Mom's Day.

I always look forward to Mothers Day. I love the cards and letters that my kids make for me at school. This year Drey made me a calendar with a poem for each month. The kid has got talent! His poems were amazing! Avery wrote me a sweet note letting me know that I was a #1 Mom and she thinks I'm pretty, nice, sweet and A-OK! She also said I was "importint to her". I love her spelling. Gage cleaned up pretty much the whole house for me. He even vacuumed!

Sunday morning, I went over to take my mom some flowers from my dad. My dad is down in Mexico working so he asked that we make sure she had flowers on Mothers Day. I took a picture so my dad could approve my choice. Did I do good? I thought these tulips were gorgeous and you can replant the bulbs and enjoy them year after year. I tried to get my mom to pose with them but it was early in the morning and she didn't want to. She did allow her hand to be photographed, though!

Then we went over to Granny Harris' house to bring her breakfast. It was just a light breakfast of muffins and fruit but it was tasty! Gage...too cool for school.He thinks he's bad now that he's getting taller than everybody. I didn't realize he was THAT much taller than his Granny but...the picture speaks for itself!I made Granny Harris a book of all the different pictures from family events throughout the year. I used a company called Blurb that will turn your pictures or blog into a book. It turned out really well! I think she liked it....hope so.After church we made dinner and took it over to my moms. Creamed spaghetti with ham and peas. Sounds gross but it's one of my favorites! It's basically spagetti in a cream sauce with chunks of ham and peas in it. SOOOO good. I ate entirely too much but figured it's allowed on Mothers Day. We were able to talk to my brother and his family on the Webcam. My kids got a kick out of that! It was a great, busy day! I was exhausted by the end of Mothers Day!! Thankfully, Joey got all the kids ready for bed so I could watch the finale of The Amazing Race. It was an awesome day! Can't wait until next year!!

I love being a mom. It's a hard job. It's a fun job. Sometimes it's a smelly job. My kids can make me laugh till I cry and they make me frustrated to the point I want to pull my hair out. But I love every stinkin one of them and hope I do a good enough job that they turn out all right. I have great examples to follow..my mom and mother-in-law are the bombs bomb...the cat's meow..the...well you get the idea. Happy Mothers Day!

Halfway done with NURSING SCHOOL!!!!!!!

This last week marks the end of Block 2. I still have a final exam next Wednesday but class, lab and clinicals were all wrapped up this week! I can't believe it. It feels so weird to think that the semester is over and I have a whole summer to lounge around reading novels (instead of textbooks) and getting a FULL nights sleep and hanging out with my kids and swimming and having time to work out again! And most importantly...no STRESS! No constantly thinking about what project or paper is due or if I'm ready for the next test. We had a test every single Wednesday so you could NOT get behind on your studying. It was constant and grueling and IT'S OVER! It feels SO good. I did it! I actually loved Block 2. I loved the instructors, I had a great clinical group and I got to work in the hospital instead of the nursing home...it was just an awesome semester. Below are some pictures of us practicing our mad skills.......

Another awesome clinical group..I stole this picture from my friends Facebook page. I wasn't in this group but I'm sure they have mad skills, too.

After the last day of clinicals we all decided to go out to celebrate. We went to eat at Valle Luna where we gorged ourselves on chips and salsa and reminisced about all the good and not so good times this semester. My partner in crime...or partner in "slime" was Ali. We worked on the same floor at the hospital all semester and saw and did a lot together! We're trying to get the same clinical schedule for next semester because ...well...shes a rockstar nurse and I don't want to do it without her. Keeping the fingers crossed.

Thank you to EVERYONE who helped our family out this semester. So so so many people that made it possible. If I didn't have support and help I simply wouldn't be able to go to nursing school. So THANK YOU! Thank you to my mother in law, my mom, my sisters, my sisters in law, my neice and all my friends and family who were willing to watch Delly while I was gone. Thank you for the dinners brought in to feed my family during the crazy weeks that Joey was bedridden with his back issues. Thank you for the words of encouragement when I was tired and stressed. I've wondered many times if I'm being selfish by doing this. It takes so much of me. Thankfully, the kids and Joey are adjusting and pitching in to help and we're doing just fine with it. I hope I'm teaching my kids the value of education and following your dreams. I've wanted to be a nurse forever and it's so close I can taste it. So, thanks you guys. I love my peeps!

To be opened in 2019!

Tonight was Family Home Evening and Gage was in charge of the lesson. His lesson was on goals and working towards something. He had us each write a letter or list of who we want to be or what we want to have accomplished in ten years. We then rolled all of our papers up and put them in a bottle. We decided to bury it by the big tree in the backyard. It seems like a good landmark that will hopefully still be there in 2019!

Gage dug the hole and at the last minute Gage and Drey decided that they wanted to add something else so they ran back inside. They came out a few minutes later and each added a time capsule of their own. I have no idea what they put in it so it should be interesting to see in ten years! Good bye until 2019!!!!

Of course, the evening just woundn't be complete if it didn't involve the boys fighting! They call it wrestling but since it usually ends with someone getting hurt...I call it fighting. Even so, it was a great FHE!

Girls Night Out!

Every 3rd Thursday, The Edge 103.9 has a free concert. This last Thursday my sisters and I decided to have a much needed girls night out and go to it. Joshua Radin was playing...who is just the greatest! Josh and I have been through some tough times together. Whenever I'm studying and stressing out because my brain won't hold anymore information, I put on my Joshua Radin CD and let his voice just make everything better. We started the night off sharing a BIG salad and pizza crusts at Nello's. We had to go to the Nello's in Tempe because of "an incident" that happened at the Nello's in Chandler. Let's just say that we can't go to the Chandler Nello's anymore.



When we got to the place in Scottsdale where the concert was being held, we were surprised how few people were there. We were even 45 minutes late and it didn't seem like anyone was there. So we decided to go into Dos Gringos (which is a bar/club) to use the restroom. I must say I was a little flattered that we got carded! Maybe they just card everyone because I'm pretty sure we look "of age". As we were walking to the back looking for the restrooms...lo and behold ...guess who is just sitting there at a table with a couple of other people. None other than Joshua Radin himself! I saw him but didn't make the connection of who it was until we went into the bathroom and Tia said "Did you see Joshua Radin sitting right there!?" I wasn't expecting him to be just out in the general population so it didn't register that it was him just sitting there! We quickly got out our cameras and went back out to ask him for a picture but just that fast he was GONE! We looked everywhere thinking he just stepped outside or something but to no avail. Talk about a missed opportunity! We went outside to the stage and still there were not that many people around so we walked right up and got in the front row. By the time the concert actually started around 9:00 PM there were TONS of people there and we were right in the front row center! It was perfect!

There were two openers before Joshua Radin came on...the first was a local band called Try Me Bicycle and they were really good!

The second was a chick named Meiko and she was also really good.

After Meiko performed, Tia announced that she was really parched and she was going to buy a drink. I couldn't let her lose her great spot in the front row so I reached into my purse and pulled out a giant bottle of water. We had a great laugh over that one! It's kind of an inside joke. Whenever Tia and I travel to Europe I always buy a HUGE water bottle to carry around...just in case.. and Tia never does because she doesn't want to have to carry it. It never fails that she gets really thirsty and ends up drinking my water. I'm a good sister...so I share. It was just funny that I had a big water bottle. Probably not to anyone else...but it was funny to us! Sorry! I like to stay hydrated!! Finally, Joshua Radin came on stage and gave a great concert! We had prime spots in the front! He was like 10 feet away from us! It was so totally worth it to stay up WAY past my bedtime to see him. I'm not in the habit of collapsing into bed in the early morning hours. I was really...really..tired the next day but so glad we went!

And of course the evening wouldn't be complete without an obnoxious drunk person(in the pink jacket) invading our personal space. She was pushing her way through trying to get up to the front. She was loud and annoying but we had a good laugh at her expense. Drunk people are freaking hilarious!
A good time was had by all. A big thanks to my home-girls for making it all possible!