Looking Down the Road...

I figured it was about time to write an update on Ryan and where we are in this medical school process. On Sept 1st, he was able to send his residency applications out to all the programs he is interested in. The "MATCH" is coming up in February (for DO programs) and in March (for MD programs) and he was anxious to have all of his applications sent out as early as possible so we could start hearing back quickly. Within a few days he had already heard back from 2 or 3 programs, and we have continued to receive positive responses from over half of the programs he applied to!

Ryan applied to 26 total programs, with 4 being DO programs and 22 being MD. Since we went to a DO school, we have the option of going to either type of residency as long as they accept the COMLEX test scores there (whereas MDs can only go to MD programs). As of this morning, Ryan has received interviews at 16 of the 26 programs he applied to! His goal starting out was to be able to go to 10 total interviews. So with the amount he has heard from so far, it means he can be choosey about which ones he accepts and which he turns down. Today was the most surprising invitation of all... the University of Utah! They aren't what we call "DO friendly" (at least the Pediatric Residency program isn't) so we were surprised to even hear back at all. He applied just to apply, but we were so sure we wouldn't hear back. Who knows if they're all that serious about wanting to take on a DO? But maybe since they're taking the time to interview him, it means they're giving DOs a chance this time around. :) It's not his first choice of program, even though the location is obviously a favorite, so we'll see what happens.

As of today these are the places he will be interviewing, starting with the Ohio programs a few weeks from now:

-University of Utah

-University of Arkansas (Little Rock, AR)

-Wright State University (Dayton, OH)

-Nationwide/Doctor's (Columbus, OH) ***** Our top choice!

-Nationwide/Ohio State (Columbus, OH) ***(also a top choice, but it's the MD side of the Columbus residency)

-Children's Hospital (Akron, OH)

-SUNY Buffalo (Buffalo, NY)

-SUNY Upstate (Syracuse, NY)

-Baystate/Tufts University (Springfield, MA)

-University of Connecticut (Hartford, CT)

Ryan is still hoping to hear from a couple of his other top choices, but we have been so blessed with the amount of options we've had already. I've been blown away, honestly. I know he's a super hard worker, and as most of you know it's been a cause of frustration over these last few years. There have been so many extra-curricular committees, positions, meetings, clinic hours, etc that he has done, not to mention all the extra nights and endless hours of studying he has put in when other wives have been able to have their husbands home with them. I haven't been super supportive of how driven and self-motivating he is a lot of those times (because it's been hard on Grace and I), but seeing all of these interview invites has been a testament to how hard of a worker he is. I am grateful that I don't have to push him or remind him to work harder. He is already his own worst critic and works so incredibly hard. I'm so proud of him!! I know he will continue to provide well for our family.

On another note, we have also come to a big decision for our future. On monday we met with an Air Force recruiter who specifically works with Health Professionals. There is a scholarship available to doctors who are in residency where the Air Force pays $200K bonus for signing on, plus many other financial benefits, and the doctor would then "pay back" 4 years of service (with full salary and benefits as well) after residency. Ryan has brought the military option up to me SEVERAL times over the last few years... begging me to let us do it, really... and I've always felt extremely against it. For whatever reason, this month something changed. I feel so differently about the option and feel it truly would help us, plus give us great life experiences, AND of course allow us to serve our country for a few years. Pretty win-win! I realize now that Pediatricians in the military are just as needed as any other kind of doctor... even though they're not actually treating the service men and women. Ryan would be treating and taking care of the families of these special people who sacrifice so much, so that they can deploy and serve without being worried about their own children getting the care they need. It wasn't until this month that I realized how special and necessary that is. Aside from that, this scholarship would give us the financial benefits would set us up to be able to pay off our massive amount of loans YEARS faster than if we went into the private sector after residency.

At this point, Ryan is going to apply for this scholarship which is quite a process. He also has to wait until we match into a residency program in Feb/March before he can officially turn in that application. And then at that point is when we wait to see if we're even accepted for the scholarship. The one draw back of this process (which completely surprised us when we found out) is that they're only accepting ONE pediatric resident for this coming year. Those are horrible odds, since I would imagine there will be many other students applying with us. So we may not even get in! But we do at least feel we should apply and see what happens. It can't hurt, even if we changed our minds in the spring for whatever reason.

This may sound cheesy, but I honestly feel like Heavenly Father has slowly been changing my heart without me realizing it... and this month it's simply been a process of changing my mind. My head needed to catch up with my heart. I'm grateful that we've been staying here with family who will let us bounce these ideas off of them and talk it through with them without being negative about it. I'm grateful that we were here in a place where we were comfortable making the decision to pursue the application process for the Air Force and able to meet with a recruiter at Hill Air Force Base.

Thanks for reading my novel... if anyone read it at all. We are so grateful that the Lord is guiding us on this path. We feel His hand in every decision and opportunity that comes our way, and know that we are being looked after. I'm BEYOND grateful for those other military wives who have shared their experiences with me and have given me the insight I have needed in making this decision. I'm grateful for a husband who is so smart, hard-working, marketable, strong, and self-disciplined.

I am very blessed. :)

Big Cottonwood Canyon (times 2)

(This photo makes me smile - she's telling me what letter she sees)

We're trying desperately to get our fill of mountains and the beautiful outdoors Salt Lake has to offer! I'm soooo not ready to go back to the heat and the unchanging landscape of the desert. Last week my mom and Grace and I went to Liberty Park to spend some time at the "Seven Rivers" water feature found there. In the center of the park they have the neatest little place where they've built a small version of all the canyons nearby with a series of small hills, waterfalls, and gutters (representing the rivers coming out of the canyons).

Kids can walk through the water and play in the bigger pool area where all the water gathers (representing the Great Salt Lake). It's a really neat little place and I remember playing here as a kid as well! Grace had such a blast especially since the water is only a few inches deep and easy to walk through all by herself.
Plus it was pretty warm and it felt good to get our toes wet. :)

Afterwards, we headed to Millie's for a great (yet cheap) lunch. :) We used to eat at Millie's a lot when we were younger because their burgers and corn dogs were so cheap!! I love that place. I love that it's just a tiny, locally owned place right in the center of all the big SugarHouse businesses, and yet it still makes super yummy and well-priced food! Lots of fond memories there. Thanks again for a great outing with the girls, Mom!

The next day, my parents and the 3 of us headed up the ACTUAL Big Cottonwood Canyon to spend some time at Brighton and Silver Lake. It was absolutely perfect up there - so beautiful, nice and cool, and beautiful views on the drive up. We took our time walking around the lake and enjoyed all the scenery, smells, and photo ops.

Watching the ducks from the pier.

My dad got this photo of the beautiful colors and textures at Silver Lake.

You can see where I get my love of photography!

After walking around the lake, we ate lunch at the Brighton Cafe which has been there (across the parking lot) for years. It made me want to go right up the road and visit Brighton Girls' Camp again!! I have lots of great memories up there and it was wonderful to add some new ones that day.

Not everybody was ready when Ryan snapped the photo. haha

Our beautiful, silly girl.

On the way back down the mountain, we turned a corner and BAM! This was the gorgeous wall of color that we saw. My dad kindly pulled over so I could get a picture. :) Aww, I just love it.

Kangaroo Zoo

I completely forgot to post these pictures from our Kangaroo Zoo outing a few weeks ago. I really love this place! Grace and I went there last April on a weekday when it was pretty much empty of other kids and she had her cousins to play with. This time it was packed with other kids but we had Daddy with us, at least! I knew Ryan would think it was a fun place too and we had a great time watching Grace run around and play. It was a whole lot easier for her this time since she was 5 months older than last time. Unfortunately there were so many bigger kids that kept making her fall over or jumping practically on top of her. She's pretty tough, at least, and didn't cry anytime she got tackled by the older kids. :)

The Roses

A few days ago we were able to drive up to Midway to visit my good friend Andrea and her family. I've known Andrea since ... FOREVER ... and our families are so connected that we might as well be related by blood. In fact her parents are the ones I mentioned (and pictured) in my last post as being our "2nd parents".

The Roses have been living in Wisconsin for a few years so we haven't had a lot of visits with them since we were all newlyweds around the same time. But now that they're in Utah we hope to see more of them when we visit! We always enjoy spending time with Andrea and Austin because they're so easy-going, friendly, and happy. :) Thanks for having us over for dinner, Roses! We love you guys.

Cute Eva played with Grace and they had a great time! Her older brother, Chase, was sweet to sit and play blocks with Grace too. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of him.

It was beautiful with cool temps outside after dinner, so we let the kids run around.

Grace was being so silly and hyper, and showed of her dance moves.

Thanks again for having us over, Rose family! We had a great time and hope to see you again soon.

Thomas' Homecoming Party

Last sunday (the 18th) was my brother's homecoming talk and the little "party" afterwards. Thomas told me that morning before church that he was a little nervous he wouldn't be able to share his message in complete thoughts and that it would sound jumbled. But he honestly did such a wonderful job speaking on all the many miracles he experienced on his mission. All of his thoughts were clear and well-delivered. It was a wonderful meeting with another great speaker (his old lacrosse coach who is in the ward) and a beautiful musical number by some other ward members. The Spirit was strong in the meeting and everyone in the packed chapel and overflow felt the power of his Testimony. :)

After the meeting, we served a simple dinner buffet in my parents' backyard to extended family and close friends. We had a great turn-out and a great time seeing so many people. There was lots of yummy food and we had lots of people bring salads and desserts to share. All in all it was a great little party and the weather was perfect. I'm so glad we could be in town for that special day!

Here are some pictures, but unfortunately I didn't take very many because it wasn't until things died down that I even had time to stop and grab my camera. Most people had left and the food was mostly gone, but here's what I did get...

We had sunflowers as the center-piece and put little Argentine flags on the table. Who cares that we stole the sunflowers from some empty lot around the corner?!

My cousin Dar's daughter who became Grace's little friend. She followed Grace around the whole party. It was so adorable!

Thomas with my cousin Brent Reiser and his family.
The Argentine flag is blue and yellow, so we made cupcakes to go with the color theme (which also matched the "welcome home" sign from the day he got home... which we forgot to save and hang up for the party)

My dad (left) with a few of his siblings: Jane, Dave, and Tim.

Tom and one of his closest cousins and friends, Merilee Goates. Quite the beauty, right?

My older brother Jason chatting with our "2nd parents", the Morrows. :)

Side story...

Grace had a great time wandering around the backyard, doing her own thing without Ryan or I watching her every single second. She was doing just fine and I wasn't worried with so many other moms and family members around, until I watched from across the yard as she headed RIGHT towards the swing set as an older cousin was swinging - completely oblivious to the big kid about to slam into her. I saw it coming, and so did several other people, but as I ran to stop her I was still 2 strides away when she got totally bowled over. It completely stopped the party and everyone was silent for a few moments while I picked her up and took her inside. Grace was perfectly fine though, with no bruises or anything, which we were all surprised about. Call it being a mom, or erratic pregnancy emotions, but I seriously almost burst into tears along with her as I held her while she screamed afterwards. It's hard to see your baby in pain, and knowing I should have been watching her closer. :(

Playing Catch-Up

Ryan's rotation here in SLC has been a pretty relaxed one, and we've loved having him around some afternoons, all evenings, and every weekend! I know I'll struggle going back to reality in October, but for now it's been great!

We've been able to play outside some more in the low 80 degree weather... (thanks to Grandma for filling up the kiddie pool with warm water!)

No diaper = plumber butt!!

According to Grace, this is called "wee bum". (swing on bum)

I went to Noodles & Co. with 3 of my bestest high school girlfriends, and it was the first time we've all been in the same place for at least a few years. It was so great to catch up with all of us together! We've come a long way too: Jen has her new baby, I'm pregnant with #2, Jamie just got married, and Mary just got home from her mission. I absolutely love these girls. I don't know who I would be if they weren't such a HUGE part of my life during high school. :)

We discovered that Grace FINALLY has enough hair to pull into two little pig tails. Only the hair from the back goes into the elastics, since she doesn't have any long hair on the sides, but it's still super cute. I'm so glad that our decision not to cut her sometimes-curly-sometimes-not mullet is paying off. She freaks out and sometimes cries when I do pull the hair into the elastics but I'm hoping that she will just get used to it over time and allow me to play with it more and more as her hair grows longer. I've been really relaxed about "doing" her hair for the last few months so she got way out of practice. She used to love having a clip in her hair or a headband and now she yanks it out.

p.s. She is obsessed with Ryan's iPad and all the counting and alphabet games he has found on it.

As the saying goes, "there's an app for that!"

My cousin Allie just had her baby boy (we've had baby girls together and now baby boys really close in age!) and I was able to go visit her and Mason. He is so cute and so little. It got me even more excited for our little man... actually it made it more real to me since it still doesn't feel real that we're having another baby, let alone a BOY. It's been really fun to be newlyweds together, and new moms at the same time too.

Grace and I have had most mornings to ourselves since everybody in the house works. Usually I'm so tired in the mornings from not sleeping well at night that we just take it easy and watch cartoons, but other days we've gone on walks, played outside, had dance parties, and played with toys together. The other day we played with some new little friends who are in my parents' ward and whose parents I knew from high school. They have little kids too and Grace had a great time playing with Nora Edwards, especially, since she's 2 1/2 and nice to Grace. We also met the same girls (Heather Edwards, Katie Taylor, and Jen Jeppson) and their kids at Einsteins down the street for lunch. I didn't take pics though. One morning we had a little nail painting party!

On the weekends when my parents and Ryan are off of work, we are able to do more stuff as a family. My parents like to visit their favorite burger joints on saturdays for lunch, so we joined them a few times at Rumrz and B&D's. We just don't have those great, locally owned burger places like that in Vegas and sometimes you just need a good burger! Speaking of food, I also was craving my FAVORITE meal at Paradise Cafe (which is another place I wish they had in Vegas). We went last weekend and OH MY, I just love their chicken and artichoke grilled panini with pasta salad. So good! That evening we left Grace with my parents and went to see Captain America with Ryan's brother and sis-in-law. It was a good movie! Some good eye-candy, although I didn't really love the ending. Girls will understand why.

Last weekend we were getting ready for my brothers' homecoming open house. My mom and I did lots of baking and cleaning (ok actually she did all the cleaning, and I did some baking...) and in the end we had lots of yummy things ready for the next day: chocolate revel bars, yellow and blue frosted cupcakes, and snickerdoodles. Also that night was of course the big Utah v. BYU game! Grace has made me proud with how excited she gets when she sees the Utah symbol on a t-shirt, the flag flying on my parents' porch, the posters and pictures of Utah stuff in the house, etc. It's everywhere here! She points it out anytime she sees it and yells "Dee-tah!" When Ryan and I went to the Utah bookstore a few weeks ago to pick out new shirts (yes, people, Ryan DID in fact buy a new Utah shirt... of his own accord) Grace was going nuts in the store pointing out every Utah symbol to us. The other customers were laughing and commenting on how awesome that was. :) That's my girl. Anyway, Grandma and Grandpa were more than happy to provide her with some swag while gearing up for the game to start on saturday.

For the sake of journaling purposes (not to rub it in anybody's face! ok maybe just a tiny bit......) the Utes killed the Cougars 54 - 10. It was the worst blow-out since the 1930s! To be honest, I do respect the Y and their team in general, even though I bleed red and always will. But even for me, watching the train-wreck of that game for the Cougars, it was really hard to sit and be super happy about it. It was just straight up pathetic to watch! It also doesn't help that it made for one super unhappy husband for the night and I think everybody felt they shouldn't talk about it in front of him for the weekend. haha. My parents and brother were really nice (as big of fans as they are) and didn't do any celebrating in front of poor Ryan. With that being said... GO UTES! Great job! :)

Now, back-tracking a little bit, Ryan and I went to the Utah vs. Montana game on Sept 1st. It was such a blast! We sat on row 5 on roughly the 5 yard line/north end zone, facing east. Perfect seats. We were super squished on our row for whatever reason so it wasn't comfortable, but it was still a lot of fun, and the Utes won! It was a great date night. Thank you to Ryan's parents for watching Grace for several hours that evening. :)

The RM

(my high school "skill" of banner-painting came in handy here)

One of the main reasons we wanted to be in Salt Lake for the month of September was so that we were here when my younger brother returned from his mission. We wanted Grace to meet her Uncle Tom for the first time and have time to get to know the new, adult version of Thomas. :)

On wednesday, the 7th, my parents, the 3 of us, and my Grandparents met at the airport to welcome Thomas home. He got off the plane with several other missionaries returning home, and we were just one family of probably 8 others crammed into a small area waiting patiently. When all the missionaries came out together there were lots of cheers, teary eyes, and hugs all around. Here is the first photo I got of Thomas rounding the corner (because we were at the back of the group of families).

I introduced Grace to Uncle Tom and she IMMEDIATELY smiled and reached out for him to hold and hug her. She was all smiles and totally excited about him, which was a complete surprise to the rest of us! We talked about him all the time and showed her plenty of pictures leading up to that day, and it all paid off. :)

(Grandpa & Grandma Matheson, Thomas, Mom, me, Ryan, Dad, Grace)

After getting his bags, we all met up again at my parents' house (my brother and his wife met us there, as well as Thomas' RM friend) and we all ate dinner together. Thomas requested a Cafe Rio pork burrito for his first meal, so we were all happy to enjoy a super yummy take-out meal together. Thanks mom and dad!

A couple nights later he introduced us to some of his favorite things from the mission: Dulce de Leche cookies. There are tons of different kinds of these layered cookies with different flavors and he brought a whole sack of them home. They're HUGE and we cut a few of them in fourths so we could each try a little piece. I really loved the brownie one. So good!

Just for fun, here is the photo of Thomas and I at his farewell (while pregnant with Grace):

And here is the photo on the day he returned (with Grace and pregnant with our baby boy)!

Over the last couple weeks, we've been able to spend some time with Thomas (in between his appointments, many friend/family visits, and other things he's trying to get figured out after returning home) and Grace has LOVED having him around. She calls him "dom" and asks for him all the times he's not home. It makes me happy. :) We've also enjoyed being able to watch a few movies with him he hadn't seen (Prince of Persia, Narnia 3, Rio, Blindside), get burgers at Rumrz, and hang out around the house. I caught some cute photos of these two together.

Grace and Thomas enjoyed getting soaked in the rain the other day!

"Check out my cute toes..."

Now Thomas is back east for the week, visiting our two other siblings and their families that live away from Utah. I'm so excited to see pictures and hear about his time spent with the other niece/nephews, especially the 2 littlest ones he hasn't met yet! :) We'll miss him this week but hope to spend a little more time with him once he gets back, and before we head home again.

Love you, Tom!