In LOVE with our House!

It was a very stressful few weeks while we packed up in NY and moved to Iowa. I will try and make a long story short (few people ever read everything you write anyway-especially if its really long)

June 5-9 - packed up our tiny apartment

June 10- hit the road and said good bye to NY! will we miss it? most things-no; the people and the adventure-yes

June 11-12- drove to Des Moines- I drove our car and Jimmy drove the moving truck- 2 days by myself in the car- not very fun

June 12- We arrive at our beautiful house waiting for us!

June 13- We unpack like crazy

June 14- We go to our new ward and then I fly ba

ck to NY to finish school. I did not want to leave

June 14 (later)- flight gets cancelled and I am stuck in Chicago without clothes or a toothbrush.

June 15-18- Finish teaching at New Rochelle High School

June 18- Get stuck in Chicago AGAIN trying to get home-without clothes or a toothbrush

June 19- Jimmy drives to Chicago to get me and we drive home- I was done with airplanes

We are finally here and we are all settled in! We love our home.

Here are a few pics- its not decorated yet and our new couch is on order but its coming along.

We LOVE it!

I am trying to do a picture tour .....
Our living room window over looking the front lawn

The entry way- I love my wood floors

Our bookcases are the only furniture in the living room- our old couch will move in here when our new family room one come

The living room connects to the formal dining room
The hallway off of the front entry way leading into the kitchen
Powder room
Family room- I am painting next week!

Kitchen- so big and spacious!
I love looking out of my kitchen window!

We have a nice deck- and yes that is a corn field!
Off of the family room a door leads to our basement
We turned the bedroom into our dual office
Our basement is huge and we have absolutely nothing to really put in it yet
My little workout area- its a little sad at the moment- Jimmy has a weight bench we want to get from AZ

I am going to try and do a before and after when I have painted and actually hung stuff on the walls. So far we really like Des Moines, our ward, and Jimmy's program.

A little of this and that....

With Jimmy's parents in town and Jimmy now done wi

th school- we were able to do some fun stuff. We saw 3 broadway shows- yes 3- God of Carnage, Memphis, and Wicked. I enjoyed all of them- they were so good. We did a little sightseeing around the NY area and we also took a trip to Philly and Boston. We had a really good time seeing the historic sights and going on the tours. We drank a lot of egg creams and ate a lot of black and white cookies (purely NY creations)! Aleta went home with specialty syrup to make the Egg Creams which you can only find in NY. I did not take many pictures- mainly because Jimmy HATES taking pictures but I did manage to squeeze a few in.

The Freedom Trail

The Boston Harbor

Enjoying the Harbor Cruise

Independence Hall

The Liberty Bell- which has several spelling errors including Philadelphia

Hello Dr. Gunn!

Jimmy graduated from New York Medical College with his M.D.! I am so so proud of him and glad that I am officially a doctor's wife! It has been a long, long, long, road for Jimmy and I am so glad for him and all of his comrades and their accomplishment. Here are a few pics of that beautiful day!

The ceremony was short and sweet with a great lunch afterwards!

Jimmy and his fellow graduates

We were really thankful for Tom and Aleta (Jimmy's parents) who came all the way from AZ

Its official! He has the document to prove it!

Our first home!

This past weekend we flew to Des Moines and went house hunting. We had about 1.5 days to look at homes, pick one, and put in an offer. It was a whirlwind weekend but it was a complete success! We knew several areas of town we wanted to look in and we had a great realtor to help us. We saw a lot of homes that were just OK. We were so lucky to find a house that had everything we wanted and was extremely well maintained. We LOVE it!

Here is our new home...

basic stats- 4 bedrooms, 2700 square feet (which includes a finished basement) and 2 1/2 baths.

Before we left town, we drove by one last time and I was so excited to see the SOLD sign!

Now we just have to wait two months before we move in! We can't wait. We love our house!

Celebrations and Vacations

We have had a busy couple of weeks. In addition to preparing to move, we spent a night in the city celebrating with a bunch of friends. It was fun to hear about where everyone is going for residency and to see everyone. The next day was my birthday! Yes, I am now 26! It was a gorgeous day so we went to one of our favorite parks on Long Island sound.

On the way to the park, Jimmy spotted a lemonade stand run by some little boys. Jimmy has a rule that whenever he sees little kids selling lemonade he has to stop and buy some. So two glasses of lemonade and two cookies later, we enjoyed some time at the park.After enjoying our lemonade, we went out to dinner in White Plains. Jimmy took me to this little Thai food place. They had the best soup-coconut curry mmm.
We just got back from a vacation weekend in Washington D.C.! I had never been there, so I was excited to go and see the sites! Here are some highlights from our trip. We took one of those double-decker bus tours. I know its pretty touristy, but it was the best way to get around and see everything! Beware for picture overload.

IOWA or BUST!

Prior to the Match this week- where we find out where we could go for residency- I told my husband- "Honey- I will go anywhere we get a spot...hopefully it's just not Iowa or something" Well, guess what- we are moving to Des Moines Iowa! I am eating my words.

Truth be told- we are so grateful to have a spot in a wonderful Family Medicine program. It has great benefits, its a solid program, and from what Wikipedia says- its one of the top 5 places in the US to live and raise a family. We are so there!

Earthquake Relief

So I spent last week in Haiti with a group of doctors and surgeons as a member of an earthquake relief team. It was one of the most humbling experiences I've ever had. The destruction I saw was worse than any Hollywood produced natural disaster movie. People were homeless, living in shanty towns and tent cities all across the city.
As a member of the team, I worked with ER docs and family practice docs in local medical clinics. We had a few groups of surgeons operating at mobile hospital units. I spent most of my time in Leogane, a town about 20 miles west of Port-au-Prince. Leogane was actually hit harder than the capital city and I figure about 80% of the town is in rubble. I traveled up the mountain side and down the coast to smaller villages treating the locals at clinics we set up. The team probably saw 1200 patients in the week we were there and I probably saw about 250 of them by myself. The surgeons operated on about 75 people as well in the hospitals.
I learned so much and grew to love the Hatian people. The video posted shows some of my trip through Port-au-Prince. The Hatian people were very shy of the cameras, so I tried to take my video discretely. It's choppy, but you will see the devistation well enough.