January {The Good, the Bad, and the UGLY}

THE GOOD

We were thrilled this last week to receive Nate's test results from Part 2 of his National Boards!  We were actually out of town when they came and we had my sister read them to us over the phone...talk about a nervous boy!  He passed, which is a big relief...now to focus on those last few graduation requirements and clinical boards in May :)

ALSO GOOD

Nate and I made a trip to Washington last week to check out some job opportunities since graduation is LESS THAN 5 MOTNHS away!  We flew into Seattle and drove across the beautiful Cascade mountains into Southeastern Washington (the Tri-Cities area).  

We met some wonderful people and hopefully will have a job lined up in the area (nothing for sure yet) in the coming weeks/months.  It would be a great area for us, a temple is in the Tri-cities, the church is very strong there, and it is a drivable distance to Ogden, which we were really hoping for :) Best of all, they have 300+ days of sunshine a year and amazing Mexican food...yipee!

(another image not my own....mad I didn't take some of my own pics)

I won't lie, when I first drove through the cities I may be calling home in a few months, my eyes started welling up with tears.  It is small-town life.  I am not a small-town girl.  The more I mulled things over in my head and we talked about it, I know I'd like living there.  Every store I'd need is within a 30 minute drive, which is definitely doable.  The job opportunities we found for Nate are exactly what we were hoping for, and are praying that it all works out :)

I had my camera, but did not take one dang picture!  I saw the area at probably the ugliest time of year.  It is in the middle of wine country, so there are lots of vineyards, hops growing all over, fruit orchards of many kinds, and not big mountains, but rolling hills.  Here's a little taste of where we may be calling home....(and yes, I have already made conditions with Nate in the neighborhoods we can live in :)

Driving back to Seattle, we stopped at Snoqualmie Falls just outside of Seattle.  It was beautiful.  I tried to take my own picture, but all the mist from the falls did not make for a good picture...so again, not my work here!

THE BAD

Coming home from the airport, we had a car cut across a few lanes of traffic turning into a McDonalds and we didn't have enough time to slow down/stop and the end result....

Luckily, the woman driving was definitely at fault and now we have to figure out all the insurance information to get little red repaired.  

THE UGLY

The view out my window.  The one thing I WILL NOT miss about Columbus is this dang weather...okay maybe it's not even the weather, it's the sky.  Welcome to my world I would say 6-7 months of the year.  I hate the gray sky.  It makes me feel unmotivated to do absolutely anything most days.  There is something about growing up in a place that is fairly sunny most of the time and then switching to a place that doesn't have that....definitely gets to you!

{11 of 15}

OSU acceptance letter

My oh my how time flies when you are having fun {and working hard}!  It was three and a half years ago we found out we would be moving to Ohio for Nate to attend THE Ohio State University.  Today marks the day that we say goodbye to being a 3rd year dental student and slip right on in to our 4th year...our final year.  It's amazing to look back and see all that Nate has accomplished in the past 3 years...11 quarters worth of school (there are 15 total), 1 year in the clinic, passing the first set of National Boards, crazy patients that call him all the time, patients that aren't so responsible and canceling all the time, and well on his way to getting graduation requirements fulfilled.

The next year brings a whole new set of challenges and happy times...

Finding a good opportunity for our next chapter in life, interviews, Board exams, cruising with our favorite dental school peeps, last set of season football tickets, last gray Ohio winter, moving again, selling our house, graduation day (one year from this Friday!), looking for a new house, exploring new places, making new friends, tearing apart our "family" we've come so close to these last few years, and Ohio in the falltime (love everything about it).

It's exciting, it's scary, it's life.  I am so proud of Nate for how far he's come in school and the progress he's made.  He can't imagine doing anything else with his career, and it's a good thing...he's gonna be doing it for a long time!  I can't wait to see where your next career chapter takes you, and the successes you have coming your way!  Congrats love...you're almost there :)

Oh Happy Day :)

After 2 years of dental school, lots of hours studying, stress-filled moments, and dental decks as far as the eye could see, today we got the news that Nate passed his NBDE Part 1 exam.  Now he is allowed to begin in the clinic and work on patients.  Not passing this exam would have meant being set back 90 days, and possibly postponing graduation by a quarter or two.  But now, no worries because those 4 little letters appeared on this letter.....pass.  Wahoo!  Congrats Nate, we are proud of you and are excited your hard work the last 2 years has paid off!  We love you!

I can only think of one time we were more excited....when he actually got into the Ohio State dental program.  Here is a flashback to that time 2.5 years ago.....

Now onto the next challenge!

1/2 Way To D.D.S.

Holy smokes...finals week #8 of dental school COMPLETED!  How time does fly!  Now that dental school is 1/2 way done, study hours will be cut down, time spent in the clinic will take up most of Nate's time, and hopefully more family time will take place!  Congrats to my hubby and all his friends on being

1/2 WAY TO D.D.S!

Here are a few pics of dental school thus far....I need to start taking more pictures!

White Coat Ceremony

Thanks for working so hard in school, you are a great dad and hubby, and we are so proud of you!

B and T

Patient #1

Yesterday Nate was able to see his first patient for a screening and a teeth cleaning. The lucky 1st patient....me! He did a good job...only poked me a few times, and I came out with no serious bleeding! He won't start seeing patients in the clinic until next summer, which he can't wait for! Playing inside a fake mouth just isn't all that fun! (Don't look to close at me...I worked the night before and got 1 hour of sleep. There are dark circles under my eyes and they are blood shot!)

You may be wondering what Nate is wearing on his eyes...they are called loupes. They are basically a big magnifying glass so he can sit straight up and do his work rather than have to bend over and kill his back. He got them for free last year after offering to be a contact for the company at Ohio State. That was nice, considering they cost well over $1000!

The dental boys showing you where they go to school....

It's All Official

Tonight was Nate's white coat ceremony. It was held at the Blackwell hotel on campus, which is a really pretty place! They did the white coat ceremony for the dental class of 2012 and the dental hygiene class of 2011. I guess there's no turning back now, we're stuck here for the next 4 years! (FYI: there are 104 students in Nate's dental class, 43% are girls!)

As their names were called, they posted a picture of them on the projector screen with info on where they are from and what university they attended.

Here he is in the white coat...our little fam

Dental Oath



And here are my favorite pics of the evening...

Ryan, Kevin, Jordan, Nate

Ryan, Dave, Jordan, Nate

Heather, Taryn, Allyson, Brit (no..we didn't all plan to wear green, just a coincidence!)

Ryan, Jordan, Nate, Tucker, and Kevin