Sequence

My sister, Beth, came to visit us for a few days. After a day of doing errands all the way from the airport to Olympia and finally arriving home Monday night, she, Jaime, and I played a game of Sequence. Beth had never played before, but won the very first game! It's quite obvious when there's a determined player (see game face in photo), chances are that player is going to win.

Jaime won the next game. I, however, couldn't put on a poker face and lost just barely. Yes folks, that game face does make the fraction of a difference between winning and losing!

Kudos to President Woodrow Wilson in 1914 for Declaring a Mother's Day Observance

Inspired by previous women who had the same idea, Anna Jarvis started the crusade to found a memorial day for women. In 1907, she passed out 500 white carnations at her mother’s church in Grafton, West Virginia—one for each mother in the congregation. The first Mother's Day service was celebrated on 10 May 1908, in the same church.

President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming Mother's Day a national observance that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May.

These few pictures do no justice to the number of influential women we know! We almost concluded that if we couldn't list all of you, we shouldn't list anyone at all just to be fair, but then it made a very sad post to not be personal. Here's just a few random selections:

Uncle Chris, Grandmother Tina, and Cousin Baxter (Florida)

Jaime's mom telling him how proud she is of him. (photo taken in Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

Ann's Mom and Dad enjoying an old-time themed party with family. (Party in Idaho)

Aunt Rachelle and Jaime standing just outside Grandma Helen's room in California.

Being out of state, we were unable to be with our family this day, but we send our love nonetheless. You deserve this special celebration!

AMPHL Conference

Saturday was a joint conference combining two groups: Registry of Interpreters (particularly those who are interested in medical interpreting), and Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Losses (AMPHL). This was really neat because it was informative about issues such as being an effective team with the deaf professional and the interpreter making their way through school or a career.
Jaime and I were on a panel of four people. Each of us shared an awkward situation from experience and we had an open discussion on how to resolve them, how to avoid it in the future, etc. All of us, including the audience, were engaged in it enough that we took up a whole hour.

We had a nice banquet at the end of conference. Jaime--clinical psychologist; on his left is a medical student, her interpreter, Robert and Stephanie (good friends of ours who came to perform in a comedy show later on), a pre-med student, an R.N. and then me (another R.N.) behind the camera. Most everyone in the room signed, which was neat because in no other situation in the world can we talk about body parts not working properly in sign language. :)

A Very Gooey Party!

We had a whirlwind of activity going on the entire weekend with Scott's wedding and the AMPHL conference. In between everything, let it be known that tomorrow is Jaime's birthday also. (We'll be at the conference on the 12th, his special day, so we celebrated on the 11th instead.)

Jaime, I love you! Thank you for being mine and I am so glad you are here. You are definitely worth celebrating every day, not just today or tomorrow!

Singing..er..SIGNING "Happy Birthday" to all the spring birthdays: Josh, Jaime, Brittany, and Stephanie. We celebrated them all while we were at it!

We played pudding pictionary. There was one bowl for each birthday person. I wrote bunch of nouns, objects, and adjectives on slips of paper that reminded us of each person, to make it more personal and humorous. I changed the bowls around so some of the spotlight was shared by them all. For example, Jaime loves the Chicago Cubs, so I put down on one of the papers, "A baseball." Rock climbing was for Brittany, etc. The crowd enjoyed it and we got a few goofy images in the pudding!




Thank you, Josh and Lisa Knapton, for letting us use your house to throw a party! We had a GREAT time! Akhila is a darling!

Lunch at Tucano's

As soon as we arrived in town from my parents' farm, we stopped at Tucano's for lunch. Lisa, Josh, Daniel, Jessica, Ann, and Jaime ate and visited for two hours before the party at Josh and Lisa's place later on.

Union of Love

My youngest brother and his new sweetheart:
At the wedding luncheon, Ashlee's mom and dad talked about how Ashlee knew this kid in high school and all they knew him by was "Hotty Scotty." They talked about how Ashlee always wanted him to ask her out and how excited she got when he finally called. She even had a picture of him on her bulletin board with no shirt and in his soccer shorts at a practice.

Scott also said at the luncheon, "I'm so happy I've found my sweetheart."

Fated Soul Mates?

 

My birthday fell on Easter this year.
Next year, Jaime's birthday falls on Easter.

It only happens twice in a selected time span of 250 years and we got to be alive to experience that statistical phenomenon. Cool, huh? What are the odds of that happening?

Lisa and Leroy Mould and their kids invited Jaime, Huck, and me to their house for a celebration dinner. They are so sweet to us! My card even had a signature from the Easter Bunny!

Seated at the table clockwise: Leroy (head of table with back towards camera), Lisa, Bizzie, Tyler, Roxxie, Reagan (hidden on my right side), Ann, and Jaime's empty seat (busy taking picture). Alli is not in the photo.

"All My Loving"

My youngest brother, Scott, proposed to his girlfriend this evening! The more we see Ashlee with Scott, the more we agree she is an excellent match for him. Congratulations!

Scott had a huge elaborate plan that allowed him to steal Ashlee away from work, go sledding, eat at Olive Garden, and then instead of the predictable proposal at the end of dinner, no proposal happened. That was part of the scheme on Scott's part. Ashlee went home and Scott went to her house a minute later in his own car, hid in her bedroom, and stepped out of her closet with a ring box. She was so pleased she kept giggling and hugging him, making it difficult for him to drop down on one knee. So fun!

We love you, Ashlee!

See Huck at Work!

If the slide show is not already running, just click on the X on the little screen's top right corner. (Might take two left clicks.) We took these pictures while we were getting ready to do Huck's re-certifying test. We figured as long as we were counting our blessings, this was a good place to pay tribute to the work he does for us. We're sure glad you're with us, Kiddo!

Mystery Future Less Cloudy

Ann on megaphone: "Excuse me! (Whistle) Listen over here; we have an announcement!"

[Crowd looks up. Jaime and Ann are standing on an upside down apple crate. A few people shuffle around to get a better view. Huckleberry resumes greeting people--apparently he has no idea he is NOT the center of attention at this time. Besides, he already knows what the announcement is going to be.]

Ann: "Well! Here it is! Our official announcement!..."

[But wait, the rest of the sentence won't mean much if you (our family and friends) don't know the intensity of the emotions of the last few moments before the package arrived for Jaime.] This Saturday morning, it was POURING rain. Fortunately, we didn't have a hurricane, so the water that was reserved for the hurricane decided to come straight down in a dump instead. The rain gutter was no use. Water was cascading off the roof and onto the porch, making the front lawn barely visible. The skies were menacingly dark, making time feel like 4 in the morning, not 10:30ish. We were each doing independent things, getting ready for the day when all of a sudden, there it was. It was unmistakable. The doorbell rang! Huckleberry's voice boomed into the dark, reverberating across the walls to fill the room and greet the stranger standing on the opposide side of the door. Star's feminine barks punctuated his. Coming from different directions, Jaime, Jaime's dad, and I all arrived at the front door. After a lengthy, albeit busy wait, a man dressed in a yellow shirt was standing there in front of the waterfall coming off the roof, head and shirt drenched from his mad dash through the sheet of water. In his hand was a file-sized cardboard envelope with "DHL" printed across it. After thanking the man for being brave enough to deliver the package in this ghastly weather, all five of us (JAB, Jaime, Huckleberry, Star, and me) stood around the kitchen table, staring at this envelope. Was the wait finally to be over?

"...Drumroll please! Thank you! Thank you! YES, the wait is officially over! We HAVE a plan! AND it's a GOOD one! We are SO stoked!"

[Audience member: "Well! Get on with it! Where are you going!??"]

Ann with megaphone: "Ok. Ok. Here it is--Dr. Jaime Wilson has officially accepted the job offer of Research Scientist at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington [audience clamors]." "Hush, there's more. This is a post-doctoral fellowship position. Alright! Give him a hand for such diligent work hunting and putting himself out there! Three cheers to the future!" [Clapping echoing off the mount...oh wait...there's no mountains. Never mind--Clapping sounds carrying on the wind out to the farthest corners of Destin...]

We have our one-way plane tickets to Seattle October 2nd. From the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. Can't get any farther apart than that without going from Key West to Alaska. The fellowship contract is for one year. Jaime and I are hoping that we will be there for at least a few years to make it worth unpacking our stuff and hanging up a family picture. I really want to decorate a house and make it mine. I want to work somewhere long enough to get some vacation days and really start to build confidence in my nursing skills.

At least now we'll have some mountains and wilderness nearby for anyone who would like to come visit and go hiking with us!

Graduating for the Final Time

Link Click here for lots more pictures!

Caren and Mom

Here are two of many of our supporters all through college and graduation! Caren and Mom. Caren works in the accessibility office at BYU, so we'd see her once in a while. She and Mom already knew each other well and Caren has been like a family member! Glad you could be here!

Scott's Homecoming

Our first family picture in over two years. We were sad Melaine couldn't make it, but we fixed that.
Mom and Scott
Jaime and Scott with Adam interjecting his face

Break out the Balloons and Confetti!

I passed my board exams for my nursing license! No, this is not the official letter telling me of my passing status--it's something even better--an email from Jaime sharing the good news with everybody! Much more personal and meaningful!

Dr. Wilson

When Jaime flew back to BYU to defend his dissertation, he went hiking up the mountains with a dear friend for a relaxing activity right after the oral examination. Whew! He was glad it was over.

Jaime sent me the good news of his dissertation board convening and then calling him back in the room to say, "Congratulations, Doctor!" He passed his dissertation defense! I surprised him with this cut-out lettered sign when he got home.

Right when he got back, we joined the Miami interns for a potluck lunch. Some of them were talking about how they dreaded the coming weeks because they had to defend their dissertations as well. We wished them "Good Luck," privately relieved that Jaime didn't have to worry about it any more.

Hannah's Birth Day

I was working at American Fork ICU and was on the job today when I got a text message that Melaine went into labor and gave birth at around 3:00 this morning (right?). During my lunch break, I got to run upstairs from the ICU to the Labor and Delivery unit and see our beautiful neice! The entire semester, I stayed with Adam and Melaine two nights a week to be right next to the hospital so I wouldn't have to drive an hour each day going there and back in such a short time. Despite being right there working at the same hospital, everyone else already came and saw Hannah and left! Wynette and Beth drove here in the middle of the night, for example.

Last night Adam, Melaine, and I had a Jack-o-lantern dinner and Melaine was dressed up as a witch. We had a fun evening together and had little idea that in less than 12 hours, Hannah would be born. So fun to be right there! I sent pictures to Jaime and missed him even more.

Dogs love weddings!

Darren and Sierra were married this summer. Naturally, with dogs being such a big part of their identity, they were married in the company of dogs.

Sierra's bridesmaids--all of her Australian Shepherds patiently in a line with what used to be flower wreaths around their necks on on their heads. Of course, all the dogs were invited as well, so Huck came along with us to give them his well wishes.

We passed the wedding party and walked on up the trail to see the canyons. Then we came back and ate their refreshments of granola bars along with other goodies. Even the dogs all had baskets of treats from which they could get their refreshments as well. Darren and Sierra are definitely the outdoorsy type of people. Jaime and I would have loved to go out and do double dates with them, but we both moved out of state in opposite directions before that could happen.

Canadian Wedding

Jaime, Ann, Jessica, and Daniel right after the wedding.

Daniel and his Best Men: Wilson (left) and Jaime (right)

Daniel and his brothers doing an imitation.

Link Click here for more pictures in web album

Canadian Thanksgiving

Jaime and I drove from Utah to Cardston, Canada, for the wedding of two of our good friends, Jessica and Daniel. At this time, all we needed was our birth certificates, so we didn't get any stamps in our passports. Rats!

On the way up there we passed this Montana School for the Deaf and Blind. Unfortunately, school was not in session at this time, so we couldn't meet anyone. But it would have been so interesting to talk to someone and get a feel of the campus at work.

We saw a sign that said, "Bison Pasture. Do not hunt."

This last picture is of Jaime and me standing inside this cute cottage restaurant and bed and breakfast place, Cobblestone Manor. Something funny that happened was we saw in the guest book reservations for Jessica Goates for that evening. Ah ha!!! We thought we stumbled on the girls' "secret" getaway the night before the wedding. We figured they reserved this place for a girls' outing for Jessica. We wrote them a note and left it on the table in their room. The next day, Jessica said she never reserved such a room and she and her guests were never there. We hope we didn't write a note to the wrong Jessica Goates.