July/August 2015

Adrian started his first rotation during his first year of a transitional residency July 1st. This year he is rotating through different fields of medicine since he did not match into a specialty. This year will be similar to the last two years as far as learning, but this time he does get paid for his time. In July he rotated in Pathology. He said he learned some, but definitely not as much as he should be learning. He says this hospital is not an academic teaching hospital. It does not prepare the student physician to be well prepared in the real world. In fact, he had a doctor he was rotating with flat out tell him that this hospital in not interested in his education. They are only interested in receiving the money they get by having residents. Adrian is pretty frustrated about that. He really feels like this year will be a waste of his time and not only not prepare him to be better, but it counts for nothing.

Anyway, Pathology was a pretty easy going rotation. He got along with the Pathologists and was able to be home evenings and weekends. In August he started surgery. He said the surgeon he was with was overall a good guy, but his language, arrogance and sexual jokes with staff were awful. He worked longer hours and had to work some weekends. He said he learned a little, but was once again disappointed in all he was allowed to do. 

September he started Internal Medicine rotating with the hospitalist. He specifically requested to be a doctor who was known as being tough. This doctor really puts him down and treats him as the scum of the earth who knows nothing. It really irritates Adrian to be treated this way because he is forced to subject himself to this bullying, when in reality it is not his personality to do so. He works 12-16 hours everyday, only getting Saturdays off. He tried requesting having Sundays off, but they told him "no". 

Another thing Adrian is irritated about is the program made him do some research, which he did. His research got accepted to be presented later this month down in West Palm, but they won't let him take a half day off to go present it, even though it will look good for the program. 

Now, I'm not trying to sound so negative here. I'm just recording how things are going so we can look back on these days someday. 

Now, as for me and boys, we've been pretty ok. Malachi's been sick a couple times, but overall we're ok. I attempted to start potty training Malachi because I think he's ready. I set my timer for 30 min and would take him and he has a sticker chart and gets a treat every time he goes. He did good for a couple days. Then he got sick, so we stopped. Then we started again, and he got sick again. He now tells me a very firm "no" if he does not want to go. I think I'll try being strict again in a month. For now, he goes only when he feels like a treat. 

Malachi has been communicating so well lately. His most common phrases are "ok" or "how come". We've converted his crib into a toddler bed. The first couple weeks we'd find him sleeping on the floor or in bed with Levi, but now he has no problem. He's always the first one up in the morning and comes into my room saying he wants his "milky". He seems to always have his own agenda and has no problem playing by himself. He enjoys nursery at church and looks forward to going. His latest incident was he stepped barefoot into an ant hill. Poor kid, so innocent and unsuspecting. He ended up with 23 ant-bites on his right foot. Then they got infected and Adrian squeezed the pus out of them. Poor kid could be heard screaming "ow" clear across the house. But, they healed up just fine and he still talks about how he got bit and how papa would hurt his bites.

Here's Malachi when he was sick with a fever. He literally laid on the couch all day long. He even took his nap there.

The boys like to play in the rain. It rains most afternoons.

Here's Malachi at the fabric store. He loves to snuggle things and was walking down the aisles snuggling all the soft fabric. I turned around one time and he had laid down on some fabric to snuggle.

We chose not to put Levi in Preschool this fall. I figured I could teach him his letters and counting and all that stuff. Sometimes I wish I would have put him school, mainly for the interaction with other kids. But, most preschools we called around here seemed like daycares. And Levi still seems so little to me that I cannot imagine sending him away into someone else's care everyday. So, I started teaching him and I get frustrated sometimes because he won't do what I want him to. He'll get upset with me if I want him to do something he himself does not want to do. I'm sure we'll figure something out. 

Levi loves wearing Adrian's long socks. And my boys don't stay in their clothes when they are at home.

Levi said to me "look, I put a pencil behind my ear just like papa."

I found both boys sitting on their own beds being quiet and reading books. They love to read books, but this was a first.

Our hardest thing this summer has definitely been the fact that it's so blasted hot here. We've not been able to get outside and play like we're used to. It does not cool off at night here like it does in Utah so we can't even get out in the mornings or evenings. It's like 80 degrees at 8 am and you sweat instantly if you go out.  We've been stuck inside for months. Now, we do go to the beach every now and then and go to the fountains to play at least weekly. But, we're used to just sitting on the porch and playing everyday to run out some energy. They are like cooped up lions in the house bouncing with energy. I can't wait until it cools off and we can check out the trail systems and frequent the parks more. 

The boys are so sweet. I love that I get to be with them all day, despite the hard times. They both give me kisses and tell me they love me. They still especially love to wrestle with Adrian. They bring so much joy into our lives. 

On the days Adrian has been off we alway be sure to go play. The beach is beautiful and so relaxing. 

Our ward had an Independence Day pancake breakfast, complete with a bike parade for the kids. We decorated the boy's bikes and they raced around the parking lot for a parade.

We watched the city fireworks and it was a fun family moment. We put our futon cushion in the back of the truck and went to the city hall where they launched the fireworks. We were able to lay in the back of the truck and watch them. Levi loved the fireworks. Malachi got scared of the loud sounds and kind of buried himself under a pillow for the most part. It took us a good hour to get home because of the traffic, but it is still a fun family memory.

These boys are best buds and worst enemies.

We took a day trip to Orlando to go to Downtown Disney. It's not in the Disney park and it's free. It was basically shops and restaurants. We visited the toy shops and dinned at a dinosaur themed restaurant. The boys really enjoyed the restaurant. They had big dinosaurs that made sounds and every now and then the place would get dark and there would be a "meteor shower". 

It was a fun experience overall. It was very hot and at times I felt like we were just dragging the boys around in the heat. There wasn't much for the boys to do. They did enjoy looking at all the toys in the toy shops. Levi now says that he wants a "claw" (like in the Toy Story movie) and a flashing sword for Christmas. Those were obviously the toys he liked the most. 

I had a couple friends tell me that in the evening you can see dolphins jumping up the St. Lucie River. We live half a mile from the river boardwalk, so, for Family Home Evening we grabbed some donuts and headed over to see if we could spot the dolphins. The boardwalk was pretty and peaceful. Adrian was very doubtful about seeing dolphins in the river so I really, really wanted to see some. But we didn't.

Adrian went with youth to Orlando to the temple to do baptisms. I believe this picture also has another ward's youth from the stake.

We live close a canal. We're able to walk there with the boys. Here we're sitting on the dock by the boat loading ramp. The water in the canal is black. Not sure why, but it's kind of gross. The water connects to the river, which then goes to the ocean.

Here's Malachi and Adrian's feet. Both boys have Adrian's feet. Adrian's aunt told him they are Quintana feet (from his mom's side).

We have two tortoises that have made burrows in our backyard. This is the smaller tortoise. His shell is about 4 inches wide. The boys also love to catch frogs that are in the yard. 

In other news Adrian and I both have church callings. I am activity day leader, just like I was in my last ward. I enjoy these girls. I think we'll have a lot of fun. Adrian is not usually home when I go so I take the boys with me. Levi loves to go. He likes to play with the girls and he knows he'll always get a treat.

Adrian is the bishop's executive secretary. We just got a new bishop and he feels bad that he has to work sundays this month.

Port St. Lucie, Florida

We're pretty settled in our new home. The house has a lot of open space and not much small storage space. We thought we would need a third room for storage, but we did not need it. The house has a florida room which is basically and enclosed patio. We have a couple things stored out there, like bikes, but it's basically empty. We don't use the patio now either because it's hot. Maybe when the weather cools off we'll use it more. The house also has an attic we don't use at all. We downsized so much we don't have enough stuff to fill up the house :) What storage we do have is stored in our trailer which is parked next to the house. 

The main fun activity we've done here is go to the beach. We go several times a weeks. Here's some pictures of our first time at the beach. 

The boys absolute love the beach. They love running around in the shallow water, digging holes in the sand, bobbing up and down in the waves and looking for seashells. 

I've been the only one who has gotten sunburned. Probably because I'm the only white one :)

We've gone to several different beaches and though they all have sand and water, they are all a bit different. Some have big waves, some are shallow for a ways out into the water and some have lots of seashells. It's been fun to explore all the new places. 

We tried swimming/playing in the Indian River Lagoon in the Fort Pierce area one day. We drove past it one day and it looked nice, so later we went and checked it out. The water was really nice. It was warmer than the ocean and shallow for quite a ways. But, the people there were very sketchy people. We ended up leaving because we didn't want to around the people. 

The Spruce Bluff Preserve is a mile or so from our house. We went for a short hike on the preserve one evening. It was quite enjoyable. Lots of bugs which seemed to feast only on Adrian, which is the norm. 

It is very humid here. We notice the humidity more on the very hot days. We've had multiple people warn us of the hot summer that's coming. Apparently it will feel like we're boiling during the next few months.There are always bugs about. We don't go out of the house ever without putting on bug repellant. 

We came home to a visitor munching on our lawn one day. Since then we've seen him several times, along with a smaller tortoise we've seen in our backyard. We have an empty lot next door that's overgrown with brush and trees. We think they might live in there. 

The city put on a "Safety" community event. We got to see up close a helicopter, fire engine ambulance, school bus, coast guard boat, K-9 dog and some other cool rescue trucks. Levi could see bounce houses in the distance and he did not care about anything else but those. It was almost comical.

Here's the prettiest beach we've been to so far. We're not sure makes it look pretty. Maybe the sun and the time of day because all the beaches are along the same coast and are the same sand with the same water. 

This beach actually had a strong current pulling you out, so we did not play in water much at all. 

My parents came to visit!! They stayed for 10 days and left yesterday. For my birthday we went canoeing in the St. Lucie River. I was a bit nervous at first because I knew there were alligators. But, to our disappointment, we did not see a single alligator. I think I saw an alligator leg as it was walking off into the trees. My dad saw two big eyes disappear quietly under the water once. The water in the river is a dirty brown color, so you're not able to see in it at all. We did see quite a few big splashes ahead of us as we paddled along. I think that must have been the alligators hiding as we approached. There was one time we paddled into a small little outlet, as we tried to turn our canoe around there was a big splash right next to our canoe. We couldn't see what it was because the water was so dark, but it made me scream a little scream and we hurried to get out there. I still think it was probably an alligator right under our canoe in the shallow water!!

It was pretty funny to see my parents canoe. They zigzagged back and forth a bit trying to go straight :) Malachi did not enjoy the ride much. From the get go he was saying he wanted to go home and get the life jacket off.  Levi enjoyed it for a bit. Then he got tired and wanted to go home to nap. We spent 3 hours paddling on the river.

Here we are going under a tree that came out over the water. 

We went to a few beaches while my parents were here. We enjoyed time just relaxing and soaking up the sun. The beach is fun because the water is really warm and the air is warm when you get out. Every beach does seem to have a lot of seaweed. But, we've gotten used to it and don't mind it so much anymore. 

We got both the boys goggles. They really don't like getting the salt water in their eyes when we play in the waves. 

The main adventure my dad wanted to have while he was here was to go deep sea fishing to catch some great big fish. Adrian asked around and found a company they thought would be good. They ended up catching just little tiny fish. In fact, the biggest fish caught by anyone on the boat the whole day was a 7 pounder. The day was quite disappointing. We should have just purchased our own poles and asked around where to go and what to use as bait and fished off the piers and shores the whole time my dad was here. 

One day we saw our friend the tortoise back in our yard. Much to our surprise it dug a hole right next to the front our house and laid eggs. Then it buried them and made it look as if nothing there ever happened. Then, it went on its way. After some research we learned that in about 3 months the eggs will hatch. That should be fun to see :)

Another big surprise are the gigantic wolf spiders we have encountered in our garage. They trump all the big spiders we've ever encountered in Utah and Missouri :(

We've enjoyed our time so far. Adrian starts work July 1st so we've basically been playing for the last month while we get settled in. Adrian purchased a new car. A Mini Cooper. He says it's the funnest car to drive that he's ever owned. It's been a bit of a headache to buy it and get it registered, but we've figured everything out. 

We've been to our new church ward for about a month now. We have to drive 30 minutes to get to the meeting house. That's the furthest we've ever had to drive to get to church. The ward is very diverse. Lots of people from all over and many languages. It's different, but it's good to experience. There are two temples close by, both being about 1.5 hours away. We're assigned to the Orlando temple, but the Fort Lauderdale temple is close too. We have yet to visit the temples. Malachi does great in nursery. They say he plays well and sings the songs. Today when I picked him up he was roaring around the room and so were some other kids. The nursery leader told me they were roaring like dinosaurs. I asked her "was this Malachi's idea?" She chuckled and said "yes, actually". Ha, I find that really funny. At home we run around roaring like dinosaurs while playing hide and seek. All the nursery leaders kept chuckling at Malachi. They must all have girls for children because I find it to be quite normal :) Levi will tell you he hates primary. Today the Primary president told me they can't get a good consistent sunbeam teacher and because of that none of the sunbeams really know a teacher or each other. So, no wonder Levi hates primary, he's really not getting to know anyone and he feels like he's always with strangers. 

For my birthday Adrian bought a new handgun. He's worried of the possibilities that might happen to me and the kids. There is small park close by out house. The first time I went there a young man appeared to be taking photos of me and the boys. The whole situation with him was not normal. But, the neighbors say the neighborhood is safe and now that school is out that same park seems to always have people playing there. We went and shot my new gun for the first time while my parents were here. I'm still getting used to it and would like to get a bit more proficient in using it. 

I'm hoping to find some kind of preschool for Levi. I don't think I'll actually pay to take him somewhere, I always thought I'd just do preschool at home. I think I've found a program that's online for free that will be okay. I also wanted to put the boys in swimming lessons. Drowning is the most common cause of child death in Florida. I'm also hoping to find some kind of beginning music lessons for the boys. We think we'll like Florida. We're going to try to stay here when we apply for residency again. We're really sick of moving around the country so much. 

Doctor Tinajero

After 4 years of really hard work, Adrian graduated from medical school!! He was required to go back to Kirksville to walk, so that's what we did. We decided to pack and move at the same time. Instead of driving to Missouri, then back to Utah, then 2 weeks later drive to Florida, we just stopped in Kirksville along the way to Florida. Stopping in Kirksville only added about an hour on to our trip to Florida.

The KCOM class of 2015's pictures was up on the wall. Since Adrian was class Vice President, his picture was privileged to be in the middle.

Come graduation morning, we knew we needed to get to the auditorium early to get seats together. We arrived about 45 minutes early and the only seats available were on the third road, which happened to be the front row where they allowed people. So, we got a front row seat!! The kids were restless. It's hard for them to sit still for so long. But, they actually did really great!

Here's my attempt to entertain Malachi by taking selfies. 

Levi did not feel so well. He had a stomachache. He did pretty good though sitting through the ceremony.

Here's Adrian receiving his "fake" diploma. They mailed us the real one later. 

Here's Adrian getting the hooding on.

We are so proud of Adrian. Everyone all around was happy and excited.

Levi still did not feel well and was sad for all the pictures. 

Here is Trevor Wright and John Vashaw. They were Adrian's best studying buddies. 

The new doctors with their wives.

Adrian with his cousin Gaby and aunt Rosario.

Adrian with his cousin Edgar.

It was a happy day all around. It was fun to see his classmates and those we associated with that we had not seen in 2 years. Adrian did say that he was not as happy as he thought he ought to be. He still feels and little disappointment and discouragement about not matching and not knowing what his future holds. He saw all his classmates who knew what field they were doing and where they were going and he felt a little excluded, like he'd been put back a bit. Hopefully we find a new track soon and understand why we did not match.