Family Fun

Spencer, Emily and their kids are in town, and we are having fun while they are here.

Feeding the Ducks

Seeing the Temple lights:

Lovely Faces :)

November 2010

November has been a great month to spend time with family, remember all we have to be grateful for, and get some sweet deals along the way.
While Brad was taking his finals for the first quarter, my sister, her three girls and I went to the AZ science center courtesy of the Library culture pass. We had such a blast in all the exhibits.


Once the exams were done and and Brad recovered from his Post Traumatic Test Disorder, we were able to get quite a few things done including our Semi-annual car wash. This time we did it style.... we had a coupon for a free full service from AZ Car Wash. Vacuumed, washed, waxed and dried... Sweet! Check out how filthy those wheel were getting...yikes!



For some reason ASU still thinks Brad is an employee and gave him free tickets to the ASU Men's Basketball game, but we aren't complaining. It ended up being really exciting with a 3 pointer with seconds left for ASU to win the game.

For Thanksgiving we had wonderful food at my parents house and Brad made some delicious pumpkin pies. We got to see Harry Potter and did a little Black Friday shopping, but no early morning deal hunting this year.
I know I sure enjoyed Brad's two week break. We had so much fun hanging out with family and friends. Man I'm going to miss having a house husband around to do all the dishes and cleaning when he goes back to school this next week.

Halloween

Here is a little bit of the Halloween celebrating we did this year.

I dressed up as a fifties housewife for an awesome Halloween carnival put on by Brad's aunt Carolyn. She had tons of games , activities, prizes and treats for the kids (and adults :) ) Carolyn knows how to put on a party!

I have recently started some research marketing where I get paid to take surveys and try products. It's pretty pathetic reimbursement, but its fun to try new products that companies are wanting to put on the market. I can't say what the most recent product is but it came by special delivery and had some dry ice in the package. Brad and I love to play with dry ice, so we made some "spooky" Gatorade with it.
One night for dinner this past week I made up some "Mummy" dogs. I got the idea from the Family fun website.

Makein it and Lovein it!

Recently my Sister-in-Law, Sarah, introduced me to this very cute crafty blog. "Make it and Love it"

http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2008/11/tutorials.html

I've had lots of fun looking through it and getting Ideas. (It's a real shame that I don't own a hot glue gun or more of those projects would come to pass.) I saw a tutorial for these silk flowers and I added that to my list of things I wanted to try someday. Then, this past Friday at our relief society craft night, it was one of the crafts, I was so excited!




They are so fun and easy to make! I put a clip and a pin on it so it could be put on a headband, sweater, bag, just about anywhere. I was excited about it, so I thought I would share.

Getting Cozy in the Ghetto

I feel like I'm really starting to settle in in North Phoenix. I've had time to discover my surroundings and am starting to make some new friends who have been so welcoming. Brad has become familiar with our home, the church, 101 freeway and Midwestern campus, and that's pretty much it (the life of a Med student... it's sad, but true.)

I knew that moving to "Phoenix" was going to be an adjustment from College Avenue in lovely 85282, and for the most part it hasn't been as scary as I thought it would be. I know that there are some really nice parts of Phoenix, but there are also some shady parts as well.
I would call our townhouses and surrounding area only somewhat shady, which is good. Right?
Nothing to be scared about and I'm not dissing my new abode, but I have made some interesting/funny observations this week in roaming around my "hood".

The Good and the Bad:
There is a Library just a little south of us and a perfect biking distance. The roads to the Library really shimmer in the sun, which is really kinda pretty, but it's too bad its due to the fact there's quite a bit of broken glass on the streets and sidewalks, and too bad it probably caused the flat tire on my bike. I'm still glad we have a library so close by.



We have a community center even closer, where there are always a lot of people,that has a park and all kinds of sporting areas and lots of grass to run around on. This morning as I went to go jog to the center I noticed someone selling something on the corner of our townhouses, and what was it she was selling? Knifes! Decorative knifes! What an odd thing to sell on a neighborhood side walk, but she did have two little kids with her so it did make the merchandise look more innocent, I guess.



As I'm typing this up I can hear the usual hum of the helicopters flying over my house, which we don't know if its due to the freeways nearby or if its a frantic search for someone.


So we are getting used to the feel of our new area. For some reason I thought it would be really different to live on the West Side of the Valley, but not much at all. It is just a little bit far from our families, but luckily close enough to visit often.

White Coat Ceremony

"The White Coat Ceremony is a symbolic rite of passage for students of the healing arts. It signifies the students' initiation into the clinical phase of education and toward a career as a health care professional."

Here is Brad receiving his White Coat:



Brad realized that he forgot to shake their hands when he left the stage, he must have been nervous.


The Ceremony was held in the huge auditorium for what I think includes all the programs at Midwestern: Osteopathic Medicine, Pharmacy, Physician Assistant, Occupational therapy, Cardiovascular science, Podiatric Medicine, Clinical Psychology, Physical therapy, Dental, and Optometry. So many programs!

Saving Some for the Fishes

I would like to say that my current 1-2 min showers are because I'm just trying to be extra mindful of my aquatic friends and not waste as much water, but no. It's because within a couple days of arriving in the house our water heater has been basically hanging by a thread, and can barely even manage luke warm. Lets just say I'm looking forward to the day that I can take my almost too hot showers again.

Brad and I are really enjoying our new place now that a lot of cleaning, unpacking and rearranging of furniture has happened. We have already had some home improvement projects, with more to come. With a deal like this there were bound to be projects, but luckily nothing is so major that it can't be put off until we have more time to work on them. We are so glad to finally be here and that we are so much closer to school.

We are also feeling welcomed in our new ward, that seems pretty small compared to those we have attended before. There aren't any other Midwestern Students or many young couples so I think we will have quite a different experience than those who live closer to campus with wards bursting at the seems with young couples. That being said we already feel needed and I think this will bring good experiences for us. Brad was called as a Gospel Doctrine teacher and we haven't found out yet what is in store for me!

While Brad's studying away I've been working hard on the job search, going from office to office just trying to make connections. Many dental offices are struggling right now, so not as many are hiring. Today though as I walked in an office and was chatting to the front office lady and she told me they weren't hiring hygienists right now but to hold on. The office manager came and told me that they were really in a bind and needed a Dental Assistant for next week. This office was so nice, I met with one of the two LDS Dentists and the staff was very friendly. So I'm going to do some temporary dental assisting for them. They just kept saying how they were just talking about how they weren't going to be able to find someone for next week and I walked in the door!

Even though I've been struggling to find a hygiene job, I feel like I'm being taught a lot of patience and to have faith and be persistent. So its not the hygiene job that I wanted, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to get a little work and to make connections with some really nice people.

Come on a little Tour!

Before we started taking all our stuff off the walls and packing things up I wanted to remember what what our apartment looked like. I took some pictures when we lived in the "luxurious Haven apartments" but we had already started packing so it doesn't really document what it looked like. So for those of you who never made it over to our apartment... get ready for the tour. Nothing fancy, but maybe fun to see where The Shumways have lived for the past 3 years.

Come on in..

Dining Area with the usual table covered with mail/textbooks etc....
Our kitchen with lovely retro yellow appliances...
Have a seat......

Wow.. A bathroom
The "Other Bedroom".We did start packing this room, hence the mess, but it really doesn't even look that different that it normally did. Except for the annual, maybe semiannual re-organizational days it was a big catch all room.
Our Bedroom
another bathroom.. and this picture will forever remind me of all the hard work it takes to keep glass doors soap scrum free.
I'm getting sad to leave La Casa de Thomas apartments. You can't beat the vaulted ceilings and a pool right outside your door, the great neighbors and the shortest commute to church ever. I'm so grateful for the times we've had here and will look back with wonderful memories.

Here We GO!!!

Rev up those engines....


It's time to go....

Brad has officially started medical school and all the studying that goes with it. He was told that trying to take in all the information will be like trying to drink from a fire hose (Who's thirsty?). I think that's a good way to put it. He is having to drive to far away Glendale everyday so he has been listening to recorded lectures in the car. There is nothing like a long drive and biochemistry to keep you going!

We are packing up all our stuff and cleaning up our happy apartment in hopes for a closing date. Though its been extremely snail-like, It looks like things are pretty promising that we should be getting the town house soon, perhaps next week soon.

I'm still actively pursuing a Dental Hygiene job and hope that I will get some work soon. If anyone knows any Dentists on the west side raise your hand! I mean let me know :)

Tempe Town Lake!

Brad and I had to check it out when we heard that Tempe Town Lake was draining. We weren't the only ones who came to see the spectacle, there were lots of people observing. It is amazing how quickly the water drained! They had sirens going and a loud speaker warning that the lake was being drained into the salt river.

A view from "A" mountain looking at the east side of the Lake.







Here is the part of the Dam that busted.

Utah

At the beginning of June I went up to Utah for my nephew Rhett's Baptism. It was fun to have my siblings and their kids all together. It is pretty up there in the summer, and I will admit that the wonderful weather and scenery tempts me a little bit to want to move up there, but then I remember that it's cold there in the fall,winter,spring so never mind.

Here's the family at Temple Square.


My Nieces and Nephews

Hailey, Macey, Whitney, Rhett, Paige, Matt and Scott

Rolling down the hills at the park was a big hit.





Here's a great view of the mountains from my brother's house.

Roosevelt Lake

On Memorial Day we went to Roosevelt Lake with Mark and Alyce, Ryan and Amy. We had such a fun trip.

-Lisa

California

Brad and I had an awesome time in California last week.
As we were driving there I had fallen asleep in the car and woke up as Brad pulled over for a pit stop, and where were we? The General Patton Memorial Museum! He had this planned the whole time and took advantage of me being asleep to stop there.
It was cool to see where troops had been trained in the deserts of California.


We spent some time hanging out at the beach, enjoying the ocean despite the freezing water. Here is Brad skim boarding.

We had a perfect day at Disney Land! The rainy morning helped keep the crowds away and we were able to ride all the big rides within the first hour and a half!

This Far Side comic depicts people going into a ride and then coming out crying and sad.

Brad was reminded of this comic while on this ride, don't worry he really did enjoy it.


Is this mountain FRESH, FRESHER, FRESHIST or FRESHERSHIST? Confused? You really should see the Old Spice commercial.