The Hunt

After a nice, relaxing, wonderful cruise, we hit life full speed as we headed to AZ to begin looking for our new home. We got to Thatcher at about 5:30am and took the day to wash clothes, rest, research more, etc. and then went to Tucson early Tuesday morning. Our Realtors tried to warn us that there wasn't a lot available in our price range, but we had high hopes and were ready to find our house of dreams. We had the kids with us the first day and they were fantastic. It was funny seeing what was "important" in their little lives. One yard had a basketball hoop, another house had stairs, one yard had a rock pile. Carter was sold by a mailbox one minute and a chimney for Santa the next. Isaac diligently kept a notebook itemizing what he liked best about each house. Unfortunately, our "dreams" were not exactly coming true. We spent a couple of disappointing days looking at one house after another. We'd find one that we liked and then our realtor would call and it would be sold. Commute, size, price, school districts, weren't even close to matching up. We finally put an offer in on a house in West Tucson. We're actually pretty excited about it and hope that it works out. It's a short sale, so we won't know if our offer is accepted for 2-6 weeks - being optimistic. We feel like we did all that we could do and so now we just wait. We keep looking up listings, but nothing better has presented itself. It is only a 10 min drive to work for Eric and the schools are decent (not what I had hoped, but will do). We love the neighborhood. It's up on a hill and has gorgeous views of the mountains all around us. It's severely lacking in back yard space which is a big bummer and it is also severely lacking in appliances, light fixtures, thermostats, kitchen faucets, etc. The boys haven't seen it yet, but I think they will love it and I think that we'll be really happy there. I'd post pictures, but our camera decided to quit somewhere between Texas and Arizona. The mls # is 20901732 if anyone feels like looking it up. Exciting times!

Cruisin' in the Carribbean

After Match Day, Eric and I decided that we needed to do some serious celebrating. That Sunday we headed to Galveston to jump on a ship and leave our worries behind for 7 days. It didn't take us long to miss our "worries", but we knew they were in good hands! Eric and I have been planning our cruise for at least the last 7 years. Something always comes up and we've never gone, but we were not to be deterred this time. Life was not going to pass us by! After a few days at sea we realized that "life" was back home with our little monkeys. I was grateful for a new perspective and the cruise was a perfect refresher to send me back into the wonderful world of motherhood.

Cruise ships really are incredible. I still didn't know my way around by the end of the trip, much to Eric's dismay. How are you supposed to know direction when the walls are rocking all around you? However, it didn't take long for me to learn where the food was. No cooking or cleaning up meals for a whole week was pure bliss!

Here we are at dinner for one of the formal nights. We had our table to ourselves most of the nights, which we learned was a tender mercy of the Lord! At first we were disappointed for the lack of company, but the one night our table mates came left us full of gratitude! They were nice, but one of the ladies was a bit of a downer and they kept our beloved waiters hopping! We had another reality check as we got to know our waiters better. Asyis and Adi were both from Indonesia and were working on the cruise ship because they couldn't find work anywhere else. They work seven days a week for six months straight. Asyis has a wife and baby girl back home and Adi has a fiance that he left behind. As we talked to them, we could tell how much they missed their loved ones, and felt almost ashamed that they were waiting on us hand and foot for their livelihood, away from their families, while we vacationed away from our families because we didn't want to bother with them, without a care in the world. It sure made us grateful for the wonderful life that we have been blessed with. Side note: We were also feeling really blessed as we drove into Galveston and saw all of the destruction from the last hurricane. Favorite places we used to walk were no more and the apartment complex we lived in was half shut down, including our old apartment. Faithful friends had lost their homes and employment and were telling us how much we deserved this vacation. Humbling!

We had a running joke with the towel animals. I won't bore you with the details - just the pictures!

The three ports of call were definitely our favorite days. We'd wake up, spend the day on an island, come back, shower, go to a nice dinner, and enjoy the night show. We didn't get a whole lot of pictures, but it was probably for the best. I realized when I was flipping through them that we're not the most creative picture takers!

Our first stop was Montego Bay, Jamaica. This island, by far, had the most culture. We caught a bus with another group of people and went to a private beach after walking the streets for a little while. I had my first drug offer, but don't worry - I didn't accept! :)

The only beaches I'm very familiar with are the ones is Galveston. BIG difference! The water is so beautiful in the Carribbean and the soft, white,warm sand was next to heaven. A little girl found this starfish at about 3 ft deep.

The sunset was beautiful as we were leaving. I loved the Jamaican landscape and Eric loved that I said "Jamaican me crazy!" for the whole rest of our trip!:)

Handsomest man in the world!

Our next stop was in Georgetown, Grand Cayman Island. We had to tender on little boats at this stop. Here's our cruise ship behind us!

We booked our own excursion here. We went to Stingray City and snorkeling at the reef on a large catamaran with a very small crowd. Much better than our cruise sponsored excursion in Cozumel!

Eric was loving being back on a sailboat. If I would let him, he'd buy a boat, and live in the Carribbean for the rest of his life.

Stingray city was really neat, but I have to admit that I was pretty nervous. I never did feed them, but I did touch them and let them push me around. They were huge and they weren't afraid to push and shove!

Here's our tour guide, Chip, showing off a good one.

Eric loved the snorkeling. The reef was amazing! I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I hadn't been freaking out. I had a hard time getting the hang of it and was more than happy to return to the boat and breathe freely through my nose! The best part for me was the nice, relaxing sail back to shore.


Our last stop was Cozumel, Mexico. We went on a Jeep excursion that took us snorkeling, to a Mayan ruin, to see crocodiles in the wild, and to a lighthouse. The excursion ended with an amazing Mexican Buffet. I think that Cozumel was my favorite stop. Since we were with a large group of people, everything was rushed, but I would love to go back and spend a week there sometime. Eric talked me into trying snorkeling again and this time I got it! It was a whole new experience and I loved it!

You can't tell, but I'm at the top of this lighthouse. The view was spectacular!

Eric got his paybacks by answering "Coz u smell" to everything after this stop!:)

We spent our last day at sea eating and relaxing and getting ready for the week ahead. We left Galveston, picked up the kids, and headed straight to AZ to start looking for a house. We had a GREAT vacation and are so thankful to mine and Eric's parents, who watched the kids so that we could go. They're the best!

More Match Day

March 19th - the day we had all been waiting for finally arrived. Phew!

Here is Eric with several of his classmates that he was good friends with, waiting for the festivities to begin.

FINALLY - he has the envelope in his hand! We still had to wait awhile until we could open it, though.

Tucson, here we come!

Jeremy and Kassie are headed to Provo for Family Medicine.

Santino and Polly are going to Phoenix for ENT.

David and Amanda are on their way to Phoenix, also, for Pediatrics.

Glenn and Claudia decided to have a baby that morning, so they aren't pictured, but they are going to Dallas for General Surgery.

Eric, Ian, and Kushal were the three in his class that matched in Orthopaedics.

We are so proud of all of our friends and their successes! We were blessed to be surrounded by wonderful people all along our journey. I got teary eyed as I was typing where everyone was going because we aren't going together. We have made lifelong friends that we will miss a great deal.

That night we all had babysitters and jumped on a bus to Austin for a dinner cruise on the lake, compliments of the med school. The food was great (even if they only had fruit for dessert!) and it was nice to relax with friends when all the stress was over. We didn't last long, though. Our group was all staring at each other and yawning by the end of it with a unanimous show of hands of who had kids up through the night. It was about 9:30. We're party animals!

Here is our "Meadowbend" group (minus Glenn and Claudia). We wouldn't have survived med school without them!

Match Day! Match Day!

Eric opened the big envelope this morning, and we're going to Tucson! We are really excited and I took lots of pictures, but that will have to wait until later. It's late!

Sigh of RELIEF!!!

We're in! We don't know where, but we know that we have matched with an orthopaedic program. Hooray! We were really nervous since the odds weren't necessarily in our favor. We are feeling very humble and very grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who has blessed us so much. We find out Thursday where we will be going.

Happiest man alive spreading the great news.

Kick! Pass! Shoot!

Soccer season has begun! I was dreading it for a while - realizing that I had just booked every Saturday until graduation - but I've really been enjoying it since the first practice. It's way better than basketball (in my humble opinion, Briana! :)). This is Carter's first season and he is SOOOO excited to be playing. Eric is his coach and really enjoying it. Isaac thinks he's an old pro since he has played two other seasons and his always willing to give Carter advice. He has improved so much and is finally starting to get it.

Our two soccer players.

Gotta get your game face on!

Both number 2. What a surprise! You'd think that they do numbers by size or something....

Ashlyn crashed out before the second half of Carter's game. It was SOOOO windy and she just couldn't keep her eyes open with Nana protecting her from the wind, all cuddled up.

Isaac had to have his turn with the camera. It's a good thing he got a picture of himself, because we didn't. I got plenty of Carter, but Isaac's game was too exciting to stop and take pictures. Eric and I were fighting half the time over who had to video.

Carter didn't disappoint as most 4 year olds playing soccer won't. As soon as his team got the ball the first time, he took off to the goal and stood there waiting with arms and legs open wide. When his team got the ball down field, Carter had a kick-out with his own teammate who was just trying to make a goal! It was hilarious. Later in the game he stole the ball from the other team and when I yelled "Good job, Carter!" he stopped, turned and gave me a big smile - oblivious to where the ball was or what was going on in the game. I'll have to try and be more quiet.

Isaac has bumped up and now plays on a bigger field with four on four, instead of three on three. He has been so fun to watch in practice. He runs hard and plays hard. They played a tough team on Saturday, but he did good. I have plenty to yell - but I think he has learned to tune me out. Hopefully the rest of the team will soon because I know each one by name. It's just too hard to sit there with your mouth closed. This will be a great soccer season. If only the wind will stop blowing!

Birthday Girl!

Miss Ashlyn is two! She's our little princess and it was fun to spoil her all day. The day before her birthday, we invited over Ian Walker and Diana Hunt who had turned two earlier in the week for a little birthday playdate. We fingerpainted and ate snacks and cupcakes. She wouldn't really have anything to do with them, but I'm glad they came. I need to get her together will other kids more often.

Saturday morning she came in our room and requested to watch "Bob." We turned on PBS and what do ya know - there was Bob the Builder. I knew this was going to be HER day! We headed downstairs and I asked her if she was ready for some birthday pancakes. She started to panic and cried "No! No birthday blow!" I had put candles in her cupcake the day before and she did not want ANYTHING to do with them. So, there were no candles all day for her birthday. I considered torturing her out of tradition, but then I realized that today she was the queen and if she didn't want candles, then there would be no candles.

She made us some yummy pancakes and sampled strawberries while they cooked. She'd take a big bite and say "Ummm....that's some good strawberry!"

She loved opening presents and being the center of attention. She wanted to play with/wear everything as soon as it came out of the bag. Everything, that is, except...

...the tutu I made her. It scares her and she won't have much to do with it. She did like the other dress up skirt I made her two days ago when she found it, but I think my dramatic reaction when I saw her putting it on and saying "Ooooh! Pretty!" scared her away from it, too.

Her two favorite presents, by far, were her baby stroller and the bag of candy that Isaac gave her. We even had to take the stroller to the soccer games that day.

We had planned to go to the zoo, but it was a really windy day and everyone was pretty worn out after the soccer games. Instead, Nana and I took Ashlyn shopping for a birthday present from Nana and Papa and then watched a movie and relaxed. Ashlyn was pretty funny picking out her shoes and a new outfit. One second, everything was "So cute!" and the next second it was "Go home!" I had made a birthday dessert, but only the adults enjoyed it.

Nothing in the world could have made Ashlyn happier than her birthday sucker.

Happy Birthday, Ashlyn!