Ok, so our little family spent 2 days hiking in southern Utah, and it was AMAZING! We spent Wednesday at Arches National Park, which is incredible. It doesn't have the variety of Zion or the in-your-face-ness of Bryce but the formations there are simply unbelievable. Delicate Arch is ridiculous. You hike up the side of an enormous rock, I guess it's a small mountain but it looks like a single piece of rock to me. Then you go along the top of a cliff which has a nice view of some classic southern Utah landscape and as you round the bend around the cliff face delicate arch just punches you in face. It's amazing. And it's huge! I had no idea! It was amazing. Also, because we hiked it with Suvi strapped to me we were the most popular people on the hike. Everyone said things like, what an adorable baby, and you hiked all the way up here with her on your chest? And afterward we went to dinner at Subway and everyone recognized our baby. And us by association. It was great.

The next day we went to Goblin Valley and Little Wild Horse Canyon. Goblin Valley is the perfect paintball arena. Everywhere in the valley there are large rock formations called goblins that are basically small hoodoos that are really easy to climb on top of. It's way cool. So we took some great pictures and had an awesome game of hide and seek (I was at a disadvantage because I was carrying Suvi at the time).

Then we went to Little Wild Horse which was absolutely incredible! It is a slot canyon in the San Rafael Swell and there are places where the walls are close enough to touch with both hands and go up for 200 or 300 feet above you. Seriously awesome. We also saw some really cool designs in the rock, which is sandstone so it melts in the rain and looks like muscle fibers.

I think this muscle is called petrificus longus with petrificus brevis beneath.

Flash forward to last week. Suvi is amazing. I know that all of you already know this but I just want to point out that it's true. So Suvi and grandma Jones were reading the Velveteen Rabbit and halfway through the story there's a scene with real bunnies and Suvi goes to her toy bucket and grabs one of her toy bunnies and points at the picture of the bunny in the book. That shouldn't be possible. She also helps us unload the dishwasher. She grabs the silverware and hold it up one piece at a time for you to grab and put in the drawer. She's just amazing. So to finish the vacation story, we stopped by uncle Ryan's place in Scofield State Park and seeing as how Suvi is so far ahead in development, we decided to get her a gun. Don't worry, it's just a pellet gun. Ok, that's Ryan's potgut gun, but Suvi sure did like it. Just like her mama.

So that finishes up that vacation. There are some other things that happened before the move (which officially starts tomorrow at about 5 am), but we'll have to wait till Tennessee to post about those. I hope these pictures will keep everyone happy till then. And we promise to post more often in the future.

I have exciting news! This week marks my last time working at a dead end job ever! No more assembly lines, no more call centers, no more hurting my body lifting heavy things for people I don't like- that part of my life is over! My next job will be "doctor". I can't even tell you how excited I am to be able to say that! It's good to be me.

In further news we have less than 3 weeks till our big move! I can't believe it's so close! I am super excited and a little scared. I've only been to the south once, for the interview. April's never been there. In less than a month we will all call it home. My brain doesn't know what to do with that. I do want to get out there though, start the next chapter, meet the people who will be my new friends, have new experiences, but I will miss Utah, the open spaces, the people I know here, it's confusing. I've decided that it's good though. So Tennessee here we come!

Holy cow time flies! So we have barely over a month before we move to TN. Which is crazy! We've been talking about it forever, but now it's getting really close and I'm not sure I ever believed the med school thing would happen. Sometimes it all seems like a dream. Or if you ask me 6 months from now a homework-ridden nightmare. I am excited though.

So for the past 2 weeks I've been working at Tahitian Noni putting bottles of juice into cardboard boxes for shipping. And my next job will be "doctor". That's a bit of a jump. On the upside, one of the guys I work with is Navajo, so I have been learning some of the language. The only thing is that he doesn't really speak it, so anything I want to learn how to say I have to get him to ask his mom. Which is fine, it just takes longer. So far I have learned ya'ah'tee' which means hello (the apostrophes are glottal stops) and Azee' thlini', niishli' naa'h'ahato' which means Trust me, I'm a doctor. That's my new phrase of interest by the way, so anyone reading this, if you know any more please write in! I also opened up the discussion to my med school class and got a bunch! I'll post a comprehensive list later.

So I want to write at least once a week from here on out, and I'm toying with starting a new blog about my med school adventures, but we'll see if that goes anywhere. So in other news, I got to teach Sunday School at church, which was fun, April and I hiked the Y which was fun, and Suvi is now on Youtube! Which is awesome. So life is good right now. I'll write soon, but until then, here's the link for Suvi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS67Ue0x7gM

Vacation Rocks!

So as vacation draws to a close, we are squeezing all the fun we can into what tine is left. Last week we went to Disneyland and Suvi rode the rockets (my favorite ride from my idealized childhood) and she loved them! Meaning she sat indifferently and tried to eat the seatbelt. Today she almost crawled! it was so exciting! Tomorrow I get to talk to some doctors about medicine and I'm excited about that too. For now I need to get some shut eye but I will post a vacation recap when we get back. Also I'm graduating on friday. WOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!!!

So update! Next week we leave for California! I lost my job at metal mart which was great because that job was terrible. (no breaks, no getting treated like a human being, getting yelled at to do things you're already doing, you know how it is) So now I'm working as a temp at another place which is way better (we even get breaks!). Also med school grows ever closer, which is exciting for several reasons both happy and scary. But in more important news- Suvi rides in swings now! It is SO cute! And just this morning I was cruising around student doctor network and found a thread asking how easy it is to find a boyfriend in med school. The girl who posted it said she would be at least 33 when she finished residency and wants to have children by then but is currently single. I remarked to April that even if we never see each other again once med school starts, we already have a baby so we have reached the goal of having a family! Then Suvi gave me the biggest crustiest look ever! And she didn't stop until I went over to her and told her we would get her a brother and a sister and kissed her cheek. Then she smiled from ear to ear. I don't think she wants to be an only child. So apparently we're not done having kids.

Life is grand

So hey, look at me posting more than once in a month! I got an iPod touch for my birthday! Welcome to the 21st century Ben! So now I have a bunch of cool apps- like the University of Maryland Medical School reference and Speed Bones MD and Speed Muscles MD and other cool stuff like iMurmur where it has actual recordings of heart pathologies. It's pretty sweet. Also I found the sequel to one of my favorite flash based games ever- Continuity! It's totally awesome on an iPod touch. The thing is just cool.

So med school update- we are officially going to LMU. I sent in the deposit and received a matriculation packet and everything. It feels more real now (pronounced "scary") than it has up to this point. I'm also getting really excited for our trip to Disneyland in April. It will be nice to go back- it's been a long time. And then we're going to hang with my mom for almost a week until graduation. It'll be nice to say the least. And then I'll do some temp work, hit up national parks, run a half marathon, and move to TN for med school! Big plans for the next few months.

One more thing- apparently my grandpa who was a DO was born in TN and my dad grew up in South Carolina, so this should be a good opportunity to get back to my roots. Life is good guys- take it one day at a time and be grateful for everything!

Wow. Ok. We need to write more. A lot has happened. So I will fill you in on some of it. I got accepted to 4 medical schools!!! Woohoo! In the end we had to make a tough choice between LECOM and LMU-DCOM and we decided on LMU. It's a new program but I think it is the right move for us. It's in Harrogate TN about 1 1/2 hours north of Knoxville and the area is beautiful!

We moved in with April's parents to save on rent money. It's a little weird living in someone else's house, but the Joneses are really nice so it's cool. Also, this arrangement allows us to move to med school. Which is a big plus.

Suvi is a big girl now. She plays with toys (meaning she grabs them and sticks them in her mouth), she can almost sit and stand up, she recently discovered her feet, and she can move her fingers independently of each other. She's amazing.

Lately we've been watching Scrubs in our room on Netflix and tonight it occurred to me that I should write down some stuff that happens often so I can remember the experience later. For instance- Suvi is our favorite toy. Let me explain. As I type this April is making strange noises at Suvi and Suvi is mimicking her. April sounds crazy and Suvi is the most adorable thing in the world. That's usually how it works out. The adult in the pair looks like a goof and Suvi is the most adorable thing you've ever seen. While we "watch Scrubs" I usually end up looking at Suvi as she makes faces, stares at me, grabs her feet, and thrashes like a crazy baby. I love that little girl more than anything else in the world.

Life is good. I have an amazing wife, an unbelievably cute little girl (around whose finger I am tightly wound), I have a good job, and we are going to medical school this summer to the school of my choice. Does it get any better than that? I don't think it does.