March

March was a good and highly anticipated month in the Runyan household this year. This was the month that we were to find out where we matched for medical residency. For those of you familiar with this process, you know what I mean. I will enlighten the rest of you. In your 4th year of medical school, you begin this process by interviewing at different residency programs in the specialty of your choice. As you interview, you take notes of which programs you like and which ones you don't like. Which cities would be a good fit for you and your family, and which cities would not. Then, you fast and pray, (which you have been doing all along the way so that you can have guidance) and rank the programs in order 1 through whatever. (In our case, it was 1-7.) You submit this information to the powers-that-be, and it is put into a computer. Meanwhile, the programs that you have interviewed at have also been taking notes on all of their applicants. They have ranked the applicants 1 to whatever, have also submitted this information to the powers-that-be, and it is put into a computer. Then, the computer runs a program, and in a matter of seconds, the fate of hundreds of future residents all over the country is decided. WOW! What did they do before computers...Needless to say, we were all looking forward to finding out where we would be for the next 6 years of our lives. Anyway, here are the exciting events of March, listed chronologically. (Again, so that you can see them if I had posted them along the way...)

1.) I started feeling the affects of the first trimester. YUCK! There really is nothing redeeming about the first trimester. Don't get me wrong, it is exciting to be pregnant and to know that you will be adding another member to your family. But that is so far away from this point in your pregnancy. Furthermore, you are super tired, your kidneys kick into turbo action causing multiple trips to the potty, you are super tired, and if you are like me, you get really, really, really nauseous. Plus, you are super tired. -It was worse for me this time than with the previous two pregnancies. (I really can't complain as I was not as sick as some.) Suffice it to say that nausea and heaving were a big part of my life for a good three months, and that brushing my teeth at night was not pretty.

2.) Dad Lueken's 50th birthday! Wow Dad, you look great! Plus, you are way to young to have a daughter my age...We went to Indiana for the weekend to visit my parents and celebrate my dad's birthday. Here are some shots from the best part of the weekend, the cake and ice cream of course!

Dad with cake and presenents. (My nephew Owen used to call presents 'presenents'. It was so cute, we adopted the name. Funny thing is, he didn't do it for very long...)
Dad reading a card from the girls with Rachael looking on. -Yes, if you are wondering, Rachael is in her pajamas, and no, it is not the morning. This is Rachael's outfit of choice after church 9 times out of 10. Can't say that I blame her...Who doesn't want to put on their p.j.'s after wearing a dress and tights?
I thought that I would include this shot just for kicks. You can see the Graeter's ice cream, cake and presents in the background. Yum. Morgan and Rachael with their new webkinz ON the table. (At grandmas, of course. At our house, you are not allowed to have toys at the table, let alone on the table. The toys could get food on them, or worse, distract you from the wonderful purpose of being at the table: eating.) Then you have me in the background looking sick and tired. I am looking at the beautiful cake and wishing that I had even the smallest desire to partake of it and some ice cream. Darn you 1st trimester!

3.) Achievement Days. In our ward, another sister and I work with the Achievement Day girls. It is loads of fun. This particular evening, Sister Hand taught about temple marriage and had the girls try on their mother's wedding dresses. They all loved this. Here is a picture of Morgan in mine, big slip and all. (She loved it!)
4.) Home Repairs. Yes, that is Chris attached to a rock climbing harness and rope, being belayed by his 2 month pregnant wife on our roof so that he can fix the gutters. We do not own a ladder, which is something that we will have to remedy in the not-too-distant future. Chris did a great job fixing the gutter, and he did not fall, and I did not drop him. (Thank goodness!) We had to do a minor repair or two in order to get the house ready to sell...This was one of them.

5.) Morgan's violin recital. This was a fun night. She has been loving the violin this year, and is really playing quite well. She played 'Go Tell Aunt Rhody', and did great!

This picture turned out a little blurry, but it had to be included. She really did a great job.

Here is a shot of Rachael while we waited for the recital to begin. She is holding two very dear possessions, Dottie, her first webkinz animal, and a small pillow that she acquired from the treasure box in gym class. Thanks Mr. B...

This is Morgan with her friend Elizabeth who also plays the violin.

6.) MATCH DAY!!! March 19th! We made it! Here is a picture of me and Chris at the Match Day party. Here in Cincinnati, everyone gets together to open their match letters. Fun, right? Well yes, however, your name is drawn out of a bowl and you and your significant-other go to the front of the room and open it in front of the entire class. It really was quite exciting. Fun, nerve-racking and exciting. This shot was taken just before the letter opening commenced.

What a fun day. My dad, grandmother, and Chris's mom came to join us for the event. (Chris's dad couldn't get away from work, and my mom was away on a business trip.) Everyone was thrilled to discover that we would get to stay here for residency! The program for plastic surgery here is really good, and both of our parents live within 2 hours of driving. Hooray for grandparents living close!

7.) Quick visit with family! We had a quick visit with family the end of this month. Chris's sister Emily, her husband Jaron and their boys came from Iowa for a quick weekend trip. This was the first opportunity that we got to meet our new nephew and cousin to the girls, Trevor. Chris's cousin Tom came from Louisville, KY to join us. We spent time together, ate yummy food, and the cousins had a blast as usual. Tom brought his AWESOME camera along and took some fun shots. The only problem is that his camera takes pictures that makes our camera's pictures look, well, not as good as his. It takes great pictures. So crisp and clean. Wow, thanks Tom!

Here is Morgan holding 'Baby Trevor'. He is such a sweet baby!

This is Rachael with a stuffed bunny of hers. She loves stuffed animals, just like I did when I was a little girl. Though, hers are her little buddies. Each week or so, she has a new one that has to go everywhere with her...This week, it was 'Bunny'.

Morgan, Chief, cousin Spencer, 'Bunny', and Rachael.

***Family picture of the Runyans taken by Tom, to be inserted here. For some reason, we could not get all of the shots from Tom that weekend. -They were not transferring. I will get a copy and insert it here.***