RN Graduation

Last week was super busy. I took my final on Monday. Dad and grandpa Ray drove into town on Tuesday night and I got to spend most of Wednesday with Dad. Dad and grandpa had taken a road trip from California to Arkansas to see my Uncle Jerry and Aunt Susan and they stopped into town for a couple days to see me graduate nursing school. Grandpa Ray got a terrible cold that confined him to the hotel while he was here in San Antonio but he was able to make it to the Pinning Ceremony on Thursday night. Here's me, Bunky(Joe) and Dad at "The Cove", a local spot with bad food and no airconditioning and tons of flies.
Here's I am with Momo and Bunky at the Cove. Oh yeah, Jessica is there too! Mom flew in for the graduation Wednesday night so we all met up for dinner. Dad got to share his adventures in Arkansas with Joe while Momo and I swatted at flies. Then we posed for pictures.
The next night, Thursday, was my Pinning ceremony. I was sure to get on the pinning committee so I would know what was going on. Luckily my committee member status got my family seats close to the front. Here is one of the few pictures I have with Grandpa Ray, dad is trying not to breathe on me because he thinks he might be coming down with what Grandpa Ray got. I spent the past two years at the local hospitals being exposed to everything imaginable during clinicals (MRSA, swine flu, etc) so I wasn't too worried about it. Besides, I've had all my shots. Actually, I didn't get sick but Bunky did and now he is dealing with it on his road trip. I've decided to call it the "Road trip Cold". He is driving from Rapid City, SD to Marietta, GA right now.

Here I am getting pinned by one of my favorite instructors, Mr. Flores.

I was the one who got to read the Nightengale Prayer during the ceremony. I thought it was fitting because it talks about caring for others and that is the main reason I wanted to become a nurse... well, that and I love learning about how the human body works. So here I am reading the prayer:

In this picture the committee members are being recognized. I am holding my lamp.

In the picture below we are all holding lamps that lit up. Mom said it was really cool to see from the audience. I am in the very back row 5th from the Left.

Here I am basking in the afterglow post ceremony.

On Saturday Joe took mom and I to the missions. They were beautiful in Spring and I enjoyed looking at the architecture.

There are 5 missions, the fifth mission is the Alamo, and we have already been to that one so we skipped it.

Mom got attacked by butterflies at one mission and she totally freaked out because she got a close look at one of them and it had a menacing face. Here I am trying to blow a butterfly off her but I was laughing too hard to be effective and mom's panic escalated quickly.

All the photographers were taking pictures of these arches so we had our professional photographer, Joe, get one too. Mom's hand looks so tiny on my giant belly.

I love this picture of Me, Joe and Jessica...After the missions we went to a graduation party at the zoo. We ate dinner inside the Africa Live Aquarium. You can see a crocodile basking on the rock in the background.

The girl who invited me to this party is named Jessica and she is a total sweetheart. I hope all Jessicas are destined to be that good natured.

Here's a better view of the Croc. My mom and I both have a passion for the Zoo. We can sit and stare at the monkeys for hours.

They served BBQ brisket, sausage, potato salad and beans for dinner.Here I am trusting the tempered glass.

When we got home mom and I sorted through all of Jessica's clothes and stacked them in piles according to size. I needed help with this because my little girl has tons of clothes, thanks everyone. I guess I have started the nesting process.

Joe's mom bought this outfit for Jessica's newborn picture. She IS going to be a Vols fan, Joe is not going to have it any other way. The butt says "future tailgater".

All I have to do now is pass the Nursing Licensure Exam and give birth... sounds simple enough.