Goodbye, Vegas

I had a few sad moments, but our departure from Vegas was so fragmented, that the bitter of this bittersweet departure wasn't so bad.  Nevertheless, we truly loved our time in Vegas.

What we loved most: The people we met
What we will miss most: Our amazing friends
What we also loved: Stunning geological formations (especially red rock), constant sunny weather, delightful water parks, living within walking distance to great restaurants, and transitioning into parenthood here and enjoying a whole new view of Vegas.

What I am most sad to leave: My friends, who supported me through many significant experiences: teaching, a Master's degree, starting a business, having a baby, and navigating parenthood.  I love each of you and will miss you tremendously.

We are now off to Connecticut, with a brief stop in Maryland.  There are a few updates in our contact information:

Matt's new phone number: (203) 903-7787

[I'm still 480-789-1264]

Addresses for the summer-

May 20-June 20: My parents' address

8007 Greentree Rd

Bethesda, MD 20817

After June 20: Our CT townhouse

52 Augur St

Hamden, CT 06517


Again, Thank You Vegas for being so good to us, and Hello, New England!

Matt Alleman, DMD

I am SO proud of Matt, who is now officially Matthew K. Alleman, DMD!  We had a festive month of award ceremonies and final gatherings with friends.

The first significant celebration was Matt's induction into Omicron Kappa Upsilon, the national dental honor society.  The ceremony included a very nice dinner and a lengthy presentation chronicling Matt's accomplishments.

The new OKU initiate with his jovial presenter, Dr. Brownstein

Delighted and proud

Then two nights before graduation, the entire graduating class attended a fancy Gala, where awards were presented, we dined in style with great friends, and, unfortunately, over half of attendants contracted a norovirus which hit us all on graduation day and then proceeded to spread to many graduation guests.  Norovirus aside, it was a nice evening and Matt was honored with awards for research, national leadership, and oral surgery skills.  These awards gave us pause to reflect on the opportunities that Matt has had over the past few years, and we are grateful for all the professors and colleagues that made them possible:

Attending various national meetings

Interacting with State and National legislators

Honing his presentation skills

And making some terrific friends throughout the past four years!

Dental school has been great.  Now for some humor before returning to pomp and decorum: Matt got his wisdom teeth out a few days before graduation.  What a dedicated doctor, trying to relate to his patients :)  He needed them out, he had a few days where all we were doing was packing boxes, so he went to his favorite mentor and got it done.  This amazing doctor did a fantastic job and surprised us by compensating the expense.  His response to our gratitude, "I know you'll do the same someday."  Matt was very analytical, noting what helped his recovery so he can provide quality advice to his future patients.  And it was so funny for me to interact with Matt coming off of Propofol.  He was very enthusiastic and talkative, wanting to analyze everything that was happening to him, then repeating the same questions 10 minutes later with no recollection of the past... all while declaring, "I feel great!  I am ready for the day."  My favorite quotes: 1) When I asked him not to fiddle with his bloody gauze, he stated, "I know what I'm doing.  I'm a doctor.  [With emphasis] Matt Alleman, DMD!" 2) Matt kept looking in the mirror at his teeth, and winced, "I hate blood on my teeth.  It's just not sexy"
3) He kept repeating, "What an amazing procedure. I'm so glad I get to do this for my career". What I learned about his inner psyche from this very candid Matt: He is very proud of being a dentist, he is also very proud of his pearly whites, and he genuinely loves his future profession.

The fastidious patient 

(Note the Marley technique: allows for 2 ice packs to be applied simultaneously, 

while still allowing the mobility of both hands!

Convocation was great.  Despite the noticeable palor and fatigue of many graduates, everything was smooth, efficient, and celebratory.  Matt received honors as Summa Cum Laude, and the listing of his awards lasted until he was already off the stage!

Receiving his hood from a professor who was also in our ward

The incredible support group!  Matt's parents, my parents, my brother and sister-in-law, my mom's father, and my dad's parents (in town for numerous celebrations) all made it to Convocation.  Matt's brother Wade and his entire family joined us later that night for the rest of the festivities and events.

Saturday morning before Commencement: The new DMD

The Doctors Alleman and one proud Momma

Commencement was good, though we left after the Dental School names were completed. Matt got to sit next to his best friends, so staying until the bitter end wasn't so bad.

Hooded and congratulated on stage

We all enjoyed some great pool time, then Matt's parents hosted a celebratory dinner at Claim Jumper.  It was a fun group and happy occasion to celebrate.

Capped off with the ever-so-tasty Motherlode cake!

I am so proud of Matt.  He worked really hard, gained some valuable experiences, and was able to graduate happy and satisfied with his work.  Just as significantly, he still delivered at home, dedicating quality time to me and John as well as serving in various callings at church.  I am so confident in and proud of him as he enters training for his dream profession; he will be a wonderful oral surgeon!

On to the next round!  I love you!

Baby Girl!!!

We took a splendid break from packing boxes in Vegas to find out some very exciting news!  On May 10, at 10 AM, Matt, John, and I watched an ultrasound of our baby GIRL!!!!!

I thought it might be a girl...  This pregnancy has been very different from my experience with John.  Symptoms at different onsets and intensities, and overall a whole lot more nausea and throwing up.  A few people have relayed a funny old wive's tale to me that applies very well to my experience: Little girls drain the beauty right out of their mommas!  This time I did have brittle hair and nails, dry skin, acne, weight loss, and other fun effects (thankfully most of those are behind me now), so this little saying makes me laugh.  Often pregnancies vary even with the same gender, so I was prepared and excited for either.

I did not realize just how excited I would be.  I have truly loved having a boy, we have lots of great boy clothes and toys, and having two boys together is fun, but WOW I am so excited to have a girl!  This past week my Grandma Sandi totally indulged me by taking me to the outlets in Williamsburg (blog on that fun visit later) to admire girl clothes with me in all the baby stores (and buying a few reallly cute outfits!).  Also, Matt and I are both from alternating families (GBGB), so I'm very comfortable with and excited for the moderating influence of alternating genders.

We are starting to brainstorm names and nursery colors, and we are just so excited to meet this little miss!  Thankfully she is healthy so far and I'm doing much better nutritionally; so I just hope and pray she comes out healthy and happy in the beginning of October!

Here are pictures of our baby girl in action:

Moving her hands around

Cute little foot

Lovely profile

Love you so much already, baby girl!

West Coast Adventures: Elko

Part two of our Semester Break trip: Visiting Matt's parents in Elko.  This was the most relaxing week we've had in a long time.  John slept like a dream in his ultra-dark basement room, he ate well (not the norm lately), and we all relaxed in a true vacation mode.  Our main goal was to enjoy time with Matt's parents, and we ate like Kings (numerous restaurants as well as delicious meals at home) and thoroughly enjoyed cooler yet sunny weather.

Here are some of the fun activities we enjoyed:

• Riding the ATV- John enjoyed going around the block with us, then Matt and I went out for some real riding in the dirt hills.

• Enjoying being outside- I love these pictures of John exploring the backyard 

• Exploring the historic train downtown

• Visiting the Museum (twice) to look at the animal exhibit

Greeting the animals

Imitating the Grizzly

Testing the sharpness

And demonstrating his latest favorite silly pose (surfer?)

• Playing at the two main local parks

• Eating chocolate- this is John's enthusiastic gorilla impression, while covered in Nutella

• Playing with new toys- Matt's mom saw this fun idea on Pinterest: putting glow sticks in the bath and turning off the lights during bath time.  John loved those light sticks.

• Loving so much time with Matt- we are fully soaking up these two months of time off!

• We also hit a bucket of balls at the Golf range, went on several walks, visited Dad's optometric practice, watched fun movies and shows at home, and went out on a double date with Matt's parents to see The Avengers.

Minor damper of this week: John took an intentional dive off a chair and landed on the corner of a fireplace, on his head.  Honestly, I'm just really glad it was our first trip to the E.R.  The doctor there superglued his skin back together with DermaBond, and 2.5 hrs, a few major tears, and a few packets of M&Ms later, we were back to playing.  John remembered that the fireplace hurt, as indicated by pointing, furrowing his brow, and declaring "Ow" for the next few days.  However, he didn't generalize the danger of head-first endeavors at all... he was back to trying head-first approaches to stairs and couches a few hours later.  I really don't want to repeat an ER trip any time soon, so I'm just praying my little guy stays safe!

What a fun and relaxing week!  We got in some great family time. While we're very grateful that Matt's parents are in the position to come visit us several times while we are in CT, we will sure miss being within a drive of them!

West Coast Adventures: Utah

Matt had a two week break in between finals and Graduation, so we maximized our proximity to family in the West and visited Utah for a week and then Elko for a week.

Our Utah visit was fun and family filled!  We started with a mini Colton reunion, celebrating my brother Scott's graduation from BYU.  He was received many honors, and I'm proud of and excited for him as he starts med school at Georgetown this Fall.  Even more exciting than the graduation ceremony was joining Scott and Brittany for an ultrasound to determine the gender of their baby.  They are having a BOY!!!  It was fun to be in a room full of excited grandparents, uncles, and aunts.  

Celebrating cousin excitement on a carousel ride.

Saturday, following the graduation events, Matt participated in his first Half Marathon!  He met his weight and time goals set a few months ago; I'm so proud of him!  He loved the Salt Lake course, traversing through many pretty parks and the highlights of downtown, however his knees did suffer as the course is mostly downhill.  Still, he felt great and had a fun time!

The Start: University of Utah campus.

Yayyy Dad!

The following week we able to join in on a mini Alleman reunion. Matt's parents and sisters came in town to celebrate and support Kori (Matt's oldest sister) as she spoke in Women's Conference!  I have always been interested in this two-day feast of impressive speakers and powerful messages about basically every motivational gospel topic you can think of.  It is a huge deal that Kori was one of presenters!  I was able to join Kori as her guest for the Thursday session, and it was awesome to choose the classes we thought were most interesting to us (quality time while parenting, significance of the Atonement, and faith during trials) and spend the day with her.

On Friday, many friends and family headed down to BYU campus to listen to Kori's presentation.  She spoke about the importance of family meals and provided many valuable food planning resources and tips for any family to have in their bag of tricks.  It was a fun and informative presentation; she did a great job!

Team Kori

We also were able to visit my Grandpa and his wife, my uncle Alan and his family, my cousin Mauri and her family, one of Matt's college roommates, and Matt's large extended family in Springville.  It was so great to spend time with everyone, and we will miss being able to visit our Utah family so easily.

Matt's Grandparents with Matt's family

John playing with his Great-Grandpa

We are so grateful Grandma made it through open-heart surgery so smoothly; 

this is her looking fabulous just one week after the operation.

Reuniting with Matt's sisters and parents was fun as always, indulging in delicious milkshakes and conversing late into the night.

John and cousin Nora

The small damper on the week: John got a mean fever that kept him mellow and clingy for a few days. Luckily it was in between family reunions.  All it took was 5-6 viewings of Finding Nemo, and John was back to his energetic self.

A great vacation packed with many wonderful reunions!