car covered in snow and frost. Nonetheless, we had a good time shopping! I was really glad I went and got to spend some time with them!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-09-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! Sorry its been so long...I forewarned you that I wouldnt be very consistent. Nothing too exciting has been going on except for my birthday! I had skating and school and I was sick so it was pretty low key...I really like it that way. Kevin and Lori came over and we had brownies and ice cream.

We didn't have any candles except for a five and a zero from Mom's fiftieth sooo we improvised!

Wahoo!!! Love those books! thank you guys so so much!!! I've already re-read the first one and started on the second!

Well I know this is short...but it's all the exciting news/picture I have! Hope everyone is doing well and thank you again for the birthday presents! :D

Feeling left out...

2008-08-31T09:43:00.001-07:00

Well...since I'm the only one of the kids in our family who hasn't created a blog yet, I decided that today's the day! I probably won't be as vigilant as you guys are but I'm going to give it a go :)

I started school last Monday. The geniuses in administration at UCCS gave us a 4 day weekend after 5 days of school...they are giving us both Monday and Tuesday off for Labor Day. My question is...why not just start after Labor Day? No one does anything the first week anyways.

I went to Chicago last weekend to see Taft...It was really fun and super busy the whole time. We went to a Bears game, a Cubs game, a Brewers game, and a White Sox game...all in three days!

Wrigley Field

Taft doesn't like pictures...

The Brewers game

Anywho...much love to the familia! Hope everyone is doing well :)