Easter Weekend.

After a tough couple of weeks in school, I was SOO ready to go home and enjoy the company of my parents, a trip to the lake, and seeing some friends! I arrived home late thursday night and relaxed with the parents for a little before going to bed to find the sweetest congratulations present for getting into nursing school. My mom is one of THE most thoughtful people I know

Friday morning I was woken up by my mom so we could go get our nails done! It is always the best feeling to be treated to a manicure pedicure, especially when your feet feel and look disgusting. After our nails, mom and I went to pick up my dad to go eat lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, The Big Ketch, it has awesome seafood and we enjoyed some amazing hummus! The rest of the day I was able to relax and enjoy the day to read my book and catch up on some MUCH needed sleep! That night I hung one of my best friends, Mary Catherine, and it was so awesome to just hang out with her like we were back in high school. People considered us one person in high school because we were never apart. I miss those days so much of getting to see her every day, but because we are separated now it makes it that much more special to visit her and spend time with her!

Saturday was the day I had been waiting for all weekend. A trip to the Lake. The lake is hands down one of my favorite places to go. I love to relax on the boat, go for a long cruise, ski, wakeboard, or anything as long as I'm on the lake. I woke up a little disappointed because it was cloudy, but God knew how much  and how long I was looking forward to this lake trip and around 1 o clock the clouds broke and it turned into a beautiful day so we headed up to the boat. The day was PERFECT. We took a long cruise to a very beautiful cove and just anchored there for a little to enjoy the sun. I took some awesome pictures and on the way back some awesome pictures of the clouds, where I know Jesus was talking to me and showing me his presence...and I think everyone will be able to see what I am talking about in these pictures

MyMom (amazing, loving, nurturing, and best friend)  and I

 My Dad (my best friend, role model, and #1 supporter) and Me

 The BEST parents anyone could as for!

 Beauty.

Pure Bliss. 

Saturday night I also had the blessing of being able to hang out with some of my best friends from camp, which was so needed and so fun. I do not think I stopped laughing for a solid 2 hours.

Sunday- the best day of the weekend- EASTER. HE IS RISEN. The day I am able to be thankful that God's only son would die for the the freedom and forgiveness of sins of people he did not even know. To me, the whole idea of Easter is so refreshing and uplifting. It is a time that I can have a new beginning and be able to remind myself that Christ is the only one living in me. This morning my alarm went off at 5 am {keep in mind that is 4 am Tuscaloosa time}. But for some reason I was able to hop out of bed and get ready to go to church at 6:30 am  {which dad insisted we leave BY 6}. It was a little chilly and very dark at first, but the service was AWESOME. The altar was beautiful and ready to celebrate Jesus chirist rising from the dead. While I was not looking forward to waking up so early, I am so thankful I did and was able to start my day off right.

We came home and I went straight back to bed and when I woke up our family friends the Brunnstads came over to join us in our Easter celebration. Along with Savannnah, who came over for a little bit, which was such a special treat! Here are some pictures from our fun celebration of the risen King!

 Me and Dad at about 6:15.. SO early!

 The Beautiful Altar

 My precious family [minus Jay :((]

 I found my easter basket!!

and so did dad...he obviously works out!

A Dream Come True!

Around the time of my sophomore year, I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in the nursing field because I wanted to be just like my grandma who was an ER nurse and then retired as an elementary school nurse. When she passed away she knew I wanted to be a nurse and I still want to fulfill my dreams in her memory. Little did I know all the colleges I had started to look at did not have nursing programs so I began to look elsewhere. The minute I visited Alabama I fell in love and knew thats where I wanted to go and become a nurse! The crimson scrubs were AWESOME!!! 


For those of who you might not know me too well I am very OCD, a hard worker, and you could add in there a perfectionist. So to say the least, for the past two years I have worked VERY hard to achieve my goal of getting into nursing school in the summer so I could help my parents out and graduate in four years. Well the time came around February to apply to the nursing school. My dream was about to become real.


The day FINALLY came when the acceptance letters were mailed out. It was a GORGEOUS saturday  morning, the morning of the A day game, and me and my friends were literally just sitting by the mailbox. We began to hear about other people already getting their letters, and I was so antsy I called the post office telling them I had important mail and wanted to make sure it would get delivered. Finally, I decided it was in our best interest to leave and go to the game and other festivities of the day and when we came back the mail would be there. 


Around 6:15 pm on April 16, 2009. My friends and I walked home from dinner and I was a little behind the front crowd to find my roommate jumping up and down screaming, so I came behind to open my letter to see the amazing letter telling me of my acceptance. I have never felt so accomplished in my whole life. The phone calls began and I'm pretty sure everyone could hear the excitement in my voice. I'm pretty sure the smile did not leave face until I went to bed that night!
Here are some pictures of me and natalie after opening our letters:

Natalie and I with our acceptance letters!

The exciting opening line telling me I have been promoted to the upper division!

With this dream coming true, I had to say no to another dream of working at  Camp, which I have attended since I was 6 years old. I have never had a summer without camp so this will be new to me and I will obviously be visiting when I have a free weekend because Camp is who I am and where so many of my best friends are!! I have been having a really hard time the past couple of days accepting the fact that I wont be at camp, but I keep reminding myself that I have to trust in the lord that this is His plan for me and it is what is best for me! 

Cant wait to see the fun adventures this summer brings and cant wait to finally have my own pair of crimson scrubs!

Humpday Helpers!

First of all, I want to apologize on not blogging about my awesome weekend in Auburn, but Rodeo was so much fun and is definitely an experience of a life time!!
But now for this weeks Humpday Helpers!!

1. Auburn Visit: My visit this past weekend was a MUCH needed for so many different reasons. I was blessed to see some of my best friends from camp, Savannah, Perdue, Jase, Logan, and Kate Rounds, and it was the biggest blessing ever! Being able to be surround by people who I spend weeks at a time with was so special and I never realize how much I miss them until I am with them again! Here are a few pics to show you my awesome friends!!

 Savannah Perdue and Me

Caroline Payne, Savannah, and Me (I love when friends from different parts of life come together)

2. No Tests: I had one test on tuesday but after that test for a whole week and a half I do not have another test. I know this sounds like it should be normal and should not be some that helps me get through the week, but as crazy as it is since the last week in January I have at least one test every week if not two. And all the tests have broken me down, so having time to just relax and watch a movie and read is one of the best feelings ever!!

3. Friendships: This week with having no tests and not having to study as much I have been able to spend quality time with so many of my best friends and has been AWESOME!! It is sad how much school can take over your life and how distracted you can be from the people who live around you. It has truly been a blessing to be able to hang out with my friends so much this week and I look forward to continuing to hang out with them next week because some of them I will not get to see all summer and we are starting to realize how fast time flies. 

4. The Blindside: One of my favorite movies of all time is the blindside. As part of my relaxing week, I am getting to crawl into my amazingly comfy bed earlier than normal and watch lots of movies. The Blindside is one of the most encouraging movies and I love it so so much! 

5. SUN: The feeling of the bright sun with a slight wind is one of the best feelings in the world. This week we have had amazing whether in Tuscaloosa (minus the tornado warnings when we had to sit in our cellar for 20 minutes...SCARY)...but seriously the sun never fails to put a smile on my face and put me in a better mood. Also, the combination of son and no school work has allowed me to layout on our deck and soak up some rays. Not to mention on a sunny day The University of Alabama is one of the prettiest campus there is...heres a picture that does not even come close to capturing its beauty!!

Humpday Helpers

I come to write this blog after a very exhausting first half of the week!! I had a very fun weekend, but got thrown back into the reality of studying very quickly and never quite got to catch up on sleep, so there are many things that I am so thankful for and could not make it through the week without!


1. Yet again, another special visit from Mary London Carswell on Tuesday! She came with two of her friends, Kara and Holmes, and we had a nice dinner at the firehouse sub and then went to crusades and got to worship and the hear about God wanting us to be missionaries, and it was exactly what I needed after a very unenjoyable anatomy test 

2. Rodeo: This weekend I get to go visit one of  my best friends, Savannah Hodge, at auburn and go to their big rodeo together! I have not seen her for about 2 months, which has been way too long, it is a much needed visit for both us, and I absolutely CANNOT wait to see her!

3. Nap Time: After an exhausting weekend, staying up late to study for an anatomy test and a statistics test the past couple days along with all the other crazy things had to this week, I finally found an hour and a half to lay in my bed and take a MUCH needed nap, which gave me some much needed energy

4. Quiet Time: something I am trying to be very good about is my quiet time with the Lord, I do not do it at the exact same time every day but I like to make sure I can thank him for all the things he has done in my life and to learn more about him. Some awesome passages I came across were Psalm 13 and Romans 8...I encourage you to check it out!!

5. Ethan's Email: this week my best guy friend forwarded me an email he received from one of his LIT's this summer, who had to answer a question saying who her favorite counselor was and why. This email was so unexpected and so needed. It is amazing how a 15 year old girl's words of encouragement can make you feel so good about yourself and be the perfect pick me up in the middle of the day!

No Mo Chemo!

One of my favorite parts about being a Tri-Delta is our philanthropy, St. Jude. For those of you who do not  know what St. Jude is... it is a children's researching hospital where no patient is every turned down and the families of the patients do not spend a dime.literally. 


This weekend we had the awesome experience of celebrating the end of chemo treatment for one of my pledge sisters, who has finally finished her battle of cancer! It was such an amazing experience to be able to celebrate that with someone. It is unbelievable what the power of prayer can do. 


I just wanted to show everyone how awesome St. Jude is and the No Mo Chemo party we had at the Tri Delt house!

 The awesome decorations outside the Tri Delta house

 We had yogurt lab cater for us and got to enjoy some yummy frozen yogurt!

 Brittain loves Justin Bieber , so our own pledge sister did a great job singing some of his songs!

 We made cards to send the patients at St. Jude

 We also made scrapbook pages for Brittain

 Some of us enjoying Justin Bieber entertianment

 Brittany Long, our awesome president, experiencing the dunk tank!

Followed by our amazing house mom, Jayne, who also took part in the dunk tank!