Update

I can't believe how incredibly bad I am at updating our blog! And, I'm quite possibly the biggest hypocrite in the world because I love to read all of the blogs to keep updated on what's going on with everybody, but it apparently takes me 4 months to update my blog. Pretty pathetic! Speaking of pathetic.....My life is so boring and mundane that one of the most exciting things that has happened lately is the purchase of a new blender. However, in the blender's defense, it's not just ANY blender....It's the SUPER BLENDER. For all of the people in the world that love healthy foods and fresh ingredients, this is the blender for you! It's a VitaMix blender. When our blender broke, we were looking pretty hard for a new one because we use ours about 4-5 times a day for our protein shakes. So, we were wandering around our favorite store (aka Costco), and there was a guy there giving a demonstration on these blenders. It was pretty incredible! You can make your own FRESH fruit and vegetable juice using JUST the fruits and veggies. You don't even have to add any water or anything! Don't think that the coolness stops there! You can make your own low calorie sorbets and ice creams, soups, breads, batters, dips, dressings, etc. Yep, that's right! You heard me say soup. This blender will boil water in 3-4 minutes! So you put all of your fresh soup ingredients in and let it run while it heats the soup and preserves all of the nutrients in the produce. For the sorbets, I have been using fresh fruit, ice and Splenda. Very healthy and very delicious! You can also grind your own wheat into flour. The possibilities are endless!!! I really LOVE IT! Man, I should get paid for all of this advertising!

Okay...enough about the blender! I have been busy with my rotations. Since the last time I posted an update, I have finished my Emergency Medicine, Dermatology and Inpatient rotations. I really love my rotations. I absolutely love all of the hands on experience and patient interaction. I also had to give my Master's presentation last month which is a big research project and presentation in front of a bunch of graduate committee members. I was soooo nervous, especially when they were grilling me with questions for over an hour, but I passed and am so relieved to be done with that. Just one step closer to graduation! So, I am about a week away from taking my first set of written Board Exams. I'm pretty stressed out because if I don't pass them, then I get kicked out of my program basically and there's 7 years of college down the drain. But NO PRESSURE right??? I will also be leaving for my next rotation in a couple of weeks. It is in Twin Falls so I will be going back to live with Kathleen for another 5 weeks. She is so sweet to let me live with her while I rotate there. I have also started applying and looking for jobs, so if anybody hears of any PA jobs, let me know! I won't even know what to do with an actual paycheck after paying to work so hard for so long!
Taylor is still working for the Sherriff's department, but not for long! He got registered for all of his classes to start in the Fall. I am so excited because he has put off his education to support us while I finish up and now he gets to work on his degree. He's such a good, supportive husband. How many men do you know that are not only smokin' hot, but supportive of their wife's dreams and aspirations as well? He's one of a kind!

Holiday Fun!

Well...I guess that this post is better late than never! The past 2 weeks have been pretty busy, but soooo much fun. Of course there was the Arizona trip...then there was Christmas...then partying on New Year's Eve! It has been so nice to have some time off and be able to spend it with family. We had so much fun in Arizona, even with the mess we ran into trying to come home. There's nothing like trying to get the van "unstuck" and getting stuck ourselves. Then there were the crazy storms. As much as I love biting my nails down to the point that they hurt because I'm so nervous, I was sure glad when we stopped to stay the night in a hotel rather than driving on such horrible roads. But...enough about the negative. Let's move on to the positive!














When I heard that we were going to a cabin in AZ, I was expecting nice weather and a rustic cabin. Instead, I was greeted with 3-4 feet of snow and a beautiful, modern cabin that was AMAZING! I couldn't believe how pretty it was there! It was like a little winter wonderland.














Sorry...I know I say it all the time, but isn't my husband freaking HOT?
It was such a beautiful day that we decided to go on a walk around the loop. It was so much fun to have all of us there. Can you believe how much snow there is? Come on...this is Arizona!!!
Speaking of snow.....here's Tay and Gary up on the roof trying to push 3000 lbs of snow off of the roof. We pretty much tried everything to get it down, but to no avail! We were all up on the roof trying to get the snow down and Travis was on the ground with Nicole and Angela building a snowman. Well...Trav decided that he wanted to show off his mad skills and started throwing snowballs from the ground at us up on the roof. About 90% of them hit us, which started a huge snowball fight. I was pretty surprised that a little midget like Trav could throw that far. Pretty impressive! Just kidding. I'm not going to mess with Travis because he scared me when I watched him boxing on the Wii. He's hard core!
Here's all the Idahoans. It was so much fun to spend time with Travis and Nicole. They are our BFF"s.














I was so happy that Grandpa was able to come up with Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Ron. It was so nice of them to let us use their brand new cabin!














I had to get a picture with Boo. She looked so cute in her little boots! Speaking of boots...I borrowed those cute boots from Angela. Pretty ironic that the girl from Idaho had to borrow snow boots from the Arizonan!












Here's Kaydence's best attempt at a grumpy look. Pretty good, but she's so cute that NOTHING makes her look anything less that adorable.
So, I don't have any pictures from Christmas, but I'll refer you to Nicole's blog to see pictures. She's much better at documenting occasions than I am. It was so much fun. Then for New Years, we went to Blackfoot and partied it up with Kathleen, Johnny, Chad, Travis, Nicole, and us. We ate a TON of crap and played the Wii. Let me just say that Johnny is the new undefeated boxing champ! He rocked it! I'm still gloating about the fact that I got the KO when I boxed Tay for the first time, so it didn't even phase me when Johnny knocked me out twice in like 5 minutes. We need to get a new challenger in to beat him! Well....that's what's new with us. Hope that everyone had a great holiday season.

Arizona.....Here We Come

Well.... I just finished my surgery rotation up in Twin Falls and then braved horrible winter roads to go to my end of semester meeting in Boise. It has been such busy time. I have literally been living out of a suitcase for the past 6 weeks, and I am soooooo happy to be home with my husband finally. I went to Boise and was able to stay with Trudy and Greg. They were so nice to let me stay there, and I dragged Trudy all over Boise shopping and we had a lot of fun. It's so nice to have family. I know that I already posted a few quick comments on the surgeon that precepted me in my last rotation, but he was such an amazing doctor. He collects antiques, and his office looks literally like an old medical museum. It was just too cool to not take pictures of, so I thought that I would post a few of them. They also just decorated the office for Christmas so it was even cooler than usual!




Here's one of the exam rooms. Just like a museum!





This is Dr. McClusky. Doesn't he look like such a nice Dr.?

Here's Nicole. She was so nice to me! She spoiled me while I was there.




Here's another cabinet with old medicines in it. Pretty cool for a medical office huh?






So....that's what I've been doing and where I've been hanging out lately. Now.....it's time to go and PARTY in Arizona! We are so excited to see everybody. Hope that the weather cooperates! We hope that everybody has a Merry Christmas and spends a lot of time with family!

Cutting and Loving It

Hey everyone! Thought that I'd post a quick update on us. I am in my 4th week of my Surgery rotation. I'm in Twin Falls, which is about 120 miles away from Pocatello. Kathleen has been sweet enough to let me invade her space and stay with her and the girls. It's been a lot of fun to be around her. The girls are so cute! I'm not quite sure how she does all that she does and still maintains her sanity, but she does a great job. I am in surgery now, and I love it. My supervising Doc is the most amazing person. He not only has a PA student or resident (or both) with him year round, but he volunteers in the community more than anybody I know. He also wakes up early to come in and teach me surgical anatomy every morning, as if I don't take up enough of his time as it is. I have been really blessed to have him teach me. He lets me do a TON in surgery, which really helps me learn and get the experience I need. It's been really great. Also, there are quite a few other surgeons that have been willing to let me scrub in on their surgeries, so I have been able to see a lot of really cool stuff. However, it hasn't all been fun and games...there's nothing like removing anal warts from some guy and have him poop all over you in the OR. (Not one of my finer moments!) I have also been putting in volunteer hours at the free clinic here in Twin, so I have been able to stay busy working anywhere from 12-15 hours a day. Who needs sleep right?
Even though I am loving this rotation, it's been hard to be away from Tay. You never realize how much you take the people you love for granted until you don't have them. He's such a good husband to me and I miss him so much. But...they say absence makes the heart grow fonder right? He has been working hard and enjoying a semi-bachelor life since I've been gone. I have a feeling the controller on the Playstation3 will be worn out by the time I come home!
Oh yeah....I finally got to see TWILIGHT! What can I say besides I LOVED IT!!! Of course it didn't live up to the book, but it was still amazing. Even Tay liked it, which says a lot about a "Chick Flick". Let's be honest, Edward is HOT. NOT Taylor hot, but hot nonetheless.
Well... time to go try and get some sleep. I hope that everybody is having a good holiday season. We can't wait to come to Arizona and see everybody. Yea for warm weather and spending time with family.

#1 Reason NOT to live in Idaho

So...call me a whiner if you want to, but I HATE being cold. So, it naturally follows that I hate snow. Anyway, here's the weather change situation that has started me on my complaining rampage. Last year in Idaho. we had 9 months of winter. 9 MONTHS for crying out loud! So, when there was no snow by the end of September, I was cautiously optimistic. Mother nature smashed my hope into a million pieces as the temperature started dropping at an alarming rate last week. Well, the other day, I woke up and let my dogs out to go to the bathroom and noticed that they wouldn't put all four paws on the ground at once. That was my first clue that it had gotten below freezing the night before. The second clue came when I fell flat on my butt while walking down my icy steps with my hands full in an effort to get out to my car. The best part of that was not only the fact that my butt was basically broken and soaking wet, but I had a protein shake in my hands which ended up on my shirt. Oh, and did I mention that my neighbor saw the whole thing and laughed at me? So, then I woke up yesterday morning to snow on the ground. A little depressing, but it was only about an inch, so I tried not to be too upset. This morning, I woke up to about 4 inches of snow. Let me tell you...it is not a fun task to get 2 chihuahuas to go outside when the snow is as tall as they are. Sadie just gives up on life and lays on her side with all 4 paws in the air until I go and rescue her. It's pretty pathetic. She hates the snow just as much as I do. Anyway, I knew that I would have to start my car early so that I could get to church on time, so I went outside and discovered that my ice scraper was missing. I proceeded to wipe 4 inches of snow off of my entire car with my bare hands and managed to fall on my butt once again (at least this time, I didn't have an audience). So, then I changed into my church clothes and miraculously managed to make it to my car without falling again. But, when I got into my car, the little bit of snow that I didn't wipe off earlier fell down and landed on my seat, which was just FABULOUS because it made it so I showed up at church with a wet butt anyway. I just don't know if my butt can handle another Idaho winter. Well, there's my battle with snow. Thanks for listening to me vent. For all of you that live in areas with no snow....ENJOY IT!

Update

Well, once again, it's been over a month since my last post. I'm not very good at keeping up with this. Oh well. I told Tay that he needs to start blogging, but he doesn't listen to me. Maybe if he sees enough comments telling him to start then he will. Our lives are pretty busy, but boring right now. I just started my second clinical rotation. My first one was in a family practice clinic and it was awesome! My preceptor was so great, and I learned so much. Now I am in my OB/GYN rotation, but I spend one day a week at the Cancer Center in Pocatello. I was able to see a child delivered for the first time three days ago. WOW! What an amazing miracle! Kudos to all of the moms out there. I have no idea how you do it! Let's just say that watching a child come out is pretty good birth control for me. OUCH! The OB clinic is a great place to work because every patient is happy and compliant. Everybody is pregnant there, even my Supervising Physician and nurse! Must be something in the water. The Cancer Center is a much sadder place. Everybody is really sick and just hoping that something will help them. It really makes me realize that I'm not the type of person that can work in that setting. Other than my clinical rotations, I haven't been doing anything. I'm a loser. Oh well. Tay is still working for the Sheriffs Department. He is planning on finishing up his degree after I am done in August. He's such a hard worker. It's a good thing because he has to support my lazy butt! We miss and love everybody!

Tagged

Better late than never.... right?
Amanda's
THREE FEARS:
1) Rodents in any shape or form
2) Failure
3) Losing a loved one

THREE JOYS:
1) My HOT husband
2) Spending time with family
3) Running

THREE OBSESSIONS
1) Grey's Anatomy (Who isn't obsessed with McDreamy?)
2) The Twilight Series (Even personal hygiene went out the window for this one!)
3) Getting good grades (I'm a bit of a perfectionist)

THREE RANDOM FACTS:
1) I can't let a picture hang crooked on the wall without fixing it. (There's my OCD coming out!)
2) When I was 16, I got in a car accident and hit my head on the windshield which caused me to
basically forget everything in my life up until that point.
3) I consider my two chihuahuas to be my children and treat them as such
THREE GOALS:
1) To finish PA school with my sanity intact
2) To have adorable kids (How could I not with such a handsome husband!)
3) To reach my full potential