Two weeks ago we went to Arkansas to visit Ben's grandparents. It was a welcome break after "Blacktober", the first couple of weeks in October during which the first year medical students have a ton of tests. I had no idea Arkansas was so beautiful! It is covered with rolling hills and dense woods. I was particularly pleased to see the autumn leaves coming out. The drive was about 6 1/2 hours. Whitney handled it pretty well. It was great to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Buckner. They kept us entertained with their stories. They have both had such interesting lives! They also drove us out to a beautiful man-made lake near their home. Whitney had a blast crawling around after their dog and watching their domesticated flying squirrel.
Ben's white coat ceremony was two Saturdays ago. The ceremony is kind of an induction into the medical field even though he doesn't really know anything yet and has no authority to do anything. At least now he kind of looks legit. The ceremony consisted of four faculty speakers and then each student was presented with their white coat. I posted some pictures below and a video of Ben getting his coat at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JZSTUOO784. The second picture is Ben and his mentor Dr. Nesbitt by a banner for his college. The student body is divided into 6 colleges. Each college has a group of doctors who are assigned to mentor six students in each year.
On a semi-related note, if you love the "I'm on a boat" skit on SNL, you will probably like this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfoR96w41wk. It's called "I wear a coat" and it was done by some of the medical students at Ben's school. It is hilarious.
The night of the ceremony we went to our ward's "Trunk or Treat." I'm embarrassed to say I had never heard of a "Trunk or Treat" before we moved to Texas. I've always lived in neighborhoods where there was no question whether kids were safe going to complete strangers homes late at night. I suppose in Dallas it is a different story. For those who, like myself, had never heard of it before, it is essentially trick or treating in a parking lot out of people's trunks (if that wasn't obvious enough). Several of the trunks were decked out with halloween decor. Our trunk was pretty bare except for the jack o' lanterns we had carved earlier that day. The highlight of the night was watching Whitney and her friend Maggie crawl around in their butterfly costumes. I also posted a picture of her with Hudson, one of her other little friends. It was taken at a Halloween party we had a couple of weeks ago with some of the married MS1 students and their wives.
Not much else is new. Oh yeah, I passed the Texas Bar Exam! Woohoo! We miss you all!
