The Down Stairs

Abigail loves crawling on and off the couch... ALL the time.

You can't really see, but her books are on the very bottom of the bookshelf.

Our front door with her new rocking/bouncy horse that she loves to kiss and give water to.

That's kind of dark, sorry. We have to put her pack and play up against the window because she tries to look out the window and has broken one of the panels on the blinds already.

All of the toys are under the TV.

Another book shelf (our books only) and the desk that Abigail constantly tries to get at and play with the mouse and keyboard.

The living room looking at it from the kitchen. The door on the very left is a storage closet, next to that is the coat closet and then the stairs. On the right, is the half bath.

The bathroom looking at it from the living room.

Our cute little sink.

And no bathroom is complete with out the toilet. We haven't found a good spot to put the pictures up that are on the floor. So that is our storage spot for them.

Coming soon....

Upstairs!

And as a side note....

5 minutes after we clean

Pretty Cool Picture

This is after the Provo Tabernacle burned down.

Our House

So I have wanted to show our place (cuz we like it a lot) since we moved in, and I had better do it before we leave for Iowa. Few have been over to our house so this is for those of you who haven't. We'll start downstairs in the back and work our way to the front and then upstairs. There might be gaps between each of the rooms because I am going to clean them up real good and then post. So today's feat (and it took the whole day) was....

The Kitchen!

As you walk in to the kitchen, the table and chairs are to your right. We have two more chairs that are in the living room to block Abigail from getting to the desk.

Our back door we never use.

One of the best gifts I have ever been given was the knife set on the counter. Reid bought it for our third anniversary.

Usually the sink and the counter are full of dishes, but not today!

So that's the kitchen. The biggest and the best out of the three places we've lived. It would be perfect if it had a dishwasher. That'll come in my dream kitchen. Reid and I have already been planning the necessities that we want in our kitchen once we get our own house.

Hope you liked, and watch for the rest of the house.

Thanksgiving

I've seen a lot of blogs where each day they way what they are grateful for, but let's be honest... I'm too lazy for that, especially since it's after Thanksgiving and is now December. I do however want to declare what I am grateful for.

It is hard to place what is first on my list, however the first things that comes to my mind is my wonderful husband and my beautiful daughter.

I love seeing the two of them play and to see the love Abigail has for her dad. It truly is a beautiful sight. She has the absolute cutest laugh I have ever heard in my life and the sweetest smile. I still can't believe it's almost been 15 months! She is really growing and learning. Everyday it seems like she is proving that she continues to grow (not that she has stopped or anything). I was leaving to go to work after I dropped Abigail off at Ashley's house and while she is getting her diaper changed she blew me a kiss! She melts my heart and still continues to break it when she cries. I could go on and on about how much I love her and the joy she brings into my life, but she wouldn't have even been here with out Reid, and I would in no possible way have been able to take care of her with out his help. So on to Reid.

He truly is the love of my life, and has helped me become a better person and to achieve my goals. He keeps my head on when life I feel is too crazy! I have decided to give school a try and I am still waiting to hear if I get accepted, but I wouldn't have known where to start if I didn't have my helpmeet. Also I am ever so grateful that I have a husband who is worthy to hold the priesthood and to be there to give Abigail and I blessings from the Lord when we need them.

I am also so grateful for my Savior and his gospel. I will ever be indebted to Him for the atonement that he made, that we may come back to our Heavenly Father. I am grateful that my family can be together forever and am grateful for all the love and support we receive from them.

Believe it or not, I am grateful for change. I know it isn't always easy, but in the end it is (usually) worth it. We'll be facing a big change as we'll soon leave Utah and head to Iowa, and for the HUGE change of Medical School!

Anyway I think I had a lot more to say than just that, but I have forgotten since I first decided to post this post 2 weeks ago.

3

I can't believe it has been 3 years already! What an absolutely wonderful day 3 years ago was. The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky (the pictured clouds are totally fake). And how great it was to have everyone I love there. And to think that today, 3 years later, we have lived in three different places, have endured all the craziness of school to continue it on for another 7 years, and have a beautiful one year old daughter.

Since we've been married, we've lived in a basement (twice). We went to California and surfed. We had our first Thanksgiving at our home and then we went to California and had Christmas without snow. We came back home to the bitter cold of Utah and found out that we could move and jumped into Ashley and Jon's place were we welcomed our third niece. Soon after it was back to California for Doyle and Chelsea's wedding. We went to the Stadium of Fire and saw Miley Cyrus (before she went bad) and Blue Man Group.

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary. Again we had Thanksgiving at our house with Reid's whole family. It sure was fun trying to fit everyone down stairs for dinner, but we did it!! The next month we had Christmas in Minnesota (the coldest weather Reid has ever been in).
In January 2009, we got the most exciting news of our marriage- we were gonna have Abigail!! 9 months later (I don't remember much of what happened those 9 months) she arrived! We celebrated our 2nd anniversary with her seeing UP. We've watched her grow up with a trip to Minnesota and California, to the Zoo and the ocean.

I can't believe it has been 3 years already!

We celebrated her first birthday (we have a one year old!) and now we celebrate our 3rd anniversary!

How I love the temple, where Reid and I were sealed for eternity, and that our children could be sealed to us there. I know that families are meant to be forever.

I love you Reid

What is a D.O.?

DMU is a DO school and I've been asked few times what that means. So allow me to explain (hopefully without boring you too much)

D.O.- A Doctor of Osteopathic medicine.

Now you may be asking- "Whats the difference between a DO and an MD". DOs do exactly the same thing as MDs and then some. DOs perscribe medicine, treat patients, deliver babies, perform surgery, and anything else you think a doctor would do. DOs are physicians.

Heres the difference. An MDs philosophy is more science based. Statistically, they tend to treat the disease more than the patient. DOs accept the science and often engage in research but the philosophy is body, mind, and spirit. So DOs look at the science as well as other factors affecting the patients lives. They tend to be more personal with the patients (again this is based off of statistics) and are very preventative care oriented. Its very holistic medicine (not to be confused with alternative medicine such as chinese herbs etc.) and for this reason it has historically been a primary care oriented profession. This is changing however because MDs seem to be moving towards a more patient centered approach and many DOs are specializing. It'll be interesting to see how things play out in the future with the MD and DO identity.

DOs believe the body is capable of self healing and that sometimes it just needs a reminder. For that reason, DOs learn Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM). OMM is kind of like what chiropractors do but again a different philosophy. A Chiropracter will push the muscles/bones one way resulting in a more temporary solution. That's why you go to a chiropractor like 50 times. A well trained DO will push the muscles/bones the opposite direction (which in some cases may seem even counterintuitive). By doing this, though, they relax the muscle, producing a more lasting effect. That's why if you go to a DO he'll try maybe three times and if your not completely fixed he may tell you there's nothing that can be done.

DOs in the past have kind of been looked down on because of the way they began. The founder, A.T. Still, believed the only thing a doctor needed to know was OMM (and maybe some anatomy). As a result he resisted teaching physiology and pharmacology in his school. However, once he was gone, emerging DO schools realized that although OMM is very good, it was incomplete without the medicine MDs were practicing. Osteopathic medicine was lacking when it first started but today has turned into a very powerful tool by accepting both OMM and medicinal drugs etc. The negative conotation some MDs put on DOs is quickly fading and many MDs today will say there's no difference between DO and MD. In fact, if your doctor doesn't practice OMM (some choose not to) you may not even know he/she is a DO.

On Behalf of Reid

In September, Reid had 3 interviews to medical school:

A.T. Still University-Mesa, AZ

Touro University -Henderson, NV

Des Moines University - Des Moines, IA

After weeks of waiting to see how they went we finally heard back from one of the schools yesterday. Reid got his acceptance letter to Des Moines University! That was our number one choice of the schools we applied to (except Minnesota that we got rejected to - that was really my number one choice). So school starts in August 2011 and as to when we will actually leave for school is the real question. Lots to look into with housing and a job and all that good stuff.

The stress is over though as to IF we get accepted. Thank goodness!!

Here we come!

Abigail

It is totally amazing to me to see how fast this little girl of mine is growing up!!

Just last week she had to hold on to everything when she walked and today she is so determined to walk -by herself.

Some of her favorite foods are:

bananas, yogurt, spaghetti, bananas, graham crackers and anything we are eating.

She loves climbing the stairs and of course getting into the things we tell her not to touch (like the computer).

She'll bring us her new shoes we got her and give them to us and stick her foot out so we put them on for her.

She can say: mama, dada, all done, azlan, elmo, no (which she says with that scolding finger), more, jesus and papa.

She laughs every time she toots and not just giggles, but belly laughs.

She can go to bed for the night on her own with her sweet pooh bear.

She really is the light of our life and we love her so much

Just pictures

I'm not a slacker I promise, okay well I am, but I have good reason.
We are finally not in a basement anymore, but unfortunately we don't have internet currently. That will soon be remedied. Once we have internet I should be blogging more and will get some pictures on. Until then, sorry you just have to wait

You Mean I Actually Have to Watch Her?

It used to be easy watching Abigail. I could barricade her into the living room, make sure there were no little things on the floor to swallow (even though she always found something to eat anyways),

and then do my homework on the computer. But now, she is an educated girl-an escape artist- something I never could have taught her if I tried. Great. Now I actually have to watch her when I'm in charge of her ;)

(She makes you feel bad but really she's fakin it)

I guess we love her.

Pink- DO Schools

Yellow- MD School

White- Rejections

Green- Secondary Invites

Sad news

Look at how pretty our rings are on our wedding day!
Today at work I was playing with my ring and if you look closely you can see that I lost one of my diamonds. Sad day.

Update on schools

So to recap from last post, we have heard from George Washington University (D.C.), Creighton University (Omaha), University of South Carolina, Rush University (Chicago), and Eastern Virgina Medical School.
Since then we have heard from Virginia Commonwealth University, Wake Forest (North Carolina), University of Louisville (Kentucky), Michigan State University, Loyola University (Chicago), A.T. Still Missouri, Des Moines University, A.T. Still Arizona, and Loma Linda University (California).
We have a total of four rejections (Eastern Virginia Medical School, Wake Forest, University of South Carolina and Louisville). Of all the schools that are listed Reid is still working on two secondary applications. A.T. Still in Arizona and Rush University. To give you an idea of how long it takes to fill ones of these applications out, the last one Reid did was two questions and it took him about 3 days to do.
We've heard at least something from 14 schools and that's half of them. It would be quite awesome to hear from 23 schools for interviews, but we'll have to keep waiting, but we'll keep ya updated!

Here is our recent rejection (from today)

A post with no pictures

Sorry guys, there are no pictures with this one, but I've had a lot the past two days, plus this is day 3 of blogging, so that's pretty awesome!!

This is more of an update on Reid's medical school applications. For those that don't know how it works applying to med school here it is. First you take the MCAT, then a month later when you find out your score, you do you primary applications. Then come secondary applications and then interview and then hopefully acceptance. Or if you don't get secondary applications, then it's the rejection letter.

So here's the story. May 1st, Reid takes the MCAT. June 1st we find out that he got a 27 out of 45 (28 is the national average), so he did well. He applied to 27 schools all across the country (see map below; the yellow and pink pins are the schools.)

We (Reid) has already heard from a couple schools asking for secondary applications. In order of receiving it goes: George Washington University (DC), Creighton University (Omaha), South Carolina University, and Rush University (Chicago). Today Reid actually received his first rejection letter from Eastern Virginia Medical School. We decided that we are not going to finish applying for SCU because they will only look at applicants with strong ties to South Carolina which we do not have. So with those two schools, it saves us like $200!! So we are only waiting to hear back with interviews from 25 schools instead of 27.

A lot of schools send out for secondary applications because it is money directly to the school. However we were quite surprised to hear first from George Washington because that was actually the school that our current doctor attended and he wrote a letter of recommendation for Reid, so maybe we'll have a little advantage with that!

We know of one school (that we wouldn't mind going to) that doesn't start "talking" to the applicants till December, so this could be a really long process. But we know that where ever we do get in, it will be a wonderful growing experience. (It would be REALLY nice though to get in near family for obvious reasons.)

Anyway that's what's going on with that! Sorry to bore you with no pictures; there will be more later I'm sure.

Freedom

Happy (late) 4th of July everyone!

We had a great weekend! On Saturday, we got to see Lena and Scott's new little guy that was only two days old, then I went to work. Lucky dad and Abigail got to stay home together. We were really excited to take Abigail to see her first fireworks, and I would have pictures, but I forgot the camera in the car :(. Anyway, Carrie Underwood was performing in the Stadium of Fire, and we found a nice little spot on the stadium grounds where we could hear her (and even see a little bit on the big screen) and then watch fireworks! Last year we watched fireworks from above on the mountains, and both Reid and I decided we like watching from below. Poor Abigail was so tired, it was way past her bedtime. She actually fell asleep during the grand finale in her stroller! Sunday we went to church in the morning and had a wonderful dinner at my manager's house (thanks Darrin and Jenn).

Monday was the Freedom Run and my dear friend Jenny and I ran the 5K! That's right, I did a 5K!! Not only did I participate, we actually ran a lot of it!! Thanks again Jenny, I wouldn't have done it on my own. Reid watched from the sidelines (it would have cost too much for us both to do it) and surprised us at the finish line. But here are some pictures of the race. Oh yeah, Abigail did the 5K too!

At the beginning. It was actually pretty cold at 7am!

The starting line

Water stop, Drink that water Jenny!

We were actually running at this point!

Me and Jenny (she's blocked by the guy) crossing the finish line

We got medals!!

Abigail holding up the medal!!

It was a lot of fun and maybe we'll do some more 5K's in the future.