Tulip-alooza!

We had a great weekend and kept busy as always! I had a basketball game Saturday morning and after I got cleaned up we decided to go check out the tulip festival! Turns out we found a bonus tulip festival on the way! The one we were headed for was in Woodburn, OR, and in Woodland, WA we stopped to get gas and saw signs for another tulip festival! It was not huge, and it was overcast and rained a little on us, but the fields were pretty!

Then we got to Woodburn and saw the REALLY impressive fields! Luckily for us the weather really improved on our way down too! It was rainy off and on but it was sunny and beautiful once we got there!

Tulips as far as you could see!

Bob and Lilo enjoying the fields

Long arms always come in handy!

Bob and Lilo enjoying the tulips

Lilo and I in the field

The orchard edge was really pretty too!

So many tulips!

Lilo always takes time to smell the flowers

Another long arm shot--Lilo's hiding in there!

Pretty impressive!

These were just my size!

Bob's a heck of a tractor driver!

We really had so much fun! We always love Portland, and we stopped at Chipotle on the way and had a great lunch, then had so much fun at the tulip festival! The flowers were really impressive and the weather definitely helped! Then we headed to the Woodburn Factory Stores, one of the best outlets ever! Then we got some dinner and headed home. It was a lot of driving but it went fast and it's always such a pretty drive--it was a nice relaxing way to spend our Saturday and we especially appreciated it knowing that it might have been our last trip there before we move. :)

We know where we're heading this summer!!!!

It’s been a while so we’re due for an update! So much news to share! Let’s start with where we’re heading! We made a decision and are going to……

SALT LAKE CITY!!!

for the next 3 years for my Peds GI fellowship! I loved San Diego and Denver’s programs too, but they’re definitely more research-oriented and I want to see patients and work clinically for my whole career…. Research is part of every fellowship but the typical setup is 2 years of research and only 1 year of clinical training, which I was not psyched about, and Salt Lake is such a busy program that I’ll get the opportunity to do tons of procedures and they’re willing to work with me to help me develop a good research project and once I finish that can focus more on clinical stuff for the rest of my fellowship (their planned split is 18 months for each, which is great). The people were definitely a better fit for me too. I got to meet the other fellow they’ve selected to start this summer and he’s great, as are all their staff. It really felt like a great place for us to go and somewhere I feel I’ll fit in and love working!

The other huge bonus of Salt Lake is definitely that we’ll have family and friends so close! Bob’s brother Jared lives in Provo and his sister Jen and her husband Jap and their kids (Mady, Brooklyn, and Jay) live in Pocatello, the Lloyds (one of Bob’s best friends growing up and his wife and son) live in Layton, our friends Kate and Kirk live in Salt Lake and are both training at Primary Childrens (they were both 3^rd year residents in my program when I was an intern, and now they’re doing pediatric critical care and peds cardio fellowships there), and we know people from everywhere we’ve lived that have friends or family here so hopefully we’ll have lots of visitors! Great snowboarding, ~300 days of sun a year, affordable housing, and we get to stay West and somewhat close to home. We’re really looking forward to it!

We are definitely getting sad about leaving here too—we try not to think about it! That’s always hard… we hate leaving friends with every move, but are grateful for all the fun we’ve had along the way! We also love our house and will be sad to leave it… We’re hoping to sell but will rent it out if we don’t get a great offer… a house in our neighborhood just sold for a LOT more than expected though, so that definitely helps drive up the comps and improve our chances!

While we're in SLC we saw the Jeppsens, Lloyds, Jared, and even Bob's Grandma Zellma who was down for a visit! We saw Kate and Kirk a few times too so it was a great trip--Bob was just there for the weekend and I was only there 2 more days, so it was quick, but we made the most of it!!

As usual, these are somewhat out of order, but here goes...

This is an awesome wood craft store Jen wanted to go to--I bought these HOME letters--every month you change out the O for a different symbol for the holiday. How cute is that? There's a turkey for Thanksgiving, the mitten for winter, a ladybug, a sun, flower, etc. Who knows when I'll get around to decorating them, but super-fun.

We went to the Children's Museum with the Jeppsens and the girls loved this helicopter, until I pushed the start button and it made very realistic noises and they really thought it was going to take off!

These blocks were sooo awesome. I don't remember what they were called, but we were thinking we'd buy some for the girls at the gift shop but they were ridiculously priced! Like $75 for a medium sized box.... they were awesome though--they had magnets inside of them so you could really make all sorts of cool shapes!

Brooklyn in her boat

More cute stuff at the woodcraft store

The girls and Grandma Zellma!

Bob and Jay!

The girls--Jen, Brookly, Mady, and me (and a handicap sign!)

Bob and I by the temple

In other news, the Poteets came to visit last weekend and we had so much fun! They were only here for a short time but it was so nice to have them as always! We made gnocchi and the boys played lots of Wii Fit together and Mario and we just loved every second with them! Wish we could be neighbors, but that will still have to wait a bit longer… some day! Maybe when I’m out of the Army? Or they could just follow us around… J

We played kickball for morning report at work this week and had a great time! When was the last time you got to play kickball? My friend Bethany said she saw a GIANT kickball at Toys R Us this week, so I should have bought one of those and it could have been even more awesome, but we had a great time!

In slightly less good news… I took a tumble at basketball. I’m totally fine, but a little banged up. I play in a girls bball group Wed nights and have loved it—it’s seriously one of the biggest highlights of every week for me, but this week it resulted in a trip to the ER. I got a rebound and was out ahead for a moment on the fast break, but someone came from the side trying to steal the ball and unfortunately her foot took out both of mine while I was running and I bit it hardcore…. I flew forward and landed on both knees, my left hip, and my left hand, but still was moving…. My head just barely hit the floor and bounced up, but it was at a bad spot and I split the skin over my left eyebrow wide open. Yikes. Lots of blood, and I was definitely a little scared—it was a big fall and knocked my breath out of me, but I remember thinking, that wasn’t so bad, until I took my hand away from my head and it was covered in blood. I made a big puddle of blood because your head just bleeds so much! Somehow I didn’t get any on my shirt though, so I consider that a small victory. The other girls thought fast and were so sweet to me. Nobody was sicked out by my blood and they just got me ice and gauze and towels right away. It didn’t hurt that much, but the ice and pressure definitely stopped the bleeding quickly, so I really wasn’t dripping by the time Bob got there to take me to the ER. They cleaned up the floor so he wouldn’t see the big pool of blood when he got there and we didn’t wait long at the ER, so that was nice. I definitely questioned all of their assessments that I definitely needed stitches, but when I pulled down the mirror in the car I couldn’t question it anymore! It was definitely ugly. Steri-strips would not be sufficient! I was thinking the cleanout of the wound was really going to kill, and ditto for the local, but it wasn’t bad at all! They put LET on it when they first brought me back (topical numbing cream) and then I didn’t feel it at all when they were scrubbing it up, and it was still numb when he started injecting the local, so I didn’t feel the poke at all, but just the burn of the medicine which only lasted a second each time. I felt the cold of the needle with each stitch, but not the poke, and could feel the pulling, but it felt weird, not painful. So weird to be a patient! I was not a snobby doctor and did not demand plastics to repair it—it was a very straight lac that as not deep, but just wide, so not a complicated repair. It doesn’t go through the eyebrow, so it won’t be a terrible scar. The ER intern did it, after his attending assured me she’d supervise him and he told me he’d done lots already by this time in the year, and really, it’s Feb, so in 4 months he’ll be a 2^nd year, and ER terns do tons of suturing, so I wasn’t worried. Besides, we all learn somewhere, and if no one let me do anything when I was an intern, how would I learn? He did a great job and was very meticulous. I get my stitches out tomorrow which will be great because those little strings draw a lot of attention! Every patient and parent I see questions what happened and if they don’t ask right away they don’t hear anything I say because they’re just studying the wound the whole time and thinking about what it could be! I now have a better understanding of what it’s like to be a patient and hopefully it will help me be a better doctor. I always try to remember to explain everything I’m doing, even when the parent is a physician too, and they all did a good job of doing that for Bob and I, although obviously this wasn’t a complicated visit. I definitely have headaches and some sore bruises and floor burns, but feel a little better each day, or I did until this horrible cold hit yesterday!

These are graphic, so if you're grossed out by blood, look away!!!

Here's the lovely spatter I showed up to the ER with--my ear was the grossest--I had turned on my side to keep it from going in my eye after it happened and so blood pooled in my ear and was all crusted! Not to mention my poor hair... See what I mean about the ice though? It slowed down the bleeding and it was pretty clotted when we got there.

7 Stitches later I'm good as new! When they irrigated it it really cleaned up my hair and ear too.. Bonus!

This is today--fading bruise/classy eye shadow. Looking good!

my poor knee has really been hurting. Can't imagine why. This was my first point of impact. Nice that you can see some other scars too, huh? Makes me look tough! (Or clumsy!)

This is my floorburn on my hand--it hurts pretty bad too--way more than my head! I hit it on everything...

Sorry those are yucky pictures to end on! We hope you’re all well and haven’t been hit by any bad viruses lately! Our ward is full of RSV kiddos right now…. Dang that virus! Wash your hands meticulously! And hope you all enjoy your Sunday!

In the background is a mama koala holding her baby--a much better pic to end on, right? :)

~Cathy

Cute customized shoes

How cute are these shoes?! I know some of you know Melony and probably already saw this on her blog, but if not check it out! She got the project from this blog's post. I am not super crafty and doubted myself, but after reading the step by step instructions think it's pretty straight-forward. So yeah, maybe I'll try it one of these days! Anyone else in? :) Basically she Mod-Podged fabric onto a cheap pair of flats so you can customize your shoes. Pretty sweet. Hope you all had a good Sunday! For anyone wondering, I survived my lesson and it went well--lots of participation from the RS sisters so the time went quickly--hope everyone else teaching was as lucky!

~Cathy

The Christmas Letter for anyone who missed it

Sampert Family Christmas Letter 2009

Merry Christmas! We hope you’re enjoying the season and all is well with you and your families! Things are well here—busy as always, but good! I’m now in the last 6 months of my residency which is pretty exciting! We also have BIG news—I found out yesterday that I got my fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology!!!!!!!!!! (Fellowship is 3 years of training in a sub-specialty after residency) It’s pretty uncommon to get selected for fellowship right out of residency in the Army, so we were NOT expecting this at all, but even more surprisingly, I was selected to get a funded spot at a civilian program, which means that we can go anywhere! There are 50+ Peds GI fellowships so we’re narrowing it down now.

The Army will fund me wherever I’m accepted, but my friends/colleagues who’ve received this opportunity in other subspecialties have had their pick, because essentially I’m free labor—the Army will still pay my salary and like residents, fellows do quite a bit of work! This opportunity is especially reassuring because the majority of my friends have been deployed within 6 months of graduating residency, so we were a

bit anxious about the prospect of deployment coming up soon for me,

but now I’ll be non-deployable for another 3.5 years until I’m finished

with fellowship, and then I’ll go for 6 months as a subspecialist instead of

12 months as a general pediatrician when my time comes! Let’s all keep praying

for world peace in the meantime! We’ll keep you all posted on the

search for a fellowship program—we’re looking at Salt Lake, Denver,

San Diego, Houston, and San Francisco so far, and would like to stay

West, although the majority of the programs are definitely out East..

In the meantime we’re so excited that the busy pace of residency

will soon be behind us! My fellow residents and staff are amazing

people, but being on call for 30 hours straight every 4th or 5th

day is not so great. Although I’ll still be busy as a fellow, I’ll take

call from HOME which will be an exciting transition! We’re looking

forward to getting to spend more time together starting in July! ☺

Bob is still staying busy himself, working for Bath Fitter

remodeling bathrooms and showers. He took a weekend

off this fall and put a new shower in for his grandma which

she loves, and he got to enjoy some time with his family

too. He’s stayed busy with projects around the house too,

and that trend will definitely continue as we get ready to

sell this spring! He’s still involved with the Scouts at church and

that keeps him pretty busy too. He’s had some fun camping

trips with them and went white water rafting this summer and

I’m sure will plan some fun snow trips this winter!

We were able to relax a little this year as well. With as much as I work, we try to make the most of the 3 weeks of leave I get to use each year! Here are the highlights:

March: I got to go to Alaska for work—I was in Fairbanks and it was very pretty even during the “melt” which the locals kept apologizing for—not as pretty as the winter or summer I’m sure, but I loved the highs in the 60’s! I was expecting COLD!

May: Alaska cruise with Bob’s folks! Despite never going there before, somehow I went twice in a few months! We had a wonderful time! The ship had tons to do so even at sea we were very entertained, and in port there was always a lot to see. We went to Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Glacier Bay, and Victoria, B.C. on our way back and had a great time. We saw tons of animals including a fair amount of whales and dolphins, and got see some glaciers calve too which was pretty impressive. We did a bunch of ziplines in Juneau, watched a lumberjack show in Ketchikan, did a neat wildlife boat tour in Sitka, and had fun exploring all the towns.

June: we went to the San Juan Islands for a weekend and kayaked with orcas, which was incredible!

July: I was home for a month rotating at Sacred Heart in their

PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) and Bob came out for a

week of it so we loved getting to see our families and friends

and watched the fireworks from the boat on Lake

Coeur d’Alene which is always a treat!

August: DC for 9 days to interview for fellowship (the Army

program is there at Walter Reed) and got to visit Cristy and

Nathaniel and a good friend from high school.

September: Home for a weekend for Joe and Sandy’s

wedding which was wonderful

November: Orlando for a week of vacation and went to

Disney World, Sea World, Universal Studios, and had

a great time!

December: We’re excited to be home for Christmas and

look forward to seeing many of you!

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! We

hope the New Year blesses all of you and we’re grateful

for the many blessings 2009 has brought us!

Love,

Cathy, Bob, and Lilo

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy 2010 everyone! I can't believe it's here already... here are some pictures from our trip home for Christmas! We loved having a week off of work and getting to see family and friends, even though it went too fast as usual. We flew home with Lilo, so we didn't have to fight traffic or weather going over the pass, and it was nice and fast so we got more time with everyone! Here's our Christmas pic for this year. :)

Bob and his Dad helped with some of the Christmas cooking and they're LOVING it! :)

Bob's mom had hand surgery just before we came so I helped wrap her presents since she really only had one usable arm

Here is the wounded arm in its sling, as well as Carolyn with her furriest grandchild and my personal favorite, the Christmas tablecloth, I mean jumper! :)

Lilo opening her present!

Bob's mom got his dad a Wii for his birthday so we had fun playing it--Ron especially loved the bowling so we did that a lot

Bob demonstrates his sweet bowling skills

We spent a lot of time just sitting and relaxing which was great!

We went downtown and checked out the lights and of course had to take a picture in the sleigh

Lilo's fancy Christmas outfit from Ron and Carolyn

Bob and Lilo and I by the sleigh

More pics at the resort shops

Lilo always takes time to smell the flowers

We had a chance to visit with the Poteets a little bit too which is always great! Somehow I never take any pics of them so we took a few right before we left...

George and Bob

Here's my nieces in our presents to them--they loved the pearls, tiaras, and these microphones (also princess) and they light up and sing!

My fam on Christmas Eve

Bob's Mom got him this awesome hat to keep warm and with the flaps flipped up he looks pretty awesome --I have a hunch some of his firefighters would love to see the chief in his finest...

Christmas breakfast with Bob's folks and his grandma--french toast--always delicious!

We iChatted with Jared while we opened presents and he opened his, which was pretty fun, and incredibly confusing to Grandma

Christmas dinner! Cheesey potatoes and rolls and turkey for the meat-eaters and of course corn from their garden... We made cinnamon rolls too, but sadly I only ate 2 before we left... I'm sure somehow they managed to finish them off without us!

I got this cute pretzel rod/candy kit from my secret Santa at work and just made them last night. These Santas took forever painting the candy in the molds with a brush, but Bob loved his!

Just before Christmas my whole class and all the spouses went out to dinner with a few of our staff--here are the ladies!

Not the greatest pic, but somehow none of us are looking at the same camera...

Ok, so lots of updating to do still... Next I'll post our Christmas letter for anyone who didn't get it yet and thanks to everyone who sent us cards and letters and pictures! That's definitely one of my favorite things about this time of year--hearing from people you haven't heard from in forever and catching up with all they've been up to.

We had a fun New Year's Eve playing games and hanging with 3 other couples and just relaxing. I had to work at 6am the next day but got to nap a little the next afternoon so it all worked out. We also went to see Avatar in Imax 3D which was awesome! Definitely exceeded my expectations by far!

Hope you're all sticking with the New Year's resolutions so far! We haven't made any big ones so far... just the usual: eat healthier, exercise more, be more frugal, and just to enjoy every day to the fullest! We've enjoyed all of 2010 so far and are really excited to see where it takes us! Have a great day!

~Cathy