Brian Bobbie and Finn

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-11T13:37:00.003-08:00

We have attempted to start a family tradition this year by getting our Christmas Tree the day after Thanksgiving. We took some pictures and they totally remind me of my old childhood photos, strapping the tree on top of the station wagon! I love Christmas and the decorating, food, party's, and holiday spirit that go's with it!

Finn went to see Santa and wasn't to fond of him!

2011-10-03T10:53:00.005-07:00

I know it's been a long time coming for this post. We had a great summer celebrating all of our birthdays, spending time with family and friends, a trip to Idaho for Finn and I and Brian in his rotations in full force.

Finn turned 1 on June 21, hand had a blast eating his monkey cake and playing with some friends and new toy

Finn likes cake!

Brian and I celebrated his first board exam is over and he passed!!

We visited California to see family and to take Finn to the beach.

Finn and I took a trip to Idaho to see my family and to get out of the heat. When we checked in to the airport my friend Carl was on the same flight, Carl helped me keep Finn from destroying the air plain, it was very nice to have him there and to see him!!

Finn has a brown teddy bear he sleeps with every night and he loves it and go's right to sleep when he has it. On my way to the airport I realized I forgot it. I was very worried he was going to freak when he was ready for bed so I told my mom this and she improvised and found this pink rainbow bright care bear for him. It wasn't his teddy bear but it work for the time being!

We had a family reunion in Island Park

We went to Jackson Hole

We did a trip through West Yellowstone and watched Old Faithful go off.

It was a wonderful summer and now were ready for it to cool off!

I See Light

2011-03-20T20:35:00.015-07:00

I'm seeing a little light at the end of the tunnel! Brian has started his last quarter of his second year of medical school and will take boards (USMLE) and (COMLEX) in June and starts rotations in July. We are so excited for this change and for Brian to get out of the class room. His first rotation, (family medicine) will be across the street from our house.

Brian has been doing really well in school and works hard and is fully dedicated to medicine. I'm so proud of him, he's going to be an amazing Doctor!

Our little Finnabugs! He is 9 months this month and how he's growing like a weed. He's starting to be more interested in reading books and is curious about everything. I think he's going to be a flirt, he's always making funny faces and looks at you with his big blue eyes and sucks you right in!

He is crawling a little to fast for his own good, he get's bruises all over his head. My mom told me that I might want to take him in to get his eyes checked out, but when he started head banging his crib and the wall, I figured it wasn't a eye problem! As you can see he's a little wild in his crib!

Finn fell out of his bumbo and did a face plant into some Lemon bars

7th Month

2011-02-13T20:23:00.011-08:00

Finn's 7th month milestone. So much has happened this month, Finn started crawling, realized he could feed himself a bottle, got his first tooth and has another one coming any day, drinks out of a sippy cup and wants to eat everything I'm eating. I feel like this month he's grown way to fast and isn't my little baby anymore. Our last checkup he weighted 18.7 lb and 26 inches long. Here's some pictures we've taken over the month.

One morning I went to get him out of his crib and his big toe was sticking out of his pj's, it was so cute I had to take a picture!

Valentines day pictures

HO HO HO

2011-01-04T09:37:00.005-08:00

I just got some photos we had taken at our ward Christmas BBQ with Santa, I thought I would share. Finn was being really good so Santa would bring him lots of toys! Finn already knows how to work the system!

Look at those chubby cheeks!

Holidays Have come and gone

2011-01-01T22:11:00.036-08:00

I thought I better up date this blog, it's been awhile if you haven't noticed. To start off Finn has a new swing in the back yard that he loves. He swings and looks up at the trees and listens to the crazy birds, he loves being outside.

Finn is noticing Milil more and more and loves to roll over to say hi to her. When Mili is in the room Finn watches her every move and thinks it's so funny when she go's crazy and runs around. He likes to pull her hair and Mili likes the attention, they're perfect for each other!

I ran in a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving it was my motivator to get back in shape. I had a great support group.

Brian also raced in a Mountain Bike race he did great and loves Mountain Biking. He's hoping to do some more races when he finishes his second year of school and has passed his boards.

Traveling to ID and UT was ok lets just say we drove 200 miles at 15 to 20 mph in one lane of traffic and snow, it took us 11 hours for what should have been 6 hours. Finn was a trooper and did great, he had a few moments but not bad. The trip was great and we got to see some of family and friends. Heres some of pictures we took I wish we would of taken more but here's what we ended up with.

My mom has an old beanbag she keeps around for the grand kids and Finn thought he would try the old thing out to see if it's any good!

Christmas Morning

Christmas Lunch Green Beans!

Finn's cousin Logan walked in with a cowboy hat on and Finn keep looking at it so Logan let him try it on, isn't he such a cute little cowboy!

My Dad and I

We went skiing at Targhee with my brother James. I thought I was in better shape but skiing proved me wrong.

Grandma Lehnhof and Finn

This photo makes me laugh because Finn is constantly pulling my hair he thinks it's funny and now I caught him in action pulling his cousin Addi's hair, look at that little grin on his face!

Finn Addi and Annecy

And a few cousins from the Lehnhof side of the family

We are so grateful for 2010 and the many blessings we have had and for our healthy baby boy who brings us so much joy!

Now the NEW YEAR is here and it time to make some goals happen!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVER ONE!!

We sold Trixi the Jeep

2010-11-20T08:08:00.015-08:00

Brian has had the jeep for 11 years. We loved the jeep and all the memories that we had with it.
We sold it to a great family. They actually bought it for there son who is 10, when they came to look at it in the dark the little kid said "dad we've got to get this to night". It made us feel better that it was going to a good home and another little boy!

We took one last family ride, and for Finn it was his first and last, poor guy didn't even know what he was missing, he was sleeping the hole time. We took some family pictures so we always remember the Jeep Trixi and all the good times we had with her.

Dog Park

2010-11-13T09:08:00.010-08:00

We took a family trip to the dog park to let Mili run her little heart out. Mili such a funny dog when we go to the dog park she just wants to hang out with us and doesn't really play with the other dogs. We took some pictures so I thought I would share.

See the dog in the bottom corner that's trying to get Milis attention and Mili is ignoring the dog and looking the other way. I think Mili thinks shes princess in dog world and gets a little snooty when it comes to other dogs!

And sometimes she doesn't want to Liston, this picture is a perfect example, and some people say dogs aren't like kids.

But shes a good girl and we lover her even when she's stubborn!

Our 5 year Anniversary

2010-11-12T20:43:00.004-08:00

It was our 5 year Anniversary on the 5th of November. Brian and I have been so blessed and have enjoyed amazing five years learning and growing with each other. This year has been so exciting with Finn joining our family. We love life and are excited for the many years to come!

Baby Shower

2010-11-07T19:39:00.012-08:00

I had my friend Kara's baby shower at my house this last week. I've never given a baby shower so I had no clue what to do for decorations and food. I have gone to several baby showers in the past few months and they were always so cute, but I never paid to much attention to the decorations or what I was eating, I just enjoy the party. So now that it was my turn to give a baby shower I wished I would of paid more attention.

After thinking about it and doing some research I came up with a few fun ideas and went to work. I had a lot of fun decorating and making some of the food and some friends brought food as well so we had lots of yummy food.

Brian set up the backyard for me, thanks Bri your the best!
Isn't she just so dang cute!

Now the showers over we need you to have that baby!!

Happy Halloween

2010-11-07T19:06:00.008-08:00

So this post is late, but better late then never. Halloween was fun this year because Finn is here and I get to dress him up. We went to our wards trunk or treat with Kara and Jon and then to a fun party for a costume contest, "that we won" because of our cute little puppy dog. We made caramel apples and had fun chatting. Thanks Liddell's for a fun time!

When we were at the trunk or treat Finn fell asleep and some people walked by him and thought he was a stuffed animal, it was kinda funny.

Jon and Kara went as two devils, don't they look great! When they got in our car Finn looked at them and started crying frantically. I couldn't calm him down tell we got out of the car. He must already know that the devil is bad, I think he was ticked off because we put two of them in the back seat with him!
And now to explain our family get-up. Finn- puppy dog Me-Stray Cat Brian- Phoenix animal control. I know it's kinda corny but it's all we could come up with.

Sewing Project

2010-11-07T18:40:00.006-08:00

A friend of mine had twins, a boy and a girl, I've been in the mood to do a sewing project so I made her a little dress and bow tie. I haven't made something like this sense college so it took me a little longer then I was expecting but it all came back to me. Finn was my model, he did such a good job, thanks buddy!! I took pictures because I don't do projects like this that often so I thought I better document it, enjoy!

Finn thinks the bow tie's kinda funny!!

Phoenix Children's Museum

2010-10-25T14:08:00.009-07:00

My sweet friend Polly invited Finn and I to go to the Children's Museum with her and her son Eli. What a great place. Why didn't they have places like that when I was little, I'm so jealous of all the cool things they have for kids now. What a great place I would recommend it to anyone with kiddos!

Eli playing in the beans at the fake grocery store.

painting

Eli driving a motorcycle.

And Finn was such a good boy, poor kid missed out on all the fun and sat in his car set the whole time. "Maybe next time buddy you can play with the kids!"

Thanks Polly for a fun day!

First Hike

2010-09-19T21:33:00.004-07:00

We took are first family hike! The weather has been so nice in the mornings so we decided to get out and enjoy it. We took some pictures of our little adventure I hope you enjoy!

Appliance movers

2010-08-20T08:30:00.004-07:00

We recently replaced our appliances and we got creative with the logistics of moving them. We were able to load the oven, dishwasher and built-in microwave all into the car. Thankfully, Jon let us borrow his truck to move the refrigerator, it was a tad too big for the car.

What did we every do before craigslist and Dodge Magnums?

Quick Trip

2010-08-19T17:28:00.026-07:00

We took a quick trip to Idaho and Utah to introduce Finn to some of his cousins and to get out of the heat before Bri goes back to school. Even though it was a short trip we tried to use our time wisely and do as much as we could with the time we had. Our first stop was in Twin Falls to see Brian's sister Kerri and her family and Grandma Lehnhof. We went to Kiwi Loco a frozen yogurt shop Kerri and Doug started it was so yummy I would recommend it to everyone.

From Twin Falls we headed to Sun Valley where Brian did some Mountain Biking at the resort there. Finn and I took a walk on the river path enjoying the nice weather. I don't know why I didn't take any pictures I'm so mad at myself.
We then headed to Shelley and Idaho Falls area for a week. The time went by so fast but we enjoyed every moment of it. We rode horses, went huckleberry hunting, made jam and went on a bike ride. We also spent time with some friends and cousins and Grandma and Grandpa Billman.

From Idaho we headed to Utah to spend the weekend with Brian's brother Lance and his family we went on a bike ride and ate dinner in the park. Lance and Jennie watched Finn for us so Brian and I could go Mountain Biking in the Draper Canyon.

And are last stop was in Knab UT for food we took these sweet pictures out behind the gas station!

Bri goes back to school tomorrow we're going to miss having him home all day with us.
Good bye summer and hello school year!

Nap time!

2010-07-15T14:41:00.003-07:00

Apparently I missed the announcement that it was nap time. Everyone else got the announcement though. Here is Finn, Bobbie, and Mili all sound asleep!

Finn's Blessing

2010-07-11T19:47:00.006-07:00

Due to the logistics of family being in town, we were able to bless Finn last week at church. It was a great occasion. It was nice to have some family in town for the special day.

A couple projects we have been working on

2010-07-11T18:31:00.004-07:00

Over the last couple weeks we have been working on numerous projects. Here are some pictures from a couple of them.

This is a wall we did a little stenciling on. Actually a wall that we did A LOT of stenciling on.

This is the opposing wall that we painted to match the stencil color

This is the laundry room. Bobbie free-handed this tree

If you look carefully, there are some hooks hidden in the branches

That is so we can hang things while we are working.

Finn and Mili-Becoming Fast friends

2010-06-27T18:36:00.002-07:00

Mili is getting used to all of Finn's noise and still seems to like him enough to sleep next to him.

Finnegan Steven Lehnhof

2010-06-23T07:37:00.013-07:00

Monday morning provided us with a beautiful new addition to our life. Finn was born at 11:59 a.m. and weighed 6 lb 1 0z and was 18 3/4". He and Bobbie are both doing well.

When we arrived at the hospital at 3:30 am

Then a 7 hours later:

Shindig

2010-06-13T17:45:00.006-07:00

We had a little shindig at our house before life gets a little crazy and to celebrate our birthdays. We bought a BBQ for our birthdays so we cooked some chicken and hot dogs and invited people over to eat some grub. Good times and weather was perfect!

There's a story behind this cake, it's suppose to be a famous recipe for a German cake the Lehnhof family has, and when I had a piece of my sister-in-laws when she made it, it was amazing the best white cake I've ever had, so I thought it would be fun to make it for our birthday. I started baking the cake and that went great but the frosting was another story and it's the best part of this cake. To make a story short it didn't work out so I had to improvise and use normal vanilla frosting and then to top it off it should have toasted almonds on the sides but I burnt those so we ended up with a plain old cake. Oh well, I always have next year to try again and get some tips on that special frosting!

I love this photo Mili's the only one paying attention

Four Corners XTERRA

2010-06-11T22:29:00.006-07:00

We took a trip to New Mexico for Brian to participate in a XTERRA. For those of you who don't know what an XTERRA is, it's an off-road triathlon. You trail run, mountain bike and swim in a lake. This was Brian's first XTERRA so it was all new to him and me. He swam 15000 m in a lake than ran to his transition station to take his wet suit off and put on his running shoes and then ran 6 miles on a sandy desert trail to another transition station where he took off running shoes and put on his biking gear and off he went into the hot desert on another sandy trail for 20 miles. He had two problems with one of his bikes tires leaking air so he had to stop a few time to fix the tire but he made it. I'm so proud of him he did such a good job he's been training at Wet N Wild in the wave pool for the swim which you can basically say he didn't get to train for the swim which was probable the hardest part for everyone. He finished and didn't get lapped my the pros during the swim, which was his goal. Good job babe!

Memorial Weekend

2010-06-09T21:40:00.000-07:00

Our friends Kara and Jon invited us to go with them to their family's cabin in Alpine AZ for Memorial Weekend. We had so much fun just chillin in the mountains and beating the heat. Thanks Kara and Jon for the good times!!

Brian got a little swim practice in Luna Lake
Mili was the watchful lifeguard while Brian swam
We had a heated battle of croquet.

Done with first year!

2010-05-22T03:47:00.005-07:00

I have officially completed year 1! My last final was yesterday, and it is all in the past now. It is amazing how fast time has passed. It definitely seems like a blur.

I now get a full summer break. We have got lots of projects planned and we are going to enjoy our freedom. Unfortunately my body is not cooperating yet. I have gotten so used to sleep on 5 hours of sleep that I cannot seem to stay asleep longer than that, hence the reason I am posting this at 3 o'clock on Saturday morning. Hopefully this will change in the very near future.

Thank you to everyone for your support over this last year, especially my wife who has been so patient, gracious, and understanding of my situation.

EASTER

2010-05-06T16:41:00.013-07:00

Ya I know it's May, but I thought I would show you some pictures of what we did on Easter. We watched conference and then decided to get out of the house and enjoy the sun. There's a bike trail that runs in the middle of a spill way were there should be water but it's Arizona so there's no water when it's not raining, but we did find a little creek, I guess you would call it that. When Mili saw the water she could not wait to get in. The first photo is what she did as soon as she hit the water. In Idaho she loved swimming in the canal and river and this is the closest thing we could find to one of those, but she didn't mind.

It was a wonderful Easter!!!

Dodgers vs Padres

2010-03-25T22:06:00.008-07:00

It's baseball season! We went to a game last weekend with some friends to see the Padres and Dodgers. We made a trip out of it and road our bikes and stopped at In and Out along the way. Good times!
I'm not sure who the guy with the orange backpack is he's not our friend and he's kinda creepy.

Sorry for the blurry picture

My Brian Scott and this Brian Scott are study buddy's in school.

Sorry John and Kara I didn't take any picture of just your cute faces with my camera they must of been on yours.

ID or AZ

2010-03-10T22:40:00.001-08:00

Brian and I were doing some shopping Saturday afternoon and I was sitting in the parking lot waiting for him and I looked over and saw horses tide up to the trees. We were on a main street in Glendale it's the road that has the mall on it and it's always has traffic. Some people rode their houses to town to get something to eat. It was so funny watching people look at them "and no I was not the only one taking pictures." I kinda felt like I was in Idaho for a minute.

23 WEEKS

2010-03-09T15:28:00.004-08:00

Here's some pictures of my belly for all of you who have been wanting to see.

It's growing faster then I expected

School Break

2010-03-08T19:10:00.009-08:00

Brian had a break for a week in between quarters so his mom came to visit. The break was perfect we were able to get all things we wanted to get done like trimming trees and bushes and planting new trees and plants around the house. Mili also put grandma to work by making her some dog pillows for two different rooms in the house. Gladys was a big help and we appreciate her coming to see us.
Here's some pictures I took of some of our projects.

Tulips to add some color to the desert landscaping.

Gardenias that should be blooming white flowers soon

I made this wreath out of the neighbors trees that were hanging over into our yard

We planted some little palms in the backyard

Last but not least Mili's new Posh dog beds. "Thanks Grandma Lehnhof"!!

One for the front room And one for the bedroom, she loves her new beds!

Struttmanns

2010-03-01T21:50:00.000-08:00

Our friends Carl and Audrie had a Birthday Party for their little girl Emmery and they just so happen to be in AZ at the time visiting Carl's family and we were able to go see them. It's always a fun time hanging out with old friends. We miss all our Idaho Friends!

Wet'N Wild

2010-02-04T07:58:00.006-08:00

We are now season pass holders to Wet'N Wild Yipee! Brian and I have been passing this idea around to buy passes for this summer so we would have pool to lay in when it's 100 degrees outside. If anyone want to join us your welcome to jump in on the fun.

The Verdict Is In

2010-01-18T13:16:00.004-08:00

Hi everyone

The Ultrasound Tec said there's no doubt about it, we're having a BOY!!!

Life Changing Events

2010-01-14T18:36:00.008-08:00

So we are in our 15th week of our life changing event. We aren't sure what are life changing event is yet, that is the sex of it but we will find out soon. If you haven't figured it out we are having a baby. Sorry for all of you who think you are the last to know but we just told our family at Christmas.
We should know MONDAY the sex of the baby...What do you think it's going to be a BOY or GIRL?

Merry Christmas

2009-12-10T12:28:00.002-08:00

Suprise Christmas Tree

2009-12-10T10:43:00.011-08:00

Brian and I were talking about getting a Christmas tree but wasn’t sure we wanted to spend the money on one.

So Saturday morning Brian went to school to study and comes home latter that afternoon. I asked him if he wanted to go with me to a friends house, and he said “no I have a lot of thing I need to get done" and he glanced into the garage”. Brian said look“ I look in the garage” my first thought was Ow know something’s wrong with the jeep. But instead Brian had a Christmas tree loaded up in his jeep. He always has good surprises!

We already had some white lights from our wedding and Brian’s Grandma Albiston gave tree ornaments to all the grand children every year and Brian had a box full. I can say this tree has nothing but love on it all the ornaments were made by someone or some one gave them to us as a gift. It's a simple tree but it has a lot of love.

It's true that a tree always make’s Christmas a little sweeter and helps us remember it Christmas here in Arizona.

Thanks for the tree love!

Mili's the photogenic one in the family as you can see!

I thought I would share with you our stockings Brian's sister gave them to us the Christmas after we were married. We have somewhere to hang them this year!

White Coat Ceremony

2009-10-11T20:11:00.003-07:00

This last Friday was "white Coat Ceremony" school. It is usually done at the beginning of the year, but they do it later here, since it is so hot when school starts. For those of you who are not familiar with this tradition, I will explain. We receive the white coat (a short version, you get the long one when you graduate) at the beginning of school to show our commitment to studying medicine and serving others. It is a nice ceremony, but in some ways it is a anti-climactic practice graduation. Just 3 & 3/4 more years to go!

Student Doctors: Scott Moore, Brian Lehnhof, and Brian Liddell

Summer Waterskiing

2009-08-09T10:10:00.008-07:00

We have not been real good about posting this summer, so we will try to do some updating over the next little while.

One thing that we did a lot of this summer was water skiing. Bryan and Ashley were so kind as to take us skiing many times on their nice boat. This was the first time both Bobbie and I have ever done slalom skiing so it was fun to learn a new sport.

Here are some pictures from the last outing of the summer. We will post some more from earlier.

Dog Beach

2009-08-09T09:14:00.005-07:00

Orientation Week is over at school, and this is our last weekend before school officially starts, and life in many ways is committed solely to studying. We decided to drive to Southern California to visit my mom and do a last surfing trip. We decided to not go to our usual spot down in San Clemente. Instead we went to "Dog Beach" which is in north of Huntington, near Bolsa Checka. This allowed us to bring Mili and let her play in the water and with the other dog. It was a lot of fun. The surfing was not great, but it was good to see Mili have so much fun.

WE MADE IT!!

2009-08-06T08:00:00.001-07:00

Brian and I took off Friday afternoon and drove to Utah and went to a Lehnhof family Reunion which was so fun. I got to meet cousins and ants and uncles I've never met before.

On Saturday we started our long journey to AZ. Brian was in the Moving truck pooling the jeep and I was driving our car with Mili. We made it safely with no problems.

Brian started his orientation for school and can't wait to get started.

The Jeep

2009-08-06T07:50:00.014-07:00

For those of you who know we have a Jeep that Brian's had since he was a junior in high school. Before we made our move to AZ we wanted to fix it up or sale it. We decided take on the challenge and fix it up so Brian can drive it to school. We decided on a color and went to work. Brian has been working so hard sanding and sanding and sanding and bondoing and sanding. And thanks to our friend Bryan who painted it for us and helped us along the way, we were so grateful for all his help. In the end all the hard work payed off!!

Before

After

Our new home

2009-07-20T00:57:00.004-07:00

So it has been quite a while since our last post, and we will try to correct our actions. We will try to bring everyone up to speed as we can over the next little while.

A lot of our time over the last couple of months has been focused on getting a house in Phoenix. We have been putting a lot of effort into it. We finally had a couple of accepted offers, and we are moving forward with one. It is a nice little house in a really nice area. It is a quick 4.5 miles to school. We are pretty excited.

Here are some pictures. We just found out today that the new Phoenix temple is going to be about 1 mile away! We do not close until August 12th, and then have to have flooring installed, so we will not move in until the later part of August, but it will be worth the wait.

Birthday Lunch

2009-05-14T16:53:00.003-07:00

I took Megan and Heather out for lunch for their birthdays. They both turned 26 on May 6th. My cousin Melissa and her kid also joined us it was fun being with them, it doesn't happen enough.

Love you guys!!

Our little AZ trip!!

2009-05-14T15:25:00.010-07:00

My parents, Brian and I took a trip to AZ for a week to relaxe and to get some house hunting in. We had a lot of fun looking around and enjoying the warm weather. We went to an Arabian horse show and a Diamondbacks and Cubs game. We also met up with our friends Taylor and Celeste and went to dinner at Pinnacle Peak Patio. They have a traditions of when ever someone has a tie on they cut it off and hang it on the wall with a business card. They also had two rattlesnakes inside so you could look at.
House hunting went well, there's so many house out there to look at. We haven't found the one for us yet, we did put some offers in on a few and were still looking.

Mili's Haircut

2009-04-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

Since we have come back to Idaho we have been waiting for the weather to warm up so that we can give Mili a hair cut. It has warmed up recently and we had the chance.

Here is the before picture:

Here is the after picture:

We almost filled up a 30 gallon trash bag with all the hair trimmings. She looks like a little puppy. She also has a ton of new energy. It will be good preparation for moving to AZ where she will have to always be this trimmed so that she does not over heat.

All of the furinture sold

2009-04-19T20:50:00.004-07:00

For those of you who have been following the blog you are aware that when we were in Reno anticipating the forthcoming move, we discussed what to do with our furniture. We did not want to make a bid deal of trying to move everything since most of what we have was random pieces. So we decided to sell all that we could and prevent having to move it twice within 6 months and then buy new furniture in AZ since Craigslist is so good down there and we can get good stuff for relatively cheap, in fact for much less than what it would cost to just move the random pieces we have accumulated.

We ended up selling everything, including a lot items that we thought would never sell, like a dying plant for instance! But it was all gone, and a lot of it was sold sooner than we expected, so we had to adapt to our new surroundings. Here is what we came up with.

Our new table:
**Disclaimer, in NO way are we endorsing Dell with this photo. It was merely a good sturdy box that we got from Bobbie's work. Please do not associate us with this inferior company:)

The new desk:
The air mattress:It was not too bad and it made it so we did not have to abandon it all at the end.

We made it to Idaho

2009-04-19T19:56:00.008-07:00

It has been a long delay to make this post, but we did make it back from Reno. It was a long journey but we made it in good time. This was one of the first times in a long time that we did this drive during the daylight, or at least for part of it. We made it home at 2:30 a.m. so it was better than most of the other times.

We did manage to get all of our belongings into the car. The only things that did not fit was a trash can, lamp shade and some hangers. We used just about all the space that was possible.

I was afraid that everything would shift and fall over the place once we started driving, but suprisingly nothing moved. It makes sense though, there was no place for it to move to!

We had to get creative and use every inch possible, no spaces left void.

We even had to pack the space under the floor mats, FYI its roomy under there!

By the time we were packed, the car was sitting 3 inches off the ground. For all of those that think that our car is a "mafia" car, you should have seen it when it was "lowered."

I never realized how much space is wasted in a car when you pack it in the traditional way.

All in all it was a good trip and we are excited to be on to the next phase of our journey to the rest of our life.

AZ here we come!

2009-03-23T10:52:00.004-07:00

So we have made our final decision (I think)!!

I will be Attending Midwestern University-Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine

School starts August 10th and we are super excited to be moving on to the next stage of our exciting journey. We will be going down there a couple times over the next couple months to try to find some living arrangements. We are looking to buy a house since the houses down there are so so cheap. We will be sure to keep the blog posted with all the details as they take shape.

We miss you too!

2009-03-17T21:28:00.019-07:00

Mili came up missing the other day, and my mom could not find her anywhere. Finally my mom went out the back door of the house and started yelling her name and she came running up the stairs from the basement were Brian and I lived. My mom said she's found her down their a few time and has no clue how she gets in. Its nice to know she misses us as much as we miss her.

When we went home for a day last month to drop some stuff off, we took Mili for a ride in the car and played with her When it was time to leave, she chased after us down the road. Apparently when she got back to the house she sat at the end of the driveway for a couple hours waiting for us to come back. It is pretty sad. We are excited to see her again in 2 weeks, and this time we will not torture her by leaving her again. I think we are going to have to regain her trust! her.

snoozing away
Big brown puppy eyes!

Trip to Western

2009-03-09T11:57:00.005-07:00

Last Wednesday I flew down to L.A. to interview at Western University in Pomona. I canceled a bunch of my remaining interviews after receiving some acceptance letters. I went to this one, because it is a school I am very interested in. I was impressed with the program and the facilities. I am not sure about moving back to Southern California. We'll see, decisions will be made this week!

During this trip, I was able to spend some time with my mom. It was quick, but a good chance to catch up.

It's Comming So Fast!!

2009-03-08T15:14:00.009-07:00

For all of you who don't know were moving in three weeks back to Idaho. We're going back so we can spend time with family and friends and to save some money before going to med school. Were really excited, but sad, we really like Reno and will miss all the friends that we've made here. We're excited to move foreword with this new journey that's ahead of us.
Brian and I have been selling our furniture or whatever we can sell to prepare for the move. We've sold our couch, book shelf, two filling cabinets, storage shelf, lamp, our comforter off our bed, school desk, snow pants, books, 2 bags, computer fan...I know, random. We only have a few things left like our bed, table and a recliner. We've enjoyed selling everything, we've MADE MONEY and we don't have to move it back to Idaho and then move it to were ever Bri go's to school.

Moved from the wait-list

2009-02-24T11:29:00.002-08:00

I got a call from ATSU-SOMA in Mesa, that I was offered a spot for this fall. I do not think it is going to change much though. We are still pretty set on Midwestern in Glendale, but we will have to make some hard choices in the very near future. I interview in Pomona, CA next week. After that we will be done and make some final decisions. It is such a blessing that we have some good options to choose from. It is a hard situation that we are more than grateful to be in!

School update

2009-02-06T14:29:00.003-08:00

So after traveling around the country the last couple weeks, we are starting to hear back from schools.

Here are the results so far...............

Accepted to:
Midwestern University-AZ College of Osteopathic Medicine
Touro-NV College of Osteopathic Medicine

Alternate List:
A.T. Still University-School of Osteopathic Medicine-AZ

Rejected:
NONE!!!!!

It has been a long hard journey to get to this point, but well worth it. We are so excited to have options coming our way. We are still waiting for some others to come back. I can now cancel a couple of other interview trips that were planned that I am not interested in anymore.

We will keep you posted on the final decision as it is made.

Brown Sugar Muffins

2009-01-26T19:49:00.006-08:00

My favorite muffins with a little health kick!

1/2 cup butter soften
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup of milk
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups flour (1 cups of wheat flour)
3/4 cup flax seed
3/4 cup Wheat germ
1/4 cup nut (optional)

Combine all ingredients together and mix well
Bake at 350 for 10-15 min.
I add in the cup of wheat flour, flax seed and wheat germ for a little extra fiber for the day!

Interview Travels

2009-01-24T21:41:00.006-08:00

I am in the middle of a week long trip doing interviews. I arrived in St. Louis today. I was in Phoenix for the last couple of days interviewing at ATSU. I interview at their original campus on Monday in Kirksville, MO which is 3 1/2 hours to the northwest of St. Louis.

Erin and Carter came up to St. Louis and met me to do some quick sight-seeing and dinner. We had a good time. Unfortunately, we just missed being able to go in the arch tram. Carter was pretty disappointed.

Here are some pictures from my travels so far.

South Lake Tahoe

2009-01-24T12:04:00.019-08:00

Brian had last Saturday off so we used it wisely and took a trip to South Lake Tahoe. We took pictures and ate lunch, it was a lot of fun, we wish we had more days like this!
Enjoy the pictures!

Winter? Really? I'll take it!

2009-01-12T12:38:00.004-08:00

For all those who are eagerly awaiting updates on when bike commuting will resume.... I am riding again!

I am not sure what is up with the winters here in Reno, but it has been almost 60 degrees during the day recently. In fact today I plan on playing soccer with Bobbie when I pick her up. It is hard to tell if this is an anomaly or the norm, but either way I'll take it.

It is amazing this is probably the first winter that I could care less about ski conditions. In fact I live 45 mins from numerous world class resorts, and I do not even have skis here! It is interesting to see how things transition.

Our Snowy Christmas in Idaho

2008-12-31T17:33:00.010-08:00

After all the stress that came with getting to Idaho, it was worth it. There's nothing like being at home, and being with family.

Idaho has gotten lots of snow, so we took advantage of it and went sledding and skiing. We visited with some friends and family and had a fun family party gift exchange.
We're sad we didn’t get to see some of you, we wish we could of stayed a few more days, but that job stuff only allowed us so much time, but we're truly grateful for all the time we had off.

Brian and I were so excited to see our dog Mili, we miss here so much. We could tell she’s been well taken care of, I think she’s gained an extra twenty pounds, thanks mom and dad. Mili loves it at mom and dads house, she gets to do all the fun stuff farm dogs like to do.
We love you and miss you all very much.

Off we go to our new year of opportunities!!
We wish you all a Happy New Year!!

Our Traviling Adventure

2008-12-30T14:11:00.005-08:00

It all started when we left Tuesday night for Idaho, we had the car all packed, I went and picked Brian up from work and we were on our way. Things were going great and we were about 15 miles out of Reno when I look down at the thermostat on the car and it was all the way up on hot. So we pulled over and there was antifreeze all over the ground. We let it cool, dumped more antifreeze in and then drove a few more miles and the thermostat was back on hot. So we turned around and started for home it took us almost three hours to get back home with all the stopping. We didn’t know what to do; Brian and I were both burn out. The next day we went to the airport to rent a car the best car we could get in our price range was a PT Cruiser, which was still $385.00 + gas. We rented the car and started transferring things from our car to the PT cruiser, we were almost finished and Brian got a call from his mom and she said she found some tickets flying out of Reno to Boise in a few hours and the price was pretty decent. Brian told me what she said and we just look at each other and felt so much better about flying. So we unloaded the car and took it back, it was such a blessing if we would have drove the car off the lot we would have had to rent it.
Brian’s sister Kerri and mom drove to Boise to pick us up and then my parents dove to Twin Falls to pick us up from Kerri's house. We were so glad we could spend some time with Kerri and Doug’s family, we don’t get to see them very often.
We are so thankful for everyone and there efforts to get us to Idaho.

Idaho Here we come!!

2008-12-23T14:36:00.002-08:00

Brian and I are going to Idaho for Christmas we’re so excited! We are going to stop in Twin Falls and visit Brian’s mom and sister and her family, and then on are way to our little town Shelley.

I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! Travel safe!

Bike Commuting Hiatus

2008-12-15T08:49:00.003-08:00

So it turns out that it really does snow in Reno! Apparently my bike commuting is going to be put on hold. I am pretty pleased that I have been able to ride on a daily basis until now. Hopefully this will melt quickly and I can get back on the road. For now I have to go find a bus schedule!

Our Thanksgiving Day

2008-12-01T13:09:00.010-08:00

I love Thanksgiving, its such a special day to remember all the things were grateful for. This Thanksgiving was a little different then it has been in the past. As most of you know Brian and I couldn’t make it home to be with our family this year so we stayed in Reno for Thanksgiving. Brian had the morning off, but then had to go work at the hospital in the afternoon. I stayed home and worked on Christmas card, talk to my family on skype and did random things around the house.
Brian called me later that day and said the hospital had fed them a late lunch, which was turkey, and that he didn’t really feel like having it again. I was little relived cause I didn’t feel like it either. So on Brian’s way home he stopped and picked up a pizza, not exactly your Thanksgiving dinner but it was perfect for us. We ate pizza and watched a movie for our Thanksgiving Dinner.
We are so grateful for all the many blessings we have in our life, and for all the small and simple things we take for granted everyday. This year has made us more grateful then ever with all the problems all over the world and the huge increase in unemployment and our economy on a downhill slide. It’s made us really stop and think about whats important in life and what blessed people we are.
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Our Visitor

2008-11-30T14:35:00.002-08:00

Brian's mom came to visit and we didn't waste anytime sitting around. We enjoyed going to the movies, watched a circus show, went out to dinner, played games, made up new ways to paly rummicube, colored hair, made a bag, and had an early Thanksgiving dinner all in three days! We really enjoyed having her here.

Super Saturday

2008-11-25T13:49:00.004-08:00

Our ward had this great super Saturday with a lot of fun crafts to do. A few I signed up for were a Christmas tree to hang our Christmas cards on, "So were ready for those cards when ever you want to send them, preferably before Christmas sometime"!

I put some pictures on the tree cause it looks kinda funny with nothing on it, and it give you more of an idea what it looks like.

And thees cute Ho Ho Ho blocks, I don’t have a lot of decorations here in Reno they're all in Idaho so this activity was perfect, cheep and a lot of fun for Christmas time!

It's Our Anniversary!!!

2008-11-03T18:59:00.012-08:00

We are so excited to celebrate our third year anniversary! As you all know the time flies. The three years have been spent having fun, spending time with friends and family and trying to make some big decisions for the future. We love life and the many blessings it gives us. We are so grateful for all of our family and friends and nieces and nephews that we love so dear.
November 5, 2005

Halloween!!

2008-10-29T12:01:00.007-07:00

Brian and I were invited to go to a Halloween party, it's the first one we have ever gone to. We weren't going to dress up at first but then we thought, what the heck it's not like we get to do this all the time and who knows if will ever get invited to another Halloween party. So this is what we came up with I'm a 20's Charleston dancer and Brian's my main man. What a fun night the party was great, they went all out with a spook alley in the garage, a pinata, and the best food and deserts. Happy Hollween!!

Dad and Mom & Mili came to Reno

2008-10-02T17:34:00.007-07:00

My mom and dad made it to Reno a few weeks ago, it was so nice of them to come and bring more of our junk. Its about a nine hour drive from Idaho and they broght Mili with them. It took a little pleading to let her come, my mom and dad don't usually travel with dogs but Mili was a good girl all they way. We spent most of the time realxing and showing them around town. One of the days we went to Lake Tahoe and took some fun pics it was their first time seeing the lake, it was a beautiful day. Street Vibrations (motorcycle show) was in town and we went and looked at all the cool bikes, but the best part was looking at all weird people, and there were a few! It was a lot of fun having you guys come, we love you!

Grocery shopping without the car

2008-09-22T21:23:00.002-07:00

We decided to run our errands today on our bikes. It was a lot of fun and contributed to our attempt to feel like we live a real metropolitan area (Reno is the biggest little city in the world- you know!) We made 3 stops along our trek. The shopping list was not too long so we figured it would be all good. As shopping always goes we ended up with a few extra items. I started to doubt our decision as I was loading 10 lbs of flour, a gallon of milk, and a dozen eggs into my backpack. Everything turned out well and when we arrived at home, my backpack was dry! The eggs survived! Together we packed home 2 full backpacks probably weighing in at 40+ lbs. You should all try it sometime. For added enjoyment make sure your route involves nice large hills like ours did. Heck, do it on a day with crummy weather for even more fun!

Our Tennis Days

2008-09-18T15:54:00.005-07:00

Brian and I have been playing tennis when he get's home early. There are so many beautiful parks in Reno, this particular park is on the outskirts of down town. It is so beautiful there's vines growing all around the tennis courts so no one can see your court from the road and it's right next to the Truckee river that run's throw town. I love being with Brian I cant believe I made it as long as I did with out him.

AIR BALLOON RACES

2008-09-06T10:07:00.010-07:00

Around 6:30 this morning I had the chance to watch the air balloon races just down the road from our apartment. It was a beautiful morning!

My favorite was the eagle it was different then all the rest.

I Made It!

2008-09-04T22:06:00.004-07:00

What a trip across the desert. We had a few problem, the thermostat on the subi was sticking so no air conditioning, and my mountain bike tire flew off my bike rack and hit another car, that was kind scary but no damage I'm just laking a bike tire. For the most part it was a good trip, we made it safe that's all the matters.

My mother-in-law Gladys, volunteered to take on this long drive with me she is so sweet it was nice to talk with her, thanks Gladys!

5 Days until Bobbie Arrives

2008-08-25T22:44:00.002-07:00

Bobbie will be making the big move to Reno this Saturday. Since I have to work Friday and Saturday at the hospital my mom, who is conveniently positioned in SLC practically this whole month, will drive out with her across the beautiful Northern Nevada Desert. I have brought most our stuff over in small car loads as I have traveled back and forth, and she'll just fill the car up with what is left.

Since I am finally getting a roomate, I am faced with the challenge of converting my "functional" apartment into something that Bobbie would be willing to stay in. My quest this week has been trying to aquire some furniture, such as a kitchen table.

It is sad that we are leaving Idaho, but we are super excited to shake things up in life and try something new, we both need it individually and collectively.

Taylors Birthday Party!!

2008-08-23T22:46:00.017-07:00

We had great time at Taylor's Birthday Party, Celeste made this fantastic cake and wonderful appetizers!

So all of us girls were going to take a nice simple picture on the coach, so I thought, then some how the pictures started getting creative and a little crazy. Those girls are so fun I'm going to miss them!

This is what happens when you give the girls a camera!

It was so good to see Spencer and Tim, they were in town and drove up from Salt Lake!

Bobbie is coming to RENO!

2008-08-13T23:37:00.001-07:00

We decided that enough is enough! Bobbie will be moving to Reno for real. Her last day at the INL is August 28th. She hasn't been able to get any jobs to come together yet, but we have had enough of being apart, it will be almost 3 months total. I am so excited for her to come out here. I have really enjoyed being in Reno and I know she will to. We have enjoyed being in Idaho, but it is time to do something new, and Reno has been great for that.

Random Pictures

2008-08-13T23:36:00.002-07:00

I have been going through pictures lately and found a bunch of pre-blog pictures that I thought I would share with everyone.

A poem for my dear Bobbie

2008-08-10T23:04:00.003-07:00

Photograph and poem by little old me, as token for my sweet Bobbie.

Things I love about my Brian!

2008-08-10T19:36:00.011-07:00

He’s full of surprises! – Brian always comes up with the best surprises, the most recent was when he picked me up from work and took me to a park were he had a nice picnic all set up. He made lasagna, salad, French bread and sparkling cider.
He’s a man of many trades! – Anyone who knows Brian knows that he does everything. Just to give you an idea, he’s a student, a carpenter, mechanic, photographer, cook, cowboy, an athlete, and a housekeeper he always helps with the laundry and dishes or any thing around the house. If he doesn’t know how to do something he will try to learn how to do it.

He sets goals! He is always working toward some goal to make himself better and stronger.
Service- He is always helping someone out in anyway that he can. We went to Island Park a year ago and there was an older couple on the side of the road that had a flat tire. They had a newer truck and could not figure out how to get the spare tire off. Brian helped the man figured it out, and he climbed under their truck and put their tire on for them. They were so grateful for him that they gave him a bag of oats for his help.
Amazing cook- In our collage days Brian would invite my roommates and I over for tacos and lemonade, that’s where it all started. Some of my favorites are enchiladas, shrimp pasta, egg rolls, his special potatoes and he make’s the best homemade pizza.
Active- Brian is always doing something active. He loves to go biking, skiing, swimming, rock-climbing, running, and our new activity is rollerblading with the dogs.
Organized- This kid knows how to organize anything. You should see all of his notes that he takes in class. They are all perfectly hand written, then put in binders by subjects. All of his mission logs, and study notes and talks are all perfectly marked in their binders. He also has me typing all my recipes into the computer under their own category so they are nicely kept and I can print them off.

Smarty-pants! In collage Brian would always help me with my worst subjects math, chemistry and english. He would always know the right answers to everything. He knows how to write the best papers, and he can put all his feelings into words.
Example- The first time I met Brian, I could tell I was going to learn a lot from him. He is always doing the right thing, and being a good example to those around him. Being with him has made me a better person in many ways.
He remembers things- Brian remembers stuff for example. When we were in collage I told him I would like a cedar chest someday, and for my birthday my dad and Brian made me a cedar chest. It was such a surprise cause I totally forgot I said that to him. It’s a good thing he remembers so well, because I don’t.

All I can say is my Brian is perfect for me, he’s sweet, smart, handsome, and a perfect husband.
Love You Bri!

Macoy's Blessing

2008-08-10T19:08:00.008-07:00

Andy and Meg blessed baby Macoy on Sunday.

It was fun to be with the girls hold little Macoy

Taylor is practicing, it's a good thing Macoy is such a good baby!

Tymber Marie Billman

2008-08-02T14:39:00.003-07:00

Tymber is our new niece! She was born July 3,
weighed 6 lb 15 oz.
Congratulations Steve and Alicia!

Lake Tahoe

2008-07-27T16:26:00.004-07:00

On my way home from work last week my co worker mentioned that he and his wife were going to California for the weekend and asked me if I wanted to come, and they would drop me off in Reno. So I went home packed some clothes and left at 2:00 am for Reno.
One of the fun activities we did was go to Lake Tahoe, we found this great place on some big boulders. We went snorkeling and laid in the sun, it was a nice just to relax! I cant wait to move out there and be with that sweet husband of mine!

Renown Medical Center

2008-07-27T14:54:00.005-07:00

I have finally got everything squared away to start working at Renown Regional Medical Center. It is a wonderful hospital. It is the largest hospital in Reno, the flagship center in a large group of Renown Facilities in the Northern Nevada area. Starting this week, I am working in the Oncology Center and looking forward for the opportunities that await me there. Cancer has always had a special place with me and I have a passion for working with people that are affected by its power. I am excited to work in this field in a new setting and see things from another new angle, this will serve me well in preparing for a career in this special field.

Makoy Cooper

2008-07-13T13:46:00.005-07:00

This is Meg and Andy's little boy he is so cute! He was born June 20th at 12:25.

Fourth of July Camping trips

2008-07-11T06:10:00.001-07:00

Bobbie, Mili, and I went camping at nearby Fall Creek on the Fourth of July. The next Day we returned home and traveled with the Billman's to Island Park.

Pictures from Reno

2008-07-08T08:39:00.005-07:00

I finally found some pictures that Bobbie and I took on our first trip to Reno back in the Beginning of June.

Brian's Birthday Surprise

2008-07-01T19:16:00.003-07:00

For my birthday Bobbie surprised me with an awesome surprise. It made for one of the best birthdays I have ever had. I love her so much, and appreciate all the work she put into making this happen. Watch the movie to see the surprise!!!

Birthday Celebration

2008-06-30T09:02:00.011-07:00

This time of the year is a big time for birthdays in the Billman family, so we got together and lumped a bunch of them together in one celebration. It was also a good occasion to take some family pictures.
Press the sound icon to hear the music.

Reno Bike Commuting

2008-06-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

Since being in Reno, I have been trying to avoid driving my car as much as possible. I guess the reasoning for this is multi-faceted. First, it is obviously too expensive and impractical to buy gas. Second, commuting in a large town (or in this case, the biggest little city in the world) has always been something I have want to do. Third, I guess in some sense I want to put forth some effort to try to support our environment. Over the 2+ weeks that I have been in Reno, I have only used a 1/4 of a tank of gas (approx 5 gallons). I feel this is pretty good considering most of that was in the first couple of days as I drove around getting details worked out.

Commuting is usually a pretty good workout due to the large hills and mountains situated around Reno. Conviently, my school is situated on the peak of the highest hill in the area, and our apartment in on top of another rather large one. I look forward to becoming a better hill climber out of it! The weather this time of year is not super conducive to pleasurable riding, but it could be much worse. The biggest hindrance has been the numerous forest fires of Northern California that have been sending tons of smoke into our valley.

It has been pretty fun, it is pretty exhilarating riding through downtown Reno amongst all the Casinos and passing cars. Perhaps my favorite aspect of it all is waiting at stoplights and the opportunity to talk with Reno's finest street goers. All it takes is a cordial "how are you doing?" to trigger an outpouring of colorful life stories and conspiracy theories. Sometimes those lights seem to stay red quite a while!!

Now some may be worried about safety in this endeavor, so I will address it. First, it may be hard to believe, but I am dramatically safer commuting in Reno than I ever was when I would ride in Idaho. Every road I ride on has a a dedicated bike lane, Reno is really awesome about protecting their bikers. In Idaho the only section of road I had was the few inches to the side of traffic where the asphalt paver went a little too wide. The roads here are great, and the drivers are used to bikers so they respect you and pay attention for you. Second, we can't ignore that driving a car can be pretty dangerous in itself! I did some research and found that in an average year there are 42,000 people killed by in car accident (car vs. car) each year. Now in 2006 there were only 770 cyclist killed by a car. I feel I am being responsible here and participating in the safer of the two transportation mediums (we don't need to consider the number of drivers vs. cyclists at this time, I don't see how it is relavent)! You can also take into account that over 600,000 people die every year from heart related issues, I would guess that quite a few of those people drive cars!

So if you come to Reno, bring a bike, we can ride together!

Henrys Lake

2008-06-22T16:26:00.007-07:00

My parents, my aunt and uncle, and I made a trip up to Island Park to go fishing on Henry's Lake. It was beautiful, the water was nice and calm and the weather was warm. The fishing started out kinda slow, but after a hour of patience we started catching the fish, all together we caught 8.

This is my fish we're going to mount for my Henry's Lake souvenir, it's a little tradition the women in my family have.

Bicycle racing Reno style! Tour de Nez!

2008-06-19T17:34:00.009-07:00

So come to find out, Reno has an annual "bicycle race" called the Tour de Nez. It is not quite as formal or mainstream as some of the others I am accustomed to like the Redlands Classic, but it is fun nonetheless. In fact it is quite a fun little event, sometimes more of a party than a race. It is a 4 day stage race that started with a criterium at one of the major casinos in Reno. It was a 1+ mile loop around the parking lot and through the grand entrance. It was fun to watch as several big name pros showed up to race. In addition to the pro race, they had some other races, such as the normal kids races, the clunker classic- which is a race of vintage or otherwise antiquated bikes, and a messenger race-which is a relay of 3 rides and an exchange of "critical cargo" along the way. It was a good time, it continues on with some stages in Truckee, Ca and at Northstar at Tahoe.

Here is a link to a couple videos, not mine, but nice videos to get the idea. You will have to copy and paste the link because I do not know how to attach movies from youtube if I did not make them, if you know- tell me!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1wMmx_Ymw8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LODkA1FqmEU

Headed to Reno

2008-06-17T19:44:00.000-07:00

Now that I have been in Reno full-time for almost a week now, it is probably about time I mention this adventure here on the old blog.

We have been trying to work out a few different things pertaining to my academic and career goals lately. Well, they all came together in a rush and abrupt way back in the end of May.

First, the University of Nevada at Reno has a really nice medical school that I am super interested in. I have been wanting to find a way to get to the Reno area to lay down some roots and work toward going to school there. Second, in the state of Nevada, an EMT can work in a hospital ER or a Urgent care clinic as a medic doing patient assessments and care. I really wanted to get involved in this to enhance my patent care skills as well as stay active in the field. I looked all over NV, ID, UT, and the internet for programs that I could get into to re-certify as an EMT. I was having no luck, every program was scheduled for the fall. Finally I found a community college in Reno that had a summer program and it was cheap-sweet! Yeah, I missed the start of registration by 4 days and it was already full. I got enrolled (generally) at the school anyway in hope of a spot opening up. I checked the open seats several times a day for 2 weeks, without any success. Finally I got an email for the person I was working with at the school, and there was a special section opening up that created a couple open seats. I got the email, registered for the class, paid my fees, and was set to go, all with in 27 minutes. The scary part came when I realized that the class started the next week, 612 miles away!

Everything worked out though, I gave EIRMC (the hospital I was working out) my 2 weeks notice and starting looking online for apartments. My class is on Friday nights and Saturdays, so for the first 2 weeks of class , Bobbie and I drove out Friday morning (2 a.m.) and spent the weekend getting things taken care of, and then drove back Sunday. Luckily it only took 2 of those trips to make everything happen and just about everything was good to go. Last Friday I made the final move out here and have been here since. It has been fun tying up loose ends like finding a bed and getting a job.

Bobbie is still in Idaho unfortunately. Her job is not quite as easy to get out of as my was. We are looking for something here for her, and hopefully she will be able to move over to "the biggest little city in the world" soon.

It has been rushed and crazy, but we can only see it being beneficial. There are so many good things falling into place here. We are excited for the opportunities to come, we were in a place in life where we needed to shake things up and take some chances.

Most people are not sure what Reno is like, they have ideas based on the fact it is in Nevada, and having watched shows like Reno 911. However, it is much more than that, it is actually a really cool place. It is a nice mix of urban culture with the outdoor recreational influence of nearby Tahoe. There is a ton to do and it is really pretty even though it is in a desert setting. Everyone is welcomed and encouraged to come check it our for themselves. We will hopefully be here for a while, meaning that we get into school here!!

I will keep you posted on the happenings here and slowly try to show you how nice of a place it is.

Rexburg Air Show

2008-06-17T19:37:00.005-07:00

It was a perfect day for a air show, my parents and my niece Katie, and nephews Logan and Heston came with me for a great time. I took a few pictures of the action, I hope you enjoy!

Bobbie's Birthday

2008-06-15T11:53:00.002-07:00

On my Birthday we had a little shindig at Craigos Pizza some family and Friend's joined us, it was nice to see everyone. Thanks for the good time!

Cary Judd at the Velour in Provo

2008-05-11T19:25:00.006-07:00

We took a road trip down to SLC this last weekend and we timed it right to catch Cary Judd in Concert in Provo (even though he was playing in Rexburg the next day). We first discovered CJ while we were in school in Rexburg when he would play at good old Craigo's Pizza. Over the last couple years we have been listening to his CDs regularly, but there is nothing like seeing him live to remember how talented he truly is. I videoed a couple of songs. Check out his website and music at www.caryjudd.com and go see him if he is playing anywhere near you!!!

"Eclipse"

"Cannonballs and Butterflies"

"Everything Stops"

Emery's Blessing

2008-04-20T18:15:00.000-07:00

Today we joined Carl and Audrey in Driggs as Carl blessed Emery in church. It was a fun day, and we were glad to be able to share it with the Struttmanns and friends.

Targhee & Jimmy Eat World Concert

2008-04-12T17:12:00.000-07:00

Today was an adventure! It was closing weekend at Targhee and we had only skied there twice this year, so we decided that we had better go one last time. A bunch of our friends were there and it was a lot of fun. The weather was really nice and the snow was very good for closing season.

Jimmy Eat World was in town, and we really don't ever get any good concerts around here so we had to go. Our friend Carl knows one of the guys in the band and got some free tickets for us. We all loaded up in suburban and drove down to Pocattelo, that was a hoot. The concert was really good, but we all felt old compared to all of the teenagers there.

Sun Valley Weekend Trip

2008-03-04T08:43:00.000-08:00

This last weekend we took advantage of some time off and some super deals on lift tickets and drove over to Sun Valley to do some skiing.

Bobbie had to work Friday. Since Sun Valley is west of us, I drove and picked her up from where she works out on the desert west of Idaho Falls, and then we kept driving on to Sun Valley. We got there around 7:00 and ate at our favorite restaurant, Smoky Mountain Pizza and Pasta.

After Dinner we tried to go to the semi-pro hockey game of Sun Valley Suns vs. Jackson Hole Moose, but the game was sold out and there was no room. We watched through the big glass windows for a while and then gave up and went to our hotel.

Our hotel was a nice place, with a weird theme. It is a Swiss-Chalet style hotel, which makes it look kinda scary, but overall, it was pretty nice, and a good breakfast in the morning.

The main reason we went on this trip was a deal that Started March 1st. College student could buy lift tickets for $29!!! That is not bad considering the normal tickets are $79! It was a good day of skiing. It was sunny (most of the time) and fairly warm. The ski conditions were not epic, but it was fun. We have always wanted to ski this mountain, so it was a good time.

When I was packing the car, Mili sneaked in and didn't want out. Our hotel allowed pets so we took her along with us. She had fun just hanging out in the car. For some reason she really likes riding in the car, even if it means staying in there for several hours while we ski. she does really well with it so power to her I guess!

Here is the movie documentation of the trip.

Steven J. Lehnhof

2008-02-26T21:19:00.000-08:00

Today marks the 13 years since the passing of my father. This is always been an interesting time of the year for me, because it causes me to think about a lot things. I don't think that a day has gone by in the last 13 years that I have not thought about my dad, but it is around this time that my thoughts become much more concentrated and focused about him. As I look back on him as a person, and on our relationship, many interesting things come to me. Most of which are too personal to share here. As of this year, I have lived without him as long as I lived with him. This is hard for me because so much has taken place over the last 13 years that I wish I could have shared with him. I look and feel as though he has been with me on many things, and that he has guided and shaped my life. I hope that I can live my life in a way that emulates him and would make him proud.

This time of year provides another reminder of how much fragile life is. It was this same time last year that I came close to losing my own life. It is amazing to think of small things that could have happened differently that could have easily put an end to my life. Maybe I have seen to much of what can happen to people, but I can not escape the reality of the frailty of life. I know that I was protected and watched over. I will not take that for granted, I will accomplish that which I have been preserved to do.

There are times where I look back and think that I wish I could back and change things about my life. I have come to realize that this is a superficial desire. If I could somehow do this it would serve as a far greater determinant to my well being than it would be beneficial. All that I am (and all of us) today is a result of my experiences. The hardest times, coincidentally the same aspects I wish I could change, have been the most significant determinants of my character, and current position in life. All that I want to accomplish and be in life is a result of several key experiences. I hope that I can learn the appropriate lessons from the trials I face and become better as a result of them.

Whenever someone asks me what field of medicine I want to pursue, I consistently get the same surprised and perplexed look when I answer Oncology. I do not know that I will ever be able to explain the real reason for this ambition. People that are fimilar with my family revert to obvious connections, but it is so much more than that. There is something about this disease and the fight against it that somehow sums up my thoughts on life as well as the image I have of my father. When I think of this disease, I see a compelled crossroad of life. A personal and sacred choice has to be made on how we will pursue life. I see the opportunity to take life in our hands and conquer it. Even if death comes as a pathological result, we can conquer life. We can choose the other road and become a victim of the trials we are given, where we view ourselves as helpless and hopeless in our current condition, situation, and surroundings. I saw my father choose life and liberty therein as he took his situation in his hands and conquered life. The pathologies may have won a battle but my father won the war, and he continues to win. Many of you may not know my father, but I hope that you will join me in the quest to seize the very best that life can offer each us. Choose to approach all that you experience with an attitude of optimism and courage, knowing that you can overcome absolutely anything. We must know that we can become better from whatever is in front of us, and as a result we can serve those around us, and better their lives. Those that are able to master this process, are those whom I call my heroes, and my father is on the top of that list.

Brian

The Identity of Mili!

2008-02-24T16:12:00.000-08:00

Ever since we inherited Mili, we have been trying to figure out what kind of dog she really is. We figured she is a mix, but of what, has been the perplexing question.

Through the expertise our friend Tim obtained from the Eukenbua Dog Championships, we think we have figured at what kind of dog our little Mili is (at least in part, I am sure there is still other stuff in here genome).

This is a textbook Flat coat retriever,

and this is Mili

Any other ideas out there?

Jackson Ski Weekend

2008-02-18T12:31:00.000-08:00

We had a fun weekend with our friends Bryan and Ashley Brusman. It started as a simple phone call between the Br(i/y)ans about possibly going skiing on Saturday. It quickly gained momentum and evolved into a exciting trip.

We took off Friday evening from Rexburg, ID after an interesting dinner at Craigo's. After waiting for our waitress to come, with no avail, we helped ourselves to the pizza & pasta buffet. We were starting to think that if we could make it through dinner without drinks, we could get out of having to pay! About half way through our dinner the waitress finally showed herself . Shortly there after we all got up to return to the buffet, when we returned there was a bus boy clearing off our table. I guess those long awaited drinks were short lived!

Next we drove to Jackson in time to catch most of the last period of the Jackson Hole Moose vs. New York Degree semi-pro hockey game. It was a blowout game so the intensity was fairly low, but fun none the less. It is almost as fun to watch the heavily intoxicated crowd as it is to watch the players.

Then, we checked into our hotel, where our trepidations of its condition were put to rest. It was actually quite nice and suited our minimal needs well.

Saturday brought on the skiing. It was an interesting day as far as conditions go. The weather had created some variable snow conditions ranging from soft, fluffy powder to packed crusty powder strategically placed on top of polished ice. The sun continually tried to come out but was unsuccessful until we drove out of the parking lot at 4:30.

It was a good trip to get away and to catch up with Bryan and Ashley.

Here is a short video of some of the skiing. Don't be too judgmental of the skiing, the conditions were not conducive to flawless technique.

San Francisco

2008-02-18T12:06:00.000-08:00

We recently made a trip to San Francisco to pick up Mary and Matt's van. We are babysitting it while they are in Brazil. It was a fun trip. Although it was quick but we still got a lot done. We did lots of the tourist things, went to the farmers market in Embarcadero Center, shopped t H&M, and visited Apple's Flagship store.

Driving across Northern Nevada was a joy, especially with our exciting overnight stop in good old Reno!

Here is a little video of the trip.