Lisa is a Dental Hygienius!

Lisa would want you to know that she passed her National Board Dental Hygiene Examination, but I'll go further and brag about how well she did! She got a 91 (75 needed to pass) and was above the national average in every section of the exam. Her score puts her in about the 98th percentile nationally on the exam! Pretty awesome job, Lisa! I'm proud of you!

There's a lot of Love in those locks.

Today is my sister Brooke's birthday, who past away from cancer 18 years ago. She would be turning 28 today! I was only 3 when she past away so most of my memories are probably stories from people telling me, but I do have a few. I also have a brother, Scott, who is the oldest of my siblings, who also past away of cancer when he was three and would be 35 now. It's something I think about, where would they be now, what kind of lives would they have led. Though my memories of my siblings are limited I still love them and feel like I know them. One of the testimonies I gained at an early age is that our families can be eternal, and that we can all be reunited again.

So in honor of Brooke, who wore a wig while she was going through chemotherapy, my Sister Erin and her daughter Hailey and I have been growing our hair out to donate it. I'm going to give mine to locks of love and Erin is giving hers to the American cancer association through Pantene (they only require 8 in.). Yesterday was the big hair cutting event and here are some of the pictures.

Before



Hailey went first... this is her 3rd time donating. She has only had 3 haircuts her whole life and she is almost 8.

After: 10 inches

Erin went next

8 Inches!

After

My turn

All of the lovely locks!

After: Donating 12 inches!

From behind




I think we are all so excited to finally have our hair cut! It has taken a long time to grow it out, but it was worth it!

National Board

WHORAY!!!! I've been a little haunted by the words "National Boards" since I've started hygiene school.
"That will be on the National Board"
"You'll need to know this for boards"
etc, etc.....
SO after stuffing all the knowledge I could out of these..


I took the test and it was LONG, but I think it went well, and now I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Now I just have to wait for the results and bring on Spring Break!

Planning...

Brad and I spent the morning planing our little Disney Land Vacation for after I graduate in May. I feel like a little kid, I'm already getting so excited.

*Thank you to Disney Land's give a day of service, get a day at Disney Land. See their web sight for more details.

I'm convinced

As a child I specifically remember the " Cartoon Shaped" Macaroni and Cheese tasting better. As I've grown older and wiser and thought back on this, the conclusion came that it must have been because they are advertised toward kids and were just more "fun" to eat, but probably taste the same. Now, usually these specialties cost more as well, but recently they were included on a sale, so I took it upon myself to buy one of each Macaroni that came in the cartoon shapes. After sampling them recently, I'm convinced that my childhood instincts were correct. I think the shaped kinds taste better, whether its Scooby Doo, Spider Man, Sponge Bob or Pokemon, I find them superior in taste and entertainment. :)

Acceptance

Acceptance is an important word for us right now, especially when its basically determining your future....
A couple of weeks ago we heard back from AT Still University that Brad was accepted. We were so thrilled to know that at least we would be going some where for medical school next fall.
Then Brad had an interview here, just this past Wednesday:

Brad was impressed by just about everything at this school, and they must have felt the same way about him, because just two days later we found out he was accepted and he was the top applicant in his interview group. The only thing that doesn't impress us too much is the $45,000 a year tuition.
So we will continue to wait out the other schools to see what all our options are, but for now we are excited about Midwestern.

Holiday Recap

We started off this Holiday Break with me taking the Local Anesthesia Board, with Brad as my Patient. Hopefully he didn't have too much of a merry trismus (trimus is muscle trauma from a local anesthesia injection). I passed that Thank goodness, and I'm looking forward to a few more of those boards next semester:)

On Christmas Eve we went and Hiked Camelback mountain with Lisa,Drew and Mitchell.




On Christmas Day we enjoyed time with our families.

Sitting under the Mistletoe with Mitchell.

Playing with our Nieces and Nephews new toys...




On the 28th of December Brad and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary. We even spent the whole day together, though it was lying on our couches sick, nonetheless it was quality time.


We were able to go to Britton and Heather's Wedding and had a fun day with all activities that go along with such an occasion.


Brad also had an interview at AT Still University, the DO school in Mesa, and he was able to have a guest! So I went with him and got to experience all the excitement of interview day without actually feeling the pressure of an interview.

Brad also has an interview set up for Midwestern in Glendale in a couple of weeks. We are still hoping to hear from some more schools as well.

I feel like this whole break was plagued with colds and the remnants of the colds, so that's a little lame, but then, it has been nice to be able to relax quite a bit.