FINALLY! Summertime

Well, it is officially official. School is over and summer has begun. It feels like I have been in classes FOREVER! I took 7 classes last Spring, 3 more than were recommended for the block, and 2 classes this summer. I did, however, despite all of the time and hard work invested, make straight As: a 4.0 gpa which put me on the Dean's List. I only had a tiny little 6 day break after Spring semester and before Summer semester. I just right now, this very moment finished typing my last answer to the take-home final exam; all there is left to do is hand it in tonight at our LAST class meeting. "I cannot tell you how excited I am." That reminds me of a funny story: one Christmas years and years ago, when my cousin Ben was 7 years old, he wanted his own gun. Now, living in the back country as we all do, there was nothing wrong with a 7 year old asking for a gun for Christmas, aside from the safety factor, of course. On Christmas morning, as he opened his present (which was his very own gun), he looked around the room to find his daddy and said in THE.MOST.MONOTONE. voice "I can't tell you how excited I am." I mean, he sounded straight out of Winnie and the Pooh like Eyeore. It was the cutest thing, and we still sometimes give him grief over it, but everytime I tell someone that I can't tell them how excited I am over something, I think of little cousin Ben. :)

Back to being excited...

School will be out until August and I am stoked. I have a list of things to get accomplished, like finishing my sewing projects, making blueberry pie, blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes...I have a LOT of blueberries to use, people. I also want to finish making up our guest room and moving the office from our dining room and into the office! A few visits to the beach to work on my tan, and finally being able to enjoy a good date night out. Even though we have had our share of date nights, it is hard to shut off my brain, I was always thinking about school, keeping track of assignments and projects, books and chapters to read, and all those blueberries! (Just kidding about the blueberries)

I am going to soak up my freedom in the next few weeks!

Oh! Did I forget to mention the FAB.U.LOUS. vacations planned for the summer? I will be going up north, to the East Coast with Bill and his family for a grand ole family get together. Most all of his family lives in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and since I haven't been any farther north than Charlotte, N.C., it will be great to see that side of our beautiful country. Hopefully we will visit Fenway Park, Newport mansions, and have some fun golfing as well.

On our way home from New England, we are going to take a mini stop over in North Carolina to visit the ZMaxx Dragstrip for the NMRA (National Mustang Racing Association, or something) Speed weekend. I know it doesn't sound absolutely thrilling, but let me tell you, that dragstrip has four lanes! So instead of only 2 cars racing at a time, 4 cars race at a time. It is quite exciting to see how fast some of those cars can go! And I LOVE watching wheelies.

The other vacation planned this summer is a little jump across the ocean to visit

HAWAII!!! Mom and Dad decided that it was time for one last family vacation before us girls get married and have babies, and brother Jesse decides he wants to stay and live in Colorado. SO, they asked us where we'd like to go, made arrangements, and on July 2nd, we are on our way to Kauai for a week. Now THAT is something I am excited about. What's even better is the other mini-vaca planned for Colorado Springs just before Hawaii. We are going to be rendezvousing with Andrea and Jesse, and the rest of the Wheeles/Schmidt clan in the Springs before our trip. We will be there for Cousin Thad and Baby Cousin Jada's shared birthday, and some fun Fourth of July festivities. It will be great to see my friends who are also my cousins for a little while.

I will be sure a post great pictures and stories from our trips!

"I can't tell you how excited I am." HA!