An Early Christmas

We are so excited for this season!!! Hope to someday have a fireplace to hang these over instead of a dead spot on the wall...
Our kind of sad looking Christmas tree...with a brown bear (Luis' ornament from my mom)Luis opening his favorite present: An indoor basketball hoop with a backboard...he demanded that we stop opening presents, "this HAS to be set up right now". Guess standing in line during black Friday was worth it.
Since Luis and I are flying home for Christmas, we decided it would be easier to open most of our presents to each other rather than to take them on the plane both ways. So.....my favorite gift that Luis got for me was.................a GPS watch!! I have wanted one of these for many years now, ever since I started running in high school. And now my dreams have come true ;) I am so happy!!! It has some pretty neat features, like calories burned, distance ran (or biked, or hiked), heart rate, lap times, and a program on the computer that I can log all of my workouts onto. It even has a function where I can find my way back home if I get lost (who...me????). I can track my progress by comparing my past workouts to my current one, and race against myself...

I am signing up for a Spartan Race which is basically an 8 mile race with lots of obstacle courses that you have to get through in order to finish the race...I AM SO EXCITED!!! But I probably wont take my watch because I don't want it to get dirty. The only thing this watch needs is a camera so I can take pictures of all of the pretty things I get to see on my runs...Next Christmas I will wish for a running buddy (aka a puppy, since Luis wouldn't dare take me on!!). Excited to go visit home in just a few short days...to warmer (and probably wetter) weather...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Holiday Cheer

This is what all of you are missing out on! We went to see the lights at Temple Square tonight and they were as beautiful as ever. It helped us get into the Christmas spirit being able to hear people on horse carriages singing Christmas carols and see an awesome display of Christ's birth with a narration. It's kinda neat to see Temple Square so busy with people speaking so many different languages at this time of year.

This picture is a street that takes you straight to the temple...about 3 blocks from our apt. (Bonus: no trying to find parking...just walking!!)
Here is a really cool nativity that shows Joseph and Mary with baby Jesus floating in the water, with shepherds and lambs surrounding them on the grass with the North Star on the top of the tree...
MERRY CHRISTMAS!! We will spend our holiday at home with some family. Luis and I have a few more weeks of school stuff, then we are HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!!
And to all a good night.

Thanksgiving

We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving this year with My brother Chad and his wife Angela and their family. We got to see this girl!!! Unfortunately we didn't get a group picture, but jsut know we had the BEST food and the BEST company.So even though it was 55 degrees when we left SLC, it was around 30 degrees just 1.5 hours north in Logan! But that didn't stop hardcore Angela from going snow shoeing and she brought me with her and her friends. It was a first for the both of us, and we both really liked it. It was really fun to get outdoors and get a workout. And the best part is that I think I could talk Luis into this activity...maybe someday on a regular basis. So...this picture shows a mountain that we went STRAIGHT UP. It wasn't easy at all! It was steep enough to where we had to use our hands to help us climb up it and not fall straight backwards (not an exaggeration at all).
Us hot and sweaty...and happy...and hungry!
The views were to die for! So pretty to see the canyon at all different views...
This was NO Turkey Trot!! We went 3+ miles and 2.5 hours of climbing mountains, hiking snow trails, and crossing water (with iced logs...little scary). When all was said and done I was so excited to eat as much as I wanted in a warm house...love the holidays. Hopefully Luis and I can get out to do this some time next semester...he will LOVE it...

Trip to University Place (haha)

I was able to take a trip to my brothers to get some dental work done and had the chance to spend some time with family. It was the one of the FEW times in my life that I was excited to go to the dentist! My brother and his wife Summer were able to show me a BEAUTIFUL park they live next to. It is HUGE and even has water with islands in it. There is also a train that goes through it, which made one little boy very happy. My nephew Cash LOVES trains, and anything to do with them. Here he is below waiting for the train to come.
Us smiling...
And I couldn't resist posting this one...He is just so cute!
My teeth are always a work in progress, and I am excited to visit them again at Christmas time to get more work done, and to meet their new baby!!

Summer and I were also able to drive down to Vancouver and surprise my mom with a visit for a few hours. I rarely do anything without planning it ahead of time, and am grateful Summer brought out that spontaneous side of me. It was so much fun even though half the time was spent in the car. There is no place like home.

School and Luis' Bday

We are officially here in Salt Lake City, and LOVING IT!! It is so nice to be able to walk everywhere and be so close to everything! One thing I am not a big fan of is all of the traffic lights. I was at the VA doing my psych rotation which is 3 1/2 miles from our house. You'd think it would take 10 minutes to get there. Well...due to having to go through 22 traffic lights, it can take up to a half an hour to get home!! Annoying...

Well, finished my surgery rotation and LOVED it. I was very sad when I had to leave it ;( All those guts are pretty exciting to me ;) I was able to be the 1st assist in a lot of really cool surgeries. A few of them: bowel resections (the coolest ones), CABG, appendectomies, gallbladder removals (LOTS), Whipple procedures, fistulas for dialysis, and mastectomies. I can hardly wait for my cardiothoracic surgery rotation now ;)) I will say that the traumas the surgeon got called to were pretty crazy too, making me more anxious for my ER rotation. Still I am unsure of where I would like to end up working, but I am sure happy I have found things that I really enjoy doing so that when the time comes, I will be able to be more open to jobs that will be available.

Luis is doing well, studying harder than ever this semester. He (we) is so glad he will be done in May! (At least with this program...haha!) He is not 100% on what he wants to get his PhD in currently but hopefully soon we can figure that out. Whatever it is, I am just glad that I will be done with school in August. Whohoo!

Nothing over here is all that exciting but we love our simple life. I have LOVED the places that are a running distance away. So many different routes I can take. I really hope the FALL sticks around for a loooooooong time....I am hoping to post some pictures soon of the things I see on my runs. You WILL be impressed.

Luis' most recent find he is so proud of: baseball/football cleats for $20!! His favorite part is that he can change the color of the swoosh. Now he is ready for the ward to start a league already! (Can you tell he wasn't too thrilled to take a picture??)

Just over a month ago we celebrated Luis' birthday. Just the two of us since we really don't know anyone in Salt Lake, and we still kind of like each other, so it was still fun. He was blessed to get his entire birthday week (haha phlup) off from school (well, at least his classes...). He studied all week!! We have both realized we don't really like cake much and PIES are WAY better so now we are going to have pies for our birthday treat. He chose chocolate oreo cream pie with real whipped cream.
For his gifts, I first had the bright idea to get him a LOVESAC from KSL and make it a surprise. Well...I am glad it ended up not being a surprise (he snooped onto my computer and saw the searches!!) because it weighs more than you'd think! And it took us a good half hour to get it in the Camry, and another 45 minutes to get it out of the car! But WE LOVE IT!!!!!! And it was well worth the workout it gave us that night (and the next day...). Since this gift could have maybe had my name engraved on it, I figured I should get him a few things for him. First, got him his first stainless steal sauce pan...may not be that exciting for everyone, but Luis has been complaining about our Teflon pans because they don't get hot enough. It has made our lives a bit easier already.
Okay, so this next picture captures a glimpse of the best present...it was an umbrella. Yup. An umbrella. Luis was SO FUNNY when he opened it. He was spinning it on the ground when it was open and clicking his heals singing "I'm singin' in the rain!". He was like a child, being the most excited for the cheapest gift. Now I know...(lovesac is on his right)

Salt Lake City

We made it! We are here in SLC, only 1/2 mile from temple square. We can even see Angel Moroni's little nose from our back door. Being walking distance to just about everything is GREAT! I have officially ended my first year of didactic craziness, and after a week off to move (and relax) I have already completed my first week of my clinical year. I am starting in my surgery rotation and I have already learned so much and the surgeon I follow is great at teaching me.

For the week we had off to move, here are some pictures of our adventures. First of all, my parents made a trip here to help us move, and it was a great excuse for them to come and see us. We started off with a trip to my brother Chad's house and then we went to lava where we went down a river. Sadly no pictures from that. Then we packed everything up, cleaned, and left town by Tuesday. After unpacking, we went camping in Provo and hiked the Y in the morning.

my mom was such a trooper!

And of course we saw temple square...

On Saturday we were able to get together with more family and go to the Parade of Homes in SLC. I have found mine and Luis' dream kitchen!!!

Thank you mom and dad for making this a great week off and helping with the move!!!

We are hoping for more visitors since we no longer live in the armpit of Idaho (Phillip!!) So we hope to see more visitors, or at least come and park by our apt while you tour downtown!!

Summer 2011

The PA program decided to start an annual white coat ceremony, and we got to be the first class to go through it :) It was a lot of fun going to Boise and celebrating a year of accomplishments as we prepare to embrace our 2nd year in clinicals. As always, seeing my brother Travis and his family is always an adventure and just made the trip even grander.
Luis is a VERY clever person. He found a bunch of PCP pipe at the DI and used a handle from my resistance bands (which he broke) and turned it into his own baseball tee! He even made it so you can change the height on it (just for me). Don't mind all the garbage in the background. We are moving in 1 week to Salt Lake, so EVERYTHING is a mess. And quite frankly, I could care less. I've got tests to worry about!

In other news...Luis and I participated in the Pioneer day celebration fun run and bike race. The bike race was 16 miles, and Luis was such a great sport doing it because he has not been riding his bike for exercise lately AND he does not have a top-of-the-line bike (to say it nicely). In the end it was funny to hear how he was open to the idea of someday getting a nice bike where he could be more competitive in bike races (since he's not much of a runner...darn it!). I ran the 10k (6.2 miles) and ended up doing better than I was expecting since I hadn't been training for the race at all. We signed up for this 2 days before the races, so we gave it all we had with our regular day-to-day workouts going into it. I ended with a time of 45:30, equal to 6.2 miles at a 7:34 pace. Not as fast as I used to be by a long shot, but I was still impressed with myself. Here we are with our friends who talked us into signing up. The one of the left (Eric) got 1st in the 10k for guys and I got 1st place in the 10k for the girls!1 more week in Pocatello and Salt Lake here we come! It will be awesome for Luis to not have to travel anymore for classes. We will be 3.4 miles from his school and .6 miles from temple square. Maybe this next year we will be able to explore just a teensy bit more...

Home Sweet Home

We were able to go home for a week between semesters a few weeks ago and it was so much fun to do nothing! We had ideas of how we would spend our time once we arrived, but many of them didn't happen, mostly because of our laziness, but being lazy was fun too.
We were able to go to the waterfront in Vancouver and it was beautiful as ever. A little cold, but worth a picture. This semester has 10 weeks left and then I will be done with my didactic year!!! I can hardly believe it! I am amazed at how much stuff they have stuffed into my brain in just 1 year! Luis has the summer off from school, and is in line to get work from the temp agency in town. And oh yes, he has promised to COMPLETE P90X this summer while he has the extra time. The picture above is the before picture. He has 80 days left and then the after picture will be on here. After the semester we are planning to move to Salt Lake where Luis will be a lot closer to his school. I will have my clinical year based out of Logan, which hopefully includes some rotations in Salt Lake as well. I get my first 3 rotations told to me on Tuesday! (I have been a little anxious waiting for this...).

PA and Polysci school

PA school is so much better this semester than it was last! Maybe it's because now I know everything (yeah. right.) This semester I feel like we are applying our knowledge (at least trying t0) with mock patients and labs. Here is my favorite one so far that I have actually been anxiously awaiting since day one. Luis is enjoying his schooling, but is sure happy to be finished commuting every week to Utah. Next week is his last week! We are so blessed that Rob and Beth put up with him! We are planning to move to Farmington, UT for my clinical year so Luis can be a little closer to his school. Clinical year is so close I can feel it! And even though it is currently white on the ground (people around have been calling it white rain?), it is getting closer to summer! Have every reason to be happy.

We are alive

So obviously I have not been posting on this thing for quite a while. So here is an update on our lives... We are currently both in our graduate programs and are loving it! I literally have no time for anything but class and studying, but what else was I expecting? For those of you who do not know, I am going to Idaho State University for their Physician Assistant program and Luis is commuting to the University of Utah once a week (and stays for a few days) and is in their Political Science program working on his Masters. We have completed our first semesters and are beginning our second next week. For Christmas we were able to fly home and spend a few weeks with both of our families. I love that all of my siblings and their families were able to make it home for Christmas this year. I was grumpy for a few days in there, but I really enjoyed the memories that were created. Luis and I were able to get a few pictures of us as you may have noticed. We haven't ever done that before (except at our wedding) so it was a fun experience. We also got family pictures taken that I will post when I get them. Here are a few pics from the visit...

Us at the top of Mt. Hood

G'pa with a few of the little ones

Our Fancy Nancy tea party...
Of course it went by WAY too fast, but we are anxious to get this next semester going.