catch up!

Well it definitely has been a while since ive done a post...February to be exact. What has been going on since then...? What hasnt..? School definitely picked up since February. Seemed like everytime a test was scheduled in one class we had one in every other class the same week. Clinic also got crazy, i wouldnt say i had a whole lot of patients but i stayed busy for sure. i passed all my comps for clinic and got thru all my classes for the semester. 3 A's and 3 B's. ill take it. this semester was definitly my favorite so far. i am really enjoying actually being a hygienist now. i wouldnt say im a pro yet but im getting there :) ok so let me highlight a few things that have happened since February:

In March our class went to Nashville for Legislative Day...I wouldnt say it was a total disaster...but it was definitley a waste of time. It was very unorganized and with 30 girls...things got a little catty to say the least. My favorite part was going to the Cheesecake Factory with a few friends. In April, six of us went to TDHA (Tennessee Dental Hygiene Association) in Nashville. This was a much better time! We went to a few speakers and sold our class t-shirt. anndd we ate...and ate...and ate..! The end of April and beginning of May was packed with doing papers, comps, and finals. It got pretty crazy there for a while but i got through it all and im very proud of myself and my grades.

Also, April 30 was me and Adam's one year anniversary! The whole reason i started this blog was to keep up with planning the wedding. Now it has been a whole year since that day! It hasnt always been smiles with us but i think that is expected in a marriage especially the first year. I also think we have a lot of extra stress on us with me being in school. I am still trying to find that balance with school and husband time. For our anniversary, Adam got me a cavas print of my favorite wedding picture! i love it! we took a picture with it and i plan on doing that every year with each previous year's picture! On our anniversary, we of course ate our top tier of our wedding cake and we watched our wedding video. A year later watching it and i wouldnt change one thing about it. It was actually more beautiful than i even remember. I love my husband so much, he is truely one of a kind. I will be the first to admit i am hard to deal with on a regular basis...plus the stress of school...whoo i am more than a handful! :) Adam does so well with me tho. Im pretty sure that is why God put him in my life. I have said here lately, Adam is more like a single parent right now. He pretty much does all the cooking and cleaning at home, he goes to work, pays all the bills, and sends me to school. He makes sure i have everything i need and pretty much everything i want. I know he worries himself sick over money and how we are going to make it...but that is just the Shelley in him! We will make it, and one day...one day...ill have a job! what a glorious day that will be! :) haha.

So, I am now out of school for my somewhat summer break. I have until June and i start an online class then go back to school in July. I actually cant wait. I have come to the conclusion i cannot be a housewife or stay at home mom. i have been out for a week now and im about to go stir crazy with bordom! yes i could clean, workout, cook dinner....all those great things i should do but i dont wanna! i need structure and somewhere to be and something to do on a regular basis!

here are a few pictures of what i have been up to lately!:

Legislative Day

Lacy and I

TDHA Girls!

Charity and I

Easter 2012

Adam and I with the babies

Adam and I on Easter

Jaycie's 3rd Birthday!

One Year Anniversary

Remembering our beautiful day....

update on DH

The semester is in full whirlwind, and im absolutely loving it. Yesterday i completed my first patient. My brother. ahh what a day! He came in the morning, we went to eat lunch together and he came back that afternoon for me to finish. since he hasnt been to the dentist since he was in 8th grade and he is now 28, it was to say the least...a lot of work! he was a very good patient tho. we usually tend to bump heads but yesterday was good....maybe it was bc i had sharp instruments in his mouth! :) we did full mouth xrays and a prophy. it was fun...for the first couple hours. then it was just work! i shouldve been getting paid for that! haha he was considered a difficulty C patient, which is good for me bc i have to get so many patients that meet certain requirements. i dont know who was warn out more at the end of the day tho me or him! but it was good practice! tuesday i have my mom...i have already done xrays on her so we will just be doing a cleaning but i have a feeling it will be an all day thing also bc she hasnt been to to the dentist in years either. and i have my sister scheduled for march...who hasnt been to the dentist in years! what is wrong with my family why do they not go to the dentist! its ok tho i will get them all cleaned up good and you better believe they wont be missing any appointments anymore! :) i have my first patient (that isnt a family member) next thursday! im pretty excited! i hope i do well and she does too!

classes are going ok. im definitely liking this semester better than last. we have two days in the clinic and two days of classes. although i have yet to have any tests so studying hasnt really picked up like it should! i better get on that!

other than school, i have started going back to Zumba 3 days a week. i try no matter how tired i am bc it always makes me feel so good afterwards! we have the class at the church we go to. Kelly is an awesome teacher. she started last year and we averaged maybe 10 people a class. now we are averaging around 40-50! its crazy but the more people it is the more fun it seems! its such a good workout! if you are intrested in coming COME ON! the class is Monday and Thursday nights at 7pm and Satruday mornings at 9. i promise youll love it! we also just started a biggest loser contest so im hoping my motivation will kick in and i can lose some pounds before summer time!

life is good. i wouldnt trade it for anything. i have absolutely wonderful friends and family and a very very caring and loving husband. i dont know how he does it sometimes. he definitely loves every single part of me with everything he has.

A little catchig up before it gets crazy again!

My last post was in November and it is now January so i figured its about time to get updated on here! Since November a lot has happened. Lets start with school, i made it through my first semester of DH school and first set of finals! It was to say the least very challenging. But i can also say, i have learned more in that one semester than i did the whole 5 years i was in Martin. After finals were over it was Christmas break..yay!!!...not so much. 2 days after my lst final i had a tonsilectomy! i was MISERABLE! there was one day that i seriously thought i might die..ok maybe not die but at the time i wished i was dead! everyone told me it was going to be rough the older you are. i was thinkin ok a few days eat some ice cream and pop sicles and ill be fine. no. 2 weeks straight was horrible. i am now in my 3rd week and im still not "back to normal" although i can now eat pretty much whatever i want. i still feel like i have a sore throught. let me tell you it hurt so bad to just drink water. and that is what the doctor kept saying would help the recovery process. Adam had to call the doctor 3 times during the first week, twice to get me more pain pills and once to get me some meds to help with nausea. yes, naseau. i would rather have a broken leg than to be throwing up 5 times a day when i have nothing in my stomach but a little bit of water and popsicle juice! ugh just thinking back makes me sick to my stomach! Luckily i have a totally awesome husband that was by my side taking care of me. cleaning out my throw up can and making sure i took my meds. he is very good a nurturing...which im very glad for our future kids bc i more of a suck it up and get tough kind of person (when its not me sick) :)

anyways right in the middle of all this is christmas and new years. needless to say yes i did loose some weight! the only good thing that came out of the whole process. i still very much enjoyed Christmas with our families. it was our first christmas and new years as a married couple. nothing was really different other than the feeling of it. it just felt good/warm/right. i have no doubts in my mind that God knew what he was doing when we said i do. i cannot wait to have a few little Shelley babies running around. it is just going to make it that much better. but first things first - graduate school and get a j-o-b! :)

i have 3 days left of my christmas break and its back to school! i think this break was much needed and a good break from studying. i feel like my mind is rested and im ready to get back to it! not that im ready for all the studying again but the faster we start the semester the faster its over with and im that much closer to graduating!

so anyways thats what ive been up to. a lot of being sick and miserable but also a lot of much needed rest. hopefully next time i update this blog i wont be complaining too much on how im sick of school!
here are a few pics to enjoy. much love!

Christmas Eve at Meme's

Christmas Day at Adam's Parent's

Cutest babies ever :)

At Mom's

After Carter's Christmas program at school.

He did so good i was a very proud aunt!

Oh i forgot to mention our DH Christmas Party. This is a picture of our class officers. we got "inducted" i guess you can call it, into our positions..so we are now official officers for our class.

junior and senior officers

this was taking on thanksgiving at Adam's Nana's house. we used this picture for our Christmas cards this year :)

My Happy Place

Since it is November I have been thinking a lot about what I am thankful for and well there is a LONG list. This year has been AMAZING. Of course there have been struggles but i am thankful for them also. I think I am most thankful for my husband. The life i live would not be possible without him. He made sure i had the wedding of my dreams, the honeymoon of my dreams, and he is making sure i have the career of my dreams. I love him for loving me so much! our marriage is wonderful...do we fight?..only every other day...do we laugh about it...always. we are both such hard headed people that we arent going to go a day without thinking we are right or better at something than the other. but i wouldnt change it for the world. my husband is my everything. he has definitely taught me the meaning of true happiness.
another thing on my list that i am thankful for is school. i know im crazy right? i have really having such a good time in dental hygiene school. the more i learn the more excited i get about becoming a dental hygienist. this past week we polished teeth for the first time and man do i really feel official! and the girls in my class just make it that much better!
My family also tops the list. I really dont see how people do it without a big family. Our life would be so boring! dont get me wrong...my family is a crazy dysfunctional mess...but i wouldnt have it any other way! i cant wait to have about 3 babies, my brother and sister in law have some and my sister and brother in law have another! i want my kids to grow up in a big family. have cousins to play with and know that their is nothing greater than family.
im loving my life. i am definitly in my "happy place" and hope that never changes.

Life is crazy...but GOOD crazy!

It's November! This year really has flown by. It seems like yesterday I was stressing about our wedding and finding out I got into school. Now, we are getting ready for Christmas! This year has been crazy and the best year of my life yet! School has not slowed down for one minute. I have to squeeze in time to spend with family...and friends...yeah i spend time with the ones at school and that is about it. Im loving every minute of it though. Yes i have been so stressed out i feel like crying and yes i have asked myself is this really for me but i know this is what i have wanted for a very long time and i wouldnt be here if it werent for God. I am so very blessed.
and i know i say this in a lot of my blogs but i dont say it as much as i should. i have an absolutley wonderful husband! he has wanted to kill me many times since i have been in school but he hasnt...yet :) he is so understanding and has really stepped up to support me and help me in any way he can. i know that i am a lucky girl to have a man by my side like him. in the mist of all the craziness around the house he obviously has really stepped it up at work to bc he recently got a promotion. im so proud of him.
this past weekend we celebrated Halloween at our church fall festival. we had a really big turn out! adam isnt fond of halloween...i think mainly bc of the money that goes into it for one day...costumes are freakin expensive it is ridiculous..and candy..$10 and more for a bag? crazy! anyways we were pirates with my sister and her family. we all had a booth together that we decorated as a pirate ship and had two games for the kids to play. we won first place in the booth contest. :) my sister and her family had the cutest pirate costumes! me and adam on the other hand...made our from stuff we had at home :) adam looked more like peter pan with a wig on but i think mine turned out pretty good considering! it was fun. but it wore us out! last night was halloween and since we didnt want to go buy more candy we left the house and went to my moms so we didnt have to deal with trick or treaters! haha yes i know we are horrible!  i told adam last night i am really going to have to so some soul searching when we decide to have kids bc sometimes i just dont feel like getting all into it and i really want to for my kids sake! ugh i guess this just means we arent ready...or atleast im not! lol
all in all life is still crazy. we are busy all the time and never seem to have a "lazy" day or time to just do nothing. but in my eyes that is a good life! we have goals and dreams we are accomplishing and setting up the life we want to live. and so far not strangling each other in the mist. life is good. we are blessed.

What a WEEK!...and it's still not over!

This week has been absolutely draining! I never thought I would have the moment in the week to say im bored but at the moment...I am bored! I had to work this morning at 5:45 and got off at 8 and since I dont have radiology lab today than means I dont have class until 1:00. 5 hours I have...to do nothing. I studied a bit at work so for the moment I am taking a little break but I will probably be studying most of this "free time" I have.
So, this week consisted of a head and neck anatomy test on Monday, a dental anatomy test on Tuesday, a radiology test on Wednesday, a quiz and evaluation on Thursday (today), and a quiz on Friday. I didnt do great on my first head and neck anatomy test (83...which is a C in professional school) so this past weekend was spent all on studying for that one test. Which meant I only had Monday night to study for DA and only Tuesday night to study for radiology, and so on. Which I guess paid off bc I ended up getting a 93 on the head and neck test. Although, I did not feel very prepared for the other two tests. One grade I already got back..and it reflects it. Not horrible but I shouldve done better and I would have if I would have spent more time on it. The other I still dont know but hopefully I did ok. Im trying not to be too hard on myself about those two tests bc this week has just been a whole lot in one!
I am slowly learning that if I want A's in all my classes it means I will absolutely not have a life. So I am trying very hard to accept the B's and C's and be happy with them. When I apply for a job the dentist is not going to care about my GPA and I will still be holding the same degree and license that a straight A student will be holding. I dont know why but this has been hard for me to accept. I want A's, I want the security of knowing I have nothing to worry about and have that "cushion" come final time. I am still shooting for A's but I am not killing myself for them. My personal life means more to me than that.
The other night, I think it was Tuesday night, I got home and sat on the couch..within a minute I was asleep. I took a 30 minute nap and when I woke up Adam was up cleaning the house and cooking dinner. I went straight to the kitchen table and started studying. Dinner got done, I ate, then went right back to studying. At 9:00 Parenthood came on so I finally stopped studying and went to the livingroom. Adam ask me if I was ok and then brought to my knowledge that I had barely even spoken to him all evening. ugh I felt so bad! School is really taking over. I have got to find that balance somewhere. Luckily, I do have a VERY understanding husband. I dont think I have done 2 loads of laundry since I started school or made dinner more than a couple times, or even done the dishes. He has definitly stepped up and is taking care of everything that I usually did on top of him going to work everyday. I definitly got a keeper. I think he gets it though, he wants me to succeed just as much as I do.
On the flip side, I am not complaining about school. I love school and I know how blessed I am to be in this program. Last night, I caught up on Lucy's Blog. I have followed this blog since March. I dont see how Kate (Lucys mom) does it. It is so inspiring to see what they are going through and still be able to understand that it is God's plan for them. Kate had posted of video of Lucy getting her "new cells" and as I watched it, I thought to myself..what in the world am I doing complaining about having to study for test after test. Saying this little girl has been through a lot is an understatement. There are alot bigger things in this world than we realize. Atleast I dont realize. Sometimes I need to just stop and think how good I really do have it. God has a perfect plan for all of us. Although, we may not always think it is perfect. We need to be thankful for the life we have and live each day trusting in the Lord.

Break Time

Tonight I am studying for a test I have on Thursday but, Ive got to that point where Im reading and not comprehending anything so that calls for a BREAK! So, I thought I would do a quick update :) School is crazy...but I absolutely love it. I really didnt expect to make so many genuine friends, I love these girls! Friday, we didnt get out of class until 5 so we planned a "fiesta friday" for after class. About half us went to one of the girls' house near by and had dinner and relieved some stress by just hanging out and having a good time. It was so much fun, we laughed the whole time we were there! We have a lot of outgoing personalities in our class. :)
Saturday I went with one of my besties (Ashley) to look for bridesmaids dresses. It is soooo good to be on the other side of weddings! I absolutely loved planning my wedding and loved how everything turned out but I am so glad it is over and done with. I do not miss the stress and drama that comes along with it. We found a dress that is so pretty. I can's wait for her wedding. I just know it will be beautiful!
The rest of the weeked I spent catching up on my sleep and getting ready for the week! It was much needed! This week I only have one test but the next few weeks are going to be the craziest yet!
Also, I need prayers for my brother in law (Gene). He is going through back surgery Friday. That is no good for anyone to go through! Adam and I are going to step in this weekend and play mommy and daddy for them! We are going to take Carter and Jaycie to Disney on Ice Friday and letting them stay the night with us then taking them to a birthday party Saturday and going to do some cotton field pictures on Sunday. I am going to be worn out after this weekend! But, hopefully it will help them out so they have one less thing to worry about and can concentrate on Gene recovering!

i can only pray my children are this beautiful!! Love these 2 more than anything!

Guess I need  to get back to the studying! :)