Happy Holidays

Hope everyone enjoyed a fun Christmas with family and friends. We just got back to Davis after a visit to Mom and Dad's in Fallbrook. We relaxed with movies, games, presents and Randy's homemade eggnog (really good!) It was a good visit and we enjoyed nice weather. We also got to squeeze in a visit to Lissa and Ken's so we could meet Lexi (8 months old) for the first time...what a cutie!! and already starting to walk...Lissa's going to have her hands full! It was also good to see Pumpkin (Shianne's pony)...We miss the little guy. Well, we've got 1 week left before school starts...wish it was longer :( But, we're enjoying nice weather and spending long days at the barn...couldn't be better! I've attached some pics of Lexi and of Tobey's first Christmas (he really liked ripping open his presents and following Dad around everywhere :)

Rain, Rain...go away

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. Finals are over, signaling the end of fall quarter of my 2nd year of vet school. Seems like such a long road...but Randy reminded me that I'm 1/3 done (if you count each year as 3 quarters). That makes it sound like I've accomplished something :) Next quarter is supposed to be the nightmare of vet school...but I can't imagine how it could be much different from any of the others??? I'll let ya know how it goes :) Well, of course it's been rainy and cold for most of winter break so far. What a bummer. I've been looking forward to riding my horse and taking long trail rides with friends...but the weather is just not cooperating. Yesterday was Jen's 31st birthday (which makes me....older than that!) We went to the movies and saw Australia, then went to dinner at her favorite restaurant in town and celebrated with cupcakes at home. I've posted a picture of how she spent the rest of her bday....digging a trench in Rose's pasture. Another picture is Moose enjoying himself in turnout. I've also posted a picture from Shi's last visit (and Moo, the goat).

Happy Thanksgiving (1 day late...)!

Hope everyone had a relaxing Thanksgiving....um, nevermind....Thanksgiving is never relaxing...especially for those doing the cooking! Well hope it was fun anyways :) We celebrated early, with Mom and Dad making the treck up to Davis. We had a fabulous dinner on Monday, and got to enjoy leftovers on Thanksgiving Day. Thanks to Mom, Jen and Randy for all their hard work in the kitchen. Shianne spent the week with us, and we had a super fun visit. She certainly got her animal fix while she was here, and did lots of horseback riding. I've posted some pictures of Shianne and her favorite horse, Sweetheart. We also went to the Jelly Belly Factory which is in nearby Fairfield, for a behind the scenes tour. Somehow we came home with twenty something dollars worth of Jelly Bellies....I never understood how people could eat those gross licorice ones...yuck!

Update, and pics of Moose

Hi all! Haven't posted in awhile...but that seems to be the trend lately. We've had a lot of exams, and now finally have a little break before finals. We've had super weather...sunny and in the 70's every day...wish it could last forever, but we do need the rain. Well we're gearing up for Thanksgiving. Mom and Dad will be heading up on Saturday, and Randy and Shi will be here on Sunday. We'll be having Thanksgiving early, before Jen and Phil head off to Colorado to visit his family. I think everyone will be here except Jeff...wish he could make it :( I've posted some pictures of my horse Moose. I got him in May from a Thoroughbred rescue near Davis called TB friends. He was just off the track with a healing tendon injury. He has been rehabbing since May, and I've just recently started riding him. If he just stays sound, I think he'll be a fabulous horse someday. He's a real character and certainly keeps me on my toes :)

Babies are the cutest!

Thought I'd share some cute baby pictures with you all. The goat is 2 weeks old and is being hand raised by our friend Lisa (it's wearing Tobey's first harness in the picture...that tells you how small he is.) The chihuahua, Emmie, is a rescue that belongs to my friend/classmate Jen. She rescued the little pup over the summer, after it was brought into the vet clinic where she works. Emmie suffered a traumatic injury after having an ice chest fall on her, and shows signs of a cerebellar injury...tough to tell from the pics, but she is extremely uncoordinated, and has hypermetria (you can see how she is high stepping in one of the pics). Good news is that she is a totally normal puppy other than that, and she is already showing signs of improvement. She might just be the cutest chi ever!

Mom's Birthday Surprise

It's been a little while since I last posted, but I'm still recovering from our whirlwind weekend. I was lucky enough to get down to San Diego for a very quick trip to celebrate Mom's 60th Birthday. To sum up...I went to the airport straight from school on Friday, flew to San Diego, met Randy at the airport, met the family and surprised mom with a birthday celebration in Mission Bay, then flew home to Davis the next day to study for a monday morning Virology exam. What a weekend! We had a great time in San Diego...took the harbor cruise on the Bahia Belle in Mission Bay, then had a fantastic dinner at the Bahia hotel. It was a beautiful night, and we really enjoyed the cruise! Plus it was great to visit with the fam...wish I could have stayed longer. This picture is next to the boat (unfortunately, this is the only picture I took the whole night...)

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Wanted to send a big Happy Birthday Hug to Mom!! Your the best, and I wish I could be down in so cal to celebrate the day with you. Love you lots!

Get Well Soon Riley!

Just wanted to send a get well message for my friend, Lissa's dog Riley. He underwent exploratory surgery yesterday, to remove a trichobezoar. I'm sure your wondering what the heck that is!! So was I! Apparently it's an extremely persistent form of a hairball, that can form a gastrointestinal obstruction. But it's very rare, and Riley was very lucky to have it diagnosed and subsequently removed. Very lucky for an 11 year old dog...but we all know how hardy those Jack Russells are :) Get well Riley!

Kittens are gone :(

The last 2 kittens (Athena and Bear) went to their new home yesterday! Sad to see them go as they were 2 of our favorites, but they got to go together to a wonderful family here in Davis. Thought I'd post the last couple pics of them.

Saturday morning blahs

I'm slacking on the blog posting already...but it's been a busy week with afternoon labs every day. I'm finally sitting down this morning and studying for my Pharmacology exam (boring!!!) So many other ways I'd rather spend my saturday, but it has to be done :( Randy made us homemade waffles this morning (yum!) and I've had about 5 cups of coffee, so I'm speeding right along. I did manage to fit in some time for fun yesterday, and took a nice relaxing trail ride. I've posted a picture of our trail ride...Jen and Rose are leading the way, Zoe and Sizzle are on the left, and I'm riding Baley (I guess we're not in the picture). Baley is our friend Alana's rescued Thoroughbred, who I've been riding since my horse is lame (big surprise, he really hasn't been sound since I got him!) Hope you all enjoy your weekend, and the last week of daylight savings :)

Some labs are fun!

So, today we had an Oncology exam (yuck), and an Equine Lab (yay!). Nothing against Oncology...it's a really interesting class. Did you know that 1 in 8 Golden Retrievers will get Lymphoma, yet Pomeranians are 10 times less likely to get it? Anyways, the weekly ritual of monday morning exams gets real old...real fast. Our afternoon lab was fun though, and we actually got to touch real animals (a rare occurrance in the first 2 years of vet school!) Every once in a while they let us do some cool stuff and then we remember why we all wanted to become vets so badly. I posted some pics...we each got to practice doing physical exams, giving various injections, and each placed an IV Catheter. Fun Stuff :)

friday.....finally

What a long week. 2 exams, 3 afternoon labs, 1 afternoon ultrasound discussion, and 1 ultrasound wetlab later.....it's finally friday. Thank goodness. The kittens had their surgeries today, and seem to be recovering well. Brutus and Jane will go to their new (and very excited) owners tomorrow. I'm so happy to have found such wonderful homes for these kittens. It seems there's no shortage of animal lovers in Davis....I love that:) I'm looking forward to a relaxing friday night...waiting for Phil and Jen to come back with takeout from the Habit (not sure if you all have that down south), and a movie (hopefully Indiana Jones) since we never made it to the theater to see that one! I decided to blow off the TG tonight...sometimes it seems like I have spent entirely too much time at school in 1 week, and it's so much better to hang out at home. For those of you who don't know...TG's are the friday vet school bbq's...lots of food, dogs and beer. Thought I'd post a picture of our newest member of the family...Tobey. The story of how we acquired him is a topic for another day...

Update

Update...all of the kittens have homes! Yay! That must be a record...4 kittens adopted in 3 days...I guess that petfinder website really does work :)

Kittens, kittens and more kittens

The Davis house is truly bursting at the seams with animals. These are 3 of my 4 foster kittens for the Orphan Kitten Project. It's been a while since I've had fosters in the house and I forgot how much work they are, and how much fun they are :) The kittens are Brutus, Athena, Jane and Bear. 3 have been adopted in the last 2 days, but will stay with us until they are spayed/ neutered and are ready to go. Well, I've procrastinated long enough...exam tomorrow...and I'm about as sick as I could be of foreign animal diseases....anthrax, avian influenza...it's a very depressing subject to study, if you ask me. Hoping for a less windy day tomorrow!