Farewell Rochester

Oh man, this one is a hard one. We have had the best experience living in Rochester, Minnesota.  We are better because of the people we have met and the experiences we have had.  I am so grateful we were able to have this opportunity.  People always say things like "I don't know how you do it" or "wow that is a long time to become a doctor" but my honest answer is that we have had such a wonderful experience I can't imagine our lives without it.  We are happy, we have met incredible people, we have had unique experience, and we are stronger as a family because of it.  I wouldn't trade this route for anything.  Here are some reason why we LOVE Rochester and why it's been so hard to leave (in no particular order):


1. FRIENDS:
Okay this really is the biggest reason we loved living in Rochester.  Our ward was full of residents (around 30), and each resident was married with lots of young kids.  Everyone was going through similar struggles and we understood each other very well because of it.  Going to church solo without Spencer was never a big deal because I knew there would be multiple other ladies with their kids and no husband.  There was a silent strength that came from it.  We all lived far from family and so we did everything together--holidays, birthdays, vacations…! Life was busy, life was fun, and our friends were spectacular people. Honestly, some of the best people you will ever meet.  They were hard working, fun, unique, hilarious, and not afraid to be themselves.  It was fun serving them as well because they were the type of people who have spent their lives serving others-- no one took advantage of anyone else.  They loved my kids and I loved their kids.  We were happy for each others successes.  I love them all dearly and will forever be grateful for the influence they had on me as a mother.  I feel like I was sent to Rochester as a "training camp" on how to be a better Mother.  I learned that everyone has their unique talents and strengths, and even though we are all raised slightly different from the person next door, we can all achieve the same outcome-- and that is to have Families that are Forever.  We need to embrace our strengths and talents and not wish for what our neighbor has next door.  I could go on forever-- but I truly LOVE all my friends.  They were heaven sent to me and my family.

2. MAYO CLINIC:
The Mayo Clinic has been an incredible place for Spencer to get his training in Internal Medicine.  He has worked hard and had some unique opportunities.  He has accomplished a lot and is leaving with a vast knowledge in medicine and skills that will help him reach his patients and give them the best care possible.

Our children have been seen by many specialist that have given them great health care.  One of my favorite memories is taking Benson or Tanner to the Mayo Clinic for an appointment and walking past the piano (which is almost always being played-- an oftentimes when the lady in the black dress plays people gather around and sing) and seeing all the elderly people ohhh and ahhhh at my children.  When using the elevator people would often ask, "where are you from" or they would make darling comments about my children.  People come from all over the world with hope that the doctors at the Mayo Clinic will figure out what their illness is-- it's usually their last hope for a cure and with that comes the nicest most friendly people.  You feel like you are on sacred ground there.  Even when I was feeling overwhelmed and stressed about a medical issue, I always felt extra strength from the people there.  There's a reason they are the best hospital in the world and we were blessed to be apart of it.

3. COMMUNITY:
People in Rochester are so friendly. Strangers will randomly start talking to you at the grocery store.  It's a small town, around 100,000 people, so the traffic is non-existent, you can get anywhere you want in less than 10 minutes and people look out for one another.  Our neighborhood always felt like such a safe place. Our neighbors were super friendly-- people would hang out in their garages or front lawns and chat with one another.  They had many family-friendly activities and lots of fun parks.  Not to mention it's absolutely beautiful in from Spring-Fall.

4. Home:
We lived in a beautiful home and made many fond memories there.  Some of the things I loved were: our massive backyard with a swing set and monkey climbing dome, our first family garden with Spencer's crazy amount of tomatoes, our kitchen table where each night we had awesome conversations with the boys ("the fondest memories are made while gathered around the table"), piano lessons and practicing the piano, homework being done at the kitchen table, kids running down the hall and doing crazy tricks on the couch, our large mud room with TONS of snow clothes and boots, our massive basement full of toys and a TV where we had many family movie nights, the kids room that smelled like boys and was consumed with books and legos, and our front yard that was full of kids!! We spent most summer nights on the driveway (many times with our buddies the Allen Family who lived across the street) watching the kids ride their bikes or scooters up and down our neighbors driveways.  It was such a relaxing time and fun to see the kids get their energy out with the neighborhood kids. Our house was loud and often times crazy-- but it was fun!!

The only thing I WILL NOT miss is how extremely cold it got in the winter.  During months February-April winter was in full swing and it made me go mental!! If it weren't for my good friends-- I may not have survived.

Thanks for all the wonderful memories!!

Allen Family: Ben, Heidi, Max, Sadie, and Abby

These Amazing ladies!

Top row: Alissa Gardner, Staci Thacker, Gina Duncan, Stef Wilcox, Lisa Hoelzer, Nellie Thurston, Lindsey Esplin

Middle row: Me, Ashley Rutledge, Lindsey Reid

Botom Row: Heidi Allen, Jen Hull, Amanda Rawlins, Megan Bracke, Kristi May, and Cassi Orme.

The Brunch crew (and my besties): Cassi, Heidi, Ash, and Me!

Orme and Miller crew

Cassi and Me

Adam and Reece

Probably the saddest good-bye was watching Reece and Adam say farewell to each other.  Its always worse watching your kids go through sad times-- and this one was definitely one of those times.  These two are like brothers-- Adam's 3rd grade teacher said about them "they finish each others sentences… they have the same unique minds". Adam has been a big blessing in Reece's life. They are two awesome kids with a lot of great memories together.

Residency gradution

Spencer Graduated from Residency at the Mayo Clinic.  

It was a special event held at the Foundation house-- which use to be Will Mayo's house.  The only way you can attend the foundation house is if you are invited.  It's a beautiful home.  There is a vase there from the egyptian period that was given to Will Mayo from his daughter.  Will's library is massive-- he would rank the books according to how good they were.  If the books earned anything less than a C then he threw them out of his library! 

We had a delicious meal and had a nice program after.  They put together a hilarious video making fun of the residents.  They used Reece, Benson and Max to help transition from scene to scene.  We were the unusual residents with older children-- other than Spencer the most kids another resident had was 2 (and the second being a baby).  

Spencer had a very successful residency.  They called him the Michael Phelps of Residency because he was given 4 of the 5 awards given throughout residency.  These are the awards he received:

2nd year: ACE award (Attitude, commitment, and excellence) Voted on by peers. The top 3 vote getters win.

3rd year: ACE award….again!!

3rd year: Outstanding achievement award (capstone award from the residency. It's voted by the faculty and program leadership.  They get together and review the files and accompaniments of all the residents without names attached to them and then the top 25% are presented formally to the group without names attached and they vote who to award them to. The top 6 vote getters win the award out of the class of 48. This is a big honor-- they are put in the Mayo Internal Medicine Hall of Fame).

3rd year: Feist Award- this award is for the top Resident in the Outpatient setting.  When they gave the award they said it was an unanamous decision and that Spencer was far ahead of the rest of the residents.  They said if he ever changed his mind-- they would love to have him on staff!

Congrats Spencer! You're a ROCK STAR PHYSICIAN!!!

(more pictures to come-- we are waiting for Mayo to send them!)

Last day of School

The boys had their last day of School on June 5th. This year has blown by.  They have grown up so much.  They both have excelled in school this year-- meeting their reading goals and learning so many great things.  I am so proud of who they are becoming.  They are good boys and fun to be around. I love them dearly! 

One experience that stands out this year was the addition of family prayer.  We were having a rough time having happy mornings before school started.  They are night owls and so waking them up in the morning wasn't an easy task.  I prayed about what we could do and during General Conference in October it was clear to me that we needed to add Family Prayer before they left for school.  We started doing that and WOW! what a difference that made.  We suddenly went from crazy/chaotic mornings to pleasant and loving mornings (okay...we didn't look like the Von Trapp family from the Sound of Music but it most certainly was happier in our home).  It was a breath of fresh air for me as a mom because it was something that caused me a lot of anxiety.  Having Family Prayer in the morning made our year just a little bit better.

Another great addition to our year was having the kids walk to school with their friends Max and Adam.  My favorite sight was watching them all walk with their back packs on and lunch boxes in hand chatting away.  They really are precious children. 

Kate--7 months

Kate is 7 months old!

She loves to say dada dada or babababa

She is a master at sitting 

She still doesn't like to roll or be on her back

She's started waking up at night-- and unfortunately the only thing she wants is Mommy's…you know what!

She is still as cute as ever and is loved so much by her brothers.

She loves to eat paper! But mostly nurses and occasionally eats carrots or squash. She's not that interested in fruits yet.

She doesn't get as many bows in her hair because within seconds she has it around her neck and is trying to eat it!

She is super awesome and loved by her family so MUCH!

Gibbs Gazette is finally printed!!!

After a couple months of a lot work and many recesses spent in the media center working on their newspaper-- it finally got printed with 2 weeks left of school! Good work boys.

Soccer

The boys had a great soccer season.  Benson played with his buddies Max, Ryan and Chase.  Reece played with Adam.  Both boys worked hard and improved their soccer skills.  They were good teammates and had a lot of fun playing! They were also blessed with fantastic coaches!

Rochester Home

We signed our closing papers and closed on our home June 9th.  It hasn't really hit me that we are moving, I'm still in denial.  We have loved our home and have many fond memories as a family. We have grown so much-- including the addition of Baby Kate in our family. I feel like our family has entered a new stage in life with our kids growing a little older.  We have more activities to attend and can do more with our children with them being a little older.  Looking back on our home in Rochester I will remember lots of laughs, dance parties, board games, balls being kicked and thrown (my picture fames no longer have glass in them), late nights, kids sliding down the stairs, family dinners discussing things like math equations and what happened at school that day, walking to and from school, riding bikes/easy rollers, our neighbors and friends the Allens (our adopted brother--Max), snow--lots of it with kids playing in it, legos, lots of laundry, piano being played, and wonderful friends.

Thank you 5138 Kingston Pl NW, Rochester, MN 55901-- you were so good to us! 

May Happenings

I love music-- it's a huge part of my life and I want to share it with my children.  I have been teaching Reece and Benson piano lessons for the past couple years (I started Reece in 1st grade and Benson in Kindergarten).  For their birthdays my parents gave them guitars.  The idea of having the boys play guitar is super fun to me-- but life is busy and I found it overwhelming our schedule. We were doing to much and I felt like we needed to simplify so we stopped lessons after a month and concentrated on piano.  There are so many good things we can do in life, but when the good things make it hard to do the more important things-- then we have to take a step back and reassess our schedule and priorities.  I'm sure at some point we can pick up the guitar again, but for now it will be something we do in our spare time.

 We took Reece and Benson to the Harlem Globtrotters.  It was seriously hilarious!! The boys were laughing SOOO hard.  It was one of those magical kid moments.  Seeing life through the eyes of a child is priceless.  Easily entertained and happy.  Gotta love em'!

 These two boys have reached a new level of independence.  They can now ride their bikes to each others house without an adult.  They think it's pretty rad and come up with all kinds of excuses to why they need to go back and forth (most of them involving pokeman).

 This is what we do everyday around 3:30pm. We come outside and wait for the boys to come home from school.  Tanner usually rides his scooter, bike or easy roller and Kate and I sit on the lawn watching him (Heidi, Sadie and Abby join us most days).  The boys take the longest route home and walk slowly so they can get more time together to chat.

Grandpa Miller visit

Grandma Miller came to visit for a couple days so he could attend an award dinner for Spencer.  Spencer received the "outstanding achievement" award for an Internal Medicine Resident.  I'll talk more about it when I get the pictures from it. IT was fun to hang out with Grandpa and relax for a couple days. Here are some pictures...

Mother's Day/Stake Conference

Happy Mother's Day 2015!

My Family spoiled me for Mother's day.  Reece and Benson went to the Mother's Day store at school and bought me some wonderful gifts.  Reece bought me some flowers and Benson bought me a beautiful necklace.  They were so excited to bring me their presents.  They gave me the biggest hugs and were smiling from cheek to cheek.  It was a precious moment. I sure love them tons.

Spencer took them to Costco and they bought me some more flowers! He told the boys that on Mother's day you have to take care of your Mother and Wife because they are very special people.  They picked beautiful pink roses that looked lovely in my kitchen.  Sunday morning they were little gentlemen and kept asking me what they could do to help.  They got along with each other making it the perfect Mother's day. And to top it all off-- they willingly took Family pictures! We had some fun while taking them-- we used the self timer and after getting a good family picture we did a couple silly ones which the boys LOVE!

 I love this family of mine-- how did I get so lucky to have them in my life?  Spencer is the kindest husband, always concerned about my well being and the kids are awesome.  They add so much fun, laughter, and sweetness into my life.  I'm a very blessed lady!

Stake Conference picture with the kids

(except from my journal):
We were blessed for attending Stake Conference and I want our children to know this…. here is the story:

Spencer was working during Stake Conference and so I was debating whether I wanted to take all 4 kids to 2 hours of church by myself.  Tanner is at a difficult stage and so I wasn't sure I was up for it.  I told Spencer I wasn't going to go and instead we would have our own scripture study at home.  We woke up Sunday morning and I told the kids our plan and Reece said, "well, maybe Benson and I should go with Adam and Max".  After that I decided there was no way I was getting out of this.  I got the kids ready for church and then decided to take pictures in their nice outfits.  I wasn't to much in a rush because arriving  a couple minutes late sounded appealing!  We took pictures and to my surprise they were absolutely adorable….they were all looking at the camera with darling faces.  What a blessing!

Then we went to conference and as soon as we sat down Tanner announces he needed to go potty NOW! I had Benson take him to the restroom.  Tanner came back into the chapel/gym with his pants at his ankles!! Yes, he was mooning the congregation.  I quickly got his pants up and took a deep breath.  A couple minutes went by and Tanner started yelling so loud.  I'm not even sure what it was about.  So I dragged him with Kate on my hips to the hall.  We sat there for awhile and then went back into the gym.  That only lasted 10 minutes and we were back in the hall.  This continued many times.  Then once we were back in the gym again Tanner yelled "I need to go poop now" 4 times! I sent him to the bathroom with Reece.  He came back with his shirt tucked in his underwear with his pant halfway on (artlessly they were mostly covering his bum this time).  Kate was sitting on my lap and for the first time in years I wore a new necklace to church.  Within minutes she had broken it.  So it was quite the eventful conference.  We went home and to my surprise had the best day ever.  The kids were so kind to each other.  They were helpful and fun and so sweet.  The spirit was in our home and something just felt magical.  When the day was over I remember telling Spencer how perfect the day was and how sweet and wonderful are children are.  I wish everyday could be like that one Sunday. I know for a fact that we received many blessings that day by attending Stake Conference.  I had every excuse not to go-- but we went and were so blessed for it.  I can't tell you what a single speaker talked about, but I can tell you that our home felt different and our family was strengthen that day.