Training meeting

A couple weeks ago I had an opportunity to meet Sister Linda Burton, who is the general Relief Society President.  She came to do a leadership training meeting in Jacksonville.  It was so good and I'm grateful I got to go!  Totally worth the headache of finding three different babysitters for my kids. :)  Sister Burton and I had the chance to talk for a bit after it was over. She asked me about my ward and what our RS is like.   She is just the nicest person, as you can imagine.  I also got to meet a member of the general Primary presidency and a member of the general YW presidency. It was a great opportunity and I learned a lot.  I look forward to hearing Sister Burton speak again on Saturday night at the general RS broadcast.

And, I just had to have my picture taken with her because I had to send it to my friend Michelle Woodbury (our husbands are related somehow).  We have a running joke that she always gets to see "famous" Mormons since she lives in Utah, and so she always texts me when she does.  I finally got to send her a picture of my own! Haha.

101 Update

Quick update from my 101 challenge...

59. Give up sugary treats and snacks for 2 weeks straight

I'm doing this now!  This past Monday my girlfriends and I started a "healthy living challege".  We can only eat 1 dessert per week (1 serving!) and I'm going to stick to that for this challenge.  Honestly desserts don't tempt me too much so I should be okay.  I think I can stick to one per week!  The challenge runs for 6 weeks.  I will let you know how it goes.... now that I think about it, it might be pretty hard with Halloween and all the delicious Fall treats coming up.  Maybe this wasn't such a good idea....

Part of the challenge also says that I can't eat past 8pm.  To be honest this will probably be the hardest aspect for me.  Wish me luck! 

Cedar Key

Remember when I mentioned in my last post that Garrett had a Saturday completely OFF this last summer?  We made the most of it!  We drove down to a little fishing town nearby (on the Gulf side) and spend the afternoon there.  It was awesome.

It's only about 45 minutes away and hardly anyone was there, which was the best part.  There was a great park right on the beach, which the girls loved.  And we didn't even have to set up the little beach tent for shade, since we just set up camp under our very own palm tree.

We spent a few hours at the beach, then walked over to a little strip of shops and seafood restaurants that were right on the water.  We randomly chose a restaurant and had a delicious dinner.  There was even a live band, which was fun (& loud!).

Ellie got chicken fingers.... there's always one person, it seems.

Abbie got shrimp, which was the best choice of any of us (we peeled off the batter, though).  It was probably the best shrimp I've ever had.

Olivia shared everyone's meal

Garrett & I split a platter of three kinds of blackened fish, onion rings, and veggies.

It was so fun to have a whole day to spend together as a family.  It really was an ideal day.  I hope we can go back again soon!

Remember him?

Remember Garrett?

To say that Garrett's schedule was crazy this last summer would be a huge understatement.

Let me put it this way: he came to church with us once.  Once, from June through August.  The girls and I were gone for 3 Sundays in July so that was partially to blame.

Or I could put it this way: he had ONE Saturday off, all summer.  ONE Saturday when he wasn't sleeping off a night shift or actually working a 13 hour shift, or away at a radiology conference.

And finally: We went to bed at the same time probably fewer than 10 times all summer.

His summer has consisted of pretty much straight night shifts, or mid shifts.  Noon-midnight for several weeks, 8pm - 10am for several weeks, and now midnight-9am for a month straight (six nights a week).  ONE more week left, though, so we've almost survived it.

In case you are wondering, no this is NOT normal for a radiology residency!  But his "class" only has 9 residents (they started out with 11), so they have to make up all the call and weekends that those two missing people would have worked.  It's a long story.  Yes, there are dozens of other radiology residents but a first year can't work overnight alone, for example.

It's been hard.  Honestly I didn't expect residency to be this hard (and I'll admit, I had pretty low expectations because I had heard all the horror stories... I just didn't think they really applied to us). It's hard to spend every evening by myself for weeks on end.  It's hard to keep the kids quiet all afternoon during the week, and all day Saturdays and Sundays when he's working the night shift.  It's hard to have to turn down invitations to hang out with friends because sometimes I just don't feel up to going somewhere by myself with all three kids in the evenings.  We turned down invitations to lots of fun Saturday activities (the beach, floating down the river, hiking, etc) that I just couldn't do alone.  And I really don't like going to church alone (but hey, I'm certainly not in the minority there, being without my husband at church!  It's just that I'm more consistently without my husband, I guess).  I'm just worn out.

Of course, it's not all bad.  When Garrett is home sleeping during the day and Olivia takes a nap in the mornings, sometimes I run to the grocery store or the library alone for half an hour.  That's nice.  Also, when Garrett isn't home for dinner I don't bother cooking anything fancy, which is a nice little break.

"They" say that it will all be "worth it" in the end -- when residency is over.  I assume that people mean that financial compensation makes up for all the time he's not around.  I just don't believe that anymore, I'd rather have him be here with us. I'd rather have the option of planning our lives around things that are important to us rather than his work schedule.  And I just wrote a huge paragraph about this but I just deleted it because this post is already waaay too long and I don't want to sound depressing.  That's a thought for another day.

Anyway.... SIX more nights of overnights!!!  Can't wait.

Back to school

Abbie started first grade in mid-August.  She was so excited to be a first grader!  She even knew what teacher she hoped to get... she wanted the one her good friend had the year before.  Sure enough, Abbie was thrilled when she found out that she got the teacher she wanted. (Pretty lucky.. I think there are 8 first grade classes so her chances weren't too great.  Parents aren't allowed to request teachers, either.)

The Friday before school started, we stopped by the classroom to meet her teacher and find her desk.  Abbie insisted on wearing her school uniform. (The students have to wear solid colors, and collared shirts)

Here she is on the first day!!  I drove her that day and walked her into the classroom.  Normally, though, she gets picked up by a neighbor who takes her three kids to the same school.  Sooo nice!  The bus comes at 6:55, but thankfully she doesn't have to leave until 7:20-ish.

Abbie is doing well so far, although it's been a bit of an adjustment for her to have homework every day.  It only takes about 10-15 minutes or so, but she still drags her feet and insists that she "hates" homework.  Let's hope this doesn't last too long, because she has a lot of years of homework ahead of her!

That same day was also Ellie's first day of school.  Ellie has been talking about going to school for about a year now, so this was a big day!  Ellie is doing a free preschool that Florida has.  It's every day from 9-noon and she loves it.  She insists on bringing her backpack (with the attached lunchbox, because "it's prettier that way") and it's almost always empty. :)
Ellie with some of her friends from school.  There are 20 kids in her class, and 8 of them are kids from our ward at church. We all carpool and it's fun to see my friends for a minute in the morning too, at drop-off.

Ellie wasn't shy at all... she walked right in and sat down at a table and started coloring.

Abbie gets home from school at 2 so we still see a lot of her, which is really nice.

And you know what else is really nice?  Spending so much one-on-one time with this cutie.  Can't believe I'm back down to one child for a couple hours a day!  I have to admit, it's pretty nice.

101 Update

Still working on my 101 goals.... it's time to get serious because I only have just over 7 months left!

14. Family history project - work on it with my grandparents

There was a separate goal of scanning all the slides from my grandparents' house, but this is a separate family history goal.  I helped my aunt and grandma upload over 100 photos onto Familysearch.org.  We labeled ("tagged") everyone so that all my relatives can see them in their own Familysearch accounts.  We also typed up some stories, letters and obits.  It was a lot of fun.

48. Go to the dentist (I have only been once since I got married.... oops)

Ok, so I sort of did this back in May.  A guy at church was graduating from dental school and needed to do some very specific types of fillings -- between the teeth -- for his finals.  He did free exams to see if people needed any done.  Well, I promise you I brush my teeth at least twice a day, but I always have cavities between my teeth.  Always, every single checkup for years I would have at least one that needed to be filled.  I figured that since it's been so long since I've seen a dentist, for sure I would have at least a couple for him to choose from.  Plus, if I did need the work done, not only would it be done for free, but I would get paid $100.

How ironic that I had no cavities between my teeth?  I good thing, I guess.  Maybe I already have fillings between all my teeth?  Anyway he also told me that I don't need any fillings anywhere, but that a few might need to be replaced in the next year or so.

60. Pack Garrett's lunches for him for 1 month

I usually help Garrett pack his lunches (or, midnight snack depending on the shift).  I haven't ever done it for a month straight, but I have helped consistently and that was my goal.  It's been impossible to do it for a straight month because I don't think he has worked "days" for a straight month for at least a full year.  Lots of mid shifts, late shifts, and overnights.

17. Give up soda for good

Done!  Honestly I will probably have one here or there but I will never again drink it regularly (and even "regularly" for me was only about once a week)

More to blog about this week, like the first day of school and other happenings around here.  Stay tuned!