HAPPY 9th ANNIVERSARY...

Our Engagement

Our Wedding August 20, 1999

On the Disney Cruise with the Wolthuis Family May 2007

Todd and I met at the age of 12 in the 7th grade. I never could have imagined then what joy and happiness that Todd would ultimately bring into my life. In our 9 years of marriage, we have lived in 4 cities and endured 3 moves, survived obtaining undergraduate degrees during which Todd was a busy WSU track star and I strived for title of "Best Track Wife" missing only 4 meets in 4 years and logging countless miles in cars and on planes, then on to 4 years of medical school and now both being half-way through surgical residencies and working on average 100 hours a week (each, not combined). Todd tolerates more than any man I know would or should. He cooks, cleans, does laundry and grocery shopping. He lived in a ghetto studio hotel room in SLC while he finished medical school and I started residency living in a fantastic apartment overlooking the Bay Bridge in SF. He brings not only me, but my entire on-call team, dinner at the hospital. He carries me to bed when I am absolutely too utterly exhausted to walk the short distance from the couch to bedroom, never forgetting to get my alarm set for the next morning. He allows me to stay in bed and answer intern and resident endless pages and phone calls all through the night even though he may be on call the next day. He is loving, kind, thoughtful, supportive, a worth priesthood holder and exercises that power within our home, and never fails to bring a smile to my face even when all I want to do is cry. How blessed I am to be his wife. If asked to make a list of the qualities I hoped and looked for in a husband, my best list would have fallen very short of the man that Todd is. I love and adore him more than I ever imagined possible! Thanks babe for the best 9 years...can't wait for the next 9 and many more to come!

Quick Trip to Utah...

I was able to take a quick trip to Utah this weekend to attend my dear friend Alissa's baby shower. Alissa and I became friends soon after starting medical school and I feel so blessed to have her friendship! Here is a brief recap of the visit...

I rushed from a meeting at Cedars in Beverly Hills to get to the airport, leaving the hospital only an hour and a half before my flight was scheduled to leave. I was able to get my bag checked and through security arriving at the gate as they were boarding the flight...not a minute to spare. As I got seated, I realized that Danny Glover from "Lethal Weapon" fame was sitting right in front of me. As the doors were closely, the flight attendant asked him to take his bluetooth out of his ear as he was sitting in an exit row and needed to be instructed of what to do in case of emergency. Well, he was angered by the request and quickly started arguing with the flight attendant. She then proceeded to walk to the front of the plane and notify the captain, which scared him into submission. Thankfully, the remainder of the flight was uneventful.

Mom, Emily and Crew picked me up at the airport and we then met Dad, Laurel and Brady, Jocelyn and Cameron, Colton and Cannon for dinner at Cafe Rio. No visit to Utah is complete without pork burritos. We then went to Babies R Us to all express our opinion on which crib Laurel should get. As Crew got restless with shopping, Brady took him to the car to play. As we walked out, Crew is rocking back and forth standing at the wheel as he had quickly discovered that banging the steering wheel with his belly would employ the horn.

Saturday morning I was able to attend the Hooper Tomato Days Rodeo Queen Contest in which MaKenzie was competing. She is absolutely beautiful and so poised. It was fun to cheer her on and I am excited to report that she not only won queen, but also scored the highest in every category.

I traveled to Salt Lake Saturday afternoon for the baby shower. It was so great to spend time with Alissa and Amber, my other BFF from medical school. They are absolutely the best and I can't wait to be back in Utah and living closer to both of them...they are definitely my soul-sisters and I can't imagine having survived medical school without either of them!

The proud momma-to-be.

Amber, OB-Gyn resident at the U of U.

Alissa, just completed her pediatric residency at Primary Childrens.

I will definitely in good hands for health care when I move back!

Sunday I was able to attend church and hear my Dad's never failing Gospel Doctrine lesson. Mom of course made a fantastic Sunday dinner and then I was off to LA. It was a great weekend and I am so lucky to be able to be close enough to fly home for these quick but much needed and so very priceless visits!

The Wolthuis Family will be meeting in Seattle in 3 weeks for a baseball and football game...will be counting the days until then!!!

EARTHQUAKE 5.8

Todd and I have survived our first LA earthquake "shaken" but unharmed.  

Our earthquake experience:

I was at Cedars-Sinai and had just finished our morning ICU rounds.  We were sitting in the conference room with all of the residents making sure that everyone knew what needed to be done for each patient that day.  At first, I thought that someone was just shaking the conference table.  Once it didn't stop but instead got more intense, we all realized it was an earthquake.  The other fellow, who has lived in California his entire life and experienced a number of earthquakes, dove under the conference table and yelled for all of us to follow.  We all scrambled below the table and waited out the shaking...that is, all except one of the residents who grew up in Japan.  He just sat calmly laughing in his chair guessing the strength of the earthquake as he had also experienced a number of them before.  As if the shaking wasn't bad enough, the new critical care tower is built on rollers in case of an earthquake to help prevent structural damage.  We are on the top 8th floor, shaking...rolling...swaying for likely only a minute or so...but enough that I was annoyed to be in my nice dress clothes and heels and to still be kneeling on the floor under a table, just hoping my hair wasn't getting messed up.  It was all very reminiscent of elementary school in Utah...I also thought those earthquake drills were so silly as earthquakes rarely happen in Utah (at least in my memory)...who knew it would actually come in handy!  As soon as the shaking and rolling settled, we quickly dispersed to make sure that all of the patients were ok, ventilators and monitors still working, etc.  Once things calmed down, everyone turned their attention to speculating about the aftershocks that were sure to follow.  Within minutes, I was ready to book a flight back to Utah and flee the earthquake-riddled California.  However, a brave face was put on as I called mom and assured her that all was fine...especially since I had to convince her to still come on her scheduled visit to LA the following day.  

Todd was busy operating on some broken bone or another when the earthquake struck.  He was on the top 15th floor of the 100-year old national historic landmark LA-County Hospital. He was attempting to suture his incision closed as the case was coming to an end when all the shaking began.  In pure surgeon fashion, they team stood and joked about the shaking waiting for the annoying quake to stop so that their surgery could continue.  When asked why they didn't dive under the patient bed, he said that would be too much effort to then have to re-scrub in order to finish the case.  No real word mentioned as to what precautions were made to protect the patient...

Thankfully, we have not experienced any appreciable aftershocks.  Not even a picture on the wall appeared out of place once I was able to get home and assess.  Dad, Mom and Jocey are still agreeable to coming to visit...

Yes, it really is 2:30 AM...

I am sitting in the SICU at 2:30 in the morning waiting for a family to arrive for a patient who is trying to die...of course, with my free time I am blog browsing and this is what I came up with...

Got this off of my dear friend Alissa's blog...

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember--it can be funny, weird, awkward, random, etc.!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Happy 7th Birthday Colton!!!

Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to you!

C--character and personality, can always make you laugh
O--obsessessed with sports...a true sports junkie and super smart about every player and team
L--loving, kind, tender-hearted, so smart
T--terrific brother to Cannon and Crew
O--obedient...always chooses the right
N--never fails to give me a smile and hug...

Wish I was there to sing all 4 verses of the birthday song to you...hope that you have a great day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GREG!

Happy Birthday Greg! Thank you for being such a great husband to my sister and a wonderful father to my most favorite boys!

G-great husband and father...his boys adore him as you can see above
R-rambunctious
E-entertaining, always joking around
G-gifted drug rep

THREE FEARS:

1. Bugs, spiders, snakes...have a horrible phobia that should probably be treated by a psychiatrist!

2. Never finishing my training with enough energy to enjoy life once it is over

3. Not being able to have kids after waiting so long

THREE GOALS:

1. Finishing residency

2. Becoming a mother and a better wife once residency is finally over

3. Increasing my spiritual side with some more free time that I am still waiting to enjoy during this next year

THREE OBSESSIONS:

1. My husband and family

2. Shopping

3. Traveling...and shopping on vacation

THREE RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME:

1. I could live on chocolate alone

2. Even if I had all the money in the world, I would still practice medicine

3. Can't wait to move back to Utah to be closer to family and to be able to water ski/wakeboard and snow ski again!

THREE PEOPLE I TAG:

1. Emily

2. Laurel

3. Kelli Clinger