Merry Christmas 2005

Taintors 12-05
Originally uploaded by taintors.

We hope you are having a wonderful Christmas Holiday! Adam gets two weeks off around Christmas so we are going to play…play…play!
Let me give you the update on our family.
ADAM is in his third year here at the University of Utah School of Medicine. During third and fourth year he is in the hospitals and clinics working with patients and applying his knowledge from the past two years. Although this year is crazy busy, Adam is having loads of fun. He rotates, 6 weeks at a time, through the main specialties, from surgery, to working in the Psych ward, OB/Gyn, Pediatrics, etc. Although some of the rotations require him to be at the hospital at 4:30 AM, he’s still loving it, and comes home with some crazy stories. He still isn’t sure what he wants to be “when he grows up” (if that ever happens), but he’s starting to narrow it down and has to decide for sure by next fall…exciting! We’ll then go through the application and interview process to apply for residency programs. Danielle and Adam are currently the Family History Consultants in their university student ward.

DANIELLE loves being a Mom. She thinks she’s the luckiest person in the world that she just gets to stay at home and play. She is still the Community Advisor for the building where we live and loves getting to plan activities for the residents and being the first person to meet and welcome new families to the building. She is currently teaching a cycling class at the Jewish Community Center, about 3 minutes away from our home. Teaching there has some great benefits such as the outdoor pool where she, Kennedy, and Seth spent most their days last summer. Danielle has also had fun taking family portraits, which provides some extra money to play with. Danielle has also teamed up with three of her friends to teach preschool. It is every Monday and Wednesday for two hours, and each Mom takes a month at a time. There are just four kids, and it has been a blast to see what they are learning and also how creative each Mom is when it is their turn to teach. Kennedy knows almost all of her letters and the sounds they make now!

KENNEDY is 3 ½ now. She just got done doing soccer a month ago. Watching 3-year olds play soccer takes an amount of patience incomprehensible unless experienced. But, from watching her games we’ve decided to try dance classes next – she spent most of her time dancing and twirling in circles during her games. So much energy in such a little body. Kennedy is growing up so fast. She is very self-sufficient and is happiest if we let her do everything by herself, including making her own lunches, etc. She’s very proficient at it and only occasionally makes a mess, so we let her do it. Kennedy loves art and makes up all sorts of drawings and art projects using paper, crayons, tape, and glue (or whatever she can find). She is also a big help to Seth. She is such a patient sister, Seth loves to pull her hair and is always inviting himself to play with her, whether it is wrecking down forts she builds or playing the prince to Kennedy’s Cinderella. They are quite the team and best of friends.

SETH just barely turned 18 months old and had his first day in nursery at church last Sunday! Yea! His Mom and Dad are thrilled to go to class alone and actually be able to participate in the lessons without disrupting those around them! Seth is just a smiley, lovey, touchy kid. He is the first to give hugs to anyone he meets. He is at the age where he understands nearly everything that is said to him, but still can’t say much back. He imitates and watches his sister very carefully and is always ready for a wrestle. His cute personality provides a lot of laughs around our home.
We are so grateful for the wonderful blessings Heavenly Father has blessed our family with this year and we are continually grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. We wish you and your family well this holiday season!

Boys Trip to Gooseberry

So, we planned our annual "Boys Only Trio" on the only weekend of the year that all of us were able to go. "Us" or "the boys" is referring to my dad, my father-in-law, Don, my brother-in-law, Josh and myself. We were to leave on a Friday morning and be back on Saturday night and the destination was Gooseberry Mesa in Southern Utah just south of Zion's National Park. Gooseberry is a mountain biker's heaven, the perfect mix of single track and slickrock and is supposed to be the best in Utah.
The day before we checked to forecast and our previously beautiful weekend had turned into a overcast nightmare. Well, it rained a bit through Beaver and started to rain as we were driving up the trail. The road to the campground was super muddy and my father-in-law would cringe each time a splash of mud would hit his truck (he claimed he had never gotten it dirty before. It stopped raining right after we got our tent set up and was beautiful for the rest of the weekend. We had a beautiful view from our campground and a great day on the trail (although I ripped a huge hole in the back of my shorts). We got back to Salt Lake on Saturday night only to found that it had rained all weekend.

Seth is "SO BIG"

Seth is SO BIG
Originally uploaded by taintors.

This is a Seth-only-dedicated-blog.
And now, a short list of all the cool little things that Seth can do, etc. (As he is now 10 months old).

-Clap his hands
-Wave hello and goodbye.
-He can "army crawl" with the best of them.
-Bite his mom with his EIGHT teeth while nursing (not appreciated by his mom)
-Can say "Dada"
-He takes things in and out of boxes/ bathtubs and likes to put lids on things

(and big finish . . . )

-In response to the verbal clue, "How big are you?" he responds in kind, as shown in this picture, with "SO BIG," which parenthetically sounds a lot like "Ahhhh!"

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter Egg Hunt
Originally uploaded by taintors.

So, here's the thing. We had a big Easter egg hunt in our apartment complex. With that being said, let me take note of the fact that since it was on campus and there are people of other religions the event was called an "Egg Hunt" (which only happened to fall the day before Easter). Well, the kids got a lot of candy (and I ate it all). That's what it means to be a parent.

Dermatology Here I Come

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We just finished with our Dermatology Organ System. Interesting stuff! Here are a couple of photos of my friend Larry Daugherty getting a mole removed during an in class demonstration. Derm is really interesting stuff and although it might take a time or two before you'd feel comfortable punching out a piece of skin, before long it would be old hat.

Southern Utah Trip

Seth and Kenn in Zion NP
Originally uploaded by taintors.

We got home last night from a four day trip to Southern Utah. On Wednesday and Thursday, I was presenting to schools in Cedar City. We were with a group called Utah Rural Outreach Program whose mission is to expose kids in Southern Utah schools to medicine in hopes that they will be interested in becoming doctors that could fill the great need for MDs in rural Utah. We did a little biking while down south, including an afternoon on Gooseberry Mesa, one of the best rides I've ever done.
Danielle and I decided to spend another couple days in Zion NP. Compared to the 30s, 40s and 50s here in SLC, it was 80 in Zion. Beautiful day. On seeing the beautiful spires of Zions, Kennedy said, "Big rocks Dad, I'll climb them when I'm big like you. Very high" The kids did a great job traveling and really enjoyed the trip. It was nice to enjoy a nice long trip before my serious board study and third year rotations begin.

Kellogg's Makes a Great Dinner

March 2005 048
Originally uploaded by taintors.

For dinner (and all of our meals in Springdale/ Zion), the whole fam drove to LaVerkin, Utah's very own "UN Free Zone", and did a little shopping at the local grocery. Because our hotel room didn't have a microwave we figured that cereal was a good bet (besides, what kid doesn't like cereal for dinner).

Lunch at Trail End

Lunch
Originally uploaded by taintors.

We took a short hike (about 1 mile each way) up the trail in Zion NP that leads up to the beginning of the Narrows. Kennedy and Seth enjoyed riding in the stroller and squirrels along the trail.

Weeping Wall, Zion NP

Weeping Wall, Zion NP
Originally uploaded by taintors.

This is the first "semi-strenuous" hike that I have gotten Danielle to take with me since that 20 day 300 mile ordeal that was the Nepali Himalaya four years ago. Although our Nepal trip was enjoyable, Danielle swore to me that it was the end of all hiking. So, here in Zion, I mentioned that we were going to take a couple of "walks", including this one up to this beautiful waterfall. All said, I think that she has been convinced of the occasional hike in the future. The next time we go down to Zion, I would liked to do Angel's Landing, an incredible hike, especially at daybreak.

5 Years

5 Years
Originally uploaded by taintors.

In a couple of days, Danielle and I will be celebrating our five year anniversary! It amazes me how quickly the time has gone and how incomplete I would feel without her. It's amazing how, in five years, two different people with different backgrounds and lifestyles can come together and create this thing . . . a FAMILY. We are so blessed to have two beautiful kids that are so precocious and joyful. It's been a wonderful five years.