Clinic with A Heart and...snow?

Loma Linda School of Dentistry does a really cool thing every January called Clinic With A Heart, where the school is open for a day of free dental care to the Loma Linda and surrounding communities. The day starts at 8:00 and up to 300 patients are seen by students...completely free of charge. People line up as early as the night before outside to be sure they are one of the first 300 to get in and be treated. Jared and I both volunteered this morning and what an amazing, special and meaningful thing to be a part of. So many thankful people, so many students, faculty and staff there to help, and so many lives being touched by having simple procedures done like a tooth removed, cavity filled, or teeth cleaning. We were blessed to be a part of what Loma Linda University lives by...service!

The future Dr. Adams...Jared assisted Dr. Elena Justice (one of the doctors in my department) perform a tooth and cyst extraction, and 2 fillings.

A bunch of the student doctors in my department, International Dentist Program. All our students are dentists in their respective countries and join our program for 2 years to obtain their DDS in the United States.

Dr. Doleyres is a dentist from Haiti and she and I have a sweet little bond. She has been affected greatly by the recent earthquake, since her family is there and everyday she comes up to my office and updates me with the good or bad news she finds out about who in her family has survived the tragedy and who has not. She is a strong woman with great faith and knowing her has connected and given me a greater passion for Haiti and what is going on in her country right now.

Dr. Saman...I got to watch/assist him today with an extraction. My first time ever watching a dental procedure done and wow!!! What a cool experience! A little hard for my stomach to hold, but I was so excited to get to see dentistry in action. My job was just to hand him the tools & gauze and then make sure the patient felt comfortable. I had so much fun!

Here is the set up for people to sit and wait in line that we walked by yesterday. Clinic With A Heart is a very well organized event and people come from all over So Cal to get in the doors.

So if you think So Cal doesn't get snow, think again. With our week of rain in Loma Linda, that meant the mountains were getting dumped with snow...and yesterday when the sun finally came out, this was the scene. Beautiful!

The great part about where we live...swimming pools, palm trees, and SNOW all in one view! :) People really do sometimes ski in the morning up in the San Bernardino mountains and then drive down and surf for the afternoon out at the beach (which is only an hour away from here).

Dana Point/Laguna Beach

Yesterday Jared and I took a day off...from studying...from mental check lists...from Saturday morning chores...from all of lifes "burdens" really...and went to the beach. Our favorite beach down here is Dana Point which is just south of Laguna. It's more quiet than other beaches in the area, it's peaceful, and it's beautiful! We did what we usually do...grabbed coffee, set ourselves up on the beach with our lawn chairs, books/magazines, blanket, frisbee, and cooler with lunch in it...and relaxed! It got a little chilly yesterday, so we left the beach and went up to the Montage Resort in Laguna, which has a public access walkway with most of these beautiful views that you'll see in these pictures. We finished the day at Stuft pizza in Dana, which is where the locals get their pizza, with our neighbors who met up with us since they were in the area yesterday getting their engagement photos done. Had a great time with them at dinner and the walk along the harbor in the dark afterwards before we called it a day and headed back to Loma Linda. Great day off...we gotta do this more often! :)

The surf yesterday was really good. You should have seen the amount of people out in the water yesterday catching the waves. It was so fun to watch!

When you are at the beach relaxing you have ample time to take funny pictures of yourself just for the heck of it. :)

Looking south from the Montage Resort in Laguna

The sunset

Birds of Paradise...we never get sick of taking pictures of these flowers!

Cali in January

Just taking a moment to enjoy Venice beach...

The past few weeks we have had some beautiful weather down here in So Cal and we've been able to enjoy getting out and doing some fun things. This past weekend we met up with Lacey Grummons (Bill ended up catching a bad case of the flu bug the morning we met...missed you Bill, but glad you are feeling better!) in Santa Monica. They had flown down from Spokane to celebrate Bill's 30th birthday by going to the BCS championship game at the Rose Bowl and stayed the weekend to enjoy the weather down here.

People watching on the boardwalk...

We met Lacey at Urth Cafe for Boba Tea and a snack. I thought it was so sweet of Lacey to come meet us even though Bill couldn't and we had a great time with her! Bill and Lacey are some of the most genuine, authentic people we know and I love the way they enrich our lives. We miss them a lot!

Nina came and spent the day with me this past Saturday and we had the best time ever! I think I've said a million times how much I love my sisters and love spending time with them. Kristina and I had a great day together and I loved how she sat in my kitchen on a barstool while I was making dinner, keeping me company. Jared loves being with my sisters too, and he kept us laughing through the evening. He understands the "sister thing." :)

Jared and his sister, Kim, the weekend of New Year's went out to Santa Barbara for a Justin McRoberts concert at a church called the Loft. The two of them had a great day together walking around the town and wharf, and being blessed by the music and message at the concert.

Happy New Year 2010!

Guess who my brother in law Nate met on New Years Eve on the red carpet in L.A.? The one and only Snoop Dogg! Nate gets the craziest opportunities literally all around the world and this is just another example. :)
What's New Year's Eve without Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark?

We went out with our friends to Rancho and had dinner at the Yardhouse. It was nice because we went for an early dinner and the crowds weren't bad at all. Had great food, the pomogranate martini was amazing and it was nice to catch up with them and hear about Graig's time up in Canada over Christmas. :)

Holly and I after dinner...we went back to her place and played games (we love Sequence and have quite the competitive tournament going between the girls and guys...it's tied right now) and watched the ball drop. She made us bellini's to toast the new year which I had never had before. It's an italian cocktail made with champagne and peach juice with peach sugar-rimmed glasses and a maraschino cherry to give it a pink glow. Have I mentioned Holly and I love experimenting with recipies? We both agree you eat with the eyes first so everything has to look good before it's consumed! This drink followed all our rules!