New Semester, New Job, New Adjustments, but life is still amazing!

Yeah for a new semester! It always feel so great to start a new semester of school (especially for me since it’s my last) Only two weeks in and Alex and I already look forward to the weekends! This semester will prove to be a challenging one, not only are classes difficult, but Alex will have the added pressure of continuing medical school applications, hopefully getting some interviews at various schools and continuing with research and volunteering! Not to mention preparation for our little baby, but honestly the majority of that will have to wait till Christmas break! A few fun things that will be going on this semester, Alex is taking floral design! I am excited because that means flowers for me and I think it will be good for Alex to get in touch with a little feminine side! I will be working as a TA for an event planning class. I really enjoy the professor I will be working with and think it will be an enjoyable class to TA for.

A new thing that I will also be adding to my semester is a new job! Yes, I can’t believe I’m saying this either, but after almost 5 years at the Provo Recreation Center, I will be moving to a different department in the city, working as a rec leader. So what exactly does a Rec leader do? Well I am part of a small group of people that plan the city events (Halloween Carnival, Christmas Parade, New Year’s Eve Party, ect.) I started this last week and already love it! It is great to gain some new experience and try my hand in something other than aquatics. But don’t worry, I couldn’t give up swim lessons that easily, I’ll still be the lessons coordinator for Saturday lessons. I am sad to be limiting my time at the rec center, it is like a second home to me, I absolutely love the people I work with, it’s just time for me to stretch my wings and get some experience, so that when the time comes to get a big girl job, I’ll have more knowledge of the recreation field as a whole.

We were excited to see our Cougars win their first 2 games! Hopefully we’ll be able to make it to one or two this season. As for the baby, things are going great! I am definitely getting a little bump, and we are excited for find out if we’re having a boy or girl in the next few weeks. My swimming class at BYU should help me keep the exercise up so that I can stay healthy and fit!

Well I think that is all for now! We hope you have a wonderful week and we’ll keep you updated as things keep changing around this Doroshkin home! 

Blog Name Change!

Well Friends! It’s finally happening! Alex and I are going to be parents!!!  We are expecting our little one to arrive around February 19! We could not be more excited to start the rewarding but scary road to parenthood.

So far the pregnancy has been great! Besides the normal tiredness and slight discomforts, I have been feeling very good and so far have avoided the dreaded morning sickness. Alex has been a wonderful and helpful husband! He is always trying to make sure I am as comfortable and even goes on late night food runs with me. I am 14 ½ weeks so we just have to wait a few more weeks to find out what the gender is.

And our lucky little baby will have lots of cousins to play with! My sister Chelsea will be having a baby in November and our niece Brooke will be a year in April, which means that on the Mecham side there will be 3 grandchildren within a year! And to add to the excitement, our sister in law Sveta is expecting as well and is due exactly one month before we are! Babies all around!!

Again, we couldn’t be more excited to start our little family! We feel so lucky to be blessed with children and a healthy pregnancy so far. The Lord is truly looking out for us and sharing His love, we are grateful for His watch and care over us. We’ll keep you posted and post pictures as my belly gets bigger (which I feel is everyday). We love you all and wish you a great start to a new school year! 

Baby at 11 weeks! Baby is now almost the size of a softball!! 

Is it really August??

Dear friends and family!

Is it really August already?? Where has time gone?? This summer has been an amazing one! Not much has changed since our last post, but I guess that ultimately means that Alex and I are still loving life and each other! This week brings an end to a few things, my internship will wrap up this week and then just one more week of swim lessons until I get my well deserved week vacation  :) Alex finishes his summer classes this week, 2 history classes wasn’t exactly the most favorite way to spend the summer, but it will allow him to graduate on time! We are still working on medical school applications, for those who are not familiar with medical school, it is an extremely long process. It could be next spring before we actually know if and where we will be going.

This summer has been filled with fun outings to the park, family reunions, barbeques, and even a rubber ducky race down the BYU campus stream! (pictures below). One of the most exciting things that happened recently is that my parents and little sister moved to Singapore last week. They will be there for 2 years on a work assignment. We got the chance to talk to them yesterday and they are already adjusting. It will be a really awesome adventure, and even though we will miss them a lot, we are grateful for technology that keeps us close together! We look forward to visiting them over in Singapore in the near future!

We are looking forward to another family reunion and a much needed trip to Vancouver to see Alex’s family to finish off our summer! I am anxious to start my last semester in college and for Alex to get his last year (of undergraduate) underway! We’ll write again when we have more exciting things going on, I realize this post wasn’t the most interesting but it’s our life and we love it! 

(My duck won :) )

Summer and Such!

I love summer! It is my favorite time of the year! Maybe it’s because there is no school, but I think mostly it’s because the sun is shining and it’s hot most of the time! This summer has been a blast so far! Busy, but a blast. My last post was right at the end of the semester. Spring flew by as Alex was busy preparing for the MCAT, shadowing a neurologist, and continuing his volunteer work. We didn’t see each other much as I was working most of the time, helping get the pool ready to open for Memorial Day weekend. My internship has been great! I have learned so much and have really developed a greater love for Recreation and have also expanded my knowledge in so many areas.

Alex took the MCAT the same day that Kaitlyn (Josalyn’s little sister) graduated from high school. I can’t believe she is that old! She will be going to Utah State in the fall, so I’m glad she’ll only be a few hours away. Alex felt he did okay on the MCAT, so that's a good sign, right? We spent the Memorial Day holiday camping with Josalyn’s family. It was extremely fun! (minus the day of pouring rain). We enjoyed walks, swimming, cards, sitting by the fire, and even taking family pictures! The only bad part was our car breaking down before we headed back to Provo. After finding out it would be $600 to tow, we drove to a little town, got a tow dolly, towed the car back to Boise ourselves, and then drove Bertha (the buick lesabre) back to Provo. Thank goodness Mom and Dad have an extra car that we could borrow until we figure things out with our Saab. If you know of anyone who is wanting to purchase a 2003 Saab 9-3 let us know!!! 

June got underway with swimming lessons starting and more internship hours. Alex is still waiting patiently to get his MCAT score, and then the real application process to med school will start. Alex did get hired on to volunteer at the radiology center at Utah Valley so that’s great news. That will give him more shadowing experience as well as patient exposure. We are hopeful that we will get into medical school this year, but if we don’t, things will look good for next year.

Last week, Alex started school again. He is getting a couple of general classes out of the way so that his semesters can be a little more relaxing for the next year. We are both eagerly awaiting graduation and I can’t wait to get my last semester over with this fall.

The rest of our summer is busy and planned out with family reunions, a trip to Vancouver, plenty of work, school, and internships. I can’t believe that the 1^st of July is in less than a week. My parents and Brielle leave for Singapore in 5 weeks and won’t be back to visit till Christmas. It will be weird to have them so far away but we couldn’t be more excited for their new adventure.

Well we are still loving life and each other. Through this stressful time of decision making and medical school applications we try to stick together and rely on the Lord. We know that as we continue to follow His commandments and do all that we can, that He will bless us. We are grateful to have the church and be part of such a wonderful ward, it makes all the difference, and brings us all the happiness in the world. We hope this post finds all our friends happy and well. We love you all! 

My little friend... Lindsey

This post is dedicated to my dear little friend, Lindsey! Lindsey loves the color pink, has blue eyes, loves the movies Tangled, Sleeping Beauty and Cars, and likes to blow bubbles outside. She is almost 3 years old. For the last two semesters I have spent my Friday afternoons with Lindsey, playing games, making crafts, going to the park, and visiting museums, while her mom and dad go to work. Though I watch her for free, I feel that I have gained so much by spending this little time with such a wonderful 2 year old. It has been such a rewarding experience to take part in helping Lindsey learn her letters, colors, shapes, songs and just about everything else you can think of! She is so smart! She makes me laugh all the time! For the first few months I watched her she would always refer to herself in third person ("oh man, Lindsey took a long nap, she's tired" or "Lindsey loves playing with dinosaur Rex"), she doesn't do that so much anymore. We loved doing everything together! She would often ask me to paint her fingernails or make cookies. She loved taking things home at the end of the day to show her mom and dad. Her parents are great, they have raised her so well. She has wonderful manners. Lindsey says thank you for everything! And when I say everything, I really mean everything. On my last Friday watching her, I was painting her fingernails and she quietly said, "Josalyn, I love you." That was one of the most precious moments I have ever experienced.

When I first told people I watched a little girl for 8 hours every Friday without being paid, they thought I was crazy! What about school, they would ask me? I truly believe that the Lord has played a major part in this. This semester, through some large miracle, I earned a 4.0 at BYU. I know that this was because the Lord blessed me for serving his little child and blessing their families lives.

I have to be honest, a few tears have been shed since that last Friday. When Friday rolls around I get ready to see Lindsey pull up to my house, run to the door and throw her arms around me saying, "Josalyn! You're my friend." I will never forget Lindsey and the impact she has had on my life. I love that little girl, and I'm not ashamed to say that one of my best friends, is a toddler :)

Weddings, School, Flowers and Cakes

I can't believe that it is almost March! Where has this year gone? Since the holidays I feel that life has been one big amazing blur! The days and weeks have flown by! I apologize for being so behind on the blog (for those of you who follow anyway). Well here is my update, I'll try not to make it sound too much like a travel log :)

January- Another school year began and I quickly decided that 17 credits was too much for me and dropped one of my classes to bring me down to 14. I think that this semester will be just great, lot of work, but not overwhelming. I wish I could say the same for Alex. I am amazed at that man and I am so lucky to have married such a hard worker. When I'm not studying myself, I try to do anything I can to make life a little easier for Alex. There are many many days when he leaves at 6:45 for his 7am class and I don't see him again until after 9pm. I suppose a schedule like this will get us ready for Medical School in no time! Alex has done very well in his classes though and he is getting more nervous each day to take the MCAT in spring and apply for medical school. Like I said, he is amazing and I know that any school who takes him will be lucky! I am sure there will be many more posts about medical school this summer!

We had the chance to get away for a weekend to Daniel's (Alex's older brother) wedding. It was so fun to be with family and support him and his new bride, Svetlana. It was my first Russian wedding and it was great! I just wish that I understood the language. Alex was nice enough to translate a lot of it for me. Below is a picture of the happy couple and us! Hopefully this summer we'll be able to get together with the Doroshkin's and I can get to know my new sister-in-law better!




February- For Valentine's day I decided to do gifts a little differently. I was so excited when I found out that Jennie, Chelsea, my Mom and Grandma all decided to do it as well. I called it the 14 days of Valentine. Each day Alex got a small valentine with a note attached to it. For example, one day I gave him a bag of gummy bears and the note attached said "life would be un"bear"able without you!" Alex loved them and returned the favor by taking me out for a beautiful lunch and roses on Valentine's Day. That weekend we ran off to Boise for the chocolate dipping party! It is always so fun to see family! We learned a new game, Mow, haha we were all laughing so hard, mainly because I didn't quite understand the mysterious rule and made a complete fool of myself :) Alex found out some great news! He is going to be able to shadow the head neurologist here in Provo until summer. It will be great experience for him to really apply what he is learning in his degree and to make sure being a doctor is really what he wants.

Other than the usual work and school our lives are fantastic. I fall more in love with Alex each day and we are better friends than ever! We thought the first year was great, and are finding out the second is only getting better. This spring and summer will be busy, but I still love the times when I get to see Alex for a quick 20 min. lunch, or even 5 min to trade the car. We are learning more and more to depend on the Savior. We are so lucky to have the gospel in our lives and have knowledge that our Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to succeed in this life. I am grateful for Jesus Christ and His atonement that allow me to change and be better through His mercy. We love you all and love to hear all about you as well! Keep in touch!

oh p.s. I have started two new hobbies, that I am loving! 1. Flowers! I am in a floral design class and I LOVE learning about the different flowers and putting together arrangements. I taught Alex the trick about picking out roses and it works because the roses he got me for Valentines are still blooming and beautiful!(The flowers below are an arrangement I made for my boss when her father died) 2. Cakes! I wanted to learn how to do fondant cakes and I have! It's difficult but dooable. I just need lots more practice! I'll post pictures when I get to it!

The Start of New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! We had a great Christmas Break but wish it could last just a little longer. Four days before Christmas we were able to escape for an anniversary get away! We went to the Salt Lake Temple and ate lunch at our favorite place, PF Changs! (delicious!). After that we started off to Logan and had to brave the canyon in snow. Why is it that whenever we want to go somewhere it always snows, but when we stay home, it looks and feels like spring? Not fair. After a white knuckle drive we made is safely to our adorable room at anniversary inn. It was so nice to spend time with one another and not have anything else to worry about. The car ride was nice to just have pleasant conversation and catch up on things other than our schedules. It has been a wonderful year and we are so grateful to be married to each other and look forward to many more anniversaries!

Just a quick 3 days later Christmas was upon us! Alex was a last minute Christmas Eve shopper and I got all the groceries to make dinner the next day. I was able to spend some time with my Chelsea, Charlie and two nieces. I always love seeing them. We ate dinner that night at Goodwood and it was good! We watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas and the nativity story, read in Luke and went to sleep. Alex got a new Lamborghini, a remote control one that is :) and I got new hot rollers for my hair. My brother and sister got us an awesome George Foreman which we have been wanting to get for a while now. My parents spoiled us and got us a new memory foam mattress topper. We felt very blessed  this Christmas. We were able to take Christmas dinner to a couple in our ward who just have their first baby. We spent about an hour over there just talking and admiring this beautiful baby. We were happy to have the opportunity to give service, as I'm sure that is the best gift we can give anyways.

My parents and little sisters came into town for New Years and we squeezed a bunch of fun into just a tiny amount of time! I got to play hairdresser and do Kaitlyn's and my mom's hair. We went to the movies and had a great party on New Year's Eve. Amber and Adam came and joined in the fun! We felt bad for being so loud at midnight when we realized our landlords had gone to bed before midnight and saw them staring out their window at us. I just assumed everyone stayed up on New Years! We reminisced on 2011 and made some predictions/goals for 2012! It was a fun night but we were exhausted when we finally went to bed that night!

School started yesterday. This semester will prove to be our hardest yet! I will be taking 17 credits and Alex will have a full load with the addition of an MCAT prep course. He will take the MCAT in spring and turn in his medical school applications by July 1st. While I know that our schedules will be extremely busy this semester I know it will be a good one! The Lord has always looked out for us and has blessed us as we have been faithful. We will have to make a conscious effort to attend the temple regularly and keep up with our scripture study. I know if we can do those things, we'll be just fine.

We wish all of our friends and family the best of luck for the New Year! We love you all and we'll update soon!!!

 This is the picture on this year's Christmas card! We decided to get a real tree! We should have done a better job watering it and maybe it wouldn't have gotten so crunchy!

 Christmas dinner! We had ham, potatoes and gravy, salad and homemade rolls :) They turned out pretty good!

 This  is our BYU gingerbread house! My mom made all the ginger bread and we decorated it! I think this is the start of a Christmas day tradition!