Relief Society General Broadcast at the Conference Center September 28, 2013

I can't believe I forgot about these photos!!! This was one of the best experiences of my life hands down! I absolutely love the ward we are in. This will be one of the hardest things about moving next year. Our ward has changed so much every 6 months, but the love has not. These ladies are my absolute favorite and they have served me and my family unconditionally with so much love and have shown me love. I could write novels about each of the ladies in this picture. 

As for conference it was amazing. Our Stake Relief Society activity was conference so they treated us to Cafe Rio and then shuttled everyone to the Conference Center and gave us all treat bags. It was a great missionary opportunity and I loved being able to invite some ladies from our court who are Muslim to come with us. My favorite part of the whole night was seeing President Monson walk in the room. Everyone stood and it was quiet. I got to lean over to my friend Hulkaroy and say, "That is our Prophet right there!" The feeling I got I will treasure forever. I loved hearing President Monson talk about the love he has for his wife who has passed away. How difficult it is for him, but that knowledge he has that he gets to be with her again someday radiated from him. He talked of his love for us as women. How we are special, unique, valuable and loved daughters of God. It was very touching. I could feel His love for each sister. I loved hearing from the General Relief Society Presidency. They had such great talks and I really am looking forward to reading them in the Ensign next month. 

University 3rd Ward!
Top Left: Nickie Bradbury, Esther Rigby, Brooke Crook, Aneela Sadia (Non-member), Rachel Naylor, Gerry Klenk, Sarah Lewis, Annie Lemaster, Suzie Bosteder, Rebecca Hale, Tricia Oborn.
Bottom Row Left: Kailey Heywood, Hulkaroy Kayumova (Non-member), Carlee Griffiths, ME, Lexi Jones, and Stephanie Richard

 The Ladies I got to attend with! Some of my favorite people!

Hulkaroy, Me, Nickie, and Annie

 Standing in the conference center.

 Excited much Sharice? Yes. Yes I am!

Salt Lake City temple in the background.

Interview Time Again

We made it to 4th year of medical school and interviews are already upon us!!! This has been so exciting because we can end up ANYWHERE!

Because the military makes things a little different for us I thought I'd explain how 4th year match works a little. Derek will interview at the schools he gets invited to and then he get's to rank those schools in order of where he would like to go most as #1. We will rank about 10 different school. Derek applied to 20 different anesthesiology residency programs. As of today he received interviews to 14 of those programs!!! To make it more complicated let's throw in transitional years. For anesthesiology they have either 3 or 4 year programs. The first year of residency is always an intern year. Derek will be doing a transitional year if the anesthesiology program is only 3 years. Transitional year is very similar to the 3rd year of medical school. So, we could go somewhere for 1 year and finish the last 3 years somewhere else. Either way residency will be 4 years total for us. Have I totally lost you yet?

Anyway, today was a good day because Derek got invited to interview at Johns Hopkins and MAYO in Minnesota.

So, in order of interviews:

Oct 25 - University of Utah
Oct 30 - Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota
Nov 8 - Dartmouth in New Hampshire
Dec 4 - University of Virginia
Dec 6 - University of Oklahoma
Dec 16 - Cleveland Clinic in Ohio
Dec 20 - University of Florida
Jan 3 - Penn State
Jan 7 - Virginia Mason in Washington
Jan 8 - University of Wisconsin
Jan 9 - Wake Forest in North Carolina
Jan 14- Johns Hopkins in Maryland
Jan 15 - University of Kentucky
Jan 16 - University of Pittsburgh medical center
Jan 21 - University of Texas Southwestern


THEN he has to interview at transitional years because some of those programs are only for the last 3 years of residency. Thankfully some of the transitional years are at the same school and he can interview at the same time. But, here is our list of transitional years.

Nov 13 - University of South Dakota Program
Jan 7 - Virginia Mason in Washington
Jan 10- Indiana University School of Medicine
Jan 27 - Reading Health System in Pennsylvania
Feb - 6 Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center

As you can see flying to all of these places will be quite expensive... He will have to cancel some of them just from pure expense and days not lining up. Each interview has a dinner the night before and then all day interviewing. Derek has already tried to put as many in January that he can because MATCH DAY for the military is December 18!!! This is when we will find out if we will be going to San Antonio, Texas for the next 4 years to do the military residency program.

We have that as our #1 match spot for the military match, then civilian deffered for our #2. If we get civilian deferred we will enter the civilian match and match at one of the programs listed above. That match day is MARCH 21!!!

So, keep your eyes and ears open from the Bradley's in the next couple of months and see where in the U.S. we might be moving!

I'm so proud of Derek for all of his hard work! The journey to come to medical school was not easy, and medical school has proven just as tough! He is a champ! He has worked so hard for our family and continues to do so. Derek will be graduating from medical school on May 24, 2014! Last stretch and he will be there!

I hope this helps to enlighten any who are curious about our journey and I'm excited to see it written down. He could still get more interviews, but we are just so grateful for all that we have been blessed with. Truely, this journey has been a blessing in our lives and we are stronger from it. Derek is going to make the best anesthesiologist and I'm so lucky to have him for a husband! LOVE YOU DEREK! WAY TO GO!

Elara Jane Bradley is 1!!!

 Elara Jane Bradey

Year: 1

What a year it has been!!!

Dearest Elara,

What joy you have brought to our family. Who knew we all could love so much?! Who knew how much hard work you would be for us all? We didn't know until you came. And you know what?! You are worth it! You are talking up a storm lately. In order of what you said first...

Dada, Baby, Mama, no no, up, dog, hi, bye, apple
Favorite word is UP, then you give the pouty lip.

You can stand pretty good, but you still need to work on your balance. You walk along any furniture you can. You crawl like a mad woman. You LOVE babies and all things girly. You hold and kiss your baby dolls. You love to eat. You love to feed yourself. You are sleeping so much better at night. Unless you are sick you sleep all night now. You do get up every once in a while. You have 8 teeth. You still have reflux, but the medicine helps soooo much.
Stats:

Head circumference: 91%

Height: 28.5 inch 31%

Weight: 18.2 lbs 9%

You are still my smallest baby, but have the BIGGEST head. You are happy like Kael, and as stubborn as Eden! You brother and sister love you so much. They always try to help you and LOVE waking you up in the morning. You are a joy. You are my FIRST Mama's baby. When I leave you cry, when Kael and Eden didn't really do that. You get over it pretty quick, but you and I, we have something special. You are amazing at getting into the trash. Especially Dad's diet coke cans in the recycle bin. And your bottom lip puckers better than any I've ever seen including Aunt Shelly who claims she has the best pouty lip. You win by far. It has become a game where you stick out the lip and demand I laugh at your cuteness and then we laugh and laugh and do it over and over and see who laughs first. You love your Daddy like no other. You wouldn't leave his side when he came home from being gone for a month. You won't let him out of your sight if you can help it. You have us all wrapped around your finger. You are special princess and I hope you always remember that. Remember we love you! We are proud of who you are and what you will become.

Love Always,

Mama

The LIP!

Elara's birthday party

Elara turned 1 on September 25th. We celebrated it on Saturday the 28th. We have a tradition of streamers and balloons now and it is going to stick I think. We picked a favorite thing for her and decided to go to The is the Place park. She loved the pony ride! She got to open presents and eat her own cake. I made a strawberry cake with buttercream frosting. She got chicken nuggets and french fries for her birthday lunch. The little girl loved her day and we are so glad that she has been with us for the last year. Mostly though I'm glad I kept her alive that long... :) It was so much fun and we are so glad to have Elara in our family!

 I tried putting fresh strawberries in the frosting and it almost worked, but then I added too many, so we had extra cake for the other kids. Never too much cake.

The picnic.