More zoo videos

Digging monkey...well some sort of monkey can't remember what kind :)

This animal looks like a zebra but is actually the only living relative to the Giraffe

big Gorilla

funny birds biting each other

Gorilla again

Penguin Video

Zoo videos for Rachel

Rachel, I saw so many fun things at the zoo today.  I took lots of pictures and videos for you.  Here is a video of a shark!

Love Mom :)

Pharmacy Friends

We walked around downtown and found a cute little art gallery.

We also found a cool vintage shop

Today we took off to the zoo.  The Omaha zoo has some really cool exhibits like this jungle/rainforest area.  You walk around the top level and look down on a lot of places, and there are waterfalls all over the place, and then you can walk along the bottom as well. 

It also had a pretty cool aquarium.  It is the tunnel kind that you walk through and the acquarium is all around you.  The sharks were my favorite.

They also had all these penguins in the aquarium and they were fun to watch because they were waddling and swimming all over the place, unlike the lions and tigers who just lay there and sleep.

The first week has been good so far. Kinda boring actually, mostly meeting all of our professors, hearing what we should expect in our classes, and we got our laptops and learned how to use all the fancy stuff on them.

Next week we are actually doing our pharmacy labs so that should be more fun. 

Here are some of my classmates that I have been hanging out with this week. They live in Seattle, South Dakota, Texas, Alabama and Chicago. It is fun meeting people from all over. I was also pretty excited to meet a classmate from Delaware...That was the first person from Delaware I have ever met! :)

Utah Camping trip

Hammocks are the best!

We hiked to Cascade falls, but Rach wouldn't smile for a picture--this was the best I could get ha ha

Playing with cousins 

Hanging with second cousins..or is it first cousins once removed...blah blah blah

I really gotta figure all those terms out. Anyone want to save me from doing the research and tell me what the relationship is between my daughter and one of my first cousins.  Go!

Fishing with grandpa...but never caught any fish

Ever feel like spying???

If so... feel free to lurk on this website during the day and see if you can see me :)  This is in front of St John's Church, which I walk past in the morning, some during the day and then around 5 when we are done for the day.  Tomorrow (wednesday) is the White Coat ceremony, the ceremony itself will be inside the church but you will be able to see us going in around 3:30 /3:45 and then coming out around five, and our class will be taking a  class photo on the steps.   It isn't a very zoomed in view, and we will all look the same, so not sure how fun it will be....but it seemed a little fun...Maybe that is okay because I am the one stuck in Omaha for two weeks :)   Maybe text me if you are watching around those times and I will try and wave at the camera r something....or maybe I should do something to make me even more easily picked out...jump in the fountain?? ha  ha


Live Webcam on Creighton's Campus

Official name tag...looks official, but doesn't feel official yet :)

I am headed to Omaha for the start of pharmacy school. The first week will be orientation, and the second week I will be taking a lab class.  I will try and post updates, but for the record it is easier to post from my phone to facebook so there will be more updates there.

I am so grateful for my friends and family who were all so willing to help out with Rachel.  The schools here start tomorrow so as you can imagine, me being gone is twice as complicated with it being the first two weeks of school. I hate having to miss her first day, but we went to meet the teacher on friday and she was very excited.  She found out she is in the same class as her friend that lives across the street, and that she has a desk this year, so that helped her be less nervous about starting a new school.

Not sure what to expect about pharmacy school, ive been more stressed about making sure we were all moved in and Rach was all set that it hasn't had time to sink in.  so...reality will set in , in about 2.5 hours when I get to the dorm room where ill be stayinf :)

Random

One last cow picture.  This was my last drive from the Rez.  It just seemed right that I had to stop for a cow to cross the road.

Cali is very happy to play with Rachel and her friends...even if it means wearing minnie mouse ears and a tutu :)

Here was a pic I took from my phone on the front room now that it matches the kitchen.

I'll try to post more pictures of the house--but it just seems like the few messes that we do have just keep moving around, so that there isn't a time when the whole house is actually looking good.  I don't have any furniture at all for this front room of my house, which I don't actually mind  since it makes a great room for Rachel and her friends and cousins to run around, do cartwheels, and head stands, etc...I guess I only wish it wasn't the very first room you saw when you walk in. 

I don't want to fill it with furniture...but what could I do to this space to make it my own, and have it serve a purpose and be a nice welcoming room??

4th of July

We had a great 4th of july hanging out with Sam's family.

We invited people over to our house and we swim and had a BBQ.

The kids love to be thrown in the air. 

Even Rachel--(although not sure how much longer we will have the muscles to throw her anymore)  There are times when she still feels like my little girl...but this is not one of those times :)

This my seem like a measley sparkler to you--but it is the very first sparkler that I have ever lit in Phoenix.  fireworks have been illegal here every since we were little.  Just last year I think, they started allowing them (not sure why--as I agree that the whole state is practically a fire hazard...but whatever).  There are fireworks stands all over now, the only problem is they are allowed to sell them, but you are only allowed to set them off in certain cities.  Here in chandler only novelty fireworks )sparklers and those snap pop things that you throw on the ground).  So we bought both and let the girls go crazy.

After watching Fireworks in boston, nothing can compare, so I won't go there.  What I will say is that it was a nice a relaxing evening where we just drove about a mile from our house and parked on a side street and watched from there.  I will also say that it was a step up from having no fireworks to watch at all while we were up on the Rez.

School

Pharmacy here I come.

A good friend informed me that I haven't been putting enough details on my blog and so I wrote her a lengthy email filling her in...and on account of me being lazy, here is what I wrote her about school:

So--as for my school--Yes--I did get accepted! Woooo! ha ha --I still have mixed feelings about this--but I have decided to go for it. I fly to Omaha for two weeks starting on July 24th. One week is welcome week and the next week is my first lab week. Then I come home and have a two week break and then my classes start in late-august. then I will be in school for 4 more years. :)   

I got my student ID in the mail today--starting to feel official...yet most of the time it still feels like make believe.   I am sure it won't really hit until I am leaving Sam and Rach for two weeks and I am on the plane to Omaha.


Wish me luck!

I had a birthday while we were there, and Rachel had hers just before--so she got a cake too :)

I am holding my little niece, only 8 weeks old and adorable...too bad she did not like me too much and always started to cry :( gotta get her used to me.  

Sam finally scored some linen shirts so he was in a super good mood.

look how fun Uncle Sam is :) 

 Helping build sand castles...

Finding sand crabs... (love this picture because it shows Sam with his 3 year old niece who decided Sam was her favorite uncle ...AND her favorite Aunt.  ha ha it was clear Sam was her favorite Uncle, so I was trying to get her to say I was at least her favorite Aunt, only after prompting, when I asked "Who is your favorite Aunt?"  She said again,  "sam!" :)

Ocean is still a little chilly

the boys did lots of boogy boarding

Even my Dad--I thought that was pretty impressive :)

Speaking of impressive, this little sand monster was contantly covered in an impressive amount of sand.  Here she is doing sand angels.  Ha ha :) 

Here is another good one --even though you can't see her face, you can see alllll the sand on her suit :)

Here are some lousy attempts at some family photos...better than nothing.

PS--Sam's good mood ended when a bird pooped on him and his linen shirt on the last day :(  

We all thought it was pretty funny, he was not able to see the humor at that time though.

We also went to magic mountain and took all of the older kids.  We were excited that they were tall enough to ride this super scary ride.  They were so excited that they went on it FIRST! I couldn't believe they didn't want to ease into it, but maybe it was better to get the scariest ride out of the way first. Rachel and her cousin sat in the very first row--Rachel seemed a little shocked when she got off, like you could tell she was scared out of her mind during the ride and I waited to see whether she was going to burst into tears or start laughing--and there were no tears--only excitement :)