Ok. I have just decided until I finish school that posting once a semester is acceptable haha! Anyway...I made it through the hardest semester of nursing school. I ended up with a C in the 'less hard' class last semester and a B in the hardest class I will ever have in nursing school! How does that work?! I cried and cried, then checked my grade to be sure it was correct....then cried again! I am so thankful! I would even have times over the break where I would happen to think about that and cry again! I am so excited and proud that I am finally finishing!

This was the pic on our Christmas card this year. (cropped and edited of course).  This pretty much sums up 2012 :)

After my final on Monday, the 10th, we packed and headed for Kansas City, MO. We spent a few days with Evan and Christina. We had SO much fun! We always do with them! I am pretty sure Evan caught up on months worth of short jokes. thanks! lol.

This was the last night we were there. (Wednesday) Evan ordered pizza in his ninja turtle footie pajamas that I made him last Christmas. hilarious! 

This was an OLD college close to Evan and Christina. Park college, I think...

Frozen chocolate custard concrete with peanut butter! Amazing!

On the way to TN we had to make a pit stop at Lamberts!

We stayed in TN a few days. We went and saw dad and grandaddy on Friday. Repacked on Saturday and hit the sack early because we flew out Sunday morning! 

0630 Sunday morning...the moment I have waited for since my bday in August (actually since March 2009). We were heading to WDW! Just the 2 of us! We got there and played around. 

We were stuck between layers of clouds for a while...beautifully amazing!

We were going to attend the Main Gate coC that evening since our layover kept us from morning svcs. Surprise...they don't have evening svcs there. So, we had our own services. I'm going to try to really condense the days for you....

Monday...Animal kingdom! 

This was desert at the Sanaa African restaurant we ate at. It was a bowl made of ice cream custard with chocolate inside!

The tree at the entrance!

It was foggy this morning. This is the 'Tree of Life'. I love how it looks through the fog!

Us with Rafiki!

Tuesday was THE BIG DAY! I was having breakfast in Cinderella's castle! Mom even bought me a pair of shoes to wear just for that! We spent all day in the Magic Kingdom!

I love this picture because we are the ONLY two in the picture....RARE at WDW!

My new charm for my Pandora that I got in Kansas City!

In the Castle!

My rhinestone shoes mom got me! 

We had breakfast at Cinderella's castle...lunch at the Beasts castle in the new Fantasyland...and supper at Pooh's Crystal Palace!

Wednesday was Hollywood Studios and Epcot fireworks where we did our evening Bible Study. :) 

Thursday was EPCOT. We had spent a little time there Wednesday night...So we spent most of the day touring the world showcase. One of my favorites! 

This was from Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party that night. They were serving free cookies and hot chocolate!

This was in EPCOT. Mexico. 

We met Belle in France.

My favorite is always Germany!

Friday we slept in. When we got up we went back to Magic Kingdom a while to meet Rapunzel and Merida. Then to do a little laundry. Then to Downtown Disney! Before Cirque Du Soleil (no pictures allowed) we ate here....

Josh's favorite meal all week! We got the Deluxe Dining Plan! And since it was just us we could reserve meals at all of the nice restaurants and not have to worry about picky kiddos...bc a picky husband is tough enough! We kept a tally of what our meals would have been throughout the week....whew! We saved a TON of $$$. 

Sad to leave!...

I love this pic from the plane on the flight home...you can see the ocean!

Anyway....after Disney we headed back to TN for Christmas. Spent a few days with family. On the day after Christmas Josh and I took Nate to see TSO (his xmas present). We enjoyed it! I also took pics of Nate with his new car!!! oooh aaahh. 

Did I mention we had a white TN Christmas!!! 

This was from TSO!

I randomly have cravings for Dole Whips from Magic Kingdom! YUMM!!!

Now, back to reality! My last semester of nursing school! It looks like it is going to be crazy busy! Not necessarily hard...but a lot of busywork!!! SO....off we go!

yeah, yeah...as usual it has been a while.
I have been trying to enjoy my summer and get lots of projects done before my LAST year of school!
I have made a tshirt quilt for Josh:

I have caught up on all of my scrapbooking except for this summer (which is still in process). I have taken a few sets of pictures and have one more set on Sunday. We also have Ladies Day Saturday that we have been getting ready for. 

Yesterday was my birthday...I was a little bummed about crawling closer to 30...so I decided to do something different. I did 27 Random Acts of Kindness. Chaylie and I baked 2 batches of cookies on Monday night. Tuesday morning I made a batch of brownies and glazed one set of cookies. Then I jarred them up and tied tags on them. 

This is what the jars and tags looked like. 

Here is my list with a few notes:

1. Opened doors for people whenever possible

2. Returned stray grocery carts to proper places
3. Visited nursing home
4. Dropped off 2 goody jars to nurses
5. Dropped off goody jar to Chiropractor office
6. Dropped off goody jar to The Outdoorsman (we visit there so often)
7. Bought someones coffe in line behind us at Starbucks
8. Bought someones lunch behind us (we did this at Chick-fil-a)
9. I handed a lady an envelope with some ones in it at the Dollar General.
10. I taped a few dollars to a vending machine outside of Wal Mart.
11. Handed a lady a Wal Mart gas card before she began to pump gas.
12. Handed a young mom a Wal Mart gift card while she was in the check out line buying diapers.
13. Gave a jar of goodies to a homeless man
14. Wrote thanks you cards to 2 physicians
15. Made long overdue phone calls.
16. I helped out the softball team by standing in for them.
17. Passed out smiles everywhere I went.
18. Made all the college girls notebooks personalized for them for the semester.
19. Donated the rest of the baked goods.
20. Listened and gave advice when I really didn't have the time. :)
21. Gave a generous tip to our server at supper.
22. Filled up the water jugs for the church building. (actually doing that today)
23. Put in a lot of unnecessary/extra hours working on ladies day projects. (over the past week)
24. Took engagement pictures for free (this was actually done last week)
25. Was very VERY patient with CRAZY drivers. (that is a good deed, right?)
26. Helped out a man at the University Bookstore
27. Handed out 'treat bags' to a cute little brother and sister outside of Wal Mart.

Most of these acts were handed out and then I immediately walked away. I would have LOVED to see their reaction, but I didn't want their 'praise'. I almost scared one lady to death in the Dollar Tree oops. I don't want people to think I posted this blog for the attention. I wanted to give you ideas for those borthdays that may make you feel 'blue'. I had so much fun doing these things. I loved the reactions I received (the ones that I saw). I loved spending the day helping others.

Moving on...while we were at supper Josh handed me my birthday card. Inside was a small packet of folded papers. They were our reservation papers to...ready?....DISNEY WORLD!!!!! We are going the week after finals in December. Just after our 6th Anniversary! I am so excited. There were so many things we weren't able to do on our first trip there in 2009. So, we are already making reservations for certain things AND Josh made us reservations to eat with Cinderella in her castle AND go see Cirque de Soleil (front and center!).  I couldn't be more excited!!!!

Summer Fun!

So...
As you can see...above is my first completed summer project! (well...almost complete. I still need to sew the back on...but, that is easy peasy!). I have a list of things I want to get done on summer break.

Things like:

 1. a deep cleaning of the house

 2. tshirt quilt (check) 

3. get caught up on almost 3 years worth of scrapbooking (one year down)  

4. read a book (haven't started yet) 

5. work on stuff for Ladies Day (in progress)  

6. read for next semester (haven't even started!) 

So...I have a long list but, I am getting there! 

We went at the beginning of June to TN for 2 weeks. One week to visit family and the second week we were at church camp (we had 10 baptisms). The day we got back into TX we stopped at Brownwood/Bangs for a rehearsal dinner and a wedding for DJ and Chaylie the next day. Also, the day of the wedding Erika flew in from AL to spend 10 days with me! WE HAD A BLAST! Two days after she left we had company for another night! This is pretty close to what our schedule looks like most of the time though! CRAZY!

But, as soon as company left I rested a few days and began work on this quilt. It probably took about 10 hours to finish. I took a lot of Josh's old baseball shirts and jerseys and CAREFULLY (they are almost sacred haha) cut the into equal squares. Then I had to stabilize them bc they are so stretchy. Then came cutting the sashing...tedious!!! ugh! The sewing was pretty easy though. He LOVES it! I can't wait to get the back on so he can use it!
I also have t-shirts from my high school and college that I want to make into a quilt. THEN...I have a lot of sentimental shirts between Josh and I that I want to quilt. (I have the shirt he wore on our first date, the shirts we were wearing when he proposed, the first shirts we bought each other, the shirt I wore on our wedding night when we ate supper, and hopefully this year I will have the shirts we wore when we found out we were pregnant) This will probably be my favorite quilt!

So, this is a little peek into my summer!

New semester...new experiences...new desires

So...I am 3 weeks into a new semester. As usual I panicked unnecessarily the first week. It is always the most overwhelming. We lost 3 students from the program last semester (because of grades) and one Monday (because of anxiety). So, now there are 18 of us. We had our first day of clinicals on Monday...a 10 hour day at the hospital :( yuck! After doing my 'clinical prep' day between services and after evening services on Sunday (and not seeing one second of the 'big game')...I got to the hospital at 0630 ready to go! Me and my partner had the awesome opportunity to go to the OR with our patient! We were able to watch a lap chole (laproscopic cholesystectomy (gallbladder), lap appy (laproscopic appendectomy), and ventral hernia repair (belly button hernia). We spent almost 2 hours in a chilly OR room loving EVERY minute! We even got to wear hospital issued scrubs (this is a big deal to us nursing students). It was so neat to be with the patient through the whole process from pre-op to watching surgery to post-op! It was neat being able to tell the patient about what we saw during his surgery!

As I stood in front of the mirror tonight I got so blue...disgusted really and how far I have let myself go. School is no excuse... I needed time to clear my head so I went for a walk/jog for a while. It is so hard for me to eat healthily when we eat out so often (usually when asked by members of the church). Not only eating out but Josh and I have talked many times about working out...but have never gone one step farther. So over the past few weeks I have attempted working out by myself a few times (because I could not keep up with any of my classmates who have asked me to go with them). I felt good afterwards...but doing it alone is NO fun...I miss ERIKA and our workouts! I need motivation! Then I look at my schedule get overwhelmed and loose the motivation... It is time to drop the excuses and get to work.

But, why does eating healthy have to be so much more expensive?!

I really am happy though! I am happy I am going back to school...I am happy that I have a loving husband who got up at 0530 Monday morning to make me breakfast bf clinicals...I am happy I have a loving family...and most of all I am happy I have a Savior whose love is unconditional!

I am trying!

So, since I last blogged we are settled in our new house that the church bought. They are converting the garage into a student center! We have also had a week of vacation in AL and a week of church camp in TN. Also, my good friend Sarah had a baby girl named Shelby and I love her!!!

So, today after services we had to run over to a members house real quick for a chat. Regular preacher business. While Josh was speaking I stepped outside and was trying to help a lady on the phone. All of a sudden I head a car wreck. I knew the noise immediately. So I started walking to the fence in the back of their yard when I heard screams. I began running across the street still in my heels and dialing 911 on the way. When I turned the corner I went into 'rescue mode'. There was a minivan smashed into a light pole. Just as I noticed the man lying beside the vehicle I heard the screams of a little girl from behind me. There were 2 girls, one about 7 and the other about 5. I think the oldest was in shock but the little girl was hysterical. She kept screaming 'where are we and what is wrong with my grandpa?' then she would just cry and scream. Neither of them had shoes on. So I ran over to the van and dug until I found their shoes and took them to the little girls. When I was in the van digging I saw the victim...he was lying there, barely breathing, with foamy saliva coming out of his mouth. I stood to the side, out of the way, until the ambulance, police and fire dept. arrived. A man approached me and asked if I had seen anything and I told him no, that I had just heard it. He said the driver had a seizure and hit the pole. Thankfully the first people on the scene were a trauma surgeon and a nurse. I cry as I type this because of how wonderful our Savior is. I may never know if that was providence that the surgeon was there but this man may live another day because of him. After rescue arrived I began to walk back to the house bc there was nothing more I could do (there were a ton of people there already and I would just have been in the way). I got to the fence and realized the gate had locked behind me. So I walked the block around to the front of the house. As we drove home all I could think about were the horrifying screams of those precious girls and the fact that if their grandfather made it thorough how guilty he would feel, even though he couldn't help it. As we walked into the house Josh asked if my feet were hurting...I didn't even notice...I had been running and walking in my heels until the balls of my feet were raw. The rest of the day all I could think about was those girls and how scared they were. To stand there and realize how fast your life can change makes me want to make some changes....

I want to pray more. I want to study more. I want to love more. I want to teach more. I want to forgive easier. I want to give more chances. I want to have a better attitude. I want to be a better wife and daughter. Life is too short to be selfish and self centered. I am so thankful for the 25 years I have been blessed with and I pray I can have many more healthy years...but, if I don't I want to be ok with that too. Please pray for me as I begin these changes.

This and That

I wasn't sure if anyone actually read my blog or not...so in the craziness of last semester I let it go. I was informed by my mother-in-love though that she reads it and that I am way behind :)

So, run-down....

I am finished with this semester of school. I will take chemistry in the summer before beginning clinicals in the fall. I worked for the school newspaper last semester and really got into photography and learned a lot of new 'tricks' on photoshop! I will post a few pics at the end. I have now completed my first sets of couples pics, senior pics, engagement pics, wedding pics and maternity pics. Along with a shoot I did for a family for Mother's Day. I am enjoying it a lot...editing is time consuming though!

We just finished up our spring gospel meeting and Focal Point. Also, Josh's parents just left this morning after visiting a weekish. This week we will begin painting the new house (still praying our in AL will sell). Hopefully we will be moving in the house the first week of June. Just in time to pack up and go to AL and to Reelfoot for camp! We will miss Sardis, but I think we will have a lot of fun at Reelfoot too!

I am also anxiously anticipating Sarah and Hilton's baby's arrival!!! It cannot get here soon enough for me! Next week the baby will be 'fully baked' as Sarah said. :) I hope she has it before we leave or waits until we get back! (like things run on my time table...ha!)

Am I missing anything?.....If so I will try to post again soon :)

over half way done!

I didn't realize my last post was Sept. 17...whew...it's been a while! Well, first semester of my second time in college is almost over. Only 5 weeks left :) I just got done with my second test in all of my classes (except history). It will soon be time to register for next semester.

Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and Josh's parent will be flying in to spend about a week with us! Then, before you know it....Christmas break!!! I have been trying to talk Josh into letting me put up the tree...he says it is too soon :( Well, thats about all that has been going on...school, school, school...