Six Down, Two to Go!!

12/11/08

Is it seriously already the 11th? Yikes. Only six days left. I should probably start filling up the 100 boxes I have sitting in my storage room.

Anyhoo, Mark is officially done in Española with his ER rotation. Hurray! That one went by rather quickly, especially since his schedule allowed him to come home every few days. All his shifts were a whopping 12 hours long, and they alternated between going from 8am to 8pm to going from 8pm to 8am. So sleep was not happening as much as he would have liked. His preceptor was Dr. Quan, who is originally from Guatemala. His Spanish came in handy (Dr. Quan's--Mark speaks Portuguese, which is not all that helpful), since Mark said that about 70% of the patients were Hispanic (with 15% Native American and 5% Caucasian). He got to do a lot of cool stuff. "Cool" for Mark usually meant "really bad" for the patient... He intubated a woman who was not breathing almost right away, helped reset bones, put a hip back in joint, administered novocaine for a dental block, lidocaine for other numbing purposes, had someone vomit blood all over him (okay, that's not cool, that's gross) and got to do a lot of stitches, including a really gnarly case of a guy whose chainsaw ripped up his leg. How delightful! Well, Mark thought so.

Dr. Quan and his wife Adalucìa took us all out to lunch when we were up in Santa Fe. Adalucìa is from Peru and is a children's book author and an artist who has her stuff in some galleries in Santa Fe. She was very nice and gave Madelyn a book and me a cutting board that features art of hers.

And now for something completely different: Madelyn "snuggling some eggs".

...So she's a little weird. I'll admit. She thought this little carton of half dozen eggs was the cutest thing she'd ever seen and so spent half the evening telling us that they were going to hatch and so she needed to keep them warm. She had her stuffed dog Snoopy help out with the incubating. We eventually hard boiled them so that at least we wouldn't have a gooey surprise to clean up.

My cousin Natalie wants me to do this photo tag: Go to your pictures, select the 4th folder and the 4th picture in that folder, and then post it. Now, I have 5 different programs that I use for photos, so I went ahead and picked the most interesting.

Madelyn and her cousin Nathan in our backyard this July for our family reunion. Makes you wish you had the summer back, doesn't it? And your youth. There's no way I'd fit on that whale slide now.

I tag Megan, Monica and Kevin.

And now onward with my day of finally finishing my Christmas projects, and onto packing! Oh, the joys! Somebody call to check up on me in a few hours to make sure I haven't gone MIA to avoid this wretched moving business...

Snow!

Momentous!

12-8-08

We've had some exciting things happen.

#1 We were at the library and Madelyn grabbed a pencil and piece of paper and drew her first ever family picture. Neither Mark nor I have ever seen her draw anything other than scribbles before, so we were very excited about her new found skill of drawing people. Of course it had to be blogged.

"That's daddy, mama and Madelyn"

#2 Yesterday after church, I was cleaning up and getting ready to leave nursery when Bro. Goodwin from the bishopbric came in... "I understand you've got a busy time ahead of you," he began (moving in 9 days--yes I'm busy) "...so we'd like to go ahead and release you from your calling as nursery leader, effective now." I burst into tears. Not because I was sad, but because I never thought that I was ever going to hear those beautiful words. I nearly gave the man a hug. He even started crying. " You have no idea..." I choked. Mark said he'd never seen me cry tears of joy before. Well there you go. All it took was to release me from nursery. After 2 1/2 years, I can say that I will miss the kids, but I will not miss having to watch them every Sunday. Not in the least. (Breaking up fights, wiping snotty noses, dealing with the naughty ones, the loud ones, the clingy ones, being outnumbered 14:1 by small tyrants; having my shoes peed on...) Bye-bye!!!!!

And now for the cute pictures of the week: Madelyn posing with her favorite accessory--a "green juice".

Española, Santa Fe & Taos

12-3-08

Well, this is interesting. I can't get rid of these italics. Anyways, Madelyn and I just got back from an exciting few days with Mark, who has been living and working in Española--a dinky town 90 miles north of Albuquerque. He had a couple days off, so we drove up after church on Sunday. Madelyn helped out by having another powder party as I was trying to get us ready for church earlier in the day. She always knows how to liven up any situation, especially when you're already stressed and in a hurry.

She uses this as a ploy to get me to give her a bath in the kitchen sink, which she thinks is the greatest thing ever. It didn't work this time because I had already just given her a bath, so she had to settle for getting wiped off with baby wipes.

We didn't get to Mark's place until very late. But the next two days were fun because we got to go to Santa Fe and Taos, which are both close to Española. We walked around the plaza downtown, where there are a lot of unique shops and art galleries everywhere you look.

We also saw the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, who is the patron saint of Santa Fe and also of Mark's school (the University of St. Francis). The outside stone is being cleaned, so it's all covered in plastic, but I'll show you what it normally looks like also.

O DIVINE MASTER

Grant that I may not so much
seek to be consoled, as to console
to be understood, as to understand
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned
and it is in dying that we are born
to eternal life

— Saint Francis of Assisi

The cathedral being cleaned

I just love old Catholic churches. LOVE them. I think my brother Kevin is the only other person I know to share the the obsession, so sorry about the multitude of pictures. I had to get some of the organ just for him. I am going to have to take another trip to see the Loretto chapel up there sometime too. I wish you could see how vibrant the colors are on the arches and the ceiling. This doesn't do them justice.

"The eleventh commandment:
Thou shalt not touch the organ console!" Ha ha.

Madelyn was delighted to have so many different places to sit. She was mad that she wasn't allowed to climb the spiral staircases or go inside the sanctuary, though.

This chapel is nearly 400 years old. The statue of the Virgin Mary, or "La Conquistadora," as they call her, is the oldest in the country. The little cubby in the wall has some dude's bones in it.

That day, we also had lunch with Dr. Quan (Mark's preceptor) and his wife-- plus we dropped by to visit our friends Sean and Valeriane Wilson, who used to be in our ward in Albuquerque but moved to Santa Fe. It was good to see them.

Yesterday, we headed up to Taos, where my mom is from. I showed Mark and Madelyn the downtown plaza and the cemetery where my Grandpa Wally is buried. We tried to go see the Taos pueblo, but it was closed to visitors. I wish we had more time to spend, because it is such a neat place. I used to go there every single summer as a kid.

My mom used to work here as a teenager

We were looking for the Burrito Wagon. We didn't find it. Dang.

This is my Papa Wally's grave, along with some of my extended family's. He was buried two years ago and it still looks like this. It's an interesting contrast to where my Grandpa Murset is buried, in Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills in LA. It's still a special place though.

Madelyn's highlight of the trip was that Mark bought her this cork gun and two mermaids. The gun makes a funny "bwop"sound as the cork shoots out, and it always makes her giggle.

And now I am going to go lie down, because upon returning home today, I had a little episode of violent puking. It seems as though I brought back a souvenir I wasn't planning on! (And no, I'm not pregnant...) So cheerio until next time.

Happy Thanksgiving

11/29/08

Thank-you to our dear friends Nadia, Jeremy Beckham and Ravi Richards for having us over for Thanksgiving! I don't know if we'll ever be able to finish off all those leftovers, delicious as they are. (groan--loosening the belt another notch...)

Leaves and whatnot

11/24/08

Well, this month is just flying past. I am in denial that Thanksgiving is only 3 days away because that means I'll have an enormous pile of cooking, baking and dishes to do. I spent a scary amount of money at the grocery store last night. Mark is whining about having to come home for Thanksgiving at all---he'll have just gotten off a 12 hour graveyard shift and will have to drive back to Española after Thanksgiving dinner so he can work all weekend. Traditions, traditions.

Anyways, when we came straggling in from my all-nighter at the movies the other day, we looked in the backyard and discovered that our fruitless mulberry tree had dumped all its leaves overnight. Madelyn thought it was awesome and was a little mad at Mark for cleaning them all up. She loves to crunch in leaves.


I'm a little behind on posting all our recent pictures, so here's the latest:

Doesn't she look cute in pigtails?? The longest she's ever kept them in has been maybe 5 minutes. I guess that's what comes of not having any hair for the first 3 1/2 years of your life. You don't like people messing with it. Here, she's pretending to be a doggie with her Halloween toothbrush as a bone.

I found her on the step stool giving Ariel (whose hair keeps falling off, poor girl) a nice swim in the aquarium. I'm not sure uprooting all the plants and stirring around all the fish sludge was necessary, though.

I peeked over and she was using a pencil as a microphone to rock out to Angels and Airwaves. She gave me one and instructed me to sing, and then I had to use two pencils to drum while she sang. She is very bossy when it comes to allowing or not allowing you to sing with her.

This dress had been sitting in my craft room awaiting the right occasion, which ended up being that I needed a bribe to stop her from opening all the Christmas presents that I was trying to wrap.

Mark claims that he was too tired to make it to his own bed. Uh, huh. I can see how that extra 20 feet could be too much. And this is not the first time I've caught him sleeping in the crib. I think he actually goes there for some peace and quiet, because Madelyn will not let you rest if you are on the big bed.

Madelyn likes to watch Mark play computer games, but apparently the new Call of Duty 5 was enough to bore even her to sleep. Looks comfy.

Just having fun with my girl! Madelyn says, "I yuv you, mama. You're my best friend." Awwww.

Well, now I'm off to the grocery store AGAIN to buy more pumpkin and cranberries because there are more people coming for Thanksgiving. Gotta love this time of year!

Yes, I was one of THOSE people

11/22/08

YAAAAWWWNNN
I'm still feeling the effects of having stayed out till 3am on Thursday. I stay up late at home sometimes, but it's different when you've been hyped up with a bunch of girlfriends all night and then are trying to sleep at someone else's house. I got roped into attending the first midnight showing of Twilight. There were 10 of us who went and sat in the theater for two hours waiting for the movie to start. Every teenage girl on the east side was there (and maybe a dozen guys). It was fun to watch it with them because they would squeal and applaud and gasp like only crazed fans could. I liked the books fine, but I don't have Edward Cullen bedsheets or anything. I have a feeling a lot of those girls do.

I actually ended up liking the movie a little better than the book (the first book was not the best, in my opinion), and "Bella" was far less wooden than she appeared in the previews, thank goodness. In fact, I think I might go see it a couple more times with my sisters (there's not much point in taking men--they just won't get it). It's essential to have someone to giggle with over all those CUTE Cullen boys! Oh, and Jacob, too. Drool.

Edward, Emmett, Esme, Carlisle, Rosalie, Bella, Alice, Jasper, James, Laurent, Jacob, Victoria

Since Nadia was the one who made me come, she let Madelyn have a slumber party with her boys (Mark was working a graveyard shift in Española) and her husband Jeremy was kind enough to oblige. Good times!

Me and Nadia waiting in our seats....

Ravi, Madelyn and Beckham