Brrrr!!!

We drove over to my brother Dana's place for lunch to celebrate Vincent's 3rd birthday and Thanksgiving. We hit snow a few miles into PA and it continued until we were a few miles away from NY. Made for some intense driving! Not excited for this part of winter!!!

Vincent "chattering" on Uncle Jer's phone.

Vincent blowing out his candles!!!

Poor Colson! He's tired and hungry and doesn't feel good!!

Vincent "coloring".

Dana posing! Nice shot bro! :)

Nights....

Well, the orientation period on the day shift has ended and nights have begun! Wow! Where am I? What time is it? Wait...I thought I was suppose to be awake now..... Talk about major confusion!!! Hopefully this phase won't last too long!!!

The Walk....

Well folks, the walk is done!! I started out my day yesterday by getting up at 3 am. I met up at my friend Laura's house and her friend Billie took us to Tarrytown. There we met up with another walker, Kathy, and her sister drove us down to Pier 84 in NYC. The walk started around 7 am and was a little slow getting started. Our group decided to stay on the fringe of the crowd so we wouldn't get stuck on the pier. It turned out to be a great idea! We crossed the Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge and George Washington Bridge. Got to see lots of cool sights and fun people. The cheering stations were the best!! They definitely helped pick up your spirits!! I finished the 26.2 miles around 5pm (had multiple breaks and lunch in between). Thankfully there were "tent angels" at the Wellness Village that set up our tents for us. I could barely move. I was able to get in line for the showers rather quickly, eat some dinner and hit the sack. I was in my sleeping bag by 6:30 pm but couldn't get to sleep because of all the noise and the pain of the hard ground against my aching body. I had earplugs in, but could hear everything like it was in my own tent!!! I think lights out was around 10 pm, then I got to toss and turn....now I remember why I don't go camping!!! Ouch!!! Then around 5:30 this morning, people thought it was time to get up and make noise! When I finally drug myself out of my tent around 7:30 I could barely move and some of my team mates had already left. My friend Laura offered to come pick me up in Jersey (she had went home for the night....has a bad back and knew she couldn't stand the camping out part). I couldn't get a hold of Chris so I took her up on it. It felt so good to get home and take a shower in a "real" shower and take a nap in my comfy bed!!! Some of my team mates went on to complete the additional 13.1 mile today and to them I say congrats and make sure to take your Advil tonight!! I can't wait for my massage tomorrow...and hopefully my blisters heal quickly! At least it was all for a good cause! Next time I'm doing a smaller walk....thinking maybe the Susan G. Komen 5k walk....can definitely handle that!!

Avon Walk for Breast Cancer NYC 2007

Westchester Walkers

L-R: Marla, Laura, Liz, Kathy, Karen, Jenn, Nancy

Here we are on Pier 84 ready to get this walk started!!!

Ready to cross the Manhattan Bridge

We crossed three bridges....this was the first...

The Brooklyn Bridge

This was the second bridge we crossed....it was pretty cool!!

Crossing the George Washington Bridge

This was the last bridge we crossed. It was really cool to look at the views!!

Here's a look at the tents set up.

Some of us stayed at the Wellness Village and slept in these 2 man tents. Wow!!! The ground seemed extra hard with all those aching muscles and blisters!!

My new cousin

Jacob James Kropf. What a little cutie pie!!
Looking all grown up!!! :)
With Papa at work.
With Mommy after his bath.
Chillin with "auntie" Marla!!!

Laura's Baby Shower

My friend Laura and I at her baby shower.
Gift time!!!
The yummy cake!!

Breast Cancer Walk

For those of you who are interested.....I've been training hard for my walk in October. I'm doing the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in NYC October 6th & 7th. It's 26.2 miles the first day and 13.1 miles the second day. Here is the link for my webpage.
http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk2007/NewYork?px=3622153&pg=personal&fr_id=1285&et=W4WjzSQSmM7jsWOQrZNHoA..&s_tafId=154271
My poor feet are aching from standing most of the 12 hours a day at work plus all the added hours of walking. But, it's all for a good cause!! Yay!

Great fishing!!

Last week Chris went to the OBX for some billfishing. The first day he caught a 300 lb white marlin and a 500 lb blue marlin. The second day he caught 2 white marlin that were around 45 lbs. Check out this link....http://www.pointrunner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=229

Breast Cancer Walk

Dear Friends and Family,
As you probably already know I have decided to participate in Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. This is such an important cause to me because this year, an estimated 40,000 women will die from the disease. Breast cancer takes another life every 14 minutes. Another woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every 3 minutes. An estimated three million women are living with breast cancer. One million of them don't yet know it. As part of the event, I pledged to raise money. People can make donations on my behalf, so that I can reach my fundraising goal. With the donations raised, the Avon Foundation will provide support and resources for women affected by this terrible disease. This will help so many people in our own community and throughout the country. Any amount you can give is great; I just appreciate your support. It is faster and easier than ever to support this great cause - you can make a donation online by simply clicking on the link at the bottom of this message. Whatever you can give will help! I truly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on my progress.Thank you for supporting me always, but especially in this challenge; you really do make a difference.
Click here to visit my personal page.If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR?px=3622153&pg=personal&fr_id=1285&s_tafId=154272

Big scare

Well, quite a few of you know about my recent scary experience. I was going down the stairs to our basement and my foot slipped and I tumbled down the stairs and CRASHED into the cement wall. I almost blacked out. Chris took me to the ER - 4.5 hrs, an X-ray and CT scan later they determined that I just had a concussion and cervical neck strain. Thank God! Since I work on a Trauma ICU my mind was immediately thinking the worst....subdural hematoma, etc. So glad it wasn't. I'm still a bit sore, but was able to work yesterday and today.

OBX Fishing Trips

This trip to the Outer Banks I decided I wanted to go fishing too!! The guys let me catch the first fish (the biggest one in the pic below). Chris was second and caught the "baby" below! (He ended up with the biggest yellowfin, weighing in at 67 lbs, just 3 lbs shy of a citation). Here we are (Angelo, myself, Chris & Dad) with our yellowfin catch!!! What a day!!!
Here are Chris, Angelo & Dad with their July 4th catch.

NCLEX aka Nursing Boards

Yay!!! Unofficially I have passed the NCLEX!!! I say unofficially because Pearson Vue (the company that administers the tests) lets you know if you passed if you pay $8. The official letter will arrive in the mail with my license!!! SO EXCITED!!! Thank God!!! Now I can add RN to the end of my name!!!

More Pics From Dushore Weekend

Here are the results of our family picture taking efforts. Not too shabby!! The first one is of my husband and I, done in black n white.Here is my brother and his family.
Here is our whole family.
I was actually trying to get Chris to pose a certain way, but this turned out cute too!
My parents with their grandsons.

Family Time

Time once again for the Martin family weekend gathering at a cabin. This year we went to a really nice log cabin in Dushore, PA. Trina is on furlough from Thailand right now so our whole family was there! It was great to hang out with everyone again. My nephews are growing like weeds and into everything!!

Here is Vincent playing air hockey. He had to stand on a chair but he didn't care....he LOVED it!!! Here is Colson, the birthday boy!
Here I am playing air hockey.
Playing Legos with the boys.
Trina with Vincent.

Fishing!!!

We went to NC for some fishing and relaxation. Here is Chris and our friend Angelo with Chris' 50 pound Mahi-Mahi. He'll end up with a citation from NC govenor and fishing board. It's one of the hardest fish to get a citation for in NC. Here we are getting ready to take a walk on the beach at sunset. It was so nice and relaxing. We had fun looking for cool shells and rocks too.
Here are the guys with their catch. Chris' dad and his dad's friend Leo went too. They caught over 50 Mahi-Mahi.
Here is the beautiful sunset we saw while walking on the beach. So peaceful!!
Here is the capt and Chris trying to weigh the Mahi-Mahi. It was a challenging task!!

Graduation

Chris & I Some of the RN Class
Dad Chris & Betty with me
With my parents and bro
With my good friend Mona

Today was my graduation!!! So exciting!!!

Pinning

Chris & I My class
With my clinical excellence award & my professors!!
With Dad & Betty
With my parents & bro

My pinning was May 16th! So glad to have it done!!! :) I was surprised and excited to be awarded the Clinical Excellence Award for the RN class!!! Such an honor!!

End of a chapter....

I am now officially a graduate nurse!!! I passed my last nursing final with an 81% and a B for the semester!!! I am SO happy!!! Now just gotta pass the boards....(took a predictor test that said I have a 98% chance of passing them!!) I have another interview on Friday....hopefully I get that job!!

Springtime!!

Yay! I think Spring has finally decided to come!!! This weekend has been absolutely beautiful!!! How awesome to see the sunshine again!!!! My daffodils, crocuses, and hyacinths are blooming!!! I love this time of the year!!! Oh, and only 15 more days until the final!!!! :)

Easter Pics

Easter Sunday Chris and I went to our church's Sonrise Service at 7:30 am. We grabbed a quick breakfast in the gym and then headed over to Pennsylvania. We made good time and I was able to help mom get food around. After lunch, I hid eggs for the boys to find. Mom had put change in them. Vincent had a lot of fun finding them and Colson enjoyed putting them in his mouth! :) Then some of us watched the Veggie Tales Easter DVD. I say some of us, because several of the others were napping! Matt & Miriam (my cousin) came over with their family in the early evening for supper. It was good to see everyone again!

Vincent in his Easter basket!

Colson in his Easter basket!

Colson is almost walking and loved to

push this toy around. Of course Vincent

wanted it too when he saw how much

attention Colson was getting!!!

Vincent peeking through the stair railing.

Here are the boys going through

their eggs to get the change G'ma

put in them.