I'm a Graduate!

On May 14th, 2011, I graduated with my Bachelor's of Science in Communication Disorders from the University of Arkansas! Can you believe that?! I'm so glad it's done.
To be honest, I wasn't really all that excited about graduating. These past two years at the U of A have been really hard on me. I didn't feel like I belonged there, and the work was really hard, so I struggled to keep my grades up. Also, I didn't make it into graduate school for speech path, so these past couple of months have been especially hard- I was graduating, but I didn't have a plan. I didn't have a job, and I didn't have school. So I've just been lost lately.
I graduated at 4 pm and then drove back home with mom, dad, and Kate, and my whole family was there waiting on me to celebrate. I had the best time! But I won't lie, I was holding back the tears all night. People kept asking, "so what is your plan now?" And for the first time in my whole life, I couldn't give them an answer. I felt awful. I mostly answered with, "I'm lost right now." Finally, at the end of the night, most people had gone but my uncle Kenny was still there with his family. He sat down with me and told me I have so many options and I just need to figure out what I want to do… then the tears started flowing. And it felt good since I had been holding them back all night! I've been blessed with such strong male role models in my life. I have the best dad, but I also have a LOT of uncles who love me and care about me. That brings tears to my eyes.
ANYWAY- On with the happy stuff! Here are some pictures from the big day!















Mom and Dad did so much to make this day special for me! I am such a lucky girl to be surrounded by my family on special occasions… and all the time, really :)

Branson Trip

Last week, Dylan and I decided to get outta town! We headed North a couple of hours to Branson, MO. We ate sushi, alligator, played mini golf, saw the new Titanic museum, and went shopping at the Landing (which was flooded) and some of the outlet malls. Here are a few pictures we took at the Landing…




Can you believe that? All of these businesses (the Fish House is a restaurant that we ate at last time we were in Branson) are on the lake, and because it is up so much due to the rain, there is no way for people to get to them. I can't imagine how much business and money they are losing.
We spent a couple of hours eating lunch and shopping around at the Landing before it started to look like rain… so we jumped in the car and drove up to the dam. The flood gates were open!

There was this awesome lookout type place to pull over at and look at the dam and the water flowing below. It was kind of cool… but scary because it was starting to storm! Not before we snapped a couple of pictures though!



Please excuse the toothpick in Dylan's mouth… dang boy!
Did you know they have a TCBY in Branson? I was SO excited. We used to have one in Fayetteville and every day I'd beg my mom to take me there when she'd pick me up from the babysitters. So of course, I begged Dylan to take me there in Branson! I had vanilla and chocolate swirl in a waffle cone. BUT the server put SO much frozen yogurt in my cone, that it took me forever to eat… and by the time I got down to the cone, it was mushy aka: a huge mess. And what did Dylan do? Laugh and capture it on camera of course!



Then we played mini golf!




I had so much fun on our mini get-a-way! It was just what we needed!

Grandpa Reagan

My grandpa was in the Army Air Corp. That was the "Air Force" before it was actually called the Air Force. Which is kind of neat because I'm dating someone in the Air Force :)
I've never met my Grandpa. My dad's dad. And honestly don't know that much about him… He died when my dad was in his late teen years. My mom never even met him.
My dad is the second to youngest of 13 kids, and my grandparents divorced when he was young. Of course my dad could visit his dad when scheduled, but other than that, after the divorce, I don't think he saw that much of him. And he doesn't talk about him that much- not that there are any hard feelings- I just don't think he remember's a lot.

I've seen a few family pictures that my grandpa was included in, but other than that, the most familiar picture of him is this one, which is always displayed somewhere among the other pictures in our house, inside of a tiny gold frame.
(Please excuse the extra space on the picture- I scanned it and then cropped it, but this is the way it is choosing to upload. lovely.)

Hope you're having a wonderful Memorial Day!

The Rain Must STOP

WOW, we've had such a rainy spring around here! It has flooded twice this month (I think it's just been this month.) It's been pretty scary. Lot's of rain meant a leaky roof for our old farm house… the first flood, my dad rushed home with a huge tarp to throw over the roof where it was leaking into my sister's room. He needed mine and Kate's help, and Lucky for my beautiful cousin, Kristin, (she was stuck at our house because the bridge to her house was under water) she was here to help too!
We climbed on the roof, all three of us in our rain jackets and rubber boots, handing bricks to my dad so he could secure the tarp down. My mom came home and we asked her to grab the camera and take pictures. So as she stood under the carport, snapping pictures of us up on the balcony- she was also extremely scared for our safety and between snaps would yell "It's storming, get down!" :)

Spring Fest and Farmer's Market

One of my very favorite things is the farmer's market in Fayetteville. And surprisingly, I don't go that often. But when I do, it is usually with Dylan and we're strolling around the downtown square, hand in hand, and I'm begging him to buy me a bouquet of picked flowers :)
A couple of weekends ago, it was also Spring Fest down Dickson street, so after the stroll around the square, and the bouquet of beautiful flowers, we walked hand in hand down Dickson Street to look at all the different booths. Here are just a few pictures.

Back in April...

Dylan and I (ok, mostly me) had the bright idea to dye Easter eggs! He was really less than thrilled… but played along, as well as my little sister, Kate and her boyfriend, Cody!




And I can't believe I'm posting this one… but it was right before Dylan dropped an egg into a sac of glitter… and it went everywhere…

New Chapter

Well friends, after a particularly hard semester (or two) I'll be graduating college on Saturday, May 14th at 4pm.

I don't think it has sunk in with me just yet, because I'm not really excited about it. In fact, I'm more worried than I am excited. I don't have plans for grad school, I don't have a job, and I'm just scared. But things will come together soon... and I'm trying to think positive :)

Pictures to come soon!