Oops!

Well it has been over six months since my last post and a few things have changed, so I will update you on the new things going on in my life. I finally GRADUATED!!! I am so happy to say that I am a college graduate and I even graduated Cum Laude! It was a wild ride, but I finally did it. I started college at BYU-Idaho and went to school there for four years and loved it so much, but I really missed my family. A year away from graduation I decided to transfer to Radford University, which is located next to my hometown. I have honestly had the time of my life at Radford. I have made so many amazing friends and experienced so many things I never realized I wanted. I am so glad I made the choice to come back home, it has changed my life in so many ways and I am so grateful for the many people who have touched my life, in Virginia and in Idaho!. Here are some pictures from graduation:

After I walked across the stage!

With J and C

With Princess C

With the cohort girls. Notice the umbrellas--it was a rainy day

Cohort girls--waiting for the CEHD ceremony

With my parents :)

With Chris, Steph, J, and C (and baby C)

After graduation, my mom took me on a cruise for my graduation present. We cruised on the Norwegian Sky and took a 4-night cruise around the Bahamas. It was my first cruise and I would go back in a heartbeat. It ended way too soon! Our first stop on the cruise was Freeport Harbor. Our excursion for that day was a dolphin encounter. I have loved dolphins ever since I was little, for a while I wanted to be a marine biologist just to play with dolphins haha. We got in the water with them and rubbed their backs and got a kiss. We watched them do tricks and were splashed a lot! It was a dream come true! Next time I want to actually swim with the dolphins. After the encounter we went to the straw market and other shops in Freeport. The straw market was a little much for me, they were a little too agressive for me, but interesting and fun anyway. The jewelry and higher class shops were a lot of fun. I love jewelry and designer stuff, so it was so much fun looking at everything. I bought my mom two Pandora charms for mother's day and she got me a Larimar necklace. Larimar is a turquoise stone only found in the Dominican Republic. It is so pretty. The next day we docked in Nassau. Our excursion this day was a beach day at Blue Lagoon Island. We ended up meeting up with my old swim coach Bill and his wife Mary. They were on the Royal Caribbean ship that was docked in Nassau too and we ran into them on the boat. It was so fun and totally unexpected. We spent the day with them and enjoyed the warm, clear water. It was so pretty. The last day we were there we went to Norwegian's private island, Great Stirrup Cay. We were supposed to ride kayaks around the island, but it was storming so they canceled our excursion. We waited on the beach for a little bit to see if the weather would calm down, but it wasn't so we headed back to the ship early. We relaxed in our room and on the balcony (away from the rain) and enjoyed being able to rest a little bit. That night we played Deal or No Deal and had so much fun, my mom won 50 dollars and I won a dollar! The next morning we woke up and sadly had to disembark the ship and head back to the real world. I could not have asked for a better trip. It was so much fun!

Dolphins doing tricks after the encounter

My mom and I on the Norwegian Sky

My mom forcing me to pose with our ship

Blue Lagoon Island

Hiding from the rain

The pictures don't do it justice, the storm was bad

My mom again forcing me to pose, this time on the balcony!

Right after the cruise I took the next step and started grad school. I am getting my Master's of Education and will graduate in May 2013! After that it is time for me to be a real grown up and find a job :) It has been such a crazy ride the last few years, but I wouldn't have it any other way :)