Nursing School Graduation

After two very fast, very long years, it was time for graduation! Graduation was Monday, May 24th. The day before we spent our Sunday afternoon relaxing and shopping in Reno. The above photo of us was taken while we were having lunch. Dwayne's parents flew in from Texas for the events and my Uncle Bill, Aunt Lisa and Cousin Amanda drove in from California.
Family and friends from in town and nearby towns also attended.

Monday came and it was time to get ready. I took a break to have a little snack. :)

My sister has been working towards her Fine Arts degree while I was working on my Nursing degree. She graduated that night too.

We decided to take some family pictures before the ceremony since we knew how crazy it can get once things get going.

Dwayne and Me outside our house.

Dwayne's Dad, Dwayne, Me and Dwayne's Mom

Me with Auntie, Cousin Jordan, and Melanie

Me with Mom, John and Melanie

Us Girls

Cousin Amanda, Me, Melanie, Aunt Lisa, and Uncle Bill

Before long it was time to head to the ceremony. It was held at the Barkley Oats Park Arts Center. Mom snook downstairs to find us in the waiting area to catch a quick shot of us.

The ceremony was very nice. They always open with a beautiful bagpipe group, then the national anthem, and then of course the guest speakers. After all the formalities were done, it was time to walk across that stage! Above is my sister with her turn.

Then it was my turn to go!

It felt wonderful to walk across the stage and have that moment after all the hard work that went into getting there!

My nursing classmates decided to sit all together. We were at the back of the group, but believe me, everyone knew we were there! At the end of the ceremony as everyone was exiting the stage we decided to do the wave! It was a nod to one of our classes from spring semester. For review, our teachers liked to play jeopardy. Sometimes they would give out extra points for extra enthusiasm so we would be extra loud and one of the things we would do was the wave!

Above is what was considered the Western Nevada College Rural Nursing Group. Way to go guys, we made it! Aren't we a great looking group of Nurses?

Graduation News!

Well, if you have been watching my ticker to right of our page, you will see that graduation is just around the corner! I am happy to report that finals are over, I have taken my last nursing school exam and am no longer a Student Nurse, but now a Graduate Nurse. That was quite the two years! I am happy they are over but in a way, it is kind of bittersweet. The hard work payed off and now, it is time to graduate!




So what is up next now that I have finished nursing school? I have to take the State Board's exam to get licensed. Once I take and pass what is called the NCLEX, I will then be called an RN. Once that is over, I will be able to start working as a nurse. I have also been accepted into and enrolled into the Orvis School of Nursing's RN to BSN program at UNR. I will begin working toward my Bachelor's of Science in Nursing in the Fall. I will give more information about that as we get closer but for now, I think some celebration is in order!

Graduation will take place on

Monday, May 24, 2010 at 7:00 PM

at the Barkley Theater at Oats Park

The following day, Tuesday, May 25, 2010 at 1:00 PM

the Nursing Program Pinning Ceremony will take place in Carson City.

The pinning ceremony is a tradition in the nursing community. New nursing graduates are pinned by someone they choose with traditionally, the school pin. The ceremony highlights the hard work the nursing students have done over the last two years. A class photo is dedicated to the school from the nursing class and photos are shown of our activities over the prior semesters. It is a special ceremony and is of high importance in the nursing community.

So, some of you are wondering where I will be working. I have been offered a job on the pediatric unit at Renown Health. I am very excited about this job opportunity and can't wait to start my new job.

The above picture is of some of the new co-workers I will be working with starting June 21st. I had the ability to do my final practicum rotation on the pediatric unit and as a result I was able to get a head start on my orientation to the floor and meet a lot of the people I will be seeing more regularly come June.

So, Renown will be my first home as a new nurse! I am very excited to start this new chapter in my life! The time I have already spent on the pediatric unit during May has proven to be the right place for me!

Amazing News!

About 18 months ago or so, Dwayne started a process with the Navy Reserves to apply and submit an application for commission as an officer. He currently has been with the Navy Reserves with prior enlisted service. He has completed his Bachelor of Science degree since enlisting back in High School. He enjoys being a part of the military and saw the opportunity for advancement by becoming a Naval officer for his reserve unit. So, he began the process of becoming a Naval Officer. He submitted an application, had an intense interview with a Naval Captain, has had his navy file reviewed by numerous people and completed his most recent PFA (Physical Fitness Assessment) with a high score of Outstanding (the best you can score). The process is rather difficult and for many, it takes several rounds of applying before they are picked up for commission.





(Dwayne, Bootcamp- 2000)



In late March he got a call from the recruiter he had been working with. The recruiter told him he had some good news and bad news for him. The bad news: he was going to have buy all new uniforms. The good news: he had been picked up for commission and on his first round! So what does that mean? It doesn't mean we are moving, he will still stay with his reserve unit, but will now serve as an officer. He now gets to be saluted! He will keep his civilian job as a police officer here in Fallon, but will continue to drill every month and do his training as needed.




(Dwayne and Tiffy, Navy Ball- 2002)



He will have a special ceremony in August where he will be pinned with his rank. I am very excited since I will get to be one of the people that pin him!




(Dwayne-2002)



The ceremony will be held at the reserve center where he drills every month. We would love to have family and friends there for this special occasion and we will send out information about it as we get closer and have more details finalized.




(Dwayne and Tiffy-2002)



CONGRATULATIONS DWAYNE!

We are all so proud of you and all the hard work you do. I am especially blessed to be married to such a man of honor, character and integrity.

Spring Break- Part 3

After our time in Monterey, we headed on back toward Santa Cruz. We stopped in Capitola along the way. There was a mall there and we did a little shopping. After a good amount of time browsing through the stores, we got back on the road and went back to Santa Cruz.


Santa Cruz has a board walk with rides and and an arcade. Because it was the off tourist season and during the week, the rides were all shut down but the arcade was open.


So, we decided to live it up like big kids in the arcade. Above, Dwayne is punching some game that measures your punch strength. It was kind of neat. After we were done playing our games we counted our tickets in the ticket counter machine and gave our ticket total to some little boy that was in the arcade with his parents. He was pretty happy!

This is part of the boardwalk with the entrance to the arcades.

It runs along the beach. There were a lot of people on this beach!

Also inside the arcade building was a mini-golf course.

It was actually pretty impressive. It was pirate themed and was spread through out two different stories and in and out of a black light tunneled room.

There's Dwayne taking a break from putting to drive the ship

And here I am driving the ship. We had a lot of fun being big kids. Even though the roller coaster rides weren't open we were still able to have a lot of fun our last night on vacation.

On our last morning in Santa Cruz we headed downstairs to our hotel-included breakfast before we hit the road.

The choices were delicious and it was nice having a meal before we driving back.

Dwayne is getting our car all ready for the drive back home.

Packed up and ready to go we take a picture before we get ready to head home. It was so nice to get away. We already have our next weekend get away picked out and now we just have to find the weekend to do it! It involves caves, a zip line and a little bit of hiking! We can't wait.....

Spring Break- Part 2

So, after we completed our tour at The Mystery Spot, we decided to take a drive toward Monterey and spend some time on the beach.

We found a pretty open area and decided to take walk along the water and just feel the ocean air.


The sand was warm but the water was cold!


At this particular beach there were signs posted that it was a dangerous beach and that it has been known to have large waves and unpredictable rip tides and to enter water at one's own risk. Guess it was a good thing we hadn't planned on going swimming isn't it?

Should I go in the water? Nah, think I'll stay dry, and warm!


It was so pretty in this area. On the beach were a few families building sand castles and flying kites. It was fun just watching them have a good time!


You gotta' write in the sand when you're at the beach!


Well, we aren't that original but, the T + D = love was kind of the theme of our writing in the sand. :)

Can you see the waves? They could get kind of large.

This is a little more original, our name! Well, I wrote it in the sand and then about 30 seconds later, it was gone. The water rushed up so fast I had to run away from it to not get wet! Dwayne got a good laugh out of the rushing water. Those unpredictable waves!

We love spending time on the beach! It is one of our favorite places to have lunch or just take a walk.

Great sun, great weather, great company, great day at the beach!

We left our footprints....

....and our hand prints. Bet you can't guess which one is mine and which one is Dwayne's!

After our lazy time on the beach we headed down to have lunch at Monterey's Wharf. Lots of seafood options that was for sure, but we aren't really seafood people so we settled on a pub and had delicious burgers and steak fries! It was soooooo yummy and we had the whole place to ourselves!

After we had food in our tummies we decided to check out the shops. In our exploration we found this guy who draws character portraits. We decided to get an updated one of the two of us. I went first.

Then it was Dwayne's turn. The picture turned out well. We plan on hanging on it on our "fun" wall in the house.

We also found this little candy shop. Inside they sold chocolate covered strawberries, one of Dwayne's favorites! Of course, we got one for him to have!

He really enjoyed it!

Another great part of our vacation. We had fun looking at all the different boats that were docked and viewing all the tourist items in the shops. The food was good too! We definitely plan on coming back to Monterey and spending more time in this area. It was time for our next activities of the trip!