Weeeeeeeeee're Baaaaack

And you know what that means, only a week or so of waiting for the actual posts from the trip. Hopefully I will download the pictures tonight and I want to blog about it before I forget everything. We had a great time. It truly was a magical time with our family. It was very sad to leave Daddy in Dallas for work, Garth Lee cried for about an hour while we waited for our plane. I can't wait to get everything together and blogged on here. Thanks to everyone for holding down the fort back home and to those of you who joined us, we can't wait to do it again!

Congratulations!

I am so happy to announce the graduation of my wonderful husband. Like I always do, I will have to post pictures later because they are still being held captive on the camera. The Friday before graduation was the hooding ceremony. They have also added a new alumni banquet to the list of festivities since my graduation and that was pretty fun too. The hooding was very emotional, until it got the the slide show presentation and while we had all been waiting for hours through banquet and speeches and the hooding of his entire class, it got to him and whoever put the slide show together did not put one of the pictures that we sent into the slide show, it had Garth's school picture and a big picture of the health sciences center on it...what a rip off. It made me madder than it should have, but it really kind of sucked. Oh well. After the hooding, I had to run to work (since I had been paged 5 times during Garth's festivities) and so I took my mom with me and she got to see a little of what I do, then we went to a reception in the club seats at the stadium and it was pretty great. The food was good and unfortunately the view was really good, so Garth was already picking out our $30,000 football seats. Saturday was the actual graduation and it went flawlessly, Garth's brothers both made it to see their big brother receive his Doctor of Pharmacy degree. It was pretty moving. I seriously cannot believe that we are here, finished, done.

Thinking back, we have never been together when we were not in school full time. NEVER. When we started dating, I was a Freshman in college and we were engaged for both of our Sophomore years of school. We both worked full time and went to school full time for 3 years while we were finishing up school at Tech before we moved to Amarillo for my first year of Pharmacy School. When I started in Amarillo, I stopped working full time and I was just going to school full time, but Garth finished his studies at WT and worked full time too so we could pay the bills. When he got into Pharmacy School the following year, he started school full time and 'only' worked part-time (slacker), oh and he also became a dad that year. Since then, he has always worked at least part time while getting through a doctorate program to support his family. We may have had some bumps in the road, but we got here and we are so happy to be here. This Tuesday, I was working at CVS and so was Garth and I kind of got choked up a little thinking about how in the 9 years we have been together, 8 of them married, this was the first day that we were both working full-time jobs that were not interim, or intern, or tech jobs, that neither of us had to run to class after this, that we were both making a paycheck. It was a pretty amazing thought. We have worked hard to get here, so now all he has to do is pass the boards, then I quit ;) Kidding...sort of.

Anyways, congrats to my husband. Even though he doesn't even know what a blog is and he will most likely never read these words, I know he knows how proud of him that I am and how grateful we are to have such a loving father and husband in our home to protect us and to provide for us. Thanks for all the work you have done for us, and I hope that the $400 football tickets are enough for this year, and maybe next year I will let you even get a seat with a back on it. Love you forever!

More Garth Leeisms

Although I haven't had much blogworthy happen lately, there have been a few cute things that I would like to record for my posterity:

#1: My parents save aluminum cans and they have for as long as I can remember. They are not environmentalists, mind you, I think it has continued out of habit since I went on a save the earth kick in the fourth grade. They also drive an 8 mpg "shaggin' wagon" just to even things out. Anyways, you can get more cans in a bag if they are crushed, something I 'joyfully' did as a youngster and that my son apparently enjoys now. My dad walked up on him with a can in the crusher just as he asked the can "Any last words?", I swear the can let out a whimper.

#2: The other day we were sitting together having dinner as a family, which is sadly a rarity for us. I was eating some veggies with ranch dip and I wanted Garth Lee to try the broccoli. We talked to him about how he needs to eat his veggies to grow big and strong, and the rest of the conversation went something like this:

Garth Lee: "Don't worry mommy, I am going to grow up straight, not fat like you and daddy."
Me: "But mommy isn't fat anymore, is she?"
Garth Lee: "Ummm, yeah, you are still a little fat."
Me: "Where am I still fat, I thought I was not fat anymore."
Garth Lee: "Sorry mommy, but you are still a little fat, kind of everywhere, but don't worry, I will stay straight, not fat."
Me: "But daddy is a lot fatter than mommy, right." (Classy, I know)
Garth Lee: "I'm sorry mommy, daddy is only a little fatter, it's OK mommy, you are just still a little fat, but I still love you."
Me: "I love you too." (but I loved you more 15 minutes ago)

Yes, we still had the people come in all shapes, sizes and colors discussion, this was just the best part of it. He was seriously not trying to be mean at all, he was just being very honest and serious. I also like that the opposite of 'fat' to him is 'straight'. I guess it isn't so bad to not be 'straight' I just wish there was an in between...well I guess I am just a little fat, I can take that.

#3: My mom took Garth Lee shopping this week and he wanted to get me something for Mother's Day. When he came home, he told me "We do NOT have anything in the car for you, BUT if we do, you are not getting it until St. Mommy's Day." Gosh, I hope that is sometime close to Mother's Day.

I love my little boy. It makes me sad to see him growing up. It wasn't that long ago when I was just hoping and praying he would sleep through the night. I love to see him change and grow, but I do still mourn the baby I had that is now my little boy.

Tagged...A little Late

My Pharmacy School friend Amanda tagged me a looooong time ago and I just saw it, so here goes:

4th picture in 4th file, no cheating:

Obviously bathtime. This was at a hotel at the Grand Canyon the summer of 2007, so Garth Lee was almost 3 then. We had a great time, I didn't want to cheat, so he looks like he has a foot coming out of his torso, so here is the next one in the file, eating shampoo:

And Less Than a Month Later...

This is us at 5 in the morning after a night of absolutely no sleep because of the water leak in our house the night before. Our flight was delayed over an hour and a half, so we were there VERY early! Thanks Kelton for getting up to take us to the airport at 4 something in the morning.

This was the view from our first room. The resort was right off of the entrance to the rainforest, so here was our rainforest view. No offense to the rainforest, but we really wanted an ocean view so we were able to switch rooms the next day.

This was the view from the room across the hall from our rainforest view room.

This is out the front entrance of the resort, the weather and the scenery were beautiful.

The view from our second room, we were right off the pool then if you look past it, you can see the surf. It was a really great place to be, the scenery was always changing.

Fort Del Morro

View of Cristobal from Morro.

The grounds of Cristobal, all I could think was how much fun Garth Lee would have running around in that field.

Entrance to Cristobal.

Garth really loved the weaponry, so here we are on a cannon at Cristobal.

I especially love that he is carrying my bag in this picture...so vogue!

More fortress views.

The day we went to the rainforest was the only day it rained, which I thought was pretty fitting, this picture shows the rain rolling in over us.

Orchids

More rain in the rainforest

The hike to the waterfall was considered "moderately difficult", I would say that was quite the understatement...here is Garth taking a break. My favorite quote from him that day while we were hiking came after I mentioned that I wish I would have brought a pedometer and he replied "Really? I wish I would have brought a cheeseburger."

Part of the "moderate" hike.

Our prize...it was truly breathtaking...and cold.

But we, of course, still had to get a little wet, it was great...and cold.

Marina Puerto Del Rey, where our snorkeling excursion began.

Cuelebrita Island, very very beautiful, crystal clear waters. This beach is accessible only by boat and it was absolutely gorgeous, this is where we went after our snorkeling excursion.

Look at that water...ahhhh.

More beautiful beachiness.

I thought this picture was kind of funny because here we are on a tropical island and with the cactus and rocks, it looks like I was taking a picture at Lake Allen Henry here in west Texas.

After a formidable hike to the shallows, we were rewarded with beautiful warm pools of water and we could watch the waves roll in through the rock formations, it was probably the most beautiful place we saw the entire trip, as usual the pictures definately do not do this place justice, it was incredible.

A dip in the rock pools.

Beachcombing along our miles of secluded beachfront off the resort.

Just about a quarter of a mile down from our resort was a river outlet. It was a pretty amazing sight. This is garth standing right were the river ends and the ocean begins.

Body surfing is what Garth had the most fun doing and he kept asking me to take pictures of him doing it, but they all ended up just pictures of him waiting for a wave or pictures of just a wave with him in it somewhere. So here is a picture of Garth in the ocean, just trust me that he was body surfing and that he got really good at it.

One of the pools at the resort, very refreshing.

Have a "Hoppy" Easter

Check out this website for a laugh: http://www.peepresearch.org/

The solubility testing is particularly interesting and the Medical Miracle section is hilarious!

The Luckiest Mom

Ok, ok, I know we have been back for almost a week now, but I still haven't been able to upload the pictures because I have been working since we got back, so I will blog about our trip when I get the pictures on the computer. But, we did have a great time. Anyways, I wanted to write this down before I forget about it because it was so special to me. As I have said before, without apology, I still lay down with Garth Lee for him to go to sleep at night and I LOVE IT. Two nights ago, as we were laying down, he was talking to me like he always does to keep himself awake for as long as he possibly can (and even though I am always telling him to stop talking so he can go to sleep, this is secretly my absolute favorite part of everyday). He had been quiet for a while so I thought he was asleep, then he turned over and put his hand on my cheek and told me that I was "the best mommy he has ever had". He told me that he was so glad that he was born in my tummy and that he was sorry that my tummy hurt when he was born, but he was just really excited to see me (you think maybe I watch too many baby shows on tv?) The last thing he said was "you are so good to me" and then he went to sleep. I don't know where they get the things they say sometimes, but sometimes it is just what you need to hear.

Oh, he also was making a mental list of things that started with the letter G on a different night. He realized that GiGi has 2 G's and he said "but when PawPaw talks to GiGi, he calls her July", then he giggles because he is sooooo proud of his clever joke, her name is June. I thought it was pretty cute and clever too.

Excuses Needed

So I have hit a major stall on the weight-loss front and I still have about 15-20 pounds to go and I know that I need to up the exercise to get there. I used to roll my eyes so hard you could hear it when people would talk about their "last 5 or 10 pounds" and how they were the hardest to lose. I officially take those eye rolls back. Last week, I really want(ed) to start running. Not because I want to run, mind you, but because I want to look like a runner. So, I was going to start last week, but my MP3 player was dead, then we had a cold front blow in, and so on. Today it was 85 degrees and tomorrow it will get up to 88 degrees and my MP3 player has been charging for over a week now. So, I am officially out of excuses and I need some more, so bring them on or I am actually going to have to do this thing...please, please don't let that happen.

Oh and by the way, yes that is totally me in the picture, they really should have asked before using it...dang paparazzi.

A Jim Gaffigan quote does come to mind when looking at this picture: "I saw this chick at the gym the other day and you could see her ribs. All I could think was, 'man, I haven't had a McRib in forever.'"

Testimony Meeting

For those of you reader(s) who don't go to our church, the first Sunday of each month is set aside at our church for Fast and Testimony meeting. This means that those that are able, fast for 2 meals (no food or drink) and we donate that money that we would have used for food to the church for fast offering that goes to those who have a hard time affording food at all. On these Sundays, we also have a testimony meeting, which means that there are not people assigned to speak and anyone in the congregation can get up and bear (or bury as a most kids tend to say) their testimonies. As you can imagine, this is usually a very powerful meeting with lots of tears, especially on the part of those that are bearing their testimonies.

Last Sunday when it was time for testimonies, Garth (my husband) got up and walked out and I felt so great, thinking that he was about to bear his testimony, then he came back with a tithing slip in hand. I decided maybe I should get up if for no other reason than to set an example for my husband and son. I went up and bore my testimony that I am so grateful for the Gospel in my life and especially for the knowledge that families can be together forever. I am extremely grateful for this knowledge and I wanted to share.

I went to go sit down and another woman from our church got up and was tearfully bearing her testimony. When I sat beside Garth Lee he wanted to talk to me and I thought we were about to have a strong spiritual exchange, it went something like this:

"Mommy, why didn't you cry?"

"I guess I just didn't feel like crying."

"Mommy, you didn't do it right, you are supposed to cry!"

He wouldn't talk to me for the rest of the meeting, and he wanted Garth to walk him to primary. I guess it would be too embarrassing to be seen cavorting with one that doesn't know how to even bear testimony. Next time, even if I have to bring an onion, there will be tears by golly.

Random Thoughts by Garth Lee

Garth and I now have a new phrase that we are loving using, here is where we got it. Feel free to use it whenever there is a lull in the conversation, or just whenever, it really seems to fit any situation.

Garth Lee: to no one and about nothing in particular--"You know what this needs...maracas."

A Big Wish

Garth Lee and I (by the way, I am spelling his name Garth Lee now instead of Garth Le because everyone figures I just left off an E and we say it Garth Lee, so that is what he writes on all of his papers in school, so even though his middle name is not Lee, but LeBaron, which is pronounced nothing like Lee, that is now what I am going to "call" him...to avoid confusion of course) went to the mall last week when I was off and we did productive things like go play with puppies at the pet store, play at the mall "safari" playground and stock up on 'cheap' Bath and Body works $3 hand soap. As we were leaving, Garth Lee told me he wanted to do "one more thing", and this is how it went down...literally:

Garth Lee: "I really want to do something else at the mall before we leave."

Me: "There really isn't anything else here that you would like to do."

Garth Lee: "Oh, look, there's the fountains, I really want to throw a penny in it, do you have a penny."

Me: "Sure, that sounds fun" (and cheap).

So since I know you are picturing this episode just like an Oscar winning movie...pan out and cue the "du-du-duuuuuuh", you know, like when something REALLY bad is about to happen and the music warns you...man I wish movie music played in real life, like whenever I walked by Bath and Body Works, if the Jaws theme song would have played I never would have gone in...

I walk right up to the fountain, open my wallet, and my credit card leaps from my wallet into the stagnant, fishy smelling (there have never been fish in the water), bluish-brown, dead bug-infested mall fountain water.

Garth Lee: with a building tear "Mommy, why did you DO that, now we will never be able to buy ANYTHING."

Me: "I didn't do it on purpose, take off your shirt."

Garth Lee: frightened "Why?"

Me: "I'm going to hold you by your legs and lower you into the "water" and you are going to grab it."

Garth Lee: "You stay here and I will go tell someone to call the police to help us."

So he goes to the little nut (as in pecans and almonds) stand and tells the two 16-year-old girl workers that his mommy dropped her credit card in the fountain. In unison they look over at me at the fountain with puzzled looks on their faces and I nod to confirm that this 4 year old is not making this up. They, of course, thought this was HILARIOUS and had to laugh for at least 5 minutes before calling anyone to help. Garth Lee comes back to me, looks at me all ashamed, shakes his head and tells me I really shouldn't have dropped my credit card in the fountain.

At this point, I am noticing that the water is a little too deep to have Garth Lee by the legs and have him reach for it, so I have him take off his pants and I place him in the yummy mixture that is apparently 33 degrees and surprisingly deep, coming up to his waist, so he quickly decides that was not a good idea, so we wait 20 minutes for the "police" (mall security) to show up to help us.

The "police" show up and are maybe 17 years old and they think this is very hilarious as well, and I did too...30 minutes ago. They proceeded to use a wooden spoon from the nut shop to retrieve my credit card from the fishy water.

Then we ride off into the sunset with Garth Lee chastising me for "letting" my credit card fall in the water while he walks straight-legged across the mall to the car so he doesn't chafe from his wet (and fishy) undies.

P.S. I did buy some nuts from the girls that "helped" on the way out of the mall as a kind gesture, but they will be my last. I have made a mental note that they don't have the cleanest spoons...just for future reference.

Sixth Sense?

A conversation on our way home from church today:

Garth Le: "Mommy, I really have to go potty."

Me: "Honey, we are really close to home, why don't you just play your game to get your mind off of it and we will be there before you know it."

Garth Le: (hesitantly) "ohhhhhkaaaaaay."

about 30 seconds later...

Garth Le: "Mommy, I tried to keep my mind on the game but my pee sense won't let me."

Is that sort of like a Spidey sense?

Garth Le: "When we get home, can I pee in the yard?"

Me: "Whatever, as long as you don't pee in the car."





--I see wet people

The Countdown Is On!

Graduation is 3 months from Monday...but who's counting?

So Garth (and subsequently all of us) had a big week last week with Garth finishing his last week of rotation and his LAST grand rounds EVER (as long as he passes). He did very well, getting an A in his primary care rotation at the VA, and his next one is research at the school, which shouldn't be too terrible. Then he has the MOTHER of all rotations at the very end: Adult Med. It is a blessing and a curse that he ends with this, it will help him in studying for his board exams, but it is a booger to end on.

It is so crazy to me that this 'drugged up' journey that we started some 6 years ago (not counting undergrad) is about to come to an end. To be honest, it really went slow when we were in the midst of it, but looking back I cannot believe that we are less than 100 days from graduation. It has been anything but a smooth ride getting here, but the bumps helped us in the end.

When I graduated, it was such a great feeling, but it didn't feel over since we still had a long row to hoe with regards to Garth getting out of school. I seriously am going to be the crazy person in the stands with an air horn at graduaiton.

Everyone keep Garth in your prayers that he will get through the next couple of months without any hitches and we will be having a graduation party to end all graduation parties sometime soon.

Valentines

Last night Garth Le and I needed to give Daddy some space since he had a really big day today with his grand rounds presentation and his primary care final, so we got lots of fun stuff to make valentines. We got the normal paper valentines for his classmates (Scooby-Doo), and we made some really fancy ones for our family. He did really well and I will try and remember to take some pictures of them and post them to show how great a job he did. When we were working on them, he said "Mommy, this is the best night ever, don't you wish every night was like this night?" I sure do.

Fish Post

Garth Le goes to the best little preschool, St. Lukes. It is a religious school, as Garth Le says, it has a church "stuck right to it". I love the teachers and the lessons. The kids have learned a lot of, I will say, interesting songs as well, complete with motions and everything. Over the last couple of days, a particular one has gotten stuck in his head and he has been singing it non-stop. He has been walking everywhere humming the tune and repeating "Singing to the Lord, a new sardine..." over and over. I asked him the other night "Are you sure it is 'a new sardine'"? He looked at me like I was insane and told me "yeah mom, it's a fish". I was like "I know it's a fish, but are you sure those are the words"? He, again, looked at me like I should be in a padded cell and said "yes, I am SURE". The next day after school, after having, no doubt, sung the song, he was running around repeating "Singing to the Lord, the new born king". I stifled a giggle and asked him if those were the actual words to the song, if maybe he forgot, but he quickly let me know that was the second verse. Addendum: I'm still going to leave this story up because I think it is still funny, but I was just informed by a nurse I work with that those really are the words to a church song (the new sardine), so...that is what I get for second guessing a 4 year-old's "Lord as a fish" song. I promise to apologize to him tonight.

In a sort of related story, about 2 years ago, in a momentary lapse of judgement, I bought Garth Le a beta fish at Wal-mart. He named him Roger and we got a bowl and some food and some rocks. Roger lived about a week. At the time Garth Le seemed pretty ok with it, telling everyone that Roger "bit the dust". In a similar lapse of judgement, my mom got a beta fish for Garth Le at Wal-mart to replace Roger and we "let" her keep it at her house, his name is Nemo. Last night we were at my parents' house and as Garth Le fed Nemo, I commented on how great my parents are at keeping fish that have a normal life span of months rather than years alive for a long time. I had a beta in high school that I figured would be a short term commitment that my parents ended up taking care of as I went to college. It lived more than 4 years, which is about 167 in beta years I am pretty sure. Nemo has been going strong for close to 2 years now. I told my mom how great it was that Nemo is doing so well as opposed to Roger with Garth Le out of earshot...or so I thought. He came over and started bawling, put his head in his hands sobbing with only the occasional "Oh Roger" or "I miss you Roger" escaping from his quivering lips. He asked me where Roger went and I told him he went to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus and that they are taking good care of him. He asked me if they were "making him alive again", I told him no that he would want to stay there, then he put his head back in his hands and cried a lot more. While all of this is going on, we are trying really hard not to laugh because Garth Le is being VERY dramatic about this, my dad finally clues into what is going on and he asks me if Roger is the fish we "F-L-U-S-Hed", and I said, "actually, he went in the D-U-M-P-S-T-E-R", Garth Le looked up at me teary-eyed and cried, "Mommy, what did that spell", and as everyone snapped their heads at me in anticipation of how I was going to get out of this, I replied "Heaven".