We are headed to,,,

Yep, we are headed to New Jersey!  I know that most people who are reading this already know...but we plan on turning the blog into a book, so this must be documented :)  We were both pretty shocked and even more shocked when we found out that our friends, the Huish's, were going to the same program.

We didn't find out that we were going to New Jersey how we thought we would.  The match was set for April 5 at 11am.  At that time, we could log into Josh's account and see where we were going.  This is how we thought we'd find out and then would have the rest of the day to plan and get excited about wherever we were going.  But a few days before the match we were able to find out.  It was about half passed midnight.  I was asleep.  Josh had just gotten home from playing basketball.  I heard him come in because he was talking on the phone.  Then I heard that we could find out the results of the match.  I jumped up and we went to the computer.  Josh logged in and then had to do a few hacking techniques (just had to manually change the url) and there we had it...We were going to New Jersey.  We told the Nebekers and they came up and looked to see where they were going.  Detroit!  We spent the next hour calling friends and telling them to look.  Josh feel asleep and I just laid there wide awake.  I was up til about 4am!  Needless to say, I was exhausted the next day at work.

Josh wasn't too thrilled about going to New Jersey but only because he really wanted to stay here in Cleveland.  Me?  I'm totally excited.  We will 2.5 hours away from NYC, 3 hours from DC and an hour from Philadelphia.  It will be a great place to live for a few years.  Congrats to Josh for all his hard work in getting us to this point!  We can't wait for this next little adventure.

Saint Patrick's Day

We had a FANTASTIC St. Patty's Day.  The weather here in Cleveland was amazingly warm that week.  It was in the 70s and sunny all week.  No one in Cleveland was complaining.  It was beautiful.  Because St. Patrick's Day fell on a Saturday this year, Josh and I were determined to go to the parade downtown.  We had a blast!  It was super crazy crowded though.  I could not believe how many people were there.  I heard on the radio that they were estimating about half a million people!  It was crazy but fun too see a huge sea of green.

We went with our friends/roommates, the Nebekers.  We had a great time.  The only thing that I didn't like was that there were so many people there that it was hard to see the parade.  We were behind probably 5-6 rows of people. 

Here are some of the pictures we were able to take that looked half way decent.

Gotta love the bagpipes!

Some awsome dancers:

More Dancers.  These kids had to be HOT!  I can't believe they were wearing sweatshirts!

 We really enjoyed the parade, but I'm not sure that we would do it again.  It was just way too crowded.  But that was the first time that I have been to a parade in years!

That afternoon, we met up with all the friends we have that are in our year (4th year podiatry students) for a BBQ and fun and games.  It was a great St. Patrick's Day.  Hope you all enjoyed yours!

4 Years Ago...

Four years ago on March 15, 2008, I married my best friend.  I can't believe how fast time has flown by!  It has been an amazing four years.  We got married in Idaho, lived in Oklahoma, got into podiatry school, moved to Ohio, worked and worked and now we are just about done with school!  It's been a great four years!  We have had so much fun together and have been able to do lots of fun things.  I can't wait to see what the next four years will bring us.  Love you Josh! 

Here are a few pictures of us throughout these last four incredible years.

One of our Engagement pictures-Feb 2008

Wedding Day-March 2008

Ohio-August 2008

1st Anniversary-March 2009

February 2010

July 2011



Update

I think I have sat down to write this post about a dozen times.  Every time I do, I get distracted and

don't finish.  Hopefully this time I will finish :)

Where has time gone?  I can't believe that we are already a full week into March, but I'm not complaining.  Today it was in the upper 60s and sunny!  It was a beautiful day!  I wish we had days like this a little more often.

February was good too us; we can't complain.  We found out that Josh passed boards!  We were both super excited.  One step closer to graduation!  In celebration of passing, we went out to dinner at a delicious Mexican restaurant.  And I made Josh this...

He has been begging me for months to make him a chain count down to graduation.  On the day that we found out he passed, we had about 100 days to go.  We now only have about 73.  These fours years have thankfully flown by!  We are now just waiting to find out where we are going for residency or if we will end up staying in Cleveland for another 3 years.  The anticipation of where we will go is killing us.  We feel like our lives are completely on hold.  We would like to make a few plans but just can't.  We hopefully find out in 5-6 weeks.

In February, our friends, the Waters, came into town for the weekend to visit us!  It was so much fun!  We miss them like crazy.  We had a great weekend that went by too fast.  On Saturday, we went tobogganing at the metroparks here in Cleveland.  It was way fun.  We had a great time.

That night, Valerie and I made it just like old times and went to the movies to watch a chick flick.  We ended up watching "The Vow."  We both enjoyed it.  We had a great weekend!  Thank you, Waters family for coming!  We miss you guys!

Josh is pretty much done with all things school related until graduation.  He's had nothing to do for the last few weeks.  In the coming weeks, he only has to go to the school like 1-2 days a week!  So, he has found himself a temporary job cleaning out a warehouse.  He comes home covered in dust!  But he seems to enjoy working and actually getting paid.  :)  Between this job and his church calling, he is keeping himself pretty busy.

Not a whole lot is new with me.  Just working and working and working.  That seems to be the story of my life.  Overtime has started back up this week.  It will be nice to have that extra money again but it's getting tiring already.  My allergies are driving me nuts!  All this hot cold weather stuff is killing me.  I have been running some these last few weeks when it's been warm enough to do so and I've really enjoyed it.  I just love being outside for a little while and getting some fresh air.

And that's pretty much us at this time.  Hopefully these next few weeks will FLY by so we can find out where we will be living for the next 3 years.

Oklahoma Part 4: Leah's Blessing

Shawnee and James decided to have Leah blessed on New Year's Day so that I would be able to be there.  It was so nice.  I miss too many of these events, so I was so happy they waited til I could be there!

Here's a picture of Stirling.  He was just making funny faces for the camera, but I just loved this picture of him.  He's such a cutie.

And Leah.  She's so adorable.  I'm so glad I got to be there.  She's such a sweet baby! 

Here's most of the guys that were in her blessing circle.  I think we are only only missing David. 

And of course, the cute little family:

Karl and Kathy (James' parents) graciously held a little lucheon for everyone after church.  It was great to get together with everyone afterwards and celebrate.  Congrats Shawnee and James!  Leah is adorable!

I left to come back to Oklahoma the following Monday.  It was not an easy day.  My time in Oklahoma FLEW by.  It felt like I was only there for a few days.  I can't wait to go back home, whenever that will be.  Love you all!

Oklahoma Part 3: Christmas/New Years Party at Mom's

On New Year's Eve, everyone got together at my mom's house for our Christmas/New Year's Ever Party.  It was of course, a lot of fun.  There is never a dull moment in my family.  And we had a blast.  It was nice outside, so we played outside for a little while with all the kids.  Sorry, not that many pictures.  My camera stayed hidden most of the night.

My mom also moved her kitchen table and cleared a space for us to have some fun dancing.  All the kids LOVED it and had a blast.

Logan joined in on the fun dancing too...

Here's James!

Matthew:

Kylie:

Like I said, not that many pictures from this night.  But we did open presents and play games and just laugh together.  It was a great time!  Everyone enjoyed it!  I think we all stayed up til midnight to watch the ball drop, but I'm thinking that we may have actually missed it drop.  I had a great time with my family though!  Thank mom for a fun night!

Oklahoma Part 2: Christmas Party at Dad's

I know, it's sad that it is almost Valentine's Day and I am still catching up on my Christmas posts.  I'm almost done...hopefully.  While I was in Oklahoma, my siblings and their families all got together at my Dad and Nola's house.  We have delicious pizza and other junk food :)  and just had a great time like we always do when we get together.  Here are some pictures that I took while I was there.

Brayden.  I can't believe how old he is now and how big!  It seems like he was born just yesterday.



My Dad!  I love him so much.  He does so much for his kids and always makes sure we get to spend time together as a family.  He is giving someone the evil eye in the picture, but I can assure you, it wasn't meant for me :)

Matthew.  I love this kid.  He is just soo cute!  This was the first I got to see him in a long time.  It makes me sad that him and Kylie don't really know who I am.  It makes me want to definitely live closer.  I love my nephews and nieces!

Oh Kylie!  I just LOVE this picture of her.  She's so pretty!  She's really shy too.

Dad getting to be Grandpa for a little bit with Leah.

Nathan!  That's right, I got a picture of him smiling!  He never smiles; he also didn't know I was taking a picture :)

Emmi.  Always posing :) 

Matthew with his present from the grandparents

The kids all enjoyed opening their presents.  They all then went off to play while we played our annual White Elephant Bingo.  It was fun times.  And Kylie even warmed up to me after a little bit and snuggled with me.

I love spending time with my family.  We always have a blast when we get together.  Thanks Dad and Nola for everything!