remembering apartment 1303

This past week was move in day for BYU-Idaho.

Rexburg grew by 20,000 people. 

I'm not so excited about the amount of traffic.

But a start of a new semester also means that my sister is back!

We had a couple of people stay with us before they could move in to their apartment.

I'm glad those single friends don't think its weird to stay with their married friends, ha.

 I helped those friends move into their apartment in the old complex I lived in.

I lived there for almost two years before I was married.
As we were moving them in, I walked by my old apartment and paused.
From standing outside you could hear laughter.
I have no idea who lives there now.
We're all graduated/married and have moved.
But there are so. many. memories.
We were so silly and had so much fun. every day.
So many late nights staying up, talking, and drinking Mountain Dew.
In this apartment I made some of my best friends!

I also came home to this apartment after Eric and I got engaged.

 We cuddled every night on the couch together

or practiced making our first meals together in this kitchen. 

 and said goodnight to each other at the door when he walked home to his apartment. 

Ohhh apartment 1303, sometimes I miss you and the memories you hold. 

When you walk by your old apartment, you just have to take a picture!

Now some pictures for the memories: 

Birthday parties/trips to the lake/sunday church/pranks

We all four will be at Kelly's wedding (far right) in November!

I'm too excited.

What am I doing again?

Oh where to even begin?

What I constantly have to repeat to myself when I'm studying for the NCLEX,

calm down. 

I get nervous for this test + start feeling discouraged

I have to remind myself I graduated + got through nursing school,

it's the adversary bringing me down + I chose to be a nurse

I can make that happen!

I have been dedicating all of my time to studying for this test. 

About 6+ hours of my day for studying + it's a good thing my husband works 8 hour days.

(I'd be so distracted) 

I know that time will keep moving forward + it'll eventually be behind me.

 I'll think back and wonder why I was so nervous?

But for right now this is a huge moment in my life that I'm trying to push through.

Then I remind myself the 'mantra' to my blog, be happy! 

I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who has given me so much to be happy about! 

Don't worry, we have managed to have lots of fun during our break from school!

I want to get it all documented here on the blog soon! 

I feel like stating that will make me do it? haha.

 Ending on a funnier note, here's how crazy I get while studying the worst test ever.

aka NCLEX.

College Graduation!

Jeez, my first post ever on this blog was my high school graduation. I remember the countdown, the packing and excitement of starting college. And now my college graduation? I can hardly believe it! 

My feelings were all over the place all day. I almost didn't feel ready. This was really happening? I have really given up many hours of my time, of sleep, and tears all for nursing school and it's finally paying off? Through nursing school you dream about it being done and making it. But it always seemed so far out of reach. When I would catch myself thinking about it, I would laugh and remind myself I was still trying to make it through the semester, or day. I knew it was graduation day, but I couldn't picture myself walking across the stage and being handed the degree I worked so hard for. And then, it was happening! I was wearing a gown again that was a little too big, I was trying to put on a cap that made my ears stick out, and all of our family was here! 

I walked across the stage as my name was called, shook some hands and clutched onto my diploma cover. You know how it goes :) BEST FEELING EVER! I could not of done any of it without the support of my family and close friends cheering me on. I was spoiled to have my in-laws and mother and sister here for a WEEK with us. We had a blast! Eric has always been my bestfriend. He supported me when I wanted to do nursing in high school, when I was applying to the program when he was on his mission, when he was engaged to me during the program and now married to me for my graduation! He is incredible. I also have to mention that a huge part of me did this for my Dad. He passed away about a week after I read my acceptance letter by his bedside. I know he is so dang excited and proud of me!

My time at Brigham Young University-Idaho has been amazing. I could tell a story for hours about everything that I've done, about the friends I have made and all that I've learned. Lots of people pack up their belongings and hit the road where ever it's taking them next, like a lot of my friends. But lucky for me, I get to hang out still right here in Rexburg, Idaho as my husband finishes school for himself. That sounded like a lot of sarcasm... But I really do enjoy our time here! Especially being together, making memories and new friends.

So what's up now? Things are definitely changing around here! I feel like I'm out in the real world. Although I may not get my dream job (L&D nurse) right away, I am so excited to drop the "student" nurse name, add a RN behind my name, and spend 12+ hours in a hospital but actually be getting paid for it! Nursing school is a challenging experience. As if the rigors faced during it weren’t enough, I still have to take my professional licensure exam to be able to practice as a registered nurse. So that is my next challenge + task I am tackling! Oh, I am also continuing my education and going after my BSN degree. This september I will begin mainly researching/writing papers as I start working towards it. Thankfully, it's all online class, a big difference from what it's been like and I finish July 2015!

I'm still here!

And as happy as ever! These past couple of months have been a whirl-wind. Soon after getting married we moved into our first apartment and started into a routine. This semester flew by for me going to school/ working part-time and Eric working full-time. It finally comes to a close this week for me! On Friday I am done with test, classes, clinical, projects... done with my ASN Nursing Degree! I can't wait to see all of our family for graduation next week!

Meanwhile this semester we've been making time for lots of fun. Idaho is a funny place. It's only beautiful for about 3 months out of the semester. If you've ever visited, you understand. We've had lots of bike rides, hikes and this past Saturday I had a first. I went white water rafting for the first time! I was probably the most nervous. Eric has been a ton on the Colorado River. But man, after a few miles on the river I was in a happy place.

We drove 3 hours to the Salmon River. That's the first thing I loved. Getting so far away from Rexburg and just forgetting about school work the whole day. I enjoyed just being in the moment all day. Our raft guide let us know when it was a safe to jump out and swim. Floating on my back, looking up at the blue sky, as the Salmon River flows through the mountains covered in pine trees, with a smile on my face, it was magical. And the sunburn is completely worth it!

We also enjoyed a wonderful 4th of July! Idaho Falls has the 2nd best firework show in the nation. And it didn't disappoint!

LOTS is planned for the month of August! Including my NCLEX test (boards for nursing license) and a vacation I have been

looking forward to forever now. 

Hiking + Snow Cones + More Ramblings

Going hiking and randomly stopping for snow cones have been our favorite things to do lately! 

My current favorite snow snowcone: Gummy Worms. A mix of Green Apple + Blue Raspberry

We finished ALL of the seasons of The Walking Dead.

I thought I was one to never watch that show. Then I was hooked.

Labor and Delivery nurses is where it's at.

I'm loving my preceptorship. 

even if it's the night shift.

We only wait for the movies to get to the cheap theater.

So we just saw 'The Other Woman'.

We laughed out loud the entire time 

and then thought "this is pretty inappropriate" haha

Inside jokes are our favorite thing.

We didn't realize we had so many until my little sister came over for dinner

and we laughed 95% of the time and she didn't get it.

If you aren't a fan of Jimmy Fallon something is wrong.

Have you seen his hashtag videos? If not, google it!

Anyways, E is hilarious at doing them in the most perfect moments of our day.

#sneakinin

#donedidit

There we go with our inside jokes again :) 

I finally ordered wedding pictures. 

That was a hard decision to choose which to print and not all 500.

Speaking of weddings...

What is the acceptable time to wait until you should probably start Thank You cards?

Eric banged up his finger pretty bad at work.

We didn't have any band-aides. I realized we didn't have any type of first aide kits.

Good thing I'm a nurse right? Ha!

We cooked our first meal in our crock pot.

It was delicccccccous! 

I'm almost done decorating our apartment. 

We aren't allowed to put holes in the wall.

Except I put two. oops :)

You know how everyone one else in the world is enjoying Summer besides BYU-Idaho?

Well my sweet summer is 6 weeks away!

That means graduation is in..... 34 days! 

We're hangin' in there!

Imagine Dragons

Great weekend. Great friends. Great concert. We saw Imagine Dragons in concert for the second time! [twice in one year] They put on quite a good show. I love concerts, the crowd getting built up and the excitement. They sounds AMAZING in concert! I love Imagine Dragons and I'm going on 3 years of listening to them. It makes me sad when people say they've never heard of them! You have, right? We spent the fun weekend hanging out in Boise and listening to Imagine Dragons non stop. Now it's back at school for the week until our fun plans this coming weekend! 

Now for a little video of "Demons" 

Ignore my little outburst in the middle. 

I'm just singing along and so is the entire arena.

:)

click to expand the video bigger

These past 3.5 months

These past 3.5 months, let me tell ya, they've been some for the books. During the mess of it all they weren't exactly times I wanted to remember so much. Now, I want nothing but to look back on them and be grateful.

This past semester was busy. Extra, super, crazy busy. Nothing I ever imagined it would be. On December 20th I finished my fifth semester of college and second semester of nursing school. And I'm just now blogging/talking about any of it...I had to recover first [[And I should probably say something before I dive into another semester.. we're on the 4th day already]]

The nursing program was tough...[[tough/hard meaning I don't really want to talk about it]] But on top of it I accepted a calling as Relief Society President.

--A little insert about what Relief Society is for friends/family who don't know.--

The Relief Society is the oldest women's organization in the world. It was established in 1842 for women 18 years of age and older. Women come together to strengthen, serve, and teach each other. It's Motto is "Charity Never Faileth". The Relief Society is my favorite thing about the LDS church. To me it is friendship. Here at school we are all moving through the same phases of life. Living away from home, college, etc. It is a way for us to be there for one another. Here are some more answers from people of what Relief Society is to them http://mormon.org/faq/relief-society

I felt blessed to be able to serve with about 40 other young women. I was very apprehensive at first being in the nursing program and taking this on. Was I just adding more stress to myself? But it felt right. It was what I needed. I knew that if I did my best to serve and work hard in my studies everything would be fine.

There is one thing I have learned in college thus far, and there's been a lot, Heavenly Father will not let you down. Ever. He is waiting to bless you, but we must have the faith in him that everything will work out. When it all comes down to it, after you've made all your plans and done everything in your power you can possibly do, you have to put your trust and faith in Him. And He comes through for you, every single time. 

At the end of the semester everything worked out wonderfully. I was stunned. I didn't know what to do next, except thank my Heavenly Father for blessing me. I've never worked so hard and felt so good to be rewarded for it. All with the help of my Heavenly Father. My testimony and faith have been strengthened. 

And I get to do all again this new semester, woop!

Snow Day

Today I took a fun afternoon in the snow. I think the snow is so beautiful. I'm so grateful to live here. I love sledding, snow angels, the way the snow falls so peacefully. And coming in from playing in it to drink hot chocolate. I've never had so much fun in snow. I have to learn to love it though if I'm going to live in it the next 4-5 months. I don't love driving in it, but I'm doing good learning. I love bundling up and headed out for an adventure in it.

 

Thanksgiving break recap

This Thanksgiving break was pure bliss. I made it home to TEXAS for 4 wonderful days. This was the first time Eric and I got to spend time together since he got home from his mission. It is still so crazy that he is home. I LOVED every minute! We spent one entire day out on the ranch. It was great! It was so nice to just be together after all this time :)

Home consisted of:

+catching fire

+2 Thanksgiving meals

+FAMILY

+lots of pie

+my amazing bed

+black Friday shopping

+putting the Christmas tree up and decorations

+horse back riding

+4-wheeling

+pickle ball

+bowling

+MEXICAN food 

 I loved the time of doing NO nursing. I enjoyed it way too much. I didn't want to come back. Within being back 24 hours it snowed 6 inches. Joy. Countdown is on until home for Christmas!

 17 more days!

 

 

 

 

You can do hard things

Have you ever had a task ahead of you or set a goal and then you felt that it was all unrealistic? 

I had that exact experience. 

After running a 5k back in July with some friends, we decided that we could take on anything. Basically, we had a runner's high. We signed up to be in a relay race of 38 miles. Yes, you read that right. Running 38 miles split up between us. It is the Temple to Temple relay race at BYU-Idaho. One member begins running at the Rexburg, Idaho temple and then your team ends up at the Idaho Falls, Idaho temple. We were crazy. Of course, our runners high was gone by September when it was time for the race. We thought "what in the world were we thinking signing up?" We all looked at the route of our leg of the race and got our t-shirts... there was no turning back.

I learned a couple of really neat things from this experience. 

1. You can do hard things.

2. We must keep moving forward in life. 

3. We are not meant to move through life alone.

It amazes me what are bodies are able to do. We each finished our leg of the race, many of us not stopping once. When you put your mind to something, you can do it! You can do hard things! I ran the first leg of the race. As I was running I was thinking about how we are all progressing through life. Since I started the relay I felt kind of unproductive. I felt like my part was small compared to the other team members who ran closer to the end of the race and were getting to finish point. Sometimes in life we feel like we aren't moving very far. I was running against the bitter wind and it was hard to see the difference I was making. Sometimes life feels like that. We get hit with something, like the wind, that pushes us a little further back than we would like. But we have to keep moving forward. In our case, moving forward towards the temple. We did it and we did it as a team. I believe we were each able to make our leg of the race so great because our team was there cheering each other on. I couldn't of done it by myself. A support system is awesome. We all felt so accomplish when we ran through the finish line at the Idaho Falls temple. 

 At the beginning, the Rexburg temple!

 Finished at the Idaho Falls temple! 

Our team name was "buns on the run." This picture needed to be taken. 

This last week: Through iPhone pictures

Cheesecake Factory #myfirsttime

Surprise going away party

Labor Day Weekend

Packing boxes to ship to Idaho.

Pedicure. Just because. 

Lunch with a best friend before I go. #nowthatsagoodfortunecookie

Bye Texas!!

Quick trip to SLC, Utah

Finally made it back to school!

It's been a busy week, that is for sure. My sister and I made it back to school at BYU-Idaho. Here's to another busy week of apartment shopping, unpacking, decorating, training, and welcoming new freshmen! 

A thing or two to remember at college

I can't believe that it's been a little over two years since I graduated high school and started college.
What I can't believe even more is my little sister is starting her first semester of college this fall. I also know a lot of others who are moving out, some traveling far, and starting their college experience for the first time.

I wanted to leave you with some things that I have learned:  

• Don't give up. And stay positive. College can be as good or bad as you make it. This is one of the best times. Become the person that you want to be. You are the only person who can be you! Don't change for anyone else and stay true. 
• Do what you like. Do the things that you are interested in. One biggest regret I have is just waiting to long to get involved. There are so many things to be a part of on campus. Go to one of those fair thingys and sign up to join organizations! You meet a TON of people and make some great friends!
• Get the most out of college. In college you will have a lot of opportunities.They may seem like a lot of work at first, but you can have the greatest experiences. If you want to study abroad, then GO! Take that internship. Audition for something. These experiences will shape you and you can discover a lot about yourself. 
• Have an open mind. About everything: your classmates, professors, roommates, and  your future...Don't be afraid to change your major! I was so set on what I wanted to do since at least halfway through high school. Yes, I am pursuing that major now, but I actually went back and forth on what I wanted to do a ton of times! I met with advisers and read up on other majors. I took classes that interested me and discovered a lot. I had teachers who tried to persuade me to go to PA school or stick with Child Development. I looked at my options. I'm really glad I did, because now I feel even more confident about my major.
• Balancing time. It's a huge deal. Everyone thinks they're going to be a pro at it their first semester. I sure wasn't because it's easy to get caught up with everything going on. You're schedule is a really big change. Make time to study. Find your ideal place to study and just get things done. I change my spot I study every semester. Don't be afraid to use a tutor. They are a blessing. Then make time to go out and be social. Have FUN!

I have heard a lot of "This just isn't working out. This is going to completely ruin college." Whether it's because you didn't get the class you wanted/needed or living where you wanted to, etc. I promise that things will work out. You may not be able to see it in the moment, but it's happening that way for a reason. Realize and accept the fact that there are going to be hard times. Times when you are going to be really stressed. I had a couple of meltdown moments when I wasn't accepted to nursing school the first time I applied. Push through. It's all a part of a plan and it will work out in the end! Remember you are not alone, you are child of God. As long as you have the drive, it will all work out and get done. God wants you to succeed!

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. 

So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. 

You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. 

This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” 

–Steve Jobs

Smile. Be happy. It's an exciting time!

Congratulations to the Class of 2013 and good luck in college! 

just ask me if you have any other questions!

Highlights of fourth college semester!

ummmm, best semester ever.
here's some pictures to prove it.
(in order of happenings)

This all should really have it's own post. I started out the semester being apart of "Get Connected." I spent two days with an amazing group of people getting ready for it. Then the new freshmen arrived to campus. I was able to serve them with my partner and help new students move into their apartments, find their books and help lead all the new student orientation and activities. I have enjoyed getting involved on campus so much, I stayed apart of it as an Involvement Rep for the rest of the semester. Now, I'm super excited for Get Connected this next semester. 
3 more weeks! 

 

IMAGINE DRAGONS CONCERT

ahhhh yes this really happened! I skipped a day of my busy nursing life and left. Just left. The day before competency testing too. I went to my classes still, thank goodness they all stared 7:45am and were done by 11. Then I drove 5 hours to Boise and saw Imagine Dragons in concert. It was all kinds of amazing. They were SO good! The venue was outside in a beautiful open field with the stage set up. We got as close as we could to it! 

Taken right after I finished my first clinical at the hospital as a student nurse and SURVIVED! 

one semester down, three more to go

 

I ran my first 5k! WOO! The Color Run came right to Rexburg, Idaho. It was SO much fun! We were all so excited. I'm glad so many of my friends got to do it too, that definitely made it the best. It was a motivation to keep running so you could get color thrown at you haha. After the race there was a huge party with color being thrown EVERYWHERE!

4th of July was such a blast this year! We went floating down the Snake river in Ashton, Idaho. And yes, that is 3 store bought tubes on top of my little Kia. Ghetto, I know. haha. But you betcha it worked and I invested and now own my own inner tube! (the things I keep accumulating in college, jeez) The river was awesome and the view was gorgeous! We enjoyed sweet fireworks too!

This semester would not of been so great without my neighbors, ward, and FHE group. 
Twister paint, pudding fights, hallway parties, picnics, ice caves.
Can't forget drinking LOTS of Mountain Dew ;) 

My awesome roommates deserve their own collage of pictures, too! 

I truly believe I was able to get through this semester with the help of the people the Lord has placed in my life. I believe that we meet people for a certain reason. Everyone was a huge support to me, whether they realize it or not. Something else that I grew to love this past semester is the people in the nursing program. We joke that by the end of the program we'll all either be sick of each other or be the best of friends. When you spend so much time together and share the same frustrations with classes you become friends and get to know each other real quick! (we gave bed baths to each other about the second week, real close quick I tell ya. not to mention trusting each other to give shots to one another) They're a great bunch and I'm happy to be in the program with this group! We all encourage each other and work hard together. 

Countdown: Rexburg 18 days