Graduation

After 8 years of schooling, during four of which Seth:

"Sat through 1,710 hours of lecture

Participated in 690 hours of lab exercises

Took 72 midterms

35 written final exams

5 lab finals

Passed at least 35 mini proficiencies

Passed 1 big proficiency at the end of the second year

Spent 1,960 hours in clinic

and for the privilege, paid $42 per hour"

--Dean of Optometry

(And, that doesn't even include studying for and passing 3 major boards exams in order to be certified)

He is finally DONE!

May 19th was glorious.

It began with a "hooding ceremony" where the graduates were formally given their graduation hoods.

I enjoyed the ceremony, but most of all I enjoyed our friend, the class valedictorian David Glabe's, speech.

The fact that he mentioned Seth bringing caffeine to study groups to try to keep everyone awake was an interesting bonus.

After Dave, the keynote speaker spoke of the importance of putting family first.

I ended up wishing I had brought tissues.

Porter was very enthusiastic as the hoods were handed out.

Seth after getting his hood...pretty much how we saw him during the whole thing.

And then it was time to give the hood back and move on to graduation.

(Yah, I know, I didn't really get it either)

Pops joined us for the main event!

Which was great!!

We also got to sit by our favorite family...

We didn't pick the best seat, so this was our view of Seth...

...you're welcome for the arrows.

I filled with pride as Seth's name was called.

My man graduated with DISTINCTION!!!

...which means he had a stinkin' high GPA!

Without further ado, let me introduce...

...DR. SETH JENSEN!!

(After getting used to living a life basically without my husband, I'm really excited about this.)

Then, it was over and time for pictures.

Porter loves helping. Especially when helping involves moving something with wheels.

Congrats, all you DOCTORS!

Devin Farr, Eric Johansen, Colton Crowther, Aaron Cole, Shawn Skinner, Brandon Reed, Dave Parkinson, Dave Glabe, Seth, Scott Pitts

 And, all us WIVES!!

Tana, Jen, Jenny, Claudia, Kristina, Jen, Tara, Brianne, Me, and Erin

 Let me tell you, I would have never survived this whole thing without these girls!

I love every one of them and hope this isn't goodbye forever.

But most especially, I wouldn't have survived without this one.

Love you lots, Brianne!

We all endured so much together.

Not just Optometry stuff, either.

Not to mention, someone Seth was sure happy to have around...

...there's no way he would've survived without Scott.

We sure are going to miss all of you!

And, this cute dynamic.

You would've thought they never were apart.

Thanks, Clark, for coming!!

Dr. Seth Jensen O.D.

I love my Optometrist.

Not Enough Exclamation Points to Truly Express...

We found out today that Seth was accepted to the residency we wanted at the....

...SALT LAKE VA HOSPITAL!!!

So, we will be moving to Salt Lake after graduation in May!!!

We're really excited!

I even cried a little.

Totally serious.

Shortly after we found out Seth got it, we also found out our friends the Farrs will be there!!

AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

SO excited!!

Boards Part 2

I'm so proud of Seth!!!

He nailed his second part of boards!!!

My husband is so smart.

Just one more part of boards before graduation, and we can put this whole thing behind us!

Home Again, Home Again

Jiggity...

...er...

...shhh.

The Real Windy City

Being that I have never lived in Chicago, I cannot honestly dispute their claim to the windy city title, but I'm pretty positive that if the residents of Chicago came to Casper, they would hand it over.

We have arrived at our final destinations!

I say "destinationS" because our little family will be split apart for the majority of the next three months.

Seth will be travelling back and forth from Fort Washakie over the weekends to see us.

This will be an adventure.

He is staying at a student-only place on an Indian Reservation where his housing is paid for, but family is not allowed as he shares the place with two other interns.

If you've ever been to Fort Washakie, you would know what I mean when I say there is really no where else to sanely live that is closer than Casper.

So, Casper it is for Porter and me!

We tried to find our own housing, but ended up being too far down the waiting list to be able to get a place of our own.

Therefore, we're really grateful that Clark and LaRene are willing to let us invade their basement for a little while...and at such short notice.

So far, we've unloadedeverything, gotten a sweet gym membership at Lifetime Fitness, and been able to visit the girls' grave.

We realized how happy we are to be able to to that whenever we want now that we live so near.

We're excited to be closer to the end of all of this!!

PS: If you're curious, Seth's next "rotation" is in Cheyenne, and then he hopes to have a residency at either the Salt Lake VA or a place in Denver after graduation.

We'll find out about that later.

After a possible year of residency, we will be back in Casper for...well, for forever!

Seth will eventually work with his dad when he's finished.

So, I'm happy that the friends I make here will still be here when we come back!

Just if you were curious.

See Ya Later

I don't like to say goodbye.

To anyone.

Or, even to anyTHING, really.

I'm quite sentimental.

Yes, I'm kinda going all over the place with this post.

For those of you who don't know how random I am, you just had a small taste.

Anyway...

We got to say "see ya later" to this place:

We'll miss your greenery.

I mean LOOK at that picture again!

Gorgeous.

We'll miss the awesome friends we have who are still there...

Kristina-you and your sweet heart, amazing talent, and great listening ear.

Reagan-we'll miss your sweet firecracker-ness!

Brianne-you and your entire family were our favorite!

Mikelle-you're one of the most amazing people I've met.

And, that's not even everyone we miss!

Wish we could have gotten to say see ya later to everyone.

We had such amazing help before we left--thank you Kim, Corinne, Laura, Brianne and Anna!!

We got out pretty quickly with all the helping hands.

Whomever gets to move into our apartment, you're lucky to have such great company.

(However, you're not so lucky to be living in that complex with the favoritism, prostitutes, drug dealers, late night police visits, weird rules, cats mating outside the back door and on the furniture sitting by the trash all day where the kids will try to play, but I won't go into that.)

Figuratively, this is for everyone we missed seeing before we left...

See ya later!!!

We'll be back for graduation.

Snazzy

And tired.

Seth spent quite a bit of time working on his letters for his hopeful residency starting this coming May-ish time.

We're totally solid in our plans.

Can you tell?

Anywho...

Seth got his top half all dressed up for a quick picture so he could have one to send with his letters.

Crossing our fingers he gets accepted (to one in particular)!!!

Pops

Pops came to visit this last weekend, and Seth and he got to go to GWECO together.

I could tell they had a blast.

Especially when they decided to go shooting on Saturday instead of going to the conference.

I got to have time to myself and enjoy the weekend with Porter while they were away during the day.

I just wish we got a picture of Pops playing with Porter.

My favorite pic of Seth's parents

"Pops loves me."

Yes he does, and we love him too :)

Thanks for coming!

The Beginning

Today is the beginning of the last year of schooling for Seth.

It is his first day starting his clinical externship rotations.

There are four rotations--each three months long.

His first two are here in Oregon, so we will be around for six more months.

This is nice for two obvious reasons, but also nice because we don't have to say goodbye to everyone who hasn't or isn't leaving right now.

Seth's last two are in Wyoming.

The move to Wyoming will be our tenth as a married couple.

It may or may not be our last big move, and we may or may not be living together every day for those months.

Kinda crazy to think about...but I don't have to worry about that until November.

Quite a few friends have already left on their various rotations.

Most of whom we weren't able to see before they left because of our choice to go to Twin.

We needed to make that trip, but it makes me sad to think that I wont be able to see those friends again for a year.

Sometimes that's just how life goes, I guess.

Even though this year comes with a lot of different types of changes and challenges, I'm very excited!

It will be a bittersweet year.

I like to think more sweet than bitter.

Part One Results

Seth got his Part 1 of Boards exam result...

...and...

He PASSED!!!

Apparrently he was one of 72% of people who did!

Also, he has finished his last set of finals for the rest of his LIFE!!

That means, he has received...

His "D"

(as a reminder, it's the letters and dots in O.D. that represent the years in Optometry school...something the students do.)

One more {dot} to go and then it's over!

Yay, Seth!

Part One of Boards

Today's the day!

Seth's taking part one of his very important Boards exam today and tomorrow.

It's been a rough couple of weeks with him studying and the sickness in the house, but as of tomorrow, it will all be over!!

Can you tell I'm excited?

It will be so nice to talk about something other than Boards and start focusing on what's coming up this summer...like externship rotations and the babies.

It will also be nice to have Seth around the house a lot more than he has been.

I'm sure he'll do great today and tomorow, and everything will be fine.

With how much he's studied, I don't see it happening any other way.

Although, I definitely don't envy him right now.

Good luck, Seth!

Checkin' Eyes

I think I know what Seth wants Porter's profession to be...

He's already got a great example.

And an apparrent interest.

Porter wants to be just like his daddy!

5K Run/Walk for Sight

I ran my first race.

Ran the whole way pushing Porter in his jogging stroller.

*Laura, Lisa, and I ran*

And, I did it in 32.4!

It was awesome.

Here's all the PAVA girls who participated:


*Laura, Debbie, ?(help!), Lisa, and me*

We loved it!

There was a raffle at the end of the race, and for the first time, I actually won something!




Ray-Ban Aviators!

Sweet.

FAIL

Can't make everything work out right.

Especially when something labled "fabric spray paint" should have been labled "fabric spray {dye}"

Lame.

More details on my creations blog...later.

The Cloak of Compassion

Monday was a special day.

It was the day Seth received his white coat.

The White Coat Ceremony is a "rite of passage" for students beginning the study of medicine that encourages a psychological contract for professionalism and empathy in the practice of medicine. The event emphasizes the importance of both scientific excellence and compassionate care for the patient.



The white coat is a symbolic, non-verbal communication used to express and reaffirm a fundamental belief in a system that society observes. The authority of dress is serious and purposeful, not social, casual, or random. It is a guide to both the patient and clinician on how to react and relate to one another.

The uniform should convey to even the most anxious patient a sense of seriousness and purpose that helps provide reassurance and confidence that his/her complaints will be dealt with competently and seriously.

The students filled the seats.



Spotting Seth wasn't too hard...



But, just in case you missed his receding hairline...look behind the...floating head.

After some remarks, the procession began.

Then it was Seth's turn.









After receiving his coat, Dr. Yudcovitch, the keynote speaker, put a pin on that reads "Pacific Optometry Class of 2012."



Once everyone was seated again, all the students stood to recite the Optometric Oath.



Even though Seth's "not one for Pomp and Circumstance", I kept thinking to myself, "this really is a big deal!"

Seth has reached a turning point in his life!

What a great thing to celebrate.

Once the formalities were over, the class gathered together for a group shot.

Can you see Seth?

It's a little like Where's Waldo...



All of these hard-working men and women have passed from being just students and have become Optometric Interns!

We met outside for some good food and had more pictures taken.



We are SO PROUD!!

Seth with his friends: (L to R) Seth, Scott, Colton, Devin, Brandon, Eric, David, Shawn, Dave, and Aaron...



...and all of the wives: Jen, Jenny, me, Kristina, Jenn, Brianne, Erin, Tara, and Tana.



Seth, your hard work has been celebrated.

I'm so proud to be a part of this with you.

You are going to be a great Optometrist!

I know...

...because that white coat makes you look gooooood.

**thank you Kristina for the pictures!!!**

The white coat is the cloak of compassion.