I met Ellen!!!

...oh yeah and I won a trip to New Orleans.

My good friend Laura and I went to the Ellen Degeneres show today. I was picked from the crowd to go up on stage and play a game. I totally lost the game but got the same prize as the winner anyways. If anyone is bored and wants to see me look like a total goof ball I'll be on Tues. Feb. 5th, the kick off for Mardi Gras week.

Pics from our VA trip

I've been wanting to post these pictures since November when we went to Virginia and I never got around to it. So months later, here they are...

These first two, Jared took of Richmond when he did an externship during the summer. This area called Belle Isle or Island (not sure which) is on the James River. It has all kinds of things to do there, swimming, biking, climbing walls, etc. and it's only about 10 min. from the school.

We spent the night in DC before we flew back home.

Sam's favorite part of the trip was the moving walkway at the airport.

Match Day

VCU here we come!!!!

This morning we were awakened by a phone call by Jared's soon-to-be chief resident who congratulated him on matching.

We are so excited to go to VCU in Richmond, VA. I went with Jared to the interview back in November and fell in love with VA all over again (I went to high school there and loved it). I still need to post pictures of our trip so I'll do that soon.

I'm back...

Okay, I know my last post was Dec. 1st so now it's almost February and I'm ready to come back to the blogging world.

December recap:

Jared took a mock board exam (a practice licensure exam) and I was his not only a patient but also an assistant for him. It was fun to work with him and kind of cool to see what he does all day, plus I got essentially free dental work and got to wear scrubs.

I turned 28. I'm getting so old.

Jared finally finished with his interviews. We are grateful for the interviews he was able to go to but I am really glad that it is over (we'll find out in a few days where we are going).

Christmas was so much fun. Jared totally surprised me with a sweet rode bike. I used his old mountain bike to go to work before I had Sam. It is a totally different experience to ride a bike that actually fits you. I love it. I tried to surprise Jared with a wii but I did such a good job of hiding it that he bought one too and spoiled the surprise. I don't know if I've ever been able to surprise him...maybe one day.

January recap:

New Years resolutions:

Lose a few pounds. We'll see if that happens.

Write in my journal and read my scriptures every day. I really started this in November and have actually done it every day even if my journal entry is one line.

Be more charitable.

I chopped my hair. (I only used these pictures because they show how short my hair is.)

I chopped Sam's hair. His hair now looks like Loyd's from Dumb and Dumber. I think I'll be taking him to a barber from now on.

Sam being Sam

I have been so blessed with such a good kid. It seems like everyday his little personality comes out a little more. He is so sweet but has a lot of energy and loves to explore everything. He's not cuddly at all but in the last few days has started to give me hugs and kisses. He's always smiling and laughing. He laughs at everything. I love it. Here are some random pictures I have recently taken of him.
How could anyone resist this little face?

My 2 favorite boys.

Life doesn't get much better than this; chips and a kid in a box. (One day, Jared suddenly had to run out, an hour or two later and a trip to Costco, this is what he came back with, just the chips, not Sam.)

I am thankful for Thanksgiving.

I love Fall, all the holidays (Halloween to Christmas) and birthdays. I love the colder weather, here it fluctuates from hot to a mild chill (but it does get cold enough to wear sweaters). I love wearing sweaters, drinking hot chocolate, and eating tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. I love being outside, the changing colors of the leaves, hearing the crunch of leaves under your feet. I think there is even a better smell outside during this time of year. It's a great time of year.
This Thanksgiving we spent down here in southern CA with our good friends, the Craguns. They have 3 adorable boys with one that is just a few weeks younger than Sam.

This one is mine, don't get confused by his awesome pilgrim hat that Tanner made for him. We had a great time over there. Thanks Craguns for letting us crash your Thanksgiving.

On one of my friend's blogs she did a week of Thanksgiving. Each day she named something for which she was thankful. I love that idea and I'm going to borrow it for next year, D'Lonna I hope you don't mind. This year though I'll name my top 3 things.

1. I am thankful for my family of course. I have an amazing husband and son. They mean the world to me. I can't imagine my life without them.

2. I am thankful for the atonement. Again I can't imagine my life without the knowledge of it.

3. I am thankful that dental school hasn't been as bad as everyone told us it was going to be, at least for me (Sorry and thank you Babe). :) I'm grateful that Jared has been able to spend so much time with our little family. I don't think residency will be this nice to us.

Sam's birthday

I'm sorry I've been a little slow on blogging lately. I have a hard time getting anywhere near a computer while Sam is awake. If he sees me on it, he wants on it so I've been trying to avoid it as much as possible. I know Sam's birthday was over a month ago but I was waiting to get some pictures from his little birthday party. Jared and I took 2 cameras to it but both had dead batteries so we came home without any pictures from his birthday. I did take some pictures the next morning with his new Mickey Mouse airplane walker/rider. He was pretty excited.

The morning started out a little rough after finding out that the box the airplane came in was not that great for climbing on.

But he soon forgot about the box after he found out he could use his airplane for exercising. Up.

Down.

Up.

This is my favorite picture of the morning. He looks like a little man.