once a brave, always a brave

I am officially a Bountiful High Alumnus. I felt oddly calm all day. Graduation itself was great. Us Braves are known for our short commencement exercises. Clapping and cheering is highly discouraged. Later my mom told me she would thump anyone who cheered when I walked since the only graduates who got cheered for were special needs, pregnant, or lucky to graduate. We went to Buca for dinner. Tonight is the all-night party. I am super tired from this week already, so we'll see how late (or early) I make it.

it's the best day ever

I'm sorry if my day was better than yours. (and it probably was.) I am done with high school classes. That thought made Stats quite enjoyable today. The relief caused me to walk to the Swansong assembly with a spring in my step. The assembly was a great culmination of the year. This by far has been the best last week of school. I am enjoying living in the moment without the weight I've carried all year.

We got together as officers for probably the last time. Dinner at Oakridge was wonderful.  After dinner, the seniors headed up the the B for senior sunset. It was pure bliss.

bravestock

What. A. Day. I got to the school at 6:30 to block off the parking lot so we could set up Bravestock. I didn't have to go to any classes, so I set up until school got out at 11:30. Then I facilitated and cleaned up until 3:30. If my math is correct, that is 9 hours in the sun. I. got. burned. I didn't realize it until I was on my way home. On the bright side, I sure got my fill of Vitamin D.

In case you were wondering what Bravestock is...

It begins with food. We brought in Spanky's, Little Caesars, Taco Time, and we grilled hamburgers.

And of course there is face painting (and body painting if your name is Carver) to make the lines for food more bearable.

This is the funniest/sweetest/most adorable boy you will ever meet. He happens to have superb aim and managed to dunk his special needs teacher.

There are tons of sports (basketball, volleyball, badminton, ping pong, soccer, racquetball) going on all over, but for the athletically challenged (ok, um, mostly me) there is plenty of chalk laying around.

And of course some spontaneous interpretive dancing. (There were 2 radio stations playing right next to them)

I think the dunk tank was the biggest attraction. We anticipated closing down the carnival type activities around 1:00, but the lines were full all the way until sports ended at 2:30.

This is the much anticipated balloon wall. It was a dream come true. I wrote our year long theme in white crayon at the bottom so the paint wouldn't stick to it. It was legible, but didn't photograph well.

And this is Hannah. Fulfilling her yearlong dream. Isn't she gorgeous? We were able to include the balloon darts by incorporating it into a kissing booth. The balloons were filled with either red (really pink) or blue paint. The color of paint in the balloon you popped determined what cheerleader (BYU or UofU) you got a Hershey's kiss from.

We sold Bravestock shirts (modeled by Hannah above) as well as all of the white shirts from the whole year so students could tie dye them.

There were pie eating competitions...
That turned into whipped cream fights.

And we can't forget about the fortune telling teepee. Visitors received a telling from our own Mrs. Ball and a fortune cookie.

Tonight was Seminary Graduation and I could barely stay awake. Today was a great continuation of what will be a great week.

fantastic friday

Today really was wonderful. As officers, we got to go to lunch with next year's group. I am so excited for them. We went to Joy Luck, just like last year, and it did not seem like it had been a whole year. This year went so fast. Everyone said that it would, but I didn't believe it. In some ways, I wish I were just starting this year over again, and in others I am beyond ready to be done. This year was by far my favorite year of high school, but also the most stressful. Even sophomore year seems calm in comparison. Tonight we planned on sleeping on the football field like we did during Homecoming Week, but the sprinklers were on. Instead, we drove up to Kelsey's and partied all night long. It was a great stress reliever. Everyone was super relaxed so we laughed the whole time. I love the 27 people I got to work with this year. I'm so glad a couple of them are coming down to BYU with me.

story time

I have a really long story today. It started in 9th grade on April 28th. I was leaving Seminary and some boys in my class were having a tug-of-war with a rope they had made of toilet paper. When it inevitably broke, 3 very large boys landed on my leg. My teacher saw it happen and asked me if he should call my mom. I said I was fine and stood up to walk to Spanish. Upon taking a step, I learned I couldn't walk, and fell over. I reluctantly told my teacher he better call my mom. She came and we went to the ER. A very painful x-ray was taken and it was confirmed that my leg wasn't broken, that I had probably dislocated my knee. I went home on crutches, told I would be fine in a couple of weeks. We scheduled an appointment with an orthopedic. Another painful x-ray was taken and I was given a brace to wear to prevent my knee from dislocating again while the muscles healed. From the x-ray, they could tell that my knee cap had moved all the way to the back of my leg before snapping back into place, tearing every muscle and ligament surrounding my knee. They said if I wore the brace and didn't dislocate my knee again, I wouldn't have to have surgery. I was determined not to dislocate my knee again, but the doctor was skeptical. I made it 4 months without incident. The weekend before starting high school, I was hanging out with some friends. We had run to the gas station to get a slurpee, so my muscles were loose. I stood up and my knee randomly dislocated. I instantly went into panic mode. I knew that I would have to have surgery. I was terrified of getting an IV because of the bad experiences I had earlier that year with IVs when I had appendicitis. I had another appointment with the orthopedic and surgery was scheduled. It was a very simple procedure that would fix the problem. Surgery was set for September 16, a Wednesday, and I was supposed to be back at school that Monday. Getting an IV was horrible, but no where near the worst part. I did not go back to school that Monday. I remember I had to sign my knee so the right one would be operated on. Once I was in the OR, the surgeon found several problems not revealed by the x-ray and MRI. A very simple procedure quickly became an intense set of procedures. I don't take medicine. Especially pain medicine. Even when I had my appendix out, I only had Ibuprofen in the hospital. I was shocked to wake up from surgery and need pain medicine routinely, as I never had before. It was weeks before I could go to school again. When I did go back, I had extremely limited energy. I went to school part-time, working my way up to a full day. My school has 6 floors and 4 buildings. Not exactly a conducive environment for someone on crutches. While I was recovering, I got Swine Flu, further inhibiting my recovery. We found out some of my lack of energy was due to hypoglycemia. The test to determine this was horrible. You drink a large amount of this substance that resembles orange soda without the carbonated water. So it's basically like syrup or orange cold medicine. After drinking it, you have 4 containers of blood drawn every hour. This test is Hell for anyone as afraid of needles as I am. When the results came in, everyone was shocked. Most people start passing out when their blood sugar reaches 60. Mine had dropped to 40, and I hadn't passed out. After taking medication for my blood sugar, I started to get more energy. I got well enough to start physical therapy. The first visit, I had a charlie horse in my leg. I told the physical therapist and he walked down the hall to talk to my doctor. He came back and said, "the chances of this occurring in a teenager are very low, but if it were my doctor, I would head to the ER to rule out the possibility of a blood clot." After several hours in the ER and an unbelievably painful ultrasound, we finally heard from the doctor. He confirmed that I had a DVT the size of an orange in my right calf. I wasn't too upset until he told me what it meant. He told me I had to give myself shots in the stomach for 2 weeks. No. Freaking. Way. Terrified of needles, remember? He told me about a girl my same age who died of a DVT in his arms the week before. I wanted to punch him, but I didn't have the energy. Apparently he was unfamiliar with the term "bedside service." He then told me I would take Coumadin (basically rat poison) for 6 months and I would have to have a blood draw every week. Then Dr. Compassionate told me to suck it up, go home, take some Ibuprofen, and go to school the next day. 1) do not take Ibuprofen if you have a blood clot. Tylenol only. 2) I did not go to school the next day. I looked like a corpse, so my mom took me to see my regular doctor. He said, "There probably isn't anything wrong, but I would feel better if you had a CT taken of your lungs." So back to the ER I went. The scan revealed that the blood clot in my leg had broken off and filled my lungs. I was given 2 weeks of bed rest. My doctor told me "You are one lucky girl. Had you gone to school, you likely wouldn't be here right now." We saw Dr. Compassionate when we were leaving the hospital. He didn't seem the least bit concerned that his negligence nearly cost me my life. After I was off bed rest, I finally got to start physical therapy and move towards getting better.

The reason I told this extremely long story is because of what happened tonight. From those 4 months, I remember the big things, but nothing else. When I turned in the first assignment of the second term of financial lit, I got a message saying I had already submitted it. I investigated further, and found that I had completed the entire course while I was on bed rest. I had no idea. Like I said, I don't remember hardly anything from those months. Finding that the class was completed already was quite the welcome surprise.