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.

Happy Anniversary!

It has now been 2 years and one day ago that Luis and I have been married. I know it isn't that long, but it seems like it has gone by so fast! Yay for us! Unfortunately we weren't able to see each other because Luis has been in Utah for the past week, but he is coming home tomorrow! (Which seems just as exciting as being married for 2 years). Lately I have been reminiscing about when we were dating because lately we can only talk to each other over the phone. But I kind of like it because for some reason I get jittery feelings when he says something a certain way, or he tells me that he loves me. Now I have the best of both worlds!

We're HERE!!!!!!!

It feels like this move has taken a long time to complete. Of course we don't have pictures on the walls yet, but our kitchen and bedroom are functional. We are now living in Pocatello. The current plan is that as I am in school from 8-5 monday through friday (which Iam sure will feel like 24/7) Luis will go down sunday night to University of Utah for their polysci program and come back Wednesday. THANK YOU Rob and Beth for letting him stay over. Without him this plan would get even CRAZIER I can guarentee it. I have met all of my classmates and have been very impressed with how diverse this group seems. And everyone it seems loves to be active, which will keep me motivated. I am super excited for this program to start (which is tomorrow...eek!) and I also feel a little nauseous thinking about it. What have I gotten myself into?! I think sometimes. I know this will be worth it, no doubt.
I will be posting pictures of our new 2 bedroom apartment soon. It feels huge compared to our last dinky place. And we are so happy to have more than walmart to choose from for groceries. That's right. We have a WINCO! By far the smallest one I have ever been in, but who cares?! And Natalie- the roads are better here.
We have both been waiting so long for this moment in our lives it seems. And now it's here!!! Sooner than we know it, it will be over. So we must soak it up :)