December 2011

Current Weather:   55 degrees and sunny
Current Gas Price:  $3.09
Total Cockroach Count:  4

Hello Family! How are all of you? Are you enjoying the new year so far?

Whew! Sorry this post is coming out in the middle of January but our 2012 has started with a bang and this is one of the first chances I've had to write.  That's not true...I have chosen on multiple occasions to read some the Hunger Games Trilogy instead of write this :) Libby bought Mom the first book, "The Hunger Games" for Christmas and Mom (of course) read it in like one day so she left it for me and I've been hooked ever since! I just finished the second book and am on to the last one.  They are making the first book into a movie in March so I can't wait to see it! My friend Clory is reading them as well so hopefully we'll all go see the movie together! That would be fun! Check out the trailor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S9a5V9ODuY

So the majority of December was pretty typical with us just working as usual. Wes completed his fourth block of medicine which is awesome! He only has 1.5 blocks left of medicine.  I received a very good evaluation from District 50 which was so wonderful after being mildly deflated by Hamilton's evaluation the previous year.  We attended Self Regional's Christmas party which was very fancy and we went around from table to table stuffing ourselves and talking to the other residents.  It was pretty fun.

Hospital's Christmas Party

It was around this time that we put our tree up too! I just love putting up the Christmas tree and I confess that we actually still have ours up as we just haven't had time to take it down! We are shooting to take it down tonight though! Haha, half way through January is too late to put it up! But we always have a good time getting our ornaments out and talking about them! Here we are putting up the tree:

We also took a little trip to Greenville which was fun! I had to be there for a People to People meeting so Wesley came along and we made a little weekend out of it! It's about an hour away from Greenwood so it's not a bad drive. Unfortunately, I go there more than I would like because that's where all my People to People meetings are located.   Wes took me to a Persian restaurant which was pretty good...my food was chargrilled (as were most things on the menu) and I am just not a big fan of the blackened chargrilled flavor so it wasn't my favorite but we enjoyed trying some new things!

Greenville has a river that runs through downtown and there are parks all around it and bike trails and stuff.  It's a cute little town and this was my first time actually seeing the river and walking on the neat bridge they have! 

Us after dinner at Pomegranate on Main.  You can see the road behind us. It's sort of like an "Eastonish" feel  as it has lots of restaurants, bars, and little shops lining their main street.  There were a lot of people out even though it was pretty cold (for South Carolina).  It was fun to be out in more "city" civilization...haha, Greenwood doesn't have too much city feel to it! 

We spent almost an entire Saturday making chocolate covered pretzels for the girls in my high school small group.  Haha, we had initially thought it would only take an hour or so...but like six hours later we were getting tired of dipping pretzels in chocolate.  They turned out really cute though and the girls loved them so I was really happy!

Dipping our pretzels!

The finished product! We also had some with red and green stripes but they are not in this picture. 

And then came CHRISTMAS! Yay! We began our christmas festivities by having all of the intern class over to our house for dinner and a movie (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, of course!).  It was really fun to have everyone over and for whatever reason it seemed like a night that everyone needed! It was very relaxing and fun to be with people but also kind of nice that we could just watch a movie together and chill.

I was SO excited when Mom and Libby arrived on the 22nd for Christmas! They had a terrible drive down, with heavy rain and all, so they didn't get here until like 10:30 or something but they were relieved to be out of the car!  I had so much fun with them and we had a great time just hanging out, talking, playing games, watching movies, etc.  Libby had a crazy hard month at work and this was really the first break she'd had in a while so she was soaking in the down time! Wesley had quite a work schedule, working overnight on the 22nd, 24th, and 26th, so he spent most of his Christmas at the hospital or sleeping at home.  He did get to have Christmas dinner with us on the 25th though so that was fun!

Our outside decorations! Nothing too fancy but it looked really nice at night when we had the  lights on  in the bushes and our candles/tree in the window! We miss them! 

Mom and Libby were loving the sunshine and warmer weather ! 

We took a walk on the path that Wes and I usually go! There are some nice little neighborhoods near by that have lots of trees, little lakes, and interesting houses so we enjoy walking around as much as we can! 

Mom made some special martinis for Christmas called Cosmonaut's.  She got the recipe off  of the website  for the Middle West Spirits which we mentioned in the November post.  It's the place where we did the forever long tour and tasting with Wes' high school friends.  They were delicious!

We talked to John and Kim via Skype on Christmas Eve! This was their first christmas together and  it was nice that they could spend together, just the two of them! We were so happy that we could talk to them! 

We have a tradition of reading the story of Jesus' birth and "Twas the Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve .  John always reads the story out of the same book that he set on fire as a kid.  Here he is reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to us over the web cam :) 

 This year, John surprised us all by writing a new version of our old classic Christmas Eve story about Wes in the hospital on Christmas Eve (which was fitting because Wes left for work right after we talked with them!).  It was so funny and were all cracking up! Wes and I were very touched that he would take the time to write it (even though I guess he wrote it in ten minutes) as it was difficult for us to be apart on the holidays (and obviously difficult for Wes to be working on Christmas Eve/Christmas morning). John, you made us feel very loved, THANK YOU!

Here it is for you to enjoy:

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the hospital

Not a creature was stirring, not even a cockroach

The IV bags were hung by the bedside with care

In hopes that Doc Halderman soon would be there

The patients were nestled all snug in their beds

While drug induced visions danced in their heads:

And the nurse with her attitude and I with my charts

Had just settled in for a long Christmas farse.

When in emergency bay there arose such a clatter

Wes sprang from his bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the ambulance he flew like a flash.

Tore open the automatic doors and opened the hatch.

The moon on the breast of the severe lack of snow

Gave a luster of the South to objects below.

When what to his wondering eyes should he sees,

But a miniature gurney and eight diagnosees,

With a little old patient, so lively and quick

He knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than hemroids, his prescriptions they came,

And he whistled and shouted and called them by name,

Now, Nighqel, Now prozac, now tylenol and aleve

On Viagra, On Lipitor, on Topomax and Valium

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away resident!

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So into the hospital the coursers they flew

With a gurney of nurses and Doc Haldermann too

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As he drew in my head, and was turning around,

From Ohio Doc Haldermann came with a bound.

He was dressed all in scrubs from his head to his foot

and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and vomit.

A stethiscope he had flung on his neck

And he looked like a genius just opening his chart.

His eyes -- they had circles! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the coat that he wore as white as the snow;

The stump of a pen he held tight in his teeth,

And the wisdom it encircled his head like a wreath;

The patient was fat with a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And Wes laughed when he saw him, in spite of himself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon told the patient he wouldn’t be dead

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the IV bags; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, to the Doctor’s Lounge he rose;

He sprang to his coffee, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

I was so happy that he could be there for Christmas dinner! 

Dishing up our food! 

Christmas dinner: broiled salmon, roasted winter veggies, and steamed broccoli , yum!

I was very sad to see Libby and Mom go on the 27th even though they actually stayed an extra day because the weather was looking awful on the day they were supposed to leave! Thanks so much to you both for keeping me company over Christmas! It was wonderful having you here! Really, Mom and Libby left and two days later we left for Ohio too!

We began our Ohio Christmas festivities on Dec. 29th at the Halderman's.  Wes and I forgot to bring our camera with us to Ohio so we don't have too many pictures unfortunately.  We received some sad news on the ride down that my grandma had had a heart attack the night before and was in the hospital.  She is doing well after having two stints put in and healing at home for a while. We were really happy that we were heading to Ohio so that we could go and see her and it turned out to be kind of like Christmas because John and Kim came and my aunt, uncle, and cousins! So that was nice that we were able to see everyone since we didn't get to for Christmas.  And because grandma was doing so well, it was more like a celebration that she was okay than a sad get together.  We also saw Wes' grandparents who had been in and out of the hospital several times during the month of December. We were able to see them at Thanksgiving too, kind of right when things were beginning with them. They are also doing better but needless to say, our grandparents have been on our minds and hearts a lot lately.

We spent several days at the Haldermans just hanging out, playing games, reading and playing darts :)  We had a wonderful New Years Eve party (the kind that Wes and I LOVE) in which we put on a movie and sleep through it until 11:30 when we wake up, get a glass of wine, and toast to the New Year at 12:00 and then go to bed! YES!! Again, we didn't get too many pictures because we forgot our camera...but here are some that Brent took.

The guys busted out their childhood train set and put it together.  I had heard about this train before so it was good to see it in action.  I confess that train sets apparently don't hold my interest for very long as I watched it go around one time and felt satisfied.  Haha, but the guys enjoyed themselves for a while with it!

P.S. Logan and Wes make me laugh in this picture.  You guys look like male models or something...

The Halderman's tree so large this year that it was nicknamed the Behemeth.  Haha, it looked pretty bare because it was so huge that all the ornaments couldn't cover the front of it!  

Our Christmas card for next year :)

Don't you want to come in and warm yourself by the fire? I know I would! 

After our Christmas with the Haldermans, we had Christmas with Dad and Lynn! Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, we didn't take any pictures. Why do we do always do that, guys? Haha, I guess Wes and I are usually the ones taking pictures with that crowd and since we didn't have our camera we have nothing to show! Dad and Lynn surprised us all by buying each of us a Keurig.  Wes and I had asked for one, but I had an embarrassing "kid" moment when my dad had us all unwrap one Keurig and told us we could share it throughout the year (he really just didn't want to wrap all three) but the first thing I said was, "Dad, I thought you were going to buy us our own?!?!" in a whiny voice.  Haha, sorry Dad and Lynn! I really was embarrassed, cause Libby and John seemed to realize that Dad was kidding before I did and they both looked at me like, "seriously?" Haha, after that we headed back to South Carolina to officially begin the 2012 year! Wow, can't believe it's 2012!

We love you all and miss you already! We are sad that we won't see most of you until June but it will make our reunion that much more special! Unless of course you come and visit...perhaps this is not the best way to end my post but I would like to officially renounce any belief that you guys may have about visiting us being an "inconvenience" and a bother to us.  It's NOT! Almost all of you have mentioned that you feel bad coming down on a weekend that Wes has off because "we need that time together."  Although we love having weekends together, we really love you guys too and we get more time with one another than we do any of you! Also, it's probably more inconvenient for us if you come on a weekend that he is working.  First, because you'll have to hang out with me for most of the time and I'm really not that entertaining after several hours :) and second, because Wes wants to see you and it is frustrating for him to have to go to work when his family is here! So please, please don't keep feeling like you're intruding on our time together.  You are all welcome here any time! Ok, done!

We love you guys and pray for you and think about you often! Love you!

November 2011

Current Temperature: 58 degrees and cloudy

Current Gas Price:  $2.96
Total Cockroach Count:  4 (saw one in our bedroom! EEK!)

Hello to our dear family! I cannot believe that we are updating our blog already! It seems like just yesterday I was sending out the one for October and now it's already December! Wow! November may have been one of the fastest months we've ever experienced! I'm sure that y'all will love this post though because it is filled with pictures of the most wonderful people we know...YOU! It was so marvelous to see all of you and spend time with you two weeks ago. As we were talking on the ride home (the rainy ride home) we realized that we had, in some ways, been kind of proud that we had not felt homesick since we moved down here...but after spending a week with y'all we realized how much we really do miss you! Whether we're eating delicious Indian food with Dad and Lynn, relaxing/making beeswax candles with all the Haldermans, or making astronauts helmets with Debs at John and Kim's, y'all are wonderful to be around and we truly enjoy each and every one of you!  Thank you for a wonderful Thanksgiving vacation!

The month of November was fairly uneventful in the beginning.  In fact, I think we were just doing the usual daily grind of working, eating, and sleeping for the first several weeks.  I did take a little day trip with a committee that I am a part of at work called SALT (Supportive Assistive Learning Team) to the Washington Center (http://greenville.k12.sc.us/washctr/).  The Washington Center, although a part of the Greenville Public School District is a public school specifically serving moderately to severely mentally or physically disabled students.  It was SO cool to see some of the things that they do there and it gave us some great ideas!

Then after that, it was time for the birthday celebrations to begin! My friend Clory's birthday is November 10th so we had a birthday dinner with the Fousts and Ringenbergs to celebrate both of our birthdays.  We went to this restaurant in Abbeville called "The Village Grill."  It's one of the nicer local restaurants around!

Birthday dinner in Greenwood!

After that was an uneventful week of work and we headed to O-H-I-O to see all of you! We began the week with a birthday celebration at John and Kim's house with Libby, Dad and Lynn.  Unfortunately, John and Kim were unable to participate in our second "get-together" with Dad and Lynn which took place later that week at our favorite Indian restaurant in Columbus.  We used to meet up with Dad and Lynn there about every month before we moved. We miss seeing you and I miss eating Libby's tikka masala! Hee hee!

John's birthday is on December 1st so we had a triple birthday party for  Libby, John, and me!  Here we are blowing out our candles.  Kim made an amazing red velvet cake that was the best I've ever tasted!

See how fresh and rejuvenated we look? It's because the drive from South Carolina is so easy!
You should try it sometime :)

Birthday celebration with Dad & Lynn!

After that we headed to the Halderman farm and enjoyed two days of doing nothing.  Although our parents still had to go to work, we really enjoyed simply reading, watching Wes' baby videos, and napping on their couch! We had planned to do some more things outside but the dreary weather just made it that much easier to stay inside and do nothing! After that, we headed back to Columbus for dinner at Aab.  After dinner, Wesley went to see J. Edgar at the movies by himself while Libby and I stopped by Bravo for a Lemontini before going to see Twilight: Breaking Dawn.  Wes enjoyed his movie and despite being completely grossed out at the vampire-birth scene Libs and I enjoyed Twilight. :)

I finally got to try one of Libby's favorite Lemontinis! 

On Wednesday we spent the day catching up with friends in Columbus.  I had breakfast with my high school friends and lunch with my college friends while Wes had breakfast with Nate Richards and lunch with Logan.  That night we headed out for a night on the town with Wes' friends from high school.  Currently, this group consists of people living in Akron, Columbus, Boston, New York City, and Greenwood...so it was a miracle we could all get together! Before going to dinner we went to Middle West Spirits (http://www.middlewestspirits.com/) for a tour and tasting.  We had an "okay" time.  Even though the tour was informative and the drinks delicious (relatively speaking) we were 30 minutes late for our dinner reservation because the tour took two and half hours! Yikes!

From left: Tom & Sarah Porto, Jayme & Aaron Huber

Wesley and I with Andy Lawler trying our samples of Middle West Spirits. 

From left:  Ryan & Michelle Bundenthal, Sarah & Tom Porto, at dinner!

Wesley and I at Lindey's. 

After that, it was officially THANKSGIVING! We started our Thanksgiving festivities at John and Kim's house in Cincinnati.  We celebrated with Kim's family, the Pienings, and I must say that our families seem to fit together like peas and carrots! Perhaps it's because Libby and I are girls and Kim is one of four sisters (so there are a lot of girls) but I just feel like I've known them for years!  John was up to his usual ways in the kitchen and he and Kim made an amazing meal for us! John was also up to his usual ways when he informed us that we'd be making astronaut helmets to win our dessert! This needs some explanation: Libby's boyfriend, Craig, works for NASA and this was his first time meeting us.  So naturally, John asked him if he could bring some astronaut ice cream for dessert.  Then John told us that we all had to make astronaut helmets out of household products to try and win the ice cream...and Craig had to chose a winner and a loser.  This may sound silly to you but John has a gift for making people get excited about dumb ideas and before you know it we were all taping foil around our heads! Haha, it was an enjoyable evening activity!

Ready to eat our turkey!

Libby and Craig (before he realized he'd be judging the helmet contest!)

 Video of us making our astronaut helmets! Enjoy!

Our astronaut helmets.

All of us wearing our astronaut helmets.
Winner: Trish Piening (on my right),  Loser: Kim 

Later that evening, we sadly said our goodbyes and headed back to Dayton for Thanksgiving with the Haldermans.  This Thanksgiving proved to be just as eventful as we ate more than we should, had a "boat" race in a creek, attempted to make beeswax candles, and played touch-walking football.

Turkey Day! Nice Ben...

Dana and I walking in Shawnee Prairie Preserve.  

Wes has told me before about how he and his family used to have "boat" races when they would go to parks and stuff but this was my first time actually participating! Basically, everyone picks out something that they want to "race" with and they launch them at some point along a creek and everyone cheers on their "boat" until someone wins.  Haha, it was so cute and totally want to do this with our kids! Unfortunately, I lost...big time! Enjoy! 

Discussing my "winning" boat. 

Our boat race.  Unfortunately, Logan fell in the creek while he was launching some of the boats.  It was not a comfortable walk back to the car for him! 

Logan's muddy pants and soaking boots :(

 Enjoy this video of us making our beeswax candles!

Our beeswax candles! Unfortunately, they didn't turn out because we think there was still too much honey left in them or something.  So we're going to try it again another day!

After that, it was time to head back to South Carolina, which by now seemed very far away! But we did it! We tore ourselves from all of you, our dear loved ones, and are now simply looking forward to when we will see you again! Luckily, its not that far away!

Until then....Merry Christmas!

October 2011

Current Weather:  60 degrees and sunny
Current Gas Price: $3.10 per gallon
Total Cockroach Count:  3

Hello family! How are y'all doing? We are so excited to see you soon and can't want to visit for the holidays!  This has been an exciting month for us and we feel like it FLEW by! Wesley finished up his Peds block and is now in Block 5 (Medicine)...it's hard to believe that he's already 1/3 of the way done with his intern year! Way to go Wesley! In two weeks, he will move to Block 6 (Sports Medicine) and he won't have ANY call! YAY! And obviously we'll be taking a nice long vacation to come and see y'all! Wes has been holding up like a champ these days but I've started to notice a little more of the "intern behavior" that the older doctor's wives were telling me about.  The other day I woke Wes up from a nap before a night shift on peds and the first thing he said was, "How's the baby?"  And then just last week I tried to wake him up again by saying his name and he wouldn't wake up, so I gently rubbed his face...still nothing, so I put my whole hand on his face and rubbed it (with a decent amount of pressure) and he STILL didn't wake up (didn't even stir), then I started shaking him screaming, "COCKADOODLE DOO BOB!" and he finally woke up! Haha, I made that last part up but you'd find it funny if you've seen "What about Bob?"

*Wesley made a new delicious dinner the other day and we thought some of you may enjoy trying it! Let us know what you think if you make it!

Wesley's Butternut Squash Risotto
Ingredients
3.5 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2.5 Tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 dry white wine
1 butternut squash
1 tsp cinnamon
.5 tsp nutmeg

*** We only used half the squash for this recipe but we cook/chop the whole thing and freeze the remaining half and make it again the next week. You can always double everything else and use the whole squash but you'll have a lot of leftovers! ***

Directions
Preheat oven to 375.  First, cut the squash in half (lengthwise) and set one half aside.  Brush the squash flesh with olive oil and place face down on a roasting pan. Roast for 35 to 45 minutes (or until soft and yields to the touch).  Remove and let sit for about 20 minutes.  While the first half is roasting, take the other half of the squash and chop it up into very small pieces.

Put chicken stock in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Reduce to low heat and cover to keep the stock hot.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute (add garlic when almost translucent) and continue cooking until translucent.  Add the rice and stir well for about 30 seconds.  Add the wine and simmer, stirring constantly, until liquid is absorbed.  Add 1/2 cup of hot stock and stir until stock is absorbed.  Keep adding stock and stirring until absorbed until all the stock is gone. (Maybe about 25-30 minutes).  While doing all this, get a large frying pan and saute HALF of the chopped up squash with some olive oil (freeze the other half).  Once the risotto is all done, immediately add HALF of the roasted squash (freeze the other half) and the remaining sauteed squash to the risotto and stir until blended.  Add the cinnamon and nutmeg.  Dish up and enjoy! *We sometimes put some Parmesan  cheese on top just because we like it but it's up to you!


*Our first big adventure in the month of October was a trip to the beach! We've learned a lot from the locals down here about going to the beach.  First, you DO NOT go to Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head (those are for tourists). Second, you go to one of the following beaches: Folly Beach, Isle of Palms, Edisto Island, Hunting Island, etc. Third, you go in October when no tourists are and it isn't so hot.  We wanted to go to Edisto because we have heard so much about it and it seems like we'd really enjoy it but the campground was all full so we ended up going to Hunting Island (which is right next to Edisto). Turns out Hunting Island supposedly has the best State Park in South Carolina and Wesley snagged us a camping spot there! It apparently is a great place for bird watchers because it has a ton of varieties and eagles and stuff.   We enjoyed our drive there (took four hours? I can't remember) and we loved driving through the countryside.  We only saw 1 corn field, which was very disappointing but we did see....COTTON fields! Oh man, we are in the South! Haha, I've never seen a cotton field before in my life and its weird looking stuff too! It was too good to pass up so we stopped to get a picture!

That machine in the back left is what collects it all and does something...haha  Wes isn't home to give me the farming terms...dang it! On our drive back we saw this huge block of cotton sitting in the field.  Like really big...probably bigger than our living room! 

We didn't get there until 9:00 or so and turns out we had to walk to our campsite...so that was an adventure carrying all of our things back and forth to our campsite in the dark! We were surprised to wake up and see what our campsite actually looked like.  It was very different from anything we were used to with all of the palms trees and stuff. Haha, I woke up to a strange noise outside the tent that sounded like a low growling throat noise that was surprisingly coming from a tiny red bird. Haha, very interesting.  Later on, while we were eating breakfast, a huge bird of prey (don't know what kind) flew on the branch really close to us and took off after one of those little red growling birds...poor guy.

Soon we headed off to the beach! Unfortunately, it was actually really cold (the locals lied to us!) and we wore our jackets the whole day.  Well, at least I did.  It really was made worse by the fact that it was so incredibly windy that we could hardly face in that direction.  (You know that feeling when it's so windy that you can't breath when you're facing it?)  Please enjoy this video that gives a great example of how windy it was!

Enjoying his weekend off! 

Do you like my $5 sunglasses from Walmart with a diamond "A" on them?   I broke my favorite sunglasses days before we left so I had to grab something quick...I'm all about diamond monogrammed stuff :) 

Did you feel cold watching it? I did. After sitting for a while, we finally decided to go put our stuff back at the campground and just walk along the beach.  It was a lot better that way and we got to see more of the island!   The lighthouse on the island is one of the oldest in South Carolina and it was pretty cool to go inside.

It was super windy up there but gave a great view! 

We really enjoyed being away together! And we just really missed camping! This is the only time in 2011 that we've been able to go! Haha, we went like 5 times in 2010! Well, times are just crazy right now but we know that camping will be a big part of our lives so we'll just have to wait until life settles down!

*The following weekend we went to a "Wedding Crashers Party" at the cheif resident's house.  She throws great parties and we enjoyed it a lot! Dana, you'll be happy to know that I won the award for "Best Reusable Bridesmaid Dress" wearing your bridesmaid dress! You have such classy style :)

*The weekend after that was a very exciting one because we made our first journey back to Ohio for my cousin Ashley's wedding. Although we were in Ohio for less than 48 hours, we had so much fun seeing John & Kim, Libby, and Mom and the rest of my extended family! We were happy we could be there to support my them on such an exciting day! Her wedding was absolutely gorgeous and we had a great time! It was, unfortunately, cut short though because the groom's dad ended passing out after partying too hard and Dr. Wesley had to come to the rescue at yet another family wedding.  Everyone was really scared though because no one knew what was going on so I think people thought it was more serious than it was, myself included!  Haha, he is doing well though! Here are some pics from the wedding:

I got three feathers put in my hair and I totally love them (although I'm cheap and won't pay to get more once they fall out) but I was disappointed to hear (from Libby) that "only college girls have them in Ohio." Haha, that was mildly embarrassing as lots of people get them down here.  There are a bunch of teachers at my school who have them so I was really excited to show off my feathers...but I guess I'll just have to be cool here and not in Ohio :( 

Wes dancing the dollar dance with my cousin Ashley.  She looked absolutely beautiful! 

We had a great time dancing as they had a live band playing lots of big band music! Wesley was leading me all over the dance floor with our foxtrot step!  I thought we were pretty cool until Wes started dancing with my mom and she totally showed me up by twirling all over the dance floor! Haha, she was at least gracious about it and showed me how to do the twirls so that after that I could twirl around the floor myself.

BUT, the big dance moment of the evening was doing the Bombshell Stomp with my cousins.  Ashley (the bride) had emailed Mom, Libs, and I (along with all my cousins) and asked if we could learn the steps to the Bombshell Stomp.  Haha, I have NO experience doing line dancing but I thought I'd give it a try because Ashley was dancing around like crazy at my wedding and I wanted to support her! Haha, needless to say it was pretty shaky but we pulled it out! Haha, Libby, Kim and I were practicing that morning trying to remember all the steps but it turned out pretty well! Enjoy!

*Next was Halloween! Haha, despite celebrating it ALL week long at work we went to the residency's Annual Halloween Party.  Wes and I are not super big into Halloween and we did not have costumes as of 30 minutes before the party so we had to improvise with things we had around the house.  It was shockingly easy to find nerdy things around our house...hmmm?

Does it look natural? Hee hee...

This is Joseph and Trish Hall.  Trish is an intern with Wes and Joseph is in the Army...so they switched places for Halloween.  Wes and I had had that idea originally but speech therapists are unfortunately difficult to identify... Check out Joseph's bicep that barely fit in the extra large scrubs...haha we were all laughing about that!

This is Leanne and Trent Kline. They are fellow OSU grads and Leanne is an intern with Wes also. Trent is a stay-at-home dad currently because apparently Greenwood and neighboring areas are not too into fitness so he can't find a job (but the hospitals are full of unhealthy people for Wes and Leanne to take care of).  They have a 7 month old girl named Harper Gray (as in Scarlet and Gray). 

*We continue to really enjoy our church! We are learning more and more every week and have met a lot of wonderful people there! Haha, turns out that the entire intern class (minus Matt Haldeman) go to Northside Baptist church! AND they even had a guest celebrity visit last week...Justin Timberlake! Haha, just kidding! But check out this guy that is in their worship band...we all call him JT cause from our seats he looks like Justin Timberlake.  (Wesley got some interesting looks taking this video during church...yikes!)

Ok y'all...I think that may be it! We are so excited to see you all very soon! Please let us know if we should bring anything or do anything to help out for the holidays! WE LOVE YOU!