I'll Be Home For.....

"The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works is the family."  ~Lee Iacocca

I'll be home for Easter...

That's right, Thursday afternoon I emailed my sister Heidi and said I really want to come home for Easter... can you pick me up at the airport?!!! She replied with a: "YESSSSSSS!!!!!!! I'M SOOOOOO EXXCCCITTTTEEED!!!!" Needless to say we both needed a sister fix and it just worked out.  I found two separate tickets for a decent price, leaving Las Vegas at 6:00am Friday morning and arriving in Des Moines at 4:00pm, and then leaving Des Moines at 6:30pm Sunday night and arriving back in Las Vegas at 8:00pm.  I just have to say.. it was worth EVERY SINGLE PENNY!!  We headed up to Sumner for most of the weekend so the Tiedt clan could meet Ellery. 

If I have learned anything (and I have learned a lot) about being away from home it is that I love and completely cherish my family. Count your blessings today and be thankful for your families- spend time with them... Here are some pictures from the weekend. Enjoy!

***A lot of these pictures are of my niece and nephew... if you don't know me very well you will learn very fast how special they are to me- I love them like they are my own- or at least that is how it feels. My sister often says- Well they're YOUR kids too!!!***

I'm not going to lie- I'm pretty proud of myself that I only brought those bags for luggage.

Welcome Home hugs from grandma are ALWAYS the BEST!!!! (esp when she's surprised to see me!)



Ellery has grown so much since I left 6 weeks ago!! I LOVE that smile!!



He's turning into such a little boy- not a baby boy anymore.. but still sweet as ever!!





Love.



Love.





Looking at my grandma with my niece and nephew makes me remember the countless hours I spent on my grandmas lap. It's such a safe place to be.. even as a little kid- no matter what was going on in life it was ALWAYS a safe place to be- on her lap, or at her house in her living room on a big old down blanket from the 70s, watching Winnie The Pooh and eating cookie dough ice cream... having water fights with Grandpa in the backyard, and eating sweet corn on the back deck in the fall. Perfect. As time goes by- those memories become more and more precious to me.. and I have loved watching Ellery and Creighton begin to develop those memories with their grandparents.



 







Ellery writing her name on her Easter egg.





Coloring eggs.



And of course- we had to do a photo shoot!!!...

Isn't she beautiful?

Family pictures... I love the four of them so much!!!!!



A great picture of Sue, Sierra, and Dad on Easter Sunday.




The girls celebrated their birthdays on Sunday- Sierra (9) and Ali (11).



Easter egg hunts are the best!!!! (ESP finding the ones that grandma and grandpa slips money into!!)

It was a great weekend... short, but sweet. I'm glad I got to come home. Now it kind of feels like it was a dream.. it is weird. I can't really explain it. "Living" here, being away from everything comfortable and familiar has changed me... for the good. I am blessed.

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family."  ~Anthony Brandt



Letting The Pictures Tell The Story

This last Saturday I went out with Ashleigh. We headed to the strip to meet up with my friend Katie and her boyfriend. Katie is a nurse I know from Des Moines who is also a traveler. She lives in San Diego right now and came to Vegas for the weekend. The following are some pictures Ashleigh and I took along the way.. Enjoy!

Getting Ready... It's a process!!!



Ashleigh and Jessica



Ashleigh, Katie, and Jessica



Friends.

No.. I did NOT drink out of it!

Catching up....





Having fun with the camera.

Heading home.



Pucker up phantom dude... :-)




This girl is an answer to my prayers...



"The Price of Beauty"
aka- high heels
The End.

Seasons

Lately I've been thinking a lot about seasons. Seasons such as spring, summer, fall, and winter. But also, seasons of life and the seasons of my walk with the Lord. I think living in Las Vegas has really made me not only miss, but appreciate Iowa. The seasons are so different.  Talking to my family or reading facebook posts about the spring showers and thunderstorms make me miss Iowa.  Living in the desert is nothing like Iowa in that respect.  They have higher temperatures, probably more sunshine, and a LOT more wind.  But they don't have the beautiful natural flowers and the green grass. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed the warm weather and the sunshine (I have a peeling forehead as proof of that), but I am looking forward to coming home. Having four actual seasons is nice, and fun. I know winter does get long and the cold can get really old really fast, but I think we are blessed with four seasons in Iowa and I will try to remember that in the future.

Seasons of life... This might sound so silly and stupid but have you ever thought about the seasons of life? Life goes so fast. We start as little kids depending on our parents for everything, into High School where the only thing you ever know or think about is High School and yourself. And into college.. where you meet friends and take risks and make big decisions- some you'll never regret and some you will regret forever. You can't wait for the last day of finals to be over and get into the "real world"... where there aren't rules or deadlines for homework.. if only I would have known then. If I knew then that life is FULL of deadlines and personal "homework". Oh how I would love to go back to that stage of my life sometimes, that care-free,  happy go lucky lifestyle where the friends I had were friends I thought I would have forever and the stresses of life were finals. But life happens.. seasons change.. and life goes on. My friends are different, my stresses are different, and all of that has left me pondering what I am doing with my life.

Who am I? What am I doing for myself, my family and what tiny part am I playing to make this world a better place?  In this season of my life right now I am a  traveling nurse. I take care of babies, and I love what I do. I am a daughter, sister, niece, granddaughter, cousin, aunt, godmother, and friend. I am 24 (almost 25-eek!) years young.  I am a Christian. I have so much life behind me, and yet so much ahead of me. Where am I going and what will define me as a person, a daughter, sister, friend.. etc. How will people remember me and what impact will I have on them? I would hope and pray that I will have a positive impact on people. I pray that the hardships I've lived through in these 24 years will be used by God to help those that have to live through the same hardships. I hope that as a neonatal nurse that I can continue to bring some hope and faith to the thousands of families I have met and will meet in the future. 

I have said it several times before and I will say it again. I am not where I thought I would be at this point in my life. I am not a wife or a mommy.  Sometimes that still really bothers me.  And other times, most of the time, I am OK with that.  I know that God has put me exactly where I am supposed to be.  He has given me cards to play and I have decided how to play them. I haven't always made the best decisions, but every decision I have made has made me a stronger, healthier person. I know that someday God will grant me the desires of my heart. I will find love again, and someday I will have babies of my own.  I cannot wait for that day, BUT until then I will keep living.  And not just living to live, but living to enjoy life.  I'm learning to be content, right where I am, with who I am, and how I am.  I will continue to love those sweet little babies the Lord allows me to care for. I will love and care for my precious niece and nephew, I will be there for and pray for my godchildren, and hopefully I will be setting a good example for everyone who is watching. 

I have lived, loved, and taken chances.  God willing, my life and adventures are far from over.  I am excited to continue to define who I am, learn more about myself, and fulfill this journey the Lord has put me on.  I know regardless of where I end up I have the biggest group of supporters I could ever dream of.  I am SO very thankful for that and I promise to NEVER take that for granted.  God has given me the best family and friends I could ever ask for, and if you're reading this you know who you are. Thank-you for supporting and loving me on this journey!

I am enjoying this journey... and with views like this- how could it be any different!?


Taken during a recent trip to Mt. Charleston with Ashleigh.. a longer post to come.

 In HIS name...

Flying!!!

My new favorite hobby... flying!! Right.. like I can call it  a hobby- BUT- if I could, I would!!! I was blessed with the opportunity to actually fly with Aunt Martha and her friend Bob. He owns two different planes and said as long as we pay for the gas he would take us whenever we could go! The plane we took was a three seater (maybe four but he had a big tote sitting in the seat..,not sure if it's made for 3 or 4) that is used for longer distances.  The other plane he does acrobatics in- complete flips in the air.  It's a two seater and I plan to go up again sometime before I leave!! Here are some pictures- you have know that the pictures do NOT do any of the views any kind of justice.. I tried to get some good shots but you will all have to go up for yourself to really see the beauty!

Bob said he had to do a walk around and look at the plane.. so I said- "ok"... and watched him- and then he said, well come on!! You can't fly the plane if you don't know what the engine looks like! So... we walked all the way around and he showed me what to look for before take-off.  Don't ask me to repeat everything.. :-)

Every plane has a number. All of the planes in the United States start with the letter N.  This is how they keep track of what plane belongs where.

It looks like a toy in the this picture.

My seat. I could fly the plane from my seat and so could Bob.  We both had the handle and the pedals.  Most of the gauges were on his side, but we were sitting shoulder to shoulder so I learned a lot!



 We all wore the headsets to talk to each other. One of the most interesting things was to listen to the radio- and the communication between the towers and all of the planes.  We could hear the big jets bringing in tourists and I thought that was amazing. Bob said that is the hardest part of learning to fly, knowing when and how to communicate with the towers. Obviously its a huge job.. staying out of the way of a jet is a big deal that they don't take lightly, even for the "toy planes"! :-)  You don't realize how many planes are in the sky until you're up there flying with them. We flew out of the Las Vegas North airport and flew over the strip, which included the heavy traffic from McCarran.

The strip as we were just taking off gaining altitude.

The Stratosphere. It all looked so small from the air.

Just getting to Lake Mead. Gorgeous.

Not clear at all but it shows us coming up on the Hoover Dam.

Flying over the Hoover Dam.

I love this picture...

After flying over the Hoover Dam and a lot of Lake Mead we landed at The Temple Bar Airstrip. It's a very remote area. We called on the radio and asked for a shuttle service to have breakfast at the Temple Bar.

This is the shuttle they sent us. An old van.. I loved it. We tied up the plane and headed to the bar. The breakfast was great.

After breakfast at the airstrip with Lake Mead behind us.

There was a major difference in the color of the water from Lake Mead to the river. It turned from an aqua like blue to the mucky brownish color.




The edge of the Grand Canyon. They have a lot of flying restrictions when it comes to actually flying over the Canyon in a plane.  I guess it is different in a helicopter.


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OK... so I look like a dork in the picture- but it's because I was SO nervous. This is where I actually took over and "flew" the plane. I have no idea how Aunt Martha can look so relaxed!! Bob told me to put my feet on the pedals and grab onto the handles..so I did. He let go of his side and the plane started turning to the left.. apparently I was putting more weight on my left foot, which makes the plane turn. I evened it out and we were ok... He showed me what most of the gauges mean, where he wanted them, and I took it from there.  The handles turn left and right, push in, and pull out. When you push them in you drop in elevation and of course as you pull them out you gain elevation. Apparently I was nervous and pulling back on them more than I thought I was because at one point we looked and I had made us gain almost a thousand feet in elevation.  Bob said, no problem, I'll fix that and pushed them in and we dropped- fast!! It was a very fun experience!!

Me "controlling" the plane. See my white knuckles?

Bob taking a nap... :-)

The Las Vegas Speedway

The views of the valley with the snow capped mountains around it was breathtaking.

Aunt Martha is on the Air Search and Rescue team- so she is used to flying. She recorded a bunch of stats throughout our flight.. which I guess is what they do for every flight. She's pretty awesome like that!

Overall the flight was amazing. I am so thankful I had the opportunity to do this. The views were gorgeous, and the experience in itself was amazing!!