And the month of APRIL is finally HERE!!!

Which means only ONE month left until we graduate and I am finally home with my family and friends. I can't believe that these past two years have flown by as quickly as they have. Two years just came and went and I now almost have my master's degree in my hand. I think everyone I know is in complete shock and so excited that I am finally done and ready to move onto the next phase of my life. Which means it's time to start packing, find a job, pass my national boards and start the process of moving back to Washington where my heart and my home are....I am hoping and praying that I can find a job in either an orthopedic setting or in a high school teaching sports medicine and being the head athletic trainer. I have a few good leads just have to wait and see what happens once I pass my boards and just go from there. Which is the nerve racking part. I take boards the 11th (so a week from today) and we won't find out until the VERY end of the month possibly the first week in May. It's just horrible that we have to sit and way so long....I am just not good at waiting games, as most of you know hahaha.

This last week has been a very hard one for me and my family. On Sunday, my uncle Mike died very suddenly of a stroke back home. It was a complete shock to our entire family and the grieving process is very hard being so far away from home. Unfortunately, with how suddenly it happened I don't know that a service will be put together by this weekend and next week I am unable to go home due to my boards and Relay for Life. So I will most likely be missing whatever service they have for my Uncle which just kills me. His was an amazing man and it's a huge loss for our family. He will be missed each and every day....

And the time is just ticking away....

It's so hard to believe that we will be graduating in less than 50 days....And SOOOO many things have changed since my last post. We ALL passed the multiple choice part of comps a few weeks ago which is just amazing. It was a very tough test but we all passed with at least a 80% and we only needed a 70% to pass. And I just turned in my written part of comps today which is due this Friday. We need 2 of the 3 staff members to pass our written comps in order to pass and be eligible to graduate. So lets just hope that we all can pass the written portion as well. Then, we have our national boards in April too. Heidi and I are both taking it on April 11th so like 20 or so days until that.....

We went to Topeka this last weekend for the annual MAATA district conference. It was pretty fun and we learned a lot. This was the spring break for us this year, since we had comps due this week and the BOC coming up we didn't plan to go anywhere for our break. We had a lot of fun on Saturday night when we went out for St. Patty's day, we went to a dueling piano bar and a country bar that was HUGE and had an awesome DJ with a great big dance floor!!

 Green beer

 A billboard we saw on our way back home....FUNNY!!

 the free shots we won for singing Garth Brooks

 Our first GREEN beers (note Heidi's little one)

 Heidi and I at the Wild Horse Saloon

 Heidi and I at dinner :)

 Going into Topeka

 

Katie and Kelsi at the Dueling Piano bar

3 months and counting

I can't believe that in 3 months I will have graduated from grad school with a masters in athletic training and ALSO finally be back home in WA!!! It's crazy to look back on the last two year and think that I have already accomplished so much in just a short amount of time. I absolutely love my career choice and wouldn't trade it for anything, now I just have to get through the next 3 months. We have comps on March 2nd which is a 150 MC test covering ALL the material we have learned since we got here. If we don't pass with a 70% or better then we can't graduate and have to stay another semester to take the test again, which NONE of us want to do....so we spend ALL of our free time studying for both comps and our national boards which we will be taking in the beginning of April. So just keep praying for me that I pass both of those and I am able to graduate and then come home to find a job. We still have some down time which we still go to hockey games and have dinners and people over for the Super Bowl n such, but we spend the majority of our free time studying for our tests.....Here's to the next three months and the crazy things it brings like: Heidi's birthday, Comps, Road Trip to Topeka for the MAATA conference, Spring break, My 26th birthday, the BOC, Relay for Life, Graduation and moving home....

 Lexie, me and Heidi at the BSU vs UNO hockey game

 

Stacy, Cassie, Heidi, Me and Lexie at a hockey game earlier this year 

 The group after a hockey game at Roja...we had soooo much fun that night... 

 

Heidi, me and Lexie before taking a Yager bomb...

 Heidi and I at the game

 Lexie and I :)

Christmas, Holidays, Family & Friends

I absolutely loved being home over the holidays. After being gone 4 months, it makes me appreciate the little amount of time I do have with the ones I love. The 3 1/2 weeks I was home was packed full to the brim which is just the way I like it. My first week home was great, I relaxed, watch my dad and uncles bowl in their league & spent some much needed catch up time with my family. I even had some extra time with my adorable 7 month old niece, which was MUCH appreciated as she is growing so quickly and I am missing her like crazy. The first full week I was home, I spent it in the doctor's office with my AMAZING ACI from my summer internship. I got the opportunity to work with one of the new docs at MultiCare and observe some pretty interesting injuries. I am so majorly blessed that an ortho office is willing to let me be apart of their day to day work schedule. It truly makes me love what I do even more. I hope and pray that I can get a job their once I am finally done at school. Christmas eve was spent with my mom's family as usual and it was great to be able to see everyone, enjoy amazing food and even take a few pictures :) Christmas day was at my Uncle Chris' again like it is every year, we thoroughly enjoy the HUGE family breakfast, comfy clothes and the warmth my entire family brings to the house and the holiday. I do have to say that I am truly blessed with the family I was given. I couldn't ask for any better family members. A really cool thing I got to do was introducing my parents to Rusty (our head ATC here at UNO). Our UNO Men's basketball team came to Seattle to play in a tournament for a few days and Rusty was nice enough to score us some tickets to watch the game on Friday night. So my mom, dad, uncle and I went up to Seattle to watch them. It was pretty awesome to be able to show my parents a bit of what it's like for me at school, introduce them to Rusty and then also show Rusty what Seattle is all about (even if he didn't like the rain). New Year's eve was spent seeing Mission Impossible 4 and having Clover Leaf pizza with my parents and uncle. VERY low key New Year's.

 She is getting so big. But from the moment she was born, she had my heart...

 My gorgeous, loving Aunt and I at Scrooge the Musical

 My amazing family on Christmas Ever

 Sam, Kim & I after Christmas Eve dinner

 My favorite cousin Kaje-boy has he grown over the years....

 My siblings, I couldn't be more blessed.....

 New Year's Eve with Momma :)

 My family at Scrooge this year :) VERY blessed!!

 Uncle, Aunt, me & Kaje---I am literally the luckiest girl in the world....

 Paul, Smalls and I at bowling

 My heart, my soul, my everything....

 Space Needle and a Sunset :)

 Our REAL tree--mom wanted it special this year

This man is the only man-next to my dad and brother, that will truly hold the key to my heart...