Christmas Break

If you could make a living off being a student I'd do it. You can't beat the christmas and summer breaks you get while in school. I don't have to go back to school until 4 January. In the meantime, the family and I have been hanging out during the day and I have been working at PJs in the evening to earn some extra cash. They say Mo' money, Mo' problems, but I don't really buy that. I am trying to make Mo money to avoid having any problems -it's more like No money Mo' problems. Anyway we are having fun and enjoying the break.

Porter and Friends having a late night!

Medical School

For many medical schools December 14 is the deadline for making deposits and signing admission agreements. For the past month Jenn and I have daily looked over and reviewed the pros and cons of the schools that offered me a seat in their next years class. We liked the Colorado school because it's in Colorado -2nd best state in the union, and our good friends Cascia and Steve live in Parker, the same city as the university. The problem was that the school only has preliminary accreditation because it was started in 2006, and has yet to graduate its first class. This means that I would have to finance my education through private loans which was to large of a risk for us to take, so we chose not to go to RVU.

Then we were left with Midwestern University in Phoenix and KCOM in Kirksville Missouri. Phoenix seemed like the obvious choice. It would be warm and sunny; The university was really nice; some friends currently enrolled at MWU really enjoyed it there; and, did I mention, it would be warm and sunny. However, when it came down to it we didn't feel MWU would provide me with many options regarding specialties. I am not convinced I would enjoy primary care, so their previous match lists were not all that impressive. Therefore, we withdrew my acceptance to MWU.

In the end we chose Kirksville because we felt it would be an ideal place for our family to spend the next few years. In addition, the school is only a few hours away from some of Jenn's family in Kansas City. Also, the university has an impressive match list, placing students in residencies ranging from primary care to orthopedic surgery and from pathology to neurology. Plus,we will only spend two years Kirksville. We will most likely move for for the 3rd and 4th year to complete rotations. Rotation sites include Colorado, Utah, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and many more. Because of this we feel the school will provide us with many more options to choose from when we consider the place we would like to go for residency. So we threw down our deposit and signed their admissions agreement. Sometime this coming summer (most likely July) we will be moving to Kirksville, MO.

Black Friday

Jenn, the rest of the women and my dad woke up early Friday morning to duke it out at the stores for the low priced merchandise. Later, Porter, my dad and I went to Jones Hole to wet the fly.

This was the first catch of the day. Dad hooked it; Porter reeled it in; and I posed in the picture for aesthetic reasons.

Porter struggled with 10 and 2. He (like Paul on A River Runs Through it) "broke into a rhythm all his own." However, he (unlike Paul on A River Runs Through it) experienced very limited success. As his rhythm was somewhat indiscernible, I became nervous for my eyes, ears and any other potentially snaggable body parts, so I removed his fly. He proceeded to fish flyless. He didn't care; he continued to fish, asking me every couple of minutes, "Dad, did I catch a fish yet?"

Later, we met up with Glendon and DJ. This was taken by the big hole near the trail head. The one that looks like it ought to have a twenty pounder, but yet all you can ever pull out is an 8 incher.

This was the last and biggest catch of the day. Dad claims he had a "huge" one on earlier, but of course no one was around to verify and he never landed it. I doubt there are many places in the world prettier than Jones Hole. It was nice to get away from the textbooks, note cards, pizza, etc. of daily life and relax with family in such a wonderful place.

Thanksgiving

This year we traveled to Vernal for Thanksgiving. We, as always, had a blast. We ate the Thanksgiving meal at my parents house. That evening we endured the frigid weather and watched the local parade. The next day we went to Trees for Charity, and some sort of craft show. Saturday we watched BYU beat Utah in HD at Jen and Allen's house.