guilt induced blog posting

When I took at look at our blog and realized that the last time we posted anything was October 2nd, I was amazed.  I knew it had been awhile.  A whole rotation went by and I didn't even most anything. 

We enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving with my parents and our friends The Forbes (from our Wymount days).  They have the cutest little one year old daughter.  Mom made my 2 favorite things - yams and cornbread dressing.  The weekend was topped of by turkey sugar cookies & a game night with Mo & Vicki.  Will and I finally got to play Cities & Knights (Catan expansion game) & we taught them Puerto Rico.  We celebrated Dad's 60th birthday by going to see Lincoln (lovely movie) and giving him the book of 60 memories and pictures that we had compiled. 

Just before Thanksgiving I finished my community medicine rotation out at OHSU's Family Medicine clinic is Scappoose OR.  This was my first rotation where I got to live at home in our apartment in Portland.  It was great!  I worked with wonderful PAs (all graduates of my program), saw lots of patients enjoyed coming home and sleeping in my own bed at night.  Sadly, that bed is missing an occupant right now as Will is busy working in Seattle and living with my parents, but we get to see each other on the weekends and for 8 whole weeks! 

That's right folks, after my 2 week call back here in Portland is done I've got a 3 week break, followed by a 5 week rotation in General Surgery in Seattle.  You can expect a few more blog posts in December, with all the free time on my hands - maybe I'll even throw in some pictures (no promises).  The deal is up when I start surgery in January. 

A Solo Trip to New York City

I spent all of last week traveling and interviewing for the grad programs I would like to attend. Sara and I figured since I was going to be all the way across the country anyway I might as well spend a few days in New York City.

I got to the city late Friday morning and after dropping off my bag went straight to Jane and got some amazing vanilla bean French Toast.

Crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle.

Just FYI, this entire trip in the city was based on where I should go and eat

While walking around downtown Manhattan I happened upon this rather tall building, also known as 1 WTC.

That evening I ate at Grimaldis under the Brooklyn Bridge. Thank you Blake for informing me about this fantastic place to eat pizza. There's just something about the crust of a coal brick-oven pizza that can't be beat.

I made it back to Times Square just before my first of two shows for the weekend started. Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark was the first. What can I say, the music was... Okay. The set was pretty neat but of course the best part was watching Spider-Man and the Green Goblin fight as the flew over the audience (for more on that check out the photo on my Facebook page here).

I'm still not sure about the title.

The next morning, based on the recommendation of some friends from our ward at Wymount, I found myself at Max Brenner and I had to choose from this for breakfast.

Granted this was only a small portion of their brunch offerings.

After more wandering of the city I made it to Dinosaur BBQ for a late lunch and filled myself to the point where I couldn't even think about food. I walked from 125th down to Central Park and  then spent nearly 2 hours walking through it.

This was at the beginning of my walk.

Even after walking in the park I wasn't ready to eat again so I took a journey down 5th Ave and thought of Blake and Stefi. I did however pick something up for Sara from Macaron Cafe and they happen to freeze well.

I finished my night by seeing Newsies. It was a blast! The lyrics to each song were a little bit different but that was nice because it kept the lady in her early thirties from trying to sing the whole show. I really enjoyed the dancing, when I grow up I want to be a newsie on the streets of 1899 New York.

Even with my alarm failing to go off the next morning I made it to the airport in time to catch my flight back to Seattle. It was a fun trip but I am looking forward to seeing Sara again this weekend during General Conference.

R3W3

I can't believe it's October!  I can already tell that this year of rotations is going to go by in a blink of an eye.  As promised staying in Pendleton for the weekened was exciting.  Friday I toured the Woolen Mills here in Pendleton and got to see the looms in action - they are very noisy.  I also visited a very fun quilt shop in town and bought myself an early birthday present - a pattern and fabric to make a new quilt.  It may be awhile before I have time to actually work on it, but I'm very excited to get started.  I slept at the hospital Friday and Saturday night as we had patient in labor and delivered babies early Saturday and Sunday morning.  I had enough time to head home, catch a nap and then make it to the Pendleton 2nd Ward for church.  After returning home I got another call and packed up my bag ready to spend a 3rd night in the hospital, but this patient's water broke and 4 hours later we had a brand new baby - meaning I got to go home and sleep in pajamas for the 1st time since Thursday night.  Helping to deliver the babies has been amazing - women's bodies are truly incredible and it is amazing to present for something so intimate and special.  I love watching the dads just after baby is born - they cry and they can't decide if they should go by baby or Mom.  My favorite is the look of pure amazement and love when they look at the new moms and say "You did it!"

Start looking forward to an upcoming post from Will about his travels last week! 

R3W2

I'm in Pendleton for my Women's Health rotation.  I'm now into my second week and I'm feel pretty comfortable with pelvic exams, pap smears, finding fetal heart tones and breast exams.  I can tell how dilated pregnancy women are, but have a harder time judging how effaced the cervix is.  On my first day I assisted with a c-section over lunch and yesterday we did a D&C on a pt in the morning.  I've learned that the inside of the uterus should feel like a cat's tongue. 

I also really miss pediatrics.  I'm learning tons and getting lots of good experience, but I don't love it like I did Peds. 

This weekend should be exciting as I'm hanging around Pendleton because I'm on call all weekend.  Hopefully we'll deliver a few more babies and assist in the OR. 

Will is busy traveling around the country this week for interviews at a couple of schools.  I'll let you hear all about it from him. 

Blackberry Tart

So, Sara mentioned the fact that we made a most amazing blackberry tart the other week and Ann had mentioned that she wouldn't mind having the recipe so we thought we would share it. It comes form one of our favorite cookbooks:

One of the things that makes this cookbook great is that it does the menu of an entire dinner party. We haven't made a complete meal from it yet but we have made some amazing dishes (the Chicken Tika Masala that we made in California for the family came from this book). Now, since this is a recipe straight out of the book America's Test Kitchen might come after us and force us to remove the post (highly unlikely in my mind) but really this is a plug for anyone out there that is looking for a new cookbook, this is the one you should get.

The original recipe is a Raspberry Streusel Tart, we substitued blackberries, obviously, and it was amazing.

• 1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 Cup granulated Sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 12 TBS butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened
• 1/2 Cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 Cup sliced almonds toasted (we used walnuts)
• 3 TBS light brown sugar
• 1/3 Cup raspberry jam
• 1 1/2 cups raspberries
• 1 TBS lemon juice

1. Heat oven to 375 and grease 9-inch springform pan (we used our 10 inch tart pan)

2. Mix flour, sugar and salt. Add 10 TBS of butter 1 piece at a time until the mixture looks like wet sand. Reserve 1/2 cup of the mixture for topping and set aside.

3. Sprinkle remaning mixture on pan and press firmly into even compact layer with the bottom of a dry measuring cup. Bake until fragrant and edges just begin to brown, around 10 to 15 minutes. Let tart shell cool slightly while making topping.

4. Mix reserved flour mixture with oates, almonds, and brown sugar. Add remaining 2 TBS butter and pinch mixture between fingers into hazelnut-sized clumps.

5. In a small bowl mash jam, 1/2 cup berries and lemon juice with a fork to coarse puree. Spread evenly over warm crust, top with remaining berries. Sprinkle strusel topping over the tart.

Pre-baked Tart

6. Bake until filling is bubbling and topping is a deep golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes, rotating half-way through. Let tart cool completely, about 2 hours. (Tart can be held at room temp for up to 8 hours) To serve, remove metal ring of springform pan, slide metal spatula between tart and springform pan bottom, and carefully slide tart onto serving platter.

Post-baked Tart

It looks delicious, smells delicious (a strong butter fragrance) and tastes delicious.

Again, America's Test Kitchen Menu Cookbook. You know you want it.

I Have a Job

Mom and dad can no longer think that I'm not a contributing member of society. I could hear dad rolling his eyes when I told him that I stopped working at the bank back in May but it looks like things turned out well. I was able to study for the GRE and now I have a better job.

Don't get me wrong, I had a good time at US Bank. I really liked my coworkers and I learned a lot about banking in general, it just wasn't plausible for me to be driving to Canby nearly everyday.

In the first week of September I interviewed for a job as a Special Education Paraprofessional (teaching assistant) at a middle school. I got a call a few days later saying that they loved me but unfortunately there was someone else with experience that they gave the job to. Then the next week on Tiesday morning I got a call saying "it turns out we need a little more help, a few of our kids require more attention and we've been given the go-ahead to hire another parapro and we'd like you, can you start tomorrow?" I said yes.

It was kinda funny telling the people in our small branch in Portland. Sara would say "Will got a job" and they would say "Yay!" then she would say "it's in Seattle" and then they would look at her confused and say "are you okay with that?" And yes, we are okay with it.

I'm working at Islander Middle School on Mercer Island, the same school that Sara's mom teaches at. So far I've been there a week and a half and I've had a blast. Oddly enough it'll workout that with me living in Seattle, Sara and I will see each other more often. The only jobs I could find in Portland were retail-type jobs and that meant that I would work a good deal of nights and weekends, the only time that I would get to see Sara (either in person or on FaceTime). Now since I work at the school I don't work weekends, I have extended holiday breaks, a mid-winter break as well as a spring break plus vacation and personal days. I will be living with Sara's parents but we get along great so I think this will work out very nicely.

 

Call Back #1

I've finished my pediatric rotation and I loved it!  I will miss all the kids, providers and staff that I worked with down in Salem.  This next week I'm back on the hill (OHSU campus) for meetings with my program.  It should be a nice relaxing week with a chance to catch up with my classmates.  Then I'm headed to Pendleton for my women's health rotation at an OBGYN clinic.  Will should be posting on here soon - about a delicious blackberry tart we made last weekend & his new job!  This is just a teaser and hopefully a reminder to him that he owes us all a post. 

Will's Countdown

 

Will has kept me informed of how many days until BYU football starts again since over 100 days away.  We are now finally down to 4 days!  The first game of college football this year is BYU vs. Washington State.  We'll miss being in Provo for games, but we have some friends joining us Thursday night for the game & this year Will's got a bigger TV to watch the games on. 

Check out this video to help get you in the mood for Cougar Football! 

http://youtu.be/RF64CbTd3GA

R2W2

I'm now two weeks into my Pediatric rotation and I am head over heels in love with it.  I cannot think of anything I'd rather do that work with children and their families day in and day out to make sure everyone is healthy and well cared for.  Who else gets to hop on one foot, draw pictures, look in ears all day long?  I love going through the developmental milestones with kids and their parents and seeing how excited everyone is! 

This weekend I had a quick visit with my mom as she made a quick stopover in Portland to keep me company while Will is in Utah visiting family.  I picked her up at the airport and we visited some of our favorite places - Ikea, the Elephant Deli and Powells.  It was great to have her come to church with me today as I taught a lesson about sacrifice in Sunday School.  What a blessing to have the convenience of modern transportation so we can pop in on family for a quick visit.  Will has been making the most of his visit home to Utah, seeing family & friends, but I'm looking forward to his return tomorrow. 

An Update from Will

During Sara's school year she would spend nearly every waking moment at home inside our little office. I got a taste of what that is like during the month of July as I studied for the GRE. I have a great view of our little red BBQ, I can open the window and sometimes hear the horn of The Spirit of Portland as it makes its way down the mighty Willamette River but best of all I can bring in our oscillating tower fan and pretend that I'm on a far-off beach, enjoying a gentle breeze.

I took my first GRE practice test Monday, July 9th and got a 152 on both the Verbal and the Quantitative portions. Now, this threw me off a little bit because I was expecting the scoring to be on a scale of 200-800 like the old GRE and boy, did I have work to do. I thought that I had somehow scored below the lowest possible score.  I quickly learned that when they revised it last year they changed the scaling system to 130-170.

Since Sara was in Roseberg every weekday all that I could do was study. And study. And study.... It's amazing how fast a month goes by. Before I knew it August 11th had snuck up on me and it was time to take my test.

I went in, turned all my pockets inside out, had a metal detector wand make sure that I wasn't bringing in illegal thumb tacks that I might use to coerce another test taker into telling me if Column A or Column B was bigger, if they were the exact same or if I could not tell with the given information. Since those were confiscated I had to rely on the fact that I had been studying for the past month to get me a score that I might be proud of.

It's kind of an odd thing, looking at a button the screen that says "continue" knowing that after I press it I will find out if the past month's studying was worth it. I pressed it, and found out that it was.

Verbal: 162
Quantitative: 164

I haven't gotten the official scores yet (those should come in the next week or so) so I don't know percentiles or the grades of my essays but I'm feeling pretty good.

Now it's onto grad school applications! (Right after I get over this cold that Sara brought home from her first week in pediatrics)  

R1W5

Dermatology is over. I learned tons, saw a total of 501 patients during my five weeks, and can now do a skin check or cancer screening with confidence. My suturing skills improved with practice and I now feel like I know what to do when someone puts needledrivers in my hand.

Now I'm ready to start the process all over again with pediatrics. The second year in PA school is truly a lesson in humility as you become an idiot all over again every 5 weeks as our rotations change. But I am really looking forward to peds. I'll be living in Salem and rooming with 4 of my classmates. It's going to be strange to have roommates again, but at least I know them all.

Will is keeping busy studying for the GRE. Yesterday he tookhis last practice test before the real thing next Saturday. He's going to do great!

 

Posted with Blogsy

R1W4 (rotation 1 week 4)

Last week I put in my first sutures, both lower dissolvable and upper non dissolving stitches. Not too many people get excited about removing malignant melanoma, but I thought it was thrilling. Just one week of dermatology left.

Will and I had a great weekend. Saturday morning we volunteered at a family triathlon, manning the bike route, stopping cars and directing the bikers. We were impressed by the the little kids trucking along and by the parents who came along with them. We think Zack would love it!

We finished off the weekend with a lovely Sunday. Will and I had the opportunity to got to Autumn Hills, a care facility, where our stake provides a nondenominational Christian service each Sunday. I shared a short talk and Will played the piano. My favorite part is helping to gather the residents and escort them down to the service. We ended today by having the missionaries over for dinner and enjoying personalized fruit pizzas for dessert.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Renewed Commitment

My mom is blogging every week. If she can do it, then so can I. No promises about length or pictures, but I will try to post weekly during this year of rotations for PA school. I'm almost done with the 3rd week of my first rotation, Dermatology. I've gotten lots of experience with full skin checks, shave and punch biopsies, freezing things with liquid nitrogen and assisting during Moh's surgery. I still have 2 weeks left in this rotation. I've been lucky and have Fridays off completely or just work a half day, so I've headed back to Portland and Will for the weekend. This weekend should be exciting. Dark Knight Rises to see, the Morgans swinging through Portland on their trip and a Jersey Boys to go to Saturday night.

911

Today, as we drove up to Seattle we encountered an erratic driver in the middle lane. She was drifting into other lanes, failing to notice when traffic slowed down or started back up again. Will and I were concerned and attempting to keep our distance in an effort to keep ourselves and our little Camry safe. This was a difficult task with stop and go traffic of Tacoma at 4:00 on a Friday afternoon. As we discussed the possibility of calling to report an erratic driver we weren't sure who to call. 911 seemed a bit extreme until we remember Ann and Andrew's council on the issue. They call 911 all the time. So I dialed away, speaking to the calm 911 operator who transferred me to state patrol who took down the license plate number and our location.

Ten miles down the road we happened upon that same vehicle, this time it was off to the side with two State Troopers taking an interest in the driver.

 

Casting

I've got 5 weeks left of the academic year. In order to get us ready for our clinical rotations we're learning some of the really fun clinical skills like drawing blood, starting IVs, suturing and casting. Friday afternoon we got a chance to put casts on each other and then cut them off with the cast saw. ( I couldn't watch while Kristan cut my cast off - but it's actually pretty difficult to cut someone with a cast saw.)

These are awesome classmates of mine, if the back of the photo you'll notice me using the cast saw.

 

Emerald City Comic-Con

Jeff came up to Seattle the Thursday before General Conference weekend so that we could go to the Emerald City Comic Convention. We had a great time, Jeff got comics signed, I played the new Star Wars game for the X-Box Kinect (it's like you really have the force) and we got a ton of pictures. Here are just a few of them.

Me and My new friend Jon waiting in line to see Kevin Conroy. Notice the Brony in the background.

Kevin Conroy, the voice of Baman/Bruce Wayne in the Animated Series.

 

For John (my brother, not the new bearded friend Jon)

 

 

This is only a small sampling of what we saw. It was great! Who knows, we might make it again next year!

Easter Morning

No Easter baskets at our house this year but we did have a delicious Easter breakfast of waffles with fruit! Will and enjoyed a lovely day with an afternoon walk around Mt Tabor park.

Baltimore

After taking a nap Satirday afternoon in DC we ventured out to Baltimore. Blake and Stefi were kind enough to drop us off at Ann and Andrew's and we set off exploring, their apartment that is. Ann had the Young Women broadcast and Andrew had... twelve things he was doing, so we were left to fend for ourselves. We know that Ann would feel fine going through our kitchen so we went through hers and made some pancakes!

After a wonderful time at church (we love our downtown congregations) we had a relaxing afternoon of nap taking and chit-chatting. Around 5:00 it was time to go exploring. We found out that Fort Mchenry closes at 5:00 but Fedral Hill has a great view of the city:

Ann and Andrew then took us on a nice driving tour of Baltiomre. It is a beautiful city! There were streets filled with row-houses, each block having a different style. We stopped at a park in the middle of a neighborhood. The park was full of tulips so we took some fun pictures.

It was a fantastic visit to Baltimore. If you ever get the chance to visit Ann and Andrew you should take it. Even though Ann is having a baby girl this week and Andrew is busy changing the world one tech student at a time they sure know how to show some West Coast bums a good time.

DC trip

We started our trip off with a red eye to DC from Seattle arriving early Saturday morning. Blake picked us up and we headed into DC. We started off with lunch with Stefi at 2 Amy's for some tasty pizza and rounded out the afternoon with some shopping in Georgetown. Here are the boys enjoying some treats.

Blake and Stefi were kind enough to drive us to Baltimore. Monday Ann brought us back to DC and visited the American History Smithsonian with us before she headed home to Baltimore. Will and I visited the Newseum - our favorite museum of the trip! And we caught up again Monday night with Blake and Stefi for Georgetown cupcakes and a night time drive to the Lincoln and Jefferson monuments.

Will practicing giving presidential addresses.

Tuesday we walked the Mall, seeing the Supreme Court, the White House and Congress Building. We stopped by the Phillips Collection and had dinner with Blake at Good Stuff.

Supreme court with protestors outside.

The capital building and the Canadian Embassy from the Newseum.

We had a great time visiting Blake and Stefi and are excited to see them in June for their wedding! Congrats you two!

 

Punchbowl Falls

Friday morning Will and I were up early and headed out to the Gorge to fit in a hike that we've been wanting to do since we moved here. Punchbowl falls! It's not a long hike, just a little over 3 miles. But it was beautiful! It was fun to be up early and out on the trail before most people. We had a trail completely to ourselves on the way there and saw just a few people on the way back.


All along the way we found little waterfalls and weeping rocks. Here's one of the little falls we could see across the river.
Here was our first view through the trees of the falls. We took a small trail down to get a closer look. The water level was pretty high. My favorite part was the beautifully clear water with a touch of aqua blue color in the deep parts of the river.

It was lovely to get a chance to get out of Portland and enjoy some of the beauty around us! We even saw a bald eagle on our way back.

Two Days Off

Sara didn't have school on Friday and I didn't have to work Friday or today so we've had a little more time together than we normally do. We went hiking, I washed the car, Sara studied, and we even took some time out to write a few blog posts about our trip to DC/Baltimore/Seattle/Emerald City ComicCon. We'll try to space things out so you don't get a Will and Sara overload.

 

25

Will is turning 25 tomorrow! Sadly he has to work, but we have a fun evening planned. Out to dinner at the Thirsty Lion - one of our favorite Portland restaurants and time together!


Here are twenty five reasons Will is awesome.

1. He's my hero - I always say that's why I fell in love with him in the first place. He's always ready and willing to help me out with any task.

2. You've got to love a man with confidence.

3. He can always make me laugh.

4. He gives great hugs!

5. He wears bright yellow sweat pants.

6. He listens to me read flashcards out loud so I can study for PA school. (he even attempts to quiz me on them sometimes, that's much harder though with all the medical abbreviations I use)

7. When he smiles his eyes disappear. So cute!

8. He makes a mean chicken tika masala.

9. He works hard at the bank everyday and then comes home and helps me with PA school.

10. He snuggles with me while we catch up on TV shows.

11. He understands when I fall asleep during TV shows - don't even try a movie (2 hours and I'm guaranteed to fall asleep.)

12. He's tall and can reach all the shelves I can't.

13. He makes me dinner almost every night while I'm studying!

14. He loves sports - specifically college football and basketball & he answers all of my questions about the rules and calls the refs make.

15. He a great listener.

16. He plays the piano beautiful & now that he's got the clarinet I'm looking forward to more music in the house.

17. He can do 25 push ups & counting - we started doing sit up and push ups together at night a couple of weeks ago. We're up to 50 sit ups and 25 push ups.

18. He finds fun things to do together, like the Guster concert we're going to next week!

19. I love talking with him about life, our plans and what our family will be like one day.

20. He sings to me.

21. He loves pie as much as I do. (stay tuned Pi Day is coming up 3/14)

22. He's a master at homemade pizza.

23. He works out with me at the gym.

24. He's always positive. I think he got this one from his mom, he always tells me that things are going to work out.

25. He always tells me how much he loves me!

I hope he knows how much I love him! HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL!

Blake & Stefi

Blake is engaged! We got to spend time with Blake & Stefi over the New Year's holiday. They are such a fun couple! I'm excited about having a sister who loves to bake! We'll be headed out to DC at the end of March to visit these two along with Ann & Andrew! Can't wait!

Flurries

Here in Portland we saw a few flurries of snow this weekend. I may have hoped for a Snow Sunday - it's like a snow day, but where church is cancelled instead of school because of snow. I know this a foreign idea to everyone who grew up in Utah, but it's quite common in Seattle. However, no such luck. We did however enjoy a lovely stake conference complete with wintergreen mints to keep us awake. I've got two big tests this week. A physiology test tomorrow about the heart and then a clinical medicine test on Friday on our cardiology unit. They may sound similar, but the first one is all about how the normal heart works and the second one is about disorders, diseases, drugs & treatments. Will is enjoying life at the bank.

Break is winding down

This year, Will and I were lucky enough to enjoy 2 Christmas celebrations. We first visited to Utah to be with Will's family. Claire & Harley were there - it was special treat to meet Harley. He doesn't bark, jump or drool. My kind of dog! He does however want to be petted all the time. :) We enjoyed facetiming with all the nieces & nephews and siblings who did come home. I don't know what we would do without technology! We also got to see some friends. Margaret & Tony treated us to a delicious meal at The Pie with Sarah & Nate and their daughter Ada. We were able to visit with Ali & Eric Gunn and their new daughter Ella - such a cutie. Will stayed up late the night we arrived to hang out with Eric & Rob & Jeff - I'm sure they had fun. I stayed awake long enough to say hello and then headed to bed. It was a great visit to Utah and we were sad to say goodbye, but were able to fit in a breakfast trip to Kneaders for their famous french toast before the airport our last morning.

We were home on Portland for a day before Blake came down to visit! It was fun to show him around some of our favorite Portland spots, although I believe it will be quite sometime until Blake's next visit due to the pedestrians in Portland. He drove me back up to Seattle to have some time and home and Will joined us after work on the 31st. This visit was especially fun as Blake's girlfriend Stefi came for New Years and we were able to spend some time getting to know her better. We had a blast and enjoyed hanging out with the family, playing games and baking.

We're back home now. School starts again for me tomorrow morning. Thanks to all our friends and family who made our break so much fun!