Happy Match day!

Does he look excited or what?
The family

Lt to Rt

Grandma, Trisha's mom, Trisha, Kevin, Aunt Sharon, Uncle Mark, and Aunt Dee

middle hiding would be Kelsie

Well, at this time last year we were just finding out where we would be spending the next four years of our lives for Kevin's residency training.

One day in the month of March is a much anticipated day for fourth year medical students, and they refer to the date as "match day" This is an annual event that is coordinated by the National Resident Matching Program. Approximately 16,000 fourth-year medical students across the country will receive their residency assignments simultaneously on Match Day. All across the nation, the fourth year medical students will all open up an envelope at 12:00 EST. It can't even be opened a minute before 12:00 EST.

The students rank their top programs, and then the programs also rank the students. It all goes into a computer, and then the computer generates a letter telling the student where they will or will not be going. (unfortunately, there are students who do not match anywhere) It's a very complicated process if you ask me.

Kevin interviewed at nine programs including Utah, Michigan, Tennessee, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Wisconsin.

Truthfully, in my mind there wasn't anywhere that I thought that we would be going to except to the Mayo clinic in Minnesota.

The letter was presented, and Kevin opened it up. He kind of read the letter to himself, and kept saying"wow, I am really surprised, I didn't think we would end up here." We had our family with us at the ceremony, and of course everyone was dying to know where we were going. He finally piped up and told us that we were headed to Tennessee. I think I just froze in my seat, and didn't say a whole lot from that time forward but that's okay. All is well, and now I can't imagine my life not being in Tennessee. To be honest, I am kind of glad that I am not in Minnesota enduring the freezing temperatures. It's weird how things work out sometimes.

Leprechauns do exist

My four cute little leprechauns
visiting Alyssa at school
Kelsie at the Science Adventure center
Our shamrock pancakes
Kelsie enjoying her good finds

We had a rather rude dude come to our house the eve of St. Patrick's day. Rumor has it that Larry the leprechaun visits Alyssa's school every year on March 17th. Before the kids come to school, he does some very naughty things including: tipping desks over, stealing things from the teacher, putting things in random places, etc. The kids all had to make a leprechaun trap for Larry in hopes that they could finally catch him. Well, Larry made his grand escape once again.

Alyssa was really hoping that Larry would stop by our house and sure enough he did indeed stop here. Larry sprinkled leprechaun dust from the top of the upstairs all the way down into the kitchen, and boy does he know how to make a mess. (he would fit in good at our house) He left a little note for the girls that said:

My name is Larry
I'm what they call a Leprechaun
But really I am sort of like a little fairy

My favorite color of course is green
And don't believe people, I'm really not mean

I love St. Patrick's day, it's the best time of the year
Because that means spring time soon will be here

You tried to catch me but I'm no fool
You won't find me, not even at school

I left you some treasures that I brought from far away
Know that you will never find me and have a very good
St. Patty's day

Love,
Larry the lepechaun

The girls couldn't have been more excited, they were however a little disapointed that they didn't actually see Larry in person. Oh well, maybe next year.

I really wanted to do a "green" breakfast but didn't feel like getting up at 5:00 a.m. so that I could make a fancy breakfast before sending Alyssa off to school, so Kelsie and I enjoyed our shamrock pancakes after Alyssa went to school. Kelsie, Audrey, Leah, and I enjoyed a fun day at the Science Adventure center. After that we headed over to Alyssa's school. After Alyssa got home we then headed out to the park and enjoyed a beautiful Tennessee day.

We have noticed each other

Alyssa happenings

Alyssa and her best friend Rylee

plastic bubbles that were so hard to clean up

"scones anyone?"

"Am I cute or what?"

"No-one will find me under here."
"Whoops I spilled my popcorn."
"Oh, those cd's were supposed to stay on that shelf?"

Mischievous at heart
another mess, another day! Boy, I am exhausted!

Alyssa turns seven in a few weeks, and I just can't believe how fast the time has gone. For her birthday she only wants 1 thing. That 1 thing is, she would like to spend her birthday in Utah with her best friend Rylee. We weren't quite sure if it was going to work for us to go to Utah or not, but guess what? It worked and we are headed out to Utah in a few weeks. We won't only be there for Alyssa's birthday but Alyssa will also get to be there for Rylee's birthday. I told Alyssa that we weren't going to be able to celebrate her birthday in Tennessee this year, and she just kind of got this sad look on her face. When I told her that she would be celebrating her birthday in Utah she couldn't believe it. She can't wait to go back to Utah! She even made a chain for the countdown, we will be there in 12 days.

Alyssa truly is a dream child, and I know that probably won't always be the case but for now I am really enjoying every minute of her sweet innocence. She is painfully shy, and getting her to talk to people is something that she just has the hardest time with. We have really been working with her on getting her to talk more. Last night as we were getting ice cream I made her tell the clerk what she wanted, and she did it! Afterwards she looked at me and said, "Mom, I did it!" It was seriously a big deal for both of us.

Alyssa loves to make messes whether it is with food, paper, toys, etc. You name it and she can make a mess with it. Of course when I tell my Mom about the messes that she makes, she just laughs and tells me that she is just a little spitting image of her Mother. (she had 6 kids and I think that she is getting me mixed up with my other 2 sisters) anyway, the messes or more than I can handle often times, and the funnier thing is that Alyssa hasn't stopped making messes since she was born. (I posted pictures of her when she was little for proof)

I think Tennessee is growing on Alyssa, and she seems to be enjoying it here. She even has a southern accent which I just love. It just goes really well with her personality. Overall, Alyssa is a happy go lucky kind of girl, and we are so happy to have her in our family.

Kelsie happenings

Kelsie will be four years old in a few weeks, need I say more? At four years old you know everything right? Well, she thinks she knows it all! I can tell her anything, and her answer is always the same. "I already know that Mom!"

Kelsie is obsessed with her sisters (all 3 of them) and loves them to pieces. She can't get enough of Audrey and Leah although I think that they can get enough of her. She and Alyssa have a very close relationship and she wants to do everything that Alyssa is doing including reading. She has a book called Pinkalicious that can she read all by herself. PINK is Kelsie's color of choice. In her world everything would be PINK! I love having a girly girl although it is sometimes challenging. Kelsie has a style of her own, and refuses to let me pick out her clothes. She also has her mind made up daily about how she wants her hair to look. I am so not used to this!

Kelsie has two very different personalities. You get very upset, or very happy. There is not in-between stage with her. When she is happy, she is the sweetest, funniest, cutest little girl but boy watch out when she is upset. The Preece stuborness sets in real quick and there is no reasoning with her.

We love our Kelsie even when she is not the easiest to deal with. Life without her would be very dull.

I also realize with her how much she is watching everything that I do. I was changing Audrey today and she just had a huge blowout. Kelsie looked at her and said, "for heaven sakes Audrey you know better than that."

You want how much for preschool?

Kelsie was so excited when we got a little postcard in the mail about preschool. She got even more excited when she saw that it said it was a preschool for 3 and 4 year olds. (let's just say that for what I would pay for her to go to preschool for 3 1/2 months would make our house payment) Preschool is out of the question. I could handle $25-30 a month, that's about what they charge in Utah and that seems within reason but $407 a month for a half day, you have got to be out of your mind. Here are their pricing options which one would you pick?

Half day......$407/monthly
3 days a week......$400/monthly
5 days a week......$147/week

A memory worth remembering

I have always dreaded taking my girls to get their pictures taken professionally for many reasons. The main reason is the stress I feel in trying to make sure their clothes are matching, making sure that every strand of hair is in place, making sure they don't have any bruises or major scratches on their face (which somehow always seems to be the case.)just all the knit-picky details that in the end probably don't really matter. Today, however I had a different experience.

My day started out with a phone call from my sweet friend Amy who just adopted their first child. Tears flooded my eyes as she was telling me about her adoption experience. Amy and her husband have been married for several years and have experienced many trials. Things that I couldn't even imagine having to go through. Amy and her husband Asher have spent many evenings over at our home helping us take care of our babies. The last time being a night that Kevin was on-call. I was so worn out and called Amy to see if she wouldn't mind coming over. She agreed to come over and brought her sweet husband with her. I will never forget the image of this kind man taking my screaming child into his arms and teaching her all about football. Within minutes the baby was quiet and there was a sense of peace in the room following Asher. He can quiet down my babies instantly, and put them to sleep instantly. I don't know how he does it but he does. Amy and Asher have lived their lives perfectly but yet things haven't always worked out as they had intended them to. Until now that is..
Amy has a quote on her blog that says."

"Everywhere in nature we are taught the lessons of patience and waiting. We want things a long time before we get them, and the fact that we wanted them a long time makes them all the more precious when they come." -Joseph Smith

Waiting is something that these two know all about, they have waited for this day for so long. The time has come, and I just couldn't be happier for them. Asher has his own daughter who he now gets to teach football to.

As I was getting my four daughters ready for pictures, I couldn't help but think about the joy that Amy and Asher must be experiencing, and how they too would soon be doing things like taking their little girl to get her pictures taken, and all of the other fun things that come along with raising girls. As I was looking at my four sweet daughters who were all dressed in white, looking like little angels, the thought occured to me. "How many times had I taken motherhood fore granted?The thought also occured to me that I am not JUST a Mom. I am a Mother, and I get to do this job for the rest of my life. How awesome is that? Even more awesome is the fact that Amy is now a Mother, and Asher is now a Father.
Some things in life really are worth waiting for.

sisterly love

Can I just tell you how much these little babies love Kelsie! I am not just saying this, I mean it! You would think they would get annoyed with Kelsie constantly being in their faces, shaking them while they are sitting in their car seats, standing on their cribs talking to them, but NO they just screech with delight everytime she is near.

Today I came into the kitchen and found Audrey laughing out loud. This is the first time that she has laughed and I immediately ran for the camera. Maybe she was laughing at the fact that kelsie doesn't have a voice but either way, she was having the time of her life. Enjoy the video.

Kentucky

We took our first road trip in one vehicle that we all could fit in, it was great! We ventured off to Dinosaur World in Kentucky. It was a little cold at the park but we still had fun, and there was only one other family there so that part was nice.

We had a lot of fun and it was nice being able to spend some time with Kevin. We won't be seeing him much for the next month or so. He is now doing pediatric surgery. This morning he left the house at 3:30 a.m. and will be home some time tomorrow. Crazy surgeons!