Jake's WHITE COAT CEREMONY and some FUN NEWS!

The annual White Coat ceremony was held at a theatre in Yakima and it was really fun and super packed!  We had a lot of family come up to attend.  Jake's Grandparents White, Glendi, Carley, my parents Joel and Marie and Jake's undergrad study buddy Daniel Egbert.  Our good friends the Clayvilles from Richland were also able to come up for the day. (So nice to have good friends close!)  Everyone made huge sacrifices to drive and be here for this event and it means so much that you all came!

PNWU's White Coat ceremony is held the beginning of each school year for the new medical school class.  They had some great speakers, then the class lined up to get their coats put on them as an official shove-off into medical school.  We had a great time, minus Charlie's random break downs.  Thanks Dad for playing mommie and letting me watch Jake's ceremony!  And thanks Mom for taking all the pictures since I forgot my camera.  And thanks to everyone else there for your babysitting help at the ceremony and over the weekend!  We are so blessed to have such great families!

Here are some pictures from the ceremony...

I am SOO proud of Jake!  He has really worked hard so far and has done so well!  He loves school!  We especially like the fact that PNWU has started off with smaller class sizes--it makes it a lot easier to get to know your class mates.  But even with a class of 75, its still hard to get to know everyone.  So, when the class elections were brought up, he thought running for something might help get his name out there so it would be easier to make friends.  He decided it would be a lot less embarassing to lose for President than it would for Treasurer, per say, so he choose to go all the way.

Well, elections were pushed back because no one ran for Secretary or Treasurer, but FINALLY last week he gave his speech on Wednesday and found out on Thursday that he'd been elected Class President!  He ran agaisnt 2 other students; they had to be voted in by over 50% the first time or they would have to hold a second voting against the two highest canidates.  Jake was voted in the first round!! 

What I really find amusing was that Jake's campaign platform was that he was "not the smartest or best looking in the class," so that made him approachable and easy to talk to. (He also threw in some good experiences that would help him be a good president...:)  As Class President he will act as the middle man between the students and faculty, so he knew that being approachable and not intimidating would be very important. :)  His ultimate goal was accomplished though and he befriened many more students and feels like he knows a good share of his class now.  That will make school even more fun for him and I'm proud that he makes sacrifices to get to know other people and make the experience better for everyone.  Love you honey and congratulations!!

Yep, its true!  We are officially heading to Spain in June and some of July in 2011.  Jake served his LDS mission in Spain and has always wanted to go back; we've actually been planning on vacationing there for some time.  At medical schools they have classes for learning Spanish medical terminology.  Even though Jake already speaks Spanish, we all know that English medical terms don't mean anything to those of us not medically inclined, so it stands to reason that he better get familiar with those terms in Spanish as well.

Jake surprised me one night (after a pleasant conversation about my spending habits..:) that he wanted to spend a good chunk of money.  You would think it was a joke, right?  No, Jake never jokes about stuff like that--although sometimes I wish he did!  He told me he wanted to head to Spain on vacation during his only real medical school break between the first and second year.  He thought maybe we could go for 2 weeks to a month and rent out a "peso" in Spain and travel around a bit while leaving the kids with family for a few weeks.  Then, not long later he switched his story to "We're going to Spain, we're taking the kids (!!?!?*%#) we'll be gone for 1.5 months, AND we'll both be volunteering a good share while we're there!!"

Ok, now don't get me wrong--I not againsnt volunteering, but it gets a little tricky when you through in the fact that I don't speak the language!!  (Yeah, I know--I would stink as a missionary!:)  It was all a little overwhelming at first because it went from a fun, kid-free vacation to pretty much moving my family to a new world and shoving me right out into it!!  Over time I became more comfortable with the idea and now I'm pretty excited to go!  That's all Jake wants to talk about now...  I hope he can focus on school for the rest of the school year!  :)

I'm actually pretty excited to get back on track with learning Spanish.  I have taken plenty of beginning Spanish courses and can remember a lot of basics, but Jake said that once I figure out some conjugating and get thrown into it, I should hopefully catch on pretty quick.  I'm pretty happy for the chance to educate the kids a little with Spanish too.  Hannah is always referring to her "monos" when she needs them cleaned off. :)  I guess Jake and I are going to have to get serious!

Well, thanks for reading and I hope you all have a great day!  Hope all is well for everyone!