And then...

Again, incredibly terribly horribly bad at remembering to update my little slice of the blogosphere.  Since my last post in May (yikes!) TONS AND TONS of things have happened!! Here's the rundown:

June

I got a new job at St.Vincent's hospital.  I LOVE MY JOB! I'm working as a CNA on a telemetry unit.  I have learned so so much from being there and experience something new everyday.  As I continue to prepare for nursing school I just know that being at St.Vincent's is giving me priceless experience.

July

Casey and I purchased our first house.  Wow! Couldn't believe that at 23 we were becoming homeowners.  The best part was that the home is absolutely beautiful.  It was built in 1959 but remodeled right before we bought it.  We even got to pick out the brand new appliances! I LOVE being in my home.  I think it is one of the best decisions that Casey and I ever made.  When we finally got things settled and moved in it made Florida feel better.  A lot of the homesickness went away almost immediately.  It's just so nice to have a solid place to be rather than bouncing between apartments.  We've been in the house for 6 months now and just barely started hanging pictures.  But we will get there eventually :) We also bought a new L-shaped sofa thing from Costco to go in our family room.  Love it! It's seriously the best place to nap in our home.  Once tax returns come back we are going to have to purchase a new AC and rework some of the ducts in the ceiling though.  But that's really the only thing that needs to be done to the place.  I'm sure that change will make this summer sooooo much nicer!    

October

We added a new family member to our home.  Hemingway the cat has 7 toes on each foot and was a very spontaneous addition.  We took Lulu to get her nails clipped at Pets Smart and while we were waiting we went to "just look" at the cats that were up for adoption.  Except for that when we walked into the room this big grey cat looked right at us and started to meow and talk away! Stole my heart immediately! Filled out some paperwork, bought some food, litter, and a box, and wondered how we got ourselves so hooked.  He is such a sweet cat and will sit by me all day on the couch while I do homework.  And he never passes up a good scratch.  My favorite thing it that sometimes when we are sleeping he will sit next to our heads on the bed and start tapping our cheeks and foreheads ever so gently with his paw.  He just wants someone to pet him and love on him! :)  We were told that they think he's around 6 years old which isn't too bad but we think he might be older.  He's very skinny so we've started feeding him wet cat food to try to beef him up...we will just have to see what happens!

Well that's about it.  We are having fun here in Florida and adjusting a little more every day.  We have learned so much.

15,000 miles

Got the corolla serviced today for its 15,000 mile. Can't believe it's been that far. So much has changed in those 15,000 miles. Moving to Florida was huge. I wonder where the next 15,000 miles will take us?

In the waiting area is this adorable little girl who is so friendly. It's not making me want one any less. She was all snugly and wanting to play. She totally owned the iPhone! Poor thing had a cast on her leg. Getting to meet her has confirmed for me even more how much I want to be a pediatric nurse. I get so excited just thinking about it. I know that I'm going to be a great nurse. I still have a few more weeks until I find out if I was admitted to nursing school. Fingers crossed!!

On a side note... Look at these super cute asics I ordered!! My poor little toe started popping out of the old ones! Lol

Super speedy North Carolina trip pictures

We got to go see the sight where the hunger games was filmed while visiting NC. Lulu was exhausted but happy from the long drive.

Also, my nephew is the cutest!! His name is Asher and he arrived in March. Basically he already has everyone wrapped around his fingers. Only met him once but I love that little guy to pieces!!!

I also have a new niece and another perfect nephew that arrived this year. I haven't met them yet but I'm so stoked to!! I've been so blessed by all the perfect babies in my life!

Yikes I'm bad at blogging!

Oh my goodness I must be the worst blogger on the planet! I haven't posted since January, yikes! I'll just take some time to update on everything that's been going on and maybe I'll start blogging more consistently, maybe... Anyway.  Things in Florida are interesting.  Casey and I are both really learning how to take things in stride.  This experience will be one that shapes us and helps us grow.  Work and school have been so crazy! Just super busy ALL THE TIME! Casey is taking the summer off from classes and just working and I'm still plowing ahead with school.  I'll have my Associates of Arts finished in August (yay!!) which will set me up perfectly to start school in the fall for nursing (hopefully).  I've applied to Jacksonville University's school of Nursing but I won't find out if I'm accepted until the first week of June.  The wait has been killer! I interviewed mid-April and have been so anxious ever since! It will be such a relief when I finally get the letter say yes or no.  I'll try to remember to update the old blog :)

I also figured it would be a good idea to change the background and things...I'm not really sure where those birds came from lol...I really didn't think I was THIS computer illiterate! I'm going to try to access the blog from my iPhone and see if I can upload some pictures from our recent trip to NC.  It's all going to be just one big experiment :)

We had the missionaries over for dinner tonight! I love cooking for them and Casey loves swapping mission stories with them.  It's always a good time.  The Elders in our ward are really great and hard workers.  They are a joy to be around.  It's crazy to think that they two crazy kids are changing lives with the incredible work that they are doing.  I'll forever be grateful to all the Elders that helped me get to where I am today.  Their work has had far reaching effects that they probably don't even know about.

Now about those pictures....

GOP Fun...

Our time in Florida has been fun! Every day it seems like things just get better and better.  We got a great apartment (I'll post pics later), and now we both have jobs!! So stoked! Casey is working construction like what he was doing in Utah and I (finally) found a job as a CNA.  I think it's really going to be great! I haven't started yet but I have very high hopes for this.

This year our country has a really neat opportunity to have a presidential election.  I've been following the GOP race very closely, however, somewhat privately.  I don't really like to clash with others when it comes to government.  I'd rather watch other people's train wrecks and just make sure that I have educated myself on the issues.  That being said, I tend to describe myself as a Republican.  As such, I've been especially thrilled with the way the GOP race for a Republican Candidate has been going down.  Very entertaining!

This morning I attended a rally for Governor Mitt Romney here in Jacksonville, Florida (by the way, he's the one I would like to have get the GOP nomination) It was so much fun! I showed up about an hour early and so I got an excellent spot.  I got to meet the Governor and have him sign my nifty pin :)  It was nice to see him speak without the influences of the media that can distort the way that candidates are viewed.

Mitt Romney and Anne Romney

When I got to meet Anne Romney the only thing I could think to say was, "Your dress is very pretty." I'm clearly the most intelligent person...

And I when I met Mitt...I hugged him...yep...I hugged him.  It was pretty sweet! 

He was a very nice individual and I feel very confident in his abilities to lead our country.  

He gave a really great speech.  And though I can't remember all of it, some of the points he made were spot on.  I was able to catch a great portion of his speech on video...but I can't get it to upload here...

Anyways...now I'm enjoying my evening home.  I'm studying for my microbiology lab tomorrow morning and watching the GOP debate in Jacksonville at the same time.  It's been no disappointment so far! Gingrich has been attacking Romney relentlessly and Romney just keeps ripping Gingrich a new one.  Then you've got Santorum on the other side of the stage who is really rocking all this! I think I would just be tickled to death to have Rick Santorum become Romney's VP running mate.  Rick Santorum seems like he would do great, though I don't know much about him. 

On a totally different subject...we are loving our ward down here.  We've met some really great people and we've started making friends! Yay! We haven't received any callings yet and we've got Stake Conference this week so it will probably be a little longer.  We hope it comes soon though! 

Well I think that will be it for now.  I'll try to be more consistent with my blogs.   

Goodbye Utah!

Today is Casey and I's last day in Utah.  It doesn't seem real! I'm sure it will hit me as we drive off into the sunrise tomorrow! I'm really excited for our next adventure and hope everything goes well.  To Florida or Bust!

North and South Carolina Vacation

Casey and I are now just at the tail end of our vacation to the east coast.  It was my dad's 50th Birthday on the fourth.  We've had a lot of fun this trip :) We go home tomorrow and I am so freaking excited to see my little girl.  I miss her so much! I never thought I'd get this attached to a puppy but I have.  She's amazing.  This week is also fall break for me.  I've got a whole lot of catching up to do! Missed all last week of school so I'm going to be focusing on catching up and applying for jobs.  I found out just last week that I passed both of my state CNA tests.  I'm now certified! I just need to find a job to tide me over for the next few months.  I'm a bit worried and nervous about it all but I hope it will go well with the search this next week.