Missouri and Med School

We have settled into our new lives here in Kirksville, MO as a med school family and I thought I'd quickly share what we've been up to and how our days go down around here. Mainly so I can look back on this later and remember the good ol' days. Brent left Meridian on June 27th in a moving truck and caravanned with his family who decided to take a church history trip back east. They were great enough to plan around our move so that they could drive Brent out and help us move in! I flew out with the kids and my parents on July 8th. It was amazing because I was able to walk into our new place where the boxes were already unpacked and our rooms were put together. So much less stress for me. So thank you Lambsons! It also worked out perfectly because we had a lot of family here to attend Brent's white coat ceremony on July 12th. The white coat ceremony was a really neat experience. All of Brent's class introduced themselves one by one, walked across the stage, and the dean of the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine helped them put on their first white coats, signifying the beginning of their medical journey. They officially became student doctors. It was surprisingly emotional for me. For all five years of our marriage, we have worked together to get to this point. It's been a lot of hard work, uncertainty, and sacrifice but now here we are. I was just filled with so much pride in Brent and gratitude to our Heavenly Father for bringing us here. It has also become crystal clear in the past couple months that we are exactly where we are supposed to be; here at ATSU in Kirksville. I can't imagine any other school being such a perfect experience for our family. But I'll get into that later.

Our new place is super close to the school. Like less than a five minute walk. It works out perfectly: Brent can ride his bike to school in less time than it would take to find a parking spot and walk in to class. That leaves me and the kids with the car all day to get out, go to playgroups, and explore Kirksville. It's also great because the school is connected to the hospital, which means Trooper gets to hear lots of "woo-ees" (ambulances) and "hopters" (helicopters) go by each day. Somedays, we even happen to be on a walk around the school at just the right time and we get to watch the helicopter land. The close proximity to the school is also a plus because it's so easy for Brent to pop home for lunch, which gives us an extra 30 minutes a day with him that we wouldn't otherwise have. Here are some pictures of our place on Sundown Drive.

See how there's a perfect little nook in our bedroom for Navy? Love it!

Trooper's room in huge. You're only seeing about half of it. Definitely room for Navy in there once they're on a similar sleeping schedule.

Extra bedroom/study room/storage room.

I'm actually super excited because I have some decoration overhauls planned for the next few months. I'll be sure to post "after" pictures.

Our street is secluded with little to no traffic. Plus we live at the very end (practically in the forest) so it feels very safe to take Trooper out to play. You don't really play in the grass in Kirksville because there are so many crickets. It's gross. Actually we've seen a lot of crazy bugs here. I kindof greatly dislike it. The fireflies are neat though. Here are a few of the bugs we've seen.

Ok so this one is kindof cool. A Luna Moth.

And then this was the scariest moment of my life. A house centipede. Way worse than the cockroaches in Hawaii! I could handle those. But I really can't handle this. Good thing I saw this at night when Brent was home to take care of it. Otherwise I would've just evacuated the kids and I and burned the place down. Or, at the very least, called it an emergency and called Brent out of class. Ok this caption is too long.

Kindof cool.

Definitely not cool. And this was the nicest picture I could find, because I couldn't even get myself to look at the more accurate pictures. 

Because we live next to the forest we've seen a few deer in our yard. Trooper has affectionately named them all Bruce and we love to watch them from our windows. We also have a woodchuck or something that likes to hang around our house.

Right out our front door.

Life in Kirksville has been pretty great from the very start. Brent's school pays for a family pass to the local aquatic center which has an awesome little outdoor waterpark.

And there are a ton of fun parks around the town.

And the best thing about Kirksville? We have already made so many awesome friends! There are a lot, A LOT of other med/dental families here and A LOT of opportunities to get together and get to know everyone. So many little friends for Trooper and Navy, and they all have awesome parents. The school has a club called the Student Advocate Association and it's specifically for the significant others of all the students. As a part of the SAA, I have been able to jump into life here, learn so much about Kirksville, and meet all the other awesome wives. We actually found our townhome through posts on the SAA facebook page. And the best pediatrician for the kids. And orthopedic surgeon for Brent's knee (oh yeah, because he tore his ACL and meniscus playing intramural basketball). The SAA also taught me where to find the best deals around town, organizes playgroups at least twice a week, has a daily exercise group where moms can trade off babysitting to work out at the gym and attend fitness classes (because the school allows all families free access to their fitness facility), and organizes a night out for us at about twice a week. Once the kids are in bed, Brent studies at home and I head off to cooking club or game night or project night or craft 'n chat or information panels to learn about what's in store for us in the next 4-10 years. As you can imagine, with all of these socializing opportunities (and I haven't even mentioned book club or sofa talk or the socials) it has been super easy to make a bunch of friends, avoid loneliness, and stay busy. And church always helps with that too.

Besides just the SAA, Brent's school really takes extra measures to make sure the families of students are happy throughout this challenging phase of life. During orientation, all of the administration made it a point to tell students to take time with their families. The entire campus and staff are very kid friendly. Once a month, the school holds a "Parent's Night Out" where they have a great sorority of girls from the local state college come to babysit all the kids and parents have four hours to be kid free and go on a date. I mean, what school does that? A graduate school especially? I'm just amazed. And grateful for so many reasons to be here at ATSU in Kirksville.

It's also been neat to live so close to Nauvoo. We are actually in the Nauvoo stake and attend the Nauvoo temple. We've made it there twice in the past few months. It's a two hour drive so it's definitely an all day trip if you throw in a temple session (especially because you need to go with another couple, so you can kid swap while each of you goes to sessions one after the other.) The temple arrival center next to the temple is a beautiful building (feels like a temple itself) that is all set up for people like us who bring kids that will need to be entertained there for at least 4 hours. There is a closet full of toys, a dresser full of games and paper and crayons, a cute little table with cute little chairs, a tv with disney movies, and then a diaper changing room stocked with diapers and wipes, and a mother's room with a crib and blankets and a glider to sit in and nurse. And of course a fridge to hold food and snacks if need be. And on top of all that, it's staffed with cute couple missionaries who love kids and immediately adopt yours as temporary grandchildren. It's really such a blessing to be able to attend the temple and not stress about your kids even though we have to travel to get there. And Nauvoo is just beautiful.

Making the "Lambson Family Rope"

Troop loves it. He says "I need the family rope!"

Okay so here is what our days look like. Navy wakes us all up around 7am (sometimes Brent has already been awake for who knows how long, studying). We eat breakfast and Brent heads off to 8am class. The kids and I play at home or go to playgroup and meet Brent at home for lunch at noon. Then he heads back to the school for another class or anatomy lab or just to study. He comes home around 6pm for dinner. Then we have family time with Brent. We put Troop in bed together at 8pm then Brent goes upstairs to study (sometimes with Navy in his arms if she's still awake) while I either go to the gym or to one of the activities I mentioned above. Then I come home and watch a Hallmark movie on tv while Brent studies away. Then we usually go to bed about 11. Every day is like this. Even Saturdays. Sometimes, if Brent doesn't have a test the next week, Brent will usually take a couple more hours on a weekend evening for us to have a game night or watch a movie together. And thank goodness for Sundays. Sundays are a no study day, which we all really need. Brent doesn't have to worry about anything and we have a whole day together as a family. Block weeks (the week before a Monday test) happen about every three weeks and they are "buckle down and study" weeks. No extra time on weekends and sometimes my gym time has to be sacrificed so that Brent can head back to the school and study right after dinner. But block Mondays are the best (maybe not for Brent  :{ ) They are test day. Brent's test starts at 8am and are usually over by 10 or 11. Then he has the day off! All his classes have completed a section so there is nothing to study until it starts all over the next day. It's like an actual Saturday! This is usually when we go to Nauvoo. Or I can get his help with things around the house that have been waiting for three weeks. All in all, this schedule hasn't been too difficult on me. I actually see Brent more than I thought I would. I think it helps that we came from two years of him having an 8am-6pm job. It's the same as that except I'm watching tv at night by myself instead of spending time with him. So that's why we did decide to invest in DirecTV; for my sanity. And I like tv, not as much as I like Brent, but I'm happy to just sit down and not think at the end of the day. And Brent likes that I'm happily occupied so he doesn't have to worry about me while he's studying.

So that's our life right now. Year 2 will be very similar to year 1. And then everything will change in years 3 and 4 and beyond. But we won't think about that right now. Anyways, life is great. Brent loves school and learning about things that he's actually interested in. And I'm grateful for a student who does put his family first; for the time that he specifically sets aside to be a husband and a father. Some of the single students in his class have asked how he has time for it all because they're studying 24/7 and still don't feel like it's enough. They tell Brent he must be a super efficient study-er if he feels he can put aside 3-4 hours each day and an entire Sunday. Brent told me that those family times are so important to him that it helps drive him to make every hour of studying more productive so that he can take that time off. I think Heavenly Father has helped him to do just that. And Brent does a great job at making sure we know that we are the most important thing. If we need him, he's there. It also says a lot about our future in medicine because I know he'll be the kind of doctor that puts his family first and that will be a major consideration as he chooses what to specialize in. Ah, I just love Brent. This journey will be hard but because of Brent's attitude and the choices we've been led to make so far (like choosing to come to Kirksville) I know we'll survive and even love it. So here's to the next 4 (more like 10) years! :)