Too crazy to blog...

Where has the time gone? Has it really been 4 months since my last post? What have we been doing with ourselves you ask? Well, there is plenty to discuss - too much for one post - so I will have to do my best to update you bit by bit over the next few days. March and April went by in a whirlwind. Nothing too eventful for Greg or I happened in those months but for Cooper, well, he learned some pretty amazing tricks. He continued to charm us and be as cute as could be but more than that he learned to crawl, pull himself up and even crawl up the stairs (much to his mother's chagrin). The end of April marked the end of medical school for Greg. He spent every waking hour buried in his books studying for his board exam and I continued to wait and wait and wait for my advisors to okay my thesis. (More on that saga later.) In May the three of us took a much needed vacation and drove down to Salt Lake City for a week. We were slightly concerned about the long drive with Coop, but we decided to drive at night after he had his routine bath, lotion and bottle and he slept like a "baby" so to speak. It was great. What a wonderful week that was. We stayed a 1/2 block away from Temple Square at the Kimball Condominiums and spent each day enjoying the beauty and attractions of Temple Square. We each did a session in the temple, I watched a rehearsal of the tabernacle choir, we ate great food, enjoyed the sunshine, and even went to the SLC cemetary to view the old gravestones of leaders of the church (Porter Rockwell was my favorite). I was fortunate enough to visit Provo one day for a lesson with Clayne Robison, BYU professor emeritus, a fabulous vocal instructor. What a great lesson that was! All in all, a fun trip. However Coop ended up feeling quite under the weather on the way home. We stopped at a hospital in Idaho Falls on the way home to check out his lungs because he had quite a cough. Luckily, it was just a bad cold and was gone in about a week. I , as a first time mom, hated seeing Coop sick and spoiled him even more than usual that week with extra kisses and even an ice cream cone at the "Creamery".

D-Day Arrived at Last!

Well, the day finally came this week when we learned where we will be for the next 5 years of our lives.  And the verdict is.......................KINGSTON ONTARIO!!!  We are so thrilled!  Greg was accepted to the Department of Urology at Queen's University in Kingston.  Greg absolutely loved the program there and was so impressed with the Doctors and residents.  They focus on an incredible education while at the same time allowing the residents to have a balanced family life.  There was only one spot open and Greg got it!!  It is actually the coveted spot in Canada for Urology residents.  We are looking forward to finding a house and setting up our new life.  I like moving to new places so I'm excited for our newest adventure to come.  There aren't very many members of our church out there - only a small branch, but it is a very strong congregation and extremely friendly and welcoming.  We already know a handful of people there as one couple hails from Lethbridge (a resident in family medicine and his wife) and another was a U of C grad in the medical class one year above Greg.  He happens to be the branch president.  If anyone wants to come visit a beautiful city, Kingston is just a plane ride away!  It is GORGEOUS!

Congratulations Greg!  We are all so proud of you!!

It's been awhile!

Well, turns out that I'm not very good at keeping my blog up to date! That is in part due to the fact that we have mysteriously lost our camera and I refuse to put up new material without appropriate pictures to go with and also the fact that I have been lazy and just haven't made it a priority. I repent.

Cooper and I returned home from Vancouver at the end of January - without my thesis handed in. Ugh. What a trial for me. My advisors are very nice and encouraging but they want even more material than what my 160 page thesis includes. Long story short, I have a little more work to do before I hand it in this summer. We have all agreed that this is the final revision and I will be submitting it in time for November graduation. So there is a faint light at the end of an extremely long tunnel. February was an exciting month for all of us Roberts'. We took a week trip out to Ontario at the beginning of the month as Greg had his interviews for Urology on Feb 7 in Toronto. He was fortunate enough to have 8 interviews that day. The bonus in choosing Urology is that they have what's called a "urology fair" where all of the schools meet in one central location so the poor starving students don't have to pay tens of thousands of dollars flying all over the country to interview at 8 different schools. It also meant that we got two weeks vacation with Greg! We spent a few days visiting Amy and Brian in Toronto. It was so nice to see the Miller family. It had been years since I had seen them. The kids are adorable and Brian and Amy are as fun as ever. Coop enjoyed spending time with his cousins and swimming in their pool. We took a day trip out to Niagara Falls the day before Greg's interviews. The entire way I posed as a mock interviewer so Greg could practice his answers. Although the day was cold it was very sunny and the roads were clear. Niagara falls was breath-taking. I had never been to Ontario so all of this was new for me. I can only imagine how beautiful it would be in the summer. We got a few quick pictures out by the falls before our faces froze off then we ate lunch in Niagara. After lunch we took a walk through Ripley's Believe it Or Not Museum and the Wax figure Museum which was a lot of fun. Coop slept through the entire afternoon missing out on the replicas of 3 legged cows and real shrunken heads. A good day it was. As for the interviews, Greg felt really good about them. They were of course impressed with his articulate, intelligent answers as well as his quick wit and maturity....well, that's what I'm assuming, I wasn't actually there! But he did inform me on every detail after I begged for an exact play by play and it sounds like he made an excellent impression. After his interview day the three of us hopped into our rental car and made our way to our nation's capital. Coop was an excellent traveller. Ottawa was beautiful but freezing cold! We stayed on the Quebec side of Ottawa across the river from the Parliament buildings. We ate great food as at was Winterlude (an annual festival celebrating ice sculpture, great food for cheap and music), toured the Parliament, went to the National Museum, and enjoyed some well deserved time off. Greg spent a half day at the hospital to see if he still felt as happy there as he did on his elective as we are now trying to decide which city we want to rank as our first choice for residency. We then went on to Kingston Ontario which we absolutely LOVED! It is the cutest city right on Lake Ontario. A quaint little University town with much character and cheap housing prices! The program is also fantastic for Greg. Very family oriented and a great fit for all of us. We shall see what happens here. It is extremely hard to get into Queen's University as they only take one resident in all of Canada. Our fingers are crossed...

We returned to Calgary contemplating all our options and we submitted our choices to CARMS this past week. Our first choice was Kingston, and Vancouver and Winnipeg (believe it or not) are tied for a close second. We think our choices are good for our family and considered all the pros and cons before submitting. We feel good. Since our trip we have been staying out of the cold and having fun with family. My sister Cathy and brother in law Ray came to visit this past weekend which was a lot of fun. Good food, conversation and card games. Greg and I spoke in church this past Sunday - my topic was "Come to Zion" which I really enjoyed giving and Greg spoke on Christianity as being an Action Word. A very good talk indeed.

Soon we will be off to Lake Louise. More info to come on that adventure!

We've started a Blog

Okay, so I've seen that quite of few of my friends and family members have created blogs to chronicle their lives. At first I wasn't at all interested in becoming a "blogger" (mostly because I didn't know the first thing on how to create one) but now that Greg, Cooper and I will be moving away from family and friends in the near future, I thought it would be a great way to keep everyone up to date on the goings-on in the Roberts' house-hold. Greg and I are also terrible at writing in our journals and this seemed like an easy way to jot things down for future reading and reminiscing. 2009 has started in a whirlwind for our little family. We are the proud parents of a sweet little guy who brings such a great energy to our home. Cooper is the light of our lives and we are so blessed to have him. He is now 7 months old and changing everyday. He has a great smile, the most contagious laugh and loves to go for daily walks in his "big-boy" stroller. Our walks always seem to be longer than anticipated as everywhere we go someone stops us to comment on how chubby his cheeks are or how cute he is - which I, being the proud mama that I am, absolutely love! For the past three weeks Coop and I have been living in Vancouver. I am out here trying desperately to finish my Doctoral dissertation, with much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Grandma and Grandpa Evdokimoff graciously offered to help us out by renting a cozy suite downtown and are here baby-sitting Cooper while I am in the library with my nose in the books. Poor Greg is at home in Calgary completing his final semester as a Medical Student (all alone and eating cookies and lettuce for dinner). That's right folks - we are in the home stretch of medical school! I'm so proud of Greg for all he has accomplished over the past three years at the U of C. This spring will bring big changes for our little family once graduation comes. We are excited to see where life will be taking us. Life is truly an adventure!