Elle Woods?

A month after Trav's graduation, I graduated from my LVN program! The year flew by fast and I was glad to say good-bye to 4:30am wake ups and late night cramming! Graduation was a beautiful event at the Balboa Bay Club and Resort and there was quite the cheering crowd in attendance. And of course, I couldn't give the Valedictorian address without my hot pink heels!!!! Hello Elle Woods! :)

Next step for schooling??? Indiana State University where I will receive my Bachelors of Science in Nursing in the next 1 1/2 years! No, we are not moving to Indiana!!! I will be taking classes online and performing clinicals at local hospitals in the area...and all in my own pace so I will be able to work as well!!

Here are a few pics from the graduation ceremony...22 more days until the wedding!!!! We can't wait!!!! :)


It's all about the shoes :)

They have been so supportive!!!

Speech

I try to be serious...

My Arizona nieces!

The In-laws!

My wonderful Great Aunt Katie

The 3 Musketeers and our Fiances!

Engagement Pics...Better late than never!!!!

Back when we got engaged in September, our goal was to have our Save the Dates out in the mail before my surgery which was scheduled for the first of October. That being said, trying to set up an appointment with the photographer and than wait for the pictures to be edited did not fit into the crunched time frame. Trav's cousin Kristen ( who is an AMAZING photographer and I still think she should start her own business...) graciously came to Disneyland and took our Save the Date pictures. After my surgery, we began contacting Rachel Priddy ( She is the photographer who did all of Vander's pictures and she is absolutely incredible at capturing the moments!!!) about having her take our engagement pictures when she was in California for other shoots. We had date picked out in the Spring because we figured it would be sunny by than and portray the beautiful Cali weather that we love. Those plans were cut short when Trav broke his nose before the session. The pictures were than scheduled for the end of May to be taken in Laguna. Trav and I were excited because we figured, it's May so of course the weather would be perfect!!! Well, we were thinking that only sunshine could be the perfect weather for pictures but God is a comedian and he sure showed us different!!!

We were all set for the pictures...outfits chosen, hair appt made, half day taken from school...and mentally prepared for a beautiful sunny, spring day! As I drove to school that morning I was watching clouds after clouds ( and we are talkign DARK clouds, not light, fluffy, white clouds that look like cotton candy) roll in and all I could think about was ," Please don't let it rain!" When I left school for my half day it was of course, raining. I talked to Heidi on my way home and she let me know that she had just checked the forcast online and it was supposed to have thunderstorms in Laguna right at the time of our pictures!!! Great! I was ready to cancel them untill I talked with Rachel. We spent and hour going back and forth about going ahead with them, finding a new location, or just re-scheduling. We finally decided to go through with them and change the location to Newport so if there was a down pour we could take refuge. Trav and I figured if it started pouring rain on us it would make for some pretty cool engagement pictures. I rushed around all day, picking up back up outfits in case it poured and the whole time I kept watching the clouds to see which way they were headed. After staring at them for a long time at a stop light I realized they were headed away from the beach and it totally gave me hope that it just might not rain. When Trav and I pulled off the 55 freeway, it started to rain. I seriously sat in the car for the rest of the 10 min drive to location praying for just a patch of rain free skies so we could take just a few pictures.

It stopped raining as soon as we parked the car. Rachel was ready to go with a big umbrella in case the skies opened back up and we got right to work taking pictures. Trav and I are not used to taking so many non silly faced pictures but Rachel did a great job directing us and just letting us do our thing. It started sprinkling some when we were at the life guard tower but it made the whole experience fun!! Of course, it was FREEZING cold but we both just brushed it aside and while Rachel was wiping off her lens, we would take the chance to rub the goosebumps off our arms. ( In my case, my arms, legs, back, neck, face...) The pictures ended up being PERFECT!!! Rachel catches these moments that completely leave me in awe!!! Looking thru the pictures online, I couldn't believe it was me and Trav...with no silly faces!!! :) The best part was...all along I was thinking sunshine in Laguna would be the "perfect" pictures but I was so wrong...God had something great in store for us! Due to the rain, the beach was completely empty!!! Which NEVER happens!!! That meant, there was so much more we could do with the pics! Also, moving our location to Newport made the pictures so unique...and we happened to park right next to Lifeguard Tower #20...for July 20!!! Right at the end of the pictures for the last set, God opened up a window in the clouds and the perfect ray of sunlight streamed thru. It was beautiful!!! When we got into the car to go home...it started to rain. It could not have been a moer perfect day!!!

If you want to view the pictures, you can go to www.priddyphoto.com and click on BLOG. She posted some pictures and than at the bottom it say "click here" and that takes you to the site where she has the rest of them.

49 days till we all gather in Palm Desert....time keeps flying by faster and faster!!!!