It's Something At Least

For Christmas this year, one of our awesome family members gave us a book. She had done the whole turn your blog into a book thing with our blog for the year 2008. Mohna, that was so awesome. It was so fun to look back and to read about our eventful year and all of the things that our family had done out in Cleveland during 2008.

Well, that did it. Since graduation we have been too busy for me to even think about doing anything on the computer other than paying bills, or doing business-related transactions. But after we received that book, it made me motivated to find the time to jot down a few things about what we're up to, just to keep up on the family history! So thank you Mohna, I needed that little push. :)

So after graduation, we moved to Nampa, Idaho. We rented a house for the past 7 months in a cute little neighborhood right across the street from the kids' elementary school. The kids were in shock when they saw where they would be attending school. They couldn't believe how new it was, how much grass it had surrounding it, how many basketball hoops it had, two ball diamonds, 4 soccer fields, two large playground areas, as well as a paved walking path. They were in heaven. So was I. I never tire of getting up each morning to see the mountains and the big blue sky.

We were more tan this summer than we've been in four years. We were outside every day for as long as the sun was up. We went on hikes, walks, bike rides, floated rivers, went camping, etc. I told Andy that I didn't even fully realize how suffocated I really felt while living in Cleveland until I had lived here for a month. My grandma said to me during year two of being in dental school that "you can take the girl out of Idaho, but you can't take Idaho out of the girl". Well, that's really how it was with me. And being a past Miss Idaho, I guess that fits. :)

So, even before we graduated we had signed a lease on a property to start building our dental practice. This summer, while Andy started working for Willowtree Dental on the East side of Boise, we also started construction on our own Dental practice. We would spend large amounts of time working with architects, contractors, city permit departments, and loan officers. There were several nights when our little rental house was literally filled with carpet samples, paint and tile samples, and granite samples. We had Patterson people coming in and out leaving us with and overload of information. Andy flew out to Portland to visit their warehouse where they make the Adec chairs. We designed our logo, and worked with artists to perfect it and make it into an awesome sign, and I worked on advertising and marketing plans. We conducted hiring interviews and chose a few employees. And...we spent a lot of money.

On December 7th, 2009, Clearwater Dental opened it's doors at Southside and Greenhurst. Since then, we have been busier than ever but it's pretty awesome to drive by Clearwater Dental each day and think, "Hey! That's ours!"

A month before we opened the practice, we bought a house right up the hill from the practice location. It literally takes Dr. Thuernagle 1 minute to walk out of the practice doors and walk into the house. And I thought that the fixer-upper Cleveland house would be our last of that sort, but no. This house was built in 1944, 10 years older than our Cleveland house. The great thing about this house is it's location...and it's potential. We'll just leave it at that for now. Ask us in about 5 years.

Okay so no pictures on this post...but at least I've jotted something down to prove to everyone that we really are still alive!