Amy & Tom Tanis

Colorado in the spring

2008-09-09T06:27:00.000-07:00

Spring has sprung...

Ok, so this lack of posting has gotten totally out of hand. I just am bad at keeping up with it since my Sarah isn't here helping me (sigh). But I am determined to catch the blog up on our lives over the last several (ok like 7) months...

LLAC...with the internship end in site (yah!!) our spring in Colorado went by so quickly. Easter was early this year, and I actually had the weekend off! Here is the one picture of Tom and I from Easter 2008 (so sad, plus it's not a very good photo of either of us!) but I did make Tom and all my internmates easter baskets to semi-celebrate Easter, even though everyone else was working.

Some other pics from March, these are from the mornings we had doing rounds with Dr. Swanson. This day we were practicing joint injections.

April was exciting since Tom and I knew we were headed back east. Don't get me wrong we LOVED Colorado, but being away from family made it tough to be so far away. Here are a few pictures from when Tom visited MD to find a place to live and look for a job. His parents, Vicky and Will, met him there to help out...they are great. Plus it was their anniversary!

There was a parade in Easton that day...aren't the Clydesdales awesome!

LLAC in April was also fun...the girls went to dinner with Cheryl (our Colorado Mom) at our favorite local restaurant NoNo's. It was right down the street from the clinic and had a great atmosphere and New Orlean's style food.

I know all of us internmates miss our Cheryl!!

This is a random picture where I felt like I looked like Lady from "Lady and the Tramp" even more than usual...c'mon it's true, I am totally Lady with that hair! I do look a little scary though.

Later that month, we FINALLY had our Princess Bride Party with a bunch of the girls from work. Becky had originally planned our "PBP" as we coined it in August 07 and it took us til April to actually get together!! Sad, but that's the way the year went...you couldn't really plan anything! Anyway, we had a great time at Unger's house. She made the best dinner and we all brought sides and desserts...Yum! And you can never go wrong watching The Princess Bride!

The part of April that was my favorite though, was that my mom and sister, Emily, came out to visit on their spring break. It was so absolutely wonderful to see them, since work was super busy and I missed home!

Here is us at Noodles and Co, one of our favorite quick eateries of the year...and it was right down the street.

Emily even got to go riding! Jenny was my absolute favorite trainer of the year! She is the sweetest person, greatest teacher (she gave me lessons when I had any spare time), and has a great group of school horses. Always a good time at the Colorado Horse Park.

Katie was there that night too, riding Chili, the wonder pony.

It was always fun with these girls! Here's Katie, me and Jenny.

May was extra fun because I had Memorial Day weekend off!! Tom and I visited Leo and Cristin and we all ran the Bolder Boulder, which is one of the largest races in the country. It's a 10K and I think they beat their old record by registering over 53,000 people this year. It was fun...and my knee actually held up to the challenge, the most I had run in 3 1/2 years!

Here's some pics at the race.

Here's the collage Tom was most proud of...catching all the port-o-potty action.

After the race, we all went back to Leo and Cristin's for a BBQ and some corn-hole (or corn-toss...depending on where you're from). There were actually a bunch of people from FL there and it was fun to reminsce about our old times in G-vegas, tailgating for the Gator games and playing some fierce games of corn-hole. We miss those days!

Kevin and Leo

Group shot!

There were several LLAC events that also made the month a fun one. The first was Margaritaville II at the Gaughan's. Apparently this has become tradition (since last year's party was a hit), so needless to say, we were excited to attend. I tried to get pics of everyone, especially of them making funny faces or doing crazy things...here goes:

Of course, we had to play our camara game, thanks for the great photography Tom ...the players: Hailey, FTB, Carrie-Margarita, me, & K-Zuti

Pics of our intern dinner and the KY Derby are coming up...sooner than later I hope :)

LLAC feb

2008-06-08T15:39:00.000-07:00

donnie&dor vist

2008-06-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

February 2008

2008-06-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

June 8, 2008

Quite a spring…

So now that I figured out how to log-in to the blog again I can start filling in the gap from February to June. Clearly a lot has happened since then and both Tom and I have been super busy. I’ll try and keep up now though, since we’ll be moving in two weeks back east (and I’ll have a long car ride to blog).

To start off the month of February Dr. Story had us all over for the Superbowl…which of course was a must-watch for Tom and I (mostly me) since the NY football Giants were playing the undefeated New England Pats. Anyway, we enjoyed good food and friends and cheered NY to victory…what a game!!

A group shot of all the girls and Dr. Story's boys...this picture makes me happy!

It’s always fun to go to the Story-Brown house since her boys keep us entirely entertained. Nathan is going to be a buckin’ bull rider like no other of the bull he named “Dental Floss.” It’s the cutest thing to watch him on that bull in the living room.

Go Nathan!

Dr. Story and her husband, David. He made us homemade, awesome pizzas!

Alani and Matthew

Nathan loves taking pics of us all watching the game...

Kaylan and Becky lovin' the pizza

Later in February, I went on an east coast tour looking for a job. I flew into Raleigh, NC where I got to see Jim, Dawn, Ella, Meg and Cody. I also got to see old friends from NJ, Darren and Nicole Flynn and their baby Madison. I then went to Delaware, Maryland, NJ to see the fam for a night, up to MA and finally to VT where I flew back to CO. I got to see Kitty Milton (Kerri Mitton for those of you who didn't know her) and stay with her family in MA. Here’s a fun collage…

After getting back from a whirl-wind trip driving from NC to VT in 5 days, Dorothy, Donnie and her fiancé (then boyfriend) Aaron came to visit since I had the rare weekend off. It was such a blast…we just laughed the whole time whether it was at Starbucks taking funny pictures, at the grocery store, or at home playing the laughing game. We also watched practically the entire first 3 seasons of The Office thanks to Dor.

Random funnies!

Tom, Greasy Gina from Jouwsee, and Amy

Amy, Donnie and Aaron
Amy, Kevin and Tom when we played beer-pong at Kevin's house. Poor Tom hates being my partner because I don't drink beer so he gets it all :)
Aaron and Donnie are getting married on October 4th 2008...yah!! Congrats! Soon they'll be Aaron and Lauren Watson.
Aaron, Donnie, and Dor...

The people at Starbucks pretty much thought we were crazy :)

And of course I worked a lot, so here’s a few fun photos to remember the good times at LLAC…it’s always easier looking back on the months past and saying that they were “good” since at the time I was really suffering from work burn-out. None-the-less, time has flown and now the internship year is almost up!!

Jeff, Nick (the horse) and I after surgery

Kaylan, Dr. Unger and Dr. Bain sitting in Griffindore (we named our desk area)

Here's an assortment of pictures I love to remember...

Ash and Chai say bye-bye for now...

January 2008

2008-02-02T13:21:00.000-08:00

January in Colorado…

The first month of 2008 has been a busy one, but as always we try to make it as fun as possible!

January 1, 2008
Happy New Year!

I was primary on call that week so needless to say my New Year’s Eve was less exciting than most years. It was a freezing night in Littleton and luckily I didn’t have any calls to go out on. So instead Becky, Jordy, Alani and I had a dance party up in the “leaning tower” (what we call the apartment above the clinic that Becky and Jordy live in, it’s literally falling over). It was just the 4 of us, but we had fun. Becky and I learned the “Soulja Boy” dance and Jordy showed us a few of his signature moves…hysterical!

Fun in the Kerscher's apartment with Alani, Becky and Jordy

Becky, Alani, & I

Stacy and Matt at our apartment

Tom went out with Matt DelPreore and his girlfriend Stacy who were visiting from NJ. Matt went to the same highschool as I did and then wound up being Tom’s freshman roommate at Rutgers…it’s a long story but it’s kind of through him that we met. They went to dinner and then came home in time enough to say “happy new year!” to me as I was in bed already…I’ve decided that this year doesn’t count when it comes to holidays or having any sort of life outside work.

January 10, 2008
Starbucks

Amidst a schedule that doesn’t allow much time to enjoy each other’s company outside of work, my favorite internmates and I look forward to any morning we can get away to Starbucks for some coffee. We are “regulars” at a local `Bucks just down the road from the clinic. It’s so fun to get away from the clinic, even if it’s just for a few minutes in the morning…although it’s becoming an expensive habit!

Me & Kaylan

Becky & Alani

That's a serious white chocolate mocha Kersh...
Alani can't wait for the table...she's also drunk in this picture.
Kaylan is so excited for her awake tea! (like she needs to be more "awake")

January 12, 2008
WEEKEND OFF!!

Since I only have a few weekends off for the rest of the year, Tom and I try to go exploring somewhere new. We were going to visit Glenwood Springs, but traffic was so bad we decided to go somewhere closer. We wound up driving up to Fort Collins, which is where CSU and the vet school is. It was a cute town and we found a beautiful park overlooking the reservoir. It was a lot of fun to hike around…and we can’t resist the photo opps!

This is one of my favorite pics...isn't the sky amazing!

We celebrated our 4 year anniversary (sort 0f) by going to coffee at Starbucks and enjoying some QT hiking in the trails near the reservoir in Ft. Collins.

SASSY TEAPOT LIVES!!

This sass is for you Joe and Kate (by the way congrats to them for getting engaged)

January 18-20, 2008
National Western Stock Show

Traditionally, LLAC works the National Western Stock Show every year. So…the interns rotated staying in a hotel in downtown Denver and being the attending veterinarian at the NWSS for the month it was in the works. It was work of course, but it was also a lot of fun. Tom got to come and stay with me during some of the time. Heather is one of the vet assistants that works at LLAC during her school vacations, who also came along for the fun. We got to see everything from Western pleasure and performance classes, to Hunters, Jumpers and rodeos! Lots of horses doing every job you can imagine! But it’s not just horses at the stock show (hence the name), it’s also like a state fair in that there is everything from steers and heifers to chickens, goats, and rabbits being shown. There are also art exhibits and a huge trade show where fair food (yum!) and too many vendors to describe. It was an awesome event…here’s some pics.

We're off to the races...

I don't know, it looks like Heather is doing more than racing...does she need a bathroom? :)

Dustin, Dr. Dunbar and Heather watching horses warm up in the warm-up arena.

The vet truck parked outside the extraordinarily scenic area in the far corner of the facility where we had our luxurious office (that's a joke by the way). Heather's givin the thumbs up for how much fun we had... we were actually pretty slow most days but got to watch a lot of the shows.

The "kid's" petting zoo...we must be kids at heart since we spent a lot of time here!

Awwe...is that not the cutest little face. He loved to suck on our fingers

Rodeo nights at the stock show were fun. The best was the "mutton bustin" where little kids get put on sheep and hold on for their lives as the sheep make a run for it. Then they all get trophies that are twice as tall as they are. So funny! The other events are exciting too...the bucking broncs are always fun to watch and the shows that are put on in between events are pretty entertaining.

January 24th, 2008
Visit to Glenwood Springs

My first job interview...yes first real job...was in Glenwood Springs, CO. My internmate Becky is also applying for the job so we went together for our interviews. What a gorgeous town tucked up in the mountains. It had a really cute downtown area where Becky and I had lunch. The clinic was really quaint and nice too. It was a treat to be away from the clinic! Here's a few highlights of our visit.

Glenwood springs...Becky and I at the cafe, some mountain views, and a picture of the clinic

Christmas

2008-01-06T18:49:00.000-08:00

Twas the night before christmas and the cats were excited, for their parents were home and they were delighted!

The morning came quick as Queen Sass (amy) had to rise, and the drive into work 2 hours fore the sunrise. The snow it was falling and would continue you'll see, the first white christmas for the youngest Tanis family.

The horses were nesseled all snug in their stall, as we left the clinic amidst the snowfall.
On prancer, and Amy and Tom through the snow, to Dr. Gaughn's house for dinner with "family" below!
The cats were our guards for the tree was ginormous, a 3 foot red wood in our house oh how glorious!
The cats were hung by the tormentor with care, while visions of no internship soon would be there. With Amy in her pj's and I in mine too, we missed our family and friends so much, never again to be blue. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

AAEP - Orlando, Florida

2007-12-31T11:27:00.000-08:00

AAEP – December 1-5, 2007

The American Association of Equine Practitioners has an annual international convention held every December. This year, through the best of luck, I was able to attend the conference in Orlando, FL…it was like a trip back home! Only 2 interns from LLAC were able to go and Kaylan and I were drew the long straws.

Kaylan and I at the airport

The theme of the trip for me and Kaylan must have been getting lost and making the best of it. To start out, our rental car place was off-site from the Orlando airport. Well we got on the wrong shuttle bus, which took us to the wrong rental place, so we had a nice tour of the airport’s surrounding scenery! And we were so happy the first time we found the shuttle, we had to get a picture in front of it…and then after getting on the wrong one, we had to document our finding the correct shuttle!

Wrong shuttle...
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Correct shuttle....

We finally got our car...Kaylan couldn't contain herself
I got to meet up with some great friends during the short hectic stay in Fla. It was mostly UF alums that had also made the trip for the equine conference. But Marcia and Kelly made some time to squeeze in a drive to come and see us. It was so fun! On Tuesday, Kerri Mitton and I escaped at lunch and joined Marcia, her mom, Kelly and her baby Michaela at the Millenium Mall. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory and took pics in front of their glorious tree. Baby Michaela was just precious! She didn’t cry the whole time as we passed her around the table during lunch.

Kitty Milton, me, Marcia

Collage of vet school friends

Posing in front of the tree...

Some of the technicians from LLAC got to go too. Here's all of us at dinner one night.

Sarah, me, Kathy, Jess, Kris and Kaylan

Kaylan, Sarah, and Kathy

And we did manage to go out a few nights for dance party!! Dr. Toppin and the ladies posing here. He was the only one brave enough to hit the town with all us girls.

Oh yeah, and I did actually go to lectures and learn a bunch about the career I’ve just entered. It is a weird feeling now, being away from the clinic – not on call or being woken up in the middle of the night, getting up at 4:45am for treatments at 6am….and I loved every second of it. Unfortunately after this little rendezvous I have only 4 more weekends off until June 20, 2008 (not that I’m counting!)….let the job search begin!

Thanksgiving with the Tanis fam

2007-11-24T20:16:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, November 21st

All the planning, preparation, and effort that went into making this Thanksgiving a memorable one sure paid off as the whole Tanis fam came out to visit Tom and I in Colorado. Mom, Dad, Joe and his girlfriend Katie (after Joe and Katie had run the Philidelphia marathan hours before) began the adventure in NJ, where they picked up the RV and headed down to North Carolina to pick up Jim, Dawn and the kids. The next day all 9 of them took the 40 hour drive cross country to Colorado. From their arrival in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, the Thanksgiving extravaganza was in full swing.

Wednesday was full of a whole lot of catching up, laughs and great food. It had snowed the night before so needless to say some sort of snow ball fight was in store.

Here are some snowball fight highlights. By the end we all had snow down are shirts and in our ears, even the girls were in on the action.

Family dinner!

The rest of the day was spent doing a little shopping in preparation for our trip to the mountains on Friday and getting food ready for Thanksgiving dinner.

Thursday, November 22nd

What a great day! The girls helped me prepare quite the Thanksgiving smorgasboard. The morning was spent working up our appetite in a 4 mile Turkey Trot put together by Colorado Athletic Club. Tom actually worked the race and cheered on the runners. Great pictures Tom, by the way. The afternoon was spent cooking up a storm, from sweet potatoe pie to a new cranberry recipe, we had some good eats! Tom and Dad carved the turkey, awsome job guys! And of course delicious desserts were in store as well, Amy's personal favorite was the jello shot (one for me, one for them...)

These are some highlights of the turkey trot. Joe and Amy ran together (left) and there's always time for family photos (right).

The "sassy teapot" pose by Tom, Amy, and Joe

These are some fun family shots at our house and in the RV.

Later on Thursday, all 11 of us headed west to the Rockies. We rented an RV site in Breckenridge, a quaint and beautitul mountain town. We got there and it was 10 degrees and so cold! And temperature regulation wasn't the easiest in the RV, so we all bundled up.

Friday, November 23rd

In the morning Joe, Kate, Jim, Dawn, Tom and I got our ski and snowboard gear and headed to the mountain. Dawn and I skied and the others snowboarded. We hit the slopes all morning. It was perfect conditions and so clear and picturesque. Poor Dawn suffered from altitude sickness in the morning but she toughed it out and joined us after lunch. Later that night we all ate a delicious steak dinner prepared by Mom and Dad and then played Cranium and laughed hysterically all night long (Dad Tanis-name 3 things that remind you of Las Vegas....gambling, girls, and Elvis...you had to be there).

These are a few of the pics taken from our day skiing at Breckenridge. It was chilly but awe-inspiringly beautiful!

This picture just makes me laugh. I look like a 1985 ski model with tight-elastic pants and a super puffy coat doing my sexy pose on the slopes! Everyone else looks like their in the 21st century though so you know it's from this weekend. We definitely had a blast.

Saturday, November 24th

We got up early so that we could get a few family photos with the majestic mountains as the backdrop. Here's just a few...

And finally the infamous RV that made this whole trip the adventure that it was. From dripping water into the dining area when the ice was melting on the roof, to the table edge falling off, and despite all the ricketing and rattling, it was quite a fun home for a few days spent with a great family!!

Catching up (our first 4 months in Littleton)

2007-11-10T15:44:00.000-08:00

November 10, 2007

Better late than never....

This post is just a random assortment of pictures from our summer and fall here in Littleton. Amy starting her internship at LLAC, Tom starting his job at Colorado Athletic Club and everything in between.

Here are the people I spend more time with than my husband...my internmates. They are all great and I love them dearly. We are a great team and without their help, I'd be in trouble!

Dave, goofing off in ICU. He's the only guy intern this year and has done a great job putting up with so much estrogen!

Kaylan, our Canadian, striking a pose in Griffendor (the name of our desk)!

Becky, the bat catcher. Yes, there were bats living upstairs this summer.

Alani, picture time! We love her, even though she's from Fargo :)

Me, hamming it up in anesthesia. I'm very camara shy, can't you tell.

Here are all the girls at Cristina's bachelorette party. We went out to dinner at On The Border and then next door to dance at Lodo's. Unfortunately the DJ was terrible, but we made the best of it and had fun!

This collage is just some of the procedures that we've done since I've started. The top left, I'm emptying a cecum during colic surgery; top right Dr. Gaughan and I are lancing a peri-anal abscess; bottom left is a laceration I sutured up on a 3 year old (unhandled) mustang; bottom right I'm taking digital pulses on one of our post-op colic patients.

My internmates have become my family and I love these girls. We try and have fun outside of work: going for walks with their dogs, Starbucks in the mornings (when we don't have rounds), going out to dinner (we love Nono's restaruant), and breakfast rounds at Panera!

It would be an even tougher year if we didn't try and make the best out of our long hours. Laughing and taking funny pictures is what we do best. Here are just a few of the smiling faces at LLAC!

We've had some very special patients during our first 4 months here. You spend so much time with the horses and put so much energy into getting them well, it's difficult not to get attached. Some of my favorites so far have been these guys: Cuba (top left), Bambi (top right), Bud (bottom left), and Hap (bottom right).

More cute horses that we've become attached to....Sam, he didn't make it and we miss him dearly (top left), Nona (top right), Jackie (bottom left), and of course all the mini foals.

Here are some pics of our dear little kitties enjoying their Colorado home. We like to dress them up and show them new things like snow. They are definitely snuggley and Chai is still our "sassy squeeze box!"

Here are a few pictures that Tom took of where he works. I finally got to visit 4 months after we moved here and everyone who met me said, "so she does exist." It is a beautiful gym and Tom works with some nice people.

Catch Up To The Present

2007-11-10T12:17:00.000-08:00

November 10, 2007

Hello, it has been a while. We have been enjoying the cooler weather and been busy as always. Here are a few pics over the past few months. In no particular order....

We took a drive to Winter Park on Amy's weekend off in the end of September to go for a hike. We didn't realize that it snowed the night before and we ended up enjoying the winter wonderland 11,000 feet up by Berthoud's Pass.

We started in Littleton with 55 degree weather at 8am. As we reached the summit, the temp had dropped to 28 and the view was awesome. Here we are at Castlewood Canyon State Park. We went for an hour hike and the view was amazing. The canyon was fun to run through and do some rock climbing!

There were huge boulders throughout the canyon's floor so Tom had to climb a few of them. I believe this is category 5 on the climbing scale...although a turtle climbed the same boulder minutes prior...

After our visit to Castlewood Canyon, Amy had a riding lesson with Jenny at the Colorado horse park. She practiced a lot of technical terms that Tom was unfamiliar with but the outcome was pretty cool. Amy did some caveletti polls and trotting and cantering and had a blast riding "Mikey." One day we plan to take lessons together!

In October, Tom ran the Denver 1/2 marathon with his boss, Kathy. The day was cold and rainy but everyone had a great time. Kathy and Tom kept up to the elite runners for the first 15 feet but couldn't keep the blistering pace. Oh well.
Tom with his boss, Kathy pre-race.

Baseball and Hiking

2007-06-22T09:00:00.001-07:00

Saturday, June 16 2007

We went to our first Colorado Rockies baseball game with Kevin, Jenna, Ray, Amber and Kevin (some of them are working at Alameda East....the T.V. show "Emergency Vets"). We are not sure what was better, the Rockies winning or the "Rockies" view we had at sunset!

Amy, Tom and Kevin sitting on the first base line, third level. 5,280 feet+ up!
After the game, we all went downtown and visited the clubs. The coolest part of the places we went to was the fact that they were all on the rooftops! After a night of dancing (too bad we didn't get any shots of us in action....but probably a good thing), we headed over to "Pete's Kitchen" to grab some of the best food in Denver! From left to right: Amy, Kevin D, Jenna, Ray, Amber and Kevin C.A nice shot of the infamous "Pete's Kitchen"!

Thursday, June 21 2007

Amy and I explored a little more near our house. We went to the "Red Rocks" park and ampitheater. Red Rocks is about 20 minutes from our house. It was great seeing all the different bands that played there and how it was constructed (part of the "New Deal" for you history buffs). There must be about a thousand steps from the bottom to the very top. We saw a bunch of other people working out. Needless to say, we have found our new "STADIUMS" to workout at!

After seeing the ampitheater, we headed to the trail and explored for about an hour enjoying the beautiful "rock" show. A great day hiking could not go without a sassy teapot (note: this is a unconventional sassy teapot and should not be tried at home!)

RED ROCKS!

Subaru Outback

2007-06-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, June 19 2007

Well, here is our newest member of the family. Introducing Subaru Outback! After many months of being with one car and the mountains proving too trecherous for a sporty two-door, we have been fortunate to be able to add a second car. This all-wheel drive beauty is ready to handle the harsh winter that lies ahead of us. We are so excited!

The reason we wanted a car such as this Subaru is obvious....with all of our adventures in the mountains, we need a car that can handle our bikes, skis, snowboards, tack, fishing poles, tents, horse trailers, rafts, dogs, cats, Tom (when he gets too muddy) and of course golf clubs......hopefully we get to do at least a few of these things (garage sales here we come!). So as you can see, the back is spacious and has a great cage divider if we ever find ourselves with more pets?

Oh, and if anyone asks, tell em Paul Hogan sent ya!

Graduation weekend

2007-06-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 26 2007 (seems like eons ago, but we wanted to catch you up...)

Graduation day came and went to fast! Here's a run-down of the days preceding the big day.

Tuesday through Thursday, those good old Tanis parents helped us move all of our stuff into our new apartment. Without them it would have taken forever, but we were a great team and got the place pretty much all set up. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Our almost-done apartment...here's Tom and our interior decorator (aka Mom T).

Here's us at Panera one morning. Tom is busily looking for jobs.
During our brief visit to Littleton, we stopped by my soon-to-be work Littleton Large Animal Clinic (LLAC for short). We got a tour from one of the technicians. I'm glad the Tanises got to see where I'll be spending most of my time next year. Here is Mom and I sitting outside the front office.

Tom and I posed in front of the clinic.

Friday night the Cuda family (minus Emily) flew down from New Jersey and met up with the rest of us at the Senior Awards Banquet. It was a nice dinner and I even won a few awards! Here's some fun pics from the banquet.

I love my family!!

Friday was also our senior breakfast and graduation practice. Here's a collage of classmates that will be very missed!!

Some friends in the pictures...Marcia, Katie, Lindsey, Bri, Sam, Jason, Becky, Red, Beth, Maggie, Abbie, Terry, & Jodi.

Saturday, Graduation from UF CVM. The ceremony was very nice. Dr. Chrisman gave a very inspiring speech and Tim Holloway, our student speaker, also did an awesome job giving a humorous overview of our last 4 years.

Here's some photo ops with the family. Oh course I returned my gown before I saw anyone...oops.

Tom and I...

Cuda parents..

Tanis parents...

And it wouldn't have been a celebration weekend without a party with the Millers and Hookers, better known as our Florida family. Our best friends and gracious roommates, organized a fun and delicious dinner for visiting family and friends. The food was delicious and company even better. Here are some highlights...

Yummy food...

Thanks for the cake Elaine!

Black and white divas...and it wasn't planned! Three generations of brunette beauties...Amelia you have some good genes!

Going out to dance when Dorothy (aka Greasy Gina from Jersey....haha!) is a just a given when she visits Gainesville. We all went out both Friday and Saturday night. What a blast! Thanks for babysitting Mom and Dad Tanis!!

What amazing friends we made in G-vegas!

Do we know how to hav fun or what?!

To everyone who made Florida so difficult to leave...Thank you!

Leo and Cristin Sarmiento's Wedding

2007-06-12T13:11:00.000-07:00

Introducing Leo and Cristin Sarmiento. Leo and Tom met at GHFC close to 4 years ago. Golf was the culprit to start our friendship and Amy and I are blessed to know them. They tied the knot on June 2, 2007 and we were there to help celebrate. The Happy couple couldn't bear the thought of being without us so they have moved out to Broomfield, CO! The best news is we can't wait to have such good friends to enjoy this beautiful state.

The happy couple!

Amy started the dancy party with a sing-a-long! I think the song was "Baby got Back"!

Could they be any happier?

Good times....Great friends! Congratulations Leo and Cristin

First trip into the Rockies

2007-06-10T18:29:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Wow, our first trip to the mountains and let us tell you, it didn't disappoint. We met Katie Tischler, Langsten and Audra (Katie's friends who live in Dillon, CO) in Breckenridge for Breakfast at Daylight Donuts and had a great pre-hiking meal. Then we headed over to Dillon where we found "mesa cartina" trail and headed into the wilderness. We were stopped about 2 miles into it when "blow down," which are trees being blown over by the elements, obstructed the path. So we headed back to Langsten and Audra's house and walked down their street to more beautiful trails where we passed lakes and golf courses!

Katie and Amy enjoying breakfast in Breckenridge!

Can you believe this! And this is on the way to the MOUNTAINS!

Driving through Breckenridge.

Mountain Madness!

PS. This is Tom's first post...I'm so proud :)

Colorado, here we come!

2007-06-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

Our first move, Saturday May 19, 2007

After 4 awesome years living in Gainesville, it was time to say goodbye...at least for a week. Tom and I packed up a moving truck with all of our big stuff (with the help of great friends of course) and moved it all out to Colorado. The sadness was brightened by the knowledge that we would be back for my graduation in a week's time. But it was still hard realizing that we'd be leaving our home soon.

Here are some pics from the morning we left. This is the back of the Penske we rented. We actually fit all our belongings in a 16 footer.

In the Miller's driveway with Fritz, Sarah, Miels, Tom, Amy, Christen and Matt

So sad leaving our "new home" at the Miller's house. Here's our "family photo"

Of course the morning before we do anything special, we have to go to our traditional gathering place...Panera!! Bob, Matt, and Christen (no Lisa, she had school) met us for coffee and breakfast to see us off.

One last Panera morning!!

After saying our goodbyes, we (Tom) loaded our car onto the dolly and we were finally Colorado bound! The route we mapped out took us north through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Kansas to Colorado. It was a long drive, since our maximum speed was 60 mph!! Good thing we had Harry Potter on CD to get us through! The entire trip took us about 3 days; we stopped in Chattanooga, TN and Manhattan, KS for overnight stays.

Here are some random pics from our drive out. As you can see Tom drove most of the way, while I got to read and enjoy Harry Potter.

MEDS fiesta

2007-05-14T11:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 12 2007

This weekend marked the first annual MEDS fiesta hosted by the one and only Dr. Porter. MEDS stands for Mobile Equine Diagnostic Services and is one of the rotations offered to junior and senior students interested in equine veterinary medicine. Dr. Porter is the doc in charge of the service so we (I mean he) invited us to his beautiful house to celebrate with all of the graduating seniors who have enjoyed 2 weeks on the rotation!

From left to right: Harvey, Erin, Candy, Kitty Milton, Sam, Becky, Tom, Katie, Joe, Barry, and Karl (I was the photographer)

It was a pot-luck dinner with the main dish, ropa vieja, a traditional Columbian meal prepared by Dr. Porter. Sam, of course, provided the musical entertainment. She updated her iPod and it rocked! We danced all night long...it got crazy, the usual when we all get together and make fruity girl drinks!

Girls on the dance floor...let's get it started

Katie sampling the smorgasbord

More dance moves...

Tom, Dr. Porter, and Amy

Since the majority of our class is married, we all brought our men (and women, since there were 2 guys who came). This included Joe, Tom's oldest brother, flew into G-vegas on Thursday. We didn't have to twist his arm to join in the festivities.

Cheers!

Some more fun pics

A baby shower for Kelly Kirk

2007-05-07T17:52:00.000-07:00

Sunday, May 6, 2007

In honor of Michaela Raegan Kirk, Elijiah (left), Marcia (right) and I threw Kelly a baby shower in order to get her ready for their new addition.

We had the shower at Elijiah's house and it was just a perfect afternoon with great girl friends. Kelly is a radiant mom-to-be and is due on August 27th (my god daugher, Mia's, birthday). Her mom and Marcia's mom helped us with the food and organization. I made a yummy cookie cake and some classic peanut butter rice crispies (thanks Mom T) and funfetti cake. Kelly received lots of cute and very innovative gifts. She and her husband Craig will be well prepared!

Mrs. Noble, Kelly, & Marcia

Danielle, Kelly, Kerri (Kitty), Julie, & Mrs. Noble

Becky, me, & Allison

We also played one of my favorites...the poopy diaper game! Can you guess the candy bar? It's always entertaining watching people investigate the diapers.

Jodi is in deep concentration over this poop!

I think Julie wants to eat it!

Kelly doesn't look like she's ready for the real deal

Dorothy Anne Margaret GINA Sass Frogger Sissy Sistaw Roth DoddyDoodles

2007-02-25T17:28:00.000-08:00

Dorothy, the Floridian

Monday: After getting home at 1am from the Jacksonville airport, I took the "scenic route" by accident, my sister Dorothy Anne Margaret (yes, that's really her name!) and I wasted no time in taking fun pictures and laughing our heads off! Here's just a few, I tried to pick the highlights. This was also the night our realtor, Tasya, came over to tell us that an offer had been placed on our condo. Here's Tom and Dorothy's reaction to the excitement:

They just couldn't contain themselves! Anyway, Katie Tischler came over and we watched "Little Miss Sunshine" (great movie, by the way) and Dor got to sleep on our death trap futon. After 2 nights, Tom spent the rest of the week sleeping on it ;) He's the best! Well, he was also sick and didn't want us to catch his cold, but still what a guy!

Tuesday: Since I'm on vacation too, Dor and I got to hang out all day long. We went for a long walk (to the vet school and back) and watched Ellen.

Wednesday: It's official, our Gainesville condo is sold!! Wow, what a relief and yet I'm sad to leave this house we've made a home. Dor and I went to the Florida pool on campus and laid out in the sun. What a beautiful day! Then we went to the mall...Forever 21, miller's at night, Grey's, fun, amelia walking!!!!

Thursday: laundry, cleaned for Becky's party, went out downtown (laughing uncontrollably), Grey's at sarah's, drinking, laughing, dancing

Friday:

(cowritten by Sarah)

We celebrated Becky’s ~~impending doom~~ happy celebration of future marriage. What a blast! There were several moments of uncontrollable laughter (Sarah almost peed from laughing so hard) and many censored moments that I can't share on this blog. Just use your imagination:

Dorothy the rockstar & co-pole-dancer (Donnie's pole, as lovingly presented by Sarah & Dor):

"GINA!!!!!"

Mean Sissy:

Wrapping up the festivities at Marketstreet and heading to RueBar next, where Amy forgot the rest of the night:

"It's just so magical..."

This is what Sarah & Josie did when they heard Dorothy Dorcas Dodo Princess Sass had to leave:

Amelia was VERY ANGRY (“Come back, Dorcas! Auntie T. McGee!” is specifically what she said):

Gainesville Marathon, February 18 2007

2007-02-23T08:48:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Christen Buman and Lisa Merrell for completing the Gainesville Half Marathon!! Tom and I couldn't run it ourselves, but wanted to cheer on our good friends as they ran the daunting 13.1 miles. It started at 7am and we met up with Bob Merrell and Matt Buman at the starting area just in time to see them off. It was a chilly morning for Gainesville, but probably an amazing day to run. Lisa and Christen did awesome and finished in just over 2 hours. Great job girls!

Here's an action shot!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2007-02-23T08:23:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Valentine's day fondu style at the Miller's house. It was so much fun! Toni Miller, Fritz's mom, was in town and Christen Buman and Lisa Merrell came over and we had cheese and chocolate fondu...yum! The boys made their own pesto pizzas, which were also delicious. As you probably guessed we left feeling very full, but we still got to play our favorite "camara" game. This is where we set the timer on the camara so that it takes a series of pictures every few seconds. Then we get into a group pose for a picture, and then yell out actions (sucking a lemon), emotions (scared), job descriptions (body builder) that everyone has to act out. We started this game at the Buman's when Christen and I surprised the boys with dinner and love playing it whenever we all get together. We all died laughing and then decided to play "camara Chinese fire drill" where instead of making faces, you had to change places!

The night was super fun, and we made so much noise laughing we woke up Amelia! Sorry Baby (for all you "Old Schoolers"). She is too cute!

Gotta love celebrating holidays with such amazing friends! Valentine's Day morning Tom made me the best breakfast in bed and wrote me the cutest poem ever. It was such a great day!

Tom's trip to Disney

2007-02-16T10:35:00.000-08:00

The Wonderful World of Disney! February 11, 2007

From left to right: Ryan, Rhys, Tom, and Matt

Last Saturday, Tom went down to Orlando to see Matt DelPriore, a friend from NJ, who was visiting Orlando. Matt's girlfriend, Stacy, is a cheerleading coach and each year there is a big cheerleading competition at Walt Disney World. Tom went down with 2 friends from work, Ryan and Rhys. I couldn't go because I was on-call for pathology, but that didn't stop them from having a blast. Apparently, the new Animal Kingdom rollercoaster Mt. Everest was awesome.

Here's some more pics:

Matt and Stacy

Ryan, Tom and Rhys

Are those the Spartan cheerleaders from SNL?? Oh wait it's Tom and Stacy sporting their moves outside Animal Kingdom! Notice there's never pictures with me being gymnastically inclined...I don't pretend to have any acrobatic ability whatsoever. But I love watching Tom be a monkey when and wherever possible.

Large Animal Surgery

2007-02-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

My first rotation back in the hospital at the vet school was large animal surgery. It was a blast, so busy but so fun! I had a great group to work with during the 2 weeks. Our surgery rotation is broken down into 2 groups of students and each group works with one resident and one attending clinician. It was funny because my group was all large animal oriented and the other group wound up being all small animal students! It was also the rotation to do tie-back surgeries, which is to correct paralysis of a muscle in the larynx that causes "roaring." They took a long time, but we all got really good at retracting and in one of the surgeries the endoscope caught fire inside the larynx! That can only be exciting in vet school!

My surgery Group

(From left to right, Sherry Blenden, me, Dr. Matyjaszek, and Johanna Elfenbein)

There was a special patient on our rotation who had been at the hospital since September! He suffered a right forelimb fracture that he had plated and then arthrodesed (fusion of the fetlock joint) and has been recovering well since. He was a Paso Fino stallion named "Mujeriego" which in spanish translates to a "player" or "womanizer." He definitely stole our hearts, despite his little quirks.

Here's Kerri Mitton trying to catch the pig we spayed. Her name was Maddy and she really didn't want anything to do with getting her treatments.

Here's some more pics...

Amy, the equine dentist

2007-01-15T17:21:00.000-08:00

My first rotation after Christmas break was an externship in equine dentistry with Dr. Banner, an equine veterinarian who has specialized as an equine dentist. It was a very educational and fun two weeks! Here's some pictures showing some of what I did while I was working with Dr. Banner. It's hard to describe how cool it is to see inside a horse's mouth. And the pictures don't do justice to how physically demanding a job like this is! I'm hitting the weight room after these two weeks!

Dr. Banner has a golf cart that he specially designed for his job as a dentist. The power tools, speculum, light source, and everything else is all at your fingertips on his handy-dandy cart!

Go Gators - National Champs!

2007-01-15T17:06:00.000-08:00

Tom and I spent the BCS championship game between our very own Gators and OSU at the Miller's house. The Gators pulled off the upset, beating OSU (then ranked #1) 41-14. Go Gators!

The Gator chomp - by Emily and Tom

Amelia, the cutest baby Gator!

Amy, Sarah, Emily, Ella and Amelia

It was also a surprise birthday party for Em Prine since she was in Australia on Dec. 21 (her true birthday). We made her some birthday "sex in a bowl." I dare you to try it a disagree.

More Panera pics 12-17-06

2007-01-15T16:56:00.000-08:00

ARAC Christmas Party

2007-01-15T16:42:00.000-08:00

The Hooker family invited Tom and I to their annual Christmas party for Airport Road Animal Clinic. Tom couldn't make it, so I had to do double the dancing to make up for it with the help of Amy Stone and Sarah! We even got Elaine and Dr. Hooker on the dance floor. It was held at Royal Oaks country club in Ocala and the food was amazing. I love Christmas with the Hookers!

Christmas preparationsn 06

2007-01-15T16:33:00.000-08:00

One of the biggest joys of this Christmas season was making gifts with friends! Sarah taught me all her scrapbook tricks and we had a blast making scrapbooks for our parents. Christen's Aunt Flo shared her chocolate making secrets and Christen, Sarah, and I baked all day long at Sarah's house. I made my usual caramel corn presents - thank Mom Tanis for that recipe! It was so much fun, especially tasting all the treats.

2007-01-15T15:36:00.000-08:00

Happy Anniversary Tom! Since we spent our anniversary (Dec 27) up north with our family, I decided to surprise Tom with a homecooked meal with our friends Matt and Christen Buman. We sent the boys out on a shopping spree and while Christen and I cooked a chicken parm dinner and peppermint ice cream dessert. What a fun surprise! The boys loved it and we had a great time hanging out taking pictures after dinner with the camara timer.

Tom and Matt walking into their dinner surprise

Yum! Peppermint ice cream

Say Cheese!

Christmas 2007, Lancaster

2007-01-14T19:04:00.000-08:00

New Years

2007-01-13T12:29:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!! We rung in 2007 with friends from our church at Caleb and Emily Sorgius' house. It was so fun playing games with everyone. The blue GAP vest was our "farkel" dice game loser trophy. Everyone should learn how to farkel :)

Christmas Vacation

2007-01-02T13:38:00.000-08:00

Better late than never! What a perfect phrase to fit my life. Sarah Miller, one of my best friends down in FL, helped me to get this website started for friends and family to keep up with me and Tom as life flies by. Thank you Sarah!

Tuesday, December 19, 2007

What a fun time visiting my sister Dorothy's 4th grade class! I was able to bring our dog, Cubby, into school with me and give a presentation on what a healthy dog should look and act like. They loved being able to pet him and ask questions about their own pets. This picture is of her students, Cubby and me after the talk. Cubby loved all the attention.

It was really nice to be home and able to relax with the Cuda family before the holiday weekend hit full swing. Unfortunately, Tom had to work that week, so he was very missed.

Thursday, December 21, 2007

As hard as it is to see EVERYONE you want to get together with when we go home for the holidays, I was lucky enough to spend a night with some Rutgers friends. Jamie Jandasek, Keri Lages, and Kim's family all gathered at the new Brownlie residence. What a beautiful home Kim and Bobby have! It was such a fun little reunion catching up with college friends and reminiscing about all the good times we had at RU...and what a football season! Definitely not something we were accostomed to when we were there! I had so much fun seeing friends from home...Tom we missed you, but Bobby made sure I got a picture of his ridiculously nice entertainment center to make you feel better :)

1st post, Going home for Christmas

2006-12-17T10:10:00.000-08:00

Saying Goodbye this morning at Panera! Today was the day I was going home to NJ for Christmas, so the Bumans, Millers, Merrells, and Tanises got together for our traditional breakfast at Panera before church. I made my famous "diablo" with the "molar crunch" (thank Bob for the name) and it was delicious coffee with our favorite Florida friends. Christen, Sarah, Lisa, and Amy
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