My Momma

Today is my mom's birthday!

I have always had a really difficult time 

expressing my love for my mom.

I frequently feel like any words I might try to use to describe my feelings

completely miss the mark.

I don't feel comfortable when my easy ability at writing gets cramped.

So I have had a tendency of avoiding

"I love my mom" posts.

But today, I'm going to try my hardest.

My mom, Holly, is the woman who gave my my sense of adventure.

She has always been finding adventure, for as long as I can remember.

Every family vacation she talked about adventures, and sight-seeing,

and experiencing the world.

She was the first one I told about my desire to move across the country

to do the Disney College Program,

because I knew she would immediately support that adventure.

Taken just before my flight to Orlando

Big smile + squinty eyes = lots of excitement

I am so lucky to have a mom who gets so excited about things.

I'm also lucky to have a mom who is so sentimental.

She jokes that she can cry on demand

(and she really can)

but it has been so wonderful to be raised around a woman who so deeply cares for people.

She has always been, and will always be, my biggest supporter.

I don't look anything like my mom when it comes to the outsides

My nose is my dad's, my forehead is my dad's, even my earlobes are my dad's.

But the stuff on the inside?

The sentimentality, the desire to care for people, the 'soft heart'

I'm exactly like her. 

I wanted to be a nurse as a kid, 

because I loved hearing her stories about caring for patients 

as a radiation therapist. 

And now here I am,

almost done with nursing school!

LPN graduation

My mom gave me my love for all things Disney.

Growing up with season passes to Disneyland definitely set the foundation

for my lifetime fixation.

I remember how excited I was for my 20th birthday present…

3 day park tickets to Disneyland with my mom.

We had such a blast together!

It's one of my favorite trips to Disneyland I've ever had.

She has always been so good at finding awesome things to do.

Life is never dull with my mom around!

Another awesome perk of having my mom as my mom?

Her best friend Alisa, 

who happens to be my middle name's namesake.

But I digress.

I have some pretty awesome parents,

if you ask me.

They have given me such a wonderful life.

Mom, I can not tell you how grateful I am that you are my mom!

My mom is such a goofball,

Though she usually tries to hide it.

I still feel like I've completely missed the mark 

on explaining just how awesome my mom is.

I hope I've at least hit the target.

Not a bullseye,

but at least made contact with the board.

Above all else,

She is certainly the heart of our family!

I love you so much mom,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Love,

Courtney

Ketchup

I realize I haven't posted about this semester at all. I guess Eric's death the first day of classes really threw me off the blogging groove. I know he checked this blog out a lot, just to keep in contact with me, so it's been hard to get back into writing when I know he's not there to read it.

So I suppose I'll play catch-up now. Heavens, so much has happened in the past 4 months. In August, I got a surprising text from my roommate saying she had decided to move back to California and drop out of the nursing program here. So all of the sudden, I had the entire apartment to myself. I lived alone until the middle of October, when an LPN student moved into Stephanie's old room. It was crazy chaos as Stephanie's stuff was moved out of the apartment, and Chelcea's stuff was moved in, all on the same day. But now things are almost entirely settled, and it's working out well.

School has been really, really good this semester.

Like, I'm completely serious.

At the end of the school year, the nursing director, Donna, retired. One of the instructors, Nikkie became the new director, and she has completely revamped the entire program. It has been a wonderful, much needed change.

The semester ends the second week of December, which means I have about 3 weeks to go. I am currently in the middle of my Medical/Surgical clinical rotations, so I get up super early (if you consider 5 AM early) and I drive to the hospital near the highway to start my day at 5:30. I love being in the hospital, caring for my patients. I feel accomplished and it's a wonderful way to prepare for being a graduated nurse. Living in Price isn't the most fun thing i've ever done, but I have come to realize how lucky I am to have a fully functional (though small) hospital just 10 minutes from my house.

Half way through last month, I discovered that the scholarships I received are given out both semesters. I had assumed that the refund check I got in August was the money intended for Spring 2014. I stowed it away in my bank account, ready to pull it back out to pay for my last semester of school. A friend told me that the check I received was the leftover money for this semester, and if I kept my grades where they needed to be, I would get the same scholarship money for next semester's tuition. So if I maintain a 3.7 GPA (currently it's a 4.0, so fingers crossed!) I will get roughly $2,000 next semester in leftover money.

With this in mind, I decided to quit my awful telecommunication job at Sorenson's. I had weird hours and I hated the work, so I looked at my expenses and figured I could make due for 6 more months off the scholarship refunds. I'm not out buying stuff as freely as I used to, which is fine and good. I'm living within my means, and I'm benefitting from the free time I have now. I still work at the doctor's office Tuesday and Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings, so that is my wiggle money.

While life has tried to pull me down with a breakup, roommate troubles and the death of a best friend, I have found that relying on my Heavenly Father and enduring to the end has benefitted my life in ways I couldn't have imagined. I am so grateful and lucky to lead the life that I have!

Keep your chin up, friends, life gets better.
~Courtney