So.. thats what it is like!

What a weekend!

Yesterday we were shopping at the mall having a good old time and then we came across the diamond jewelry store. My friends thought it would be funny if my friend James and I went in there and pretend that we were ring shopping, because we were getting engaged. I gave in to the peer pressure and went into the ring store with him. The salesman automatically saw us and figured out what we were going to do so he started talking to us asking how long we have been dating and such. So we were like.. umm we been dating a long time.. too long.. :) So then the sales man started pulling rings out for me to try on!! The first one.. I accidentally even put it on my right hand because I was so nervous.. and the salesman AND James realized before I even did! So I tried on several rings until we realized that it was " time to eat at James' parents house!" It was funny.. especially since I would not stop laughing. The salesman must have thought i was the most giddy girl in the world! But if anyone is planning to get engaged anytime soon we got the card for a nice ring sales man! ;)


Here are some MINI pictures of the weekend ;) I had my phone on the wrong setting.. wHOOPS!

A sight never seen before.. both guys riding on the motorcycle????
James with the balloon flower he got me at the mall.. however.. oh course.. it popped soon after!
Ashley, Kari, and I decided to help James dress .. and made him try on clothes that he did not exactly like ( in this picture it was the jeans.. lol!)

Alright.. hopefully you did not get your magnifying glasses out to see these.. :D Hope you all had a GREAT weekend and relaxed a little bit!

Response to post a couple days ago

Hey! lots of people wondered who the post a couple of days ago was about .. and just to let you all know.. it was about no one who reads this blog. It has to so with someone I knew during my college years and has totally changed now that he is in the "real" world.




Hope you are all doing well!

hugs and kisses, -Rachel

I should be sleeping

During the nights that I work, it often gets rather lonely. I from 4-7 I work all by myself and sometimes the meals take only a few mins to prepare. So then I find my self scrubbing counters that I already scrubbed several times and the like... but also thinking a lot. ( which may not be good if I think too much!!) However a couple days ago this song came on the radio and I just connected with it. It is by Lonestar and is titles "Mountains"

The chorus goes:

There are times in life when you gotta crawl,
Lose your grip, trip an' fall
When you can't lean on no-one else:
That's when you find yourself
I've been around an' I've noticed that,
Walkin's easier when the road is flat
Them danged ol' hills'll get you every time
Yeah, the good Lord gave us mountains,
So we could learn how to climb

I just love this song now.. I dunno.. if you ever get the chance to listen to it you should.. here is a link for the video http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZEQYN1DC220

This is the question of the day: .... If you have the brains of a genius however you liked doing something simple.. like painting houses.. will you be disobeying God by not using your gifts ( like instead being a business man or something) and not using your gifts to their full potential? Is it selfish to keep being a painter just because that is what you enjoy? ( This is not to ditch those painters who may read this:S )


Anyways, tomorrow I am going to Sioux falls with some friends to go shopping and to visit my friend Bryan Burgers. It should be a good time and I am really excited!! Then also my good friend Cody Ellens is in town so I got to hang out with him tonight. Good times :)

Oh ya .. thanks mom and dad for the cookies/rice krispie treats! Don't worry .. I have been sharing them with everyone!!

I should really go to bed... hopefully I do not get up in the morning and read this, finding out it does not make sense at all!!

One thing i hate

You think you know someone really well.. then come to find out you are completely totally unbelievably wrong. Did they change or were they lying to you who they really were?

If I am every like that or two sided please tell me. I would hate to act like someone I really am not.


Thats about it for now, have a great day.

IN addition!

I have a really healthy heart. :D We were taking blood pressures for class and my partner took it a couple of times and it was so low that she thought she was wrong. Then we had a girl who takes blood pressures all the time take it and it was still 95/60 ( an average normal adult should be around 120/85) ! The teacher was amazed and asked me if I work out all the time and I was like .. umm noo.. but I just thought it was funny. Then we took pulse rates and mine again was super low.. 68. which is the same as my teacher who works out constantly.

I guess I just got a good heart !! ;)

Also.. i found out that when I graduate I have to pay $800 to get my licensing test as a PTA.. ahh!! Can you take out a loan for this?? Hopefully I pass it first time!

The story of the fire.

Last Thursday, I really wanted to have a bonfire and have smores. So I told a bunch of friends and planned something for Friday night. However, Friday night rolled along and it was time for the bonfire and I ended up not going to it.. after I bought stuff for smores. So I did not show up to my own party I planned.

Then yesterday, we had wafflefest.. to duplicate the wonderful tradition from my dad :D .. and to celebrate my roommates birthday. So I invited some of my friends over for waffles too. Then I decided it would be a sweet night for a bonfire.. but I don't have a bonfire pit. But I did know my roommate had a little bucket BBQ which I thought would make a great fire with some charcoal. So I had my sweet friend James go buy some charcoal for this amazing fire I was dreaming of. So we started the fire and after a while the coals got red... but no fire.. dumb me... So then some other people came over and started making fun of my so called fire.. and I think my neighbor felt bad and brought over some wood for the fire. So then.. Ta Da! I got my fire. However.... the tin BBQ was not such a good idea cuz the paint caught on fire and now it is kinda burnt. Whoops.. hopefully it can be replaced!!!

Here are some pictures of my fire.
Before... ya.. everyone was not too keen of my fire..
YAY! Kari was excited we got it going!
Josh even enjoyed a smore.. with a ROASTED marshmallow!
A successful night!

Great weekend!

This weekend I went up with a couple other people to Minneapolis! One of my best friends, Shannon, and her husband Brian live up there.

It was fun to see her nice apartment and how they decorated it.. then we got to go on a long walk around one of the lakes in town and went shopping! However, most of the stuff I got was for my nephews birthday coming up in one month!!!

We also made a pumpkin pie which was soo good :)

Anyways.. we had such a good time together; I was so depressed to come back. I loved that city also, so I think it might be a possibility to move there some day! It was so nice to get out of this small town to somewhere different!


Oh ya.. I also go to stop at my FAVORITE PLACE IN THE WORLD.. that being Taco Bell :) yum yumy umy um !! Of course I forgot my camera... but maybe I will up load the pics from my phone !


Hope everyones weekend went well!!

late is better than never!

This weekend was really fun. ( I know this post is a little late!)

I went to the corn maze.. AND MADE IT THOUGH .. thank you very much :) It was pretty fun! Then we went to the huge Iowa fair.. which was also pretty fun.. ( not as fun as the Puyallup fair..don't you worry!) But we went on a couple rides... and I made all my friends ( who are also mostly farmers:D ) go through all the animals and see all of them. (They were so thrilled..or not!) It was a good time though!


Trying to kiss the little cow:) it was kinda gross~
The ride behind us was really scary... but really fun.. we had a good old time!
My friend Ashley and I trying out the neat dune buggies ( think that is what it was called???)
I had a man take this and he really did not know how to use cameras. He ended up cutting off the whole "Clay County fair" sign.. but oh well.. it was still a good time with good friends!

It was so cold this weekend though... :( I could not believe I was already pulling out my winter clothes!!

Anyways..this last weekend was a lot of fun.... and I have been meeting lots of new people like I said I would!!

This next weekend I am going to go visit my favorite Shannon and Brian in Minneapolis! They are going to show me around and it will be lots of fun! It will also be the first weekend in forever which I don't have to work.. so i am very excited about that to say the least.


K.. I am tired... working at 5:30 does that to you!! Today I also found out that one of my best friends at work is going to quit and work at a tractor part company ( A & I products for those who know what it is) I was very very very sad .... but oh well... we made the best of our last day at work together with a feast of ribs:D

Hope everyone is doing well... love you all :)

I love one of my teachers. She is a PTA in a town close to here and went back to school when she was older to be the PTA. Today she wrote us an email and one of the lines was " Work hard!!! you are a reflection of me and I take pride in teaching you!" She just shows such an interest in our small little class... makes me excited to go to school tomorrow :D


Sorry... just had to post that really quick.. maybe its dumb to you.. but I thought it was cute.

You know something is VERY wrong when..

It is is September and ...


Your friends start wearing their down coats and stocking hats



AND you pull out your sweater collection because the tee-shirts are not keeping you warm!



Makes us not too happy!!!!!! ( more to come about this weekend .. when it is not so late at night!!)

changes..and I hate change

bye bye my Shannon and Brian! But don't worry, I will see you in two weeks!

Its kinda sad.. my friend level is dropping around Sioux Center. :( Shannon and Brian have left me and now I have to make new friends on my spare time.

However, that is not too hard :)

I also had to subject myself to going back to Dordt. I have a online computer class, in which it is based in the newest version of Windows! Two problems... 1. I have a MAC 2. I am not going to install windows on this computer.. it will ruin it ;)

So Diane gives me her password and I go and do my homework there :) It confuses a lot of people that I am still around.. but it is fun to go back there.. reminds me of the good old days!

Also, it is ridiculous--- everyone and their brother are getting engaged!!!!!! I think for the last month and a half.. a couple or two have gotten engaged every week! It just shocks me of some people that are... but its kinda funny :)

Also, I decided I want to go to Africa to be a missionary when I get my degree. One of my best friends Laura ( who is a nurse) want to go travel and do medical missions when we get some experience. This has been brought on by one of the my teachers. She encourages us daily.. to get away.. travel do something but stay here!! She has been to so many places and she tells us stories and I realized thats what I really want to do! We'll see what happens in the future.

Anyways.. time for work.. aka supper.. ;) hopefully its good!

Go go Patrick!

This picture is for patrick. In his long struggle to learn how to use the potty. IF only he had uncle Jonny there to coach him along!
( actually , I was smart enough and potty trained myself.. Jonny just wanted to look like he was the one to take the credit for my smartness!!! ;) )

No time to breathe

My life is CRAZY. Seriously. I got to school, work , sleep, and socialize on the side..... Sometimes I think I am going to burn myself out. Oh well.. I am starting to really like the people I work with.. they are a lot of fun. One girl I worked with today.. before I knew who she was.. tired to hook me up with her brother.. then I asked her who her brother was.. come to find out that he brother is a good friend of mine! It was kinda funny.. now we just joke about it! I have also met some other people from different parts of the hospital who are fun to hang out with!

Today I actually did have a relaxing day! I only had class from 9-11 then no work for once!

At school the class was on values and ethics. It was so interesting to hear this lecture from a NON Christian perspective. At Dordt and in high school this lecture is especially grounded from a Biblical perspective. I can't explain it well but it is so weird to hear this lecture with no mention of God or the Bible in the "Christian" way of approaching people and treating them. It kind of challenges me to think what are my values and how they should shape my life.


I also had time and visited my babies at the daycare! They are getting SO BIG!! I could barely recognize them! They have no clue who I am but they still came over and plopped in my lap and had me read them a story. :D
My old boss gave my name to a lady who just moved to Sioux Center with her husband and two little boys to help take care of her dad.. but then her dad just passed away - leaving them here knowing nobody! So I offered to babysit their little kids ( like 3 years old and a baby). That should be fun.. I miss little kids!

I also did 5 loads of laundry today. It was pretty bad. I hardly have time to do it, so now that I had a day off.. I did everything! It was fun.. now my room is all clean again!

Also today was a VERY SAD DAY. Shannon and Brian moved away to Minneapolis. I was secretly hoping they would not find an apartment.. but God had other plans for them than I did. However!!!! Me and and Brian's sister Kara are going to drive up there the weekend of the 22nd to visit! So that will be fun.

Anyways.. no pictures for now... I have to start pulling out that camera more! Or actually just unloading pictures from it :)


Hope everyone is doing well!!

Happy Labor Day!!

No school today!!! I do have to work a couple hours, but I don't mind. Free food, hang out with the residents, and paid time and a half... not too shabby.

Then Dordt has their FIRST football game! Go Dordt GO! That should be a lot of fun and i hear it is going to be packed... people even came from Texas to watch it!!!

Anyways.. hope everyone has a good day off!

I am liked :)

Update!! the grumpy lady told me today that she likes me!!!! It was so cute.. and I told her.. " I will see you later!" and she said.. "I really hope soon." It was really nice.. it made my day :)

Busy busy busy

I think this week has been the busiest one of my life!!! I am working full time while going to school full time. This was also supposed to be my weekend off and the boss really needed someone to fill in for a girl with mono. I felt really bad for him because he has a young family and if I did not work he would have had to come in and not see his family much this weekend. So I figured I could use the extra money and work with my favorite old people.

Seriously.. it makes my day to see some of the residents in the nursing home. Here are some funny stories of yesterday
I asked this one lady ( who is usually grumpy) how her day was going and she responded in a gruff voice "Terrible." So I asked her why and how I could help her. She just could not find her seat in the dinning room!! So I found her seat for her and cheered her up and she actually was really fun for the rest of the night!

My other favorite, the other really grumpy one, is starting to like me too! Now when she sees me she smiles more at me and I think she is remembering me more!


I also went to a short family reunion with Diane. I was SO happy that my favorite great aunt Emma was still alive! She is 95 and crazy as usual. We were planning her escape from the nursing home to her home in Lester ( which her family sold 5 years ago and she does not even know!) She always offers for me to live with her ( even in the nursing home!!)
It was fun seeing all my relatives again!

Here is a picture from my phone of my great aunt Emma, ( I unfortunately forgot my camera :() But I also did get a new phone and a new phone number! So if anyone wants to get a hold of me don't call my old phone because you will get Diane!