Couldn't Be Prouder

     Well folks the results are in for the USMLE (MD Boards) that Ryan took.  This was his first test out of the two he took a few weeks ago.  I couldn't be prouder of Ryan.  This was the first time that Ryan really challenged himself to see what he was capable of.  I am so glad that his hard work payed off for him and gave him the confidence that he deserves.  Since starting in January preparing for these boards, I think I underestimated how hard the boards would be and how much time they would require of him.  But he stuck to his schedule of 3-4 hours everyday with school work and then at the mid to end of May it was all day, every day for 14-15 hours.  I think it takes a lot of will power to make yourself stay at the kitchen table or library for that long of time, wake up and then do it all over again.  I promise folks, there was NO fun time for the both of us during these last weeks.

     So his results came Wednesday morning, I was expecting a text since he was in rotations, but instead I got a phone call at lunch telling me that I needed to log into his account and tell him his score! I was so scared!! I didn't want to be the one to inform him.  I think I gave him a little scare when I saw the score and read all the information about how well he did, while he was waiting on the phone.  The first words out of my mouth were "You Passed!"  haha good one right?  Then I start to say "OMG Are You Kidding Me?"  Pretty sure he had a heart attack thinking it was bad, but instead he did AMAZING!!!!!  So of course my baking skills kicked in to celebrate and I surprised him with some Strawberry Shortcake....

     Our good friends, the Horrocks's invited us out to celebrate with them the big and exciting news so we hit up probably one of the best restaurants ever!  This place was so nice that they had valet parking! haha we were in Scottsdale.  I had no idea what was going on when someone else besides my husband opened my door.  But here it is....everyone has to eat here at least once in their life time.  Thanks Horrock's for brightening our life with this great place.

     Ryan had probably the best Filet Mignon he has ever had and I had two lobster tails, they were delicious.  We shared some gourmet Mac & Cheese and Twice Baked Potato. Ryan was so excited for his steak in this picture, hence my laughing....

     We are still waiting for Ryan's COMLEX (DO boards) score which should be coming up in a week, but we are hopeful he did well there too!  Thanks family and friends for all of your prayers and fasts to help us get through and for all of the positive thoughts headed our way.  Even though we are 800 or so miles away from our family, they really help us get through.

     Ryan also started his first rotation in family medicine, this means no more basketball shorts to wear but to actually look professional.  Last Christmas and for his birthday he got a lot of new "professional" shirts to look the part.  I took pictures of his first day....I say pictures because as you will see he gives me his "model" poses first and then finally a normal picture.  Folks this is what I deal with daily....

     Things are going pretty good for us, I am just enjoying two weeks off from rotations and then I start up a rotation end of July.  Ryan is getting used to being on his feet, but is enjoying not being in school. Thanks again friends and family for all of the help and support these last couple of months.

Visitors, Take 2

     At the end of June, my 2 nephews Kade and Trey came for 5 days to come and get out of the perfect Idaho summer weather and enjoy the 110 degree Arizona heat.  They arrived early Saturday morning and were ready to play.....after their 3 hour nap

     We hit up the mall a few times (those boys shop better then me, but that is no surprise), ate tons and tons of ice cream, and even went hiking in the 100 degree weather.  Pretty sure the boys were going to die in the heat, but I didn't let them wimp out.  I kept them motivated through the hike by promising frozen yogurt at the end.

 

     I then had to beat them and Ryan in some bowling.  Lets just say that in the 5 days they were with us I was out numbered.  I think I finally got a taste of what it was like for my dad to live in a house of 5 women and ALWAYS being out numbered.

     Don't worry I held up my competitive edge and won 2 out of 3 games.  The only game I lost was when we bowled left handed and ryan beat me.  I even bowled a TURKEY!!!

     Ryan was going to class Mon-Wed. but on Tuesday he only had half a day so we headed up to Sedona to get the boys out of the heat and to have some fun at Sliding Rock Park.  These boys are dare devils and were a lot of fun.

     It was so much fun to have Kade and Trey come out and play with us, even if it was in the summer and they almost died of heat stroke.  Hopefully they will come back soon and play some more, I think Ryan liked having more boys around.

Visitors, Take 1

     This past month, we I have had a few visitors to help keep me entertained while Ryan was studying for boards the past 5 weeks.  It all started with Memorial weekend.  I had a week break from school so my sister Jami, Brad and Harper Jo came and stayed for a few days.  We started off the fun weekend hitting up the Children's Museum in downtown Phoenix.  I think I was more excited for this place then them, but Harper had a blast!

Already to go and play!  I love this picture

We painted

Coloring

Building with Daddy

Crawling through tunnels

Going through the car wash

Grocery shopping

Played on this huge toy

     After a long hard day of fun at the museum it was time to rest and then head to the Phoenix Zoo.  It was probably one of the luckiest days ever!  We were totally standing in the wrong line "express season pass" and so we moved over to the other line and we started to make conversation with a lady in the "express" line and it came up she had extra tickets that needed to be used that day so she let us use her tickets!  Saved us about $70 or so!

Ssshhhh, the Rhino was sleeping

     After another fun day it was time for Ryan to finally join up with us, so we went and played in the park, fed the fish and turtles, raced Uncle Ryan many times, hung out with Ryan and his technology, and ate plenty of popcorn.

     Thanks Anderson Clan for coming to hang out and entertain me while Ryan was busy!  

     

The Iron Man

     He Did It!!!!  After 6 long months, starting in January, studying every day while also studying for school and spending close to 14 hours a day these last 5 weeks of nothing but studying to consume a day, Ryan has taken the MD and DO national board exams!  He is so AWESOME.  It takes so much will power to make yourself study that much and put in some LONG days, pretty much not leaving the house a few days in a row can make a guy go a little crazy.... But now this guy is a 3rd year DO student! (Im a proud 3rd year DO Wife)

     The night before his first board exam we had to take some pictures with the MAIN book that helped get him through all of this.... As you will see, this is only Step 1 of these crazy boards, Step 2 will come next year and then there is a Step 3 that he will take after his first year of residency.

     While Ryan has been studying his life away I was doing my first pharmacy rotation for the summer. I was at Cigna, which is a HMO healthcare where the nurses, doctors, and pharmacists are all in one building. I really liked it!  It is considered retail but it is SO much better then Walmart or Walgreens retail.  You get to do one on one with the doctors a lot to figure the best care for the patient.  I had great pharmacists, but the only bad thing was I had a lot of down time, so I started to practice my artistic abilities... thank you 5th grade art class

     To celebrate with Ryan taking boards and my last few days at Cigna, I decided to try out a new recipe and made some Oreo Buttercream cupcakes and they were delicious!

     On Friday the 22nd, Ryan took the DO boards and that was my last day, so it was time to celebrate! We hit up the White Chocolate Grill!  OMG (brad) this place was PHENOMENAL!!!!  Since we were celebrating we pretty much had a 4 course meal.  This place LOVED Idaho.  Their "special" fish was Idaho Trout and they used only the "best" Idaho potatoes for their fries and mashed potatoes.... doesn't 3 hours seems like a long time to prepare fries???

   
  We rang up a pretty sweet bill for the 2 of us but the food was all worth it, I had Mahi fish with crab and Ryan had probably one of the most tender filets ever along with some banana white chocolate cream pie and white chocolate raspberry cheesecake.

     It was such an awesome night of amazing food and just being able to relax, no word of school, and drank as much Diet Coke and fresh squeezed lemonade as we could.  Ryan was so excited to get out of the house, he went with a few buddies golfing, even in the 110 degrees he was ready to be outside again.

     It has been a long couple of months, but totally worth all of the hard work.  Thanks family and friends who kept Ryan in their thoughts, prayers, and fasts to get through these national boards, we definitely felt their presence.

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!