spencer's birthday!

Thats right folks spence is 26! he is getting so big and grown up! for his birthday this year i wanted to do something special of course. -during his birthday when we were dating (and he was turning 24 i still can't believe he went out with a grandma like me :)) i had jo and heather and kellie from work blow up condoms for ballons and decorate his room, i still remember her minivan being stuffed full with those ballons. then last year we were lucky enough that the weekend after his birthday we went to cleveland and interviewed for med school we stayed in a beautiful hotel (5star super duper expensive hotel that the school paid for) that has the softest bed known to man. and visited kirkland. so i was a little nervouse and wanted to top those birthdays so i let my creative juices run wild.

each night this week when spence came home i had a small present for him....i said this is your birthday week celebration! a week of spencer! we don't have any money because the bread winner of the family (thats me) has decided to persue other avenues at this time which is pretty scary because rent is due. so the budget was none to little. but i found some killer deals at target...dress pants that he wore to clinicals this week, a nice t-shirt, some shorts(cause i'm tired of sewing up all the holes in em) some candy, and the grand prize was a season episode of SCRUBS his favorite show that i've been hiding in my secret spot for 4wks!!! then on his actual birthday i picked him up from school, blind folded him and drove around to disract him and took him to the mtn i found the other day. i had a pic-nic for us and some clothes for him to change into. i thought i was so sneaky cause i had my hiking clothes on under my pants so to not give away what we were doing. the picture is of us on his 26th birthday with a beautiful desert sunset. and to keep the heather neilson tradition it was a beautiful place to discuss the year and his big 3 triumphs!!

anybody who knows me knows i love to make peoples birthday cakes....but i couldn't make a whole cake cause no one would eat it and i would have to throw it out. so, for his birthday cake i took 3 of his favorite zebra cupcakes and put candles in them and sang a wonderful solo birthday song!
so happy birthday babe! Thanks for sharing so many memories with me! i'm excited to keep 'em rollin' and to keep laughin over the years about all the silly things we've done.

can you believe how cute those kids are!!! don't worry i only cried a little (spence did too their his fav's) when i saw how big my twins are getting!!! and ms reese aka hannah montana is pretty hot! and josh and pam (like every year they know how to do halloween) take the winner for best couples costume...(those gansta's are scary.)and could my mom queen bee be any cuter??!! i miss you mom. manda sent me some pics and i uploaded em all....i know some of you check her blog kempkuties but i like lookin at the kids and pretending we still live in utah....ah sad day to miss a party!

my kids HALL-O-WEEN

the circus is in town

spence and i met up with some medschool friends this weekend and one kid use to ride a unicycle so he brought it over to show everyone and of course spence wanted to try. I new this could get ugly but that spence wouldn't rest until he mastered the unicylce! so he did it, but next time i think he will wear shoes and not just chacos.! and of course i wasn't even temped to try...he is wild and crazy and i'm always cautious and prefer to have both feet on the ground as much as possible.

still got it!!

so spence signed us up for a 4-0n-4 volleyball team with his school and some of his friends, i'm lucky enough to be the only girl on the team so i was a little nervous at first but...we had our first game on saturday and we rocked it!!! i love playing volleyball especially with spence because that is how we first met and it always brings back the memories!! needless to saw spence still has it all!!!

8 is super great! thanks kellie i feel really special that the prom queen of utah would tag me!!! and i have to say honestly every day i tell myself to be more like kellie! shout out to kellie who completely rocks!!

8 tv shows i watch (keep in mind we have on a clear sky day about 3 channels)
1. Ugly Betty...could mark & amanda be funnier
2. Life
3. The biggest loser...not really lovin it this season...but i love jillian
4. The office
5. Lipstick jungle
6. Grey's Anatomy...i think i should write in to the writers and warn them that things just haven't been too good lately... but i still watch
7. I LOVE sex and the city reruns on TBS but we don't get that channel
8.---i never watch the nightly news...can we vote already...i'm tired of this obama..yo'momma update every 3minutes.

8 things i did yesterday
1. Went to Christs Community of the Valley women's night. (Everyone I know here is a member of this church) it was fun to see CCV for the first time and walk through the amazing booths.
2. Froze to death in the 40 degree truck/fridge preparing produce for chef-to-chef.
3. Got an email from a friend regarding our high school blog...yah...i've been graduated for 10yrs.
4. Woke up at 5:15am, kai was a little upset about that.
5. Laughed at spencer...he is so silly.
6. Talked to my sisters, my mom, my dad and reese of course.
7. Made banana bread
8. Ate my favorite snack: fatfree cottage cheese and ranch dip.

8 things i'm looking forward to
1. HALLOWEEN! THANKSGIVING!! CHRISTMAS!!!
2. Going home for Thanksgiving break...i can't wait to see all my babies!! and Alamosa too. i think our bodies will go into shock from the cold weather but its worth it!
3. The PF chang half marathon in January!!
4. Spence's white coat ceremony in Dec.
5. Spence being done with schoool...he is having to study so much i worry about his brain overloading some day.
6. When Kai is finally potty trained...any pointers?
7. To having my new friends become my bossom buddies.
8. Using my Glendale Library card and becoming super smart!!

8 things on my wish list
1. A new car....i'll take anything
2. Being super skinny....someday...there is always hope and i'll always wish for it
3. My family...i really want them to be ok, happy, and safe.
4. A little boy we name _ _ _ _ _ sorry i can't tell you the name cause then you might want to steal it :)
5. To have attributes like: SO MANY OF YOU!!
6. To fall in love with spence like it was the first time, every day, again and again for rest of our lives.
7. To be as good as a biker as my bro Josh....he basically is lance armstrong in disguise.
8. Learning to use all my talents and eventually writing a book of my very own some day.

8 friends i tagged
1. Amanda
2. Joanna even though she doesn't ever blog...amanda break in and do it for her
3. my bff Heath
4. Whoever actually reads my blog besides myself and spence
5. Momma mort...or papa mort when ya'll got time
6. My cute sister-in-law pammy
7. Jaime Stephens
8. Carrie Hopkins

That was so fun!!!

a bit of AZ

So i went for a little hike today and took some pictures to show everyone (that hasn't made the 45min drive to AZ to see us) what AZ really looks like.. well i don't know if these pictures will seal the deal. but here ya have it. if you look really close i think you can see our house :) yep its a big dry desert but a munch of people live here. the view was great and the sun was hot. don't worry i didn't see any wildlife. thank goodness. so what do you think about AZ

hows your gait?

On saturday spence, all med schools students, and I volunteerd at the special olympics here in surprise AZ. we were located at the swim meet, and i have to say a couple of the athletes really could have taken me for a race...they were pretty impressive. It was pretty interesting especially because i was the only non-med school student there. (origanally several wives said they would be there too) i was able to be spence's right had help and scribe as he evaluated the athletes. (we can't decide what is worse helping with vaginally exams all day or feet? either way its got its set backs, spence and i talked about that for awhile and i think its a tie) anyways he was there with his clinical professor Dr. jenkins and evaluate atheltes feet for: corns, calluses, athletes feet, warts, and more, they also watched peoples gait (heather you know what that is) to evaluate for: pronation, supination, and other cool words i can't remember. It was pretty interesting and the best part was Dr. Jenkins had the group circle around as he evaluated a foot and asked a specific question on what would be best to treat this particular candidate. (I felt like i was on greys anatomy and the head dr was looking for one bright and shinning student to know the answer) the group was silent...and then....spence came through with the correct answer! i wanted to shout horrah! but they don't do that. anyways you probably had to be there but it was pretty interesting to see the guys using their knowledge already, i am so proud of spence.

1st day of clinicals!!!

YAH! one thursday dr. spencer l. mortensen had his first day of clinicals at the midwestern university clinic. He and I were both super excited! he looked pretty good for his first day!! Now every thursday from 730-930am he and the other students will evaluate feet along with one of their clinical advisors. Last week he an michael paired off and had a good time...anything hands on is better than the books.

one too many marathons!

So i'm really really bummed. I went for my first run yesterday after the marathon ( i know lame to take a whole week off but what'ya do) i was all jazzed cause we're gonna do the rock'n'roll half in phoenix in a couple months and i really wanted to cut my time down and train hard this time around. so i told spence to take the car and i'd run up and get it around 830am (he leaves early around 630-730 depending on the day). his school is only 3miles away so no big deal. so i head out on the run and my legs were tight so i took it slow and then about 10min into the run my right knee thats mean givin me grief for awhile really started to hurt. i tried to not think about it, but the pain just radiated up my leg. so i started to walk. i walked a block and then tried to run. but i couldn't, i felt like what paula radcliff must have in the 2004 olympics when she couldn't run any more and just sat down at mile 23. (ok that was a little dramatic but still i felt horrible) so there i was 1mile away from home, and 2miles from his school but i really needed the car to run some errands. so i literally walked 2miles to spence's school trying not to cry. ---anyways my leg preceeded to hurt all day yesterday. i couldn't even walk!! i called my dr.'s: dad, jo, mom and had dr. mortensen look at it when he got home. my rx: rest for 2-3wks, ice, and motrin. i'm so so so bummed, i really don't wanna rest, it feels like i've just been sentenced to prison.... its like the minute you CAN'T RUN, all you really really really WANT TO DO IS RUN. i guess my age and the 4th marathon really set me over the edge. so when you're all running this week think of me, paula radcliff and try not to cry.j/k

an all day adventure

about a month ago i took the car to get the oil changed not a big deal but i had to wait in the dirty, smelly, all boy waiting room for 2hrs...so i felt pretty sad for myself. Well for the past 2days spence has had me call around to auto shops to see who could give us the best deal for new brakes and rotors. Finally we decided on brakesplus (because i had a coupon!) spence wanted to come with me this time so i wouldn't get stuck paying for something we didn't really need and to make sure they did it right. so i made an appt for 745am and they said at max it would take 2hrs so spence packed up his books and we went to get our car fixed. good thing spence was there for 2 reasons. 1. i totally got suckerd and was about to pay for things to get fixed we didn't need, and reason 2. because we were there for 4 1/2 hrs!!!! spence was a good sport to wait with me, but than again he didn't have any other option, we only have one car...but honestly it was nice to be held hostage with spence for 4 1/2hrs even if it was at the smell, can't touch anything car shop.:)

back in the saddle again

Well yesterday spence picked me up at the phoenix airport after an hour delay i finally made it back home. and back in the saddle of arizona. I'm a little sad to leave all my little little friends in utah: reese was my roommate for the past 2wks and i know she and greg walker are really going to miss me. it feels like i had to say good-bye all over again. and there is nothing better than a little niece or nephew running up to you after a really long day. thanks brown's, chrisman's and kemps for the past 2wks i'm gonna really miss you guys.....i think i'll just fly home every 4wks to work...

the marathon is over, spence laughed at me because i can't mend my legs with a huge blood blister and a bruised forefoot on one leg, and with the other hip and knee in shambles!! the marathon was....miserable...well not really i just ran into a couple problems along the way. i keep saying i'm so glad i'm not still running.

i cried like a baby when the race was finished, i called spence and couldn't hold it in any longer i wished he could have been there and so did he.:( this marathon was my 4th and by far the coldest, wettest, windiest race i've ever done. Dad and Jo did awesome, if it weren't for them and manda crackin the whip i don't think i would have ever got on the bus to run. i read in runners world that only 1% of americans will set a goal to run a marathon, and only 1% of that original 1% will actually finish a marathon in their lifetime. congrats dad, jo, kristie, karen, roger you are all in that 1% of 1%! whose up for rock n roll phoenix marathon in january...DAD is already training and going to qualify for boston at 3:45!!

spence is super smart!!

so i posted before spence got a 86 on his first med school test. well he has even better news he just got a 95% on his last bio chem test (class average was 82) and 100% on his anatomy test that is timed and super tricky, you only get 1min per slide so if you don't now the answer right away your in trouble. just wanted to give a shout out to the smartest guy i know!!

plus jo, dad, manda and i are headed for the marathon!!! no turning back now!! wish us look...and look for me on the front page with the head lines "girl crawls to the finish!"

thanks heather for being so great the flowers are awesome and when i get back to phoenix ill put them in a great spot for perfect sun, and away from the kitty!