I've been terrible at consistently blogging this year, but I finally got it all done and I've dated the posts by when they actually happened, not when I wrote them. So here's our year in review in case you missed it...
After finishing my dietetic internship and master's degree, I (Lauren) became the official breadwinner working full-time as the dietitian at a nursing home. I've also been working at a local hospital every other Saturday as well covering weekend consults. Since we're leaving Richmond this summer, my last day at the hospital is in January to give us some weekend time to cross some items off of our "Virginia Bucket List." I'll continue working at the nursing home until we move. I went to NYC with my girlfriends from my internship and Philly three separate times - twice for art exhibits and once for a dietetics conference.
Aaron is in his final year of dental school and loves working with his patients in the clinic. After much deliberation about whether to practice general dentistry after graduation or pursue orthodontics instead, he finally decided to apply to orthodontics programs. He sent out numerous applications, received 9 interview invitations, and interviewed at 6 programs. The acceptance process is done using a matching system, and on November 29, we received the match result - Aaron was matched to the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center program - his second choice! We're thrilled and headed to Oklahoma City this coming summer for 2.5 years! Aaron also climbed the Grand Teton with his dad and brother this summer and has participated in numerous dental service projects.
Together, we've spent a lot of time in DC with Aaron's brother, sister-in-law, and niece. We've had some fun adventures including at least two trips to Texas, a New York City trip, a trip to Italy with the Crabtrees, and back-to-back weddings - Aaron's sister Nicole and Lauren's brother Colby. We also finally purchased our second car, a Hyundai Santa Fe, in April and celebrated our four-year anniversary in August. We spent Thanksgiving with the Crabtrees here in VA and we're headed to St George, Utah and California for a fun Christmas with the Lairds.
2012 has been good to us and we're looking forward to the changes up ahead!
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Soon-to-be-Sooners
Aaron spent October 17 - November 9 traveling around the country for interviews for orthodontic programs. He sent out his applications in August/September and the interview invitations started rolling in. He received 9 invitations but was only able to attend 6 interviews as four were scheduled for the same day! He unfortunately had to decline the VCU interview as it was the same day as his interview in Houston (UT Health Science Center) - our first choice. He also interviewed in Alabama at UAB, Denver at University of Colorado, Indianapolis at IUPUI, St Louis at University of St Louis, and Oklahoma City at OU Health Science Center.
Orthodontics program acceptance is done using a matching system, you rank the programs, they rank you, and then the computer works its magic. Our final rank order was Houston, Oklahoma, Alabama, Indiana, St Louis, and then Denver. We were pretty sure Aaron would match so it was just a waiting game until we found out.
November 29th was match day. The results weren't supposed to be released until noon, but they sent out an email early. Aaron was on a rotation in rural Virginia and was seeing patients. I logged into his email around 10am, just to see if that was the method of delivery and it was! I opened the email and then called Aaron immediately. He didn't answer so I called him probably 10 times and also sent him a text. He finally texted me back and we were able to talk on the phone. He was matched to the OU Health Science Center in Oklahoma City - his second choice!
I am incredibly proud of Aaron - he worked SO hard the past 3 years of dental school to ensure he was top of his class so that he could get into orthodontics. And he did it! He's thrilled and he loved the program when he interviewed. It's 2.5 years and starts July 1. He's one of four residents in his class and he's already friends with two of them on facebook. He's also been assigned a "big brother" and has been waiting on pins and needles for the information to trickle in. OKC is just a 7.5 hour drive from Houston or a quick, cheap flight away. There are also direct flights to SLC which makes visiting the west coast so much easier.
We're excited for our next adventure in OOOOOOOOOKLAHOMA!
Orthodontics program acceptance is done using a matching system, you rank the programs, they rank you, and then the computer works its magic. Our final rank order was Houston, Oklahoma, Alabama, Indiana, St Louis, and then Denver. We were pretty sure Aaron would match so it was just a waiting game until we found out.
November 29th was match day. The results weren't supposed to be released until noon, but they sent out an email early. Aaron was on a rotation in rural Virginia and was seeing patients. I logged into his email around 10am, just to see if that was the method of delivery and it was! I opened the email and then called Aaron immediately. He didn't answer so I called him probably 10 times and also sent him a text. He finally texted me back and we were able to talk on the phone. He was matched to the OU Health Science Center in Oklahoma City - his second choice!
I am incredibly proud of Aaron - he worked SO hard the past 3 years of dental school to ensure he was top of his class so that he could get into orthodontics. And he did it! He's thrilled and he loved the program when he interviewed. It's 2.5 years and starts July 1. He's one of four residents in his class and he's already friends with two of them on facebook. He's also been assigned a "big brother" and has been waiting on pins and needles for the information to trickle in. OKC is just a 7.5 hour drive from Houston or a quick, cheap flight away. There are also direct flights to SLC which makes visiting the west coast so much easier.
We're excited for our next adventure in OOOOOOOOOKLAHOMA!
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
East Coast Thanksgiving
This year, it was time for a Crabtree Thanksgiving. Since leaving VA in the future was on the horizon, everyone opted to come here for the holiday. My grandpa and uncle live in MD so we decided to spend Thanksgiving Day with them also.
My mom flew into Richmond on Tuesday evening and we went to dinner and ran some errands to get ready for the feast. Colby, Talyn, and my Dad flew into Baltimore Tuesday night and C&T spend Wednesday seeing some old friends while Dad went golfing with Grandpa and James. Wednesday morning, Aaron and I went to work and school and my mom stayed at our place and got to work with some meal preparations. We had ordered a "happy" turkey from Polyface farm and she gutted and brined it. We drove up to DC and made it in time for dinner at Grandpa's favorite chinese place. We exchanged gifts that night - we got Grandpa a Samsung Galaxy tablet so he can keep up with the times.
On Thanksgiving Day, we woke up and used some FNCE coupons for breakfast at McDonald's. The boys placed soccer outside (Grandpa didn't have a football?) and we got ready for the day and started cooking dinner. Grandpa's oven apparently only had one setting - HOT - and luckily my mom was able to rescue the turkey and prevent it from completely drying out. We enjoyed our dinner and we went to see Skyfall that night.
The next morning, we enjoyed Grandpa's buttermilk hotcakes for breakfast before leaving. We headed to Montpelier in Orange, VA - James Madison's home (and stopped for Cafe Rio on the way). We also enjoyed the Richmond tacky light tour that evening and dinner at Silver Diner.
Saturday we went to Jamestown and Yorktown and enjoyed the tours. We were tired from a long day so that evening we ordered pizza from Bottom's Up and stayed in and played games.
Sunday morning was probably was I was looking forward to the most - Sunday Brunch at the Jefferson Hotel! Not only did we get to enjoy the brunch, but we also got to see the hotel decked out for Christmas. It was a lovely breakfast and the food was pretty good. Yum! Colby and Talyn had to head back up to DC to fly out that night and so Mom, Dad, Aaron and I visited St John's Church (site of Patrick Henry's famous speech) and the Wilton House and ate at Cafe Caturra before they caught their evening plane home to TX.
My mom flew into Richmond on Tuesday evening and we went to dinner and ran some errands to get ready for the feast. Colby, Talyn, and my Dad flew into Baltimore Tuesday night and C&T spend Wednesday seeing some old friends while Dad went golfing with Grandpa and James. Wednesday morning, Aaron and I went to work and school and my mom stayed at our place and got to work with some meal preparations. We had ordered a "happy" turkey from Polyface farm and she gutted and brined it. We drove up to DC and made it in time for dinner at Grandpa's favorite chinese place. We exchanged gifts that night - we got Grandpa a Samsung Galaxy tablet so he can keep up with the times.
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| Grandpa doesn't like to keep the heat on very long at his house - so mom made sure we had Ugg slippers to keep us warm. |
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| The glorious Polyface turkey |
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| "Football" |
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| Feasting |
The next morning, we enjoyed Grandpa's buttermilk hotcakes for breakfast before leaving. We headed to Montpelier in Orange, VA - James Madison's home (and stopped for Cafe Rio on the way). We also enjoyed the Richmond tacky light tour that evening and dinner at Silver Diner.
Saturday we went to Jamestown and Yorktown and enjoyed the tours. We were tired from a long day so that evening we ordered pizza from Bottom's Up and stayed in and played games.
Sunday morning was probably was I was looking forward to the most - Sunday Brunch at the Jefferson Hotel! Not only did we get to enjoy the brunch, but we also got to see the hotel decked out for Christmas. It was a lovely breakfast and the food was pretty good. Yum! Colby and Talyn had to head back up to DC to fly out that night and so Mom, Dad, Aaron and I visited St John's Church (site of Patrick Henry's famous speech) and the Wilton House and ate at Cafe Caturra before they caught their evening plane home to TX.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Halloween
So Aaron was out of town for interviews for both the church Halloween party and on Halloween day, but I did get to dress up without him.
I went as a witch to our church party (no pictures?), and I went as a cowgirl to work on Halloween. Fun.
I went as a witch to our church party (no pictures?), and I went as a cowgirl to work on Halloween. Fun.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
RIP Grandma Laird
Aaron's Grandma, Marian Laird has been ill for sometime. A couple years ago, she moved out of her home and into an assisted living facility. In October, she was hospitalized and we received an email from family members with an update on her status. We could definitely see that she was in pain and while she wasn't admitted to hospice care, it looked like she was headed in that direction. Unfortunately she passed away on October 16. Aaron was very close to his Grandma and she was always very supportive and loving. She lived a very full and happy life. Her husband passed away before Aaron was born and I'm sure they are having a sweet reunion. We knew we needed to go to Utah to attend her funeral, which was on Saturday, October 20.
Aaron had an orthodontics interview in Alabama and we were able to switch his flights around so he flew to Utah late Friday night and then back to Richmond on Sunday. I luckily was not scheduled to work at the hospital that Saturday and when I let my boss know about the situation, he was incredibly understanding and told me to take the time I needed. So I flew out early Friday morning and was able to attend the viewing on Friday with everyone. Aaron and I were supposed to be on similar red-eye flights (we were on different airlines) Sunday night, but I accidentally booked the wrong one and had to go home on Saturday instead (blessing in disguise: I got the flu I think and was able to recover on Sunday).
We had a lovely day celebrating her life and her funeral was sweet. Each grandchild got to share what Grandma meant to them and all of us sang a primary song together. We then went to the graveside and shared a few moments there.
We were so grateful we were able to attend and when Aaron's aunt Jeri found out we would all be there - she scheduled a photographer for after the graveside to snatch a few photos of the entire family together as not everyone was able to attend Nicole's wedding. We had lunch provided to us by some members of Grandma's ward.
That night we had fun with Aaron's parents and siblings and family and we went to Cornbelly's for some fun.
Aaron had an orthodontics interview in Alabama and we were able to switch his flights around so he flew to Utah late Friday night and then back to Richmond on Sunday. I luckily was not scheduled to work at the hospital that Saturday and when I let my boss know about the situation, he was incredibly understanding and told me to take the time I needed. So I flew out early Friday morning and was able to attend the viewing on Friday with everyone. Aaron and I were supposed to be on similar red-eye flights (we were on different airlines) Sunday night, but I accidentally booked the wrong one and had to go home on Saturday instead (blessing in disguise: I got the flu I think and was able to recover on Sunday).
We had a lovely day celebrating her life and her funeral was sweet. Each grandchild got to share what Grandma meant to them and all of us sang a primary song together. We then went to the graveside and shared a few moments there.
We were so grateful we were able to attend and when Aaron's aunt Jeri found out we would all be there - she scheduled a photographer for after the graveside to snatch a few photos of the entire family together as not everyone was able to attend Nicole's wedding. We had lunch provided to us by some members of Grandma's ward.
That night we had fun with Aaron's parents and siblings and family and we went to Cornbelly's for some fun.
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