...or if Jack were writing this post, "Double's Tire." That kiddo sure is perceptive. We didn't even tell him we were going to a place called "Devil's Tower" on Saturday. We only told him we were going for a hike and it would be a long car ride. But he must have heard me and Jared talking about it to each other because the whole drive there he kept asking about, "Double's Tire."
On Saturday we visited two places on our Casper Life bucket list: Devil's Tower and Keyhole Reservoir. It was a three-hour drive to get to them, which is actually a "short" drive in terms of attractions that are "near" Casper. We recently realized that we probably only have a handful of summer weekends left to explore this area before we move. Jared will spend most of the rest of his summer working in the hospital (which means an already miserable schedule topped off with several 24-hr weekend shifts), and there's a good chance that our house will be sold and we'll be out of here before the nice weather really hits next year. All that to say, we're making the long drives and seeing the cool things!
America's very first national monument, Devil's Tower was our first stop. We grabbed some Subway sandwiches in Moorcroft on our drive up and picnicked on a Tower trail. The park was packed, but we scored a good parking spot near the trails. We learned a valuable lesson about exploring with a toddler on this trip: Pick ONE trail (or site) that is most important to you, and then do that one first (probably that one only). Jack was rearing to go right out of the car after being stuck in his carseat for so long, but we made the mistake of picking a random side trail and trying to get him to sit still for a picnic lunch first thing. He was annoyed every time we tried to sit down, and he was going at a great pace (faster than us) otherwise. Luckily this was still a very pretty trail with some good views of the tower, because by the time we got to the trail we REALLY wanted to do (a 1.8-mile circle around Devil's Tower) Jack was DONE. Tired, whiny, wanting to be carried, sobbing to go back to the car, done. At least he was still happy enough to yell "hi" every time we passed someone (roughly every 10 seconds). We made it maybe a fourth of a mile in before giving up and leaving. Maybe if we'd remembered to bring Jack's hiking carrier we could have made it around, but we were glad that we'd at least had a voucher to get into the park for free, because we only lasted an hour.
Outside the park, we got some ice cream at the Devil's Tower trading post and enjoyed it in a quiet field with an even better view of the tower than we'd had inside the park. Ice cream is always a good idea. We let Jack run around the field afterward and ended the stop on a happy note. I think we'd maybe come back to see Devil's Tower if we were on our way somewhere else and it wasn't too much of a detour, but I doubt we'll visit it as a main attraction again. Glad we took advantage of living pretty close and went though. It's a cool landmark.
As we tried to load Jack back into the car to head to Keyhole Reservoir, he stuck his head out the window and clung tightly to the rim of the car, resisting our tugs to get him in and yelling "hi!" to everyone nearby in the parking lot, which they all loved. We eventually got him in, only to have to pull him back out 5 minutes later to change a stinky diaper. At least we had a nice scenic view. We had to cover Jack's head because it started raining, and homeboy does not tolerate rain.
I brought Jack's pack and play with hopes that he might take a nap at Keyhole Reservoir and Jared and I could get a quiet hour to ourselves to relax by the lake, but no such luck. I didn't even pull it out because I knew it wouldn't happen with all the excitement of being outside at a new place. We found a little beach by the water and spent an hour or two skipping rocks and loading toy trucks full of pebbles. It was a pretty lake, but maybe not something I'd go out of my way to visit in the future. Maybe it's spectacular to explore by boat. We still had a nice afternoon, and the highlight was when a little dog came to visit us. Jack was elated and kept calling it a "box" (fox). They were the cutest little duo. Jack followed it all up and down the beach, laughing and talking to it, and then up a mountainside (with me running up behind), before we eventually packed back into the car and the fox/dog left to find his "mama and dada and baby" (Jack's words).
All in all, a great weekend adventure, and I'm excited for the next one! This world is full of spectacular places.
On Saturday we visited two places on our Casper Life bucket list: Devil's Tower and Keyhole Reservoir. It was a three-hour drive to get to them, which is actually a "short" drive in terms of attractions that are "near" Casper. We recently realized that we probably only have a handful of summer weekends left to explore this area before we move. Jared will spend most of the rest of his summer working in the hospital (which means an already miserable schedule topped off with several 24-hr weekend shifts), and there's a good chance that our house will be sold and we'll be out of here before the nice weather really hits next year. All that to say, we're making the long drives and seeing the cool things!
America's very first national monument, Devil's Tower was our first stop. We grabbed some Subway sandwiches in Moorcroft on our drive up and picnicked on a Tower trail. The park was packed, but we scored a good parking spot near the trails. We learned a valuable lesson about exploring with a toddler on this trip: Pick ONE trail (or site) that is most important to you, and then do that one first (probably that one only). Jack was rearing to go right out of the car after being stuck in his carseat for so long, but we made the mistake of picking a random side trail and trying to get him to sit still for a picnic lunch first thing. He was annoyed every time we tried to sit down, and he was going at a great pace (faster than us) otherwise. Luckily this was still a very pretty trail with some good views of the tower, because by the time we got to the trail we REALLY wanted to do (a 1.8-mile circle around Devil's Tower) Jack was DONE. Tired, whiny, wanting to be carried, sobbing to go back to the car, done. At least he was still happy enough to yell "hi" every time we passed someone (roughly every 10 seconds). We made it maybe a fourth of a mile in before giving up and leaving. Maybe if we'd remembered to bring Jack's hiking carrier we could have made it around, but we were glad that we'd at least had a voucher to get into the park for free, because we only lasted an hour.
Outside the park, we got some ice cream at the Devil's Tower trading post and enjoyed it in a quiet field with an even better view of the tower than we'd had inside the park. Ice cream is always a good idea. We let Jack run around the field afterward and ended the stop on a happy note. I think we'd maybe come back to see Devil's Tower if we were on our way somewhere else and it wasn't too much of a detour, but I doubt we'll visit it as a main attraction again. Glad we took advantage of living pretty close and went though. It's a cool landmark.
As we tried to load Jack back into the car to head to Keyhole Reservoir, he stuck his head out the window and clung tightly to the rim of the car, resisting our tugs to get him in and yelling "hi!" to everyone nearby in the parking lot, which they all loved. We eventually got him in, only to have to pull him back out 5 minutes later to change a stinky diaper. At least we had a nice scenic view. We had to cover Jack's head because it started raining, and homeboy does not tolerate rain.
I brought Jack's pack and play with hopes that he might take a nap at Keyhole Reservoir and Jared and I could get a quiet hour to ourselves to relax by the lake, but no such luck. I didn't even pull it out because I knew it wouldn't happen with all the excitement of being outside at a new place. We found a little beach by the water and spent an hour or two skipping rocks and loading toy trucks full of pebbles. It was a pretty lake, but maybe not something I'd go out of my way to visit in the future. Maybe it's spectacular to explore by boat. We still had a nice afternoon, and the highlight was when a little dog came to visit us. Jack was elated and kept calling it a "box" (fox). They were the cutest little duo. Jack followed it all up and down the beach, laughing and talking to it, and then up a mountainside (with me running up behind), before we eventually packed back into the car and the fox/dog left to find his "mama and dada and baby" (Jack's words).
All in all, a great weekend adventure, and I'm excited for the next one! This world is full of spectacular places.
We're really trying to make the most of this summer (even with Jared's insane schedule), as it might be our last summer in Casper and Jack recently told us that getting out in nature makes, "Jack tired--Jack happy!" So here are some of the outdoorsy things we did last week. (In Utah--but this weekend we'll be doing some quintessential Wyoming things.)
I took some family pictures for Chris+Caitlin+Cole last week. Jared came to help pose them while I shot (one day I'll take a posing class). Afterward we took advantage of Jack being in bed at my parents' house and we went for a sunset hike up Dry Canyon. In my dream life this would happen at least weekly. I distinctly remember doing this same sunset hike the night before we moved to Grenada for medical school 6 years ago. It was fun to be back and take some pictures and reflect on how far we've come.^^We love this view so much. Lately Jared and I have been seriously discussing the possibility of buying a townhome in Vineyard after we move for his next job, even though we won't be living in Utah. We would justify it as an investment property (Chris and Caitlin have been encouraging us to invest in a rental property in Utah Valley anyway). We'd primarily rent it out on AirBNB so that we could have the option of staying there when we come visit Utah, which will likely happen pretty frequently after we move closer next year.
^^In reality, this happens on most of our outings with our toddler. But there would be more meltdowns if we stayed home, so it's worth it! This was Jack's first time fishing (well, watching people fish). We went up to Payson Lakes. Tim caught 3 fish and Peter caught 1. Jack was very intrigued with the process, but not at all interested in getting near the fish after they were caught.
^^Jack is such a Calvin (from Calvin and Hobbes). That would actually be a great Halloween costume for him this year.
Well, Jack is screaming his ABCs from his crib, so that must mean nap time is over. Until next week!
Ok, that was fun. If you ever have the opportunity to be wined and dined--even if it's in a town where you're pretty sure you wouldn't want to live--take the opportunity! Jared had his resume sent to a hospital in Elko, Nevada a few months ago. We'd never been to Elko, but we figured we should apply anywhere that might offer a good salary within a 4-hour drive of Utah Valley and just see where that took us. As it turns out, Elko is in desperate need of primary care physicians. They offered to fly us to Elko, put us up in a nice hotel, feed us yummy foods, and take us site-seeing for a couple days if Jared would come over for an interview. Pretty nice to be in that position after 7 years of the stressful, competitive, uncertain medical training lyfe.
We decided to go for just two days and a night, since I have never spent a single night away from Jack in his 2 years and I was feeling apprehensive about the whole thing. Jared was able to get a few days off from work. We dropped Jack off with Grandma and Grandpa Haines in Utah, and then the next day me and Jared did a Jackless road trip (astounding!) to Elko. It took about 4 hours and there wasn't much to see other than the Salt Flats. BUT. As you begin to approach Elko you catch snippets of the Ruby Mountains out in the distance. They're big and pretty and green. The Elko locals call them the Swiss Alps of Northern Nevada. Not sure I'd go that far, but they are pretty! I'd say prettier than Casper mountain, and a lot bigger.
Our "excursion" began with lunch up the canyon with a lovely hospital employee named Terri and her husband, Keith. The food (McAdoo's) and company were both 5 stars. The hospital picked the absolute right people to show us around. I feel like Terri and Keith are us in 30 years, but actually lots cooler. Keith rides his horse up the canyon every morning to photograph wildlife and fly his drone over the top of the mountain to discover new lakes and waterfalls. They will probably be our adopted Elko parents/babysitters if we move there. After lunch we drove the rest of the way up Lamoille Canyon, passing waterfall after waterfall the whole way up. We did a 40-minute hike up a scenic horse trail before Jared had to get back to the hospital for his interview.
Jared says his interview went great. He wore a mask through the whole thing, which was a unique experience. While he interviewed and toured the hospital, I went to the hotel they put us up in and got all ready for the interview dinner. It's been a loooong time since I've had something to get dolled up and curl my hair for. Felt nice. We ended up being overdressed at first (the hospital CEO was in jeans) since they were going to take us to a low-key Mexican restaurant. But it ended up being closed for the evening so they took us to a fancier Italian restaurant where we were dressed just right, with Jared in a sports' coat borrowed from my dad and me in a summery dress. We had steak and seafood. 5/5 stars, would recommend being treated to steak and seafood. We love the casual feel of Elko and its residents. Reminds us a lot of Casper.
I know they probably took us to all the very best restaurants in town to try and impress us, but hey, it worked. Mmmm. Our dinner conversation was delightful and informative (they were excited when I pulled out my list of questions for them), and Jared swears that they must have hired paid actors to interrupt our dinner. A locums tenums surgeon and his wife "happened" to come into the restaurant and stop by our table. When told that we were here to look into a physician job, they gushed about how much they love Elko, and how they want to leave Las Vegas to come work here because it's so beautiful. They did a great job making Elko sound amazing. So either that was a very lucky coincidence for the CEO, or they were totally hired to bump into us hahaha. Probably a lucky coincidence, but I thought it was funny when Jared suggested the paid actors theory.
^^Blurry picture in the middle of getting ready. I kept my curls pinned up until we got in the car.
After our dinner, Jared and I went for a sunset drive around the Spring Creek area. Spring Creek is a cute little town next to Elko, up against the Ruby Mountains. It's where we would most likely live if we take the job. The mountain views are stunning, the homes are on land parcels of at least an acre, and they have the cutest marina on a little lake. Totally our scene. In fact, I don't really understand why anyone would live in Elko when Spring Creek is just around the bend. Probably because Elko is closer to the mines, which is the main industry there. It was very nice to be able to drive around, just me and Jared. We headed back to the hotel and soaked in the hot tub for a few minutes before conking out, exhausted from a busy day of being wined and dined so hard. I had the realization that kids are wined and dined 100% of the time, and then I promptly became very jealous of kids. That was crazy nice to have every part of my day and meals all planned out by someone else and taken care of.
We woke up early the next morning to make it to breakfast at 7:30 at another cute local place, I think called "Dreez." Terri met us there and we had a nice little conversation over omelettes and pancakes. Delicious omelettes and delicious pancakes, I might add. Good job, Elko. Terri drove us down into Lamoille--the cutest tiny old town past Spring Creek with lots of horses, farms, a quaint river, and quainter downtown area. We stopped at her house on the way and she showed us the magical treehouse she's building for her grandkids. I think we could be really happy living in that quiet, beautiful area.
We finished off our tour d' Elko with a nice long drive with a realtor named Delmo. He drove us all around Elko and the surrounding towns, and took us through probably a good 7-8 homes. Truthfully it was probably too many and we were exhausted by the end of the tour, but it was a helpful experience if we're going to be buying a house there in the next year. Unfortunately Elko is a surprisingly expensive place to live considering how rural it is. But the population is growing steadily and the median household income is pretty high because mining pays well, so the higher cost of living makes sense. It's more expensive than Casper, but less expensive than Utah. My favorite property we saw was a cedar wood house on the most beautiful property (12 acres!) up on a hill. It had great privacy and a wonderful view of the Rubies. Jared would prefer a newer home, and to be honest that would probably be a better idea in case the job ended up being whacky and we needed to resell. I'm getting ahead of myself though. We don't even know what state we'll be living in next year yet.
The drive home was pretty uneventful, but we had some good conversations. I think we both went into the Elko interview not expecting much. We were treating it as more of a backup option, and maybe even just as a good way to get some official interview experience and an offer to help when negotiating salary with other jobs? But after the time we spent there, Elko is a definite contender. Jared thinks the work experience there would be great for his career, and we could definitely be happy in a quiet town near the mountains, with a Walmart and plenty of people. It's a little further from family than is ideal, but otherwise wonderful. Evanston wins for being more accessible to family, but in the end our decision will likely come down to which job offers the best salary and additional benefits. After all, we've got a LOT of med school debt to pay off, and family medicine isn't known for being the wealthiest specialty. As always, I'll keep you updated with what we decide! We don't have any numbers in front of us yet--just tentative job offers and upcoming contracts/term sheets in the works. We might even squeeze in another interview or two in the next few months. It's an exciting time. Hopefully we'll have something pegged down by the end of the summer.
(Sorry there weren't more pictures--they just kept us so busy that I never really had a chance to think to pull my camera out!)
We decided to go for just two days and a night, since I have never spent a single night away from Jack in his 2 years and I was feeling apprehensive about the whole thing. Jared was able to get a few days off from work. We dropped Jack off with Grandma and Grandpa Haines in Utah, and then the next day me and Jared did a Jackless road trip (astounding!) to Elko. It took about 4 hours and there wasn't much to see other than the Salt Flats. BUT. As you begin to approach Elko you catch snippets of the Ruby Mountains out in the distance. They're big and pretty and green. The Elko locals call them the Swiss Alps of Northern Nevada. Not sure I'd go that far, but they are pretty! I'd say prettier than Casper mountain, and a lot bigger.
Our "excursion" began with lunch up the canyon with a lovely hospital employee named Terri and her husband, Keith. The food (McAdoo's) and company were both 5 stars. The hospital picked the absolute right people to show us around. I feel like Terri and Keith are us in 30 years, but actually lots cooler. Keith rides his horse up the canyon every morning to photograph wildlife and fly his drone over the top of the mountain to discover new lakes and waterfalls. They will probably be our adopted Elko parents/babysitters if we move there. After lunch we drove the rest of the way up Lamoille Canyon, passing waterfall after waterfall the whole way up. We did a 40-minute hike up a scenic horse trail before Jared had to get back to the hospital for his interview.
Jared says his interview went great. He wore a mask through the whole thing, which was a unique experience. While he interviewed and toured the hospital, I went to the hotel they put us up in and got all ready for the interview dinner. It's been a loooong time since I've had something to get dolled up and curl my hair for. Felt nice. We ended up being overdressed at first (the hospital CEO was in jeans) since they were going to take us to a low-key Mexican restaurant. But it ended up being closed for the evening so they took us to a fancier Italian restaurant where we were dressed just right, with Jared in a sports' coat borrowed from my dad and me in a summery dress. We had steak and seafood. 5/5 stars, would recommend being treated to steak and seafood. We love the casual feel of Elko and its residents. Reminds us a lot of Casper.
I know they probably took us to all the very best restaurants in town to try and impress us, but hey, it worked. Mmmm. Our dinner conversation was delightful and informative (they were excited when I pulled out my list of questions for them), and Jared swears that they must have hired paid actors to interrupt our dinner. A locums tenums surgeon and his wife "happened" to come into the restaurant and stop by our table. When told that we were here to look into a physician job, they gushed about how much they love Elko, and how they want to leave Las Vegas to come work here because it's so beautiful. They did a great job making Elko sound amazing. So either that was a very lucky coincidence for the CEO, or they were totally hired to bump into us hahaha. Probably a lucky coincidence, but I thought it was funny when Jared suggested the paid actors theory.
^^Blurry picture in the middle of getting ready. I kept my curls pinned up until we got in the car.
After our dinner, Jared and I went for a sunset drive around the Spring Creek area. Spring Creek is a cute little town next to Elko, up against the Ruby Mountains. It's where we would most likely live if we take the job. The mountain views are stunning, the homes are on land parcels of at least an acre, and they have the cutest marina on a little lake. Totally our scene. In fact, I don't really understand why anyone would live in Elko when Spring Creek is just around the bend. Probably because Elko is closer to the mines, which is the main industry there. It was very nice to be able to drive around, just me and Jared. We headed back to the hotel and soaked in the hot tub for a few minutes before conking out, exhausted from a busy day of being wined and dined so hard. I had the realization that kids are wined and dined 100% of the time, and then I promptly became very jealous of kids. That was crazy nice to have every part of my day and meals all planned out by someone else and taken care of.
We woke up early the next morning to make it to breakfast at 7:30 at another cute local place, I think called "Dreez." Terri met us there and we had a nice little conversation over omelettes and pancakes. Delicious omelettes and delicious pancakes, I might add. Good job, Elko. Terri drove us down into Lamoille--the cutest tiny old town past Spring Creek with lots of horses, farms, a quaint river, and quainter downtown area. We stopped at her house on the way and she showed us the magical treehouse she's building for her grandkids. I think we could be really happy living in that quiet, beautiful area.
We finished off our tour d' Elko with a nice long drive with a realtor named Delmo. He drove us all around Elko and the surrounding towns, and took us through probably a good 7-8 homes. Truthfully it was probably too many and we were exhausted by the end of the tour, but it was a helpful experience if we're going to be buying a house there in the next year. Unfortunately Elko is a surprisingly expensive place to live considering how rural it is. But the population is growing steadily and the median household income is pretty high because mining pays well, so the higher cost of living makes sense. It's more expensive than Casper, but less expensive than Utah. My favorite property we saw was a cedar wood house on the most beautiful property (12 acres!) up on a hill. It had great privacy and a wonderful view of the Rubies. Jared would prefer a newer home, and to be honest that would probably be a better idea in case the job ended up being whacky and we needed to resell. I'm getting ahead of myself though. We don't even know what state we'll be living in next year yet.
The drive home was pretty uneventful, but we had some good conversations. I think we both went into the Elko interview not expecting much. We were treating it as more of a backup option, and maybe even just as a good way to get some official interview experience and an offer to help when negotiating salary with other jobs? But after the time we spent there, Elko is a definite contender. Jared thinks the work experience there would be great for his career, and we could definitely be happy in a quiet town near the mountains, with a Walmart and plenty of people. It's a little further from family than is ideal, but otherwise wonderful. Evanston wins for being more accessible to family, but in the end our decision will likely come down to which job offers the best salary and additional benefits. After all, we've got a LOT of med school debt to pay off, and family medicine isn't known for being the wealthiest specialty. As always, I'll keep you updated with what we decide! We don't have any numbers in front of us yet--just tentative job offers and upcoming contracts/term sheets in the works. We might even squeeze in another interview or two in the next few months. It's an exciting time. Hopefully we'll have something pegged down by the end of the summer.
(Sorry there weren't more pictures--they just kept us so busy that I never really had a chance to think to pull my camera out!)
I was going to save this post until after we've finished our backyard patio area, but that could be a few more weeks at the rate we're going (difficult to find time for Jared's help with yard projects when he's working a very busy hospital rotation). I'll still do a complete post about our finished patio/pergola when it's 100% finished, but for now here are some progress shots!
A month or two ago I stumbled across a picture of a very simple black pergola somewhere in Italy. It was made of two black metal rods coming out of the ground, and then another two rods attaching to the home. It was open on all sides, but grape vines grew up the legs and over the top of the pergola to provide shade and greenery. Beneath the pergola was a long table where this Italian family would have dinners together and with friends. It was a light bulb moment for me and I realized that the thing I wanted for my birthday was an outdoor living space so I could spend all my summer evenings outdoors under the ever-starry Wyoming sky! A bonus would be a nice long table to host dinners with my whole family. But seeing as we live 7 hours away from the nearest family and our patio is only 10'x10', a cute little lounge area would have to do. Maybe we'll have a bigger patio and a longer outdoor table for family at our next house, and live close enough to have everyone over for dinner occasionally!
^^This is our patio "before" shot. Hopefully I'll have a solid, completed "after" shot by the end of May. We've still got a good amount of work to do on the finishing touches though.
^^The Jareds breaking ground on the project. They spent a good few hours at the hardware store picking out the perfect supplies before this. I'm so grateful I didn't have to figure out any logistics, and that Dad brought has truck to transport it all. What a great birthday present.
^^Jared digging the post holes. Dad walking under our janky ladder that we found abandoned in a nearby empty lot. Luv this phase of life haha
^^Big thanks to Dad for bringing all the power tools. We own a jigsaw and dad's old drill, but they weren't going to cut it for this project.
^^Jack enjoying an ice cream sandwich moments before Savvy snatched the whole thing away in one bite. We avoided a meltdown when Grandpa shared the rest of his with Jack.
^^Coming along! There are holes in our house now, no going back!
^^The finished product, concrete poured and everything. They did it all in one day! I'm so impressed they were able to make this happen so quickly. It's going to look a lot more filled in once we have our bistro lights hung tightly from a wire all across the top to look almost like beams. I'm considering cutting off the foot that hangs out over the ends. It would be perfect in a traditional pergola, but I think since ours is so simple I might have to cut them to commit to a more simplified/modern pergola feel. I'll see how I feel after everything else is finished. We are also going to stain it black, and we're in the process of building two planter boxes to attach around a corner, which will hold honeysuckle vines climbing up a trellis and eventually growing over the top, plus some other plants. I can feel my gardening genes coming in. This will be my first outdoor planting experience and i'm getting very excited. Jared also planted a LOT more grass seed this week, and we'll fertilize in a month or so. By the end of the summer our backyard will look amazing, mark my words!
^^Grandpa reading Jack his favorite "Maps" book while he gets ready for bed.
^^I wish I'd gotten a better picture of this, but I hope I can hold onto a picture of this moment in my memory forever! It was the morning of Mother's Day, and while the rest of us got showered and ready, Jared took Jack on a short walk around the neighborhood. Jack insisted on picking "Edelweiss" (actually dandelions) for Mama and Bama. When they got home he came running in, big smile on his face, wearing his plaid jammies tucked into his blue winter boots. Both fists were full of dandelions. He brought one fistful to me and ran the other fistful over to my mom. Jack's mischievious, but he really is such a sweet, polite, thoughtful boy.
^^Jack "helping" Grandma with her Mother's Day hydrangea. I'm so grateful I could spend Mother's Day with my wonderful Mom this year. She is the best mother and grandmother in the world, and I'm not saying that just because I'm biased. She does the best job of keeping our family together with dinners and traditions, and the grandkids just adore her. I love you Mom!
^^Mother's Day swinging at a park by where the pioneers crossed over the North Platte River. I love that we get a good bit of pioneer history in Casper.
^^Grandpa getting one last play session in with Jack. Next time they come visit this dirt will all be grass! We'll keep a patch of dirt on the side of the house for Jack to play with his dump trucks in.
^^Goodbye Mom and Dad! Thank you so much for making my 28th birthday weekend the best ever!
Ok so don't judge the patio for how it looks here. In hindsight I think I'd prefer to have the pergola be a bit shorter/smaller to be more proportional to the house, but oh well. This is our practice yard. I've been taking an online interior design class through Casper College and I put together a mood board for the patio furniture, lighting, rug, etc. It's going to look magical when everything's in. So far we have this beautiful outdoor table that Jared's parents gifted me for my birthday, and a beautiful outdoor sofa that Jared got me. After the cafe lights, planter boxes, and trellises are in place, we'll stain the wood black, bring out our arched rattan shelf, and fill it with plants and a small fire pit. I can't wait to show you!
A month or two ago I stumbled across a picture of a very simple black pergola somewhere in Italy. It was made of two black metal rods coming out of the ground, and then another two rods attaching to the home. It was open on all sides, but grape vines grew up the legs and over the top of the pergola to provide shade and greenery. Beneath the pergola was a long table where this Italian family would have dinners together and with friends. It was a light bulb moment for me and I realized that the thing I wanted for my birthday was an outdoor living space so I could spend all my summer evenings outdoors under the ever-starry Wyoming sky! A bonus would be a nice long table to host dinners with my whole family. But seeing as we live 7 hours away from the nearest family and our patio is only 10'x10', a cute little lounge area would have to do. Maybe we'll have a bigger patio and a longer outdoor table for family at our next house, and live close enough to have everyone over for dinner occasionally!
^^This is our patio "before" shot. Hopefully I'll have a solid, completed "after" shot by the end of May. We've still got a good amount of work to do on the finishing touches though.
^^The Jareds breaking ground on the project. They spent a good few hours at the hardware store picking out the perfect supplies before this. I'm so grateful I didn't have to figure out any logistics, and that Dad brought has truck to transport it all. What a great birthday present.
^^Jared digging the post holes. Dad walking under our janky ladder that we found abandoned in a nearby empty lot. Luv this phase of life haha
^^Big thanks to Dad for bringing all the power tools. We own a jigsaw and dad's old drill, but they weren't going to cut it for this project.
^^Jack enjoying an ice cream sandwich moments before Savvy snatched the whole thing away in one bite. We avoided a meltdown when Grandpa shared the rest of his with Jack.
^^Coming along! There are holes in our house now, no going back!
^^The finished product, concrete poured and everything. They did it all in one day! I'm so impressed they were able to make this happen so quickly. It's going to look a lot more filled in once we have our bistro lights hung tightly from a wire all across the top to look almost like beams. I'm considering cutting off the foot that hangs out over the ends. It would be perfect in a traditional pergola, but I think since ours is so simple I might have to cut them to commit to a more simplified/modern pergola feel. I'll see how I feel after everything else is finished. We are also going to stain it black, and we're in the process of building two planter boxes to attach around a corner, which will hold honeysuckle vines climbing up a trellis and eventually growing over the top, plus some other plants. I can feel my gardening genes coming in. This will be my first outdoor planting experience and i'm getting very excited. Jared also planted a LOT more grass seed this week, and we'll fertilize in a month or so. By the end of the summer our backyard will look amazing, mark my words!
^^Grandpa reading Jack his favorite "Maps" book while he gets ready for bed.
^^I wish I'd gotten a better picture of this, but I hope I can hold onto a picture of this moment in my memory forever! It was the morning of Mother's Day, and while the rest of us got showered and ready, Jared took Jack on a short walk around the neighborhood. Jack insisted on picking "Edelweiss" (actually dandelions) for Mama and Bama. When they got home he came running in, big smile on his face, wearing his plaid jammies tucked into his blue winter boots. Both fists were full of dandelions. He brought one fistful to me and ran the other fistful over to my mom. Jack's mischievious, but he really is such a sweet, polite, thoughtful boy.
^^Jack "helping" Grandma with her Mother's Day hydrangea. I'm so grateful I could spend Mother's Day with my wonderful Mom this year. She is the best mother and grandmother in the world, and I'm not saying that just because I'm biased. She does the best job of keeping our family together with dinners and traditions, and the grandkids just adore her. I love you Mom!
^^Mother's Day swinging at a park by where the pioneers crossed over the North Platte River. I love that we get a good bit of pioneer history in Casper.
^^Grandpa getting one last play session in with Jack. Next time they come visit this dirt will all be grass! We'll keep a patch of dirt on the side of the house for Jack to play with his dump trucks in.
^^Goodbye Mom and Dad! Thank you so much for making my 28th birthday weekend the best ever!
Ok so don't judge the patio for how it looks here. In hindsight I think I'd prefer to have the pergola be a bit shorter/smaller to be more proportional to the house, but oh well. This is our practice yard. I've been taking an online interior design class through Casper College and I put together a mood board for the patio furniture, lighting, rug, etc. It's going to look magical when everything's in. So far we have this beautiful outdoor table that Jared's parents gifted me for my birthday, and a beautiful outdoor sofa that Jared got me. After the cafe lights, planter boxes, and trellises are in place, we'll stain the wood black, bring out our arched rattan shelf, and fill it with plants and a small fire pit. I can't wait to show you!
My Mom and Dad came to visit over the weekend for my birthday/Mother's Day! I have the best parents in the world. We had a great time. My Dad and Jared built me a pergola while they were here, and Jack is distraught that grandma and grandpa aren't here to play with him and watch shows with him anymore. I have a few more finishing touches to put on the pergola (furniture in, build a planter, hang bistro lights), but I will do a post all about it next week when everything is (hopefully) in place. I'm so impressed they were able to build it all in a day. For now, Jack is about to wake up and we have a busy day ahead, so here are some picture of Jackster on my memory card from last week..
^^Jack in his "big boy pants." I tried potty training him last Monday. He did great until this incident where he was washing his hands and playing in his sink, and then he somehow got his knee stuck in the slats of the chair. It was a bit traumatic for him and took half an hour and a stick of butter to get him free. After that the potty training went downhill and I realized that it was just rotten timing since I had so much to do to prepare for my parents coming that weekend (I was trying to weave my mom a headboard in time for Mother's Day, but wasn't able to finish in time). So we'll try again in a month or two when he seems more ready (and when I feel more ready).^^Jack and Jared have been logging lots of hours getting ready and going to the park since the weather's been getting nicer. Every day some of Jack's first words when he wakes up are, "Dada. Home. Park." He looks forward to Dad coming home allll day so they can go to the park together. It's so sweet. In-between he works on his ABCs (Jack can do the whole alphabet now!) and we play LOTS of cars together. He's definitely hitting a terrible twos stage and most things are a power struggle, but he sure is cute. (p.s. these pics are a bit blown out but won't be for long! I'll be back to my old photo editing software sometime in the next week or two. Jared also just scheduled an interview in Elko, Nevada for the first week of June. Lots of exciting goings-on lately.)
Finally, our pictures from visiting Cedar City a month ago! Look how pretty Cedar City is:
Last month we drove to Utah so Jared could have a casual interview with a family practice clinic in Cedar City. Prior to this I had done some extensive research on all the family practice clinics in every city across the state of Utah--big cities, tiny rural towns, and everything in-between. I made a list comparing each town's population with the number of family physicians in that town, and I determined that a handful of towns looked to have a definite family physician shortage. This is what my brains are used for now haha. I actually love doing stuff like that. Anyway, Cedar City topped my list. From the numbers, they had what looked like half as many family physicians as they needed in a rapidly growing community.
The reason I did this research in the first place is that we would love to move to Utah after residency, but Utah pays their family physicians quite a bit less than surrounding states--enough less that we would be living pretty tight trying to chip away at Jared's med school debt for several decades. Oftentimes rural communities that have a doctor shortage will pay doctors more, so we thought we'd explore that possibility in Utah. Fortunately, Cedar City fit this bill AND seemed like the exact type of place we would love to live. It's beautiful, within close proximity to several gorgeous national and state parks, has lots of fun college town stuff going on, lots of mountains and hiking right in town, is close to sunny St. George and also a ski resort, and is within 3 hours of family. So Jared e-mailed his resume to every family practice in Cedar City, and pretty soon we heard back from one of them!
They were interested in meeting Jared and invited him to stop by if he was ever in the area. We made arrangements to drive down over a long weekend, dropped Jack off with my parents for the day, and spent an afternoon exploring Cedar City. The weather was still pretty cold and everywhere was closed because of quarantine, so basically we just drove around and looked at neighborhoods, did a short hike, and Jared had his "interview."The doctors he met with at the clinic were really nice! Genuinely great people. He knows because he talked to them for three hours. I know because, much to my surprise, they asked Jared to call me to come up and meet them. This is the outfit I was wearing, oops:
When Jared called me to come up to the clinic I was like, "Uh...I'm wearing my hiking clothes?" But Jared assured me that that was actually impressive to them, because it showed I was interested in the outdoors and getting to know the area. Thank goodness I'd at least had the foresight to curl my hair and put on some makeup. I went up and met the staff and some doctors and got to do an interview in yoga pants. That was gr8. It actually went really well. They really liked Jared and told him they'd love to have him come do a rotation and get to know them even better.
However, when all was said and done, me and Jared agreed that we probably wouldn't actively pursue the job for now. The salary number they pitched Jared was barely more than he could get paid in Utah Valley. Since our top priority with Jared's next job is to make enough to chip away most of his debt, we just don't think we could justify it. Bummer--we really like Cedar City and the drive there is beautiful. But if we were willing to settle for the number they gave us, we'd probably just go straight to Utah Valley for our next move. Still, we're keeping them on the back-burner until we've explored all other job locations we're considering. More on that later! Anyway, it was a fun day and hopefully we'll be able to spend more time around Cedar City in the future. Here are some unrelated pictures I haven't posted yet from Jack dying Easter eggs in Utah:
I'll finish with some final updates on where we are in Jared's job search currently. Jared was hoping to sign for his first post-residency job by the end of his second year of training (by this July). Unfortunately, most clinics have paused their hiring processes due to covid-19. It's not a huge deal since Jared still has a full year of residency training left to figure it out, but we still would love to know where we're headed next as soon as possible. Our top contender right now is Evanston,, WY. Jared knows and loves the people and clinic there, already has a loose job offer (a good one), and it's less than 2 hours from family. It feels like a really good option for our family.
Jared has also been in touch with a hospital in Elko, NV. They are in desperate need of family physicians, and it's good to get multiple offers in this industry, both to know what's out there and for negotiating. This hospital sent Jared a packet full of brochures and info a few weeks ago and has been trying to get him there for an interview. Mom tells me that Elko is a hole of a town, but we've never been and we're open to giving it a chance. Technically Evanston is a hole of a town too, but for our next job we're open to "holes of towns" if the offers are right and they're close enough to family. Plus, Elko has some really pretty mountains nearby. I'm excited to go see them for ourselves. Jared will be able to take a few days off in June, so he's been e-mailing back and forth with Elko to see if he can set up an interview then.
I think our last consideration for Jared's next job is to keep poking around in and around Utah Valley to see if any interesting offers pop up. We'll keep in touch with the doctors he knows there up until we feel like it's really time to get signing! A recruiter has given Jared's resume to clinics in Nephi and Spanish Fork. We'd love to interview there. So far no word from either clinic, but we'll wait and keep checking in.
So anyway, that's where we are now. I'll check in on the subject again if/after we visit Elko next month!
I must have some more pictures from Utah on my other memory card, because I remember taking pictures of Jack dying eggs with his grandma but they're not here in this post. I'll put them with next week's!
I'm so glad we happened to be in Utah over Easter this year. We were there because Jared had an interview of sorts in Cedar City. (Those pictures must be on the other card, too. I'll do the Cedar City post next time, along with some general updates on where Jared's at and where he's headed on this fun medical training journey.)Anyway, we spent all of Friday in Cedar City, and then we were able to spend Easter weekend with family before heading back to Casper. Jack loved finding eggs, and especially finding the chocolate in the eggs. After his initial hunt there were several other egg hunts that Jack put on for us. He always hid the eggs in the exact same spots so it wasn't too hard (window sill, under a pillow, in a couch corner).
^^I think this is his "savoring" face, but I'm not entirely sure haha
^^One of my parents' neighbors brought over some chocolates and a balloon on Easter morning to spread some quarantine cheer. So cute. Jack spent the rest of the day with the balloon, and even took it for a swing out on the deck.
^^I love this picture of Jack and Jared with my beautiful Grandma Roper. If only I'd gotten a good picture with Jack's eyes open (and with me in it!). Next time.
We had Easter dinner at my parents' house with Grandma Roper. It had been a sweet day spent with family and a "home church" lesson. Later, Chris and Caitlin came over and all of us and Tim did our traditional adults Easter egg hunt, complete with confetti eggs to smash on people and cash prizes. Chris won the golden egg this year after much conspiring and chasing. I found the silver. This is one of our favorite traditions that my mom came up with just a couple years ago. I hope we're able to continue with it for years to come! We'll very likely be within 2 hours of Utah Valley by two years from now, so we'll be able to make it to a lot more family holidays. We can't wait!
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