The Graduation/"Jerry Brewer" show

    Okay, so Jerry will be mortified to read this (sorry honey, but I have to claim wife's bragging rights...), but he is so deep in board study-mode, I don't think he'll come up for air anytime soon, so I think I'm safe :)

    So, Jerry had graduation a few weeks back.  It was kind of weird, because since we still have a year of fellowship left, it didn't really feel like anything was coming to a grand, harmonious close.  I kept forgetting that he was actually done with the 'residency' part of this whole crazy medical training alternate universe that has been our life for the past umpteenth years...   

    I asked him if we should have family come out for the dinner/program to help celebrate this milestone in his life, and he said that it was no big deal, that it wasn't anything to get too excited over.  So I didn't think anything more on it.  

   Fast forward to the pre-program dinner;  I casually pick up the program to see what the schedule for the awards ceremony will be.  I look at the program schedule, and look over at Jerry and say, "So, honey, you do realize that this is basically the "Jerry Brewer Show" don't you??!"  To which he gave me his sheepish smile and replies, "No, it's not, honey".  But, sure enough, out of 4 awards given through the night, he received three of them, then he gave a speech to honor one of their preceptors.  He went up to the front so much that people started laughing when he would sit down, and then have to get right back up again.  

    So, sorry to family - I had no idea it would be such a big ordeal, or I would have had you come out to join in the Jerry-Love fest!   I don't even have any pictures to post from it (see the "No New Pictures" post for an explanation of that fact!!), you'll just have to use your imagination of Jerry holding frame after frame of different awards, and smiling a little more sheepishly in each one...

     

Should we Stay or Should We Go ( insert big music beats here...)

    So here is the question of the hour, day, week, and month.  Do we stay in Minnesota, or do we head back to Utah?  

   Quite honestly, I don't know what to do.

    It would be so much easier if it were a choice between good and bad, but these choices between two goods gets me into a bind every time.  

   One the one hand, we have North Ogden - a great practice with amazing benefits for Jerry to still keep his fingers dipped in academics, etc, etc, with the HUGE plus of being close to family (believe me, I can't emphasize the HUGE plus that this aspect would be!!).  On the other hand, we have the Mayo, which has offered him a MUCH coveted surgery spot, and, well, it's Mayo, with all of the bells and whistles that go along with it. 

    So, here I am, trying to keep myself busy until the DREADED BOARDS are over, and trying to keep this looming decision out of my mind until Jerry can finally focus on something other than passing the boards and we can have real conversations about it, with all of the facts put down on paper, etc. 

     Our goal is to have a decision made by the end of August so that we can work on making whatever plans we need to make throughout the next year.  (It is so crazy that we are at this point - something we have worked to achieve for 8 years, and we are finally on the last leg of it, and having to really start thinking about 'grown-up' decisions, like school districts for kids, and a real-live career for Jerry.  Crazy!!).  So, getting through this next phase of summer is driving me crazy with all of the what-ifs.  I swing like a pendulum back and forth between where I think would be the best place for us.  I feel like I am running in place, wanting so much to start making real plans, but scared to make real plans.  Weird, I know.  But true.  Just thought I would let you know what's been running through (and around, and in and out) of my mind lately.

Random Pictures

The "Chastity" Chair

They had these chairs everywhere in my parents

Mission in Mexico (where I finished my mission), 

and I wanted to come back some day with my 

husband. On our honeymoon, the tour van stopped 

and one of  the little cities with these chairs and 

we hopped out to snap a picture :)

Don't Mess with the Brewer Bunch!

We had the kids "Strike a Pose" while we were in

Tombstone AZ, the Ghost town which housed the 

Shootout of the OK Corral.   It was such a fun trip!

Cleaning Quote of the Day

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the driveway while it is still snowing"

This fits my feelings to a T these past few months.  I feel like by the time I make even one sweep through the house, everything I did at the beginning is completely undone.  

     In the past few weeks, I have learned another quote of the day (that was hanging in my mom's house while I was growing up, and I am beginning to appreciate it more and more!)...

"Housework is something that you do that nobody notices unless you don't do it."

    I get so sick of cleaning up the same messes, doing the same dishes (yes, our dishwasher broke a few months back, so I have been hand washing all of the dishes - fun for me!), washing/drying/folding the same laundry.  I feel like I'm living in some sort of groundhog day movie time warp.

     Okay, my little pity party is over - I just wanted to get that off my chest.  Now I can go and tackle the tornado wreckage that has become my house since I cleaned it 24 hours ago :).

     Do any of you have wonderful tips on how to keep your house clean with little ones running around??  What are your tricks of the trade?  Do share, please!!

No new pictures...

      Sorry we don't have any new pictures to post... I tried to take a quick 20 minute nap a few Sundays ago, and thought I had all of the kids occupied in the front room (where I leaned back in a chair), but I awoke to a pounding sound and turned to see Joshua having a hey day pounding the digital camera on the hardwood floor....  

       My only consolation is that I hated that digital camera, so at least now I have a good excuse to get a new one :)

The twins turn SIX!!

       Well, Seth and Sarah officially turned the big 6.  The comment of the day came at dinner on their birthday, when Sarah turned to Seth and said, "Seth, You LOOK like a 6 year old!!"  He then said, "Thanks, Sarah, you LOOK like a 6 year old too!"

         Another comment of the day came from Seth, when he opened his Indiana Jones Lego set.  He said, "Cool, this is Han Solo when he was a cowboy, before he went into space!"  I had to give him kudos for putting the character face together!

       

Summer fun!

    The kids had their last official day of school this week.  I can't believe they will be first graderjs in the fall.  I am a little panicked(sp?) about the fact that they will be gone ALL day every day.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  They still seem so little to me - I'm not ready to release them into the big bad world that is the elementary school!  At least we have the summer to have our full days together (I may just be ready for a 9-3 break by the time fall rolls around!).   

    The big accomplishment in the household in the past little while is the twins mastering the art of the 2-wheel bike (sans the training wheels!!).   You know the commercials where the parent is holding onto the seat, runs down the sidewalk, lets go, and the child miraculously gets the balance groove and rides off into the sunset, with sentimental music playing and heavenly angels singing.... well, scratch that.  Nope.  No music. No letting go of the bike.  Here's how it went down at our place:  Dad:  Studying for boards.  Mom:  mowing lawn.  Baby:  crying in stroller.  Mom senses motion behind her on sidewalk, turns to see both kids riding along on the sidewalk, no wobble, no worry, no training wheels.  Simply riding as if they were born doing it.  Yep - let's hear it for the hallmark household!  (I made myself feel better by saying, "Hey, I'm teaching them independence!).  I did manage to grab the camcorder and capture a few moments for all of posterity, however - do I get at least a few points for that?!