American University of the Caribbean

This morning Zack got a phone call offering him a spot at The American University of the Caribbean!  We are so happy/excited/anxious/relieved and just plain thrilled to have this news!  Most of you reading this probably have never heard of this medical school and I'll tell you why- it's in St. Maartin. 

The main building on campus.  Gorgeous right?!

Located at Cupecoy in St. Maartin is the beautiful campus of AUC .  A student at AUC spends 2 years on the island completing coursework and the final 2 years of medical school are spent at one of AUCs sister school in the United States or even in England.  Who wouldn't want to go to school in paradise?!  In case I haven't convinced you enough yet how does this all sound-

-Half the island is owned by the Netherlands, the other half by the French.  We'll be so cultured!

-The Visa's we'll have most likely will make us leave the island every 90 days so we will have to travel to places like Anguilla, St. Kitts, etc.  

-Beach front property
-Some of our good friends from BYU are headed there too!

-The typical weather is 80 degrees and NOT humid.  Can we say YES!

-The pristine beaches, plentiful water sports and duty-free shopping...you are all welcome to visit us anytime!!!

Baby Poll

1- With little kids/babies do you wake up before you think they will and get ready for the day or do you wait until their morning nap, or just find something to entertain them with while you get ready?

2- Did you sleep train your baby?  What method did you use?  At what age did you do it?

3- At what age did you introduce solid foods to your baby?  My pediatrician says I can start now if I want but I don't think I want to. Did it help your baby sleep better at night eating solids?

Women of Steel Triathalon

I did it!  I ran in my first Triathalon. My sisters Natalie and Nicole both ran it with me....and by with me, I mean 30 minutes (at least) ahead of me.  Since having little Elise I didn't have near as much time to train as I thought I would!  So, I was quite the slacker when it came to practicing for the Tri, but I was determined to still compete.  So after training probably 8 times prior, there I was with a cap on my head ready to go!  It ended up being a ton of fun and I'm really glad that I did it. Here are some photos from the event!

Here we are!   Bright and early with our bodies marked!

Natalie, Nicole and me

It started at the American Fork Rec Center pool.  We were lucky to get such a beautiful day for the Tri considering all the rain we have had this past week!  There were over 1,000 women registered!

You lined up according to how fast you can swim 300 meters.  I lined up at the very back since I hadn't swam since January thanks to my abscess.  But after I swam it, I realized I should have lined up at a much faster time.  Turns out I'm a pretty good swimmer!  They let each racer in every 12 seconds into the pool.  Sometimes it got a bit congested but that's all part of the fun I guess!

Next part was a 12.4 mile bike!  This part was tough and certainly took the longest, but I really enjoy biking now!  I'd like to be able to get out and ride more now that I know I can do it.  I just used my good old mountain bike but put road tires on it and it worked great!  

The last leg of the race was a 5K run.  Switching from the bike to running was pretty hard for me.  My legs felt like jello and it was hard to go from spinning wheels to picking my feet up and putting one in front of the other- but I still did it!  My sisters were kind enough to run in the last 1/2 mile with me! 

Here is my support team and the reason I ran the Tri!  I hope Elise will be so proud of her Mama one day when she realizes what I did!  People saw me carrying her around after and would say, "Wow!  How old is she?  Good for you!"  It made me feel pretty tough, proud, and certainly like a Woman of Steel!!

Final race times:

Swim- 7 min. 47 sec. 

Bike- 1 hr. 3 min. 12 sec.

Run- 35 min. 33 sec.

 

That makes for an overall time of: 1 hr. 52 min. and 38 seconds!

Either way, I can still say I'm a Triathlete!!!

Viva Las Vegas!

Last Friday Zack came into our room begging me to drop everything (which, wasn't much) and consider going on a road trip with some of his friends to Las Vegas!  I caved, of course, and soon we were off!  This was Elise's first trip anywhere and she was a great traveler!  Here is Zack telling Elise she is about to go to 'Sin City'.  As you can see, she was excited!

It was a quick trip but a lot of fun!  Friday night we had a barbecue at our friend David's house.  It was delicious!  David's Dad was also able to score us a room at the Rio Casino so we got to stay there in luxury! 

Here is the view from our room out at all the other casinos.  This next picture shows how Elise felt about all the crazy people in Vegas....

Ha ha ha.  I love her cute little face!  Everyone would stare at her as we walked through the casino (because there is no possible way to stay at those hotels without walking through the casino!). 

 

Saturday we got dressed and ready to swim!  Except that the water was freezing!!!  But we had fun getting dressed up and pretty in our suits!  Don't you love Elise's swim suit?  Thanks for the hand me down Aunt Natalie!

 

Saturday night we went to a yummy buffet in a brand new casino called The Cosmopolitan which is right by the Bellagio and City Center of Vegas.  The buffet is called The Wicked Spoon.  If you have the chance to eat there, go!  The dessert bar in particular was to die for!  Yum!!

Here is the whole gang out to eat and gain 10 pounds.  I'm pretty sure we all did too!

The Cosmopolitan had all sorts of weird art work.  I thought it would only be proper for Elise and I to take a picture in the giant pink high heel!

 

Sunday we woke up and went to Church and had some authentic Chinese cuisine prepared by David's grandma.  It was great!  We headed home after shortly after lunch. It was a fun trip while it lasted!

The Easter Bunny

The Easter bunny came by to visit the Pugh family this year as I'm sure he did yours too!!  We all got lots and lots of yummy treats as well as some other treasures too!

For Zack he brought some new t-shirts for spring.  Emily got some new running shorts and sun glasses and Elise got a BYU t-shirt, Tangled, a binky clip, and a new pink rattle!

As you can see, she really liked it!  Thanks for stopping by!

Here she is reading the back of her Tangled DVD ;)

Zack's Graduation

 I think this picture turned out so neat! I didn't even try for it!  There he is after receiving his diploma!

Zack's graduation from BYU took place this past Thursday and Friday.  The fun began on Thursday with commencement.  The speaker was Elder Richard G. Scott. He spoke to all of the students about taking what you have learned from the University and making their future better because of it.

My handsome graduate.  Looks great in Cougar Blue!

Friday was Zack's convocation from the college of Life Science.  His major is Physiology and Developmental Biology.  Hard right?!  I bet you couldn't do it!  After listening to probably 800 students names (most from Exercise Science) it was finally Zack's turn!  We are all so proud of him and the hard work he puts into every aspect of his life, and especially school.  Zack is a great student and never settles for less than he deserves!  I really admire that about him.

 Zack and Elise with is research Professor Dr. Barrow

It was a beautiful day on Friday and many people from his family were able to be there to celebrate his achievement.  His parents, mine, his three sisters and brother Brian and his wife Liz were all able to be his fan club!  After convocation we all left to eat some delicious food from Magleby's.  It was a wonderful day!  We are so proud of our Zacky!!! 

Zack with his proud parents

 Here he is with his fan club!

 Zack with my parents

 Zack with his long time best friend, Ben Ford

A Conversation with Elise

Elise is quite the talker these days!  Its pretty fun :)  We can usually mimic her voice and she'll do it back to us and the conversation goes on and on.  We love this girl!