Tuesdays are great!

Yummy!

Tuesdays = $1 Baskin Robbins Cones at the PX!

The only sad part is when your ice cream is all gone. :(

Living at a hotel

We have been having fun, but it is getting to be close quarters. Our day starts at around 8:30 am, thanks to the blackout curtains in the room. We watch Playhouse Disney and Nickelodeon until 11 am, with breakfast somewhere in between. Then, we clean up the room so housekeeping can come in - I know that sounds weird. Lunch time. Around 1 pm is when the "Mom, what can we do?" alarm is sounded. Sometimes, we go to the PX (Post Exchange - a shopping center) and look around. Sometimes, we go to the front desk and borrow a movie. Sometimes, we have art time. Othertimes, I convince them that playing with their backpack full of toys is fun. Around 4:30 or 5, dad comes back to the room. Then, we can go swimming, or run some errands. Dinner. Back to the room by 7:30 for showers. We play Wii or watch food network/HGTV until around 9, when our little angels drift off to sleep.

The bottom line is ... we all want to be in our own house,

with our own beds and our own stuff,

with real food to eat - not just microwave stuff, or fast food.

Church

We had fun at church today. After convincing Alex that Brother Walsh and Brother Fish were not going to teach her nursery class, we made it in time for the opening song in Sacrament meeting. (we did have a 20 minute drive!) The ward was totally nice, and we have a Primary activity on Tuesday night and a playgroup on Wednesday. Yeah!
On a weird side note, a nice sister introduced herself to me. It turns out her name is Susan Lee. She has a 6 month old baby girl that she named Audrey - after her grandmother. So, in 1 year, Audrey Lee and Audrey See will be in the same nursery class - probably the same week, as their birthdays are only 9 days apart. : )

Settling in

Aaron has been at work for 3 whole days now. There are 4 1st year Orthopedic Surgery interns. Kevin is married to Emily (she does hair!); they have 2 little boys: Luke (almost 3) and Blake (5 mths). Paul is getting married to Kate in August, they are from New York. Dimetri is originally from Sri Lanka, but grew up in the Houston area, and went to Rice U. Single. We got together tonight, along with some of the "transitional 1st year" interns.

Kevin was funny, he pulled out the digital video camera and was like,

"Okay guys, this was our first get together! We'll look at this again in 5 years

to see how much everyone has changed!"

It was nice, but a little weird to think that these people have come from similar situations that we have, and are headed in the same direction. It will be neat to see how much we will grow in 5 years. After all, Ben will be 11 then, Alex will be 8, and Audrey will be 5 1/2. It seems so far away, but so did the 4 years of medical school. Deep thoughts.
On a separate note, after a week, Alex and Ben are finally missing their friends and family. We went to the base, and got the kids some crayola art stuff - all in a little backpack. I thought it looked familar when we bought it. It wasn't until we got to the hotel that Alex said, "I love this backpack! It's just like Malia's!!!" She wore it for about an hour after that. Ben asked yesterday when we were going back to grandma's to go swimming. I guess the powerful hold of Disney channel and Nickelodeon is only worth one week of distraction. Luckily, we have church tomorrow, and the kids will get to meet other kids in our ward.
I am praying for a good ward - with lots of kids that will be good friends for my kids.

Welcome to El Paso!

I was trying to upload some pics from last week - Alex's birthday and Aaron's graduation - but the connection from the hotel is a bit slower than what I'm used to. I'll get to them soon. Sorry.

I saw a t-shirt today that said, "Greetings from Hell Paso!" I laughed a little bit. We've been here for 24 hours now, and they've been a bit rough.

First, we decided on Saturday night that we were exhausted, and leaving on Sunday wasn't really going to happen. We went to church with my parents, did laundry, and located all of our stuff that has floated around my parents' house for the past week. We got up early on Monday. Aaron rushed off to the Toyota dealership to get the tire pressure light turned off in my car. I made some calls that have needed to be made for a week, and finished packing stuff. By the time we were actually loaded, everyone went potty, and we were heading out the door, my parents showed up. So we took the time, said goodbye. It was about 1 pm.

I had Ben and Audrey in the van, and Aaron had Alex and Jeannie in the elantra. We arrived in Tucson without too much incident. Aaron only had to make one potty stop. We went to Auntie Bekah's house and dropped off the dog, the kids played a little, Audrey ate, and we got gas. (Total sidenote: GAS IS CRAZY CHEAP IN TUCSON!!! $3.69/gal.!!) Then, we got food and headed back out... around 5 pm. How did it take so long? I'm not really sure!

We drove on, and finally got to Lordsburg, NM. Getting out of Arizona is the longest part of the trip. Aaron was talking on the phone to his family when I motioned for him to pick the place to stop. Not paying attention, he stops at this slimy-looking gas station and takes Allie in to go potty. Gross. I crossed the street and went to the KFC, ready to feed Audrey, and Ben says he has to go. Oy. Then, I feed Audrey, and we decide that we should go and get our cars weighed - a req of the Army travel office - so they can pay us for our move. But we have to fill up with gas first. So we go a mile up the highway, fill both cars a quarter of a tank, and then head a mile back to the weigh station. We waited for a few minutes in line, only to find out that the scales are broken. By then, Audrey is mad about being put back in her seat, and I'm pretty sure that she had a hurt-y burp stuck. I stopped, got her out, calmed her down, and tried to burp her. It was loud outside, with all the big trucks around, so I'm not really sure that she actually burped, but she was quieter. For about 20 minutes. Then she screamed.

I am a very talented driver. I managed to gather the supplies and make a bottle while going 80 on the highway. Ben fed it to her in her seat, and she threw it back! But, then she really did need to burp. I pulled over and stood out in the middle of no where burping my baby. The stars were really pretty. EF

And then they slept. We arrived in El Paso, or rather, at the Army base, at 12:30 mountain time. (We add an hour.) We had a reservation at the hotel on base, and they gave us a family room - with a living room, 2 bedrooms, and a kitchen with an actual gas stove. Sounds good, right? We had to drive across the entire base to get to the building with these rooms. Then, we walk in and the evap cooler is blowing full blast directly at the one couch in the living room. Allie sat on it and her hair was waving in this hurricane! There were two bedrooms all right - with a very solid, full size bed in each. Now this was fine for the kids, but Aaron and I are not little people! We were exhausted, and uncomfortably fell asleep - with Audrey in bed with us. Even worse. I was so cold in the middle of the night (the sheets were too short to cover all of me!) that I took the blanket that was in Audrey's crib and covered myself and laid on the floor -away from the vent- in the living room. Aaron woke up and got me off the floor around 6 when Audrey woke up. He took a shower and discovered the science experiment that was growing in the shower ceiling. I think that was the final straw. He got dressed and went back to the main building and complained. He brought the kids continental breakfast from the other building too. It's hard to eat toast in the wind. Oh, then the tape on Audrey's diaper broke. We just laughed.

So we are in a regular old hotel room, with 2 queen beds in the same room, a little fridge and microwave. After that room, not a single complaint!

We made it to El Paso, but not without an adventure!

It's finally here

In a few hours, my dear husband will be a doctor. Seriously, he started going to school the same semester we got married. So after 8 years of long-suffering, toil and strife, graduation is here.

Things I am looking forward to:
*a paycheck
*moving to El Paso
*friends who can write prescriptions
*being in a ward with a youth program - babysitters!
*not having to iron shirts for the week
*no more stress about passing the next test
*A husband who enjoys his job - everyday!

Things I am not looking forward to:
*the stereotypes of Army wives
*more friends and family members asking for medical advice in the middle of dinner, breakfast, FHE, Saturday morning sleeping in, etc.
*moving to El Paso
*not seeing my AZ friends all the time
*having to travel to see any family
*having to unpack
*living in a hotel
*A husband being gone all the time

Congratulations, Doctor See. Your wife adores you. :)