ALERT ALERT!!!!

WE HAVE A BROWNIE SCOUT!!!!

Olivia Claire Barnes is the newest member of Girl Scout Troop #30528. All 2nd and 3rd graders are in the "BROWNIES" group. Liv had her first meeting on Monday and completed several activities. Obviously the first question Ang and I had at the meeting was, "Where are the COOKIES?" We were told that cookie sales do not start until January. As could be expected, we were DEVASTATED!!

As a consolation, we were told that they do have a Fall sales drive. We are calling on all family and friends to support her, although we have not found out if they will ship them directly to you, which could turn out to be a deal breaker. She is selling new magazine subscriptions and renewals. I know most of you don't probably order magazines, but if you do, LIV IS YOUR BROWNIE SCOUT.

There is also a list of "goodies" that can be bought through Liv from Oct. 3- Oct. 26 that can be found at this website:

http://www.gswpa.org/assets/intranet----magnut-&-cookie/magnut/magnut-items.jpg

WE ARE SOOO PROUD!!!!

The Rams!!!

The much anticipated video of the J.S Wilson Rams has arrived (we finally remembered to bring the camera with us to a game). The Rams are about half way through the season and so far they have won some games and they have lost some games. They are getting better every week and Lex is getting more playing time as she continues to improve.

Lex has practice every night after school for 2 hours, so she leaves at 7:30 in the morning and doesn't get home until almost 6:00. You mix that with two games a week and she doesn't have a lot of free time.





GO RAMS!!!!!!

The Last Outdoor Project of THE YEAR!!!

The four week project of turning our Arborvitae trees back into Arborvitae bushes is finally complete. The limiting factor in our project was the amount of garbage we created. In Erie they don't use the traditional garbage cans that are issued by the city, instead garbage is set out at the curb and the garbage man physically gets out of the truck and loads the garbage by hand. This may not seem odd to everyone, but we have not seen a person pick up garbage for probably 10 years back in Utah. Back to the story...we are "allowed" to put out as many bags of garbage as we wish, but since Ang and I feel bad for the garbage man and we don't want to ruin a very good thing; we have decided to limit the amount of "extra" trash that we throw out.



Anyways...4 weeks...26 bags of garbage and a pile of firewood later, our arborvitaes now are about 10 feet shorter and about 4-5 feet more narrow.



The before pictures:









These before pictures do not do justice to how much of an EYESORE these trees/bushes were. I forgot to take anymore before pictures, but I'm sure Rick, Sheryl and Jen can attest to how bad they were. It is sooo nice to be done with the major projects and now that the weather has started to get cooler; we will have to wait until next year to "enjoy the resort".



After:

A night out

Nate and I finally had a night out without the girls, and it was about time! Every time we go out we say we need to do this every week and then the weeks seem to slip by and before you know it we don't even remember what it is like to go on a date.



Nate surprised me with a nice new jewelry armoire for our anniversary. I had outgrown my previous jewelry box and had things tangled and scattered in tupperware, so this was a wonderful present. Thanks Nate! I am so organized now it is ridiculous. I felt a little sheepish, I got Nate a watch and some other little things...next year I guess it will be my turn to spoil him.



We decided to try an Italian restaurant called Mi Scuzzi's for dinner. Nate golfs with a group of Italian guys that rave about the authentic Italian restaurants around here. Of course I forgot to take a picture before we went in, so this is a really crappy picture in the dark. It looks a little shady on the outside, it is tucked away in a residential neighborhood, but the food was pretty darn good, we don't think we can ever eat at Olive Garden again! I thought the best part of the meal was the appetizer, caramelized pear and onion pizzette smothered in gorgonzola cheese, delicious! Of course we ate way too much food, drank too much wine and came home with two tummy aches....that's what I call a good time.

This has nothing to do with our night out but since I am blogging....
Our bedroom wasn't really designed as a bedroom so we don't have a lot of closet space. I had been keeping my dresses and suits for school in the upstairs office closet and really wanted everything in one spot. The kids are still both asleep in the morning when I am getting ready and I hate traipsing upstairs on our creaky wood floors. So, I begged Nate to turn this corner of our room into my little dressing area. We picked out this plantation shutter divider and he is calling it my wall of shame. I am not impressed! I think it turned out quite cute. I would like to maybe put a little decorative table/vase or chair in front of the divider (all ideas are welcome) to add some color.

I really like having a nice, cozy, private area to get dressed and have all my school clothes in one spot. I am not ashamed!!!!

Happy Anniversary Honey!!!

I wanted to tell my adoring husband how much I truly love him.

I LOVE YOU NATE!

Through the good, the bad and the down right ugly,

I love you now more than I could ever imagine.

How lucky I am to have a husband that loves me for me and who has been willing to stick by my side even though I am certifiably crazy at times!

I am proud of you for all that you have accomplished, your drive and determination

have motivated me to do better and strive for more.

I adore all the memories we have shared over 13 years

and I am so excited to see where life will take us next.

Happy Anniversary, I will love you always!

For the Birthday Girl

This is you, above, opening this fabulous present from me, RIGHT! Well, I realized today that I no longer have the luxury of running you a card and goody last minute for your birthday. So this is my lame attempt to make myself feel better for being a loser!

Please enjoy this little stroll down memory lane to remember all the fun we have had throughout the years.

Oh how I loved those matching dresses, thanks Grandma!

A motley crew, to say the least.

Having a bit of fun in Zions National Park.

Couple of fatty's...I almost didn't put this one on, it is so painful, your welcome Lexi and Colton. I am so glad we have had the chance to raise a couple of cute kids together.

"SISTER'S, SISTER'S" - but seriously what would we do without eachother.

Tuna anyone?? Remember those delicious desserts! Wouldn't trade the experience for the world.

MEXICO - I could have posted ton's, we have been so lucky to have traveled and played as a family.

Just cause your smile is so beautiful, at the cabin and chillin at my house for thanksgiving.

I love you tons and hope you get the chance to have a little fun on your 34th birthday!!!

School Update

Thought I would celebrate the fact that I have nearly completed 6 weeks in medical school by giving an update. We have finished two courses entirely, histology and spirituality/medical ethics. Luckily I have passed both courses, woo hoo! I hated every minute of histology and was really glad to be done with it, identifying tissues through power point slides just seems really stupid. I think it would have been really cool to show us the slides and then let us actually see the tissues under the microscope, but what do I really know.

I struggled every minute I was in the spirituality and ethics course. I found the ethics portion to be really interesting, it was also an eye opener (sometimes downright shocking) to hear other people's opinions and beliefs on controversial issues like end of life care. I had to gag down the spirituality portion and still have very mixed emotions about it. I think what they intended to do was to point out that all of our patients will differ in their beliefs and we will need to be sensitive to those needs, which I absolutely agree with. The course ended up being riddled with religious undertones, and quite frankly offended more people than it educated. Unfortunately many of the lecturers were religious leaders from the community basically coming in and talking down to anyone who differed with their belief system, not very effective in teaching respect and tolerance in my opinion. Thank goodness for Nate, he talked me down after many frustrating days.

We are now back to anatomy and going through the organ systems. I find this more meaningful and much more enjoyable than the muscles. Yesterday we dissected the lungs and today the heart. It really is amazing, I am blown away by the intricacy of our bodies. The muscles were really disgusting to me but so far the lungs and heart are quite beautiful.

I have been pretty down in the dumps this week about school. I just feel like I can barely keep up with the pace and never feel like I am mastering the material, it is a bit unnerving. I still get a stomach ache every morning before school, sigh!!!