Bye, bye, part-time Hello full-time..... Sad

Although Michelle still has a little over two weeks to take her Nurse Practitioner Boards she has had quite the drama choosing a job. It all started almost a month ago when she was contacted by a pediatrician about a job opening in Provo as well as a former classmate telling her to apply for a position at Primary Children's in Salt Lake. One gave more flexibility in schedule, but a longer commute and less pay, while the other was full time, and included being on call, but was closer. The unfortunate part was that the Primaries job was taking too long making decisions over the final 4 for the position and when we thought she wasn't the one Michelle took the job in Provo. Now as luck would have it a few days later Primaries called Michelle and offered her the job. We weighed the pros and cons of both situations and after a few counteroffers and discussions Michelle couldn't turn down Primary Children's Medical Center. She will be working with the Cardiac Transplant Team dealing with children currently in heart failure waiting for a heart, those that actually get a transplant, she will get to be present during the operations, and I asked her to see if I could do the same, and those that have had a transplant. Since there are so many reasons a child could or does go into hear failure and it is a little more complicated than adult situations Michelle has a lot to learn, but she is up for the challenge. Perhaps the hardest thing for Michelle will be to work normal hours five days a week. Luckily for her she doesn't start for a month and since she already quit her job at Utah Valley she will have some time to relax, go to Oregon to visit her sister, California to visit her Brother, and Mexico for a humanitarian trip. Poor Michelle, how does she survive?..... If you see her congratulate her on the new job.

Who does a Triathalon?

My WIFE!!! Now it was actually a mini triathalon (Sorry, but I was corrected by my wife's sister. It was actually an Olympic triathalon.) called the Spudman in Burley, Idaho, but it was bigger than anything I have ever done before. It consisted of a 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike ride, and a 10k run. Now Michelle has already done a marathon and two 100 mile bike rides, but swimming has never been her thing. In fact everyone was afraid she wouldn't make it past the swim, including Michelle, but I thought she would do fine. We arrived in Burley the night before just after a few days in Island Park, Idaho. After a few hours of sleep Michelle and Aubrey were up bright and early, 6:15am, to get ready for their race which started at 7:40am. I dropped them off and then prepared myself to root them on during the bike ride. After a few hours of waiting I found both Michelle and Aubrey riding their bikes.



Michelle had made it past the swim and she looked good. Both Aubrey and finished the race in good time just about ten minutes apart from each other.



I am so proud of Michelle, Aubrey, and all the other crazy people out there.

Dinner, Games, and a Movie

Over the last few weeks I have been watching the Next Food Network Star. It has been an intense few weeks as the finalists have triumphed and failed over the challenges placed before them. After Sunday nights finale I decided to make a dish prepaired by Aaron during his show pitch that won it all for him. It was flank steak marinaded in a rub of various spices over a mound of collard greens topped with fried plantains with a honey glaze. After eating the tasty dish we went to go to our wards young married's FHE. When we got there no one else had shown up because of the holiday weekend, so we came back home and decided to play a game, have dessert, and watch a movie.





Now most people when they are our age play games that stimulate the mind and challenge the participants to stretch their abilities and that is exactly what we did when we played operation. Yes, you heard me right, we played operation. Although Michelle has her Nurse Practitioner Degree I gave her a run for the money and won the game. It was great. I figure maybe I will go to med school and become a surgeon, although I don't think I will charge a patient $600 to remove an ice cream cone from their head.





The night was topped of with a bowl of ice cream and Shanghai Noon, a favorite of mine from college. Anyway it turned out to be a great night. We will have to play it again.

Lions, Tigers, and Bears

Well just when I think I am going to get the chance to sleep in Michelle and I go on another adventure. This time it was with Dy, Brett, Shan, Jed, Scott, Brianne, and their two kids. Island Park, Idaho was our destination where Brett's parents had a time share. Now although we didn't see Lions, Tigers, or Bears we had a lot of fun.




We left after Michelle got off of work. We got in a little after midnight and after spending a few minutes talking to Dy and Brett who had been there since the Saturday before we pumped our air mattress up and got to sleep. The next morning Michelle and I relaxed and began to prepare our talks for the next Sunday while the others went on a 4 wheeler trip which ended up lasting five hours. After lunch Michelle, Dy, and I went on an hour ride. It was my first real time being on a 4 wheeler and it was great. We have decided to put it on our list of things to buy. I think it is number three before we have kids. Ok, that is just a joke.







Later that evening we went to Big Spring which is an actual natural spring with cool clear water filled with some huge fish. We enjoyed feeding the fish with the kids and acting like kids ourselves. These are the moments we live for.






Shan and Jed arrived later that night and we added another couple to the sleep over. We woke up early the next morning to head into Yellowstone to enjoy the great out doors. I had been the first time just the October of the year before and I was excited to see it again. We didn't get to see as many animals as we had before, but we made a few hikes that made for some great photo opportunities. We finished up the night with a little swim and a few rounds of Rockband, never leave home without it, before going to bed.












Friday morning we just vegged out and enjoyed the rest. To complete the trip we decided to float down the river. A few days earlier we checked out the distance and time it would take and it was a two to three hour five mile journey. We should have realized that by the way the water was moving it was going to take a little more time. We ended up spending about three and a half hours on the water. It was just a little too slow for us, but it added to the memories. Before heading to the condo we spotted the Martin's old van and couldn't resist taking a picture for the fam. When we got back to the condo Michelle and I packed up our stuff and made our way to the next adventure on our list, Burley, Idaho, but that is another blog to come.



All in all we enjoyed a great get away with great food, friends, and fun. We will have to do it again soon.

Bear Lake see you next year

Bear Lake Reunion, July 2008

Every year my grandparents take all of their children and grandchildren to Bear Lake. It is the trip that all of us look forward to every year. You can ask any of us and we would all say that Bear Lake is our favorite vacation spot. We have been doing this annual trip to Bear Lake for years and the fun and excitement still exist. This year we spent five full days there. Each day is filled with different adventures. Most of these adventures happen down at the beach. Weather it is building a sand castle,

Floating in the lake,

Playing on the trampoline,

Riding the wave runner

Relaxing on the shores,

Talent show, getting shakes, hanging at the pool, or just being together the adventures never end. This was Andrew’s first year with us at Bear Lake and as you can tell he loved it.

Don't worry the Diet Coke isn't mine, it's Ethans

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Woolley for making these wonderful memories happen. We loved this family reunion.

4th of July

This is just a short one, but since I had some pictures I thought I would post them. Both Michelle and I had to work on the 4th of July, but now that I work during the day we were both home for the evening. Dy and Brett invited us to go to Sugarhouse Park to watch the fireworks. We picked up some Panda Express and headed out. It was great to spend time with them and enjoy some fireworks while we celebrated the freedom of our country.





We didn't stay to watch all of them because I had to be ready for work at 5am. We just left half way through and got home before 11pm.