Monday Night Football

Ben and I were very fortunate to be in attendance of the Titans/Colts game last night. I always ask for the tickets to the Colts game b/c I love Peyton Manning. We (really Dad) have great seats on the 40 yard line, 5 rows from the field. We sit with a bunch of our Ezell family, so it makes for a fun game. Last night's game was great! I was so glad we went. It was a little chilly, but that's football weather. They gave out light blue t-shirts to everyone as we entered the game so we could have a "code blue" in the stands for Monday Night Football. I already had on light blue, so I didn't wear mine. I was especially glad to have my new camera at the game last night b/c I got some great pics. I've posted some below. Way to go Titans! 7-0!

T-Rac driving out on his cart with sparklers as the Titans are introduced.

Titans on offense

Colts on offense. Peyton is in the middle of the three guys on the left.

Bye Bye Twenties!

This past weekend I said goodbye to my twenties. I turned the big 3-0 on Friday the 24th. It's definitely bittersweet. I think my 30's will be fun and enlightening, but you're just not "young" anymore. I'll make it. My sweet husband sent me flowers at work on Thursday. I was very surprised, and the girls at work thought he had done something wrong until they found out it was my birthday. Then they thought he was super sweet. He also have me a new digital camera which I badly needed. I think I said "I love this camera" a 100 times this past weekend. It's a Sony Cybershot with 10.1 mega pixels! It's very nice, and it's red too. You'll be seeing a lot better quality pics on here now.
Friday night, we went to Toyama at Nipper's Corner for dinner. Clay, Leslie, Amy, Aimee, Russ, Curry, and Jake ate dinner with us. It was a lot of fun. I was happy to celebrate my birthday with good friends. After dinner, Clay and Leslie had us back at their house for cake and ice cream. My mom and dad met us there with a homemade strawberry cake, my favorite! Will and Drennon stopped by after the MBA game.

My pretty flowers Ben sent me at work.

At Toyama for B'day dinner

Amy, Aimee, Clay, and Leslie

Flamin' onion!

My pretty sushi

Birthday cheesecake from Toyama

Blowing out my 30th candles on my strawberry cake

Me turning 30 just means the boys are only 1 year away from it!

Me and Drennon

On Saturday night, we went to Mom and Dad's for birthday dinner. Nothing like your mom cooking you birthday dinner. We had fillets, twice baked potatoes, green beans, frozen fruit salad, rolls, and ice cream with homemade chocolate sauce. Those of you who have had my mom's chocolate sauce know it's amazing! My parents gave me a Wii, which I have been wanting for some time. I can't wait to get Rock Band and have everyone over. Drennon has already named our band "Wives with Attitude." I think that's very fitting.

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday so special. It truly was a year to remember!

I want to dedicate this post to my faithful readers, Amy and Aimee!!

Mr. & Mrs. Kyle Felts!

This past weekend was such a fun weekend! Kyle Felts and Lindsey Howard were married on Saturday at St. Paul's Church in Green Hills which was followed by a reception at Traveler's Rest. The wedding was beautiful and very sweet. Lindsey was gorgeous and Kyle was his handsome self. Kyle's dad, Larry, officiated. The reception was so much fun with a great band, great food, and fun photo booth! We all had a great time dancing and taking pictures in the photo booth. Kyle and Lindsey will have a lot of fun going through the scrapbook of pictures. They are such a wonderful couple and absolutely perfect for each other. We wish them a lifetime of happiness! Can't wait to see you when you get back!

Kyle and Lindsey hit the dance floor



All 22 Groomsmen sing with the band!



Mrs. Kyle Felts showing her moves

The ALMOST (3 weeks to go) Mr. and Mrs. Clay Robinson

Lindsey and me

Ben couldn't resist picking up the bride!

Yes, that's a mohawk! If you look closely, you'll see K+L on the side of her head!

Zach Watson doing what he does best!

Ben and me

The happy couple getting ready to go on their honeymoon. There was water all over the floor so Lindsey had to hold her dress up. It was beautiful by the way.

Simulation Conference

Most of you know that I am helping teach a weekly nursing skills lab at Belmont, and I am completing my Master's in Nursing Education. Right now, I am really pumped about anything that has to do with nursing education. I want to know about everything and pick everyone's brains. Yesterday and today I attended the first annual simulation conference at Belmont for all the nursing schools in TN. You may ask...what is simulation? Simulation has just begun being used recently. I did not have it when I was in nursing school. It's amazing what can be done these days. Basically, you have an interactive manikin that can simulate any medical situation you want. It's so neat. These manikins respond to human touch, so the student gets points for palpating pulses when needed, applying oxygen, listening to breath sounds, etc. The manikins at Belmont are run by an instructor behind a one way mirror while the students respond (hopefully) to the cues given to them by the manikin. Many skeptics of simulation argue that simulation cannot be used to replace clinicals in the hospital. Of course they can't substitute for human interaction, but when you have a true simulation like the one I participated in today, you see that they are so real. I actually got anxious during the simulation even though I was playing the doctor. The patient was moaning and groaning, a (fake) family member was becoming hysterical demanding pain medicine for her husband and the nurse was to call the doctor for orders, all while using SBAR communication (don't ask), remaining calm, monitoring vital signs, starting a heparin drip...you get the picture. It's amazing. Did I mention that they video you so they can go over what you did well and what you could do better? You can see why I got a little anxious. You totally get into it. Students get really upset when the manikin dies, but it's a safe environment where no one gets hurt. Wouldn't you want a nurse to kill a manikin instead of a patient? I also got to see the manikin that can actually give birth! Way cool. Real nursing students did the simulation with an instructor prompting them and one moaning and screaming that the baby was coming. It was so real. The students actually measure dilation and have to coach the manikin through birth.
Can you tell I'm excited about my future career? I can't wait to teach full-time and influence new nurses.

Neat Freaks Beware!

Last week I was bragging on my Bissel Healthy Home vacuum, and this week I decided to show you just how awesome it really is. I would show you how much hair I vacuum up, but some of you may decide never to come to my house again if you saw it! If I could sell pug hair, I'd be filthy rich! Please know that the rest of my house does not look like the rug below. This rug is in the room where all three dogs sleep. Therefore, it is subject to mounds and mounds of pug hair. So, look at the picture and see if you can tell which side has been vacuumed? Not a single pug hair on the right side! Pretty impressive. I love this vacuum! Granted, this type of clean only lasts for a few minutes until one of the dogs sees that I have cleaned and then goes into the room and either shakes themselves violently or rubs their back all over the rug. Gotta love them.