::graduation::

Kris graduated on Friday. Yay!!
But first the movers came and packed our stuff onto a big van.
Well, not big enough evidently since they had to spend hours strategizing how to squeeze things in. I guess the guy that came and gave us our estimate underestimated. That's great for the wallet, not so great for making sure there was enough space in the truck.

They were supposed to be done by about 2PM so we could get ready for the graduation at 5:30. At 2 they were nowhere near done. Nor at 3. I kept telling them I had to leave at 4 and they said it was going to be NO problem at all. At 4 they're still working on it. At FIVE? Yep, still working on it. Finally we just had to make sure they had the rest of the stuff out on the lawn and we locked the door and we left.
I was planning on having some time to get ready, but had to settle for 10 minutes. Remind me never to load a moving truck the same day as graduation again--whether I have to do the loading or not! I was exhausted by 5.

But oh well, because we were so glad it was finally Kris's graduation day!
It's been a long time coming. We've been to two other St. Joe's graduations, so we knew pretty well what to expect. There are only four residents, so the program is nice and personal. A few important people get up and say some things, then the program director speaks and he usually speaks specifically about each resident, gives them a bit of a hard time and praises them for what they did well over the two years. It's really fun.
And this year didn't disappoint, I really enjoyed it.

BUT I didn't get to sit by Kris which was annoying. I did sit right behind him though. The above is a view of the program director talking over the heads of the residents.

Thank goodness for games on the phone. Most of the speeches didn't captivate Max, to say the least.


Kris with his fellow residents and program director in the middle. Kris will miss getting to work with these guys, and we'll miss getting to hang out with them.

Graduation was held at the Biltmore, a nice hotel downtown. We were right up at top and the views were spectacular.



Kris's parents came out for graduation, and it was so nice that they were there to support him and hear all the nice things that people had to say.


I'm SO proud of Kris and glad we made it to (and through) this day! Now off to the next adventure, deep into the unknown. We can do it, we've done it before.
Love you Kris!!!!!

::Our Trip::

So I just wanted to give you a quick run-down of our RI trip. OK, not a quick run down, more like a long one with lots of pictures but whatever. The trip was quick though and felt like it just flew by. It was amazing we even got there in the first place--Kris almost got stuck at school until too late the morning we were leaving. It was really nice to get away from school for a couple of days, especially for Kris. School has been really high stress for him lately because he's trying to finish up all his requirements.

We stayed somewhere different every night to try to get a good overview of the area.
On friday morning we went over to the hospital where Kris will be working where I got to meet the program director and the current residents. Everbody was so nice and pleasant. It's very busy there but I think that it will be a great atmosphere for Kris to work. It seems to be very positive and happy, and everybody seemed to get along well.
The program director was so nice. I was very impressed with him because as we were standing in the hall of the hospital chatting, suddenly we heard a strange noise behind us. A young teenage boy had fallen to the ground with a seizure and his mom was trying to help him. Dr. Kane ran right over to them and got right down there and took care of things. He didn't leave them until he was sure everything was ok. He seemed like a really good caring doctor. So that's great.

We did a lot of driving around different areas to try to figure out which areas would be best for us to live in. We spent a good amount of time at Barnes & Noble on the internet too. Thank goodness for the internet or we wouldn't know anything!

We found a couple of areas we really liked, and now we're just going to watch craig's list to see if something liveable there will be available soon.
In general we really liked it out there in the Providence area. It's definitely all old and most of the houses are small but our house we live in now is small, so as long as we can get a little more room than we have now we should be fine.

On friday night we went to a get-together with all the residents. It was really fun. It seemed like they got together a good amount, and were all really comfortable with each other. They were so nice to us too. It was great for me to get a chance to get to know them a little--it makes the move a little less scary.
This party was where, unbelievably, Kris sang karaoke. Like I said before I don't think it'll ever happen again. He just didn't want to look like a party pooper in front of his new friends. Good thing I used to be in the karaoke business! I got up there and sang with him and we were coolness incarnate. Or something.

I look totally exhausted in this picture because it was after midnight. The party went on forever! It was really fun though. We were glad we got to attend.

Here's Kris in our crazy all white hotel room in downtown Providence. Everything was either bright white or chrome/stainless steel. It was weird, but pretty fun!

and here we both are--not my favorite picture, but then again no picture with me in it is my favorite! It's better than the other one...nobody's going to see that one.


We got burned out from driving around looking at places which we were too early to rent, so on saturday night we drove down to Newport and stayed there. We took the scenic ocean drive around the coast and it was soooo beautiful. Soooo cold, but so picturesque.

There was gorgeous light sunday morning so we took the drive again so I could give my camera some exercise. So fun to look at.


Can you see the cool bridge in this shot? It was amazing looking. Can you see the line of geese in the water? I wish I could've gotten a little closer shot there.









We went to sacrament meeting at the ward we're planning on going to and that was nice. Seems like there are a good amount of members in that ward and a healthy amount of kids, so that's good for us.
We flew out on sunday evening and you know the rest! We're glad to be back home even though it means we're back into the stress. Hopefully we can be strong and tough and make it through the next couple of hard months, AND find a place to live that is everything we want and need.
Wish us luck!!

.:.:Big News, really really Big News:.:.

We heard from the "matching" service that Kris had to use to apply to his residency programs yesterday. We knew that the decisions would all be made public on the 28th, so we were pretty nervous the day before. But somehow we made it through the night and in the morning we got an email at 7:30 saying we are going to.......(a drumroll would probably be appropriate here)........Providence, Rhode Island for the next two years!! (Starting in June as far as we know)

We're not too surprised about it actually, because Kris's interview at that program went SO well, and they were very positive about him. They have a couple of locations, so we figured he would get into one of them. We thought it would be either Brooklyn, NY or Providence. We're happy about Providence because it's supposed to be the location with the best and newest facility and equipment.
We're especially excited considering that there was always a chance that things wouldn't have worked out. If that had happened Kris would've either had to give up the dream of being a pediatric specialist (which really would've bummed him out) or else wait a year and reapply. Neither of those alternatives sounded that good to me, so I'm just so glad that it all worked out.

Interestingly, neither Kris nor I have ever been to Rhode Island! The interview for this program happened in Brooklyn. So we don't have any idea what to expect. Luckily we have some great friends in the ward that just recently moved here from Providence (crazy, isn't it?) They're going to help us figure out some good areas we could live in and stuff like that. We're going to miss them and all of our other fun friends when we actually move. It's so sad to think of leaving, even though we'll be so so glad to be done with school and for Kris to move on to the next step in his "professional life." Probably the best part for me is that he is actually going to get paid. I'm typing it, but I can hardly believe it! He's going to get paid and we will have benefits, which is going to totally blow my mind. Hopefully I'm going to get to quit my job. I'm really looking forward to it.

So although we don't really have any idea how it's all going to be, we do have a few plans...
I'm looking forward to doing a lot of shopping here:

You luckies in UT have one, but poor me, I've have been suffering without. We should have one out here, I don't know why we don't! I'm excited because there's an Ikea between Providence and Boston. Yay!

Also I'm planning on frequenting this wonderful place:
I love H&M!! And for those of you that haven't had a chance to go, it's worth traveling for. Good clothes, cool clothes at excellent prices. There's one of these outside of Boston too.

We're also planning on spending a lot of time here:
and here:
and here:
assuming of course, that these pictures are all of Rhode Island beaches. They're supposed to be....
I love the beach, so I'm thrilled at the idea of living within a relatively short drive of some beautiful beaches.

We're also looking forward to frequenting here:
(New York of course!)

and here:
(Boston) We like big cool cities like these.

Kris is hoping for some good road biking opportunities, which seems likely to me, considering that road biking is kind of a preppy sport, and New England is preppy, right?

And I guess we're supposed to cheer for the Patriots now in football, and it seems this would be a good opportunity to do that, since they are probably going to win the super bowl. But I just can't. I think they're too boring. They just win to much. I guess that's a good problem to have. We'll see if living out there changes my mind.

So thanks to all of you for all your help and support!! Thanks for voting on Kris's application pictures, you obviously picked a good one since it got him some great interviews! Hopefully we'll have a chance to come visit all of our peeps out in UT this summer, maybe in may or june sometime. Everybody better clear their schedules. We'll see you then!

Yay!

We're really excited today because Kris got invited out to USC's pediatric dentistry program for an interview in November. By this time next year we may be blogging from the beach! Keep your fingers crossed for us.

So far he also has an interview in Buffalo NY and one in New York City that also has programs in Rhode Island and Alaska. We're still waiting to hear back from a couple of other programs and so could have some other possibilities eventually. Results won't come out until the very end of January. USC is our favorite prospect right now for sure. We'll keep you all posted.