Memorial Day in Chicago!

We went to visit Tonya, Jared, and Sam in Chicago last weekend. It was so much fun we hated to leave! We did so many cool things and I hear that was not even the tip of the fun. Here are a few highlights: Eating deep dish pizza at "Gina's", playing at the "beach" or Michigan Lake, visiting a bird and butterfly sanctuary, visiting some of Josh and Jared's old BYU friends, and going to the Museum of Natural Science and Industry (my personal favorit!). Thanks Jared and Tonya for hosting. We miss and love yall.

Little Angels

How did we get so lucky to have three angels sent to us? We are so enjoying having Emma Jean with us. She has brought such a sweet and tender atmosphere to our rather rambunctious crew! The boys play this game where they run up to her and kiss her (as I am gaurding her head so they don't over estimate their stopping point)and then run away and then do it again and again. They get the biggest kick out of running as fast as they can towards her, but as soon as they stop to give her a kiss they pucker up and lay a soft and sweet kiss on her face. It is too cute! (Emma Jean in her 1st dress on her way to church at 7 weeks).

Noah started playing soccer for a little league team called the "Eagles" this year. He hasn't made any goals, but he does great pushing everyone out of the way!

Josh started building a cement patio out back. He dug out the area and then due to the torrential rain we have been having, it has turned into a big lake. Of course all of the threats we waged against the boys couldn't stop them from going out there and playing it. They some how managed to throw every toy in the back yard in the mud without us knowing. It was real fun digging out cars and balls and all kinds of toys once the lake drained.

For Mother's Day 2010, I made headbands for each mother in our family. It was so fun to do and I enjoyed using my creative side that hasn't been used in a while.

I am just beside myself

Well finally! Over a year of trying to figure out how to get to my blog, I think I figured it out. Yes, I am savagely backwards at computer stuff (Josh will tell you that), but I have searched in vain trying to get back to my blog to no avail...until today! Before I write to much, I will post this and make sure it is really real and I'm not just dreaming that it is working again.

Our very own FIRST HOUSE

Hey Everyone!

Yes, we are still alive. A little sick of painting and moving, but we have finally made it to the phase where our house is liveable now. We moved in the beginning of October and have used every spare minute to paint and organize every room of the house. We knew we wanted to paint and carpet, but we never knew it would take so long! We are extremely happy with it all and now look and think it was all worth it. Now it's on to the little projects. Josh's parents came in to town to help us out. They helped us paint the kitchen cabnets, clean, and organize some more. It was such a great gift. Josh is in the middle of making a custom closet for the master bedroom. He is doing a great job and so far it's looking good. I keep teasing him that I hope he doesn't do all this hard work and it collapses on him since he has never done such a project, but he reassures me that it wont and loves to pull me into the closet to show me just how straight EVERY board he puts in is :)

We had a really fun halloween although we have all been sick lately. Noah still has a cough and Eli still has the runny nose and cough. Noah got to carve his first pumpkin. He did really well helping take out all the gooey insides and loved watching the candle burn inside the pumpkin. This year it was all about pumpkins. Every where we went he was sure to point out the pumpkins along the way.

They were really cute as Spiderman and a Panda Bear. We dressed up as well for our ward trunk-or-treat as a witch and whatever you want to call josh. People would ask him what he was and he would just say "I just got off work!?!" People weren't sure to take that as a garbage man, consturction worker, janitor??? It was pretty funny. Noah wasn't much in to dressing up in his costume. I planned on painting his face red and letting him wear his spiderman hat, but we did well to get him into his spiderman sweats. He was a little grumpy until we started getting candy to put into his pumpkin bag and then he was all smiles! Every time I turned around he had a mough full of candy. Now when he wakes up or see's me he says "need some candy". What have we gotten ourselves into???

I have been called as Enrichment Leader so I have been busy helping plan our last activity of the year. I also helped get a play school group together and we started that last week. It was really fun! 6 toddlers running around was quite a handful, but Noah loved having so many friends to play with. I plan on starting music makers the beginning of the year. It's taken me a while to get organized enough to do it, but I am excited to get it going now that we are settled a little more.

We are really starting to enjoy it here. We have met lots of great friends, neigbors, strangers even. People love to talk to you around here. I love the change of season and look forward to some cold weather...I actually get to wear my coats I've had stored up for years.

Well, I figured it was time for an update. Hope all is well and that we get an update from you soon. Take care and enjoy the holidays!

love always,Valerie

Down Yonder

Yep, my southern accent and roots are coming back all to easily. It's fun to hear people around here talk with their southern accent because I remember when mine used to be pretty thick. I continually tease Josh that are kids are going to talk like that so he better not laugh too hard at some of these southerners.

Memphis has been an adjustment for us. I feel like things are going well since I've made some friends and am getting oriented to the area without the mountains and the ocean to be my constant guides. Noah and Eli are growing so fast. Noah is talking in sentences now and Eli can roll over and over. They love to be by each other and are becoming fast friends. They actually share the same room for now. Hopefully not for long once we move so we can all get some sleep around here. Which brings me to our most exciting news...we had an offer accepted on a house! Yep, we are buying or very first home if all goes well. I have been so excited to decorate and make it our own which hasn't been easy with our budget. But, it is always fun to look and dream. Yardsales are big out here. People are hard core about it too! People map out where they will go and get up at 5am to start shopping. It is crazy. Since people love to shop yardsales, the sellers want full prices for things. It is pretty ridiculous. So, I haven't been able to even buy things at yardsales. I suppose we will be able to put our house together eventually. We do have 5 years here :)

Well, I need to go but just wanted to say hi to yall and give you a little update on us. We can't wait to get settled and start the memphis dream.

Olympics

So I've been watching the Olympics and talking with people and I've come to the conclusion that there are some seriously lame "sports" out there. There should be an "almost-Olympics" to accomodate these "athletes". My top three...

3. Rythmic Gymnastics- ok so I have never actually sat and watched this, but I've seen pictures. I struggle to call anything that involves twirling around with a long string a sport. Seriously...

2. Speed walking- These guys just look plain goofy. The whole time I saw this I was thinking- just run you idiot, run! This is the equivalent of having a contest of who can whisper the loudest. I think the only time this "sport" would come in handy is if you are on one side of a Super Walmart and suddenly realize you got to get to the bathrooms on the other side really quick.

1. Trampoline- Wow, when did this become a sport!?! This is every 10-12 year olds shot at an Olympic medal. I am just wondering when they will add "popcorn" (you know the game where you sit indian style and the person in the middle tries to bounce you so hard you let go) to the Olympic repetoire. When it does, I'll be ready...

An intro into our wonderful world in Memphis

It is 4:29am and things are finally slowing down in the ER tonight so I figured now would be as good a time as any to start writing our blog. Besides I figure that being a little tired will improve the entertainment value.

I guess for starters, if you haven't heard, I finally graduated. I know it seems amazing. In fact I am sure some of you probably thought I had graduated years ago like most normal people, but in fact, I hadn't...until June. I actually had finished all my business school work and medical school rotations by the end of april so after an amazing surf weekend up at a beach house in Ventura, we headed to Utah to spend a month with family. Then in June we made the long treck out to Memphis, Tennesse where I was starting an Orthopaedic Surgery residency at the Campbell Clinic.

For those who have never had the pleasure of driving through Nebraska or Kansas with two kids under the age of 2, let me simply say you are missing out. That will most certainly be a trip I won't soon forget.

We have now been in Memphis for a couple months. I am not sure what else to say about that. It has been...interesting. Val tells me it get really hot. For me it is almost always 70 degrees with a whiteish-flourescence (like it is right now).

We have been living in an apartment while we have been house hunting. It is a fairly spacious 2 bedroom apartment, but then I think anything would seem spacious after living with 2 kids in a 1 bedroom, 800sq foot place.

The definite upside of Memphis is that we can actually afford a house. In fact we could pay cash for some of the houses here. Of course there are definite drawbacks to those houses- like getting shot at every morning as you got in your car that had been broken into again. I am not sure I am quite ready to join the Memphis Knife and Gun Club so, we decided to suck it up and take out a loan to live in a "safe" area (which means not actually living in Memphis, or anywhere near Memphis). After putting several offers on houses and always getting out bid, we found out Friday that the latest house we put an offer was accepted. We are now in the process of signing the contract and getting the ball rolling to closing on the house. Yes, I am nearly a home owner.

The house is about 2700 sq ft and has 5 bedrooms/3 baths on a 1/3 acre. It is a foreclosure so we are getting a pretty good deal on the place and it is actually in fairly good condition. I guess I should send a thank you to Countrywide and all of those other shady mortgage companies. It is only about 5 minutes away from one of the private clinics I will work at alot over the next 58 1/2 months (not that I am counting). We have some big plans, particularly for the backyard and I must admit I am excited to go to work on it. The neighborhood is nice and it is right down the street from our church. All in all we feel pretty good about it. Hopefully everything will go through without any problems.

Well I need to wrap this up so I can go save lives... or just give some fluids to your run of the mill crackhead/drunk. Yes, I am living the dream!

Well we finally decided to start a blog