D and her two sweet treats....

Yay!! Andy's sister Danielle, aka D, came to visit us and she brought her two sweet girls with her! It was a super fun trip and we tried to do as much as possible in her few days here. The kids were all in heaven constantly laughing and playing together.


Carlee was the first to get her hands on sweet baby Oaklee, the kids were all excited to have a baby in the house.


Porter loved Oaklee so much.


Oaklee Marie


After we went to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, D got to see Porter in basketball mode, he is number 23.


He is on the team with his best friend JP.


He gets so into it, I love it!


Of course the girls all wanted to take a bath together.


Marin would not leave the "baby" alone. She was always where Oaklee was, it was so cute. Here Marin found her laying on Porter's bed and she crawled right up and layed beside her, then of course Porter had to be in the picture too.


D could not to Cleveland without a trip to Malley's.


Carlee and her Lego dog.


Happy kids.


Andy was so great about letting D and I have some girl time. Here we are at Cheesecake Factory after we went shopping at H & M. It was so much fun and a very successful shopping trip.


On Sunday, D and I went to Kirtland, Ohio to see the church history sights there. It was way cool for her to see and we drove home through the craziest blizzard.


Monday was Porter's birthday and we got to go in and visit him while he handed out some treats to everyone. Porter and Sammie are good buds.


Porter sharing with the class about our weekend.


The girls.


D is so funny, always up for a good time, my kind of gal.


Also on Monday, the Carlee and Tessa have swim lessons, and this time Tessa's teacher let Samantha join the class.


The class.


Getting ready to jump in.


The girls, so cute!

Clearly from all of this, we had a wonderful visit. It was so great for D and I to spend time together, we never get the chance to sit and talk when I visit Utah, so this was a nice change. I also have to mention our nights of playing Bananagrams, those were interesting. Let me just say that it is nice to have someone on the same intellectual level as me:) Love you so much D, thanks for taking the time to come here, we love you so much!! TRUFFLE!!!!!!!!!

Our last interview....

This last year of residency has been crazy, our minds have been spinning since June 2011. We have been asking ourselves for months where we were going to end up, and I think we finally have the answer! Since last summer Andy has been on the phone with so many hospitals and ER groups, and each conversation brought on many hours of on-line researching on my part, trying to find out if these places could be a long-term fit for our family. The serious stuff happened when we went to Oregon. It was such a beautiful place, great community, wonderful climate, and a great hospital and ER staff. We left there feeling very good and with a contract. We eventually signed, but for some reason, I could not get 100 percent into Oregon, I kept asking myself if I could really live there, but at the same time, I was willing to go wherever and make the best of it.

A few interviews later and a week after we had signed the Oregon contract Andy received an e-mail from a group in Montana that Andy had been in contact with since last summer, but they were not hiring. Well, they had since decided two new docs and they remembered Andy! I will admit that I had some reservation about living in Montana, it is so cold!! But when the thought of living so close to family again came back to mind, I was more open to it. So we started looking more into the community and schools and everything seemed to be just what we were looking for. So we set up the interview and went to Montana. Flying out there was a disaster and we ended up sitting 5 hours in the Detroit airport, but it worked out in the end.

It was so great to see my folks, oh how I have missed them. The interview day was so long, but very informative and fun. We drove around with a realtor, met with the ER group, toured the hospital, met with some wonderful teachers from the school system there, and had a great dinner with some of the ER docs. As soon as we left the dinner we both knew that we wanted to go to Helena. That means we would have to end the contract with Oregon, but they don't want us there if we don't want to be there right. Now we will be on pins and needles until we find out.


Andy setting up Tessa with some entertainment while we waited for HOURS!


Tessa snuggling with Grandpa with her new Snow White doll.


Andy and I before the group dinner.


At breakfast together.


At my dad's dealership. Tessa loved "driving" all of the cars.


At dinner the night before we left at the Madison River pizza company (every time we have been there, we get this booth).

So now it is a waiting game......

***Update, we have been offered the position in Helena!!!!!!! Freaking out and super excited.

Oranges.....

Marin loves oranges! She loves regular big oranges, she loves mandarin that come in a cup, and she really loves the Cuties oranges. I totally busted her the other day on top of the kitchen table eating the oranges any way possible. I leave them out all of the time in a beautiful bowl that Andy's dad made. This particular day I kept having to move the bowl because she would not leave the bowl alone, and when I thought she had been distracted enough, I put the bowl back on the table. Well, sure enough, Marin got to it again! She is my monkey baby and loves to climb on everything. So I fianlly just gave it up and let her have all the oranges she wanted.


BUSTED!!!


Are you talking to ME??







I just love this girl, she completley melts my heart.

Tessa's Pre-school party

Tessa just finished her first session of pre-school. It has been so fun for her to go and be with her friends as well as play with her "big". On her last day of the winter session the parents were able to go and be there the whole time. It was so fun to see Tessa interact with her bigs Charlene and Shelby. I loved seeing her play Candyland and running around in the gym with the other kids. There were so many fun treats there and of course Tessa chose the most messy option-a cupcake with bright blue frosting! Charlene and Shelby were both so sad to have their time with Tessa come to an end, Shelby even offered to come and babysit for us. The next session of pre-school starts in March, so until then, we are just enjoying our time together here at home!


Charlene and Tessa playing Candyland.


Tessa and her cupcake.


Tessa and Shelby.


Cathryn, Tessa, Tanner, Ella