One Year Wiser and a Fourth Year, Too!

I absolutely LOVE the summer! It's a time of great celebration around our house! 

Dan's birthday is in June. 

Then, we have Independence Day and our anniversary in July followed by Pioneer celebrations. 

Finally, my birthday is in August!

For Dan's birthday this year, it was a day of many celebrations. The last two weeks of June were considered Dan's "summer vacation." Basically, it was a two week break in between the 3rd and 4th year of medical school. However, since I didn't sit for my NCLEX until June 28th, the day before Dan's b-day, I would be studying all of Dan's "summer vacation." How terrible would Dan's two week break be, if I was studying the entire time? 

BORING and a complete waste of time. 

As a result, Dan got a jump start on fourth year and worked 12 hour shifts each day for fourteen days in the ER, during his "summer vacation." What a babe, right! 

Dan's last 12 hour shift was June 28th, the day of my NCLEX and the day before his birthday. 

So, for Dan's birthday we celebrated:

1. Dan's 27th birthday 

2. The end of Dan's 3rd year of med school

3. The beginning of Dan's 4th year of med school

4. The end of Dan's very l-o-n-g ER rotation

5. The end of my studying career (for now anyways)

6. The end of the NCLEX

7. The beginning of my life as an RN

Overall, June 29th was much more than just Friday, June 29th. It was a special day! 

We made breakfast together! 

We watched Brave at the matinee! (such a cute movie)

 

We bought Dan a new (birthday) suit for interviewing ;)

Dan opened his presents

 And got caught sneaking into his cake!

Dan wore his grilling apron I made him for his birthday! 

Dan talked to family on the phone and thanked them for his gifts!

 Dan opened more presents!

 More presents...

Dan read his birthday cards and laughed a lot! 

We ate Papa Murphy's Pizza and dirt cake.

Lots of  yummy, yummy dirt cake!

Happy Birthday, Dan! I love you! 

  

Summer Happenings

The summer has seemed to run away from me. I felt like it was going by painfully slow before I took the NCLEX. It just seemed like I was going to be studying for the rest of my life. June 28th was just never going to arrive. Now that it has come and gone, I feel the summer is nearly over, and I'm wishing it was May again.

We have been very busy this summer. With Dan starting his fourth and final year of medical school, things have been quite crazy. Yet, I feel that since I'm no longer in school, things have slowed down, and this summer has been quite enjoyable compared to summers past. Being able to have an actual weekend has been heavenly. Just feeling I have the time to take a Sunday nap has been such a blessing!

Just like any month June had a beginning, a middle, and an end....

At the beginning of June, I began my new job. I love it so much! I'm so glad I discovered that nursing was for me. I couldn't have asked for a better career!

You know when you've had enough of your pictures taken when you start to look like this...

DEER IN THE HEAD LIGHTS!

In mid June, we had the opportunity to celebrate the wedding of one of my friends from nursing school! Jessica and Mike make such a great couple. Jessica is so sweet and understanding (the remedy for a perfect nurse!), and Mike is very much into cars! They fit together perfectly! Dan and I are so happy for them! Below are a few pictures of the ladies having a great time at Jessica's Bachelorette Party! We had dinner at the Cantina Loredo in MidTown Crossing, it was so yummy!

Playing games

Opening presents

The cake topper...

Jessica and me

Maggie, Jessica, and me

All the girls at the party!

On the day of Jessica's wedding, Dan was on his last rotation of third year, internal medicine, so he wasn't able to attend the ceremony, but he came for the funnest part, the dancing! Dan had been fighting a head cold of some sort, so he wasn't feeling the best, but we still danced well into the night! We had such a great time!!!

You may now kiss your bride!!

(I stole the next two pictures from Jessica because my camera isn't quite up to snuff...)

Jessica's wedding had a peacock theme. I thought it was absolutely brilliant and beautiful!!! 

  

The groom's cake! 

Amber and Peter, can't wait until they get engaged! (HINT, HINT, HINT, I think Peter's missing the HINT!)

Maggie's brother was a great date until Dan could make it to the wedding! Thanks AJ!

Maggie had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction, but we cheered her up!

All smiles again!

Dan made it! (Can you tell he was a little sickly? Poor guy! He's so supportive!)

The beautiful bride! She looked so pretty in her dress, and her hair and makeup were perfect the entire night!

Group photo! Amber has a pool in her apartment complex, can you tell?

All smiles!

AJ is Maggies' wedding planner. Anyways, at dinner, AJ was talking about how he advised Maggie not get several different flavors of wedding cake because if there are multiple flavors of cake, people tend to eat more cake so they can taste all the flavors. We concluded it was rude of people to eat more than one piece of cake at a wedding. With that said, we all knew Jessica had four different flavors of cake: oreo chocolate, strawberry champagne, almond vanilla, and carrot (I think!) So when it was cake time, naturally, AJ and I decided we would sample a piece of every flavor of cake...ha! Caught red handed. Here's the proof! 

We're such rebels! By the way, the oreo chocolate cake was the very BEST!

Toward the end of June, I passed my NCLEX! I was a ball of nerves the nights leading up to the exam. June 28th was the day I had been waiting for my entire life to come and go so I could move on from being a student and begin my future. I ended up getting a terrible night sleep the night before the exam, but I was very confident I wouldn't have a problem passing the exam due to all my studying. Really, I haven't had much of a social life these past two years. Anyhow, the NCLEX is a unique test. The questions you receive are based on how you answer the first few questions. For instance, if I were to miss a pharmacology question, I would receive a ton of those questions later in my exam to test my strength in that particular area of nursing. Also, as you answer questions correctly, you're given harder and harder questions. Essentially, the test is set up so everyone who takes the exam gets roughly 50% of the questions asked correct. When my screen went black at 75 questions, I initially felt confident that I had passed, but then the more I thought about the exam, the more I was sure that I had, indeed, failed. The next 48hours, until I received my results, were torturous. Despite only being able to recall missing a handful of questions, I had a hard time realizing I had done really well on the exam due to my perfectionism. 

48hours later all my worries were gone!

I PASSED!

Appointment	Exam Description	Details	Status
Thu, 28 Jun 2012 at 08:00 AM Pearson Professional Centers-Omaha NE	NCLEX-RN: The National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses English		Pass

And now it's official... Chealse Miller RN, BSN

Yesterday, I signed my name for the very first time with my credentials and it felt fabulous!  

My Baby Sister Isn't a Baby Anymore

Celina May Class of 2012

My sweet, sweet sister has graduated from high school. I thought this time in her life would never come. Even though Celina May is five years younger than me, she is leaps and bounds more mature at her age than I ever was. In fact, at times, I feel she's more mature than I am at this point in my life. She's such an amazing girl. She has a personality with more dimensions than anyone I know. I'm so glad I get to call her my sister. 

When we were younger, I remember Celina wanting to do everything I did. When I say everything, I literally mean everything. However, once Celina reached middle school, things changed. She wanted to be her very own person. She had decided she was going to try her best not to follow in my every foot step.

I ran track and played volleyball, she swam, cheered, played soccer, performed improv theatre, and became a beautiful artist among so much more. 

Despite Celina's effort to be different from me, we are still very much the alike. Celina's Freshman year, she was in the Homecoming court just like I was on my Homecoming and Prom court. I'll have to dig out those old pictures of me one of these days... 

Wearing one of  my crowns at my wedding. 

Speaking of Prom, Celina went to two Proms this year! Both of her dresses were absolutely beautiful!

Dress #1: The back...

...and the front!

Dress #2: 

We were also both in NHS. I've never, ever been that tan in my live, ever!

Celina graduated Valedictorian with a GPA greater than 4.0! Yup, I definitely didn't pull that off in high school! She's so smart!

At graduation, Celina was absolutely beautiful! The ceremony was nice and short, straight to the point! I enjoyed all the speakers. They gave me a lot to think about. 

Here she is walking in! She looked so beautiful!

About to cross the stage!

Valedictorian!

 Celina with Grandma & Grandpa Kropushek

Celina with Grandma Gayla

Celina with mom and dad

All of us kiddos together!

Brothas.

Sistas!

Carson

Kolton (I love this one!)

I love my baby sister so much! She's one of my best friends. We can go for years without seeing each other and the minute we see each other again, it's like we were never apart. We have too much fun dressing up in high heels and dresses. It takes me back to the years she followed my every move. I just love her to pieces. 

For college, C has decided to attend ISU after much debate. Originally, she planned to attend BYU-I with the intention to transfer to BYU, since BYU-I doesn't have her major, but she decided to forgo the hassle of transferring and attend ISU, which has her major and more! She'll major in Special Education and American Sign Language. I'm so proud of her! It's so fun to watch her grow up! 

Our Senior photos. We definitely look like sisters! I just wish I still looked that stinkin' cute. 

I've come to the conclusion, there aren't many things in this world sweeter than the special bond between a daughter and her daddy, especially our daddy. We fight over him all the time and for that one day, he was all hers! We're so proud of you!

I love you, Celina May!