Feb 2012

It's been a while, so I actually have some things to update. At the end of last summer we got to go to SLC for my brother's wedding. Since the photographer was hogging the bride, I was only able to get a picture of other family members. Right when we got home we went to the Outer Banks in NC to hang out at the beach all week with Ross' family. We had a blast. Fall was a pretty busy time as I was studying hard for my Master's Exam, to determine whether or not I would graduate. I consisted of 2 days of 4 hours of writing essays on anything my professors wanted to ask about. Two weeks later was a two hour oral exam where three professors rapidly fired questions at me about Neuro, Histo, Embryo, and Gross Anatomy. It was intense, but was such a relief to have over. In December my parents came to visit Columbus for my graduation. It was so fun to finally have some visitors here. I felt bad they came at the worst season of the year instead of during the beautiful fall. A couple of weeks after we got to go visit AZ for Christmas. It was so fun to see family and several high school friends. Right now Ross is still loving Med School, and I am loving teaching at the Community College and doing some private tutoring for the OSU Dental students. I am so grateful that we live here, where I was able to go to grad school in one of the very few places that even has an Anatomy program, and am now doing exactly what I want to be doing.
Over the last few weeks we have gotten to do a lot of fun stuff. The school is always having these great free events for students, so we saw Stomp last week, and saw Demetri Martin do stand up (which was surprisingly clean and really funny). We also saw Nick Offerman from Parks and Rec (our favorite show)but he started saying some stupid stuff that kind of mocked Christians. It was neat to see several people get up and leave at the same time. We don't have much coming up, other than Ross finishing out the year and taking boards, so knowing me, you'll hear from me in about 6 months or so :)

For Valentine's we went to see the Blue Man Group- it was awesome

We got a new car to replace the CRV that was totaled by a drunk driver

An OSU Hockey game with Brutus the Buckeye

Graduation

OH-IO!

My last first day of school

The Beach

Jase's wedding In SLC

Summer 2011

Happy bday Ross!



The other night we had a corn hole tournament with some couples from our ward. Each couple had to wear a team uniform and come up with a team name. We, the golden bears, went undefeated!



Grandma Orva borrowing Ross' white coat and listening to his heart beat.


On our way to the 4th of July parade...


The Upper Arlington Parade- Ross' poor dog was terrified of the gigantic horses and tried to run away. The golden bear is apparently the highlight of the parade.



I found a praying mantis in my garden. This is one of the few bugs that doesn't gross me out.


This adorable tiny jalapeno was doing so well until a dang squirrel came and ripped it off. He took one bite, burned his mouth and threw it on the ground. He'll learn to steal from me!

Once again, it's been a while! The last couple of months have been pretty eventful actually. In March I got a week of spring break, but Ross' schedule is just crazy, so he was going to be at school the whole time I was off. I decided to head to Mesa to hang out for the week. I loved seeing the sun again, almost as much as hanging out w/ my family and friends. I have got to find a way to convince Ross that AZ is the happiest place on earth, and that we must move there as soon as possible. When I got back I started my new job teaching Anatomy at Columbus State Community College. Yep, I am professor Jill. It has been really fun so far. It is a little crazy doing both that and full time school of my own, but I am so excited to have a job that I get excited to go to. It wasn't so long ago that I was in high school working at a doctor's office scanning charts in a closet sized room where they stored the urine samples. Things have sure turned around in my favor! Ross is doing so great. He just finished the section of Med school that is supposed to be the hardest material covered, and is on spring break now. He is also working in a lab with a Neurosurgeon who removes brain tumors from humans and gives them to Ross to inject the tumor cells into rat brains. They hope to find a way to slow the growth process of the tumors. We were so excited to find out this week that he was awarded a grant to pay for his work in this lab all summer.

Last week I turned the big 25. Now, I loved the shoes that Ross got me, but I have to brag for a min. My birthday was on Saturday, the Ross' first day of spring break, aka the first day that he didn't have to study from sun up till sun down in several months. He knew I had been so frustrated with one of my classes at school because I couldn't understand anything and felt like a big dummy. He sat there and read my text book for a few hours and made me little study guide/ explanations to help me get it. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but it meant a ton to me. Thanks to him I might not fail Histology now :) He's the best!


Lately I have tried to be crafty, and made this little wall hanging and some calendars. I know that they are not Troba Mangum quality, but one day...



This is the surprise that I woke up to on Valentines- Gerber daisies are my favorite. Ross displayed his incredible art skills here too.

Merry Christmas! (I know it's Jan., I am just a slacker)

Ross' Brother Steve and his wife Aubrey threw an ugly sweater/ white elephant party which was so much fun.


Our ugly sweaters- unfortunatley, Ross would wear this year round if I let him. He seemed surprised when I suggested he wear it to the UGLY sweater party.


This is Ross' parent's dog Clancy. He is obsessed with Ross. He follows him EVERYWHERE and starts wheezing with excitement when Ross comes over. I am not an animal lover, but this dog is pretty fun.


This is our adorable/ tiny Christmas tree. It worked just great. Maybe we'll think about getting a normal sized one when we have kids.

Brazil

Anyone interested in seeing the rest of our Brazil trip, I have posted the pictures on picasa. There are a ton of them so they didn't make the blog. Here is the link
http://picasaweb.google.com/jillespie/BrazilTrip2010#
Enjoy!

Ohio update

Mom and Dad- here are some pictures of our place.. finally. The other is at Ross' white coat ceremony.

Brazil Trip!

As a last hoorah before we both go back to school this fall, Ross and I decided to go on a trip to Brazil. We were there for 2 weeks, and had a blast. We went to Rio De Janeiro for the first few days,to see the Christ statue and go to the beach. Unfortunately it rained the whole time we were there, so we ended up wearing ponchos to the beach. We went to the Maracana Stadium, where the next world cup will be, and saw a Brazilian soccer game. The fans were crazy. They lit off fireworks in the stadium. After that we went to the Amazon for 4 days and saw tons of animals, cool plants, and spent a day with an Indian tribe. They selected Ross to wear their palm leaf skirt and do a ritual dance with them. He was so embarrassed, but it was absolutely hilarious. After that we went to Iguazu Falls, which were awesome. I could not believe how much water there was, and it just went on forever. Finally we went Curitiba where Ross served his mission. We visited some of the families that he taught, and went to the temple there. That was really cool, because it was still being built when he left, so he got to see it completed. We had so many pictures that it would take forever to load them all, so here are the few I picked from our trip.