Winter Activities part 2

There was a ward Elder's Quarum activity to go ice fishing at Panguitch Lake. Adrian went with Levi and took my dad. It was a bright sunny day and they enjoyed fishing. Levi enjoyed playing with the others kids on the lake. At one point he stepped into an open hole and got his leg wet clear up to his waist. Levi said he wanted to step into the hole and get wet, so he did it. Good thing it was very warm. Levi loves eating donuts and here he is after eating a powdered sugar donut at the lake. 

Adrian had a lot of free time with his last rotations. The winter weather was pretty mild and we decided to head south a bit to Snow Canyon State Park. I knew the boys would love the sand dunes, and they did. The first thing they did was kick their shoes off. Levi ran all about, up and down the hills. 

Malachi liked to crawl on his hands and knees for a bit. He liked to slide backwards down the hills.  We burried the boys in the sand, had races running down the sand hills and went for a hike on a paved trial.

We walked quite a ways hiking down a paved path. The boys rode their bikes down the whole way. Malachi kept trying to ride his bike off the path. We think we have a future mountain biker on our hands who likes to ride in the dirt instead of the pavement. After we turned around and headed back, the boys ditched their bikes and Adrian and I had to carry them.

We had a lot of fun. All the boys love getting out of the house and going for adventures. The weather was wonderful especially being in the middle of winter.

We had another ice fishing trip to Panguitch Lake. It was my dad, our whole family and Aydri. We drove the 4-wheeler out on the lake towing the sleigh. The weather was not the best. It was cloudy and windy, but we never got cold. We had an ice fishing hut to warm up in and a stove to heat up lunch. 

At one point Malachi got really grumpy because he was tired. He fell asleep on Adrian and Adrian was able to lay him down in the sleigh so he could nap.

 We did catch a few fish. The boys both like reeling in a fish. 

Here's little Malachi and me right before heading to church. It took him a while to warm up to like being in nursery. But, by the time we left, he was doing really well. 

We went with Cari, Neal and Cambree to Kolob Canyon. It was a nice sunny day and we hiked a couple miles to a lookout.

The boys are good hikers. They do, at times, get tired. But, they enjoy being out and exploring. 

Sundays at our house are very relaxing after church. It's kind of a mad dash in the mornings, but the afternoons are lazy. While Malachi napped, Adrian fell asleep, and Levi fell asleep on top of him. The boys love Adrian. Anytime Adrian is home they have to be with him. So, I was not especially surprised to see Levi asleep on top of Adrian.

The boys are hardly ever dressed at home. I always dress them in the mornings and they always perfer to be undressed. So they run around the house undressed and occasionally open the back door to play outside. The cold never even bothers them :)

Here's Malachi at Aydri's special agent Spy birthday party. It's been so fun being close to family this year and being able to go to birthday parties and family get togethers.

We even had a Valentine's party where each couple told how they met and we played minute to win it games. We all had a good time.

Here are the boys while mama does the shopping. Papa watches them while they browse the toy isle. This is good entertainment for the kids for a good 1.5 hours!

Residency Match and an uncertain future (Adrian's view)

It has been a while since I wrote an entry, most of the ones in our blog are written by Tammy; of course, I agree with them is just that I don't always have time to write and she does a better job. However this entry is important as it has been difficult for me and I hope that it will help me overcome future challenges and I certainly hope that in the future I can look back at this and realize that "it was not as bad as it feels now".
The title of the entry gives a glimpse of what I am writing. This started in early March 2015 when I was rotating as a 4th year medical student in Las Vegas. It had been over six months since I submitted my application for residency to 50 different programs all over the US for OBGYN. I went to 8 interviews and for the most part I think I did everything possible to successfully match. The rotation in Las Vegas was difficult, mostly the time commitment; I was working 80+ hours each week. During my second week there (2 of 4) it was the week when I was supposed to receive an email on Monday (March 16) as to whether I matched somewhere or not, then on Friday (March 20) I would receive an email stating which program I matched into. I remember very clearly that Monday, I was tired, going through rounds and trying to pay attention while I was constantly looking at my phone to see if I got a new email. The time slowly came and to my great surprise, I did not match. I had two residents working with me who were wonderful, the whole time they were very optimistic and excited. Once the time came, they early asked "so did you match?". I could not even respond, my heart was broken and I could feel tears down my face. They immediately knew what it meant. I remember going to the bathroom and basically breaking into tears and crying inconsolably. I am not even sure now why I cried, most of have been the overwhelming feeling of emotions and panic. I did not what to do, my arrogance to that point had convinced me that I was never going to have to go through this, I did not plan to the "what if". I mean, most medical students successfully match and most make it to their 1 or 2 choice. Why not me?? It is a question that I still can not answer.
Well, I had to scramble which basically meant to apply to all open programs. There was no open OBGYN spots so I applied to some preliminary surgery programs, some radiology programs and even a couple family medicine programs....nothing. It was Thursday night and I had not found any place that would take me. I was desperate and totally devastated. I am not sure if I could even convey what I felt that moment. To most medical students residency match is the "ultimate goal" of years of studying, huge amounts of debt, frustrations, etc. To most medical students it means knowing where you will live for the next few years, it means some kind of stability, perhaps a first home, perhaps closer to family. I then looked up DO programs who did not fill on the DO match a month earlier and I started sending emails and applications to Traditional internship (TRI) programs. I could not see myself doing IM or family Medicine which was most of the open programs. So I applied to TRI spots since TRI is a year long where you rotate to different fields and basically you have to reapply for residency the next year. It was not the best option but it was all I had. Perhaps I should have applied to IM or Family med, I don't know.
I probably sent emails and applications to 10 or so programs. I received phone interviews for 4 programs and basically offers for 3. I had to decide very quick and the programs too had to pick someone really quick. So there was not time to think about options, or compare programs, etc. I was offered one position in Port St. Lucie Florida and two in Brooklyn NY area. I quickly google cost of living in those areas and it was obvious that I had to pick florida (the cost of living in NY would have been impossible for a family of 4). So there I was taking  position for TRI in Florida. Even right now (june 9) can not believe this happened to me and that now I am in Florida.
I have no idea what I am going to do now, applied to OBGYN again, another program?? I am not sure and to make it worse I have to start the application cycle again in July.
I met a physician in Cedar (Dr. Rand Colbert, dermatologist) while I rotated in his clinic. He happened to be in my ward in Cedar and during the last few months he was our home teacher. He has been very optimistic and supportive as he can during this time in my life. When I told him that I did not match, to my surprise, he was happy that I did not. He said that he felt OBGYN would not have been a good field for me and that now that I have an extra year I can apply to other fields that may be better. I was thankful for this advise and optimism but it is hard to believe I could do other "more attractive fields" when I have been a barely average student (on paper) to this point. I don't have the awesome test scores, I was not top of my class, I don't have some cool research paper...I supposed if I did, maybe I would have matched into OBGYN.

Winter activities part 1

We had a very mild winter. We were able to go out and play a lot because it was warm.

We took a trip to St. George. It was beautiful sunny weather. We stopped by temple to snap some pictures.

It's very rare, but here's proof that it snowed in St. George.

Levi would say "Malachi, give me a hug", and Malachi would hug him. It was super cute. Levi said it over and over and Malachi kept hugging him :)

Malachi could slip through the temple grounds gate. He would slip through and I'd have to run all the way around to get him on the other side. Here's Malachi's "cheese" face.

We did get a couple good snow storms. We tried sledding a few times.

Grandpa pulled us behind the 4 wheeler on a tube. Levi enjoyed being pulled. He had to sit on my lap because the hole in the tube was too big for him.  Malachi preferred to ride on the 4 wheeler with Grandpa.

My boys love to read books. We go the library every 3 weeks to get new books. There was one book that was pretty simple. Levi could look at the pictures and recite the wording exact for every page because we had read it to him so much.

We took a trip to Zion and it was beautiful.

The boys rode their bikes around the Lodge parking lot. They then rode them over the river bridge and started up the Angel's Landing paved trail. I said to Adrian "Bikes aren't allowed on this trail." He chuckled and said, "And who's going to stop them, the tricycle police?" Well, about 3 minutes after the boys have continued to  ride up the trail, a ranger came walking down the trail. He told us, "bikes aren't allowed on this trail". So we had to turn around and go back to the Lodge parking lot to let the boys ride their bikes. We still chuckle about the fact that just after Adrian said his smart remark, there came a ranger.

We had a picnic on the Lodge lawn, threw a frisbee and kicked a ball around. It was great low chill time with the family.

We played by the river for a while throwing rocks in and drawing in the mud with sticks. The boys took their shoes off and dipped their toes in the water. That lasted for literally a second because the water was so cold. We had no agenda so we played by the water for a while just enjoying our time together as a family :)

Then we drove the Temple of Sinawava. There was no direct sun there and it was chilly.

Levi loved to literally roll around in the sand.

We played there for a while and tossed rocks in the river some more. Adrian and I took turns seeing how far across the river we could throw rocks.

Next we climbed the very short trail to view the Court of the Patriarchs. It was very sunny and pleasantly warm.

We enjoyed our day trip. It was great to get out for adventures with the whole family.

Malachi's 2nd Birthday

Malachi had his 2nd Birthday on March 12th. We celebrated early due to Adrian being gone on his actual birthday. We had a big celebration!! Lots of family and friends came.  We had a big dinner and had planned some games, but we never got around to playing the games because we were having such a good time just enjoying everyone's company.

Malachi got lots of presents. This was his first party where family was able to attend and they spoiled him with gifts.

Here's some of the party guests!

LeAnn and Grandpa.

 Alan and Liz Gudmundson.

Jana and Joe.

 Lots of cousins.

Awkward picture of me.

Cari and Cambree.

Grams and Gramps.

Adrian's school needed a recent family picture so we attempted to capture one. These were the best we got.

Malachi loves Mickey, so I made him a little Mickey smash cake. 

He blew out the candles and we stripped him down so he could get nice and messy.

And he would not smash his cake. Not one little bit. He looked at it, but would not eat it or poke his finger in it.

Instead, he ate a Mickey cupcake. Or I should clarify he just ate the Oreo cookies off the top of the cupcake.

 It was a great evening with family, friends and food. We love our little Malachi and enjoy seeing his personality develop as we watch him grow. He brings so much joy into our lives. 

2 Year old Stats:
2 feet 10 1/4 inches
28.2 pounds

Life Changes

Tammy's version:

We've had quite an eventful month. Prior to this past month we knew where we were headed and had everything lined up to make it where we wanted. Match day for Adrian's residency was on March 20th. A few days prior to finding out where we matched for residency we were to get an email stating whether we matched at all or not. We had ranked our list of possibilities. Our top 5 being in this order: Kansas City, MO; Salt Lake City, UT;  El Paso, TX; Hartford, CT; Toledo, OH. Adrian had received a letter from the Kansas City program stating they really liked him and were going to rank him highly. Legally they could not tell him what number they were going to rank him and by telling him that they were going to rank him high they hoped we would rank them high in return so we could both match together. He also received a similar letter from the Baltimore program which we really did not care to go to. We were completely expecting to match in Kansas City. We were looking at houses that we could buy and were telling everyone we would be shocked if we matched somewhere other than Kansas City. Adrian was working in Las Vegas during match week and had taken the 20th off so he could come home and celebrate his matching together.

Well, come March 16th we got the email stating whether we matched at all or not. And to our horror and complete shock, we did not match to any of our 8 possibilities. This only happens to about 10% of medical school students. Well, Adrian was applying to a position in OB/GYN. The next step was to look at all OB programs in the whole nation that did not get a spot filled. Our next big shock was that there was not a single open position in OB in the entire nation either through an MD residency or a DO residency. Basically Adrian had to choose a different field of medicine he wanted to go into or reapply next year for OB. We went through 4 scramble matches choosing other fields that Adrian would want to do and one by one we were notified that we did not match in any of those 4 scramble matches either. We were shocked. Adrian was so devastated. He was all alone in Las Vegas doing a rotation and going through one of the hardest moments of his life. All his buddies from school matched and that made feel even more disappointed.

On March19th, after all the official matches were over Adrian started turning in his application for any possible transitional year positions available. This would be his absolute last possible scenario. He had never planned for the possibility of not matching at all and if we had to do it all over again he would have applied to a transitional year right in the first round of scramble matches. A transitional year is an intern year where you rotate through all fields of medicine, then after that the training gets more specialized. On March 19th we had two choices for a transitional year. One in Brooklyn NY and another in Port St Lucie, FL. The housing market in Brooklyn is way more than we could afford, so we were basically forced into our Florida option. So, that is where our new life's road is taking us. Port St. Lucie Florida.

I had been constantly praying before the match asking for us to be placed where God wanted us and where we needed to be. Even after we found out we didn't match, but had not secured a place yet,  I still felt like God had his hand in our life and would place us where we needed to be. It was hard to not see our path going as planned. But, we must go forward in faith. I'm sure there is wisdom in this that we don't see yet.

While Adrian was in Vegas he wreaked his car. It was his fault, he turned left and got T-boned. He called me right after it happened, even before the police arrived and he sounded so composed. He was not shaken or upset in any way. He later told me he been having a feeling that he would wreak his car. And after he wreaked his car, he thought "ok, it's over now". This, on top of not matching, was really hard for Adrian. He had so many different feelings and was upset about how things in his life were going.

Not getting a residency means we have to reapply next year for a residency spot. Turning is his application, interviewing and going through the match again. There are some fields which require a transitional year and he's going to go for those now. He's basically given up on OB/GYN. The programs which require a transitional year are the specialties that have a better life style. So, maybe he didn't match in OB/GYN so his work would have a better life style?? Who knows?

So, we move in a month, then we'll move in a year for a residency, and then we'll move again after residency. That's at least 3 moves we foresee in the next 5 years. We made a bold move and instead of renting a Uhaul truck like we had planned, which will cost about $3,500 each time (minus gas, hotels, and food), we bought a big pickup truck and 20 foot trailer to move ourselves in. It's a lot of money to pay upfront, but will save us money in the long run of not renting moving trucks. We've had to downsize our belongings to be able to fit all our stuff in the trailer. It's a little hard to sell our large items we bought new and lost money on, but in the end, it's just replaceable stuff. We should be able to pay off the truck and trailer with the money we got from Adrian's car and the money we get from selling our Corolla. Adrian will have to buy a little run around car once we get to Florida and I will have to drive the large truck with the kiddos.

We've contacted the bishop in Florida and he's put us contact with someone to help us secure a house. Everything seems to be falling into place. We cannot deny that God is in control. He clearly wanted us down a different path then we were headed and now we seem to be on that different path. Not sure why, but I'm sure someday we will know. I'm handling things great. I've always just gone with the flow knowing things will work out. We've got one more month before we move. It's a bit bittersweet. It's exciting to be moving on, but I've really enjoyed living in Cedar close to family. It's all about attitude. Things are great if you view them as being great!!