End of Summer Mini-Vacation

Last week I went on vacation with my family to the Dells, which is a touristy town known mainly for being the "water park capital of the world". 

I went with my mom, husband, sister/her boyfriend, and my sister-in-law. We stayed at a hotel with an indoor and outdoor water park and theme park attached to it. We got there around noon on Tuesday and we couldn't check in until 4pm, so we ate some lunch in the parking lot and went to the theme park to ride some roller coasters. Our favorite was a huge wooden on that went 70mph and upside down!

At 4pm, we went and checked into our hotel. Our room was really cute and spacious and it had two queen sized beds and a set of bunk beds, which worked out perfectly for our group of six.

Tuesday night was really fun. We first went down by the river and sat outside and had a drink at a really pretty bar/grill place. Then we headed downtown and had a drink at a few bars. My favorite was one called Mama's Garage -- it was completely open to the deck outside, great atmosphere.

Afterwards, we went and visited my aunt and cousins in their hotel and chatted for a bit. Then we went back to our hotel room and D, Luke, and I played the Settlers of Catan (the board game I played with my friends before camp that I ordered when I got home.)

Wednesday we spent most of the day at the water park. I'm not a huge fan of water parks, so I mainly relaxed by the wave pool and visited the cute Tiki bar that they had there. Later in the afternoon, we all went home and showered and got ready and then went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Pizza Pub. After that, we went and played mini golf. My goal was to just beat one person because I am awful at mini golf, but I ended up in second place by ONE STROKE. 

Thursday was our last day there. We checked out of our hotel and went to breakfast. As we left the restaurant it was pouring rain outside. We couldn't decide what to do since the weather was so bad that the parks were closed ... so we ended up going into HoChunk Casino lol. We mainly just looked around, but D and I played a few of the machines, it was a lot of fun. Then we went and met Luke's family at a restaurant for lunch before leaving to go back home.

It was a great mini-vacation with my family! Lots of fun times and great memories.

Sunday Social!

Haven't done a Sunday Social in quite awhile, want to start doing them again!

This week's questions:

1. What are you most looking forward to about Fall? Ummm how about ... everything?! I have already loved pre-fall, which consists of my two most favorite sports in the world (USA women's artistic gymnastics and NFL football) starting back up. More of my favorites are yet to come: changing and falling colorful leaves, crisp air, the months of September/October in general, my birthday, TV show premieres, pumpkin farms, apple cider, fall wardrobe (jeans, hoodies, scarves, boots), fall scents, caramel apples, ETC.

2. What is your favorite sports team? Green Bay Packers and USA WAG National team!

3. If you could go back to college is there one thing you would change? Well, I think that everything happens for a reason and I've ended up where I am meant to be first and foremost, however, looking back I think I could have waited a year or two before going to college to decide what I wanted to do.

4. What is your favorite class you ever took? OMG that is a difficult question. I loved my OB theory and clinical obviously because I love OB, however, I think that my two favorites were CHA 1 and third semester clinical because that is the point that I really started to feel like a nurse.

5. Reach in your purse, what is the first thing you grab? Well, it takes me forever to fish out my phone and my keys, so probably my planner -- the largest item in my purse.

Next week's questions:

What is one thing you hate doing?

What is the one thing you hate shopping for?

What is the one thing you love doing?

What is the one place you love going?

What is your favorite thing that you do daily?

Happy Sunday everyone!

Get To Know Me

Saw this over on Caitlin's blog, and liked the idea!

General info: I'm Jenn, 30 years old, from Wisconsin. I often complain about my city, but I don't see myself leaving it anytime soon. I was born in New Orleans, LA, but I've been living here since age 3.

Wife, daughter, and sister: I have a wonderful husband named Donaldo and we will be married 4 years on September 4th. He is everything I have ever hoped to find in a man and more and I'm so blessed to have him in my life. He works in landscaping and will be going back to school this fall for welding. My mom lives in town and my dad and stepmom just bought a house about an hour away from me. I have a brother, a sister, and a stepbrother -- all younger.

Registered Nurse: I just graduated in May with my ADN, and I am now a LDRP (Labor, Delivery, Recovery, Postpartum) nurse at a local hospital. This is the job I have wanted since I began nursing school and I love everything about the job and everyone I work with. 

Tutor and future nursing instructor: I have a second job tutoring two nursing classes at the college I graduated from. I love working with the students, and someday in the future would like to get my Master's an become a nursing instructor.

Interests: When I'm not busy working I enjoy singing, reading, baking, exercising, shopping, blogging, vacations, and spending time with my friends, family, and my puppy.

TV: Once Upon a Time, Revenge, Resurrection, Glee, Survivor, Parenthood, The Bachelor/Bachelorette, The Biggest Loser, and shows no longer on the air -- Everwood, The OC, 7th Heaven, Gilmore Girls, Make It or Break It.

Music: Mainly Christian [Chris Tomlin, Matthew West, Tobymac, Newsboys, Mandisa, Chris August] and Broadway/Showtunes [Wicked, If/Then, RENT, Cinderella, Legally Blonde, Idina Menzel, Lea Michele, Glee cast] & some pop/mainstream [J Lo, Mariah Carey, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Hilary Duff.]

Sports: USA WAG, NFL & college football, and college basketball.

Movies: The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, any/all Sandra Bullock movies especially The Proposal and Two Weeks Notice, Harry Potter, Star Wars, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Never Been Kissed.

Books: Harry Potter, Twilight series, Crossfire series, Sookie Stackhouse novels, Sarah's Key, Not Without My Daughter.

Obsessions: Gymnastics, purple anything, EC planners, fall, prayer, Starbucks iced tea.

Inspirations/Role Models: My mom, my nursing instructors and fellow RNs, Elise Ray, and Tasha Schwikert.

Upcoming goals I'm working on: Buying a house, becoming a mother, going back to school for my BSN. In the meantime, I'm enjoying everyday I'm alive and LIVING THE DREAM<3

Welcome back USAG & NFL!

August marks the kickoff of the 2014 season for my two favorite sports -- gymnastics and football!! Technically, the USAG season started in March at the American Cup, however, this is the most exciting time of the season (Classics, P&Gs, and Worlds)! Football also doesn't begin regular season until September, however, pre-season action is underway and my team's (the Green Bay Packers) first pre-season game is tonight!! 

I got to attend the Secret Classic in person in Hoffman Estates, IL last Saturday! It was awesome, and I loved that they moved it to the Sears Centre instead of downtown Chicago where it used to be. I had so much fun and it was amazing to see everything the girls had been working on to get a feel for who will contend for the national championship in 2 weeks and eventually for the Pan Ams and Worlds teams!

 Warming up before intros.

 L-R MyKayla, Simone, Felicia, Kyla, Ashton, and Amelia start 1st rotation on FX.

 My favorite girl (110) Madison Kocian :)

 The girls talking to some fans in the stands.

Senior AA podium -- Gold: Simone Biles Silver: Kyla Ross Bronze: Maggie Nichols

I have lots more pictures but I won't bore you with all of them! Everything was amazing except that Madison injured her ankle warming up for Floor and had to scratch her last 2 events. I hope that she is okay to go at P&Gs in two weeks. 

Football excitement started for me this Monday, when it was announced that Brett Favre's number will be retired and he will be inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame both on July 18, 2015. Favre is my favorite player ever from the NFL and he is mainly the reason I started watching NFL football when I was 11 years old and the reason why I am such a huge Packer fan. When all of the GB fans started hating on him for playing for our rivals (the Vikings), I told them all they sucked (lots of my family members LOL) and defended him. Now he will finally get the credit he deserves for everything he contributed to our team for 16 years as well as for breaking every single record ever set by a NFL quarterback throughout his career. My mom and I want to try and get tickets to go to the ceremony.

After a looooong summer of baseball (which I can't stand) being basically the only sport on, I am super happy that my two favorite sports are beginning again! It's going to be a great season for both the Packers and USA WAG!!