Another Trip

I took another trip to Utah a couple weeks ago. I flew out January 23rd and came back on Jan. 31st. And why did I go back again so soon, you ask? Well, you see, my sister(Megan) lives in Switzerland and wasn't out in Utah during Christmas while we were out there. She was coming in January/February instead. I had eventually just accepted the fact that I wasn't going to get to see her. Then, as it neared I realized I REAAALLLY wanted to see her and her two kids (Kyler and Kahri). I haven't seen them since before we moved out here in the beginning of last July. And I wasn't sure when my next chance to see them would be... So, I decided I'd just check to see how much flights were. When I found a flight that was MUCH cheaper than I had expected... I decided I HAD to go. So, I booked the flight, and a couple weeks later.... there I was, back in Utah.

It was a good week to be with my family. I got to be there for some fun things.

On Saturday, my sister and I went to a "Time Out for Women" event. It is "an inspirational event featuring presentations by respected authors and artists who address the spiritual challenges and needs of women in the Church. It's a great opportunity for women to gather and get recharged." It was really neat. Hillary Weeks (an LDS singer) was there. She was really good.

On Tuesday my youngest brother Jordan was performing in a play for his school. Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." He played Bottom (the guy who's head turns into a donkey's) and did AMAZING! He definitely stole the show! I was so proud of him.

Wednesday night, we all watched American Idol and saw my oldest brother Chris audition . Haha.... good times.

Thursday I sang at a funeral with my mom. I didn't even know the person who's funeral we sang at, but the neat thing was being able to sing with my mom. We ALWAYS used to sing together for things. It was neat to have the opportunity to do it again while I was there.

Friday, my sister threw a Birthday Party for both Kyler and Kahri so that they could celebrate with the families before they went back to Switzerland. (Their birthdays aren't until Feb. 27th and March 6th). We went to Fat Cats Bowling and had ourselves a fun par-tay!

It was so fun to see Megan and Kyler and Kahri!!! Last time I saw Kahri she was only 3 months old and could barely roll over. Now she is almost one year old and taking her first steps. She's soooooo adorable, of course. Steve told me to bring her back with me in my suitcase.... I tried....but she just crawled out.....

And Saturday, I flew home :(

I am so glad I got to go.

I brought back lots of fun memories :)

I am grateful to Steve for being willing to let me take off for a week.

What a good man he is.

Steve's mom sent a fun little gift for him home with me.

Hahaha.....a Doctor Duck..... Steve loved it!

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Did you watch American Idol???

That's my brother, Chris. No, not the giant pink bunny.... the guy singing!

It was fun to watch him on there. If you didn't see it, you can check it out below.

It's Decided......

..................after we are finished with Medical School and Residency.....

We are moving somewhere where it ISN'T COLD!

Here are the "Average Temperatures" for Toledo, Ohio.

After about 20 minutes of researching average temperatures in different distinations we came to a decision. We are moving to......

SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA!!!!

Doesn't that just look so much nicer?????

Hopefully our dreams will come true.... some day.....

You've GOT to be kidding me....

Just to give you an idea of how toasty warm it is today in Toledo Ohio..... Imagine looking at the current weather and seeing this:

-3* F
Feels Like

-21*F

Sunny

Seriously??? Why do they even tease you by putting a picture of a bright shining sun and the oh so deceiving word "sunny" when in the tiny print it says "FEELS LIKE NEGATIVE TWENTY ONE!!!!!!!"???

It is.... seriously cold here. Most of you probably don't envy that.... but your school kids might. Did you know they CANCEL SCHOOL when it's this cold here?? I actually think that is quite hilarious. Because, school is canceled because it's too cold.... then I go to work and see TONS of parents at the shoe store with their kids of all ages!!! Too cold for school.... but never too cold for shopping, right?! (I would beg to differ.....)

Oh, and let me back up a bit.... just to add to the iciness of this post......

Last night, Steve and I got home from school/work and it was 58 degrees in our house. Usually we keep the radiator turned down while we're not home, so that wasn't a big surprise. The surprise came when we turned up the heat and waited for the house to heat up......

57 degrees.....

waiting.....

......

55 degrees...

Shouldn't it be getting WARMER not colder?

54.....

The radiator was OBVIOUSLY NOT WORKING!!!

Steve went down to the basement to try and see if he could figure anything out.... but nothing. By the time 9 o'clock came around and it was doing nothing but getting colder, I bundled up, got myself a nice cup of hot cocoa, piled 3 blankets on top of me, and burrowed in to watch a movie.....

Meanwhile, Steve got ahold of the landlords who said they'd send someone to fix it first thing in the morning. They offered to put us up in a hotel for the night. But, personally, I didn't feel like going out into the negative five million degree outdoors to get to a hotel.

Our neighbors, who happened to still be out of town, had left us a key to their place. After verifying that THEIR radiators WERE working, we called and informed them that we were going to be sleeping at their place last night!!!

This morning when we came back to our place before leaving for work/school, it was 45 degrees in our house.....

Luckily, it appears that while we were away someone came and fixed the radiator. It is now a comfortable 65 degrees in here.....

Okay, so not exactly TOASTY.... but, compared to 45 or NEGATIVE TWENTY ONE..... it's quite nice in here now :)

Christmas in Utah

Sorry, this is gonna be a whole month crammed into one post, so I'll try to keep the pictures plentiful and the comments concise.

We flew out on December 21st to head to Utah. This jolly elf was kind enough to give us a ride to the airport (Jon).

Waddles the duck (given to us as a gift from Jon and Keriann.... they are aware of an obsession Steve has with ducks lately...) was perched in the tree to keep watch on the house in our absence.

We ended up not landing in Utah until 4 am, Toledo time due to some crazy delays at the Detroit airport. The Millers from our Toledo ward happened to be on the same flight as us. Leisy did such a great job of describing the series of events... I'll let you click here if you want to know more. (Luckily our luggage didn't get lost like theirs though!)

Well, Utah was a winter wonderland indeed... which would be great if I actually liked snow. But, at least Steve and my brothers made the best of it. Here they are with a couple friends creating the one and only......

SNOW DUCK!

Steve was so proud of this little beauty. Haha... (did I mention his slight obsession with ducks...?)

(Our friends informed us that on the day after Christmas it was 68 degrees back in Toledo...... what's up with that? Of course, now that we are back in Toledo, the snow and cold has returned)

It was so fun to be with family. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at my parent's house. We set up this crazy hunt for all the guys. If you look close, you'll see the different colored yarns overlappin and creating a crazy web! It was a lot more tangled than it looks here. Anyway, each person had a different color and had to follow their yarn, roll it back up in a ball, and it led them to their Christmas Eve package from mom.

Even Dad took part in the chaos.

(Here's my youngest brother Jordan, lost in the yarn)

In everyone's package was their new pajamas (a tradition in our family) and a cozy fleece blanket mom had tied for each of us!

Christmas morning:

(I can't believe how big my "little" brother Daniel is now.... he just barely turned 14....)

The best gift we got for Christmas was the plane tickets that got us out there to Utah! Our wonderful parents bought them for us.

The saddest part about Christmas.....

There were some very special people missing

My sister Megan lives out in Switzerland with her husband Brady and my cute nephew and niece- Kyler and Kahri. WE SURE MISSED YOU GUYS!!!

On Christmas day we headed over to Steve's parent's house where all the family gathered.

Our niece, Emery absolutely LOVES Steve (or Steven as she calls him). He's always on his hands and knees playing with her. And she always wants him to build her a "hut" out of the couch cushions.

What a cute girl she is.

On December 28th, my birthday (that's right, I am now a whole quarter of a century old...) we had a Japanese dinner with my family. Its a little something called shabu-shabu. You cook thinly sliced beef and then an assortment of vegetables and Japanese noodles in a boiling pot of broth. Then you dip your goods in different types of sauces. We don't go quite traditional on the broth (we pretty much make it into miso soup... if you've ever heard of that). It is quite tasty indeed.

The next day we met up with friends in Salt Lake City to go out to dinner. Click here for pictures from that event. It was fun to get together with Steve's buddies (who are now my friends as well, of course).

Steve and I took a quick trip up to Idaho before the new year. We wanted to go see my Grandpa Kirkham. He had a heart attack a month ago and ended up getting open heart surgery where they bypassed 6 arteries! He's 80 years old (almost 81) and is lucky to be recovering. What a blesssing. He got to go home a couple days before our visit, so it was good to be able to spend some time with him and Grandma. I am so grateful for the family I have.

We are back in Toledo, Ohio now. Steve is into his second semester at medical school and we're just pluggin' along out here. Sorry to those we didn't get to see while we were out there in Utah... it seems like vacations always fly by much too quickly.

Merry Christmas!

Well, the Holidays are well under way...

For Thanksgiving, Steve and I were invited to feast with Jon and Keriann. Another couple in our ward, the Hansens, joined us along with Keriann's mom who was in town awaiting the arrival of the new baby! Though Keriann was uncomfortable all day on Thanksgiving, the babe waited until late the next night (actually just after midnight Saturday) to make his appearance.

Hooray for baby James!

What a cutie he is.... and I love just going over to their house and holding him for hours on end!

We are so grateful for our wonderful friends Jon and Keriann and are so happy for them!

I started putting up my Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. It takes me a while to get things done, so I figured I'd start early. Oh, and before that, I painted the other two walls in the living room a tannish color. No more yellow! Hooray!

This morning we got our first taste of Ohio frozen rain.....

While that may just look like a wet car.... it is actually all frozen water! Lots of "fun" to scrape those windows! (by the way, that is actually our neighbors' car.... we had already scraped ours off before I took the pictures)

Right now, as I sit here blogging, Steve is taking his Anatomy exam. It is scheduled from 10 am to 5 pm. Sheesh.... amazing how much there is to know about the human body. He has been studying like a mad man all week, so hopefully all his hard work pays off. I'm sure he'll do great.

So, we fly out on Sunday to head to Utah for Christmas. We will be there until January 4th. It will be so fun to see our families and be with everyone during Christmas and the new year.

Well, until next time..... MERRY CHRISTMAS!