Thanksgiving in Chicago

This Thanksgiving was spent in Chicago with lots of family and games. Aunt Linda, Uncle Ron, and family came from Indiana to celebrate with us. On Thanksgiving Day we ate tons of turkey and food, played games, and relaxed.
We also did lots of shopping and saw a great 3D musical Christmas lights show.

A couple days later we celebrated Adam's 25th birthday at Famous Dave's and had a great cake that Lisa made.

Big Trouble in Little China

This weekend we had a murder mystery dinner party. It was a Who Hung Woo murder mystery and we had fried rice, mini egg rolls, and miso soup, while trying to figure out who the murderer was. It was one of the least suspicious characters, Ben! Its always the quiet ones, I guess. Well, this was my first murder mystery experience and it was pretty fun!

Annual Dental Halloween Party

It has become tradition that Dave and I hold the annual Dental Halloween party at our place. The main event is the pumpkin carving contest, and the winner is presented with the "Halloween Cup." This year Sharon and Mikah stole the win with their cute cat-pumpkin (third from the left). The very sick pumpkin (in post below) came in a close 2nd though.

This party was the first time I havent been busy with school so I celebrated by going crazy with the Martha Stuart type Halloween goodies!

Little Katy was not at our Dental party but she did just have a little 1 yr old part of her own and I just had to post this pic cuz its adorable!

Toilet Humor

(Soap Box Derby down the street from our house.)

I used to think of Seattle as a clean city, full of environmentalists. Apparently, the streets CAN get pretty slummy and scuzzy though. In some areas I have even caught peolpe disposing of their sewage on the streets...check it out. I caught it on video.

Last night our Halloween party got pretty wild. One of the pumpkins had a little too much root beer.

Summer's End

Dave and I have been so busy lately there is no way I could cover all of our many activities but I thought I would share some pictures from a few. We got a chance to go camping with some of the dental students at Mount Ranier followed by a day hike all the way up to the snow. When we arrived at the camp site we pulled out the tent we had borrowed and realized that we were missing the main connecting pieces that actually hold the metal poles together! So ever resourceful Dave got a hold of some rope and made a makeshift tent-we were all very impressed.

It was a while back but we also got a chance to hang out with Mike here in Seattle. We introduced him to our great feathered friend-Red.

So most recently, this weekend we had a GREAT time with Chris and Linda seeing Lonestar Love at the Fifth Ave and eating all you can eat shrimp at the Red Lobster. One weekend can't get much better! No pics though-sorry!

Family, Fondue, and a Candyland Driveway

I had so much fun with the fam over Labor Day weekend! My parents are awesome hosts and always up for fun and games! It was a blast. Dave got some bonding time with Benny, to help him remember that someday we'll be getting a golden retriever :). We are so happy that Adam and Lisa are now living in Chicago, which means we get to see them more often! It was great getting to spend time with cute little Jared!

We had all kinds of great Chicago food including Portillos, Chicago Pizza, and even some fondue! Usually the fondue is a New Years Eve tradition but we couldn't wait.

However, the funniest part of this visit was that my parents now have a fresh, pink driveway. The concrete contractor who charged an arm and a leg managed to do a poor job pouring, the driveway cracked, then he tried to cover it up with pink sealant. While applying the pink sealant he managed to spray it on the front porch and siding of the house.- All without my parents' consent. Can you say lawsuit?? Fortunately the two Mexican contractors agreed to discuss the matter outside of court at my parents house on Mon morning. Dave acted as a secret spanish speaking spy to catch any of their side conversations. So they ended up agreeing to redo the driveway this week, but until then my parents get to suffer under the gawking of the neighbors, and laughter from their friends because they have a PINK splotchy, candyland driveway!

The Toothfairy is my Homegirl

(Dr. Park on right)

At the dental office, where I work, we see very few children. I actually haven't seen any children since I started. However, this week was a rare occasion because we were seeing a little boy about the age of 7. The other full time hygienist, Janelle, was excited to see a child because she had just bought these adorable little pillows that have tiny pockets that are supposed to hold a tooth for the toothfairy. The boy is quite active and a little anxious but the appointment starts out great- Janelle takes x-rays and polishes his teeth, all the while keeping him happy and entertained by showing him the pillow he will get at the end of the appointment. Then, Dr. Park comes to do the exam and discovers that he needs a tooth pulled. The child is now more anxious, but is very well behaved for the extraction because he is so excited to get the tooth to put in his pillow. However, as the Dr. goes to wash off the tooth it falls down the drain. The little kid is now screaming and crying uncontrollably and saying that he wants his tooth to put in his pillow. Janelle and the doctor are now giving each other frantic looks and the doctor, thinking fast, tells the kid that he and the toothfairy are best buds and that, at this office, we have a shoot that delivers the teeth directly to the toothfairy. They both assure him that he will still get his money, and this seems to do the trick. He leaves the office still sniffling a little but satisfied, and as he walks out the whole staff seems to let out a sigh of relief in unison. At this moment, I knew that choosing the downtown office position over the pedo restorative office position was the right decision!!

(Janelle RDH (above) and Shauna the assistant)

These are pics of Janelle and I completing our first fillings on a patient outside of school. Shauna, the dental assistant, was a great patient and a good sport!

If you want to see more pics, etc., of my office check out www.4thandmadisondental.com

Office Party

This weekend we got together with a bunch of our friends who also enjoy the TV series "The Office." We had nothing better to do so we decided to watch a marathon of Office episodes, and have a whole "Office" party. So we went over to their duplex for dinner and a night of hilarity. For those of you who are "Office" fans you are fully aware that the whole point of the series is to laugh non-stop at the random office personalities, so we went all out in the celebration of the craziness that is the "Office."

We even got (from left to right in picture) Stanley, Karen, Angela, Michael, Pam, and Dwight to make guest appearances. They look so nerdy dont they?

Super Dave!

This weekend was Dave's "White Coat Ceremony" where he was officially given the proper attire and recognition as being a clinical Doctor. For the next two years he will mainly be treating patients in the clinic. I am so proud of him for getting this far. He has reached a great milestone, and also our 3rd yr. anniversary is this Sat, so this blog is dedicated to him. He has endured the past two years of dental school with a calmness and stress free dignity that is almost inhuman at times...hence the title.

The past two weeks he has been very busy with school, but he still always reserves time for us to have fun together. The past two weeks we have done a lot of biking to the beach, parks, and a field of blackberries.
Now, I dont want to get too mushy but since a lot of you had some role in Dave's upbringing and early life- I have to say a big thanks to those female family members ;) - he got me some beautiful flowers this week and is a thoughtful gift giver to just say "I love you." I'm so lucky to be with him and its been a great 3 yrs!

Work Hard Play Hard

THE WORK



So, over the past few days we have actually done much more than re-stuffing a love sak and gardening. (That's right; we do try to be productive at times.) Now, that we have a mini home we decided to spruce it up by installing some custom draperies. (courtesy of my mother- a true interior decorating professional. She did a good job w/the matching pillows too.) To those of you who noticed the cutains draped on the couch in the previous love sak pic, I'm sorry to break the news that we're not THAT wierd- it was only temporary. Meanwhile, Dave went to work building some shelves for our coat closet/game storage/pantry. He's a true handy man eh?


THE PLAY


After all that exhausting work ( I do have a full time job too people!) it was time to play! So, the Stevens Jr.'s invited the Stevens Sr.'s over for some Ballard festivities. We stuffed our faces with crab patties, shrimp melts, and jambalaya at the Ballard Seafood Festival. No pics though- Linda is holding them hostage. :) Then we headed over to the biggest parade in Seattle, the Torch Light Parade. It was pretty impressive. I have to say I LOVE Seattle. There is always something to do, and people to see. It's great when the people to see are as fun as Chris and Linda too!

BLOGGING!!

I have decided to start a blog upon much pressure from family! I have actually really enjoyed others' blog sites and hope this inspires more family member to blog and keep in touch. (...mom (cough..cough) I hate keeping a journal and am horrible at email so this may be a good cover all and fun too. Here are some before and after pics of my precious garden :) (Thanks for all the help mom!)

You may not be able to tell from the pic, but the tomato plant is a HUGE MUTANT! It has grown uncontrollably and is now the size of a small tree. It is literally the size of a small tree right next to it, in fact.

Love Sac Baby!

So Dave has had this recent OBSESSION with getting a love sac. (Those over priced $700-$800 cushy bean bag things that are supposed to be the equivalent of real furniture.) I was really against it, but could hardly say a complete no because this is the first relatively expensive thing in our whole marriage that he has wanted to get. (This has been ongoing the past 2-3 months) So we decided that he would have to find a cheap used one, it couldnt be a clashing color of red, yellow, etc., and it had to be with a brand new cover or at least very pristeen and like new (we could wash it too). However, they are SOO popular that you can't buy ANY used ones on ebay craigslist, anywhere for under $200 for the rattiest ones. We went to a garage sale where they sold a really old, used one at $250. So Dave wanted to go check one out that looked like a really good deal because it was posted to be sold at a garage sale for $200 but it was actually really nice and pretty new. So when we arrived it looked great but when we opened it we discovered that someone had opened the zipper of the inner bag and the little foam shavings were completely loose and everywhere. The seller felt so embarrased that he gave it to us for $50!! So we made a 20 min. project of re-stuffing the foam into the inner bag and it was really pretty new and intact but we washed the cover twice to be completely sure and it has actually been pretty fun. ( the foamies were air-borne and made us sneeze too much so we put on protective gear!)