Back to Normal

I am back in SLC. Went to work yesterday and it was nice to be back to the normal routine. But tons of catch up work to do so it was a crazy day yesterday. It was also hot. I do miss that nice weather in Portland. I don't have to work today!! Which is nice so I can get caught up on the other stuff like laundry and studying:(

Here are just the few remaining pics from my trip. On Friday after work I went down to the Portland temple. Very beautiful.

The Portland Temple is right off the Interstate but hidden behind these trees.

They have this beautiful reflection pool

Have I told you how much I love my camera. I actually took three shots of this because I could not back away far enough to get the entire picture of the temple. I then was able to "stitch" the pictures together to end up with this . Very cool!:)

Thursday Adventure

Today I was able to go to Mount St. Helens. I really figured that I would spend an hour driving there, an hour there, and then an hour on the drive back. So I planned to due other things today as well but instead I am just getting back. I ended up spending 5 hours up there. That is not including the driving time. It is crazy. It is just a mountain but it captivated me:) I took a million pictures and listened to the events that happened over and over again. It completely bring into focus that every minute does count. And that in a minute things can change people's lives.


I have loved my camera since I bought it but today it really got a work out. The closest I was to Mount St. Helens is 4-5 miles at the Johnston observatory. I was able to get awesome pictures. So hope you don't get bored but here are a ton of pictures:)


This is such a cool sign! Can have so many uses:)

South Fork Toutle River Valley the main flow of lava

This picture is taking from about 15 miles away

Another bridge:) I am standing at the edge of the blast zone looking back towards mount st helens

South Fork Toutle River Valley

Picture taken from about 6 miles away

It has been 27 years and you can still see the trees knocked over by the blast

Picture taken from about 48 miles away

This was taken from the Johnston Observatory which is the closest point you can get about 5 miles away

Here is where I really put my camera to the test. This is the part inside the volcano that is re-growing mount st. helens

This is Spirit Lake which increased in size after the eruption. All the tiny things sticking out of the lake are dead trees.

Inside the crater

Love this sign as well :)
Truely had a great time. It is a must see if you ever get the chance and plan to spend some time there. The other lucky thing is that the guides said today was the best day they had had in 2 weeks. Good timing on my part:)

Wednesday in Portland

So today I did more patch testing. Once again Holly and Dr. Storrs have been great. Dr. Storrs is so funny. She will say Crystal tell Doug "this or that; by the way does he have this book. This is a great book or and he needs this one. Oh! make sure he has this book. Really you can never have to many books." I just laugh:) The other thing I told Holly today is that it is very strange to watch how Dr. Storrs and her act with each other and the conversations they have about patch testing because I feel like I am watching Dr. Powell and I have the same conversation. The other great thing about coming to Portland is that people are truely unique but at the same time they are the same. We have the patients who like to talk, who don't like to talk, who are rude, who are kind these same people exist in Portland as well. I feel like I have been home working except that here they have a bigger office, better view, and it has been a nice 75 degrees:)

So yesterday I was able to go to the zoo and the international rose test gardens. Very cool! Highlights of the zoo is that it is placed in the middle of a forest it feels like. The zoo felt more open so you felt like you were closer to the animals than the zoo in salt lake. The one thing I wanted from the rose garden is a way to capture the smell. What is interesting is that I spent over an hour there and I never got a headache which you seem to get when there is too much fragrance in the air. It was more a refreshing smell and I just wanted to bottle it up:)

Here are more pictures of Portland, the Zoo, and the Rose Garden. They are all mixed up so you don't get bored with one place:)

This is the view from the Rose Garden looking at downtown Portland


They have this saying as you leave the Rose Garden and I liked it:)

I have decided I like pictures of bridges


This is the view of the lower half of the zoo. See what I mean by it being located in a forest.




Cool picture if I do say so myself:)



Tall vs. Small

Monday in Portland

So I am in rainy Portland and I am so excited that it is raining. Everyone here is tired of the rain but I am excited to be reminded of what rain looks and smells like. Of course since it actually rains here it is also very green and beautiful. Don't get me wrong I love the desert but there is just something when you see green grass and blooming flowers that just makes me smile. Okay enough of talking about the rain.

How scary is it when you come into contact with someone who is like you. I am here in Portland following Dr. Storrs assistant Holly. Holly has auburn hair(I have to like her just because of that). That is pretty simple but this is where it gets scary. She doesn't like vegetable either:) HAPPY DAY:) She also has a very similar personality to mine and we have a lot of things in common including visiting zoos. She went to Rome and instead of going to museums she went to the zoo. Very cool! We had a great time today.

Now to the actual learning I did today. I will keep it brief because I know that 99.9% of you will not care about this part. The highlights that I learned today was we (Dr. Powell and I) do a good job with our patch clinic. Next is how to make our clinic a little more patient friendly. For example we send out a letter to patient explaining what will happen. Ours is a generic letter we send to everyone. Holly uses a letter but makes it personal for each patient simply by addressing it to them Dear Ms. Somebody. Just little things that make a difference. I learned what it would be like if we did go to a chartless system and how much prep work that it would take for that to happen. I learned that even for someone like Dr. Storrs who has been doing this for several decades; continues to learn and is willing to listen to even me:)

Okay to end I have to brag about myself today because when Dr. Storrs asked the resident and Holly what is the most common allergen in cold sterilization solution used mainly in dentist office they did not know the answer. I was the one that answer correctly! Gave myself a high five:)

Okay here are some pictures. I don't have to many so far because even here I can't seem to get out of the office until 7:30!

Here is the building where the office is. The dermatology has the whole 16th(top) floor. I tell you that the view is amazing! You look right at the river. I will take a better picture of the views on Wednesday.
Here is the tower that has the tram that takes you up the mountain to the main campus of OSHU. I will ride this on Wednesday to get the great pictures of the view.
Flowers everywhere. It makes me happy!!!
This picture is mainly for my mom to show her roads going this way and that way with bridge over bridge. It is cool and a little crazy:)
More flowers:)

Family Reunion and more

Here are some pictures from the family reunion over the weekend.Vance and Leslee are above. He just retired from being the recorder at Timpanogos temple.

Dwayne and Grandma Ruby are above
Uncle Charlie is above
Cora and Neil are above and below they are husband and wife but I could never get a picture of them together
There was many more people and pictures so i just picked my favorite. The family reunion was good. It was on Saturday which also was my sister-in-law's Pam's birthday so we had cake for that as well. Probably the best part was making fun of my much OLDER cousins. Probably the happiest and a little tearful at the same time was seeing Uncle Charlie. I just was so happy to see him because it has been forever since I have seen him. The sad part is that he has Alzheimer's and that Aunt Carol is not here anymore. I realized how much I have missed Aunt Carol and all the little things that made her so special. My Grandma and Aunt Carol were the best of friends beside being sisters. I just miss her.

This week has been good. It has seemed kind of long just because I am excited to go to Portland and learn new things and experience a new city. In the patch test world I put some plants on someones back because they might be allergic to those in her garden. I tell you if you can think of it I have put it on somebody's back. And I do mean EVERYTHING:) Tomorrow we only have one doctor in so it will be a nice break for us to get stuff done that we haven't been able to get done. It will be nice. I hope to update this blog a lot next week when I am in Portland so you can experience it along with me:)

Thankful

For those of you that don't live in Utah I don't know if you have heard about the miners trapped but thinking about those men and their families and all those who are trying to get them out, I am so thankful for the life I do have. I also admire those who do jobs or have talents that are so needed but I can't do or can't imagine doing. Mining is one of those jobs that is so vital to us but I could never imagine doing. So here are a few things I am thankful for:

• FAMILY- no matter where they are or what they are doing if I need them they are always there.
• FRIENDS-my close friends I pretty much put them in a sub-category of family because that is how I view them. They are my adopted brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews.
• MY TESTIMONY-I am so thankful I know what life is about and what the important things are. How confusing to go through life without the knowledge the gospel gives us.
• MY JOB-I love my job. I don't think many people can say that. The new wonderful thing with my job is that Dr. Powell has worked it out so I can go to Portland for a week to follow another doctor to learn more about patch testing:) VERY COOL!
• TEMPLES-I am so thankful that my parents taught all of us to love the temple and to go there often.
• FLOWERS/TREES/GREEN GRASS-So thankful for the beauty these things had to our world.

Just a few simple things but what a difference they make.

I don't have any pictures this time but I have a family reunion this weekend so hopefully I will have some to post then.

Day Off!!

Okay for those that don't know Tuesday is my day off. Or it is suppose to be. Okay I won't complain to loudly today because I only had to work a couple of hours and I was there to eat the drug lunch which was Olive Garden. Love the alfredo sauce and breadsticks. I had to go into work to do a photo patch which is unique because we shine light onto a persons back where we have applied chemicals. The purpose to this is you maybe fine using some product until you go out into the sun then you develop a rash. It is a pretty cool thing.

The other thing I did at work today was to take pictures of baby wipes packages and their ingredients. Once again I know it is strange but there is a lot of people allergic to baby wipes. So I do this in order to put into a program where we can then enter in what they are allergic to and print off a list of products they CAN use. Pretty Cool!!!:)

After I got done with work I went over to play at the Powell house. Where we helped Emily with birthday invitation that took the game CLUE and punched holes in the cards and Emily came up with the saying "Come be a Piece of the Party". I thought it was very cool! Then Katie-Ann came home with PINK hair extension. Very hip:) Steph then gave me some plums to take home. YUMMY! Are you getting the idea of why I rather go over there then study.

Here are some misc. pictures that I have taken: