London

We took it pretty easy while in London and did lots of relaxing...we definitely didn't get to all the great things there are to do in London, but here are the highlights of what we did do:

We rode the London Eye and saw great views of the city. We then visited Parliament and heard Big Ben (we did NOT however see Big Ben...as Big Ben is the actual bell, not the bell tower), saw Westminster Abbey, and walked along Whitehall to Trafalgar Square...stopping in at a pub to enjoy some fish & chips...which we ate a lot of...because British food is rather blah in my opinion...

We visited the British Museum and saw impressive relics from Egypt, Assyria & Greece, including the Rosetta Stone & the Elgin Marbles (taken from the Parthenon). And where Jake apparently took many many pictures of me reading the tour book guide to the museum exhibit...

We visited the Tower of London and saw the Crown Jewels and an exhibit about King Henry VIII & the Tower Bridge, followed by a river cruise along the Thames....on which we saw the not at all impressive London bridge.

We went to the theater and saw a play with excellent reviews, which it turns out was a very vivid portrayal of the sexual awakening of adolescents. After which we discovered that Brits apparently don't eat late at night...they only drink--the bars of all the pubs and restaurants remained open...but the kitchens were all closed.On our last day we went to Buckingham Palace for the famous changing of the guard...but alas the guard decided to change that day without all the fanfare...much to the disappointment of the kazillion people crowding the gate to see it. And finally much to Jake's pleasure we did lots and lots of shopping!

Grand Canyon

It's been a while I know...but we have been busy...and traveling a lot (Grand Canyon, London, and an Alaskan cruise) to take advantage of the last much easier months of med school before the super craziness of residency begins. Updating the blog has been on our list of things to catch-up on...but at this point, seeing as how I have already started orientation for residency and officially begin working next week...I'm not sure if we will be able to completely catch-up on all our fun adventures and life events...but I will at least make an attempt, starting with our first trip--which was to the Grand Canyon with Jenny & Richie.

We actually backpacked down into the canyon to the Colorado River, camped, and then hiked back out the next day...a round trip hike of 17 miles! After finishing we all felt very accomplished...and very sore! But are very glad we did it, and that we did it while we are young. We all agreed to very seriously consider the mule trips should we return in the future :) We then spent a short amount of time on top at the South Rim and in Las Vegas before having to head home.

Jake & Richie hiking down into the canyon on the South Kaibab TrailTaking a break along the trail

Jake & I along the Colorado River as we began hiking day #2

Richie & Jenny and the halfway point of the Bright Angel Trail on hiking day #2...4.5 more miles to the top

On our hike out, another hiker volunteered to take a picture of us; another man walking by said very seriously you may want to take one more step closer to the edge...and then he started laughing...but we almost did...and all that night I had nightmares about how we fell over the edge

Jenny & I just as we finished the hike at the Bright Angel TrailheadOne view of the Grand Canyon's vastness
Richie falling over the edge while Jake looks on :)

All of us overlooking the South Rim

Memorial Day at Surfside Beach with the Family

Congrats to My Mom

My mom graduated yesterday with her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree...Congrats to her for this great accomplishment!

And look at my beautiful niece...she is getting so big...and she LOVES her daddy!

Jake & His Friends

We gathered today to say goodbye to one of my classmates/our friends with other friends from church as they prepare to move to Pennsylvania/Delaware for Residency. As we were celebrating their move for Residency, the party was medically themed and we all dressed up in scrubs...Clint & Jake borrowed some of mine...Jake wore Christmas Cookie Monster & Clint wore lovely pink flowers...I think pink is a good color for him :)

Spring

We have had an uncharacteristically Spring-like Spring season here in Houston...with very nice weather...but its all too quickly coming to an end. This year I convinced Jake to build a planter for me to plant zucchini in; I also received an Earth Box for my birthday, which is supposed to grow fabulous tomatoes.

Then when my mom was here I convinced her to help me plant everything :) We planted tomatoes, green peppers, basil & zucchini...and now the zucchini has sprouted, so hopefully it will grow well in its new planter.

And a few pictures of the dogs looking at me quizzically as I talk to them from behind the camera

NASA x2

This week I had the opportunity to go to NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) twice. On Wednesday I went as a chaperone on an exclusive tour with Baylor's Saturday Morning Science program--a program Baylor sponsors each spring for middle & high school students from the lower income Houston schools--to encourage their interest in science. We listened to talks about what projects are currently underway at JSC and were able to meet a few astronauts and get up close tours of an area where the astronauts train and the different Mission Control areas. It was very interesting, especially getting to see it all up-close. Then my mom came into town for the weekend and had never been...so we went on the traditional NASA JSC tours.

Full-size Shuttle Mock-up on the training floor.
An Astronaut showing us the inside of a shuttle mock-up & the TINY living area where 7 astronauts live for 2 weeks on shuttle missions. Behind him are the sleeping hammocks where they strap themselves into sleep.The shuttle toilet...apparently both men & women stand to urinate in space...and each are assigned a personal funnel.
My mom in front of a plaque for the Apollo Mission Control Center.
As part of the exclusive tour we were able to go into the Historic Apollo Mission Control Center...from where all the Apollo Missions to the moon were controlled. Here I am sitting at the desk Apollo 11 & 13 (as well as many others) Flight Director Gene Kranz sat at during those missions.

My mom in front of the Orion at the JSC Visitor's Center- the next spacecraft that will take man back to the moon
The Orion Mock-up on the astronaut training floor

International Space Station (ISS) Mission control--with live pictures of ISS on the screens.

with former NASA astronaut General Charles Bolden...who incidentally will also be the speaker at my graduation in May.

Match Day

It's finally official...I matched...I will be doing residency in

Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's Hospital!

Here are a few pictures of the festivities:

Tearing the paper off the board to reveal The Match results at 11am

Everyone searching for the envelope that holds their future...
Lori & I with our Match Results.

She is headed to Baylor in Dallas for Pathology...just as she wanted :)

Jake & I with my Match The Matthews' Family with their 1st choice Match in Emergency Medicine in Delaware
With Luke & John- 2 of my classmates with Utah connections (both BYU grads...boo!), and nearly the only 2 Mormons I know in Texas,

a very strange thought, being from Utah...

(and now they are both leaving)

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

Erin and I have just returned from our first ever trip to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
The HLSR happens for a month every year - it's time for big hair and big belt-buckles....
Whenever the rodeo is in town, the population density of trucks increases exponentially.

We're not what you might call: 'Rodeo Folk.' There's a reason we've been here for almost four years and never attended - in spite of our curiosity. This year however, fortune smiled upon us and we got some free tickets from my work - so we went with a couple of work friends (Sarah and Kellen). In the evening there's your standard rodeo entertainment which consists of all manner of quadriped being ridden by all manner of human with various ropes and spurs thrown in for good measure.

The bull-riding, bronco-riding really freaks me out. I'm 'risk-averse.' There's a fine line between being manly and insanity... for me a bull trying to trample/gore you is on the wrong side of that line. There was this amazing chariot sort of race... a chuck wagon hitched to four horses taking on 2 other similar rigs. The winning chuck wagon finished with only three wheels and while I'm not an aficionado of the chuck wagon/rodeo circuit - I must say that it seemed like quite a feat.

By far the sweetest thing we saw was: Muttin' Bustin'. The concept is genius (potential social service/child labor issues aside). Here's what you do - grab a sheep, put it in a pen, strap a 4-5yr old kid to it's back... and open the hatch. The sheep comes shooting out and the kid is just holding on for dear life. They're not sitting upright on these things mind you... they're clinging bear hug style. Phenomenal. Our children will train on Battlecat and Kelsey until they are old enough to bust their own muttins. The little 5 yr old girl who won was hanging on the side of the sheep for the better part of the length of the stadium. She was interviewed afterwards and asked what she thought about winning to which she replied: I feel Happy.

After watching interviews with the professional rodeo folk - this gal was the most gifted orator of the bunch.

The calf scramble was also something of a spectacle. 28 high school FFA kids, 14 calfs... I guess they were suppose to subdue the calf using various wrestling (wrastlin' in rodeo vernacular) maneuvers and then tie it's head up somehow and drag it into a squared off area where adults would further tame the beast. Winner gets a gift certificate for a calf (who knew?) that they can raise for a year and show at next year's event.

The evening was capped by a performance from every one's favorite Aussie singing sensation: Keith Urban. I'm going to go ahead and admit that I am completely ignorant to all things country (western?). The only thing I knew about this dude was that he is married to Nicole Kidman who was apparently in the house (I'd like to think she'd heard tale of the muttin' bustin'). Anyway Mr. Urban did his thang from a rotating stage. Kellen commented that Urban looked like one of the guys from the Goo Goo Dolls... and one of the backup guitar players looked like the other guy from the Goo Goo Dolls so we may have uncovered a conspiracy.

At the beginning of the show Urban kept asking for the crowd to sing along... and there was silence. It was funny awkward - which is the best kind of funny in that setting. Later he pranced around the stadium switching between guitar and vocals flanked by 17 stage-hands and one dude who for some reason was running around with his mic stand.....I mean... he had a wireless mic... is that necessary? Perhaps Keith has a history of elbow/wrist related injuries... I don't know. Anyway we left during a song that had the lyrics: You can take your cat, just don't take my sweater... or something to that effect. I know I'll be considering the impact of those words for some time.

So the Rodeo.... good times. Looking forward to getting more into muttin' bustin'.