November Thanks

I can't believe that November is already over! CRAZY!!! And in two VERY short weeks I will be back home for 3 1/2 weeks :) I can't WAIT to see my family. For the month of November, I had a status on my Facebook page every day that said what I was thankful for....I thought I would share it on my blog as well.

#1 = Today I am thankful for my parents who show me what faith, hope & love each and everyday...they are my heart and my everything ♥

#2 = Today, I am thankful for all FOUR of my siblings, who have each taught me something different. Thank you for loving me unconditionally and always being my ROCK, I ♥ you guys….

#3 = Today I am thankful for being healthy. Close to 2 years ago I made the hardest decision of my life. But with the support of my family & friends I am healthy now & couldn't be more grateful.

#4 = Today I am thankful for the little things in life- like my niece's smile, my brother's phone calls and the cards I get in the mail from my amazing friends ♥

#5 = Today I am thankful for having a roof over my head and food on the table...

#6 = Today I am thankful for God and being able to go to an amazing church every Sunday with Heidi ♥

#7 = Today I am thankful for my classmates, they keep me grounded, are now my second family and remind me what the next 6 months are for ♥

#8 = Today I am thankful for my athletes....they ALL remind me why I chose the career field I am in and why I am so in love with athletic training ♥

#9- Today I am thankful for having support in my life to keep me strong. "You never know how strong you are, until you have to be..." Well 2 years ago today, I had to be. I was told "you have to have a hysterectomy, we found masses and there is nothing else we can do..." 2 years ago, I was weak and everyone in my life made me strong and still do that to this day. Thank you for that ♥

#10 = Today I am thankful for my roommates, who despite everything I do and say still love me and keep me sane. You guys are the best ♥

#11 = Today I am thankful to all the veterans and those who are currently serving our country. We would not be where we are today without the many brave men and women who are fighting for our freedom. A special thanks goes out to my HERO, Miss Jenn Goulet, who is not only protecting our country, but protecting the people she loves dearest...I am so proud to call you my HERO Jenn, I ♥ you....

# 12 = Happy 28th anniversary to my amazing parents. Today I am thankful for them and all they do for me and my siblings. Thank you for showing me that love NEVER fails....I love you!!

#13 = Today I am thankful to have someone who loves me unconditionally & I can truly count on. I am thankful that I can be myself & still be loved.....

#14 = Today I am thankful that in exactly ONE month, I will be back in WA with all my family & friends...I can't be wait to be home with the ones I ♥ and the ones who ♥ me....

#15 = Today, I am BEYOND thankful that my best friend, Jenn Goulet is coming home to Ft. Lewis WA after being gone for almost 4 years. I can't even describe how happy I am right now that she will be near me & her family once again. It is going to be a major blessing to be in the same state once I graduate in May. I ♥ you Jenn and I am sooooo excited that you are COMING HOME!!!!

#16 = Today I am thankful for love-pure love, unconditional love and any other kind of love out there. I am thankful to have a never-ending amount of it in my life, from my family, my friends and that special someone ♥

#17 = Today I am thankful for the future that lies ahead of me. I am happy in my present but can't wait to see what my future hold with my family, my career, my friends and my love life ♥ I also CAN'T WAIT until the Twilight Saga-Breaking Dawn: Part 1 MIDNIGHT premiere with my amazing roommate Heidi Murphy ♥

#18 = Today I am thankful for people that can make me smile....when I'm having a rough day, I just ♥ that I have people in my life that can make me laugh, smile and remind me that I have an amazing life ♥

#19 = Today I am thankful for my Relay for Life committee members who joined me at the Nebraska Relay for Life Summit in Lincoln all day. We came out of there with sooooooo many great ideas to make our event amazing in 2012. Love you guys!!

#20 = Today I am thankful for being able to call my brother, Kyle Peart when I am having a bad day and just need to hear his voice. He may not know that I am having a bad day but him telling me he loves me 4-5 different times in a conversation makes any bad day go away ♥

#21 = Today I am thankful having roommates that I can vent to about class and they completely understand because they feel the EXACT same way I do....it's the little things in life that make you smile ♥

#22 = Today I am thankful for the small things in life--someone telling me they love me every chance they get, Heidi making my laugh for no reason at all, looking at pictures of my niece, my RFL committee just being amazing people, my family back home counting down until I come home for Christmas--just the little things that I absolutely ♥

#23 = Today I am thankful for my ♥ who for some odd reason wants to go back to war and fight for the country he loves, even if that means leaving his family & me behind...I will stand by him regardless....

#24 = Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! I am thankful for everyone in my life-my amazing family, my true friends, my great roommates, my courageous boyfriend, my amazing classmates & their families!!! Here's to a thanksgiving full of love, laughter and good food!!

#25  = Today I am thankful for comfy clothes, a warm apartment and relaxing....oh wait I have loads of homework--relaxing is OUT of the question then....still thankful for comfy clothes & a warm apartment.

#26 = Today I am thankful for my basketball girls!! Good luck today ladies ;) I am cheering in NE for you!!! Play your game and you WILL succeed...So excited that My Zags moved up to 19th in the Basketball polls, I will ALWAYS be a diehard Zag fan!!! PS...GO HUSKIES!!!

#27 = Today I am thankful for my Aunt Rachal HalbakkenPeart & my uncle Chris Peart for showing me what unconditional faith, hope and love are.....even from 1,300 miles away the two of you still strengthen my faith in the things that you do. You have given me the one relationship that will never fail me....my relationship with God. I am so thankful for that. I ♥ you two more than you will ever know....

#28 = Today I am thankful that I have people I can rely on and I know will be there for me no matter what. That is something to NEVER take for granted....

#29 = Today I am thankful knowing that life will get better, things will get easier and will eventually fall right into place where they are meant to be....♥

#30 = Today I am thankful for my life. But I am most thankful for being disease/cancer free and finally healthy. But I realize there are MANY other people that are not in the same position I am in, so in turn my passion is fighting against cancer but I can't do it alone, we MUST fight together!!! Join me and my amazing Relay for Life committee at Noodles & Co from 4-10 pm. If you mention Relay for Life or "donate" your receipt to the cause then Relay gets 25% of whatever is made during those hours...We hope to see as MANY people there as possible ♥

I hope everyone enjoys this post as I truly enjoyed writing a new status every day and I am sure I will enjoy looking back on this 5 years from now! I can't wait to see all of you in two weeks :)

Thanksgiving 2011

Another holiday that wasn't spend with my family back home in WA. But this year was just as good as last year. We are all grown up now!! It was me, Heidi, Nate, Tyler and Katie at our apartment this year and everyone brought their own little pieces of tradition to our dinner. I did the turkey and my dad's famous mashed potatoes, Heidi did her families sweet potatoes and Katie made THREE pies--pumpkin, my grandma's apple pie and her family's snickerdoodle pie. Let's just say that dinner and desert were AMAZING!!! We all did a great job and made it feel like we were truly surrounded by family and in a way we were. We all said what we were thankful for, said grace and enjoyed a meal as a family in our nice clothes. We made the boys dress up for dinner and a group picture which they quickly changed out of as soon as dinner was done. We watched the Macy's parade and a lot of football (despite the girls not really wanting to watch it), lounged around and just relaxed. It was the only day this past week we were able to actually relax since this semester is done in 2 weeks and we have a TON of papers and projects due in the VERY near future. But our rule was no homework/studying on Thanksgiving so we did just that and it was GREAT!! Now, back to the grind we go. We are all going to be zombie's for the next two weeks! But oh well!! I come home Dec 14 @ 1 pm and CAN'T WAIT to see my family, friends and my boyfriend. Hopefully he doesn't have to go back to war before I get home or go see his daughter in Texas but if he does, he knows I will support him either way!!!

 Katie's mom sent us an edible arrangement for Thanksgiving so we had an appetizer to eat while we waited for the turkey and good to be done

 Tyler caught a pre-dinner nap :)

The turkey I prepared that tasted AMAZING!!

our dining room table (plus a chair from Masa since we only have four)

 Heidi and Nate after we ate (notice he changed into his sweats already)

 

Our thanksgiving group :) Tyler, Katie, Nate, Heidi and me! I am blessed with amazing roommates!!

Above pictures are me in my UNO Athletic Training GEAR :)

For any one that is interested below is the link to my Relay for Life Team that I am a captain of. Please feel free to go to the website and donate to a GREAT cause!

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=41276&team_id=1015932

Relay for Life Summit-Lincoln, NE

This past weekend I was able to attend the Nebraska-Relay for Life Summit in Lincoln. Wow, I thought I was passionate about fighting back against cancer before, well now I am much more passionate. The summit was amazing and I loved that I was able to share it with my amazing committee members. We got great ideas for our upcoming event and met a bunch of people that shared some other ideas from their events. We are all sooooo excited about our future event!!

2 years ago

Well, 2 years ago to the day I was told I had to have a hysterectomy. There were masses that were growing fast in my uterus, it was riddled with disease and crippled to the point of no return. So with the support of my family and close friends I made the decision. I still look back at that day and remember how scared I was and how sad my mom looked when we heard the news. But when I look back I also remember that right now, I am healthy and disease/cancer free. I am happy. I am no longer in pain. I may not be able to have my own kids but I will be an amazing mother regardless of blood. I am a different person than I was 2 years ago because of what I had to go through back then. I am a better person, I am stronger and wiser. I had to grow way beyond my years that day but I have been battling ever since and I wouldn't change that for the world....

3 years, 7,000 miles and FINALLY we are Reunited in TEXAS

Well, after 3 years Jenn and I were finally able to see each other while she was doing some training in Texas. I couldn't tell you how awesome it was to have her in the US and to actually be able to see her. We have been unable to see each other every time she has come home due to surgeries or school things so it was GREAT to finally see her. We only got 2 days but man was it fun! And its funny that after 3 years of not seeing each other how fast we got back to being exactly the way we were when we lived in E-Burg. I loved it!

 I took Jenn to get her very first frozen yogurt and she absolutely LOVED it

 we went to a wild game farm that you drive your own car around in and boy was that an adventure

 My AMAZING girlfriend Kira from back in WA came out for a girls night with us, this is her and Jenn at Howl at the Moon :)

 Our FIRST pic together since 2008 :) and notice the HUGE margarita

 Kira and I at Howl at the Moon-had so much fun and I love this girl more than you know!

 pretty Zebra

 look at those adorable ears :)

And we took a trip to see the Alamo. It was smaller than we both imagined it would be, but pretty nonetheless.

On another note, school is going great, we have about 7 months until we graduate and boy we are counting down the days (obviously). Things have started slow but I am sure they will pick up big time here in the near future (once basketball starts for me). I am co-captain of our Relay for Life team this year and I am also on the committee of planning it. I am pretty excited about it since I am a survivor and it is close to my heart. I am in charge of the Survivorship portion, so LET THE PLANNING BEGIN!!  Two months until I go home for Christmas and I can't wait to see my growing and adorable niece who just keeps getting bigger and bigger! Welp, there is the update for now! I will blog again soon!

And the fall is nearing....

Awww I love that moment when you just know it's fall!! And it has just started to hit here in Omaha...some chilly days followed by extremely HOT and HUMID days, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. We are all settling back into our fall routine for classes, work and sports schedules and things are going quite nicely. We are all moved into the huge apartment and loving every minute of it. I just can't believe we are 7.5 months away from graduating! That is just so crazy to me!! But I love it.

Round 2 starts NOW.....

Well, graduate school year 2 begins already!! It seems like yesterday when I moving to Nebraska to start, now I've got 10 months until I am done :) It's crazy to me to be honest. But I love it and I wouldn't change anything....my internship this summer was beyond amazing. I gained a wealth of knowledge, found an amazing mentor and got more practical experience than I ever could have imagined. It was quite the experience. I am beyond blessed to have found such a rock solid community back home in WA.

School started Monday and me, Heidi, Nate and Katie are almost fully moved into our apartment. We got lucky and found a 1,750 sq ft apartment about 8 minutes from campus for a decent price and believe when I say the pictures below DO NOT do it justice at all. We are settling in and thoroughly enjoying our time together. We have some pretty fun stuff planned in the next few weeks, so I will update pictures as I can :)

Things are going okay for me post-surgery. I think that the biggest change for me is being in full blown menopause and all the side effects from it.  I have now started taking a once a day women's menopause pill to try and control some of the symptoms I am getting, so we will see how those work. For me its just one of those things I will have to get use to and anyone who knows me, knows that I adapt pretty damn well considering all of the things that have been thrown my way in the past few years.

 my BH CREW!!!

 Bubba & Millie--two of my oldest and dearest friends

 some of my FAV CWU girls in Spokane

me at the Rainiers game WORKING with my AMAZING internship...

 group out at Whiskey Tango

 some of the girls

 again

 pretty flowers at the house

 this AMAZING church in Gretna

 just gorgeous

 one wall in my room

 desk & bookshelf

 my fav girls

 bed with more pics above it

 gotta love my country cross

 front hall in the apartment

 kitchen

 one view of the living room

 dining room (not done yet)

 another view of the living room

 hall towards bedrooms

 Katie & my bathroom

 Laundry room

So here's to our LAST year in graduate school...the count down to May 5 begins NOW!!!