Happy Passing Quals to Scott!

To celebrate passing quals Scott took a few of us out for Ethiopian food in San Francisco. As my family thinks I'm allergic to food, it was quite the experience. They served us a huge plate of food on a pancake type bread. We then dove in with our own pieces of the bread and ate some delicious food. Part of the meal was vegetarian and the other part had meat. I think all of us would agree that Ethiopians eat some pretty tasety food. Here's a before-ish picture:


And an after picture:


Congratulations Scott!

He So Smart!!

Scott had to take a qualifying exam in order to be a PhD candidate. The pass rate for Stanford hovers just below 50% so it's kind of a big deal. Many hours and even more late nights were spent cramming for subjects he may or may not be tested on. Needless to say, he felt a little pressure to put on a good show. HE DID! Now, as he told me this afternoon, "I can spend all my time on Cecilie!" Who's excited?

And I'm back...

So I was making great progress on my blog until Thanksgiving. I planned to update it the Monday after but my dad had other plans. At work that day he had a massive heart attack that almost killed him. Thankfully his co-workers knew CPR and saved his life. He spent a week on a ventilator because his lungs were full of fluid and then another week in the hospital to see what to do next so this won't happen again. Turns out: his heart is very healthy except for one small blockage right near the electrical conduction. That blockage caused his heart to go into vfib (vibrate) instead of normal sinus rhythm (pumping). Basically his heart wasn't doing anything during the episode and he should have died. People who have vfib not in a hospital have less than a 5% chance of survival. The fact that he survived and has no damage at all is more than a miracle, it's a gift from God. He's been home ever since but will start back at work on Monday. Needless to say, I've had other things on my mind that blogging. One of the many blessings during this last while was that all of my siblings could come out for New Year's. Only one sister was supposed to come but my other sister and brother decided to come out as well and it was such a blast. We did all the typical family fun things: eat, play games, play RockBand, eat, set up a BB gun range in the backyard, eat, jump on the trampoline, take family pictures, eat. It was so awesome.The Bain Family 2010
Dad, Mom, Jenny, Macey, Eric, Maren, Jake, Rushton, Melissa
Cecilie, Caleb, Parker, LauraHow proud do my parents look? Are they not the cutest grandbabies ever?This is one of my favorite pictures from the break!
Maren LOVED being jumped on the trampoline but she's a little too flexible to do it without some help. It was so fun.
Parker could think of nothing else but being jumped on the trampoline. Maybe next time we can jump him to the moon...
Who do you think is having the most fun in this picture? I'll give you a clue: they're 4 and full of mishev.
No I do not live in the country but I guess this is what happens when too many boys are bored.
Orange peels anyone?And the sweetest little baby ever. She loved to lay on the floor and laugh. It was adorable. Tune in throughout to week as I update you on other adventures I've had lately...