Our Engagement Slideshow...

The amazingly gifted Mark Presley offered to make a slide show for Logan and I as a wedding gift. We dug out all of our old pictures from when we were growing up, and added some from the time Logan and I started dating until now, including some of our engagement pictures. He asked us to pick the music, and he did the rest! I LOVE the finished product! Mark also did our videography for the wedding, and I know it will be fabulous.

Enjoy our slideshow!

laprade slideshow from mark presley on Vimeo.

First Things First...

With all of the wedding hullabaloo, I haven't had the chance to blog about a very important change taking place in my life: I quit my job at Children's. After over six years of working on the inpatient cardiology floor, I decided it was time to move on.

Without going into too many details, I can say that I don't feel like I was given the opportunities I deserved that would have allowed me to grow as a nurse. For whatever reason, my manager apparently preferred abusing his "power" rather than seeing a great nurse reach her potential. After three years of "waiting it out" to see if things would improve, things actually got worse, so I made the decision to leave.

Quitting was one of the hardest things I've had to do. I am not a quitter, and I am extremely loyal by nature. Children's was where I learned how to be the nurse I am today. I've had so many incredible experiences there with my patients - some painful, some exciting. The people I have worked side by side with for the last six years of my life became like family to me, and leaving them has been the most difficult part. They have seen me through some of the hardest times in my life, and the most joyful. They are the main reason I stayed as long as I did, and I truly hope to keep in touch with them. Like I said, they became my family, and I love them dearly.

I have accepted a job at Medical City Children's hospital in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit for kids, so I'm stepping up the intensity a bit. Never in a million years did I think I'd want to be an ICU nurse! The thought of ventillators and open sternums used to scare me to death. But through the experiences I've had, I now realize that the days I enjoy the most at work are the ones when I have the sickest patients. I am finally confident enough in my nursing to know that I actually do know what to do when a kid codes, and I trust myself and my instincts enough to want to be there to help. (When I first started, I'd run the other way! No joke.) I also feel compelled to help with palliative care, when patients are dying. As extremely difficult as it is, I truly feel called to be there - both for the patient and the family during that time.

My first day of orientation is May 10th, and I'm so excited! When I visited the hospital and the unit during my interview, I fell in love with the people there. Everyone is SO friendly and helpful, and I really think it is an environment I will thrive in.

Until then, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my time off, and settle in to married life. This means I will finally get to use all this great kitchen stuff we got for wedding gifts!

Engagement Pictures Sneak Peek!

Several weeks ago Logan and I had our engagement pictures taken by our fantastic photographer, Edward, with Bludoor Studios. We love, love, LOVE them! We hope you enjoy a few of our pictures!

Logan and Lorin... growing up

There are only 17 days left until the wedding, and recently I've been having a constant mix of emotions. At this point, the most common emotion I'm feeling is stress - which I hear is normal. :) But I'm also feeling incredibly sentimental. About everything. I feel SO happy to be marrying my best friend. The person I love more than anything in the world. The one who always supports me, loves me, listens to me, makes me laugh like crazy, and treats me with kindness and respect. I cannot wait to walk down that aisle and start the first day of the rest of our lives together. Then there's the other part of me that is caught between being daddy's little girl and a grown woman. I know that at 28 years old I'm supposed to be a grown up, but I sure don't feel like it. They say age is relative, and the older I get the more truth I see in that. So I think I'll make my own rules here and decide that no matter how old I am, I can still always be my daddy's little girl.

Which leads me to the pictures! Logan's family and my family have gone through all of our pictures from when we were growing up, and they've picked out their favorites for the slideshow that the very talented Mark Presley Jr. is making for us as a wedding gift. I've always loved looking back at pictures of when Ross and I were growing up. It brings back so many memories of what a wonderful childhood I was blessed with. But when I look at the pictures of Logan growing up, I can't help but think about how amazing it is that he and I were both living our lives separately, having our own experiences, until the day our paths crossed and we unknowingly met the person we'd spend the rest of our lives with. It's interesting how that happens. One day out of the blue you wake up and realize you can't imagine your life without this person. What a wonderful thing!

Logan's Pictures...

Lorin's Pictures...