Summer recap 2015

We drained and cleaned out our hot tub and Andrew got it back up and running so we could enjoy the summer nights out there. But then it started getting so hot in the day that we stopped heating it so we could lay out in the day time and have it be the perfect temperature to cool off in! We have pools in our community we can go to, but it was nice just being able to go out to our deck to get some sun. 

Shoutout to this guy for making us dinner every night so I could do homework. He didn't travel much over the summer, so it was so sweet of him to do all the cooking. He is such a good cook! I'm a lucky girl. And now I'm missing his home cooked meals now that he is traveling to Oklahoma City every week for work. 

We finally painted our ugly burnt orange bedroom to this light gray! Looks so much better. This reminds me that I still need to put up pictures of our house. someday :) 

 My parents came out to Charlotte for the 4th of July weekend before heading to a business trip in Miami and Jordan & Kaci came down from Raleigh. We BBQed in the day and then went to the USA baseball game downtown. Loved all the buildings surrounding the stadium. It was a perfect evening weather wise and the firework was the best I've ever seen. It was like 40 minutes long! I kept thinking it was the finale when it wasn't haha

 I feel like this is my life lately--tired all. the. time. after school 

Love snuggling with my pooch

I found the best pizza place ever here called Mellow Mushroom. My girlfriends and I went there for lunch one day and I barely talked the entire time cause I was enjoying my food too much! I took Andrew there to celebrate his 27th birthday!! And of course he loved it too! 

 Cutest 27 year old I've ever seen :) He wanted a cookie/brownie cake with ice cream in the middle. It was a little too much for me but glad we know. 

Haha---ghetto riding after buying another mattress for our guest bedroom! Didn't feel like renting a truck just for mattresses so we tried this. We didn't want to drive on the highway to get home so it took us like an hour on the back roads. It was so windy and we were scared they were going to fly off! Luckily made it home with no problems. We are slowly getting our house put together!!

During my summer break, we had so many visitors and loved it! Andrew's brothers Dave & John and their families came, and Andrew's mom, aunt, and grandparents too. It was so fun having everyone all together! It had been awhile since we had been together and we loved seeing all their kiddos. Andrew would be happy being with the big kids all day while I was content being with the babies! We went to the Whitewater center, some children's museums, and splash pads. 

 Us with John & Rachael's cute fam. 

 Sisters getting pedicures!

My sister finally had the baby girl she's been wanting the beginning of August and she is so perfect! I went out to Colorado a week after she was born to get some newborn snuggles in and was so in love.

 My mom and dad were taking Jared to BYU so they were gone when I got there, but she left me with this cute set up. She's the cutest momma! 

 Kel's bow drawer! haha I love it.  Of course she went overboard after having 3 boys! I lucked out by not having kids yet because I get to inherit all of her baby girl's bows and clothes since Kel is done having kids. LUCKY ME! She has the cutest things. 

Jord & Kaci came down again for Labor Day weekend so we could hang out and spend Labor Day at the lake. It's so fun having them live only 2 hours away from us so we can see them often. We are loving Charlotte having the lakes 20 minutes away. We rented a boat, tube, and wakeboard for the day. The water was so warm--felt like bathwater! We were all sore the next day from holding on for our lives on the tube. Afterwards we all said we feel to old to be doing that extreme of tubing haha but it was such a fun day together. 

The weeks are just flying by and I can't believe it's almost Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! This is my most favorite time of the year. The weather is getting cooler here too and I'm loving it. 

Nursing School

The day after we got back from Europe, I had orientation for school and then school started a week later. It has been such a crazy transition back to school. Nursing school is so hard, and it doesn't help that my program is an accelerated BSN in 12 months. We have tests basically every week and it is non stop go go go. But, I'm surviving and that's all that matters!

Right away 5 other girls and I became really great friends. I was so worried going into the program that it was going to be a bunch of older people switching careers and going back to school, but I was wrong. There are so many other people my age that just wanted to switch careers. My group of girls are what keep me sane during the program. We help each other out so much and it's nice to have a support system to get through this year. Definitely don't feel like I could do it without them! 

Last semester I was placed in a clinical group on an ER observation floor. We got to see so many things which was nice. Our instructor took us up to the Helipad landing which also has a great view of downtown Charlotte. This semester I am on the same ER observation floor on Tuesdays and on Thursdays I am doing my labor and delivery and pediatric oncology rotation. I haven't done the pediatric rotation yet, but I saw my first birth last week which was so beautiful. I loved every minute of it. I could see myself working L&D, but I also really loved working in the NICU so I'm not sure what I'll end up liking the most, but I'm loving this semester's rotations! 

 This week marks half way to being done with school! HALLELUJAH! (Oh and I'm on fall break which is why I'm catching up on the blog! haha)

Rome

Our last destination of our trip was Rome. My parents and I planned it to both end up in Rome at the same time so we could spend the last part of our trip together and I'm so glad we did. Our hotels were only like 5 minutes away too which was nice. Rome has so many sights to see. We pretty much spent all our days doing the major sightseeing. We went to the Colosseum, Vatican museums and Sistine Chapel, Pantheon, St. Peter's Basilica, etc. We loved it. The Sistine Chapel was really incredible. The Trevi Fountain was under construction so we weren't able to make a wish in the fountain. 

The first day we probably walked 12 miles around the city. I was wearing really thin sandals, so towards the end of the day I was being kind of a complainer because my feet hurt so bad! Walking over cobblestones was the worst. Felt so good anytime I got to sit down.

 Colosseum 

The next day was my 25th birthday! Loved celebrating with some of my favorite people in the world in Rome of all places. Definitely not a bad way to spend your birthday ;) It was supposed to be a beautiful and hot day so we spent the morning and early afternoon relaxing at the pool after our day of sightseeing. Then we met up with my parents in the city to do some more exploring and for birthday dinner and dessert. My parents were so sweet to buy me presents throughout Europe so I could open gifts :) And Andrew surprised me with a Macbook for me to go back to school. They are the best! I chose to have a huge pizza for my birthday dinner which is no surprise. We found the best gelato place for dessert. Over 150 flavors to choose from!! It was really hard to choose. It was so cheap so we each got 5 scoops hahah which was way too much. I was SO full and could barely finish it. The next day when we went back we all only got 2 scoops! 

favorite person in the whole world.

 It was the best birthday and I loved spending all day with Andrew and my parents. I'm so grateful for them and for this blessed life we live. It was an incredible trip together with so many memories made. Can't wait for next year's trip. We are already trying to think of a place to go! But 3 weeks was a long time to be away from home and our Bry guy so we were excited to get back home to him!  

Thanks for such a fun trip babe, I love traveling around the world with you!!

Pisa & Cinque Terre

We rented a tiny little Fiat 500 from Venice to drive to Cinque Terre. While we were in Venice, my parents were in Florence which wasn't too far from us. We met them for lunch in Pisa since it was on the way so we could see the leaning tower of Pisa together. I really loved vacationing with my parents and meeting up in some countries. I had never been on a vacation with my parents without my siblings so it was really fun to just have them all to myself! 

The leaning tower was awesome. It is insane how much it is actually leaning. I'm so glad we stopped in Pisa to see this. There wasn't much else to do in Pisa, so it was perfect to just spend a few hours there.

We got to Cinque Terre later that night and couldn't believe the beauty of it. It is insanely gorgeous. Cinque Terre is 5 little towns that are all close together. You can hike, drive, or take a train to get between them. We stayed in Levanto, which was like 3 minutes outside one of the towns Monterosso. Andrew wanted to stay higher up in the cliffs so we could have a view. Our hotel was so beautiful with trees all around us and a view of the water below. We walked around Monterosso that night and then did some hiking the next day. 

 Our cliffside hotel

 hiking around Monterosso ---love him so much!!

I wish we could have spent more time hiking this beautiful place, but we were off to Rome!

Venice

The train ride from Austria to Venice was a longer one, but it was early in the morning so we were able to sleep most of it. We also got lucky with our own little cabin of seats. We were excited to get to some sunnier and warmer weather, pizza and gelato. 

When we got to the train station, we had no idea how to get to our hotel. I tried to ask a few bus drivers which bus to get on to get to get to our hotel, but they only knew a little English so we couldn't communicate well. We tried to map it out and started walking but just kept ending up at the wrong bus stop. A guy who spoke Italian was even lost haha not sure how but he was trying to talk to Andrew with his limited English and it was hilarious. I had to try so hard not to laugh because he was pointing at Andrew's watch and holding up numbers to try to help us out. Luckily we finally found someone that told us we were at the right stop and which one to get off. The bus was PACKED. We were all crammed on like sardines, and I was already so hot from walking around with our suitcases. haha I just couldn't wait to get off. Our bed and breakfast was another cute two-story suite with delicious breakfasts in the morning. 

Venice was such a dreamy and romantic city. Once you got to Venice square your only transportation is walking or water transportation. I loved the little streets throughout the city. And the pizza and gelato was everything I hoped it to be. The first night I had the best pizza I think I've ever had. 

 In the morning right when we got to the square, we got some of the best gelato I've ever tasted and after only a few licks it all fell to the floor. I was so sad. I had to get some more from a different gelato stand, but it wasn't as good! 

We only spent 3 days in Venice before heading to our next city in Italy, but I'm glad we got to enjoy Venice!