Back East

***Disclaimer: It's a long post with quite a few photos.***  

So at the end of May, (I know that was forever ago!!!) we were able to go to Connecticut to visit some great friends that we met in Pullman, the Barnes'.  These two were the glue that kept everyone we hung out with busy with a social life for the first 2 years we were in Pullman.  Then everyone else left us cause they graduated and shortly there afterward Mike finished his research and paper and got a job clear across the country in Hartford Connecticut.

So with the buddy passes that we got from Brek (thanks Brek!) We flew out to stay with them over Memorial day weekend.  The first day we spent flying.  Since we fly standby, we missed 1 of our connections and that put us getting in to Connecticut in the late evening around 10:30 if I remember right.  It was a long day, but was so good to be there with the.  Thanks for coming to pick us up even though it was later than we thought!!.  And to be greeted with the heat and humidity mixture was crazy, but we enjoyed quite the rainstorm that cooled everything off.

Thursday night we went and ate at a Guatemalan restaurant.  We all ordered way too much, but it was good. 

Here is us at dinner and you can see Chad's plantains.  he was way excited for them

Here are my sopas.  Reminded me of a tostada, they were great!!! 

 I also ordered a tamale, thinking they would be like what I was used to, but I thought they were nasty.  Chad realized afterward that he shouldn't have realized they weren't what I was thinking.  But Mike and Chad both had ordered them.  I figured they had to be great right!!  Not really.  I didn't mind the part that actually had some meat to it though.    Over all it was an awesome experience and I'd totally eat there again.  

Here are pictures with the owner and the top one is with the owner's daughter.  The restaurant was run by a family.

So the next day Mike got off a little early from work and we drove to Vermont to see Joseph Smith's birth place.  Above is the picture of the visitor's center that has a replica of the area at the time of his birth and the hearthstone that he was most likely born by.

This is the monument that was built to commemorate Joseph Smith..  On the tour they explained how they shipped and found the materials to make it.  Crazy amount of work went into it.  We also got to go on a ride to see foundations of the houses that were at one time there and went through beautiful trees.  I've never been to the sacred grove, but these trees reminded me of the pictures that I've seen of the area.  Made it come to life for me and strengthened my testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith

What a great experience.  Our favorite spot we visited while in CT.

We then visited the Ben & Jerry's factory for a quick tour and got to try some Boston Cream Pie ice cream.  It was so good.  I haven't seen it in stores out here though. We were informed that you can basically get any of your favorite flavors through your grocery store if your willing to buy 6 pints of it, since that is the amount they are ordered in.  (I think that's how many don't hold me to it).

Then that night we headed to Boston..... and checked into the fancy hotel Omni-Parker House, where they were hosting prom, so there were quite a few dressed in formals

We then walked to dinner and around the area.. Very nice weather in the evening to go for a stroll

Here is the fancy restaurant that we ate at.  Definitely the most expensive place I've been too.  Chad and I's dinner came to $60, but it was neat to be able to have the outdoors brought indoors, by having windows that totally opened up except for a few pillars.

Here's a shot of the fountain with the moon the in background. It was a beautiful sight and to hear the water as you walked was fun....

Until we got to the Garden center and the Celtics had just won the last game to get into the finals.  Those fans are crazy!!  They kept chanting "Beat LA, Beat LA!!!" and at this point Lakers hadn't even won their last game yet.  It was crazy.  

So the next day we walked most of the Freedom Trail. 

We started out int he Boston Commons gardens

And since it was Memorial Day it had a a great flag display.  (picture from Mike and Jen, cause mine didn't turn out as great!!  Thanks guys)   We used a free app on my iPhone and learned all sorts of things about the stops we made.  The Boston Commons is a 44 acre park and oldest in the country.  Up until 1817 the park was used for public hangings but the past years it's been the host of citywide festivals and performances.

We stopped at the State house, and the Park Street Church.  The 4th stop was the Granary Burying Ground, where Paul Revere was buried, along with Samual Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Treat Paine-3 signers of the Declaration of Independence.
We then hit the King's Chapel and burying ground,, and the Benjamin Franklin Statue, Old Corner Book Store, Old South Meeting House, Old State House, an we saw the site of Boston Massacre.  What I didn't realize was that only 5 people were killed in the Massacre.  I always pictured it being on bigger scale than it was..

 We visited Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere's House. 

The Old North Church that held the lanterns that signaled to Paul Revere and William Dawes.  

We then went back near Fanuiel Hall and ate a fun lunch and headed back to Connecticut.  And avoided going to Bunker Hill since it was a hot afternoon to do all that walking. And Jen was such a sport.  I was tired and I didn't have the excuse of being pregnant. Although it was way neat to see the historic sites for Memorial Day weekend.

So then we went to Jen and Mike's friends the Shamo's on Sunday and got to meet all their friends.  They were great.  Makes me realize how Mike and Jen surround themselves with great people...and we're privileged to be part of the group.  Then on Memorial Day we did the cinnamon and orange rolls in the morning and went to the parade.  It was great to be there with them, and we were sad to leave, but we headed out that afternoon to make it to SLC that late evening, due to rain storms in Detroit.

After being home we realized that our favorite part was probably just hanging out playing games like we used to.  Love you guys and so glad we got to visit you while you were in CT, but we're super stoked that you got to move closer.  Guess we'll have to plan a trip to Seattle now!!

Life changes....but then again it doesn't.

So as I said in the last post that there is tons that I've been thinking about blogging for a while....but yesterday I was fortunate to attend the most beautiful funeral I think I've ever been to.  It really got me thinking about some of the same things that I've been thinking about blogging about for a while too.  Enough to keep me up half the night.

So one of my dear friends from highschool lost her mother last week to a battle with cancer.  Now I knew that her mother had been diagnosed with cancer well over a year ago, and I felt bad at the time.  Being a nurse by profession can sometimes change the way I perceive news like this.  I haven't quite figured out if I think it's a good thing or bad thing to keep things non-personal.  But I've met quite a few people going through chemotherapy while at work that have had just an amazing attitute about having cancer and what they have been through.  They have been great examples to me.  And surprisingly lots of then had good outcomes.
So I found out (about the same time that I was miscarrying in mid-May) that my father has cancer.  Now I haven't written anything on here, because my father seems to have a hard time with others knowing that he has cancer.  I don't really understand why yet, because it's not like he picked this outcome or has any power to change the fact that he has cancer, or if he just doesn't want to feel pitied.  I'm hoping to understand more fully one day, hopefully without getting cancer myself.
My parents were at my house when my dad got the call telling him the news.  It was a very peacefully discussion (and of course, I tried to make it non-personal, cause that's the way I always have), but I didn't realize that my dad basically thought he had a death sentence until my brother had mentioned it after they went on the trip to Hawaii with my parents that following week.  I know that my dad had a great time in Hawaii and was trying to take advantage of those experiences.
Now my dad is the middle of radiation therapy and will be going to do brachytherapy near the first of September.  I think he's come to grips with it and just tries not to focus on it or the side effects of the therapies he's getting and is just trying to live life, which I think it great.  But I'm sure it does change how you view the time you have to spend with your family, regardless of what the possible outcomes may be.

So yesterday there were so many things that were shared that touched me.  And Jill did the most amazing job on the life sketch, but that her other sisters also talked and played a piano solo.  It was beautiful and to come to find out that her mother had planned the entire thing. (One of the blessings of knowing your time is coming to and end, Lisa said.)  Which I couldn't agree more.  It was just wonderful!!  Not only did I have a greater respect for Jill's mom, cause I didn't feel like I knew her very well, but some of the things that Jill and Lisa stated in their talks about their mom, I can see in them.  Sometimes more private, but very loving, kind, and great examples.  I realized that I never heard one word of complaint from Jill about needing to be with her mother to go do errands, etc when we were in high school.  If fact I always got the feeling that Jill had a great home life, and sounds like she agreed from what she said in her talk.  Good example of not being selfish, like most teenagers would've been.
I know that once I started to think personally about my dad having cancer, I realize I'm not ready at all to have him gone.  I'm sure that Jill feels the same way with her mother too.  But I'm just so glad to have the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. Just another blessing that comes from being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I realize that I know that it's true, so I don't need to be distressed about what the outcome of my father's treatment, cause we'll have eternity.  What a great comfort.  I was grateful for the beautiful testimonies that were shared of how the Lord has a hand in each of our individual lives, and that we will be with Him again, and with our loved ones.  Thanks for sharing those difficult things and making my testimony grow.

Chad's new life/job

So this weekend was Chad's first weekend being on call by himself (or with phone backup instead of having another vet come in with him).  And wouldn't you know he basically lived there all weekend.  So he had 2 calls on Friday night, one being at 1 in the morning. and then had to go in early because he had a sick dog that he had to do treatments on at 6 am. then he worked til about 3pm that day and then had another call the evening and got another call while he was still at the office.  Sunday he got another one and also still had to do the treatments on the sick dog that we're hoping makes it.
Made for a very long weekend for him.  He now knows why people hate on call so much.  It'll be interesting to see how the next weekends he's on call go.  Hopefully it won't be quite as busy, but he is getting lots of experience though.

So proud of how hard he's working, and has worked, to get to this point.  I know he's an amazing Dr.  It still is funny to me that he's a Doctor.  I had to ask the other day what the people at work call him, (Cause they call Dr. Rowntree, Doc).  I wondered if they had a nickname for him too.  But it was nothing too different, Dr. C, Dr. Chad, or the regular old Dr. Christensen.
Sorry for the boring update.  I really have tons of pictures that need to be uploaded and tons that I need to blog about...but I have tons of work to do on the yard, so it'll wait a little longer.

The Knock at the Door

So last night, we had a knock at our door.  We don't usually have visitors in the evening, so it was a bit unexpected.  And it was a member of our new ward that brought Chad a little gift.  It was wrapped in a little green rag.  I'm not sure what it was at first and I just got Chad.  Well upon opening it....it was a very new born bird that had fallen out of the nest that was way out of reach for this brother to get back in the nest.  He has several kids that were distressed about the bird and I think that he appeased them by telling them he'd take it to the Vet.  So funny.
Chad had told me about people bring birds and squirrels and other items that were beyond being able to fix to the Vet school.  I don't think that Chad thought that it would continue after he graduated.  So really not much we could do, so Chad said that he'd take care of the bird, after he died.
So Chad was telling me after everything was over that Kreal (Chad's older brother) and him when they were younger would put firecrackers in the mouths of the little birds that had fallen out of their nest when they opened their mouths to be fed. So Chad had no idea what to do with the bird, especially cause bird are considered to be exotic animals in Vet school so it's a specially training at school that Chad didn't have time for because of his other training he chose to do in large and small animals (cat and dogs).  I was laughing so hard, cause I can just imagine Chad trying to figure out what to do with this bird that was brought to him.  It was a cute little bird, we feel bad that we weren't able to do anything for it, but we don't even have a ladder to put it back into the nest, if we could have even located it.
Just made me laugh really hard, I can't believe that Chad did that when he was younger, and now I have to ask his SIL Tonia all about it, cause she was dating Von when they were doing that.  Can't wait to get the scoop from her!!

Today's great find!!

So today I picked up my first basket of produce from Bountiful Baskets Co-op.  Can I just say that I'm way impressed.  So just from their website I was thinking this could be a really good thing, and I've been excited since I learned about them from my sister-in-law and her family.
So for those of you who haven't heard of this organization....it's a group of volunteers that have organized a way to get the same produce that we get in grocery stores here at retail prices and they give about $50 worth of produce $15.  So I got registered and got on last Monday, picked a location close to me, picked the conventional basket and also saw that they had a box of peaches for $12.50.  So I was a sucker and bought some of those too. Then once I checked out I payed using a credit card.  They then take the money that you gave them, pool it together, buy produce and then distribute them to the designated areas where volunteers then split up the produce.  Then you bring your container and pick-up the portion that you paid for.
It doesn't sound that magical, and you never really know what you're going to get in your order that week, but it's way cheap and it exposes you to some produce that you've never tried and broadens your horizon.
So this is  a picture of the basket full of things that I picked-up this morning.

I got:
*1 bundle of Swiss chard-Never used it before, but I'm excited
*2 bundles of celery
*1 head of green leaf lettuce

*5 large tomatoes
*4 medium red onions
*2 avocados
*1 lb bag of baby carrots
*1 cantaloupe
*1 bag of red grapes
*1 lb strawberries
*5-6 gala apples
*15-18 plums (I think their black plums)
*1 bunch of bananas

All for $15.00

And don't for get the 25 lbs of peaches- 56 yellow California peaches to be exact.  Not exactly sure what I'm going to do with all of them, but I found at Costco that 5 lbs were about $9.  I only paid $12.50 for all mine.  Anyone want a peach?

The end of Pullman

So as the beginning of May started it sure came and went so fast and before we knew it, we were packing our bags, cleaning our house, and saying adios to Pullman.  So here are a few pictures from Graduation on Sunday.


It really was an interesting graduation.  Baxter Black a Cowboy Poet/Veterinarian came and spoke.  He was very entertaining and the time went fast as we got to watch as Chad was hooded and became a Dr. of Veterinarian Medicine.  We were so lucky to have my parents, Chad's parent's, Chad's sister JaNae and her little girl Lillian, Chad's nephew and niece, Derik and Kelynn.  Not only were they great to be there to support Chad on his day, but to pack and move all our stuff to Pocatello.  And huge thanks to Derik for driving Chad's car home so that we could travel all together in our other car.

Here is Baxter Black with his cowboy hat, speaking at Chad's graduation.

It was unbelievable how much stuff and time it takes to pack.  Really who knew how much you can fit in a house and in every nook and cranny.  We were so packed to the gills.  And another huge Thanks to Renay and Garrett for not only feeding us on Saturday while we were packing, but letting us do dinner at there house for our graduation/Mother's day dinner too.

The classic WSU picture.  

It's amazing that it came as fast as it did.  For those of you on facebook and saw my post, sorry for the repeat, but Chad and I teared up as we were pulling out of neighborhood.  And of course I actually asked Chad if it was hard for him to be leaving Pullman.  That's where I made the big mistake.  Then we started to hash over the things, like how much our marriage grew while we were in Pullman, having our first child there, and our first house, etc.  It was quite emotional, then to think of the great neighbors we had and all my great co-workers (who even made me a scrapbook, that still makes me tear up when I look at it) that we were leaving.  Just wish that Pullman wasn't as far away and we'd come visit more often.  Even though with Chad's work schedule going on any vacation is going to be challenging.  Something that will take time to get used to.

Not expected

Warning, this is a very personal post, but I felt like I needed to write to remember and to share with others who have been there or worse.

So in the middle of the crazy ending of the school year, Chad and I were greeted with a surprise pregnancy. We had discussed that we were ready for another, but figured the best time would be to try after we got settled in Chubbuck. But apparently the Lord had another idea and we were pregnant with #2. It was shocking at first, but we were excited right from the beginning. Despite being on BCP and stopping and then bleeding and not thinking anything would be able to survive, we managed to have a positive pregnancy test in April. Debating if I should even get into see my Doctor in Pullman or wait til we get to Chubbuck, well I tried to get appointment and couldn't get in to see Dr. Minudri until the week after graduation. So since we were moving the few days after graduation I new that we wouldn't be able to go that route. But no big deal, my pregnancies have been quite simple, I don't get morning sickness and only get hunger pains if I don't eat regularly. I know I'm really lucky.
So we decided that when we got settled in at our new place we wanted to share with our families as soon as we got settled.  So we scheduled a barbecue on the pretense of being a house welcoming party, but dressing Kherrington in the Onesie we made her.

So I know it's blurry, but it says "Big sister in charge," with "Coming November 30th, 2010" on the back
They were taken with my phone and she was moving.

So we were really excited to tell our families and share in our excitement, even though we were just shy of the 12 week mark.  Well the night we announced our big news, I started bleeding and ended up bleeding at varying degrees for the next week and few days.  Meanwhile I had so nicely accepted the offer of babysitting my brother's 5 kids so my parent's could go with them to Hawaii.  It went really well considering, but maybe I should ask Chad since he was the one unpacking and making garden boxes and watching 6 kids... all so I could take it easy.  What a great husband/Dad!! 

Considering what was going on, we couldn't really take our time in finding a new OB/GYN, so we went with the first suggestion that was given to us, to find that we weren't to thrilled with the office staff and nurse and didn't even want to go to the next visit that would be with one of the PA or NP, since the Dr wouldn't be in til Wednesday. (We were scheduled to fly to Connecticut on Wednesday)  So we went searching again, only to find an office staff that gave me more information on the phone than I had received at the previous office visit.  And to find that the Dr. had a cancellation and so we got in on Monday the 24th instead of the 25th that I would have had at the other office.

So we had well over a week to stew and worry and really understand possible outcomes of what was happening.  When we went into the Dr. on Monday, we were so excited to have such a nice easy to talk to Doctor.  And even though he was the one that told us we had lost our baby, I'm so happy to have found someone I'm going to like so well!!  He was amazing sensitive and great to help us understand the follow up that was needed, along with comforting us.  And he said it was okay to go to Connecticut.  I don't know if I would have been so happy if our trip had been cancelled.  He also mentioned that when people found out the news that we'd be surprised with how many people have experienced the same thing.

As we've been looking back on the situation and trying to glean everything we could learn from it we have found quite a few blessing in the midst of it.  It has been a very big eye opener of what a great blessing to have family close.  First of all, my sister-in-law and brother that live in Pocatello with us, offered to make us dinner (all 8 of us) so that I wouldn't have to cook that night.  It was great to not worry about it.  Also the concern of family and the expression of support during the miscarriage and after we found out the bad news.  We found that it was ironic that we  started having problems the night we told our families.  At first we had just wished we had waited another week before we said anything, but quickly were so glad to have the support we were given.
Another thing that has been good for us is to have the empathy for others that have had difficulties with pregnancy.  We have 2 sets of close friends that recently have or are close to losing a baby.  It has been a very good thing to be able to understand to a small extent some of the pain and overwhelming sadness that can surround you in those type of circumstances.  It makes your prayers more fervent in their behalf.  I now know the feelings or what if I hadn't done...... fill in the blank, like help move in the piano during our move!! I can just understand the regret that comes with it.

It has shown me
It has also really helped us to really take the time to enjoy having Kherrington!!  What a blessing she is to us, just as all of God's children are.  Even though we have been hurt, we wait excitedly for when we will be blessed to have another baby enter our lives!!
And by the way, just cause we miscarried, doesn't mean we don't want to help you celebrate your expecting babies, etc, please share the news!! 

Student loans! Oh hate em!!!

Investment help from Mint.com

So as some of you know, I'm really liking the Mint.com for our finances and I was reading today about the student loan debt and just found it to be totally true!!  It almost nailed our student debt.  Now that we've sold our Pullman home and just about to close on our house in Chubbuck, that hefty payment will come due soon.  Thanks heaven to be out of school and have to abled working bodies!! Thank goodness we don't have the beer debt on top of it!

Pullman Spring 2010

About 2 weeks ago we had such great weather, and Kherrington loved every minute of it.  Daily rides in the stroller around the neighborhood and spending time outside.  So sad to see the rain come and ruin it all last week.  Here's to hoping Chubbuck has better weather for us!!

A daily Activity

So Kherrington loves to help her mom around the house, but her favorite thing is to unload the dishwasher. Here she is helping Chad. She hears that opening of the door and she comes crawling at full speed into the kitchen and unloads all the utensils all over the floor. It's so fun to see her so happy, even if I have to pick the utensil off the floor when she's done.