December Festivities

I realized that if I put posting off any longer we are all going to regret it. So here is a sum of activities I've been involved in since I found out I got into dental school.

I finally received my final grade in Biochemistry this week after taking the final December 13th. A two week turn around is pretty decent for this class. Yes, I passed and received the grade I need, it's pretty much official that I'm in.

Life in dental private practice is good. I love the people I work with and we all had a blast celebrating the holidays. I went out with Dr. Barnett's office on the first night of Hannukah. I enjoyed learning more about the holiday and being out with the girls from the office. We had dinner at a hole in the wall Italian place. Dr. Barnett spoiled us with gifts and we ate bricks of death (large loaves of garlic bread with what must be a pound of butter on each serving).


Dr. Barnett's Office Celebration

Dr. Quinn took our office to a nearby spa to celebrate the end of the year and Christmas. I enjoyed a full body massage and pampering. It's always fun to get out of the office and just laugh.

We spent the week before Christmas in Texas with Tim, Audrey and Lillie and Sam. I enjoyed chatting with Audrey, hiking, checking out snakes and incorporating Lillie's daily naps into our vacation. (I really think we should get these as adults too). See Jason's recent post for more pictures.


Hiking at a Texas State Park

I was also thrilled to see Stephanie. We were able to go out to dinner and have a fabulous time. It was definitely one of the highlights of this year's Christmas. I know you are all incredibly jealous...and you should be. We have decided that we must have a roommate reunion. We though sometime in 2032 would be good, kids would be out of the house and hopefully we will be able to get the time off. Can you plan that far ahead? Of course earlier times would work to if we could pull it off. I just want to restate what we already know - you are all the best. I feel incredibly blessed to have you for friends. Few things are as valuable as knowing that despite the time and distance we still know how to have fun with one another and enjoy the ups and downs of life.


Stephanie and I Out to Dinner

Jason worked Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Thus, I drove to Madison and had dinner and fun with my family. Unfortunately, we had so much fun we forgot to call my brother who is serving a mission in Las Vegas. The poor kid definitely has middle child syndrome. We spent Christmas day sledding and cross country skiing. Rachel and I are still working on our coordination but it's a fun way to get through the winter here. It's also quiet and beautiful, two of my favorite things.


Our Gingerbread House Under Construction Christmas Day, Emily Mom and I were the Engineers


The Finished Gingerbread House


Cross Country Skiing in Sheehan Park with Mom as Photographer Christmas Day

Ho, Ho, Ho!!!

Hey Merry Christmas ya'll!! Hope you all had a great day and that Santa was good to you. I'll post some pics as soon as Mike gets em off his camera.

Last Saturday....

Ok... last Saturday we had one of those nice slow moving lazy mornings. Shannon got up with Mike to help him make breakfast.


Pancakes and scrambled eggs: YUMMMMM!

Here's Zubby making one of his weird smiles. This is before he started flinging his scrambled eggs around the kitchen.

This is a picture that Shannon took of Cameron and my legs. Like my camo socks?


What?! You are putting this picture of me on the blog?


As you can see, Shannon likes to make odd faces, especially for the Camera. Shocking I know. Where could she have gotten such an odd trait?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LE

So happy birthday LE even though no one knows where you are and we haven't heard from you in like a million years...we still want to wish you a happy day and perhaps somehow in cyberspace you will get this and smile!

Love ya!

You got it Becca!

Ok, so I've added Colette's blog...can you guys send me the links to the others and I'll add them for all to enjoy?

Dental School Updates

Friday morning (November 30th) I checked my email and opened a letter with the subject: Congratulations from the U of M School of Dentistry. I anxiously opened it and found out I have been accepted to the dental program for the class of 2012. (I don't like to think about that number because it seems so far away. It will come regardless of whether or not I'm in school.) Besides, it's a four year investment for a lifetime of benefits.

The initial email didn't actually have my name in it. So before I got too excited I decided to call the school and confirm. The admissions woman I've been working with answered right away. I told her who I was and she asked how I was doing. I said I was doing good (I know that's not proper grammar), and she responded that I should be. That's when I said, so the email is real? I was concerned it could have been a mix up of some sort. It's the real deal though, I'll receive my official letter soon and then I'll have 45 days to confirm my spot with a $1000 deposit. They said it was an exceptionally tough year and that I congratulations were definitely in order.

Before screaming to the world the good news, I wanted to hear back from Marquette first. (I knew they were sending out results to arrive in the mail on the first.) Marquette has placed me on a hold list. They are going to further debate my application and get back to me in the middle of January. Unless they make a decision earlier than that, it will have been past my deadline for Minnesota. I kind of feel like Marquette is playing with me. The interviewers were not the nicest when I went there and I think the admissions committee is toying with me to see how committed I really am. In other words, am I willing to risk losing my spot at Minnesota in order to get in there. While financially Marquette would make a lot more sense ... why would I turn down a school that's excited to have me for another that has been far less interested?

Nothing is final yet. I still have to achieve a certain grade in my biochemistry course before everything is official. (Due to the challenge of long distance learning and poor access to lecture presentations, this is actually a factor. I have two weeks until the end of the course though and then we'll know.)

Jason has been the best. This means that he won't be applying to all of the programs he would have if I weren't going to dental school. Minnesota has been good to us in so many ways albeit cold. We are confident that things will work out for him, either in obtaining a residency there or getting a good position. As excited as I am about being accepted, I am starting to realize that this is definitely not the easy way through life. However, it's a good choice for us and will open many opportunities for us to grow, learn and serve.

Rachel the cutie

Becca asked about a post of mine that disappeared--I don't think I've posted here for a while. Maybe you're thinking of the post on the tucsoncampbells.blogspot.com site. Anyway, I thought I'd put a couple pictures of the cute kid here, too, for your viewing pleasure.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Jason was fortunate enough to get Thanksgiving off, so the two of us headed to my parents' home in Madison. Rachel met us there and came with three of her Navy buddies. The food was great and the company even better.

Friday, Rachel, my parents and I went to an attraction called House on the Rock. It began as a person's uniquely architectured home and turned into something between a museum and curiosity collection. It has several mechanical bands, instruments and even an orchestra. Most of the "house" is darkly lit but has all sorts of interesting antiques. I included a picture of a dental office set up from somewhere around 1900. You wouldn't believe how many people I have tell me how they wished they could still spit into the spittoon type device on the side of the chair. This chair had one of the originals - no plumbing. How disgusting is that? You can check out their pictures (which have better lighting) at http://www.thehouseontherock.com/HOTR_Attraction_PhotoGallery.htm

That evening we went to one of Curtis' favorite haunts. My mom and dad had their first climbing and belaying experiences - they did quite well. We all enjoyed finding our inner spider and defying gravity. (Rachel opted out on account of her healing foot.)

Jason is currently preparing his residency application to submit or change as needed depending on what we hear from the schools I have applied to. This is kind of a nail biting couple of weeks coming up. On the other hand, we've been waiting for these results for years.

We are here!

Ok... so we are planted here in CT. My computer just got set up so thats my excuse for not having written before. I don't want to show you pictures yet, either, because I have yet to finish unpacking the den and my bedroom and the walls are still naked and need some adornment. That should get finished up this week and then I will post some pictures, though you must keep in mind that I will still need to do some painting. That is going to happen slowly... room by room, so we decided to unpack everything first and then deal with the painting. We've met some of our neighbors who seem really nice. They actually came and introduced themselves! I thought that was quite nice of them. One lady even brought over a cake and a couple little stuffed animals for the kids. Super nice. Anyways, we should get ourselves all unpacked soon and that will be AWESOME. The ward here is great and we feel like we are already making some friends (shocking, I know, but I lure them in to be my friends using my cute kids). Congrats to Colette and George on the birth of their adorable little Spike. And yes, we must find LE!!!

Find LE...

LE, LE - where are you???

Ok so has anyone seen or heard from that girl because I'm about to put her picture on a milk carton!!

P.S. congrats to the Campbells for lil' baby SPIKE!! Lots of love from Texas!

Marquette Dental School Interview

I was going to post pictures from Rachel's corpman school graduation and the NBA Bucks game we saw last weekend but ran into some technical errors. They will be coming soon.

Until then, I'm sure you are all dying to know how my Marquette Dental School went. I think it stunk. There wasn't a lot that I could do about it. Before the interview, I didn't know how a dental school interview could possibly go wrong...now I know. I interviewed with the only two women on the admissions board. They smiled when they greeted me but that was about it. They had a chip on their shoulder about my application before we even got started. I sat in a medium sized conference room that normally sits say 12. A chair was left for me at the head of the table and I had an interviewer on each side about four feet away. My file was out in front of them and the questioning began. It started out fine - but these two were definitely all business.

They asked questions like; what I thought would be the three most challenging aspects of dental school. (Balancing school/life, achieving a solid foundation for a career and I can't remember the third I responded with.) What do you think a dental school's responsibility is to its students? I replied that they should show a real concern for their students and help them receive the essentials needed to treat patients and inspire them to continue learning for the rest of their careers. They also asked an ethics question about a friend cheating on a test and what would I do about it.

Then things started getting nasty. Q: So what were you doing between 1999 and 2005? (Clearly they didn't look at my folder as closely as they said they did.) I reported that I really was in school, I had a full load each semester and that when I transferred I know longer had control of how quickly I would graduate. Q: We see that you went to Minnesota, why are you interested in Marquette? This is where the bulk of the interview was spent. Upon reflection Jason and I are pretty sure that Marquette has an inferiority complex and takes it out on Minnesota grads. There is quite a bit of rivalry between the two schools and I got caught in the middle of a feud. They asked me specifically if I applied to Minnesota. I said yes, but I applied to a lot of schools as an applicant it would be foolish not to in such a competitive field. Then they wanted to know why I would go to Marquette instead of Minnesota. (Notice the emphasis on Minnesota, not just another dental school?) I replied that I hoped the school would prepare a better general practitioner considering there are fewer specialties offered there and more work for the students. I also talked about academic inbreeding. The thing I wanted to mention least is what they liked most. I broke down and told them that Jason was doing his internship and that we wanted to stay in the area for him to do his residency also. They appreciated that it was an honest answer.

The entire half an hour was incredibly awkward. Like I said it was all business and nothing was sugar coated. Most interviews are warm and bubbly - our school is great please come here. This was more like you meet our criteria but we are going to see if you are going to burn us and go to Minnesota instead. There were frequent awkward pauses as one interviewer switched to the other for questions. They asked if I had any questions...I did. However, after I asked the first question I knew the rest weren't going to go well. I wanted to know if there were elective courses offered if I had a special interest in prosthodontics or endo etc. They became really defensive and went into this long spiel about how hard dental school was and there was no time to offer anything like that. (Here is the funny part: I know Marquette offers an elective research class, and other schools offer elective courses with the same tight schedules.)

I knew one of the Doctors worked in community outreach projects so I asked about that. (I wanted to know if it gave the real world experience with timing and treating patients that the school setting didn't offer.) She rolled her eyes and said she wished the admissions board wouldn't disclose her role in the school before telling me about it. Needless to say, I feigned not having anymore questions after that.

The interview with the dental students and lunch went well. No one else had a bad experience with their interviews though - they just went on about how nice their interviewers were blah blah blah. I did hear that one of the applicants has already received several denial letters. Hmmmm, that's not the type of thing you openly disclose, yet I'm glad she did. I haven't gotten any of those yet, I wonder if that's a good sign or if the schools I applied to just don't respond. I expect to hear back on how the interview actually went by the first week of December. Some friends of mine who go there mentioned that they can be pretty brutal on Wisconsin residents trying to determine whether or not they actually plan on going there. I can't say won me over after the interview but the facilities are nice and it is half the cost other schools. So there are the details for you. Hope you enjoyed them.

Lucy & Ricky win it all!!

So our single's ward had a couples costume dance this past Friday night and I am very excited to announce that my date and I totally won the grand prize!! Not only did we totally deserve it (I mean hands down guys) but they gave us a $25 gift card to a local restaurant which I thought was pretty darn cool. Anyway here's some pics of me as Lucy and my Ricky who, BTW, had the accent down to a 'T'. Lucy, you have some splainin to do...

Happy October

So, just thought I'd update y'all--nothing new going on here. Okay, I guess that's it.

Wendi, we're still waiting to hear about your spiffy new house. And when are you guys moving?

I'm pretty darn fat and getting a little tired of the rib poking, so I'm hoping this whole pregnancy thing will be over in not too long--one more week until it's okay for her to come on out into the real world, but 4 weeks until she's due. I'm hoping she's early, but not really holding out too much hope for that. We'll see.

Enjoy your upcoming Halloween festivities! We will be sitting around handing out candy to the little tykes.

MN Dental School Interview

October 15th I arrived at the University of Minnesota dental school for my first interview. Generally, you only have a couple of weeks to a month notice before an interview to find the time and transportation to get there. I hadn't told my employers I was applying to dental school before receiving the invitation. My reasoning was there was no point getting anyone distressed if I never got an interview and it would be less embarassing than saying I hadn't heard anything yet. Since I've told them, both doctors have been very supportive and have started mentoring me. I've been more involved with diagnosis, surgeries and restorative information since then.

I drove up Saturday in order to be fresh and awake for Monday as well as to take the opportunity to see my some of my friends. I stayed with our good friends the Smiths and visited people from church, and the dental school Saturday and Sunday. My interview began at 8:30, so I arrived 15 minutes before hand. I chatted with the other candidates in the room until my interviewer arrived. I had half an hour to answer the questions that the faculty member had for me. The school compiles a list of questions each interviewee is asked to allow for comparison in responses. I had originally thought I would be able to ask questions during this time, but it was strictly time to allow them to pick my brain.

Many of the questions I was asked dealt with access to care issues as well as ethics. Clearly, two critical concerns to the field. I was asked what my solution to access to care was and whether it was the profession's or government's responsibility to address. (I said it was definitely the profession and the government shouldn't have to be involved.) I also remember three ethical scenarios I was given and then asked to respond to. These included: 1)what to do when students are badmouthing a patient with other patients in the elevator 2) how to respond to a classmate who is cheating and 3) what do you do if a close friend of yours is stealing hand pieces during your last year of school. The interviewer also asked me how I balance my life responsibilities, how I study and how I think I would do with a course load above and beyond any students have been exposed to before.

Following the interview I once again chatted with the other 8:30 interviewees until the 9 o'clocks were done. Considering we were all on our best behavior most of the interviewees were really nice except for a couple of overpowering girls. Imagine 12 guys and 5 girls in suits and you have our group. We then observed in clinic for an hour followed by a tour of the school. I had seen most of what was on the tour while I worked there - but they have the ferrari of simulation pre-clinical labs now. It hadn't even been opened to the students yet. We are talking monitors at each station which have dummies with cheeks and computer sensitive teeth which give objective feedback on the dental work prepared by each students. It was really quite impressive. Following our tour we all had lunch together which covered financing your dental education seminar as well as a question and answer with two current students and a faculty member. (I promptly lost my appetite after viewing the cost of tuition for one year.)

I enjoyed myself for the most part. My interviewer said I did well and I feel like I presented myself as a strong applicant. There isn't anything I did that day I would change, now all I have to do is wait for the next step. If I get accepted as an out of state resident (there are less of these spots) I would know at the earliest by December. I'm happy to have gotten this far in the application process and think I will be satisfied with myself regardless of whether or not I get in. So one interview down, one more to go so far as I know.

In case you are wondering how Biochemistry is going - it stinks. Independent learning is a great option but it's not my style. I do best in a learning environment where I can work with other students, and directly contact instructors with questions as they come up. Having other students to compete against for a grade also doesn't hurt, it tends to be a great motivator for me. I know - I just have to compete against myself now. Biochemistry is an immersion science though, it's nearly impossible to do well without involving it in conversation with classmates as well as personal study.

In other news, Jason and I were able to attend a performance this week. The general dentist I work with is friends with a local storyteller and comedian named John McGivern. We were invited as his special guests brought backstage and all. He presented a show called The Wonder Bread Years - a nostalgic and humorous reflection on growing up in the sixties. While some of the content went over our young heads much of it had us laughing and enjoying ourselves. We even got twinkies to bring us back to our youth at the end. I wonder when the last time you ate one of those was.

Is that what I think it is???

Ok before you freak out...no that is most definitely not me! This happens to be the hand of my 24 year old brother's girlfriend whom he just proposed to on Saturday after 6 weeks of dating (give or take a week) and they are to be wed in December...yikes! Good times - congrats to the youngans!

Stuff and Things

I know it's been awhile since I posted, so this is quite the conglomoration of details.

I have included pictures from the Milwaukee Zoo. My family and I went on Labor Day. Jason isn't in any of the pictures because he was hard at work considering Labor Day and Memorial Day are two of the busiest of the year in emergency medicine. We chose to go to the zoo specifically because it was a location where we could get a wheelchair. You'll notice my sister Rachel has quite the boot and couldn't handle any activities where she would be on crutches all day. It's a pretty cool zoo with a great nocturnal animals exhibit as well as some other well done displays. Emily drove the wheelchair, and by some miracle no strollers or small children were hit. My dad even made it out with us which was really fun. (Rachel has currently moved up in the world and now has a walking boot for her broken foot.)



My parents bought me a sewing machine for Christmas this year and I have had a lot of fun working with it. A bunch of the women from church got together and learned how to make reversible skirts. I made one for myself and then my sister Emily picked out some fabric and designed one she wanted me to put together. You'll have to tell me what you think, but I think her prints compliment each other really well.



Now that the fall has begun I am starting my very last dental school pre-requisite. I have been downloading biochemistry lectures and trying to follow a regular schedule. My first exam will be this Thursday, we'll see how it goes. The exam will be proctored to me through the public library so it will be a regular testing situation, just in a different location. For the most part, the class has been very frustrating. The lectures frequently stop and it's nearly impossible to get through an entire lecture without some loss of information due to the sound skipping or the lecture slides blurring. Speaking of dental school, I am really looking forward to my interview at the University of Minnesota Dental School. Not only is it an honor to be invited, but it will also be nice to visit my old colleagues. As for the other schools I applied to I'm not so sure what will happen. Part of my application which was out of my hands was extremely pro-Minnesota. I don't know what other dental schools will think of that.

Work has been great. It's a really different clientele from the dental school but I'm enjoying it. I have a lot more exposure to working with kids now than I ever have before so it's been good for me. I went for a bike ride this weekend with one of the doctors I work with which was great. It's fun to have a lot of common interests with the people I work with and to actually get up and liking to work. They are both doctors I respect a lot and work well with.

phat me and mostly fixed house

Well, I finally got around to taking some pictures of the house. I was going to wait until the doors were installed, which was supposed to happen today, but alas, it just happened to be the only day all year that it has rained in the morning, so the guy that came to install them couldn't do it because he had to use his machinery outside to cut the doorknob holes, and such, and couldn't do it in the rain. So it's another couple of weeks of a door-less house. But we're pretty much used to that. Luckily we don't really get any visitors, so the door thing isn't really an issue. Anyway, this is our mostly fixed and moved into house. Notice the walls that are walls, not holes. And the new paint job.


For now the baby's room is my genealogy hub--my grandma died in June, and I got all her genealogy records that she had done a lot of by hand before the day of the computer, and a lot of computer printouts. So I'm trying to go through it all and get the info in a computer so I can free up the room.
Notice the closet doors in the computer/guest room--although the regular doors aren't installed, we do have closet doors, which is actually kind of weird after more than a month of not having to deal with a door to get something out of the closet.

Here's a couple of pictures of me getting phatter. And fatter. I'm a growing girl. And the kid is, too. She's quite a kicker these days, and it's pretty entertaining sometimes--I'm thinking about taking up belly dancing, since my belly dances on its own.

Mike got a job

Hey Mike got a job and we will be heading east. We will be in Connecticut in the Hartford area. Crazy crazy. He starts Nov 5 after he finishes writing his dissertation. I'll get ya'll some more details later.

:( :)

So, I bet you didn't know the bible has smiley and frowny faces in it. Jacob pointed a couple out to me in Sunday school this week. Check out Acts 10:36.

Harry Potter and the beginning for Steph

Ok so I know I'm a bit behind the times but this weekend I just finished Harry Potter...the first - ha!

I watched the first movie again yesterday as well and I was so excited I could be one of those HP nerds whose like 'that's not how it is in the book!" ha - good times.

Well anyway, I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to reading the rest now. On to Harry Potter 2~

Hey Colette...when is that baby coming again?

Irish Festival

It's amazing how quickly the summer is passing by. I didn't really enjoy the first two months because searching for a job is similar to waiting for impending doom. Not in the sense that I don't like working - you just can't enjoy the time off because you never know how long you need to make your resources stretch. I feel like the coming of fall will bring the reality that we are really in Milwaukee for awhile. Everyone here talks about how much worse Minnesota winters are - I hope they are right. I officially signed up for my Biochemistry long distance learning class this week so there is no pretending that the summer will go on forever.

We have had almost nonstop rain since Friday. Despite that I still wanted to go to the Irish festival. It's the biggest in the world and the Trinity Irish dancers are well known world wide for producing the greatest dancers. So I got my mom and Emily to volunteer to come out with me and armed with umbrellas we headed out. (Milwaukee is known as the city of festivals. All summer long there are festivals each weekend ranging from music concerts to many ethnic festivals.) We stood in the rain for over two hours watching the Irish dance schools perform. It was definitely worth it - until the dancing ended and I was shivering uncontrollably. We searched for a comfortable tent but only found space on the outsides and finally left soaked. Due to the rain we left our cameras - sorry there aren't any pictures. To add to the excitement I left our lights on (which were on in the middle of the afternoon due to the overcast weather.) After several pleas we finally found a nice gentleman who helped us jumpstart the battery. (Jason bought this super cool emergency car kit so I had my own cables and lots of other stuff if I needed it.)

In other news I began a second job this week. I had a working interview on Monday afternoon and began Wednesday. This clinic is also in Glendale about a mile from our home. The office is two years old and new from top to bottom. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of their digital radiographs - their kind of an awkward transition between the old films and the new sensors but I'll get used to them. All of their charting is digital - I love that! I've been having a great time figuring out the software and trying to utilize all of it. They have an intraoral camera too which I'll get to use. This job compliments my job at the perio office which is Monday morning, Tuesday and Thursday. It makes for a ten hour monday but I still have Fridays off. Between the two jobs and the Saturdays I have lined up for the winter I should be averaging about 32-35 hours a week. Plus I might be able to pick up an occasional Friday temp day. It may have taken much longer than Jason and I would have liked, but I feel like it's been worth it to find offices that I am happy with the people and the quality of dentistry practiced there. (Especially if I end up working there for more than a year.) Due to my part time status at each office I have to carry my own benefits - but there are worse things in the world.

In other news - I'm married to a zombie, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. Jason mentioned that he hates the four am shift. For the most part I like it. I actually get to remember seeing him when he comes home between eight and nine pm. Unfortunately, due to the lack of sleep, conversation at the dinner table isn't exactly captivating. It beats the other shifts though, we'll see how we feel a couple of weeks from now.

Here's my dental school update: schools are beginning to send me notification that they have received my first application. Hence, they are politely asking for more money and more essays. Couldn't I just take another test? Actually, that wouldn't be much better. My goal is to have all of these redundant essays completed by the end of next week. Wish me luck, it involves documenting every single extracurricular I have participated in within the last seven years as well as talking about what an asset I would be to the school and the professon. Should be fun.

Chicago and a Day at the Museum

I made the drive down to Chicago and picked up Rachel from the Naval Base along the way this weekend. We decided we would check out the Field Museum and walk through downtown. We were particularly interested in checking out the Ghiradelli and Hershey stores. We spent several hours at the museum - they had some really neat exhibits on Africa as well as man eating lions. I also enjoyed their mineral and gem exhibits - they brought back memories from organic chemistry. When we arrived we asked if there was an increase in visitors since the movie "Night at the Museum". The guy responded yes, even though only a few scenes had been filmed there. Rachel and I were totally surprised - we didn't know that museum had been involved at all. However, after walking a few feet into the main hall we recognized one of the characters from the movie: Rex.

The T-rex skeleton is actually named Sue in honor of the woman who found it. It's a recent find from the early nineties. The actual sex of the dinosaur is unknown. It was cool to find out different facts on the skeleton. For example - I didn't know that dinosaurs had teeth like sharks - continually replacing missing teeth. (Of course I would be interested in that right?) Additionally this is only one of (I think) four skeletons to this completeness. By the way, the skull alone weighs 600 pounds. It was so heavy they created a duplicate for the main display and then put the actual one upstairs on its own. A CT scan was used to evaluate the skull cavities and determine the size of the brain - the olfactory bulbs are gigantic in comparison to the rest of the brain!



The pictures you notice on the slide show with the mannequins are from downtown Chicago. There is a stretch along Michigan avenue called the Magnificent Mile. I think it's similar to the Fashion street in New York. In honor of the hip shops there; a local design school created these mannequins to be placed along the way. The ones pictured were a few of our favorites.

Following our perusal of the shops we ate dinner at Chipotle - a very good burrito place. Unfortunately, everything went downhill from there. I suspect that I got hit with the worst case of food poisoning I have ever experienced. It's hard to say what caused it but I got to know several of the gas attendants in the Chicago area and also did some porcelain bowl worshiping. I also made Rachel think she was going to miss her curfew and have to explain where she was - fortunately we got her back on time. Good news is 24 hours later all is well. I'm so glad we live somewhere where such experiences are an exception rather than the rule.

I wanted to include some other fun pictures - they aren't very good but it's what I have. I woke up last Sunday and found a praying mantis on my window screen. This was odd for two reasons - I didn't realize they were present in the area. Secondly, what in the world was it doing on my third story window?

The other picture is of my new garden. I'm pretty excited to see it coming along. Left to right is basil, chives and cilantro. The mint is a couple of days behind in development but should be coming along.

Tomorrow I have another working interview to fill some of the time I am not working at the periodontal office. I'm really hoping it will go well. The office is beautiful: digital x-rays and charting as well as spacious room s with a view. Instruments seem to be good and the team pleasant. It's also within a mile from my home. I'll be sure to update as I learn more.

Hooray for Six Flags!

So last Thursday I took off work and Lizzy and I went to Six Flags with my lil bros. We got pretty adventurous and decided to get this caricature done. It was a lot of fun and I think it turned out so cute if I do say so myself ;)

Working all over Milwaukee

Great News...I have some "permanent" work. On August second I officially began working with Dr. Nancy Barnett. After many interviews, (most with little to offer as far as hours or satisfaction) I finally find something that seems to fit well. I'll be working an average of twenty hours a week there, leaving Wednesdays and Fridays available to find work elsewhere. The office that I am in is a specialty office focusing on periodontics (gum health). I had worked in a perio clinic in Minnesota and really enjoyed it. The doctor is both laid back but efficient and committed to excellent care. I'm really happy with the way she runs her office and keeps her equipment. I'm also pumped about using digital x-rays.

Another definite perk to the job is that it is less than two miles away, meaning I bike to get there. I would almost describe Dr. Barnett as spunky. She works with her sister who is the receptionist and enjoys biking, swimming and recently finished a triathlon. She is well respected in the dental community which will also help influence my credibility here in Milwaukee. We seem to have the same vision for dental care and patient communication. It's a small office, with two to four people working a day. I think it will be good for me.

On my days off I have aligned myself with a temporary agency. Milwaukee dentists seem to prefer calling them rather than me directly for the ease of scheduling despite the overhead cost. The downside to that is I get paid less, but the up side is that I'm busier. In my travels all over the city relieving hygienists I have seen some scary things. I have been pleasantly surprised in a few offices of course, but it's amazing to me to see where people put their focus. For example; I have seen some beautiful appearing offices who look great but their patient care is less than optimal and the effort they put into keeping their employees safe is below where it should be. My biggest pet peeve has been the lack of essential tools and the poor or non-existence of sharpening of those that do exist. Many tools seem like they would be more effective as daggers than for removing deposit. (These instruments are why I think some hygienists get a bad reputation.) I don't think I could do temp work forever. It is certainly challenging to wake up everyday, go somewhere new and try and figure out how that office and their doctors practice dentistry.

To celebrate my working life Jason set up a rectangular hanging herbal garden for me. I just planted some cilantro, chives, spearmint and basil. Hopefully some wonderful things will start sprouting soon. It would be really neat to grow tomatoes but Murphy has squashed that dream.

As far as other exciting news goes, I just learned how to make a reversible skirt. It looks pretty cool - I'll have to post some pictures soon. It's been rewarding learning to use my sewing machine but I think I better stick to my day job.

My parents are hosting an exchange student from Spain for the next three weeks. We're hoping to meet up and introduce him to some truly American events such as the state fair. What could be more American than something deep fried on a stick? I'll be heading to Madison tomorrow to celebrate my birthday and hopefully play some tennis with my brother Curtis. The weather has been getting up into the nineties and finally feeling like August. I hope your summer is treating you just as well.

ok. I think i have this figured out. It took me a while. So glad we've got this thing going on. Perhaps i will keep in touch better. Anything has got to be better than before. Whoo. I enjoyed reading everybodys things. I enjoyed the pictures as well. Sorry about your house Colette that stinks. Dirty rotten no good scoundrels. Lucky you had not signed yet. Well, i will talk to yall later.

hello

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECCA!!!

Ask Red

Ok you asked for it....here's some samples of my weekly 'advice' column...ha ha ha

Dear Red,
A guy called me up for a date and my phone cut out on me right after he asked me, and he thinks I hung up on him and keeps avoiding me now. I would’ve said yes, now what do I do?
Signed,
Confused

Dear Confused.
He’s not avoiding you because he thinks you hung up on him; he’s avoiding you because you have an inadequate phone service provider. I would recommend upgrading your service or switching networks and then you can “reconnect.”
Over and out,
Red

Dear Red,
If I sit with a guy during Sacrament Meeting, does that mean we’re a couple?
~Inquiring Mind

Dear Inquiring,
Well, that really depends on which side of you he is sitting. If he is sitting to your right, then you’ll surely be engaged in no time. If he’s sitting on your left, proceed with caution as this could be strictly friendship.
Hope he ‘chooses the right’,
Red

Dear Red,
I worry that my Sunday School teacher thinks I’m not listening in class because I’m reading my Ward Newsletter. What is the etiquette for reading the newsletter during church??
Sincerely,
An Avid Reader

Dear Avid,
If multi-tasking just isn’t your forte and your cover was recently blown by an outburst of laughter while reading your “scriptures,” you might try politely asking the teacher to allow a moment of silence in honor of the newsletter before class begins.
Read guilt free,
Red


Dear Red:
If a spaceship were to come and abduct you off to a different planet, what would you most miss about Earth?
Phone home,
E.T.

Dear E.T.,
Well that’s a tad dramatic, I don’t think I’d say getting married is the same as being abducted, but I guess I can see some similarities. I think what I’ll miss most are those amazing YSA dances, yup that’s it.
Up, up, and away,
Red

Dear Red,
I’m doing my best to flirt, but this boy is oblivious. Why don’t boys pick up on the hints? I’m a pathological flirt! Am I losing my touch?
Please help!
Flirty McFlirty

Dear McFlirty,
Don’t fret, it’s not you, it’s him. No matter how obvious your flirting may seem, I guarantee the boy has no clue. Guys are just not equipped to pick up on our subtle hints. Try a more direct approach such as announcing your flirtation beforehand. If that still fails, take the plunge and just ask Sherlock out.
It’s elementary my dear,Red

Ok that's enough for now...more to come later ;) enjoy!!

Heidi's baby

I don't know how many of you still have Heidi's email, or hear from her, but I just got an email from her and I thought I'd pass on the sad news for any who didn't hear. She had a baby girl in May, and apparently she died this past week. Heidi had mentioned months ago that her pregnancy was difficult and she was on bed rest because of risk of pre-term labor. She said it was probably their last kid because her pregnancy with Kaden was just as hard and she was on bed rest with him too. But it seemed like Isabel must have been born premature--she was a little over one pound, I think. And I think she must have been in NICU since she was born.

Here's what she wrote:
Our sweet little princess returned to her heavenly father due to an infection. She was a perfect little angel. The infection hit so quickly her sweet little body didn't have time to respond to medication. I talked with the nurses at 6:00 and she had just finished her bottle and was doing fine. Ed got there are 9:00 and her breathing had started to slow the nurses and doctors did everything possible, when we arrived her heart had not been beating and she wasn't breathing for almost 2 hours, at 1:30 am she had returned to her heavenly father. She had doubled her birth weight when she passed on she was 3 lb 7 oz.

Clearfield- Isabel entered this world on May 31st and returned to her Heavenly Father on July 25th 2007 . She over came many challenges in her short life. She was born at 1 lb 8oz and quickly learned to breathe and use a bottle on her own. She touched the lives of so many people and her sweet spirit will always be remembered. She loved people, especially her big brother she always smiled and held on to his finger when he came to visit her each day. Isabel was called back to her Heavenly Father due to an infection.

Sad stuff. Anyway, I just thought I'd pass on the news.

Wanna hear/see something gross?

Ok, so I had a softball game yesterday and had to slide at 3rd base. I was safe, but the silly intramural umpire didn't know what the heck she was doing, and called me out. Anyways, this is what happened. Ironically, before the game, I had a discussion with Mike's little sister Lisa about how sliding wasn't worth it and if you had to slide you shouldn't have gone to that base anyways.

So at church today I was giving Cameron a drink and felt something drip onto my foot. I just figured that he had splurped water on me as he so often does. I ignored it and minutes later Shannon had to go to the potty. So I took her and then she wanted a drink. But before I pushed the drinking fountain button I felt another drip onto my foot. I looked down this time and, much to my disgust, there was all this yellow drippy pussy stuff leaking down my leg. I quickly went back into the bathroom and discretely cleaned it up without Shannon noticing. If she would have noticed I would have had to answer questions about why Mommy had a yucky leg. Ew.

Funny video

So, if you have about 3 minutes to kill, check out this video. I thought it was pretty funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4vDClhnJjs

Moving adventures

So, this weekend was quite a bit more of a weekend than we had anticipated.

Here's a little picture of how moving into our new home went. About 2 hours before we were supposed to officially close on the house, our realtor called and said our house had been vandalized. Apparently some kids have been going around the area (which is one of the safest places in all of Tucson with no--almost no--crime) breaking into houses that are for sale and vacant and having a party there and trashing the place. So here's some pictures of what they did.

The cops came out that night (Thursday) (after waiting for 3+ hours), and took fingerprints and stuff. Then we had to wait for the insurance agent to come check out the damage before we could start cleaning up. Because we found it before closing, it was still the responsibility of the last owners' homeowners insurance. So we waited all day Friday, and finally that night she made it out, and we started cleaning after she was done. It only took a few hours to clean up, thanks to the help of my parents and brother and sister-in-law and Jacob. I worked for a little while, but got a bit too hot anywhere except the living room where we had fans going (the AC wasn't working either). Besides the heat, I was kind of dead from all the packing and stress of the day, and not having gotten a nap or slept well the night before, along with the baby sucking all my energy, so I was pretty much good for nothing. But those guys did a good job and got everything cleaned up so we could move Sat. morning.
The moving went fine and actually was pretty quick. I recommend never living on the 3rd floor, however, unless you really love the exercise. I got winded every time I'd go back upstairs, so I ended up supervising more than moving (besides that my tummy got in the way of carrying boxes). Now we're mostly unpacked. Here's some pictures with our stuff scattered around, but most of the junk from the punk kids cleaned up. We'll have to get someone in to fix the broken window, and the holes they punched in the drywall, then we'll get to have the rooms repainted. Of course the one room that has a funky paint job is the only one the kids left alone, so it's the only one the insurance isn't covering to repaint. We might repaint it anyway, as long as the rest of the stuff is getting done. And we'll go get some new doors since they destroyed all but 2 of them (luckily one that they left in tact was to the toilet room). So here are pictures of mid-unpacking. Most of it ias actually unpacked now. We just haven't unpacked the books yet, because we decided to wait until the painting is done so we don't have to try to move a full bookcase.



So that's the story of our move. We're hoping the repairs will go quickly. Whenever it's all done I'll put some updated pictures on here so you can check it out.

Here are the pics that were in my post once upon a time...

I want you to know this is a huge sacrifice...

Yep... its true. I got my Harry Potter book today and it is sitting on the coffee table dogeared at page 48. I care more about writing to you kids than reading my Harry Potter. I hope you now feel the warm fuzzy glow in your hearts.

Anyways... heres an update on me.

This month we moved back to Provo for Mike to finish writing his dissertation. Then we will be done. It's about time. So now I shall bring you up to date on what is going on with us. Shannon is now 3 and potty trained. I won't post right now in this blog about potty training... such gruesome tales are not for the faint of heart. I will just say, that now, one of the first questions that Shannon likes to ask those who are tending her is "Are you good at wiping bottoms?" She has also perfected the "crazy eye." I hate it. She can cross one eye at a time. And she can do both eyes. Such a talented child. She likes hanging out with my sister Amy and one of her friends, Kasey. Kasey and Mike's little sister Lisa have taught Shannon the art of the "silent laugh, silent cry, and silent scream." To be quite honest... they really look pretty much the same. I'll have to have Mike take pictures of all three and see if you can tell which is which. We'll have a contest!!

Cameron is fat. Like Colette, but not really. He is just fat because he is a baby that eats lots. Colette is fat because she has a baby inside of her that eats lots. I just gave him his first haircut. He had this faux-hawk/receding hairline/bald spots combo going on that just wasn't working, so I decided to even things out. He was remarkably good and only tried to grab the clippers about 3 times. His new thing is screeching for things that he wants. I am not too happy with this new habit. For example, when I am getting his food ready for him, he will look from me to the food and screech. Then, when I start feeding him, if I am too slow between bites, or if I dare get distracted by anything else, he will screech again. He has been a bit slow with his physical milestones, much like Shannon was. He started rolling over at the beginning of this month, and he is just about 9 months old. For the most part though, he is just a happy easy going little guy with lots of teeth. I don't really like his teeth. He likes to bite things... anything really, tables, spoons, me, books, fingers, balls, Shannon, measuring tapes, me, kleenex, kidneys, power cords (just kidding... I was just seeing if you were paying attention, or if you've nodded off to sleep yet), and me.
As for myself, I really enjoyed my time in New Mexico. There were things I didn't like of course, but there were also a lot of things that I did like. I loved the ward that we had there and made a bunch of good friends. I loved it when Colette and George came to visit us. I don't know how Shannon figured out that Jacob's real name was George, but I'm glad to know his true identity now. I loved the mountains there and the spicy food. MMmmmmm. Green chiles HAVE to be from New Mexico to be awesome... unless Grandpa Ozaki grows them, of course. It is interesting to be back in Wymount but I've really been enjoying playing softball, although I have realized that I am woefully out of shape and need to get running to lose some weight. It is ironic that the same flab that helps me hit the ball far also slows me down as I run around the bases. Never fear though, the jogging stroller has arrived, and Shannon will now throw a fit if I don't go running in the morning... trust me, its great motivation to go!

This is getting long but I am almost done with the update! Mike recently had an interview in Connecticut. Yes, there is a possibility that we could be East Coasters. I don't really like the East coast, but I will admit, I've never given it a fair chance. I've always loved the open spaces and desert that abounds in the West. We'll see what happens and I'll keep ya posted!!

Chicago Adventures

Thanks Stephanie for getting this Crown 9er blog going. I'm really excited about keeping in touch with everybody. For the most part I'm going to post on this site the same things I do for our website. If you want to catch up or read about Jason's veterinary adventures please visit

Last weekend my parents and I drove down to the Great Lakes Naval Base for Rachel's Boot Camp graduation. Conveniently, the nationwide training center is only an hour and a quarter drive from my home. Her ceremony was Friday morning; highlights involved the parade of states and watching the recruits as they stood for an hour. Later, Rachel told us that the sailor next to her fell asleep standing up and collapsed forward on the recruit in front of him. All of the recruits were not allowed to move, so even though Rachel saw it happening she couldn't stop it and the recruit who was landed on had to simply stand and bear the weight. My mom was the one with the camera, while she didn't catch this action, she taped Rachel swaying back and forth unintentionally as she tried not to lock her knees. Apparently this is such a common problem at graduations that they assign a couple of recruits to quietly walk among the ranks and wake up sleepy recruits or fix locked knees.

Following the graduation we went to Gurnee Mills, a local shopping Mecca for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. My dad then returned so he could work that evening with all of the lucky inmates at the jail. The rest of the weekend my mom, Rachel and I explored northern Illinois.

Saturday we visited the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. This place rocked! It was a beautiful and huge building. They have an extensive collection with a fascinating display of anemone and coral throughout. I was super impressed with how clean all of the aquariums were and how well put together the ecosystems were duplicated for appearance and information. We spent a good six hours looking at and learning. We also really enjoyed a special exhibit with lizards from all over the world. They had a Komodo Lizard there that was a 120 pounds. We learned these "dragons" can eat 80% of their body weight in one sitting, I figured that to be 95 pounds in one sitting for the adult male there! My favorite displays were probably the whales and the Caribbean Reef tank. (The Amazon section was also fascinating with the poison arrow frogs and bird tarantulas.)

Through careful detective work we were able to find a decent place to park in downtown Chicago and manage to drive there and back without any problems. We also learned how to use the free Trolley, but only after walking several miles up and down Michigan Ave. Rachel was dead set on finding the Cheesecake Factory which was at the opposite end of Downtown then the Aquarium. Several blisters later, we finally found it and enjoyed a delicious dinner. We then quickly marched the miles back to the car in order to get her in before her liberty expired. Part of the rules for her first liberty from base involved that she be limited to a 50 mile radius and she had to remain in uniform at all times. Considering she had to keep her all white uniform spotless, this limited some of the activities we could do. It was also key that she make it back to her barracks no later than her curfew, as you can imagine, this made me a bit nervous as the driver but all worked out well.

Sunday Rachel had to clean her ship so my Mom and I went to the chapel on base to have church with the recruits. They had an LDS branch there with a lot of people really committed to serving the recruits. They did everything from allowing them to write messages to be phoned to loved ones to providing the postage for letters. (Recruits do not have phone privilages of their own.) During boot camp, church is one of those few moments where you can relax; this seems to a rare opportunity to write letters and get a break from your division. Following church we met with Rachel and went to the Illinois State Beach Park. My mom and I had packed a picnic lunch the night before so we spent the day walking along trails, taking a nap on the beach of Lake Michigan and getting severely sun burnt. (This had something to do with the inability to really plan the weekend and not knowing sunscreen would be a good thing to bring.) We then sent Rachel back to the base where she will be awaiting her "A" school. This is the term used to describe the school that sailors will go to receive their specific training, in Rachel's case, to become a medical corpsman which is also at the same base by opposite side as the recruit training station. This is a big change in her training considering she will now have the opportunity to call us and have more time on her own. As you can tell from the pictures, we are very proud of her and fully support the decision that she has made to serve her country and further develop her character.

Now that Rachel has weekend time available we hope to be able to work out some more explorations of Wisconsin and Illinois so we'll have to keep you updated as the adventures continue.

I got an A!!

Ok so I'll just go ahead and talk about myself some more - Woohoo!

I probably have some fun pictures to post later too...

So I'm still working at the University of Texas and going on my 4th year...wait maybe 5th - o no I'm losing track of time! Yikes! The job is a job but I do enjoy working on campus, I love the campus feeling even though it's nothing like our old beloved campus, believe me. I'm also enrolled in a Master's Program - Master of Public Administration (MPA) to be exact. Now I know you are all wondering what that means and what I'm going to do with it. These are all very good questions to which I don't really have an answer. The MPA is basically the public sector version of the MBA so I'll be prepared to boss people around in federal and state agencies - something I'm sure I'll be excellent at - ha! Anyway my first session just finished up a few weeks ago and I got myself a big fat 'A'! I was pretty excited about that considering I honestly had no idea what I was going to get - freaky feeling. While going back to school as been really exciting I had forgotten how hard and annoying school can be sometimes. Staying up all night to write a paper is really not my favorite thing to do!

Anyway, other than that things are pretty much the same. My lil twin brothers are about to get their driver's license which freaks me out every time I think about it. My mom is still dating a Jew (which is weird for a whole lot of reasons) and I'm still single in the singles ward...but there are a lot of fun people to hang out with down here so it's be good times.

I recently moved into a house and have a new roomie...she's 6'4" so can you imagine the looks we get together!?! It's pretty hilarious. She is such good times and we pretty much have fun everyday - slumber party all the time!

O and on the funnier side...I totally write the advice column for our ward newsletter. It's anonymous and called 'Ask Red'. When we gave it that name I thought for sure people would know it was me right away but they don't - it cracks me up all the time. Anyway people submit questions about anything and once a week I answer one in the newsletter. I must say I'm pretty dang funny sometimes - ha - but seriously it's been a lot of fun. I'll try to remember to send you some of the better samples.

Well that's pretty much it and I better get back to work. I hope ya'll jump right in with more stories. I can't wait!

Later,
Steph

Updates....

So, where's the updates? What are you guys up to these days. I think you all got my update--I'm getting fatter with a girl due in Nov. and we're moving this weekend. Woohoo! We're kind of ready...halfway packed, but we're working on it. We just spent at least a half hour this morning signing our lives away-so many papers to sign.
Anyway, so lets hear what's going on with y'all.

Remember when...

We all jumped in the botany pond and it was freezing and gross!!!

Hey buddies!
I figured it was about time we find a way to keep in touch better! I want to know what's going on in your lives and I really want to see some pics!!

So tell me...what's new with you?

Steph