Good thing I have a very laid back schedule today. Not sure how the rest of the week will go.

Day 2: A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

I love my momma! This was taken with my bridal pictures. We have always been close. Sure we've had our bad days but I can still always tell her everything. It's great to have such an awesome relationship with such a super mom.

Now on to tomorrow.

30 Day Picture Challenge!!

I know it's silly but I want to try to do this.

I have way too much FREE time so I thought I would start this.

You'll also learn something new about me, maybe.

So here we go... DAY 1

A picture of yourself with 10 facts:

1. My absolute favorite color is green, but I own more brown and blue.

2. I am scared to death of squirrels.... they are evil little creatures!!!

3. My birthdays are getting scary...for some reason I feel really old!

4. I have had more injuries in my twenties than any other age all together!!

5. I am the worst at taking pictures, I always forget we have a camera.

6. I HATE to work inside. I would much rather work in the sun all day!!

7. I love scary Sci-Fi movies as long as I have my comfy blanket to hide with.

8. I really am paranoid that I don't work out enough!!!

9. I have beaten guys at arm wrestling...sshh don't tell anyone.

10. I sing all the time...by myself. I am not the theatrical one in my family.

Did you learn anything new?

See ya tomorrow!

I'm Bored...

With as totally lazy as I have been for the past month I should have a post for each day of the week. It's not that I have been lazy, I still get stuff done, but it has been so cold I haven't gone outside for a while. In my defense Travis has been on a rotation that is over by noon so I just hang out with him and play.

Travis has officially started his last run of rotations before graduation. He has done Opthamology, Forensic Pathology and now he is doing Orthopedics. He is doing rotations that he hasn't gotten to do yet. Other than medical stuff he has been busy with his CubScout duties. He is such a good hard worker, no matter what the task is.

As for me, what have I been up to? Well umm...nothing really. Since I am self-employed I have my days where it is so blasted cold I don't do anything but laundry or other household tasks and then days that I spend at the barn playing with horses. I am in the process of getting lessons started back up and making Mary Kay orders here and there as well. Mainly I am enjoying the fact that I don't have someone breathing down my neck every single day. No I'm not bitter, I just love not working for anyone else.

We have been enjoying our winter though. Travis has taken more than one snow day so we could go out and sled, play video games or just relax together. I am trying to soak up all the Travis filled time I can get before residency starts and he lives at the hospital.

Anywho, I want to get pictures up one of these days when I am on the right computer. Until then you all will have to be happy with just reading all my rants. Until next time.

Another End of the Year Report

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s time for another annual report of the Sloan’s adventures – Ohio edition. We hope this letter finds you all in good health and happy times. We’ve had a few changes and travels this year.

Kamala finished another holiday season working retail at Bath and Body Works last January. She was manager of shipping and restocking. She did great in the position, but was definitely ready to be done. Her hours got cut a lot after the holidays, but she luckily found a job working with horses at a barn and is very happy. In the summer she was teaching several children riding lessons in weekly summer camps, enough so that she was able to quit working retail. She continues to teach private lessons along with training horses to sell.

As for me, I realized what I wanted to be when I grow up (finally) during my first pediatrics rotation in January. I finished my third year of medical school and passed my boards, then spent the summer and early fall doing audition rotations to interview at prospective pediatric residency programs. I spent a month here in Dayton Children’s Medical center, then a month in Travis Air Force Base in California, then a month in Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Kamala took some time to travel as well, spending a couple of weeks with her family while I was in California (I got to visit them on my weekends off too) and then she spent a week with me while I was in San Antonio, TX. We were able to visit all of the missions in San Antonio, including the Alamo, as well as walk the historical river walk (which was even beautiful in pouring rain!) I was glad to be home again after two months away.

We got a new addition to our family this year also, Curitiba (aka Cheeba). She is a tortoise-shell kitten we got to keep Rocco company. She grew up fast, but still has a lot of kitten spunk in her. She loves to wrestle stuffed animals!

Rocco has had his own trials this year. He’s had to spend the night at the vet and get fluids infused and had a month or so of painful urination, poor kitty!

And our latest news is that I have received the results of the residency match, and I was accepted into my first choice for residency in Wright-Patterson pediatrics program. We are very excited to know where we will be for the next three years, but sad that it won’t be closer to home.

So, that’s our news this year. Hope you are all doing well and enjoying this wonderful season. We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Until next year.

Love,

Travis, Kamala, “Rocco” & “Cheeba”

And the Results are In...

And the results are...

Dayton Ohio!!!

We are so excited to being staying in this area for another 3 yrs.

Travis starts on the 1st of July 2011 and finishes residency in 2014!

I never thought this day would come. Well Dayton locals I guess you haven't gotten rid of us yet and family I guess this means you need to come for a visit.

Oh happy day!

Good luck to the rest of the med students out there.

Adventures of November

In all honesty November was kinda a lame month. Nothing really is new around here.

Travis started a new rotation in Neurology, which he hasn't done yet. He found it very fascinating and came home with lots of interesting stories. He also started playing on two indoor soccer teams with a friend of ours. One team is 30 yrs and over and the other is a little younger. It's fun to go watch the play. However the older guys are kinda lazy and are really hard to watch. The younger guys all work together and are really fun to watch.

As for me I just continued training horses and teaching lessons. I tried to get as much done with my Mary Kay business as well. It is really awesome not working retail during the holiday season though. I am able to set my own time schedule, what's better than that?

As Thanksgiving rolled around we had to face the decision that loomed ahead. Since Travis only got a 4 day weekend off and since we live way the heck out here we had to stay home once again. It's not all that bad though, we still had fun. Once again we paired up with our friends the Kraczek's, and made dinner together. It was tons of fun and there was tons and tons of awesome food. It is so awesome having friends that we can claim as segregate family. We are both so far away from our families so we need each other. Of course we missed all you family members and can't wait until we are closer and can be there for as many holidays as possible.

Our Options

So We, meaning Travis, has applied for 3 different military residencies. Being in the military the match for residency is done a lot earlier than civilian matches.

This means that a panal sat down and looked at Travis' test scores, application, recommendation letters and evaluations from the audition rotations. They then ranked him against other applicants in the pediatric position. Once everyone is ranked then they are placed into the spots that are open. We had to turn in our top choices and so here we go. I will just give you my opinion on each spot since the big day is coming soon.

#1 Choice is Dayton OH

To believe it or not we really love Dayton. I know it is super far away from home but it has the best program, the barn I love working for, a ward and stake that are very welcoming and supportive, friends that have become as close as family and my personal favorite, the snow doesn't stay that long (the winter is pretty mild here). The list goes on and on with everything that we love about the area.

#2 Choice is Portsmouth VA

This choice is on the list because it is comparable to the program in Dayton. The area is smaller, is gorgeous and has mild temperatures. The big plus if you ask my family, is that it is near the ocean. This one is a bit farther away from home once again but it would be pretty to visit. *hint*hint*wink*wink*

#3 Choice is San Antonio TX

Well what to say what to say. I think the big pluses for this location is that it is the closest to family and a ton of job opportunities for me. The base is nice too, just really really big. We are just small town people so it was a bit much at times. But it is closer to family.

#4 Choice is Washington D.C.

Ok in all honesty I didn't even know this was on the list. Don't get me wrong it would probably be fun to live in such a busy city, but...it's so busy! The reason Trav put it on the list is cause he needed to fill 4 slots and I will not move to Missouri. There are only so many Pediatric programs in the USAF. That's ok, we'll just hope we get somewhere else.