Still Dreaming!

Holiday Card

2011-12-24T14:53:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Its been a busy year for us and I'm sure its the same for most of you! We feel like this year went super fast which was ok with us cause we are looking forward to graduation for Steve this June. We can't wait for Steve to officially be able to put that M.D. behind Smith. Some highlights from this year are; Steve decided what kind of doctor he wants to be and has applied to the Radiology program. We have already matched for our first year of residency down in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Its actually one of the nicest areas of Detroit so we're excited for that move. I landed 2 different jobs this year. For the summer I worked for Mosquito Control and then the director hired me to stay during the day with his handicapped daughter. Its definitely been helpful to have an income this year.

We got a few fun trips in this year. One and probably the most fun was our trip to the upper peninsula of Michigan. We hiked between a series of waterfalls and camped right next to the Mackinac Bridge. Another fun trip was to Syracuse New York where Steve had an interview. We were able to visit Palmyra briefly on the way back and see the hill Cumorah and the Sacred Grove. We also had some fun family events this year. We had a family reunion in Colorado in which we also celebrated Steve's parents 50th anniversary. We were also able to go to Utah for Thanksgiving to see family.

We feel very blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family and are grateful to share our lives with so many wonderful people. We hope you all have an amazing christmas as we celebrate the birth of our saviour.

Love Tamara and Stephen Smith.

The sky keeps falling

2011-12-20T08:01:00.002-07:00

So now back to real life again. I work and work and work and work (which is really code for falls asleep in uncomfortable places, my indian name) seriously this is the first job, no wait second, that i fall asleep at. At least its sort of acceptable at this one. The last one was an office job and data entry couldn't be any more boring. This time there just isn't anything to do and its so boring.

So for the last few weeks steve had a break so he could do interviews clean the house an catch up on sleep. Why is it that i'm fine when i stay up late and he goes to bed early but when he's the one staying up late i have this need to stay up too even though it means i'll be a zombie tomorrow. Me and no sleep equals banging head on wall and other assorted objects laying around. I once banged my head on the roof of my car. I think it was for a cause though. Probably fast food.

Steve has now done 3 of the 4 radiology interviews he got i personally want Syracuse but my desperate desire to live somewhere people would be motivated to visit plays a huge part in that. Also it would just be so cool. Fyi the pictures with this post are of our trip there for the interview. Pretty much all at the sacred grove and hill comorah.

Steve has given the most positive feed back on the flint program he interviewed with. They were awesome i guess. One of the perks for him and reservations for me is that there's a lot of crime in flint. Great! Which means he'll very experienced after its over. I'm not too worried if we end up there cause we can live in grand blanc and be safe. And i guess being in radiology is much safer than being in the flint er so its not bad and could actually be a really great residency. The place in detroit he interviewed at was the moat encouraging toward us but its hard to say where we'll be so. I'm trying not to think about it. Which you can totally tell from this post. So thats where we are. Good luck deciphering this.

Next Year

2011-11-04T10:05:00.000-06:00

So I just wanted to let everyone know how excited we are about next year. Steve is interviewing right now and he has to do interviews for two separate residencies because radiology requires you to do a preliminary year in something. We chose Internal Medicine. Anyway Steve's first interview was a couple weeks ago and he pre-matched to do a residency with them. Its down in Gross Pointe. Which is on the southern section of Detroit on the Eastern side. So it hugs Lake Huron. Its supposed to be a really nice area. Which is nice cause it means we won't be in a scary area, but we're hoping it doesn't mean expensive housing.

For Halloween I was a gypsy and Steve is Mayhem from Allstate.

For those of you who don't know what it means to Pre-match I'll explain as best I can. Most residencies you'll interview with afterwards you rate them and they rate you and then in March they match up who liked who best and thats where you go for residency. To Pre-match its like you only rating them and them only rating you so that there's no guess work. Except you also sign a contract so neither of you can duck out and give them the shaft. So thats what we've done!

Anyway its nice knowing where we will live next year and that we don't have to move far, plus we can still visit all the people we love in Saginaw! Now Steve is just interviewing for the four years after that in Radiology. He has a couple interviews in Detroit in January and one in Syracuse NY. Out of those options I think NY would be awesome. I really want to live in New England so we can travel on his time off and see all the amazing things there are. I'm still hoping he'll interview in Connecticut cause I so want to be a Gilmore Girl. (Yes I know how silly that is. You should see peoples faces when I say that to them. They don't know whether to laugh or call the therapist.) Anyway I just want to see the east coast.

This is Mayhem Steve with our friend Jessica aka Flo from Progressive.

That's where we are right now. We'd also like to thank everyone who supports us during the Medical School ups and downs. We have the greatest families ever!

Yay For Pumpkin Season

2011-11-04T09:30:00.000-06:00

So we did our yearly trip to Johnson's Giant Pumpkin patch for the 2nd time. Such a great ancient tradition for us. I invited everyone I know in Saginaw to come so that we could share the fun. Mmmm if you haven't had apple cider donuts on a cool crisp day than you haven't lived. Of course this wasn't a cool crisp day. This was our indian summer day that we all got sunburned on.

We also got to see the launching of pumpkins with the trebuchet. I know that everyone is wondering where I learned that word. And no nobody had to tell me that this launching machine was called that. Everytime I say trebuchet I remind myself that I'm a bit of a fantasy geek. But seriously this macine is awesome it launches a pumpkin which hits the ground so hard that its shrapnel looks like it would hurt. We saw it at least 3 times that day. (We kept coming back to watch with our friends cause they kept showing up.)

I particularly enjoy the wood carvings that a man does with his chain saw. Such a random skill. I wonder if its on his resume?

I ♥ the Mystery Machine. Maybe someday I'll have one of my own!

This year the walk through the christmas tree bird walk was free so we got to see some cool birds. The duck in a wig cracked me up. My mind keeps getting fried trying to sort out all the dumb movie quotes that would make fun of this. All I can say is I keep coming back to the phrase pig in a wig which doesn't fit at all but still funny! See if you can come to something better.

I Hate Hate Hate Spiders

2011-10-06T20:54:00.000-06:00

So I feel very cursed when it comes to certain things. For Example, spiders. So I think it all started in about 7th grade when I did a halloween sleepover at a friends house. We slept in their partially finished basement that had all sorts of halloween decorations up including fake black spiders all over. That was just fine, but then of course we watched "Arachnophobia". Its Halloween so of course I can understand us wanting to watch a scarier movie but it was so freaky that I've had nightmares about it and the paranoia is quite annoying.

So anyway about a week after watching that movie with the deathly jumping spider invasion, I was taking a shower and when I stepped out there were baby spiders descending from the ceiling all over the whole bathroom and I'm pretty sure they heard me screaming in china. I fact if any of you happen to remember a faint rumbling of the earth around 1997 a little after halloween then that was me so no worries I had a wee meltdown.

If you've seen the movie you can probably sympathize with me cause its pretty freaky. Anyway I'm not so good with spiders. I am fine if they keep their distance or are outside, but when they get too close forget about it.

So this week I was getting ready for work in the morning and What looked like a dandelion fluff floated in front of my eyes and my first instinct was to blow it away but I'm glad I didn't seeing as it would have swung back in my face and was actually a big big spider descending about 2 inches from my face. What the heck. Do all the spiders in the world have a vendetta against me. I haven't killed that many and I just need a hula hoops amount of distance for comfort.

I did have this funny flash in my mind of the scene on mega mind with the speeider arachnisdeathicus blown into his face, but then reality kicked in and the spider almost claimed ownership of the bathroom. Then again maybe all this spider stuff started before "Arachnophobia". I remember when I was probably about 8 my sister told me that a spider had crawled into my hair and I couldn't tell if she was joking or not and so I kept trying to shake it off and I'm still not sure if there was one or not, but she gave me an excellent case of the heebie jeebies. Anyone else have weird stuff like this in their life?

What's Up Doc!

2011-10-04T21:06:00.002-06:00

All righty, here's a quick update on life here. Steve is doing his surgery rotation in West Branch still. He finishes the last week of October and we are looking forward to it a lot a lot. Its getting really tiring him being gone all the time. and He is bored of his new reclusive life, plus there isn't much going on at the hospital most days so that makes it even harder to be so far away. It's about an hours drive. After that he is going to start an Emergency Medicine rotation.

He has decided to do Radiology now but since this rotation is already scheduled we figured he might as well stick with it. He applied the first week of September for residencies and we are now just anxiously waiting for everyone to notice how awesome Steve is and set up interviews. He already has a couple of interviews down in Detroit so thats hopeful. He is doing his calling at church with the 11 year old scouts and loving that. This next week we are looking forward to doing a fun game night with some couples in the ward and going to a local pumpkin patch where they launch pumpkins and sell amazing apple cider!

I was working at the mosquito control until labor day and then I started my new job. The mosquito control director offered e a job at his home staying with his daughter during the day. She is 25 and in a wheel chair and I just hang out with her get her up and ready in the morning and some diaper care. It a pretty nice job. She is pretty much a normal 25 year old with a few minor differences that she has from when she was hit by a car at the age of two. I like working so that I feel like I have something to plan the other things I need to do around. Its also fun cause I get to do crafts with her during the day.

Steve and I are planning on probably staying in Saginaw for Christmas so that we can have time in January for him to schedule and travel to interviews. Then in March we find out if he matches to a residency program and then graduation on June 8th. So this year is mostly just getting through it and making plans for the start of residency which we can't really plan much for since we haven't the slightest clue where we'll be. Anyway those are the highlights and I guess we're doing good. Michigan isn't so bad in the fall. Kinda pretty!

Fall Camping

2011-10-04T20:46:00.001-06:00

Steve and I finally made a trip to the upper peninsula of Michigan. We drove up friday night and camped right by the Mackinac bridge. Then we drove up another 2 hours to Tahquamenon Falls. It was so beautiful on the road with all the leaves changing colors. We hiked from the lower water falls to the upper falls which was about 4 hours round trip. Sadly that is a bit out of our comfort zone right now since we are getting super lazy and don't know many good hiking places close by. But we still did it and have our aching feet ect. to prove we did it. Sophie loved being out in the woods and it was a blast to just go out and be mountain men.

Orchard Family

2011-09-11T19:09:00.000-06:00

We the Grandkids

2011-09-10T08:37:00.004-06:00

Tribute to Esther Orchard

2011-08-27T20:30:00.000-06:00

This is my dedication to my wonderful Aunt Esther (Who just so happens to be my grandmother also) who passed away August 18, 2011. She was a wonderful person and the perfect example of optimism in adversity and any other circumstance she was in. I love this crazy lady so much and will miss he more than words could ever describe. One of her attributes that I feel I've inherited from her is her tendency towards bluntness. Of course it wasn't always welcomed at first but inevitably when her advice was taken in consideration she always was just trying to push others to be the best version of themselves they could be. I will also miss her ability to make any day a fun and exciting and how she put others first and made others feel that they were of great value and could always reach their full potential. Playing games was and music were some of the many things she loved and I think she's definitely passed on that love.

Among the many things I learned from her was a great love of animals and she taught me so many things about caring for them in her patient way. I still remember that first day of the wagon train when she asked me to go tie up the horses and I of course did it, but who knew that a granny knot was not a secure way to keep a horse in one spot. After spending quite a while rounding up those horses she preceded to spend the next 10 minutes teaching me the correct way tie horses and made me practice til it was perfect.

It was also amazing how she would go out of her way to make sure she spent time with me if there was ever an opportunity. She lived on the other side of the country but if she flew somewhere and could make a pit stop in Utah to see family she would do it and make the most of a half hour or couple hours layover.

Anyway this is sort of getting me into memory lane, but I wanted to share some of my memories. The second picture down there is during the summer I spent with her helping on her farm and working at another riding stables. It was one of the best summers I've ever had. I cherish every moment I got to spend with her and hope to have many more when I join her on the other side.

Anyway I was blest with the opportunity to attend her funeral in Kentucky this past week and mourn with our family. It was a great opportunity to get to know more family and help each other deal with our loss. It was wonderful to hear so many testimonies of her well lived life and happiness that she has been able to be reunited with her husband Cecil who passed in 1995. Also another testament of love to her is that the men in the family have continued a family tradition of digging the grave by hand. We truly have a loving family and I am grateful to be a part of such a wonderful group.

Anyway Aunt Esther we love you and will remember you always and truly one of the best complements I've ever received was that I was like you and can share in some of the joy you've spread to the world!

Chicago Rotation

2011-08-20T12:24:00.001-06:00

So last march Steve had a rotation in Chicago for Pathology. I would have gone but we found a good deal on a hotel ($25 a night) and the reviews weren't promising, but when you have no money you take what you can get. So Steve went with out me and I stayed. It was right in the middle of the quilting class I took anyway and it would have been such a waste to not finish the class. (On a totally side note, I still haven't finished the quilt, but the top is done and its super cute. I just have to decide what I want to do to finish and scrape up the money to do it.) I'm so jealous that Steve is getting to go to all these cool places without me, but thats probably how he felt on the island when he had to study I got to explore with the other spouses.

This is the device Steve uses to spy on the canadians. He's gonna use all his knowledge about them to build a moose robot that will take over the world and teach everyone how to skate and knit.

I can't tell if he's using brain control or mind control on those canadians in this one.

On our anniversary when we driving to Saginaw for the 1st time we stopped in Chicago and went to see a broadway play called "In the Heights". I had wanted to go skate on one of those outdoor rinks so badly but we were both super ill so we didn't go. Anyway I'm guessing that's the reason Steve took this next picture. One of these days I'm gonna go skate in central park in NY.

On St. Patrick's day the dump green dye in the river and celebrate with green beers all around. anyway I'm guessing the dye didn't hold too long since Steve said that the water was pretty murky most of the time.

Snowboarding in Vermont

2011-08-20T12:04:00.001-06:00

So last winter Steve and our friend Burk decided it would be fun to go play in the snow in Vermont since they have hills and we only have slight inclines here in Michigan. They drove for 12 hours to get there slept a bit snowboarded (Ski in Burk's case) and then drove 12 more. Burk's wife Renuka and I didn't feel it was worth the drive to go. For it wasn't worth it to drive that for to suck at snowboarding. Oh well I'm glad Steve had fun. and here are a few pictures to show how awesome the trip is.

They actually left right as another snow storm started which would have made the trip even more fun to snow in, but they didn't get to take advantage of it since they had to be back to work at the hospital.

I ♥ Mountains

2011-08-19T21:56:00.001-06:00

What are men to rocks and mountains!

Just joshing ya! I heart Stephen!

Mostly this post is because I miss living in the mountains. Things are beautiful here, but it never is quite the same as being on top of a mountain and seeing all the wonders god has given us.

Smith Family Reunion 2011

2011-08-19T21:21:00.002-06:00

So this summer was Steve's parents 50th Anniversary and we had a family reunion to celebrate. Now I'm from a family of 9 and I always thought my family was quite large, but his family takes the cake! There are 11 kids and over 50 grandchildren. It was a massive party the whole time we were there. So much fun. It was also fun cause I feel like I've gotten comfortable with this new family. I always take awhile to adjust to new things, but this family is so awesome that its hard to not fit in. (especially if you are also awesome :)

Part of our reunion was a family talent show and I caught the end of this adorable little dance on video!

Yes I know that I turned the camera sideways and seriously someone should invent a rotate video button. I know I'm not the only one who made this mistake.

Bishop Castle is for some reason a must see when we go to Colorado. Its this crazy castle that this guy that hates drinkers and politics is building.

That's us living the life leaning on the mini castle/trash can.

Change Of Plans

2011-07-31T18:41:00.001-06:00

So I guess this just goes to show that you can never make plans when you go to a school like ross. So today was the day that Steve was supposed to drive to New York for his surgery rotation, but we got a call on friday and found out that the hospital he was going to be at is closing in 90 days and so his rotation is cancelled. It sucks cause now we have to figure out a whole new schedule, but its good because we can save all that money we were gonna spend on rent there and driving there, yay! So Steve gets the week off and is gonna work on his residency application stuff.

Speaking of residency, We were all gung-ho about doing Emergency, but it was getting more and more stressful the longer we thought about it and tried to figure out how in the world we would ever finish up all the things he's required to do for it. So after a lot of stressing and a lot of talks we decided on trying out Radiology and it kinda just seems to be the perfect one for us so I think we're gonna stick with it. Its more competitive than a lot of areas, but we're just gonna go for it and hope for the best!

Also this month since I was gonna be all by my lonesome with Steve in NY we decided to let this other student live with me for a four week rotation she has here. And now its quite the packed house with all 3 of us, but we're getting extra rent money from her and she's getting cheap rent from us so its a win win situation and hopefully none of will hate each other after the four weeks are up. My jobs been going pretty well. I still miss those awesome days of laziness when I didn't work, but I am much happier with a job so its good. Hopefully I'll be able to find something else when I'm done eradicating mosquitoes. Anyway that's our little update.

Save Big Money at Menards

2011-05-29T16:33:00.004-06:00

So here's a few things that are kinda random and there's not much to say about them. The polar bear is at the year round Christmas store in Frankenmuth. We were picking out our very own nutcracker. I love nutcrackers so much and hope to collect more over the years!

Our christmas break was even more interesting with our non human guests. These pugs belong to a friend from church. Sadly Sophie didn't think much of them and I think they felt the same.

"Save big money at Menards" So one night we were bored and happened to meander over to Menards which probably only Steve's family know about. So for every one else its a store very similar to Home Depot. They have this cute jingle from forever ago that they play every once in awhile. We found this awesome giant camp chair. I would love to own such an awesome chair if it wasn't $50. (can you believe that?) We also found some Sprecher Root Beer and that definitely made the night even more awesome!

Almost Dunnit

2011-05-29T15:54:00.002-06:00

So because of the fact that nothing too exciting has happened and that I've been really lazy about blogging and whatever else I use as an excuse, I haven't blogged and I guess its time to do a little catch up. But strangely the events in our life are half things we almost did so here goes.

We almost decided to move, but then we realized how expensive not to mention exhausting it is and the one house we tried to look at was not available when we went.
We almost didn't buy a second car, but then I started work and Steve had to go to St. Charles for his rotation. So we are now the proud owners of another Jeep Cherokee and this one is in much better shape!
I almost got Steve to go to Frankenmuth for their Easter celebration, but I ended up going with my friend Geno. He sure missed out even the Easter Bunny showed.

And now I'm having a hard time thinking of almosts. So here are the cold hard facts of our life (though how they are cold and hard I'll never know). So I am now a full time employee of the Mosquito Control here in Saginaw and I love working. I don't know what'll I'll do with myself if I can't find a job next fall when this ends. I am the Educational Assistant. Margaret and I go to the schools and teach kids about mosquito prevention. I feel like such a mosquito nerd. As soon as schools out we have a few events to do like the zoo. Then we're on to the office work. I see lots and lots of paper folding in my future. We have to prepare all the booklets se gives to the kids for next year. Good times!

Steve is in his Family Medicine rotation and he's decided he likes that area too. So that adds to our growing list of possibilities. I've lost count now, but at least he's not in the predicament of not liking any area he's tried. We'll see what he ends up with. In July he has a Cardiology rotation and August is when he ships off to NY. Not too excited about that cause I don't get to go but thats life. Us spouses gotta stay firmly rooted somewhere while they roam that planet and hopefully graduate someday.

Starting on Monday

2011-04-30T21:39:00.001-06:00

Agh I have to start work on Monday. I'm so not ready. But I can't think of any way to get ready so oh well here goes. I just don't think I will be able to cope with working full time again after 2 years of just hanging out, interspersed with watching other peoples children. Which I have again, officially decided that when choosing a career it will not have anything to do with child care cause it is way too exhausting. That's where having your own kids comes in and so until then I don't really feel like I need any more practice. Hello world I seen enough and nothing a kid throws at me is going to surprise me. I do enjoy teaching piano lessons to kids, but its not the same. I lucked out in getting the greatest 4 kids as students. Anyway. I just wanted say I am no longer available during the day and I'm slightly excited to be busy again. Crossing my fingers hoping I end up really loving this job! Oh and for anyone who doesn't know what it is, I will be working as the educational assistant at the Saginaw Mosquito control. It should be awesome, but I really have little clue as to what I'll be doing so please don't ask until the I've worked a month or 2 and can answer with some certainty. HAve a beautiful day! Also I will soon be changing the link to this blog because I've gotten complaints mostly from Steve about it being dumb or hard to give to people so Once I get a non confusing name. I'll let ya'll know what it is and life will be just dandy!

Baby Shower Gift

2011-03-24T09:14:00.000-06:00

Quilting Away

2011-03-07T18:40:00.003-07:00

So I decided to take a quilting class this spring cause I really want to quilt and if I don't take the class I'll just make up how to do it and it won't be so great as it could be. For anyone that's seen me in a classroom setting they know that I'm not the most teachable person. I like knowing how to do something and if I don't some times I get stuck on my pride and pretend like I do know everything. I guess I haven't kicked all my teenage habits yet, but I'm working through it. Anyway I'm really excited to quilt cause I got the cutest fabric (See picture) and its gonna brighten up the house so much plus I'll have something awesome to do again. The quilt shop I'm taking the class at is owned by a couple of members and they are so nice. It makes me want a quilt shop of my own, but then I don't know how to quilt yet so one step at a time.

Also I'm looking forward to Pi day which is next monday, but we get to celebrate on friday. It's gonna be awesome. All I need to do now is go find some amazing prizes to give the best pie makers. Then on sunday I'm gonna be so lonely cause Steve goes to Chicago for 2 weeks. So not looking forward to that.

I really need to get a job thats year round so I'm not so bored and crazy when Steve has to keep traveling. I've been thinking about going back to school. So crazy considering how awful of a student I am, but if I get myself to keep a schedule maybe I can do it this time. I was thinking about trying the radiology technician program, but there's a few things that complicate that, 1. I have no idea where I'll be next year 2. It means taking out more loans 3. Studying is not fun and I've vowed to cut everything not fun out of my life. But I would need to do some prerequisites before I could get into the program anyway so it might be good to start school next fall and get that part out of the way.

Anyway this was a little rambly but I'm trying harder to not go so long between blogs so who knows it could get much worse, but at least I'm entertained. Anyway in 3 weeks when I finish the quilt I'll show the finished project unless I hopelessly mess it up which is quite likely seeing as just cutting out blocks was quite a challenge.

A Few Lingering Thoughts

2011-03-03T20:40:00.002-07:00

So I just wanted to post some animals I made for my nephews and niece. I was so bored making these animals for no reason at all, but then I thought to make them for family and it was fun again. Plus when the owl turned out so freakin awesome I couldn't help but be overjoyed. I've discovered that I actually really love hand sewing things. Its fun and a bit relaxing for me. I did the detail on the scarf on the puppy too. I just love plaid.

This is my awesome flower I made for my only niece Lana. It was out of an old shirt and it kinda makes me wish that I was little again so I could where cute stuff like that.

Anyway. I felt like posting just so anyone I don't happen to talk to that reads this blog (yep all 5 of you) knows that Steve and I are alive over here in the flatlands. Also I did get the mosquito Abatement job like I sorta hoped and sorta dreaded. I am going to be the educational Assistant. So the good news is that I get to work during the day and see Steve as long as he's here. The bad news is gosh durn it all I don't get to have fun in NYC. At least not until October when my job ends.

I also wanted the world to know that I think toothbrush holders are disgusting. I think its very unsanitary for toothbrushes to touch when they go in different peoples mouths and I wish someone would think of a solution to this. Of course our solution is having an awesome electric one, but whenever I go in someone's bathroom and see toothbrush holders it makes me cringe.

My other big thing is taking the blender completely apart to wash it. I never knew people didn't until I saw a roommate just washing it out all together. I think its impossible to get completely clean that way and refuse to use other peoples blender cause its just gross. Now that I'm reading all this written down I'm kinda coming off as a germophob, but I do live with a medical Student so I should probably be much worse. (Sadly I've felt this way about both things much longer than I've known Steve.) Anyway thats about it. Just wanted to vent about random pet peeves tonight. Hope it was mildly interesting otherwise I'm just sorry your still reading. Have a good night.

You Can't Catch Me I'm The Gingerbread Man

2011-02-24T10:26:00.005-07:00

So Once again I've neglected the blog, but its not because stuff hasn't been happening and there's nothing to blog about its the fact that I only have pictures of crafts to post and if I post those then the post will be all about the craft and not our lives. I'm not really sure how interesting that is to most of the readers. But don't get me wrong I'm probably still gonna post those type of posts. I just wanted to make sure there are a few posts about what is actually happening in our lives so here goes.

Steve is in the last few weeks of his Internal Medicine rotation. Its been a good one, but very stressful. He was studying for the Step 2 practical exam and so he was super busy. He took that test last week in Atlanta and I bet he did awesome. (I would know since I helped him prepare. I was the one who got to pretend to be all these practice cases from his book so he could practice tons of different scenarios. It was fun sorta!)

So with that test behind us I figured most of the stress would be behind us, but we keep looking ahead at the crazy schedule we have this year and have to realize that its gonna be a crazy year. He is now preparing for the written half of Step 2 which he takes in June and preparing to apply for residency which is no joking matter. At the moment he is still narrowed in on doing Emergency Medicine, but without any actual experience in it its hard to say if he'll like it.

So here is our schedule for Steve at the moment he has his Family Medicine and Pediatrics rotations coming next and right after they are done is when he takes the Step 2. Then we are flying out for the weekend to go Steve's parents 50th wedding anniversary in Colorado. After that quick trip he is hoping to have an Emergency rotation, but at the moment we're still searching for one. It is a really awful month to get rotations so its been a wee bit challenging. Then August is when he starts his Surgery rotation in NY. It is 3 months long and sadly I might not even get to go (Explanation farther down)which is gonna make those 3 months really terrible aside from the fact that surgery rotations as a general rule are awful anyways. (Surgeons tend to be the meanest people in medicine and take it upon themselves to make everyone around them suffer, no joke.) Then he luckily has locked in a Emergency rotation in November and then Applying for rotations and finishing up some elective rotations and then graduation. Yay! Thats our year at the moment.

So the reason I don't get to go to NY is because I hopefully will have a job at this point and will be working full time this summer at the local mosquito abatement. If I do get the job then we might even have enough money to live in NY without going totally broke. I don't find out til next week if I got it but it sure would be nice after over a year of crappy random jobs with no structured hours. I want a job so bad.

Anyway here's an explanation of the random pictures I posted (No post should be without a picture) After our crazy big storms here the park near our house has really deep snow. I'm talking over a foot and its so fun to watch Sophie run and leap like a deer or jack rabbit through the snow. I think she could be happy forever living in the park with the squirrels. So we took a bunch of pictures and here's a sample of them. (We took tons of pictures but at the risk of being one of those couples where everything's about their dog I opted to just post a few.)

New Spice Rack

2011-02-16T15:34:00.003-07:00

I found this Spice rack at an estate sale. And yes I know that I vowed never to go to those or garage sales again, but what can ya do! Anyway its was only 7$. and I probably could have talked her down if I knew how,but I don't so Thats still not bad. IT has these cute little glass jars for each spice and I couldn't pass it up.

So I had to empty all the jars of old spices some of which were nasty others obviously not what the label said they were and here's hoping none of them were drugs :) That took over an hour with such teeny tiny jars. The jars didn't wan to dry either so I had to use a paper towel to finish the job. Sanded and painted the rack black filled the jars with my spices and Voila! Beautiful new spice rack in my kitchen. And I'm still waiting for the spicy smell to leave. Apparently filling jars puts a lot of scent in the air.

Desk Redo

2011-02-07T13:36:00.002-07:00

So I don't have any great pictures of the desk before I redid it, but that's mostly because it wasn't great before. It looked more like a desk you'd find in a dorm room. Steve really really hated it and I tolerated it. So finally decided to try and make it a little prettier. I took the top shelves off and that made such a huge difference that I almost just left it like that, but I still wanted it to prettier and Steve flat out told me he didn't care what I did with hit cause it is mine and not his. So I first sanded it and I was so very lucky that my friend has a power sander, cause it would've taken forever. Then I painted it this light teal. It was actually really pretty after 2 coats of that so I almost just left it like that. Then I took some scrapbook paper and mod podged it to the top of the desk to look kinda like tiles. It came out so awesome that I can't believe it worked, Seriously most of my decorating and craft ideas are things I've seen other people do and liked, but I haven't seen anyone do this before. I was just thinking randomly of fun things to do to the desk and this popped into my head. After that I decided to glaze it. I'm still not sure if that was the best plan. I think I may have put too much on, but it still turned out good so I'm happy. And Steve doesn't hate the desk anymore.

Snowfest 2011

2011-02-02T18:20:00.002-07:00

(I always have to take a picture of some of the buildings in Frankenmuth because they make me feel like I'm ready to go yodeling in the swiss alps!)

This year I went to Snowfest in Frankenmuth with the Roys and it was fun, but I was a little disappointed in the sculptures. They didn't have as many cool ones and they had less ice sculptures that. Most of them were business logos and boring. But all in all it was a great day to be outside and we had fun! Here are the two ice sculptures I liked most.

Angry robot, Happy Robot

For those of you having a hard time deciphering this sculpture its a shipwreck.

Yeah for the Roys. They really are so fun and brighten up my life every time I see them. They're mom is especially awesome. This is one of the families I teach piano lessons for. They always surprise me how fast they learn.

I just loved the detail they put on this Ice cream sundae. Looks delicious!

And the girls all just had to sit in the butterfly chairs. so very cute!

Snow Day!

2011-02-02T17:18:00.002-07:00

So last night a storm hit us and about half of America. The bad news was that it put a ton of snow in our driveway and Steve tried to drive the car through it anyway. The car got stuck right outside the garage and there it stayed for a few hours. Luckily some friends that are students picked him up on the nearby main road that Steve had to run to. When he came home at 2 the car was still in the driveway stuck. Of course I tried to move it, but seriously the snow was so deep under the car that I couldn't dig it out so it would move without someone pushing. We did get to try out the snowblower the landlady left here, but its just a little guy and now we think its broken cause the snow was just too much. Our front steps had the most snow. I was standing on snow here not the ground so don't worry it goes deeper. Fun fun fun! Luckily our landlady hired someone to plow our driveway so we didn't have to shovel for the rest of our life. It was an interesting day and the most snow I've seen other than in the mountains.

I can't leave well enough alone!

2011-01-22T12:37:00.002-07:00

Remember this purse? Yep the one I was so proud of and made myself and people would compliment it everywhere I went, I decided I didn't like it so I totally dismantled it and remade it all pretty. I do this alot. I wish I could just do something perfect the first time, but I'm always looking for projects and when I'm not satisfied with something I have to fix it. Anyway I decided to buy some denim and remake it. I was much more careful about the sewing this time and made it so perfect that I don't think I'll ever be able take it apart. The main purpose behind this bag is carrying church stuff which is bulky and I like to have a bag big enough for everything. Isn't it pretty? I pulled the buckle for the strap off an old belt and I think it went so perfect with the denim!

Little This Little That...

2011-01-07T14:28:00.003-07:00

So here a couple new animals I've made. I really like creating stuff like this its been really fun. The gecko is a pattern my friend Geno created for her husband and the owl is one we copied from a website and then I modified it enough that its not a total rip off. At first I didn't want to change it at all, but once I got going I feel like I improved it a bit so I'm happy with my work. I'll be selling these on Etsy also. I almost don't want anyone to buy them since I am gonna have a really hard time parting with them, but as always I can duplicate them and thats what's important i think! Here's a link my Etsy Store if you're interested; ETSY. What's coming soon I hope; A panda, a lion, a giraffe, an elephant, and a bird.

Raw Cookie Dough

2011-01-07T14:22:00.001-07:00

So happy its a new year! I think! (head scratching) Yep, I always feel like its supposed to feel so different now that its a new year. Something drastic will happen, but all that changes is that I now have to remember to write 2011 instead of 2010 which is great considering the fact that its only been a bout 2 months since I got used to 2011. But we all have to live with life's little quirks. Its not too bad being in a new year. We celebrated a lot! A couple of families in the ward throw a decades party on new year's eve. This year was 50's. Of course neither of us made any plans on fun things to wear. I totally could have made a poodle skirt, but I'm lazy so we just put on some random clothes that could almost be considered a costume but not really. We ended up kinda matching and I was kinda glad to be wearing jeans when we started doing some western swing dancing! We then went over to a friends house for a final countdown with NY on tv in which we had like 30 seconds to eat a ton of grapes before the new year. ( A fun tradition from Spain. Yes one of my friends is from Spain. We didn't just randomly research different ways to celebrate.) There was the Day after celebration also. I really need to move to Spain. They just love to celebrate. We had some authentic food and just hung out. We also celebrated Wise Men Day this last Thursday We had Canalons which is a yummy dish kind of like chicken enchilada, but so much better. So we've celebrated and on to the new year.

Of and in case the title of this blog has been bothering you while I prattle on about the new year, (I know it would bug me.) I made some cookies today and just have to say I wonder if I'm the only one out there that thinks raw cookie dough is disgusting. I think my main problem is the raw eggs in them that I'm way to paranoid to take a chance on. I'm fine with others taking a chance and eating it, but I refuse. Mmm cookies. I made regular chocolate chip cookies but added coconut which makes them pretty much the best cookies ever! I feel kinda bad about making them since they are for a dinner party and one of the people coming is allergic to wheat. How can people live without wheat. That would mean no bread. I love bread. And butter. Yep I would be fine in jail as long as they gave me butter with my bread:)

Anyway We're doing great here in Saginaw. Everything has been really great lately. The only problems I have run into is that I keep forgetting to borrow my friends vacuum and that My dog Sophie cut her paw and had to get stitches. It was awful and she acted like nothing was wrong. You want to know what was wrong? My rug and wood floor were covered in bloody paw prints. So sad that I didn't notice as soon as I let her in. But everything is all right now. Its 3 weeks later and her paw is almost healed though it would heal a he k of a lot faster if she would stop licking it, but try telling that to here. I swear in one ear and out the other like she's not even human :)

Well cheers! hope all your new year's are starting off great too!

Baby Mobile

2010-12-28T11:42:00.007-07:00

Ok here it is the thing you have all been holding your breath in anticipation of. Oh, wait nobody really knew about it so no you haven't. My friend and I have been knocking this idea around for a while. I've finally decided to do it and here it is. I made a baby mobile one of many that I plan to make in the future and am now selling them on etsy.com. I'm super excited about it mainly cause I really like making these and its fun to think up money making schemes that might actually work. Here is a picture of my first project completed.

I got my inspiration from a gift bag I gave a friend that has this adorable whale on it. I've decided that whales are much cuter than those owls that everyone loves right now, but I actually love the owls too and will be working on those and a few other cute projects. Anyway if you'd like to see the listing here's a link and I hope you enjoy since I can't tell how much I love this. I actually want to keep it for myself, which happens with everything I make, but I figure I can always make another one so there's no harm in selling this one. Click here to see it; Baby Mobile

The Final Week

2010-12-20T09:26:00.003-07:00

So first of all I needed to post a picture of our winning new look! We are now the Ugly Sweater Couple! Stoked? What's that? You can't wait for our catalog to arrive so you can copy our fabulous flair? We firgured. Expect them anytime next yesteryear!

So here we are in the final week before christmas. And I ask myself have I done any shopping, have I made the house merry. Do I really feel the christmas spirit. And you know what there's a different answer for every question because sometimes life isn't like a story book. Anywho now that I'm finished babbling I'll get right to the point. I haven't done the christmas shopping yet but its not too hard this year since its just me and Steve. I decorated forever ago and yet I still find myself trying to think of another way to make the house even merrier which resulted in me adding christmas lights and making more decorations and coming within an inch of undecorating the tree and redoing it all, but luckily I resisted that urge. I'm actually excited about christmas and do feel the spirit of giving come over me even though I don't have the means to give material goods freely. I feel like I've been given a number of ways to serve others this season and it always makes me so happy doing that!

For a Steve update; He just started Internal Medicine today. We are so excited for this rotation since the first couple were such duds. And you know it would be nice to have him like some areas of medicine seeing how we've invested so much in it. So here's hoping its awesome. Sadly his schedule isn't as awesome as I was hoping. He just found out he has to be on 24 hour call on Christmas day which means 24 hours at the hospital and me home trying to be merry! I'll work on it! At least we get Christmas Eve off. We have already made plans and that would be the worst.

For Christmas Eve this year we are celebrating with our medical school family. None of us get to leave since we're all in the middle of rotations so we planned a party with games and food and a talent show for the kids! So excited that we have awesome friends who are so fun to hang out with!

Now I'm gonna segue over to the crafting side of life. Last week Steve was in Colorado and that left me with quite a bit of time to fill. My friend Geno had this crazy idea for me to try and I thought it was great so here is the start of it. I am now making felt animals to combine into a baby mobile and I'm going to try my hand at selling them on Etsy and maybe craigslist. I made a few animals that weren't as cute as I was hoping, but then I tried out this whale design I made and I think its so cute so after I make another and some other sea related shapes I'll have my first mobile. Look at the whale! You know you want one and funnily enough you can't remember before this moment having given whales a second thought and now you have to have it. I felt the same way.

A Few Projects Unveiled

2010-12-07T22:46:00.003-07:00

So I've been working on a ton of projects lately and I keep finding new ideas and even though I may the the one person in the universe with enough time to commit to projects I am seeming to find it hard to find time to get everything I want to do done, but that's probably just my lazy side I developed on the island talking. Anyway here are a few of the smaller projects I've finished.

First a fun cutesy pin cushion. I have had these pins for years in a little plastic case they came in and everytime I open it the pins would fly all over the place and it was starting to get holes in it so it was definitely time to upgrade. So on the blog Blah To Tada I found directions on how to make one easily. Mine is definitely not as cute and fancy as theirs, but it works so well and I love it. I happened to have the crocheted flower in a bag of yarn just aching to be used and the trim, button and cloth were all random stuff on hand. It took some thinking to find stuffing for it without going to the store, but then looking around there were tons of cloth scraps just sitting around waiting to be thrown away so I just grabbed them all and stuffed a lot of random scraps in and even though its slightly lumpy it really is perfect for me! P.s the one on the left is my creation.

Next I made some house slippers. I've been forever passing those sheepskin slippers in stores and I must admit I do covet them still. Go on admit it you want them too, but who really can afford to spend $100 dollars on the most amazing slippers your feet would ever find a home in. So of course creativity had to help find a substitute for now. I made these slippers and added an extra crocheted piece for the souls and they are pretty comfy and with the accent flower they really can't be beat. So until I give in and save up my pennies for the real deal these'll have to do. Here is a look at the website I got the idea from; 2 Cute Arts And Crafts

Next I gave my scriptures a home finally. I used to have a scripture case but it busted when I kept trying to put everything but the kitchen sink in them, so my scriptures are much happier now. This was actually a Relief Society super saturday project. One of the amazing sisters in the ward was doing this seminar and she actually made up the pattern from a few she found online. It was super easy and so cute you really can't go wrong. Plus now my scriptures are so cute I want to remember to read them even more. Yeah for small and simple things to help me get better at reading. Sometimes I almost forget how much I love reading, but it always sucks me back in thankfully. Today I read the last few chapters of Matthew and for some reason I felt like this was the first time ever reading this. It was kind of sad reading about Christ being crucified, but I'm excited to start the next book because it'll start with Jesus birth all over again and I love that I get to read this right around christmas. It'll totally help me remember what the christmas season is all about. (Sorry this is turning into a bit of a journal kinda entry.)

Now this project was finished a while ago, but I've been putting off posting about it cause I'm thinking about changing it a bit. I want to leave the rosette but put a different fabric for everything else. Maybe I will maybe not. Still debating. Either way I really love my new purse. This was an old purse that I kinda outgrew the style, so I took the whole thing apart and used it as the lining and pattern for the new one. I added an extra panel so it would fit my Young Women's binder and now it is huge and fits everything and I love it. I actually got the idea from a pillow I saw on the blog At Second Street. I want to make the pillow too, but one thing at a time, right! Anyway if anyone needs any help trying out this design let me know cause it wasn't that hard and I love helping others create stuff.

So thats it for now, but I'm sure I'll be back soon with my next project and life stories.

Happy Holidays Ya'll!

Saginaw Opens The Christmas Season With A Bang!

2010-12-01T12:20:00.002-07:00

So who knew that such a boring town like Saginaw could have such a fun community activity just to start off the christmas season. A few weeks ago they had a celebration and lit the water treatment center with lights. They also opened the zoo for free and had a bunch of businesses open with activities and free cookies and a gingerbread house contest. It was lots of fun and we saw tons of friends there. Then they had a firework display that rivals the 4th of July. It was awesome. Only downside was that it was freezing. And some crazy man in a scooter cart flicked a cigarette at our friend and her baby, but no worries it didn't harm either of them! Anyway I'm so excited for winter and hey, its snowing right now!

Christmas Tree Skirt

2010-11-30T13:47:00.003-07:00

So this year Steve and I got to decorate our house and have our own tree for the first time since we've been married. Even though we don't get to have a traditional christmas with our families we are super excited to celebrate with friends and this year while decorating I discovered that our tree skirt was missing. I bought this one like 4 years ago and it was nice but definitely cheap so not too big a deal, but still a trees just not the same without a skirt. First I decided to improvise a pretty poinsetta tablecloth. it was nice but definitely wasn't our favorite choice, but you know they charge so much for tree skirts at the store and we really are trying to save money so while we were choosing our awesome christmas sweaters we found this plaid tablecloth that I liked.

I brought it home and a couple hours later, voila! A brand new homemade tree skirt. I think it turned out so pretty and it was so easy to make.

Best part about it is that we only paid $5.99 for it as opposed to $20 for a store bought one that isn't as special since I made this one! I never thought about making something like this before. It was so much fun!

For anyone interested in making one for themselves here are a few tips that may help.

Start by laying the cloth on the floor or a table depending on your space.
I used a tape measure and found the center point of the clothe and then measured out about 30 inches this is where I put pins to mark how far out to cut.
Make sure that you have 2 pieces of cloth to cut in the circle. 2 make a better and more professional looking project.
Then cut the circle and then cut a slit to the middle. I luckily had the plaid to measure by so this was easy.
Then cut a circle in the middle about 3 inches wide. Mine was square to match the cloth pattern.
Next making sure the two circles are pinned together with the inside facing out you sew around the edges and the slit but leave the middle circle un-sewn so you can turn right side out.
Then turn right side out and iron.
I sewed around the outside edge again this time taking extra caution to make it straight and everything is done except the middle.
For the middle I just put some cloth folded over bottom and top and sewed it around so that it has a hem over it and it looks very nice. And I guess thats pretty much all.

Ugly Christmas Sweater Fun

2010-11-30T11:24:00.006-07:00

Over the years we've all witnessed some truly unique Sweaters on TV.

Mr. Rogers with his family friendly beautiful day in the neighborhood. And the Dr. on "The Santa Claus"whose sweater is literally screaming!

We all Remember Mrs. Weasley and her knitting fingers, and Lastly and maybe the king of ugly sweaters Bill Cosby who doesn't need to go to the gym, a runners sweater really get the heart pumping!

So here is our tribute to years of yarn abuse. We went to the Goodwill in Appleton over the Thanksgiving break and would you believe we found so many ugly sweaters we had a hard time deciding which was ugliest. So we tried them on and below are the results.

Now I know some of you out there are still ugly sweater wearers so don't by offended by this post. We all have at one time or another. We just thought we'd share the joy of christmas! Also its funny how an astonishing amount of the sweaters were found in the women's section. I wonder why it seems girls are more prone to the ugly sweater than men. Either way we will be wearing our awesome sweaters this weekend for a christmas party and then those of you holding your breath in anticipation will see what our final choices were.

We Decked The Halls Early

2010-11-21T20:58:00.004-07:00

Here are a few pictures of our tree. I don't have a picture of the entire tree cause I'm having a hard time taking one with the lighting in out house. Its nothing fancy anyway, but that actually suits me just fine. I don't feel like its christmas unless the trees has all those fun ornaments that you collect over the years. I like trees that don't have to match and be all fancy.

I also put some decorations on top of the piano for fun. I have a santa hat and stocking and I made some Lego houses and a christmas tree and the words Merry Christmas. I know, and yes I am a Lego nerd. When I teach piano lessons I let the kids play with my Legos and they have so much fun, but I still love to play too. I still remember when I was a kid. I had a hard tim sharing cause other kids didn't build as nice as me. I have to have perfect patterns and clean lines. I love to organize. Weirdly enough I'm still like that. I just love to organize. Now if only I can find a career that lets me do that all day long and never get bored.

Gift Wrapped Just For You!

2010-11-20T21:47:00.002-07:00

All right here is another project born out of laziness, making more work, meets inventiveness. I had a baby shower to got to for a dear friend and I got her these adorable christmas onesies, but I failed to buy wrapping paper at the store and I hate spending money on things like that, so I got the onesies home packed them in a box and then started the fun part! I decided to invent my own wrapping paper. I took some copy paper and drew out the words "Its a Boy" in block letters and then cut them out to use as stencils. I then stenciled them on and drew boxes with pictures all over and tapped those papers on the already covered in white paper box. I then filled in all the gaps with random pictures and Voila! A gift is born. The ribbon was the perfect accent and I luckily already had that on hand, Yay! So for anyone else who likes to doodle while your in church and thought it would never come in handy, here you have a new outlet.

Fall Wreath On A Budget

2010-11-19T12:09:00.002-07:00

So in case you hadn't noticed I've got the crafty fever. I'm now mildly addicted to all these craft and furniture remodel blogs and I'm so excited to be able to create its so much fun. So I wanted to make our house feel like Autumn was here. I love fall and its the first one I've been able to enjoy for a while. So back before halloween I got this idea to make a fall wreath from real leaves. This craft literally cost nothing, zilch, nada! I went to the park with Sophie and while she chased the squirrels I collected the pretty leaves. Its interesting cause even though all the leaves are pretty much the same I did have standards and would only pick leaves that were dry and not holey. I got home and took some cardboard and stapled together a bunch of strips until they were the size of circle I needed then got out the stapler. Stapled the leaves in groups of three to the cardboard and kept adding til it was as full as I wanted. I think it turned out pretty dang awesome. I added some pretty orange ribbon to the top, though it doesn't pop out enough it still has the effect I wanted and ta-da!!! One beautiful fall wreath paid for only in the hour or two that it took me to put together! I also used some wire and made a garland that looks pretty awesome.

A Look Of Complete And Total Boredom

2010-11-19T11:39:00.002-07:00

Some days I'm amazed our dog doesn't fall over with boredom. We're really not that entertaining and so she often sleeps through the day that is when she isn't out in the yard keeping it safe from our jackolantern face eating squirrels. She's such a sweet dog though. We are often amazed at how evenly tempered she is. She doesn't bite or have annoying habits and asks permission before doing things like jumping on the couch (we don't give permission for that) or trying to eat our food. Anyway I just love our Sophie and wanted to share how much joy she brings to our lives.

Also this picture shows a little sneak preview of our new couch. which I will do a whole separate post on since its pretty much our dream couch and we are so excited to have this new one.

S is for Steve or Smelly or Smarmy. Seriously!

2010-11-14T12:19:00.004-07:00

So I didn't do this exactly like the one I saw online done, but I spent less money on it so I'm happy. I added a sequin flower to it for color and S is for Smith. I just loved this idea and this frame was less than a dollar at the Good Will here in Saginaw, plus instead of fabric I just printed polka dots on paper and wrinkled it up before adding it. I also drew and cut out the S from a cardboard box. Yay for inventiveness when you don't have what you need! Here's the link from the blog I got the idea from. House of Smiths Go ahead and try it yourself you know you want to!

Book Wreath

2010-11-14T11:57:00.003-07:00

This week I've been working on a few random projects to make our house prettier. Its a bit tough since we have a strict budget and can't spend on decorations much but found this fun idea tried it out and I think its so cute. It was almost a free project since its made from book pages and ribbon I already had. If you want to see the instructions to make your own here is the Blog link; Katydid and Kid

Sharing Time

2010-11-11T06:24:00.003-07:00

Fall ends for me when there are no more leaves left to fall!

I wanted to share some fallish pictures I hadn't added yet of things I done and seen this fall. Anyone who knows me knows I love fall and can't help but wanting to take a drive into the mountains to see all the beautiful colors every fall. I used to make that drive with my friends in Utah, but since I'm lacking the mountains and those friends I've settled for non mountain fall. Its been beautiful here though. I've been able to visit lots of fun places I never would have in Utah. I went to apple orchards, a pumpkin patch and down to Frankenmuth to see there fall festivities. So its been a great fall and I've been happy.

Here's a little catch up on what's been going on around here. Steve is almost done with his OB/GYN rotation, and for that we are so very thankful! He is excited to be done. Some days he comes home happy and he got to help with some births or the surgeons he worked with were awesome that day, but some days are not so good. There are some doctors that are hard to work with, like the one that yells and swears at his patients. (I think he usually does that to the unconsious ones) But still working with him is not a hay ride and a stroll down a lane. So obviously we've marked this area off our list of possible careers and thats fine with me. Last week he had to work the late night shift and would go in at 6:30 PM and come back at 8:00 AM it was probably our worst week. It sucks having him gone all the time. and I was busy running errands in the morning so I didn't see him a ton. My week was awful because everything that could go wrong did. My computer crashed I locked myself out and I got paid to stand out in 36˚ weather for 10 hours and came home a semi-human popsicle. Not to complaing or anything but I'm glad that week is over. This week has been much better. but I want to leave its events for the next post when I can put some good pictures to it. So anyway so excited to keep moving forward!

Birthday Cupcakes

2010-11-07T14:44:00.002-07:00

I forgot to mention that one of our friends was so sweet. She made a birthday cupcake snake and it was so cute and delicious. I just feel awful that I didn't get a good picture of the snake it was so so cute. It had M&M scales and black licorice legs. I love excuses to eat cake and candy. I never really loved black licorice, but I need to find out what she used for the legs cause it was so good and I feel like I've been converted. Thanks Natalynn You're the best!

Jackolanterns to Squirrel Food

2010-11-07T14:35:00.004-07:00

So here are some pumpkins that were carved at our house this year. We had such a blast carving and I was so excited cause I made a vampire pumpkin and there were some really fun designs. Then we set them on the porch and slowly at first the teeth started getting shorter and then the eyes got bigger until there was nothing but a gaping hole and I totally caught the squirrels eating my pumpkin. I'm glad we can help set up their winter food storage. They are so lucky to have us. Sophie especially loves chasing them. No worries she's never caught one and when she almost did she starting swerving around so that the squirrle would have a chance to get to a tree and that just gave her a longer funner chase. I just love our silly dog.

Happy October Crunchy Leaf Season

2010-10-31T16:32:00.002-06:00

So for my birthday this year we decided visit some orchards that I'd been wanting to go see. Only problem is that its a wee bit late in the season, so one of them had nobody there and there were no apples on the trees. The second one was a little better and had a cute country store we looked through and ended up buying some yummy apples. Then we went to Bennigans an American/Irish pub that had some yummy extremely unhealthy food which we of course enjoyed immensely. Our friends invited us over to help carve pumpkins so we went ot their house and had fun helping and Steve got to hold the baby so all in all it was a fun night. And here are some fun pictures.

This pumpkin weighs 800 pounds.

Job to Job to Job

2010-10-19T21:15:00.006-06:00

So the picture has nothing to do with this post, but my inability to post without a picture made me choose this random cute picture of my mom/sister's dog.

Anyway I thought I'd give a little info on my crazy job hunting life here in Saginaw. And yes it is crazy sometimes I feel like its all totally pointless and then something comes along and for a second its all good. So I've been applying to every job that is open in this area. And yes I mean every singly job I could possibly ever do. And so here is how it started. I sent in an application to Joann's Fabric store cause the manager is a member so I thought that might help me, but when I went in I was asking for her sister cause I don't know either of them well and it was all a bit confusing til I finally figured out who I was really looking for, but by that time I looked completely idiotic and was so off balance that I didn't make a great impression. I'm pretty sure that's not going to work out.

Then I was applying to all these jobs and a preschool job is open but they want a background check sent to the state and back and it took so very long that I just got it back (this is 3 weeks later) and so I took that in and the lady was all ok now you have to do a TB test and its so frustrating since she could have told me that in the first place. but now that I have that done and turned in maybe she'll call me and give me a job, but if she doesn't I am going to be so mad cause I have been jumping through all these hoops for her.

In the mean time one job I applied to was to be a flagger for construction and I didn't really think I would get that since I'm not getting anything else, but they offered me the job and so I took it even though its only until the weather turns sour. The problem with this job is that you have to call in every blasted day to find out if you work the next day and since I keep needing days off to take care of the preschool job stuff and doctors appointments they are being kinda jerks to me. I asked for one day off and now they won't schedule me for anything and the lady that talks on the phone is so rude and condescending. ERG! But at the same time I don't want to work there. Its the worst job I've ever had and I hate standing on the side of the road trying to find ways to entertain myself and not make eye contact with the people I stop on the road. (Plus it is so cold now I come home a human popsicle.) Do here's hoping the preschool job works out cause I hate "with every fiber of my being" being a flagger.

Ok so there you are the job situation is complicated but some day maybe I will be employed. And all this work will not be in vain and me and Steve will someday hopefully before we die get out of debt. Though it'll be a long time since we are in medical school but that's what we signed up for so "se la vie."

Johnson's Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-19T21:14:00.005-06:00

We visited a pumpkin patch in our area and it was so much fun. They have a 13 acre corn maze and tons of pumpkins and they made a bunch of cartoon characters out of hay bales. Plus the cider donuts and Cider is so amazing. So here are a few pictures of that. Sadly I didn't get to take any of there pics cause I forgot our camera, but Our friends who went took some and I borrowed their pictures and Steve took a few on his phone.

The corn maze was so much fun. They spelled out Johnson's 25 years of fun or something like that and so it was fun trying to figure out where we were in the maze by what letter we were in. Sadly we just thought it said thank you so we had a very skewed opinion on where we were until we ran into the only other group in the maze and they had a picture of the maze. Anyway if you ever get a chance head over there for the fun!

Fall Is Favorite

2010-10-19T21:03:00.006-06:00

So here I am so excited that without buying any programs I finally found a new way to edit photos on Powerpoint. Yeah for me! I also found new ways to make my blog original so if you see it and like what I've done give me a holler and I'll tell ya how I did it.

I LOVE FALL!

I've been so excited to finally get a fall and then we keep getting too busy to enjoy it so finally on sunday while we were at the park with the dogs I decided to take some pictures of us so that we can prove we love fall. I had to set the camera on my shoes and set the timer to get the pictures I wanted but they turned out so great it was worth it. Of course Sophie was no help at all. She would run right in front of the camera right when the timer ran out. Such great timing on her part. She almost trampled the camera in one of her running circles. Silly Dog.

So now its time for a little update on our lives since I've fallen a bit behind on the blog. Steve is now in his OB/GYN Rotation. He likes it alright but the Jury's still out on wether he could ever go into that area. We're leaning towards no. He is doing great though. He is such a dedicated student and he seems to me to do great in school without even trying. (I'm pretty sure he does great because he puts the work into it. Ahh!!! there was my problem in college. You'd think that since I figured out the key to success I could give it another go? NO!) Anyway, Its been really nice living here so close to the hospital that Steve can ride his bike and leave me with a car.

Speaking of which, the Jeep we bought in August is really maybe the best and worst purchase we ever made. So now you know how totally divided we are on selling the thing. So we bought it for $3500 and then proceeded to put in $2000 more of labor for all the things that were wrong with it. Next time we buy used we take it to a mechanic first, duh! Next we got the stupid thing all the way back to Michigan from Atlanta and it was harder to start everytime we tried, so Steve did his first car repair and replaced the starter. (More money down the drain)

Next, the thing just wouldn't start right away everytime. Sometime we were driving it like a stick shift to stop it from dying when we stop. So we took it in to Firestone and they told us to pay another $1000 to fix this car. SO we now know that the car on Blue Book is really only worth $1500 and there is no way we are sinking anymore money into that peice of junk, but we also need a reliable car so we went car shopping and ended up deciding to Lease a 2010 Toyota Corolla which is pretty much amazing and the dealer and warranty cover every expense we'll ever need for it, including oil changes and tires. So we sold the lousy Jeep. Now Steve and I are sad cause the Jeep was both of our High School dream cars, but now we have less stress of things and so we're happy.

Also a little lesson in honesty we've learned;

So Steve and I are both terrible hagglers and salespeople. We both know since we have both had sales jobs and been terrible at it. I sold Cutco and he sold Apex security systems. So we decided that when selling the Jeep not to be dishonest about anything. Steve was totally up front about everything the Jeep would need to be fixed and a few people didn't want it. (I think they really just wanted a 4 wheel drive anyway) But one lady after hearing everything still liked the car cause its one of the few used cars in Michigan that isn't covered in rust. So we got a whopping $2000 for the Jeep and we can pay off a few things we owe money for and sleep a little better at night. We're so glad honesty pays off.

Liz party

2010-10-01T12:29:00.007-06:00

So we sent Liz off to be married with a hang out party. First we went and at at Sa wa dee an excellent thai restaurant, then we went to Annemarie's and painted nails and gossiped. I miss these girls so much. Its always so fun to see old friends. I'm always so surprised that we have so much to talk about when we go for so long without seeing each other. They're the best ever!

Family = Fun

2010-10-01T11:55:00.006-06:00

This is probably the first time us girls got pictures together other than a wedding since we were teeny tine girls. It was so fun to see them and all of got together and played rockband and karaoked our hearts out.

Lana thinks that if you are taking a picture you definitely put your foot in cause like me she understands how awesome feet are and why they should be celebrated!

You should of seen how his eyes lit up when I suggested that he give the flower to Grandma. IT was like a christmas morning glow.

This kid definitely inherited his mom's mouth. He's so cute how he scrunches it up so much to blow awesome bubbles.

Cholana

2010-10-01T11:40:00.007-06:00

Ok so as you look at these and think how amazing I am as a photographer and how beautiful this girl is, you should know it was all her. Seriously she would just immediately do what would look good in a picture and all I had to do was snap the picture. So much fun.

Also for those of you wondering who the crazy this is. This is my Sister Cholana. She's an adopted Korean, who is Single. But don't wait too long if you're thinking you want to date her cause how long do you think this gorgeous girl will be on the market. She's a philosophy graduate from BYU and is currently writing her own fabulous book. She's got a great sense of humor and loves sports. (Do you know how rare it is to find a girl who likes going to games? Don't miss your chance.) Anywho I'm sorta joking since I don't know how she'll about this personal ad I just wrote for her, maybe its time to make the blog private so nobody sees this but family and friends. I'm just so proud of how these pics turned out and hope ya'll like 'em. If you've see this and want a date with her then give me a call, now screening for potential husbands.

Becka and Phillip

2010-10-01T11:26:00.008-06:00

This is my sister who's about to add another kid to the family. (I know you think she's lookin a bit hefty, but she's not fat its that whole pregnancy thing so just drop it already) No I was just kidding she actually is just looking beautiful and we're so excited for her new baby boy to arrive. These guys are just awesome and Lana is so a sweet little girl.

My favorite part of taking these pictures was Lana messing with Phillip's hair. I think she might have been trying to eat it silly girl!

Val And Billy

2010-10-01T11:13:00.009-06:00

Here is my explanation for the next 3 posts. I had an idea that family pictures would be fun to take so while I was in Utah I took them all out to Saltair Palace and snapped a bunch of pictures. I discovered as I went that its much easier to take pictures when the sun isn't glaring in their eyes and that its also good to not darken the pictures on the camera too much, so in the end I took ok pictures. The people in the pictures are just awesome but the quality could have been better. Next time I'll do better and who knows, one of these days maybe I'll get real good and get an even awesomer camera and take awesomer pictures. For now I just have fun with it and am lucky enough to have family willing enough to play with me. I really wanted to take some pics by the railroad tracks out there but some bride took my idea and then we didn't have time to go back, what with kids wanting to explore more than sit for pictures and having to pee :) Hope you enjoy!

When we finally got Cole to smile he sure did shine! Such a funny kid. He says the most random things and is always shushing us when we start yelling and screaming during our card games. Hello he's trying to watch a movie. I think next time I take their pictures I need to get some really close shots of their faces. These 2 have the prettiest eyes ever. Such a fun family. Its nice to be related to people that you love hanging out with. We's the best!

This is the picture to show all the girls he brings home. Being a parent definitely has its benefits :)

Life In The Sticks

2010-09-13T07:06:00.008-06:00

So this is me checking in with the blog. I know how ridiculous it is to feel guilty about ignoring an internet site, but in a way its also ignoring the few friends and family that wouldn't know we were alive if we didn't keep posting stuff on there. That is also partly the reason I refuse to post anything without a picture which is more proof of us being alive. So here is me relieving my conscious of that particular feeling.

We are doing pretty good here in Saginaw. We have quite a few friends from our semester staying here so there is no want for company. (Except for those loved family and friends back west) Our ward is so awesome. They are such caring people and keep us involved really well. Steve is now involved with the 11 year old boys. He does scouting and helps teach the class on sundays. He also just got called as a teacher for priesthood. So he's pretty much got his fill of callings. I was called as a secretary for the young women. Its a fun calling since now that I'm finally not coming and going so much I am starting to get to know the girls. I also really love the other leaders.

Steve is scheduled for rotations until next June. Right now he is doing his Psychiatry rotation. Its not his chosen field of medicine, but its interesting at least. I don't blame him for not wanting to go into it. I would go home depressed everyday if that was my job. After Psychiatry he gets Ob/Gyn, then he has Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Family Medicine. The only required rotation he has to have is Surgery and then he can start testing the water in any area he wants. Then next fall he starts residency interviews and graduates in spring 2012. Yeah! And thats where the party starts in New York City at Madison Square Garden. So excited about that.

Here in Michigan the struggle to find a job continues. Sadly its just hard to find anything good here. I did find a job at a day care, but I only get a few hours a week. Just filling in when the lady who owns it is off doing who knows what. Luckily I'm still teaching piano lessons. Right now I'm just doing 4 kids from one family but I'm hoping to start another 4 kids in another family in a few weeks. Which brings me to something I keep forgetting to post about. A member of our ward that moved gave us her piano and thats where I'm getting the extra 4 kids to teach.

So at the moment I think thats about all of the important things going on. I'm so excited for this Autumn. I have missed the last few Autumns a lot. I can't wait for the leaves to change color and the first snow and cold days just snuggled on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate and a christmas movie (and embarassingly enough a puzzle since I'm a puzzle addict). Well thats all hopefully I didn't put too many people to sleep. Happy hunting.

Doctor Slash Mechanic

2010-08-22T19:19:00.006-06:00

Dear Medical School I hope you don't mind but we've decided that getting halfway to graduating is far enough and the amount of debt we've accrued on the way is so high that we just don't want to spend 2 more years living on loans without earning money, so now that Steve has found his true calling we will be opening up our own garage so Steve can spend the rest of his life covered in grime fixing cars while I take care of our 20 kids and help out in the garage by parking the cars and taking pictures.

Anyway because I wrecked the car we have acquired the Jeep Cherokee and it was definitely not in perfect condition as we were prepared to believe since it looked so awesome when we bought it. The "Awesomness" of our car actually hasn't diminished in our eyes since we both love the car, but the amount of money to keep it working would be ridiculous if we keep paying Firestone to fix it so after paying $3500 for the car and $1900 in repairs the car gets all the way to Michigan and wouldn't start. After a few tests and many phone calls Steve decided the Starter had to go so he gets under the car and takes the starter out himself while I sit on the porch reading the online instructions to him. He then rides his bike to Autozone buys a new starter and installs it with ihs new "Everything you need to know about a jeep" book, and I have to say he emerged from under the car victorious.(See below for victorious Steve face) We know have a car that runs and almost always starts! (I say almost always because some times it randomly doesn't but if we wait a few minutes it starts without a problem. Weird, I know.)

Anyway All that crap in the first paragraph was just a random story to make this more interesting. WE are staying happily in Michigan and are excited to continue rotations. First Rotation for Steve here is Psychology. Not favorite but still good to get out of the way since it won't be his area of expertise. And it means that very soon he can start shrinking us all.

Stone Mountain Park

2010-08-06T13:27:00.014-06:00

Ah Peaches We're in Georgia and actually about to head home. (Thank goodness, Living in a hotel is not all its made up to be if it in fact does sound pleasant to anyone I would have to do some educating.)

Anyway Georgia really is amazing and its been fun. One of the first pictures I made Steve do was of him on his noble steed with the other southern legends.

Here is the Stone Mountain Park.

Over a very long amount of time they carved this into the mountain. It is a carving of General Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis.

This whoel moment really just kept meking me think of some movie where a guy with a Jamaican accent says "They south will rise again man."

The Quarry and Mill

2010-08-06T13:18:00.014-06:00

Theses pictures are a continuation of the next blog. Stone Mountain park is huge. And the day we chose was stinking hot.

WE went down to this old bridge so Sophie could chill in the water. It was really cool. The bridge was moved from another area and is an original (probably spruced a bit). During Civil War times people would climb up in the rafters to hide or wait for someone to prey on.

They have an old quarry area representing all the granite they cut out of this mountain.

We couldn't decide if they inscribed 66,000 lb.s just for the moment Steve would sit on it or if they meant the rock before he added a few pounds :).

I just imagine the amount of effort it would take to move this rock and then I start wondering why I would try to do that and then I figured that I personally probably wouldn't so then I stopped thinking about it and the world moved on.

Here's the mill. Which reminds me of one they have in that old Legacy movie that the church used to show. It's been years since I saw that.

Piedmont Park

2010-08-06T13:12:00.008-06:00

I swear its like the first thing we do in every town we visit. Find a park! This is a really cool inner city park. It reminded me of central park quite a bit. Though I guess it not even close in size, its still got wide open spaces and lots of fun.

As Steve says "What's a park without a body of water?" All the greats really do have it. One of my favorites is still Liberty Park. This one's quite similar.

Oh the city skyline in the park is just cool.

Martin Luther King Jr. National Monument

2010-08-06T13:01:00.017-06:00

I get to stand in for Tony Bennett how cool is that.

Ghandi was honored here also.

This is the grave of Him and his wife.

The Eternal flame symbolizes the continuing effort to realize Dr. King's ideals for the "Beloved Community" which requires lasting personal commitment that cannot weaken when faced with obstacles.

The shotgun housing reminded me of the place the "Princess and the Frog" princess lived in at the beginning. They definitely didn't leave much room between houses and very little yard.

I guess I wasn't completely paying attention when I learned about Martin Luther king Jr. Since I really didn't know before this that he was from Atlanta and this is a picture of his house.

This car was pretty cool. It had to jump seats between the front and back seats that are kind of like stools. I guess it was used as a taxi and so they had extra seating put in.

Ok I know its cheesy but I wanted to do that hollywood famous thing with Sophie's paw prints. She protested a bit.

Our New Car

2010-08-06T12:58:00.005-06:00

I know you are all gathered here to greave with us as we say goodbye to the Saturn also known as "The Blue Dart" (Steve's name not mine) So here's a pictures of how mangled the car is. They actually could have fixed it for about $4000 dollars, but that is a bit more than it is worth so we decided to get a new old car.

We're both so excited to have a Jeep. Its been something we both wanted so we got it. It's a 1998 Jeep Cherokee. We are hoping it lasts a good while.

Georgia

2010-08-06T12:47:00.008-06:00

Who knew that bigfoot resided in Atlanta and works at a car wash. Better sleep with one eye open.

Atlanta Has Traffic!

2010-07-29T12:23:00.005-06:00

Welcome to Atlanta!
So we are at the moment in the Atlanta Georgia area and it is beautiful. This city is huge and has so many things to do that we are just hoping and wishing we'll get to do everything we can. We are going to be here for 4 weeks and then back to Michigan. I'll try to keep on top of posting our adventures here.

I thought I'd also mention my little accident. Yesterday I dropped Steve off and on the way back to the hotel (Where we live right now) I ran into someones bumper and killed our car. Ok so kill might be an exaggeration, but it is at least coming down with a cold. The hood is all bent up so that we could probably check the oil and a few other things without opening it. and the front is a bit mashed up. Don't even ask what happened to the front license plate cause it seemed to have some self preservation and vanished. So we are now driving a GMC Arcadia. (let me segue here, Such a nice car. I love driving new cars. and in this car Sophie has so much room, of course I don't think she feels all that secure and keeps trying to find a place to wedge herself in. Segue over.)

When we found out if our car is headed out to pasture we'll let everyone know. I didn't come out of it completely unscathed, but I'm not too bad. I went to an Urgent Care and found out that some muscles in my neck are spasmed (however you say that) So I get to take a ton of painkillers which by the way makes sleeping the best ever. Anyhow nothing too serious and we're gonna live! f course our plans to go to six flags are gonna have to be pushed back. I can't imagine that being a good idea in my condition.

Who Knew Fireworks Were Terrifying

2010-07-27T18:26:00.007-06:00

This is my 4th of July post. So we went to 2 fireworks shows this year. Bay City has a show for 3 nights in a row and they are only a 20 min drive so we went with some friends. And Saginaw put on a pretty good show too. We took the missionaries to this one and we took Sophie too. FYI dogs hate fireworks. We knew she wouldn't like it but we knew she'd be all sad and scared in a corner if we left her home alone with the fireworks going off a couple blocks away. So she pretty much hid between me and Steve's chairs the whole time and was fine. The neighborhood we live in loves to shoot fireworks off for weeks and so for probably 3 weeks straight she's been kinda a wreck, but oh well what can you do. It's over now so life moves on.

This is Sophie's safe zone. Yep under the desk and she'll make you move if you're in the way. Doesn't matter that she's a big dog that hardly fits in there.

Medical School

2010-07-27T18:06:00.007-06:00

So we found out this week that Steve has been accepted in the Synergy program which means (hold screams of excitement for drum roll) we are staying in SAGINAW! We are so excited to not have to move for a while. We love our house and ward there and we don't have to worry about what's next for a while. We don't have an exact time frame yet for how ling we'll be there, but we'll be there for long enough to get comfy! Anyway I just thought ya'll would like to know. Here are a few pictures that I wanted to share cause their pretty, but don't count on them having a reason for being in this post.

These flowers are not roses they look like a tropical flower and they grow on some bushy tree thing, and they're so beautiful!

We pass these 2 houses every day we take Sophie to the park and I just think they're so pretty.

Camp Smith

2010-06-25T16:59:00.009-06:00

So Vance and Tricia and they're whole entourage came to Colorado and decided to camp most of their time there. So we all had to join. It was so much fun camping with over 30 people. Its much easier hanging out up at the campsite than squishing people in a house. One night while Vance and Tricia were up there a bear came up and tried to rip open their food box. Made a big whole in the wood lid, luckily the neighbors came and ran the bear off.

We went up and camped the next night and I was so scared that a bear was gonna be out there that when I needed to go relieve myself in the middle of the night I refused to go out without Sophie, but she wouldn't go out with me. So I went alone knowing for sure the bear was the reason she wouldn't come out. Turns out it was because her eyes were swollen shut and she'd had an allergic reaction. She had a bear face. It took a few minutes of shaking her in the morning to wake her up and there some huge bumps on her face all swollen. So we immediately headed back to Philip and Denise's and gave her some Benadryl. The rest of the day she spent getting better. Luckily the allergic reaction didn't close her throat and stop her breathing.

Here is Kimmy, Kelly, and Juli.

We thought this picture was so cute of Denise.

Here's Danielle and McKensie.

Most of the Pontious' clan. Philip, Denise, Audrie, and Hyrum.

I'm so glad Hannah put on a funny face for this picture. Otherwise its just me with some kinda wierd stink eye.

Most of the night involved all the kids trying to make more fire wood our of trees they found. Very hard to chop in half if you don't have a bunch of kids jumping on it.

This is so we remember everyone who joined.

Tamara & Steve

Juli & Kelly, plus 2

Tricia & Vance plus 9

Mary & Paul plus 5

Dave & Ashley plus 5 1/2

Philip & Denise plus 5

Elaine & Vance

Greg & Hillary Burn plus 2

WE LOVE PARKS

2010-06-25T16:52:00.006-06:00

So time in Colorado was great and it turns out we're all park goers. We spent a lot of time just hanging out and playing games at the park, which was great since we have a dog that loves to hang out with us. On one of the sundays there we did a huge potluck with everyone and here is a picture of a few of the guys just fence sitting. (I've heard thats a dangerous choice.)

Lots of attention for Sophie. I think she might just die of boredom now that we're home.

And what's not fun about a phone booth? These two were so cute hanging out in there. The best part for us was when they would close the door and get stuck in there. So so funny. No worries we let them out... eventually.

On one of our drives I gave Ammon the camera and can you believe how good this picture is? He is a fine photographer.

JUMP

2010-06-25T16:46:00.009-06:00

We Had a few motor bike days in Colorado. Dave let all the relatives ride. It was pretty fun but a little too much power in those bikes for me so I was was happy to hang out and let them be the super heros. Steve actually made a pretty awesome jump on one of his last turns and I just barely caught it on film. Lucky!

Steve's brother Vance is one of the experienced bikers and he climbed this hill a couple times. This picture really doesn't do justice to how high and steep the hill really is.

Most of Vance's kids came to Colorado to hang out too. It was a fun party. This is his daughter Kimmy.

This is the son in-law Kelly and grandson Beckham.

The grown-ups took turns teaching the kids how to ride. Look how teeny this bike is. Danielle was a pretty good rider.

Cedric refused to let others wear HIS helmet and just paced the trailer. He's such a cute kid.

Hiking Colorado

2010-06-25T16:31:00.009-06:00

Since we've been married I've learned that one thing the Smith's are definitely good at is hiking. I'm cool with that since I love hiking too. (Except when sick) One of the hikes was straight up the mountain above Denise and Philip's house. It was kinda rough going since we weren't on a real trail for most of it. Just climbing a stream bed. but we made it to the top-ish. This is the one I was sick for so I wasn't all there, but it was pretty up there. Sophie adapted to Hiking quite well. though she was limping for a bit afterwards. Her paws weren't made to roam rocks too much.

Philip and me had fun egging the kids on so they ended up trying to float on this log down the creek. I figured it would immediately roll them over, but it decided sinking would be best.

We're the best :)

I'm not sure if these guys actually wanted to be in the picture but its too late now. Aren't they such a cute family. Lets play "Where's Waldo" with Steve.

Oh cactus flower

Road Trip

2010-06-25T16:15:00.006-06:00

We are serious road trippers. Not the road trip masquerading pansy kind. We were so excited to get off the islands so we could travel normal and never get on a plane again. And now we are so tired of driving cross country. This trip was 7 hours to Kentucky, 20 Hours to Colorado, and 25 to Michigan. Of course it was through out a 3 week period but it still takes its toll. Any how here are some "beauty" pictures I took on the trip through the car window. (That talent might just go down in my resume.)

St. Louis Arch

Bridge in St. Louis

Sophie was crammed in between my seat and the backseat and this is one of her comfy positions. Silly silly dog. We're so glad she travels well. She doesn't throw up or whimper, but she also doesn't eat or drink or relieve herself. She was so skinny after our drives. Luckily she bulked up again once we got home.

Ohio scenery

Cincinnati

Canon City

Good ol' Kentucky

2010-06-25T15:44:00.008-06:00

So this is chapter 1 of our summer vacation. Steve took his Step 1 exam which consisted of 8 hours of testing and the next day we took off for Kentucky where my Aunt Esther lives. She owns 100 acres of land. most of which is her back hill that has trails to ride on that never get used so its pretty over grown. I love my aunt's farm. We helped with chores and rode horses and just had fun. Its kind of like going into a warp zone out there. Being so cut off from everything else makes time fly.

So chores at my aunt's has always been fun for me. (Probably since I go out there so rarely) We got to feed the rabbits and goats, chickens geese, cats and a mare and foal. I wanted to teach Steve to milk the goats but my Aunt hadn't been milking them since she got surgery on her arm. Se la vie. Riding the horses on my aunt's farm is actually a lot more work than one might think. Before you can even think about riding you have to call the horses from the pasture and catching them is always interesting when they are so obstinant, but I'm determined so they don't stand a chance. One day we helped with the ferrier so we had to catch all the horses. That was a long day but we got to ride after so it was worth it. (A ferrier is the guy that trims the hooves and shoes the horse.) Anyway we loved it and had so much fun.

Here are a few pictures from Thoroughbred Park in Lexington. We couldn't resist pretending to ride the horses. IT started to rain before I could get on a jockey horse.

This is Catboy who kept stealing Sophie's bed. She's sucha chicken that she would just stare at him til she gave in and laid down on the porch next to the bed. The only cat there she liked chasing was one of the few black cats. (My aunt must have like 30 cats and keeps adding more. since she had 4 kittens when we were there.)

This is a picture of the riverfront restaurant. They keep a this flood pole up to record how high the water gets each winter. This year it made it all the way to the stairs. I think the worst year was in the '70's.

My aunt told us that year they went canoeing in their front hay field since the water was so high. This year it messed up her hay field pretty bad but it was fast crazy water that would have been suicide to go out in.

Isn't Kentucky pretty. I love all the horse fields with pretty fences and old barns. Its just breathtaking.

Steve learned to ride on Orchid, who is half percheron (which means BIG). Shes actually really gentle for her size and a personal favorite. Steve was actually a good rider. We rode with a mom and daughter one day and the daughter was a beginner and her horse was kinda stubborn so Steve was good enough to give her Orchid and he got to push around a smaller horse. That is really awesome progress for a beginner.

I got stuck on the iffy horses most of the time so I could feel them out for my aunt. Its not as fun but makes for an interesting ride.

Of course this horse wasn't cooperative and tried to kill me. She decided to rear and then came down against my cousin Monte's truck. So weird that it didn't even bruise me especially since where the horse and my leg hit there was a big dent left behind. I'm just lucky I guess.

Spring Leaps to Mind

2010-06-24T18:20:00.004-06:00

Maybe I've figured it out now. All I have to do is edit the pictures on my computer save them to the external hard drive and then add them on Steve's laptop. So so simple. No? No. It's annoying and driving me mad but at least I can blog so its all good.

The first picture is a great one to show just how big our pup is. She is a good jumper and we really have high hopes of getting her to twirl in a circle on her hind legs. We'll see. The rest of these are pretty spring pictures I've taken. One thing I've noticed that is so different from Utah is how much the trees blossom here and the crazy amount of bumblebees everywhere. A few got stuck in our house and Steve had to kill them for me. One got drowned in the shower, thankfully I wasn't in there when it happened. He's a good husband!

Update on the uncertain things in our life. We are possibly about to be sent off to Atlanta Georgia for a elective rotation. It still just a possibility but we're tired of waiting so we kinda grab onto any thing that might happen. Steve is applying for the Saginaw program with Synergy here in Michigan and we will find out if we get it around the middle of July. And that's all we know. A whole lot of maybes is all that's going on here. We just sit back and are doing a lot of reading these days!

Saginaw Zoo

2010-05-01T17:21:00.020-06:00

So FYI I am going to eventually get up to date with this blog. My computer is having some kind of break down right now and its really hard to load pictures. Some day maybe it'll actually work until then whatever. So this is a visit me and Steve took to the Saginaw zoo. It is pretty small but its fun when some of the creatures are approachable. King of half a petting zoo.

This is our friend Marsel. Don't recognize that name? Good. It means you aren't addicted to "Friends" and you'll probably go to heaven. Either way he's a cute little guy.

Parks

2010-04-23T09:44:00.004-06:00

This picture made me laugh. Its so a "Steve" face. We sometimes play on the playground. which reminds me of the days when we were dating and used to hang out at Liberty park and a couple other fun ones. I miss Slc parks. Its so weird and I never thought this would happen but I really did love Utah and miss it a lot. Its so fun to live in a place where at some point you always know of something fun going on. And there is always something.

We love living near a park here. That is where we go when we walk Sophie the dog. We can let her run without a leash cause technically it's not illegal. )I looked it up and someone who didn't care one way or the other must've wrote that one since it can be interpreted whichever way you want. So it is there we go but I did learn my lesson this week. Never ever let my dog play with another when it's on the leash. She was just fine for a moment as hung on tightly but without warning she took off the opposite direction from which I was facing and I tried to hold her back but I was totally off balance so I fell onto the asphalt path and got all torn up. So I now have a big scrape on each hand and on one of my knees there are 2 big ones. I would actually be happy with just the knee scrapes if I could but the hands are just driving me crazy. I can't even wash the dishes until the heal up better. Washing my face is a really interesting chore. So there it is. My dog is really really strong. She probably weighs about 70 pounds. and is a really good runner. Now she only gets to run if Steve will take her since the leash would burn my hands and I sometimes take her to the dog park which is nice since I don't have to do anything but sit and watch her run around and sniff dog butts and play.

Sitting Waiting Wishing

2010-04-23T08:50:00.008-06:00

I just wanted to show off the beautiful flowers my mom sent for Easter. They really made my week. So here we are stuck in April and its so interesting to watch the weather go from cold to hot to cold. You know they say that's just how Michigan weather is., but I feel like the same thing is true of Utah. Probably other places too. One small difference is that my hands aren't drying out like crazy here. But in Utah my hands would be cracking and I would have to lotion them every hour. Anyway we are just hanging out right now. Steve is scheduled to take the Board (Step 1) on May 10th. After that we want to play a little since its such a rare occasion that we have time for whatever we want. (I say we but I really mean Steve seeing as I have time to build a rocket ship and plant a whole acre of cabbage.) So we are hopefully going to visit my Aunt Esther in Kentucky and then go to Colorado for a bit. Then on to home with our beloved pooch. By then hopefully we will have some sort of vague plan for where rotations are going to be.

Here are our top 3 choices and a few lemons with silver linings.

1. Saginaw- Staying here would mean that we don't have to move and its cheap cheap cheap! one problem is that it only starts in August so we'd have to pick up a rotation somewhere else til then.

2. Janesville Wisconsin- Which we found out we could got to almost at once and then just stay. There's not much bad parts about this option other than us having to move.

3. Danbury Connecticut- Which I wish was #1 but its more expensive there so its not #1. We would love to live in New England with all the snooty falooty old money people. It would make us so close to all these amazing things and I would get live the "Gilmore Girls" dream which only Those who watch that show understand.

Lemon #1. New York- It has every rotation and we wouldn't have to move but when you start thinking expensive this is top of the list plus New York is an intimidating city. Yikes. Still I'm ok with visiting it does have cool things to see.

Lemon #2. Any other place that is available for example; Chicago, Atlanta, Ohio, and many many others, most of which don't have all rotations which would mean moving again and again which frankly we can't afford.

Anywho that's kinda where we are at the moment. We are just sitting waiting and wishing.

Oh I almost forgot that I did get the babysitting job that I was fired from the day after they hired me. Its not bad. I don't have all 3 days a week yet cause she's phasing out the other girl. (Sorry to all those out there who have been phased out in this way by intelligent brilliant people like myself. That's a cruddy feeling. Luckily for me I'm not in that position at the moment.) So I think they like me. I've been working really hard with the kid he's 2 and was a premi so he's a bit behind but its so fun watching and helping him make progress. There is a nurse there 24/7 with his twin brother so I'm never alone with him. I like having someone to chat with through the day. It sure makes it fun and the day goes faster.

Also I wanted to put in a little bit about what I'm reading right now since those of you who know me well know that I'd rather read a book then do just about anything. I just started the "Lord of the Rings" and Its going good. They are very dark though so I'm gonna have to take breaks and read other stuff or I'm going to get my crazy nightmares and the depression will kick in. /i also just read "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry. If you haven't read it I think you should it is so so good. This is the same author that did the Giver and I can't wait to find another book by her. Its just amazing writing. If anyone has any suggestions of good books please post them. I am always looking for another winner. Though please realize that My favorites are mysteries, fantasy, and children's literature. so if you're going to suggest something outside those realms than it better so so so amazing. Anyway thats our life. Hope you are enjoying the show!