Finally Home!

Well the time has finally come! Regan is home again! Lets just say that was the best Christmas present I could have asked for! He got home around 11:45pm on the 23rd and didn't get released til the next day at 4:00pm so it was weird being around him and knowing he still had all of the mission rules of like being an arms length away and things like that, so lets just say after his release everything has been FANTASTIC! The last few days it is weird because I have spent so much time with him yet when I go home at night or I am alone, I almost don't believe he is really home because he has been gone so long! I am going to enjoy every second with him this week before I start my nursing capstone and go full force til April when I graduate. But I will have one fantastic week in March when I get to go on a Mexican Cruise with his family for spring break! I am so excited! I have a few pictures from the last few days :)

107 LONG days ahead

So as most people know I have a few countdowns going right now, between graduation (228 days) and Regan coming home. Regan heads home on Christmas Eve... only 107 days away! I am super excited and I hope for time to just fly by! A few weeks ago Regan could barely hold back telling me that he was going to become an assistant to the president, he was super excited but told me it could mean that he wouldn't be able to write as often because of how busy the AP's always are. I totally understood and have just been plain old excited for him. Well, with this new calling he also said he didn't know when he would email, but with my online classes I figured I would probably catch him here or there when he was on... well it has been two weeks now and with no letters or emails I have been getting kind of sad, but at the same time... I know he is busy and we are on a countdown here.. only three and a half months. I have still been faithful writing him letters every week, although writing to him with no response gets a little hard to come up with things to write about. Well, I got a phone call from Regans mom today as I was driving home from camping. I guess with Regans new mission president came the rule to only write family on email, not "to be family." Regan wanted his mom to check up on me and make sure I was okay since he has been unable to write me a letter yet as an AP and now not being able to email... no communication has been coming my way. He told her he is just trying to make the most of these last three or four months and put his full heart to the Lord. I never question how much Regan loves me because I know I mean the world to him, It is just hard to go from a letter and an email every week to pretty much nothing... I have 107 days and who knows when he will be able to write me, or when I will hear from him, all I know is that hearing from him has made things so much more special because I feel like I have shared in his mission experiences, and it doesn't make him feel 2000 miles away. I feel like these next few months could feel really LONG but I am just praying they fly by, and I can see my boy :)

I passed.... I'm a NURSE!

Okay so it is official this week I took my NCLEX- PN boards to become a licensed practical nurse and I PASSED!!! I am super excited to now say that I am a nurse. I still have another year of school until I am a RN (Registered Nurse) but I just think it is fun to advance my licensing as I go along. I love my job on the Infant Unit at Primary Childrens and I will not be leaving to work somewhere else for the next year since they do not use LPNs (I wish they did... an increase in pay is always nice :)  I will continue to work as a patient care tech til next year when I graduate! 

Lake Powell Photos

I just thought I would put some pictures up from my trip to  Lake Powell this month, it was so much fun to be down in the sun while it was raining up here! Lake Powell is one of my favorite places on earth and one of the funnest ways to spend a week of your summer! I love when the Koplins invite me down, I get to spend time with my cousin Heather and love every second.. in the pictures below there is just scenery, wake boarding, tube wars, rainbow bridge and just fun pictures of Heather and I! Can't wait til next year when I can bring my boy! 

Divorce

So I don't know why but lately I am hearing WAY to much about people getting divorced. Just today I found out about two different people I went to high school with that are getting divorced.  I see some people getting married to people that they constantly fight with and  go into thier wedding day upset with the person, to me if you are fighting that much before marriage and even on the wedding day... there is a problem and maybe this person isn't the right person for you. Or I had one girl say that if her ex would have asked her to marry him even while she was dating her fiance... she would have married the ex...... AHH come on people! I know nobody goes into a marriage thinking "oh I want to get a divorce in a few years"  but I guess it all just scares me.  I don't know I am extremely excited for the day when I can get married, and I know that people say marriage is not easy but I hope to one day make the most of it. Sometimes I think that living in Utah we rush getting married... everyone is so young so by the time you are 23 and not married you are old!! I just want to tell people to back off, lets let people meet one another and really get to know one another before jumping right into a marriage and telling people, "oh its okay, you will find someone." Recently someone I know who I would say is extremely marriage hungry, met a guy who is also and within two weeks of knowing each other they were talking about getting married... and even two months into the relationship I question if they really know the other person.  

Regan comes home in six months, and do I think I will marry him?? yes I do! But here is the thing, I am not just going to run off to the temple and get married. We have been apart for a year and a half and even though we have written each other letters and emails every week and stayed close, we still need to see what it is like when we are together again. Have our lives come together or has the time spread them apart? I still to this day am head over heels in love with that boy and I feel like letters and time has brought us closer, but when it comes to getting married.. I think that it is important to fast and pray about it, I want to KNOW I am marrying the right person and have absolutely NO DOUBTS in my head whatsoever. I want to work at my marriage, keep the love alive, go on dates, and do everything I can to make him the happiest guy ever and have him do the same in return. I do not mean for this blog to offend anyone who may have had a divorce, I know every situtation is different and that BOTH people have to work towards the marriage... that is just what scares me... because you never know what can happen.... just try for the best! 

Celebrity Crush

I have decided that I now have a new celebrity crush, this is a big thing for me... I really honestly never think guys in Hollywood are that great, but I have put much thought into this and now I thought I should introduce him to you... his name is Chris Pine, he can be seen in the new Star Trek movie... some say the reason I like him so much is because he resembles Regan a little bit, which that could definitely be a good reason! 

Chris Pine

Heath Ledger was my former Celebrity crush and due to his death it has left me unsure until now,  I think Chris will be a good replacement Heath... sorry 

Heath Ledger

Haha okay now that you all know how crazy I am!!! 

ATI exam

Well as most know, I am in nursing school now and it takes up my entire life! I am just about to finish up my first year and as a student at Weber they  like us to take the LPN boards after our first year. But in order for the school to let us take the boards this summer we have to take a test know as the ATI that will indicate whether or not we would pass... well I took it today and I was scared out of my mind by the end of the test... but all in all I PASSED!!! so now I will take the NCLEX test this summer. This is good news I can now move onto my second year of nursing and hopefully before you know it I will be a nurse and school will just be a distant memory :) dang I can't wait for that time... 

Release Date!!!

Well we recently found out that Regan will be coming home on Christmas Eve!! that is t-minus 270 days from now.... and I wish it would just fly by, but o well we all need to enjoy every step of life... it is just more fun to enjoy each step when you are with your favorite person in the entire world!

Long Time Coming :)

Well it is about time I made a little update, my excuse before was the fact that I am in nursing school and due to that I have absolutely no life and when I can be away from my computer I definitely take the chance ;) Well as for nursing so far it has gone pretty good, I got good grades this last semester but I felt like my life was spent at the testing center and they were ready to just put me on their pay roll since I am there enough! I did my clinicals at Timpanogos Hospital in Orem and this coming semester I will be at St. Marks Hospital for our Mother/Baby unit, which I must admit is my favorite with the line of work I want to go into.

I went to California in November for Kimball and Sara’s wedding they were married in the San Diego Temple and it was gorgeous! After we took a day and went to Disneyland which was so much fun! I love how close I feel with that family and I am so excited for future times I will have with them!

The Holidays were great we had Thanksgiving at my Aunt Chelsea’s I am really enjoying hanging out with my cousins (who are all at least 15 years younger than I) Randy, Zoe, Emma, and Sophie. The turkey didn’t end up being done which was a little comical but Mama Cook made one for Sunday dinner a few days later so we could fill our turkey fix!

The Christmas season was fun, after finishing up finals I had to hurry and finish my shopping so I could just relax and enjoy the season, Regan finally hit his year mark on Dec. 19th I sent packages through out the month as the four “weeks” of Christmas. I ended up getting to see many of my best friends and do fun things, go out to lunch, get massages, see the lights, and have sleepovers. I am so thankful for all of my friends I just miss many of them… most of the time!

I was supposed to work Christmas eve night but out of some miracle someone at work wanted to work it and traded me, so I was lucky enough to get to spend the night with the family. Amy who is on her mission in Boston got to call home on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas so I was extremely lucky because I was over there and able to talk to her! It was a nice night we exchanged presents and I got some Holiday scrub tops. I had my grandpa and I made him a memory book of our cruise we took in May I think he really liked it.

On Christmas there was possibly the worst snow storm, in West Jordan there was a grand total of 21 inches in less than 48 hours, lets just say my car didn’t move for a week! The family woke up and had a nice breakfast pizza mama cook made and then we were able to open our gifts. This year all I really wanted was a vacation ;) Last semester was so overwhelming that I knew I would want a break so as my gift I got a trip to Disney World with my mom over spring break! I am so incredibly excited it will be fantastic. After all of the presents were open my dad had to drive me over to Regan’s house for the “phone call” it was so amazing to talk to him and kind of unreal at first, NO I did not cry I was just extremely excited to actually be talking to him! We had him on speaker for a little while and then I asked if I could just chat with him for a sec.. it was so nice, there are so many things you want to say to the person but at the same time it is just fun to know that they are on the other end of the phone line! I got him a camera for his gift and he was having fun all morning playing with it, I am hoping now I can get more pics from him hopefully ;) I love him so much! I’m so glad he is on a mission and serving our Heavenly Father it is such perfect timing for everything that is happening in my life. With nursing school I would probably barely be able to see him but this way we are both getting done something we need to and are both extremely blessed for it! He will get home when I have just one semester left until I graduate and that semester isn’t as much book work more just in Hospital kind of stuff.

New Years ended up being so much fun, I spent the first half of the evening with my family we had a fondue night at the Bennetts and then followed it up with some games…. We were all in such funny moods we started using the light saber on my dad’s iphone followed by strobe light dancing… haha who said mormons can’t find there own kind of fun ;) After I met up with the Twins and we went up to the U of U institute for the New Years party up there, it was so much fun and we saw a lot of friends. They had us all go outside a half hour before midnight and it was like time square they had the ball that dropped and a balloon drop all outside being held up by cranes it was so fun, we found our way under the balloon drop had our horns and hot chocolate and counted down for the new year! I had to go to work shortly after but it was a fun night with family and friends.

The Sugar Bowl was by far the best game of my life I am kicking myself over and over again for not finding a cheaper way to New Orleans, when my friends and I were researching it was like $1800 I just didn’t have that kind of money any who we had a ridiculously fun party at my house with full on screaming and I was keeping my part of the MUSS alive in our basement! I love Utah Football and I cannot wait for next year it will be so so so much fun! We should be #1 I mean come on we are undefeated 13-0!!!!

With the New Year it is a good time to reflect on things in my life, goals and the way my life is headed in general. I can just say that I am extremely blessed! I have the most amazing family and friends and I am so thankful for my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Together they bring the greatest happiness in my life! It is funny how things just seem to fall into place, you know how at times someone may say “If you are doing what you are supposed to in the end it will all end up the way it is supposed to” well with that in mind I have had some amazing experiences just to reconfirm to me that the choices I am making so far in life are the ones that are supposed to be happening. I am just so thankful for my life in general ;)

Hopefully it won’t take me this long next time and I can add some more recent photos from the Holidays

Christmas Disneyland is a new favorite, it is already magical then add Christmas :)

Aladdin and I

Sara and Kimball just coming out of the Temple

San Diego Temple, so beautiful!!

BYU vs. UTAH game, just had to throw this in there ;)

At the reception... I didn't notice the Missionary Tag... I PROMISE!