And the match results are ......

Well the long awaited match for REI fellowship is now over and we know where we are headed. To take out all the suspense....I matched!!

Now let the game begin (for the rest of you) of figuring out where we matched.

Again here are the choices: Rochester, MN; Washington DC (Bethesda - NIH); Louisville, KY; Baltimore, MD; Pittsburgh, PA.




Let's back track a little here and recap our journey so far. After graduating from LC State we went to Des Moines University for medical school. As you all know Des Moines is the capital of Iowa.



We really loved Iowa and always stated that we would move back to the Midwest in a heartbeat if given the chance. Is Minnesota close enough? The kids would love having 4 distinct seasons again.



For residency we were able to move to Olympia, Washington. Again a state capital. Is there a theme? Any state capitals in the list???

Keep scrolling!!!

We are headed to Washington DC for the next three years. I matched at the National Institute of Health program in Bethesda, MD!!! The move will be an exciting one and there should be no shortage of opportunities of things to do and see. No more being home bodies!!!

I'm sure Aimee's photography skills (and the camera - poor battery) will definitely get a work out. We may have to get 2 or 3 more external hard drives for all the pics.

The two older ones are more than excited to move (and as of right now - 0930) they don't even know yet. They asked Aimee this morning at breakfast where we were going. They didn't know the list wasn't released until 9AM they just knew today was the day. They must have had an insight because they each told me Monday night we were moving to DC. Hmmmm.

We'll that's the news from here. We are definitely excited and can't wait for this new adventure and challenge. Now all I have to do is graduate from residency!!!

{Another Year}

Another year gone means another round of family pictures. Ryan's mom Margaret was kind enough again this year to help us with family pictures. We have both her camera and mine going (except family shots) hoping to have enough shots to work with. We decided to do them this year at the Capitol building which ended up being really neat. There are a ton of cool locations around the grounds that work for backdrops. Other than having a two year old that didn't want to be in a good mood, things went pretty smoothly. These are only some of the ones that turned out. Thanks again Margaret for your help, we couldn't have done them without you!!

{ Blazers - 28 Rams - 6}

Ahhh, back to the victory column. The last week of the regular season brought a old familiar feeling back -- victory. The boys looked real good yesterday. The defense, offense and special teams were all clicking together. I guess that hard week of practice did something. Ayden said they had to win this game or they wouldn't have made the playoffs. Hopefully a 4-1 regular season will be good enough to garner a pretty high playoff seed. Now we just wait and see who and when we play next. Let the real fun begin...playoffs. Keep up the hard work Ayden.

{ Bears 13 - Blazers 12 OT }

Oh, the agony of defeat. Ayden and his team got to experience a valuable lesson this week. They lost their first game of the year. They now sit at 3-1. It was a very good game. Both teams were battling hard, but we were ultimatley outplayed by a better team. It came down to the extra point attempt in the first OT. Unfortunately we were stopped at the 1/2 yard line and lost the game. Ayden now gets to learn how to deal with losing, which will be good for him. He also got to deal with adversity during the game. He missed a blocking assingment on offense which led to a 5 yard loss for the running back. His coach chewed his behind pretty good. He got benched for the rest of the first half. Then he got a chance to run the same play in the 3rd quarter and blocked his guy to help spring the running back for a 13 yard gain. It is nice to see him learing life lessons by playing organized sports. Here's to an upcoming HARD week of practice and making a statement next week againg North Thurston. Keep working hard Ayden and KEEP YOUR HEAD UP.

{Sporadic}

It is the first of October and I have been walking around in a daze. Where has the year gone? It feels like we just had Christmas. I know I have been sporadic in my blogging and really how many football posts can there be? To tell the truth there hasn't been much going on except school, callings, kids, fellowship stress, just to name a few. I feel sometimes that in order to blog I need to have pictures to go along with it and when I haven't taken many pictures then there isn't much blogging. I need to be better about just writing, this is my family journal after all.

So the kids started school and they are loving it. Lauryn LOVES her preschool and has a hard time grasping the fact that she only goes MWF instead of everyday. She is quiet but confident. She doesn't hesitate to go into school like some of the other kids do but she is not loud like some of them either. Lauryn is also our scripture sheriff each morning and makes sure we read before going off to school. Meysa is relishing the all day schedule she gets to have this year. She has lost another tooth and can't wait for more to fall out. Meysa's hair is more than long enough to cut and donate to Locks of Love, which was the plan but now that it is long she doesn't want to cut it. I don't blame her, it is really beautiful. We'll see if she ever does it. Ayden, well you all know he is loving football and their team is undefeated. He is also learning life's hard lessons about not telling Mom where he is going and so on. It is going to be a long week of grounding for him, for a second time. Hopefully it will click in his little brain and he won't do it again. Wyatt is a little jabber box and there are seriously some times when I want to put a muzzle on the kid. He is putting 2-3 words together and then repeats them over and over, even if you acknowledge the garbage truck that he saw 3 or four times. He is growing up and becoming a little man. He loves his train set and is finally sitting still long enough for me to read a book to him.

Ryan is busy at work and just finished his first of four- three month rotations. He only has 9 months left of residency and then it is off to fellowship. Speaking of fellowship, this last Wednesday was the deadline to submit our rank lists for the national match for Ryan's REI fellowship. On the 13th of this month we find out where we will be headed to next June. My gut is telling me we will be on the opposite side of the country. What an adventure that will be!!

As for me, I am busy with kids, kids and more kids. I feel like I am finally getting the hang of my calling, but really can't wait until the end of October to be here and gone (the primary program is the 24th). There are little things here and there that I am doing for myself such as taking free classes online to getting better acquainted with my photoshop, finishing up my blog book for Hawaii (it was almost a year ago), taking pictures here and there and learning what I like and don't like, finding my own style. I have realized I really need to do little things for just me so that I don't go crazy and feel like I am getting lost in everyone else's life. Life is busy, life is good.