Great news!!

I PASSED the dumb california boards!! I am so happy! It's so nice to officially be DONE, yippppeeee!! And Happy 24th today! Ty is in California taking the bar as we speak, I'm dying. He's studied like crazy, but this last week when I've told people he's taking the california bar I hear all these horror stories of people failing. There was only a 35% pass rate for the Cali bar in February. Let's just hope Ty makes it into that 35% or we might be home from London a little earlier than planned (Ha! He'll pass...I hope). Oh my sweet Amelia! Does she miss me? Give her my love, and all the other babies.

My sister had her baby boy last week, they named him Owen Michael. Oh how my heart melts for him. They actually just found out he has PKU. and those of you who were intently listening in physiology class will remember that that is when your body is missing the enzyme that breaks down protein. So baby Owen will never be able to eat meat, dairy, eggs, milk, enriched flour...it's sucks. My sister's pretty overwhelmed, but luckily they've caught it now and can manage it with diet. It's pretty crazy though, it won't make him sick if he has protien, it causes brain damage, so it has to be a pretty strict diet. So I'm officially starting a vegetarian diet for a month, I might try to do the vegan diet that he'll have to be on, but I really don't know if I can do it. My family's just going to try the diet for awhile just to get some recipes and ideas for my sis. Anyway, if any of you know anyone/anything with PKU let me know, I've been researching it like crazy.

I love and miss you all. When are you coming to London, has anyone bought a plane ticket yet? Just let me know the dates you're coming and I'll write it in my calendar.

Love,
Em

p.s. I'm going to try to get ty's friends to steal me a BYU law calendar like the one I had last year, does anyone want to join in on the theft? Let me know.

Hello my friends, hello

People don't you know don't you know I have my own blog. There is a link to it on the side of this blog. Sorry I haven't posted on this one more. I just assumed you all could check out my other blog. I miss you people. We are all busy and happy. Dave and I celebrated our 1st year of marriage! Can you all remember our first date? Boy does time fly when you are having fun. Amelia is 3 months old. Max will be 5 in two weeks! Henry is 7 and a little sassy! Crazy. I love hearing how everyone is doing so keep posting and check out my family blog @ whatsshakinbakes@blogspot.com. Talise, I am going to have to agree with Erin that you need to send pictures of that gal. Also, Denise, Brayden could not be cuter if you tried. Her personality just shines through all of the pictures. Adios amigos, lets get together and have a little fiesta. I will make the salsa, Soren, bring the brownies! Here is a little picture of my gal.

Hi guys! I just got home from work. It's my early day so no kids are home yet. I'm gonna take a nap :) I got to work with Em yesterday. She temped at my office. It was awesome! To bad we can't work all together like at school. Derrick and I are doing awesome. We've found a floor plan and a lot we really like. I'm crossing my fingers. What happened to Marnae? Did she stop blogging forever? And Talise, I want to see some pictures of Bella! I hope everyone is doing well.
Love ya, Erin

Our Humble Abode

This is our humble home down here in HOT San Antonio. I thought I would include some pictures of it so ya'll can see where we live. It's a cute home, nice and cozy with little snakes in the yard and spiders the size of my big toe. We've killed about six of them, two with large egg sacs on their backs. Luckily we haven't encountered the scorpions yet that I've heard about. Time to call the exterminator!

You're not the only caboose, Elizabeth. I haven't even started looking for a job. We just got back from a nice vacation with my family in Chicago and Brandon started school yesterday. Now that everything is calming down with the move and vacation and starting school, maybe I can begin to look for work. Ya'll keep talking about how nice your paychecks are and I can't wait to join the fun. We've figured that if I work one day a week, it will pay enough to cover our mortgage bill and then some left over each month. I hope it works out the way I want.



We attended the "Welcome to the Profession" ceremony on Sunday and there's about 15 students from BYU. All the non-members are shocked by all these students that are married with children. They keep telling Brandon, "I don't know how you're doing it." I'm thinking, Brandon? 'What about being the one sick and pregnant and having a baby while in school?'jk. There are a lot of females in his class. One is pregnant, another has a three month old. Her husband and baby live in Austin (about 2 hours away). She is going to live in San Antonio while her family stays in Austin and drive home only on the weekends while her parents take care of their baby. That's nuts! I don't know how she's doing it. We took a tour of the dental school and I have been getting familiar with the program and it reminds me a lot of ours, except for a really nice clinic. They stay in the same classroom all day long and this semester they have dental anatomy, histology, radiography, dental materials, etc....sounds like a cinch, jk. I'm sure it's way harder and a lot more information to learn but I'm curious to compare what I've learned to what they will learn. I've already made friends with a few LDS wives. They're great. Katie, Natalie, I'll have to keep you posted on what to expect the first year and hopefully rule out the horror stories I've been told.



Check out our blog to see how Brayden is growing. These last few weeks we've had awesome pictures taken of her because we've done lots of fun things and my sister in Chicago has a really nice and expensive high tech digital camera and loves taking everybody's picture, but the pictures I will take from now on aren't going to be as exciting. Well, keep the posts coming. I hope everyone is doing well.



Denise

Countdown is on!!

Hey ya'll! It's Sunday night and I have a little over 24 hours before I leave and can't sleep there are so many little things left to do...like pack! and I'll be spending the majority of tomorrow with my best friend being her guinea pig at Paul Mitchell for the day in Provo...so I'll get it all done somehow ;) But I just wanted to write a quick note. Thanks for the great book ideas, It helped a LOT just gotta make sure I can fit them all. I'm only allowed 50lb and still have to have room to bring stuff back. I can't tell you how excited I am it's going to be amazing. I wasn't planning on working before I left but I got offered a temp job so I took it, and LOVED IT ... and the paycheck. I only did it one day and got as much as I would have made in an entire week at UVSC. Then I got a call from another lady asking me to temp when I get back. So I'll have some working time to find a more permanent job. I'm really excited about it. Other than that life's just great, my brother got married Thursday and it doesn't seem real yet. I won't get to see him for like a month :( My sister still hasn't sold her house, she's decided to come with us on the trip and I think it'll be good for her. She was denied the surgery for the hole in her heart because as of 10 days before the 3rd time her surgery was scheduled the FDA decided that the device hasn't been through enough testing and therefore is calling it "experimental" meaning insurance will no longer pay for it. Which sucks because she was terminated from her job the day before my clinical boards because of her heart condition. She's been trying to fight that ever since but it's a slow process. So she's been unemployed and having to pay her own insurance and with all the other medical conditions she has it's been tough. It's amazing to watch someone use the gospel so much in their lives to give them comfort and guidance. She is so strong and amazes me every day. My life is so blessed.

But anyway, congrats to all those who've got jobs...I think I'm the last one haha always bringin' up the rear. Hope ya'll are enjoying your summers! I'm sure I'll share more when I get back WAHOO!! LOVE you all

Elisabeth

The Arizonans

It's Stef! I got a job with a really great dentist in Mesa! I start on Monday! It's not as close to where we are going to live as I wanted but it's not too bad. His name is Dr. Dickerson. We did a walk through of our house on Monday so now they are going to start putting up the drywall! It should be done in about middle to end of September. It seems like the date keeps getting later and later. But I bet we'll be in before we know it. I took some pictures at a resort we went to for our 2 yr. anniversary but our cord to connect the camera to the computer is packed away somewhere. When I find it I will post it. I'm glad everyone is doing well!

Stefani

Camping trip

Me and Ty went camping last week up towards Albion Basin (up Big Cottonwood Canyon). We hiked up one night and brought Barbacoa burritos with us for dinner.

Look how honkin' Ty's burrito was!

New Job

Hey girls-I am just writing to say hi and tell you all that I am starting my new job tomorrow morning. I am so excited and I can't wait. I am still working at Sports Authority, but hopefully not for very long. I went to Cali a couple of weeks ago and it was so nice. I honestly just hung out at the beach all day everyday. It was really nice to relax. I went to Laguna Beach and decided I am going to have a house there one day. Things are really good. I am just enjoying life and trying to get through until I can quit Sports Authority. I hope things are good for everybody. I miss you guys and think we need to get together again sometime soon.

Kara

My dancing girls.
I couldn't get this pic turned the right way once

i posted it. She's quite the glamour girl.

Dj up to bat.

This is what we've been up to this summer.

Happy Graduation to us. Derrick took these.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Hi Ladies! Wow it's a good thing it's not hot outside or anything. Holy crap. So I get my first nice paycheck then my boss goes on a 2 week vacation. Lame! I got my living room painted and the yard weeded and remodeled. But the kids have been driving me crazy!

Derrick always reads your blog entries with me. He says 'Hi' to everyone and just warned me to watch our budget when I check out the make-up stuff. I'll watch it alright....fly right out the window :)

Happy 4th of July to everyone. I hope ya'll have fun plans for tomorrow. I just painted the girls toes red and blue with white flowers. I also bought them matching t-shirts and visors. D.J. just had his 8th birthday yesterday. We had a swimming party with the fam. I've already had to take away two of his birthday presents. Toys that fly through the air are not good for my son. I'm such a mean mom. He can earn them back through manual labor :) Oh, side note for you future moms.... play slime gets everywhere, no matter the efforts taken to prevent it! Being a mom is kinda fun with no school to worry about. Alyssa is making a killing off my aversion to house work. I pay her to do it, but she's now learned to barter. Two bucks only got 2 loads of laundry folded. She drives a hard bargain.

Stay cool tomorrow and don't forget to blog some more!
Erin :)

Blog Blog Blog

Hi all! How is everyone? No one has posted for a while so I thought I would start us back up again. Talise...thank you so so much for the e.l.f tip. I went crazy last night! I can't wait to get my order. What an amazing deal!


So I don't know if you all know this but Natalie and I are working for the same dentist in AF. It is the absolute greatest! Our rooms are connected by a cabinet that houses an X-ray unit. Between patients we open our doors and chat away. It is SO FUN for me to work with her. She makes everyday a brighter :)
How cure are we?

So yea... how great is it to not work out of that nasty clinic anymore. I can't believe how much better it is to work in a real office. No Ms. Davidson, o paper work, no getting checked off 3 thousand times, no crowdedness, did I say no Ms. Davidson?... I could go on and on!


So Ken and I went to Lake Powell a couple weeks ago. It was so hot, but so much fun. I will post a picture of Grizz in his tiny little life jacket soon! He hated the water but I made him swim with me anyways.


So (don't you love how all my sentences start with "so"?) anyone up for floating the Provo Riv on Saturday?? Ken and I are totally in! I think that Nat and Em are in too. Don't be party poopers! Join in on the fun!!


I love you all!


McKenzie