Summer Vacation Begins!

Boise's Welcoming Committee!

It's that time again that even as an adult I look forward to. The time when you can sleep in, be lazy, eat what you want, and just relax. Summer vacation; it's just not for kids. In fact I think as an adult it's even better. I arrived in Boise on Thursday evening. Mom picked me up from the airport at the curb of course. Yesterday morning I spent some time over at Grandma Betty's chatting about my future. She is always full of wisdom and advice. Yesterday afternoon Troy, Becki and the boys came over. We had such fun with them. I can't believe how big they are getting. We then got ready for the big 24th of July celebration. It has always been the tradition to have a parade. I love that tradition even as an adult. Tyler and Danielle came just as Troy and Becki left. Their boys are growing up so much too.

My dad loves his ward and is involved in everything they do. Such a good example.

Today mom and I did a little shopping and I read a book. Then I went over to my cousin Alisha's, while I waited for Tenielle to get to Tristen's since they brought her back with them from SLC. It was also then that I was able to meet my new niece Bridget. She is a doll as is her big sister Aidree, even though she doesn't like to pose for pictures quite yet. I'm sure she will in the future.

We then met mom and dad at the annual Snake River Stampede, the hometown rodeo. It was always so much better when it was outside in the blistering heat. However we had great seats and enjoyed ourselves much. I was surprised that I didn't see a single person I knew. Never has that ever happened in my history of going to this hometown event. Very sad that Nampa has gotten that big.

It's Official...

One month ago today I made the decision that it was time to quit my job and move on to something new and different. Never in a million years did I think it would happen so quickly. Today I accepted a position in Deer Lodge, MT. I am so excited for this position, because it entails 3 days of family practice, one day a week I'll be on call 24hours for the ER and do urgent care that day. Every 3 weekends I will be on call for the ER; this entails being on call from my home. They usually see about 5-6 patients a day in the ER. If I admit a patient, I will follow them through their hospital stay. I have had experience in family practice, emergency medicine, and as a hospitalist. I will be going from a city of 2 million to a town of 4,000. I am stoked to have life slow down and to live in a small town. I have always said I was going to live in a small town and here I go. I am excited to be able to have the full spectrum of health care in one job. I am sure this is where I am needed in the coming months. I have no doubt about the decision that I have made. When I started this process my mom told me if it was right everything would fall into place and so far it has. The easy part was finding the right job. The hard part is about to start. Trying to sell my house in this crazy market. When I moved across the country I loaded everything I owned into Meg my VW Jetta, but now I have a fully loaded 4 bedroom home and don't have any idea where to start. Lucky for me a moving company will come and pack most of my belongings and move them across the country for me. I do need to go through everything and get rid of things that I don't need, which is going to be quite the job. I have so much stuff. Handsome MT man gave me no help in this decision. He told me it was my decision and that I needed to make it on my own. So over the past week I haven't really talked to him about it. Today when I told him that I accepted it, he was so excited and told me he knew that I was going to accept it because after my interview I was radiating when I talked about the job. My job requires that I give a 90 notice, which I officially gave yesterday. My last day will be Oct. 14. The good thing with the 90 notice is that I have 3 weeks of vacation over that period, so it should go fast. The best part however is 2 of those weeks start on Thursday! So for now the packing and such can wait for 2 weeks so that I can enjoy time with my nieces and nephews, siblings, and parents.

He's In The Details.

It still amazing me, how our Heavenly Father is so much in the details of our lives. Sometimes I think that I as this one little person, who's life is rather bland, but when it comes to having to make large, life altering decisions, I become so much more aware that to Heavenly Father I am important. It bypasses my understanding how He can be so involved in the very minor details of my life, yet have so many other people that He is aware of also. I blogged about feeling that change was coming my way back in January. I knew this was coming, not because I wanted it, but because I was being prepared for something different, better maybe. I met someone in March who came along when I totally least expected it in a way that I never would have ever intended, who lives in a state that I never imagined I would live in. Things began to really feel unsettling here in Charlotte in May. It was the first Sunday in May that someone in RS quoted Elder Bednar from April Conference that hit me hard. He said," In many of the uncertainties and challenges we encounter in our lives, God requires us to do our best, to act and not be acted upon, and to trust in Him. We may not see angles, hear heavenly voices, or receive overwhelming spiritual impressions. We frequently may press forward hoping and praying-but without absolute assureance-that we are acting in accordance with God's will. But as we honor our covenants and keep the commandments, as we strive ever more consistently to do good and to become better, we can walk with confidence that God will guide our steps. And we can speak with the assurance that God will inspire our utterances." And finally the middle of June I realized I had done what I was sent to do here in Charlotte. It became clear as day for me that it was time for me to experience something different as I read from Ether 2:5-6 "And it came to pass that the Lord commanded them that they should go forth into the wilderness, yea, into that quarter where there never had man been. And it came to pass that the Lord did go before them, and did talk with them as he stood in a cloud, and gave directions whither they should travel. And it came to pass that they did travel in the wilderness, and did build barges, in which they did cross many waters, being directed continually by the hand of the Lord." I realized after reading this that if the Lord could direct these people that he can direct me too in making life altering decisions. It is amazing to me how things have unfolded, rather quickly. Someone quit their job the same time that I decided it was time to quit mine. Someone prayed for me and my skills, as I prayed for the right job. I don't think any of this is just a coincidence. I know it is Heavenly Father's plan for simple, little me. Just before going to MT I read the following quote's from April General Conference that have helped me in this decision. "I hope each of us will search our hearts to determine what we really desire and how we rank our most important desires. Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming." Dallin H. Oaks. And Elder Samuelson said, "Everyone has worth because we are all children of God. he knows us, loves us, and wants us to succeed and return to Him. We must learn to trust in His love and in His timing rather than in our own sometimes impatient and imperfect desires. We need to remember that a fundamental purpose of life is to be tested and stretched, and thus we must learn to grow from our challenges and be grateful for the lessons learned that we cannot gain in an easier way. We must learn to trust the things that we believe in or know to sustain us in our times of uncertainty or with issues where we struggle." And when I was on the plane heading back from MT I read the following from President Uchtdorf he quoted President Kimball, "God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other." He then say's, "Often, the answer to our prayer does not come while we're on our knees but while we're on our feet serving the Lord and serving those around us. Selfless acts of service and consecration refine our spirits, remove the scales from our spiritual eyes, and open the windows of heaven. By becomeing the answer to someone's prayer, we often find the answer to our own." I believe that I knew this was the job for me even before I went out to MT, as I was there I knew it was the right one, and as I'm about to accept the position, I know with out any doubt that something wonderful and great is about to happen!

Bridget Nan Makes Her Arrival

She's here! Bridget Nan was born 4 minutes after Tristen arrived at the hospital yesterday, 7/11/11. She was born at 6:45. I told Tristen she could have waited a little longer and had her on 7/11/11 at 711! Funny thing is I had talked to my mom on the phone when I was on the plane getting ready to fly from Minnesota to Charlotte. She said they were going to dinner with Tristen. 2 hours later when I got off the plane in CLT and was awaiting my bags, I called Tristen. Mom answered her phone and informed me that we had a baby. So exciting. Here are a few pictures of the new little one. Of course these are from the phone, but I'm sure it won't be long before I'm posting more pictures of our cute little one.

Quick Trip to Montana

Thursday after working 13 of 16 days I got on a plane MT bound! It was after midnight when I got there and I was so tired, but of course couldn't sleep very well. Handsome MT man called bright and early Friday morning asking when he got to see me, since I had gotten a rental car and I got in late I had driven myself to the hotel. He came over to my hotel for only about 30 minutes before I had to leave for my interview. Oh, my it was so good to see him. I drove the very short 1 hour drive from Missoula to Deer Lodge; it's 80 miles from Missoula but given the fact that the speed limit is 75, it makes for a quick drive. The drive was so beautiful, I was amazed at how it went from huge mountains to a valley with rolling hills so quickly. It really looks similar to Boise. It reminded me how much I miss the mountains. First off I met the ceo and one of the financial guys at the new hospital, which is still under construction. It was suppose to be finished the end of July but has been pushed back a bit. It is an incredible building and is going to so beautiful when it's finished. I'd be so lucky to work there. After our tour, where by the way they made me put on a hard hat first off, we had lunch with one of the DR.'s. It was delicious and one of my favorite meals, chinese chicken salad. They have hired a chef form California who truly has some amazing cooking skills. After lunch I met with several of the department heads, then some of the members from the board of directors all of whom were super nice, especially the town mortician. I then met with a relator. By this time I had a killer headache from lack of sleep and was super tired. It was rather boring to say the least. I then went to the CEO's house, 1 block from the hospital where I met his wife, who then took me to play group to meet 4 other women from the ward. I don't think I mentioned it but the CEO is a member of the church which is kind of cool, but weird also given the fact that I currently only work with 1 other person who is a member of the church. The women were all very nice and I know we would become fast friends. Afterwards, we had a nice dinner at one of the board of directors homes with some of the people from the hospital as well as a couple from the ward who serve as the YM and YW presidents. They were very fun and energetic too. Dinner was amazing again as was the lemonade. I think I am still craving it. By 8:30pm I was super tired and made my way back to my hotel. Totally lame, but I was in bed by 10 and out by 10:01. It was a pretty great day. The weather was beautiful and the people that I met were so nice and very genuine.

Saturday morning handsome MT man rang bright and early. He was out to the supermarket and was wondering when he could see me again. I met him an hour later for breakfast. Handsome MT man is totally into photography which is awesome, because so am I. So we each grabbed one of his gigantic cameras and then drove about an hour from Missoula to I think a state park. There we saw antelope, deer, and buffalo.

At one point we took us a little hike where he picked me a bouquet of wild flowers. Totally awesome. I don't think I have ever experienced that before. It was so cute seeing him pick flowers.

He wanted me to pose and I just couldn't do it for him, felt totally stupid. We are going to have to do something with the hair if I move out there. It's way to big out west with no humidity. That evening we watched a show and then had us a good long chat.

Sunday was church, it was nice but I didn't think the people were all that friendly, of course this was in Missoula and not in DL. Handsome MT man made dinner and then we watched The Work and the Glory, one of my favorite's. That evening we drove about 10 minutes from his house to go on a hike. On our way there we saw lots of deer, even baby ones. They were so cute. We went on a great hike which was so beautiful, we even saw 2 deer run in front of us. The weather was fantastic too. My favorite part of the hike was when handsome MT man showed me his impression of a tree. Totally funny. He did it so fast that I was unable to capture the moment on my camera. My mom has always told me to find a man who makes me laugh. He does just that. Monday morning I dropped by handsome MT man's office before heading to the airport. All in all it was a rather enjoyable weekend. My time in MT went by rather quickly. I have many decisions to make, which are not going to be easy. There will be lots of prayer and pondering involved for sure. I had a short layover in Minnesota, so I checked my email. There was an email from the CEO with an official job offer, just as I was reading it handsome MT man called. He isn't very helpful when I ask him what he thinks I should do. He just keeps telling me that I have to make the decision on my own; ugh, come on help me out a little. In the coming week I hope to have a decision. It is an amazing opportunity and I am sure would be a great adventure.