Las Vegas Andrews girls trip, Aug. 2008

It was all Matt's idea and how lucky for us! Mariel's birthday surprise was this "sisters" trip to Las Vegas to see Phantom of the Opera. It was bad timing because Kent had already started his new job (5 days previous) in Arizona and wasn't home to help with the kids and wasn't coming home until the following weekend for Kenzly's birthday. Lucky for me though, Chelsea and Collin Huntsman came from Idaho with Chantel and stayed at our house for the weekend to watch the kids.

We left from Provo late Friday afternoon and drove to St. George to pick up Kristy, then went on to Las Vegas and stayed in a Mariott Suite. The pregnant gals (me and Kelly) slept in our own room with a bathroom, Mariel and Kristy in the other and Chantel and Brandalyn slept on the pull out. Saturday we toured the Body Exhibit and then had EXPENSIVE pedicures at the Balagio Hotel. Before dinner we shopped and had barely enough time to change and get to dinner. The main event - Phantom -wasn't a dissapointment at all and afterwards we ate dinner at an expensive restaurant that was every bit beautiful as well as creative and delicious.

The next morning we headed home. Short and sweet. It was very refreshing to get away and I am so glad I got to go.

UVRMC Quality Department Summer Party at Glen Canyon in Provo.
Kimberly started working for IHC at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo May of 1990. Originally she was hired as a phlebotomist (drawing blood), which she loved. She decided to go to nursing school and went through the LPN program at UVCC and the hospital reimbursed her tuition costs. After finishing her LPN in Dec. 1990, she switched to the blood bank department, traveling to many parts of Utah drawing blood from willing donors. At the same time, she worked prn nights (5 pm to 5 am) on the floors (mostly 4th and 6th). In August of 1990, she got accepted into the RN IHC program and switched to 4th floor (ortho/neuro) dept. of which she loved! She graduated with her RN associate degree and passed the state board examinations (yeah!). From there she worked her way into critical care in 1993 and eventually ended up in the Cardiac Cath Lab right before getting married in 1997. After having Kimball, she started to doing data extraction for AMI (heart attach patients) and eventually ended up in her last department at UVRMC, Quality. It was uinique because they were all women. Her last day (sept. 2008) was a bittersweet moment. She turned her job over to Marsha Judkins, gave her a hug, turned in her badge and walked out with tears flowing. It hit her like a ton of bricks that she just quit her job of 18 years. Although she was excited to move to Arizona and happy to leave the pressure of finding time to fit her job into raising kids, it was a sad one. Not until she visited the following Spring and said goodbye to her wonderful manager (Judy) and co-worker LeNeve Hatch did she feel at peace.

Kimberly had a 20 year Laurel Class Reunion in July. Not everyone was able to make it, but it was so fun to see those who did. We met at Flour Girls and Dough Boys Deli in American Fork and enjoyed eating, sharing pictures of our families and catching up on the last 20 years. (photo back row L. to R. Charisse Finch, Angie, Liz Craig, front row, Liz McNeill, Sandy Evans, me, Janie Radebaugh).

A trip to Lagoon always makes it feel a little more like summer. Little did we know our kids would enjoy the outing so much they didn't want to leave. It was a hot summer day, but the lines were fairly short so we were able to get many rides in on the most desirable attractions. At four months in her pregnancy, Kimberly played it safe and sat out of the high turbulent rides. But the last ride before going home seemed harmless, so she sucked in her stomach and hurried through to the ride. It would have been completely worth the thrill, but her Blackberry phone flew out of her pocket and landed on the sidewalk, smashing the screen. Someone walking off the ride in front of her noticed it on the ground or she wouldn't have even known. It turned out to be a $70 ride. She only made it a month or so on her old phone before ordering a new one.

We took half a day to hike Timpanogos Cave in American Fork Canyon. The kids seemed to enjoy the cave and did well on the hike. Kent pushed them pretty good too. Kierra was the biggest trooper of all (3 years old and hiked the entire way up with little rest!). Kimberly carried Kierra part of the way down because she was getting sleepy and Kent finished the job to the end. For lunch we stopped at Cafe Rio, one of our favorite's.