New Hair and New Shoes

On Fridays patients are only scheduled until noon, so I have the rest of the day to myself. Well this Friday was particularly hectic because the Dr took off to the hospital while I was still seeing some patients. So he kind of left me in a bind, however after some creativity and taking some good notes for Monday I got out of the office and home. Jon spent the week in New York so it was nice to get home and see him. Then I had this great desire to cut my hair that day, so I called my friend Ashlee and she got me in at 4. I love to get my hair cut and she did an awesome job. Not a major change just more style to my existing length.

After talking to my sister Emily who got some awesome deals at Dillards on Friday I went to check it out on Saturday and I scored big time with the shoes. I got the sophisticated red pair for 12 dollars and the fun and fancy yellow pair for $15. Needless to say it was a great deal. Considering that I spend 5 days a week in dress shoes I think it is okay to venture out on styles a little bit and get creative. Anyways I got wear my shoes to Bunco night which was a blast St. Patrick's Day style. How can you not have a good time when you get 16 girls together and play a game of luck. Everything is going well here. By the way Crystal and Mike are back together and that makes us happy because she is very happy.

Transfer

My parents are being transferred to Houston, TX. I think it has always been a threat that they would be transferred but some how they made in through 32 years working for Conoco with living in Houston only for a short time. But now it is really going to happen. I don't know why it makes me feel displaced having them sell my childhood home and leave Ponca City, but it does. I only make back to Oklahoma 3-4 times a year, but I love going home. What I have to remember is that I love going home because I get to be with my family not the geographical location. It is going to be tough on my parents as well as my brothers and sisters. I am sure new adventures await in Texas, but we are Oklahomans at heart and Texas will never rival our Oklahoma pride. And poor Alex will have to come home in 2010 to some place other than Ponca City. It has been a tough year losing my Grandma and now this. Although neither were a surprise both events have and are tough to endure. Not to mention I am going to have to get a new drivers liscense and register my car in new state in addition to changing my permanent address on everything. I know I haven't lived in Ponca for almost 7 years, but I am so transient moving often it didn't make sense to use any other address ;)

Weekend Away

Last weekend we went to Pinetop and stayed at a cute Bed and Breakfast. It was so nice to get away. The home was beautiful and had a great fire burning the whole time we were there. In the morning we had a fantastic breakfast: french toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon. Then we went drove closer to the ski resorts and snow shoed up a big hill. Snow shoeing is alot of work, but we had a good time. Afterwards we drove over to Snowflake and attended an endowment session there. I really like the Snowflake temple because it has the same layout as the Omaha temple it feels more like home to me.

As for us we are doing well. I ended my family practice rotation last week. It was sad to leave because I felt so loved there. It is so tough to start a new one, but once the first week is over I'll be fine. I'll be back in Scottsdale again, this time for Internal Medicine. As for Jon he has started back with some travel for work. He is looking for a Triathalon to try out. He trained a good portion of last year but never competed. I am probably mean, but I said he couldn't buy a road bike until he competed in 5. I guess I don't want to invest in such an expensive bike unless he really is going to stick with it. Oh well we'll see.

Back in Action

Last week was tough returning to the real world. I started a new rotation in Family Medicine. The first week is always hard because you have to learn how the office runs and pick up on the doctor's style. I am with a more mature doctor this time around and he runs his own office so we have appointments from 10-4. It is really nice not being in the traffic in the morning, since I have to head up to Scottsdale which is a good 40 mile commute. Family medicine can be hard because your patients come in with all kinds of problems, not to mention past medical history that can be complicated. But this is the type of stuff is what I need to know, so I am getting good opportunities to practice medicine and improve.

Christmas break was wonderful, we flew home via Las Vegas. We got witness the very rare snowfall that had taken place there. I also got to spend some time with my Aunt Caroline and family and learn how to play Settlers. Then we took off to Oklahoma. Eric, Crystal and my Aunt Kathy also came home to celebrate Christmas. We enjoyed our traditional Christmas Eve with the Hardy's and breaking the pinata. With there being less people we got a lot of candy! Christmas was wonderful and I got to talk to Alex, he is doing great. Emily came with her family shortly after. We took on our parents' dining room and cleared out the junk, painted the walls and replaced the light fixture. We also got to go out to Camp McFadden for tin foil dinners. Then we rode up to Omaha in Emily and Jeff's new van to see Cindy and Jaime. We were spoiled with a second Christmas and lots of cookies. While there we saw Marley and Me our new favorite movie, we highly recommend it. I got to go to the Omaha Zoo with Danielle, Austin, Luke and Emily. Spent New Years in Council Bluffs and headed back home.

We hope your Christmas was just as enjoyable. This is the best time of year to be in Phoenix, the weather is fantastic. I have patients everyday complaining of how cold it is, but really midday is 70 and the low at night is 50. Jon and I went on a 15 mile bike ride yesterday and really enjoyed it. The sun is always shining here. If I have made you jealous, just come visit, we'd love to have you.

Enjoying an evening at Camp McFadden outside of Ponca. We built a big fire and had tin foil dinners and roasted marshmellows.

Danielle, Austin and I on the bridge in the Jungle of Omaha Zoo.

Austin and I in the Aquarium. Luke in the Butterfly house, isn't he a cute kid.

Happy New Year from Council Bluffs, Iowa. As you can see it was bitter cold and windy. But they had a cute display of fireworks/lights at midnight, Welcome 2009.

Oh blog world...how I have missed thee

We are back and making a Kwanza commitment to be better at updating our blog after taking some time off for our Obamabration. As you can see, I have decided to grow my hair out and Amber seems to think I am getting handsomer by the day! Winter has gotten off to a great start here in the Valley. We have been bunkered down with the rest of Phoenix as our temps have plunged into the single digits (that is 60 degrees here) with wind chills of around 55 degrees. Don't feel sorry for us though; we have space heaters, heating blankets, and a big strong man to keep everybody happy and toasty (Jon).

Amber is toiling away in a pediatric rotation. She has managed to bring home a number of colds, but not the flu yet. I have encouraged her to bring her work home but thus far, she does not feel I have earned the opportunity to assist in her homework; though I have been in charge of Vitamin C caplets, foot massages, and cooking and cleaning detail. While the practice that she is at has not been as fast paced as her previous two rotations, she is learning how to navigate three and four year olds through a health exam. While they have confessed to virtually every malady under the sun, our favorite is the little boy with dinosaur unicorns in his tummy that were making him go potty too much. My little wife sure is good with the kiddies though.

We spent Thanksgiving down in Tucson. That is such a fun town if you ever have the chance to visit. We stayed in the northeaster portion, tucked against the mountains. It rained virtually the entire weekend but we still were able to get out for some hiking and wandering. Also, Tucson is home to Mount Lemon, which is a really fascinating place. While the lower reaches were in the 70s, at the top we found ourselves in the midst of a snow storm and watched the ski lifts take their first load of the season up. The geography of Arizona is a lot of fun and there is lots to see in them thar hills!

Christmas is going to be great. We feel rather acclimated to the winter frost thanks to our experience with climate change in the Valley and are making the trek over to Oklahoma. First stop, however, is a brief stay up in Las Vegas to take in the neon Christmas; after all, this is technically my Christmas so I decided we are going to spend some time in Vegas. We leave for Oklahoma on Monday and will be there for over a week for a good old fashioned Christmas with the Foys and Aunt Kathy who is coming to town from Utah. The whole crew will not be around this time as it is Brittney's turn so she, Sterling, and Kade will be in Utah, the Glasgows are venturing on their own holiday in Omaha, and Elder Foy is out recruiting in Oregon.

Oh, and Amber is growing her hair out. It is long and strong. See for yourself (I think that she is just jealous of my beautiful locks).

This time of year is a lot of fun as long as we take our time to enjoy it; otherwise, it can sure go by fast!

Come by and visit us and find out what you are missing down here in Arizona.