June 2011

June was pretty busy for us. the last week of may first week of June we were back in good ol' Cedar for memorial day. We had a great time visiting with our families and friends. WE went to Zion hiking, and went to look for cool rocks with my parents out west of town. Mostly we just gorged ourselves on all the yummy food that we can't get in California.

I got my hygiene license while we were in Utah so when we got home I was able to start working. I don't have a permanent position yet but I've been doing temporary things and that has kept me pretty busy. It's nice to get a paycheck! I almost cried at the end of my first day really working as a hygienist and they handed me my check. I was so excited to finally have a career. I'm a professional RDH now and I couldn't be more thrilled! I've been working hard to find a job but things are pretty slow. Everyone wants experience and It's all about who you know so its been tough. I'm hanging in there and things are getting busier. I have faith that everything is working out just how it is supposed to.

Josh started his first semester of CLINIC! He's been seeing patients and actually getting to practice dentistry. He is nervous still but he's doing awesome! He's such a good Dentist already and he's getting better everyday. I'm so proud of him and all his hard work and accomplishments.

MAY 2011

Our friend's little girl had to get her tonsils out so we watched their adorable baby boy while they were at the hospital. Once she starting feeling better we went to Disneyland and went on all the rides she wanted. Love those little kiddos and their parents!

We went to a restaurant called "The Boiling Crab" where you choose from a list of seafood and sides and they cook them all together with your choice of seasonings and then bring it out in a big bag and set it on the table and you eat it all with your fingers . It's pretty fun and DELICIOUS, so we decided to make our own. That's what we came up with and it was just as tasty!

We went to Newport Beach with some of our friends and spent the day lounging around. I'm starting to really love the beach (I hate sand still but its getting better).

Hiking

I regularly go on a 5 mile "hike" near our home which we lovingly refer to as "the mills hike" because it is at the top of Mills ave. But to break up the monotony of that my friends and I have taken a couple trips to close by hikes.

Eaton Canyon hike: This is in Alta Dena and was about 8 miles. We heard there was a waterfall so we set off to find it. We went right instead of left and ended up on the top of the mountain. So of course we had to get back down so that was about 6 miles out of our way. however it was beautiful. The view was awesome and it was a pretty intense climb which always makes you feel good. So finally we found the waterfall after having to go back and forth across a pretty large stream. The waterfall was so pretty and so worth the long walk.

Deep Creek Hot Springs:

My friend said she heard about these natural hot springs near Hesperia that she wanted to go to. They are non sulfur pools so they dont smell. its about an hour drive to get there and then a 2 mile hike to the pools. We had heard that sometimes people would go naked there but figured that we would be safe on a wednesday morning. We were WRONG. I've never seen so many "members" in my life and hope to never have that experience again. It was so incredibly gross. When we first got there we had to cross a large river of snow melt to get to the cascading hot springs. you hold onto a rope and make your way across. Well right when we get there we are greeted by an extremely friendly and oh so naked older man who followed us and explained the names and temperatures of all the pools. We made it to the top pool where luckliy everyone had clothes on and they showed us a secluded little pool right on the edge of the stream that was a mix of river and spring water so it was not super hot. WE made our way to that pool away from the nakedness to lounge in the sun in peace. However our naked friend deciced to come on down with a shovel and try to dig our pool deeper while still naked. We told him no thanks please leave so he did. we wanted to lay down so we swam a short distance to some flat rocks and laid out. The water was so cold and we were screaming and shouting and being silly girls and a bunch of naked guys came running to watch. So awkward! then the old guy starts digging away at our pool making it all muddy and flapping his business around. So Josh asked him to go and we went back, got our things and headed home! unfortunately we were behind 2 naked gay guys who did the entire 2 mile hike, uphill, bare naked except for their shoes and their back packs. Can you say Chaffing? So we had to keep stopping to let them get ahead so we wouldn't have to stare at their butts. It was a beautiful area and the pools were so nice but I don't think we will be doing that again.

April was full of comedy!

We went to see a funny comedian for Martha's birthday but I can't remember his name now. Thats what I get for back blogging. all the comedians that night were super funny and we had a great time.

There is a comedy club near our house in Claremont that we usually get free or super cheap tickets for. We went to see a guy named Jeff Dye with my friends Monica and Tommi and it was HILARIOUS!

Some friends came over to out house to watch general conference and eat yummy food. It is so nice to be able to hear from our latter day prophet and other leaders of the church. We were spiritually fed and definitely physically fed as well. We love our friends who are now more like family and we love our faith. I am so proud to be LDS and I love the gospel more than anything.

The girls and I had our first beach outing together and enjoyed some much needed sunshine after all those months cooped up at school.

Josh's mom, Stephanie, came to visit for her birthday and we went temple hopping together. We went to San Diego just the two of us and then Josh was able to go to the LA temple with us the next day. Both were absolutely incredible and I'm so happy that I am able to enter into the lord's house and to serve there.

It was also my 23rd birthday this year! Josh and I went out for Sushi with a group of friends and then came back to our house for cake and ice cream. So many people came and I didn't get to take a picture of all of them. I'm so lame! but it was fantastic and I'm so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family.

February and March

RUNYON CANYON, Hollywood, CA. Josh had a convention near LAX so me and my good friends from school met up to do a little hike in Hollywood. Celebrity sighting: Sue Sylvester from Glee. Sorry no picture :( i'm no paparazzi people!

We went bowling with some good friends.

Then we went deep sea fishing out of Oxnard on a boat called the Gentleman. We left our house at 3:30 am and drove over 2 hours to get there. I took some motion sickness pills before we got on the boat however it did no good. after only about 10 minutes on the boat I started getting sea sick. The fact that everyone on the boat smoked except for us did not help the situation either. I went into the little cabin and slept with my head down on the table. When we finally made it to our first fishing spot I fished for a while, caught a few red snapper and had to go back to put my head down. I slept pretty much the whole day and was only awake to throw up which I had to do over the side of the boat because the bathroom was DISGUSTING and made me have to vomit even more. however we did make quite a killing between myself, Josh and our friend Jed. We went home and josh and jed cleaned the fish and we had the most amazing fresh, homemade fish tacos ever! well worth the sickness.

Martha and Gus always have tickets to cool things. We got to go to the Lakers game with them and sit court side once and then they took us to our very first Dodgers game. They are huge fans so of course they also hooked us up with the gear. It was way fun hanging out and watching a real life professional baseball game. The first one I'd ever been too. A few weeks later we went to an Angels game but I cant find pictures. Thanks Martha and Gus!!

The Results Are IN!!!

I PASSED!!! I got a 97.5% on my clinical boards. I am positive I just forgot to do recession all together which was a max of 2.5 points. OH WELL! I'm so happy to be done with it all. It is such a huge relief to know that I don't have to go through all that again. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to support me and encourage me to do my best. I know that I wouldn't have been able to do as well as I did in my schooling if it weren't for My loving Heavenly Father. When I felt that I had done all I could do and studied as much as I could I would pray and put it in the lord's hands. It worked! Now I just have to send in my application to get my license and take a law and ethics exam and wait for my license to come!!! In about a month I will officially be Sara Carpenter RDH :) In the meantime I will try to continue to enjoy my time off of school and work. I have been reading like a mad woman and exercising a lot more. I've re-organized and re-decorated my house and spent some time with my friends. Life is good!

Dental Hygiene Clinical Boards

I took the western regional dental hygiene clinical board exam at Phoenix College on March 17th and 18th. My sweet mom drove all the way from Cedar City to Upland (6 hours) picked me and my friend up and drove 6 more hours to Phoenix so that we could study all the way for our anesthesia exam. She brought yummy snacks and got us rooms and drove us wherever we needed to go and helped us keep our sanity. We got there Wednesday night and figured out the route from our hotel to the college and located the exact building for our test. We decided to stop at this Mediterranean place for dinner and had some delicious food. We were on 15th and our friends were staying on 56th so we just headed right on up and couldn't figure out where in the heck we were. After an hour of searching, being unable to reach our friends and my poor friend Brinja coming close to tears we finally figured out that we were on 56th STREET and we needed to be on 56th AVENUE or vice versa I can't remember now it was too traumatic. We saw some drug deals and some people doing drugs and we were pretty sure we were going to die before we ever got to take our exam. We found our friends and got all our paperwork organized and got ourselves prepared for the next day. Brinja and I were taking the anesthesia exam and our friends Monica and Tommi were being our patients. First thing Thursday morning we had a written anesthesia exam. If we didn't pass this exam we would be unable to take the clinical portion of the anesthesia exam that afternoon. Luckily we both passed and went on to give the 2 injections. I passed right away but ended up having to be Brinja's patient too so she could re-do one injection (which we were pretty sure was a scam for more money but none the less she passed the second go round). Then we finished just in time to go change and come back for orientation that lasted FOREVER. So all the other girls taking it from my class were going in the morning and mine wasn't until the afternoon. I went with them anyway for moral support and waited nervously for them to find out if their patients had been accepted. Luckily everyone's patient did get accepted so we didn't even need the 2 back up patients we had. I went next and my patient was accepted as well. Finding the right patient was the most stressful part of the whole exam because it had to be so specific to what they wanted. ANYWAY, I was praying the entire weekend that I could stay calm and that everything would be ok. I felt really good about everything and felt that I did the best that I could do for my patient. I was frantically trying to get my papers together and get my patient turned in on time and was having some struggles doing so but I was able to get her there before my time limit... I think. So then once I finished we got some dinner and drove all the way back to Cali.

A few days later we were getting all our stuff together for our application for California licensure when I suddenly realized I had forgotten to chart recession at all! I freaked out and for 2 days was completely inconsolable. I finally broke down and emailed WREB. The nice lady explained that I would only be deducted 2.5 points not 25 points. SO needless to say, my freak out was for nothing.

Now I wait. It's been over 2 weeks now and I still have not heard anything. I'm sure that it will be fine but its just so nerve racking waiting for the results knowing that there's nothing else I can do.

Once I get them I need to have the scores sent to the state of California and then I will send in an application packet with all the necessary information. Then I wait some more for them to send me a packet explaining how to apply for the state law and ethics exam. I then need to register for and take that exam and wait for those results to be sent to the state as well and then the will first post my license online and then up to a week later I will get the official license in my hand.

My goal is to have my license by my birthday. I will keep you all posted!