He Fought The Battle (and lived to tell about it)

One of the things I love about Randy is his desire to set lofty goals for himself. As soon as medical school was out, Randy was in the gym or swimming pool training for his first triathlon. He was dedicated and trained 2 hours a day, 6 days a week. He has always been in good shape, but the added training gave him extra muscles and more definition (a benefit I sure didn't mind). He chose the Battle At Midway Triathlon, the course is a 1500 meter swim in the Deer Creek Reservoir:

A 22.9 mile bike course through Heber & Midway:

And a 5.92 mile run through Soldier Hollow:

Here he is, almost there! Aww, he even looks for us and waves...

And he still has enough energy to strike a pose...

Almost...to...the...finish...line...

Oh, woops! That pesky red carpet--it'll get ya every time.

Maybe it wasn't the graceful finish he'd envisioned, but it was a finish just the same.

Randy's uncle Lewis participated as well. And I sure am glad that Lewis lives in Midway, and that he leaves his house unlocked even when all 6 members of his family are away. It came in handy when Josh puked the SECOND time on our way to Midway. Yes, it was quite the day for us.

We're so proud of you Randy! Way to go!!

Flashback Friday: Our Big Comfy Blue Chair

When we moved Josh into Andrew's room, Randy asked if I wanted to get rid of the blue chair. It takes up half of their room, precious space for a dresser or something else more useful. I admit, I did give it a moment's thought. Extra space is a precious commodity in our tiny, 2-bedroom apartment--we're literally busting at the seams. But I just can't give this thing up...

Our first place as a married couple was an old Army barracks house that was turned into three apartments. We had a huge living room...with orange carpet....and no furniture to fill its ugliness. I don't know how I let Randy get away with this, but we never did buy furniture when we were first married. His parents gave us a new bed as a wedding present. Randy's grandpa gave us an old card table & chairs and a white vinyl lounge chair. Randy's aunt & uncle pawned off a desk that had been passed around within the family (it's actually quite beautiful). Our TV (given by Randy's parents) rested on an ice chest until my dad gave us a TV stand he had stored away.

Our comfy blue chair and our couch (our very, very, very ugly couch) was given to us from friends that took pity on us and our bleak living quarters. We shampooed each, covered up the couch, and we were happy. Well, I was happy, I don't think Randy minded watching TV from the floor. The couch has since been disposed of and replaced, but we have hung onto the chair. It turns out that this chair is perfect for rocking babies to sleep (and it's quite possible to sleep yourself). You can watch countless hours of TV while consoling a colicky baby in this chair. It's the perfect size to hold two children while reading bedtime stories. It's also a great place for a two-year-old to take a nap in when his toddler bed gets boring.

So even though it would be nice to have the extra space, our big comfy blue chair is here to stay.

And when I'm rocking my boys while singing songs and reading bedtime stories tonight....I'll be happy.

Now Accepting Applications

A Best Friend position has just opened up; here are the qualifications:

-Must be able to be contacted at all times, whenever I get a whim to talk to you
-Must know how to take care of crying newborns when I am too tired and frustrated
-Must be able to talk sense to me when I have illogical ideas; must be forgiving when I say/do something dumb
-Must be confident, have strong opinions, and know exactly who you are
-Must have excellent taste in fashion, both in clothing and home decor; must let me steal your good ideas
-Must go on shopping trips with me and help me to justify expensive shoe purchases
-Must be excited for me whenever I'm excited about something, and show interest in my latest project, great shopping find, etc.
-Must be able to cook well and bring my family yummy treats whenever you make them for your family
-Must be available for outings with our children to fun & new places. Must also be available when we go play at the playground
-Must love Dr. Laura, Jane Austen, fudge brownies, and kettle corn. And most importantly, you must love being a wife & mom

If you meet ALL of these qualifications and are interested in the position, please contact me.

You've got some big, fashionable, shoes to fill.....

Medical school wouldn't have been as wonderful (or as bearable) without this girl. I will miss her terribly.

Mr. M.D.

It's hard to believe. They let this goofball...

... become a doctor!!!

In true, doctor's wife fashion, I hauled the boys on and off the shuttle, and wrestled with them in the nosebleed section of Kingsbury Hall...... thus, we got a very lame picture of Daddy being hooded and receiving his diploma.

Take a good, long look because this is the last time you'll see Randy in a graduate robe.

The B-Teamers (minus 1). We have a reunion planned in 10 years. Hopefully by that time we'll have our training finished and our loans paid off.

I remember when my mom graduated nursing school; I wanted my boys to be there for this big day.

We are so proud of you Randy!!

Flashback Friday: My Friend Heather

Heather is a good friend from back home. She's genuine and so much fun to hang out with; we had some good times together back in the day. When she got married and I moved to BYU, we lost touch. Then came the invention of blogs and another friend from back home told me she found Heather's blog. I emailed Heather, then she called me; we had a nice catch-up conversation over the phone and decided to get together this week at Thanksgiving Point. It's amazing--it has been almost a decade since we've seen each other--we've each had struggles and triumphs over the years--but mostly, we're pretty much the same:

From left to right: Heather, Tanya, Me. This was taken sometime in 1997 on a road trip we took to Salt Lake City. Who knew I'd call that city my home years later?
And here we are today. She has a girl (who was at school) and two boys. We both named our first sons Andrew (& Tanya named her first boy Andy)--coincidence, not planned.
On that same road trip to SLC, sparks flew from Heather and Chris....

....they got married and made babies...Our Andrews
And Ethan who found a mud puddle much too tempting.
We had a fun time playing at Thanksgiving Point. Here's Josh on his very first pony ride.

And here's Andrew on his very first pony ride.

(We tried ponies once before, but he didn't want anything to do with it)


I'm so glad I found my friend and I hope we never lose touch again...

Field Trip: Hogle Zoo

The boys (& Kassie) enjoyed the zoo for their final field trip of the year:

Kyle & Josh kept each other in good company. Kyle was nice enough to share his lunch.

Field Trip: Wheeler Farm

I'm playing major blog-catch-up. Life got insane there for awhile. Good insane, though.

Our final preschool theme was on "animals" so we took the boys to Wheeler Farm:

They got to milk a jersery cow! See the woman sitting beside Andrew? She's smiling because when Andrew sat down, he got right to business and knew just what to do. They told him that he should take up dairy farming.

I can't get over how cute these boys are. It was so fun teaching them this year.

The brothers in their matching outfits. Note to self: Don't give Josh the phone when trying to take his picture.

The trip wouldn't have been complete without a hayride.

Awwwwwwww....

It's been a long time since I've seen a good romantic-comedy, so I just had to blog about it:

I know, it's probably been months since this has been out, but we wait until we can check it out from the library. If you haven't seen it, watch it-so cute!!

Rich Decadent Naughty Fudge Frosting

I made brownies with frosting for Enrichment and was asked for the recipe. This is actually my friend Lorena's recipe-the girl knows how to indulge.

Start with a box of Betty Crocker brownie mix. Don't bother trying another brand; Betty's got it down.

1 ½ c. granulated sugar
6 T milk
6 T margarine/butter
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Begin this recipe after your brownies are done. On medium-high heat, bring the sugar, milk & butter to a boil. Let boil for 30 seconds. Take off the burner and add the chocolate chips, stirring until you get a smooth consistency. Pour immediately onto the brownies.

How I Support My Habits

All of this for $12.33

I'm serious.

The Grocery Game is the best. I've been doing it for 6 weeks now. I'm saving some serious cash and it's fun!

In our neighborhood....

....there is always a friend nearby. We are so lucky to live here.

I'm Relishing

I love the word RELISH. Isn't it a great word? According to Mr. Webster it means to have enjoyment of or delight in something that satisfies one's tastes, inclinations, or desires. I've found great joy in being a mom these last few weeks because of an interesting point that Elder Ballard brought up last Conference:

"If a child lives with parents for 18 or 19 years, that span is only
one-fourth of a parent’s life. And the most formative time of all, the early
years in a child’s life, represents less than one-tenth of a parent’s normal
life."

My children are growing at an exponential rate. And although I think it's incredibly unfair, I'm relishing the love that my super-cuddler Josh gives me, watching Andrew get lost in his imaginary play, and sneaking into the boys' room several times each evening just to watch them snore.

Randy and I agree that Josh is at his peak cuteness. He's walking all over the place, just jibber-jabbing along in his own Ewok-like language. He's easy to smile and he can turn me into absolute mush when he giggles. He's really good at banging his head on something or falling down-my heart has stopped more times in the past 6 months with Josh than it ever did in the last 4 years with Andrew. He's added "car" to his repertoire, and he seems more interested in looking at the pictures when I read to him. He loves his Grandma-when she comes around, he wants nothing to do with me. He has this fake laugh/giggle that he does when he gets really excited about something or when he's getting into something he shouldn't be.


Andrew tells me that he doesn't want to grow up, that he just wants to stay little; but wakes up at night several times a week complaining that his feet hurt from growing pains. He's already in 5T pants-he's got his dad's monkey arms and legs. I love the way he smiles for the camera:

Here he is proudly displaying his farm animals that he colored from preschool. He loves coloring. His one red crayon has been wittled away into a tiny stub. If only they made red-only boxes of crayons. He can write his name all by himself and I think he's going to take after his dad's freakish number-crunching abilities.

The Kid Loves His Brother

I had a cute conversation with Andrew this morning. It went something like this:

Andrew: I want a baby to come.

Me: Oh? Do you want a brother or a sister?

Andrew: A brother.

Me: You want another brother? You don't want a sister?

Andrew: No, I don't like sisters.

Me: Oh. Okay.

Andrew: But we can't take Joshy back.

Me: Nope. We get to keep Joshy forever.

Flashback Friday: Joshua Bryant, Birth Day

The fertility gods were smiling upon us when we had Joshua. My due date landed smack-dab in between Randy's Pediatrics & Surgery rotations (both very busy). Randy had two weeks of Christmas break; there were no if's, and's, or but's about it-Josh needed to come then, and only then. My body was cooperating nicely and I tested positive for Group B Strep so an induction date was set for the first day of Randy's break (5 days early).

It was fun to telling people the exact date our child would come into the world. I felt like I was cheating somehow. We went to church on Sunday and then dropped Andrew off with Randy's parents that night. We got a good night's sleep and went to the hospital first thing the next morning. When we arrived at the hospital, a room was waiting for us and I was promptly started on Pitocin. What a difference from my first induction!! I was already dilated to 4 cm, and my labor was progressing a little too quickly for my nurse's comfort, so the Pitocin was turned off. We had to wait at least 4 hours for the antibiotics for the Group B Strep to do its thing. Then we had to wait for another 2 hours, I can't remember why now. I think my doctor was in surgery. Then my doctor came in to break my water and Joshers was born 3 hours later.

We still hadn't decided on a name when we came to the hospital. When I first found out I was pregnant, I wanted to name the baby Natalie if it was a girl and Matthew if it was a boy. Matthew was thrown out the window early on because it souned too much like Andrew and we didn't want to name our 3rd boy (if we had one) Bartholomew. Joshua came to me during the end of the pregnancy. Jared & Alexander came to Randy. So we took Joshua, Jared & Alexander with us to the hospital. My step-sister was pregnant with twin boys at the time and they were playing with the idea of naming one of their sons Alexander. I just couldn't do that to her-naming one boy was hard enough, I couldn't imagine trying to come up with two at the same time! (By the way, they ended up naming them Benjamin & Jackson) So, I really wanted Joshua and Randy really wanted Jared. We were dead-locked. We had to make a deal: We could name him Joshua, but if we have a 3rd son, we have to name him Alexander. I know, not a ton of logic with this one, but that was the deal and I got my way.

I was completely numb once again-that must be my lot in life when it comes to epidurals. But it took only 3 pushes and he was out! It was such an easy labor, and this was the result....

Doesn't he look like a Joshua?

His middle name is Bryant-named after Uncle Lewis Bryant

He had a perfectly round head. My doctor said he looked like a C-Section baby. I protected that perfectly round head at all costs (that statement will make more sense later).

Aparently, Randy likes to take pictures of our newly born children when they're screaming. And cold. Here he is in all his 8 lb. 3 oz & 21 inch glory. I grow them big. His cry was small and sweet-just like his brother.

Andrew looked like he was 18 compared to Josh. It was the strangest feeling for me. When he walked into my hospital room and saw me in bed, his eyes widened and he looked pretty freaked out. I'll never forget that look on his face. He ignored the baby and just played with us. Then he went back to Grandma's house for another day.

Here's Josh on his way home. I don't think they get any cuter than that.

Joshua was born 5 days before Christmas. The best Christmas present I could have ever asked for!

Help a Brother (or Sister) Out!

Where is my flashback friday, you ask? Well, I got sidetracked with the financial debacle we've gotten ourselves into over the past four years. You see, I know it sounds great that Randy is graduating with an M.D. degree, $$$Cha-ching$$$. Right?

WRONG!

He still has 4-6 years of specialty training where he will be paid meagerly. We were okay with that and we were comforted in the fact that we would thus qualify for a deferment on our monstrous student loans until after Randy's training. Deferment means that the subsidized portion of our loans will not incur interest during residency (for the average medical student, this is about $30,000 of interest during the residency period. Hefty stuff we're talking about here).

Well, thanks to the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (HR2669) that was signed into law effective October 2007, we will no longer qualify to defer our loans during residency. Under this new act, we make too much money and should be able to repay our loans during residency. For the average medical student, this means a payment of $1800/month! We still qualify for forbearance, which means the interest on our subsidized loans will not be suspended. Very generous of them, I know.

In the Fall of 2008, the Burr/Isakson Bill S.2303 will be voted on. This bill will reinstate the Economic Hardship "20/220 pathway" and will help out our fellow medical & dental residents.

The AMA has a web site to make it easy to send a message to your Senators and Representatives and voice your concern.

This affects all current & future medical & dental residents. Please tell your friends and family about this and please write to your representatives. Thank you!

For more info, go here: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/18025.html

April 2008 Conference Packet

My friend Ruth sent me this awesome Conference packet for our kiddos to do this weekend. Click here to view it on the FHE Lesson Swap blog.

Thanks Ruth!

Field Trip: Fire Station Tour

Our preschool class went to the fire station yesterday. The firemen were awesome and we had lots of fun!