Releasing some aggression

So I've been talking to my step-dad, Will, a lot about wanting to learn to shoot, since I've never gone before, and he always responds with "whenever you want to let me know" and since I've decided to make sure I do something with my summer this year I decided I needed to figure out a Sunday I could go and since Larry has drill this weekend I thought it'd be perfect. So I sent him a message to go today and I just got back and I had SO much fun! I definitely want to shoot some different types. I took some photos, but not many because I was having too much fun:



This was an AR-15, my absolute favorite!



Mom shooting the other rifle



The pro got in some shots too.

Overall we shot a 22, 9 mm, 45, and two rifles (the AR-15 and I think the other was a high point, it was high something, but I can't remember). The 22 was fun, but a little soft, the 45 had too much of a kick for me, but if I were to own a handgun of the three I think I'd do the 9 mm, it had more power but not too much kick to it. But of the rifles, I loved loved loved the AR-15, it was easy to shoot and aiming wasn't too hard. I know Will has more guns, I want to try all of them one day because it was so much fun and hopefully I can become a pro :) ha ha
So easy to say it was a successful first time experience!

Zoorasic Park and my girly weekend

I call this one squirt, because that's what he did
-he squirted you with water

Guess who finally got her pictures of the zoo trip loaded?

Thas right! :)

So why the zoo you may ask? Well like I said, I heard about the cool dinosaur exhibit and thought I might not get a chance to see dinosaur bones again (not to mention I HAVE to go to the zoo every year because I'm one of those people) and I thought it would be fun, the only bad part was Larry had a military obligation on Saturday he had to go to and he's usually not in a "let's go out and do more stuff when all I want to do is enjoy my two days off a week by sitting in front of my computer all the time" moods, ESPECIALLY when he has to do military stuff, so I made him a deal that if he got off early enough on Saturday and I let him spend the w.h.o.l.e rest of the day playing games then he would have to humor me and go to the zoo!

So Saturday, like I also said before, I went out with my mom, aunt, and grandma. My mom, grandma and I all went to lunch and then met Cindy (aunt) at The Gateway to do some fun shopping and browsing and ice cream filling up! It was a fun day, but before we even actually went out Larry had already text me to tell me he was off (before noon!) so I figure that's way early enough to me :) and I stuck with my end by letting him play games all the rest of the day (especially since I took a painkiller to help with my dreaded wisdom teeth and knocked out pretty early) and so I decided we were definitely hitting the zoo, plus it was still kind of cool enough that the animals might actually move around for us! While we were getting ready that morning I remembered Larry's brother(Skyler)'s girlfriend always posting on facebook that she wanted out of the house and got bored easily so I thought it might be fun to invite them along. We haven't seen a lot of them since he moved out of our house and in with her so I like being able to catch up with them every once in a while.

This was one of the cooler ones in my opinion

Once we got there I saw how wrong I was about the dinosaurs, they weren't bones or a certain section just dedicated, they had full on HUGE animatronic models up of the dinosaurs, they moved and made noise, and one even squirted water for the kids to enjoy. It was really cool the way they did it. And they gave you a booklet for kids to write and color in and it had the dino pics in it and as you passed each model it had facts on it you could put in the booklet, it was really cool. At one point we decided to stop and watch their bird show, which I haven't seen in about a bajillion years so it was funny, especially to see how it's still the EXACT.SAME.SHOW after all these years! Then after walking around a bit I saw these people with cool colored ice cream and decided we all need cool ice cream so I got everyone a fun ice cream (Larry and I choose our normal bubble gum flavor that was the absolute best flavoring ever!!!).

You may not be able to see it,
but the alligator is in the water

Then there was another part of the zoo deal, I've been working on my fear of Alligators/Crocodiles for a few years now (I have a VERY intense fear of them ever since like 6th grade-I had a terrifying dream about them and woke up sweating, shaking, crying, and very frightened and since then I've not been able to even talk about them without getting into hysterics) and I told Larry if we went I'd walk up to their cage and actually look at them-so long as they don't move, I guess they are really real if they move and I still can't handle that. So I went up and watched them, for a few minutes, and then one of them moved (of course) and I couldn't handle it anymore, but at least I stayed for the few minutes, it's a HUGE leap of progress for me and I think I can officially handle them now and the fear is gone so check that of my life's to-do list :)

Here are some other random pictures from the zoo:

While we were at the Bird Show

Not sure if they knew I was taking this or not, but I needed one of our zoo guests :)

Thought this one was a triceratops, it was some
other kind, can't remember the name
anymore

T-Rex

Didn't even know how to pronounce this one's name,
 but he was cool looking

I've never seen a giraffe sit like this before
so I had to get a picture of him



 So all in all it was a really fun weekend, for me at least. I think it was perfect weather for the zoo and I got a bunch of fun and cute pictures to share and am excited I got to do something before my busy week started. Even if I think Larry was done with me by the time we got home. :)

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Whew! I have been thinking lately of when I'll have time to post on my blog and realized I could do it at work while I'm waiting to close up, and that's about it! Ha ha. Well really I could on the weekends, but so much has happened this past week (or since I last posted, whenever that was), I felt, that I wanted to update.

We got our dining set and I took pictures, but my phone is throwing a hissy fit actually emailing them to myself so I gotta wait till it's calmed down and then I can post them up. Apparently, however, it's a well kept secret that everyone but us knew that it takes a LOOONG time to actually put them together. It took us the better part of 2 days to get it done and set up. Then it took us another 2 days to actually clean up the mess it caused! Fun stuff, thanks for sharing everyone out there who knew but didn't tell us! ha ha

Also, I got to spend a lovely Saturday with my three favorite female family members: My momma, My grandma, and my aunt Cindy (who is the coolest aunt, just so y'all know!) and minus a little bout of self consciousness, it was a superb day! My grandma let us know she likes Lady Gaga and tried to sing her songs along with imitating Katy Perry (funniest one EVER by the way!), my mom let me go to Zupas (which I really try and stay away from, but it's one of those places that if anyone tells me it's okay to go to, I will!), and my aunt let me know I have old lady elbows! But we got ice cream and did some shopping so it was fun in the end :)

Last little point before my main point, I heard about this new exhibit at the zoo that was called Zoorasic Park, they were supposed to have dinosaur exhibits up and I thought that sounded cool, thinking that it was a few dinosaur bones here and there or just one specific spot for old Dino bones, but when else would I see them? So why not go? So Sunday morning we decided to invite Skyler and Jena (his brother and his girlfriend) to come with us and we all went, but I'll post on that later when those pictures also load up.

But anyways, the main point of this post was to say I have officially started my medical coding and billing classes! I went to talk to the counselor on Wednesday (the day after this post) like I had planned with him and he wasn't there so I had to call him and he told me to just start my classes and hopefully the instructors wouldn't mind, but if they did I could drop them and get my money back. I was a little frustrated because I could've come up with THAT conclusion, but whatever! The bad part, on my end, was that I was thinking I probably couldn't start them yet and had my alternate plan to graduate next year so I made a deal with Larry that if I did start them I'd work out with him every night after I got home Monday-Thursday, then Friday and Saturday would be my relax days and then Sunday would be our "event" days for the summer, so now I actually have to do that and we're only 3 days into it and it's kicking my butt, but I'm sure it'll be worth it. Also, officially, my vacations really shouldn't be a problem, I've emailed both instructors I will have during my June vacation and one said as long as I get my work turned in on time it shouldn't be a problem, the other said if I missed too much I could just make it up when we went back to that section later, and since I'm already ahead of where I should be I'm excited to say they should go off without a hitch! So YAY little party for me :)

It's funny because I was waiting for so long to start these classes I thought I'd feel some sort of accomplished excitement with them, and while I do feel excited to have them started and finally see what they do, I just kind of feel like I'm still waiting for something, maybe my certificate? I'm not sure, but it will be interesting to see how I feel about it and where I'm at in a month! Here's to me finishing by the end of the year! This year is going to be AWESOME! Larry has drill this weekend so I'm going to see if my step dad will take me shooting (I've actually never been before) Sunday, so that'll be my fun experience this weekend!

Oh and we have an awesome Memorial Weekend trip planned for the following weekend so pics will come from that I'm sure, more fun on the ATVs!

It's beginning to look a lot like summer!

So Spring/Summer is my absolute favorite time of year and I had decided to make this summer the best one possible. So now that we are getting warmer weather I decided it's time to do things on the weekends and we broke that in by going on a hike. Larry told me about this place his dad had taken him and his brothers that had a waterfall at the end. We went on a hike on a vacation to Bryce Canyon a few years ago that had a waterfall at the end and it was one of my favorite moments to share with Larry so to have on closer to home was pretty exciting.

Well once we started we got going and were hiking for quite a while when Larry started thinking we had gotten off track so we had to turn around and go back to where we thought it was the right track, it was too far back to continue on, by this time it was 9 PM and getting dark and we'd been hiking for over an hour so I was done and told Larry we'd just have to come back another weekend. But we still did get some pretty pictures from the hike...

The view from the start of the hike

More from the start. The valley below.

I didn't like the look of snow, but I love having mountains

If you look REALLY closely (between the trees) you can see the stream.

This is where we started to go on the wrong track, but it was a pretty bridge (one of a few we crossed)

Loved the awesome nature shots I could get.

This is what it looked like when we were done, too dark to keep going for me.

So overall it was a really fun hike, even if we didn't get to the end that we intended to get to. I'm looking forward to more of then this summer!

The Waiting Game

Wow, you'd think with the semester ending I'd have a bit more time to keep this updated huh? That's a nice dream!
Here's a bit of my catch-up:

So back in March I officially met with an advisor to start my lovely enrollment process for those medical coding and billing classes. One of my big steps to making this my greatest year ever (yes we're 5 months into it and I still haven't given up on that goal!). While there, we went over that I wouldn't have to do anymore testing or pay an enrollment fee since I've been doing the regular classes for a while. He ended up explaining it's not like normal classes in the fact that there's a Spring/Summer/Fall start date, it's one of those when there's an opening they let you know and you start. So I originally said I could start June since I didn't know when the semester would end and he took down my information and added me to "the list" of those to contact. After a couple days I looked into the semester schedule and saw I'd actually be ready early May so I emailed them (since I'm TERRIBLE with names and couldn't remember the name of the advisor) and told them I could start May 9th. I received a not so exciting email back saying there wasn't any current openings and they didn't know when there would be one. GREAT! So I figured just keep my fingers crossed and whatever happens happens and I'll make due with whatever it is

Fast forward to end of April, suddenly all my classes hit with finals week, it was intense, to say the least. I had 3 papers to revise for English plus a couple other extra assignments. Then I had 2 final tests in Math, plus 3 assignments, plus a 5 page paper to write, edit, send to the writing center, meet with my professor about, and turn into a 5 minute presentation. Did I mention I HATE presentations? I hate being in front of a crowd? I hate being center of attention? No, well now you know. UGH! It's just one of those little fears of mine. So anyways I luckily got it all done, with barely any time to spare. I have to say I think I rocked the presentation. I normally turn bright red and fumble with my words and then speak too fast so 5 minutes turns into 2.5 minutes and I have to figure out what to do with the rest of the time, but I didn't turn red, I wasn't embarrassed, I was actually pleased with how it turned out. The other students had to grade it too, which really sucks, the worse part is knowing others HAVE to judge you, but I feel I did a really good job with it. Anyways...So that was all done by the 2nd of May and I was so relieved to get it done and be finished with the semester. I started to think maybe it'd be nice to have a month to myself and not have to worry about school work, so even if they waited till June to let me know about those classes it'd be okay. But then I started to freak out, what if they didn't call/email by June? What if they waited till past August? Should I just enroll in classes in the Fall? Should I wait even longer? How was I going to do this? The strung out college student in me was ready to relax and not care, but the control freak in me was already stressing about if my plans were derailed and it was only 5 hours into my freedom!

Well that night I was working late when I received a call, which I couldn't answer it at work in case anyone came in, since I was all by myself, but luckily whoever it was left a message. So as I closed up I listened to it and lo and behold it was the applied technology center saying they had an opening and I could start as early as the 16th. I can't even begin to describe how excited I was about this, I didn't have to wait and I could get them started and done with as soon as possible. So I called the lady back and told her I'd be interested but I needed to know if my vacation plans (I have one in June and my lovely August vacation set for a week each) would interfere and she said I'd have to actually talk to the center, she wasn't there, just helped them make calls I guess. So I called them the next morning and asked and they said they didn't think so, it's probably something I could talk to an advisor with and since I had to come in to finish the enrollment process I told him I'd do that when I came in. So Friday morning comes and I went in before work to talk with them and stupid me, after meeting with him, getting all enrolled and paying for the classes (which aren't very cheap by the way!) I then decide to ask about my vacations. He says they actually might be a problem but he didn't know, so I have to go back in this week (tomorrow morning is planned right now) and he will take me to meet an instructor and see if it will. So as excited as I was now I'm just anxious to find out because it'll be one of two things:

1. Either they'll say my June vacation is fine but my August one isn't, in which case I will either need to cancel my August vacation and switch it to the cruise in December. OR...
2. They'll say both vacations aren't going to work with my schedule and seeing as how I can't cancel my June one since someone else already paid for it, I will have to delay the classes till next year.

Being the true control freak/planner that I am, I looked at my school schedule. My point in doing these classes is I wanted to start an actual real job/possible career in the medical field to kind of hone in on the Psychology field and be in a more related "industry". Well I planned on doing these classes and then finishing my degree by the end of next year so that I could graduate then (or May of '13, whichever they'd let me choose), but if I had to move these classes I'd have to push that back and I didn't want to. So looking into my school schedule I realized I had 8 more classes and I'm done, really done, with my associates. So I now have a plan if I can't take the classes now and, for the time being, I'll do 4 classes this Fall and then 4 in the Spring and then do the medical coding and billing classes. It'll be a stressful couple of semesters, but if I can get it done I'll be excited. But I'm thinking either way (unless I am exceptionally lucky, which I'm usually not, and BOTH vacations don't cause problems) we'll probably switch vacations and do our cruise this year and the Six Flags/Sea World will be next year, if taxes are also nice to us.

So that's where I sit now. The kind of good news is I found out I did pass my classes, which were the last of the time sensitive ones, so I'm really excited to know I'm thisclose to finishing up my degree and say I have an associates! Also Larry and I took over our basement and got to rearrange it to look like a mini apartment (I even made room for a reading nook area!) and the only thing missing was a dining room so I ordered a dining table and so once that arrives I'll be so excited to have all that nice area to ourselves :)

This is the set I ordered:

Once I get the set and clean up a little I'll post pics! I'm even getting a vase to put flowers in the center of it ha ha.

"I love it when a plan comes together"

So it's been a crazy few weeks I've been through! It was the end of the semester at school and I got so busy pulling everything together in time I decided to kind of put everything else on the back burner till I could get it all done. I mean I had to revise 3 papers for English, do a few more last minute assignments, create and add to my Eportfolio, then write a 5 page math paper, meet with the teacher to go over the paper, meet with the writing center, revise the paper, turn it into a 5 minute presentation, 2 tests, and 2 final assignments. It got really stressful for a few days there and I wasn't sure I'd get it all done. But yesterday was the end, so I'm officially done with those classes.

Now a bit of a backstory, I've been working crazy hard on making sure I can get into those medical coding and billing classes. I got a little scared that, even though I couldn't start them till the summer, I'd go in early this year and find out I was supposed to do something a while back that would put all my plans on hold. So back in March I went to meet with an advisor for the classes and they said that it's not something I can choose to do during the summer, you have to wait till there's an opening and then they contact you to see when you can start. I was a little bummed to hear this and thought this will be my "I should've started this sooner" moment. Well I put my name on and just figured we'd see what comes up. I had initially told them I could start in June because I wasn't sure when this semester would be over exactly and figured give it a month just in case. I then found out I'd be done the first week and emailed the main guy over the whole applied technology center that I'd like to start May 9, he replied saying that I'd have to wait for an opening and he didn't see one anytime soon. I was a bit crushed, who knew how long it'd take? Besides I had a plan to get these classes done this year (and by the looks of it, they'll take my 6 months to finish if I did my math the way I think they do it) and I figured once they were done I'd start my schooling back up next Spring semester to finish by December and graduate then. I started wondering what I'd do if I had to put these classes off, would I want to put them off? Would this throw my whole year out of whack? I had so many thoughts I figured I might as well enjoy my break right now and if I didn't hear from them by June I'd have to come up with a plan on what I can do to make this all work. Well it just so happened that on the same day as my last finals, the same day I had all these questions buzzing around in my head, and the same day I decided to enjoy my break just happened to be the same day they called me to let me know that there would be an opening May 16!

I can't even begin to describe my excitement when I heard the message! I'm in! I can start in 2 weeks! I can be done by December! Everything is coming together just like I had wanted and planned for! I was so giddy to hear this news, then I started wondering, what about my vacations? I have on in June to visit my biological dad and spend a week with that side of my family, and then I have my other one in August, and I'm not really sure I want to cancel that with all the work and money I've already invested into it. I called them today and they said that it shouldn't be a problem, I just have to go in to finish my enrollment requirements and possibly to another orientation, which are really boring but I'll do what I must.