Aaron's 29th Birthday!

As of March 4th, Aaron is officially in his last year as a 20-something!

Aaron and his resident buddies, Nate and Vanessa, all have spring birthdays, so we celebrated their special days with a picnic at our neighborhood park.


It was a beautiful, beautiful day. The first spring day of the year, I think. So we soaked in the sunshine and played bocce ball and ladder toss.

We also ate lots of yummy food and barely made a dent in this ginormous Costco cake.


Hooray for the birthday boy! I think Aaron gets more handsome every year. Look at that face!


I'm so glad he was born :)

2011: Looking Backward, Looking Forward

From long nights at the hospital to quiet hours at home, 2011 was about finding balance. The first half of the year was marked by long work hours, repetitive tasks, fatigue, and power naps. In the second half of the year we found more time for rest and recreation.

In 2012 we will continue to pursue a balance between industriousness and restfulness. We are utilizing Michael Hyatt's "Creating Your Life Plan" as a guide for prioritizing activities, setting goals, and creating action plans. We are also scheduling weekly and quarterly time for reflection and relaxation. We hope that 2012 will be a year in which we grow in discipline, maturity, and graciousness.

As we look forward to 2012, here is a look back at our favorite memories from 2011.

1. We celebrated our second anniversary with a road trip down California's coast and a visit to Hearst Castle.


2. Aaron completed his internship and entered his second of four years of residency. He also passed his third and final medical licensing exam and filed for his California medial license. Despite these achievements, the highlight of Aaron's professional year was participating in Novembeard with his co-resident, Nate.


3. Tammy advanced to doctoral candidate and started working on her dissertation. She also taught an upper division communications course -- Communication and American Culture -- during the fall semester at California State University, Sacramento.


4. We vacationed in southern California in April and spent time in Palm Springs with the Powells/Polleys and in Big Bear with the Jacksons.


5. We went white water rafting on the American River, bowling in Elk Grove, and ran the Sacramento Run to Feed the Hungry with friends from Aaron's work.

6. Tammy witnessed our nephew Hayden's first communion. She was a very proud godmother that day.


7. Our road bikes were stolen from our garage, which was a bummer; however, we were able to buy new and improved bikes with insurance money!


8. Family and friends from southern California came to visit, including: our moms and dads, Rachell Buell, Leith and Pati States, Kurt and Katie Duggleby, Cindy Barbee, and Jenny Ryan. We don't have pictures from each visit, but here is Aaron and his best bud from medical school, Leith.


9. We went skiing together for the first time, joined by our brother, Charlie, and our nephews, Hayden and Preston.


10. We attended three weddings -- Devin and Michelle Quirk, Aaron and Stephanie Sramek and Vikram and Michelle Jadhav.


11. We developed deeper relationships with our Sacramento friends. We are blessed to have great community here.


It was a great year and we're looking forward to making more memories in 2012. Cheers to the New Year, Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and our very best to you this season!

Turkey Trots

On Thanksgiving morning Aaron and I joined some of Aaron's coworkers from the UC Davis Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department to run the 18th annual Run to Feed the Hungry, which benefited the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services. There were over 27,000 participants bundled up in headbands and water-proof jackets, ready to run in the rain to earn their calorie-rich Thanksgiving feast! Here are a few pictures from the day:

Aaron & me in the team tent before the race.

Aaron and the other second-year residents, Vanessa and Nate. They're the three best work friends that anyone could have.

The Kilmer Crew: PM&R employees and their family members who ran in memory of the former department chair, the late David Kilmer. Though Aaron and I never had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Kilmer, we are thankful for the mark he left on the department.

The weekend before Thanksgiving I ran the Davis Turkey Trot with my running buddies -- Lesley, Sharon, Anna, and a new pal, Alice. After the race we ate brunch at Cafe Bernardo in downtown Davis and we were joined by Nate's wife, Kira. We had a great time!

Some Fall Highlights:

Bike rides in the rain. This one was accompanied by a full rainbow!


Trick-or-treating with our nephews, Hayden, Preston, and Landon. (Aaron couldn't make it, but when he saw this picture he asked, "Is Landon the San Diego chicken?" He wasn't familiar with Pablo the Penguin from Backyardigans. I thought his theory was pretty clever considering the other boys were dressed as athletes from San Diego sports teams.)


Neighbor girls raking our leaves, for free! They finished off their gardening job by sprinkling camellia pedals on our door step. A little odd, but really cute.


Incredible leaves, everywhere! This is one of my favorite views, but there are so many beautiful spots this time of year.


Cousin time with Kai and Kenai Mauga. I let their dog, Harley, out of the house on accident and Kai, Jason, and I had to chase him around the neighborhood for a good 20 minutes. Oops.


Napa mini-vacation at the Bear Flag Inn and dinner at Tra Vigne.

Whitewater Rafting!

Aaron's department organized a whitewater rafting trip this past weekend through UC Davis Outdoor Adventures.

We met at Camp Lotus at 10am on Saturday morning and rafted down the American River to the Folsom Lake inlet. We shared a raft with Aaron's fellow-resident and good buddy, Vanessa; her boyfriend Chad; and Peter, an attending in the PM&R Department.

Getting the raft ready for launch

Heading out on the river

In an eddy waiting for another raft

Stuck on a rock. It took a good minute or two to get off

Splash war with the other PM&R raft

Loading the retro bus for a shuttle ride back to Camp Lotus

2nd Anniversary Road Trip

Our 2nd anniversary was June 27th, but I've been slammed with work so I haven't had a chance to post anything about how we celebrated.

On June 25th we embarked on a road trip down California's central coast. Here's our anniversary trip in pictures:

We left Sacramento on a Sunday morning, drove west until we reached the coast in Monterey, and the headed south. The view from our car just south of Carmel.

A bunch of old woodies gathered outside a restaurant on highway 1.

We reached our campsite for the first night -- Kirk Creek Campground. Best camping ever. Really though. It's the only campground west of the 1 on the central coast and ever campsite has a panoramic ocean view! Here's Aaron at the beginning of a short trail from the campground to the ocean, wearing his new shirt from my brother, Charlie.

The view from the top of the trail.

Walking through wildflowers to get to the ocean.

I made Aaron sit for a portrait :)

We made it. Beautiful.

Aaron :)

Me.

Us.

The sunset.

Our campsite in the morning. If you look closely you can see all the tents in the background. After taking this photo and exploring another trail that didn't lead to the ocean, we headed out for Hearst Castle.

We stopped to see the sea lions in San Simeon. This lady knew everything about these creatures!

We made it to Hearst Castle. Here's me at the pool.

One of many beautiful outdoor fountains and staircases.

The view from the veranda.

After spending the night at Hearst Castle, we drove to Santa Barbara and spend a night at the Oceana -- a cute, cozy hotel within walking distance of the marina. Some highlights included: playing three games of short-court 1 on 1 volleyball (Aaron won, darn) on the beach just outside our hotel; renting beach cruisers and biking along the coast; dinner at a casual restaurant the marina. We had a great time :)