One Down...

A zillion to go!!!!:) ha ha! Scott officially FINISHED his first year of medical school on Friday! After the craziest test week of his LIFE, staying up 30 hours straight with a half an hour power nap!...He is officially a second year medical student!!!!!

Wow! It has been quite the year for him! Undergrad is NOTHING compared to medical school! Scott has worked so hard this year! I'm so proud of him and all of his hard work and dedication! It has been rewarding to really realize what he's getting himself into and come to the realization that yes, he really WANTS to be a doctor.

He's had days where I can see that this realization weighs down on him, I mean seriously he WILL have many lives depending on him! One specific time, on a random day, we were talking and he was feeling a little bit overwhelmed with this incredible responsibility that he has CHOSEN on himself-for some reason while he was sharing with me his concerns, in my mind I went back 7 years ago (before I even knew who Scott Jensen was) to the Barrus Concert Hall in the Snow Building at BYU-Idaho where I was sitting down watching the dedication of the Gordon B. Hinckley building and the prophet then, Gordon B. Hinckley was on campus. His whole talk was amazing and I cried like a baby but I remember specifically when he said:

"You are just simple kids. You are not geniuses...But the work of the world isn't done by geniuses. It is done by ordinary people who have learned to work in an extraordinary way."

I shared this with Scott and we shared a special moment together and I think we both realized that it doesn't take a genius to go to medical school but it does take time and dedication to go through it!

One year down...we can't quite see the light at the end of the tunnel but at least we are moving forward!!!

WAY TO GO SCOTTIE!!!

A few crazy facts:

1. Scott will graduate medical school in 2012. If he choses to do a specialty he will be done with residency in 2017.

2. In 2017, Brielle will be 11 and Braden will be 10.

3. We will both be 37 years old.

4. He will have been going to school a total of 13 years.

Memorial Weekend

Saturday was such a nice, warm, sunny day, it was the perfect day to take the kids to the splash park. It was so much fun to watch the kids be hesitant at first and little by little start getting more brave to get in to the biggest splash! There is something rewarding about watching your children try something new, be hesitant at first and then watch them get into it without fear. Both Scott and I had these BIG ridiculous smiles watching our kids have fun. It was one of those moments when everything starts going in slow motion and you realize that all of the sacrifices of parenthood are completely worth it!

I'll let you decide why I think this picture is HILARIOUS!

Braden has been wearing his glasses pretty much ALL the time and sometimes he doesn't quite get them straight...

I always tell Brielle that she is my favorite girl in the whole wide world! The other day, she said to me: "mom, you know what? I'm your favorite girl in the whole wide world!" and I answered, "yes, you are right!"

These 3 people rock my world!

On Sunday, we thought it'd be appropriate to visit the Arlington Cemetery. We had tried to go last summer but when we got there it was a little after 7pm and it was closed! Since it was Memorial Weekend though, we figured that may be they would be closing later. We were wrong! We got there again, a little after 7pm. and it was closed!!! What a bummer! We drove all the way there (25 minutes, not bad) to find that the gates were closed. But, we had a great time anyway walking around and letting Brielle and Braden run around.

Two of my favorite guys! My brother and my Scottie!

These two always find something to entertain themselves with. They were crawling on the benches.

Scott bribed Braden with chocolate if he looked at the camera! Oh! The things we have to do get these kiddos to look at the camera!!!:)

Braden's favorite thing to say is "To infinity and Beyond!!!" from Toy Story. Here they are saying it very loudly at the metro station!!!

Our community pool opens every year on Memorial Day. There is this cute, little kiddie pool. It's the perfect depth for the kids. We also went to the deep pool and Brielle and Braden had a blast jumping into the pool while Scott and I would catch them! I wish I had a video of it! We all had a fun time!

One of my favorite things in this life is watching Scott interact with our children. He is such a fun dad. He is their hero! They LOVE him so much. Braden was always kind of a mommy's boy but I'm afraid he's been having way too much fun with his daddy lately!!!:) Scott was going around the little pool chasing Braden, saying "I'm a monster!!!" so Braden had to do the same thing:

Summers are so much fun and I'm so happy it is here already! (although today was kind of chilly) but hopefully it will get better. I have so many amazing memories of summertime in Perú and Miami, when I was a child. In Perú, we would go to the beach almost everyday with my surfer cousins. We thought they were so cool because they surfed. I remember the smell of the beach, the feeling of the sand, walking around barefoot, making homemade popsicles, riding my bike by the lighthouse close to my house, going to my grandparents' house for Christmas (in Perú, Christmas is in the summer), going to my other grandparents' house in the mountains and hiking, riding horses, picking figs, avocados, and other fruits native to Perú from the tree, so many wonderful memories! Scott has his share or fun summertime memories too. I hope we can create some fun memories for our kids too!!!:)

And...after hearing sooooooooo much about Three Cups of Tea, I started reading it today! So far, so inspiring!!! This is definitely my kind of book!

What???

I have a very expressive 3-year old. This is the conversation we just had:

Denisse: Brielle, it is quiet time. No more talking please. You can read a book, try to take a nap but no more talking or running around the house okay?

Brielle: No, mommy. I don't need quiet time, I'm a big girl. You are a bad mom. Big girls don't need quiet time.

Denisse: Excuse me? (as I go to the kitchen where she can't see me so I can burst into laughter!)

She seems like a little angel in that picture, but man does she give a run for my money! 'You are a bad mom?' I don't know where she learns to say these things?

We can't wait...

Brielle: "Please daddy, don't go!" "I want to go to school with you!"

Scott: "You can't come with daddy, Bri bri. Daddy has to study"

Brielle: "Nooooo, daddy. I want you to come home with me and play with me! I want you daddy, I need you!

Braden: "I want a hug daddy. I want a kiss."

It breaks my heart. But he's got to do, what he's got to do. One more week of this and Scott will be done with his first year of medical school!!!!!!! He'll have the whole summer off to play with us!!!

WHOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

We can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!

Rain, rain go away...

It's finally not raining here anymore! (at least for now...) It seriously rained for almost a week and a half nonstop! We've had a few days of sunshine since it stopped raining but the forecast says that it will rain for the rest of the week. What a bummer! But it does make everything look so beautiful outside. Spring is really a time of renewal for nature! It's has been amazing to see everything turn so green and all the flower trees here are breath taking. I've never seen so many varieties of trees in my life! (I wish I could take pictures of all of them.)

We have a few squirrel friends that come to visit our back door almost everyday. Once they hear that the door is opening you can see them all coming! Sometimes there can be 5 of them at a time! Sometimes we feed them and it's so cute to watch them eating! They are really friendly, sometimes a little too friendly I have to close the door because they are getting to close to the kids. But, both Brielle and Braden can spend a long time looking at them and giving them peanuts!

We've been spending these last few weeks inside for the most part but also taking advantage of going outside to play with the kids when the weather is nice. It seems like when we go outside they do so much better! They eat better, sleep better and they are less whiny! I can't complain though, they are so much fun to be around. The other day someone mentioned that I must be exhausted all the time because my kids have so much energy and I thought to myself that yes I am exhausted raising these kiddos but I wouldn't have it any other way! I much rather have energetic children that are so enthusiastic about exploring the world around them than two children who stare at the wall all day! So I am grateful for their energy! Even though, I do wish sometimes they'd stare at the wall for a few hours a day! :)

This is what two very energetic and mischievous children do on their spare time: They undo their daddy's shoe laces...Scott didn't think it was very funny!:)

and... this is what we do when we spend too much time inside! We take too many silly pictures!:)Brielle and Braden really are the apple of my eye! We don't have perfect days, sometimes I get so tired and frustrated when I don't get any breaks during the day, but I sure love them so much and we have a great time together!

Our little neighbor Bella comes out to play with Brielle and Braden almost everyday. She is such a sweet little girl and the 3 of them get along so well...(for the most part!) It's really cute! They just go around our block running and playing. Bella's mom, Judy, and I have become really good friends. She's such a genuine person. We have a lot of fun talking while our kids play together.

I used to be so paranoid about my kids getting dirty with the chalk and was always reminding them not to touch their clothes with their hands, now I just let them get dirty! That's part of the fun!

Braden showing me his chalk...that according to Brielle looks like a "smarshmallow".

Braden and Brielle have been playing with my sunglasses a lot lately and I thought it was time for them to get their own little sunglasses! We went to Target and they each picked out their favorite one. I think the picking them out was just as fun as them wearing them! We spent half an hour trying different ones and it was so cute to hear Brielle and Braden, Brielle especially, say, "Hmmm...I don't like that one." "Let me try that one..." It was a lot of fun! And these are the ones they liked best!

I get lots of hugs from Mr. Braden during the day. He is such a loving little guy!

Oh! And I made this for lunch the other day and man oh man! It was delicious!!!! Thanks to my friend Emily W. who posted how to make it on her blog. It's super easy. All you need is some kind of tortilla, I bought a really good spinach/garlic/pesto tortilla. You spread some cream cheese then put some lettuce and lunch meat, I used hard salami and sundried tomato turkey. Roll it up, cut it up and done! It is so yummy, healthy and easy!!!! and my kiddos liked it too! Thanks Emily!:)

You know you are the wife of a med student when...

DISCLAIMER: I love the fact that my husband is going into this profession, I really do.

Today. It hit me. I am the wife of a medical student. If I were to make a "You know you are the wife of a med student when..." List, this one would be #59 on the list:

#59. You know you are the wife of a medical student when your husband has a required "Cadaver Ceremony" scheduled on Mother's Day.

Yep. That's right. GW scheduled a ceremony for the cadavers that first year med students worked on this year on Mother's Day. Now, I don't want to sound disrespectful at all to these wonderful people who donated their bodies to science. It is very commendable and definitely deserves a ceremony. But, honestly, does it have to be on Mother's Day at 1pm, right when we have Church?