We've moved! Well...kind of.

We've moved to Idaho. And all I have to say is:

What a trip.

Just kidding - that is certainly not all I have to say. Since when have any of you known me to be a woman of few words?!? So here's the story: (Sorry, no pictures.)

We started preparing to move by selling most of our belongings on Craigslist before we left and kept only what we thought we could squeeze into the back of a pick-up. Jaron's Dad was planning to drive his truck to us to pick up our "junk," as Jaron likes to call it, but wasn't sure if he was going to make it because Castle Rock got the BIGGEST SNOWSTORM OF THE YEAR on the very weekend we needed to move. But in the end h made it and got to our house Friday night and can I say, he SAVED US! We are so grateful for all Jaron's Dad did for us this weekend! Saturday morning Jaron and his Dad loaded the truck - 47 stairs down each load! What a workout for those two! After we were loaded, we cleaned the rest of the apartment and took off around 2:30 in the afternoon. The kids slept great in the car and all was well until we hit a SNOWSTORM in the mountains of western Wyoming. We spent the next hour or so driving 35 miles per hour. Amidst that snowstorm, some moisture got into our headlight and it went out and as our luck would have it, we immediately got pulled over for it, before we even realized it was out! I think the policeman pitied us and our overfull car with me squished in between two carseats in the back at 1:00 in the morning and he let us off with a warning to get the light fixed. So we made it to Jaron's parents' house at just after 1:30 in the morning. WHEW. I was getting ready for bed that night (morning?) thinking, wow, I'm exhausted and it makes this crazy adventure we're on seem even more challenging at the moment. I knelt down to say my bedtime prayer and it totally hit me. I am SO BLESSED. Number one: We made a long trip safely and with our sanity in tact, despite travelling with two rambunctious youngsters and snow-packed, icy roads. Number two: all of our stuff made it safely, despite the wet snow hammering our exposed cardboard boxes in the back of the truck. Number three: We had Jaron's Dad. Like I said before, we can't thank him enough for all the sacrificing he did for us just this weekend alone! Number four: We have a great opportunity to spend lots of time with family and friends in the next few weeks - something we haven't gotten to do in far too long!

If I've learned anything in the last eight months, it's been time and time again a lesson in perspective. Things are only as bad or as good as we think they are!

So we've made it safely this far in our adventure. Our plan is to spend a couple weeks here and then swing up to Canada for a week or two to spend some time with my family. Then we'll swing back down here and organize what we will take to Saba. Then we're off for two adventurous years on the island!

I have OCD.

What exactly is OCD some of you might ask? It is obsessive compulsive disorder. According to wordnet.com, it is defined as "an anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent and persistent thoughts and feelings and repetitive, ritualized behaviors." And here is why I have it:

1. I often check the stove to make sure it is off before leaving the house, even if I haven't cooked yet that day. If I think about it but don't check it, it drives me NUTS.

2. This may gross you out but I pop my fingers and toes in bed right before I go to sleep. Every night.

3. One wall of the Kids Club where I work is painted as a chalkboard. It causes me great anxiety when there is chalk residue all over it. I wipe it down twice whenever I get a chance.

4. After I lock the door when I'm leaving, I always push on it because, obviously the lock "clicking" into place wasn't confirmation enough that someone can't get in.

5. When I make a sandwich, the condiments absolutely have to go on the two "matching" sides of bread. Meaning, the bread has to fit together as a sandwhich the same way I pulled it out of the bag.

This is just the beginning of my list of strange habits. Anybody else OCD out there??

P.S. Because I never post pics of the chillins anymore, here's a few. Most of these were taken at the park. We've been enjoying mostly great weather here lately!

We're moving! Out of the Country!!

Our little family is in for some big changes in the next few years. Jaron has been accepted to medical school and will begin in May! In the Caribbean! Here's the story:

Since starting his own chiropractic practice, Jaron has found that chiropractic is not all we thought it would be. It involves a much bigger "business" side than we had anticipated (meaning, having to constantly market and sell yourself). Jaron has loved helping people with their pain but feels like he wants to be able to help people in a broader sense. So we looked at our options and decided that if we're ever going to change from Chiropractic, now's the best time for our family.

Now, you're all probably thinking, "Didn't they just get done with school?" Yes, we did! But by going back to school and becoming "career students" by going to medical school, we'll open up many doors for our family. Number one, when we graduate we will (hopefully :-D) have better job security. Number two, we will be able to live near either of our families in Idaho or Canada (something we may never be able to do with Chiropractic). Number three, although we'll be WAAAYYY far in debt by the time we're done, we'll probably be able to pay our student loans off quicker.

So where are we headed? To the CARIBBEAN!! WOOHOO!!! When we decided to apply to medical school, we contacted many to find out how long the application process is. We found out that a school in the US will take between 18 months and 2 years to be admitted. An American-approved school in the Caribbean would accept us as soon as we were able to get ourselves there. Since our family is only getting older and our student loans are only collecting interest, we decided to take an immediate course of action! So we searched the different schools in the Caribbean (there are 4) and decided on Saba because: 1) it is one of the safest, and 2) it is one of the cheapest. Our friends and old neighbors, the Swenson's, introduced us to the school and have been a huge source of information for us once we decided to go there as well. Now that we've been accepted to begin at Saba Medical School in May, the plan is to spend 20 months on the island, 20 months somewhere in the US doing clinical rotations and the next 2-4 years in residency somewhere, depending on what Jaron chooses as his specialty.

Here is a picture of the island of Saba:




And here is a map of where in the Carribbean the island is located:


Okay, my map was blurry so Google Earth "Saba, Netherlands-Antilles" if you want to know where it is!!

Thank you Andrea and Jonathan for being such an invaluable resource to us! We really appreciate your friendship!!