Happy "early" Mother's Day Mom! :)

Just in case I am buried in books Sunday (studying for my last final EVER) I wanted to do an early Mother's Day post!!! I wish I could be with my mammasita but unfortunately, I am stuck in Lubbock studying. Yuck!

But on with the post, I am quite certain and have been for a while now that I have one of the best Moms in the world! My mom has been my rock, support, and encouragement the past couple years while I have been trying to get through grad school. She has been encouraging me & believing in me every second from day one, and has been SO patient with me! I can't even imagine what I have put her through either! It can' be easy having to be the one on the other end of all my stressed out phone calls, tears, and fluctuating moods!

Not only has she been here for me the past couple years, but for the past 25!! My mom has a supernatural ability to "know what's right" and I appreciate that now more than ever! She ALWAYS has a solution and is almost never wrong. I am thankful for her 6th sense about bad situations now that I am older!! She protected us from so much as we were growing up and we always knew we could count on her to be there for us. I know all kids don't have that security in a Mom and I am so glad that I did! I hope to be half the mom she is someday!!

I am so lucky to have a mom that:

1. Prays for me everyday

2. Calls me everyday

3. Likes to just hang out and watch movies and chat with me

4. Likes to shop! ;)

5. Loves her husband and teaches me how to be a good wife

6. Is sooo thoughtful and never leaves anyone out

7. Uses the bible as her guide for life, and makes every decision in an attempt to be a servant of God's

7. Has a heart for volunteer work

8. Has a really cute sense of style

9. Is willing to go with me to get ice cream even when she is on Weight Watchers

10. Used to make me breakfast tacos every morning before school and wrap them in foil so I could eat them in the car on the way to school

11. Is extremely generous and paid for all of my crazy schooling

12. Knows how to have a good time

13. Is organized.....I don't know where I would be without an organized Mom!

14. Has always been my biggest advocate

15. Loves me and makes me feel special & important every time we talk!!

I Love You Mom!!

Happy Happy Mother's Day!!

Miss You!!

Mystery Solved

Today I decided to study at home. I am done with my internship and am really sick and tired of the library, so I decided to try to study for my last 2 tests ever at home! I was doing ok, in spite of my serious A.D.D. tendencies, until I realized I smelled smoke. The people below us smoke so I though it was possibly coming from them, however it didn't really smell like cigarette smoke. SO I have been searching this house like a little detective all morning and getting nothing done. I finally go so annoyed that I decided to stop and unload the dishwasher and just try to ignore the smell. Well, when I opened the dishwasher I found the smell. Somehow one of my mixing spoons fell and was burned alive by the dishwasher. I didn't even know that could happen. But now at least the mystery is solved and I have no choice but to focus and study! Yuck! Ok, that's all. I hope everyone is having a great Monday. Wish me luck on my last 2 finals EVER!! I am having a really hard time getting motivated!!

Away we go....

So we are officially leaving Lubbock. Come June"ish" we will be moving to Houston. We are really excited about the move and excited for the opportunities there. However, I am VERY VERY sad to leave some of the wonderful people here in Lubbock. As bad as the weather is and the dust and wind, the people more than make up for it. I have made some really great, true friends here and it is going to be an adjustment not seeing some of these people everyday anymore. We have gotten involved in a wonderful small group that we love and I have made some amazing friends at school! We have been through a lot together the past two years and I wouldn't have made it through grad school without them. I have been lucky enough to get to experience engagements, babies, marriages & lots more with some of my wonderful friends and I am going to miss them a lot lot lot!! Here are just a few pics of my amazing Lubbock friends!! I will miss y'all & will never forget all the memories!! Taryn saving the day during one of our MANY snow/ice days!! I will miss Taryn LOTS and miss the snow NONE!!!Cute Stacy just weeks before we all got to meet little Will! Carli & I at our End of the Year banquet.
Charlotte's wedding shower

Some of the girls. Class of 2010! :)

The very first "Lubbock Gang", sadly Mark & Elizabeth moved to Amarillo and Shelbi & Preston moved to Dallas. BUT Taryn & Chase are still here and are such wonderful/fun friends!! :)

Some of the girls at Christmas time!

Carli, Mindy & I at Stacy's babyshower!!

This post almost made me cry!! I am really going to miss these girls. :( But were onto bigger and better things and I can't wait to see what the future holds in Houston & can't wait to get started with my new job!

Nashville Road Trip= Amazing!!

Lance and I returned late last from our wonderful trip to Nashville, Tennessee. Lance was the best man in Justin Scott's, one of our great friends, wedding and the whole trip was so great. We were a little late in getting airfare and didn't want to spend the money to fly so we decided a couple of weeks ago to bite the bullet and make the drive. It was about 15 hours each way and it was SO GREAT!! You wouldn't think 30 hours on the road would be fun, but it really was. We drove through some really pretty parts of Texas, Arkansas & Tennessee. We got up really early in the morning and saw the sun come up, saw beautiful green fields filled with cows and flowers, saw cool old cities like Memphis, and got to experience some new "culture" at a couple stops in Arkansas ;). We decided that if we were gonna save money by driving that were going to be committed to being frugal the whole time! We packed a cooler filled with just about every snack you could imagine which we later coined "The Cafe" and just made turkey sandwiches, and PB&J as we drove along the road. Lance and I are really busy all the time and it was SO nice to just enjoy a long relaxing road trip. Last night when we got to about Abilene I told Lance I was actually really sad for the road trip to end. Don't get me wrong, I was glad to get out of the car, but who knows when we will have that much uninterrupted time together without all the distractions of life again!

Ok on to the good part for all the girls! The wedding! I don't have any pictures yet b/c my camera died and we couldn't get it to charge up. However, it was the most beautiful wedding, out on an old plantation in Nashville. The reception was out in an old building that almost looked like an old carriage house and they had hydrangeas and Lillies everywhere!! They served really southern food like shrimp and grits and macaroni and cheese (I mean you can't get much better than mac n cheese at a wedding!), and had some amazing cheesecake too!! Amanda, the bride, looked amazing and Justin looked great too! :) The bridesmaids all wore sage green headbands that were SO cute and tastefully done that matched the groomsmen's bow ties. The girls wore pale yellow dresses and after the ceremony changed into cowboy boots! It was SO cute!! I forget how awesome weddings are when you know the bride and groom are the real deal and are going to be so happy together. It was so awesome to be a part of. God is so good!

Ok, well speaking of that busy life that I was taking a break from, I will fill you in on the latest. I am getting close to the end of grad school and it is so exciting. I am flying to Houston Thursday for a couple of job interviews that I am really excited about. On paper one of them seems like my dream job so we will see if it in fact is! Lance is still looking for a job too and we are praying that we get a clear answer on where we need to be. However, if I am able to get one of these jobs, it will give him the ability to literally look full time for a job without having to worry about money for a while. I would still like Lance to find a job before I do so I am continuing to pray for that specifically, however every time I make a plan it changes so I am trying to just go with the flow! Lance is on the tail end of grad school as well and words cannot express how happy I am to kiss school goodbye forever. I have made some wonderful friends here in Lubbock and will truly miss them, however I must admit that I won't miss a dang thing about grad school!!

Ok, pics to come soon once I can steal them from someone else that is actually good about taking pics!!

Easter pics

I stole some pics from Mrs. Curry and had to post some camping pics!! Enjoy! The whole crew chillin at the fire talking!

I was freezing and was trying to avoid getting wet again! It didn't work. :)

Me and Lance!

Ave and her Uncle Reid

Spectators hanging out on the shore.

Our favorite the place...the table with all the food! :)

Chatting at the campfire

I just love them both!

Cute mom and daughter!!

Ave loved to make this confused little face!

Hanging out talking. So fun!!

Beautiful little Ave playing

Avery loved eating dirt!

Could a pic be any worse??

Goforth/Carslile family

Dougie giving a little speech at church!

We went to see the Curry's AMAZING new house out near Fredricksburg! It was AMAZING. This was our Easter devo on their porch.

Minutes before Megan jumped out of the water b/c she thought she saw a "crab"! :)

Who thinks they will be next!?!?

Some of the girls after our hike.

family pic.......Think Ave is tired!? :)

The cute Bradford family!

Payton & Avery....TOO cute!!

Boys jumping off a rock!

Go Cody Go!

and Mr. Curry finished it off!

These pics are of Parker working up the nerve to jump off the rock!! He was a little timid at first!! Amazing what $3 and 5 pieces of candy will do!!

This is where he started.....we had to do some serious bribing!!

I Passed!!!!!

I found out today that I passed my praxis exam. So I am officially licenced to practice Speech Language Pathology (well almost....there is lots of paperwork to be processed!). The test was really hard to finish so I had to SPEED through a lot of the questions, leaving me pretty nervous about the results. I had actually kind of forgotten about the test until I realized that my results were going to be posted so soon!! I got an email today at about 7:30am saying results were posted! However, I was too scared to look this morning so I just left the house without ever checking. On Tuesdays am in a group that works with stoke patients and today we were going on a field trip. When I got there everyone was so happy and talking about how they passed and I was SO mad that I was too chicken to look at my scores! So I called Betho and made her look them up for me. It was kind of hard for her to figure it out b/c I had given her the wrong user name and our conversation went something like this....keep in mind we were texting:

Betho: I can't seem to log into your account, you may need to wait and just do it later.
Me: Do it! It can't be that hard to figure out, I must know!!
Betho: It says you passed.....I think....what do you need to pass??
Me: (can't text back.....having slight panic attack!) What do you mean "I think???" What is my score???)
Betho: Ok here it is, never mind, you passed for sure!
Me: Ok thanks so much!!!!!!
Betho: You owe me BIG TIME. My hand has been shaking for 10 minutes....can you imagine if you would have failed!?
* so I owe Betho big time for taking on that stressful task for me! Love you Nug!!! :)

So needless to say that was one of the most stressful 10 minutes of my life and all the while I was on a tour of a printing press pushing wheel chairs and trying to act interested in the tour. However, I don't think I was fooling anyone!! So next on the agenda, find a job!!!

Life lately

We got back last night from our Easter camping trip and it was soooo super fun. I love this trip and look forward to it all year. This year was great like always! Weather was perfect, food was yummy, and the company was great!! It is so nice to just get to relax for a couple days and hang out with good friends and family. Pics to come soon of camping!

On a different note I think I find out tomorrow if I passed my national exam. If I did I have almost NOTHING left to do and I will be done with grad school forever in 4 quick weeks!!!!!! If not I will still be done in 4 weeks but will have to take the stinking test again on April 23rd. Please God don't let that happen!! I have heard that it sometimes takes more like a month to get your scores so I may not find out tomorrow, however I think I do. eeeekkk!

Like I said before, we are done with school in a month! I wish I could say, "Oh it flew by, it seemed like yesterday that we moved here!" But that would be a lie!! I feel like I have been in grad school at tech for 5 years! I can hardly remember not being in school at Tech. Words cannot express how excited I am to be actually working a normal job where I get paid!! I am loving my placement right now in a long term care facility and am hoping to find a job in that setting soon. I may have an interview in Houston on either Friday or Monday for a facility that I would absolutely love to work in. I am praying I still have that interview b/c I haven't heard from them in a few days. However, I have a feeling it is going to happen.

We are currently weighing the pros and cons of where we should move, look for jobs etc. We are trying to make the decision whether or not we should wait for Lance to get a job and then move or move where I get a job. We need to start making money ASAP so if I find a job first we may go there and then Lance can start looking full time for a job. Who knows!! God has a plan so we are just trusting that the right job will come along for each of us. I fully trust that God has a plan for our careers and I fully trust that we will both find the right job, regardless of the order that we find these jobs! :) We are quickly approaching the next phase of our lives and it's exciting. I am going to miss my friends though. It is super sad!!

Ok, I am going to finish Dancing With the Stars! I am loving it this season! Super sad though that Shannon D got booted already! I hope everyone has a great week!

Oh I almost forgot. I won my family bracket and I must say it wasn't even close!!! Whoo Hoo!!