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November 4

2008-11-02T18:35:00.000-08:00

You all know what I'm going to say, but it makes me feel better to say it anyways...Please, pretty please, with a cherry on top, go out and vote! Even if you don't think your vote makes a difference, go and do it anyways! Who knows, it might even be fun and make you feel like this...

New Beginnings!

2008-05-16T21:31:00.000-07:00

Hooray! Just wanted to announce the birth of a beautiful baby girl ~ Alivia Thomas. She was born today (5-16-08) around 2:30 pm weighing 6 pounds, 12 ounces. You can’t imagine the excitement here!

Skid Row

2008-05-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

Street Art

One of the questions I am always asked is, “Do you know what field of medicine you want to go into?” and truthfully, I have no idea. It’s something that I have struggled with—what population do I want to serve? Older people? Little kids? Everything in between?

One population that has always interested me in the homeless. I remember in high school going to a soup kitchen to help serve food, so when I was invited to go to Skid Row, I jumped at the opportunity. Skid Row was totally unimaginable to me. I had read articles about it in the LA Times (if interested, google Steve Lopez Homeless), but it still didn’t prepare me for what I was about to experience.

This quarter I took a missions class for my religion course. A pastor from Skid Row spoke to our class one evening about missions for the homeless. From my perspective, his views were fascinating in ways that we shouldn’t help the homeless, but I didn’t feel like he covered ways that we could help. A couple of months later, we were invited to a prayer meeting at his church and a couple of us were interested in going. We drove to downtown LA and had no idea what to expect. We met him at the Nazarene church and he gave us a tour of some of the ways that his church is helping. For example, they have an after school program for children (he estimated that there were 400 homeless children). After that, we went into the church and sat down quietly and prayed to ourselves. At the end of the meeting, everyone stood up and we held hands and the Pastor prayed.

After the prayer meeting, we received our official tour of Skid Row. For me, this was where I was out of my element. He told us about the Skid Row Brigade, a group of homeless people that clean up the streets 24 hours a day and then he took us over to a mural that was also aimed at cleaning up the streets. Some of the paintings were really inspiring.

I thought this sign was cool.

Gabriel the Archangel

Close Ups

After that, he walked us down the main street of Skid Row. We walked past The Lamp, a resource for the mentally ill, and then past numerous other homeless shelters. I had never actually seen people sleeping on the sidewalks, but we had to step over people to get past. The pastor also warned us to watch where we were walking, because there might be needles lying on the ground. The main stretch of Skid Row was packed with people. Some were lying on the ground sleeping, most were just standing around. We also walked past a park that looked surprisingly nice for the area, and the Pastor pointed and said that it was controlled by the Crypts and had significant drug activity. Needless to say, we didn’t stand around too long. Finally, we came to another park where guys were playing basketball. The homeless people had started a basketball league with 3 on 3. They discussed the program with us and told us how popular it was and also how they felt it was helping. For example, every week they chose something they wanted to emphasize like self control. They tried to teach that the way you handle yourself on the court if a call doesn’t go your way can also relate to how you handle yourself at home if you argue with your wife, or how you handle issues with your boss if you’re angry, etc. It was really neat to hear them talk about it and one man told us how it was basically a way for him to stay off of the streets. One of the scary things about this encounter, though, was that we stood there and talked to them for about half an hour. When we walked away, the Pastor asked us if we noticed the cross tattoo on one of the young men. It was in the corner of his eye, and the Pastor told us that was a sign that he had killed someone. The guy with the tattoo was only 22 years old, and it just seemed so unreal.

Overall, I learned a lot about the culture of Skid Row, but it also left me feeling more depressed. The entire situation seems so hopeless, and then I wondered what one person can do. I’ll admit, I also felt like I stuck out the entire time. Our group was literally the only white people that we saw the entire 4-5 hours that we were there. I have never felt so white, out of my element, and unsafe in my life; it felt like a little target was painted on me. Still, I was definitely glad that I went and it made me realize how blessed I am to have grown up in a loving, safe, Christian home. So, thanks Mom and Dad!

Laura Story Might To Save

2008-04-16T22:47:00.001-07:00

This week I bought a new CD by an artist that I had never really heard of--Laura Story. I was browsing Itunes and just really liked it. If you're a fan of Christian music, this CD is incredible. Included with the CD was a music video about one of her songs, "Mighty to Save." It's just humbling to watch and it puts life in perspective for me.

Check it out!

Postsecret

2008-04-06T19:59:00.000-07:00

I was looking through Postsecret and decided that I wanted to share my favorites from the ones that I have seen...

Spring Break Extravaganza!

2008-04-06T19:36:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't decided yet if I want this to be more entertaining and a way to stay updated with friends or to be more of a journal where I can look at it and remember what was going on. Seriously, my memory seems to have gone to pot, which probably wouldn't be very reassuring if I told a future patient that. :)

So, last week was Spring Break and I was able to go home and do all the things that I love! I went to Graples, hung out with friends and family, did the whole Easter thing and had my 24th birthday. Easter is one of my favorite holidays and it was fabulous to be home. Laraine (my sister-in-law) is an amazing artist and always decorates eggs with me. Anyways, this year she drew a fetus on the egg (she's pregnant) complete with a placenta on the other side. Even though it's a little strange, I love her for it! I opened my Easter basket and then in the afternoon, my family decided that we wanted to go to town. We never really thought about the fact that nothing was open due to it being Easter, so the only store we found that was open was Savers. I had forgotten how much I love thrift stores. Some people might view it as ghetto, but I view it as finding the coolest things ever for the best price. Plus, I just like browsing the random crap.

On Sunday, my parents threw me a surprise birthday party and it was just nice to be in a whole room of people that you haven't seen in a while and that you absolutely adore. Monday (my actual birthday), my family went to dinner and then put me on the plane. You need to understand, that I have this "curse" on me when I fly. Now, it's not that I don't like babies, I just am not one of the people that fawns over them all of the time. But whenever I fly, if there is a baby on board, you can bet that the baby will be right next to me. This flight was no exception, but what did happen is that the mother started having a panic attack. Now, it's a small flight and we're sitting in the fourth row and across the aisle from me is the mother, father and baby. I'm reading my book, when I start hearing some commotion and I look up and the mother isn't breathing (she's gasping for breath). I started to get concerned and so I pushed the call button for the flight attendant. The flight attendant comes on the intercom and makes some stupid announcement "Ladies and Gentlemen, I will be making my way through the cabin when I finish blah blah blah." Another minute goes by and the husband pushes the call button and no joke, she seriously comes on and makes the same announcement while she is FOUR rows away from us. So, half of the plane yells at her that it's a freaking emergency and all she did was come and ask the lady if she wanted an oxygen tank (keep in mind that she asks the lady who is not breathing for an oxygen tank). Luckily, one of the passengers from the back of the plane came up and asked if she could help (She was a doctor! Yay!). Anyways, we landed and the lady was okay but it was the most memorable flight that I have ever been on so I felt the need to share!

A home of my own!

2008-01-25T19:39:00.000-08:00

So, this post is mostly for my parents, but I have now moved into my own home!!! All by my self! It's a little studio apartment and since my parents had never seen it, I figured I would share. Just be forewarned that it's still in the unpacking stage...

This is the view on your right as you walk in the door. It's my kitchen. Right underneath the ledge is the table that Andy gave me.

This is kind of panoramic photography, so bear with me. Basically just a continuation of what you were seeing. On the other side of the stereo is the coat closet, and if you look below you'll see the coat closet and the door that goes outside.

This is just more of the couch. The couch is on the same wall that the outside door is on. Next to it are the bookshelves which are beside the bathroom door.

This is taken from the front door if you look left. The bathroom door, my bed, and then my closet.

More of the same, we're halfway around the room now!

This is just a zoomed out version taken with me standing on my bed. The big overstuffed chair is at the end of the desk, and then we're back to the kitchen again.

This is my closet. It has the full length shelves on both sides.

Sink and Shower curtain...

This is the kitchen, (and look Mom! I still have the peach!

The new rug that I was so proud of!

Just a final view from my kitchen. You can look over the mini bar and see the door going outside.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this little mini home tour. It's small, but I LOVE not having to share the space with a messy roommate!

I adore Shamu!

2008-01-22T21:11:00.000-08:00

The Shamu Show
Isn't he cute???
Shamu "Believe"

More Sea World Adventures

2008-01-22T20:52:00.001-08:00

Aren't they cute?

Craig petting a dolphin!
The pets show...seriously, they trained cats! It was cool.
Feeding Shamu

SeaWorld Adventures

2008-01-22T20:33:00.000-08:00

Polar bear at Sea World
The Belugas! Look at the one on the left with his weird muscle!
Shamu!!!
What I want to be doing!
Just chillin...

Still Catching Up

2008-01-04T19:49:00.000-08:00

So, hopefully this post will catch up to current time and start being more interesting. Thanksgiving was amazing (basically, I just think that being home is amazing!). We went to the Festival of Trees, which I hadn't been to in forever! Craig, Jamie and I also went to the tree lighting ceremony. We all had candles and stood around and sang Christmas carols. Then, the mayor opened up a time capsule that had been buried there for 20-30 years and had things that kids had written about what they thought Boise would be like in 2007. It was pretty cute!

The week after Thanksgiving, Barbara Bush came to speak at Loma Linda. It was the dedication of the congressional papers of Shirley and Jerry Pettis. First, Shirley Pettis spoke and then Barbara Bush. I know it's really nerdy, but I was SO excited about hearing her speak and she did not disappoint! I really wanted to meet her so I first went to Randy Roberts office to see if he was going to meet her. To my surprise, I was met at the door by this huge African American guy who was like, "What do you want?" Come to find out, that is where Barbara Bush was while waiting for the program to start. Someone did come to the door and ask me if I was the one that was going to take the blood pressure. If I had been thinking faster, I could have been like, "Why, yes!" and then met Mrs. Bush. Anyways, she was really super cute and amazingly articulate and funny. Really really funny! In her intro, she was really down to earth and stated the qualifications that she had for us to listen to her. They went something like this: I've lived 80+ years, been happily married for 60+ years, raised 5 kids, gone through 4 dress sizes, went skydiving 2 times, I've been the wife of the president, and the mother of a president. Then she spoke about what was important in life and had interspersed some jokes. I was really impressed! I saw her afterward when I was walking home and was again impressed with how cute she is! Her purse even matched, and was super cute. Anyways, probably enough about Barbara Bush.

So, then I had tests for two weeks, and on the last day Craig came down and helped me move into a new house. I had no idea how much stuff I have. Currently, I'm living at C's house, but all of my stuff is either in boxes or down in the garage. It's so disorganized that if I think about it too long, I'll get depressed about how much I still need to do. It took us all of the day and most of the night to finish moving and we barely finished in time. Then, we flew home the next morning at 8:00. So overall, we basically moved everything in under 24 hours.

At the end, Craig and I were both exhausted and cranky, but the day wasn't over yet. We got home and my mom immediately had things for us to do. We went to lunch with some family friends and then had to go over to someone else's house. As soon as we left their house, we had to get ready to go to the Nutcracker at the Morrison. Even though we were both fighting to stay awake, it was really good. Somehow, it's just not Christmas to me until I see the Nutcracker.

The next night I went to the boys basketball game against Cole Valley. Although they lost, it was still excited to Jeremy and Justin play! It was cool, because I showed up and also got to see my old basketball coach (Mr. Leake), and Donna, and Bill. Mr. Leake sat beside me and constantly critiqued what they were doing and said; "I think that you girls could have beaten them." It was just fun to see that some things never change!

Other than that, Christmas break was really chill for me. I slept in until noon almost every day (and was woken up by someone calling at noon almost every day). I saw a TON of movies, probably more than I saw all last summer. Some of them were: Enchanted (way cheesy, but way cute!), National Treasure, P.S. I Love You (So sad, but still loved it), The Nativity Story, A Night with the King, The Devil Wears Prada, Flicka (again, loved it!) and a few others.

Christmas day, I slept in and had breakfast with my family. I think that we started opening presents at about 11:00 in the morning, which was awesome! Phill and Laraine were gone to Europe, so Christmas was pretty small with just my parents and I. I got a new digital camera that I am still trying to figure everything out with. I also got a watercolor of Haceta Head (a beautiful lighthouse). Anyways, we had Christmas dinner with the Hansens (minus the boys) and with the Nafee's. We played games that night (Taboo) and just had a great time! New Years was about the same as Christmas. It was pretty chill and I loved it! We had the Nafee's and the Hansen's (plus the boys) over again, plus one other family, the A's. Justin and I were out of control with Catch Phrase and we basically played it all night, until the ball dropped. This year, only two people got injured. Jeremy got ht in the mouth with it (my fault) and Justin got whacked in the eye with it (not my fault). It still makes me laugh to think about it. We watched the ball dropped, wished everyone a Happy New Years, and went around and had prayer. Overall, I think it was the most fun that I've ever had on New Years. It was just good to spend it with family and really close friends.

New Years Day, I had to fly back to California which sucked. This week, I had to do my complete physical exam which is where you do a physical on a classmate and have an instructor standing in the room watching you. Overall, Suzy and I did really well. Dr. S told me that I have a "therapeutic touch" which sounds really good but I'm not entirely sure how she's judging that! Now, it's just Friday night and I'm chilling at Lindsay's house. It's so nice to be able to relax with friends!

Anyhow, hope your Christmas and New Years was fabulous! Hopefully, now I'll stay semi caught up with this blog and not have to write about months at a time!

Happy 2008!

Summer of 2007 aka--best summer ever!

2007-12-01T22:11:00.000-08:00

So, finally a blog update for Luke—this summer was beyond amazing. I was able to go to Starlight Mountain Theater for the first time and I loved it! We saw “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” and “State Fair.” It was so cute and charming! The only negative was the wasps that were flying about during the first act. Other than that, I went to First Thursday (again for the first time) with Tyler. We didn’t buy anything, but we did get massages at this men’s barbershop downtown. It was really nice, plus, while I was waiting for Tyler, I talked to the shoe shiner man. Turns out he is a member of the Southern Baptist Church that used to come to our church and sing (they were amazing). It was interesting to me that he was extremely educated, but he enjoyed shoe shining.

For the Fourth of July, I went to Porcupine Races (talk about exciting) in Council. It was awesome. There were also saw races and a lawnmower dragster race. The porcupine races take place on the high school football field and then after they are done everyone goes around to pick up the quills. There is NO way that they get all of them. Anyways, what happens is the porcupine has a trash can placed over him and when the gun is fired, one team member picks up the trash can and the other has a broom and together they try to get Mr. Porcupine to move in the right direction toward the finish line. It was actually pretty funny. One porcupine even escaped from the enclosure and ran into the crowd. That night, I went to the Boise fireworks with Craig. They were so cool. While we were watching them, though, I was hit with this little ball. Turns out it’s a piece of one of the fireworks. The next weekend I went to the Vale County Rodeo with Kaley and Tracy and found out that I actually knew the people who orchestrated the Boise Fireworks. I thought that was pretty cool! The Vale Rodeo went hideously long but it was cute. There was mutton busting, a pig scramble, the suicide race and then other normal rodeo things. It was nice to be able to spend time with two of the people that I hung out with the most in college.

Back to the rest of the summer—I went on two family vacations. The first one was just a mini vacation to Park City, Utah (again a first!). We met my aunt, uncle and cousins and went on a mountain biking death ride. It was actually quite funny. The whole family went and we are all in different levels of “in shape.” The guide told us it would be a ten minute ride to the lift and 45 minutes later we made it there. To make it worse, it was pretty much uphill the whole way. We later found out that it was a ten minute car ride to the lift. At that point, my mom and cousin were ready to quit, but stupidly we convinced them to go on. At that point, my uncle decided that the guide didn’t really know what he was talking about, so my uncle chose a different path for us to go down. So we rode up the lift and then biked down on the trail that my uncle had chosen. Unfortunately, the trail was also beyond the skill level of some of the people there. I even walked my bike down some sections. My mom was a daredevil and decided to ride down one part but she didn’t know that it dropped off at the end. Needless to say, she went head over heels over the handle bars and was even more ready to quit. My aunt saw it happen and said she almost started crying because it looked so bad. Fortunately, no one was hurt but by the time we got to the bottom, I think only two people in my family enjoyed it. The next day was better when we took a day trip of whitewater rafting. I say whitewater rafting, but it really was just a degree worse than floating down the Boise River. One cool part was this bridge that was probably two feet off of the water. We all had to crouch down in the boat in order to go under it. The next day we went to the outlet malls and then headed home.

For our actual family vacation, we went to Crater Lake (for my daddy), the Redwood forest (for my mom), and to the Oregon coast (for me). We went camping the whole time and it was actually a lot of fun. Crater Lake was amazing. It’s the deepest lake in the US and it’s so incredibly blue! After that, was the drive to the Redwoods where my mom was a bit ridiculous. She ooohed and aaahed the entire time. It was actually pretty cute! We went through the Avenue of the Giants, walked through Rockefeller’s forest, but her favorite was Lady Bird Johnson’s Grove. There was one tree called the Dyersville Giant that was the largest tree in the forest but it had fallen a couple of years earlier. I stood at the base of it and felt so small. It is pretty cool how big these trees are. We also saw a presentation on the history of the trees, how they had been logged, and then protected. To support the cause of protecting them, we bought a Giant Sequoia tree which was about six inches when we bought him (we named him Mikey). He’s in a pot in the house and has actually grown a lot. The Redwoods are about 20 feet at the base and can grow hundreds of feet tall. On the drive back, we went by the Oregon Coast and stayed at Humbug Mountain State Park. We went and walked on the beach and there were seals playing in the surf. They were only about ten feet away. We watched the sun go down and the next day, we went to Cape Blanco Lighthouse. It was really cool because they let us into the light part and the guide explained a lot of the history since he had been in the Navy during World War II. After that, we took the long trip home.

My family and Craig also went to the Church Campout which was way in the boonies! The nice part was that it was near a hot spring. We camped next to the Benders, heard London’s first sermon, played in the hot springs and went on a death hike with the Woehlers. Seriously, I had no idea what I was in for but we climbed mountains, forded streams, snuck through bushes, and I was beat. The funny thing was that we took the new girls assistant dean who is from New York City. She thought she was going to die! Poor girl!

Another first was Mortimer’s which is downtown on 5th Street. I’ve always wanted to go because it features Idaho Cuisine, so one night Craig took me on a date. I was surprised at how small it was (maybe 12 tables), but it was extremely nice and I loved it.

I also got to go to McCall for a weekend, which was beyond amazing! We first went up with the Mitchell’s and stayed in their trailer park (it sounds weird, but it was actually pretty nice). We went swimming and just hung out with Bill and Kim. The next day, Craig, Mom, and Bill went home, while Kim, Dad and I went to IdaHaven. Dad and I went Whitewater rafting with Jamie, Heather, and Peter. There were class threes and a couple of class fours. Our boat was in the lead and we never lost anyone, but all three boats behind us did. There were a few wars with pulling/pushing people out of the boat. Then we went back to the camp. So, if you’ve never been there, IdaHaven is basically my version of heaven. My daddy had meetings in the morning, so I slept in, woke up and went wakeboarding for a couple of hours (the water was incredibly smooth and I was the only one that wanted to go), then went and showered and helped serve lunch. After lunch, I went wakeboarding again; Brandon and I went shopping at my favorite places in McCall; and then went out to Toll Station (another favorite). It was almost like I was back working at camp. That night I went and hung out with Carolyn, talked, read, and then went back to McCall to go to Fathers. Brandon and I stayed up late playing cards, got a couple of hours of sleep, and then headed back to the kitchen to help Carolyn. We spent three days there and I felt like I could have stayed for at least another month. The last day there, I summoned up all of my courage and took on a big fear – the Zipline. The zipline is at least 80 feet up and even though I worked at camp for two years, I had never done it. Before you start, you basically have to take an oath that once you start there is no other way back down other than to jump. So, while your feet are still on the ground and you feel nice and safe, you promise that you will jump. It’s so much different once you’re at the top. For me, the worst part was the climb up because it just seemed to go on FOREVER. Once I got to the top, Heather L unhooked me from the belay line and told me that I could lower it back down to the bucket at the bottom. I must have had this completely terrified look in my face because then she said, “Or Johnny can do it!” She was training Johnny on what to do since he’ll be doing it next year. I basically stood up there hugging the pole while he took care of everything. Anyways, once everything was hooked up, she told me to jump, and it was so nerve wracking. I did ask her if there was any way she could push me and she said that she could rig it so that the cable will jerk you off the platform but she’s only done it with 7 year olds. So, I did it! You can’t hold onto anything, you just jump off this platform and free fall for at least 30 feet before the cable catches you. As soon as I jumped, the fear was gone and it was SO cool. I loved it! Anyways, I’m still proud of myself for doing it.

The day after we got back from IdaHaven, we went to the Caldwell Night Rodeo on “Tough Enough to Wear Pink” day. All of the proceeds go towards breast cancer research. I LOVE the CNR and it is the best rodeo that I have ever been to! It’s so fun, and the announcers always egg on the war between the Rowdies and the Civies. This year I was a Rowdie!

After that, was the Western Idaho State Fair. I absolutely adore the fair—I love the food, the people, the vendors, the ANIMALS, the rides, basically everything about it. Brandon and I started out early in the morning and saw all the animals and vendors and then he had to work. He took me home and I met up with Jamie, Craig, Johnny, and Lori and we left to go back to the fair. (Basically, I spent the entire day there). We went through the crafts, went through the petting zoo again, saw a couple of shows (one guy dived from 80 ft into a 10 ft pool), and went on a couple of rides. By the way, the petting zoo was beyond awesome. There were goats with 4 horns, a Texas longhorn, a baby buffalo, a water buffalo, a yak, and so many more that I can’t remember. We even got to milk a cow (another first) and I must say that I could potentially have a career as a dairy farmer if medical school doesn’t work out.

The summer was almost done, but Kaley and I did get in another trip out to her aunt and uncle’s house in Spray. I love going out there because it’s in the middle of nowhere and it’s so relaxing. Driving in, Kaley nearing high centered her car (I’m sure she was swearing when the bottom was scraping). Saturday night, her uncle took us fishing and I had so much fun! I even caught the largest fish. When we got back to the house, he battered them and fried them, so we were able to eat fresh fish.

That’s pretty much the highlights of my summer. I went hot tubing with friends, walking with Donna, garage saling with Zach, lunch with Darren and saw the new house, found new hot springs with Jamie and Chad, and floated down the Boise River (and very nearly died), went to Graples, played Extreme Pit (best game ever!) in the dorm, went to crazy Cleo's, and just hung out with family. While it may be boring to read, it was certainly relaxing to be able to just chill and not worry about school. Too bad it’s over!

Good Golly Graples!

2007-07-12T23:19:00.001-07:00

First post--so excited! But even more exciting was Graples, a home decor store in Nampa. Before this year, I had never even heard of this place but this morning Laraine and I set out on our fantastic adventure! Talk about amazing! Girls, if you've never been, Graples is amazing. Laraine and I arrived about 5 minutes before the store was going to open and I kid you not, there was a line arround the building complete with a guy directing traffic--all for this little building that barely had a sign in front of it. They let everyone in and it was complete chaos, which is to say that I loved every minute of it! So ultra exciting. There were six cashiers and people were still in line clear up to the back of the building in order to check out. Anyways, Mom and I went back after she got off of work and I was amazed at the amount of damage that shoppers had done. One room was literally cleared out. There might have been 5 items remaining in it. In case you want to check it out... www.grapleshomedecor.com.

After the big Graples adventure, I met Tyler this afternoon for some frisbee and trash talk, which is my favorite (the trash talking of course)! I've never really learned how to aim a frisbee and even though I wasn't awful, I don't think that I would submit very many people to my frisbee throwing techniques. Luckily, both of us emerged undamaged. After that, we went to the Flying M (first time, again) and I loved it! There were do many random gifts/things--my favorite was probably ice cube trays that were shaped like diamonds. Just in case you really want to get engaged, and the boyfriend just isn't catching the subtle hints! Anyways, I bought a "Yo' Mama" insult pad. You can check off different insults and then pass it along! My favorites, "Can I borrow your face for a few days? My ass is going on holiday." and "I'm sorry, I don't speak skank." Just priceless!