Some of Blaine's Accomplishments and TBT Dental Interviews

Yesterday a BYU student called Blaine to ask him some questions about OU and dental school. He was getting ready to fly out here for his interview and wanted Blaine's insider opinion about the school. I listened to the conversation as I cleaned and it brought some things to mind and reminded me of being in that situation last year.

Blaine went on several interviews and I actually got to go with him to many of them. He went to Case Western in Ohio, Minnesota, and Louisville by himself, so of course, thats why there are no pictures. He had already met the Case Western administrator when he visited BYU and he had already really liked Blaine, so he actually gave Blaine a ride to the airport. That guy also said that there was a very active wives group among the students at that school, so that was intriguing.

Wait, Blaine did take pictures of Louisville because I wanted to go there. I love the southeast coast! And we joke about Louisville because when my dad worked at FAU, one of the assistant football coaches went to my school and we were lab partners for Marine Biology (by assignment). He was a year younger than me, but my dad thought it would be funny if he told the coach that I liked his son. And his son played football at Louisville, so thats our joke about my boyfriend. Maybe thats why were didn't end up going there? ;) Just kidding! Here are some pictures of Lou-i-vull in the fall.

When Blaine went on his interview here, to Oklahoma, he stayed with his friend Bryan Kariya from BYU. I couldn't go to the interview at Las Vegas, so Blaine went with his best friend Ryan Rios and his sister Erin. (Blaine and I had already been to Vegas a lot, though, so I didn't care.)

But I did get to go with him to all the other interviews that he drove to. We went to Denver in November, where Blaine went on his mission. This was definitely one of my favorite interview trips. We took our time getting there and slept over in the small town of Rifle. We stopped a lot so I could see Blaine's mission areas and several apartments he lived in. We also went to church at one of his old wards. If we would've gone to this school, we would've been able to live in one of the apartment complexes he lived in on his mission! We also stopped at the Outlets in Silverthorne, which is where I found my favorite jacket of all time! It was a jacket from the Olympics and it is my absolute favorite.

While he was in his Colorado interview, I explored the city and ended up at this outdoor shopping center away from the rest of the city, just out there on its own. I went to my first movie at the movie theatre by myself - Twilight: Breaking Dawn part 2, and walked around the shops with all the Christmas lights and decorations up. I love that time of year! We ate at Panera anytime we could on these little road trips, since it was such a treat since we don't have them in Utah. But I have a specific special memory about Panera from the Colorado Interview. It was right across the street from the medical campus and no one else was really in the store. It was chilly, so we sat by the fireplace and ate our food. I, of course, ordered the BBQ chicken salad and macaroni and cheese. But after we finished eating, we just sat there talking and warming up. And eventually decided to get another order of macaroni and cheese to share :)

 Some of his old mission apartments

 (I'd join whatever church this sexy guy wanted me to!)

 Notice my Olympics USA jacket

We spent about 10 days in Arizona, going to 2 separate interviews and staying his his cousin Kim and her family. We really loved it there. Hot weather, lots of members, and close drive to our family in Utah. Plus, Kim was awesome and we had such a fun time exploring the area with her cute kids. Its possible that we might end up there one day. I remember it was a really pretty desert drive and I quizzed Blaine on practice interview questions for most of the drive.

We also drove to two separate interviews in California. We went to University of the Pacific in San Francisco, which was a far drive but lots of fun. We were literally there for about 24 hours, but it was one of my favorites. I dropped Blaine off, drove around the block looking for parking and stumbled across the house from Mrs. Doubtfire, and then finally valeted our car in the parking garage (because I didn't have any other option.) I sat in the cafeteria/lounge area and played on my computer for a couple hours during his interview, and as soon as he was done, we went exploring since neither of us had been there before. We definitely want to go back because it was such a cool and unique city and we didn't get enough time there. We walked on the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was so foggy, you couldn't see anything. (Here's a story for the kids - we even stayed in a La Quinta in the ghetto of Oakland right by the Raiders' stadium because we couldn't afford any hotels in San Fran. It was definitely sketchy. Gated in hotel parking, security cameras everywhere, etc. We did see the Oakland temple from the freeway though)

This picture was where we stopped at the lookout in Donner Pass to go to the bathroom. And then Blaine carried me back to the car through the snow. 

Another one of my special memories from Dental Interview Trips :)

We also drove to Loma Linda in California, and because its only about an hour and a half from my grandparents condo in San Clemente, we stayed there. Because it was a quick 24 hour trip as well, we didn't even get to go down to the beach, but nothing is more relaxing that sleeping with the sliding glass doors open so you can hear the waves crash on the shore, smell the salt air, and feel the ocean breeze pass through. While Blaine was in his interview, I walked around the campus a little, but spent most of my time (bored) sitting in the clinic, and talking to people that were waiting to get worked on. After his interview, we went to tour the health club and went to Panera. I remember Blaine's interview had more of a spiritual nature to it and one of his female interviewers was a woman who asked him about his wife and she liked his response  :)

We really liked that school, and it was in our top 3, but decided against it because it was SO expensive to live there (even for the crappy ghetto housing, which we would have to live in) and it was so overcrowded and polluted. Plus its a Seventh Day Adventist school, so Saturdays it would be closed, making Sunday the day you would have to go work in the lab and study and stuff. But maybe one day we'll end up around there. Blaine hates all the traffic, but it IS in the west (for Blaine) and would give us a beach (for me). I think the only way that would actually happen is if we had enough money to have a nice house overlooking the beach with a good amount of space... which would be a TON of money, so not likely. (But thats ok. Everyone knows Florida beaches are SO much better)

The other school in our top 3 was Creighton in Omaha, Nebraska. Blaine flew to this interview, but I came along anyways because my dad went to Law School at Creighton and thats where I was born. And I had never been there before, so I wanted to see my roots! Plus we got to stay with my cousin and her husband--who are coming to visit in 2 weeks!!! :) It was a nice midwest area and was a very hard decision for us. This was definitely our number 2. Maybe the Oklahoma weather was ultimately what beat it out? I don't even remember specifically why we chose Oklahoma, but I do remember it was a hard decision. (But we like it here and feel at home, so I hope that doesn't sound like we're second guessing ourselves.) Seriously, though, how fun would it have been to have a baby at the same random place I was born?! I would've named my first born girl Alayna II.

(these will all be in my own words, but the same idea as what they were talking about on the phone)

Anyways, the guy asked Blaine why he chose Oklahoma and this was his response:
- the smaller class size. It makes you feel more like you're in a review session with a bunch of buddies than in a big lecture hall with a ton of people you don't know.
- the nice facilities and upcoming additions and remodels
- talking to students at all the different schools, the students here at the least complaints by far
- and ultimately it just felt right.

The guy asked if Blaine is studying all the time:
- it usually comes in waves. There are some times when you have like 4 tests in one week, but then nothing for like 2-3 weeks. Plus, every Friday is basically a no-school day, so he uses that time to study so Friday nights are free (or at Redskins games, for us)

He asked about the ward:
- our ward is in the nice, family suburb of Edmond. There are lots of dental and medical students and residents. Like 20ish.

They also talked about their GPAs and DAT scores and Blaine is always so humble. He'll never toot his own horn, so I feel the need to do it for him because I'm proud of him and people ought to know. I hate people that are always talking about themselves and embellishing all this crap to make them feel important, so thats definitely not what I'm talking about. But I feel like he'll go out of his way to not draw attention to himself and his accomplishments. Even with our families.

I think Blaine has the 2nd highest grade in his class, and another student who is used to being the smartest (and will let you know) told Blaine's friend that he was shocked because he thought Blaine was just one of those dumb jocks.

Well, for those of you who are not aware, Blaine got a 23 out of 30 on the DAT, which (for those of you unfamiliar with this) is very impressive. (He was also just points away from a 24). He has gotten A's on all tests except for one, since he's been in dental school. As for being a dumb jock, he was an All-American javelin thrower in college and went to the NCAA Regionals every year and Nationals twice.

When Blaine and I were engaged, my cousin Kari (the one in Nebraska now) drove with me to Laramie, Wyoming to watch Blaine at the Conference meet. Not only did he get first place and set the stadium record, he also set the Mountain West Conference record.

I worked in the athletic department at BYU for years, so between track stuff and work stuff, I got to know the Track & Field secretary pretty well. She always told me how much she liked Blaine and how impressed she was with him. Not just because of how well he did in sports, and not just because of how smart he is, but because of how humble he is. She would talk about all the cocky guys that strut around campus thinking they're so awesome and telling people how awesome they are, but Blaine isn't like that, and she really respects that and is proud of him. She was always very nice and supportive of us and I appreciated that. Plus, she agreed that I should let people know about his accomplishments because he should be proud of himself :)

Blaine always does so well and I tell him that he's so smart, but he disagrees. He just says  that he's not smarter than other people, he's just willing to work harder and study harder. He puts in the time and sacrifices when other people get bored or lazy and quit. We (yes, him and I) have had to make sacrifices for all of his studying and working, but it will pay off and be worth it. Life's not a sprint, its a marathon. We try to keep the "bigger picture" in mind.

(We're sitting together watching football in bed on this lazy fall Saturday, and he doesn't know I'm writing this and will most likely be embarrassed once he finds out, but oh well!)