Down to the Wire.....

I can't believe that this semester is almost over! It is flying by. I'm leaving for Thanksgiving break in a week and after I get back, there's only 2 weeks left until I'm on Christmas break. At the end of this year, I'll be all done with schoolwork and starting in June it's time for me to start rotations. My official graduation date has been set: May 16, 2015!! It's so surreal that in a year and a half I'll be done with school forever. Graduation has been a long time coming, and it can't get here soon enough. I knew this time was coming, but I got an email from my professor about my schedule and it made it feel so real.

As exciting as it is, it also scares me. The transition and change is going to take awhile to get use to. Once I start rotations, the preceptors are going expect me to not only remember but apply those things that I've been learning for years now. It's intimidating because right now I don't feel like I know anything. I can't even remember all the things that I've learned this semester, let alone recall things from the past 5 years! Obviously, I know more then I think I do (hopefully), and I guess I'll find out when the time comes.

With the start of the new school year, also means the start of sports season. Football & Volleyball are close to being over. My favorite time of year started a few weeks ago, which means it's time for basketball! I love going to watch our team play. It's such a cool atmosphere to be in (even if our student section is obnoxious and don't have much sportsmanship)!! Dani & I have been going to as many games as we could this year, as long as we didn't have homework or exams to study for. We love our Pokes & are proud to be from Wyoming!!

The Rest of My Summer.....

For the most part the rest of my summer consisted mainly of working and hanging out at home. As always one of the best parts of my summer was Lovell's Day week. Melissa & her family came down because it was her 10 year reunion! Before the town festivities started, we went up to 5 Springs for a picnic and to get out of the house for the night. It was the only time this summer that I went up to the mountains and it made me ache to be up there!

We spent the week going to the follies, babysitting the kids, going to listen to the Cowley Boys, hit up the parade/ rodeo, and ended the week with the fireworks.

It was so nice this summer and I loved spending time outside, going on walks, or spending the night in the yard watching the kiddos play in the yard. Sometimes it's nice to have time to relax and have nothing more to do then enjoy time with your family!

Probably the highlight of my summer was making a trip to Cheyenne Frontier Days to watch Luke Bryan in concert. It was a quick trip because we went down on Wednesday night and were back by Friday afternoon. The concert was amazing and he was just as good looking in person as I had hoped he'd be. The opening act was Thompson Square and I definitely became a bigger fan of their songs after that night. The best part of the weekend was spending time with Dani & Emi. Before going to the concert, we ate at the Olive Garden and then walked around the fair for awhile before getting in line. While we were standing in line, we got caught in a rain storm, so all the time we took getting ready was pretty pointless since we ended up looking like wet dogs for the entire concert. It rained like crazy before, during, and after the concert. Even though I dealt sickness, wind, cold, rain and obnoxious people, it was all worth it watch Luke Bryan shake it!

 After the first rainstorm hit.

We even made it back in time for Cowley's Day to watch the parade and got to see all my cousins, aunts, uncles, & Grandpa Ken. After we watched the parade, we spent the day at the park watching Emi play in the volleyball tournament and catching up with the Smith family who came down from Utah.

Summer ended by having the week off from work, which we spent at home relaxing, going to Billings to go shopping for school clothes / supplies, and spending one of the days in Yellowstone. I forget how beautiful the park is, and wish I'd go more often. I didn't realize there were so many parts of the park I hadn't ever been to, and since we didn't have anywhere to go, we drove through a lot more of it. We saw the falls and went to Mammoth to eat walk around.

I'm amazed at how fast summer went. I can't believe I'm already back down in Laramie at school. It was a good break, spending it with my friends and family. Thanks to time off, I'm ready to be back in full swing at school! Bring on my last year of classes.

Superwoman For a Day.....

I always knew that mom's were superheroes, but it wasn't until yesterday that I truly appreciated everything a mom has to do.

Kara & Jason needed to go to Billings to pick out some stuff for their addition on their house. To make the decision process a little easier, I babysat the kids. It was one of the longest, most stressful 7 hours of my life. But I loved it and couldn't think of a better way then spending it with those sweet kids that I'm lucky enough to call my nieces & nephews. We played games, watched movies, ate dinner & popcorn, Just Dance'd, and completed everything on Katelyn's bucket list she made before I got there. We were even able to clean up our mess so the house looked good when Kara & Jase got home.

I must have done an okay job because they asked if I could do it again next time their mom & dad needed to go to Billings. I was even invited to stay the night and eventually left with tears of goodbye because they didn't want to me to go. I'm so lucky to be so loved by those kids.

After just 7 hours I was worn out. My parents and sisters even came to help for awhile, but I was still ready for bed by the time I got home. Mom's are definitely all like Superwoman. They do their job each & every day without a break, vacation, pay, sick days, or most of the time gratitude or notice for what they do. I have the best mother in the entire world, who does all she can for our family. She works herself to the bone for us. After yesterday, I'm doubly amazed that she's done this for over 30 years! With all the hard work and sacrifices you make, you really have to be a selfless person to be a mother.

This gave me a little insight to what a mom does every day. There's no harder job in the world, but also no more rewarding job. I can't imagine a better feeling in the world then to feel how loved you are by those little kids. My mom & sisters are the best examples of how mom's should be and act. I hope that I will be just like them when the time comes for me. Thanks Kara for letting my watch your sweet kiddos!

Target Practice.....

Ever since I was a little girl, I loved to play with guns. I felt like it was a "boy thing" to like to do, so I thought I was weird different for liking that. As I grew up, I figured I'd lose interest in this but it hasn't been the case. Even though it seemed silly and useless I wanted one. As much as I loved them, I never actually shot a gun until this summer when Kristen & I went shooting. 

My dad got a pellet gun a while ago and I had a lot of fun shooting it. So I decided since a real gun was too expensive to buy on a whim (but makes a great Christmas present), I wanted to get a pellet gun of my own. It came about 2 days ago and I love it. I got a Beretta PX4 Storm and even though it's only a pellet gun, it looks like the real thing (which is why I wanted this one)! 

I got some targets so I would have something to shoot at. I'm not too good, but I'm actually impressed that I hit the target so many times. Hopefully as I break the gun in, I'll get to be a little more accurate! 

I'm super excited to finally have my gun. It's just as fun as I hoped it would be! 

Fishing Adventure.....

Thursday night Kristen asked me if I wanted to go fishing since I had the day off on Friday. Kris likes to fly fish, which I've never done but I knew that so it was no big deal. Normally, I'm a sit on the bank and throw in my worm baited hook kind of girl, but Kristen is not that kind of fisherman. My family thought I was crazy to go fishing in capris and a tank top (to be honest I didn't know why I was dressing like this either, but Kristen said that's how she was going so I followed suit). Little did I know I had a surprise in store.

We headed up to Newton Lake (which is outside of Cody) and got all geared up. I didn't know how much fishing we were going to be able to do because it was pretty windy and started to rain. Luckily it let up and we spent a little over an hour on the lake.

Needless to say it wasn't a very successful trip. Neither of us caught a fish, and honestly we didn't even get a nibble! We aren't the most patient of fishermen, so we decided to head back into town and hit up Walmart. We ended our day with eating at Dairy Queen (Lovell or and Laramie should definitely invest in getting one in town). Now that I'm not quite as amateur at this fly fishing business, I'm sure there'll be plenty more fishing trips to come.

File Folder Games.....

When I was little I remember playing with File Folder games when we went to church. They had the cutest pictures, were really simple, but they kept us entertained (and quiet) during Sacrament Meeting. 

I was on Pinterest awhile ago and saw a "pin" about those exact same games. I knew I loved to play them, and figured Kara's kids would too (maybe even Kara- if they kept them entertained [possibly quiet] during sacrament)! So I got some my own copies from this website: http://www.finchfamilygames.com/

Needless to say, they were a hit. They took quite a "few" hours to finish all of them with the printing, cutting out, laminating, gluing (or using Zots), and magnetizing them. The large amount of time probably had a little to do with my OCD and the fact that I tried to make 10 separate games at once, but that's just a minor detail. I loved doing them though, they gave me something to, and with how much the kiddos loved them it made it totally worth it!

I not only wanted to make them for the kids, but also wanted to have them for when if I get married and have kids of my own. 

Adventure with Aunt Bethy.....

Last Friday I took Katelyn, Jacob, and Dallin to the library because Jake had gotten his own Library Card for Wyoming Readers at school and was a little anxious to use it. After school was out, we were on our way to the Library, where we all got some books. After we were all "checked out," we headed to Minchow's for some ice cream (Jake had a certificate for a free kids scoop and he needed wanted to use this perfect opportunity to cash in)! Each of them got some fabulous prizes from the Crane Machines while we were there. We ended the afternoon adventure by getting a pop and some gum from Maverick [I think they know how to work Aunt Bethy over - just tell me what they want and they get it :)]!

It was a fun little trip, and they had a blast (which was the whole point)! I'm excited for the summer and many more mini adventures to come.