Fellowship Graduation

Grandma, Papa and Grandpa Stan

I set my kids up with a different set of family members over the space of 4 days in hopes that it wouldn't get too overwhelming for anyone. My grandparents had the first shift and my dad filled in as well to help out. It is so nice to be able to live in a place where they can come to you. This makes it especially great because all the kids have their stuff all in one place. My flight was pretty uneventful unless you want to include the male flight attendant flirting the entire flight with a woman in front of me. It was quite entertaining and I really wish I had the guts to have taken a photo of him. To top it off as he was welcoming us to the city he said and I got Jenny's phone number!! (Kinda ironic we had the same name eh?)

I can't even express how excited I was to see Doug. I felt like we were going on a fancy date much like when we were courting. The restaurant where the dinner was located reminded me like uptown New Orleans on St. Charles. In order to even eat at this place you have to be a "member" of their club.

Since super nice restaurants are out of my comfort zone you can imagine the anxiety I had upon our arrival. Mix that with our non-alcoholic beverages and people you really aren't exactly used to being around (catch the my drift).... but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy going everyone seemed to be (perhaps the amount of liquid being passed around). These are all the physicians Doug worked with over the past year. They are quite an eclectic, yet great bunch of men.

left to right
Dr. Toland, Dr. Jakobs, Dr. Delee, Adam Perry (the other fellow),
Doug, Dr. Huff, Dr. Kaiser and Dr. Casillas

The Argyle House

My camera doesn't even come close to doing this amazing house justice. They have restored this home and it is not only used as the Argyle restaurant, but parties and weddings are also held here. The grounds are breathtaking!

chocolate souflee

I ordered the lamb chops. I figured I had never tried them and decided to get a little crazy rather than order my safe "steak" plate. It didn't disappoint they were really delicious. The lamb was based with a lingonberry sauce. At the same time we placed our order if we wanted dessert it had to be placed then due to the time it takes to make. I got the chocoloate souflee, again so yummy!

Adam & Heidi Perry, me and Doug

Once dinner was pretty much over Dr. Casillas got up and made remarks about Doug and Adam. Despite the crazy schedule it brought for Doug, he had a great experience. Overall, I think he feels more comfortable doing surgeries and going in a practice by himself. This year he logged in over 600+ cases. I don't know much about surgery, but that seems like a lot to me!

Dinner got out around 10:30pm and we headed on over to Givenchy Hotel (aka The Gordon's) Mackenzi was sweet enough to give up her room for the weekened so we could have our own private suite. This is the current view....ahhh I love the hill country. I am off to play weee!

Fairwell To The Chief!

Doug's long 9 years finally came to a halt tonight. He came here not knowing any of the guys in his class, unfamiliar with the hospitals and their corky systems. (I say corky because he has a book of notes on each computer system!) University Health Science Center of San Antonio (UTHSCSA) was the place my two boys were welcomed into the world. It was the place he gained his knowledge and will now go into the world and practice Orthopaedic medicine. So I want to gloat for a minute and express how proud I am to call Doug mine. He is a man with much intregity, hard work ethics, and most importantly has a gentle tender heart. I think it takes a special person to become a physician. It not only takes great knowledge and intellect, but patience, and compassion. One quote that was said tonight touched my heart. The guest speaker Dr. Beatty told them to remember not to get caught up in the money and remember why they chose medicine. Don't forget the importance of your job is the welfare of the patient. If you do that, I promise, you will be successful in all that you do. Basically keep yourself grounded with your family and everything else will fall into place.

A special thanks to Doug's family for making his surprise great. How awesome it was that he had so much support on his day of glory. Each of the chief's got their doctor chair tonight. And I must say the plate doesn't look too shabby! Congrats Doug I love you!

I think this plate speaks for itself. Well deserved!
(click to enlarge)

good deed: read the v.t. message.

I Pulled it Off

Last night I was up preparing the table for graduation and let him open up his present this afternoon. It is hard to see, but I prepared a collage of the last nine years of our life in a frame. I was glad it turned out so well and the best part was it is a memorablia that he will always have. My kids gave him a ginormous bag of hot tamales (his favorite!).

doug with his collage of 9 years
(click to enlarge)

About a year ago I informed Doug's siblings about graduation (which is in a couple of days). I expressed how much it would mean if each of them could be there for it. I told them that it would be a great suprise if a year from now we could pull something off. Fast forward to a year later, the suprise was a big hit. The only family members Doug knew for certain were coming were his parents. Unfortunately, 3 of his siblings were unable to make it due to prior engagements, but 2 of them (Glenn and Debbie) came along with our nephew Johnny and his wife Jamie. He was definitely surprised! I wasn't sure it would work, but he was clueless. My kids were also surprised. I only told Taylor about it since I thought Jared might slip. You can imagine Jared's face when his cousin Aaron drove up in the car. Even better for us, Jared has a playmate for the next few days. :)

dad, mom, doug, jen, baby austin, and glenn

When we asked everyone what they wanted they expressed they wanted to eat Texan food. Well, there isn't a better place than Rudy's for that. They are known for their bbq and I have to add it did not disappoint anyone.

our family at rudy's

It was fun to see Taylor immediately flock to her little cousins, Austin and Trey. She was so good with them and were playing and entertaining them. It looks like she will be a hot commodity when she is 12. If she keeps it up it looks like she will be a babysitting queen. We came back to our house after dinner and just hung out. Good times. The boys played baseball and the weather actually was nice so we were outside for a while. The next couple of days will be a treat since we don't have visitors too often. Tomorrow we are hitting six flags!

jamie, trey, and taylor.
isn't he the cutest?

good deed: Doug opened his surprise from me.