Eeyore

In an attempt to escape from a recent Eeyore slump in my life (see bottom of blog posts) I went through some photos and put together a slide show of some of the places that Jenny and I have been fortunate to visit. It brightened my day to remember so many good times. Check out the pics from such places as Rome, Cairo, Machu Pichu, Peru, Mexico, Mt. Rushmore, Havasupai, Palmyra, Niagara Falls, Guatemala, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Yellowstone, The Tetons, Vegas, Switzerland and the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Remembering such good times has been a boost to my mood, now I can confidently return to studying psychiatry. Hmmm, perhaps that is the source of my Eeyore mood. I better check my DSM-IV to see if I meet criteria.

Anyhow, we are hoping to take another little trip here during fourth year sometime. Any suggestions on places to see or activities to do?

(Jenny editing from Utah) Jake did forget to mention why he was having an Eeyore day. Madison and I are in Utah visiting family so he is very lonely:( And... to top it off, Jake had another injury the Friday after Madison and I left. He injured his back playing basketball and I haven't been able to take care of him. Thank you to our neighbors and friends who helped him out with meals. Jake is starting to feel better and is mobile now.
His back injury is a reoccurring injury that can be traced to his glory days in high school football. I think I will have to ban Jake from participation in sports for awhile.
Sweetie, we are having fun in Utah but we will be very excited to see you again on Thursday. Please try not to have any more injuries in the meantime.

I Finally Won!!!!

As you can see from the documented score over spring break I finally beat Jake at Scrabble! It took us a week to finish this game with our busy schedules but it was well worth it in the end. He is amazing at word games and always thinks of those words that aren't part of most peoples vocabulary. He did help me with a few moves on this game. Thanks for teaching me some cools tricks sweetie and letting me brag about my victory.

I have yet to beat him at Boggle. If anyone is good at this game he could use a challenge.

Just chillin'

Madison is growing up so fast. Jake called me over to the couch to catch her in this lounging position. So cute!

House Centipede

This is a really gross post I know, but hey, this is The Snow Report and that is what we do here. Poopy diapers, spiders, hand lacerations and now this! The picture doesn't even do it justice because you have to see one of these things move.

I think most bugs are YUCKY! In fact, just the other night I screamed like a banshee after seeing a spider. Thank goodness I disposed of it before Madison ate it:) My scream woke up both Madison and Jake... and made one of them cry. It really is amazing that many of my summers were spent working at camps in the great outdoors. You would think I would have made peace with bugs by now.

I had told some friends here that I would post some pictures of this bug so here is the story behind what you see. When Jake and I first moved to Toledo we had an encounter with this aweful monster of a bug. Jake was doing the dishes, it seems he does that a lot in our posts. All of a sudden I saw something the size of a mouse scurry past his feet. I of course screamed causing Jake to almost drop the glass he was washing. Because of the lightening speed of this creature, I couldn't find it and I was very worried at where it might have gone. Just as I had thoughts of finding it again in our bed the creature came running out from under the door. At that point we realized that it wasn't a mouse but the weirdest insect we had ever seen. With quite a bit of effort Jake was finally able to stomp on it. I was worried that I would find more of these bugs in the house. The next day I did some research to find out what kind of bug this was (what if it was dangerous?) I found out that this insect is called a house centipede and that they are actually "good bugs" that eat other pests like spiders and beatles. They can span out to about 4 inches in length and they are really fast. They are pretty much the cheetahs of the insect world. I really didn't care if it was a good bug or not, I wasn't about to welcome anything with this many legs into our home. A few days later we saw one more, but we have been free of house centipedes since then. You really don't have to worry about making a visit to the Snow home, we are relatively bug free:)

Today in Sunday School however, we had another encounter with the house centipede. Luckily Brother Sacks took care of it leaving only a big smear on the wall, which he later cleaned up. I thought we should have captured it for Leisy, our Science teacher in the ward who loves bugs. Sorry Leisy, I forgot to bring my bug catcher to church this Sunday:) This picture will have to do for now.

Man Cooking Group?

These pictures were taken at the wonderful Easter meal that Jake cooked for us. Jake loves to cook and he is very good at it as you can see. I was a little bit intimidated to cook for such an experienced chef when we first got married. Somehow, I had made it all the way through our dating having never really cooked for Jake. Being busy as a junior high teacher with a 45 minute commute, a packed social schedule and the entire last year of our dating as long distance are a few excuses I give. He was so brave to marry me before knowing if I could cook:)

Now that we are married, I have seemed to manage alright. I have picked up some skills from a cooking group I go to. This last Tuesday I wasn't able to make it to cooking group because I was very exhausted and having a stress moment. Jake, seeing that I was very tired offered to take Madison and run some errands for me so I could catch up on some sleep. This included a stop-off at the cooking group where I was supposed to pick up a dutch-oven I was borrowing for Young Women's. It was so thoughtful! I found out later that it was also his devious little plan to get in on the Relief Society's cooking group:) It turns out that he stayed for the entire event! Thanks to everyone who shared their yummy recipes with Jake and let him partake of all the free food samplings. Jake never turns down yummy free food. I am sure there would be a few other husbands out there that would love to start a cooking group! The first event could be sharing tips on grilling their favorite meats! I think it would be very fun to watch!

Thanks Jake for letting me get some much needed rest and I am glad you had a good time at cooking group:)

Spring Break at the zoo

We took Madison to the zoo today for the first time. She loved every dog-gone minute of it! She seemed to make a special bond with the young polar bears that were swimming around. Check it out in the video.

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

Last Friday marked the end of a significant segment of my medical career, my third year surgery rotation officially ended! During three grueling months I slaved and struggled through long hours, difficult cases, demanding attendings and excessive time away from home. For three months I felt like Will Smith in the movie I am Legend, despite my efforts to maintain some normalcy in life there was always a zombie looming in the darkness waiting to attack and make me one of their own. I feel lucky to have escaped unscathed.
Jenny and I felt that such a successful feat as this deserved a little celebration so we ordered up a couple of Vito's, best in Toledo, pizzas and I went to pick up a couple of movies, Enchanted (Jenny's pick) and I am Legend (my pick). I must say that we really would like to have gone out on the town to celebrate but both Jenny and Madison were out of commission with a nasty cold.

We first watched Enchanted, which I loved, because the main character, Giselle, reminds me of my own little fairy-tale princess Jenny. Next up was I am Legend which I also loved because the zombies reminded me of the constant fear and danger that I had just survived during the previous three months.

Thanks to the proper upbringing that my mom and dad gave me, I am always more comfortable sleeping when I know that the day's dishes are washed and the kitchen clean... at least that is what I tell Jenny. In reality I am afraid of sleeping after watching a scary movie, they give me nightmares. Anyway, while Jen went off to brush her teeth, I went to the kitchen to wash what few dishes remained. Among them was a nice tall glass with window pane etching on it. It was the only glass of its kind remaining in our cupboard and comes from the set that I once used while living in Swan Park with Dusty during first year. As long as I can remember it had always had a little crack along the rim but perhaps for sentimental reasons we never thought to throw it out. It is hard to let go of my Swan Park memories.

As I stood at the sink thinking back on my triumph over the zombies of general surgery and comparing myself to Will Smith, I reached for that glass and started scrubbin' away. It was a tall glass, but wide brimmed, so I did as I often had before and pushed with my sponge to the very bottom to make sure it was fully clean. One twist with the sponge, then another and then one more twist of the wrist and then *#^&&#!! "JENNY", I yelled (quietly because the baby was sleeping). After my third time yelling her name she came into the kitchen to see what the fuss was about. She was shocked at the sight of so much blood and the gaping wedge of flesh that had been filleted from my hand. I told her that the zombies had come for one last attempt at my life. We would have to go to the ER... the UTMC ER!

Well, to make a long story short... oops, too late for that. Better stated, to put an end to this story, at around 1245 am we packed up the baby and headed out to the ER. To my, ehhm, surprise, the surgery intern in the ER that day was a guy that I had met and knew to be a excellent candidate for radiology... not surgery, nor even suturing... but for radiology he's top notch. Oh well, what was I to do. He went to work sewing up my hand and my mind went to work imagining if this was every going to work out. By about 215 we were done and ready to head back home... that is as soon as I put on my own wound dressing. The next morning, when I pulled back the gauze to see how we were lookin' I was not surprised to see that a little "tidying up" was needed. It was a fitting end to my surgery rotation. The surgery gods took one last swipe at me before allowing me to move on.