Rocky Mountain Candy Company

This is my wonderful husband (in the front) eating a mudslide candy apple in Seattle. Since Tuesday is his 33rd birthday, we went to Seattle to celebrate with his brother, Jon (picture below), and his wife, Ranae. During a 12 hour span, he ate 12 pieces of Turkish Delight, this Candied Apple, one piece of cheesecake, two different pieces of chocolate cake, and a half dozen minatuare donuts. He has a bit of a sweet tooth. He did resist the chocolate dipped twinkie, however.

Finished!!

I just wanted to proudly announce that I have officially finished both Women's Health and Pharmacology...my hardest term of grad school yet. A little Hooray for me! Now I will celebrate by taking my kids to school and going to Costco :).

Crystal Cove

I started my day by trying to reserve this lovely cottage. It is in Crystal Cove State Park in Southern California. From what I have read, the park has preserved a historic, non developed California coastal area with only a handful of restored cottages on the beach (for a reasonable price). They are also very popular, and despite trying to reserve it at exactly 8 am on October 1st (the earliest possible time) - I missed out. It was already booked. Ariel and I are thinking we might rent an RV and travel down the coast surfing and hanging out on beaches with the kids this spring - but I had really hoped to get one of these cottages.
Today was my first day back at work. I wasn't totally certain how I was going to feel - but I ended up being very excited. It was great to be back and I really, really like my job. I try to stay far, far away from any working Mom/Stay at home Mom debates, but I feel very lucky to have the best of both worlds. I get to enjoy my job and still spend enough time at home that I feel very in touch with my kids and can keep a good handle on all things domestic. Of course, it certainly isn't a flawless system, but it works for us. Ar didn't work today because of the rain and he spent the day hanging out with the kids. It was very nice to see some of my patients after a long absence. One of my long term patients has found that she is in full remission from her lymphoma, while another wonderful single Mother in her early forties is starting to lose her battle with leukemia. It is such a privelege to be part of both of their lives.
I also found out that I passed Women's Health - which is considered the hardest course by many of my fellow FNP students. It is great to have that behind me - and I am waiting to hear about pharmacology any day.

Zodiac Sign

I have never, ever even looked at a horoscope - in the church I was brought up in, that was just something you didn't do. So when we had a friend visit who is very into it and said it was dead on almost all the time, I was curious...so here is mine that I got off an internet site....I must say it is a little crazy how dead on it is.
You were born with the Sun in Cancer and the Moon in Scorpio. Your inner nature is more natural, sensitive, easy-going, and frank than your personality would indicate. You were born with the potential to live life simply, solely concerned with satisfying your pleasure-seeking impulses. Others may view you as a very firm, self-reliant, determined, and strong personality. You are clear and abrupt, energetic, positive, and capable of carrying out projects that involve hard work and dedication. On the same level, you are also fond of the good things of the world. Your personality is irritable and you may be subject to fits of anger.

Projection

Ariel got himself this new toy...he has wanted a projector for a long time and we finally bought one (I call it his birthday present, but he won't). We are planning on getting rid of the television set and accompanying accesories soon. The projector works great and it is kind of fun to have a large screen that pulls down from the ceiling rather than a big and clunky t.v. Ar is also very excited about showing movies outside in the summer time. We had some friends over on Friday to watch a Mountain Biking video, including my friend Natalie who bikes with Ariel. She is one of the most hard core atheletes I know, and I am a bit in awe of her toughness. She always has some major injury and shrugs it off or mentions that she ran ten miles that morning. I did my best to be a jock by going to a spinning class with Catherine. I was very proud of finishing the class when the instructor told me "Wow, your face gets really red when you work out".
On Friday I went to see the house I have been obsessing a bit over....I feel a little dishonest for wasting the real estate agent's time, but it was still fun to see it. It helped kick me in the butt a little bit to stop dreaming about what is better and bigger and appreciate how nice our house is (even if it is small for our little clan) and how great it is not to have enormous mortgage payments.
I am writing this tonight while Ariel puts the kids to bed...we had a wonderful time at the beach today. The waves were pretty lousy, but it was beautiful, sunny, and warm - and the kids had a blast. Unfortunately, they are also completely exhausted and are in four different states of complete breakdown. I really enjoy watching Ar put the kids to bed - he does a wonderful job.
I wanted to finish up with a bible verse that was read at Church this weekend that 'spoke' to me...I am not a fan (to say the least) of quoting bible verses to prove a point, but there is something very beautiful about Philipians 4:8-9
Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and recieved and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Calico

Today was the first day that fall seemed to descend on us.....it was drizzly, gray and a little bone chilling. So we did the natural NW thing and headed to the beach! The girls have never seen the Ocean before and they jumped right in, despite the cold. We didn't take pictures, but it is safe to say that we were one very dirty, cold, and wet family when we left. I got in an hour or two of pretty decent surfing. Now that it is kind of cold, the families have seemed to dissapear from Westhaven State Park and only the young, carefree and often scruffy looking surfers are left. They look at us a bit like we are aliens when we haul our family of six around - or maybe it is we make so much noise they just can't look away.
We got another possible new addition to our family...a lovely, skinny and frightened calico kitty wandered into our yard this morning. I think we might be keeping her - the kids are very excited and I have started calling her Tess. We will see if she doesn't run away in the next few days. I think we need to put the kibosh on new inhabitants...we are up to four kids, two parents, two dogs, a cat, a fish, and a preying mantis in a 1400 sq. ft. house - that doesn't even include the grandparents living in our (remodeled) garage. I worry that it is getting a bit ridiculous to have this many living things under one roof.
Finally, I have spent my fair share of time reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert this weekend. I highly recommend it and have gotten very absorbed in her story -even if I was hesitant to read the book at first.

Itchy

Our lovely dog Itchy had a seizure right after dinner. I know that he is about twenty years old and is blind, deaf, achy, and cranky, so he doesn't have too long to live. But still, I am so upset at the thought of him dying. He is such a great dog and we all love him. He has arthritis pretty bad and can no longer go on walks. For awhile we took him in the wagon, but he didn't seem to like that much. He will still faithfully accompany me to the mail box even though it takes him twenty minutes to get back. Plus, he likes me best - and who doesn't like to be loved best? He seems to have recovered okay tonight and is up and walking again. I am not particularly sentimental about animals, but I really love this dog and I am really going to miss him.