When I Said I Do

Three years ago on June 24, Chadwick and I were sealed in the Albuquerque, NM Temple and I walked down the aisle in a ring ceremony next to my two fathers. It was a wonderful day and amazing to think that it was already three years ago! Time has really gone quickly. Unfortunately, reality set in and we spent our anniversary working. Chadwick worked late that evening so I had dinner alone....even the cat was gone for the night. However, I sent Chadwick flowers at work (pictured above) and made him a little album of words. I got a nice box of chocolates and some polish to care for my leather shoes. Turns out that the "traditional" gift for year three of marriage is leather - I'm not much for leather so he will help me care for the little bit of leather I do own. The "modern" gifts are glass/silver, thus the flower vase and picture album from me.

To celebrate our anniversary early, we went backpacking for the weekend to Blue Lake, north of Boise near Cascade. It was about a mile into the lake - where, by the way, there is still snow on the ground - and we had a very relaxing day. Chadwick was a depressed fisherman as he packed everything but his reel. No reel = no line = no fishing. We went on a hike instead.

View of Blue Lake from above near the trailhead






The evening stillness





This is our "Hubba Hubba," the two-man backpacking tent which was a gift from my step-dad. Apparently, there is a whole "Hubba" family of tents! The one-man tent is the "Hubba," two-man is "Hubba-Hubba," and the three-man tent is appropriately named the "Motha Hubba." I don't know if this is true or if Mark was pulling my leg, but we got a kick out of the name. It's an awesome tent!

One Year Come and Gone

One of my New Year's resolutions was to update the blog weekly.....it is now June and I'm adding my first post since Cleo came into the family. Better late than never?

The beginning of June marked our one-year anniversary as veterinarians, and it went by so quickly! Chadwick finishes his internship at WestVet at the end of the month and will start working at his father's small animal clinic in July. I am excited to have him home more often!

We have no interesting news to report, but each day is full of stories - weird clients, cool animals, dumb animals, a neat case, a sad case. We enjoy sharing tales of our day in the evenings and comparing notes on treatment of such-and-such.

In April, we spent a week in New Mexico - the first part of the week was vacation to the southern part of the state just the two of us, and the second part was spent with my family. We went to White Sands National Park and Carlsbad Caverns and basically spent the time enjoying one another's company.



My oldest brother, David, was married in Mexico to an amazing girl he met since moving to Alaska several years ago. They had a dinner reception in Albuquerque which was the primary reason for our little vacation. David's wife, Amanda, is wonderful and they make a great pair.






My other trip was back to my old stomping grounds in Pullman, WA to attend the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine Class of 2009 graduation ceremony. I know quite a few people from that class and it was great to be there as they made the transition from "student" to "veterinarian." I also got to see a few other friends, Chad and Jessica Christensen as well as my old mentor and professor, Phil Senger. Pictured below are me with my old roomie, Anne Gardner (who is now a married woman!) and me with my good friend, Alexis.

Never Say Never

Meet the newest addition to our little family - Cleopatra.

I swore that I would never obtain an indoor only cat, but I learned from this experience never to say, "never." Cleo, as we affectionately call her, is about 4 months old. We adpoted her 6 weeks ago from Chadwick's veterinary clinic where someone had dropped her off as a stray. She has quite the personality and huge amount of energy she puts into pouncing on anything that moves...or might move. She jumps on toes, fingers, string, plants, rolls in the rug, and the corners of the couch cushions. Our furniture has so far survived her arrival, for which I am grateful.

Despite my previous hesitations of cats in general, I have to admit that I am getting quite fond of the little thing.....

Our First Ride

Last Friday, Cherokee and I had our first ride together out of the pasture. We were accompanied by Chadwick and my father-in-law, Steve, who owns the other two horses. We rode just east of Boise about 45 minutes in the foothills, which were still quite green. It was a beautiful day for a ride, though I haven't been able to walk normally after being on horseback for 4 hours! My saddle was a graduation gift to me from a group of dear friends, the saddle blanket and pad an anniversary gift from my hubby, and the bridle a gift to myself. This was the first ride of many, and I am so grateful to everyone who made it possible for me to have Cherokee in my life - thanks!!

The Hard Work Paid Off!

And we graduated on May 4, 2008.

What a great feeling to be done, though it's weird to think that our days of summer vacation, Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks are now over. Our families and several close friends were able to join us in our celebration. We also celebrated the graduation of my youngest brother, Sean, from a bachelor's program in engineering. He will be attending the University of Illinois in the fall for a masters degree.

Where are we now? We said good-bye to Pullman and moved south to Boise, Idaho to start our careers. I am working at a mixed animal practice in Caldwell (~30 miles west of Boise) and Chadwick will start his internship at the referral center, WestVet, on July 7. We are renting the house next to his parents, and part of the rent includes yardwork. Chadwick has been busy building a new corral fence, moving dirt, and pulling weeds. He is anxious to start his internship as he is getting tired of the daily manual labor. I am enjoying my job at Blayney Veterinary Clinic - our staff is wonderful, the clients have been nice, and my veterinary collegues have been so helpful and patient as I strive to get my feet under me! Each day is a challenge, and this week I will start hitting the dairies with the other large animal veterinarians to learn the ropes. Whee!

My First Horse!

I've wanted a horse for as long as I can remember - and I am finally getting one in a few months! He is a 12-year-old Paint gelding named Cherokee. My good friend, Alexis, has owned him for many years and used to show him when she was younger. He is currently a pasture ornament in Idaho Falls and Alexis thinks that we'll be a good match. Chadwick and I are going to make a trip to visit him at the end of May to make sure that we all like each other, but I think it will be a good fit! I'm going to board him with my in-laws who have 2 horses already....and he'll be in our backyard since we're moving nextdoor to the Hunts. Isn't he cute?

Award Ceremony - Pullman, April 18

Each year the College of Veterinary Medicine hosts an awards ceremony in which scholarships are presented to the veterinary students first-through-fourth year. Many of the scholarships are given based on an application process, but several fourth year awards are nominated by the clinicians. These are the most fun since no one can apply for them specifically. Overall, there is a large amount of money awarded to the student body. (A fact that is clearly made known to us at the beginning of the evening.) I drove home for the event from Western Washington and managed to accomplish tons during the two days spent home.

My old roommate, Anne (above with me), was nominated by her classmates as the person most helpful, optimistic, and overall great - something like a Miss Congeniality award, but I can't remember the official title. An award much deserved, I might add.

My amazing husband received first place for best senior paper!! Each fourth year student had to research, write, and present a topic of his/her choice. Three awards were given for the best papers. I'm so proud of him! His paper was the culmination of 2-3 years of research which looked at dogs who underwent orthopedic surgery and had a metal plate placed in their knee. He wanted to know if there was increased use of the limb post-surgery if the plate was removed several weeks after being placed compared to those dogs whose metal plates remained in the knee. At this time, there was no statistical evidence that removing the plate increased use of the leg. Like all research, more needs to be done in this area!

My classmate and friend, Milo Andrus, and I received an award for proficiency and work in reproduction. I am particularly proud of this because I worked for 2 years as president of the student chapter of the Society of Theriogenology (fancy word for study of reproduction).

Definately a fun night! Many of our friends received awards and it was nice to see everyone again for a while.