Job Interviews, a Birthday and Halloween... so much happening.

So much has happened since my last post in mid-August when we were deep in the trenches of potty training. He's now a pro with only a few accidents. They still happen, but he has gotten so much better. 

Let's see... in late August Nate submitted his resume to a few places, just to see what would happen. He agonized a little over the details of the resume... until he finally just threw it out there to see what would happen. It is our blessing, and everyone else's curse, that the world is in desperate need of psychiatrists. Within a week of submitting his resume he was on the phone with recruiters and doctors planning interview visits. It all happened so fast. Faster than we expected. 

In mid September we flew to Flagstaff, Arizona for Nate's interview with Flagstaff Medical Center. I LOVE Arizona. I think of Neil Young's song Helpless... when singing about a town in north Ontario, he says, "And in my mind I still need a place to go, All my changes were there". Friends, my heart aches for Arizona. I loved our visit... and Flagstaff is so beautiful... and the other psychiatrists were very cool. For a while we thought we would go there... and I was sad when I thought we might not go there... 

Then at the beginning of October we traveled to Utah. Nate had 4 interviews in 10 days. It was such a busy busy trip. 3 interviews were with InterMountain and the 4th was in Spokane, Wa. That is right. He flew to Spokane for 2 days. Also, In those 10 days, we also took a side trip to Idaho to see my grandparents and dad. I am really glad we did. It was a good experience for me. I am not sure how much longer my grandparents will be with us, and I really enjoyed their company. In the past I never paid attention to how funny my grandma is. She is. She has a great sense of humor. She is suffering from dementia, so every time Nate walked into the room and she looked confused, I introduced him. I said, "Grandma, this is my husband Nate". One time she replied, "I can tell. He does all the work". 

So.... drum roll.... where are we going to be next year? After weighing out our options and making it a matter of prayer, we decided on Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, Utah. HA! We didn't even consider Provo as a place that we wanted to live. When Nate was talking to the Northern Utah recruiter for Inter-Montain he was asked if he wanted to talk to the recruiter over Provo. He said he would, but he didn't have any real interest. Then after getting off the phone with Scott, the Provo guy, he was disappointed that the job sounded so good. All of the places that we interviewed were good, and would be great options... but we felt the best about Utah Valley Regional. Who would of thought? Certainly not us. 

So the decision has been made, and it is still October. We have 8 more months in Omaha. I try not to think about the future, because I want to be as happy as I can while we are here. I love so much about Omaha. As you drive over the Nebraska state line there is a sign that says, "Nebraska. It's the Good Life!" ... and it really is. If it only had mountains and family, I think we would stay.

Who can resist a toddler in whitey tighties 

An incredibly fun August play group at Stinson Park.

Little N's art work. All of the psychiatry residents. You can't really see it in this photo, but Nate is the ONLY one not smiling. When I teased him about it, he insisted that he was smiling. 

That is right! This is the University of Nebraska stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. They squeezed 90,000 people into that stadium. On game day this stadium is the 3rd largest city in the state. So overwhelming... I don't know or care about football.. and that isn't going to change, but this game was an EXPERIENCE. It was something to remember. 90,000 screaming fans... it is so much energy and excitement... and even though we were wearing blue, everyone was so nice. That is right, for the first time in Nate's life he cheered for the Cougs. I wonder if this game was an omen that he would later accept a job in Cougar-town. 

It was a good day to be a Coug. With only a few seconds left they won the game with a Hail Mary. The other cougs were ecstatic. And for Nate and I, we were too. Like I said, I don't care about football... and Nate is NOT a BYU fan.... but you can't describe in words how exciting the game was. 

A HOAA playdate at an apple orchard. 

picking apples with his friends. A gorgeous September day. 

Commemorating September 11th on September 12th. Omaha puts up this memorial every year. This time I was able to explain to Nathan that each flag represents a person who died on that sad day. He still brings it up. Usually saying something like, "All those flags. For people that live with Heavenly Father. Some mean people killed them and now they live with Heavenly Father. It was a sad day". It was a sad day... and now. I don't have words. I am grateful for this memorial that gave me a place and a way to explain Sept 11th to my toddler... and allowed my heart to take a moment to remember and respectfully mourn the lives that were lost. 

In Flagstaff little N and I visited BEARZONA while Nate interviewed. 

Saturday after his interview, we went to Picking in the Pines. A Flagstaff bluegrass music festival. Tickets were courtesy of the hospital. 

Little N enjoying some bluegrass

Enjoying the cool mountain air at dusk, with Ponderosa Pine trees, a full moon rising and bluegrass music. 

Sunday morning session at General Conf. It was a good experience. We heard 3 new apostles speak for their first time as apostles.  

His first birthday, with family in Utah. He was so excited as his uncles, aunts and cousins sang to him. He was quietly laughing a nervous excited laugh the whole time. 

Spending so much time in hotels, with a toddler, I have learned a few things. When there is a free breakfast I take a few slices of bread, fruit and peanut butter and honey packets for lunch later. During Nate's Provo interview we walked up Rock Canyon for a picnic. I think Rock Canyon is beautiful, and so accessible. We probably will have a few more picnics in this canyon over the next few years. 

(From left to right) My dad, Randy Ellis, my grandpa, Merthen Glenn Ellis age 90, my grandma, Vonnie Ellis, me and then my boy.  4 generations. 

Nate reminiscing Granite High in SLC... his alma mater. He didn't realize I was taking this photo. He kept telling me that we needed to walk around Granite and tell me stories and cry. We finally were able to do that our last day in SLC. We are not sure it will be there next time we are in Utah. A sad sad thing for Nate. He loved his high school.   

telling me about the time that Olympus painted their schools chunk of rock... of Granite. So Nate and his friends decided to get revenge by burning a big G on their football field... He said it was dark  and they couldn't really tell what they were doing. Anyways, later when they asked Olympus students about it they said, "Oh ya... we saw something around the 30 yard line... We couldn't tell what it was. It looked like a sloppy O". 

The Science BVILDING

Another good-bye Utah photo with Nate's parents. Someone in this picture forgot to wear pants... and someone else forgot to change out of their pyjamas. So...further evidence that those near the end of life, and those at the beginning, have a lot in common.

Omaha zoo

The little guy was obsessed with building stairs for a few days. 

He loves running up and down the small grass hill after church... collecting sticks and pine cones. It's his thing. Both our cars are filled with his findings. 

Hanging out with his buddy in a hollowed out log at Fontenelle Forest. 

leading some friends in his game of "running with sticks". I am sure it is totally safe. 

His cute friend. They have lots of fun together. 

still enjoying the IKEA train set we got him when he turned 2. 

It was a 1st b-day for this little girl's brother. The birthday boy wasn't interested in his smash cake... So little N and big sister took care of it for him.

Birthday morning... He loves his horse & legos. Luckily Nate likes legos too, because that is all this kid wants to do. I purposely take him out of the house for activities so I don't have to play with legos all day... because that is what he would rather do.

Little N's birthday party. We blew out candles at the beginning of the month with family in Utah. He was convinced that he turned 3. So, after this birthday party on his real birthday, he asked, "Now how many did I turn?" Anyways, the birthday party worked. It was fun. I really just wanted my boy to be able to celebrate with his friends. He has lots of friends and he loves them all. They are all really nice kids, and I like their moms, so lucky me.

I found these animal masks. They are really cool... and the kids looked so cute in them.

My friend Janna made this cake for his party. We saved the cake, and served the kiddos cup cakes.. Then we blew out candles again that night after dinner. Because he had been to the first birthday parties for two of his friends, he started to dig into the cake with his fingers. I had to explain to him that when babies turn 1 they eat cake with their fingers, but 3 year olds are old enough to use a fork. Then I showed him pictures of his smash cake on his first birthday. 

A princess and a pirate. The feminine and the masculine... 

Papillion's downtown trick-or-treat story time. We brought this cute princess with us. She was SO EXCITED! As you can tell.