Summer is Upon Us!!!

So today was such a fun day. We started out going to the Museum of Discover which was pretty fun. The kids had a blast. I think this boat was their favorite part. They played in it forever!

After that we went to a great little part downtown in the River Market. We love this water park. I wish we had more.

Jayci and Olivia

Julie & Jayci

Loving the water

After the park cousin McKenna came over for a sleep over. This was our first sleep over ever so we were pretty excited.

Of course every good sleep over is not complete without Barbies!

Off to bed after lots of fun play time!

I absolutely love summer time. I mean Fall is my very favorite season but I love the lake, the water parks, and swimming so I am glad summer is upon us!

Maternity photos

This weekend we have spent a lot of time with family. Yesterday we spent the day at the in-laws in the pool. Which was fabulous! I love the pool and the sun! Today my husband's side of the family had a small reunion at a local park. While we were there my SIL, Cori, and I left and took some maternity pictures. I love to take photos. Every year I take Jayci's birthday pictures but I have never really taken any other pictures. So this was a new experience. It was fun and I think they turned out really well. I mean for a amateur and all!

Here is a collage of a few of the pictures that I took. Literally I took over a hundred pictures so theses are just a few.

I will have a few more pictures to post tomorrow of yesterday swimming and I think the hubby, the princess, and I are going to do something fun tomorrow so hopefully I will get pictures then too. I have a really hard time taking pictures if it's not planned. I usually just get so caught up in the fun I forget. I hope each of you have had a safe and fun weekend.

Wants

Do you ever just want something so bad that ________(insert whatever)? That is kind of how I feel right this second. I'm feeling a little selfish right now so I think I will throw my self a little pitty party. You can join me or not. The choice is yours. I'm going to type out what I want right now then I'm going to praise God for what I have and get on with life.

Right now....I want my husband to walk through the front door. I am not a needy kind of person and him being out of town doesn't usually bother me. But for the last 4 weeks he has been gone for 3 of them. He leaves on Monday and returns on Thursday. So yes he will be home today at some point but I want him here NOW. I want a new camera. Not just any camera, a digital SLR camera. I have the money for said camera but the house buying process is not going as I want it to so I'm holding off on buying said camera in fear that we may need that money for the house. Yes I know silly to want a camera more than a house. And it's really not that I want it more it's just I had hopes that the camera would be my graduation present. I worked hard to finish school and the camera is honestly the one thing I wanted as a reward. Well besides a job and all. I want the government to add money back to the USDA home loan so we can get said house and said camera. I want the State Board of Nursing to get me my temporary licence and my okay to take NCLEX. That way I can start my job on June 7th (which is my b-day). I want to hurry and take (and pass) NCLEX because I want a baby so bad my heart hurts. I love Jayci so much and she asks me on a weekly bases when we are going to have another baby. I want to give her a sibling so badly. Oh and the beauty queen answer to end my party "I want world peace." Ha.

Okay so that's not a lot to ask right? Well now I'm going to be thankful that I have a husband that is coming home to me. He will probably even be here within the next hour or so. I am thankful for a home that is already over my head. It is not much and we rent it but I have everything I need right here. I'm thankful for the small camera that has taken so many pictures of my family through the years. I am thankful for the job I have because not everybody can say they even have that. I'm thankful that I just graduated and my stuff will get here in due time. I am so so thankful for the little girl that brightens my day every time she smiles. I am human and I am selfish but I am mostly thankful for a God that will forgive me for my selfish times.

He has blessed me more than I could ever imagine. I know without Him I would be nothing.

Okay my party is over. Time to move on! Thanks for reading. The next post will hopefully be a little more happy.

Oh look my hubby just walked through the door. :) All in God's timing...

Everybody Loves a Good T-Shirt!!!

For starters, I don't usually link up to other blogs for giveaways. I don't know why I just usually don't win and I don't really have time. However, this blog is different. These are some friends that have been such an encouragement to us so I really want to spread the word and help them bring their little girl home!

To be completely honest I am not even linking up to win because I have already bought one of these great FABULOUS t-shirts for my husband and myself both.

Front of Shirt

Back of Trent

So how do you get one of these t-shirts???
Go to the Picker's blog and buy one of these fabulous shirts.
or You can also sign up to win one by following the instructions on this LINK!

This is a wonderful family and I hope that you will feel moved to support them in bringing their baby girl home from Ethiopia!

GRADUATION

Well for the 2 1/2 years I have been attending UAMS's College of Nursing. As of yesterday, May 15, 2010, I officially have my BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) degree. This has been such a long hard road. As hard as it has been I can honestly say that I will probably miss it just a little bit. I mean for the last 2 1/2 years I have spent almost every day at this school. I have made some fabulous, life-long friends. I will really miss seeing them every day.

For more exciting news, I received an award from my instructors for demonstrating academic ability and leadership in professional activities. I can only expect that this award stands for a lot of the volunteer activities I headed and for chairing the Community Service Committee. I did both of these because I love to do them not for the recognition but I do have to say it was really nice to get recognized. It was a complete surprise and it came with a little bit of a cash prize which was REALLY nice.

I will leave you with a few pictures of Friday and Saturday night. Yes, we had a two ceremony's. Friday night was a recognition ceremony for just the College of Nursing and Saturday was the actual commencement. Both were very long and slightly boring but glad it is done with.

This is me with my wonderful and oh so supporting husband. I could not have done any of this without him. He has pretty much graduated with me and deserves a degree all to himself. He has held me as I've cried, laughed with me, forgiven me for taking my anger and tiredness out on him. Nursing school is not easy and it has definitely put a hitch in our marriage at times. Through it all though he has been there. I am so lucky that God choose the perfect husband to go on this journey with me.

My beautiful daughter, Jayci, and I. She has been such a trooper through all of it as well. It probably doesn't even really effect her but it has. She has crawled up beside me while I was studying with her coloring book and crayons several times just so she could do her "homework."

This is Jayci and I with my mom. She lives in Illinois and came down for graduation. We had a really good weekend with Mimi.

A few of the greatest future nurses. Holly, Mary, Me, and Stephanie. Each of us are a little different but I don't think I could have made it through school without such great women to go through it all with.

My family!

My mom and I

This is Saturday night before commencement. It was kind of bright so Jayci pretty much refused to look at the camera.

Me and my girl! She matched mommy in her white and black! And yes it was on purpose. Ha

Just me after graduation! Kristen B. BSN, RN!!!

My wonderful aunts organized me a wonderful graduation party. It was more than I could have ever asked for. Hopefully I will get pictures from my aunts soon and be able to post them.

SUYL - Baby Names

I don't usually participate in Show us your Life over at Kelly's Korner but since I love baby names I thought I would this one time.

Baby Girl

Obviously we already have one beautiful little girl. Her name is Jayci Leigh. Her name is very family oriented, however that was not the original name we had picked out. Originally I had picked out Arabella Grace and then it went to Arabella Leigh. I love love the name Bella, always have but Jay wasn't the completely sold on Arabella. Well my aunt and I were pregnant at the same time and she had the girl name Jacie picked out and Jay and I both fell in love. So with a little modification and making it more like her daddy's name we chose Jayci. Leigh is also a family name. It is my cousin's, my aunt's, my step-mother's and my middle name and my granddad's first name was Lee so needless to say it had to continue. So that is how we came to the conclusion of Jayci Leigh.

Now for a future baby, if we have a girl it was going to be Bella Elizabeth. However, now my SIL, Cori, is pregnant now and they are naming their baby girl Isabella Grace. I know you can have two same names in one family but it's just kind of weird to me. So being the planner that I am Jay and I have been talking about different girl names. We have it narrowed down to Ava or Mia both with the middle name Elizabeth. I like Ava more and he likes Mia so I guess we will just have to wait and see. Oh and Elizabeth is my mother's middle name and I think it is just such a girlie but strong name. Oh and the first names have no family significance. I just like the names that end with the A sound at the end for girls.

Baby Boy

As for boy names we have gone through a ton of them. I can't even remember all of them we have been through. But I think the one we have settled Korbyn Rusden. Korbyn has no family significance but we both really like the name. Rusden on the other hand is a mixture of both of our dad's names. My dad's name is Rusty and Jay's dad's name is Dennis and combined we get Rusden.

OK well there are my baby/future baby names. Now if I can just keep people that I know from naming their kid's with the same name. Ha. Just kidding. I know I will have a beautiful niece that will fit the name Isabella perfectly!

Motherhood

I found this blog this evening and thought I would do this little quiz. Hope you enjoy!

1. What is one thing you wish someone had told you about being a mom?
That being a mom is not easy and you will mess up, make mistakes, and most of all you will be your own worst enemy when it comes to trying to be the best mom around. It's just too hard to try to be like all the other "good" moms just be the best mom that you can be.


2. What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve experienced as a mother?
The public temper tantrums are not a fun experience.

3. What's been your lowest point?
When my daughter was about 4-5 months old I went through a real bad depression for several months.

4. What's been the most rewarding?
Knowing that my child is happy and has a love for people and most of all Jesus.

5. Describe a mommy moment that transformed you so much so, you will never forget it nor are you the same since?
I would have to say when we first found out we were pregnant and then hearing her little heart beat. I knew life at that moment had changed forever.

6. Are you more relaxed or paranoid since becoming a mother?
I am kind of in between. There are some things I am relaxed with but seeing as we only have one child I am pretty paranoid about stuff too.

7. Did you plan on becoming a mother or were you taken by surprise?
I planned on it one day but at the moment I was definitely taken by surprise.

8. Were [or are] you close with your mom?
I am pretty close to my mom. We usually speak daily

9. What family tradition do you want to pass down?
A love for Jesus. I have recently just started to really find my love for God and I hope that I can pass that on to my kids and their kids as well.

10. If you could start over, what would you do differently?
Oh in an ideal world I would probably do several things differently. For starters, I would probably be married before I became pregnant and I would have definitely finished school. But I love my family and my life and even though things didn't go as "planned" I have grown in so many ways.