Oopsies, looks like I stepped on some toes with that last post.  I don't like it when that happens very much, so I thought I might just post again and have something more lighthearted at the top of the blog for a bit.

I know there's still a month and a half left in this year, but as the year draws to a close, I always like to reflect on what I did in the past year.  I have already begun thinking about this, and it sorta surprised me.  This has been an event filled year.  And although this is somewhat just a summary of previous blog posts, here's a run down of some of our most memorable moments...

After months of fruitless searching and one very short lived job during our first few months in Philly, I finally found a job, which I started in January after we got back from spending the holidays with our families in Utah.

In February, we went to Washington, DC, and enjoyed many of the sites there.

In March, we went to Disneyworld with my wonderful family-in-law, which was an absolute blast.  I have been longing to go back ever since.  Just after that, I started this nursing program. 

Sometimes I forget how much free time I really had during that first term of school.  Somehow we managed to move into this fabulous apartment here on Baltimore.  We were so happy to be out of the student housing, happy for the change of scene, happy to find such a great location, and happy that it had a dishwasher (note: said dishwasher is currently broken and I have to wait an entire week for the part needed to repair it to come in).  We also squeezed (squoze?) in a fabulous trip to Gettysburg when the flowers were in bloom and the grass was all green... beautiful.  Also, my handsome husband turned 23.

In the week I had off between the 1st and 2nd term, we went to Atlantic City and chilled on the beach one day.  After that, we jetted off to upstate NY with Zack's parents and there we enjoyed such religious sites as the Sacred Grove, Hill Cumorah, and the Baseball Hall of Fame.  On the way back from our trip, we went to Valley Forge, and then enjoyed our 2nd Phillies game of the season (oops, I forgot to mention the 1st one).  It was quite the week.

The second term took up a little more of my time than the first one had, so we didn't squeeze in quite as much, but we did manage to enjoy that fabulous August weekend in Boston, and we celebrated our 1 year anniversary in August also.  I can't remember exactly when it was and I'm too lazy to go back and look, but we saw Les Miserables at the Walnut Street Theatre sometime too.

September brought a 2 week vacation from school for me, just in time for Zack to go back to school.  We still managed to get away to NYC for my birthday, and we saw Wicked, which was, well... wicked.  We also got away to Atlantic City again, this time with some amazing friends in tow, and even though it wasn't really beach weather, we had a delicious time stuffing our faces with all manner of junk foods.

This third term has been a major challenge for me.  I have a professor that I really struggle with, and she teaches 2 of our courses (the 2 that are arguably the most important to boot).  I was assigned far away clinical sites, and spent hours each week commuting as we tried to work out things so that we could get our car.  We finally got it, which has made the commuting easier, but the lack of a 2 day weekend, the still pretty long commutes, and the terrible professor are wearing on me.  I don't mean to complain though.  This belongs on the list of things I accomplished this year... ok, maybe I am a couple of weeks premature, but I only have 2 more weeks of classes and 2 more of each of my clinical rotations for this time around, and I get a week off of clinicals right in the middle of those 2 weeks for Thanksgiving.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel.  It is still unclear whether I will pass and move on to the next term, but for now, I am going to enjoy that the end is near.

For Thanksgiving weekend, we are gonna jet up to Lancaster county (where a bunch of Amish people live... really beautiful), and enjoy a relaxing getaway at a nice little bed a breakfast. We'll be around for them to kick off some of the holiday (meaning Christmas) festivities up there, and it should be a nice little recharge before I make my last little run for it this term.

And then we get to fly to Utah and see our families.  It will be almost a year since I saw my mom and sibs, which is by far the longest I've gone without seeing them in my life (with the exception of my older brother's mission).  So what a year!  And still a month and a half left to enjoy of it.

PS- Natalie reminded me that I should add that Obama won, which then reminded me that the Phillies won the World Series.  How did I forget those?