The Medical College of Wisconsin

I know that I blogged just days ago that we were going to be headed to St. Louis for medical school but the day after we heard from them, we also got a phone call from the Medical College of Wisconsin offering Zack a spot there!!  We were really excited about this because Wisconsin is a higher ranked school than St. Louis and it is also a much safer community.  They have been really great to work with so far.  This is the only school that would tell you your spot on the wait list and the day Zack interviewed, his interviewer told Zack how impressed he was with his application.  Looks like all of his hard work has finally paid off!  We have talked a lot about the two schools and at least now our gut feeling is to go to Wisconsin.  It sure is great to have options :)  We have until Friday to get back to them, but I'm pretty confident in saying we'll be residents of that state very soon!  

 

Meet Me in St. Louis!

Today has been a bit of a whirlwind.  This afternoon St. Louis University called Zack and offered him a spot in their Fall 2011 class.  This was certainly unexpected.  We were shocked, floored, surprised, and excited.  Of course this happened after we sent in our money to The American University of the Caribbean and put a deposit down on an apartment there and even booked our flights..he even had a scholarship to AUC.  Murphy's Law right?!  They told Zack that he had until 5pm today to get back to them.  He called about an hour later and told them yes!  The shock is still setting in.  In our minds we were so set and so ready to live in St. Maarten but we are thrilled that this opportunity has come about.  Although St. Louis doesn't have perfect weather we are excited to live there.  I was born in St. Louis and lived there until I was 5 so I am excited to get the chance to know my birth place a little bit better! Although we won't have a lagoon to wake up to, this view is still pretty great, right?!

Recent Craft Projects

Since Elise has been born I have had a lot less time to sit around and make projects- no surprise there.  Recently I found that I have been bit by the crafty bug again and made some cute projects that I wanted to share!

First off- the diaper clutch!

I made this to keep all her diapers and wipes coordinated in my diaper bag!  Without the clutch, they seem to find their way to the bottom, and every time I go out I put more in it and I end up with 10 diapers in there!  Now it is organized, and cute!

I made it with some of the left over fabric my mom had from making Elise's baby quilt.

Loaded up and ready to go!  Next thing I made was a Snuggly Owl that I saw on the blog Make it and Love it.  It was a lot of fun and super easy to make.  Elise can't play with it too much yet, but I know she will love it one day!  I brought it over to show my sister Nicole and her little girl Molly couldn't get enough of it- I think it's safe to say it was a success!

Who wouldn't want to snuggle up with this?!

Wheeler Farm

Last Friday we had a fun evening planned with Shauna and Roger. We went out to dinner at Hires and after I thought it would be fun to take the kids over to Wheeler Farm! We had a great time looking at all the animals.  I think even Elise was impressed.  Here are some of the pictures we took at the farm!

 

 

 

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!!!