Michael's Birthday!!

So Michael's birthday was Sunday, April 19th. For months, I had been planning to make this certain cake that I had seen in a magazine. The only problem was that I just glanced at the idea and then forgot where I had seen it. I knew a few of the things I needed and thought it couldn’t be that hard. Well, the biggest problem was I didn't leave myself enough time to make the cake.

Thanks to My sister Melissa who brought ice cream and everyone else who came, it's the thought that counts!!!

Hound dogs easter

So Michael thinks I'm crazy – and maybe I am. Let's just say Easter weekend was a wild one with cooking. I really do know how to boil eggs, but I'm still unsure what went through my head that night when boiling the eggs. First off, I was pretty tired because I went to work that day. Second, I'm pregnant. And third, I was just plain being an airhead. However, my mistake resulted in the hound dogs getting a little Easter treat, too.

As for the cooking, the eggs were just the start of it. I thought it would be really fun to make fruit roll-ups – fruit leather – with all the strawberries I bought, so I bought more. The fruit leather turned our ok… until I cooked them again. Oops, I left them in oven, with it turned off so they would stay protected (from bugs, hair, etc. sticking to it) until I had time cut them and roll them up. Unfortunately, I forgot about the fruit leather and I was making cupcakes for my primary class and I turned on the oven. I went to open the oven to put my cupcakes and there was my burnt strawberry roll-up. I do, however, have to say I redeemed myself, because the cupcakes turned out great.Dozer getting his egg, the egg says baby boy, Dozer is the complete opposite.

Easter morning

Michael forgot to mention about Easter morning, how he got up and made me his famous Easter pancakes for me.

Easter eggs!!

Michael even made a pancake for Bella with a B on it. But she had to dance for it.

Bella with her easter basket.

Happy (Very, Very Late) Easter!

It’s almost two weeks late, but since everybody loves pictures, we decided to post some from our Easter this year.

We started on Thursday, April 9, when Christina and I bombarded my parent’s house to dye Easter eggs. Seriously, it was almost 9 p.m., and we just showed up unannounced with a couple cartons of boiled eggs, dye and some cookie dough. That probably sounds weird, but there was a reason. Every year since Christina and I started dating, we have dyed Easter eggs with my mom (except when Christina was in China, when I dyed eggs with my mom and my sister Caroline). We wanted to continue the tradition and thought we probably wouldn’t have time through the rest of the weekend.

After we dyed most of the eggs, Christina thought it would be cute to get a picture of Bella holding an Easter egg in her mouth. Well, Bella wasn’t sure she wanted to cooperate, and she dropped the egg. It went SPLAT. All over the floor. Of course, boiled eggs aren’t supposed to go splat. Apparently, they weren’t fully boiled. Poor Christina was so very embarrassed.

On Friday, we packed up and went camping with my younger brother, Josh, and his wife, Lisa. We had a great time and enjoyed very pleasant weather through the evening. Unfortunately at about 4 a.m. Saturday, the rain started. And it continued until 7 a.m., when we gave up, broke down camp and headed for home. The rain continued throughout the day, so we pretty much laid low and caught up on our sleep.

Saturday’s rain had spoiled another one of our favorite Easter traditions, egg rolling. To put it simply, you find a sandy hill, dig a track and race the eggs down the hill. We decided that we couldn’t just let it go, so we made it up Monday evening. Josh and Lisa built a track on one side of a ravine while Christina and I build ours on the other side. Josh and Lisa’s feature a jump over a rock and pond (very cool) and a tunnel. Ours had a couple small jumps and a set of extreme switchbacks. We couldn’t decide on a winner, but had a ball rolling the eggs down the course. Laugh if you want, but Josh and I have done it our whole lives. And we love it! You probably would, too, should you try it! Maybe we should have a tournament this summer. Any takers?

My baby goats!!

I help take care of these goats, after their mom was killed in a freak accident she had to be put down. This is Annie. Little ofana Annie

Annie is are best eater, she is so funny because she chases you down now to feed her.

Strawberries!!!!!

So I went to the grocery store today, just so I could get strawberries because they were on sale.(In this town you don’t mess around with sales, I was lucky there was still food on the shelves and I’m not joking.) They were only $1.25. That's a whole lot better than $5.00 a package. I also don't feel so guilty when I eat a whole container by myself. That still is a little expensive for a treat, but leave me alone, it's for the baby. And it's healthy.

Clothes

So I decided to go through this big box of clothes I had labeled "summer." I’ve been meaning to do it for awhile, but I just couldn’t bring myself to because I hate getting rid of good clothes. But now that I’m pregnant I realize there are just some things I will never fit into again. Like my size 16 pants from the little girl's department that I’ve had since 7th grade. OK, so most of the clothes in the box are from junior high. I might still fit into some of them, but my belly sure doesn’t. Some of the clothes still even have tags on them.

If you notice most of these clothes are either kaki or navy blue, that because those were our uniform colors back in Jr. High.

Bella is not much of a helper, of all the places is could be, right in the middle of it all!! (Good thing she is only a dog and can't read.)

Now the only question is what to do with all my unwanted clothes? We don't have a DI in Blanding!!

Bella's Ouch

We thought we would take Bella for a walk yesterday between conference sessions. We walked through the local elementary playground and started playing on the slides. Michael even took Bella down the slide with him. After a while Bella thought it was fun to go up the stairs on the playground equipment and then jump off. Well after she had done that a few times, I noticed blood on the wood chips. I realized, of course, that Bella was bleeding. Everywhere. We thought we better take her home to clean her up. I have never seen a dog bleed so bad. We had blood on us, and on our clothes. She was bleeding from her front left paw, and she just kept running like she couldn't feel it. Every time she take off again, she'd spray blood all over her stomach and back legs. By the time we got her home, she was black and white and red all over. At home, we finally figured out exactly where the blood was coming from: she had somehow ripped her toenail out. So we had to give her a bath, her second of the day, because she even smelled like blood. We bandaged her foot, not necessarily because we thought that would help her paw, but mainly so she wouldn't bleed all over the house.

You can see that her toe nail on the right is much higher than the left.

This hurts!!
All better bandage high-five!!!!!

This was from this morning, all morning she has been holding her foot. I do feel bad because she hasn't acted herself but she is so funny. It's like she is trying to milk it. And she has been very calm today and cuddly.

Road trip pictures part 2

Passing through Memphis, Missouri listening to the game.

Finally leaving Kansas, if you ask Michael, Kansas goes on forever.

This picture does not do it justice, there were moments when you couldn’t see the oncoming traffic. And I didn’t get any herds of tumbleweeds.

And through door number....

We have a lot of mixed feelings this weekend. We got word from both Des Moines University and Kirksville College of Medicine. It seems we struck out. I was outright denied at Kirksville, where I thought the interview went well and felt I had good chance, and wait-listed at DMU. While the wait list is not a straight denial, it basically means I don’t have a chance there either, as their class is filled and interviews are still ongoing. That means a few selected students will get “accepted pending a seat” and should space open up, those applicant will go first.
I still have an interview scheduled at Midwestern in Phoenix, and can only hope for the best. My faith is waning. Technically, I still have open applications at Penn State and Drexel (both in Pennsylvania), and have been told by both universities that my application is still being considered. It’s just too late to hold my breath.

Needless to say, we are frustrated. The whole situation tastes slightly more bitter considering I declined a seat at Rocky Vista College of Medicine in Denver. It’s hard to look back and wonder if we made the right decision. We were forced to make a choice within two weeks of receiving the acceptance letter, and had to make a $2,000 deposit within a month of the acceptance. The problem was that I had interviews schedule at DMU and Kirksville after that month, and deposits are non-refundable. We just didn’t have that money to burn and never felt very comfortable with Rocky Vista (there is a lot of boring politic stuff involved), so I withdrew my application.

It is hard to say for sure, but if was to get a do-over, I think I may still decline Rocky Vista. All medical schools are not created equal. I did see a lot of promise in Rocky Vista (the school is less than one year old) and it may become an excellent university. I just couldn’t justify coughing up $250,000 while there is still a chance it could fail (especially considering the politics I mentioned earlier). There are still some wrinkles to be ironed out. If I were single and my decisions only affected me, maybe, but the gamble was too great for my wife and (soon-to-arrive) child.

While I am not giving up on the medical school options I have left, we are taking a hard look at what to do next. I don’t think I’m going to reapply, but I haven’t shut that door yet. Maybe not this year, but in another year or two, maybe I’ll be re-inspired.
I am also considering pursuing a master’s or doctorate degree, most likely in biochemistry, but it may be too late to get accepted into a class this year. I’m checking out the options and making contacts currently.

And, of course, I am in a career-type position currently, doing research for Recapture Metals, Inc. in Blanding. I have enjoyed the job, and have been told that I have a future with the company. All things considered, it may not be bad to settle in and enjoy the good hours and enjoyable work.

It feels like an old game show, where I have to decide if I want to give up my pretty nice prizes to open a mystery door. That door could either contain the beautiful new car, or maybe just a flowery tea kettle. I hope you understand the analogy.
Suggestions are welcome.

Pictures from trip

This is the Mississippi River

Christina 23 1/2 weeks pregnant at the Mississippi River.

Us at the Mississippi River (I'm not sure what Michael is wearing)

We crossed over the Mississippi River into Illinois, the 7th state for our trip.

We finally made it to Nauvoo, it took a little longer than we thought, mainly because we took a few too many wrong turns.
The Nauvoo Temple

Christina in front of the Nauvoo temple.

It was a little darker then we hoped it would be by the time we got there. But we still got some neat night temple pictures.