Magnificent Monticello

Steph (Nali) and Cody, picked up Talmage and I from Hals Crossing Marina, in Lake Powell on a Monday. We drove the 2 hours to Monticello, which is where Cody grew up and we would be staying for about 6 days.  I must say Monticello was probably the most relaxing part of our entire two month trip.  Nali was always waiting on us hand and foot, and I don't remember ever having to change a single diaper that entire week.  We had 3 full meals a day, watched plenty of movies, slept in, went on walks, shot guns, rode four wheelers, went swimming...... the list goes on.  Once again, I was surrounded by another beautiful area.  

The minute we got out of the car Talmage bolted right for the rocking horse in the front yard. 

Grandad was proud to help him mount his horse.

Uncle Tony even came in for a visit, which was very nice, because we were all serenaded by his handsome tenor sound and beautiful plucking of his ukulele strings. 

We enjoyed Yahtzee and Navajo tacos at Great Grandad and Grandma Pehrson's home as usual too.  After a little hesitation at first, Talmage soon warmed up to Great Grandad and payed a little tug-o-war with the foot stool.

He also warmed up to Great Grandma enough, to allow her, to give him, a horsey ride. Kids these days.

He really loves older kids I tell ya...he copied everything these two did. These are his second cousins? I can never get it straight.  

He especially loved Shayla.

Running one direction and looking another...cause for disaster.  That was another thing he picked up on this trip.

All the kids thought this was a hummingbird...but upon closer inspection it was just an over sized moth.

It was perfect weather outside, but me and the horrible circulation in my feet were having issues again in the cool grass.  It might be hard to see, but toes are all white and I couldn't feel them. On a more positive note...this was the lushest grass I had ever seen, so I had to go barefoot.

Picking strawberries to take home for some strawberry cheesecake.

Isn't she a cutie?

She loves her grand babies.

From one hard working man to the next...."watch your step son".

Some of the Pehrson Clan

Cody playing some duck, duck, goose with the kids.

Another day and some more sweets.  They don't make creamies in Wisconsin...so we took advantage of the ones on sale in Monticello and had our fair share that week.

A lot of the time Cody and I pondered over all 120 + Orthopedic Residency programs we could apply for.  We also went over his CV, Resume, and Personal Statement about a million times to make sure all were perfect, before finally submitting to MANY residencies.  A million dollars later and we were finally done!  Now all we have to do is WAIT for at least 15 interviews.  Why 15?  That is our lucky number to (kind-of) guarantee we Match somewhere (note my match day countdown on the top right side of our blog).

We took some breaks from the computer every once in a while and licked some beaters.

I love this one.

Talmage fell in love with this perfectly sized chair for him.

Remember how I said we took some walks.  Well, some of us got a lot of rocks in our shoes.

Only had to stop every 10 feet.

It was perfect walking weather.  I know I put three of the exact same pictures in a row below, but I have to laugh at the stroller in the pictures and how it is slowly blowing it's way across the road in the wind.

No stroller yet and then...

On our right

Passing on the left

Remember me mentioning a while back how Talmage loves horses and does a pretty good horse sound? Well, on Doug's (Grandad's) ranch, there were a plethora of horses to see. Still a little too frightened to actually touch them though.