graduating from the last four years.

*Warning: massive amounts of images to follow:

 

Graduation celebrations started with a party Thursday evening, the night before the grand event. Jeremy had tried to plan a surprise party, but snoopy me caught on too quickly. It was a lovely, intimate party with pizza, soda, babies, card games (which I dominated at), laughter, and love. Good work, hubby! :)

 

 

I woke up to May 3rd, smiling and proud. Can't really remember what we did all morning, but we barely made my psychology graduation. It was crammed in with all the other disciplinaries from the college of social and behavioral sciences. Let's not go into all the details, but the psychology walked dead last. Half the seats were empty by the time I walked, and some lady still had to nerve to ask me to be courteous and take a seat (I had a good excuse... nursing graduation, of course!). We ran out of the Huntsman building on to a shuttle to take us to Kingsbury Hall.

 

Can I just say how cool Christie and I are? There was a professional photographer, mind you. One of us said, "hey let's show our pride by doing the 'U'!" Then the pro photographer was like, "okay, everyone do the 'U' sign!" because we're trend-starters! Also, we are pretty cool because we make great faces for candid shots.

 

Also, I'm kind of loud and not pretty when I cheer.

 

Isi, the baby whisperer. Always love that he tries with Amelia though. Too bad she's such a mama's girl. :) // Loves with my babe. Dad said she was tired and ornery all day; glad we got some hugs in between walking. // With Katie, Miriam, and Heather. Heather and I sat together in the front row first semester and have been friends since. Even though she never sat with me again, we had some amazing laughs and I'm so glad to know her. (I'll talk about Miriam in a sec.) Katie is sweet and amazing, and she got accepted into grad school at DUKE, the U, and I think another place. She is beyond amazing and intelligent and I'm always so impressed when we talk. These girls were the three musketeers in the back row.

 

Okay, can I just say how much I love this guy? Don't know what I did right to deserve him, but he held my hand through every scary moment of the last four years. Couldn't have done it with out my main guy. :)

These two. Ah, couldn't have done it without these two either. Mikyla and I were lab partners for bio-organic chemistry my freshman year of college. First week of lab, we talk about boys. She had been dating Joe for a year, not sure what was going to happen. I had been dating Jeremy for a month, pretty sure we were getting married. Mikyla put up with my insanity and carried me through that semester. We grew apart when I disappeared to finish my psychology major, but were reunited at nursing school orientation! I love this girl to pieces! First month of nursing school, Austin decided to join us in the front row. We loved him for it! Then came lunch time, and he awkwardly asked if he could sit with us... like we were in high school! Also loved that! We have pretty much been inseparable since then; we did so many things together- Academic Service Learning, Student Advisory Committee... I'm blanking on what else, which is sad, but it felt like we hung out all the time! Mikyla got married, I had a baby, Austin and his wife had baby #2, so glad we were there for big life events for each other. Glad to know their spouses, and glad to have forever friends in these two! Mikyla's going to be a community health nurse, Austin's going into peds and research, and I'm going into labor and delivery. We're going into complete different fields, but we'll always stay close. I love my fellow musketeers!

 

Add on the girls in the second row... Alicia, Jessica, Melissa, and Becca. I love them as well! Becca is always so sweet and positive, can't imagine nursing school without her. Melissa and I have had some pretty hilarious times together... like "don't worry if you get pregnant during nursing school, Heavenly father will help you through it" and falling completely on my butt on the muddy hill on the way to the train. So glad I know her and so excited for her to have her baby girl! Jessica is my twin... we stress about everything. Can't believe she had baby #2 during nursing school- toughest girl ever!Alicia is the greatest. I have asked her for advice since the very first day of clinicals. Have always been on the same page about life as this girl, except she's way more logical than I am. She knows so much about everything, and I can't wait for her to be a mommy. :) I have loved being friends with the six of you; thank you for making nursing school tolerable! 

 

 

Meet the infamous VA2. BFF's since the very first semester. From left to right: Isi, Christie, Dirty Diana, Alicia, Nicole, Miriam, and Dan. Isi is everyone's best friend, he makes people laugh, he makes people feel comfortable, he cares about what's going on in your life. He's hardworking and he has a smokin' wife and the most adorable children! Thanks for being my big bro and always having my back! I can't imagine the challenges and struggles Christie has been through, but she is still selfless, positive, caring, loving. She is such an amazing influence on all of us, and she helps me remember to keep smiling. Plus, she is hilarious. Plus, we sometimes send dirty text to each other at night. Dirty Diana and I were the youngest in our cohort, and we made sure we acted like it too. I love this DI-shopping, bridesmaid-loving, talking to random strangers, brown nosing, cheesy, hilarious girlfriend of mine. So glad we broke our never getting married/never having a baby during nursing school code together. I've already told you about Alicia, but for the record, I love her stinking guts. Nicole is the sweetest, smartest, kindest of us all. We called her Nee-cole, and called other perfectionists "Nee-cole Dos" after her. She is having twin boys, and I have been excited for her since the day she asked me if being pregnant was hard during nursing school. Miriam and I got super close riding trax together everyday. She put up with my trash-talking, judgmental, exhausted, whiney self twice a day, everyday for a year and a half. She's taught me so much about being a mom, growing up, loving your parents, everything happens for a reason, and laughing. We've always laughed together, like about Dan sprinting across a busy street with a broken foot to catch his bus, like about a random stranger falling asleep on my shoulder on trax, like about her wearing jeans and "nice sneakers" to high school graduation. Thanks for being one of my very best friends Miriam, I can't wait to work with you someday. :) and last, but not least, Dan. My co-vice president, honest and sweet and hilarious and intelligent. The day after we turned our transcripts into DOPL, I called him in tears because they were terrible on the phone. He called them and suffered through their rudeness even though he already had his ATT just to help me out. He also texted me, "Congrats Liana, RN" after I had passed in NCLEX. Which is a huge deal! Thanks VA2 for making junior year so incredible. So glad to know you, so glad to call each and every one of you my friend. I love you all!

 

Some of my family who came: Grandma and Grandpa Jackson... They are the sweetest for walking so far and staying through the entire commencement. I love them!// And my parents, who sat through both psychology and nursing, who have taught me the importance of education for as long as I can remember. Thanks for supporting me every step of the way. Not pictured are my second parents Randy and Julie, and also, Emily and Josh, who loved me and came and watched me walk, but had to rush back to a family wedding.

 

(Amelia was soo very tired.)

If you read through this entire thing, props to you. This post had to be this long because I truly love all 64 nurses in my cohort. They have shaped, challenged, encouraged, supported, loved, defined me into the nurse I am today. I am so proud of all of us, I am so proud to work along-side these intelligent women and men who give and serve and love and sacrifice. You are my heroes.

Thank you to my family and friends for all your support and encouragement. I am so grateful for you and all that you do; I truly could not have done it with you.

xo