It is over!

School that is!

I am so excited to say that I am finished with nursing school. No I don't have that dipolma in my hand yet but soon. December 17th at 9am to be exact. This moment is what I have kept my eyes on for the last 2 years, graduation. I have learned a lot about myself throughout nursing school and I have made some great friends along the way. I am very fortunate to have a friend who lives less than 1 mile from me, graduated from the same high school, both spent our freshman year up at NAU (but we didn't know each other), and have the same study habits. We pushed each other through school and I know that I would not have stayed sane if it wasn't for her.

I also have my family to thank for sticking it out with me. I know there were days where I was cranky/stressed and would just shut my door to the world for a little while. They were encouraging through out the whole time.

AND I have to especially thank the love of my life for helping me out as well. He sent me numerous texts/letters/voicemails about how great I am doing and that I am almost done! Everything that a great man would do! I am so glad to be ending this chapter in my life and starting a new one with him!

SO what's next you ask??? Well I am going to start studying for my board exam and looking for jobs. Most places won't hire you if you don't have your actual license so I am kind of stuck for a little bit and it is really hard when your living out of the state you are moving to. Please send good thoughts/prayers for me in hopes of finding a job in Colorado. Also, I will be chugging along with the wedding plans. There are so many details to worry about like who is going to put the centerpieces out or make sure the cake lady knows where to put the cake. I have some minifreak-outs but I have a great mom, friends, and aunts helping me through it.

Life is great right now! I couldn't ask for better and I am excited to see what the future holds for the future Mrs. Schrader.

What a weekend!

This weekend I was able to go to Colorado to spend the weekend with my love! And it was so wonderful as always!!

He welcomed me to Colorado with those BEAUTIFUL flowers! They are our wedding colors too )isn't he sooo good?!) Chris and I went to hike around the lake where we got engaged and took some re-enactment pictures. It was such a nice day and seeing the leaves changing colors were so COOL! It isn't anything I have seen before because it doesn't really happen in Arizona and in Texas, the leaves just fell off and were brown..nothing too interesting in that! We had a day full of movies and popcorn, along with a little studying..Such a nice weekend, just the 2 of us!

On another note, I AM FINISHED WITH MY CRITICAL CARE CLASS! It was a class full of a ton of information, basically telling us that there are a lot of things that can go wrong with the body FAST! It was an interesting class and I did learn a lot but I am glad that it is done...I am heading into my last 7 weeks of college! How crazy! I remember starting nursing school and feeling like it would never end...BUT here I am, almost done! WHEW...It has been a long 2 years but I am so ready to graduate and start my new life with my one and only (i love you christopher!)

So excited for Glee tonight! I'm hooked!

Is it Fall yet?!

I think I am done with this hot weather here in Arizona...its September, officially fall time and its still summer waether. I hope it cools down soon!

Anyways, I have been pretty busy lately with school and the wedding planning! We are getting married Jan. 29 and I am so excited! It has been fun and a bit stressful but I can not wait! I know it will be here before we know it but it seems like forever away haha!

This summer I worked back up in Colorado as a horse back riding counselor. It was tough but I enjoyed being up there and closer to Chris. I learned alot about horses and riding this summer! It is so beautiful in the summer time with the mountains and green grass! I love it and after the wedding I am moving up there. We also took some engagement pictures this summer around the lake. We had a couple take our pictures that have a photography business up there. We had a great time taking them. Those are some of the pictures that were taken. Also, one of our good friends that we met last summer, saw our engagement pictures and sketched a picture of it.It was a engagement gift and we had no idea she was drawing it. She is an artist and did such a great job. I posted her drawing and the picture that she sketched it from. We were so grateful for that! It is hanging in Chris's house right now.

School is going well! It is my last semester and I am soooo glad! I am ready to graduate! This semester we have clinicals in critical care. I have been in ICU and cardiac ICU. It is a great experience but a little overwhelming. People are not doing well in there and it is hard sometimes to control your emotions because you feel so empathatic for them. In a few weeks, I will be done with that rotation and start a preceptorship to finish out the semester. I have the opportunity to follow a nurse in Labor and Delivery at Banner Desert for a month. I am really excited about it because this is the section of nursing that I am so interested in.

So next weekend I head up to Colorado to visit Chris for the weekend. I miss being up there so much and him, that it will be an excellent weekend! Also, the aspen trees up there are starting to change colors and Chris said I will be there just in time for them to be in full color. I have heard that they are so beautiful!

Life is so good right now and I know it just keeps getting better!!

3 down, 1 to go

I have been in nursing school for 3 semesters and I have 1 left. I never thought I would get to this day. I remember just finishing my first semester and thinking that it is going to be a longggg 2 years. Thank goodness I have met some really great people that have helped me through. Also my friends and family have helped out as well. And a BIG shout out to my fiance Chris for supporting me and telling me that I was going to make it threw when I thought I couldn't go any farther.

I have learned so many things and got to have some great experiences. I am excited for my next semester because it is filled with practice tests, ICU expereience, job hunting, and an externship. Plus some wedding planning in there too haha!

These are just some pictures of this past semester. I had clinical classes in Pediatrics, Labor and Delivery, and Community Health. I now have some great stories to tell and new skills.

On to Colorado on Wednesday for camp and Ill be back in August! Have a great summer!

He got down on one knee.....

AND PROPOSED! Chris asked me to marry him on May 1st. The best day of my life! Here's the story:

I flew into Colorado for the weekend before finals to be with my love before I became overly stressed with school..Saturday morning was cold (like 25 degrees) and snowy and Chris wanted to go for a walk by this certain lake. Lily Lake is where we first knew we were falling in love with each other during the summer time so it was a really special place. I was a little bit confused as to why he was so persistant on going to walk in the freezing weather. But I went with it because I was bundled up and ready to go. We were driving to the lake and Chris was all smiley and giddy and I was like hm...he really wants to get to this lake. Then we both got out of the car and walked around the lake when not even 50ft Chris slips and falls on the ice and pulled me down with him!!! (He will try to say we both fell, but I am pretty sure he pulled me :) ) So we laughed for a little but and kept on walking....we finally got to the bench where we sat for a while and talked about everything (it was the same bench we sat at during the summer and chatted forever)..He stood up after a bit and I stood up and he told me to SIT DOWN...I was like geezeeeeeeee mister! And he gave his speech on how much he loves me and wants to be with me forever and all the romantic stuff that I just ate up and then he got down on one knee and asked me to MARRY HIM!!!! Of course I said yes but he didnt hear it right away and after I put the ring on and gave him lots of kisses, he said, "That was a yes right?" Silly Chris, I love you!!!! It was a magical weekend and one that I will never forget! I LOVE MY FIANCE!

Now that school is done (YAY) I can get to planning a little more of the details of the wedding...I am still going up to Colorado for the summer to work at camp but we have started to look at reception sites and looking into churches. We are hoping to get married in January after I graduate in Mesa. I am so HAPPY!!!!! This is just a wonderful time in life and i am so excited :)

Need to laugh?

I don't know what it is about these goats and the men's story but I was laughing out loud watching it. I am right now in the airport and laughing out loud is a little awkward when people are looking at you but whateverrrr...I kind of want one of these goats :)

Check out this great MSN Video: Fainting Goats!

Gentlemen, start your engines!

Yes, I went to a Nascar Race! Chris was in town and so was Nascar and I know how much he loves going to them so I bought tickets and we went on Saturday. It was a nice day with a little cool breeze but once you get down to that track, it gets HOT! The track itself was 113 degrees! Thats like summer weather! We ended up having a great time and got some pretty cool looking hats (picture below :) ). It was a late afternoon race so by the time the sun was setting, it started to get pretty chilly. I was sweating on the walk to the track that I figured I didn't need a jacket! But around 7, I needed it! It was a great race though! I had to convince myself that I didn't need a huge bag of kettle corn...the smell was delicious but I already consumed alot of snacks already. So I focused my hunger for kettle corn on studying. Yes, I know it is very lame but I had a test on Monday and I knew it was going to be tough..So like a nerd, I whipped out my notes and studied while cars flew by me at 130 mph. I got some funny looks but hey, I was being a good student. All in all it was a great Saturday to spend with Chris and we loved every mintue of it!

On a side note, guess who is finished with school in 3 weeks?!?! ME! I am done May 7th and I am soooo excited! I am glad this semester flew by! I am ready to begin my last semester of school even though it will come with more stress and work, I will all be worth it because I will be graduating!!! I am finishing up my Labor and Delivery rotation and I LOVE it! I hope to get to do more of it next semester when we get to choose where we want to be placed! So my fingers are crossed!! HAPPY ALMOST SUMMER!

Visit to the Midwest!

For Spring Break, I went to meet Chris's family in Indiana. It was the first time to meet them and then the first time I have been to the midwest. So here is the start...my flight was at 140am..Yes AM! It was so early and the airport was literally dead. That was nice though. I pretty much slept the whole flight to Minneapolis..well as much as you can sleep on an airplane haha. Then I took my connection flight to Indiana. I was so happy to finally get where I was supose to go. It was a long flight. Luckily, none of my flights were very delayed. Chris and I got to do alot of thing around his town of Bloomington. He got sick while we were there so it was a bummer but he toughened it out and still made it a great week! It was great to meet his family, they are super nice and really easy to talk to. I got to see many of the places that Chris's use to go and hangout. We went and saw Alice and Wonderland 3d (pretty cool) and got to tour Indiana University's Athletic department. We went to many small towns and walked around their downtown into their cute little shops. And I found out that I LOVE the Wii! There are so many fun games to play and we played for a while! All in all I had a wonderful time! It was relaxing and laid back, which is what I needed. It was so nice to take a break.

Here are just a few pictures from the trip!

She is a married girl now!!

Cami Nielsen! She got married to a wonderful man last night! The reception was amazing and she looked beautiful! It was a great day and I know they are truly happy and love each other sooo much (you can just see it in their faces--so cute!) Thanks for always being a great friend to me Cami, I know I can always count on you!

CONGRATS AMMON AND CAMI! Best wishes in your new step in life!

Goodbye PCH!

I just finished my last rotation at Phoenix Children's Hospital. It was such an amazing experience and I loved getting to play with all the kids! I really enjoy working with the kids and they had some great stories. At first it was a little hard seeing them in the hospital with all these tubes and crying. But knowing that I was helping them get better made it a lot easier. I see a future for me in Pediatrics but we shall see!!!

Can you say SNOW?!

After being in the sunshine for so long, you kind of forget how cold other places can really be. While I was up in Colorado, they had a TON of snow..Over a foot in one day! It never stopped! I was able to help Chris feed the horses on saturday morning and my pants were covered in snow up to my shins, which made it even colder on my legs. It was really fun though getting to feed with him. So obviously on Saturday, we had a movie day complete with a fire, hot cocca, and lots of blankets. I really do love the snow so much, I just need to get my Arizona blood use to it. Here are some pictures of our infamous snow day and some of the horses just messing around!

Also, on Sunday before I left we stopped in town because there was a dog pull competiton going on. I have never been to one and thought it was pretty interesting! Some of the dogs pulled up to a thousand pounds. They just hook them up to a sleigh and put weight on the back...And we all know that dogs can be pretty stubborn sometimes and it was funny to watch the dogs just lay down or let out a pathetic little bark right after they got hooked to the weight. It was too funny!

P.S. sorry, some of the pictures are out of order and looks like they were thrown every where haha...im still getting back into the hang of the whole blog thing

I'm Back!

I'm back to the blogging world! All fall I have been looking at everyone's blogs wondering why I deleted mine. So here I am!

I started my senior year in January! It is so exciting to be done soon.. This semester I am working in the pediatric unit in Phoenix Children's and in community health, I am in a homeless shelter. Both these experiences have opened my eyes and I have learned alot! I really love nursing and can't wait to be a real nurse someday!

SOOOO right now I am Colorado visiting Chris, my boyfriend. It was sad that we couldn't spend Valentine's day together but I was coming up for a 4 day weekend starting Wednesday night. He sent me a Vday package in the mail and it made me soo happy! He is so great! Then, when we got home from the airport last night, there were pink rose petals all throughout the house, leading to a beautiful arrangement of roses. It was so sweet and I was so surprised. He is an awesome guy and I can't wait to spend this wonderful weekend with him :)