Where did November Go?

I know I am horrible at keeping up on this blog. I am very sorry. I am going to try to be better. To be honest, not a lot happened the first part of November, except for my birthday. I do have to say thank you to my husband, family, and friends, who all helped make it a wonderful day for me. Colt was very sweet, and took time out of his very busy schedule to take me to dinner, and also make me dinner the following night. Thank you everyone!!!

As for Thanksgiving, it was definitely memorable. I made my first turkey, and I also made homemade stuffing and stuffed the bird. It was a trying experience, but we made it through!! We had dinner with a group of friends from med school, and we had a great time. We ended up with a ton of food, and a ton of desserts! After dinner they pulled out Rock Band to play on the Wii, and we all gave it a try (well at least I gave it a try, others were awesome at it!). Even though we weren't with family, we had a great time with friends. We feel very blessed to be living in an area with such amazing people, and to be forming great friendships.

Saturday after Thanksgiving Colt and I drove to Kansas City to go see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in concert. We had a lot of fun! We love going to the city!! We ate at Arthur Bryant's again (Colt had to give it another try), and then went to the concert. We weren't able to get very many pictures, because photos weren't allowed during the concert. After, we went to dinner and then to the mall for some Christmas shopping. It was a great end to a wonderful week.

Thanksgiving day (Sorry for the blurry picture, camera was having issues)  

All the yummie pies!

The boys playing Rock Band on the Wii

Colt and Chris giving their own concert

At the Concert

Downtown Kansas City

Kansas City With Mark and Ali and Kids

So 2 and 1/2 weeks ago Mark called me up to ask what we were doing for the weekend. He said lets meet in Kansas City and hang out. They are moving to Arizona, so it was the last time we will see them for quite some time. That Friday, after work, Colt and I packed up and headed to Kansas City. We stayed Friday and Saturday night.(Thanks Mark and Ali you two are too good to us!). We were so excited to see Mark, Ali, and their kids. We love them so much.

On Saturday we went to Union Station. They have all sorts of fun stuff there including trains (of course), a planetarium, shops, and Science City. We decided to hang out in Science City. It has all sorts of stuff to entertain the kids, Colt, and Mark! We were seriously there for about 4-5 hours. It was a lot of fun. Then right as we were about to leave I took Lexi and Deven to get a Carmel apple. We heard that Obama was speaking across the street. We got in the car, but before we left we wanted to check out all the crowds. Just then Obama came driving by while we were stopped at a red light. Ali and Colt jumped out of the car to try to get pictures. It was funny. After all that excitement we headed to get some food. We went to a famous BBQ place called Arthur Bryants. It was pretty good, but Colt got yelled at for not ordering correctly. (It was a little like Seinfeld "No soup for you" episode) Good times! Later on that evening Mark, Colt, and I found the Cheesecake Factory and got some fabulous pieces of cheesecake!!!

Sunday Mark and his family drove up with us to Adam-Ondi-Ahman. They have never been there. It was such a great experience. We sat and discussed different things, and Lexi was so cute she said, "I love hearing all of these stories, can we keep talking about them." We had such a great time with them. We are going to miss them so much. We love you Mark, Ali, Lexi, Deven, and baby Guss!!!

Catching Up....Again!

Okay, so I know I am slacking a bit. So here I am with another post and some more photos. The month of September flew by so fast, I hardly can believe it. We started it out down in Oklahoma, where we visited Mark and Alli for Labor Day weekend. We had such a fun time playing with the kids, and just hanging with family. I also had a fabulous time shopping with Alli and Lexi!!! (Colt and Deven were quite board!!) It was a quick trip, but we had a lot of fun. We were able to shop, golf, play, and even get some pictures taken while we were there. (Thanks Alli) (BTW I am going to post some of the pictures Alli took, but to see more of her work click on her photography link...she is amazing!!!) We are so glad we were able to go down there, because Mark and Alli are now moving to Arizona. We will miss them, but we are glad that they were able to find a job near friends and closer to Utah!
The second adventure to write about is my trip back to Missouri from being in Utah for Grandma J's funeral. You see it is not an easy task getting back to Northeast Missouri. The major airports are in either Kansas City (2 hour and 15 minute drive) or in St. Louis (3 hour drive). The day I had to fly back in, Colt was not able to come get me. (He had a test). For that reason, I flew into St. Louis where I could get on a flight into Kirksville. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I knew it was going to be a small plane. I, however, wasn't prepared for how small it was. There was the pilot, one other passenger and me! The plane had 4 passenger seats, plus the pilot and copilot seats. Luckily the rain let up that day, and it turned out to be a beautiful flight. It was fun taking off from St. Louis where you could see the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. It was a good experience, even though I was a little nervous at first.
When Colt came to pick me up I was very excited to see him. That was the longest we have ever been apart since we have been married. When I got home, he had typed up a sign to put on the garage (which he was very proud of). It said "Welcome home Dr. Bunny." Dr. Bunny is a nickname given to me by my friends at Parkway pharmacy...and I guess it has stuck! Colt asked if the picture of the sign was going to be put on the blog, and I said you bet!! How cute is he!!!!

Remembering Grandma J

Grandma J's 85 Birthday Party

At my Graduation

Friday the 5th of September my Grandma Johnson passed away. It was hard when I first got the news, but then I was able to fly home for the funeral to be around family. Grandma J has always been one of my biggest supporters. She has been at every major event in my life. The rest of my grandparents passed away before I was 8, so Grandma J was the only grandparent I grew up with. I have felt so blessed to have had to opportunity to always live so close to my grandma. She has been coming to Sunday dinner with our family every week for the past few years. It has been a great tradition, and I cherish the time that we spent with grandma. Grandma J has done so much for all of her grandchildren and the great grandchildren as well. She has never forgotten a birthday, anniversary, etc. Her family meant the world to her. She was very talented with sewing and crocheting. I have multiple afghans that grandma made for me. She also crocheted baby blankets for every great grandchild, including one for my baby (if it ever comes)!

The funeral was very nice. Every grandchild was able to make it even though we are spread all over the US. What a tribute to Grandma. I am sure she was very happy knowing we were all together. My dad's sister and her husband are currently serving a mission in the Philippines and were not able to be there. They were, however, able to listen to the whole thing via phone. We all love Grandma J so much. It was hard saying goodbye, but it is comforting knowing we will see her again.

First Missouri Rain Storm......

Okay, I thought I knew what a rain/thunder storm was....wow was I wrong!!! Last Wednesday evening I was finishing doing chart review at a little nursing home about an hour Northwest of Kirksville. Towards the end I could hear thunder and lightening. I was getting a little worried, because I had to take a little country road to get back. Now you have to understand that the country roads here are VERY hilly and curvy. Literally, you go up the hill and down the hill and up the hill and down the hill..etc. As I was getting ready to leave I asked the nurse if I could take the same road back, and she said I couldn't because it would flooded. She told me the way I had to go, which was a longer route, but should be a little safer. I started on my way, and then it hit. The worst storm I have ever been in. I was literally in the middle of the country. There was no where to pull my car over, and I could barely see the road. The rain was coming down sideways. My wipers weren't doing anything, and streams of water were flowing across the road. Lightening was crashing down everywhere around me, and to top things off I didn't have cell service. I was scared. I kept driving slowly, because I didn't know what else to do. I finally got a hold of Colt, and he was able to calm me down. It took me an hour and a half to get home, and the storm followed me the whole way!!! When I got home, Colt had me look at the little storm ditch we had in our back yard. This ditch is about 3 feet deep 3 feet across. When I looked out, there was literally a river about 40 feet across flowing down our backyard. Luckily we are up about 15 feet from the ditch. The pictures are of the water going down the backyard.
It was an experience I won't ever forget. I have now learned that if it says it is going to storm, stay close to home!!!

Still Trying to Catch up!!

Hey ya'll! Yes we are still here. Sorry, it has been a bit. Well for a little update... Two weekends ago Colt and I were able to sneak away for an afternoon to Kansas City to see the Air Show. The Thunderbirds were there, and they were absolutely amazing. Colt loves jets and in his next life he hopes to fly them!!! He absolutely loved every minute of it. We were also able to do a little shopping at one of the malls in Kansas City...the highlight of my day!!! We had a great time.

White Coat and Hannibal Pictures

Colt's White Coat Ceremony

So Saturday, August 16, Colt had his white coat ceremony. It was very neat. My mom was able to fly out to see the ceremony. She wasn't able to come to my white coat ceremony, but Colt's parents were able to come. Colt's parents weren't able to come to his, but my mom was able to. We are very lucky to have such great parents. The white coat ceremony had a few speakers. The keynote speaker was very good. She is a doctor who just finished her residency, and found out she had breast cancer. She had some amazing words to give to the new students. Then they called the students up to put on the white coat. Colt looked so official! They explained that when you are a student you start out with a short coat, when you go to residency it gets a little longer, and when you are done with residency it gets even longer. So, yes I have a longer coat than Colt!!

The next day the three of us (Colt, My mom, and me) drove out to Hannibal, MO. This time we walked around the town. It was beautiful. It is a darling town with a lot of beautiful views. We walked up to a light house that looks over the Mississippi river. It is a place that Mark Twain wrote about. We also went to another area called lovers leap. It was a beautiful day, and we had a lot of fun. We are really glad that Colt's parents, and my mom were able to come out to see where we are at. We love having guests!!! Hint Hint to anyone who desires to come see the Midwest!!! Pictures to follow!!!

More MO Pictures

Pictures from Mo

Joining the Blogging World!

So I finally did it. I started a blog. With Help from my sister in law, Alli I was able to find a background and get going on this. I am slowly catching on!

After a summer that went by too fast, and saying goodbye to our friends and family Colt and I headed out to Missouri on August 1st. Colts mom and dad drove the moving truck (thanks Rich and Judy) and Colt and I drove the Accord. We got here very late on the 2nd/3rd (Midnight), and unpacked the truck. I quickly became acquainted with the bugs out here. I went into our guest room to open the door for Colt and his dad to bring something in, and there were tons of crickets, beetles, spiders, etc. I had bug spray and started spraying 2 big spiders. One started chasing me, and for those who know me know I hate spiders!!! I kept spraying him but he kept chasing me. Everywhere I stepped he would go that way too. There were other bugs crawling towards me as well. I turned to run away, and just then a frog jumped out from the opposite way towards me. I lost it and ran into the house!!!

After 2 days of unpacking we decided we wanted to go check out the state. We went to Hannibal, MO (Home of Mark Twain) and rode on a river boat on the Mississippi river. We also experienced our first rain storm that day....WOW we don't know rain in Utah!!!! We then did a little church history...Adam-ondi-Ahman, Liberty, and Independence. The next day we drove to Nauvoo and went to the temple. It was beautiful. Nauvoo is a really fun area with a lot of history. We also went to Carthage the same day we went to Nauvoo. That was an awesome experience. It was just Colt, Rich, Judy, myself, and the missionary in the room. It was something I will never forget. The Spirit was so strong. It is amazing to think we were standing right where Joseph Smith was standing.

The last day we drove out to St. Louis to stay overnight. We drove downtown and went up into the famous arch. That is another fun city to visit. We drove a lot, but we had a great time with Colt's parents. I am so glad they came out, and we really appreciated all of their help. It was a great way to get acquainted with our new state!!

Pictures to Follow.....