Match Day 2012...IO-WHAT????!

It all started in a school auditorium where friends and families excitedly awaited the much anticipated "Match", where we would find out where we will be spending the next 5 years of our life, and our lives would be handed to us in a sealed envelope. The excitement in the room was so thick it could be cut with a knife! The day that we had all been anxiously awaiting for was finally here.

We sat next to a few of our best med school friends, the Gertschs next to us, and the Hertzbergs in front of us. We were asked to arrive one hour prior to the actual Match, so we all came, kiddos in tow, and sat together, nervously chatting, laughing, and getting more and more excited as the minutes passed. The class president reviewed some important graduation information, then he was followed by a Disability Insurance speaker ( which, by the way, had to be the dumbest idea EVER to have right before the Match! NOBODY listened to the poor man, I'm still not sure why they thought that would be a good time to have that). After he spoke, we had about a 20 minute break before the actual handing out of the envelopes would begin. We went out of the room for a bit to let Boston run around and then went back and took our seats, ready, but not so ready, to see what was inside of our envelope.

As soon as the clock struck 12, a blue screen popped up on the computer screen that said Match Day 2011...wait what?! Isn't it 2012? It was kind of funny. The Dean fixed the screen to make it say 2012 and then it officially began!

It seemed like days as the names scrolled through on the screen, in no particular order, as we waited for Josh's name to be called. With over 160 students, it would take about an hour to show all of the names. This whole time, a constant stream of screams, cries, and celebrations was the emotion of the room. I think we waited about 30 to 40 minutes by the time his name popped up on the screen. I was dying. I don't do well with suspense!

Finally, it was our turn. Josh took Bost up with him to get the letter, dropped a dollar in the pot (the last person to get called up gets the pot of money for having to wait til the very end) and then he returned to his seat. I was video taping, and my hands were just shaking I was so nervous! Josh was letting Boston open the letter, and it was taking so long I couldn't take it any more! I just ripped it open and literally, the only word I saw was IOWA. WHAT?! Iowa?????? Really??? I was completely SHOCKED. I let out a scream and immediately burst into tears. Sad tears at first, very very sad tears at first, but happy tears after. Sad we won't be going back to Utah to our families. Sad that we will be gone for another 5 years. Happy that we got into such a perfect program for our family.
 

Iowa was our second choice, and actually as far as Orthopedic residency programs go, our first choice. It is the best program in the nation, so we feel super blessed to have been Matched at such an amazing place. We ranked Utah number one, in hopes of getting back to our families, but ranked Iowa number 2, in hopes that if the Lord for some reason didn't want us back in Utah quite yet, he would give us the opportunity to go to Iowa, where Josh could get the best training possible, and where we would be most happy as a family. The Univ. of Iowa's program is a very family oriented program. The call schedule is unlike any other in the country, as they spend little time on night call and are very good to not let their residents work too long and be away from their families too much. From what I hear and read, Iowa city appears to be a very family friendly town, similar to Chapel Hill ( although not quite as beautiful, im sure). There are lots of graduate students, young families, and professionals. I think and hope that the transition should be a fairly easy one.

Later that night on Match Day, once the reality of all of it had sort of started to sink in, we went over to the Gertschs house to share in some more excitement of our Match Day results. Congrats to the Gertschs on matching at Harvard! We are so excited for them and will surely miss them when our time in Chapel Hill is over.

                                                            Holding up our Match Day letters!!!

Project Life- January Layouts

So if you know me, you know that I am a strong advocate of  Project Life. Project Life is a way of documenting and displaying your photos and memory-keeping in a simple, inexpensive way. It uses the picture a day/journal entry a day approach, and I am so glad I have been doing this for the past year and a bit. I finished my 2011 album and will say that without a doubt its one of the greatest things I have done for my family so far. I treasure it! I have had a few of you ask for pictures to get a better idea of how it works. I have added a few embellishments of my own to make it more personal to my life, but for the most part, what you see is what you get when you order the Project Life core kit and binder. To learn more about Project Life, check out Becky Higgins' blog! Enjoy! (p.s. it probably sounds like I'm trying to sell you this product, which I kind of am, but only because it has saved me so much guilt for not journal keeping, and it has gotten all of those cute pictures off my computer and into something I will treasure my whole life!) I plan on showing all of my layouts each month. Thanks Ang for introducing me. You better post yours asap! xo

 

My Title page, which is not finished. It's slowly coming along. 

Week 1

                                            still missing one pic in this layout

                                                  Week 2

                                                                   21 month insert

                                           week 3 layout- still missing a pic too

                                               week 4 layout

                                                        

Just stay little...

Today I was thinking about Boston approaching his 2nd Birthday, and decided to put together a little video of some home videos we have from the past 22 months. Wish time would just SLOW down! Enjoy!

What are the Holt's up to?

2011 is gone, and 2012 is here. I can't believe it! The year I thought would never come, did. It seemed so far away. And now it is here, so brand new, so fresh, and so full of questions and excitement for us!

Josh is in his last few MONTHS of medical school. Where did the past 4 years go? I feel like it was yesterday that I was sobbing on our bed, pleading Josh to let me stay in Utah. DIGGING. MY. FEET. INTO. THE. GROUND. And now here we are. Planning graduation. Living up our last few months as medical students. So Josh has decided to be an Orthopedic Surgeon when he grows up. :) He has been interviewing all over the country over the past few months for an Ortho residency program. Among those ( but not limited to) are UNC (of course,) Duke, University of Utah, Washington University, Harvard, Iowa, South Carolina, CMC in Charlotte, and a few others. His residency will be 5 years, so it is crazy to think about where we will be spending our next 5 years together. Unfortunately the decision on where to attend is not fully in our hands, as it is a match system, so we will rank our top 5 programs, and then the programs will rank their applicants. Then it is all put into a big computerized system, and on March 16 we will get a letter telling us where we will be attending residency. We still don't have our top 5 narrowed down, but know that we will end up where we are supposed to be.

I have just been keeping busy with my etsy shop (TickledChic) which I am still loving. It keeps me busy during nap time, along with my Project Life 2012 ( so excited about it this year, the design is amazing.) I also continue chasing around my little Boston- he is now 21 months and is a full blown almost-two-year-old. He is talking so much now, and putting words together that actually make sense. He is also showing his personality with the occasional tantrum...always fun! Toddler-hood is a crazy time, but I feel like it's also been a really rewarding time. It is so fun to watch him learn and grown and I am so glad I get to be there every step of the way. I would love to go back to work 1 or 2 days in the future but as for now, you can't separate me from that little man.

We are really looking forward for all that 2012 will bring us! It will probably take us out of our comfort zone, it will probably make us learn more about ourselves, it might add people to our family (nope, not preg) and it might take us back to our families...but whatever it gives us we will embrace it! It is going to be a really great year, I can feel it. xoxo

Photography Blog

So, i'm branching out and starting a photography blog finally. If you are interested in seeing some recent stuff I have been doing, you can check it out!

http://aliholtphotography.blogspot.com/

The Big Apple!

So...we are in our LAST year of medical school....can you believe it? I can't. Part of me is so excited about it, the other part is terribly sad/nervous/anxious about where we will go next and if we will be leaving beautiful Chapel Hill. Any way, thats for another post. Fourth year med school requires you to do away rotations (especially Orthopedics, as it is very competitive and the more away rotational experiences you have, the better chance you have of getting matched at a good program, or even matched at all for that matter.) Josh is currently in Upper East side New York City doing a rotation at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Yes, I have been single parenting it for the last month, but no biggie. For the most part B has been really good, so I can't complain too much. It's been lonely around here though, I can't wait to get him home in 5 days. Boston and I were able to visit Josh last weekend and do some touring around NYC. It was insane seeing the whole city in only 2 days, but we did it! Our feet and legs could barely walk one more step after the trip, and currently my big toe is still numb from nerve damage I think. It was so much fun, I can't wait to go back! We stopped first at the LDS temple...so crazy to see in the middle of Manhattan! We had to stop at FAO Schwartz so Bost could play on the life-size piano stuffed animals! He didn't like it as much as I thought he would...give him a couple years I guess.

Hangin' in Times Square...definitely our favorite part of the trip! So many people to watch, lights, and action. Not to mention how many asians would just come up to Boston and start taking pics of him like he was a movie star! So funny.

Oh Joshua, such a trouble maker!!!

Bubba in Times Square!

Walked the long, long, Brooklyn Bridge....


The new World Trade Center. Only one building this time. It was very interesting to be there on 9/11 for the 10 year anniversary of the attack. There was a somber yet toughness about the people there. Glad there weren't any surprise terror attacks while we were visiting! It was a beautiful day in nyc.

taking a ride out on the Staten Island Ferry to see the city and the Statue of Liberty
Can you see her right in between our heads???
I had to get me an Aero Times Square shirt! I love it!

I heard you can't go to NYC without going to Serendipity for some Frozen Hot Chocolate! I do have to say, it did NOT dissappoint!!

It was such a fun weekend, and so amazing to spend some quality time with my busy husband! If you haven't been to New York City, get out there! There is so much to see. xoxo

Day 16: Long Exposure.

So I have been a slacker on my 30 day photo challenge. I think its officially been... oh about 60 days since I started it ( at least) but I'm determined to finish what I have started. Day 15 is going to be postponed since I have a good idea but I want to do it at my house in NC, and I am currently in Utah at the moment so, whatever. This Long Exposure pic was taken in Lake Tahoe at the place we were staying. I really wanted to do a cool picture with car lights but I just don't hang out on overpasses very much...so that was not going to happen any time soon. It was still fun to play around with exposure and see what I could come up with.

Day 16. Long exposure. The first one has no editing and the second I was playing around with in Picnik.

Day 14: Eyes.

Yes, I am skipping day 13. I havent been able to think of anything creative for that day, so maybe if I get some inspiration I will come back to it! :)

Day 14 was much easier for me. I mean I get to hang out with the most beautiful eyed person in the world daily! Is it fair that those eyes are beautiful even in black and white?!

my babies eyes.

Day 12: Sunset.

So as you all know, in NC there are tons of trees. TONS of trees, thus making it difficult to see the horizon line at any given time of the day. Let alone sunset. SO it is pretty much impossible to get a picture of a beautiful sunset here, unless you live somewhere up on a hill ( which I dont know of any hills around here...) Long story short, here is a picture from a few weeks ago when I was in Hawaii. This was on the way to the airport to go home...so depressing, but so beautiful! No need for any editing on this one, either.

Day 12: Hawaiin sunset.

Day 11: Something Blue.

So I noticed a few weeks ago that Bost is not fitting very well into his baby bath towels, so I went online and searched for a good toddler hooded towel tutorial. I came across this one and it was pretty easy to follow! I tweaked it a bit to make it my own (there were a few things she did that I didn't really think were necessary) but other than that it was a really fun project that only took about 1 hour to do, and cost me just under $6. I got the blue bath towel and green hand towel at Wal-mart for a little under 3 bucks each, and I had leftover white Minky from a blanket I made him a long time ago. I also had the ribbon, so there ya go! An easy, adorable, cheap craft that forced me to dust off my sewing machine! I might make another one this week and make my own tutorial. We'll see.