High School Girl's Trip: Redfish Lake

 For my high school girl's trip this year, we really wanted to go to Mexico City, but there were a few limitations to that and we ended up last minute planning a trip to Redfish Lake, Idaho, instead. It was a really good thing, because Camille broke her foot right before the trip and being in a cabin in the woods setting was way better than being in Mexico City. I was initially a little disappointed in our Redfish Lake choice, but man, I am so happy we went now. It was gorgeous and so so perfect. How have I never been to this place, in my own home state? It is tucked into the Sawtooth mountains and is about an hour from Sun Valley. We had the best trip doing a combination of hikes and outdoor activities as well as hanging at the cabin and playing games and eating all the food. We went to Sun Valley one day and had a boat tour of the lake another day. We also spent time in some local hot springs. It was my birthday while there, and the girls made me wear the birthday crown or sash all day. We had cake that night when my brother Mikey, brother in law Steve, and Mike's brother in law Rick came to stay the night before their annual "stupid long hike". We also did a fairly long hike to Alice Lake that was gorgeous. Unfortunately Camille could not come along for that one!

And now, a million pictures. As we do.

September Misc

 Mueller Park:

One on our favorite annual traditions is to go to Mueller Park and have a campfire. I also eat my annual hot dog. Hallie is too busy to generally hang out with us, but we got everyone else this year and had a great time!

Hiking:

This month brought more hiking adventures with some fabulous people.

Gloria Falls and Red Pine Lake

Ensign Peak with the youth!

South Deuel Creek. Blurry cause it was actually dark!

Twin Peaks in SLC

Lizzie: 

Lizzie is hysterical. She has some talent-- look at the drawing of Travis D'Arnaud she did for me! I am so impressed. But also, in her spare time, she made me a full book of seating options for our upcoming fall break roadtrip with her cousins. She's a riot.

Flor:

Flor has been thriving at her day program. We get fun pictures of all the adventures she is on all the time and she looks like she is having a blast.

She also had her IUD replaced this month and needed to do that in the OR under sedation. She was super funny that morning. The doctor pulled otu 5 surgical caps and asked her which one he should wear. She picked a Mickey one and then stuck it on her own head. :) He helped her get it on right and she wore it through her whole procedure. He picked a different one, then actually traded her at the end because the Mickey one was given to him the day before by his wife for his birthday. She came home with a fun souvenir that she would not take off her head even as she came home and was coming out of sedation. The CRNA had to put her asleep with a mask because they couldn't get an IV and he said that she would put the mask over her own face and take one breath, then hand it to him and want him to take a breath before she took another. Good thing he just pretended, right? Didn't want him to go to sleep too!  The procedure went well and we are happy.

Faith Matters Conference: 

I went to the Faith Matters conference for a day and it was phenomenal. I went with Brenda and Mel, but didn't take any pictures with them. I did get one with my friend Haylee's parents, who I ran into there! So fun.

Jace National Honor Society:

Jace was inducted into the National Honor Society for Northridge High. No surprise there cause he is a smarty pants. Here is he with a few of his friends at the induction night.

Bye Bye Intensivists

The stupid hospital where I work did not renew the contract of the intensivists that I have worked with for 12 years. The group has worked at the hospital for 35 years total and just like that, they are done. I am so devastated by it because not only have we worked together side by side through many happy, sad, and heartbreaking moments throughout the years (COVID anyone?), but they have genuinely become my friends. So many inside jokes, laughs, and deep conversations over the years. Forgive me while I am grieving for the next little while. A job I really can't stand just became that much worse.

We had a little fun with each of them for their last week, except Ivester, which I feel bad about. I am the least close to him but we should still have done something. Anyway, here are some pictures. 

Andrews:

Probably gonna miss this guy the most. Actual friends and he is the nicest human being and so, so smart. He made his ICU weeks a dream. I loved after rounds when he would come to my side of the ICU and plop down and talk to me about life and kids and travel and whatever else. His daughter and Hallie are friends so we had some commonalities. He was so easy to talk to and a ton of fun to tease. I will miss his smirk and his eye rolls in rounds. An absolute gem of a human being.

We hung pictures of him all around the unit and then made him sign autographs for each of us. We had several versions and all of them extra flattering. :) 

Anderson:

If anyone has ever talked to me about the ICU ever, you have heard some Anderson stories. He is such a riot and the most eclectic human I may have ever met. I will miss his weeks; we have joked for years that we need a reality TV show on his weeks, and like The Office, have the cameras pan to our faces cause you just never know what is going to happen with him. Regardless, he has a heart of gold and is brilliant. I will miss everything about him, including his outfits and hair-dos! 

We just did cookies and snacks one day for Anderson. Nothing too special, but he was one of the earlier weeks and we got better as time went on.

Syed:

Ugh, this is getting worse and worse as I go. Look at this man and his personality. He was one of the easiest to talk to and loved to share life stories, jokes, and advice. When I left the hospital last year, he gave me some of the best advice that really helped me on my journey. We have joked about jumpers for years, so we finally got him one of his own. He did put it on for a bit and for the token picture. He is a fantastic human and I will miss him so much. We also hung this picture below all over the unit, because isn't it the best??

Dagar: 

Dagar is one of the harder ones to crack, but over the years I feel like I did a pretty good job. We became friends and he would even joke from time to time during rounds. Ha. He is really such a pleasant and even-keeled human; his weeks were always easy. He is super kind and fun to tease just a bit. Dagar week was the last one before the entire group was done, so we had a cake made for him to celebrate him and really the whole crew and the ending of an era.

Janowski: 

Ah, Janowski- another one I was really close with. He has the best one liners and if you ask anyone in the unit their favorite "Janowski-ism", everyone had something different because he had so many of them. His top one is probably "sub-optimal"- said at the most inappropriate times, but he has so many more. We made t-shirts and wore some of the favorites one day with him. In his words, we looked like Teletubbies (Hahah!!) but it was fun. He is such an incredible human being as well, a super smart physician, and a great friend. We had good chats about hiking and did the Grand Canyon at the same tiem one year. Good times. 

Terry: "Are we done yet?" 
Janowski: "Shall we?"
me: "Make them presentable to themselves"
Kristy: "Get them a cookie tray" 

Grover:

The chief of the group, the king of kings. There is no one like Grover. He is incredibly funny and witty and has the banter down. He has always teased me about being from Idaho and says that my brain is inherently smaller due to being from Idaho and every time I cross the border to go to Idaho, I lose brain cells, but luckily when I come back, they regain. He goes to Idaho for work too and will say the same, that he lost some brain cells. He has always joked about his 20 gram brain and my 2 gram brain and everyone else is in the middle, so Terry and I got him some t-shirts to reflect our brain sizes. We also made him a cake with a picture of some of his classic socks. I am unsure how I am gonna live without a good Grover week every 7 weeks. Another man that is a genuine friend.

Losing one of these friends would be a huge loss, but losing all 7 at once is almost unbearable. I am so glad I had them in my life for 12 years and for all the things I have learned from them; about medicine, about humanity, about kindness, about loss, and about friendship.