Night Owl

I have officially become a night owl. I've always known that I was more of a night owl than an early bird. I hate waking up to an alarm in the mornings. For the last 5 years I've had to wake up between 3am and 7am to get to work. Those 4am shifts are killer! For those of you who don't know, I work as a Phlebotomist (one who draws blood) at a Hospital in Lafayette. Hospitals are open 24/7 so therefore we are drawing blood at all hours of the day/night. I recently switch over to the night shift. I LOVE WORKING THIS SHIFT! When I tell people what new my shift is, most of them give me this look like "I could never do that", or "Oh I'm sorry for you". Well if you are thinking that right now, STOP!. This is the shift for me. These are the reasons why:
#1- I get to spend so much more time with my husband! I work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. Jeff works Saturday, Sunday, and Monday days. Jeff is gone at work while I need to sleep. Then we get to enjoy the next 4 days off together. Before we didn't have any days off together because I was M-F, while he worked the weekends.

#2- Like I said, I hate alarm clocks. It really sucks having to drag your body out of bed when your half awake. Then, having to shove contacts into half open eyes is always a challenge: it really burns sometimes. With the night shift I'm already awake, I do try to squeeze a nap in before I go, but even if I don't get one I still make it through the night.

# 3- I have no problems sleeping during the day. This is another area that people tell me they would struggle with. Well, that's where hanging a dark blanket up over the window comes in really handy. I can pretty much sleep anytime, anywhere. Oh, and being pregnant really helps in this area too!

#4- I would do a 12hr night shift over a 8hr day shift ANY DAY! The night shifts go by so fast for me. Especially because the last 3 1/2 hours of the shift are the busiest part, so it makes it go by even faster. The day shift just DRAGS on, and looking at the clock every hour wondering how much longer until I get to go home gets really old. I LOVE how fast my 3 night shifts go by.

#5- Last but not least, Less hours for more pay. 'Nuff said.

Do you still feel sorry for me? I didn't think so.

Telling the Parents

This was so priceless! My dad's reaction was so funny. He didn't get it at first but then it clicks. A very memorable moment for all of us! Enjoy the video.

Hawaii

We were very excited to be going to Hawaii

Cam and I in Hilo

Dorks in a Banyan tree

Totally random picture.

Jeff pretending to "Snot Rocket" the waterfall...so gross!

Dorky tourists!

Akaka Falls


The last stop on our long drive...What a way to end the day!

Dorks in front of the Thurston Lava Tubes

More dorks at Volcano National Park

Cam and I at Black Sand Beach

Making our way around the island

This was a bull with HUGE horns that we saw while taking a drive around the island.

The girls did a session at the Kona Temple.

One of MANY turtles that we saw.

Grandma Foster and I

Jeff being a dorky tourist! Haha love you honey!

Jeff and I were able to go to Hawaii a couple of weeks ago. We had an absolute blast! Most of my family was there with us which made it all the more fun. There were many highlights of this trip to make it a memorable one, but two that stand out the most. #1 is that we told my parents that they were going to be first time grandparents. We got this on video and it's priceless. I'll be posting that next. #2 happened the second night we were there. Jeff, my dad, my little brother Cameron, my mom and I all went on a night dive/snorkel with Manta rays. My dad and Cameron were the scuba divers, and Jeff, myself, and my mom were the snorkelers. We were told that the night before there were about 20 Manta rays that showed up, so we were pretty much guaranteed to see at least one. Well we weren't disappointed. After about 5 minutes of being in the water we were approached by a huge Manta. We were holding flashlights which attracted plankton, which the Manta's were feeding on. The Manta's were swimming right up to us. We literally had them coming as close as a few inches of us. If we had reached out to touch them we could have, but that's a big no no so we didn't. However there were a few that were bouncing off my dad and Cameron. There were at least 20 Manta's that showed up that night. We got a video of that night, it was soooooooo amazing! One to remember forever, and to defiantly do again! I recommend it to anyone looking to go to Hawaii and that likes to scuba dive or snorkel. We had many more memories to last a lifetime, what a great trip!