Scenes from Christmas

Christmas is hard to write about. It's hard to capture the magic, happiness, and closeness. And there are never enough pictures to portray it either. But this is a start.

Together

What do you do when you want a Christmas picture of the entire family, but there is no one around to take it? Well, you put the camera on the tripod, set it for timed photos, and wish for the best.


Wait, Mom's not in that one... Maybe the next one...


Nope, Mom's not in that one either...


Okay, finally, all four of us. Roman, keep your hands down.


Almost. Look at the camera, Blaise.

Ahh, there we go.


Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Thanksgiving

This was our first holiday away from family.

I had been approaching it with a mixture of homesickness, apprehension, and dread. The dread mostly came from the thought of having to cook a turkey. By myself. For the first time.

But I was rescued from this when some friends from medical school that also live in Iowa invited us to have Thanksgiving dinner with them. (Seriously, it is shocking how many people in Iowa are from Utah. Shocking.)

Having our little family of four expanded to a crowd of eight was wonderful. Dinner was delicious, company was wonderful, being rescued from facing an uncooked turkey on my own was heaven-sent.

Even so, I missed the loudness of Thanksgiving at home. Too many people in the kitchen at the same time. Turning around and finding new finger-shaped divets in the top of all the pies. Too crowded tables. Chasing children (and the occasional adult) away from the marshmallows on the top of the yams. The constant rumble of conversation.

Obviously, there is nothing like home.

But spending Thanksgiving with friends put the homesickness, apprehension, and dread at bay for some amazingly pleasant hours.


Not to mention, we have been enjoying what may truly be the best part of Thanksgiving.

Leftovers.

Free Time

Today marks the first day of my first vacation of residency!

Well, vacation actually started last night, after a much needed girls night out to see New Moon. It was great. No work, no kids. I haven't had that in a long time.

I go back to work on December 1st, at which time I start Trauma Service. This excites me about as much as being told I have a cavity at an annual dental exam. Or Blaise falling asleep on my bed without a Pull-Up on.

So my goal is to make the most of the next 10, now 9, days. They are going to be the fastest days of my year so far, that much I am certain. Already, I can see the end of vacation and feel myself whirling through time towards it.

We thought a lot about going back to Utah for Thanksgiving. This is the longest I've gone in my entire life without seeing my family. I last saw them in June, 5 months ago. I'm not "homesick" in the slightest, since I don't miss Utah or our tiny, dingy apartment for a moment. But I am completely "family-sick." I do miss my family a lot. Since I managed to get vacation over Thanksgiving, we initially thought it would be perfect to go back home. But the 1200 miles were just an obstacle we couldn't overcome, at least this year.

We thought about flying. We could drive to Chicago and fly non-stop from there. But there are four of us, and financially that put that option out of reach. We thought about driving. But that would mean driving I-80 across Wyoming in November. First of all, the trip itself would take at least 1 1/2 days, one way. Which would mean 3-4 days out of 10 on the road. Yuck. Second of all, have you ever driven on I-80 across Wyoming in November? A storm would probably come up and then we would get stuck in Rawlins, Laramie, or Rock Springs for 3 days. Seriously. This happened to someone I know.

So we've made the decision to stay put here in Iowa for Thanksgiving. Although some good friends from medical school have invited us to spend Thanksgiving dinner with them, so we won't be spending it alone.

Keith and I also decided this "vacation" would be a great time to get some more work on the house done. We're already halfway through a project. Which I will post. Later.

We are going to finish Christmas shopping, put up Christmas decorations, sleep in, read books, and watch movies.

But most importantly, I'm going to use these days to spend as much time with my family as possible. Games, stories, outings, arts and crafts, blanket houses.

And in between and during all that, just being together.

Full

Most of the time, I feel like our house is filled with stacks of unwashed dishes, piles of half-finished laundry, sand-filled shoes, books on the floor, paper airplanes stuck behind the couch, bouncy balls stuck behind the bookshelf, half eaten apples, untouched tuna sandwiches, too many text books, piles of junk mail, half-finished home improvement projects, unbalanced check books, missing coats, and "hurry, hurry, hurry."

But sometimes, I have a chance to clear my head, take a deep breath, and actually look.

And then I realize that our house is actually a home.

And it is filled with bedtime stories, extra marshmallows for hot cocoa, doors that open as soon as I get home, laughter, slobbery kisses, hugs around the knees, Candyland, bright shiny blue eyes, high fives for everything, jumping as high as you can, socks that slide perfectly, the chance to be a hero, stuffed animals that are real, memories, noses pressed against windows, stacks of artwork, snuggles, and love.

Oh, and a whole bunch of silliness!

Because dishes DO NOT do themselves

So after a very long time, I've decided to participate in the blog festival that is "Not Me! Mondays" created by MckMama. I've read these posts on many of my favorite blogs, but have never had a reason to participate...


Until now! I can't think of a better way to sum up this week then "NOT ME!"

Things are crazy when you're moving. Everyone knows that. Add a apparently not-so-minor home renovation on top of that, and, well, we've just approached a whole new level of craziness.

But even with that, every girl has her limits.

I DID NOT leave the dishes undone and piling up in the sink. Keith DID NOT feel obliged to mention the insane amount of dishes. Because I am always on top of housework. And Keith doesn't mind a little craziness.

And then, while I was NOT adding a seventh layer of paint to the trim, the dishes DID NOT do themselves. Or did they...?


I DO NOT hate trim. Because painting seven layers of glossy white paint on trim is fun.

I DID NOT cry when we pulled back the carpet in the family room.


Because we DID NOT find mold. We DID NOT find water. Our family room does NOT leak every time it rains. Who would buy a house like that? Not me.

I DID NOT get a massive sunburn on my back and arms and shoulders when we were at the lake. Because everyone knows that I'm obsessive about sunscreen. I still DO NOT think it was a glorious day.

I DID NOT panic when I came home from my lab coat fitting and found this in our master bedroom.


Because I am always very calm. I was perfectly aware that fixing the floor joist was going to be a big project. So I absolutely DID NOT freak out at the size of the hole.

I AM NOT having moments of complete panic about being a resident and all the responsibility that goes along with it. I AM NOT having moments of terror when I think about being in the ER next week. Because I am a calm individual and and completely prepared for residency.

I AM NOT blogging instead of making dinner. I would never do that.

What have you not done this week? Head over to MckMama to see what everyone else hasn't done?

Better now then, say, Thursday

I feel like I really need to do a recap of my week. I know that it's actually been a week and a half, and that weekly recaps are best done on a Friday, or Sunday, or maybe even a Monday. But mine is going to be on Wednesday. Because that's what I've got.

So here we go...

(And there will be pictures for the post. Someday. As soon as I figure out which box has my camera card reader.)

Friday, June 5:

Roman's last day of school. First grade sounded so old and grown up to me, and now it's gone, and he's going to be a second grade.

We picked up our ginormous U-Haul truck. We finished packing the last few boxes. My brothers and sisters and mom came over to help us load the previously mentioned beast. This took nearly all day.

And then we still had to clean the apartment. And the apartment management said "please focus on the blinds." Two blinds in, I was ready to go buy new ones. But that would have eaten into our refundable deposit. And these days, we need every penny. So I just kept on cleaning blinds.

Saturday, June 6:

Got our sleepy boys, my mom, my little brother David, all loaded up in our SUV and truck, and started out. No fanfare, no crying. Just a full truck and a very long drive. (We did head out nearly 2 hours later than we originally wanted, but still early enough to miss morning rush hour.)

So, I had this brilliant idea to take a picture of the surroundings we were driving through once every hour. And I was going to post them in order. 8 am: Parley's Canyon, 9 am nearly out of Utah, 10 am, Evanston (sarcastic yeah!) And then late in the day, I realized that no one wants to read a post with over 20 hours of scenery pictures. So I'll just post the highlights (yes, there were highlights.) Eventually. When I find that particular box.

We drove out of Utah, and into Wyoming. And no offense to anyone living in southern Wyoming...but it's ugly. It was by far the worst part of the trip. My mom drove from Rawlins to Cheyenne and I slept. Around Cheyenne, the scenery started to improve.

Then we drove part the way across Nebraska. Everyone kept saying that would be the worst part of the trip, but I liked it. We drove along the Platte River, and there were a lot of trees, and ponds. Everything was so green and pretty.

Sunday, June 7:

First real meal in 2, maybe 3 days: Waffles at La Quinta. Food that was not out of a box or from a drive through!

Drove the rest of the way across Nebraska. And into Iowa.

Got stuck in traffic for nearly one hour because part of a wind generator had fallen off a truck.

Got to our hew home at 6 pm.

Explored the area.

Love it, love it, love it!

Monday, June 8:

Try to go and buy carpet for the upstairs. Realize it is going to take a long time. Cry just a little. Pick up lights, doors, paint.

Let the real fun begin.

Tuesday, June 9:

Decide we DO NOT want to live with popcorn ceilings. Make sure it is not asbestos. Start scraping ceilings.

Very, very dirty.

Wendesday, June 10:

Finish scraping popcorn ceilings. Now have one trash can completely filled with popcorn and plaster.

Sand ceilings so they are relatively smooth. This is awful. As in no description. There is dust over everything. The cabinets are covered with plastic. It looks like a demolition zone. I may or may not cry a little at this point.

Thursday, June 11:

Start priming now smooth ceilings. Prime trim, bright colored walls as well.

Friday, June 12:

The real paint finally comes out!

Start painting walls. And trim.

Start hating trim.

Get internet again!!

Saturday, June 13:

Touch up paint in the three upstairs rooms.

Set up the boys' new bunkbed. I can't wait to show you how cute their room turned out.

Paint ceilings on main floor and downstairs.

Tear up carpet in family room. Find some water damage and mold. Cry again.

Everyone finally sleeps in their own rooms.

Sunday, June 14:

We really need a day off by this time.

We go to the Devonian fossil beds, look at swarms of tadpoles, catch frogs.

Go to the lake for a picnic. Don't have swimsuits, but let the boys play in the lake in their clothes.

Take pedal boats out on the lake. Blaise rides with Keith and me. Roman rides with Grandma and Uncle David.

Drive one hour south to drop my mom and brother off at the Amtrack station. Cry again.

Go back home, and finally realize we are alone here. Maybe cry a little more.

Monday, June 15:

Shop: more lights, a "big boy" mattress for Blaise, the missing door knob, food (there has been a surprising lack of food in the house.)

Try to find a jar to put bugs in for the boys. Realize that we don't know where anything is.

We took the boys to the field near our house, and found caterpillars. Took them home.

Tuesday, June 16:

Touch up ceilings. Paint more trim. Put up all the lights! Feel happy, but wish we had somewhere to put a couch.

So, if you are still reading, that gets us to today. When we woke up, sun shining, and realized that our lawn hasn't been cut in over 2 weeks. And looks terrible.

Keith will finish the last door today, and work on the yard. I will hopefully finish painting the living room so we can finally bring our couch in out of the garage and have somewhere to sit.

I guess that means I have no more time for this.

But I promise, there will be pictures. Someday.

Congrats, Sis

On Friday, my now not-so-little sister, Mercy, graduated high school.


I'm sure that this will embarrass her if she reads this, but I would like to talk just a little bit about how amazing she is.


Mercy, now 18 years old, was diagnosed in utero with a large diaphragmatic hernia. With this hole in her diaphragm, her internal abdominal organs had migrated upward and prevented her lungs from developing. At the time she was diagnosed, very few children with a defect as severe as hers had survived.

Despite physicians telling them that there was no chance she would survive, my mother decided to carry the baby to term.

However, they had gone to the cemetery to pick out a plot and headstone.

When Mercy was born, she cried. It should have been impossible without developed lungs. But that cry showed that Mercy was a fighter.

She spent months in the hospital. She had her lovely dark curls shaved off for IV placements. She had multiple surgeries to rebuild a diaphragm using her abdominal wall muscles. She was on ECMO. She received sheep surfactant to help with her lung development.

She still has significant scars on her neck, chest, and stomach.

But she is alive.

And she's still a fighter.

Now, she loves costume jewelry and ball gowns. She wants to be an actress. She's fiercely loyal to her friends.

I've been there to see her grow up. I was so glad that I got to see her close this chapter of her life, tears and all.



Good luck with everything, Mercy. We'll be cheering you on like always.

Free to Run

I spent the weekend at my mom's.

View of orchards on the drive to Grandma's house

I had a long list of reasons for doing this. Keith has finals early next week, and he really needed uninterrupted time to study. I've started several projects, then left all the materials at my mom's house. It was really time to work on and finish these. And with just over a month until the Big Move, I'm trying to spend as much time with my family as possible.

But in additional to all these well thought out reasons, it is just nice for Roman and Blaise to have somewhere they can run around, which out me hoovering over them every second.

We pulled up, I unbuckled them, and in less then two minutes (after I was handed now unwanted stuffed animals and books and sweaters) they were gone. They has disappeared into the towering bushes of just blooming lilacs, into secret hide-outs and grape hyacinth dotted lawns.

The entire two days we were there, I hardly saw them. No "I'm bored," no "I'm starving! When's lunch," no "Can we please play outside?" like there is when we are cooped up in our tiny apartment at home. My role, between visiting with my mom (and not really finishing any of my projects) was to kiss and bandage any accidents, find above mentioned stuffed animals and sweaters, and to hug as they occasionally ran past.

And although I'm going to miss my family so much I can already feel the ache, I'm hoping that our own tree covered, hedge-surrounded yard that is waiting for us in Iowa will provide the same happiness, memories, and room to run that they find at Grandma's.

Even more boys

We just got back from visiting Keith's family in Montana.

Okay, we didn't just get back. We got back Sunday night. But things were so busy, it feels like right now is the first moment I have had to sit and relax. So, yes, I just got back into the swing of things.

It was an unbelievably great trip.

Although this is excluding the time our nephew, who came with us, asked "Are we there yet?" less than five minutes after getting into the car. (And he continued to ask every 15-20 minutes for the entire 8 hour trip. Well, except for the time we broke down and put on Bolt.)

Keith never liked living in Montana. And you can't really blame him. He moved up there during his sophomore year of high school. It's a tough time for anyone to move. But every time we drive along the Bitterroot mountains, I have to think what a beautiful place it is. (And if I had had my act together, I would have taken some pictures to share. But I didn't. I was busy trying to calculate how many more hours, minutes, and miles were left in the trip.)

I love Keith's family. He has got fantastic brothers. He also has a fantastic sister, who we missed, since she is away at college. Fantastic brothers lead to fantastic sisters-in-law, which lead to a whole passel of "THE grandchildren."

I love this picture!

Every single on of Keith's mom's grandchildren was there over the weekend. Which made for some darling photos.

All 13 grandchildren!
And amazingly, everyone is looking at the camera and "smiling."

The boys.
Things started to fall apart here, but still,
what a cute bunch of kids

The girls.
This was much easier than the previous picture
And aren't they just beautiful

I got to spend a good part of the afternoon holding the two newest additions to the family, two darling babies I hadn't seen yet. 4 month old Justice and 4 months old Carly, both of whom were born since our last visit over Christmas. (If you are keeping track, Carly makes the second grand-daughter. Out of 13.)

Sunday morning, we went out to breakfast with Keith's best friend from high school. This couple is probably the most awesome couple we know. And they've got three super cute kids. I really wish we could be neighbors without it involving us actually moving to Montana. We had great conversation. And the kids were pretty good too. Blaise only licked the top of the wall once.

We got to spend time with everyone we wanted to. I'm not sure the next time we will be able to go to Montana.

But hopefully, we have good memories to fill in the gap.

Making the Rounds

Tomorrow morning, we are packing up the boys and heading for Montana.

Keith spent his high school years in a small town in Western Montana, and his parents still live there.

And since we are moving in June, we don't know how long it is going to be before we make it up there again. So, we are going to spend the weekend with Keith's parents, meeting up with Keith's high school friends, and in a way saying good-bye.

It's a reminder of how far away we will actually be. No Jessop family camp-out. No alternating holidays. No more high school graduations. I'm going to miss it all.

On a happier note, I finally have a picture of my little karate student. I sure think he looks cute in his white outfit.

Looking strong!

(And Blaise insisted that if I was taking pictures of Roman and putting them on the compute, I had to take of picture of the pine cones we picked up on our walk together. So, here, to appease my little one.)

Bucket o' cones

Thoughts of Spring

I think that spring is really here. Everything says that it should be. The warm weather, the blue skies, the flowers.

If it snows again, I think I'm going to give up.

(At least I don't have my own garden to worry about. I didn't plan anything this year, because a move in early June makes it pointless.)

Yesterday, we did the perfect thing to welcome and celebrate spring. The Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point.

Not all the flowers were out (owing to the very bad weather of the last couple weeks. Next week would be perfect, I bet.) But the weather was mild. And there were plenty of flowers for everyone to enjoy.





We fed fish, ran through mazes, ate kettle corn and listened to bluegrass music. A perfect day.

Although next time, I need to do better at remembering sunscreen.

Easter

I never seem to have time to post on holidays. Between activities and family time and clean up afterward, there is just never time to share pictures taken on that day.

We had a beautiful Easter. The weather was finally warm and gentle. We had a fantastic Easter lunch (seriously good food.)

And then we watched the children hunt eggs outside.




Blaise was so cute. As soon as he found his first egg, he was all game. He took on a semi-crouched position and moved about the yard almost on tip-toe saying, "I'm finding eggs."



Just being together as a family, enjoying the sun, was wonderful.

I can't think of a better way to have spent Easter.


And other news, our home inspection is today. We're sure that the inspector will find several things wrong. After all, it is an older home. And a few little things that mean some work for us are fine. But I'm nervous that the inspector will find something so horrible that we won't be able to buy the house. If that happens, I don't know what we will do.

So, here's so hoping that the inspection goes well.

Somewhere to call home

We bought a house!!!

That's right! I matched two and a half weeks ago, and now we have a house.

The speed at which everything is happening is nearly boggling.

Keith and I flew out to Iowa City over the weekends and stayed with a friend from medical school (Thanks so much you guys!).

Knowing that you have a small budget and only two days to find a house is just a little nerve-wracking. I was an emotional basket-case nearly the entire weekend.

At first, it wasn't looking good. What we could afford, we didn't like. Or it was too far away from the university. Or it was in a bad school district. Or it didn't have a yard. Or it needed too much work. I wasn't going to budge on the school district issue. I felt we had to be in a great school area for Roman and Blaise. Keith wasn't going to budge on the amount of work to be done (like, rebuilding half the house.) The first night after house hunting, we almost had our first fight. Almost.

The next day, I was looking at listings in the morning. I wrote several down.

Then we went and re-looked at several of the homes we had liked from the first day. Then I asked the real estate agent if we could look at some from my list.

The very last one on my list, the one I had written down while I was being shoo-ed out the door. That's our house.

Our first house!!

And we got it with our first offer. No counter-offer or anything!!

Okay, the house needs a little work. Think "vision." (Or like Keith says, "Project.")

The front room
(this one and the kitchen need the least work)

The kitchen (with brand new cabinets!)

But seriously, this house is perfect for us. There's enough space, it has a yard, it is right next door to one of the best elementary schools in Iowa City, and it is in a gorgeous neighborhood just two miles from the university.

Our back yard

What we live next to.
Isn't it just gorgeous?

Already, we've starting planning what changes need to happen (immediately: paint, carpet, and lighting; later: siding, windows, basement).

I am so excited!! Let the home-owner adventure begin!

Girl Night (And Day)

An amazing thing happened over the weekend.

I had my mom and my two oldest sisters over. To my house!!

It was wonderful. Nearly 24 hours of girl-ness. Something that I have obviously been in dire need of.

Even my 18 year old sister, Mercy, noticed this. "Wow," she said. "I bet this is nice. With you being the only girl living here." Yeah, it is.

We watched movies on the air mattress in my living room, while eating popcorn and chocolate. We giggled over silly parts in the movies (something definitely girly. Men don't giggle.)

The next morning, after a beautiful breakfast of fresh strawberries and crepes, we headed to Park City. For some pure, unadulterated shopping.

I love Keith. Very much. But, like I'm sure pretty much all men, he's just not that big into shopping. Even if we are looking at flat screens or laptops or such. It's a "well that's cool. Next!" type of thing.

Shopping with my mom and my sisters, I realized how much I miss just hanging out with girls. There was this particular moment, when we walked into the Coach outlet store, when I had that "we're not in Kansas anymore" feeling.

We were all nearly breathless over the beautiful displays of purses. My mom and sister were sifting through silk scarves. And I almost mentally allowed myself to buy this fantastic lilac trench coat. (Note: I hunted the internet to find a picture of this coat, to share it's fabulousness with you. But there was none to be found.)

I also think that I was able to share my love of Ann Taylor with my family.

Although, shopping with my super-skinny-should-have-been-models sisters was not exactly easy on my self image.

Finally we headed home with two jackets and a fabulous pair of jeans (and no purple trench coat).

I'm so thankful for the time I had with them. I try hard not to think about how long I'll be in Iowa, and how much with change while I'm gone.

Thanks, my girls, for the wonderful time.

Time to Party!!!

I'm 27 years old today.

And what better way to celebrate than with everyone I love.

Happy Birthday!
Roman, me, Keith, and Blaise

We had a party at my parents' house. A combined Match and birthday party.

There were a couple shocked faces when we announced that we would be moving 1200 miles away. For at least 5 years.

But, I would like to think that in the conversation and celebration throughout the afternoon, most of the shock and even a little sadness was forgotten in just the enjoyment of being together.

My dad, me, and my mom
Thanks for all the love that
has gotten me to this point in my life

Sisters, Cousins, and Friends!

My sisters!
I love being part of this group of girls

I can't believe how many people came.

The whole party!
Wow, thanks for all the love and support!!

I want to thank everyone who came. It was unbelievably wonderful to see you. People I haven't seen for years. A chance to reconnect one more time.

Auralee, me, Mercy
I love my sisters!

Thanks.