Bekah

Time is ticking down before residency starts. I have so many great memories from medical school but I'm sure my four years of residency will be filled with wonderful memories as well. I met some of the best people during medical school - some of the best friends anyone could ask for. I'm kind of sad that everyone is moving away to their residency destinations. Even if they aren't moving far or are staying in Minnesota, I'm moving away from them!

This last week I had a little going-away lunch with Bekah in the cities. Bekah is moving to Michigan where she will be doing five years of residency in urology. I know that she will do great. She is the best and here are a few reasons why:

- She can always make me laugh regardless of what the situation is at hand. She has a way of putting a comical spin on anything. When she tells me stories, I can actually picture her doing/saying whatever it is. Laughter is the best medicine and Bekah sure has it down pat.
- She never takes life too seriously and is always up to have a little fun {Oh, the memories I have of her :)}
- She is a very strong person. For a majority of our second year of medical school, her fiance was deployed over in Iraq. I don't know how she managed to get through him being away at war while still keeping up with medical school and everything else going on in her life. {I'll never forget her bringing care packages into class prior to mailing them off to Greg - they were packed full of goodies!} On top of all of this, she is in the military and spent weekends at drill and she also worked for the medical examiner. She not only is strong but she is pretty darn organized.
- She is a very generous individual. Just one example of this is that during medical school she made sure to pay-it-forward by giving to those less fortunate on a monthly basis and never expected anything in return. I strive to be like this more often.
- We can pick up where we left off regardless of how long it has been since we last talked.
- She's super talented! She knits the most beautiful mittens in the world and can make stockings and scarves like nobodies business. She can sew and quilt - she just finished a huge king size quilt and that is NOT an easy task. She makes good food too {and invites people over to eat it}! And she can also refinish furniture. She's one crafty lady!
-She is full of hugs. She hugs everyone!! {Even if they don't like hugs - I'm thinking about one of her roommates during med school - ha!} Bear Hugs!

I could continue on, but the bottom line is I am blessed to have Bekah in my life! She is one of the best and I'm going to miss her when she's in Michigan and I'm in Nebraska.

~Ashley

Spelunking

Yesterday, Ryan and I took a little road trip and were spelunkers for the day down to Harmony! In the Southwestern part of Minnesota, there are several caves which have been carved through the limestone as rivers rushed through. We went to Niagara Cave, which is supposed to be the biggest and coolest cave to explore {there is also the Mystery Cave State Park in Forrestville down there}. It was such a pretty drive to Harmony - lots of rolling hills, a drive through a massive wind farm, and the "Amish Byway" which didn't disappoint as we saw a few horse-drawn covered-buggies truckin down the side of the road! When we arrived at Niagara Cave, it looked, well, completely normal. It was basically in the middle of farm land. Who would have thought that there was this big beautiful cave below!

We paid the admission fee and then I had to pay for a sweatshirt. Yes, I got suckered in purchasing a souvenir sweatshirt since I didn't bring a jacket and the cave is 48 degrees. Luckily, Ryan brought his jacket so we didn't have to purchase two! The tour was a mile long - a half mile into the cave and a half mile back out. It was SO cool! I would recommend this tour to anyone. The cave is actually pretty big and it has a 70 foot waterfall inside!!! SO COOL!!! Check out the pictures below and then I'll tell you a funny story :-) Oh, forgot to mention, there is even a little chapel down in the cave :)

Lots and lots of steps into the cave.

More steps down to the waterfall.

There is still a river running through the cave.

The watefall - up close and personal! We had to walk out on this little bridge to see the waterfall and it made my stomach kind of queasy! {This picture was taken with no flash to give it the cool effect.}

This is the waterfall as taken with flash.

This picture is taken looking straight up to the top of the cave.

Note the lovely sweatshirt!

It's alive! {That slimy looking stuff is growing, but you can't touch it or the oils from our skin will cause it to die.}

I can't help but say "superstar!" when looking at this picture :)

More slimy-looking stuff on the cave wall.

These little stalactites are 80 years old. Very slow growing!

More growing slime :)

A very narrow and talk part of the cave.

They call this the skeleton arm and hand. Can you see the two arm bones and then the finger bones?

This is called the "wedding cake" {to go along with the wedding theme with the capel and all}. You can't see the bottom tier but you can see the top two.

One of a couple different fossils.

Stalactites.

Even bigger stalactites!

An enormous stalactite!

The big stalactite was at the end of the cave. When we got here they turned all the lights off and it was dark! Like dark, dark, dark. Like can't-even-see-your-hand-even-though-it's-one-milimeter-in-front-of-your-face dark! They kept the lights off for quite a long time, and then I got nervous that bats were going to start flying around. Someone then asked the tour guide to turn the lights back on. (ha - they must have been thinking something similar as me!}

And now to the funny story. Once we started heading back to the surface, Ryan and I were in the back of the group with the tour guide. There was a group of four people in front of us - two mid-aged couples. Anyways, the last part of getting out of the cave is climbing back up all the stairs which we first came down. We went up the first flight and one of the couples in front of us sat and took a break. The other couple from their group continued on up. {Ryan and I are now in the middle of these two couples.} Well the couple in front didn't know their friends had stopped to rest {and hence, didn't know Ryan and I were right behind them} and the wife of the couple, she started asking her husband to give her a push up the stairs. {hehehe, snicker, snicker - I can't even write this without laughing!} So he's pushing her, giving her a little help up the steep steps, and then she tells her husband "Hun, can you move down, like underneath my butt more and push." {hehehehehe} The husband then replies "No, I can't. Wife: "Just move your hands down underneath my butt and push." {hehehehe} Husband: "I can't. You're too high up." Wife: "Put your hands on my butt and push!" {LOL, hehehehehe, LOL}. Then we got to a break in the stairs, they turned around, saw Ryan and me and told us we could go ahead of them. So Ryan and I continued up the stairs and by the time we reached the top, our legs were burning! {There were so many steps!!} I didn't really laugh out loud when hearing the conversation between the husband and wife, I was just laughing inside. I thought it was kind of cute - something I'd ask Ryan to do - hehe! Maybe this isn't a funny story to any of you reading this, but it might be one of those had-to-be-there moments because I'm still laughing!

And that about sums up our day at Niagara Cave!

~Ashley

Three Years Ago Today...

Hillary's Bridal Shower

This past weekend was Hillary's bridal shower at the Nicolin Mansion Bed & Breakfast in Jordan. Whenever there is a shower on my dad's side of the family, we always get together at a different bed & breakfast. My wedding shower was at the Butler House Bed and Breakfast in Mankato and Kristin's wedding shower was at the Bohemian bed and breakfast (I believe) in New Ulm. It's always neat to visit these old houses and get together will family.

Hillary got quite the pile of gifts!

She also got to be a princess for the day!

Hillary and Grandma Frost with all the flour sack dish towels my grandma made for her!

Grandma, mom and Kristin all having a good laugh. My grandma made a 'mistake' on one, but wouldn't let anyone but these two know.

About to open one of the gifts from here sisters.

I used poor-man's tissue paper {newspaper} to pack the box.

Stainless Steel Calphlon pans {so nice! I want some of those!}

My cousin Heidi's daughter Molly trying the crown on for size. Looking good!

Opening her gift from Mom.

A punch bowl! All three of us girls got punch bowls from Mom for our wedding showers. All three a little different. We all joked that Hillary's looked like a big margarita glass - all we needed was salt for the rim and straws :-)

Aunt Maryles, Aunt Jean {my godmother}, Hillary, Aunt Chris {Hillary's godmother}, Aunt Judy. These are the aunts who threw Hill her shower.

Linda {Mother-of-the-Groom}, Hillary, Mom {Mother-of-the-Bride}

Mom, Grandma and Hillary

Hillary and Bobbi   :-)

Me, Mom, Grandma, Hillary and Kristin {picture taken by Aunt Judy}

It was raining when we arrived in Jordan but by the time the party was over it was H-O-T hot outside and humid! When we were leaving Jordan it was 86 degrees and by the time we got back to my parents house it was in the mid-70s. No wonder we had so many storms this past weekend. The two Ryan's and my dad cut wood while us girls were at Hillary's shower. {I think the Ryan's were having a tough morning as they stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, having a few brewskies and visiting with one of Ryan C's old co-workers.} Once we got back, we all sat around and talked for a while, we pulled out all of Hillary's gifts to show Ryan and then we decided to head out to Kristin and Dave's property to scope out where they plan to build a house some day.

Dave and his dad were at the land cutting some trees.

Looking at the view Kristin and Dave are going to have once they build a house.

I think the view is great!

The bugs were thick as could be out there and a storm rolling in so we didn't stay too awful long. There were some big storm clouds which actually looked really pretty.

On the way home, we stopped and rented a few DVDs and then called it a night once we got back home. That night, a HUGE storm came through and the thunder and lightening was fantastic. It woke me up several times throughout the night and you could feel the thunder shake the house from time to time. The lightening must have been striking really close to us because we could here it crackle as it moved through the sky. I love good storms like that. I guess I should say I love listening to storms like that by I don't love all the damage that they can do!