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Here are some pictures of Aayla in her blessing dress.  My mother-in-lay Monica made it for her.  She looked so cute!

For those of you who missed my earlier post, it is official, I've been accepted to PT school. Millie and I kept waiting - held out as long as we could - to hear where my choices to go would be. There has been so much uncertainty, hope and excitement this last semester as I've worked on PT applications. Family from both sides have pulled us here (Utah) and there (Arizona)... each hoping we'd end up where they want.

It hasn't been easy, or that cut and dry. First off, I really don't have much control over the admission's board at either school I was applying to (Midwestern or Rocky Mountain) and second, there's more to a decision than where family (or even myself) wants me to attend. In all honesty, both schools and both locations are very appealing to Millie and I for several reasons. I, obviously, would LOVE to get out of the cold and avoid another winter in Utah (so Midwestern, VERY appealing for that reason). Rocky Mountain (Provo) would allow me to graduate six months earlier and cost about half as much (about $65k less)... that's not including the possible scholarship I'm applying for that could cover 100% of my tuition at Rocky Mountain and save me another $65k. But, despite any reason I may have had for wanting to attend one school or another the fact remains, I got accepted to Rocky Mountain and not Midwestern.

Which brings us to our next major life decision... where to live the next three years during PT school.

With the government $8k tax incentive to buy a home and the increasing cost of renting, all decisions have been pointing towards buying a home. Build or resale? The past few weeks, since it became clear I would be attending school here in Provo, Millie and I have been fastidiously searching home listings. To make a LONG story short... we've decided to build.

This week we signed a home contract and our loan papers. Everything is moving forward. The permit should be pulled sometime late next week and building (ground work) should begin about the first (full) week of April... home should be built and we're planning to close on it end of May or the first part of June.

More details on the home (along with pictures) will come in future blog posts. For now, just know it's a Salisbury home, 2020 square feet (two story, two car garage, and a pretty big yard) in Springville, UT.

Millie and I are very excited and we look forward to making this new place our home for the next three years... yes, just three years, just until I finish school. If I get the scholarship I'm applying for I will be required to work for the company furnishing the money for a few years upon graduation and the company is located in 44 states, excluding UT... so we would definitely be moving.

For those of you AZ fans... I checked, yes the company is located in AZ... offices in Scottsdale and in Phoenix. :)

She started feeling a little better the next day.  They gave her a doll and markers to color the face on.  She got SO much stuff.  When we first got in her room, there was a blanket, pillow case, and activity bag for her.  Almost every time I left and came back the nurse had given her more toys, or cookies, candy, popsicles, ice cream, markers, crayons, books, a Dora tent, etc..  She got SPOILED!





She hasn'd had much of an appetite, but here's Jacob trying to get her to drink some tomato soup.

Getting better!  She learned to like her IV.  She would stroke it and point up at the fluids dripping.  She's say, "It's dripping!!  It make me better!"

Here's Grandma holding her just after she got a bath!


Showing off her IV!  Poor girl couldn't use that hand all week.  She'd get frustrated when she couldn't open things or play and color very well.



Finally off oxygen and could roam around the room a little bit more.  She couldn't leave her room since she was in isolation because of the virus she had.

She's staying at least one more night.

Doctor is not seeing the improvement he wants to see so she's getting more breathing treatments ordered for her too.

No... Not Most Valuable Player... Human Metapneumovirus (Meta-new-mo-virus) or hMPV.

That's what Ellery has tested positive for. Everything else came back negative. Treatment is similar to most other respiratory viruses including RSV. No more has been said about the spot on her lung and she's sounding better when she breathes, so it looks as though things are on the up and up.

We're not sure how much longer they'll keep her here but I know she needs to be able to eat well, maintain a good input/output of fluids and keep her oxygen saturation levels up on her own and so far, she seems to be doing the former two pretty well but she is still on nasal oxygen. The resident has just told me that if oxygen is the only thing keeping her here she could be sent home on oxygen... it'll be the doctor's call. I'm optimistic that she'll be going home later today, maybe not in time for March Madness tip off but still.

We really appreciate everyone's concern and prayers that have been offered on Ellery's behalf!! A special thanks to the Ropers and O'Neils too for their visits and Aayla babysitting help!

Ellery has done very well, considering how she has been bedridden for the past few days... for those of you who know Ellery, sitting still for even a few seconds is quite the accomplishment!

Nurses and staff have been great and she seems to have made great friends with them all... except the phlobotomists... still no love there - understandable.

Looks like we're out of the woods... Hopefully Aayla doesn't get sick now!

Ellery is so sick.  She had to go into the hospital tonight.  I feel so bad for her.  She got sick Thursday night with a fever, cough, and vomiting.  Each day she got worse.  Today was by far the worse.  She just layed on the floor all day sleeping, and crying.  She won't eat or drink very much.  Jacob got her to take a couple bites of tomato soup and a few sips of Gatorade and water.  I had her eat a little jello.  But she hasn't peed all day, so she's pretty dehydrated.  She went to the doctor last night and got sent home with antibiotics and was told to come back today.  I took her back in today.  Her oxygen saturation stayed at about 85 on room air...not good.   So they put her on oxygen and admitted her to the hospital.  They drew blood, started an IV, suctioned her nose out to test for RSV and other viruses, and did a chest x-ray.  It was so sad.  She just cried and cried saying she wanted to go home.  Jacob and Abbie came to the hospital to be with her while my mom babysat Aayla.  Her chest xray looked like a viral infection, although there is a spot in her left lung which looks like the beginning of pnuemonia.  Her CBC came back normal.  When I left they were still debating whether to keep her on antibiotics or not.  I just hope she gets better soon.  She needs to be able to keep her oxygen saturation up on room air and eat and drink enough to stay hydrated.  Then she can come home!!  She is so so sad there.  I've got to work tomorrow night, so hopefully she'll be home by then.  That is all for now.

The program starts May 11, 2010 and Graduation will be December 2012. There is a company that is offering students of RMU, interested in going in to geriatrics, a full ride scholarship - contingent on maintaining a 3.5gpa and working for the company (located in 44 states, not including Utah) for 3 - 5 years post graduation. Millie and I are excited I'm accepted. It looks like this will be my school!

Coming soon, the OFFICIAL kick off of my new email address: jwebb.pt@gmail.com

I can't believe how fast time goes by!  Aayla is already 10 1/2 weeks old!  She is getting so big.  I had to go back to work this week :(  It was so nice having a break from night shifts.  My maternity leave went by way to quick.  I was originally going to take off 12 weeks, but since I was only paid for 3, it was time for an income again and went back after 10 weeks.  My first night back felt weird and took me a while to get back into the swing of things.  I did, however, start an IV on a baby first try, which felt awesome!  I think a couple more shifts and I'll feel totally back to normal. 


So, Aayla is growing fast!!  I had to take a picture of her in these cute jammies before she grew out of them.  (They're my favorite, they have sheep feet.)  As you can see she fills them out.  She might get one more wear out of them hopefully.




I wanted to show a picture of her eyes because they are blue!!  Can you believe it?  BLUE!  Jacob and I both have brown, and although we have blue eyes in our families, we thought all our kids would still get the brown eyes.  But hers are definitely blue.  I guess they still might change, but I hope not.  They're cute!  These pictures don't show them too great, in person is better.  :)
Ellery is cute.  She was holding her the other day and posing for the camera.  Half the pictures Aayla is flopping over her arm, this is the best one. 
Here's the rest of the fam.  They're so cute. 
Lastly, here's cute Ellery!  I'm so excited for her 3rd birthday coming up soon!  I'm planning for an awesome cake.  She keeps saying, "It's almost my birthday and I can be 3!  I'm almost big!"  It's true, she is so big!  I don't know what happened to my little baby.  She now knows how to count to 6 in spanish, knows her colors in spanish, and can spell her name too!  I'll have to get a video to show her off.

Yesterday was my mother-in-law's (Rhonda's) birthday. For the past year or so, she and my father-in-law (Kim) - mostly just Kim - have been talking about doing an Iron Chef style competition. Well, yesterday, if finally happened. For those of you not familiar with the show, Iron Chef America (or the original Iron Chef Japan) I highly recommend it - a show about fast paced cooking from the hip with a twist of secrecy, the secret ingredient (in our case, Oranges) which must be used and apparent in EVERY course presented.

Kim and Rhonda were the judges and the teams were randomly selected to be: Team 1, Chef Jacob (me) with sous-chefs Millie and Katie (sis-in-law) -- Team 2, Chef Brandon (Katie's hubby) with sous-chefs Abbie (sis-in-law) and Danica (friend of Abbie). The set up was as follows, each team drew for spots in the kitchen and single amenities, such as the BBQ grill and microwave, had to be shared. Each team had $100 and one hour and 30 min to plan four courses (drink, appetizer, main dish and dessert), go to the store and buy ingredients, prepare the food and plate it. For those of you who know the Ropers, competition can get heated at times so when the clock started... it was GO time!



Millie, Katie and I started planning frantically. It was snowing (quite a bit) yesterday, which made for slick conditions to get to the store and back - not to mention the running back and forth between the BBQ grill outside and the kitchen - more on that later. Millie and I went to the store for ingredients while Katie stayed to prep the kitchen. Several of our ingredients could not be found so we improvised. We sped back to the house to get cooking only to find Brandon's team had already returned and was well under way. Katie - not known for handling stressful situations very well, seemed a bit frazzled but had done an excellent job at getting everything ready for cooking. Katie was in charge of sauces, Millie took on dessert and drink, and I was to handle grilling and plating. The scene was frantic. Our team looked like we wouldn't make it as time ticked off the clock faster than normal. Katie messed up one of the sauces after it would have just been done, so she had to scrap it and start over. I broke an electric chopper that Millie needed to make her dishes so we had to find another method. The grill ran out of gas so I had to change the tank and get it hot again. Each time I ran out in the snow on grill duty I just about slipped on the floor running back into the kitchen.... it was pretty dangerous. Despite the mishaps, we finished plating in a dramatic fashion with Millie finishing pouring the drink at the last tic of the clock.



Our menu started off with an orange strawberry sunrise drink (smoothie). The appetizer was chipotle orange shrimp kabobs with a fresh spring mix salad with an orange vinaigrette dressing. The main dish was a top sirloin medallion with zesty orange sauce topped with grilled asparagus. Dessert was an orange cream tart.



Everything turned out great. Brandon's team had some yummy dishes as well, including what was probably my favorite out of everything made, a tomato and orange sauce with shrimp. Never considered putting tomato and orange together, but, WOW, it was really good!

Judges ate and scored the food.

And the winner was... Iron Chef Jacob!

I was excited to win but I have to say, I REALLY couldn't have won without my team. Millie and Katie did a great job at tackling a difficult menu and faced the unforeseen challenges like pros! It was a lot of fun and I think we all look forward to the next, Iron Chef Roper!!!

We just need to hire staff to do the clean up next time!

I've been meaning to blog for some time now. Sure I can throw an excuse about this and that but the truth is, I just haven't MADE time for it. Although I won't excuse my long hiatus from writing, I will say I have much to write about.

The past few weeks/months have been good. Aayla is becoming part of the family by both becoming more of an interactive version of a human as well as her sleep schedule. Already the differences between her and Ellery are starkly apparent and it's been fun discovering who she is.

Millie already posted about Ellery growing up and her first haircut. She's becoming a better big sister and although she still throws her share of tantrums now and again, she's a pretty good kid.

On less of a familial note, the winter Olympics. I'm sure I can't do them justice in a blog, but here it goes anyway. These were the best winter Olympics I have ever watched!!! Okay, the opening and closing ceremonies... well... sucked... but that was bound to be the case since 1) following China's ceremonies from the summer Olympics two years ago would make anything look like crap and 2) it's Canada. Known for beavers, maple leaves and universal health care... NOT performing arts. Just like Mexico sends the US anyone who can run, jump, swim, build a house or maintain a lawn, Canada has been good at sending us anyone who can dance, act or sing... although, they're more than welcome to have Shania Twain back.

I LOVE the Olympics. This year saw several NEW, exciting, events. And, although I'm not one for drama (save it for your mama) there was plenty to be found all around the games. From "global warming" causing soft-slushy snow and delays for the alpine ski events to an unexpected death of an athlete and the mother of an athlete... plus there was the media exaggerated rivalries - both between countries (USA vs Canada or Japan vs Korea) and teammates (Vonn and Mancuso - cat fight cat fight!). Not to mention a coach who blew a gold for his athlete, disqualifications spattered throughout speed skating and an ice dance routine where the woman picked up and carried the man!

For those of you who were fortunate enough to watch, you understand the pure awesomness of the games. For some of you, you may have gotten a taste of it from news highlights, and for those of you who missed them altogether, for shame! I could post links to some of the greatest moments of the games, but I'm not going to. There is something about the live games (or at least replayed in full at eleven o'clock at night) that can't be captured in clips and highlights. The spirit of the Olympics has a way of bringing me to tears of joy (or on the verge of) whenever a gold medal performance is displayed, Canada loses, the US wins or the Star Spangled Banner is played (that's the National Anthem of the US for those of you who don't know that).

The last few months have also been full of PT school applications and a final semester at UVU. We're hoping to hear from a school in the next couple of weeks. Can't wait can't wait can't wait... it'll be a huge relief! I've also been volunteering at the Utah State Mental Hospital in the PT department. That continues to go well (I go every morning from 7:30am to 9:30am). I have to admit, it's a great way to start a day and I look forward to it being my career - minus the mentally ill aspect of the patients.

This last weekend was eventful. Jacob Wall invited me to go to the BYU v New Mexico basketball game. He got VIP tickets from his wife's work. We were fed a light meal under the stands before the game. We saw President Samuelson (President of BYU) and President Uchtdorf (2nd counselor of the first presidency of the LDS church) down there eating as well. In the tunnels, we passed by the New Mexico team (not as tall as you would think them to be) and all the BYU cheerleaders and cougaretts dance team (much shorter than you would think). Although BYU lost, our seats were great, the game was great and noise was deafening! My throat was so sore afterward, but it was fun being at the game. I forgot how much fun attending a sports venue is... maybe I'll have to take Millie to a game someday.

Speaking of Millie. She and I went on a date Saturday after the game. We went to Olive Garden on a gift card we got from Christmas and then to the dollar theater to see New Moon. Yes, we're big spenders... since when is it a shame to live within one's means?!?! sheesh. Millie had seen the movie opening night with "the girls" and she wasn't a huge fan of it but wanted to see it again with me. I thought it was okay. I haven't read the books but it was very apparent the movie left a lot out. The movie seemed to hint at a deeper plot, but just jumped around a plotless two plus hours of cinema. Obviously the best parts were Jacob Black shirtless. The worst parts... pretty much whenever Edward came on the screen. The audience was great though. Plenty of boos for Edward and cheers for Jacob.

So, yes, life goes on and I wish I did better at recording some of its events and my thoughts of them. For now, a catch up blog now and again may have to do.