Weekend with Nature

This lovely Memorial day weekend was mostly spent in good old mother nature. On Friday after work I drove to the campground. As I drove into the campground I was greeted by these 2 lovely creatures.

I thought I'd stop and take a couple of pics of the deer. Then I found the camping spot and sat with my mom and cousin and his fiancee and talked while we waited for the rest of the family to get to the campground. We ate some nice nacho pie and then chatted around the fire for a while before going to bed. I also started to 2nd Hunger Games book when I went to bed for the night.

On Saturday we ate our usual breakfast and then showered. My mom, grandma, and I decided to go on an adventure to the Amish country around the campground. It took a little longer than expected to get there because we missed the highway we were supposed to turn on and instead went the longer way. We ended up finding a lot of neat shops and my grandma found a chair that she really liked so she bought it to put on her back deck.

During our ride back we drove through a town where a man was sitting in a lawn chair out front of his house with a chicken in his lap and he was petting it. We weren't really sure what to do about this. I just laughed and my mom told me I should have taken a picture of him. That just went to show that we were in fact in Southern Iowa. When we got back the Miller's were at the campground. I played with Kaeylen and Lorissa and we went on a walk to the pond, drew beautiful pictures with chalk, and just hung around. While playing with chalk I was told by a boy riding his bike that I should watch my kids better because they were in the way while he was riding his bike. I was glad that I look like I can have a 6 year old. Carina and Isaac also decided to show up after they were done working. We ate some chicken enchiladas and had s'mores. Then went to bed.

On Sunday we pretty much hung out in the campground all day. We took a walk around the campground, which was nice. We did take a little break to go to the new pirates movie. It was ok-not my favorite, but alright. After eating 2 large buckets of popcorn between the 4 of us and 2 large drinks we went back to campground and the grandparents had supper ready for us. We ate lasagna and most of the guys plus Carina and mom went to a trap shoot thing. I stayed behind and finished the hunger games book and started on the 3rd one. Then we made homemade ice cream and ate my aunts margarita bars. They were both very good. I went to the camper and was later joined by Isaac and Carina who were both very wound up. We sat around laughing and being strange for awhile before going to bed.

This morning I woke up and ate breakfast. Then I helped clean up a couple of things around the camper before heading back to dsm. When I got home Nikki was at the house and we decided to go to Grey's Lake to enjoy the day. We walked/ran around the lake, then layed out on a blanket before going back to the house. It was really nice outside so we decided to go for a walk and use my free frozen strawberry lemonade coupon.

 They were so good on the very warm day. Then we sat out on the back porch.

and I read some more of the 3rd hunger games book.

It got a little warm out on the back porch so we decided to go in. Nikki then came back from her weekend at home. We each made dinner and chatted for a bit. Erin, Jessica, and Ashley came over and we all watched the Bachelorette and then Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. It was good to watch these shows together and chat about them. I'm still not sure who exactly I like on the Bachelorette. I think I like William-except he was kind of being a jerk at the end. I do know that I really don't like Bentley. Everyone left now I'm blogging and finishing my night by eating a Margarita bar and watching How I Met Your Mother.

Summer fun has just begun

*Note title of post was made by Nikki M

Here's a little update on my life since Monday:

• Tuesday:
• Slept in
• Started reading 'The Hunger Games' because it was due on Wed.
• Had lifeguard in-service from like 4-8; practiced skills and then practiced our Emergency Action Plan (EAP) and ate some pizza
• Ashley and Sally came over and Nikki made her tuna casserole
• I ate a little then we watched the Bulls game
• After the game I went to bed to finish the book. It was really good and I'm now ready for the next book in the series, which Carina got for me from the library.
•  Wednesday:
• Had sterile training at Methodist
• Read the book 'Heaven is for Real' which was also good. It was a really quick read as I read it in less than 2 hours.
• Then I ate lunch, took the books back to the library, and stopped at Hyvee for some milk and juice.
• Went to work and now am pretty caught up with new cases of campy so that's good. 
• Nikki L got to dsm and Lindsay also got here for an interview. The interview was actually in Hampton so that was funny as she didn't know before she went that I am from Hampton.
• After work I went out to eat at El Rodeo with the Nikki's, Erica, Ashley, Sally, and Danielle. It was a good little meal and fun to hang out and chat with these girls.
• Then we came back to the house asked Lindsay about the interview hung out and Allie came over for a bit to get something and we talked to her for awhile.
• Then I went to bed and started back reading 'Decision Points' again since I could renew it I took a little break from it to read the other 2 books.
• Thursday:
• Slept in again, which was nice
• Read a little and then watched some tv
• Went to work-pretty uneventful day at work.
• After work I stopped by the library to get the 3rd Hunger Games book that was on reserve there.
• Then I had CPR class. It was a pretty easy class as everyone had taken CPR before and we didn't have to take the test, which I really liked.
• I came home and made some cheese breadsticks and watched tv with the Nikkis
• Played some sims-my people each got a promotion, the toddler grew up to a child, and now the mom's pregnant so I'd say it was a pretty successful game playing
• Now I'm watching tv and will probably go to bed sometime soon and read a bit before actually sleeping

Monday Adventure

I'm going to try and be better at blogging this summer. Hopefully it'll work and I'll have interesting things going on in my life to blog about. If it's anything like this evening I'm sure I'll have tons of good things and great pics to post! So Traci should get excited even though this summer she won't be looking as often. Here's today:
I woke up and showered and got my stuff ready to load in the car. When I went out to the car it wasn't in the driveway and I was really confused. Then my mom asked if I had checked the garage where it was as my dad was changing the oil. I loaded the car said goodbye and went to Subway to get sandwiches for my last day of big brothers/big sisters this semester. I got to DSM just in time to go to the school and meet with her. We talked, had lunch, and played battleship. It was a pretty good time I would say. Then I went back to dragonfly. Nikki was there so we talked and I watched her make lunch. We also picked up a bit around the kitchen area [she mostly did that]. Then we watched TV and I went to work.

After work is when the real adventure started. We made dinner [again mostly Nikki-I got the bread out of the freezer and put it on the pan and on the plates]. We had bowtie pasta with pesto, spinach salad with poppysead dressing, peppers and ranch [just me], and garlic bread. It was a good meal and made us feel very grown up.

After dinner it was time for the Bachelorette to be on.  It was strange not watching it in upper liv in DG. I watched all of last season there with Lauren so I kind of missed that, but it was good to start a new Monday tradition this summer of watching the Bachelorette with Nikki. I'm not sure how I feel about this season and who I like yet. I was just being super judgy based on their looks tonight so we'll see how the season turns out!

 During the show we were hungry for dessert after our meal and so Nikki made brandy ice-cream or something. It has a different name, but I don't know what it is. Her mom made it in college or something and they had it at Christmas time recently. It was ok-not my favorite dessert ever, but not awful. We mixed during the commercials and then ate it during the show.

Then I started talking to Michelle and Sarah on Facebook which was nice because I haven't really talked to them since school got out. Anyway during this chatting and the end of the Bachelorette I was attacked by a bug. I had no idea what it was but it hit the computer screen and then I pretty much threw the computer across the room and got up and freaked out. Nikki laughed a bit then came to my rescue to find out what the creature was and save me.

She successfully killed the june bug and we left it in the magazine case thing. I'm still a little grossed out by the situation. I hate bugs, especially june bugs with there flying all over and being huge. Now I'm still chatting with them of facebook and I'll probably read a bit before going to bed.

Going Home

Well I went home for the weekend to spend some time with my family, but mostly my friends Traci and Deb since I hung out with my family most of last week. Here's a little rundown of my weekend:
Friday:

• Met Traci at Redbox to pick out some movies
  
• Talked with my mom and Traci a bit
  
• Watched Never Say Never and Country Strong with Traci

Saturday:

• Slept until 11:30
• Ate breakfast/lunch that my dad made me of pancakes
• Went to Beed's with Traci and Deb and we caught up, discussed weddings, and walked around the lake
• Went to Jewell to visit my grandparents camping-ate, had ice cream, chatted, had a certified marshmellow roaster roast some marshmellows
• Chatted on the car ride home about churches, Dudleys, and other random things

Sunday:

• Went to chruch
• Ate lunch with some of our family friends
• Traci and Deb came over and we attempted to watch Unstoppable [after time-consuming decisions about what movie to watch] then that stopped about 20 minutes in so we watched an instant Netflix movie called Play the Game or something like that. It was fine.
• They left and then I helped my mom put away a few graduation things
• We then decided to go to the movie Bridesmaids so my mom, Isaac, and I all went and we met Jordan and Carina there. It was pretty funny-but not what I expected. I thought it would be the girl version of the Hangover and it wasn't-much more of a chick flick. But really funny. 
• Ate at the mexican restaurant in Mason before the movie and got McDonalds ice cream after

It was good to be home this weekend and catch up with Traci and Deb. I hadn't really seen either of them for a while so it was nice to hear what's going on in their lives and such. I'm not always the best about keeping in touch so its great when we're all together and can catch up and continue on like normal. I love watching movies with them [we always choose some of the best], talking walks and just doing random things. I'm headed back for Des Moines in the morning and then I'll spend my first full week in DSM before going camping for memorial day weekend!

Moving On

I'm going to warn you before reading this that the whole thing may not make complete sense. It's just my feelings at the moment so they might now flow very well and I apologize for that. Right now I'm sitting in my room for the summer all moved in and it's a little strange. For some reason it feels like I'm an actual adult on my own. Growing up and getting older is strange. It's like you take little steps of independence and then suddenly you're kind of on your own. Yes I graduated from high school 3 years ago and I've been at college for 3 years, but that feels so much different. At school I'm away from my family, but there's always been an adult-type figure watching me. In the dorms it was the RA or hall coordinators in DG it's Janine our house mom [house director technically]. Right now I'm all moved into this house where I'll be living with 4 other girls. There isn't a parent here, no one to clean for me, no one to cook my meals. I've known it was going to be like this since I decided to live here, but now sitting here in my room it's strange. In all reality I'm planning on going home this weekend so I'll really be on my own for a few days. Also it's just for the summer, and then in August I'll be back in DG with 33 other women. But for these next 3ish months I'll get a taste of what I think it means to be an "adult". I'll be working [even if one of those is lifeguarding so not a "real" adult job in my opinion], cooking for myself, cleaning, and not doing any schoolwork. I feel like it'll just be a strange time and I'm not really sure yet how I feel about this whole getting older thing. I'm sure I'll continue to update you on these feelings as the summer progresses. Now I'll leave you with a few pictures of my new room for the summer with everything unpacked. I have sterile training in the morning and then working at IDPH. So I'll probably read some more of book before going to bed since I have to be at Methodist at 8 am and can't sleep until 11 am like I did today.

Graduation Season!

Today my sister graduated from Hampton-Dumont High School. This marks my 5th graduation commencement at H-D that I've been to in a row plus my mom's Drake graduation in there as well. Commencements have obviously been a part of my life a lot recently. Through all of these I've listened to many different speakers and have really enjoyed the fact that H-D now uses teachers as the speaker. It's so much nicer to have someone who actually knows the students and it makes listening to the speeches so much better. Also I've come to realize how nice it is to go to a smaller high school where the commencement lasts about an hour and you know the majority of the people that you graduate with. I also enjoy going to the graduation parties and catching up with old friends and seeing teachers. It's always nice to be home. I will now also enjoy not going to a commencement for another 3 years when I graduate [and possibly Isaac]. Now here's a look back on the graduation celebrations that I've been a small part of in the past 5 years.

2007-Watching Traci graduate

 2008-My graduation with the siblings

 2009-Pekka's graduation with the siblings

 2009-Mom graduating from Drake [I believe Pekka took the picture]

 2010-Isaac's graduation

 2011-Carina's graduation

 The family at Carina's graduation

 Sisters [H-D graduates of 2008 and 2011]

 My favorite find in the trophy case today after commencement. I also discovered that I'm in the trophy case 3 times for conference champs in basketball and 2 times in track. I found that humerus since I really wasn't all that athletic in high school. 

So good luck to the graduates of Hampton-Dumont class of 2011 and also all of my DG sisters that graduated yesterday from Drake. I'm sure that all of you will do amazing things in your future!

Drake: A Year in Review

After seeing Sarah's blog about her first year at Drake I thought it would be nice to do a little year in review. So this is my life's highlights from August 2010 to May 2011! Get excited because there's lots of pictures!

Got my White Coat and officially became a pharmacy student!

Celebrated birthdays with old friends

and new ones!

Lived in a house with 34 other wonderful women and got to know them all!

Volunteered with Service for Sight activities.

Recruited amazing new members with my great recruitment group!

Saw Jamie awkwardly every time I went home for activities or went to Iowa State!

Was a dalmatian for Halloween with DGs

and with IVers

Had the usual initiation dinner this time with my little Jenna.

turned 21 and celebrated with Nikki

Dressed up as HP for the premier

Attended winter formal

Hung out with friends over christmas break and went sledding...

had a game night....

and wore ugly sweaters with my siblings.

Watched a track meet with friends!

Introduced friends to my hometown and of course Kum and Go!

Walked in Relay for Life.

Attended prom and a birthday party with friends

Spring formal with Erica.

Streetpainted with Erin [notice Courtney in the background]

and help plan a night of unity with Michelle!

There is my junior (p1) in review!!!