Graduate

Niel graduated a few weeks ago from Loma Linda University with a Masters in Physician Assistant Studies. He even graduated with honors. Niel is one smart cookie and I am very proud of him. Even though the graduation ceremony was held, he still has school until August. We found out the day I left for Girls' camp that he didn't get accepted to the residency program here in So Cal that starts in September. He will be considered for the residency that starts in March. Apparently, they want a PA grad who has already taken their board exams. We are both ok with the fact that he didn't get accepted to the residency. I actually feel relieved that we don't have to make the decision as to whether or not he should do the residency in September. If he can't find a job in an area that we like by March, he will apply for the residency again. Let the job hunting process begin!

The program has gone by so fast. It seems like just yesterday we were still living in Utah trying to decided if he should go to PA School or continue doing real estate. I am thankful that the Lord answered our prayers and guided Niel to do the PA Program. Shortly after we made our decision for Niel to continue his education, the real estate market crashed. This wasn't something we saw coming at the time we made our decision, but the Lord knew what was coming. If we had made the decision on our own without consulting with the Lord, we probably would have chosen to stay in Utah where we were content and had family, friends, and jobs. I am grateful for prayer and that the Lord can direct us in our decisions because he can see the big picture and knows what is best for us.

Congrats Niel, you are a stud.

Recuperating

I returned from Girls' Camp yesterday. I managed some unpacking and a few loads of laundry. Besides that, I have been sleeping and napping. Needless to say, I didn't get my normal amount of sleep at Girls' camp. Camp was a great experience but I am very relieved it is over and feel as if a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I'm not looking forward to work though.

After a long week of camp in the mountains, I decided to pamper myself. Believe it or not, I hadn't ever had a pedicure in my life, so I decided to get one. There was quite the language barrier between me and my pedicure lady. She couldn't understand me when I asked her how to change the settings on my massage chair. Although, she did manage to ask me if I wanted flowers on my toes and a manicure. She gave me a look of unbelief and disgust when I told her it was my first pedicure.

The funny thing about my pedicure is that my toes were swollen that night. I think I might have been allergic to the lotion or some potion she put on my feet {picture above was taken today after swelling went down}. I had chubby little toes...it was pretty funny.

Girls' Camp here I come...

After work today I am packing my bags in the Honda and headed to Girl's camp up at Big Bear for my second year of experiencing Girls' camp awesomeness as the assistant camp director. Now that camp is finally here and the preparation is mostly done I am excited. I have to admit that the last few weeks of my life have been crazy. Between working full time, planning girls camp, young women's, and other responsibilities I have had zero free time. This explains why my blog has been really lame lately. I am hoping for good weather, no drama, no bears, and that everything goes smoothly. Wish me luck! See you when I get back!

What next?

Tuesday, Niel had an interview for the Orthopedic surgery residency at Arrowhead hospital. This is a one year residency program (and the only orthopedic surgery residency in the state of California) and it so happens that the hospital is five minutes from our house. There are five applicants that we know of and two positions. We will find out tomorrow whether or not Niel will be accepted!

I have mixed feelings about the residency. Part of me (OK most of me) would love it if Niel was able to find a high paying job right out of school. It would be really nice to get 'settled down' in an area we would like to live long term. I am ready to move out of Colton but at the same time I'm not sure if I am ready to move out of California. If he did the residency, Niel would work an average of 70 hours a week and only get two weeks off. Basically I wouldn't ever see Niel if he did the residency. Not to mention that the pay is about the third of what we would make if he got a job right out of school.

On the other hand, Niel doing the residency would give him great experience, look good on a resume, and he could demand a higher salary after the residency. Allot of doctors hiring specialized physician assistant's require experience. By doing the residency, Niel would be considered for more positions and in turn, we would have more options when looking for a job. According to recruiters, the West Coast is slow right now. If we did the residency, maybe by next year he will have more job options.

I am really bad at making big decisions and I don't look forward to decisions such as these....I tend to be really indecisive. I will let you know what we find out tomorrow...

Confession

I bought another swimsuit. Yep. I caved in. I couldn't restrain myself. Niel's response, "You bought ANOTHER swimsuit?!" I love it though. It is so comfortable, great coverage, and the little boy shorts are perfect for wake boarding {if I ever get to go this summer}. Anyways, I have girls camp and a family reunion coming up so I need something with full coverage. Don't want to ruffle any feathers at the family reunion by showing up wearing a bikini {not that I own one or anything}.

Swimsuits are my weakness. Whenever I go into a store and see the swimsuit section it is like an invisible magnetic force that sucks me right in. They are definitely one of the most fun articles of clothing to shop for because there are so many different cuts, styles, patterns, and colors to choose from. I also have underlying motives when looking and shopping for swimsuits since I still want to design my own swim line one of these days.

I am a strong believer in having several swimsuits to choose from. For example: You are going on a 7 day cruise lets say. Would you wear the same shirt shirt for every day of the cruise? NO, definitely not. You would pack at least seven different shirts-one for each day. Since we wear a different shirt everyday why would it be different with swimsuits? You definitely could not wear one swimsuit the whole trip. Same thing goes with all other vacations and swimming in general. There needs to be variety.

In part, this post is to explain to Niel why I really needed this swimsuit but I hope it helps someone else out there. If your husband/significant other is giving you a hard time for wanting to buy a swimsuit tell him to read this post. Plus, your situation has to be better than mine...I just counted thirteen swimsuits in my drawer! How many do you have? I have a friend who owns fifty.

Spoiled

Remember how I said Niel's award was accompanied with $500? Here is how he chose to spend the money: 1)A new bike 2)New roller blade wheels. We could have done something really boring like put the money towards student loans, but we decided otherwise.

We were somewhat limited with only one of us having a bike and now both of us have bikes! We have already been on a handful of bike rides together. I can't wait until we take our bikes to the beach. We went to Sports Chalet on a Friday night and he picked out his bike. When we were leaving the store he hopped on his bike with a perma-smile and rode it all around the parking lot.

Track Star

My nephew Tyler is a great athlete and he made it to state with his relay team. What a stud. His team placed second at state but afterwards one of the referees disqualified their team. Apparently one of his relay team members accidentally pushed another runner (or so the ref. said). I still say they hold second place. We will disregard the referees amateur call. Congrats for making it to state Tyler!!

{Below is my sister Lori, her husband David, and their four kids: Tiffani, Tyler, Trent, and Todd}

Angels Game

I got four free tickets from my work to an Angels game. We invited Christina and Justin Miles to come with us. I'm not really a big baseball fan but it is fun to go to Major League baseball games. It is a fun atmosphere and the food always smells really good. We decided to not be cheap and buy our food at the stadium. We bought hot dogs and greasy garlic fries. The garlic fries were a mistake.

These are our seats. They definately were not too shabby.

Besides the greasy garlic fries we had a good time.

Memorial Day

We went to Newport Beach for Memorial Day. It was beautiful. I am really loving the whole beach thing in California and it is making things hard in the decision department of where we want to live long-term. Especially since I would like to live closer to my family in Washington. After our beach trip we had a BBQ (sort of). We cooked hamburgers on our stove and ate them on our balcony. It was nice to be back with Niel after not seeing him for over a week and hardly at all in May while he was in LA.

Atta' kid

Niel was awarded the Physician Assistant Chair's Award by Loma Linda University last week. We aren't really sure what that means, but it sounds cool. I thought he was getting the Faculty's Choice award but I think this is the same thing...just worded fancier. Want to know what the best part of this award is? It came with $500. WA-HOO! Don't worry, we already spent it. More on that later.

Anyways, I think Niel deserves a big shout out. He has worked very hard the last year and a half in school. He has excelled in his classess and in his rotations. I am fully confident that he will be an excellent PA.

40 Years

Congratulations mom and dad for 40 great years together! I am a few days late posting, but I figured this is a pretty big deal. I love this picture of my parents on the cruise they went on last year. My parents are great people and I love them lots. I am looking forward to celebrating their 40th anniversary with the family next month in Washington!

Guy Stuff

While I was in Utah, Niel hung out on the weekend with his friend Steve. They went to see 'Terminator', watched sports, went to the Ventura Pier, and went car shopping. After car shopping, Niel came to the decision that our next car was going to be a BMW or the Lexus IS 350. I put a veto on the BMW but the Lexus is in the 'decision box'. I could definately work with the Lexus.

I'm glad he was able to do some fun guy stuff...especially since I dodged seeing Terminator:)