Here is an update to my repair. Thank you jim_naisium and Christos69 for all the information!
I completed the driver side cv shaft with no problems. After consultation with my father (who has been my mentor since I was 16 as we have always repaired our own cars) he suggested to me to not remove the bolts from the strut to the hub assembly, as that will then throw off the alignment on the car. Here is what I did:
-remove the hubcap & wheel
-remove the axle nut-it is 30mm. I loaned one from O'Reilly, and it fit perfectly. It was not hard at all to get off. Which concerned me, as this is the only thing keeping your wheel from coming off.
-remove the 2 bolts from the back of the brake pad assembly which bolts onto the hub assembly and then remove the brake pad assembly from the rotor. I placed onto the control arm to keep as much stress as possible from the brake line.
-remove the tierod end by straightening out the cotter pin which is in the castle nut on the bottom of the tierod and pullingit out, then remove the castle nut, and you remove the tierod by hammering on the metal part which attaches to the hub assembly. BE SURE NOT TO HIT THE TIEROD IN ANY WAY!!!! This joint is simply force-held, and if you are pulling up on the tierod while you hit down on the metal part, it will pop out quite easily.
-Remove the bolt which tightens the ball joint onto the hub assembly, and carefully tap it out with a hammer, taking care not to mushroom the bottom of the bolt. I then tapped the control arm down to "loosen" the ball joint, and simply pushed down on the control arm to drop it down from the hub assembly. This can be very difficult, or very easy. Just be careful to not damage your ball joint. Once it is down enough, the hub assembly will become flexible as the strut will allow enough play to remove the cv shaft.
-get under the car and observe the amount of free play in the inboard(transmission) cv joint. You will see it move about 1/16" in and out, and that will be it. Pay attention to how the shaft is in the transmission, as if it is not in all the way, you can be going fine until it slips out, and then you will have a running, not moving vehicle.
-Carefully use a prybar to pry between the transmission housing and cv shaft. Mine popped out quite easily, and voila! I was now holding my see-through cv shaft!
-When re-installing the new cv shaft, you may have to rotate it slightly to get it to seat in properly. I had to do this until I got a quite satisfying "clunk!" that told me I had success.
-now just re-do everything you un-did in the exact same order. A note on the ball joint-it comes out and goes back in easiest with the wheels facing straight ahead. I could not maneuver this part of the operation in any other direction.
-I was told that the torque spec for the axle nut is 54.8 ft/lbs. I torqued it to 100 ft/lbs. and then bent the flared end of the new axle nut. You will know what I am talking about once you do this.
I could not remove my passenger side. You cannot pry this off, you actually have to either hit it off or be able to pull it off. I could do neither, as I did not have the tools necessary to get the car high enough off the ground to get a good enough swing to hit the old cv shaft off. Which didn't hurt too bad, as my mechanic only charged me $40 to do it. I will be investing in better jacks in the future. After completing this repair, I found the steering is much more responsive and easier to turn the wheel. Just to note, my mechanic torqued the axle nut to 200 ft/lbs.