The mother of all blogs

I can't believe that it's over! It feels like this summer has gone by so fast. I graduated Community College, got accepted into a dental hygiene program in Oregon, quit my job, finished Organic Chemistry in 5 weeks, turned 22, spent time with my sister Kim TWICE while visiting from Utah, Lindsey got engaged, Jake started medical school, and now Lindsey and I are moving away from Arizona.

On June 15, 2008 I got this lovely piece of paper in the mail. I worked for four long years for this! While I was taking classes for dental hygiene I decided that I might as well take classes to get me some sort of degree. Before I moved home from Oregon last June I applied for my associates degree and was told that I needed to take one more class.

I decided when I moved back to Arizona that I was going to finish this since I was just one class away. When I went to talk to Arizona counselor I was frustrated to find out that I needed to take a million classes to graduate in Arizona...So I took the class in Arizona, transferred it to Oregon, reapplyed, and graudated. To me, this piece of paper proves my ability to improvise.
Isn't it beautiful? (and expensive!)

It all started the first week of May. I sent an application to the dental hygiene program in Klamath Falls, Oregon back in February and I didn't really think much about it. I didn't really expect to get in....I wasn't even done with my prerequisites at the time. Needless to say I got in and I couldn't be more excited about it. I start school September 28th and I still have a million things I need to do before I start school.

When I get really good maybe I can move on to animals and help Lindsey teach kitty how to brush her teeth. (I already brush Abby's teeth so I don't need to teach her.)

So since I applied to the dental hygiene program without finishing all the classes, I have to take all the classes before I start school this fall. I only had one class to take...Organic Chemistry. I think everyone knows how crappy this class is and if you read my blog then you know how hard it was for me. So to get a decent grade in the class I had to quit my job as a dental assistant and become a full time student for five weeks. It was well worth it! I finished the class with an 88%. Not quite an A but I'll take it! The hardest part about finishing this class was going back to work. I don't consider myself a lazy person but I hate working. Is that normal? I think so too. This is exactly how I felt as I walked into work that night. Side note: Serving is the suckiest job.
The only good thing about going back to work is making money! I'm still trying to recover from my five weeks off :( Stupid bills! However, since I started working again, I picked up another dental assisting job in Scottsdale. It's a really small office; we only have three employees. (including the dentist) They don't know I'm leaving to go to school and I don't plan on telling them until a week before I move. WHAT?! I still have to live! So pretty much every free second is spent working :(


But I did turn 22. I feel amazing...and old. I'm so old and not married. I am so excited to be the last person in my family not married. Who saw this coming? I shared my birthday with my look-a-like, Lindsey. It was enjoyable; it was centered around what I like to do most, eat for free and open gifts. We went to Texas Roadhouse where we got a free meal. Here's Lindsey trying to look like posh spice for the camera.

After lunch we all went over to Deanna's house to hang out with the family. Deanna made my favorite meal for my birthday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn. We opened presents, watched The Princess Bride and ate ice cream cake :)



Lindsey got me a really awesome hot iron from chi covered in skulls so people will know how tough and hard I can be. I was so excited to open this present, I've been telling Lindsey for months this is what I wanted. So mom snapped a picture right as I was opening it and I look like the kid on you tube opening a Nintendo for the first time. Yeah, I was that excited, first Nintendo excited.
I gave Lindsey the cutest pair of shoes from the Buckle (our favorite store and Lindsey's new side job. My dream side job I should add. Translation: I'm jealous) I got them for her because I thought she would fall in love with them. When I first saw them I thought Lindsey would LOVE them. Aren't they so cute. It's hard to tell in this picture, but they're adorable! When I blew out my candles, I'm pretty sure I was wishing she would give them to me.




The biggest highlight to my summer was having my sister Kim visit from Utah. Not only did I get to see her once, but TWICE! AND each time she came she stayed for two weeks.
How did I get so lucky?! She came to help my mom repaint her house that she's remodeling. Her first visit here we spent a good amount of our time playing Rock Band. I seriously love this game. While she was here you could say I became mildly obsessed with the game. I think I played every free second I had. I'm pretty good at the guitar and I would love to get better at the drums. My nieces, McCall and Alycia, (6 and 10) Would play and totally kick my butt! I guess I just need more practice.



The second time Kim came to visit she was also celebrating her birthday. So we decided to throw her a huge surprise birthday party; Princess themed, of course. For her birthday I went and picked up the girls so my sister could be free for the day and we could use them to help with the party and get her a birthday present. Our first stop was the mall. These girls were so adorable. They wanted to go on the carousel in the mall. When I saw the prices I almost pooped my pants! It was FIVE dollars for one stupid ride! Luckily, sweet little Alycia found a 5 dollar token for the ride. She gave the token to McCall and let her ride. McCall, I think, was excited until she realized that she was going to be riding it by herself. I still think she had fun but maybe it was a little forced.

So after watching McCall on the over-priced ride, we went shopping. The girls helped me pick out this really cute yellow shirt (which I ended up buying two, of course) which I think Kim really liked. We decided that one shirt just wasn't enough. We wanted to get her something that she would LOVE and remember forever. So we went and had our picture taken. I'm not sure how much she liked it (not much) but it was worth it to see her face when she opened it.


When she finally made it over to Deanna's house she was so surprised to see her princess surprise party. Everything was so cute! We had pin the crown on the princess, fruit princess wands, wand decorating and lots of princess crowns. It was so much fun and I'm so glad that we all could be together for her birthday. Happy birthday Princess Kim.




I'm sure everyone who reads my blog knows that my twin sister Lindsey is getting married, leaving me the only non-married member of my family. It has been so crazy trying to get things together for this wedding while trying to juggle everything else going on in my life. So far everything seems to be...going. Whether we're ready or not this wedding is coming. Saturday we had the bridal shower. Lindsey, Deanna and I put so much work into this and it ended up looking SO NICE! When my mom came over to see what we did she said that it was the nicest shower she's ever been to! THANKS MOM! My hard work thanks you! We had so much DELICIOUS food there. We had homemade BBQ meatballs made by your truly, Mango chicken chutney croissant sandwiches, baked brie with raspberry and mango sauce, fruit salsa that you put on cinnamon and sugar strips, chocolate and peanut butter cookies, fancy cupcakes and yummy fruit punch. We played some fun games and pretty much just hung out.

Enough about Lindsey let's talk about Jake. I am so proud of this boy. Ever since he got home from his mission he has had such a drive for life. He decided to go to medical school and has worked so hard to get good grades in school and accomplish his goals. He also married the cutest girl that I just adore. Just this August he started medical school and I couldn't be more happy for him. We all knew he could do it. Each year for the new students starting school they do what's call the White Coat Ceremony. It's where the students listen to an introduction to the next few years of their lives and promise to uphold certain ethics as a new physician. They don a white coat symbolizing their transformation. At least that's what I got out of it. I wasn't going to go but I decided that I should last minute to support my brother and I am so glad I could make it.


And so my summer is coming to an end. I have enjoyed spending time in Arizona this past year and it is so weird to think I'm moving back to Oregon in just two weeks. I'm moving back to a place that I have never even visited before. Everything is going to be a new experience for me. I'm excited, I'm sad, I'm nervous, I'm optimistic, I'm worried, I'm everything. It's such a new experience that I don't know what to feel and I guess it changes daily. I am so sad to leave my family and friends behind! I just keep saying "I'll be back in December!" I know this experience will be very challenging but I'm ready! And I'm so excited for the end result.

My New home for the next three years