Another wonderful week.

I can't believe another week has gone by. Every Monday I wake up and think, just make it through this week and you will be fine. This week went pretty well. We had four tests this week. They call them quizzes and I call them tests. Since when did quizzes have 50 questions on them? I guess that's how it is in Hygiene school. I feel like I am studying for finals every week. It is crazy. Luckily all that studying has paid off.
Today the instructors thought that it would be a good idea for all of us to do all of the grunt work for a continuing education class they are putting on at the school. I guess they didn't think we would be busy enough studying for our mid term, lab practical, presentations, finishing our tooth carvings, and studying for 3 other "quizzes" this weekend so they wanted us to fold letters and address them to send out to all the registered dental hygienists. I really didn't mind. I was just separating all of the addresses by zipcode for about 3 and a half hours!! It was fun to see all the hygienists in Reno and I even ran into two hygienists letters I use to work with. It was fun being with all the girls and chit chatting with them. I couldn't really talk that much because numbers were going through my head the whole time. We do have a really great class. I love all the girls and you really do bond with all of them and support eachother 100%. I took some pictures of some of the girls that were there. Only about half of our class showed up to help.

Well I guess that is all for now. We are doing well and getting use to everything that we have to get done. We miss you all and love you all. Oh Yeah we only have 11 more weeks of school!!! I can't believe it has gone by so fast. Me, Caitlin, and Sara Beth. We are putting all of the zipcodes in numerical order. WE all three have become really good friends. Sara Beth lives about 5 minutes north of us so we all three carpool everyday and study together. We have study dates at Barnes and Noble quite often.
Caitlin, Dorianne, and Erin studying for our lab practical this next week. They are looking at individual teeth trying to identify their features and characteristics and figure out which tooth it is.

Michelle, Sara Beth and Blaike addressing envelopes. Blaike is the sweetest girl. She was the one that looked at our house to see if it would be good enough for us before we moved down to Vegas.

Two of the sweetest people EVER!!! This is our all time favorite instructor Ms. Abel with Katie. Katie is always so happy and just cheers every body up especially in the morning when she walks into the locker room with a huge smile on her face following a cheerful "Good Morning!"

Amanda, Katie, Rachelle, and Caitlin. This table was the sorting table and nobody wanted to sit there, so Rachelle and I said we wouldn't mind doing it. We had no clue what we were getting into. It was fun though!!

Dorianne and Shirley!! Shirley's real name is Ngot and is from Vietnam. She said that the reason they call her Shirley is because her American Boss back in Vietnam couldn't say her name so he said, "I will call you Shirley." So she just stuck with the name when she came over to the states. It has taken me awhile to get use to calling her Shirley because she doen't look like a Shirley to me. She is in the operatory right next to me in clinic and it has been so fun getting to know her. We have a lot of girls from Asia and one from India in our class and I absolutely love all of them. They are so sweet and are working so hard. I can't imagine having to do this program as English being my second language. Its tough even without a language barrier! Kudos to them!!!

I know I'm a nerd.

Ok so I know that I am a total nerd. I was telling Amber about these teeth that we had to draw and she started laughing. If any of you know me like amber does then you know why she was laughing. I can't even draw a straight line if I tried. I am horrible. We just never got that talent from my side of the family. Well I had to draw 6 teeth from 5 different views and it seriously took me about 15 hours to work on these drawings and I am finally done!! It may look easy but it was pretty confusing because the measurements had to be exact. Next we get to start carving the teeth. Now that's going to be fun. Here are some pictures of the teeth just for you Amber. Don't laugh too hard. :):)

I also am now in the roller bag nerd club. Yep I finally broke down and got a rolling bag. I never thought I would be the one to use a rolling bag and use the elevator but I guess I just have to eat my words. We have so much stuff to bring to school it is ridiculous. I found the sweetest bag at Office depot. It can hold all of my books and supplies and has cool compartments that keep me totally organized. I was so happy today to be so organized and not have three bags to hold all of my junk. Wow I never thought I would be so excited about my bag. My bag was the hot topic in class today. Caitlin and I have the coolest rolling bags in the class. We are the ultimate nerds!!. Ok so to top it all off with a cherry on top Caitlin and I are The student body government representatives for Dental Hygiene. Wow so many things that I never thought I would do. Nothing surprises me anymore. Well that's all for now from my boring life of dental hygiene. Sorry that is all I blog about but that is truly all I do. I eat, sleep, and think about dental hygiene. I even dream about it all the time. Love you all. This is a side view

This is a front tooth

Little Ezra Nolan McCombs

My constant thoughts and prayers are with my brother Brian and sister-in-law Jami and their precious baby boy Ezra. As many of you know Ezra was born on Sept. 7 and was diagnosed with Pierre Robin Sequence. He is now in Salt Lake at Primary Children's hospital with the best doctor to help Ezra at this time. For more information and updates about little Ezra you can go to their blog @ http://www.ourmagnumopus.blogspot.com/ I am thinking about them constantly and it pains me to know they are going through this hard time in their lives. They are so strong and are such great examples to me as they are going through this trial. They both have the strongest testimonies and know that the Lord provides a way and gives us these burdens and trials for a reason. We are so blessed to have the gospel and the Atonement in our lives to get us through challenges that we face. I love them so much and want them to know how much I love them and am praying for them. I am going to be fasting for them on Sunday if anyone else wants to have a special fast for them that would be greatly appreciated. They need all the blessings they can get.

Why am I still awake?

Well I don't have any pictures of anything that we have been doing so I thought I would post a pic. of my cute roommate because this is what I get to see when I am home cause all we do is study.. We love having eachother to study with. It has been so nice and such a help. Caitlin really helps me to understand and see things in a simple way.

I don't have a test tomorrow, I don't have to be reading about the structures of the teeth or how to prevent oral disease, I don't have a stressful clinical tomorrow, so why the heck am I still wide awake? I don't know. I wanted to come home today after being at school for 14 hours and not do anything. I wanted to watch a movie and not study or read or have to think at all. I didn't get to my movie, but I did get to talk to my wonderful sister for about two hours on the phone and then I have just been blogging forever. I am feeling guilty that I am not spending my time while I am awake studying or doing something productive.

Why am I not tired? Maybe because I am use to going to bed every night at 1 or 2 in the morning and waking up between 5:30 or 6, or maybe it's because I woke up this morning with a headache and took 2 Excedrine tension headache and then drank a Dr. Pepper during lunch? Caffiene overload. I would think it would have worn off by now. I don't know. Whatever it is I wish I was tired so I could go to sleep. Good thing I don't have school tomorrow and Have the whole weekend to get a whole lot of stuff done.

This week went by so fast but was so extremely long. I did have a good week this week but it was a tough one. I had a test in every class and PASSED all of them!!! YAY!!! Passing is getting an 80% or better. They say this program is a roller coaster and you have your ups and downs and boy is it the truth. I have been on a wild roller coaster that is jerking me back and forth and is not a smooth ride. I would have to say I am on an old wooden roller coaster that gives you a headache when you are done. But you always seem to go back on that ride when you are feeling better. I guess the ups out weigh the downs.

I am enjoying my program and i love all the girls that I have gotten to know. We all are here to help eachother and support eachother one hundred percent. We are the only ones that know what we are going through so we are the only ones that can really understand eachother. I do love the head instructor for our group. She just makes me smile whenever I see her and she does want the best for all of us. She is a tough grader and pushes us, but she makes you feel good at the same time. Its funny because she lived in Fallon for 17 years and practiced Dental Hygiene up there. Her name is Missy Abel. We got to talking about Fallon and it ended up that she knew Cody's high school girlfriend's family. What a small world. I do love my classes except for my microbiology only because I can't understand my Asian teacher's English. I pretty much just listen to the words that she is miss pronouncing and try to figure out what she is really saying.

All in all everything is working out. I just have to take one day at a time and I can't believe that three weeks has already passed. I am so glad that I have Caitlin here 24/7. It is so nice to have a built in study partner, supporter, encourager, and best friend. WE are a great team and we are doing well because of it. Well I think that should be it for now and I should try to go to sleep. Good night to all.

The week of sept 1 through cody's eyes

It was a fun week, Jen took her first test and PASSED!! I knew that she could do it because she is so smart. I know this because she is always right and likes to prove it to me. This week was our third year anniversary (she just Proved again that she is always right because i was SURE anniversary only had one N but she knew it had two).
But anyways it was our third year anniversary, hard to beleive that we have been married for 3 whole years. It has been wonderful, we have grown alot and have had a great time together even though I know that sometimes i drive her crazy (I tend to be a little messy). On our anniversary she wrote me a nice little note in the morning and left it for me. Its one of her fravorite things to do (just ask Amber). So I was thinking all day what could i do for her, all she asked was that i write her a little note and not buy anything for her, but i thought that was boring and wanted to do something else.
Then at work a delivery guy showed up and was delivering a cake from nothingbundtcake(insert mother from my big fat greek wedding saying"its a Bundt"). Right then I thought of something fun. That is the only cake jen likes.
When jen came to pick me up from work, I told her to get in the passenger seat and i blind folded her with my tie so that i could make it a suprise. The whole way she was trying to guess what it was that I was doing, asking me to give her hints, i kept telling her no! I dont want to give it away.
Then right before we turned into the parking space she says " I know what it is!! Your taking me to get a cake from nothingbundtcake!!" She always can figure it out. I don't know how she does it! I almost turned the car around and went home right then but i had already paid for the cake over the phone. So we have been eating this cake one slice at a time all week long, good thing Caitlin is here to help us eat it and we finally finished it today (next time i am geting a smaller cake, if i get one at all).
Funny thing happened yesterday on my way to the golf course, ( no this really happened) my phone rang and when I answered it, brother Garret asked if jen and i would say the say the opening and closing prayers back in reno first ward. Now this is funny for two reasons, actually three.
First we said the prayers in that ward the week before we moved out three weeks ago, so I told bro. Garret " sorry we are not in that ward anymore." Next he asked, "so what ward are you in now?" So i said "We live in Vegas".
After an awkward momentary pause he said " Oh well, thats good, we will make sure that your records get moved".
Next why would he want to ask us again anyway? I am sure that there are plenty of people that have never said the prayer in that ward that he could have called.
And last we spoke last week in our new ward and Today we where asked to say the prayers in our new ward....yep you guessed it next week. HAHAHA.
Next we decided to go out to dinner, Jen had a gift card (thanks Lori) so we decided to go to whole foods. That was an interesting experience in and of itself besides the fact that the people could care less if we were there, and they talked so low( insert sound byte of Seinfeld "she's a low talker!!) that you couldn't hear a word they said. The food tasted pretty good though so it wasn't a total waste.
I recieved a new calling today and to my suprise it was not gospel doctrine teacher (even though they need one).I was called to be the priest quorem advisor. I am very excited about my new calling it should be great. There are alot of young men in our ward, 9 priests.
Jen doesn't have a calling yet but i am sure that she would make a great ward program director, or relief society hymnbook hander outer. She wants something easy. :)
Life in Vegas continues to be hot, sweaty, sticky, and wonderful. we will keep you updated as to what is going on with us.

1 Down 15 to Go!!!

Well we made it through our first week of school. It was definitely a tough week and I have realized that my life has totally changed for the next two years. It is going to be tough but I just have to take it one day at a time. I am so grateful that Caitlin and I have eachother to go through this whole experience together. Cody has also been so wonderful and supportive. He knows when we come home that we just need a hug and to have some one to fall on. He is so wonderful and I couldn't imagine going through this program with out him supporting me, telling me I can do it when I question myself.
We are studying non stop and are in class most of the week. It is really crazy as to how busy we are. I knew it would be hard but I did not even imagine it to be this difficult. We had a four day weekend this week which was much needed after a very very long week. Thanks for all of your support and phone calls and prayers. Sorry if I have not called you back but it has been a little crazy. We love you all. and miss you all.

Nice little break

Well after my first week of school ( that felt like a month long) we had a much needed four day weekend. Geoff came down from Sandy to visit and to relieve Cody from his loneliness. It has been really fun having Geoff here. We have been able to do some fun stuff while he has been here. We went on a bike ride up to the Red Rock Canyon. It was a pretty steady climb the whole way up but we did it. Geoff of course kicked our butts but we caught up to him in the end. We did also go out to a really good salad buffet called the Sweet Tomatoe. We love that place. I did have to study quite a bit this weekend and geoff and cody just kind of entertained themselves while Caitlin and I were cooped up in our office studying. Caitlin and I kept hearing this loud laughing coming from downstairs and this is what I found. We don't have any channels on our TV so the internet will have to do. Geoff and Cody entertaining themselves.

After our Red Rock Canyon Bike ride!!!

Geoff waiting for us up at the canyon.

The red rock was beautiful. I love these red rock mountains down here.