Survival of the Fittest

     It was a long and brutal 9 days for us, but Ryan and I did it, we finished another quarter.  It was a pretty big finals week because it was Ryan's LAST FINALS WEEK that he will ever have to do!!!!  Can we get a HOO RAH! (this is Ryan's favorite saying right now)  After 6 years of school, he finally took his last final.  Needless to say, there may have been little motivation to take the last final for the both of us.  We were very determined and ready to finish this quarter strong so we studied at the table, the table means "serious studying" is going on....

     Then as always, sometimes all you want is just some comfort and a little bit of distraction like playing basketball on your phone, when you are suppose to be studying.

     Here is the face of one excited dude who just finished his last final that he will ever have to take...

     The week before finals, Ryan got inducted into Sigma Sigma Phi, the National Honor Society of DO students.

     Ryan has finished his first 2 years of medical school with a grand total of 109 tests with more to come in the next year.  Next is the biggest test in his life, "The Boards" which is June 18 and June 22.  So the next 5 weeks, Ryan will be studying over 12+ hours a day to prepare.  I couldn't be a more proud wife seeing how hard my hubby is working and striving to do very very well on these next 2 tests.  Lets just say I am so glad he is taking them and not me.

     I finished my first full year (365 days/4 quarters) of pharmacy school.  It was a long but fast year, 1 year down, only 2 more to go.  I finished with taking a total of 83 tests my first year, and many many more to come in the next year.  My survival group and I went out to eat after our last final to celebrate.

     Funny story, earlier in the week of finals, I woke up from a terrible nightmare!  I was a little sleep deprived (which always happens during finals) and I dreamed that Ryan got a call from Ohio State University and they were really impressed with his academics for the first 2 years of medical school and they wanted him to transfer to their school to finish up.  I woke up screaming "No No!"  I was so mad at him!  I was just finishing up my first year of pharmacy school (AGAIN) and he wanted me to transfer schools AGAIN!  I was so mad at him when I woke up in the middle of the night!  I had to keep telling myself it was just a dream!  Probably the worst nightmare ever, if this truly happened I would probably just give up with pharmacy school cause I think that would be a sign that I just wasn't suppose to be a pharmacist, but good thing it was just a dream!

     This is a random picture but I knew my family would enjoy it, I have decided to bring back the old ponytail that I used to strut in high school (before I had girls who started to pull it during games).

     It was a very long 9 days for us with finals, but it was very nice to have all of our family's phone calls wishing us luck and it is always nice when we get to face time with these little kiddos, they can put a smile on our face even in the biggest time of stress.

     To celebrate finishing, we had to get some Yogurtology and Ryan finally brought out the guitar again (ice cream and guitar is how he won my heart)!

     This summer I have 2 - 4 weeks rotations in some pharmacies.  I am so excited to not have to be doing book work and studying for tests, even though I will still have homework assignments.  I am more excited that I will only be working M-F and can enjoy weekends!  No more cramming for tests all weekend long.  So I decided to jump on the band wagon and finally got the Hunger Games Trilogy along with a couple of other books to read.  To be honest, the Trilogy will probably last me a few days max, since I am already almost through the first book, but it is so nice to read something other than school books.

     Ryan took the weekend off after finals, before he hits the studying for boards on Monday, everyday and every moment, so this meant that we were able to finally go on a BIKE RIDE with my new bike and shoes!  IT WAS AWESOME! Such a great and fun workout.  I love that it is something that Ry and I can do together.  It was only 100 degrees for the first ride of the season.  It will definitely be a memorable ride.  So we were riding along and all of a sudden Ryan just stops.  I stopped a little past him and when I looked back to see/ask what's up, his shirt is halfway off!  He is scrambling around and I asked him whats wrong and he was getting stung by a Yellow Jacket!  Probably 5 or 6 stings before it finally escaped.  I thought it was kind of funny but I felt for the poor guy. 

     Later on that night we went out with some of our good friends The Horrock's to celebrate finishing by going to Chili's and seeing the movie Avengers!  It was a pretty sweet show, a little long for me but it was a fun night to be with friends.

    We survived!  Only 2 more years left for us with this crazy school stuff running our lives.  Thanks everyone for the love and support and positive thinking for us!

Congrats Grandpa!

     This Easter was bitter sweet for my family and I.  Last year on April 24 (which was Easter last year) my sweet grandma passed away.  So now when Easter rolls around, even though it is not always on the same day, I remember my grandma.  It was a very hard loss for everyone, especially my grandpa.   I could never imagine what it would feel like to lose your best friend for almost 60 years!!! I don't think people really understand how dramatic your life would change. Going out to eat by yourself, beings alone in the house, going to movies by yourself, and cooking for only one person.  Some may be okay with being by themselves but I think it would be so depressing. I don't think that any one will or could replace my grandma, but I was so happy to hear that my grandpa was dating!  He is the most healthy 79 year old ever!!!  He found an amazing lady who lost her husband 8 years ago. She is super active and a beautiful lady. They set a date to be sealed on April 28.  I didn't think I would be able to make it with a test the Friday before and a Monday test following, but I told myself that family comes first. Thanks to amazing parents who flew me home for a quick trip it was a much needed family time.

     I took my microbiology test early Friday morning and then went straight to the airport. Ryan wasnt able to go home so we said our good byes for the weekend.  Pretty much I bummed around with my sister Jami and her sweet family the whole trip, it was like they had another kid!  They picked me up in Salt Lake and we made the long trek to Rexburg, Idaho.  It just wouldn't be Idaho if we didn't experience a little bit of snow storm at the end of April.

     Of course I was suppose to be studying for my immunology test on Monday, but how can you with this cute little girl, Harper Jo?

     So needless to say the trip up to Idaho was a fail at studying......oh well. All of the Hess clan met up at the Olive Garden for a yummy dinner.

     My Grandpa and Marilynn were getting married in the Rexburg temple. We all stayed in Rexburg that night so the kiddos had a swimming pool.  I of course had to go on a run to the temple. This temple is beautiful at night when lit up. It was a SUPER cold run!!! I could see my breath the whole time!  Remember, I have been experiencing 100 degree weather so I only packed shorts and t-shirt, but for some reason I brought a jacket.  I guess this is where I thought I would need it.  My ears, fingers, and legs froze but it was probably the best run in a long time!! The end result was totally worth it!!

     Pretty much the only time I could study was while everyone was sleeping, so I studied all night til about 4 am and then slept til 7 am and hit the books again til I had to get ready for the wedding.  It was a beautiful ceremony.  I am very happy for my Grandpa, here is the lovely couple.

    Of course we had to get a few family photos since it seems like a rare occasion now a days to have us all together.

     So we headed home from Rexburg after a luncheon and I got to hang out with these 2 kiddos for a little bit longer (I was suppose to be studying again).  This is how the favorite aunt babysits while pretending to study.

     It was time for another long night of studying, so a couple of hours of sleep was all I got, then it was time for church.  Harper Jo got to be my date, so we had to get her looking cute.  Funny story, Jami is always trying to do Harpers hair but she hates it.  She won't sit still and it is crying time when it happens, but not with Aunt Jo Jo!  No tears and No bribing even though she doesn't look happy.

     After church, it was time to go and catch my flight home to Arizona and go take an Immunology test the next day (AAAHHHH).  Don't worry, I didn't do my best but I did okay with an 89%, still above average.  I will take that score any day if I get to hang out with my family!  It was so nice to be with family, but it was a crazy weekend with a total of 6 hours of sleep.  I was pretty sleep deprived the rest of the week.  Luckily I have a week in between before another week of no sleep comes with finals!!!  Ryan is almost done with his 2nd year of Med school (Rock On!) and I have almost finished a WHOLE year of Pharmacy school with only 2 more to go!

My New Wheels!

     I  We are so excited that we finally got an AWESOME road bike for me!  Now Ryan has a riding partner!  We have been wanting to get me a bike for awhile and were willing to spend the money cause it would go to an US activity and thanks to Uncle Sam and Barrie's we got a bike!  We love to work out together and really that is the only time we have together (besides sitting on opposite sides of the dinner table while studying) so besides running and lifting we decided to add biking to our time together too!

The BIG 100 Club!

     Well Ryan has Done It folks, he took his 100th test this morning!  The lucky subject was Psychology.  Some may think, why celebrate this?  Well we were given some great advice from some awesome friends who have been through the medical school route and their advice for our medical school journey was, "Enjoy the little moments."  I was planning on being a good wife and celebrate every 25, 50, 75....and so forth test, but when I have my own schooling I kind of fell behind.  But why not celebrate the big 100!

     I decided to make Ryan's favorite cake, Funfetti with rainbow chip frosting.  Funny story, so I wanted to make this a surprise for Ryan so when he finished taking his test in the morning he would come home to it.  So the night before I bought all the stuff and  hid it so when Ryan went to bed (before me cause I was "studying" for my Microbiology exam on Friday) I made the cake.  Well I was getting tired and didn't really have the patience to wait for the cake to cool, so I thought that if I frosted the cake real fast then hurry and put it in the fridge it won't melt! haha don't do!  This morning to my surprise the frosting had seeped into the cake itself! Luckily I still had half a can of frosting, so Ryan's 1/2 of a cake got a full can of frosting on it!

     Good Job Ryan!  Thanks for working so hard for our family and for being an amazing student!  Love Ya.

Some Conference Fun

     Nothing is better then General Conference weekend! It is always such a special treat since it only comes twice a year, its almost as good as Christmas haha jk.  The best part about General Conference is the feeling/motivation to start over and become a better person in every way possible. You can't complain about "Pajama Sunday" either!  Unfortunately, we could not take Saturday off to just watch Conference so our Saturday morning started very early as usual since now we are both cramming for our tests on Mondays and the kitchen table looked like this....

  A lot of Conference with a little bit of Pharmacokinetics for me and Pharmacology for Ryan (nerds!)  I would like to say that I studied really well but lets be honest I listened more then anything.  Do not worry though folks, Ryan and I both pulled A's on our tests!

     After the 2 Saturday sessions, we went over to our friends home for a little BBQ they put on before the Priesthood session.  It was nice to pretend to be normal on Saturday but shortly after we were back at hitting the books.  But then Sunday came around and let me tell you IT WAS THE BEST SUNDAY EVER!!!  We slept in till 6 am!!! haha We are so lame we did NOT set an alarm clock and both of us were wide awake at 6 am (our usual get up time) but do not worry we refused to let out weekly activities take over our one day weekend so we forced ourselves to fall asleep and wake up around 8:15, brutal, we know.  I wanted to try out a new Cinnamon Roll recipe that used vanilla pudding that I found via Pinterest, you can find it here.  They were amazing!  I think this is one of our favorites!  The bread is so moist and it is a really easy recipe.  I made the full batch and then froze half of the rolls for a rainy I mean sunny day.

     Another crazy thing occurred this weekend, it was Ryan and I's 2 year celebration of our first date, right after we got home form Peru!  Pretty crazy to think that 2 years have passed.  On our first date we went and ate and one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, followed with the movie "The Last Song" haha I loved the show and yes I picked out the chick-flick, and then we dyed Easter eggs!  My family has always dyed Easter eggs, it is a big thing, but little to my knowledge this was Ryan's first time of dying eggs, I couldn't believe it!  So to help go back to some fun memories we dyed Easter eggs (thanks mom for the kits) Sunday afternoon and reminisced haha

Ryan's "eye" egg

I told you it was Pajama Sunday along with no make up! don't judge

Our finished project

     It was so fun to look back 2 years ago and see how much Ryan and I have really grown to be best friends and how much our lives have changed for the better.  I know everyone says that but really, Ryan and I were headed down completely different paths, but because of both of our firm testimonies of the gospel and knowing how to listen to the spirit we were able to find each other.  It only took 4652 miles away from our homes in Idaho to Peru to put us together.  Some may say it was by luck, but we know it wasn't.  This weekend has allowed us to look back and see how much our Heavenly Father really does love us and blesses our lives daily.  We are truly thankful for the true and everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ that is here on this Earth and to be members of it.  There are times Ryan and I just look at each other and we say all the time "When will this crazy life of school ever end?  When will we have time for Us? or to just be normal?"  We have realized that life will never not be crazy, but I found this quote from President Gordon B. Hinkley that has helped Ryan and I get through this time in our life.

"You will come to know that what appears 

today to be a sacrifice

will prove instead to be the greatest investment 

that you will ever make"

     I am so grateful to have stumbled across this quote, there could have not been a greater inspiration and motivation given to us to get through these next 2 years knowing that what we are doing for our future life/family is the right thing.  We are so thankful for our testimonies of knowing that Christ lives and that he is in our lives daily.

Random Things

     Nothing new or anything really exciting has been happening, but I figured I could post a few fun things.  Starting off, we got new furniture!  Everyone loves new furniture!  Here it is....

     We invested in some of those exercise balls!  We sit so much will studying that our backs hurt, so we got the great idea to get these to sit on so our backs get stronger along with our abs!  We love them! Another new addition is a little freezer that you can see behind me!  And yes we have filled it with lots of meat and of course ice cream for Ryan.

     The second thing that has been happening is March Madness of course!  Trust me, we stay updated even if it is during class...Don't worry my Professor was really boring during this class, didn't miss anything.

We can even watch it while we "pretend" to study

And watching basketball while studying can be very very exhausting

We've or I should say have been able to catch some rays at the pool, of course while studying.

Next we have been having some great fruit come our way so we made some chocolate dipped strawberries for our home/visiting teaching people.

Then we made some DELICIOUS "better than anything" Chex Mix.  We loved it!

     It has marshmallows, Reeses, caramel, chocolate, and white chocolate drizzled all over it!  You can find the recipe here.  Trust me, it will not disappoint!

     Last but not least, we found this fun Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce at BBB!  It actually isn't that bad and you can taste the Dr. P.

     Pretty much this has been our fun little lives for the past few weeks.  Ryan has currently taken 96 tests and keeps preparing hard for the "Big Boards" that are coming up fast in June.  We are enjoying the sunny 80 degrees in AZ but unfortunately it keeps getting hotter and before we know it that dang 110-120 degree weather will be here by May and June.