We Know Where We Are Going!

I think one of the hardest things about beginning a career in medicine has been the unknown. I began doing this in 2005 not knowing if I would even get in or not. I was an art major and didn't care about my grades because all I had to be was a good artist. For two and a half years I worked on getting pre-requisites done and trying to get a decent MCAT score. I had always hoped that I wouldnt' be wasting my time. Two and a half years is a long time. Luckily, St. Georges was willing to give me a chance and suddenly a lot of the unknowns became known as I knew I would at least be in Grenada for the next two years. Once I got to Grenada I thought, "Well what happens after Grenada? Will I be able to get good enough grades to make it? More unknowns crept back into my life. I made it to 5th term and did well on my first two sets of exams and only had one more set to go. It appeared that it would be very difficult to fail and I would be able to move on to the next step in life. However, I had no clue where that next step was. Friday night I found out though, we are going to St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, NJ! It is nice to have an idea where we will be and how much money it is going to cost. (A lot!) I think each chapter in life is going to have a lot of unknowns but it is not worthwhile to worry about them. One of my favorite books is "The monster at the end of this book". Sesame Street's Grover is the star and the whole book is about him trying to convince you to stop turning the pages because there is a monster at the end. He tries to rope up the pages, and build brick walls to keep you from turning the pages. Quite ingenius really. At the end of the book Grover finds that the monster at the end of the book was him. It turned out there was nothing to be afraid of. I can liken our experience here to my favorite book. It is scary and we try not to find any monsters but in the end things have always had a way of working out. We are excited to move to New Jersey and see what it has in store for us!

The Sweetest Husband in the World

Today started out like any regular day. I woke up excited to talk to Nick, ate some breakfast and started to dread about going to work. Well, I finally decided to get ready for work and make my lunch. I got to work like any other day thinking about all the stuff that I had to do and all the time that was left in the day. I just got off the phone with a client and had to ask one of the guys a question. I walked to his desk and was talking to him for a couple minutes when a the receptionist came back with a bouquet of flowers. I thought to myself, thats really sweet. Some lucky gal is going to be getting those beautiful flowers. Well she walks up to me and says "would you like me to put these on your desk". For a minute I look at her like she was crazy, and I finally said "yeah, my desk would be great". When I finally came to, I realized that my wonderful husband had sent me a wonderful surprise. The guy I was talking to started teasing me because I had blushed so red I could have blended in with the roses in the flower arrangement. When I got to my desk I looked at the card and was filled with overwhelming emotions (I'm sure because of the pregnancy these emotions are magnified). I started bawling my eyes out. What had made these flowers so precious to me was that, my husband, who is thousands and thousands of miles away had taken the time and thought about me and thought to do something for me that was so sweet and thoughtful. Yes, these flowers will die in a week but the way he made me feel will go well beyond that time. I love my husband, and it's been very difficult for him and I to be apart from one another but we love each other no matter how much distance you put between us. Nick is a wonderful husband.

Where We Go...Nobody Knows!

Yesterday, I submitted something that I have been anxiously awaiting to submit. I was allowed to finally submit my top three choices for rotations. This will determine where Kuulei, Baby, and I will be living for the next two years after Grenada is all said and done. My first choice was Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, California. We wanted to be near family in Utah and Bakersfield is somewhat similar to our home town Orem. Crime is a bit more and it might have more people but the general feel is pretty similar. I have passed through a few times on my way to LA. Anyway, I am not sure if we will get it or not. I hear there are very few spots and I thought we were the class with the largest amount of available spots! Sad that a large amount is still actually quite small. Also a GPA of 3.2 is required for the pediatrics rotation. As smart as I am I definitely don't have a 3.2. Second choice was Lincoln Medical Center/Sound Shore Medical Center in New York City. We thought we could live up a little bit north of NYC and I could take the train into town to work. I am not sure how trains and stuff will work out just yet so we will just see if we get placed there and I will deal with how to get to work after that. We just wanted to kind of be out of the city in the suburbs but we will see. Third choice is St. Barnabas in New Jersey. A lot of our Grenada friends are there already so it would be cool to see them again. They could also show us the ropes and tell us which neighborhoods not to live in. I don't want to have a loaded gun on my nightstand haha. Anyway, it is really exciting. I have lived in Grenada for 2 years and I am anxious to close this chapter of life and see what there is to read in the next chapter.

My Two Favorite Letters

I don't know why, but for some reason I have always been on the hot side. Don't judge, I don't mean to say I am extremely good looking with a perfect body. What I mean to say is when others are cold I am either too hot, or perfectly comfortable. I know that men have a higher temperature than women from testosterone, higher red blood cell count, and higher metabolic needs. Maybe my thyroid is slightly over active? Who knows, but what I do know is I have always just seemed to have ice in my veins. People would ask me where I wanted to go to medical school. I would always reply, "somewhere with 4 seasons". As luck would have it I have ended up at a school where there is one season. SUMMER! A summer that constantly feels as if it is in the height of the July heat in Utah. Not only that but a stifling humidity has made things for this snowman especially difficult to bear. I have good news though! Our church finally installed some AC! Yes, that is right AC! My two favorite letters in the alphabet. Just yesterday we took the new AC for spin and church was a lot more enjoyable when I was no longer sedated by the day's heat. The Grenada branch has been growing, there seem to be baptisms each week with people who really seem to be solid and committed. We have had to put an addition on the church as well and I am happy to see it filled to near capacity. I mainly wanted to blog about this so my old Grenada friends could hear the news and see the progress we have made in such a short amount of time since they left. It has been neat to see things change so quickly.

The "Bump"

Recently, I started a new job. I've been working there for almost a week now. It's been very exhausting and all I want to do at the end of the day is sleep. I've been wondering for sometime when I would start poking out or start showing. Well, yesterday I went to a little BBQ our work had put on and then I was called by some friends to come and hang out. All I have to say is yesterday I didn't notice a belly and when I woke up today I suddenly had one! I've been keeping Nick up to date on the belly and until today he couldn't really see a difference. Today, when I showed Nick his reaction was "holy crap, it's getting big" granted I know I look pretty small still and to be frank if you didn't know who I was you would probably just think I was a little pudgy. I can definitely tell and Nick obviously can tell too and he just sees me on Skype. I came downstairs this morning and told Nick's mom I have some awful horrible news, I pointed to my belly and she laughed and said "well, what did you expect? To grow a 10lb baby without a belly?" haha I laughed and told her well I just thought it would take a lot longer, I'm a little nervous because I haven't said a single thing to my workplace. I don't really even have to actually. Sooner rather than later it's going to become apparent though. I'll just cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, I should just be grateful I haven't gained any weight really and so that means it's all just baby. haha. All 3-4 inches of him/her. Tomorrow, Nick's mother and I plan to go get a few blouses, something that will buy me more time to get use to this growing belly of mine.

A Long 3 Months!

Nick has been waiting FOREVER to be able to announce that we are going to be having a baby. I just have to say Nick is so sweet and adorable, I love seeing how excited he is about his baby. Just to give you all a little update with what has been happening and what not.

Well we got to Grenada a couple days after I found out I was pregnant, I was only four weeks and since we didn't know what to expect we carried on with our lives as usual. A week after we had been in Grenada I started throwing up! I would have been fine to stay there except I hadn't been able to stop... It had been a week and I had lost maybe a little more than 5 pounds. I was really weak and felt awful everyday. Poor Nick was just so worried about me every time he had to leave and go to school. We decided that it was time for me to go back to Utah where I could get proper healthcare and also so Nick would worry about me all the time. I move back in with my very caring mother and father-in-law. I flew the entire day and was weak and exhausted by the time I got to Utah, When I say Nick's mother and father I just wanted to cry. It was such a warm friendly face and I knew that we had made the right decision in sending me back. We went to the emergency room as soon as we got in, I had been having some pain and was afraid it wasn't a good sign. I was afraid the entire day of having a miscarriage. When I finally got behind to see the Doctor they drew some blood from me but had a really hard time finding a vein and when they stuck that needle in my arm and started wiggling it around I passed out. When I woke up again I was a little disoriented. My sweet mother-in-law was right beside me bed and she just smiled and told me what happened. A little while later they decided to take me down to get an ultrasound, at this point I was only about 6 weeks and 5 days. That was when I first saw our little peanut and heard the wonderful sound of his/her heartbeat. It was such a rewarding sound that all of my troubles seemed to melt away. Well I was discharged and we were a little annoyed because they hadn't given me an iv. well a couple weeks went by and I was still throwing up. I went to a clinic and they gave me something else for the vomiting, and it didn't work. I went to see my Doctor and FINALLY they said I needed to go to the hospital right away and get an iv. I can't tell you how much better I have felt! By the time I finally got that iv I had lost 15 pounds. I still haven't gained the weight back but I haven't thrown up in a while and I have been feeling really great! I'm just so excited and overjoyed about being blessed to have a little baby. Nick and I both know that it is a blessing and we are so grateful for the opportunity to be a father and a mother. I make 3 months tomorrow and despite all the worrying I have gone through I am SO glad we have these months under our belts.

Our Little Angel

The day has come! I have been waiting for a few weeks now to announce we are expecting a little baby in April! Kuulei finishes her first trimester tomorrow and we are very excited to see baby is growing and it's tiny heart is pumping away like mad. We added a little ticker to the blog so you can check it out to keep up with what our baby is looking like. We want to name it Ezekiel if it is a boy, and Alette if it is a girl. We will keep you posted on the happenings. We are going to be parents!

We're not in Kansas Anymore. (Well ok Utah)

Well, I guess I have to come to terms with it... we're back in Grenada. I shouldn't complain though, we had an excellent flight coming down and it took us roughly 15 or 16 hours (Jim, that ones for you). We woke up early in the morning and got and three different flights and we were able to make it down here about 10ish Grenada time(Yes! All in ONE day). Nick has had such a wonderful time in his new classes. He loves talking to patients and loves what he's learning so far, and I can't complain because he doesn't have to leave early in the morning anymore!

Anyways, just to recap a little bit of our vacation. Nick and I were able to go to the temple once a week, it was such a nice experience and helped us get the "recharge" that was very much needed. We were able to go to Park City, it was SO fun see all the different things that were there not to mention the wild life that kept popping up as we went down the Alpine Slides. We took a walk up Bridal Veil. It was so beautiful. The heat was bearing down for a good part of our vacation and it was pretty hot, never the less, we enjoyed it thoroughly. It did rain a little toward the ending of our stay. We were able to see most of Nick's family (besides Erika guys) and my a small portion of my family.

I think the thing I enjoyed most about Utah was feeling like I was alive again. I have wonderful sister-in-laws that are always so kind and inviting toward me I feel like I hand picked them out of the "worlds best sisters". haha, corny, I know. I KNOW, I have the best mother and father-in-law out there because nobody can be kinder and more genuine than Brent and Jenni.

The thing I MISSED about Grenada, (yes, it's true I actually missed something) was probably the children. My primary children are so inviting and so loving and just your interaction with them will make you want to wrap you arms around them all and hold them tight just so they know you really truly love and care for them. They always have a smile on their face when they greet you at church, I can't wait for us to finally go to church this Sunday(although, I can probably tell you I'll be wishing to go back to Utah in a few weeks, or maybe even days!)

Well, as you can see we have put a little count down widget(it probably just makes us seem a little excited to get off this Island, FOR GOOD!). Anyways, stay tuned we'll try to keep you all as updated as possible(if I'm not too lazy). We love you all and we thank our family for such a wonderful time! We'll see you in December(maybe I should post my Christmas list so you guys can start gathering everything ;) jk)

A Run in with Ginger

Well, here we are back in Grenada. Something funny happened to me on the flight down. I asked for Ginger Ale because I always order Ginger Ale when I am on the plane. I noticed Canada Dry Ginger Ale now makes their Ale with real ginger. I wonder what they made it with before? Anyway, I was enjoying my first sip with all the sudden like I felt a sharp pain in my upper left teeth. I have a sensitive spot there and the Ale was cold so I figured no problem. Then I noticed my upper left lip was numb. My teeth were soon to follow and it felt like the dentist had just given me that notorious "little pinch" and shoved a huge needle in my gums loaded with anesthetic. I kind of panicked a but and wondered, oh no what happened! Have I somehow cut off the blood supply or damaged a nerve? I told Kuulei my symptoms and she said, "Oh you know what I think it is? Ginger can do that." Sure enough about 5 minutes later I felt normal again. I never new ginger could do that...now I want more Canada Dry!

You may have noticed I put up a countdown to when we leave Grenada for good. It is kind of depressing to look at right now but it should be fun to see the days get closer to zero. Luckily I don't look at my blog every day so that this unwatched pot will eventually boil. If anyone knows how to tweak the HTML correctly so that I can get the thing to fit all the way I am all ears. Enjoy!

Full Bellies and Empty Pockets

"Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity."
~Voltaire

Well, where to start. Our vacation has been so relaxing and fun I don't know where to begin. Actually, I do. The food! I think back a while ago when I was still in Grenada wishing I could just eat a nasty greasy burger, well I got more than my fill. I actually think we've gained a little weight indulging ourselves in all this fast GOOD food. Just so you know what I mean, beneath is a list of places we have gone to while we've been home for 7 weeks.

Wendy's Red Robin
Burger Supreme McDonald's
Outback Steakhouse Mimi's
Zuppas Texas Roadhouse
Olive Garden Cafe Rio
Bankok Grill Kneader's
Chik-Fil-A Sabarro's
Papa John's Flaming Wok
KFC Chili's
JCW's Burgers L&L (Hawaiian Grill)
Cold Stone Pretzel Maker
Apple Bee's Einstein Bagels

It has been tons of fun to be with friends and family. Being able to be in a familiar place, with familiar faces. I think we over did it on the food, but what can we say we had to make up for six months! I think I've even forgotten how to cook! hehe, jk. We are very excited to begin our last semester in Grenada. The next post will probably be the places we've gone to have fun (it's not even a fraction of where we've eaten, don't be surprised to see a tiny list).

Those Lazy Days of Summer

Well, school starts again on Tuesday. I thought I would give a summary of how our vacation went. It went all too fast as we knew it would. It was a time for us to come home and eat dirty disgusting fast food. We got to go shopping at all the stores. We even went shopping in Salt Lake! We didn't buy a whole bunch of stuff but it was fun just to pretend and window shop. We got to see MOST of my family and even part of Kuulei's family. We lost a loved one, we gained a new loved one all within a couple of months. We got to eat our favorite cereal and eat at Texas Roadhouse. We went to the temple almost every week. It was pretty cool because I have not learned so much there as I have this summer. I studied a little bit for boards and spent more time playing video games or hanging out with the fam and Kuulei. I think that even though we don't want to leave and head back to Grenada, we are rested and energized to take on the challenges that lie ahead for the next 4 months. I was terribly tired by the end of last term so I am happy and excited to work hard for 5th term. It is hard to leave loved ones, but we only have 4 more months to go and then we don't have to go back. Once we are back in the states for good it will be easier to come and visit the family. Our goal is to get residency in or close to Utah so the harder days hopefully are behind us.

Brought to You By the Letter "P"

I was reading a funny story that a friend of ours wrote about her son getting peed on and it brought back a funny story of me getting peed on. My family and I were just kneeling down to family prayer and normally after family prayer I would take my dog out to go to the bathroom then lock her in her bed. Well, as we were praying I heard Mahina(the dog) whining, I thought she could hold it, being that while she is in her bed at night for 9 or so hours she doesn't let a drop touch her pillow. Well all of a sudden she jumps on my back. I thought she was just going to play around because she would sometimes just jump on me and run away. I was wrong. She actually jumped on my back then straddled my head and started peeing on my neck. I was really grossed out but I didn't want to disturb the prayer so I just sat there I was making little squeaking noises so my dad looked up and saw what Mahina was doing, all of a sudden he yelled at her and she jumped off of me and the prayer was ended. I hurried to my dogs defense saying she was doing what she was trained to do by not going to the bathroom on the floor. Anyways, it makes me laugh every time I retell the story, even though it is sort of embarrassing, but what's life without a little embarrassment!

It's a Celebration!

In case you missed it, this was the scene at our apartment today. Ok you are right our apartment isn't quite this big. That doesn't take away from the glee and celebration we had today after my last exam. We were a little nervous that I might blow it and not pass pathology but I made it through and did alright on the final. We have been here a long five and a half months. It has been full of stress, busy bees, and relentless pressures. We have lived to tell the tale and are happy for the experience we have been able to have. We now feel if we can make it through 4th term we can make it through anything. I think that is true, us humans can do just about anything we put our minds to as long as we work hard enough to make it work.

Now We Know Why it is So Humid Here!

Of all Sundays, I would say that today topped all of them. For one, it is our last Sunday for this term! Secondly, today seemed like it was pretty normal until the end of church. Grenada has given us so many memories to look back on that I can't resist mentioning one that will forever be stuck in my head. Nick and I were heading out to the car and right in the opening of the church (which is only about 3 feet wide) a little boy decided he couldn't hold his pee any more. He decided the front gate was the best place to let loose. He pulled his "thing" out and started to pee, after he finished he looked up at us like it was nothing. He put his "thing" back in his pants and reached down to wipe off his shoe (and it wasn't a couple drops, it covered the top of his shoe) which got in the way of his stream. He wiped it off on his pants and just strolled along. I have been in Grenada for nearly 6 months and in those months I have seen more people pee on the side of the road than all of my years I have lived in America, that includes camping trips with 5 brothers.

Freudian Slip

  Nick didn't have to go to school today because it was a holiday. We decided to sleep in and when we woke up it was almost 9 (am). Bacon sounded like a good way to start our day off so we went down to IGA to get some. When we came home Nick said that he would make breakfast. He fried up the bacon and the eggs and we had some english muffins. Nick had prepared a plate for me and when we gave it to me I was going to say "Thank you Baby", but at the same time I was going to say "Thank you Nich". At the same time I was thinking I would say "Thank you Nicky". Well needless to say I took the "b" from baby. The "ich" from Nich, and the "y" from Nicky. Nick looked at me with a semi astonished face, and then just bursted out in laughter. I was kind of astonished myself. Maybe subconsciously, that was the exact thing I was thinking of! 

Having an "Ice" Time

Most of you may know that while I was in high school I wrestled. Not only do I have a love for wrestling but I have a love for all sorts of sports. I loved going to high school football games, volleyball games, basketball games etc. Pretty much any sport I love to either watch, do it, or at least try it. I will admit that I do not like golfing and yes I have tried it. I just don't have the love for it as I do all the other sports. Recently, I have found a sport that I really really enjoy watching. As a lot of people may know it is the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Hockey has been so intense and interesting to watch. They don't really have Hockey in Hawaii but they don't exactly have a lot of ice. The first time I watched a hockey game was when I was living in Washington, I really enjoyed the game, even though I didn't know exactly what was going on. I think the reason I enjoy watching it so much more is because I know what is happening. Nick is so great in answering all my questions while watching his game. We only get a few games every now and again. Its nice to be able sit and watch it along with Nick and actually talk to him about the games. Plus, some of the players are pretty studly. I really hope if we have boys they will be able to share the love of sports Nick and I both have. Don't get me wrong though, even if our kids absolutely hate sports we'll still love them.

P.S. As of now I think H. Zetterberg is the studliest of all. Nick and I have also decided to name one of our sons Henrik. haha Henrik Harker, has a nice ring to it!

Feelin' Like a Porker!

Nick and I were able to get away from our uneventful lives for an hour. We decided to go out for dessert! While Nick and I were getting ready I had a "normal" feeling come over me. Could it possible be Nick and I were actually going to go out and have fun without the worries of Grenada and school. YES, it was possible. We went to "The Beach House". It was a pretty nice restaurant. It only took us an hour to get dessert, I know that sounds like a long time but for Grenada its actually pretty fast. We did make reservations though, and I think that helped our time along. Nick and I decided to get the Grand Etang Mud Pie. It was great! I didn't think I was hungry at all because we had eaten dinner just before going down, but I guess I was because I managed to out eat Nick if you can believe that! We also sat a while humming Disney songs seeing if we could guess the right movie, as sad as that sounds. Needless to say, we had an absolute wonderful time. 

P.S. The Mud Pie was twice the size of the picture, I know out eating your husband isn't what most women would like to admit to, but I have a little competitive side. :D

Early Mornings and Funny Stuff

Today, Kuulei and I brought some of our friends to the airport. It was sad in some ways because we had to say goodbye to our friends the Weirs for at least awhile. The McDaniels and Schaffers will be back in a few months but the Weirs were done with Grenada for good so that was the last time we will see them in awhile. We woke up at 4:45. I purposely did not take any pills that I normally take to help me sleep so that I could drive while not being under the influence. Normally, it takes me 2-3 hours to fall asleep without pills. Even when I fall asleep I wake up a lot because I am such a light sleeper. Sure enough, I took 3 hours to sleep and woke up numerous times. It must be because of the two tours I did in 'Nam. Anyway, after getting patchy sleep I woke up in the morning and went to wash my sleepy eyes to try and pucker up a little. I looked in the mirror and to my surprise Kuulei was behind me in the distance making a thumbs up sign with a ridiculous smile on her face. Immediately, I thought of Ace Ventura. The resemblance is uncanny! It was a fun day and maybe that is because we did something out of the norm. It was great to talk to my friends and see how excited they were to see their families again and Kuulei always makes me crack up.

Clutching to a Shred of Light

I don't have anything super fun to write about. I just thought I would write a post about something thats happening NEXT MONTH. Ok, its nothing like winning a million dollars or even Nick graduating from med school. BUT, I'll take it! On June 26th we will be boarding a crappy smelling disgusting plane full of people who could benefit from deodorant. We will stay the night in scary crime infested Trinidad and than we board a plane going to Texas. We are on American soil! We will dash to the nearest fast food joint get a nice breakfast and hop on a plane to Utah. Home, sweet home. We are starting to get excited. I know you all may think our excitement is a little premature BUT, we can actually say "there is an end to this darn tunnel". We have been thinking about going home for a really long time and now we can do it... next month. All of our friends here get to leave in the middle of next week. The fourth term for Med students is the longest and "hardest", Nick has been doing a good job. He ALWAYS makes sure he and I have time to talk and spend time together. When we get back we'll have been married for SIX months(almost, just a few days shy), that time really did fly by. We've even decided on a few places that are a must while we are there. So keep your calendars clear!

If They Mated

I remember the Conan O'brian show. I loved that show. My favorite thing he would do is "If They Mated". He would show different compilations of celebrity faces to come up with funny faces. In fact, I think if you go here you can see some! Anyway, I was done studying for the day and Ku'ulei and I wondered what our kids would look like so we decided to take matters into our own hands. From left to right are the twins, Gretchen and Gertrude and on the right is our son Tim. Don't worry we won't really name our kids that and I am sure they will be much better looking too.

Flooded with Distractions!

While I was watching Gabe, I was having her draw pictures of fruit. I would first show her the shape then she would color it in. I was cooking dinner at the same time and was filling the water in the sink so I could do the dishes. The washer was going and the t.v. was going so all the noises were sort of combined. I was a scatter brain. I then look around the apt. and I see that the sink was just about to over flood. I quickly ran over to stop the water. I was trying to drain the sink a little but I had made the water so hot I could stick my hand in the sink. I slowly scooped the water out of the sink with one of the bowls that were floating on top. It was a good laugh, and was funny to see how quickly I forgot about something! Anyways, I was glad I caught it before it spilled onto the floor. I would have made the little girl clean it up. (haha, jk Casey).

FOOD! GLORIOUS FOOD!

Lately,  Nick and I have been seeing tons of fast food commercials. From nice crisp fish sandwiches from Wendys to BK Breakfast shots. Normally, this wouldn't be torture but, watching these commercials makes our mouths water and our stomachs growl.  We have been in Grenada for exactly 66 days (but who's counting..this Nick here...I am!). Over the past months we have not had a decent fast food "meal". What Nick and I would give to have a nice greasy, nasty burger that has been sitting under a warming light for who knows how long, at least we could get our food pretty much on demand and it would taste pretty close to what you imagine it would be. In Grenada, I have been SO VERY disappointed in some restaurants that I would eat a burger off of the floor of McDonalds if that meant I could eat something so familiar and delicious. Even now as I write this blog I can almost taste the salty-fat saturated french fries dipped into my vanilla ice cream cone. So, for all you LUCKY people who have the luxury of going to a fast food restaurant remember the people in a far off country who would die to do just that.

Hasta la Vista

 As some of you may know, I got a hamster a couple months ago. I thought by getting a hamster it would "fix" my need of wanting a dog. AND, as most of you may know I DID get a dog, but a couple days later gave it back to the previous owner. (he was really mean and aggressive) SO now that I have "experimented" long enough with trying to own something other then a dog, I have decided to sell my hamster. It may sound like I'm not a loving, caring, compassionate person because I am. I just really don't feel like taking care of a hamster that doesn't really do anything. (yes, I knew hamsters couldn't fetch) I posted my hamster Miss "Snowyballs" (in the words of a 3 yr. old, Gabe) on the post. A few days have gone by and I was thinking I wasn't going to be able to sell her. Then hope arouse in the form of an e-mail asking if the hamster was still available. I was thrilled. I am now awaiting the e-mail from this person to see when they want to take her. All I have to say now is "hasta la vista hamster".

Not Ourselves

What would Kuulei look like if she decided to tatoo her face and do the punk look? What would I look like if I was a blue eyed surfer dude? What would I look like if I had gender identity disorder? Kuulei and I had a ball on mylifetime.com As you can see some of the images are quite disturbing. Funny enough, me with blue eyes I look a lot like my brother Jim! Anyway, the website is supposed to help women come up with a new look for themselves. They can upload a photo and change hairstyles, colors, make up, and accessories. Kuulei and I abused the software for our own humorous purposes but we were glad we could have a little fun. I am happy I look the way I look, I wouldn't want to change a thing. Oh and one more thing, I know I look freaky scary and I should never go drag again!

Those Lazy Days

It has been nice the last couple weeks. 3rd term did not require a lot of studying each day (besides the days before an exam of course). The first week of 4th term has been pretty low key as well. I have only had microbiology to study and we have only had two lectures each day this week with zero labs. I have been able to study the lectures within just a couple hours and enjoy the rest of my day. As they say all good things must come to an end. Next week we start pathology and clinical skills with nutrition soon to come thereafter. The long lost, yet not forgotten rigors of medical school will return starting Monday. I am excited, but it has been fun for Kuulei and I to do pretty much whatever we want. I am glad we got married when we did so that we could enjoy each other and have a little bit of a "honeymoon" since we didn't get to go anywhere yet. School will be busy, but we are having a nice time and school is never too long before the next break so it is manageable.

A Side I Never Knew!!!

Being married definitely shows a different side of the person you married. Some times its endearing, cute, disgusting, annoying, and my favorite, funny. A few nights ago Nick and I headed to bed. It takes both of us a while to go to bed. We have the usual problem of trying to get comfortable. I toss and turn and just when I get comfortable Nick moves. He's tossing and turning every five seconds. I finally ask him, "are you alright?" He says, "yes." At the same time he grabbed his pillow and started fluffing it. I finally think he's going to calm down and go to bed so I turn and start falling asleep. All of a sudden, I hear something hit the bed and I turn to see Nick punching the pillow. I say, "what are you doing?" then he looks at me with a slightly deranged look and says, "if anyone touched you I would do this to them!" Then he savagely starts punching the pillow. When he finally stops I can barely breath from laughing so hard. I then tell him, "I never knew you could be so aggressive." He looks at me and just smiles. Nick surprises me everyday. Mostly its because he's so funny. Other times its not so funny. In all fairness to Nick I surprise him numerous times a day. Like I said it's not always pleasant. We definitely always have fun, by the end of the day we have a bunch of things to laugh about. It may not have been so funny at the time, but at the close of the day we are just grateful to be with one another.

10 Things I Love About Kuulei

Ok since it is Valentines day I thought I would be soppy. I hope my buddies don't read this!

1. She is too funny I laugh so hard I cry a lot.
2. Her wit...it'll getcha!
3. I kind of like a girl that is good at wrestling..keeps me in line.
4. Her no nonsense attitude.
5. She is as beautiful as a cloudy English sunset.
6. She is so kind.
7. We have so many similarities, yet the right amount of differences.
8. She is my best friend.
9. She would do anything for me.
10. She is an incredible cook!

Happy Valentines Day! I love my Hawaiian princess.

A Smokey Atmosphere.

Since we've been here in Grenada, our apartment has smelled like cigarette smoke. In fact it smells like we smoke. I personally think it is a very nasty habit, but I think it is even a nastier habit when others have to suffer from it. Our Neighbors next door are very avid smokers. Yes, they are in medical school so I don't know why they would want to put themselves through that. It is so bad that when they smoke at night I can smell it coming through our wall.  When ever we leave the apartment and come back we are greeted with a face full of tainted air. I asked Nick if he could talk to the management here to see if they could do anything about it, but before we asked I decided to look in the apartment manual and it said that it was alright to smoke. Nick was thinking of a way that he could minimize the smoke in our apartment. He came up with plugging the internet jacks in the bedrooms next to the guys apartment. I told him it was  a horrible idea and I didn't think it would work. I said "I don't think plugging up those two holes will do anything but waste tape". He said give it a few days and so I did. Monday nights I have a warm-up class I go to and NORMALLY when I come home I get that unpleasant scent this time I could NOT smell it. I decided that I wasn't fully convinced so Nick and I went on a little walk yesterday and when we came back we specifically started to sniff the air for cigarette smoke, there was NONE AT ALL! I apologized to Nick saying that I should listen to his ideas more often. Moral: Your husbands do know what they are doing in some cases. Have a wonderful day!

Wedding Pictures!

Good news! We got some wedding photos for you! Have a look...this is us after the Luau...didn't they turn out great? Hehe just kidding. We made these little cartoons on Manga. Our real wedding pictures are found on facebook. We don't let people other than our friends see our facebook photos so if you are not our friend on facebook yet add us! We wanted to thank our wonderful sister Vaina and our amazing friend Sara Weir for taking photos for us. Thanks to them, we can always remember our special day!

25 Things about Me

There has been a lot of these things going around lately so I thought I would post some about me as well.

1. I love Kuulei Jennifer Leanne Harker ( sometimes I still say Barton hehe)
2. I was an all-star catcher when I was in 8-10 year old little league.
3. I was an all-star outfielder in 11-12. (My coach's son got the catcher job. Rip off!)
4. I broke my nose by doing a dive off the bunk bed into the toy box
5. When I was 6, a 12 year old picked me up and threw me in horse poo.
6. I have a scar on my forehead that was caused by a baseball bat!
7. I want to visit the world...as long as I get the exit row.
8. I love the beach but hate the heat.
9. I used to speak German quite well.
10. I love hockey and was captain and an all star in that sport as well.
11. I met Kuulei at FHE. I asked her what her name was.
12. I love all sorts of food but Asian Cuisine is my top!
13. I am a pretty good cook...at least I think so.
14. They made Mississippi Mud yogurt in England and I miss it.
15. Speaking of good things from England. I think Galaxy bars are the best chocolate in the world!
16. I am one of few tall people that don't play basketball
17. I actually like church!
18. I am way smart even though sometimes my grades say otherwise.
19. I got ran over by a truck and broke many bones in both feet.
20. I got hit in the throat with a speeding hockey puck. The guy that did it said, "you're lucky" in a jerk tone of voice like he did it on purpose.
21. I hope that kid dies.
22. I love my family very much
23. I like cliff diving even though I don't do it much.
24. I love to bowl and eat out at my favorite restaurants with family/friends.
25. I am a very happy person :)

There I hope that was fun to read!

Don't Bite The Hand That Feeds You...

Recently, I have been going through a tough time. It's wonderful being here with Nick but I think I've been going a little crazy not having anything to do. I was trying to come up with a solution. For a long time I really, really wanted a dog. But... We obviously can't afford one living on loans and all that. I wanted something I could care for, that would consume my time since a baby is out of the question right this minute. I thought I could get another kind of pet. I went to the pet store with Nick and I saw the perfect "fix". It was a little dwarf bunny. It was so cute and it was the perfect size and I fell in love with it. Well, Nick said I should sleep on it because I could suddenly change my mind. As the days went by I decided I really wanted that Bunny. Today, I told Nick that I definitely wanted it. We went down to the pet store to pick it up, but it wasn't there. It had been sold the very day we were in there looking at it :(. I was SO disappointed, I felt like a kid that didn't get their way. If I had been any more upset, I would have thrown my body on the ground kicking and screaming. At first, I just stood there thinking "this is a joke, why does this have to happen". I asked if they were going to be getting any more and she said in a few months. Obviously I didn't want to wait, by then it would be useless. The Sales Clerk suggested a hamster. I was thinking "NO! I want a freaking bunny!". But as I looked around I would have no choice if I wanted a pet. So I gave in and I got a little hamster. It wasn't that bad, we ended up getting the hamster for free because we bought a cage. We spent a lot less than we were prepared to spend, which made Nick and I pretty happy. I let Nick choose the name and he chose "Snowball", the reason being (this is the exact wording Nick used) "because she was white and cuddles in a little ball".  We got her home and later in the evening I was putting my hand out to her and she reached up and bit me. I was a little startled and Nick came out after I had let out a yelp, I had a single drop of blood. And so here we have the title, "Don't Bite The Hand That Feeds You."

A Hair Raising Experience

Since being here in Grenada I thought I could experiment with a different hair color/hair-do. I was going to go to the Salon right next to our apartment thinking "it's Grenada, how expensive could it be." But it was pretty pricey (surprise, surprise). So I decided to do my own dying, so Nick and I went to the store and got a box that was suppose to make my hair dark brown with a bit of a purple hint, I though it would look good. I also wanted to cut my hair a bit. I had nick cut about 4" and he did a great job. We waited a little bit and then I told him that I wanted him to dye my hair. So we started to dye it and all the while I was looking at it thinking this looks a little too purple, But we continued to color. Finally, Nick was done and I waited about 30 minutes then began to rinse and while I was rinsing Nick said "I think it's rad, but you might think it's a little to purple." I was thinking "O great! Just what I wanted a purple head of hair." I finished rinsing and I wouldn't look at it until I dried it with the hair dryer. I finally worked up enough strength to take a look and it was a shock! I thought it would grow on me, but as the night worn on I didn't like it at all. The next day Nick and I had to get my ID at the School,  and let me tell you in the sunlight I looked freaking RIDICULOUS! I was getting a lot of unwanted attention, nobody said anything but I was getting a lot of lookers. The second I got home I asked one of the other members (she is a professional hairdresser) if she could fix the problem I had created. She was very kind and she took me in immediately and fixed my hair and even cut it with layers! So needless to say I NOW absolutely LOVE my hair and I LOVE the little change! I figured the worse thing that could happen was me having to shave my head. haha jk I am grateful that little mistake happened here instead of America!

Home Alone

So Kuulei went off to do some work outs with the girls in the branch here. I have been left to fend for myself. I was imagining pesky robbers trying to break in to my home and leaving the water faucet going all night while I foiled their attempts with numerous micro machines and BB gun traps while I slap my hands on my face. Yes I did shave today. Then I remembered that I am almost 30 years old and learning to be a professional. Still, I think it is important for us to keep the inner child within us. There are appropriate times where we can let go and just have fun. I am almost 30 yes, but I have still found a lot of joy in watching cartoons, or talking about jumping on the bed with the neighborhood kids, or letting my mind imagine like it once did. Being able to laugh and enjoy life has helped me cope when things are stressing, difficult, or even sometimes scary! P.S. Kuulei come back! I promise I will never study again!

A Night on the Town

The words I will use for tonight is....adventurous, slightly frustrating. Tonight's adventures will take us to a local restaurant called "The Owl". We went with a group intending on having a nice get together, and don't get me wrong the company was great. The thing was we decided to be a little cheap so we were only going to order a couple banana splits and then we decided to get a fruit punch smoothie while we waited. Wait we did indeed. Our drinks came out about a half hour to about an hour after ordered. We proceeded to wait, and wait, and aw yes wait a little bit more. Finally the waitress came out after everybody got there food and she had a couple of fruit punch smoothies with her, she was asking who ordered them. Both of us said "we ordered two banana splits". She walked away and came back a little after that with a hamburger and said who ordered the hamburger and we looked at each other as she looked at us and she said to us "did you order the hamburger". In disbelief I told her we had not and asked if they were making us the banana splits we had ordered almost an hour ago. She told us the guy was making it. We waited a bit longer and then a bartender comes out with two banana daquiries and asked who ordered them and looked at us and we said we ordered two banana splits. I finally decided to stand up and go talk to someone until they understood what I said. We finally got a banana split out of it. I'm thinking I'll just settle with eating banana splits in America. 

It was time to go home after a long late afternoon out. We had a lot of fun but wanted to hurry home so that Nick could complete his studying for the night. We were trying to figure out what we should do about the bus situation. We had two options, We could catch this first bus which would then take us to campus and then wait for another bus which would take us to our apartment or we could take the first bus and walk about 15 minutes in the dark to our apartment. We were looking for the fastest way possible. We decided to walk. It wasn't a bad walk but it was very interesting. As we were walking home in a rather dark area I saw this dark mass and it was pretty big just off to the side of the road. I was thinking about what it could be. My mind went from animal to animal. I was thinking it was a horse, but no, it couldn't be it wasn't tall enough. I then thought it could be a goat, but no, it couldn't be that either, too big. Finally I thought I wonder if it is a cow. I was thinking I have not seen a cow around here any where so why on earth would a cow be on the side of the road. We finally came upon it and sure enough it was indeed a cow, actually I take that back it was a bull with pretty big horns!!! Nick and I both looked at each other and simultaneaously quickened our steps while looking over our shoulders making sure the bull didn't run after us. We made it to our apartment unharmed and very amused.

Hi Folks Nick here, Kuulei and I had been previously traumatized by a horse in Hawaii.  We were on a walk then as well and the horse galloped up to the fence and fluttered its lips and neighed at us.  We decided to imitate the horse and fluttered our lips back at it.  I wonder if that means "I want to kill you" in horse language because it seemed to just get more angry at us.  Good thing we didn't stomp our feet and kick up dirt behind us with one leg to this bull tonight.  I swear we always have an adventure when we go out.

A Little Inconvenience...

 The first week (23 weeks left to go) of the new semester ended on Saturday. I was SO THRILLED that I would be able to spend time with Nick and even better we were going to go to the beach! But..... of course something HAD to happen, It started to rain! In fact it ended up raining the ENTIRE day. The day actually didn't turn out bad it was a nice relaxing day, despite not being able to bask in the nice sun that had been out the entire week leading up to the Saturday. Nick and I still enjoyed the day and enjoyed being in each others company. SO! That brings us to today, Which is a Tuesday some of Nick's friends wanted to celebrate us getting married so we are going to go down and meet them. Nick made a wonderful suggestion about going to the beach. It started to rain. Yup, I was staring out the window thinking you have got to be kidding me, Eventually it did stop and we were still able to go. Nick also came home and the first thing he said to me is " Honey, you are going to kill me." I was thinking what does he mean. Did he get kicked out of school (haha, very unlikely. But it still circled around in my head). Turns out he had just lost his school ID, the credit card, the insurance card, and a few other cards. He was already very upset and surprisingly enough I was not bothered by it( Him losing the cards). Which I was very grateful for because about 45 minutes later one of the other members in the Branch found all of the cards and called him and told him he found it!  I am beginning to learn that almost anything in life is not as convenient as I or even WE would like it to be. I guess what I have to learn is just roll with it. It isn't too bad really. As long as you have a great spouse and some patience everything will turn out just fine.

The Epic Journey

Well we got into Grenada at about 7 a.m. local time which would be 4 a.m. Utah time. So total trip time was about 25 long hours. The trip was fine we managed to get exit rows and was fairly comfortable. We got into the Trinidad airport at about 8:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. Utah time) and from there the trip went from alright to very frustrating and emotionally painful. The 10 hour layover dragged on and on. In the beginning when we were going through immigration we got up to the desk where they stamp our passports and we didn't know what our flight number was going to be for the morning flight so we got up there and she told us to go to the continental "representatives" so we got out of line and went to the "representatives" and we asked the guy sitting on the chair if he was the one we needed to talk to. he replied "yes" and then we asked him if he would know the flight number we needed and he said "That my friend is something you and you alone should know". So we ended up just getting on the internet and figuring it out ourselves. Finally it was 4 a.m. our time and we began to check in. We were very blessed because we only ended up having to pay for one checked bag when we had four to check in.  From there the time went by quicker and we got on the plane going to our final destination and just so you can share in the moment we would describe the smell as earwax, stale cigarette smoke, and sweaty bodies. We landed in Grenada at about 7 a.m. very exhausted and starving. Everything went very smoothly. We got ALL of our checked luggage and manage to not have to pay a duty on my laptop. We got to the Apartment and took a nice long nap. Then woke up and got settled and then we realized we needed to eat and one of the other families here were kind enough to make us a nice little lunch and then took us to the store so that we could get some food. All in all we are very happy to be with one another and very glad we are going to be starting our new married life together... even if its in Grenada. hehe :D

Our new blog!

Hi everyone, Kuulei and I decided to start our own blog. We would like to pack it full of fun stories, funny jokes, and pictures of our lives together. Let me hand you over to Kuulei so she can greet you all as well :) (She thinks I am a nerd now).

Hey guys! :D

We are in Trinidad airport and it is about 12:35 in the morning. We were trying to pass the time while we wait for our flight to Grenada so we wanted to get our blog started. Check back every so often and we will try to keep things as updated as possible. Bye for now!