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Step One: Go Here
Step Two: Have them sent to me
Step Three: Receive infinite love from yours truly.

Our first tree

Since Scott and I were in Hawaii for Christmas last year (and homeless for that matter) we did not have a tree. This year, however, we are proud to present
Our first tree:


Kindly donated by our friends, the Gessels. When they found out we didn't have any Christmas decorations it wasn't 24 hours before we received a call asking us if we were interested in adopting some of their excess decorations. We love our little tree. It stands about a foot and a half tall.

Body Donor Memorial Service

I Remember well our first meeting.

We eyed each other somewhat suspiciously,

Treading together

Into unfamiliar territory, unsure of our expectations.

You seemed excited, yet slightly disturbed,

And more than a little curious.

I was mostly flustered.

Over the course of six months, you found a variety of methods

To crack me open,

And later stitch your clumsy excavations back together again.

When you mistook the phrenic nerve

For the vagus, I laughed at you.

When your society enviously eyed your brilliant dissection

Of the celiac plexus, I was delighted.

When you carefully dislodged my broken organs

I was humbled;

And deeply frustrated when a facial nerve

Proved too obscure for you to locate,

And I could sense

Your quiet disappointment.

And when you finally unearthed my brain,

I offered you my most precious secret.

I watched as you cradled my memories, my love, and my pain

In your rubber-gloved hands,

Realizing you would never know the particular beauty of my life,

But that I had become a modest slice of yours.

At our last gathering I understood that

This particular journey had ended

And we would part ways for the time being.

But you will meet me again as your first patient,

And as every patient thereafter.

And I can assure you

I shall be much more vocal.

-By: Sara Frasure, MD

Last week we had a body donor memorial service reminding us of the great gift individuals gave us by donating their bodies for our anatomy lab. After going through anatomy, there is no way I could have learned this material to the same extent if I didn't have the cadaver lab.

I will never forget the first day going into the lab. The smell was horrendous. You could almost feel it in the air, and it definitely followed when we left! Making the first incision was quite a new experience.

I am glad I had this lab but am looking forward to its end. However, I am much more appreciative of the donations people made that allow medical students to learn from the bodies of donors.

Guilty Pleasures

Tonight I am eating popcorn and raspberry sorbet for dinner. Why? Because Scott is at a review for another hour and he isn't home to make me eat vegetables.

It's a miracle I survived feeding myself for the 18 years before I met Scott...

These are a few of my favorite things...

1. Saving money. My Aunt Cindy let me on to a great secret. When Kohls sends out the coupons for $10 off, there is no minimum purchase. Basically it's a free $10. Last time one came I got a pair of sweats for $2. This time I spent a total of $5 and got a super cute cardigan. Awesome, right?

2. Paying my own utility bill, simply because I can turn up the heat as high as I want. No more freezing to death (because my comfort is totally worth it).

3. Care packages. My dear friend Emma's mom sent me the most AMAZING care package on Saturday. It was filled with magical things like candles that smelled like Fall, Lindt truffles, sand dollars, banana bread, a thermometer for our turkey, and many other wonderful things. I was so grateful. It absolutely made my Fall. Among the many fantastic surprises she had a wild caught smoked salmon from Anacortes. Home! I was so very pleased. I have eaten it every day since. It's like eating heaven. (heaven, of course, being the beautiful pacific northwest for those of you who were still thinking it was on a cloud somewhere)

4. Scott. Because I can't have a list of favorite things without him on it. This is a face I receive often. It's the look of "I know you're trying so hard to be patient while I study for hours on end". I love him a lot and often find him with a power point, packets, text books, old tests, and information on zebra fish.

5. This picture is for Scott. One morning I decided to make Scott breakfast. Unfortunately this decision was made in the shower, so when I put my plan into action it was early in the morning, my head was sopping wet and thus very cold. So I hunted down Scott's hat. I then proceeded to make him breakfast wearing it. He thought it was hilarious. Don't mind the lack of make-up and fact that I'm half asleep still.

What are some of your favorite things?

I guess I'm a real Brunson now

Scott has ruined me. He downloaded Plants vs. Zombies on Henry (my computer). Turns out that wasn't the best idea. I am crazy busy this week but all I want to do is sit and play that game. Scott got home to me yelling "No! No! The zombies ate my brains!"
It's getting to be a problem.
Here is my Zombatar:

Those moments...

I had one of those moments yesterday. You know those wonderful moments when everything in the world is right and you just want to stay there forever? The kind of moments that you hold tight to when nothing feels right? Well I love those moments.
Yesterday Scott came home early-- just as I arrived home from school/the market. We made sandwiches and laughed while we watched Scrubs. Then we talked and talked. Scott put off his homework and he soon fell asleep. Then I fell asleep. And I took one of those glorious naps where you have fun dreams and the temperature is perfect and you don't have a care in the world.
Anyhow, the moral of the story is that I had a magnificent Monday. How was yours?

Katie :)

Next Thursday (11/18) my sister, Katie comes home from her mission in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

I CANNOT wait! I miss her like crazy.
Here is Katie holding me (the infant with the pug nose). We go way back.

Cupcake Orphanage

I'm thinking my love for cupcakes has gotten out of hand. I love making them, decorating them, and looking at them. Surprisingly, I don't love eating them as much as the other things. That's the problem with desserts, I love making them and trying them, but finishing them off is truly a struggle for me. Luckily I have Scott. But even so, we can never finish off everything. Someday when I have a house full of growing boys I will be set, but in the mean time things like this happen.

This is our cupcake orphanage. Many people know I love cupcakes and so over Halloween weekend we had many arrive. The warty looking ones and the one that says "Boo" I made (the other decorated ones were snagged after our party). The apple cinnamin ones were made by my friend Ashlyn. The ones with the pretty orange frosting were made by the Croskreys and dropped off by our home teacher and his wife. The zombie ones were made by my good friend Melanie. They come complete with a marzipan brain inside! Brilliant, no?
We love our little cupcakes, but we cannot eat them all *sigh*
If you would like to rescue a cupcake, please stop by and ask about our Adopt-A-Cupcake program.

In other news, Scott's mom, Janet
made us this AMAZING quilt for Halloween. We get compliments on it every time someone comes over, but alas I cannot claim credit. The credit all goes to Janet, the quilting extraordinaire.


Also, I am looking for someone who can crochet well, preferably someone in Wisconsin who can teach me. I can offer cupcakes.

What have the Wisconsin Brunsons been up to?

Well...
I have been trying to cook some different foods. Italian is my favorite but I haven't branched out too much. So last week I tried to conquer Chicken Lettuce Wraps (like at PF Changs). They turned out AMAZING. Recipe here.
Scott approved.

Scott has joined an intramural flag football team. I came to watch his game in the freezing cold. I'm pretty sure Scott told someone that he brought his "eskimo" instead of wife. In his defense, I was piled high in blankets.

We had a get together for some of the M1's for Halloween.

For the event I took an idea from Lovestitched and Amber's Recipes. Amber had carved an orange to look like a jack-o-lantern for a fruit salad. Well, I didn't have any fruit, so we just carved oranges to look like jack-o-lanterns and put tea lights in them. They turned out great! Plus our house smelled amazing the whole evening.

Pictures from Shaver

Every year the Stephenson family has a reunion at Shaver Lake (central california). Scott and I were lucky enough to be able to go this year. We had a blast.
Here is a bunch of photos from our trip.

love,
sarah

Pretending We're From Wisconsin: Part I -- Door County.

On Friday Scott finished his ridiculously long and intense week of tests. You can imagine how pleased I was to have my husband back :)
Our good friends the Jackmans invited us to stay at a cabin in Door County. Door County in the Fall? How very Wisconsin-ite.

Essential road trip picture (Scott would argue about how essential it is...)

Water! (Lake Michigan)

These are the Jackmans, Melanie and Ryan. We like them quite a lot.

I was thrilled to find lichen. Scott thought my excitement over some moss was a little excessive and thus decided to document it. I, however, did not care because I was so pleased at knowing that the air in Door Co. is pure enough for lichen to grow.

The "cabin" we stayed at was actually a log house. It was phenomenal. It was in the middle of a forest and absolutely perfect. Scott and I were expecting a teeny tiny cabin with a wood-burning stove. Instead we found a summer house complete with satellite tv, a pool table, ping pong table, darts, mini golf, star wars lego galore (which of course Scott needed to document for Coleman), an Xbox, AND arcade games.

We ate ice cream in Sister Bay. It was delicious! this is Scott's face of approval.

Scott tried to trade me out for this hot mama. Don't worry, I didn't let him.









We love Fall in Wisconsin. Please visit.