"Chrissy, we're living the dream...

...We own a house AND a pitcher plant!"

This is a quote from Nick as we were getting ready for church this morning. I laughed pretty hard when he said it. Nick has wanted a pitcher plant our entire marriage, but we never fulfilled the dream until yesterday when we purchased Penelope, the Pitcher Plant, at Lowe's. We also bought another Venus flytrap which we have named Travis II (in loving memory of the one we had back in Provo for a year and a half).

Here are a few pictures:

Penelope

Travis II

We like the red traps!

After the second week...

Here are a few of my thoughts after the first two weeks of medical school.

1. Anatomy here is very different from anatomy at BYU. Before, I had to be able to memorize where a structure was and what it was called. We did everything by system, not by region. Here, I have to know where everything is, where it is in relation to everything around it, what it is called, and what it does. I am grateful for my previous anatomy experience, but this is a whole new way to learn and think about anatomy.

2. I am still figuring out the best way to study. I was mostly independent as an undergrad, with a few study partners/groups. After I got married, I studied less and still did okay. Here I have largely avoided studying after I come home around 6:00 and I didn't really study this weekend either. I think I am going to have to gear up for my first pre-test week and study more than I have been to be prepared for my first round of tests just after Labor Day.

3. I think I will enjoy the clinical things, but right now I still feel more like a scientist. This was evident in our first Problem Based Learning (PBL) Session. We are in small groups with a faculty facilitator and are given a clinical case. We get a few bits of information at a time and are supposed to generate our own questions and answers about the case. A few in our group wanted to triage our discussion to focus on the most acute clinical needs, avoiding the finer details and physiologic principles. As I understand it, that is not the purpose of the session. We are supposed to use the session to generate questions and answer them. We do not have the patient in front of us and there is no right or wrong way to go about discussing the case. Our facilitator was even encouraging our side-tracking to learn more of the details. My curiosity to learn all I could was stifled by those in our group who are more clinically-minded wanted to fix the patient as soon as possible and get out of there (we did end about thirty minutes early). One sort of usurped the authority of the facilitator and took control when he felt we were wasting time in the details. Another threw out all the "right" answers since he has much more experience than the rest of us, but didn't explain his answers to the rest of us. I think we know the right thing now for the patient, but I don't think any of us learned anything. I plan to write our facilitator before the next session requesting an open discussion of our objectives for the PBL sessions--refining clinical judgment, or learning about the issues inherent in the case.

4. Dissecting human cadavers is VERY tedious and difficult, but rewarding.

5. I like Denver a lot!

So there are a few random thoughts. A family from Church has invited us over for dinner, so I've got to go get things ready. There's one more thing I want to write about but Christina already spoke for it so I'll let her...

-Nick

First Mortgage Payment

Today we paid our very first mortgage payment! Though I'm sure we will not be nearly so excited to pay our mortgage in the future, this first one seems to symbolize our fresh new status as home owners. It has been a lot of fun so far.

I will probably look back at this post and laugh :)

I'm In!

Hello all! You may have noticed that Nick has been the only one posting for a while. Well, he sent me an invite to be an administrator, and it expired while I was at Girl's Camp :) But now I'm officially in, and I can post on our bog.

Life is good. I have been called to the Primary Presidency as the secretary in our new ward. I have my first presidency meeting at 1:00 this afternoon, and I will be set apart tonight. I have also taken up a fun new exercise routine called Jazzercize, and it's free if I do 2 hours of babysitting a week. It's been very fun: all I have to do is play with 5-6 kids for an hour before I exercise! And frankly, if I didn't have a prior commitment to wake up and be there to watch the kids, I might not be motivated to go. It's definitely a win/win situation.

I have taken up an old habit of reading cookbooks for an hour or so a day. I had to stifle this desire while I was doing my Masters because it distracted me from doing school work, but now I can do it all I want! I am trying out a new creamy carrot soup tonight for dinner. We'll see how it goes.

I met Nick's new second year "buddy" and his wife yesterday--Brent and Brenna. I love them already! Brenna works at a school nearby and told me she would hand out my information to her students if I made a card advertising music lessons. She works at a school close by, so many of her students likely live in our neighborhood. I am excited to start teaching again.

Tomorrow night we leave for Vegas for to see Daniel's wedding (my little brother). Though we closed on our house July 17th, and moved in the next day, I still have not been home for a full two week stretch. But our little excursions to Utah and Vegas have been very fun.

So there it is, my first post! Now, how about I invite some people to get on here and read it.... :)

Denver Botanical Gardens

So after the Family Day at the medical school, we went to the Denver Botanical Gardens. I didn't really know what to expect, but I must say they exceeded my expectations. Here are a few of my favorite pictures:








-Nick

White Coat Weekend

After a week of orientation, retreat, and mingling with new classmates, it was time to be inducted to the medical profession. Christina, my mother, father, mother-in-law, and grandmother-in-law came to my White Coat Ceremony on Thursday. I enjoyed the speakers, particularly the keynote speaker who talked about the art of medicine, the responsibility of being entrusted with patients' health, and maintaining your sense-of-self as a doctor, among other things. After listening to a few speeches and the presentation of some other awards, I was presented with my white coat and stethoscope.

As I sat through the rest of the ceremony I specifically noticed the weight of the stethoscope around my neck. It made me think of the weight of the medical profession. I will decisions every day that change lives. I will be my patients' advocate. I will be entrusted with intimate details of my patients' lives. I will have to break bad news to families in a sensitive, appropriate way. I will be obligated to weigh in on policy decisions at a national and institutional level. I will be required to stay abreast of new developments to offer my patients the best care available. Most of all, I will have to sacrifice precious time with family to serve others. I am sure I am not even aware of all the demands and challenges of medicine, but I am confident I will find my career exciting and rewarding.


Yesterday was Family Day at the medical school. They brought out the good food for the parents (better than most of what we had been eating at other Orientation week activities), and then treated us to a round of entertaining, informative lectures from some popular faculty members. Then we had a student panel who responded to questions about how to survive the first year, how to balance school with family, etc.


We loved the time with family and appreciate their support of us during this phase of our lives. When I have a few extra minutes, I will post about what we did after Family Day at the Denver Botanical Gardens. Until next time...

Our Impromptu Adventure

At the suggestion of Chrissy's father, we decided to take a detour to Arches National Park on our way home from a funeral in Las Vegas. We are so glad he had the idea, because we loved exploring all the beautiful formations in the park. Taking random get-away trips may be a little more difficult when I am busy with school and when we have kids. It was great to take advantage of such a golden opportunity. Here are some our our favorite pictures:

Me and Chrissy at Arches

Me and Chrissy at Delicate Arch

Chrissy and the parched earth

Chrissy and me in front of the Fiery Furnace.

Here we are in front of the Balanced Rock formation.


I thought the Balanced Rock needed a little help balancing.

There are so many incredible things to see in this world and many of them are very close by. I am excited to explore the mountains in Colorado and take more detours to see the parks in Utah when we travel to visit family.

Tomorrow I start my medical school orientation week. I am not sure exactly what is going on tomorrow, except that we are taking pictures for our ID badges. The goatee you see me sporting in these pictures will be gone tomorrow. It was only intended as a surprise for Chrissy after she came home from a week in Utah, but it "grew on me." Still, I decided to shave it off for my official picture. Maybe it will return in the future... Anyway, Tuesday and Wednesday we have a retreat at a resort called Winter Park. Thursday we have course orientation and a White Coat Ceremony. Friday is mini-Med School where they bring in the best lecturers and teach our families. Last year the families even had to take a test. We'll see how much Dad remembers!

I am excited for this new phase in our lives. I know we are where we are supposed to be and I know we have wonderful experiences ahead of us.