Whoa, I have a minute

It has been ages since I did a blog post, but tonight I had an uncommon thing happen--I didn't have anything to do.  It was a weird out-of-body feeling.  At first I stood there for several seconds as I tried to remember if there were any to-dos I had just forgotten.    I found myself actually going on Facebook and actually reading my friends blogs--two things I've been wanting to do for a long time.  Then I thought I ought to update this blog since I have been terrible about keeping it up.  I think its been almost six months since my last post.  That is awful!

Our family has been busy but doing great. We are so excited for baby #2, due December 21.  For those who hadn't heard, it is a little girl.  A few months ago Ben and I were discussing names, and we both agreed that we like the name Lily.  That name has kind of stuck (since there are very few names we can agree on), so that will probably end up being it unless she comes out looking very un-Lily-ish.

Ben's second year has been busy but not too terrible.  We had heard from all of our med school friends who are farther along that second year is a lot worse than first, which really scared, but we've just had to get used to a new study routine.  Ben has a test every third week.  The first week is pretty laid back.  He gets home around 5:00 p.m. and studies maybe one to two more hours that evening.  The second week is a bit harder.  He is available for just a couple of hours every night.  The third week is pretty rough.  I basically don't see him till after 10:30 p.m. every night.  Since there is some ebb and flow, it is manageable, and every third weekend he is completely free, which is nice.  I have our third weekends all planned out for the next few months.  From what he's said, school is more interesting this year.  He actually gets to study things related to the practice of medicine as opposed to general science classes (which I thought we had covered in undergrad).

My work has been about as perfect for our situation as can be hoped for, especially for an attorney job.  I work 8-5.  The atmosphere is pretty low stress.  I have only had a handful of stressful days.  Some of the work can be tedious, but overall I like it.  The firm does all public education law.  I've had some interesting issues to handle too--some special ed legal issues, some religion issues, and some cases involving theft by employees.  I was also in charge of 5-6 employee grievances and got to attend a couple of grievance hearings.  It wasn't quite as exciting as going to court, but I'll take what I can get.

Whitney is doing awesome.  She is developing so quickly these days.  Her sentences are getting long.  Just tonight she said something like, "mommy, hear that sound outside?"  Every once and awhile she will come out with a few words that are strung together in a comprehensible fashion like that, and it kind of surprises me.  Sometimes she seems more like a kid than a baby, and that is just weird.  She is turning 2 in two weeks.  Next weekend we are having a joint friend birthday party with five other kids who are turning 2 in our ward (crazy, huh?).  We are doing some hot dogs and games at a park.  I'll try to post some video.  

Ben said I should post some pictures, so here are a few pictures our friend Marissa took of us back in May.

  

.

Easter Morning/Mini travel log

We hope you all had a happy Easter.  We had a wonderful day.  We did a little Easter egg hunt in the morning.  Whitney really seemed to enjoy it.  It has been fun to see her actually start to participate in holiday traditions.  Last year we did a hunt, but of course she was oblivious to what was happening.  Here's a little video I took of Whitney: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHR0wyGdoz0.  We were also fortunate to be invited to an Easter dinner that night at a friend's house.  The friend's family was there as well.  It was so nice to go to a family dinner, even though it wasn't necessarily our family.  

Life has been the same as usual, but there have been a few events of note since I last wrote (which was ages ago, I know).  During Ben's spring break in March we decided to go on a little family trip to San Antonio.  I had no idea San Antonio would be such a charming city.  We went on the famous River Walk our first night there, and it was gorgeous.  For those who have never heard of it, the city created a 5 mile (maybe) river running through downtown below the street level.  On either side of the river are tons of restaurants and interesting shops.  It is really beautiful at night when all of the shops are lit up and you can see the large sky scrapers towering above you.  I'd describe it as a metropolitan version of Venice.  The only unpleasant thing was all of the crowds.  It was spring break for the whole state of Texas and it seemed like the whole state of Texas decided to go to San Antonio.  Thankfully there was a boatride that we were able to take down most of the river.  Our second day in San Antonio we went to Sea World.  I'd never been.  The highlights of the day were feeding the dolphins and seeing the Shamu show.

 

The next week we spontaneously decided to head to New Orleans to watch BYU play in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA playoffs.  The game was a bit disappointing, but the trip was really fun.  We went with a few of our med school friend-couples, all of whom would make any trip fun anyway.  The second day we were there we took a swamp tour and saw a few gators.  None of them were more than four feet long, but I was secretly grateful for that, especially since Whitney kept sticking her fingers over the side of the boat. We also spent a day in the French Quarter. The French Quarter is beautiful, and cultural, but quirky.  It reminded me a bit of London, full of history and beautiful architecture, but also full of extreme pop culture and crazy drunken people.  For those reasons, it is a definite must-see.  I think it is one of the most culturally interesting places in the US, with an identity all its own.  It, of course, is influenced by France in its buildings, food, etc.  But all of that is mixed with a southern flavor--adding its elements of mysticism, jazz, and a general edginess you really can't find anywhere else.  

  My mom also visited the week before our trips, which was so fun.  I got to see a lot of things in Dallas I wouldn't have taken the trouble to see otherwise.  I look forward to my sister coming in a couple of weeks!

That's about it on the home front! We love you all!

Back in the saddle again

This month has been all about getting back into the groove of things after our fabulous time with family and friends over Christmas break.  Back into school, back into looking for a job, and back into doing whatever it is Whitney and I do during the day.  Things have been good, but it was pretty depressing the first couple of weeks we were back.  We have been fairly productive this month, though.

Ben's been working as hard as ever in school.  He has done awesome on his first couple of graded tests, which is encouraging.  He really wants to get into an ophthalmology residency (and I want him to get the one, yes, one only, ophthalmology residency in Utah), and he is going to need to do well to get it.  Whether he gets it will depend upon a few things.  One, he'll have to get in the top half of his class at least.  Two, he will have to do well on "Step 1", the first part of the boards.  You take "Step 2" closer to the end of medical school, and I guess there is also a "Step 3" during residency.  Three, he'll have to get some impressive extracurricular stuff under his belt too.  It's like applying for medical school all over again.  He likes ophthalmology because he is very interested in eyes.  It is a nice combination of things.  You generally work good hours.  You get some laid back time where you just have office visits.  And you get to do surgery, which is both interesting and lucrative.

Medical students kid that there are four residencies that are the most desirable.  It is called the "ROAD" to happiness.  "R" being radiology,  "O" being ophthalmology,  "A" being anesthesiology, and "D" being dermatology.  They are desirable because they are some of the highest paying medical jobs, and they are mostly 8-5, and sometimes less hours than that.  We'll see if things are not a bit less rose-colored in reality.    

I've had a fairly busy month.  I ran a half marathon last Saturday.  I did it in 1:55, which is 15 minutes faster than my last half marathon time.   I've also been doing a lot more with my calling.  I got called to be the Mia Maid Advisor in addition to being the Personal Progress leader.  I am in charge of one activity a month--the personal progress activity.  So, I did that this month.  I also did a big part of our New Beginnings Program, helped plan the last stake dance, and helped with the girls' camp fundraiser--a dinner and dessert auction, which actually turned out great.   That, in addition to applying for jobs every day, has made a busy month.

Whitney also had the blues for awhile after coming back to Texas, but I think she is back into her routine and pretty happy.  We signed up for a weekly gym class at the city rec center.  "Class" consists of playing with toys, balls, and trikes; jumping around in the large bouncy houses; crawling through a couple of little toddler obstacle courses; and doing a musical activity with the group.  She loves it!  It is one of the highlights of the week.  We also do a playgroup with a bunch of the women in the ward.  A couple of weeks ago I also started doing some routine little lessons with just her and me.  We spend ten minutes learning about a subject (that's the length of her attention span). So far we've learned about body parts, animals, and objects around the house.  Then we do either music time, art time, or puzzles.  Its been nice to have some structured play time.  It helps the morning go faster for me, anyway.

Whitney is also doing great with her walking.  She is walking most of the time.  She is also REALLY into bracelets, necklaces, and balls right now.  Its pretty fun to watch her walk around all decked out with bracelets and necklaces.

I'm working on posting some random videos we took this last month.  So, keep watching.