Graduation

I am sure that some of you out there thought that "vet school" was just a big ploy on my part. A convenient excuse for why I couldn't come out to visit or couldn't participate in a certain social event. A hoax to make me feel smart and like I was actually doing something with my life. Well you were right wrong. Believe it or not, I was in actual fact a veterinary student and now I am in actual fact a veterinarian. I graduated on Sunday.

It was a lovely ceremony made even lovelier by all the wonderful people that came to support me. Thank you everyone that came, that sent a note, and that supported me all the time during vet school by asking how I was doing, understanding when time or finances were limited, and especially for the one person that had to live with me and offer love and support and talk me off the ledge a few times.

A few pictures from Nauvoo, where we visited on Saturday. Something of note: the wood floor in the picture on the right has a very neat history behind it: the building was auctioned off sometime after the saints left Nauvoo for a mere $4.40. No business could thrive there (undoubtedly because Nauvoo was somewhat of a ghost town and still is compared to its heyday when it rivaled Chicago) and eventually was converted to a family dwelling. The third floor by that time was in disrepair and was torn down. When the church rebought the building to restore it, underneath the roof the original wood floor was still intact. According to the senior sister who gave us the tour, this was the floor where Joseph and Emma danced (along with many other early saints) and where Joseph drew with a piece of chalk the route that would be taken to get to the Salt Lake Valley.

And of course, some pictures of the big day.

In the bottom left, that is me telling my sister "trust me, I'm a professional." 

Apparently I like collages today. 

Follow-up

Since there was so much interest, here is the recipe we used for Easter. There aren't a whole lot of rabbit recipes out there (since Americans don't eat too much rabbit), and I am not averse to substituting rabbit for chicken, but if anyone has good rabbit recipes, let me know!

Also, a few more pictures from the race, courtesy of the pro sports photographers, just so you can see how beautiful we are when we run.

running together before parting ways around mile 9

pain

never so glad to cross a line 

(why doesn't anyone else look like they hurt?)

can you see him? he is just behind the pregnant lady. 

saying ouch inside

(what? I got beat by a pregnant lady?!?)

ouch

 my name is Alex and I have big leg muscles. And a look of sheer determination.

Two days

Stuff has happened in the last two days. Significant stuff. For instance, yesterday, Alex and I nearly killed ourselves running the Champaign-Urbana half marathon. I am honestly not sure if it was harder than the marathon we did 3.5 years ago, but it sure felt like it was at the time. It was SO hard to push myself the whole 13.1 miles, and especially the last mile. However, I knew that I could suffer a little now and be much more pleased after the race about my performance than to slack a little and know forever that I could have done better had I just tried harder. We certainly didn't set any world records, but we met our personal goals (we were shooting for an 8:30 minute mile and came in at an 8:02 and 8:16 minute mile averages).

tired kids

(the next time you see Alex, please comment on his awesome post marathon pom-pom hair)

I also learned that it is not as simple as one might think to drink water while running.

And then today, I had my final ICU shift at the veterinary hospital. Kiss it goodbye - vet school is over.

A couple of Easter pictures:

We were grateful to be able to eat home-grown meat for Easter.

Finally, Ruben wanted to say hi: