Shall we catch up?

Where do I begin? So many things have happened since the last time I posted. And, in that post I talked about my upcoming (now past) graduation from nursing school.

I can finally say......

I DID IT!

Yep, I graduated from the longest and most hated 2 years of my life. I'm not going to lie, it was hard to get through nursing school. I wanted to quit so many times. Boy am I glad I didn't. I am so thankful to so many people for helping me succeed. You know who you are. I have the best friends anyone could ask for and I made new ones along the way. One of the most important things a nursing student needs is support from family and friends. We need a shoulder to cry on when we don't pass an exam or just don't get cardiac rhythms. So, if you are friends with a nursing student I want you to give them a BIG hug the next time you see them. No doubt they are worrying about some part of school.

The graduation ceremony was nice. It's not your typical cap and gown graduation ceremony. It's called a candle lighting ceremony. I took my nursing oath and held a lantern with a flickering battery powered tealight. We do this in honor of Florence Nightengale "the lady with the lamp" who tended to the wounded during the Crimean War. We also receive our nursing pin. Matt and Mackenzie came up on stage to do that honor. Mackenzie brought up a bouquet of flowers and while doing so said "mommy look what I brought for you." That girl is just too sweet (with some help from Mimi and Papa!). Here are some of the pictures from the ceremony.

Taking my oath

Loving on my beautiful daughter after Matt pinned me.

Movie star kiss (we are both so happy I'm done!)

Even though I have graduated from that hellish program, I am not yet an RN. I am currently awaiting a test date to take my state boards. Once I have that license I will be set to work! Can I get a "woot woot!" I'm still looking for jobs to apply for and am hoping that I can get on at a surgery center. If not, I will most likely be at one of the local hospitals doing medical-surgical nursing (basically floor nursing).

What else has happened? My parents were here for my graduation as well so that was a VERY big highlight to the year. They live on the East Coast so as you can guess, we don't get to see them very much. Mackenzie loved having them here. We went to Leavenworth for the town lighting. Here are some of those pictures. Mostly we played wii though.

One of the prettiest set of Christmas lights in Leavenworth

My parents and I in Leavenworth

Christmas! I love the holiday season. It's the most wonderful time of the year! I was hoping for snow but that wish didn't get fulfilled. It was still wonderful without it. Mackenzie refused to go see Santa. Well she wanted to up until she heard Santa being very loud in Leavenworth and he scared her. We couldn't even see him we were so far away but that mic was way loud. She was crying crocodile tears she was so scared. See...

Then she saw a picture of her friend Ella snuggling with Santa and she said "I wanna go see Santa and tell him I want a present." But that day she refused to leave the house. Ironic? I had been asking her all month what she wanted for Christmas and all she would say is "present." 2 days before Christmas she tells me she wants a guitar. SERIOUSLY KID? I told her she would have to go see Santa and tell him, she refused. So I "called" Santa and told him for her. All she says now is that he scares her because he's loud. Maybe next year. Here are some pictures from Christmas.

Checking out what Santa brought. Looks like he took my advice and brought her a guitar. It was the first thing she grabbed!

I took Mackenzie to church for the first time last Sunday. Church attendance is one of my resolutions for 2010. I can count on one hand how many times I have gone over the last 10 years. Seriously. But I'm back at it and going to a church I love with some great friends. Mackenzie really loved going. To be honest, I was kind of dreading it. I thought for sure she would not want to go into the 2 year old nursery, eventhough she told me every time I talked to her about it that she wanted to go. To my surprise, she went right in with no hesitation. They give you a number when you drop your child off. I just knew my number would pop up on the screen during the service. A few times I got lost in the moment and then worried that they needed me and I missed my number. I happened to look at my phone and noticed I had a picture message from my friend Sarah. It said "look who I found" and it was a picture of Mackenzie and her daughter Olivia playing in the nursery.

Do you know how relieved I was? This is how God works. I needed to hear the message that day, God knew that, He took care of me and Mackenzie. Thank you again Sarah for helping my worries!

And in closing, I found a new hobby. I will post about that tomorrow! The other BIG thing that happened since my last post.....I OFFICIALLY LEFT MY 20'S. Yep, I'm 30. But I have never loved life more.

Matt brought home a cookies and cream ice cream cake. Can you tell I was surprised....I knew he was bringing one I just didn't know he and our guests were going to go all out with candles and singing. It was awesome.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Matt surprised me with a trip to Vegas as a birthday/graduation present. I had never been before. That will be a different post!

Thank you for reading this REALLY long update. I promise to be better about updating this thing. Show me some love and leave a comment!