May= Awesomeness

 May was a very busy month for us.  Get ready for lots of pictures & fun....

We threw a Going Away Party for some of our best pals that will be leaving in the next couple of weeks.

All these wonderful people (plus so many more) have made our Medical School experience enjoyable!

Our group of friends has grown by 3 in the past 5 months with....

Carter, Paige, and Nora.  So cute! 

 George & Jack wanted their pictures taken too.  We will miss our friends!!! 

We celebrated Joe's 28th Birthday this May. 

 He was served up a very delicious Belgian waffle and omelet on his birthday morning.  For dinner, we went to his favorite restaurant in town, El Agave Azul.  After digesting for a bit, we had cake and ice cream.  He requested a chocolate & peanut butter chip coffee cake this year. (You can tell the way to this man's heart is definitely through his stomach!)  

Afterward, we skyped with Joe's family as he opened all his presents.  His family had put together a really fun package of gifts for him.  This year, I made him a quilt out of our old BYU shirts and some of the shirts that he used to wear when we were dating. 

 This was the first quilt that I paid someone to do the top stitching with a long arm quilting machine and it looks fabulous!  I chose to do footballs and stars. This quilt is the perfect size for taking to a game (if and when we ever get that chance again.)

My family arrived late on Joe's birthday.  They planned to come visit us for my Graduation and it conveniently worked out that they would be here for Joe's birthday.  We had originally planned to go to dinner and have cake and ice cream with them, but bad weather forced them to drive the last leg of their trip (from St. Louis) instead of fly on the small charter plane to our town.  We were happy they arrived safely and we made up for their absence by having another birthday party for Joe the following day out at the Lake with a yummy BBQ.

We Celebrated my Graduation with my Masters Degree

 Now, it is official.  I have completed my Masters degree with the School of Health Management at A.T. Still University in Health Administration (MHA).

 My wonderfully wonderful husband!  Isn't he cute?

 Feels good to be done!

We had 5 fun filled days while my family was in town, going to Nauvoo, the mansion house boutiques in Centerville, Iowa, and Columbia, Missouri....  Not to mention, the tour I gave of our amazing little town! 

 Yes, I was almost falling asleep during the blacksmith's presentation because I think I've heard that speal about 5x now.

I finished another quilt for my Sister & 

Brother-in-law's baby on the way

I wrapped up this beauty and sent it with my parents when they left so Megan could open it at her baby shower.

 I love the way it turned out.  The pattern was called "Roses."   Each rose had 4 layers plus leaves that were appliquéd on top of each other.  After washing the finished product once, the edges all frayed for the perfect final touch. The baby's nursery is decorated in yellows and grays.

 Thanks to modern technology and my Dad, I got to attend my sister's baby shower via skype and watch her open her gifts.  It was lots of fun and I really kind of felt like I was there as I got to chat with lots of friends and family.  The only down side was I couldn't help myself to the assortment of fruits and cinnamon rolls at the shower... although many tried to feed me a bite through the computer.


Joe finished his 2nd year of medical school and has since been studying for the Medical Boards

It's been 2 years since this day when Joe began his medical school journey.
I will not say that it went by fast.  It didn't.  It definitely has felt like two years.  In that time, Joe has learned SOOOO much and he's been through SOOO much.  We both agree that choosing this career has definitely put us through some of the most difficult times of our lives thus far.

The demands and expectations placed on Joe over the past two years have far exceeded what any high school coach, mission president, or undergraduate professor asked of him.  It's been hard to watch a loved one go through such trying times, but we continually lean on each other and the Lord for support and look forward to fulfilling our dreams together.  My Dad always advises to, "Enjoy each season of your life." We have definitely tried to look at this period of time as a part of our lives, not a chunk taken out of it.  We have enjoyed making new friends, serving in the church, establishing a home of our own, traveling on occasion, and continuing with our hobbies as much as possible!

A family friend of mine asked me yesterday what exactly are the steps for Joe to become a doctor.  I replied, "2 years of bookwork and classrooms. 2 years of rotations. 1 year for an internship. 3 years for residency. and finally, 1 year for a Sports Medicine fellowship. That =9 years."
(Not to mention the 5 years of undergraduate training as well).

I never used to look at my doctors as heroes, but I think I forever will in the future.
Although not every doctor is perfect or well-intended in their practices, they have been through so much to train themselves the best they could to become a doctor.  On the really grueling days, it's those future patients and the hope of being able to serve that gets them through the educational experience.  If there wasn't that glimmer of hope of finally living that dream, many would not make it.
We count our blessings that Joe will advance to rotations this month and he is done with the bookwork and continual tests, etc, etc, etc, etc.

We have also been training for the Wasatch Back, Ragnar Relay
One thing we're really looking forward to in June is running the Wasatch Back together.  Although we've been training since January, we really kicked up our mileage and hill training this month to total around 75 miles.

We're about 2 weeks away now.  We'll be running this race about 24 hours after we get to Utah.  We're really hoping our red blood cells quadruple in that amount of time so we can get enough oxygen during the race!  The elevation difference between Missouri and Utah will be about 4,000-6,000 feet.

We Purchased a Second Car
We feel that it's time for a second car since our schedules are going to start varying more from each other's with Joe's rotations beginning. Found on Autotrader at a dealership that restores slightly damaged vehicles and brings them back to manufacturer's standards, we found this beauty in Utah.  The dealership showed us before pictures of all sides of the car.  Obviously, it had been hit on the left side.  We did a lot of homework to make sure that this car would be a good buy and a quality vehicle for us and then asked my Dad if he wouldn't mind going to test drive it and check into any problems it may have on the left side as a result of its restoration.

 After the vehicle passed my Dad's approval with flying colors, we put money down on it and it's now ours... just sitting in my parents garage waiting for us when we get to Utah in two weeks!  I'm so excited!

It's a 2007 Lincoln MKX.