Super Spoiled

I was blow drying my hair this morning when I had a few spoiled visitors....two, tiny, tan Chihuahua pups. They have gotten used to me blow drying them and warming them up in the morning when I'm getting ready. Once they hear me open the drawer and pull out the dryer, they come running. They used to be scared of the blow dryer but now they love it. They even let me dry them off after they get a bath--it makes bath time so much easier. I barely made it to work on time this morning because it took a little longer to dry my hair this morning...haha!

When I got home this afternoon, I walk in to find more spoiling taking place! This time they were getting spoiled by Jason. When Jason studies on the bed, they love to lay with him. Today they both made themselves comfy on his legs... Jason was just studying away and the pups were just relaxing...acting like everything was normal. It's so hard not to spoil these sweet little boys! It's crazy how much we sacrifice and do for our boys and they aren't even human! If this is anything correlation as to how much our children will be spoiled, then we're in serious trouble. We love spoiling our special boys! They make life so much better...who would have thought?!

Congratulations!!

After biting my tongue for weeks, I'm so excited to shout out some exciting news!!! Our friends, Chuck and Geneva ARE PREGNANT! They are having a little LeJeune sometime this summer! We couldn't be more excited for them! I can't wait to hear what they are having so I can start looking for some baby goodies. Congratulations on your future addition....we can't wait to meet the little one!

Time For A Birthday Party

Last night we hosted a birthday party for our great friend, Rachel. We met Rachel on the island...her husband, Cody, was in Jason's class through medical school. It's nice that we're now doing rotations where we have so many island friend...makes the adjustment SOOOO much easier! Rachel's birthday is actually on Monday but we wanted to be able to get everyone together to help her celebrate before her actual birthday. This weekend worked because no one had call on Saturday night! The theme of the party was "make your own pizza" party....and it was a great idea. We had four couples that were at the party so we had quite an assortment of pizza toppings. Our pizza we made was buffalo chicken pizza--I think it was the best one of the night! Ranch layer covered with chicken coated in hot sauce and that all covered in cheese and baked on a yummy pizza crust...pure deliciousness!!

After we enjoyed our pizza, it was time to sing Happy Birthday, eat birthday cake and open gifts! We made Rachel her favorite birthday cake...red velvet! I've never made a red velvet birthday cake and I must say--it turned out yummy!

Probably the cutest picture of the night...Cody singing Happy Birthday to Rachel! Too cute!

After we went through all the birthday traditions, we spent the rest of the evening playing games and chatting. It's so nice to be in the same city as other 'island' couples--I know I've said this over and over but it's so true!!

Overall, we had a great time helping Rachel get another year older! What could be better than great friends, pizza, red velvet cake, icecream, and games?? Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Volunteer Day!

This morning we woke up bright and early to head to the Literacy Council for a volunteer day. I never realized how important volunteers are to an organization, especially a non-profit, until I started working for one. Without volunteers, the organization would not be able to stay open and provide AMAZING services to the community. Knowing we would have about 11 volunteers in total, I started making a list of things that needed to be done. The first one on the list was the shed. Behind the building is a shed that houses a lot of extra chairs, tables, but the main purpose of the shed is to house all our donated books. Volunteers bring in their old books and we sort them and have a huge books sale once a year. Notice how I said sort....well, when we get books donated we usually just throw them in the shed and shut the door. Sorting takes a lot of time and effort so I knew it would be a perfect job for our volunteer day!

We took EVERYTHING out of the shed so we could better organize and fully clean and sweep out the shed. Once we got everything moved out of the shed, we realized it was going to be a much bigger chore than we anticipated! Thank goodness for volunteers that care enough to spend their Saturday sorting books and getting dirty.

We all worked so hard on getting all the books sorted and labeled in boxes. It was fun to dig through all the boxes and finding books with subjects, pictures, and cover pages with humurous subjects. Some of our favorite titles that we had a good laugh with were put into the 'adult romance' and 'self-help' subjects! Who knew we could have so much fun sorting dusty books?
A few hours later....the shed was complete! We had successfully organized all the chaos!
The Council appreciates all the help and support from the volunteers-it makes our daily jobs so much easier when we are more organized and prepared! After our volunteer day, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. It feels so good to volunteer and give back to the community. We'll definitely be doing some more volunteer project in the future!

Mr. Sandman

I literally walked out of the house for 10 minutes to take our recyclables to the recycle hut down the street and this is what I found when I returned...

Jason had gotten off work and made himself comfortable on the couch. He usually can't fall asleep very fast but he wasn't home when I left and by the time I got back he had changed and fallen asleep. His new rotation is really affecting his usual sleep patterns so he's learning to take advantage and rest when he's given an opportunity. He's such a trooper and I couldn't be more proud of Jason and the sacrifices that he's making for his family! Who said being a med student was easy?? I'm crazy about my Sandman!

Lunch Box

Do you remember being in grade school and being asked everyone morning by the teacher if you brought a lunch or if you were eating a hot lunch?? I only took my lunch to school when I didn't like what was being served...which wasn't very often. Bringing lunches to school wasn't the coolest thing...unless it was a surprise fast food delivery from the parents, so I tried to like what the school was serving. Well since we're both working full time and trying to be more aware of our finances, we both pack lunches to take to work each day. To help us stay strong we made resolutions that we would try to eat more leftovers before we cook or spend money on another meal. A lot of times the food we have in the cabinets or the refrigerator isn't what we are hungry for, so we go and buy the food that we are craving. I'm totally fine with doing that but we agreed that we could save a lot of money by making fewer trips to the store and eating what we have in the house.

I'm ok with taking lunches to work because I enjoy staying inside and not having to hustle around to find something and get back and eat it before my lunch break is over. Jason says he doesn't mind taking his lunch because he can pack healthier choices, also another one of our resolutions. I found out the other day that he's pretty much the only one in the hospital cafeteria that eats out of a lunch box. Everyone else is enjoying chicken strips, fries, tacos, and anything else they could imagine for lunch and Jason eats the same thing day after day...turkey sandwich on wheat bread, baked chips, an apple, and a 100 calorie dessert pack.

One day he made a joke about wanting to buy something at the cafeteria for lunch because of his call schedule-or at least I thought it was a joke, until I found out that he's the lone ranger when it comes to eating a cold lunch out of a lunch box. We talked about him taking a lunch EVERYDAY and he didn't act phased by it. To help me not feel so guilty with him taking a lunch, he'll be buying a hot lunch from the cafeteria once a week! Just one of the many reasons why I'm crazy about my husband....he doesn't have to go with the flow of a crowd!

There's a lot to say about a man that walks into a crowded cafeteria carrying a lunch box!

There Is A God

Driving in the car this morning, I heard an amazing song! I'm a country girl at heart so the radio station was on the local country station and a song by LeeAnn Womack came on. The name of the song is "There is a God"--the words are amazing! Hope you enjoy as much as I do...

There is a God by LeeAnn Womack

Try and put your arms around a hundred year old tree

Climb up on a horse and let it run full speed

Take a look down at the world from 30,000 feet from your next flight

Watch a flock of birds against the morning sun

Close your eyes and listen to the river run

Catch a firefly in your hand or a raindrop on your tongue

There is a God, There is a God, There is a God--how much more proof do you need?
Plant a seed and see what comes out of the ground

Find the heartbeat on your baby's ultrasound

In a few years here it laughing

Don't it sound like a song?

Stop and think about what you don't understand

Things like life and love and how the world began
Hear the doctor say he can't explain

But the cancer is gone
There is a God, There is a God, There is a God--how much more proof do you need?

Science says it's all just circumstance

Like this whole worlds just an accident

But if you want to shoot that theory down

Look around

Just look around

There is a God, There is a God, There is a God--how much more proof do you need?

The song really got me thinking about how great and big our God is! Haiti is needing our prayers and support after an earthquake destroyed the island and killed thousands of people. It's important during these difficult times that we remember there is a God! The proof is all around-we just have to open our eyes to see it!

Adjusting

This past week, Jason and myself, have been adjusting to his new Internal Medicine rotation and schedule. He's been working longer hours--leaving much earlier and getting home a lot later than previous rotations. Our old routine is having to be adjusted....

Because of Jason's work schedule, he has to study when he gets a chance. He tries to study a little bit in the morning after he gets ready. The boys couldn't get enough of their daddy and they demanded some attention! They miss having Jason around more often and so do I!!I get home before Jason does so I get dinner cooked and get everything ready for the next work day . The boys are pretty good at reminding us of our old routine...morning walks, dinner time, and when Jason gets home. They were both missing their daddy and expecting him home so they sat by the door and waited....
Finally, Jason came home and the boys went crazy! We miss having Jason around more but we couldn't be more proud of him! He is working his booty off so he can help others and support his family! The next year will be full of adjustments but we're determined to make the best out of it! He's learning so much and enjoying seeing so many different aspects of medicine!

Two Down...Four To Go!

As of today, Jason has finished two clinical rotations. He has completed Psychiatry and Family Medicine. He begins Internal Medicine on Monday and his first four weeks, out of twelve, are in the ward. Working in the ward means he will be in the hospital to see his patients and he will be on call every four days. The pager will start getting some serious use!!

He is enjoying clinicals SO much more than he thought he would! He loves interacting with patients and making diagnoses on all the different patients. He is such a perfectionist and takes pride in his work and that is going to make him a GREAT doctor one day!

I'm so proud of my future doctor...

The Future Mr. and Mrs.

Tonight we received GREAT news that our friends Joe and Sarah got engaged!! We couldn't be happier for the two of them and we are excited to see what God has in store for our wonderful friends.

We can't wait to fly home for their wedding...we wouldn't miss their special day for anything! Congratulations to the future Mr and Mrs !!!

Happy New Year!

For New Years, we met up with some friends at Laura and Steve's place. We've been very grateful to be in the same city with a few med student/ island couples. On our way to the car, I had to get a picture of the blue moon. It filled up the sky with its size and brightness...beautiful!We all brought some yummy snacks to eat while we played games. We've turned into game junkies! We had so many options, when it came to what game we would play, but we chose "Bang!"Bang! is an italian board/card game. Each person was dealt a card (that they kept secret) and it told them if they would be the sheriff, the deputy, the renegade, or the outlaws. With each card dealt and in the draw pile was different ways to shoot the other players. The outlaws wanted to kill the sheriff, the deputy wanted to protect the sheriff, and the renegade want to shoot everyone.
We won!! Thanks Rachel for being a good deputy and protecting the sheriff! She had all the right cards to protect me and win the game! Wooo! This was such a fun game...this might be our next game to add to our collection!
We enjoyed hanging out and when the time got a little closer...we started getting festive and in the mood! Party hats, noise makers, streamers, poppers--we had it all! We started digging through all the goodies and making sure they would fit and/or work by the time midnight rolled around!

When midnight got a little closer, we filled our glasses for a toast, got our streamers ready, and waited for the '10 second' countdown. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We had a great evening with some great friends! We are excited to see what 2010 has in store...