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Our First NFL Game

Last night we went to our first Buffalo Bills game! I couldn't help but sing "Buffalo Bills, won't you come out tonight, won't you come out tonight, won't you come out tonight......." Can you hear the tune? :) Trav's only response was, "Ok, Sharon". It's like I can't be goofy without being referred to as my mother! That's Ok, I'll take it as a compliment! It was an open arena, and about the same size as Sundevil Stadium. The Bills are about as good as the Cardinals, but their fans are crazy, die-hards!

We were sitting in front of such fans when we hear a cup fall and a few of the drunkards softly say, "Uhh- ohh". Trav leans forward when he feels a bit wetter than usual and looks back at them. Only when they realize they got caught, did one mutter "Uh, sorry.... hey, you're at Bills game!" Riiiiight. Smelling like beer is much better when you're at a Bills game! How did we forget!!

There were 17 of us total sitting together and this angle gets almost everyone. Bron (who put this all together) and Megan are sitting in the row behind us. My head is peeking out of Trav's shoulder. Doug is right behind me. He must have caught too many smoke fumes on our way in. :)

A few more friends that didn't quite fit on the same row. Notice Rachel is reading a book... why didn't I thing of that! Haha

Well, needless to say, the Bills lost, but I was introduced to a whole new kind of white-trash culture and learned some new words for my low-class vocabulary. So, not all is lost! :)

Another Weekend Update!

This Friday we packed for what felt like a huge trip, but what was just a 45 min. drive south to go camping! The Goode's organized it and reserved the spots (thanks Erica!) and we drove with Doug and Rachel listening to some Demitri Martin along the way. Most people cooked tinfoil dinners on the campfire, but I was not so organized. Instead, Trav and I picked up subs from Wegmans. We are true campers! Maybe Dave and Briste should have done the same. :(

Briste said they spent a good amount on steak for their tinfoil dinner, but it got a little too toasty. Here are the remnants of their dinner. Dave didn't seem to mind as much, but PB & J saved the night for her!

Here is Roland, cooking up some cobbler in the dutch oven. He happens to be here doing his residency in general surgery. This guy has all the funny stories and kept us up all night laughing!

The Shaw's brought all the fixin's for smores! Can you believe no one got branded with these red hot pokers with all the kids running around being less than careful! :)

We shared our obnoxiously big tent with the Shaw's. I'm not sure what we were thinking when we bought one that fits 10-12 people!

We had pancakes, eggs, sausage, and bacon for breakfast. You may not know it, but you are looking at the behind of one adorable kid! Katie is Erica and Roland's little girl and she had no qualms with getting down and dirty!

When we got home from camping, Rachel and I cleaned up quick to make it to a friend's baby shower. Congrats Megan! Then we saw an e-vite to an 80's party that a couple in our ward was throwing. I did my best to ensemble an outfit with what I had in the house. We didn't look especially 80's, but it was fun anyway.

We went to Duff's for dinner. (Duff's is a famous wing place out here. It was my first time going, but unfortunately I was not impressed. I guess it was an off night for their wings) But we had no problems snarfing on all the good snacks! Pop rocks with Coke anyone?

There was a contest for the best dressed and the guy in green won for the guys. Abby in front, won for the girls. What you can't see in the pic, is that she had a leotard on under the shirt and enjoyed bending over to show off the sliver of material showing on her backside! Too funny.

Here's the boys pic. Lookin' good guys!

And the ladies pic! Man I miss my hair crimper! After much discussion, it was decided to watch Goonies. I personally, wanted to see Gremlins. I remember it being scary as a kid. Anyone remember that show?!

Sooo Bored!

Well, today is just another day in the life of jobless Stephanie. Someone call the Waaaambulance, cuz I'm ready to start complaining. :) I'm really going crazy here people. I've never been without a job/college classes for so long since my junior year of high school! It seems that a lot of people think we are just partying it up constantly (and we have had a lot of fun) but day-to-day I am quite bored. I thought I had a pretty good resume/experience but now I am second guessing myself. I have applied to two temp agencies, called a bazillion offices, and just spent my day driving around and dropping off my resume at any and all doctor/dentist/chiropractor/physical therapy/eye offices. I was told the job market was tight out here, but give me a break!! I applied to the school district to substitute, but school doesn't start until Sept. 3! It's like the olden days out here. I've applied to everything on Craig's list with no avail. I don't know what else to do!! I was talking to my friend, Megan, yesterday, who also can't find a job out here, and she decided that she would go back to school to get her masters. Wow! I got really excited for about 15 minutes. I've always wanted to get my masters and it sounded SO appealing to go back to school. We thought we could get our masters in English together! I was 95% convinced. Well, she talked to a councelor that day and found out that the classes were actually not that interesting. Stuff like, Study of Women Gender Roles in Colonial America. I was hoping for more editing/creative writing/research type stuff. She decided she wasn't into it and my balloon popped. I don't think I'll EVER complain about being too busy again. I miss it! And for those of you who have talked to me lately, know that I am aching over not teaching anymore. I just need like a kid or something! So have I sufficiently vented? I think so. With all this free time I have been able to do some stuff I never used to have time for, like reading. I finished Breaking Dawn last week and will admit that around page 350, I started liking it. Didn't like the ending though. Oh, well. I saw Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants yesterday and really liked it. Couldn't get through it without crying though. Gosh. I have fed the missionaries, cleaned my house, done the laundry, washed the car, called old friends, painted my nails, watched my bank account diminish.... you get the picture. Soooo Bored! Once the Olympics are over, I'll have nothing to live for. Just kidding, I'm not that bad off. Well, if anyone is still reading, you're amazing, and let me know if you know of any jobs in Buffalo. I will love you forever! Hopefully my next post will be to tell you I am in the work force again!

White Coat Ceremony

This past Friday was the culmination of the orientation process for the first years. The day started with the White Coat Ceremony. Family and friends were invited to hear the speakers and watch as they got their white coats for the first time. An interesting statistic they shared was that in 2001, about 6,000 people applied across the nation to go to dental school. This year there was more than 11,000 applicants. Over 2,000 people applied to go to UB and only 90 were accepted. Pretty crazy.

It's hard to see, but Trav is on the front row, second from the right.

Student's from other years introduced each name and told where they were from and what school they graduated from. Our friend, Shawn Fox, introduced Trav.

So this is the part where I get really angry and want to throw my camera against a wall. I stupidly took the first pic, forgetting that my ghetto camera shuts down after you take a picture for about 15 sec. I miss the part where Trav gets the coat put on him by the faculty and my camera finally decides to work again as he's walking away. GRRRRR!!!!

I'm sure many of you at home are wondering how you can help us poor dental students out...... Well I thought this slide was very helpful! The faculty really seems to know what we need! No rush please, we've got four years! =)

So this is all of us! All the LDS students and their wives and kids. It was funny because so many other students and parents walked by us looking kind of amazed. I'm sure they were wondering how we all got to be so close in such a short amount of time while they are still just meeting people. The church is amazing! Left to right we had Doug and Rachel Shaw, us, Ryan and Megan Smith, Jacob and Katie Finlinson, Pace and Carly Plant, Carl and Tasha Fricke, Chris and Lanay Leigh, Eric and Melissa Neilson.

Just outside the auditorium they have this huge buffalo just waiting to be hopped on.

I had to take off my shoes and get a lift up, but I made it on top! Giddy-up!

After the ceremony they had a catered lunch for us a few miles away and then an ice cream social in the afternoon at the school. After we had our ice-cream, the guys took us down to the pre-clinic lab. Each station has a set-up like a dentist office.

Needless to say I was like a kid in a candy shop in this classroom. I had to see and touch everything! I think Trav was afraid I was going to get him in trouble.

This is where they form molds and stuff. So fun! They also showed us the locker room where they keep all their instruments and tools. Every box was filled with something new and cool. Lots of pokers and scrapers! I wanted to be a dentist sooo bad. None of the other wives seemed too enthralled but I couldn't get enough of it! I was giddy excited just looking at all of it. I know, I'm lame.

Well the fun didn't stop there! Creed and Tiffany invited us to go to the Erie County Fair that night. The Shaw's and Rachel and Ryan Nielson came too. It was complete with all the cigarette smoke, trashiness, skankiness, and smelliness that fair's generally come with. We had a great time! :)

What's that delicious morsel you ask?! Just a deep fried OREO of course. The Cardens bought a basket of them and graciously passed them around. I now have one more clogged arterie. Thanks guys! :)

We were so excited to be at the fair the same night that the Beetles were performing! That's right, straight up Beetles impersonators that have been doing this for 24 years! Apparently they are the top ranked impersonators of their kind. I just didn't realize how few Beetles song's I knew until we sat down to listen. The big hit of course was Twist and Shout. We were all on our feet, shaking and twisting like pros. I might of even burned off that OREO. We can only hope.

Trav and Doug are such good sports! Tiff dared them to go dance with some old ladies that were having their own little dance party. They protested very loudly, then obliged. I'm sure they made their night! It was hilarious.

The Cardens brought their baby so the guys helped out with carrying the extra paraphernalia. Twice, people told Trav he was missing something, so we filled the Baby Bjorn with our necessary bag of kettle corn. The cotton candy just wouldn't fit!




Well I think my posting this video just shows how little pride I really do have. On the way home we were rocking out to one of my favorite Mariah Carey songs. Doug and Rachel were in the back and I tried to tape them singing along, but unfortunately you just hear my awful screeching. It takes Doug a bit to get into it, but when he does, watch out! :) I also find it very funny that Trav is completely checked out at this point. He wants nothing to do with us kooks. It's also nearly impossible to see, so sorry about that, but maybe it will remind you of a time when you felt as drunk as we sound with absolutely no alcohol in your system at all!

Something old, something new

It was but a couple of weeks ago that Trav and I woke up and I had the marvelous idea that it would be a Great day to refinish our splintering kitchen table. "Yeaaaah, sure" Trav replies, looking more than a little wary. So he gets his hands on an electric sandpaper thingy and goes to work. I thought I would be able to help. Guess not. An hour passes, a couple of hours pass, the day goes by and Trav triumphantly comes in to announce the sanding is done. Wowzers. I had NO idea it would be such a project. I'm thinking an hour tops for the whole thing to be done. Oh the mind of a naive girl.

I didn't quite get a "before" pic, but this is pretty close to what it looked like. You can tell Trav is tickled to be doing this =)

Here is a true "before" pic of what the chairs looked like. We got the set from my grandma and grandpa who remodeled their house about the time we got married. I think they got the table shortly after they were married :) I know what you're thinking... it was very hard to part with the teal, vinyl covering, but we managed.

Picking out the new upholstery was not an easy thing for my indecisive mind but we finally decided on something a little spunky for our kitchen. Well, spunky for me.

Ta Da! It only took a week of work, but Trav did an awesome job. I was so excited! It was like getting a whole new kitchen table. I couldn't stop stroking it. Seriously.

A close up to show off that shine!

After the day of sanding, I gave Trav a break and sent him to grill some turkey burgers for dinner. I'm so nice. We got the charcoal grill from my parents and it's come in handy out here in BBQ land. Again, Trav looks too thrilled for words.

I had to throw this pic in. After two weeks of unpacking and decorating, this was the only room left to do and it became the "throw everything we don't know what to with in here" room. It was covered with boxes and junk. I just shut the door and forgot about it. Well, a week ago we found out that a couple moving here wasn't able to get into their apartment yet and needed a place to stay for four days. No better motivation than necessity! We organized, went out and bought the bed frame, night stand, mattress set, and bedding all in two days. It was quite the scene watching us haul in the mattress set. I'm not the strongest wife. We did a lotta scooting. But it all came together and now we have a guest bedroom! Hint, hint to all our family and friends out in AZ! =)

I took this one last night while watching the Olympics. Trav got some of his scrubs yesterday, so he came downstairs to show them to me. The next time I looked, he had hunkered down on the couch with his new best friend, ie. the lap top. I figured this was a scene I would seeing a lot of, so as usual I had to document the first occasion! My husband, the dental student. :)

I know, I know, I use waaay too many smiley faces :)

Orientation Activities

I feel like the social events never stop out here! It's been a lot of fun. Last Tuesday, Bron threw a BBQ at his place for the first years. Since I usually average one hamburger a year, I was feeling a little "beefed out" with all the BBQs. Luckily, Trav was flexible and we devoured a yummy Wegman's sub. We met a couple that got married three weeks ago! They literally had their honeymoon, then drove out here. We had fun playing "Mafia" and keeping dry inside since there was a huge storm going on.

Wednesday the school had a picnic at Delaware Park in the evening. We showed up an hour late, but the drinking festivities were still underway. Guess we got to get used to that. They had volleyball, Kan Jam, and other games going on. Unfortunately I think we stuck with our usual crowd and didn't meet too many new people, but there's still time!

Friday, the school had a dinner planned at Dave and Buster's. They reserved a huge banquet room so everyone would fit. They don't have this restaurant back home but I would compare it to a BJ's Brewery. This place also has games though. We sat a big table and met a few new people and drank our non-alcoholic beverages. They basically served all you can eat appetizers: mini- pizzas, hamburgers, nachos, and chicken tenders. We also got a handful of tokens to play games which actually turned out to be really fun. I felt like a kid playing skiball, basketball, Deal or No Deal, and Dance Dance Revolution!

Then I saw a photo booth and dragged Trav over to take some pics since my camera wasn't working. Little did I know that this was no ordinary photo booth. It's the kind that takes your pic then generates what your kids are supposed to look like. So there we were all excited to see what our baby is going to look like and........

BAM! The world's ugliest child!! The baby pic popped up and Trav and I died laughing. We promptly ran around showing everyone our masterpiece. I think they should rename it the "Birth control Machine" We've decided to spare humanity and never procreate. I think it's pretty safe to say that no baby of mine will EVER have a mullet though. We only felt slightly better when our friends decided they had to do it and their creation didn't turn out much better. Thanks Dave and Buster's for a horrifying yet memorable night!

Well it wouldn't be a weekend if it didn't end with another BBQ right?! We grilled it up at the Shaw's Saturday night and eventually had to run indoors when a storm blew in and started dumping hail. We watched some Olympics (go USA!) and marveled at the men's gymnastics. When the elements settled down we went back outside and played some Kan Jam. My first time. I even got a Kan Jam! (when the frisbee goes right in the hole) I was pretty excited and Trav then could say "I told you so" . I guess I mocked him when he was so proud of getting Kan Jam's earlier. :) Eventually the party sizzled down until it was just Rachel, Tiffany, and I (the guys went to the Nielsons to play N64) We decided watching Mean Girls was appropriate. Pretty crude teen movie but I'll admit I laughed really hard at a few parts. "I'm sorry that people are so jealous of me... but I can't help it that I'm so popular" is a quote that pretty much sums up that movie. Ahhh, high school. Best three years of your life, right? :)

First Day of School!

Say Cheese! Well, we can thank my mom for this pic. It was very traditional in my family to get your picture taken in your new school clothes on the first day of school each year. We just expected it. The guys were so nice and cooperated with me! Don't they look so cute?! I told them they would appreciate it in four years, looking back. We have Eric Nielson, Trav, Doug Shaw, and Carl Fricke from left to right. They carpooled on their first day of dental school. I was so jealous! I wanted to go back to school, or teach school, or just do something with school. I'm so proud of Trav. He's worked so hard to get here and now we have a whole new adventure ahead. Here's to the next four years!!

Our Weekend

Well this weekend was a busy one! Saturday morning I went to Beth's baby shower with Briste at the Dayton's home. It was beautiful! The whole neighborhood was amazing, with huge colonial looking mansions and big, green lawns! They served breakfast, which was delicious, on glass plates, which was way fancy for any shower I've ever been to! Beth is having twins, and I'm so jealous! I want twins so bad. It would be fun to relate and it would help me catch up since I'm the last old maid to start a family:) After the shower we raced home and got Travis and the Shaw's to drive the country mile to our ward's pioneer party at the park! I guess I'm just used to going to ward parties at the neighborhood park, usually within walking distance. This shin dig was across town, at least 20 min. away, and people from our ward actually lived out there!! I guess I still don't comprehend our ward boundaries.

We barbequed and the kids played pioneer games. We helped out with this one... transporting a bucket of water, paper cup to paper cup. I thought we would get wet, but we didn't. It was after it was over that the kids realized they didn't get drenched and then decided to take it upon themselves to get the job done. I just didn't realize that my big, green dress would be a target! I got a cup of water thrown on me and several soaking kids thought it would be fun to tackle me with hugs. All this while several other women stood by in the same circle and weren' t touched! What gives! :)

Could you guess? Yes, another game of soccer. Travis is in 7th heaven. We finally got him a pair of cleats last week. HAPPIEST DAY OF HIS LIFE! It was so cute. He loves playing so much.

Well, I don't have pics of our busy Sunday, but I can't skip it. We've been giving rides to church to a man in our ward named Chris for a couple of weeks. Well on Sunday he got baptized! They did it right after church and Travis was asked to give the talk on baptism. He did great! I was asked to lead the music, which was fine, I still remember learning from Sis. Carden way back in YW. I just forgot one little thing...people hear you sing when you lead the music. Especially when there is only 15 people in the room. Hmmm. Since I can't sing on tune, this was a bit embarrassing. Also, I noticed people don't sing the first word of each verse. They wait for the conductor to do it, then they join in. All details that slipped my mind. Oh well. No one laughed at least. It was just really nice to go to a baptism again! I also got a new calling!! I am the YW secretary. I'm actually really excited to be in YW again, since I was just the Beehive leader. I just hope they let me teach once in a while. We also had Chris and the Nielsen's over for dinner. Yummy Hawaiin haystacks and orange sticky rolls. Thanks, Mom, for the recipes! Then later that night we went to the Shaw's for a game night with Pace and his wife. What a fun day! Didn't get that Sunday nap in, but I would do it this way every time if I could!

Crystal Beach

Well I am behind on my blogging because our trip to the beach was almost a week ago! We drove to Canada with Bron, Rachel and Doug and met up with two other families. The beach is on Lake Erie, so there aren't any waves, but I was SO excited to just lay out and soak up the sun!

It's hard to see, but in the background, the guys are playing catch with lacrosse equipment. They also played around with a soccer ball and football. They let us join in on the fun in the water with a rousing game of "keep away" and something similar to "three flies up". We had a blast.

Rachel and I working on our killer tans :) Maybe you can see I'm already turning red. For some reason I thought I was immune to a sunburn.

PARENTAL ADVISORY- LOOK NO FURTHER IF YOU WANT TO SAVE YOUR EYES!

We were fortunate enough to have the "thong man" come bunker down next to us. You could hear comments from lots of different people on the beach making fun of him. He provided many giggles and suppressed laughs throughout the day. Just be glad you're not seeing the front!!! Who took this picture anyway??? Gross!! :)