Utah Highlights!

So I am going to attempt to avoid a long travel log and stick to some of the highlights. I was going to do this with pictures, but silly me, packed my camera and then never once pulled it out of my suitcase. Are you suprised?

The flight out was crazy. I can now say I love flying out of small airports! It rocks. However, I can also say that I don't really enjoy flying with 4 small children on my own, especially when the youngest cries for the first 2 hours. What ya gonna do.

We spent the first few days in Salt Lake getting ready for the wedding. The kids spent time with their cousins, which is good because their moms spent time in the kitchen and running from store to store trying to get all the last minute things done.

Jacob arrived on Friday, after a bit of ticket craziness, and we headed down to Provo for the family dinner. I was very relieved to get to do my speech first and I managed to get through it with controlled crying. The crazy thing was that on the way back we got stuck in traffic being detoured off the freeway so they could put a bridge in. You would think at 11:30 at night my husband would be upset being detoured off the freeway but he just kept smiling and saying that it was nothing compared to the traffic he was in the day before in Chicago. I guess Chicago traffic is good for one thing!

The next morning was Jennifer's Wedding. We had a few last minute fires to put out (doesn't everyone) and then it was downtown for the ceremony. Once again I managed to get through with controlled crying, that was until I went to hug Jen after the ceremony. There I lost it.

The rest of the night was a whirlwind! the reception was wonderful, although standing in for the bride for half an hour wasn't on my list of things to do, but duty called! No, I didn't wear her dress. She was lovely and I am so, so, so, very happy for Paul and Jen!

The next day we headed back to Provo for Mark and Krista's baby blessing and then it was back up to SL to take Jacob to the airport. I look forward to when he can get real vacation time.

The next day we headed down to Cedar City for some good old R and R. It was awesome. I caught up on some sleep, the kids played with their other cousins, and we all had fun. I love playing up the mountain, It is so beautiful and peaceful.

It was also the summer games while we were in Cedar City and it was a blast to finally get to see my dad, Adam, and Dave play. At the end of the week it was back to Cedar. Vegas airport was not near as bad thanks to Barbara getting a gate pass and helping me all the way to the gate. Thanks again, that was a life saver!

The kids slept most of the flight back and it was rather enjoyable. That is until we got to the decent and I had to hold Kami who didn't want to be held and the kids ears all hurt. Ah well, It was all better when we stepped out and found daddy waiting. Man we missed him!

Okay, so that is the travel highlights. I know, not really fun without pictures but I will attempt to get some posted in the future. No guarantees though!.

Crazy Coloring Excitment!

So last month I sold a few of my Crazy Coloring quilt kit's and was so excited to get word back that the directions were great and the buyers were very happy with the results. I was telling my Mother-In-Law this and she suggested I go through some of her "scraps" and take what I could use. Christmas came early for me. I was in material heaven, which is a wonderful place to be! I keep sifting through the bags and just get perma-grin.

So Imagine my elation when yesterday I received notice that my very same Crazy Coloring quilt kit was featured in an curated collection (a/k/a Etsy Treasury). It it titled Learn Something New! Yippee! If you want to see the collection you can click here The collection expires Friday evening, so if you're reading this after then, the link won't go anywhere. How exciting! Thanks to Mon Petit Chou Boutique for choosing my item to feature. I am so excited!

Christmas in May

Sometimes it is difficult for me to empathize with others in their work struggles.  The pressures of a job or career seem to be as different as the careers themselves.  I don't know what it is like to have to worry about my job security or where my next paycheck is coming from.  There have been times when I worried if I was going to be able to make it as a physician, but now that I have a license and I'm on the downhill side of residency looking forward to a relatively lucrative career I don't worry about getting a job and supporting my family.  I honestly can't imagine how difficult those worries would be and sometimes when I get overworked about how hard my life is and how hard it is to be a resident caring for people who don't want to care for themselves and feeling inadequate when things don't go as planned I look at my wife and kids and see how good I've got it.

Residency is hard, there is no doubt about it.  These last two years have been the most difficult of my life, though this last year was better than my first.  I dread the hospital and the resposibility that comes with being on call in-house.  This coming Sunday is my last in-house call and it kind of feels like Christmas.  Well not exactly like Christmas because I generally enjoy the days leading up to Christmas, whereas, I am dreading the rest of today and Sunday, but come Monday morning at 6:00 when I am no longer on call I will be celebrating.

I'll probably finish up my work sometime around noon on Monday and then drive home to a lonely house so I can take an afternoon nap in complete silence, but it may very well be the best Memorial Day ever. 

Marital Strife

I just don't know what is going on here.  Have you noticed that the name of the blog has been changed to We are quilters?  I haven't either, however, the mother of my children seems to think differently.  I think it's about time for a good old fashioned rant.

I'm down to two medicine calls.  I'll be celebrating come Memorial day.   Many would celebrate this occasion by getting drunk.  Many Mormons might celebrate this occasion by drinking a case of Mountain Dew.  As for me, I'll probably get a dozen Krispy Kremes and put myself in a coma.  Then I'll go to Utah for the wedding and maybe talk my folks into bringing up a few Alligator Jaws for the weekend that they will be in SLC.

Saturday's call was a good one.  Nobody died on me.  I had one patient that was threatening but she made it to today and got a ride to the hospice house.  It was a fun discussion with her family who had been kept in the dark for the past month by the current boyfriend who was only following the wishes of the patient.  Saturday she was unable to speak for herself so the boyfriend spilled the beans to the family.  Sometimes I wonder what it must be like to be the first soldier through a mine field.

I am not the least bit excited to watch the Lakers and the Celtics in the NBA finals.  The life of a Jazz fan is painful.  The Jazz are the most consistent team in all of professional sports.  They came on-so-close when I left the country, but just couldn't quite overcome the most arrogant individual to walk the earth.  Then when they could have sunk into the depths of the lottery they couldn't even get that right.  Sure they got Deron Williams with the 3rd pick of the draft, but  they had to trade down from 6 to get it.  The Lakers have 4 guys on their team who were top 10 draft picks.  Kobe Bryant is not one of them.  The Celtics have 4 as well.  Rondo, not one of them.  The Pistons in 2004 had 4 top 10 picks as well.  Since 1996 those are the only three teams without Tim Duncan, Shaq or that cocky guy, to win a title.  The Jazz currently have one top 10 drafted player on their roster.  Guess how many first rounders play for the Jazz.  Three!  That's right folks the Jazz suit up with three guys who were picked in the first round of the NBA draft.

The only reason the Jazz aren't in the Lottery every year is Jerry Sloan.  That guy has made more money for pathetic basketball players than any agent in the country.  Remember Byron Russell?  Boozer's gonna go to Florida this summer and be a 12/6 guy the rest of his career.  Sloan has had 3 legitimate all-stars in all the time he has coached in Utah and Carlos isn't one of them.  We'll witness that next year after Booz signs his next contract.

Why couldn't Larry H Miller leave well enough alone and let the Jazz leave the state back in the day.  If that would have happened I might have been a legitimate Laker fan like I am a Dodger fan and each year I could get behind my team because even when they're bad they can always buy their way back into contention.

Maybe the Jazz can pull off a sign and trade.  Boozer for Dwight.  No one would be embraced like Dwight in Utah.  Honestly, a clean cut, untatooed ball player who smiles and doesn't cuss.  That man was born to play ball in Salt Lake City.

I'll spare you my thoughts on the Harvey Unga situation.  It's hard to dislike a University that seems to be able to stick by it's principles (the Jim McMahon years notwithstanding), but somehow I'm still able to do it.

If you've read to the end of this diatribe you should most certainly comment to let Melissa know that we will not stand for her usurpation of this blog.  I refuse to go quietly into the night!



I better go, I have to go buy some thread.

Where It All Began!

So I have been posting a lot about quilts lately. It so happens that I have been quilting a lot lately as well. While surfing around this morning for some inspiration I stumbled along this blogger quilt festival and of course I had to enter.

So I thought it would be appropriate to enter the quilt that began it all.

In the beginning, Just Kidding. About 6 1/2 years ago Jacob got accepted to medical school in Kentucky. (Wow that's been awhile.) Before moving, I went to my mom and asked her to teach me how to quilt. I was worried about how busy Jacob was going to be and how much time I was going to be at home with just me and Spencer (1 at the time) and figured quilting would be something fun to keep me busy during nap time and late nights. So my mom taught me all she knew while we pieced the first block together. And that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship . . .with quilting that is. I have now been quilting 6 1/2 years, I have lost track of how many quilts I have made and I continue to expand my quilting skills. I am in love with quilting and even though I now have 4 kids, I still take full advantage of nap time and late nights to whip out a few more blocks :)

I picked this pattern those 6 /12 years ago to give to my wonderful mother-in-law who loves Santa. It is Santa through the year. It has so much fun appliqué. (Thanks mom for helping me with that). I had so much fun creating this quilt and learned so much along the way. I wish I had a better picture but this was before we went digital :)