summer's end

I am so reluctant to face the inevitable: summer's end.

But regardless of the way I feel, school begins in a mere two days, and my life will be consumed with schedules, classes, homework, clinicals, convos, and everything else that comes with nursing school. I have to admit that I'm excited about this semester... just reluctant to wave goodbye to all the freedoms that summer brought (like reading books for fun, cooking dinner anytime I wanted, and spontaneous naps). I'm thankful for sweet summertime though and all the ways that we were blessed through it!

Let me introduce you to my best friends for the next three months or so.

I finished my last week of my full time job at Cox. I am now officially PRN (as needed), and I will probably work a shift or two a month tops during the school year. It will be nice to have during Thanksgiving and Christmas Break though to make some extra money! All-in-all it was such a great experience working in Neuro-Trauma over the summer! I came home one morning telling my husband I had the "best night of my life" after getting to perform CPR on a patient. I saw some intense things like gunshot wounds, open brains, open hearts, drug and alcohol OD's, the list goes on and on. There was always something to learn or something new to see...very few dull moments (except the nights that I had to "sit" with suicide patients and monitor them, which was usually pretty boring). The nurses were all SO great to teach me and want to expose me to as much nursing as they could. However, I was very surprised to see that the majority of our ICU was taken up with drug addicts, drunk drivers, or people who had done something dumb. It was harder than I expected to feel compassion for those people. I found myself frustrated that they are here, being waited on, with our tax dollars...when they had done something intentionally to be stupid. Obviously that wasn't ALL of the patients, but it was definitely a common theme. I'm thinking about trying out maybe the Pediatrics ICU next summer. Obviously the situations will still be sad, but I think I will be able to be softer towards the patients and offer more compassion when the child obviously didn't do anything dumb like overdose on bath salts. Also, I've discovered that I THRIVE in emergency-type situations....so maybe I'll try out the ER? Who knows! We will see what the Lord does with me over the course of this next year though. I will be visiting many clinical sites in the Fall...who knows what will trigger my passion.

I'm so thankful for where the Lord placed me this summer though. I've grown closer to Him, learned a TON, formed some great relationships, and planted seeds. 

Besides work, we had time for a lot of fun over the last month. We made another trip down to Dallas for a long weekend. We watched Macy play "Cha-cha" in Grease, visited Tyler's, ate Tex Mex, watched Olympics, and swam. The next weekend we had a fun lake day with Jordan and BreeAnna. I also got to have my little brothers come swim at our apartment pool several times over the past month, which has been very fun. I've been able to have lots of "dates" with my girlfriends throughout the summer, which has been so nice! I've enjoyed getting to invest my time into them. I think Logan has even had some "man-dates," which is so good for him!

Speaking of Logan, he just finished his first University of Phoenix class and loved it! He has a couple days off, and then he begins his next class. He is also working as hard as ever at Greer's and Integrity. In fact, I can hardly get him to stop working for a minute so that I can spend time with him. I guess it's good that school is about to start so I will stop being a bad influence, asking him not to work and not to study but to have fun and spend money. Yes, I've been a little bored ;)

Now I hope you are bearing with me on my iPhone pics. We have a small snap-n-shoot camera, but we always forget to bring it along when we need it! The iPhone has been my best friend when it comes to preserving memories because I always have it! Plus, the quality of pics is just as good or better than our cheap digital camera. I think it will continue to be iPhone pics until we can afford a nicer camera :)

 Pool days with the brothers. This particular day, Benjamin turned 7 :)

Supplies for a cookout on the lake with BreeAnna and Jordan. Later we went to Cantina Laredo on the Landing.

The last major events of the summer will be our birthdays. I will finally leave the teenage years and enter into my twenties (gosh I feel like I should be older than this haha), and Logan will be twenty-two! However, both birthdays fall on weekdays this year, so I'm sure we won't be doing anything too crazy. Oh well, it still gives us something to look forward to, even though summer's end is near. A nice dinner out with the husband is always a treat :) We'll probably celebrate next weekend.

Sooo...my husband loves Chinese food. I, however, do not. MSG's simply don't settle well with me. Anyways, I was looking for some homemade Chinese food ideas (without the MSG's) and stumbled across a yummy honey chicken recipe. You can make it in the crock-pot and slow cook it, or you can do it in the oven for a quicker meal. I've done it both ways, and both times it turned out great! I serve it with white rice and broccoli. I thought it was yummy to let the chicken slow cook and then add the broccoli during the last half hour or so. Then I served it on top of the white rice. This also makes a great leftover meal....I'm thinking it will be a go-to meal this school year!

Picture and original recipe came from http://mmmcafe.blogspot.com/2010/01/honey-sauced-chicken.html
I made a few tweaks though :)

Honey Sauced Chicken

3/4 pound chicken (of your choice)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/8 cup chopped onion (or 1/16 cup onion flakes) --( I didn't add this either time)

1/8 cup ketchup

1 Tbs. vegetable oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces, then put into crock pot. In a small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3 hours or on high 1 1/2 hours. 

To bake chicken as a 30 minute meal:

Dice chicken and season both sides with salt and pepper, place in 8x8 pan. Pour sauce over chicken and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, stirring after 10 minutes.

Serves 2. (If you do it with rice and a veggie, it should serve more like 4)

july happenings

Hey guys! Okay first and foremost...for those of you who are looking for ways to be praying for us: Logan is in his last week of classes for the summer. He has two finals...one of which he is extremely worried about (Math). It would be awesome if you could remember him in prayer over the next several days as he prepares! It's going to be extra hectic for him because he has his two last finals this week (Thursday) and he begins his first class at the University of Phoenix on Wednesday. Therefore he is a bit stressed. I know he will do great, and I am so proud of him, but I know he appreciates the prayers and encouraging words.

So what have we been up to besides school and work? Well last weekend was rather eventful, so I thought I would share :)

We started out the weekend by heading to Tulsa on Friday night. We stayed with the Logan's family and had some time to love on three of our sweet nieces. Saturday, we went to lunch with Molly and Derek (Logan's sister and her husband) in Owasso... Then we all went back to the house for a birthday party for our handsome nephew, Collin. He turned 1! We were so glad to be able to celebrate with the family.

This was so cute. Collin just insisted on touching the lit candle. Daddy tried to stop him, but he ended up touching it anyways.

He was very upset to find out that fire burns you. So sad. 

(Which made me think...what an absolutely perfect picture of human nature and our relationship with our Heavenly Father. He may tell us "No" but we insist on our own way because we think we know better. We often end up hurt and upset and asking God why...when in reality He was the one that tried to stop us in the first place.) Don't worry, Collin, it takes awhile to learn that Daddy knows best :)

 He seemed to get over it pretty quick though and dug into his very first birthday cupcake :)

Happy birthday Collin!

After the birthday party, we got all dressed up to go the Bloemker-Jones Wedding!! Now get this- Last weekend, three (yes THREE) of my good friends got married! I had been friends with each of these girls during different stages of my life, and I love seeing them open such a new chapter in life! It also feels good to not be the only young newlywed anymore :) But anyways...I met Kyla Bloemker when my family went to Tulsa Bible Church. We befriended each other in 7th grade and remained pretty close until my family moved to Missouri at the end of 10th grade. We haven't always kept up with each other since then...but I still wouldn't have missed her wedding! It was perfectly beautiful in every single way. I didn't honestly take a lot of pictures, but I stole a few off of Facebook just to share how beautiful it was and how gorgeous Kyla looked! I'm so proud of her :)

LOVE this!

The ceremony was precious. The reception was beautiful as well and SO fun!! Everyone danced the night away! Below is a video of the bride and groom's first dance. It's a must watch!!!

One of the best parts of the wedding was getting to see old friends...especially my bestie Alicia May Wilbins! She was in the wedding so I didn't really get to hang out with her until the reception. Then we all went out to ihop afterwards with her sister Amy and her boyfriend Bryce. We had a blast catching up with them. I love that girl to death...she is one of those people I can go to with anything. Even if we go a month without talking, it's so easy for us to just pick up where we left off. I'm so thankful for friends.

On Sunday we went back to Springfield for the next wedding of the weekend. I met Kara my Freshman year in college. We were both in the nursing program, and we just clicked! She moved schools after our Freshman year, but we have remained close, and I'm so glad! I love my Panera dates with Kara :) I think we get along so well because we are at similar places in life... and I love it!

This was at her Bachelorette Party :)

Bachelorette party fun ;)

The wedding was so cute...I felt like everything should have been pinned on pinterest! The programs were actually fans for a hot July day (so creative!). It was just paper on popsicle sticks with a simple bow tied around....but absolutely adorable!

The front was the names of everyone in the bridal party.

The back was "10 Fun Facts About The Couple"

 Again, I'm figuring out I would be an awful wedding photographer because I get too caught up in watching the wedding that I forget to take pictures! So again...I grabbed a few that have been posted on Facebook by the photographer!

At their reception, Josh and Kara had a different flavor of cake at each table! It was a such a good idea, so that everyone could try different flavors. Plus, it helped everyone to feel comfortable to mingle :)

Unfortunately we were not able to attend the third wedding (my good friend from high school)... but congratulations to Kyla & Adam JONES, Kara & Josh CAMPBELL, and Lindsey & Jared MICHAEL!!! We couldn't be happier for you!!

Okay so last but not least...I wanted to share with everyone a gift idea that I used for one of the girls last weekend. I was a little late to buy their wedding gift, which is unusual for me. By the time I opened her registry at Target, almost everything had been purchased except....a bunch of household cleaning supplies. At first I wasn't very excited. However, I got to thinking about how we forgot to register for that sort of stuff and ended up having to buy it all our very first shopping trip...which adds up! I decided to go ahead and stock the couple up on all of their basic cleaning supplies and then purchased a little "Cleaning kit" to put it all in. Guess what? It looked so cute already that I didn't even have to wrap it! I added some tissue paper and ta-da! (I kind of want one now!)

Lately I've discovered (as you can see) that a great way to give gifts is to find some sort of container that they will use and then just put the gift inside that! Number one, they will use the container AND whats in it. Secondly, no wrapping! For instance....a laundry basket that they register for with towels and such inside.  For a child, you could do a toy box. For baby Collin's birthday, we got him a cute little toy wheelbarrow that he can push around and we filled it with toys! It was adorable. Another idea for a teenager girl/woman is a pretty basket with candles/lotions inside. Last Christmas someone gave me a big, cute Christmas bowl and filled it with Christmas kitchen utensils. SO fun and there are so many different options :) Just thought I'd share my "new" discovery even though I'm sure it's not so new to all of you. :)

That's all I have for now! We are about to begin a new work week. Again, please keep Logan in your prayers with all he has on his plate this week. I also appreciate all your prayers regarding my work situation! I have truly felt them, and I would really appreciate if you would continue to remember me as I interact with coworkers and patients over the next few nights. :)

We love you & pray you have a blessed week.

The Miller's

buttermilk blueberry breakfast cake

Our July has been flying by! I want to start sharing some recent recipe favs before I forget and life gets super busy again! A couple of Sunday's ago, it was our turn to bring breakfast for our Sunday School class. I wanted to do something a little different than the norm (donuts and chocolate milk). I remembered seeing a recipe on my sister-in-law's blog that looked soooo yummy. I was a bit nervous trying something out for the first time and taking it to an event... but I took a leap of faith, and I'm glad I did! Everyone absolutely loved it. I ended up using Tamara's recipe for the "cake" part. Then I found a very similar recipe that a dear friend (Jennifer Freeman) gave me that included a streusel for the top....so I went ahead and added that too :) YUM.

Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast Cake

(I always forget to take the picture until I've already cut into it!)

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

 zest from 1 large lemon

7/8 cup* + 1 tablespoon sugar**

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 cups fresh blueberries

½ cup buttermilk

* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons

** The 1 tablespoon is for sprinkling on top

Preheat the oven to 350.  Cream butter, 7/8 of the sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.  Toss the blueberries in 1/4 cup of flour.  Whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the batter alternating with the buttermilk.  Fold in the blueberries.  This batter is THICK!  Grease a 9 inch square pan with non-stick spray.  Spread into the pan and sprinkle with sugar.  

For the streusel- In another bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and cut in 1/4 cup cold butter. Sprinkle over cake batter and bake it all at 375 for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

ENJOY!

old married couple

Okay maybe not old... but we did just celebrate our first anniversary! To celebrate, we took a little "get-away" weekend to the Plaza in Kansas City. We were blessed to be given a free hotel stay at a Marriott right on the Plaza (super thankful for dad's who have lots of points to give away)! 

Our hotel room just happened to be on the top (19th!) floor...we felt special...especially when you have to swipe your room key in the elevator in order to access the floor :) Anyways, we had a spectacular view and our floor also had a concierge's lounge where you go to get refreshments any time you want! Yes, we are SPOILED.

My Grandpa Van Curen just so happens to live in the KC area, and when he found out we were going to be in town, he insisted on taking Logan and I out to dinner! He said taking his granddaughter and her husband to dinner was on his bucket list. :) Friday evening we met up with my Grandpa and Grandma. They picked us up at our hotel and brought us to a wonderful restaurant called McCormick & Schmick's! We had never eaten there before...but it was SO nice! When we arrived, we were seated in a private dining area. This is what we saw when he handed us the menu!

The menu was specially made for us!

 Anyways, we had a fabulous dinner and a wonderful time catching up with family. We also got introduced to an amazing restaurant!! Thank you Grandpa and JD!

Grandpa, JD, me, and Logan at McCormick & Schmick's in Kansas City

Friday evening after dinner, we walked around the Plaza and even went exploring down town. KC is a hoppin' place on a Friday night! ;) Anyways, Saturday we slept in and then enjoyed a delicious meal at the cafe at our hotel. Then we decided to walk/shop the Plaza! We hit just about every store, haha. It was so fun!

We had Panera for lunch on Saturday. Logan has always given me a hard time about my Panera addiction, but after lunch Saturday he was hooked! He even asked if we could go back on Sunday for lunch. I was a pretty happy camper.

Our anniversary present to each other....total spurge...but then again they were having their annual 25% sale so it was basically a must ;)

After our morning at the Plaza we decided to hit up a couple of other KC attractions! We went to visit the Crown Center. We enjoyed the indoor shopping there and also toured the Hallmark Visitor Center. It sounds cheesy but it was actually really interesting! We saw them making the priceless cards that go out all over the world! We also got a few freebee's which is always fun :) We also ended up over at Union Station which is such a neat building! We truly enjoy just exploring new things.

They gave us a complimentary set of greeting cards (which I love)! So...if you receive one of these from me you'll know where it came from :)

The cute little bow that we got to take home after we watched it be made!

After our little afternoon excursion, we ended up back at the hotel to clean up for our nice anniversary dinner at The Cheesecake Factory! It's funny how meals become the highlights of vacations so easily. This meal was a highlight and rightly so! We went all out that night with appetizers, drinks, entrées, and of course....cheesecake. I think the only thing we actually ate all of was the cheesecake, haha. We tried our best to eat it all, and we even were sick later that night from practically gorging ourselves (I'm telling you, this food was AMAZING). Let's just say it's a good thing we only do The Cheesecake Factory on special occasions :)

I was so excited to be there!!!

Outside The Cheesecake Factory waiting for our table :)

Later that evening (after gaining a few pounds ;))

 

We ended our last night with some hot-tubbing and hanging out on the deck of the hotel. The next morning we (again) had an amazing breakfast at the hotel. We decided we wanted to steer clear of the heat that day, so we saw a movie instead. Yes, those tickets were really $4 a piece! Crazy! Oh and I have to mention that we felt incredibly guilty for going to see a movie because half of the theatre was rented out to a church so everyone around us was going to church while we watched a cartoon. Yep. We felt awful. Haha.

Anyways, in case you couldn't tell, we had a wonderful weekend away from our everyday routine, which is exactly what we wanted. Through our getaway I think we both realized how easy it is to underestimate the power of alone time in marriage. We had been so busy this summer with work, school, church, family, friends, etc... Don't get me wrong...all that has been really great. However, it's so important to have time to get away from the distractions and focus on each other for awhile. I honestly forgot how much I love my husband and saw some things in him that I don't get to see on a daily basis in our busy lives. Let's just say we didn't want to come back. But I guess that's what's so fun about vacations :)

As far as our actual anniversary day, it was Monday. We both had to work, but we did have a couple of hours together in the evening and we made this yummy recipe for Chick-fil-A chicken and sauce! A friend had recommended it to me, and it was SO yummy! I was nervous that it would totally fail at the "Chick-fil-A" expectations but the chicken and sauce both resembled Chick-fil-A's well! So next Sunday when you are sinking into depression over Chick-fil-A being closed...have no fear! This was super easy and a big hit! Very fun anniversary meal..again, it all centers around the food! :) Recipe below!

This was our chicken ;)

http://www.tablefortwoblog.com/2012/02/27/chick-fuh-lay-nuggets-sauce/#

ice cream cake and life update

Hello to our dear friends and family! Hope summer is treating you well and you are staying cool, refreshed, and relaxed despite this crazy heat. I know that Springfield has been breaking heat records like crazy.

So yesterday afternoon I was in the mood to make a yummy treat to surprise Logan when he came home from a long, hot day of work. However, I decided that baking would be too hot. I remembered seeing a yummy ice cream recipe that my sister-in-law posted awhile back, so I made a quick Walmart run to get the necessary ingredients. I threw it together and froze it for a couple of hours and it was the perfect ending to a hot day! SO yummy. I would highly recommend it for summer parties/gatherings. My mom asked me to bring it to her 4th of July party this week :) The recipe is below! It is super duper easy and quick to make, which I'm always a fan of!

I forgot to take a picture before we "dug in"...but this will have to do :)

Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

12 ice cream sandwich bars

1 large tub of Cool Whip

Chocolate Syrup

Carmel Syrup

5 large snickers bars (I used about 12-15 of the minis because they were on sale)

1) Layer 6 ice cream sandwiches at the bottom of the pan--I used a bread pan.

2) Spread a thick layer of cool whip on top followed by a generous amount of chocolate, carmel, and broken up snickers.

3) Repeat the process again in the order of ice cream sandwiches, cool whip, chocolate and carmel, and snickers. 

4) Freeze for a couple of hours

5) Enjoy!!

Besides for making ridiculously unhealthy desserts, we have been keeping very busy! At the beginning of June, Logan began two summer classes. The good thing about summer classes is that they are only 8 weeks long (so he's already half way there!)...however, the down side is that it is a fairly intense workload, as you're cramming a semester's worth of work into 2 months. Needless to say, when he gets home from work in the evenings, he is pretty consumed with going to class and then coming home and doing homework. I'm so proud of him though! As soon as he finished these classes he will officially be done with his Associates degree and he begins his last stretch for his Bachelors through the University of Phoenix at the end of July. He literally jumps from one class to the next without getting a break. 

We feel like the University of Phoenix will be ideal for him though, as it caters to working adults. He will attend class only one evening a week. He will take one class at a time for a period of 5 weeks. As you can imagine, the workload in these classes will be intense as well, but at least he only has class once a week and only has to focus on one class at a time!

Besides for school and work, we have made some good friends at our new church- Jordan and BreeAnna Bumpers. BreeAnna and I were good friends throughout my senior year of high school. Now that Logan and I are back at Broadway, we have reconnected with them and have enjoyed hanging out. They were married almost exactly one month before we were (June 5th, 2011), so we have a lot in common. We are very thankful that God has placed them in our path. It is definitely an answer to prayer.

As I shared in my last post, I'm working the night shift full time at Cox Hospital-which entails about 3 nights per week. I've gotten into a routine now, so the schedule really isn't that bad. My shift begins at 6:30pm and I am done at 7am. I usually come home and sleep until 2-3pm if possible, and that is usually when Logan gets home. We have been trying to spend those couple hours together and make dinner before I leave for work and he goes to class. When I'm not at work, I have been enjoying friends, books, cooking, swimming, family, and naps--all things that are rarely seen during the school year so I am basically in heaven.

The Lord has been working on my heart a lot this summer....and I thought I'd go ahead and share some of that :) Working in the NTICU has been so good for my spiritual walk! I've essentially been "thrown" into the secular workforce. I'll admit I was pretty overwhelmed at first when I'm surrounded with 20+ coworkers per night who show no outward fruits of a relationship with the Lord. I hear a constant flow of cursing and dirty jokes. I have seen outward disrespect and lack of compassion towards our patients. It can be very discouraging at times. I have to admit that I've been unusually hesitant to share my faith with them. This is very unlike me....but I finally figured out why. I don't want to hurt their view of Christians! I'm so worried that if I say I'm a Christian, I will mess up and then they will forever have a tainted view of who Jesus is. I would NEVER want that to happen! However, when venting to one of my good friends about this she said, "Haylee, the Lord is proving to have a lot of trust in you to place you in a spot among so many unsaved people..."  Immediately I felt a tremendous amount of responsibility placed on my shoulders. I don't want to mess this up. But I also don't want to waste this terrific opportunity to share Christ with others.  As you can see, there has been a battle going on inside of me. 

1 Corinthians 6:19 says, "You are not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies..." 

I recently finished reading Blue Like Jazz. Now before I start tons of controversy, I'd like to point out that I don't necessarily agree with every single point that Donald Miller wrote. In fact, I would dare to disagree with a good portion of it. In my opinion, Donald Miller is not a theologian. But he does explain in simple terms how to love others like Jesus would....and THAT truly is something that a lot of Christians should learn. I don't think this book is for unbelievers because it assumes that you already know who Jesus is and what he did. But for Christians going about their day-to day- life....it's an eyeopener of what loving like Jesus can really look like! Jesus didn't cringe at the thought of speaking to a lesbian or prostitute. Instead, he would speak to their heart because He loved them more than we can even imagine. I want to display this kind of genuine care and concern for my coworkers (and patients, of course)...so that when I'm speaking to them, it's not at surface level (when deep down I'm actually judging them). I want to speak to them from the bottom of my heart...showing that I truly do care about them inside and out. One of my prayers this summer is that through me, Jesus would reveal even a speck of His intense love for them! I just don't think this will happen through me making requests like, "Hey, can you please not cuss in front of me?" I think it's more likely to happen by listening to them, showing love through caring about their needs and problems, and most of all praying.  I will of course lead by example through not cursing...but I don't want it to be so shallow! I want my words and actions to be backed up by an intense love for them! I want to trust that the Lord will not let my efforts go to waste. I'm confident that my compassion towards those around me as well as speaking Truth into their hearts will cause them to pause and wonder, "What's different about her?" I know I'm not perfect, and that scares me...again because I don't want to give them a hypocritical view of Christ. But I'm having to trust the Lord wholeheartedly and know that even in my weaknesses I can point others to Him. After all, it's not about me--it's about Him.

Although my summer journey is still in the process, the Lord has been showing me a lot: He bought me. He redeemed me. I owe everything to Him, including being a witness for Him and loving the unloveable around me. God has entrusted me with people He loves and wants to see saved. I can be used as a tool to aid in the process or hurt the process.

There are days when I've felt frustrated and defeated, saying "Am I doing the right things with my life?" But I have to remember that I am not my own! I'm not in charge of this life that I lead. Jesus has claimed me and has placed me exactly where he wants me...as a daughter, sister, wife, student, coworker, and caregiver. Now that He has redeemed me, it's my turn to honor him with the life that I choose to lead in all of these different situations. I've determined if I'm honoring Him...I can't go wrong.

Just thought I'd share with yall a bit of what the Lord has been doing in my heart so far this summer. :)

On a different note, Logan and will be celebrating our 1st wedding anniversary in 3 days!!!! Yayyy! Since it lands on a Monday this year we decided to go ahead and celebrate the weekend before! SO we are leaving on a little getaway trip today and will be back Sunday night sometime. I'll post pics when we get back!!

Have a blessed weekend, everyone. Stay cool!!!!

-H

summer

Over the past few days I've started to realize how many people I need to catch up with over the summer. Towards the end of the school year my relationships slowly started to dwindle as nursing finals approached and Logan and I were in the middle of MOVING (more on that later). But hey, that's one of the greatest things about summer, right? Catching up with the people you love. However, I've come to the realization that it's going to be impossible to have one-on-one time with ALL of my family and friends as often as I want to. Therefore, I'm resorting back to the blogging world to keep y'all connected to us.

It's been awhile since I've posted but I'll fill you in on what's been going on lately. In April, we moved into an apartment in Ozark, Missouri. It's super cute, but more importantly in a great location. We are right off of Highway 65, so it's an easy 30 minute commute for me to get to school, and it's perfect for Logan's job. He had been driving an hour each way every single day when we lived in Branson, but now it's a quick 15-minutes. This is the first place that is really "ours" since Logan's grandparents had been allowing us to live in their lake home when we lived in Branson. It's been very fun to finally get our own furniture and begin making our little space "home." I'm excited to start having couples over...especially all of our newlywed friends getting married this summer! Another fun part of living closer to Springfield is being closer to my family. We have been able to attend lots of baseball games, choir concerts, etc. already, and we love being close to support my brothers and sister.

At Josh and Emily's end of the year choir concert

MAY

Well, I successfully passed all of my classes this semester and will be moving on to my junior year of nursing school in the fall.

This is a just few of the amazing ladies in my nursing class. Towards the end of the semester we attended a national nursing conference at the Chateau :) Could not do it without you girls!!

I just thought someone might get a kick out of this.  We were able to bring one notecard into the Patho final with any information that we wanted on it. It took me hours to write!

Two days after I finished finals, we left for Destin, Florida. We went with Logan's parents and several of his siblings and their families. It was a wonderful week of relaxation while enjoying the beach, great shopping, good food, and of course..... family.

Derek (Molly's husband) had a birthday while we were there :)

Our adorable beach house!!

We even had our own little pool. This was the view from our bedroom balcony :)

This was our cute bedroom! Everyone had their own bedroom and bathroom which was super nice! The entire house was decorated in fun, bright, beachy colors.

  

This was the first day on the beach. The twins did not like the sand one bit!!! Collin did though :)

Our view from lunch at the Crap Trap one day...yumm!!

Sunset on the beach

Logan found a starfish...it was still alive and everything :)

Bruster's = Best Ice Cream EVER

       

Photo session at Bruster's haha

We went down to the bay where all of the fisherman and their boats dock before we left for our dolphin cruise :) Pelican!

Sweet Brooke feeding the sea gulls!

Sunset cruise to watch dolphins!

There were lots of restaurants and fun shopping all along the bay.

DOLPHINS! 

If you're interested in seeing dolphins swim around watch the video :) It's kind of hilarious how excited everyone is (yelling and screaming) along with the redneck tour guide. Oh and me trying to narrate in the background (sorry). Oh memories.

tired baby girl

SUNSET.

Night life

We spent a good amount of time shopping the outlets too :)

This was our walkway to the beach, just about 50 yards from our front door :)

Our beach camp out up ahead :)

At the Baytown Wharf. SO fun!

We went to Fudpucker's for our last dinner in Destin. Logan is actually petting one of the alligators but the lady wouldn't let me take a picture of it because they wanted us to buy their pictures. We were too cheap haha.

It was such a fun trip!!!!!!!

The week after we got back from Florida, I started my summer job at Cox Hospital! I am working in the Neuro Trauma Intensive Care Unit. So far I have just had one week of orientation and one week of on-the-job training but I can already tell that I am going to LOVE it and learn so much! It's honestly the perfect summer job before I head into my junior year of nursing school with clinicals and all, because I will already be used to working in the hospital with patients. Not to mention, the techs in the NTICU get a lot of hands on experience, so I'm excited to learn lots of new skills! I love all of the other techs and nurses, and everyone has been really great about teaching so far. Several times already I've had someone pull me out of a room and say, "Hey the are inserting a trach in room 9! Go watch!" I love it!!!

We were also able to get away to spend Memorial Day Weekend with my family down in Texas! It's pretty rare to get time with them without tons of other family around, so we really loved getting time with them. We spend a lot of time in the pool, grilled, and even got to experience my dad's first attempt at ribs on the Green Egg. Mmmm sooooo yummy! On Sunday we also got to attend Macy's voice recital, which was so special since we don't get to be there for many of her activities. She has a beautiful voice and is growing up to be an amazing young woman. I am so proud of both of my sisters! 

Mia all dressed up for dance pictures.

This is a sample of one of Macy's songs from the recital! So proud!

JUNE

We are finally getting settled into a church family, and I am so excited to be a part of what God is doing at Broadway Baptist Church! We attended the ministry fair on Sunday night, seeking out ways that we want to serve in the church. We are both praying about music ministry. I'm also considering getting involved with the kiddos/youth in some way or another. 

I'm loving all the freedom that summer is allowing me, even with a full-time job. This is the first summer in quite awhile where I'm not super busy doing something. Last summer it was getting ready for a wedding, the summer before it was Camp Barnabas, the summer before it was Thailand. I think God has me in this place intentionally, because I now have the time to devote to growing closer to Him  as well as the people around me. I'm excited to build these relationships stronger than they've ever been before! I'm also getting to READ for FUN (I can't believe I just said those two words in the same sentence) so I'm sure I'll be letting y'all know about any good summer reads!

This is all for now. I have some recipes and things I'd like to share, but I'll save that for a later post. After all, with all this time on my hands I have a feeling I'll be posting quite frequently this summer. :)

-H