Our Trip to Arches . . . . ROCKED!!!

Our family was lucky enough to get away for a quick weekend trip to Arches between Andrew's rotations (psychiatry, and now, OBGYN). We've been hoping to go for some time, but it kept getting elbowed out by the craziness of med school. So, needless to say, we were thrilled that we finally got the chance! It was a wonderful opportunity for us all to spend time together and unwind. The weather was PERFECT, around 70 degrees, so we did just about every hike in the park. Emma was, I think, the best behaved of all of us! She's our outdoors girl, so an endless supply of rocks, sticks, and fresh air made this vacation a winner!

Some shots from our hikes:

Double O Arch:

Partition Arch:

Landscape Arch:


Is it just me, or can you see a funny resemblance of Mount Rushmore here? I see George Washington, in the center with his bald head on top and hair at the sides, two eyes and a long nose looking to the right. (There's a tiny hole in the rock just to the right of where his chin would be.)


Sand Dune Arch area:


Up inside Double Arch:

(He looks so happy and relaxed!)

The most famous of all the arches:


Now we notice it everywhere, including in the backdrop of the KSL news set (because we are true to the faith of our fathers, and watch the evening news, of course).


I took this photo while laying down under Delicate Arch. I tried not to think too much on the idea of all these arches collapsing, though the rangers point out that many have tumbled to the ground. You better see these while they last!


On our way to the park the first morning, we passed this sign in Moab, so, of course, we pulled over to catch a picture.


Emma LOVED the visitor's center for all its rocks, fossils, frogs, and so forth.



Some artistic photos by Andrew:



Emma was quite content in the hiking backpack (thanks Anne!).


Lunches are never this good at home, fresh cut deli meat, expensive cheese, sweet pickles, and, of course, good 'ole mother nature and all her beauties.

Thanks to a blog favorite of mine (Frugal Wife=Wealthy Life), I learned that you can get an upgrade at your hotel for FREE! Yep, that's right, just ask. At our Best Western, we got upgraded to a suite, which was rather nice, and it cost us nothing extra. The pool was a bit chilly, but we loved going to the hot tub, and they had warm cookies EVERY time I passed by the front desk. The hot breakfast was really the deciding factor when choosing a hotel, and Andrew had, I think, three or four helpings. :)

We didn't come in contact with any bed bugs at our hotel, but we are DEFINITELY infected with the travel bug after this great trip. There are so many great places to visit that are so close . . . at least for now, so we really want to take advantage of this area while we can, so if you have any connections (like a place in southern Utah where we can stay for free) let us know!! What are your favorite spots down there?

Dang Jeana!

Emma is one-of-a-kind. This morning in the four o'clock hour when I pulled her out of bed to take Andrew to work, I set her on the couch to put a coat on her. She was probably groggy for, oh, about 20 seconds, until she realized we were going outside and said, "buh bye, park?" She pointed to Andrew: "dada," and, noting the decorative pillow on the couch: "fillow fight!" During the drive to the hospital, we drove through neighborhoods, and although she was rear-facing in a dark car, she picked out "punkin" from somebody's porch . . . at 30miles/hour at five in the morning!

Also, on Thursday, while Emma and I were out doing errands, I decided to get a donut for Andrew from Banbury Cross (Worlds BEST donuts) since I would be gone that evening when he got home. First, you must know, the last time I went to Banbury Cross was in August with my sister and her kids, and we had just come from Liberty Park. Emma was passed out in the stroller, so she wasn't even awake. Now, back to Thursday: I didn't say anything on the drive over there, and somehow, in the parking lot, Emma calls out: "bite, donut" in the most tender voice, as if saying "Please mommy, I would so appreciate a taste of the world's best donut right now."
A: How did she know that???!!! and,

B: Who can refuse such a cute petition?

Recommendations Por Favor

I'd love to get some recommendations of places to stay (or NOT to stay) in Moab (no camping). If you've stayed there and can remember the place, let me know, thanks!

Fundraiser

As a wife of a med student, I get to be apart of an alliance for spouses of medical families. It has really been a blessing, providing me with friends, service, and other activities while my husband is so busy. The alliance chose to sell discount cards this year as our fundraiser. I am not a fan of asking for money, but I am supposed to sell 10, and I'm trying to do it fast, so I thought I'd post some of the discounts available to help spread the word. If you are interested in purchasing a card, please let me know (no pressure). They are $10 each.

• $10 off Signature Service Oil Change at Jiffy Lube's Foothill location
• $5 off any cut and color at Star 21 Salon (my friend Natalie works here, she's great)
• 15% off anything at The Copy Stop (they are my new go-to, since I don't live by a Cougar Copy or Kinko's)
• Free 1/4 lb cheeseburger with purchase of same at B&D Burgers (unlimited) 1300 E location
• Buy One Entree Get One Half Off at Costa Vida Foothill location
• Buy one admission get one free at Discovery Gateway
• Buy one admission get one free at Fairmount Aquatic Center
• Buy one game, get one free at Olympus Hills Lanes
• Buy one get one free at This is The Place Heritage Park

There are nearly a dozen more offers, some include the Bookstore at the University of Utah and University Credit Union. Offers are good until September 2011. If you live near Salt Lake, are a student, or a big fan of the Med Student Alliance, this may be the deal for you.

SHOOT!

Yesterday when Emma awoke from her nap, we found her with her pants off, diaper off, and, the contents of her diaper smudged all around the crib. Needless to say, it was not a pretty sight. Has this ever happened to any of you?? Lucky for me, Andrew was the one to initially find it, while I was on the phone with my mom (thank you for calling, Mom!). I promise NOT to post any pictures of that wonderful little incident, BUT, I highly recommend you go to the following blog:

http://christysdoings.blogspot.com/

Here are darling pictures (if I may say so) of our little Emma. Christy is a photographer who saw Emma at my cousin's wedding, and asked to take some pictures of her. Christy did a great job, so check out her blog, and comment on it; if 10 of you do, I get a free 8x 10.

Grocery Smarts Explained - Act Fast!!

Okay, if you want in on the cereal deal, you need to go to Smiths today. Before that, however, follow these instructions:

• go to www.grocerysmarts.com
• sign in with password "g84rcm"
• there is a drop down box that says "-Select your store-" and you should select "VERY HOT Smiths"
• scroll down to: "Buy any 4 General Mills Cereals (8.9 oz -25.25 oz) and Receive $6 off instantly. ($1.50 per box
  discount)"
• Any cereal that has a "Group A, B, or C" link will have coupons at that link for that cereal. Print these coupons twice, and take them to Smiths.
  
• Buy cereals in groups of 4, using two coupons. Each coupon give you $1 off two cereals, and Smiths give you $6 more off of any 4 cereals. You can only get 8 boxes at one time, but you can go back to the store for as many transactions as you feel like.

That means that my four Lucky Charms, originally at $2.75/box were $1.25/box with the "Buy 4 get $6 off deal," and $0.75 with the "$1 off 2 boxes" coupon. My Cinnamon Toast Crunch was originally $3.19, and with all the deals totaled only $1.19. For the grand total that makes:

$0.75 x 4 PLUS $1.19 x 4 PLUS $1.62 in tax = $9.38.

Thanks for your guesses; Karen emailed me with the guess of $9.45! Congratulations!! You win a free box!!

Thanks to all for humoring my frugality and hopefully you can cash in on this deal, too. For future shopping, once you have selected the grocery store of your choice (they have every store) you can click on the little "start" button at the top, and this will highlight all the items you click on, and shrink your list to only the items you want after you click "shrink." You can print this list and take it to the grocery store. For Grocery smarts to work best for you, save your "Red Plum" coupons in the mail, and get a hold of the "Smart Source" coupons from your local paper, keep them in a little file in order by date, and when the website says something like "SS 9/28" that means the deal can be achieved by using the Smart Source coupons that came out by Sunday, September 28th. Just go to your file, pull out the coupon you need in about, oh, 30 seconds, and, voila! They do all the figuring for you, so you don't have to check out what's on sale and then flip through a million coupons. I like it because now I don't have to flip through the store ads since grocery smarts lists everything on sale for me in one nice list that I can select from. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. Let me know how it goes for you by posting comments. Happy Savings!

Grocery Smarts Guessing

Last week, my friend hosted a "coupon class" about how to save money at the grocery store. I usually am skeptical about any "classes" that people host: you have to "invest" to save, or everything is free . . . except, yada yada. However, that is not the case with Grocery Smarts; I am now a convert! Using the free website and free printable coupons, I just went to the grocery store using said method, and came home with the following:


I know these aren't healthy cereals, but Andrew got to choose, and he can use all the sugar he can get, especially after working a 36-hour shift. (Plus, I know those Lucky Charms will be just the thing to "charm" Emma through church tomorrow with my friend, while I have to sit on the stand.) Next time, I plan on getting whole grain cereals, like Multi-grain Cheerios and Wheat Chex, which were available for essentially the same price.

Anyone who can guess how much I paid (plus or minus a quarter), taxes and all, is welcome to come collect a free box. Any guesses? Polls are open for 48 hours. :)

P.S. Is the thrill of wondering how little I paid getting to you? It is to me, and I know how much I paid!

Bow-eautiful!

Thanks to some inspiration from my sister when she was in town, I've attempted making my own hair bows, and, I think they are SO CUTE! Emma is perhaps a model-on-the-run, but I was able to capture a few pics of some of some of the bows we made today. Check it out!


Now that I'm getting into this, I'd love your tips, ideas, pictures, etc. to help me broaden my repertoire. :)

Never Out of Reach

Next time you come to my house, don't look too closely. You may find remnants of BLACK permanent marker drawings on the white wall, and a few traces on my wooden desk (I welcome your removal suggestions). The sky is the limit for one little girl. There is no door, no drawer, no marker lid this girl cannot open . . . . in a matter of seconds. No couch, table, chairs, changing table she cannot climb!!!

Fun with the Pughs

My sister Mary was in town for nearly a month, and one of those days, I was lucky enough to have her and her kids spend a night at my place. It worked out perfectly, because they kept me company while Andrew worked a 32-hour shift at the hospital.

In the evening while the kids did this:

Mary and I did this:

She is so thoughtful. Since my parents gave me a sewing machine for my birthday, Mary decided to give me a gift of supplies and instructions on how to make a craft of my choice. I chose to make baby bibs, and, in my humble opinion, they are ADORABLE! I think I might be spending a lot more time at JoAnn's Fabric nowadays. Really, I owe all the credit to Mary. Thanks!

The next day we walked to Liberty Park and hit up Banbury Cross donuts. I thought I'd give Mary a little feel for the good stuff in Salt Lake. It was a blast.

Jack took this one ;)



Pughs, thanks for a great time! We miss you so much already.

Changed Practically Overnight

The old Andrew:

(A look inside his text book)

The new Andrew:

After taking the Boards on July 1st, Andrew went to work in the hospital for his first rotation, in Pediatrics, on July 6th. The above picture is what he left looking like. This next photo is how he came home:

(I had hot baked cookies waiting for him, but he seemed to be more interested in his new pager)

It seems like overnight he has changed from student to doctor. Not to mention the fact that yesterday he came home from his first 32-hour shift. That type of overnight will change anyone! He is on Q-4 for the next three weeks, which means every four days he works a 32-hour shift, comes home after lunch, and goes back the next day at 6am for a regular shift. It's been a bit of a challenge to figure things out, but this past week we have finally felt like we are getting settled into his rotations. This is a really exciting time for us, and, again, I am so glad to have the boards behind us. Go Andrew!

Passed the Boards!!!

Huzzah!!! I am very pleased to announce that Andrew passed his USMLE Step 1 Board Exam! It was such a relief just for him to take the exam on July 1st and get it over with, but it is even more of a relief knowing that he passed! This means we still have a future in medicine!

Cute Andrew's family had the wisdom to foresee that Andrew would pass, and for the Fourth of July, they had these pieces of wood along their front walkway

to celebrate Andrew "passing the boards" as he walked up to the front door (sadly I was home sick that day).

Above the front door was a sign of Congratulations (you'll just have to trust me on this one)


and Karen made "board cookies" to celebrate for Andrew.

Thank you all so much for your love and support. We are so grateful for all your prayers on our behalf and help for me and Emma while Andrew had to study so much. Now we are in a completely new phase of life, rotations!!!

Stuff

See this little hooligan? She's quite the mischievous little child. Lately, she gets into everything and totes it all around the place. She loves to STUFF things into other things (don't get me wrong, I think it's cute, and I think it's all very adorable, . . . most of the time). Let me show you:

.

This one is perhaps her greatest feat. This drawer opens above her eye level, and yet she can open it, stuff things into it, and swing from it like a monkey in the trees.

On top of all this, I have found my cell phone in the laundry hamper, garlic in the stroller, and plenty of other crazy stuff. It's getting to the point where Andrew can blame something on Emma, and I'm not sure if he's telling the truth or not.

P.S. I'll have you know that I don't leave pots, pans, bowls, or even shoes on the floor. Nope. That is all the work of Emma, getting into the dishwasher, which she can stop mid-cycle, and the last few cupboards that have eluded child locks.

Ring Slinging

So, yesterday my friend called me asking if Emma and I could model a ring sling she's featuring on www.babysteals.com today. She makes awesome slings, and if you are interested, you better check it out fast before they're all sold out. The one I am modeling is already sold out!

Happy Birthday Emma!

We celebrated Emma's first birthday a few weeks ago, and it was a blast to see how much Emma loved her cake and celebration. We are so thankful for the blessing she is in our lives. We love you Emma!

Emma, READY to eat that cake!

Signing "more." Any doubts as to whether or not this kid likes cake?

Trying to feed her baby doll with a bottle (gifts courtesy of the grandmas):