The journey...

Before Ashley and I returned to BYU I looked at what companies recruit there and decide to focus on Intel. The company has a great history, they play in a fascinating space, and their approach to business / problem solving is fascinating. I put a lot of work back in August and September learning about the company, networking with current and past employees, and I even flew to Portland to meet with some of the people I had been talking with and to show them just how much I wanted an internship. The interviews came and I ended up without an offer.

While in Portland, the main person I was there visiting was a friend of Devin and Bridget's who has a child Ryan's age. She works in Accounting within the Finance organization at Intel. She was very nice and we came up with a plan for me. If I did not make it into Intel through BYU into the finance side that I want to be in, which is extremely competitive, then I would apply to the accounting side of finance which recruits later and not at BYU.

As time passed, I didn't really believe that would pan out and was not counting on it. I began looking elsewhere. As many of you know I worked extremely hard and made it to final round interviews with Amazon, Symantec, Boeing, and Amgen, besides Intel. Of those only Boeing made me an offer. I was discouraged. I had put in so much time, energy, and sacrifice to get those interviews and to only get an offer from Boeing, which was just a back-up in my mind, was very disheartening. I was mentally and emotionally exhausted and my faith was tested. In the end, I was grateful to have the Boeing offer and was just awaiting the official offer with all the details. Then I would accept.

In a manifestation of the Divine, I received a call the same day I found out about Boeing from a manager at Intel who wanted to conduct a screening interview that afternoon. I accepted. Three hours later I was struggling to keep my head above water in an accounting interview; accounting not being one of my strengths. Too my absolute shock I receive a request for an final round interview. This time no accounting questions were asked and I felt I did well. I know getting the first interview came only because of Devin's and Bridget's friend. But to my knowledge that was the extent of her influence.

It is curious the way things work out. I began with determination to be at Intel. To the best I can calculate since I heard the official "no" from Intel back in October I have had 23 formal interviews, I have spent 17 hrs being interviewed, I have traveled by car 2,850 miles, I have been on 10 direct flights, and I have traveled by plane 6,301 miles all directly in the pursuit of an internship. Then two days ago, Thursday, I got a call from Intel with an offer!

Ashley and I did have to really think if doing an accounting internship would be best. I made a number of phone calls and we decide it's worth the risk, which I won't go into here.

So there it is! Ashley and I will be in Portland for the summer and I'll be working for Intel!

Incredible is the journey!

Happy Valentine's Day...

I worked on the 14th and in the morning Patrick surprised me and dropped off a big bag of Cheetos, chocolate milk, and an orchid! It was nice to see him and a nice surprise. I love how he knows what I like :) On my home I found another surprise. For dinner we enjoyed some Costa Vida and relaxed. Patrick's the best!

My patient's dream...

This week I went to bring one of my favorite patient's her morning medicine. She told me that she had a dream about me the night before. Keep in mind that although she is forgetful at times she is 92 and all there mentally. This was the dream she had:

Your parents had a house and your mom really loved it and your dad wanted to sell it. Your parents decided to sell it to one of my brothers. My brother rented a room out to your parents since your mom loved the house so much.

Then she told me that it was such a silly dream. I agree especially since she has never met my parents.  I think she is pretty cute.

Dear person who called me this morning...

I know it sounds silly but I just thought I should mention that I believe the polite time to call someone is between the hours of 8am and 10pm. Please don't call me at 7am in the morning, because I will either be at work or sleeping. Unless you are a member of my family I will not answer. And if it is important enough to call early please let the phone ring more than three times and leave a message.
Thanks,
The nurse who just worked from 6am-midnight

Traveling, vomitting, cooking, and more...

Patrick is still really busy so we try to do fun things when we have time off together. A few weeks ago we went to the BYU's art museum. We had fun looking at the art and I forgot just how big it is. We happened upon a display with big balloons you were supposed to interact with. I had a lot of fun.

We have some coupon cards and we've been trying to use some of our deals. One night we went to Burger Supreme and split a pastrami burger and a Hawaiian burger. They were tasty. I love their burgers and that they have fry sauce. Afterwards we got ice cream too. We went to Sub Zero were they freeze your ice cream with liquid nitrogen. You get to pick your flavor of ice cream and mix ins and watch them freeze it. Patrick had never been before and it was fun to see how excited he got watching his ice cream be made.

Amaretto with sprinkles and toffee!

Raspberry with brownies and oreos!

The first of the month we went to a wedding reception of a new couple who moved into our quad. The couple are both from out of the country and planned on getting married in the Provo temple without any friends or family there and then getting on with regular life. The bishop found out and thought we could do better than that. So one girl threw her a bridal shower.

 I made her a first aid kit. I decided this would be my new go to gift since I'm a nurse now. I always like practical gifts. At the reception she told me she already used a band-aid, so I say it was a success.

The ward really worked together since they had no family here. The couple borrowed a wedding dress, jewelry, shoes, a suit, a girl made them a wedding cake, they had flowers, someone took their pictures, and they had a reception that I'm pretty sure the whole ward came to. Everyone pitched in with set up, bringing desserts and appetizers, and cleaning up.

 We brought cupcakes!

 Before the couple made their exit from the reception one the girls made a comment that the new couple got more presents than she and her husband did at their reception! I think that meant that the ward did a pretty good job. I felt like I was living a story straight from the Ensign. I loved that Patrick and I could play a small role in making the day special for them. I'd post a picture of them on here but I think that would be super creepy.

I was supposed to work the following day but got the stomach flu. I went to bed not feeling well and woke up a good 5-6 times sick during the night. I can't ever remember throwing up so much and the diarrhea was out of control. I called in sick to work for two days and Patrick took excellent care of me. He went to the store to get me jello, saltines, powerade, and made soup. I slept pretty much all day Saturday. Patrick would wake me up to make sure that I ate something so I could get feeling better. While recovering from being sick I started watching Downton Abbey and let's just say that I am now all caught up. I'm officially addicted to the show.

Patrick was out of town a lot the past little while and we were so happy he didn't get the stomach flu. Instead he got major congestion, drainage, a sore throat,  headache, and one of his ears was plugged up. But he was able to still make all of his trips for school. Since the new year he has been gone 13 days and 9 nights. For us that is a lot. This past week he flew out Thursday came back Saturday, flew out Sunday morning and came back Monday night, and flew out Tuesday morning and flew home Tuesday night. I picked him up from the airport Monday night and we stayed in a hotel so he wouldn't have to waste so much time driving to and from the airport. We were at the hotel from 10pm to about 4am. As of right now there are no more trips scheduled which is nice. I tend to get really anxious and worried when he's away and eat my emotions. So I'm glad he's home and so is my belly!

I told Patrick that he could pick anything he wanted for dinner tonight and I'd make it. Since he's been feeling sick he picked soup. He said as long as it's not a cream based soup, maybe tomato soup. So I made tomato basil from the barefoot contessa. It was super easy and tasty. We had it with a salad and some sour dough bread. Then we had a couple chocolate covered strawberries!

Snow...

This is the second day of it snowing the whole day. I'm glad we live so close to work and school!

I love checking the mail...

 We got this surprise today from my parents :)

 I'm still not sure how my mom fit everything in that envelope!  I think all of the new decorations will look great with what I already have up.

Speaking of which I made these Valentine's Day pillowcases for us while Patrick was out of town with school. It's my first sewing project with my own sewing machine all by myself.

Just a close up of the fabric since the red has little hearts on it.

Our new door decoration that matches our pillows!