Emerald Pools at Zions

To understand this post, you'll first have to have read Cathi's post about our trip to St. George and Zion National Park. She claims that because I was in charge of the camera that no pictures were taken of the pools, but we instead have a picture of a squirrel. As rebuttal, the picture of the squirrel was taken earlier during the day. Second, we both forgot to take pictures up at the pools. We were exhausted. Besides, any pictures we would have taken wouldn't have looked any different from these:

http://www.zionnational-park.com/images/albums/index16.htm

So, just pretend we actually took pictures and that they looked like these.

St. George and Zion National Park

This past weekend Bryce and I went to visit his sister, Erin, her husband, Chris, and their 2 month old boy, Max. We had a great time.

We took Friday off and drove down to St. George so that we could have all of Saturday to spend with them. After dinner on Friday night we decided to be daring and see if we were skinny enough to make it through a slot canyon. Well, with some determination, we made it up this very narrow bit of rock, but not without a few holes in the clothes. Oops.

Erin stayed back with Max and found a way up the hillside to come take pictures at the top.












On Saturday we got up super early (we left St. George at 6am) to go to Zion National Park. After passing through the foreign territory of La Verkin (a crazy little town in southern Utah that has a sign that states, Voted out of: the UN 2001, the USA 2006), we then made our way through Springdale (a city that only survives because of the park) and parked the van to go by shuttle into the park. The weather was beautiful, mid 70s and still shady. First, we went to see Weeping Rock, a large rock that drips 10,000 year old water. In this picture we are facing the rock so you can only see the park behind us. It was gorgeous, though Max preferred to sleep for almost the entire day.



We hiked another trail, then went back to the car to eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches before returning to the park to hike up to the Emerald Pools. Sorry, we didn't take any pictures. Wait, correction, we didn't take any pictures of the pools, but here's a lovely one of a large squirrel (Bryce was in charge of the camera). Pretty brave squirrel though. Somehow I think that spiel they made about not feeding the wildlife was lost on this little fellow.

By the end of the hike it was superhot so we hopped back on the shuttle, got the car, and headed for home. By 3:30 we had showered and were napping. It was awesome. After some In-N-Out for dinner, Wii Mario Kart, and a movie, we had sufficiently worn ourselves out again and went to sleep. Max decided to give a gift to his parents and even slept in until 7:30am. They were ecstatic.

We spent more time just hanging out on Sunday and were sad to leave that evening, but were glad to get to see Erin, Chris, and Max one more time before we move. We hope everything continues to go well for them down in St. George and will hopefully see them out in North Carolina for Labor Day. Thanks guys for letting us come down and play for a few days.

Moving Logistics

Well, needless to say, things have been busy around here. We've been very busy getting everything planned to move out to Maryland. Thank goodness for small miracles. Everything has really worked out, despite some scary moments. We feel pretty blessed.

So here's the timeline for everything we're doing in the next couple of weeks (forgive us if during these said weeks we don't keep in contact very much).

Thursday, July 24: a.k.a. Pioneer Day in Utah (it's a state holiday so we don't have to work). This also means that we are packing and our ABF trailer gets delivered for us to load. Mind you, this was the last ABF trailer available in the month of July. Good thing we didn't wait another day to call.

Friday, July 25: Our official last day of work (we'll probably end up going in for an hour or two on Monday to wrap things up). Bryce is also taking me up to Midway for some time to ourselves before things get crazy.

Saturday, July 26: Bryce has a BYU softball tournament game and my mom comes down for the night to see us (she's taking care of her father out here).

Sunday, July 27: Mom leaves, Church, and dinner with some of Bryce's sisters and their families.

Monday, July 28: Real last day of work. More packing and cleaning.

Tuesday, July 29: ABF takes our trailer away and drives it out to Maryland for us (for a small fee of course). We're going to stay through the day to say bye to some friends and hopefully see Tiff and Kyle, some of my best friends that are arriving back from a year in China tomorrow! Welcome home guys!! We're very excited to see you.

Wednesday, July 30: Drive two cars out to Colorado Springs.

Thursday, July 31st-Saturday, August 2: Stay with my dad in CS for a few days. We'll probably visit some friends, see a movie, and then on the 2nd Bryce's mom comes out so that she can help us drive to Maryland.

Sunday, August 3: Start the long drive out to Maryland. We'll probably stop in Kansas City that night.

Monday, August 4: Continue the drive. We're going to stop in Columbus for the night and meet up with some friends from BYU that are doing medical school at Ohio State.

Tuesday, August 5: Finish our trek after 4 glorious days of lengthy driving. In total we'll drive about 2100 miles.

Wednesday, August 6: Bryce goes into Baltimore to get everything done that he needs to for school.

Thursday, August 7: Orientation for med school starts.

Friday, August 14: Move into our apartment at Winterset (yes, to our friends James and Amy that live in the same complex, we seem to have gotten an apartment, final approval pending. It's looking like we have it though--yeah!)

So some of you may have noticed that week between when we get to Maryland and when we move into our place. Yes, we noticed that too. We'll be hanging out wherever we can find a room until we can get in, but we really like the apartment and are glad that there are some other med and dental school couples that live in the complex/area. We are just glad that Bryce is in and are more than happy to cope with any temporary inconveniences that come with it.

Relief, Shock and Excitement - University of Maryland School of Medicine Class of 2012

Is that a long enough title for this post? On to the news...last Thursday, July 10 was the end of a very long and disappointing application process to medical school. The University of Maryland called me Thursday morning. I saw the area code, 410, and recognized that it was from Maryland, but it wasn't until I let it go to voicemail that I recognized the rest of the number. I just about lost it. I called them back and they asked if I was still interested in the U of MD? My first thought: Is that a rhetorical question?!?!? I know they had no way of knowing if I'd been accepted anywhere else, but from my standpoint, of course I was still interested because they are the only school to have offered me a spot. I was really starting to think I wouldn't get in this year. The Medical College of Wisconsin had sent me a letter the previous week saying they wouldn't be able to offer me a spot this year. I had also been job searching in NC for about two weeks. So, when Maryland called, I was ecstatic, relieved, shocked, etc. I still am shocked. We both feel very fortunate that I've been accepted after going through this crapshoot of a process. Ok, so maybe it wasn't a crapshoot for my two brothers-in-law, but for the rest of us, it is.

After calling Cathi, my family and a couple of friends, I started thinking about times where I had wanted something so much, had worked hard for it and had prayed hard about it, that once it happened I didn't feel like I deserved it. This is one of those times. I have friends that are as "qualified" (whatever that means, considering you're relying one or two people who meet you for 45 minutes to convince 15 other people that you'll be a good doctor and are a good fit for their school) or more so and weren't accepted. I think it's ridiculous.

So, prior to Thursday, we had told lots of people we were moving. Their response: "Oh yeah, where to?" Us: "Don't know." I kind of liked answering it that way just to see people's reactions. But I like it even more now that I can say Maryland. We're in the process of finding an apartment, packing and planning the trip. We'll stop in Colorado for a day or so. The next stops will be Kansas City and Columbus, OH where I'll remind my dear friends at the OSU School of Medicine that a terrapin could take a buckeye any day, anytime, anywhere - unless it smells bad (And for those of you wondering how a tree and a turtle would fight each other, don't worry about it).

In summary, we're looking forward to finally leaving Provo and starting this next phase. Feel free to visit us in Baltimore. Cathi will enjoy the company.

Tagged for the Very First Time

Well, we'll see how many of these tags I actually do, but Bryce is playing basketball with some of the guys from church so I figured I might as well do something. My friend Michelle is always getting tagged and decided to tag me this time since we've finally started the blog.

On a side note, my friend Kallista and I went to see Michelle down in Tucson a week ago to keep her company while her husband is deployed (if you want to see what we did, go to her blog). But, her husband gets home on Saturday night and I am so excited for her!! Have fun Miche and say hi to Blaine for us! Ironically, Michelle and I were freshman and sophomore year roommates while her husband, Blaine was Bryce's MTC AP. Small world.

Okay, here it goes:

What I was doing 10 years ago: I was 14 and had just finished middle school. I was probably babysitting for some kids up the street a few days a week for very little cash, but it was fun and at least I had something to do. High school was just around the corner and I was excited to get to go to school with my sister, Joy, again (she's two years older than me), as well as the brand new high school. Good times. Awkward times. Wouldn't go back either.

5 years ago: The end of my freshman year of college. The only summer I went home. I ended up meeting some friends in the singles ward and a group of about 6 or 7 of us probably hung out 5-6 nights of the week. I think my parents almost had a heart attack with my sudden change into a socialite. During high school it would have been a good week if I went out once.

1 year ago: I was working full-time at Graduate Studies for the summer and entertaining myself however possible (I even started crocheting) so that Bryce could work on his med school applications. There was lots of softball of course, and fun with friends, especially our neighbors below, Ryan and Sarah, and across the street, Chris and Julia. And of course, Kallista, Dave, Tiff, and Kyle. Then all but Kallista and Dave moved. Thanks guys. Well, at least Na and Devin came back.

Yesterday: Worked. Made dinner. Did some laundry and dusted. Watered the lawn. Watched Star Wars III on and off, and read some. Yes, it was a really exciting day.

5 favorite snacks: Hard these days as it seems to constantly vary. Chips and queso (especially On the Border queso), ice cream, fruit (when I remember to buy and then eat it), cookies, and brownies.

5 favorite books: How about the last five books I've read? 102 Minutes, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse. Yes, I read the Twilight series. It's a great no-brainer and was great Hawaii reading.

5 fave places to run away: Gym, outside, mall, friends or family, Italy.

5 bad habits: Trying to be responsible for everyone and everything, not eating well, criticizing myself, worrying, bad posture.

5 things I would never wear: If I had a choice for the rest of my life? Pantyhose. Hate them. Uhm, also bikinis, shirts that show your stomach, super low rise jeans (they make everyone look bad, no matter how skinny), and tube tops.

5 pet peeves: People that cross the road where there isn't a crosswalk, people that go around someone turning left and thereby almost hit the person turning left from the other direction, people who don't call you back, not being able to do everything I want to do, people who are inconsiderate.

5 things I enjoy: Hiking, working out in general, going to sports events, spending time with Bryce, going out with friends

5 people I want to tag: This was fun and all, but I'll let anyone who wants to do it. No pressure.

Softball

As many of you know, I grew up playing baseball and absolutely love the sport. A couple of summers ago, I started playing slow-pitch softball as it's the best I can do (I wouldn't be able to do much in an actual adult baseball league). I played on several teams last year and this summer hasn't been any different. I'm playing on a Provo city team, a BYU intramural team and a Pleasant Grove city team.

The last few weeks have been pretty full because of regular season and tournament schedules overlapping. Just three weeks ago, I ended up playing in 7 games in 4 days - 1 game on Monday, 3 on Tuesday and 3 on Thursday. We ended up winning the BYU intramural division we were in that week. The next week however was an off week as I didn't have a single game. Cathi went to Arizona for a few days so I entertained myself with golf and basketball instead. Last week, I had another 7 games as the next BYU term started and I played for another team that needed a sub. It's been nice because the times haven't conflicted nor have the days of the games. On the other hand, there's no time for my shoulder to heal in between games. I hurt it soon after the summer started and have a shearing pain every time I throw the ball somewhat hard. Oh well, no lasting pain...yet.

Back to the recent games: Tonight we played two games in the Provo tournament and we are in the losers bracket. We pulled off two come from behind wins tonight. In the first game we were down 11-5 in the top of the seventh. We scored 9 runs and didn't allow any in the bottom of the inning to win 14-11. The second game was similar as we were down 9-4 in the top of the sixth. We went ahead 10-9 and then added three more runs and held them in the bottom of the seventh to win 13-9. I swear we don't try to do it on purpose, but it's something about our team that we don't hit until later in the game.

So all in all, I've played 16 games in 21 days and have at least one game on Wednesday, and could play as many as 3 more games this week. As you can imagine, I don't look forward to the day when I can no longer play and I become one of those parents that tries to live vicariously through their kids. I will say I don't think my parents ever did that so hopefully I don't. But then again, I hope my kids are somewhat atletic only because it's a good way to stay in shape. And who knows, they may even get to win a championship of some sort in their 20's or 30's. I also have to say I appreciate the fact that Cathi lets me play so often and attends so many games. Thanks babe. Sadly enough, it'll end someday.