A little Zin and not so much Zen

Today is our 18 month anniversary.  Jay gave me a kiss as he left the house this morning at 5:30 for an ER shift in Phoenix.  I vaguely remember mumbling something.  Good-bye, maybe.  Drive safe.  It was pretty romantic.  I rolled over and went back to bed.  

 We "celebrated" last night (see the 1-8 above) by with dinner at Zinburger.  It's a heart attack waiting to happen so I guess it was only appropriate that Jay spent today in the Emergency Room.

a the breakfast burger complete with bacon, eggs, avocado and cheese

His first patient of the day was a code.  He drove past the accident/incident while driving to the hospital and the bagged the patient for duration of the code in the ER.  Additionally his patients included a few lacerations, a ruptured appy, threatened miscarriage, bowel obstructions, and ...you get the picture.  Meanwhile back  in Pima County, I took care of a few sick patients too, but thankfully not that sick. I celebrated by getting done at work before 4pm and going to the gym for a 90 min cardio/core work out. (Pre-thanksgiving work out).

We were lucky enough to celebrate at Zinburger with Jay's brother James and wife Emily (pictured below) and his sister Emily and husband Ben (not pictured).

I guess we did get some Zen moments with out their 6 kids there.

The results are in...

Jay got back one portion of his Step 2 boards. Test breaks down his aptitude for different disciplines of medicine.

Thankfully, this reaffirms that Jay is headed down the right path based upon his strengths (surgery).  And I think it is safe to say that no one should seek out Jay for mental health advice.  

A Summer Update

I think all that needs to be said: I'm surviving my first Arizona summer.  Should be an adequate update, right?  It's true-I'm not only surviving my first summer in the heat (and humidity) of Arizona, but I'm also training for a 1/2 marathon and once again flying solo again.

Here is our quick update-but actually kind of a long update.  Don't feel like you need to read it all.  I just haven't posted anything in several month.

Jay spent the month of May in Phoenix for his final rotation of his 3rd year.  It was a surgical rotation and one again he loved it!  He took the following week to finish up his 3rd! Wahoo!  One step closer to graduation.  The weekend he finished his surgery rotation, I flew to Colorado to see my sisters for a quick 48 hr trip.  We celebrated Heather's 40th birthday in Estes Park.  I came home to find that Jay had borrowed a carpet cleaner and moved all the furniture and washed the carpets while I was away!
A week later we took a quick weekend  trip to Portland for our 1 year anniversary over memorial day.  Despite being a short trip, we loved leaving work and school behind for a few days.  We love Portland/the Coast and love seeing family there.  (Oh and we like shopping there too...Columbia outlet always seems to call our name).  And somewhere in there at the end of April beginning of May I got called to be the second counselor in the YWs Presidency.

hiking at the Oregon Coast

Estes Park, Colorado with my sisters.  

Right now our anniversary seems ages ago.  Jay spent the entire month of June studying for Step 2 boards.  Last year he took boards 2 weeks after we got married.  He was determined to do better this year with extra time to study and less distractions, but studying 10 plus hours a day is mentally painful.  After 2 separate 9 hour test, his 3rd year testing was behind him we were on our way to the Northwest yet again for the 4th of July.  During the month of June I attended a nurse practitioner conference in Las Vegas.  It was a quick trip, full of great classes, and a beautiful hotel but the best part was catching up with friends.  I met up with Michael, a fellow EFY counselor from 8 years ago and Jann, a graduate school class mate who now lives in Vegas.  It would have been great to have Jay with me in Vegas, but he took one of his exams while I was gone.  Also, as a surprise for my birthday he deep cleaned the entire house.  I'm really enjoying coming home to a spotless house.

hiking in Mt Lemmon

Speaking at Girls Camp on dating and marriage.

birthday dinner with Marcus and Theresa

Jay and I got to take our first actual vacation since moving to Tucson during the 4th of July.  We flew back to Portland with another couple and spent a week playing.  We ran on the waterfront, wandered around Saturday's market and the farmer's market, ate at the food pods (multiple times), spent a day at the coast, went paddle boarding on Lake Union with Sheri, camped at the San Juan Islands, spent a day kayaking around Soucia Island, enjoyed fireworks with family, went berry picking, and spend hours catching up with family and friends.

hiking Ape Caves in Washington State

Seattle, WA

Kayaking in San Juan Islands, Washington

Crazy Yoga moves on the Portland Waterfront

Sucia Island Ferry.  It took us from Orcas to Sucia. 

We love hiking in the NW with all the beautiful trees!

Lake Union, Seattle  Paddle Boarding with Sheri

And with Jay

While in Portland, we found out that Jay's rotation in Tucson for the month of July fell through.  We were left scrambling for a last minute rotation.  Thankfully, a surgeon in Utah that Jay rotated with last year allowed him to come spend a month completing a surgical ICU rotation. It has been a hard reality for us to face.  It is another month Jay is away from home and the change happened in a matter of days.  We flew home from Portland on Saturday at midnight.  Jay caught a flight to Pennsylvania for a practical board exam Sunday morning.  He drove back to Tucson on Monday night and 10 hrs later his car was packed and he was on his way to Provo, Utah.  After he finishes his rotation in Utah he is off to Michigan, Pennsylvania, possibly Colorado and possibly Missouri for audition rotations.  I'm learning early on the life of a doctors wife.  We definitely try to make the most of the time we actually do get to spend with each other.  I'm flying up to Utah for a family reunion and will get to see Jay in between shifts at the hospital.  We are also running a 1/2 marathon together that weekend if I can survive the altitude change.  My goal is just to finish.  I've been waking up at 5 am on Saturday for long runs but it is still 80 plus degrees with 65+% humidity here in Tucson.  It is brutal.  On week days I run on the treadmill at the gym.  Thanks to the food network channel I can stay entertained while on my treadmill.

And that my friends is our update.

We know how to celebrate

Do you remember how you spent your 11 month anniversary?  Because 11 months is kind of a big deal.  It is that last anniversary month you celebrate.  No one says, "I've been married 12 months."  After this it will always be in terms of years.  1 year, 5, 12, 29 years.

So here is to making memories-

We couldn't celebrate together,

So we got together for a hang out

And played dress up.  

Google chat doesn't get any funner than joining a hang out with us. 

Happy 11 months, even if it was 6:30 at night before we remembered....

Facetime

Jay is in Phoenix for the month completing a 4 week surgical rotation with a general surgery based residency program.  He has been up there one week so far and is getting first hand experience of what residency will be like.  

--up before 4 am twice this week to be to the hospital to round on patients

--24 hour call shift next week.  

--"pimp" questions from attending physicians, residents and other doctors

--eating on the run or never knowing when there will be a break in clinic or surgery to grab a bite

--"holding" it because once again you're never sure when there will be a break to take care of business

So for those of you who feel bad that I'm husband-less in Tucson-don't. I'm still getting 6-8 hrs of sleep per night.  And full rights to all blankets at night (not that I need blankets in Tucson at this time of year...)

Welcome to our Facetime life.  

What did we do before internet, cell phones and facetime/

It could be worse...like spending August-November in 2 different states.  Oh wait, we are doing that.  And this is just PRACTICE for the next 6 years of life.  Practice makes perfect.

Confession time

One of our 11 year old primary students astutely said:

"A prayer in bed is a prayer unsaid."

And truth must be known-I pray in bed. 

I think my poor habits started as a missionary.  I know.  Shocking.  But seriously, in Korea we didn't have beds.  We prayed on our tri-fold mattress on the floor every night.  I didn't pray next to it.  I prayer right on top of it.  And well, the habit was formed and stuck ever since.  And yes, has carried on into marriage.  Ugh.

So a decision has been made and a habit needs to be broken.  I'll let you know in a few weeks how it goes.  

And to think, all of these years (yes I arrived in the mission field 10 years ago this month) that none of my prayers counted.  Bummer.  I guess I have a lot of praying to do in order to make up for 10 years of unsaid prayers.  Thankfully prayers in the testing center, library and hospital have counted...I was definitely not in bed those times.  

Bending the Rules

I am about to break every rule and every vow I ever made before getting married.  I promised I would never become one of those girls.  And by those girls I mean one of those wives that gushes about how great her husband is and how much she adores, can't live without, and blah blah blah.  Trust me, I feel those things about my husband, but I feel that a public display or written essay of personal emotions can be saved for a personal conversation or a personal letter rather than displayed on social media.

With that said and with the statement that I am breaking my personal rules, I will keep my public discourse of emotions brief.

A few weeks ago Jay's sister was coming to town for the marathon and flying into Mesa, an hour and half north of us.  Jay didn't have clinic that day and wanted to spend the afternoon and evening with family in Mesa.  He decided to spend the night up there so they could talk late into the night, as all Robertson do, and then drive to his rural rotation the next morning which was 30 min north of Tucson.  Medical school doesn't offer many opportunities to see family in the middle of the semester so I was all for Jay driving to see his sister Emily who lives in Florida and Amy who lives in Gilbert.

I left for work that morning before 7am.  I said goodbye and knew that Jay was spending the night in Mesa--our first night spent apart since being married, for all you sentimental folks out there.

I came home from work to find a spotless house.  Jay did the dishes, cleaned the bathroom, washed and folded the laundry, organized all my shoes, and vacuumed the carpets.  He made the bed and left a pair of pajamas on the bed with a note-as pictured below.

Cute.  He wins brownie points for all of those kind acts, plus all that he does on a daily basis. His note to me said-I cleaned those house so that you could spend the evening doing something fun.

I laughed when I put on the pjs that night and discovered he had doused them with his cologne.  Funny boy.

Glad he is mine.

We do celebrate holidays...

...even if I haven't gotten around to posting about them.  Here are a few of the holidays we've celebrated in our first year of marriage.

Happy Chinese New Year.  A Korean holiday that I love because it is an excuse to find a new Korean restaurant.

 Happy Valentines day.  We made sugar cookies and decorated them to deliver to neighbors.  Sadly, by the time we were done, it was 9:30 at night.  We delivered cookies to Geri, who lives upstairs.  She was awake, but the single lady who lives next door didn't answer the door.

Merry Christmas.  Jay told me Christmas eve that he wouldn't be able to sleep in Christmas morning because he gets so excited for Christmas.  I told him the only present I wanted was to be able to sleep in because my shift starts so early at the clinic each day and I don't get to sleep in often.  At 6:45 Christmas morning I rolled over to see Jay standing over the bed looking down at me.  He told me I could go back to bed...at least I was warned.  We spent Christmas morning opening a few presents from each other, eating breakfast with a few other young families from church and hiking Blacketts Ridge in Sabino Canyon.  

Happy Thanksgiving.  There isn't a picture from the actual feast at James and Emily's house or with Jay's family in town, but we did manage to remember to snap a photo Thanksgiving night.  We spent Thanksgiving day playing soccer at the park with a few other families, preparing food for dinner and talking with family.  As we were leaving our house to drive to James and Emily's house with the meal items we prepared, we heard our upstairs neighbor.  Her family is from NM and we realized she probably didn't have anywhere to go for dinner.  We knocked on her door and invited her to come join the Robertson chaos of Thanksgiving and she accepted.  

Happy Halloween-No picture from the day.  We got really creative and dressed up in our matching blue scrubs and attended trunk or treat events at our ward building and with James and Emily and their kids.  We also chaperoned a Halloween stake youth dance the weekend before and also dressed in our scrubs.

Parents visit Tucson

My parents came to visit last weekend.  They drove through Tucson en route from Washington DC, where they served as senior missionaries in the Washington DC North mission, to Portland Oregon.  Since they were serving their mission when Jay and I started dating and got engaged and since both of us were busy in our respective schooling for the duration of that time, there was no formal meeting of the groom until the evening before our wedding.  My parents stayed for 2 1/2 days and despite rain and cold weather, we took them hiking up Madera Canyon where Jay could teach them a thing or two about birding.  Unfortunately, the cold weather and snow fall, (yes snow!) kept most of the birds away.

Mom and dad really wanted to attempted a jumping photo after seeing so many missionaries photos like this.  A partial success.  Dad got some air.  Mom was worried she was going to fall.  

Mom and Dad hiked 1/2 way and then decided to rest by a tree while Jay and I finished our hike to Bog Springs.  When we made it back to the tree where we left them, we found a message in the dirt letting us know they had started back to the car.  The arrows helped-thanks.  

Dad was a little tuckered out afterwards. 

An Arizona Woodpecker, maybe...

The weekend included mission stories, games, walks on the trails by our house, eating donuts and answering a lot of medical questions.

We welcome any other visitors that want to come and don't mind a couch or floor space in our living room.

Eye of the Tiger...

Benjamin Franklin said: 

"Keep your eyes wide open before marriage and half-shut afterwards"

Jay's perfected.that one 

While on a cruise 1 month after getting married.  (July 2012)

On a camping trip 6 weeks after we got married down to Zion.  (July 2012)
We tried taking this photo 3 times before we gave up (laughing of course).  

A pre-marriage photo.  I guess he dated with his eyes half shut then too.  Oops. (Novemeber 2011)

Our Chinese new year celebration (February of 2012)

Eating at Zin Burger.  The egg on the burger = big deal, but not enough to open his eyes (Feb 2013)

It must run in the family.  Wesley has a hard time keeping his eyes open in photos too.  As long as he can keep his eyes open during surgery and examinations, he can close them for the camera. 

The two most important events in a Marathon

Crossing the finish line

And changing out one sweaty bandana for a fresh one.

This photo was taken at mile 10.  He still had 16 more miles to run and it only got hotter from this point on.  

Jay ran his second Marathon in 6 months yesterday.  We ran the St George Utah Marathon together in October.  He ran the Phoenix marathon with 4 siblings and his dad ran the 1/2 marathon yesterday morning. Jay finished 3 our of his 5 siblings with a finish time of 3:48.  

8 months and counting

Saturday we "celebrated" our 8 month anniversary.  And by celebrated I mean we both remembered it was the 26th of the month and talked about ways we could spend it.  I guess we aren't as sentimental as some people.  

We spent the weekend up in Phoenix seeing a few of my friends in town from Utah and a few of Jay's med school buddies.  Jentry wins to prize-we spent our 5 month anniversary up in Phx and our 8 month anniversary in Phx and went rock climbing both times with him while his wife was working.  

Happy 5 Months

Jay and Jentry.  For some reason we didn't take a picture of me with Jay. I think my phone died. No pics after this photos. 

Happy 8 months

We didn't get a picture climbing at AZ on the Rocks, but we did get a picture eating Sushi for lunch.  

I know we will definitely celebrate our 1 year anniversary.  It falls over memorial day weekend and we are already planning a trip to Havasupai or Zion.  And as you can tell from above, our outdoor adventure anniversaries are not exclusive.  Let us know if anyone wants to join us.

A Lesson in Flats

And I wish I was talking about flats-the shoe sort.  I wear a lot of those these days at work, but no. I have no lesson to share with you about shoes.  

Flat tire #1

Oregon summer of 2011.  Thankfully we got the flat while in the city before driving back to Utah.  I wish spent more time watching Jay change this tire.  We replaced all 4 tires in Oregon before heading back to Utah.  

Flat tire #2

Glendale AZ May 2012. Jay nicked a curb while parking the car.  This time we only had to replace one tire and it was covered under the warranty. 

Flat tire #3

Tucson AZ January 2013.  I was driving Jay's car and hit a pot hole.  HARD. I knew as soon as I hit it the tire was blown.  BOOO!

Jay was across town in a hospital based rotation and wasn't able to come help but my brother in law was able to get off work a little early to come help.  He was 45 min away, so while waiting I decided to get started.  I knew where the spare tire and  where the jack was stored.  I pulled those out of the car.  I was feeling confident and decided to get started.  I put the jack in the correct place and got the car a few inches off the ground.  I even texted Jay to let him know my progress and that I car the car jack but that I wasn't able to loosen the lug nuts on the car.  This was my first fail.  Jay got a good laugh out of the text.  I have since learned--loosen the lug nuts and then worry about using the jack.  Ahh-a lesson learn.  And hopefully not a lesson I will need to put into practice anytime soon.  While waiting for my brother in law, a nice man named Kevin pulled over to help me.  He informed me of my first mistake and lowered the car back to the ground.  And also my second mistake-pull the emergency brake before doing anything else.  And he took care of the rest.  The tire was changed and I was on my way before my brother in law had a chance to arrive.  

Unfortunately, I found out at the tire center the next day I had damaged the rim in the fiasco the day before.  UGH! If I had known, I would have driven home rather than be so careful in trying not to damage the rim.  Ordering a rim was $300 bucks and took a week to arrive.  

The spare on our car has had far more miles on it in the last 1 1/2 years than I think is safe.  I hope it stays locked up in the trunk for another 5 years.  

Our next car investment-a battery.  I am told in AZ cars burn through batteries about every 2 years.  We replaced Jay's battery in October.  Mine is up next.  

"This area is so full of life"--Jay

Can you guess what we did yesterday morning? 

If you guess spotted a wood duck, 3 javalinas and a dead snake you would be correct.

This beautiful (though stinky) spot is about 3 miles west of our house hidden behind a wall of trees and brush.  And Jay was correct.  It was full of life.

Goodbye 2012. We are welcoming 2013

Highlights from 2012:
March 2012: a trip to Haiti with our favorite team from Utah County.

May 2012: a wedding in Portland Oregon

June 2012: Jay took Step 1 of boards and then we spent a week in the Dominican Republic with a team of 27 high school students.  We taught classes, painted, organized school supplies and played with the kids. I celebrated my 31st birthday.

July: We went on a cruise off the coast of California, and came home to a fully prepared open house in Provo, Utah. Jay celebrated his 28th birthday and started his first rotation of his 3rd year in Family Practice. We made a quick weekend trip to Zion National Park.

I let Jay remove a Lipoma from my hip and stitch me back up.  

August: I completed my graduate work at BYU! Jay started a surgery rotation.  We packed our bags and moved to Arizona.

September: Jay started his next family practice rotation with Dr Charani.  I took boards and passed.  I spent the month applying for jobs and licenses through the state of AZ.  I interviewed with Dr. Charani the day after Jay finished his rotation.

October 2012: I accepted a job with Dr. Charani in a family practice office.  Jay and I ran and completed the St George marathon with Julie Isaacson, Shelby and Lisa Brennan and Emily Robertson (the other emily robertson). Jay signed up for the Phoenix marathon with his brothers and sisters.  Jay completed his Psych rotation.  We got called to be Primary teachers for the 11 year olds.   We traveled to Chicago for a surgical conference.

November: Jay completed his pediatric rotation.  I started my new job. We hiked in Catalina State Park and Picacho Peak.  We celebrated Thanksgiving with Jay's family here in Tucson and enjoyed a Robertson tradition of dipping chocolates.  We both spoke in sacrament meeting the last Sunday of the month.

December: Jay started an office based internal medicine rotation.  We determined that Jay most likely broke his foot hiking Picacho peak and stopped running for 3 weeks.  (so much for marathon training.)  We bought our first Christmas tree and celebrated Christmas.  We ate Thai and Veitnamese food for Christmas eve dinner and hiked in Sabino Canyon (Blacketts Ridge) on Christmas day.  We welcomed Matt and Becky Mecham and their 3 daughters into our one bedroom apartment for a post Christmas visit.  The girls loved swimming every day.  Jay loved biking every day with Matt.  And I got to work every day :( We visited Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch with the Mechams.  I think this is the best kept secret in the Tucson area.  We enjoyed a monster truck ride and learned about raising ostrich.  Afterwards we fed the ostrich, goats, deer, ducks and lorikeets.  We spent Christmas eve at our respective work (Jay started a hospital based IM rotation), went for a short run and then celebrated with a few friends from church.

While we are sad to see that last year go, we are excited for the year ahead and the adventures to come.