Worst bloggers ever

Life has been crazy since Easter I guess, since that's the last time I updated our blog! That's really not a good excuse, but luckily we have great friends who are more on top of things than we are, so I'm going to cross-reference a few other blogs in this entry. Since April A LOT has happened!

First, in April I ran my first half marathon and Ricardo ran his first marathon. Ricardo ran the race with my dad and I ran with our good friends Carrie and Andrew and Sam. We had a really great time! There's something about running in the race atmosphere that's just so fun. Ricardo couldn't quite catch my dad (he's speedy!), but he is more motivated now to run again FASTER and I may be running another half with some friends from PA school in November! See Carrie's blog for pictures of the race! P.S. Carrie and Andrew will always be our favorite running partners. We miss them!

http://http//thetoolsons.blogspot.com/2010/04/we-did-it.html

The next weekend, the rest of my family came out to see me graduate from BYU! I finished classes in December so I thought the whole cap and gown thing would be kind of anti-climactic, but I was wrong. It was great. I was able to attend the general commencement ceremony with my good friend Lindsey (http://http//lindseyandnicholas.blogspot.com/2010/05/exciting-times.html) and we were able to hear Elder D. Todd Christofferson speak. It was really cool. I will definitely miss the wonderful speakers and opportunties I had while at BYU. It really is an amazing place! We had so much fun celebrating graduation and my friend Ashley's mom was so sweet to throw a graduation party for me and Ashley and Lane. Ashley and I have been friends since freshman year and Lane was quickly added to the group when they started dating the next year. We had so many fun times together, so it was really fun to have this last Provo hurrah.

Yay for being done!!

The whole family after graduation.

Receiving my diploma.

After graduation we started packing for our big move! Ricardo finished up his semester at the U and took the DAT! We did well, but still wants to take it again in August, so he's been studying for it in his free time. He has officially turned in his application to dental school, so now the waiting game begins. Wish us luck! :) When we left Utah in May it was STILL cold, so we were even happier to be returning home. Lindsey came to see us off right before we moved, which was so sweet and fun for us. See her blog for the dramatic goodbye scene. http://http//lindseyandnicholas.blogspot.com/2010/05/sunshine-state.html

Our cross-country drive was a lot of fun, although we don't have the pictures to prove it! We didn't really have much time to stop along the way because we needed to get down to Ft Lauderdale and find a place to live ASAP, so we made the drive in 3.5 days. We were able to stay with Ricardo's aunt in Colorado and Carrie's parents in Kansas, so that made the trip really nice. They were all incredibly hospitable and we had fun hanging out with them! On the last day of our trip we had breakfast in Atlanta with Ricardo's good friend Blake, who is now starting pharmacy school there, so that was fun too!

Us at our Southern breakfast stop. Yummy!

And NOW...we are officially living in Florida!! We were able to spend a few days with our families before we moved down to Ft Lauderdale and we really enjoyed that. We are excited to have them all so close! We were so blessed to quickly find an apartment that we liked and we moved in the day before I started school. My sweet parents and sister came on Memorial Day and helped us unload our stuff. We live approximately 10 minutes from Ft. Lauderdale's beautiful beach (not that we've gone there yet, since we have been swamped with school and work, but one day...:) ) and we LOVE it! South Florida is definitely its own litle country and we are more than happy to be a part of it. It is a really fun place to live and we welcome visitors of any kind. :)

Me in our new kitchen.

Ricardo taking a nap on our new couch.

School has been going well for me. It's A LOT, but it's fascinating and I love it. It's so fun to actually learn practical things! They pretty much throw you into the fire and we have already begun doing all kinds of physical exams. Ricardo has been a very good patient and lets me practice on him every day. It's been nice to have a built-in practice partner. Besides being my guinea pig, he has been working very hard at American Van Lines, a moving company based in Ft. Lauderdale, and has quickly become one of their top salesmen.

Our daily uniforms.

This past Friday was my white coat ceremony, which was fun. My dad drove down to see it, which was incredibly kind of him, and Ricardo's dad was also able to make it. Ricardo's brother Joao and his wife Whitney (and cute baby Joao) were also able to come, which was really fun. We left our camera in the car (of course), so Whitney has pictures of the occasion. I will be sure to post them when I get them from her.

We hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their summer!!