Happy Anniversary!

I am proud to say that Rob and I have celebrated another year of marital bliss. June 17th was our FOURTH wedding anniversary. I can hardly believe that I have been married for that long! Okay, so it isn't THAT long, but an accomplishment nonetheless:).

What did we do on our special day? Well we played softball of course! That is what our evenings are spent doing in the summer when Rob doesn't have church meetings or we aren't working on our house. We even had a double-header AND won both of the games. It was a pretty fun night and we have a great team. After the games we went to one of Rob's favorite restaurants, Sonic. At 9:45pm it was one of the only places open. Although this may not seem glamorous it is so much fun to just hang out and be ourselves.

I must say that I could not be happier right now. Robert is the best husband and the hardest working guy I have ever met. I appreciate that he will do anything for me and for our future family. Everyday I realize that I love him more than the day I married him. I am so glad I married my best friend and will be able to spend forever with him. He is my rock and my support. For the past month he has stayed up late almost every night (sometimes until 1am!) working on our house and getting it ready to move in. It has been an experience painting our house and I must admit that I am pretty darn picky about things. Luckily he is such a perfectionist and so I know that things are done right. It is so exciting to begin this new chapter of our lives and have our own home. Here is to the next 50 years Rob! I love you! Here are a few pictures of the work we have been doing on our house.

This is our awesome yellow laundry room!
Here Rob is painting one of the bathrooms blue. I was a little worried at first but it turned out great.
This is my favorite room in the whole house! It is our red bedroom! I love it!
Here he is painting the accent wall in the living room. What a hottie!
This is our accent wall in the kitchen. It's a little bright but we love it!

Sweet Success...

Of course this is late, but oh well...After years of dedication, perseverance and hard work I have finally graduated! I graduated on May 9th among approximately 370 other students and earned the title of Summa Cum Laude (highest honors) due to my GPA of 3.92. I earned my Bachelor's of Science Degree in Nursing from Adams State College. This will only further my career as a Registered Nurse. It was a long hard road but I finally made it. I definitely could not have made it without the help and support of my dear sweet husband, Rob.There were many times when I wanted to give up and he simply would not let me. He is such a great man and I feel like I am the luckiest woman alive to have him as my husband. I also am so grateful that I had parents that taught me the value of an education and to always strive for my goals and to never give up. I am glad that I have such awesome sister-in-laws and a great father-in-law. They have been nothing but supportive throughout my education. I am so lucky to be part of their family and have them around...they even let me practice my nursing skills on them and their kids occasionally ;). I was especially glad to have my sister Heather at graduation who had just gotten off of her mission.



Of course the graduation was long, slightly boring, and hot (even for me who is NEVER hot). I am still glad that I went through the ceremony. It is just one of those cliche times in your life that you should go through just to say you did it. After the graduation I also had another Nurse Pinning Ceremony just for the Nursing Department. It was a nice little luncheon and program for the family and friends of the nurses. We then had to light a lantern and repeat the Nightingale Pledge which basically says that you will promise to "Do No Harm" in your nursing career or to your patients. Again, cliche, but a milestone nonetheless. Trish took some great pictures of the entire day (Thanks Trish!).

All in all, it was a busy weekend and I am glad that it is all over. I am so glad that I am finished and am on my way in my career. I encourage anyone who has a dream of obtaining an education to go for it do it. It is so worth it!! Again I would just like to publicly thank Rob for all of his support and tolerance of my being in school. I love him with all my heart! He was also my guinea pig at times and my study buddy. There were many late nights and many times were I neglected the poor guy. It was no picnic but it will definitely be worth it in the long run for me and our family. What a relief to be finally done!

New Addition

Rob and I have some exciting and great news to share....finally! It has been a long time coming and we are so excited. No, I am not pregnant, but we closed on a house today! We are officially home owners! No more living in our little tin can of an apartment here on Faculty Drive at Adams State College. We are so excited to paint and decorate as we see fit! Here is a picture of our cute little home. In other great news, my little sister, Heather, came home off of her Mission last Thursday. She honorably served in the Pocatello Idaho Mission. Rob and I were able to take some time off and go visit her last weekend. It was really great to see her. She just exudes the Spirit and has a glow about her. I know that she was an awesome missionary and was a great servant to the Lord. I am so glad that she is home!Heather was sweet enough to sneak this onto my camera before we left Crownpoint! How cute! We love you too!

Through the Wringer.....

Last Monday my Dad bravely had a total knee replacement and had to stay in the hospital until Thursday. Prior to the surgery the knee was bone on bone, causing damage and severe pain. He was a pretty good sport about it all. Being the little worrier that I am, I was concerned about everything. He had some good nurses during the day but I can't say that I cared for the night-shift nurses. Luckily, Dad had some pretty good drugs to keep him comfortable and pain free-most of the time. I'm going to be honest, there were some pretty rough days....and still plenty more ahead while he recovers. We found out the Dad is definitely a light-weight when it comes to narcotics- he would never make it as a druggie! A few things that he learned about being in the hospital were that you do not go there to get sleep, the food is enough to make you want to get better and get out of the hospital and the gowns are drafty. By the time he got out of the hospital on Thursday he was SO ready to go home.Once home my dad was under strict rules and regulations regarding exercising his knee and keeping it mobile. He has to give himself injections of Lovenox (a blood thinner) in his stomach to lessen the chance of developing a blood clot. He is having to watch his blood sugar very closely now because he was recently diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. Boy...when it rains it pours. He also is not able to drive for six weeks and has to walk with a cane. Since he is so used to being independent he is struggling with being dependent on other people. I think that it is good for him since he is always doing things for other people. He will have to have physical therapy for a minimum of three months to ensure that the knee heals properly and to ensure that he gets maximum use out of it.
Yesterday Rob and I took dinner to my Dad and his wife. Rob also made my Dad Amish Friendship Bread all by himself. He was so proud of himself (as was I) and my Dad and Janet really appreciated it. I thought it was really cute actually-not very good for my Dad's diabetes, but it is the thought that counts right? I also got to see my Dad's knee for the first time since he got out of the hospital. I was quite shocked at how bad it looked since I had last seen it. After surgery it bled a lot and so now it is bruised quite badly. He says that as long as he takes his pain medicine on a schedule he can stay on top of his pain. If not, it gets away from him and he is in severe pain. He is doing all of his exercises and what the doctor told him even though it causes him a lot of pain and weakness. I am just glad that he finally had the surgery because his knee has been bothering him for a long time. He is a lot braver than I would be!

General Conference

This past weekend Rob had the opportunity to go to Utah and attend General Conference. Unfortunately, I was not able to go with with him because I had to work the 9 News Health Fair for school obligations. He did, however, get to take two Young Men from our Ward and one of his counselors from his Young Men's Presidency. He said it was the experience of a lifetime and that his Young Men had a great time. He went to dinner with two of his former missionary companions and had an opportunity to catch up with them. They also spent several hours on the grounds of Temple Square. They attended the Saturday morning session of Conference as well as the Priesthood session. He said it was amazing and that the spirit was so strong. It was neat to think that as I was watching Conference he was actually there. I was really uplifted and inspired by the words of our Prophet and Apostles. I really wish that I could have gone with him! I HATED being here by myself and away from him.At the Health Fair we saw 620 people. We starting setting up at 6am and people started lining up at 7am. I drew blood along with 14 other people and there were still long lines for people waiting to get drawn. I drew someone's blood every 3-5 minutes. It was a very busy and hectic day but I was glad to have something keep me busy since Rob was gone. Since Rob was gone for 2 1/2 days I actually got some much needed homework done. That rarely happens when he is around....

When he got home I surprised him with some some of his favorite brownies and a little message. Being away from him definitely made me realize how much I truly love him and what our Temple marriage means to me. He is the greatest blessing in my life and I am so grateful for all that he does for me. He makes me truly happy and fulfilled.