It's that time of year...

...when large families get together for a couple of days to reacquaint, gossip, and sometimes fight. My mom's family had one such reunion this last weekend, although I think we got away without any fighting. That's amazing with close to 100 people (and yes, they are all closely related - my mom has 13 brothers and sisters). That means a host of little cousins that I can't even remember names for, and and one cousin that was born after Morgan.

With that many people, Morgan got passed around a lot. It was fantastic. She had her first licorice (and screamed bloody murder when I took it away - I was concerned about that much sugar flowing through her little body).

And of course, once the ice cream was passed around, she had to participate. It's uncanny how she knows what ice cream looks like in all its different forms - she was instantly riveted by the Casco.

There were some really clever games that we played up in Park City, like this one. We called it the Bunny Wiggle, the Bum Dance, etc. The object was to shake the ping pong balls out of your box before your opponent. I got some hilarious video - who knew my relatives could shake it like that? - but it might not be G rated, as well as potentially embarrassing to people I have to see the rest of my life.

This game involved pantyhose with a tennis ball at the bottom. You had to put it on your head and then, without hands, swing the tennis ball at water bottles on the ground and knock them over. A strange form of bowling.

Dad and Jon

Even my grandma got into it.

But of course the best part was just spending time with my family, who I don't get to see very often. Morgan thought all the attention was great.

Grandma would even get down on the floor and crawl with her. I've been told that I can't post any of those pictures.

And Morgan got to meet her cousin Will for the first time. For the most part she wrote him off as too young and toyless to be fun, but they had a few little moments.

See you again in two years. Until then, we can all keep in touch the usual way - through the Spackman women's gossip chain. Faster than anything known to man.

You wouldn't know it, but Morgan popped out her first tooth during the reunion. What a champ.

Disclaimer: regardless of what this looks like, Aunt Lindsay is not flicking her in the ear.

Come Sail Away

Morgan's first time on a boat.

"Baby Spice"

Taking a dip.

Lessons

After three weeks of being on the surgery service at the U of U hospital I have learned a few things that I thought I would share.

1. The expression "cuss like a sailor" is all wrong. It should be "cuss like a surgeon."

2. Even if you have just lost everything you have eaten all day you are still supposed to be able to present a patient flawlessly to the attending physician in clinic, and then answer question after question about the disease without the help of the all-knowing Google.

3. Surgeons do not eat, drink, sleep, or use the restroom.

4. Sometimes birds get into the hospital. You just have to catch them.

5. Cancer sucks.

6. See number 5 above.

7. See numbers 5 & 6 above.

8. When you don't see your 9 month old daughter for days at a time you either become a novelty when you finally come home or a stranger. I keep hoping for novelty.

9. Some patients want to get better, others are disappointed to find out the hospital is not a five star hotel but still do not want to go home.

10. A pair of comfortable shoes makes all of the difference in the world.

11. The ER is an amazing place.

12. Always carry a stick of gum. It is terrible to get trapped inside a surgical mask and smell your own bad breath for hours during a surgery.

13. And last the best...God is good. Our family has been very blessed these past few weeks!

And now, what you really came to the blog to see: pictures of Morgan! Too bad we left our camera on my uncle's boat and only have one new picture.

Life Over

Well, we've begun a new and depressing epoch: the 3rd year of medical school. Characterized by very early mornings, days being harassed by doctors and residents, nights and weekends on call, tests every 6 weeks with no time to study, and more stress than we've experienced before (which is saying something). I can't really complain - the only difference for me is that I will see Erik less and that he will be more stressed and exhausted when I do see him. Erik has started out with the surgery rotation, which some say is the worst/most hours. He has to be there by 5, and we've never gotten any clear ideas of when he might be home or whether or not he works weekends. And apparently, it looks like you're weak if you ask such questions, so I guess we'll just take it day by day... I've been told that clarity of schedule depends on the scheduling secretary for that rotation, and based on our experience so far, the surgery secretary gets an F. Case in point: all the surgery students, Erik included, met for a required class, but the professor never showed. They all checked their emails/pagers, but there was nothing. So they sat in the classroom and studied. What good little medical students. After the two hours was up, the secretary calls out one of the students and asks where his pager is. He says he left it in his car. She said that she paged him (just him) to tell the other students that there was no class and they should meet up with their doctors instead. She has all their emails and pager numbers, and all she could be bothered with is to page one student - and then she says it's his fault. Wow. If I had a say in running medical school, it would be done a lot differently. Wish us luck - I think we're going to need it.

In other, lighter, news, we recommend Toy Story 3 and Karate Kid. We indulged in a few movies during his few weeks off and really enjoyed them.

The Morgan update: teeth are visible in the gums, but haven't popped out yet. Can easily get to crawling position (by using her head - hilarious), lunges, and collapses. Hooray. I'm not ready for a mobile baby. Saying "ma" "da" "wa" and "ba." Claps and waves, and is learning high fives. Very advanced. :)

Good Reads

Morgan loves books of all genres and sizes.

They get her very excited.

But only because they are so tasty.

But at least she is learning to appreciate literature. Sort of.

Guest Blogger- Morgan

This is Morgan. I just wanted to give an update on my summer vacation. I guess that my whole life is a vacation right now...anyways. I went to Arizona to see my Grandma and Grandpa! We had a really good time.

This is Grandma and I at bath-time.

This is Aunt Lindsay. She is really nice.

They fed me a pickle. My daddy doesn't like pickles. I'm not sure if I like them either, but you take what you can get when you can't talk.

This is my Grandpa. He likes to tease me.

The picture above and the picture below are from my modeling photo-shoot. I hope to replace that homely Gerber baby sometime soon.

One day when I came back from Arizona I went and hung out with my great-grandma Godfrey.

We also went to Temple Square one afternoon.

Here are mommy and I. Daddy always says that mommy is a hottie. I think so too.

Valley of the Sun

Morgan with Aunt Lindsay

Morgan and I have arrived in Phoenix! And boy, is it steamy. There is nothing like enduring a month of fake spring in Utah, complete with rain and snow, and then coming down here to the eternal blue sky. I still don't want to move back, but I do love that sky. Morgan went pretty much all day without a nap, and was amazingly cheerful. She showed no fear of Grandma and Lindsay, and even smiled and laughed for them. Then came bathtime in the scary tub, and she freaked out. I thought she was going to sleep forever this morning, but instead woke up at 4:30 to feed and never went back to sleep. So we got up and waited for Grandpa. If she does this every morning, it's going to be a long trip.