Update....

Well, sad news, "Black Bart" is no longer with us and our threesome is now a twosome once again. Jamie caught his toenail on a towel last night, ripping it almost completely off, so he "maned up" and finished the job the towel didn't complete. Let me just say, I was COMPLETELY disgusted. I've seen a lot of gross things working in health-care; I can handle gaping flesh wounds, various body fluids, (or solids....you all know what I'm talking about), but man, watching Jamie rip his dilapidated toenail off made me weak in the knees. Of course being the faithful, supportive wife I am, I put on a stoic face, swallowed the lump in my throat, and coached him through "the final blow."

Have you ever wandered what a naked toe looks like? Take a gander if you dare....

**WARNING**
The following image is rather graphic in nature and only intended for mature audiences.















Also, on another note, I (Amber) can officially deliver round-house kicks to the face. I practiced for at least 5 mins on the punching bag at the gym tonight and I'm pretty much a pro now. So just a shout-out to any future attackers: you may just get a "Chuck Norris" to the face, consider yourself warned.

New Addition

Oh yes, I forgot to mention the new addition to our family. No, its not a baby have a look for yourself..........















We affectionately call him "Black Bart". He's been with us
since early January, and will stay indefinately. I keep
trying to talk Jamie into having one of his podiatry student
friends take a look at it (he injured his toe in bball,) but I
think he's rather fond of his black toenail.

Reflections

Well, the past two weeks have been quite a whirlwind for Jamie and myself. As some of you may already know, my father unexpectedly passed away, so we packed our bags, skipped our classes, and headed to Nebraska for a week to be with my family. It was nice to be able to see so many family and friends, I only wish it had been under different circumstances. So since I've been better at blogging than journaling lately (which is incredibly sad because I've only written a few posts...) I'm going to write a bit of a personal reflection of my father.

My father was unyielding in just about every aspect of life, and I would dare say even stubborn at times. Despite having NUMEROUS heart problems, he could always be found at Burger King or Runza chowing down a greasy burger, and after attending cardiac rehab for the first time, he was convinced that his doctor was trying to invoke a another heart attack by making him walk on the treadmill and therefore vowed never to return again. He could definitely be described as "one of a kind". He always had a joke to tell (although not always the most appropriate...), and could strike up a conversation with any stranger. He freely shared his opinions with others, and had an opinion on pretty much everything.... except when Jamie asked him for permission to marry me; according to Jamie, the phone conversation was 1 min, 7 seconds long and my father's response was "Well, she's old enough to make up her own mind." He loved eating buttery (of course) popcorn, finding a comfortable spot on the couch, and watching tv. In fact, sometimes he got too comfortable. This was rather unfortunate as on one occasion one of my high school friends walked into my house to find him sitting comfortably in his whitey tighties watching Law and Order while chowing down some 'corn. Despite being a little "rough around the edges" he had a good heart and helped many people in need. He was a mechanic and often fixed the vehicles of those with limited resources by giving them a reduced rate or accepting whatever they had to pay-sometimes it was labor, sometimes a meal, once a purebred dog...haha. His charitable qualities are something I try to emulate in my own life.

Although losing my father has been very hard, I find comfort in the fact that he is now freed from the cares of the world and no longer physically suffering. Jamie and I are so grateful for the wonderful, supportive family and friends we have. A hard time was made more bearable because of them. I know that one day I will get to see my father again:)

Here's a few pics I took while home

Little Alice
















Lucie Can't take her eyes off the cartoons.....

















Stacy and Ben
















"Fat kid love cake"
There's never a shortage of sweets at mama's house.
Jamie captured this lovely photo after I proceeded
to 'sneak' a huge bite of his cake.

Saturday night with the Olsens

Its 11:40 pm on a Saturday night and Jamie and I are spending a romantic evening nestled in a corner room in the DMU library discussing diarrhea, hepatitis, and 40 foot helminths. Pretty much a typical Saturday night; isn't medical school glamorous? There are only about 8 cars in the parking lot...2 of which are ours, so we no longer feel the need to put our shoes back on when we leave our room to get a drink or use the restroom-jk about the restroom part...maybe;) I've only been in the library for 4 hours now-Jamie's been here since 10 am-and the gallon of Diet Pepsi I drank earlier is no longer having any therapeutic effects as I can feel the weight of my eyelids increasing. I feel as though young 20-somethings like ourselves should be out having fun, socializing,and relishing in our general lack of responsibilities, but alas, there are diseases to review and microorganisms to memorize. Although, I suppose I have done some socializing tonight, facebook stalking counts as social interaction doesn't it? I shouldn't complain though, I have the easy job. All I have to do is occasionally quiz Jamie on his notecards and keep reminding him that this is all going to be worth it one day.
Just another day in the life...

Life gets busy and you forget to blog....

Well, we've not been very good at updating regularly, so here's a quick update on us. First off, I (Amber), am finally free of all disease/sickness! After being sick for seven weeks with various infections/not-so-fun secondary infections caused by antibiotic use, I now have a clean bill of health. Things are starting to settle down as I finished all of my classes Monday, and I only have about three more weeks of full-time work left...yay! So now I can finally put the laundry away that has been sitting in a basket for two weeks, and give my dirty dishes the attention they need:)

Jamie has only one week left of his first semester of medical school! I'm so proud of him! He's worked very hard and has done quite well in his classes. Even though he's so busy he still makes time to spoil me,(he's baking cookies for me right now...I love him!) One more week with his nose in the books, and then it's break time!

We had a very busy Thanksgiving holiday. Wed, we headed up north to Jamie's parents. We went to New Moon, played in the annual Turkey bowl (we were sore for 3 days after), and ate lots of delicious food! Then we headed to my folks in Norfolk. While in the 'fork, we visited with relatives, relaxed, shopped, and ate more food! It was a quick, but fun break.
Here's a picture from our Norfolk visit (excuse my poor-quality camera)






Yesterday we had our church Christmas party. Jamie and I serve as the ward choir directors/pianists, and for this year's party, the choir had to put on a half-hour performance. Jamie and I were quite nervous for this as neither one of us really knows how to direct a choir and our (aka-my) piano skills aren't necessarily the best. During one song Jamie started playing the 5th verse on the piano (there were only 4 verses in the song...) and for another song that I was leading I forgot to have everyone stand up, so everyone was staring at me for approximately 30 seconds as I tried to figure out why no one would sing. It went pretty good though, considering.

Well that's all for now. Time to eat cookies and view our annual showing of the movie Elf!

Goodbye Tempo! This car will be missed....

Never again shall you pass this way, did you live it wisely?

Greetings from Iowa on this first day in November! I have to explain the title of this post...when I (Jamie) was in high school I had a Spanish teacher, Senor Scollin, who would take his calendar each month and in his old man voice say, "Neeeeeva agaaaain shall you paaaas this way, did you live it wisely?" Then he would stare at us, shake the piece of calendar paper, then throw it in the garbage. He must have done a good job getting my attention, because every month I think of that phrase!
Anyway, things here in Des Moines have been going wonderful. This past week was super busy, but great. I had my second Anatomy exam and a Cell Biology exam a few days later, so I burnt a little bit of the midnight oil a few nights, but was very happy with the results. Amber is doing well, but has been fighting some cold for like a month. I don't think it is "Swine Flu", but I'll keep a look out for signs of curly tails sprouting! Other than trying to get better, Amber has been my sugar mamma these past few months. She still is working at the nursing home, and each shift gets a little more manageable with understanding all of the details of the job.
We had an exciting Halloween yesterday. In the evening we got the new hot rod ready (we drive a 1990 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais...more to come on it later!) and we headed to the church for the Chili Cook-Off. We didn't enter a pot of chili this year, but we ate PLENTY of chili...I believe I ended up eating 5 bowls of chili and some big nut covered pumpkin bar! It was definitely a great night for some free food! After chili, Amber and I met up with our friends (Jesson, his wife Chelsie and Jeff) at Chipolte. Even though we had eaten Chipolte the night before, we came back the next night because they were offering the deal of a life. If you came into Chipolte dressed as a burrito, they would give you a free one! So, of course Amber and I were down for any type of free food, especially if it involved dressing up like some giant food object. We got some tinfoil, green stuffing paper and decked out in the burrito gear. As you can see from the pictures I was also sporting a very manly looking handle bar mustache. Between the plaid shirt, burrito suit and dirty mustache, I had one classy looking costume for Halloween! Needless to say Amber and I each enjoyed a giant burrito today (Fast Sunday) for our meal after breaking the fast!
Back to the car-First, we sold the Ford Tempo...I know (tear), but it was time. We made the transition a few weeks back when Amber swapped out the Tempo for the 1990 Oldsmobile Calais. Amber then posted last week the ad for the Tempo, and her father Larry had over 20 calls for it (it is a high demand car!). Within 3 hours the car sold, and just like that the days of the Tempo came to an end. Now back to the Calais. For some reason I can't remember the word "CALAIS" (pronounced "Ka Lay")...and one day my friend Jeff asks, "What kind of car do you have again?" I told him, "An Oldsmobile Cutlass Cialis!" He gave me an odd look and said, "Are you sure?" My wife was behind me shaking her head no, but of course I said, "Yeah, I know it is Cialis!" Anyway, my wife told me it was NOT Cialis and that it was Calais...at that moment I realized that Cialis is one of those great drugs for men who are having problems with, hmm, yeah, you get the picture! ;-) So now our car is known as Cialis!! It is a very fitting name for the car.
Anyway, I think that is the latest and greatest from Des Moines. Every day is just like a dream as I get to spend the day with the best person in the world! (Amber...just in case you had any doubts!). Life is great and we hope that all our friends out there are doing good! Until our next post, keep on living the dream!