The Dunlap Daily Dish: October 2025 - NCLEX, Hunting, Football, and Halloween!

NCLEX: My big accomplishment in October was passing the NCLEX exam and becoming a licensed, registered nurse! I accepted a job on the med/surg floor at Lovelace Women's Hospital. I am considering this first job like another year of school - I'm hoping it will help me get my feet wet as a nurse and put to practice all the skills I've mostly just read about!
Elk Hunt: Some of our best friends from the westside invited our family to join them on a hunting trip. We thought it would be a really neat experience for the kids to help them appreciate the food we eat each day! It was one of the most grueling physical experiences we've ever had! We broke out into smaller groups. We silently walked through the woods, looking and listening for the elk. We sat quietly for hours in the cold and the rain. I was in Katura's group (she's a 6th grade girl that my girls used to do play dates with many years ago!) Katura was incredible! She shot an elk right in the head from 300 yards away, just as the sun was setting. I helped the dads quarter the carcass to take back to camp. Hannah carried a heavy, awkward leg over her shoulders. What a tough cookie! The girls were really impressive, handling all the blood and guts like champs! On our way out of camp, we stopped at White Sands and explored the unique landscape.
Super Bowl Champs: Beau's Junior YAFL team, the La Cueva Bears, won the Super Bowl this year! They put in a lot of hard work each week and it really showed. I'm proud of Beau for sticking with it for three years because it isn't easy. The coaches work those boys really hard. Hannah and Sofia cheered for their team once again and have grown a lot as well. Sofia was able to be a flier this year and Hannah was in indispensable base! They really needed her strength! They had a new coach this year, who was a lot stricter than their last coach. She really helped them become a more professional, polished team.
Working Boy: Hudson landed his first job at our local Dion's pizzeria! He makes $13.50/hour and is learning many valuable skills. They have him come in a few times a week and work 1-3 hour shifts. Since he's only 15, they have limitations on what he can do (no pizza making until he's 16), but he's already learning a lot. He's been able to work several different stations including salads, dining room clean up, register, phone, and box assembly. He's enjoyed register the most, as he is very good with people. Hudson's loves having an income! He used his first $1000 or so to start his own resale business. He's been buying merchandise online through vendors in China and reselling the goods to his friends at school. At one point, he had so much "designer" clothing accumulating in his room that he wanted me to buy him a clothing rack to start organizing his shop goods. While I admire his entrepreneurial spirit, we realized that the business wasn't very lucrative. I think he's learned that the steady income from Dion's is more reliable.