Bears

Due to impending final exams, we the WWAMI wives (me and the other med student wives) have become practically widows. As a result, we have been searching high and low for fun things to do. Last week we had a couple of good finds.

Nicki and her three-year-old daughter Jacqueline found a bear research center at WSU, so last Tuesday we went to check it out.

There were probably 10 black bears in the center. We could get really close to them. I'm talking about five feet away separated only by a double fence. The kids loved it!

Lainy's favorite was a bear taking a bath in a big tub. He was so cute playing in there with his toy!

On Saturday we went to another animal place at WSU called the Conner Museum. It was full of taxidermy mounted animals. We saw more bears, a buffalo, a mountain lion, mountain goats, and a whole bunch of birds. It was pretty cool too!

It's fun to have two college campuses close to us here. They offer quite a few fun and interesting things for us to do when we're widowed!

Thanks for the fun times WWAMI wives! And good luck to Brad and the other boys on their exams!

Star Patient

Apparently it is fairly normal for an 18-month-old to be sick a lot. By "a lot" I mean every few weeks or so. Lainy has been sick so much this winter. I feel like I've been wiping her runny nose for months! So today when she woke up with a cough and yet another runny nose, I really wasn't that surprised.

Good thing we've got Dr. Dad and his bag of medical supplies! After a thorough examination Dr. Dad came to a few conclusions. The good news is that Lainy does not have an ear infection. The bad news is she's sick...again... which means general crankiness for her and less sleep for Mom. Yuck!

But, instead of dwelling on the yuckiness of a sick baby, I thought I'd brag about my star patient.

I am convinced that Alaina is the best patient ever seen by the doctors at Moscow Family Medicine. (I have it on good authority from a few of those doctors too.) Our last visit, which took place about three weeks ago, went something like this:

Dr. to Alaina: "Okay, I am going to listen to your heart now."

As he approched Alaina with the stethescope, she grabbed it from him, put the ear plugs in her ears and stuck the scope on her belly saying "awt" (aka "heart").

The Dr. raised his eyebrows in shock. Then he smiled and played right along with her. She listened to the Dr.'s heart, then let him have his turn listening to hers.

When he listened to her lungs, Alaina breathed slowly and deeply and didn't even flinch at the cold stethescope on her back.

As the Dr. brought out his otoscope, Alaina turned her head to the side and pointed at her ears. She calmly let him check her ears, then said "peese" (please) asking for the otoscope to check the Dr.'s ears.

When he was done examining Alaina (and when she was done examining him) the Dr. turned to me and said: "She's amazing! Usually kids this age are horrible patients!"

I smiled proudly and told him it was probably due to the fact that her Dad is in Medical School and uses her as his guinea pig.

So I have yet another perk of having a doctor as my husband - my kids will be great patients! I'm going to love showing them off!

Let's hope Lainy's cough and runny nose run their course quickly!

White Coat Ceremony

How does he look?

Brad received his first white doctor coat at a ceremony last Friday. It was such a neat evening! The families of all 40 WWAMI students came to support their doctors-in-training. Brad's parents, his sister Becca, and our new almost-brother-in-law Craig came to support Brad. We were all so proud of Brad, we were practically busting at the seams!

Each medical student received his/her white coat from their Preceptor (the doctor they've been working with this semester) or a professor. The preceptor put the coat on the student, then said a few words about him or her. I was so impressed with the things each preceptor said. Brad is going to school with some pretty amazing people. And he's right up there with them (if not outshining them all).

Brad's preceptor, Dr. Ting, was on call at the hospital that night, so he wasn't able to make it. We were a little sad about it, but it turned out just great anyway. We talked to a few of Brad's professors, and they all had rave reviews. One said that he wished all of his students were like Brad, relaxed and brilliant.

Lainy watched intently while Brad received his coat. She even listened while his professor talked about him. Then, on his way back to our table, she yelled out "Daddy!" in the cutest voice you've ever heard. She was just so proud of him, she couldn't contain it anymore! ha ha We got a good "oooh, aaahh" from the crowd, anyway.

It was a fun night. I'm so stinkin' proud of Brad! It was fun to have an excuse to do a little extra bragging and spoiling for him.

We're so glad Mom and Dad Hansen, Becca and Craig made the long drive up for the weekend. It meant so much to Brad to have them here. We had kind of tight quarters with six people in our little apartment, but we loved it! (I hope they can say the same!) It was fun to get to know Craig better and see him and Becca together. Thanks so much for coming!

My pictures aren't great. Sorry about the quality, but at least we got some to document the night! Here they are anyway...

Brad receiving his white coat from Dr. Howe

Dr. Howe talking about Brad

Brad and Lainy

WWAMI class 2009

Brad and his parents

All of us after the ceremony

Craig, Becca, and Lainy at dinner

P.S. Brad's family left while we were at church. When we came home from church, Lainy ran around our apartment looking for "Bompah" aka Grandpa. It was really cute!

Sisters, Sisters

My sister, Hayley, and I have always laughed at the song "Sisters" from White Christmas. You know the lyrics:"Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters..."

We laugh at it, but deep down it's really an accurate depiction of our relationship. We've always had a healthy bit of sibling rivalry, but since we were little we've always been the best of friends. There's just no relationship quite like that of a beloved sister.

Last week I got my sister back! I've kept watch over her through emails for the past 19 months while she served a mission in St. Louis Missouri. It has been so awesome to read how she's grown and what an amazing missionary she has been. But, boy, I sure did miss my girl!!

Hayley returned from her mission last Thursday (April 9th). My parents were so kind and flew Brad, Lainy, and me back home. Our flight arrived just a half hour before Hayley's came in, so that was fun. She walked down the stairs in the airport looking as beautiful as ever, but with an added glow of a mission honorably served.

Brad stayed with us until Sunday, then he had to get back to Moscow and school. Lainy and I stayed for a week. My parents were really busy with the end of tax season, so we didn't see a whole lot of them, but we got to hang out with Hayley a lot. I hope she wasn't too bored with our laid-back schedule. I sure had fun.

Lainy was a little possesive of me all week. I think it was the combination of her double ear infection and her Dad leaving half-way through the trip. She wasn't really herself, but I think Hayley got glimpses of her cute personality. It's hard to believe Lainy was only two weeks old when Hayley left!

While we were home we got to see almost the whole Hansen clan (we missed you Richelle and Bryce!). Dallin and Leslie were in town looking for a house, and the rest of Brad's siblings live in the Burg. We loved seeing them all, even for a short time. We were even home when Becca, Brad's youngest sister, got engaged. It was such exciting news! We're very impressed with her fiance, Craig Leavitt. They're a great match!

Thursday morning we found an envelope in the mailbox for Elder Jeffrey Adam Smith. Yup, my little bro received his mission call. He took the envelope and opened it in the woods, then came home and told us the news. He has been called to the Paraguay Asuncion North mission, and leaves August 12th. He's going to be such an awesome missionary. We're excited for him!

So one sibling comes home while another prepares to leave. I couldn't be more proud of either of them! Hayley was an incredible missionary and I know Jeff will be amazing as well. How blessed I am to be part of such an amazing family!

Welcome home Hayley! I sure love ya!

News

The bad news...

Our tans (courtesy of the Arizona sun) have completely faded.

It has been snowing for four days straight.

Alaina is having Breath-Holding Spells, which totally freak me out.

The good news...

General Conference is this weekend!

Brad's second batch of mid-terms are over and he did great!

I put my sewing machine to work and made two adorable pillows for our couch.

My brother submitted his mission papers a couple of days ago.

We e-filed our taxes and are receiving a handsome sum in return (it's nice to be poor at tax time).

Alaina says "I love you"

And finally (drum-roll please) my beloved sister is coming home from her mission in one week!!!!!