A Great Time to Catch Up

WARNING THIS IS LONG - YOU MAY WANT TO SKIM

So I have been meaning to do this for days, and with each passing day I have more and more to report on. So here it goes, a complete overview of our crazy June. And I am pretty sure the past and present tenses are going to get a little mixed up, oh well.

June 1st
We have everything packed up and Jacob and I left for Salt Lake so that we can pick up the truck the next morning. The kids stayed with Grandma Corry. I must say it is rather nice to travel up to Salt Lake with relative calmness.

June 2nd
Jacob and I pick up the truck in the morning. We drop off the car carrier at my sister’s house where it was stored for a few days and have a wonderful breakfast at my Moms. Then it is into the 26 footer Penske and we head down for Cedar. The whole drive down we were reminded of how grateful we were that we weren’t driving the truck all the way to South Bend. That bench seat is so uncomfortable, the truck does not ride smooth, and worst of all, there was a governor on the truck set at 70! Killer!!

When we arrive at Cedar City we go straight to the house and pack up. It didn’t take us too long and then it was over to Mom and Dad Corry’s for a farewell dinner.

We found out a few days later that something else went on this night but more on that later.

June 3rd
Jacob and I got up around 5:00 and had to say goodbye. This is always so hard. After some tears, we got on the road. We made it to SL (the kids slept most of the way which was a real blessing) and then Jacob showed up about an hour later. (That governor just kills your time.) Then we said a quick goodbye to the kids and Jacob (and the truck) and we got to take my parents car and head out. We made it to Sydney NE that night.

June 4th
Jacob and I drove from Sydney to I can’t remember now, but only a few hours away from South Bend. Thrilling day, but at least we had a good book to listen to.

June 5th
We arrive in South Bend and are very excited to be out of the car for a bit. We met with our insurance agent, went on a walk through of the house (why is it when you rent an apartment it is spotless and when you buy a house it is trashed, weird) watched 2 movies (living it up while we can at the $1.00 theater), and then spent the evening with our friends the Sanderson’s. (Thanks again for letting us stay with you!)

June 6th
This is the big day. We spent the morning cleaning at the house, including shampooing all the carpets, and then in the afternoon went to the bank and became official home owners. That was pretty awesome. It is very, very different to own a house verse rent one but so far we are very happy with the decision to buy. To celebrate we went to dinner and a movie. Thanks to Aunt Jen and the gift cards from Christmas we went to see a movie that wasn’t at the $1.00 Theater. We flipped a coin between Iron Man and Indiana Jones and Iron Man won out. It was pretty good. That evening we blew up the air mattress and slept for the first night in our own house. It should be noted as well that my Dad and Brother left at Noon with the truck headed for South Bend as well.

June 7th
Jacob is rather excited about having our own backyard so the first thing he wanted to do was plant a garden. This is what we spent the morning doing. I must say too, it is doing pretty well. We just have to find a way to keep the chipmunks and insects out. Any suggestions? The truck arrived at 4:30 (that’s right, they drove though the whole night).

As soon as we opened the truck we were greeted by the plastic boat frame that we thought we left in Cedar with Jacob’s brother Robert. The story goes that at 3:00 a.m. on the early hours of the 3rd Robert crept in our room looking for Jacob’s keys. Apparently he had to lay on the floor for sometime as I told Jacob to go back to bed in my sleep and he was afraid he would wake me up. Eventually, he just grabbed all of Jacob’s shorts and took them out in the hall. He spent an hour tying the boat into the back of the truck and surprised us like none other.

After getting the boat untied we took everything off the truck and stuck it in the garage. Thanks to everyone who came to help us unload. I am so grateful to have such great friends. Dad and Adam grabbed a quick shower and then it was back in the car to drive back to SL.

June 8th
After a long night (mostly for Dad and Adam, we were pretty rested and I never had to drive) we arrived back in Salt Lake in the early afternoon. Yea, we are crazy. We were very happy to see the kids as we were really starting to miss them. Then everyone got some shuteye. My dad went and lay down around 4:00 and we didn’t see him again until the next morning. Thanks you Adam and Dad!! I can’t say this enough, but I really appreciate you two and all you do for us.

June 9th
Adam had to work this day, which was why we hurried back. I figured we would spend the day relaxing and chilling but it turned out we had quite a few errands so the day got filled up pretty quick.

June 10th
Today is the reason we drove back to Salt Lake. Tamsen, my younger sister, married Dean Bogeardas (sorry, I think I slaughtered the last name) It was a beautiful wedding!! Tamsen looked absolutely gorgeous. The food was pretty good too. Congrats Tamsen and Dean. As a side note, Tamsen got Jessi a beautiful dress to wear for the occasion which she was all to happy to spin around in and tell everyone she was a princess.

After the wedding came the part I had been dreading. Time to say goodbye, again. I would say after a few tears we got in the car, but it wasn’t a few tears. It is hard to say goodbye to my Mom. So finally, after a few sobs, I got in the car and we headed east. The plan was to just drive to Evanston, but once there we were still pretty awake so we drove on. Turns out that might not have been the greatest decision. For some reason all of the hotels in Wyoming turned out to be full that evening, (maybe due to the surprise snow storm.) We finally found a smoker room at around Midnight. I can’t remember what the name of the city was but lucky the room didn’t stink that bad, and we were so tired I don’t think we would have cared.

June 11th
First thing we did upon waking up was book a hotel for that night; we didn’t want to have the same situation again. The drive was pretty much like all drives until we got to Omaha. It was then that we hit the storm and heard the sirens. Somehow though after a few minutes of rain, we were in the clear and the storm seemed to just hedge on the edge of the interstate but not over the interstate. Tender Mercies. Our hotel was in Council Bluffs just on the other side of Omaha.

We arrived around 6:30 and went to get something for the kids to eat. We were told at the drive though that they weren’t serving because they were in the middle of a tornado watch but we could come in for shelter (their tone inflected a real “Well Duh” hint). So we went back to the hotel and had chips and goldfish for dinner. The kids wanted to go to the pool but whereas it is surrounded by glass we decided against that. So they had a personal pool in the bath and then off to bed.

To say it was a long night would be an understatement. I don’t remember being that scared in a long time. We watched the news for quite some time and watched as tornado’s hit all around us. We tried to figure out what would be the best option of one were to hit. Finally, after quite a few prayers, and a lot of worries, the storms died down and we went to sleep.

June 12th,
When we woke up we found some of the trees in the parking lot torn down but that was about all of the damage done. We loaded up for one last day of driving. The amount of flooding we saw over the next hour was insane. There were ballparks where you could only see the very top of the outfield fence. We found out later that the closed down the interstate the next day due to the flooding. Again, Tender Mercies.

We arrived at South Bend around 4:00, and started work on finding all of the beds and getting them set up. The kids were so excited to have new rooms, (although they will be happier when I finally get around to painting them blue and pink)

June 13th – Today

Okay, so the rest of the days all start to blend together for me. They consist of Jacob doing orientation at the hospital during the days, me unpacking during the days, and then us working on projects in the evening. Whereas, the first two aren’t that exciting I will touch on some of our projects. They include taking down the built-In in the family room, taking down the tin shelves in all of the closets and building new ones from the wood we now have from the built-in. We also have replaced the tin closet doors and put up new ones. Jacob spent a Saturday building tables in the garage for his tools and organizing the entire garage. And last Saturday we built the arch between the dining room and living room. Now we have to mud and tape, but that has been put on hold due to Jacob starting with an Internal Medicine rotation.











So that is what we have been up to for the last month. The house is coming together, slowly but surely. Jennifer is coming to visit starting tomorrow and we plan on painting while she is here (I have never done it and so am glad to have her help) and I am sure that will make a huge difference. The kids sure are excited.

Today, Jacob has his first On-Call day on this Independence Day so I am sure he will write about that. Jessi’s Birthday is on Sunday and we are having a birthday party tomorrow for her. She is so excited. I will try and post on that quicker with lots of pictures.

Well I think this is far long enough. I hope you skimmed!!

Faith of a Child

Spencer has been learning a lot about prayer lately. Last week he was praying that Jessi would do better on her potty training, and it just so happened that she had a particularly bad day with it and before bed Spencer told me that prayers don't work. I tried to help him understand the concept of God's will and free agency, but come on he's 5. Instead we decided that he would keep praying for Jessi to get better at her potty training. The next day Jessi had a perfectly dry day and Spencer was so excited at bedtime because he prayed for Jessi to not have any potty accidents and she didn't!

Fast forward to Tuesday. Tuesday was my first day of actual patient care as a licensed physician. My first rotation is medicine which for most people is the most challenging mentally and a close second to OB as the most challenging physically (in family practice residencies anyway). This makes for a somewhat stressfull day and while I have been trying to prepare myself for it Tuesday was difficult for me. The learning curve in residency is steep at first and I have yet to meet a physician who says they weren't at least a little stressed. I have a tendency toward anxiety (thanks for that dad) and so I was very close to having an anxiety attack on Tuesday. Fortunately for me I have some experience with that(some of you faithful readers may remember an email on the subject a couple of years back). I know what it feels like and I can generally calm myself down enough to function. When I came home yesterday I was exhausted, not so much from the work but from my own stress. Because of that stress I am now sick with a cold that I'm pretty sure wouldn't have even caused me a sniffle in a nonstressed state (Melissa is perfectly healthy). Spencer noticed that I wasn't quite myself and asked me what was wrong so I told him I was scared of work (once again he's 5 people). When he said his prayers he prayed for daddy not to be scared.

Today was slightly better than yesterday. I stopped worrying about being inept and was able to accept that a little better and the day went pretty well. My cold got worse, but that will be another few days. I got home and things were not awesome, but they were better than yesterday. Spencer noticed and he asked me if I knew why I was feeling better. I said no and he responded by saying: "It's because I prayed for you not to be scared dad." It melted my heart and I cried. Of course then I had to explain to Spencer that sometimes people cry when they are happy.

Tonight Spencer and Jessi both prayed for me not to be scared and to do good at work so I'm planning to do a little more than just not screw up tomorrow.

While I feel like the dumbest resident on the planet (I've heard that is not so rare as I think) I think I'm keeping up with the curve when it comes to being a dad. Maybe the kids are praying for that too.

Conservatism as defined by Glenn Beck

A conservative believes that our inalienable rights do not include housing, healthcare or Hummers.

A conservative believes that our inalienable rights DO include the pursuit of happiness. That means it is guaranteed to no one.

A conservative believes that those who pursue happiness and find it have a right to not be penalized for that success.

A conservative believes that there are no protections against the hardship and heartache of failure. We believe that the right to fail is just as important as the chance to succeed and that those who do fail learn essential lessons that will help them the next time around.

A conservative believes in personal responsibility and accepts the consequences for his or her words and actions.

A conservative believes that real compassion can't be found in any government program.

A conservative believes that each of us has a duty to take care of our neighbors. It was private individuals, companies and congregations that sent water, blankets and supplies to New Orleans far before the government ever set foot there.

A conservative believes that family is the cornerstone of our society and that people have a right to manage their family any way they see fit, so long as it's not criminal. We are far more attuned to our family's needs than some faceless, soulless government program.

A conservative believes that people have a right to worship the God of their understanding. We also believe that people do not have the right to jam their version of God (or no God) down anybody else's throat.

A conservative believes that people go to the movies to be entertained and to church to be preached to, not the other way around.

A conservative believes that debt creates unhealthy relationships. Everyone, from the government on down, should live within their means and strive for financial independence.

A conservative believes that a child's education is the responsibility of the parents, not the government.

A conservative believes that every human being has a right to life, from conception to death.

A conservative believes in the smallest government you can get without anarchy. We know our history: The larger a government gets, the harder it will fall.

Those are the things a conservative believes in, and they're the things that I believe in. Now, if only I could find a candidate to match.

End of an Era

I tend to have delusion of grandeur from time to time so I like to call my stages of life eras and today signals the end of quite a few eras in my life.

We are leaving for Indiana tonight, as many of you know, and with this move life will change quite a bit.

Friday will signal the end of my years of summer breaks as Monday I become an actual contributing member of society with a real career (though I guess teachers qualify for that as well and they still get summer breaks).

We are also heading back to the eastern time zone (though only by about 20 miles). I hate the eastern time zone. staying up until 1 AM is not as fun as it used to be and that's what you have to do if you want to see the NBA playoffs.

This is the second time we have moved from Utah to a location east of the Mississippi and you might think it would be very similar, however, there is one distinct difference in this move. When we moved to Pikeville we were moving from Salt Lake City. We both loved Salt Lake, but it wasn't home. Now we are leaving from Cedar City and Cedar City is home. I am nothing if not a Cedar City boy and Melissa has admitted that she is definately a Cedar City woman (as she didn't grow up in Cedar she can't have the distinction of a Cedar girl). We are all but certain that we will hightail it back to Cedar in 3 years and live out our years there.

Living in Cedar this past year has been nothing short of wonderful. For me there were so many benefits that I can't even begin to list them all.

It was absolutely wonderful to live in the same town with my older brother and his family. When I was a kid I used to love it when my dad got together with his brothers because they always seemed to have such a great time. They would laugh together and tell stories about when they were younger. They would joke with each other. They always seemed to enjoy everything they did together. I remember thinking that it would take a miracle for Bob and I to be that way because we used to fight so much (I was always an innocent victim back then). Well my brothers and I reached the point that I always wanted to get to some years ago (though I have a boat sitting on my patio out in Indiana that says things aren't as good as I thought, more on that in a future post) and it has been wonderful to be able to work and play and laugh with Bob and his family so frequently this past year. My brothers are my best friends (so are my sisters, but this isn't about Char and Becca now is it) and I am saddened to be leaving Cedar, but excited to be moving closer to Doug in Cleveland.

Of course no post about Cedar would be complete without mentioning my parents. They are the best parents/grandparents I could ever dream of and it has been a pleasure living near them again. I will miss the Sunday dinners, and the numerous evenings we spent together. I will also miss the many lunches at the clinic. I may never formally work with my dad (he plans to retire the day before I get to Cedar and I'm gratefull he is waiting that long), but over the past year I have spent many a lunch hour passing time with dad in his clinic. It was a nice bonus that they had catered lunches so many of those days, but being in the clinic with my father made me feel like a kid again going to work with dad. Of all the things I will miss about Cedar those lunch hours with dad will be at the top of the list and I think he enjoyed them a little bit too.

Which Princess are you?

I saw this on a friend's blog and I just had to take the quiz. I must say you have to take a few liberties when taking a quiz to see which princess you most resemble if you are a straight male. I've never been to fond of this particular princess, but I do like the description so I'll take it.

Feel free to take the quiz and post your results in the comments section.


You Are Pocahantas!

Free-spirited and wise. You have a strong passionate spirit that touches and changes all who know you. The wisdom and common sense that you have is really what guides you through life. Even so, you also have a very playful side that loves adventure and excitement.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

I also took the quiz on behalf of Melissa (I answered how I thought she would answer, I'm curious to see if it matches up with what she really says when she takes the quiz).

Melissa

You Are Cinderella!

Dignified and hard working. With a gentle and soft-spoken manner you have something many people don't. Patience. Even through the moments of heartbreak you're still able to hold onto all of your hopes and dreams. Bide your time; your dream will come true.