I Love the Fall!

OK, so once again I'm attempting to resurrect my blog. So much has happened over the summer, so I'm glad to finally be settling into normal life again with a regular schedule. After pretty much hating the way my job was going, I got the chance to talk about things with my bosses at my yearly evaluation in July. I tried to explain to them how being in charge of all of the hospital and home health scheduling/contacts and trying to keep a normal clinic schedule was too much for one person to handle. After much discussion, they decided to switch things up a bit. Now I spend my mornings in the outpatient clinic seeing patients. Then, in the afternoon, I go out to people's homes to see them for therapy. I am now only in charge of the home health aspect of our clinic, so my overall stress level is much more managable. The catch is that every six months there will be a switch among the therapists that I have deemed to "sit at the little kid's table" if you know what I mean :) So, in six months I will either switch back to the schedule I had before, or I will spend half day in one outpatient clinic and another half day in our other outpatient clinic. Still not exactly what I had in mind for my dream job, but at least I don't feel so stressed out and run down.

The summer was full of trips and visitors. In June Raoul and I went to San Diego for a 5 day vacation. We got to catch up with Erika and Matt and enjoy the sites. It was great to catch up with friends. . .and it left Erika and I wondering how Matt and Raoul were never really friends in college because they have an astonishing number of similar interests :) Over the 4th of July weekend we flew to KC to see family and friends. Raoul and I also drove out to Hays to visit my Grandma in her new home and shot off fireworks with my little cousins. It was a trip that was way to short, but fun nonetheless. At the end of July my parents came out for a visit and we finally got to take advantage of the amazing rivers in the area. We went whitewater rafting in Riggins, ID for a day and drove up to show them the Seven Devils Mountains lookout. They also got to meet Nelson--they've met all three of their granddogs now :) In August and September I worked several weekends and Raoul was busy preparing for his preliminary exams. We did take a weekend to see our friends Chet and Adrienne get married up north of Spokane and have a date night in the "big city".

Raoul studied very hard for his exams, and after a very stressful summer came out in one piece having passed all four exams. I am extremely proud of him and all of his hard work! Now he gets to experience a "normal" semester without crazy cramming, but he's trying to work things through to be able to propose his dissertation topic early next semester. A couple of weeks ago we went to Seattle to celebrate Raoul's success, Matt's birthday, and Doug and Dave coming into town. It was fun to catch up with people we hadn't seen in awhile, and good to get away for a couple of days.

This month is Physical Therapy month, so Nelson and I get to participate in a walk on Saturday to raise money for a free clinic in the area. Raoul and I will also be working with our church's mission team to build a wheelchair ramp Saturday too. . .can't you just see me with a power drill? :) Plus Sunday is Raoul's 29th birthday--don't forget to wish him a happy birthday!!!!