a shout out to MVRRH... and all medical peeps, in general

It is 8:00 and I feel ready for bed.  My whole body is tired and I can honestly say I gave my all today.  I got to work before 8:00 and left at about 6:30.  Working 10+ hour days and getting paid for 8... oh yeah, that is just what we do.

On my way home from work today, despite my fatigue, I was immensely proud of the gang that I work with at Mountain Valley Regional Rehab Hospital.  What a crazy talented, compassionate and fun crew to work with.  There is a reason that our hospital has been named in the top 10% of all inpatient rehab hospitals in the U.S.  -- 4 times the passion, baby!  :)

So, I just wanted to give a shout-out to my awesome colleagues.  And, really, to all medical professionals nation-wide.  Because, we really do give it ALL - blood, sweat and tears... time, energy, and a life outside of work.

So, next time you are sitting in a physician's office and he is 15 min late, it would be great of you to think, "Maybe he isn't late because he is out back eating donuts or on Facebook updating his status.  Maybe he is late because he is patiently answering 5 bajillion questions from concerned family members regarding their mother's health.  And, what a great guy, he will probably answer my 6 bajillion questions once I get sick, too."

Everyone raise your glass... Here's to the people who rejoice in your first steps after suffering a stroke.  Here's to the people who rack their brain to come up with devices and manners in which you can manage simple daily tasks after a devastating amputation.  Here's to the people who will help you toilet when you are unable to stand.  Here's to the people who will teach you to swallow so that you can enjoy the taste of a hamburger, again.  Here's to the people who don't spend holidays with their family because they are spending it with yours in the hospital.  Here's to the people who will stay after work to transform the therapy gym into an olympic arena and conduct "Rehab Olympics" so that, just for a day, you forget that you are sick.

Here's to the people who haven't given up on you, even though you have given up on yourself.

Mountain Valley Rehab team, to you, I raise my glass.

quick-ish catch up

Seeing as it has been several months since I last updated our Blog, I wanted to do a quick catch up post, lest you all think Ry and I lead a boring life.  Seeing as it has been anything but boring the last couple of months, I am just going to hit the 'high' points...

I guess the rest of August wasn't too interesting, because I can't really remember anything that happened after the Grand Canyon visit...

So, moving right along, that brings us to September...

During the beginning of the month, we were visited by Steve and Diane.  It was a wonderful visit, but I think it was far from a vacation for them, as they dedicated their time in AZ to assisting Ryan and I with home modification projects.  I am still in love with my RED front door.  So great!  The other wonderful thing is that they gave us an awesome swing for our front porch!  

Red door love.

Red, of course!

While visiting, we discovered Bin 239, where we went for an early birthday celebration for Ryan.  The food was all around amazing, but the bread pudding was pretty much to die for.  Yum!  

A week or so later, Brian came to visit, taking the opportunity to carelessly travel prior to starting his NEW JOB!  It was a great weekend for him to visit, as it was the Arizona Best Fest -- an awesome event celebrating the centennial birthday of Arizona!  There were different sections devoted to various cultural aspects of the state, including the military, the hispanic population, being environmental friendly and a, uh, beer garden.  Even Wayne Newton performed, which we actually missed, but I heard it was a... memorable performance.  

We also got lost in conversation and ended up hiking amongst the Prescott Dells for hours one day...  love ya, bro!

During another weekend in September, we darted back for the wedding of my cousin Craig to his beautiful wife, Jenna.  It was a fantastic ceremony that was delivered by this pastor-dude that was from some far-off country and had an awesome accent that made his speech/sermon even more amazing.  At one point, I swear he said "childhood obesity" but I don't know what that has to do with getting married, so I guess I heard wrong.  He was absolutely wonderful to listen to and it was altogether a Beautiful wedding!  Welcome to the family, Jenna.  

Finally, in September, we celebrated Ryan's 26th birthday!  We recall that we went back to Bin 239 for another wonderful Bread Pudding dessert, but that is all Ry or I remember about his birthday.  Obviously I made it super-memorable.  Way to go, wifey.  Psh.  Must do better next year...

I love you, Ryan.  :)

Moving on to October...

What a busy, busy month.  It started off with me flying to Boise, Idaho for a Neuro IFRAH (Integrative Functional Rehabilitation and Habilitation....whew) certification course.  I have been SOOOOO super excited about getting certified and it was a crazy, enlightening week where I learned techniques for treating individuals who have suffered a brain injury or stroke.  After 8-9 hours of class for 7 straight days my brain was absolutely Fried, but in a good way.  It has been awesome trying out all of the techniques over these past couple of weeks and seeing such amazing results!  This is good because I go back in just about a week and a half for the second half of the course!

At dinner one night of the week, while I was at this course, this is the fortune I received in my cookie.  Encouraging.  :)

From Boise, I trekked across the country to Maine, where Ryan met up with me and we spent the week with the Allen family, including their newest little addition, Melanie.  What a blessing to be able to spend time with this family and get to know our little niece.  It was a definite perk that Maine is absolutely stunning this time of the year.  

Meeting little Melanie for the first time!  Love her!!

While out on a run!  

On one particularly beautiful fall day, we went apple picking at a local little orchard.  You are encouraged at this particular orchard to try apples while you are picking to make sure that you get the kinds that you like.  We took this one step further and decided that it would be best to try out the apples while they were still attached to the tree... hence, the evolution of "Hard-Core" Apple picking.

Post-apple picking endeavors included the baking of two Grandma Jo-style apple pies, fresh apple sauce, and a butternut squash and apple casserole side dish.  And we still weren't 'appled-out.'

Other Maine Highlights included:

Heading to the L.L. Bean Flagship store.

Mel-Beans and Uncle Ry Ry exploring L.L. Bean

Carving Moose-inspired pumpkins.  But seriously, what other kind of pumpkin would you carve while in Maine?!

Cool as a Moose

Braving the rain to see the Portland Head Light.

And, of course, falling in love with our new little niece.

At the end of the week, we were, of course, reluctant to leave.  But, never the less, our plane delivered us back to Arizona where we got back to a relatively normal life.  

What a joy-filled couple of months!

5 percent of 5 million at one of the 7 natural wonders

We are beginning to really love living in Arizona.  One of the newest reasons... from our front door, it only took us 2 and a half hours to get to the Grand Canyon (thanks Uncle Mike and girls for the AZ guidebook w/ foldout map!).  Because of this, we were able to have a most awesome (much needed) weekend get away.  AND, we finally got to celebrate our one year anniversary!  What better place to do it than in one of God's craziest landscapes!

We arrived at the Grand Canyon at about noon on Saturday, as we got a little bit of a late start because we stayed up super late the night before having dinner and awesome conversation with some of our new Arizona friends.  Even though it was the middle of the afternoon, it was cloudy and so we didn't have to worry about the heat and set out to walk the Rim Trail.

Yay, One Year Anniversary!  And goin' strong... :)

Absolutely Awesome!

Kinda a funny story behind this picture...

While up on the rim we stopped to listen to a Ranger Dude talk about the geology/history of the Grand Canyon.  It was an interesting talk and it is just crazy to think that water was able to carve out such a magnificent canyon.

Another thing the Ranger mentioned, almost as a side note, was that only 5% of the 5 million people who visit the Grand Canyon every year ever venture below the rim.  That seemed just crazy, but as we glanced around at the other visitors, I guess it didn't seem so staggering.  Apparently high heels, dresses, and little dinky flip flops are adequate "hiking" atire.  Ha ha!  At first we were frustrated because there were SO many people present on the Rim Trail.  But then we found it really funny because we only had to venture about 50 feet away from any of the bus stops and we were in complete solitude on the path.  The other thing we marveled at was all the different languages being spoken!  We ventured 2.5 hours via highway to arrive at the Grand Canyon, whereas most of our fellow explorers had traveled numerous hours and over oceans to arrive at the same destination.    

Sunday morning we got up early and headed out on the South Kaibab Trail.  What incredible views!!!

Steep, steep at the beginning/end.

3.5 miles later, at Skeleton Pt, we turned around and began the 3.5 miles UP.  

The view, Dad.  You know what I mean.  

Our recommendation... if you visit the Grand Canyon, hike down past the rim.  And, while your legs will hurt for days afterwards, the views are totally worth it!  I'm going to go limp off to bed, now... :)

What an Awesome weekend!  And what an Awesome first year of marriage!