March?! What Happened to January!

Alright, so I'm a little in shock that it is now March. Like what the heck? How did this happen? I guess time flies when you are having fun at school...

School. I started clinical last week in Taber, and I am loving it! This semester we actually get to put our skills to use. I started giving injection this week, I gave medication last week, and I'm really enjoying being on evenings and not having to be there until 2 in the afternoon. Those who have lived with me, and know of my bearness in the mornings can feel of this joy with me! Also what has been great about being out in Taber is that I get to stay at my Aunt and Uncle's house. I don't know how my aunt Denise does it, but she is magical. There are always treats sitting on the counter in the kitchen. Or we will just be chatting and I'll look down and she has made a lasagna in the 20 minutes we were just talking! She's awesome. I always have good lunches for clinical. My uncle Rick, he's great! He is the Stake President out here, so he's got some good advice about life. One night last week they told me about how they met, fell in love, and got married. It was a precious story! I'm not going to share it though because it will take too long! All in all, Taber is a great place and I really like the people out here.

Other life adventures. I'm kinda slacking on this part because school has taken over much of my life. I am singing with this jazz choir group for the talent show on the 18th of March, so that should be exciting. I go to the YSA activities, and they just had a really good one with the Roadshows. That was a great evening. But other than that you can find me sitting on my couch at home, watching a movie or something. Lame right? Well there is a dance this weekend, so I won't be home until midnight for sure! Alright, now I feel bad that my social life is non-existent. My dear friend Amy told me that if she heard of anything fun, or of a party, she'll let me know. Bless her heart! She has, but I've been busy with clinical, or homework. I'm really excited for this all to be over in about 5 weeks? Gah! Only 5 weeks left? Crazy. Then I will graduate next year!! Yay! Take notice that I started talking about "other life adventures" and ended up talking about school. Sheesh.

A boy, or a young man. I haven't "dated" anyone since December and there is this missionary coming home in about 8 days. I'm not counting for you who are wondering. I'm excited to see this boy who is coming home. We've been writing for about a year and 3.5 months. So things could happen. I don't really know what he was like before his mission, but reading his letters makes me think that whoever he was before the mission doesn't matter because he is different. Does that make sense? Just so y'all know I'm very excited for this young man to come home. He's the only boy that I think about, or am excited to see, so that's all the interesting news about boys.

Summer and summer jobs. I have very excited for summer to arrive. We have had snow since December and I'm tired of it. It has been warming up a bit lately, but come on! It's freaking March! I should be seeing some green on the ground, not white! Unfortunately I have NO idea of what I'm going to do this summer. My nanny job only wants me for the last 2 months of summer. Nathan said he can put in a good word for me with Waterton. Being a PCA doesn't seem so bad anymore. Too many choices right now, and I need to make a decision fast. Does anyone want to hire a student for the first 2 months of summer?

Anyways, I think that is all that is new with me since last time. I hope you all enjoyed reading about my awesome life!

Love, Kels

Yay for updates!

So I'm still living up the nickname of Slacker! Well here's a little update from me...

I have almost officially finished my first semester of the Practical Nursing program at the college. I had my first final on Monday and my last final is next Monday. I'm loving it! My clinical was great, I learned so much, and really loved spending time with the residents. It was great being able to talk with them because they had so much experience with life and what not. It was wonderful!

I turned 22 last week, and I honestly don't feel a day over 18. All of the girls in my nursing class thought I was turning 19, which made me feel pretty good! I love birthdays because as a family we have a big dinner and we go around the table and say good things about that person on their special day. So when it was my turn for that special dinner I felt pretty awesome! I just had one of the best days on my birthday which was good. Nothing spectacular happened it was just an all around great day.

Christmas is coming up and I love this season! It was really fun to help my mom get the house all decorated, we got to really bond over the many different nativity sets that we have. It has also been really great to reflect on how this year has been for me. Nothing too dramatic has happened, but I did get my butt in gear and figure out what career I want. I got to be a fun nanny for the Hironaka boys. I have met and have become friends with some amazing people. I gained a new sister at the beginning of September, and I couldn't be happier with the wife my brother married.

There is just something about this month that I love! Ever since December 1st, I have felt such a love for all the wonderful people in my life. I am so grateful for each and every one of them! I love being able to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. Going to the live nativity every year has been such a great family tradition that I have grown to love and appreciate. I love singing the Christmas hymns at church, and I'm sad when it will end at the end of December. I just want to keep this "Christmas Spirit" all year long! I just love the way it feels, all warm and fuzzy!

Anyways, that's about it from me! I hope everyone has an amazing holiday and keep the Spirit of Christmas with them always!

With Love, Kelsey

Slacker?

I have this nickname at my place of employment, no not the nanny place, but my dad's office. A few people think it's funny to call me "Slacker". I now know why. It has been a LONG time since my last post and I thought I would share a little update for everyone.

I quit nannying the second last week of August, and let me tell you that was one sad day when I had to leave those 3 little boys! Anyways, so the next week I had all to myself, so I went up to Calgary and visited my very good friend Cassy, and got things ready for school! I'm so glad I had that week to just relax, do my own thing and sleep in. It was wonderful!

So school started and it was pretty easy for the first few weeks, not gonna lie, I wasn't that stressed out. But now that we have started clinical, and I'm up at the crack of dawn every Wednesday morning, it has really put a rut in my week. I am the worst morning person, and my family can support me on that one, so having my alarm go off at 5:30 am isn't the greatest way to start off my day. I am really starting to love clinical though! It's been really great to get some other people in the program and the cute elderly people in the long-term care facility! The nursing staff is really nice there too, so that is an added bonus!

Besides school, nothing really else has been new! I was called to be the "Dance Co-Chair" for the YSA, so that has it's added stress. I have been trying to get the Halloween dance all organized this week and it's a little tough. I'm really enjoying it though, I was FREAKING out when I first got the calling, but it hasn't been too bad. I'm super excited to plan the New Year's dance! It will be AMAZING!

I guess that's it for now. I'll make sure to update this more often. I know everyone is dying to hear what goes on in the life of Kelsey Koegler! No big deal.

The "M" word.

Lately I have been thinking about marriage a lot. Usually you would never hear, see, or find me talking about marriage let alone thinking about it. But my brother is getting married at the beginning of September and now I'm starting to get the marriage buzz? Don't get me wrong I am VERY excited for the day when I can stop looking for someone and just be with my man for the rest of my life. But why is finding "my man" so hard?! I don't understand why he won't just walk into my life and sweep me off my feet and take to me a castle where I can live the rest of my life like a queen...? I know life truly isn't like the Disney movies I have watched as a child, but a girl can dream right? Or does it happen like that? I don't know for sure. Marriage is kind of a scary thought for someone like me, who doesn't really know exactly what she wants in life right now. It totally freaks me out sometimes, but lately I'm starting to accept it almost? I don't know what exactly I am trying to say right now so I'm just blabbing. Sorry. I know marriage is going to be a hard thing, but I'm looking forward to the challenges that I will have with my husband. It will only make us that much stronger as a couple right? Anyways, those are just some of my random, not really making sense, thoughts of marriage.

So I'm assuming you all want to know some new stories about my adventures of being a nanny. Well I haven't had anything crazy happen like last week, but we did go to Writing-On-Stone on Friday. It was a beautiful day, especially for something like that because it wasn't too hot but not too cold, just absolutely perfect! So my cousins were up from Utah so they joined us on our journey. Everyone fell in love with Eli and how could you not?! He is just simply so cute! The older boy cousins just kind of took the boys under their wings and just played with them the entire day. It was nice to have a little break and fun for the boys to have some male bonding time? At one point Maxx got all fired up and hit my cousin Tanner right in the downstairs boy area. Tanner, apparently, taught Maxx a lesson to never do that again. I'm not quite sure what technique he used but it worked.

All this week Sam and Maxx are in a junior science camp at the U of L, so it's just going to be Eli and me all week! I'm really excited for it just to be us, and then the next week our family is making the trek down to Utah for our Whitehead family reunion! It's going to be a great couple of weeks!

Those are all the stories I have for today!

- Nanny Kels

So remember when...

So I had the worst day of work on Friday, but now that I look back on it, it was pretty funny. It started bright and early when I had to take Sam and Maxx to their sports camps at the University. It was their last day, and I was so impressed that I never got a parking ticket, so I was going about how I normally would, drop Sam off first and let him run in then drop Maxx off at the soccer fields. I pulled up to the curb, with a car parked in front of me, to drop Sam off and all was good. I start driving away and Eli, for some reason, thinks it would be a good idea to open the door and try to get out. I didn't really see this happening until Maxx started screaming, "Eli opened the door!" I turn around just as Eli is closing the door but it was too late. The car that was parked in front of me had been hit. I wasn't sure how to handle the situation, so I cried. I got out of my car and talked to the owner of the damaged vehicle, who happened to be my Biology 30 teacher, and she took all my information and said, "Well I'll call you after I get this assessed."

Eff. My. Life.

As we drive away towards Maxx's camp, Eli is saying that he is sorry. I continue to cry. It was bad. But then something sweet happens. I'm walking Maxx up to the field where his soccer camp is and he looks up at me and says, "Kelsey, you know, we have like 5 bucks to help fix that lady's car that you can have.", I had to smile. That brightened my mood a lot. Maxx can sure be a hell raiser sometimes but we shared a special moment for that little minute. I get back in the car and Eli is still saying how sorry he is. This boy is just too cute, but I was still very upset with his decision to open the door at the wrong time. We get back home and I tell his parents what happened. They told me that they would cover the damage because it was not my fault. Once again, I burst into tears. I honestly have the best bosses in the world. They are too kind to me. I just love them!

So the day goes on and it is now almost noon. Time to go pick up Maxx, no worries people I moved the car seat into the middle so he can no longer grab the door handles and push. We pick up Maxx and have a wonderful lunch and start to play outside. Well this is where the afternoon gets interesting, not that I couldn't handle any more excitement. Maxx and Sam share a little kid dirt bike, so Maxx had asked me if it was okay for him to just cruise around the front lawn. I didn't have a problem with it so I said, "Sure!". So Maxx is rippin' around in the front yard while Eli and I are playing on a blanket under this HUGE tree. All of a sudden, Maxx is yelling and I look to my right and here he comes with his little dirt bike straight for me. I throw Eli out of the way and Maxx runs over my shoulder and my hair. It hurt, but surprisingly enough I didn't cry! Maxx was very upset that he might've hurt me but I assured him that I was fine. He still felt bad about it, and decided to stop riding for a while.

All in all, it wasn't that bad of a day.

I look back and just laugh.

- Nanny Kels

Life as a Nanny

Meet the 3 new men in my life...

For the summer I accepted a job as a nanny for 3 boys. Now let me tell you this... they are 3 very hyperactive boys. Don't get me wrong they have their sweet moments, but the odd time I want to push them into garbage cans. Their names are (in order of the picture) Eli (4), Sam (8) and Maxx (6).

So I do have to admit that I might have a favourite and that would be Eli. Look at this little face! could you EVER get mad at this. Well there are a few times when I do get mad at him, but then he gives me a cute face like this one and I melt. This boy has a major hold on my! Many boys have some competition. My mom told me one day that I should just wait 20 years. Really Jo?! He is just so precious. Sometimes when his brothers just not cooperating with me and I get super frustrated with him, I'll ask him to do something so simple like put his shoes away and he just looks at him like its not a big deal and says, "Ok! Sure!". I know it doesn't sound like anything but it really makes me so happy! I spend the most time with this little bugger! One time when we came over to my house for a visit, my sister Jessica was eating some cake from the night before, and Eli wanted to know where she got it because he LOVES candy and won't stop eating it until he honestly pukes. So he proceeds to ask Jessica where she got the cake and she tells him, "I got it from the Magical Dresser of Chocolate." Well since then every time he comes over, he is constantly looking for the "Magical Dresser". Thanks Jess! There are just a few things that I just think are fun about Eli. We spent all day together today and we just played all day. For lunch today we had a picnic of Macdonald's outside and took the dogs for a walk. It was a good day today! He is just the cutest little kid EVER!

Well this past weekend I took the boys up to the Calgary Zoo. I met my mom and 2 brothers up there, so I would have some extra help, which was well needed. After we walked through the entire zoo, and everyone was exhausted, my mom said to me in the car that she was really impressed with the way I dealt with the boys, and that one day I would make a fabulous mother. Since then I have really thought about being a mom. I always knew that I would have my own kids, but now that I have had some experience of it, I'm really excited to be a mom and starting with a brand new baby. The thought of pregnancy used to make me cringe just a little because of everything your body goes through, but after thinking about that new little life that you created coming into this world is just absolutely amazing! I don't know fully what it feels like to be a mother, but I do truly love those 3 little boys even when I feel like putting them into garbage cans or leaving them on the side of the road.

Anyways, I have many more stories

I just need to get to bed or else it'll

be a LONG day tomorrow.

- Nanny Kels

Too Cool for School...

Alright so its the last couple weeks of this semester, and I can NOT wait for it to be overrr!

I have 4 exams and I'll be officially done on the 20th. Woot! I got my acceptance letter into the LPN course and I start in the fall. I was looking at my schedule and its a little bit ridiculous my first year, but it shouldn't be too bad. Obviously I can handle it.

Once I'm finished my exams my mom, sister, grandma and myself are all making the 12 hour trek down to Utah for Women's Conference! Eeek! I'm so excited! We are going to be joined by all my aunts that live down there as well! It's going to be a great week! Me and Jess (my sister) were picking out the classes that we are thinking of attending. It's going to be a wonderful bonding time for me and her.