I'm a happy RN married to a hardworking resident. We have recently become Carolina fans and are adding the color "carolina" blue to our wardrobe and home. I love the east coast and couldn't be happier living in hot, sticky climate. I was raised on a farm/ranch with two wonderful parents and three fun loving older sisters. I went to a one room country school house down the dusty dirt road with grand total of three in my class. Life in the country was rich, meaningful, and simple, just the way I like it. So from country farmgirl to coastal bell, here I am, living life and loving it!

Sunday, June 30, 2013

It's Time to party!

I threw a big party for Tim on Sunday for all of his classmates, family, and some of our close friends.  It was a great turnout with about 30 people including children.  So if you know me well, you know I love to throw a big party.  I am obsessed with searching pinterset for all the lastest and greatest decorating and party ideas, and love to read blogs and magazines for ideas as well.  I have had a collection of ideas for Tim's big party for awhile now and it was fun to see it all come together!  It was so great that Tim's mom was out for the party because she was a huge help watching Jonah so I could run errands, pick food up, and watched him the day of the party.  Tim was reluctant for me to throw him a party as he did not feel he was really done, but I informed him that he had accomplished so much and I wanted to recognize and celebrate him so we did.  Thanks to everyone that came out to celebrate!

There was lots of Jonah and Mimi time.  So sweet!

The spread.  I went with UNC carolina blue (except I was a little off on the color and went more aqua oops!) and then had cupcakes, a scrub cake, and flavored popcorn.  I had a great time putting the table together.  Then in the back I displayed his diploma from residency!

My friend Kpo made the cake and she did a great job!





I saw this cute sign on pinterest and tried to recreate it.  It was better on pinterest but I was still pleased with how it turned out!


The flavors of the popcorn were Salt and Vinegar, Caramel, and Jalapeño Cheddar.  They were all very tasty!

My dear friend Katie's little girl Kaitlyn.  What a cutie!


These are some of my dearest friends here in North Carolina.  We all met at small group, go to the same church, most of our husbands are residents together, we have had children together, and have stayed friends since then.  It has been so fun getting to know these girls and they have become my closest and dearest friends here.  It will be so hard when we all leave in a year and go our separate ways, but we will always cherish the time we had!

Enjoying a little cupcake!  He hardly gets dessert so this was a fun little treat.  By the end of the night he had frosting all over him!
Caleb enjoying a cupcake too.  Looking at this picture makes me see he is getting so big!
Tim enjoying sometime visiting with his friends and colleagues.
 

My friend Katie Beth and I!

Katie Beth, Melanie, Julie, and I.  Oh and Emery with Melanie!!


Some cousin love.  Amelia and Jonah have a love/fight relationship.  They are both the youngest and sometimes don't get the whole sharing thing.  But then they have these cute little moments where playtime is great together.  Here Amelia is loving on Jonah and they are both having a blast!  So sweet to see cousins together.



Congratulations Tim!!!


Thursday, June 27, 2013

Cheers to my Hubs!!

Let me start out this post by saying I am so proud of my husband.  My hard working, easy going, supportive, sweet, caring, helpful, loving husband has graduated from the UNC Anesthesia Resident program.  Yay for you Tim! I am beaming with joy and and am so proud of the hard work you have done these last four years.  The speaker at his graduation summed up a Dr.'s profession very nicely, the time it takes the average person to go from K-12th grade is the same time it takes a Dr. to complete his training.  Yes thats right folks.  Four years of under-grad, 4 years of medical school, and 4 years of residency (some programs are longer like neuro surgery is I think 8 years) plus one more year of a fellowship.  There you have it.  What a long and hard road, but so exciting to finally see we are almost out of it.    I am so proud of Tim for all the late nights he worked, the days he would go in at 6 am and not come home until 8am the next day.  The many weeks of nights he worked, LOTS and LOTS of weekends, sometimes he would work 10 days in a row without a day off.  This is the life of a resident and Tim has lived it and worked it with ease and grace.  I am so proud to see how much he has put into it and how much he has grown.  He is loved by all at UNC and I know because when I was in the hospital with everything with Ellie, every nurse I came in contact told me that my husband was so nice and and such a caring and wonderful person to work with.  That did make my day and my heart was full of joy because he is a great guy.  He cares about his patients, has even had the chance to pray with some and share his faith.  He is a team player, always willing to pitch in and help, and is kind and respectful to all and loved by all.  I love you Tim Erpelding and am so proud of everything you have done and what a wonderful leader, husband, father, and friend you have been.  Heres to you!!!!!!!


 Some of the guys.  Tim, Jeff, and Chris.



 The whole class.  This was a great class.  We have done a lot of things from day one.  Everyone gets along so well and really has a good time together.  It will be sad to not see everyone next year.  But we have made plans to have a get together every year, we will see if it really happens!!

 This is the same placing for everyone from day one of their intern year.  Kind of neat to take it again and see they are all done!




We are so glad that Tim's mom was able to come to his graduation, it really meant a lot to Tim to have her here!




 It was so fun to dress up and go out again.  Laura stayed home with Jonah so we could all go together. It was at the Chapel Hill Country and was was so nice.  The food was great!



Congratulations Tim. Love you so so much!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Splish Splash

Mimi had some fun shopping for Jonah while Tim and I were out of town last week.  He got a a new baby pool and loves it.  We have been to the beach once this summer and the pool a handful of times and Jonah is not a fan of the water.  He will play around the pool but will not get in, little stinker!  So Mimi got him a little pool and it is perfect for him.  Not so intimidating and easy access in and out.  So here he is so happy splashing around in his new pool.  Thanks Mimi!!



 Just love that little smile.  This was after we went to the zoo and Jonah ran around like a crazy man all day.  We got home and he still had an amazing amount of energy.  Here he is enjoying his very own pool!


 And he enjoyed splashing and getting water all over.  What a sweet and happy face!





 Happy, happy, happy, is what this little boy is!  We are loving summer here in North Carolina.




Monday, June 24, 2013

Zoo Fun

Tim was post-call last week so we decided to take his mom to the zoo.  It is an amazing zoo with lots of exhibits and animals to see.  This time we did a few little extras that we have never done (thanks mimi!!) and we go to gon on the carousel and do the dinosaur walk.  Jonah loved both.  The Dinosaur walk was pretty amazing.  So many different ones and they made noise and moved, Jonah loved it but was a little afraid.  I got some good shots of him totally enthralled and looking so intently.  It was fun day and we are so glad we were able to take Mimi.

 My two favorite boys!!!





 We stayed at the monkeys a long time.  Jonah loves monkeys and had a blast just running around.  Once we started out on the trail and saw the lions it was all over from there, he was out of the stroller and running at full speed!



 We are on the dinosaur trail here.  He loved them but held on very tight to Mimi.  They looked so real to him and he was focused the entire time!






The elephants were our last stop.  Tim and I both love the elephants and we figured this was a great sopt for a background.  Isn't the animal habitat amazing.  They have so much space to roam and are so free and pretty to watch walk around.  I'm kind of like a kid, love going to the zoo!


 Fun with Mim on the "train."  Jonah gets so excited to ride the tram which takes your from the North American animals to the African animals.  But he loves to ride it and calls it the choo choo!