Christmas!

I get to see a great friend tonight!!!! I just love her! Hope everyone has a happy holiday and a Merry Christmas! :)

School

I cannot believe that I have two weeks left until I've completed my first semester of college!!! Time is flying!!!! I am so excited!!! I'm sure it went by fast because I'm also working! Have I mentioned I love my job!? ;)

Kid-isms! :)

Since working at a daycare, I've heard kids say some of the FUNNIEST things! I had one girl ask me yesterday why was I born with my birth defect and that it was my fault. (This one was not so funny and kind of ticked me off!) I had a 2 1/2 year old ask me "Can I come see your baby?" I informed him that I didn't have a baby and he just kept asking! He's so cute! :)

It's Been Awhile!

It's been awhile since I posted! I am just so busy with work and school. I love my job and my co-workers are amazing! I've met so many awesome people and I couldn't have asked for a better job!!! :) I am majoring in Early Childhood Education because I love my job so much!!! :) I never dreamed that I would ever been in the education field, but I guess Heavenly Father knew it was meant for me! If I get accepted into my program, I can start in the Fall of 2013. I am so excited!!! :) I can't wait until Thanksgiving break though! I am so sick of school! I have to work Tuesday and Wednesday of the week Thanksgiving break starts and I love my job so much that I look forward to it every day!! :)

I have a new. . . .

JOB!!!!! I got hired as a sub at the Early Learning Center on ISU's campus!!! :) I LOVE it!!!! I have only had 1 day off this week and I so wish I could hvave worked the whole week!!! :) I get to be with children and teach them to read, and things like that! :) I am so excited about this job!!!! :) By the time Friday hits, I'm ready for a break, but I'm so glad I have weekends off to be with friends and family and catch up on homework! :) I love it!!! :)

Recent Happenings!

A lot has happened since I blogged last! Here's just a few things that have happened:

1) I changed my major! I am no longer going into Nursing. I know I was dead set on it for about 5 years, but as I went through some of the classes, I realized I couldn't do it. So instead of Nursing, I'm majoring in Elementary Education with a minor in Biology or Special Education. I think the BEST thing that came out of it, was that I get to drop my Anatomy class. Why take a class if it doesn't count for anything!?

2) I am the Class Representative in my 8 a.m. institute class, which is Book of Mormon with Brother Lee! :) I am so excited!! :)

3) The best thing that's happened since I last blogged is my aunt is having a baby!! We are so excited!!! I can't wait for her to have the baby!! We know what it is, but some family hasn't been told yet what it is, so I won't say anything! If you want to know, text or Facebook message me and I will tell you!

4) Conference was AMAZING!!!! My favorite talk was from Elder Neil L. Andersen on motherhood!!! OH my gosh I can't describe how fabulous it was!

My Story--Why So Many Surgeries?

I have had requests to write out my "story" and why I've had to have so many. So here it is!

I was born with a birth defect called "Medial Cleft Syndrome." I was born with a completely flat nose, a hole in my lip, and skin tags. You can see in the pictures! :) I was about 18 months old when I had my very first surgery. They removed my skin tags and repaired the hole in my lip.

I had my second surgery when I was about 2 1/2. I honestly can't remember what they did. I think they just tried to fix my nose, but I'm not 100% sure.

My third surgery was my big one. My 14 hour one. I can remember bits and pieces of that surgery. I know that I was 3 1/2. I remember waking up in recovery and my dad was at the side of me. I couldn't move, but when I opened my eyes, the recovery room was green. (Must of been the drugs)!! I remember my dad saying he was there. I told him I felt like I was going to be sick. I couldn't move, so I just threw up, and it went all over my dad's shoe. I remember the nurses moving me to a new bed, to change the other bed. I had my eyes removed from my sockets and put back in, my brain was scraped from my forehead, and they took a piece of my forehead bone and put it in my nose! The drs told my parents that I would be in the hospital for 3 weeks. I proved them wrong. I was only there for a week! :) My eyes were swollen shut for, I don't even know how long! I had 14 staples going across my head--ear to ear-- and getting those suckers out HURT!!! The whole week I was there,(I had the majority of my surgeries at Primary Children's Medical Center, in SLC, UT)I wanted to just go on wagon rides, and eat the pink frosted sugar cookies! :) If I had those two things, life was good! :)

I have had numerous sets of ear tubes. I have probably had 4-5 surgeries just for ear tubes!

When I was 6 years old, I had my tonsils taken out at EIRMC in Idaho Falls, ID. That surgery was nothing to some of my others!

When I was in 8th grade, I had braces, and I kept getting a puffy pus pocket where the metal was rubbing up on my gums. I thought I was allergic to the metal. Turns out, I had a cyst. So over Christmas Break of my 8th grade, I had the cyst taken care of. My mom got to watch that surgery because I made her swear to me that she wouldn't leave.

My sophomore year of high school was when I had to have another surgery. I missed a week of school. On April 10th, 2009, I went to have my nose done. I had 2 bones that had collapsed inside my nose sometime in my lifetime, not sure when, but as far as I knew, I was just going into get the bones in my nose fixed. Little did I know, they would be doing more. This is when I became upset with my mom. She knew they were doing more than what she told me. When I woke up in recovery--around 11:00-11:30, I noticed something different about my left ear. I asked the nurse, still drugged up, what they did. She said they had taken a piece of cartilage from my ear to put in the tip of my nose. I just said okay and went back to sleep. I let my mom know how frustrated I was that she didn't tell me later. I sobbed about it. I remember it being Easter weekend. Not the best way to spend a holiday on Hydrocodone. I had a splint on my nose for a week. That was the biggest pain in my butt EVER!! I have never itched so much in my life!! My splint fell off the day before I had to go get checked, so I panicked, and called the dr's office frantically. They told me it was nothing to worry about.

June 2nd, 2010 I had my wisdom teeth out. They had to put me completely out (right in the drs office) because my blood pressure was so high from the anxiety. I think that surgery only took about 45 minutes. I remember the recovery room and everyone laughing at me becaue I was drugged up and saying funny things! :) I was very lucky and didn't get dry sockets! I lived on mashed potatoes and hydrocodone for a good 4 days. So glad those days are over!!

Now that you know all about my surgeries, you're probably thinking I'm strong and tough and all that good stuff. But to be completely honest, every time a doctor tells me I have to have surgery, I panic. The stress sets in, and I get sick from all the worry. To this day, I am nervous to go to the dr because I don't want to hear the words "We can do surgery to correct this." Now that I am 18 though, I am the one who has to give the doctor permission to operate. Unless it's a life or death situation, I am not having anymore surgeries. I am 120% happy and confident with the way I look and I wouldn't change ANYTHING!!! :) I think that me being put through all those surgeries has made me stronger. I know that if I didn't go through it, I probably would be a wimp.

A post with pictures!! :) Part 2

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A post with pictures!! :) Part 1

Following this post, There will be pictures from newborn-4 years old including surgeries. I have had a lot of people ask what I looked like before my surgeries. I am going to upload pictures now! :) I'm grateful my mom took pictures, because I think it's pretty neat to compare before and after! :) Please don't hesitate to ask questions! I have to figure out how to put captions with pictures, so until I figure out how to do that, I'm doing two posts!!! :)

To go along with the pictures

Yesterday, I had someone tell me I've faked all my surgeries and that the only reason I have friends is because they feel sorry for me. I CLEARLY cannot "fake" all these surgeries. Anyone who knows me, knows that I haven't faked it. There are pictures below this post to prove it. Not that I have anything to prove, but I also have a lot of people asking me what I looked like before all my surgeries.

Like I Can Really Fake This

Don't just assume

My math teacher came up to me today and said "MacKenzie, how many kids do you have? You look like you could have 4-5." I proceeded to politely tell her, "Well, I just graduated high school in June. I don't have any kids at all." She then told me "Okay, well, then you MUST be married!!" I then told her "I'm not married and I don't have kids!" She looked at me confused and walked off.

What did I learn out of this whole thing!? Don't assume things that you know nothing about!! I DO NOT have 4-5 kids and I am NOT married!!!

Institute

So I started institute yesterday!! I. LOVE. IT!!!! It is so much fun to meet new people, make new friends, and most of all, learn more about the gospel! I LOVE all of my teachers and even though today was only the 2nd day of it, I feel like it's making school seem a lot easier! It's nice to get away from the real world and go to institute. I am taking Book of Mormon, Doctrines of the Gospel, and Doctrine & Covenants! I really enjoy my Doctrines of the Gospel class! :) Next semester, I'm going to try to get into the "Dating & Courtship" class! :)

I'm Still Living!

Now that my first week of college is complete, I can talk about it! :) When Monday came, I was so excited to start college and I thought it'd be completely different than what actually did happen! I went to my Anatomy and Physiology class (which I LOVE by the way!) and the teacher is so fun! He knows how to incorporate fun while he still teaches! :) I have learned so much from his class in the last 3 days. I have Anat & Phys 3 times a week. I also have Math on Mondays. Math was a big shocker and wake-up call to me because it made me realize that college wasn't ANYTHING like I had expected! I have come to the realization that college isn't all about having fun. I have to focus on my homework (don't believe anyone who tells you that there isn't that much homework in college. I found this one out the hard way.) I also have learned how to balance when to do my homework and how long to spend on it. I had to learn how to make it all work on top of having an online class to worry about. It's a lot of stress the first few days, which brings me to my next point.

Stress. We all have something in our lives that stress us out and they are all different in everyone's life. I just happened to become so stressed out this past week, mainly Tuesday and Wednesday, that I lost it. I bawled for a few hours. I felt like I couldn't do it anymore, and this was only my third day in college. I have another two years at least of this and I thought to myself, "How in the world am I going to do this for another two years, at least?" I thought about it and told myself that I'm sure it's normal. I also had amazing friends to talk to that have already gone through their first year/semester of college. I am so lucky to have such supportive family and friends telling me I can do it, and it'll get better. And they were right. By the time Thursday rolled around, I told myself "I can do this. Besides, it's the last day of math for the week." And I did do it. I didn't die and made it through yesterday without any meltdowns. I know it sounds ridiculous, but sometimes a meltdown makes everything seem like life will be okay. And it is. I went to Anatomy and Physiology today and I am learning the ropes of college and I am starting to REALLY LOVE it! I love the independence and I love seeing friends on campus! I love the fact that the teachers are more laid-back in college than they were in high school. I am loving college right now (except for the 300 math problems I have each night), but I guess "What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger" right!? I could get used to this! :)

I am SO EXCITED for Monday! I will start Institute! I cannot even describe how excited I am! I think it'll make school seem a lot easier. I just am so excited!! I heard it's better than seminary, if that's even possible.

To sum it all up, I am pretty dang excited about this new 'adventure' in my life! I'm at the point in my life where I think about marriage, kids, etc. and just the future! It is so exciting, but at the same time, it's scary! I cannot wait to see what life has in store for me! :)

BYU-I or ISU?

I know I have blogged once today, but something is pn my mind. That would be this: for Fall 2012, should I go to BYU-I or stay here at ISU? I went and toured the campus of BYU-I on my birthday last month. I LOVED it up there. I have so many friends who go there and they LOVE it! I am nervous to go there though because, like everyone else I'm sure, I am nervous to move out! Live on my own! The thought of having to fend for myself scares me right now!!! But I think it could be a GREAT opportunity to grow and learn from! :) What do you think!?