Class of 2012

And we're off!

2011-07-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

Today marks the last day of the complete didactic portion of our program. We will be taking classes online throughout clinicals, but we won't be on campus. Leaving behind our small, brick classroom (whose thermostat has finally been working correctly) is quite the milestone for us. We have spent many hours in there, occasionally sending dirty looks to Chris Torman's office which can conveniently be seen down the hall from our seats. ;) It's a bittersweet farewell as we make preparations to move for clinicals, but we are eager to get into the operating room to make fools of ourselves (Just kidding James, Chris, and Jeff!).

Goodluck, everyone!!!

See you on the other side... :)

Got a big family?

2011-07-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

Then meet Aaron Snow. He is married with five children and during his time in Utah (before moving for clinicals) he has lived in the basement of his uncle's house with only two bedrooms and one bathroom for his family of seven. With the stress of school and the amount of time it consumes, it can be hard to make time for your family. The best advice we have been given is to always consider your family, for they come first. There are sacrifices that have to be made to endure this program, but you'd be crazy to gain a certification while losing your family along the way.

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Aaron recently made time for his family in a very fun way...

"Foam Days"

Isn't his family beautiful? :)

Make time for school because you have to, but find a balance and make time for your family, too!

G.A.S. Party!!!

2011-07-24T22:10:00.000-07:00

Before separating for clinicals, we thought we should have a fun get together with the company of our spouses at Chris's fancy investment property in downtown Salt Lake City. We were able to tour the new condos after dinner, including his own, and they were all so beautiful. The view from each of them was phenomonal!

Everyone was kind enough to allow me to take pictures of them, too, so here we go:

Here is our first team adventure as we crammed into the elevator:

What a view:

We truly appreciate the time put into arranging this wonderful dinner for us poor, graduate students. Thank you Chris, and family, for welcoming us into your second home!

Like Father, Like Sons!

2011-07-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

Erick needed some extra hands to help him with his lab work. :)

Ryan showed him how to properly preoxygenate before intubating:

Kaden made sure the machine was in the proper mode for ventilation...

Here Ryan shows his intubating skills one last time...

"C'mon, dad, it's easy!"

Summer Volleyball!

2011-06-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

Val and Aaron took volleyball to the big leagues with an outdoor 2-on-2 tournament.

Way to go, guys!

Happy Birthday, Erick!

2011-06-26T14:45:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a pool party to celebrate a birthday!

Happy Birthday, Erick!

More Dirty Dash!!!

2011-06-10T07:31:00.000-07:00

More mud run pictures that were posted online!

The group:

Amanda

Elie, Val, and Stephanie

Kritt, Jay, and Russ

That... was fun!

The Dirty Dash: Utah's First Mud Run

2011-06-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

Let's be honest... since starting school we truly have cut back on all fun activities, healthy hobbies, and moments of peace. It was time to treat ourself to a fun activity, so we signed up for Utah's first 5k mud run.

It took place this Saturday up in Midway, and soon enough... things got DIRTY!!!

Before we jumped in the mud:

Stephanie and hubby (Kritt), Jay, Val, Amanda, Elie, and Russ

Sorry, folks, I just had to include a picture of our youngeset supporter!

The next few pictures are at the finish line as we ran/swam/crawled through the muddy pit. This is after we ran up and down muddy hills, were sprayed by gigantic water blowers, crawled through dirty tunnels, hurdled hay bales, climbed over 5-6ft walls, and slid down a giant slippery slide.

Russ, Amanda, Stephanie, and Val

We finished!

Jay, Russ, Amanda, Stephanie, Elie, Val, and Kritt

Me (Stephanie) and my hubby (Kritt) with Jay's beautiful family (Jenny, Hannah, and Isaac).

I wish I could really capture the course. It extended off both sides of the pictures where there was a whole lot of mud to overcome. Hopefully I can snag a few of the professional pictures once they're posted online!

Semester Break! (Trying to forget we have school during the summer...)

2011-06-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

Here are a few memories as we transitioned from Spring to Summer semester. There are definitely many pictures missing from fellow classmates, but this is proof that we love any break we can get!

Russ and Paul

Paul and his cute family!

Just hanging out...

Nothing like a good party at Russ, Amanda, and Val's Club House!

Val, Amanda, and Erick

Val and Aubrey

Me (Stephanie) and my family met up with Jason and his family on one of our nights in Vegas!!!

Sweet tooth!

Quite a few of us enjoyed a quick trip to Zion's!

We did our best to soak up the nice weather before hitting the books again for summer semester...

I'd say we did a pretty good job!

BACK TO STUDYING...

Spring Semester 2011

2011-06-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

Pharmacology II with Art Hupka supervising and adding to the lectures from Dr. John Nagelhout:

Research taught by Sheryl Steadman and Han Kim:

Physiology II taught by Jessamyn Markley:

I am proud to say we all passed!!!

Random Reminiscing

2011-03-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

Jay's poor wife tore her achilles tendon playing volleyball last week. Immediately after hearing the news, at least half of us in the class thought of Professor Merkley and the story of his rehab experience when he tore his achilles tendon during church basketball. Oh the memories... : )

Get Well Soon Tipton Family... mainly Jenny, of course!

Time for a break... RSL game opener!

2011-03-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

We finally had a less stressful weekend at hand (Please note that I didn't say "stress free" haha).

What better way to enjoy it than to attend the game opener for Real Salt Lake as they played LA Galaxy? Those of us that were able to go were cold and wet, but having a great time!

Me (Stephanie) and my husband, Kritt.

Back Row (From Right to Left):

Paul, Ryan & his girlfriend Sally, Val & her husband JD

Back Row (once more): Ryan, Sally, Val, JD, and Paul

Front Row (Right to Left):

Me (with my husband behind the camera), Aaron & his daughter Sylvie, Erick & his wife Kelly with their boys Ryan and Kaden

David Beckham (there are more pictures here)

RSL defeated LA Galaxy with a final score of 4-1.

It rained, it snowed, and the wind howled with no vengeance, but we had a lot of fun.

Now, it's back to the drawing board...

The Bier Block

2011-03-23T16:08:00.000-07:00

Erick played "patient" again today as we learned about Bier Blocks.

Thank you, Erick and Chris.You are both so photogenic! : )

Do you know this man?

2011-03-23T16:05:00.000-07:00

Busted!

2011-03-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry Jay-Z... blame Kyle!

Team Coronary Steel Returns

2011-03-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

Intramural volleyball introduces: Coronary Steel

For the second semester now our class has put together a volleyball team to represent SRNA's here at Westminster. The big rivals? The Faculty Team. That's the only team that beat hem last season. Pictured below are bits of the first game played. Not everyone could make it this week, but Coronary Steel was able to hold their own, winning both games played that night.

(From left to right)

Aubrey, Aaron, Amanda, Erick, Stephanie, Val, Russ, and Paul

MIA

2011-03-14T05:28:00.000-07:00

There is not much to update because we all have our heads stuck in Pharmacology books and notes for our exam tomorrow. We seriously love what we are learning in this class... let's just hope that we retain all this information and the great tips we are receiving from Dr. Nagelhout.

In the name of education...

2011-03-07T20:24:00.000-08:00

Being the only mom in the program right now, I found this event in class quite humorous and deserving. Erick stepped up in the name of education to demonstrate the litothomy position for the class. Dan Bunker, a CRNA who graduated in Westminster's very first MSNA class, was a guest lecturer focusing on Difficult Airways and Positioning.

Strong work, Erick. Your wife and kids should be proud! : )

Bring on semester numero dos...

2011-03-07T20:19:00.000-08:00

We all respond to stress differently.

We all take on our piles of homework in our own way.

As Amanda shared with this photo, "Research and beer... what a pair!" : )

Our second semester of anesthesia school is well under way!

One semester down...

2011-03-07T20:16:00.000-08:00

All fifteen of us can proudly say we survived our first semester of anesthesia school. It was not easy. It was not very fun, but we did it. The holiday break was long overdue. We went our separate ways to enjoy family time in various hometowns before the new year. This picture is one that Amanda snapped of Russ sporting the Griffin t-shirt in the Caymen Islands. Those two definitely had the right vacation planned!

Way to represent Westminster and one of our prestigous school colors: purple!!! : )

Happy Birthday, Russ!

2011-03-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

Birthdays have seemed to come and go so fast! This was a shin-dig for Russ's birthday. I think he turned 23, like me this go round! Right, russ? Only once has the discussion come up that he could be my dad. ; ) Now, now... I am only poking fun! If you wrote this post perhaps there would be less humor. Next time.

First Semester in School- Physiology picture with Brett Merkley

2011-03-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

This picture doesn't enlarge at good quality, but here we are! This was physiology our first semester at Westminster College. We started at the end of August 2010 and had a good few weeks of sharing unique facts and trying to get each other's names straight.

Brett Merkley was our Physiology instructor for that first class (He is James Stimpson's brother in law--who left us with many, fun memories!). Shoeleh Assemi taught our Basic/Organic/BioChem/Physics class which we all jumped through hoops to survive. Art Hupka supervised our Pharmacology class that we actually view via satellite. It is taught by John Nagelhout from Kaiser. That is one of the best classes we have ever had. Professor Nagelhout was truly born to teach (It's super helpful that he is a retired CRNA). Fall semester Anatomy was taught by Susan Shaw, a Veterinarian. She was great. She hooked up the dog owners with some free consults. : )

This semester (Winter 2011) we have Pharmacology (taught by John Nagelhout and supervised by Art Hupka), Physiology (taught by Jessamyn Markley), Research (taught by Han Kim and Sheryl Steadman), and Professional Aspects (taught by James Stimpson and Chris Torman).

So far, we are surviving!!!

Here we go!

2011-03-04T17:19:00.000-08:00

Alright, this is the first, official post on our class blog. I am Stephanie Moore, one of the fifteen CRNA students at Westminster College. I started this blog not only because I am semi-addicted to blogging, but because it can be a fun way for us to post pictures and give updates as we eventually get separated by distant clinical sites and future jobs. Let's see where this thing goes!

Here's the little guy that helps keep me sane in this program: