Relatives are coming

My Mom and Dad were able to make the trip to visit us in early November. It was a blast because they had never been to the area before. They stayed with us for two weekends and during the week they went to Arkansas to visit my Grandma Nelson. While they were here we took them to the pyramid, the river, Memphis BBQ and Central BBQ.

 

We went to the civil rights museum and that was amazing. We had no idea that it would be as extensive as it was. We would love to go back and spend more time because we definitely felt rushed.

My parents really wanted to go to Graceland. Jed and I weren't very interested but thought it could be fun. I've never been into Elvis so I wasn't sure how much fun I would have. Upon arrival the atmosphere was really fun and we began to become so excited. The tour of Elvis' house was so much fun and so informative. It was so extravagant and the audio tour made you want to be a fan. We had a blast at Graceland!

On one of the Saturdays we went to the Civil War battlefield of Shiloh. It was so fascinating. I have never been to a civil war battlefield before and I was very impressed.

Shelby farms was also on our list of things we did. It always is so nice to walk around the beautiful park.

Halloween 2015

Halloween this year was a blast. It is one of our favorite times of the year and we love to be festive. The only thing I regret is not getting our dog a Star Wars costume that would make it look like a storm trooper was riding her. Next year. We carved pumpkin with our good friends the Nielsen's and they looked pretty good if I do say so myself.

We went to the Mid-South corn maze which was really fun. I haven't done a corn maze for a really long time.

Our ward had a Halloween party and Jed and I had fun decorating a room and doing a go fish scene. We were the pirate cove. Jed was wonderful at dressing up and entertaining the kids as I hid behind the sheet. We sure do love our ward.

On Halloween night we had some friends from school over and had fun preparing Halloween themed treats. Our personal favorite was Jed's radish eyes. We seem to go with the eye theme a lot. Living in a neighborhood got us excited for trick or treaters. We bought the biggest bag of tootsie rolls because you got the most candy for the cheapest price. Jokes on us when nobody came to our house. There were so many kids out. Come to find out, after observing our home in the dark, we were the creepy house no kid dared come to. The way our porch light is, it makes it look like no lights are on. Next year we will make it a little more inviting.

During this time we also kept finding quarter sized orange spiders that would make perfect webs across our ward. In hindsight they were cool, just not in the moment.

Random Fall Pictures

Central Park

Zoey

Backyard colors

Bill and Carol Return to Memphis

A lot has changed since my parents last lived in Memphis about 30 years ago. They were excited to show us around some of the places they knew and we were excited to show them some of the newer places too. They visited over the first weekend in October and with the good weather we were able to show them Shelby Farms, The Pyramid (including a moon pie purchase :) ), and Mud Island Park.

We also gave them a tour of SCO and the new clinic and we were able to go to the temple together. A trip to Memphis always must include good food so we made it a point to go to Central BBQ as well.

Downtown Memphis

Our number one goal while living in the Memphis area is seeing and exploring as much as we can. Oh and graduation from school I suppose. We made three giant lists of everything we have wanted to do. There is a local list, a short trips list, and a long trips list. I have been so proud of the progress we've made in the short time that we have lived here.
Downtown Memphis is known for it's night life on Beale Street. So basically we have stayed away from that area at night. We drove pass one night and to say it looked crazy may be an understatement. That being said we did walk down it during the day. Maybe it's because the party scene is not our scene, but it didn't seem that special. It was a fun five minute tourist stop nonetheless.

Jed and I also went to the Rock and Soul Museum. We were looking forward to this museum because Memphis' deep roots in music. It also was newly funded by Justin Timberlake so it had to be awesome right? We were pretty disappointed in how small it was compared to the price of admission. We still enjoyed our time there but don't recommend it to others, unless they find a good groupon (which we have really thrived on while living here).

On Labor Day, I decided to do a last minute 5k, as in the night before I decided to run it. I was very under prepared but it sounded fun because it was the Chick-fil-a 5k and the winner got a year’s worth of chicken sandwiches. I thought I could throw together a last minute win. I hadn't raced since cross country so I think I forgot how out of shape I was. I started off WAY to fast and after holding the lead for 2 miles I broke down and ended up in third. It was still fun because you run all through downtown and finish running around the field of the redbirds stadium. I was sad that I didn't win and I am determined to win at least one of the years we live here.

When the Ramsay's came to visit, we visited the Peabody hotel. At 5pm, every day, they walk ducks down a red carpet onto an elevator. It sounds super cheesy but people act like they are seeing Lil Sebastian for the first time. Apparently, it's a big deal. Sadly we missed the ducks because so many people were there. We hoisted Nora up so she could see them and when we asked her if she could see the ducks she said "yes" but noticed that she was just staring up at the ceiling. Regardless, the hotel is beautiful. It looks almost identical to the Davenport Hotel in Spokane Washington. I think it was built at the same time.

A bunch of Jed's friends invited us to go to a Memphis Grizzlies game against the Orlando Magic. It was really fun to go to an NBA game and spend some time with Jed's friends from school. I don't get to hang out with adults often seeing as I nanny a 6 and 10 year old.

We've also been really enjoying the food of the area. Most importantly we have discovered BBQ NACHOS!!!


Random tidbit, we got a sam's club membership and it has been awesome. We are totally down for a $3 meal for the two of us, even it's just a nicely topped hot dog and a drink.

Starting SCO and White Coat Ceremony

I started at SCO at the end of August. During orientation we met our professors and given a more thorough tour of the school. I was also recognized for receiving the Presidential scholarship. It has been a great experience so far and I have made more close friends than I could have imagined. My classmates are from all over North America and it's going to be a great experience working with each of them.

Endowed Scholarship recipients

SCO Class of 2019

About a month into school we had our white coat ceremony where we took the student oath and received our white clinic coats.



Afterward the school put on a BBQ and entertainment. If I've learned one thing during my time here it's that I definitely will not starve because there are always activities with plenty of great food!
Both the lectures and labs have taught me more than I thought possible was able to fit into the first year but I am feeling more prepared for my future practice every day. Andrea has also been very supportive during my schooling and I couldn't have done it without her!

Bass Pro Shop for the win!

When we first moved to the Memphis area we knew that we had just moved to a really awesome place but we had no idea where to begin exploring. Jed and I did what any respectable newbie would do, we searched the internet. One of the top tourist attractions that came up was the Bass Pro Shop at what they were calling the pyramid. My first thought was "oh boy where have we moved to where our source of entertainment is a Bass Pro Shop." Well I quickly regretted this thought as we made our way to town towards this "pyramid." First of all, it literally is a giant pyramid next to the Mississippi river. An old convention center turned giant Bass Pro Shop in April 2015. This one of the coolest places I've ever been to. The floor is set up to look like the Bayou and the atmosphere is so fun. There is a hotel inside, a bowling alley and the largest free standing elevator with an observation deck overlooking the Mississippi river. Of course we have only looked around seeing that all of these activities cost money, but it has been fun visiting none the less. It also is one of the first places we take people when they visit. The Bayou has so many fishes in it, including alligators!

The river is also fun to visit. I had never seen a river such as the Mississippi. It's been fun to see it daily, as I work on Mud Island. It's been interesting to see it at its low times and at one point when it was dangerously flooded. The barges that go down are also a site to see.

Our Pup Zoey

Since I can remember, I have always loved dogs. I would beg for dog calendars just so I could have 12 different dog posters to hang on my wall. I would cut out any dog from the petco and petsmart ads and tape those on my wall as well. Growing up we had our family dog Rudy and I loved him so much. Since we got him when I was four and he died when I was eighteen, imagining life without a dog was pretty hard.

I knew when Jed and I were in our undergrad at BYU it would have been pretty unrealistic to get a dog. So I would always tell people that Jed promised to get me a dog when we moved to Memphis. Jed never promised that and he would always roll his eyes when I would tell people, but it became our little joke. Though it was a joke, I would still look up dogs in the Memphis area six months before we even moved there. I would squeal with excitement about a dog being super cute and Jed would remind me that it would probably already by adopted by the time we got there so I should probably stop. He was right of course, but that didn't stop me.

Finally we moved to Mississippi. The first Saturday we were there we were taking a break from fixing up the yard and I decided to look for adoptable dogs in the area. Two new pup siblings popped up and I was sold. The two puppy’s names were Oscar and Toni. Oscar was the most adorable tan puppy with a black mask and Toni was a brindle puppy. They were about 10 weeks old and would only grow to be about 45 pounds. I showed Jed and we were both in love. I wanted Oscar and I assumed Jed wanted him to. Jed and I decided that we would just go to the shelter to just "look". Nobody leaves an animal shelter just looking at adorable puppies without a puppy in hand.

When we got there I asked if we could see Oscar. The lady at the front desk informed us that though it was a first come first serve adoption,  and someone had come to adopt Oscar and would be back later that day. She told us we were more than welcome to look at the other puppy in the back though. I was simply devastated but thought we might as well look. When we got in the kennel area, the tiny brindle pup was sitting there begging for our attention. I thought she was cute but went on down the row playing with the other dogs. Jed on the other hand was quickly falling in love with Toni, whom, come to find out, he originally liked best.

The girls at the shelter told us we could play with both puppies and decide which one we wanted. That's when my heart started to change. Though Oscar was adorable, he was super boring and kind of dumb. Toni on the other hand was so playful and we could already tell she was very sharp. We had a decision to make. As we were trying decide, the lady who wanted Oscar came back to buy him. That made our decision easy, now time to decide if we are actually getting a dog. As Oscar was getting adopted another family came to look at the puppies. Three wanna be owners and two puppies, this was going to be interesting. The third family was not interested in Toni at all and really wanted Oscar. The lady who is in the middle of adopting Oscar says "ok I'll take the little girl and you can have the boy, I don't care." HOLD ON! What about us?! We just got completely cut out of this equation. I started to panic. Luckily the family quickly denied the offer and left the shelter and so did the lady with Oscar.

So here is Toni, Jed and I sitting on a dirty shelter floor contemplating if we should get this ever growing adorable puppy. Jed and I stepped outside to talk as we began to feel a lot of pressure from the shelter. I ended up even calling my mom to ask how reasonable this would be seeing that she did most of the dirty work when it came to our dog Rudy. She admitted to us that it was a very time consuming task and could be very frustrating at times but if we were willing to work at it she felt like it was worth it. So there Jed and I stood weighing pros and cons and wondering how dumb we really were to actually get a puppy at this point in our lives. Somehow we found ourselves walking towards the door of the shelter, signing the adoption papers, and walking out the door with a ten pound scarred out of her mind bundle of joy.

On the drive home we immediately started talking about how the name Toni has got to go. Who names a girl dog Toni. So after much brainstorming and trying to be creative, Jed came up with the name Zoey. We both loved it!

Zoey has been an incredible addition to our family. Yes there have been horrible times where she was almost sent back to the shelter (just kidding, but for real) but in the end it has always been worth it.

Come to find out Oscar actually ended up getting the puppy disease Parvo. He got it when he and Zoey were living on the streets. Luckily we got Zoey away before any signs were shown so Zoey was fine.