done and done

He survived! The test took him 5 hours, but he thinks he got through okay. He did his fair share of guessing, he said, but he figured out he could miss up to 100 questions and still pass. Totally doable, right?

We have 3 to 4 weeks until we know his grade, so luckily for now we just get to celebrate in ignorance.

Viva the dentista!

go time

Evidence that tomorrow Doug takes his first dental board exams:

- The "completed" flash card stacks throughout the house are considerably higher.


- The favorite study spot is a mess.


- The test-taker is overwhelmed, exhausted, and SO done with studying.


Now all he needs to do is drive down to Newport News early tomorrow morning and take his test for a few hours. And a few more hours after that (they cut you off at 8.5 hours... eesh). And then this guy is FREE!*

*For a few weeks until school starts again the end of July. But we'll take it!

north carolina on our minds

This weekend we had a whirlwind road trip to sunny/humid North Carolina. I didn't take nearly enough pictures (I'm having to steal some to pad this meager post), but please know we had a friggin' blast.

Our trip unfolded in three parts:

1. Playing at the Lansing's lakehouse on Lake Gaston. We swam and ate and wakeboarded and waveran and dove off tall docks. It was a short visit but we're really happy we got to hang out with Ted, Joy, Amelia, and the gang.

If you sneak a picture on our camera, I'm going to put it on our blog. Simple as that.

2. Meeting up with the Condon fam in Chapel Hill. Jacob was one of Doug's roommates back at BYU, and it was so good to finally meet the delightful Halle, Annie, and Maisy. Jacob recently graduated from UNC Dental and they're headed up to Alaska to start being grown-ups. Thank goodness we saw you all before you left! Thanks again for letting us drop in on you.



3. And last but not least, spending a fabulous evening with the Thompsons in Raleigh. Connor is our brother-in-law Joel's brother, and practically like family. We had so much fun laughing with these guys--Connor, Michal, Dylan, Ashlyn, and Corbin--and Doug proved his mad wrestling skills to the kids. We'll definitely need to make it back to Raleigh soon.

sometimes you go camping

...and come home with enough mosquito bites to swell your eye shut.

Classy.

Otherwise, girls camp was a hit. We camped at a beautiful inlet of the Chesapeake, the weather was gorgeous, and I ate my fair share of smores. Now that's a success.

boards time

10 days until Doug takes his board exams.

Oh man.

my uncle is a wise man

My mom's brother Lee and his wife Linda were recently called to serve a mission for our church in the Canary Islands (I know... pure torture, right?).

They're in Madrid at the MTC waiting for their paperwork to go through so they can head to the islands, and this was part of the hilarious email he sent to my mom this week:

We really love it here, but I think I have found the reason Spain lost all of its New World colonies. Pillow cases! Believe it or not, pillow cases here are open at both ends. They are just sort of a tube. So, you get the case opened, the pillow tucked under your chin and then pull and stuff the pillow inside. Then, when it’s mostly in, you give a nice jerk and “whoosh” it shoots to the floor. You just cannot effectively administer colonies when you have to spend so much time making the bed in the morning.

I think he's on to something. Elder and Sister Parker are going to be fabulous missionaries, proper pillow cases or not.

Hermana Dunlop and Lee--he drove down from San Luis Obispo to see me my last night in the mission. Love this man.

doug meets his first firefly

There are important events in every man's life, and this was surely one of them.

Fireflies are rarely found west of Kansas, so this event was a long time coming.

be kind to your friends...

...because you never know what they have in their arsenal.


Halloween 2002. Thanks for not letting me live it down, Brant. And thanks for putting these on Facebook.

ticketmaster UK

My mom and I went to London 3 years ago this month, yet I still can't bear to unsubscribe from the Ticketmaster UK emails I get every week. It's just too fond a memory.

Maybe in another year I can finally bite the bullet and get rid of them. Maybe.

so... i guess it was time for a new phone

It's surprising how hard it is to use a phone that's in two pieces. Huh.