Beautiful gardens

I wish all weekends could be like the one we just had. Really, I do. On Friday, Cory got the great news that he'd passed Part 4 of the National Boards! Part 4 is the last part, and since he's passed all the other parts, this means he's done! All he needs is a diploma (32 days!) and he can apply for a license to practice. YEA! We celebrated by seeing Transformers 2, and getting some Mexican food. Yummy!

On Saturday, we went out to a place called Sonnenberg. It's this old mansion, built in 1887, with 9 formal gardens. We went last year, but we were a week too late to see the glorious rose garden. This year, we caught them at their peak, and they were just gorgeous.

The Japanese Garden

Blue and White Garden

The Mansion

The Aviary, where they used to have over 100 species of exotic birds.

The Rock Garden

Aaah, and the Rose Garden.

This is my new favorite picture of us.

Really, the pictures don't do them justice. And they smelled soooo good!

And for your viewing pleasure, watch this video (with your volume up). It's 2 frogs, having a fight... too funny!

It was a fantastic weekend. I got to do a lot of my favorite thing, which is spending time with Cory. I can't believe that time is winding down, that's it's nearly July. July is going to be crazy at our house (hello, Hill Cumorah Pageant and visitors!) and a short trip home to Utah. Lots to look forward to!

Herb garden update

Our little garden is thriving. We weren't sure if they were even going to survive, but I'm happy to say that we only killed one plant (cilantro) -- and he had a rough day on the wine tour, so I think he might have been dead previous to us even planting him.

The herb garden started out like this:

And now it looks like this:

It was hard to get a good angled picture, since some of them are growing like crazy, and they overshadow everything else. The one in the left forefront is a dill plant, and it's gotten quite tall. The ones in the back are tomato plants - and we really need to get a couple of cages for them since they're out of control. The one in the middle is a walla-walla onion plant, and then some herbs that you can kind of see (basil, oregano, sage). I'm amazed they're growing, and I'm excited to eat what we've grown. Now we just need to figure out how to harvest some of the plants, and we'll be good!

Nutrition

As I've spent the better part of a day at work assembling online course syllabi for the nutrition program, I thought I'd post a little about the program. Most of you know that in addition to getting his Doctor of Chiropractic degree, Cory will also receive his Master's of Science in Applied Clinical Nutrition (long title, I know, that's why we abbreviate it to MSACN). The school runs on a trimester basis, with 10 tri's in the chiropractic program, and 6 in the nutrition program. Cory started the nutrition program when he was in his 5th tri of chiropractic -- thus, they end at the same time.

Here's the list of classes he's taken as part of the MSACN degree:
Macronutrients: Carbohydrates, Fats & Proteins
Micronutrients: Vitamins, Minerals & Amino Acids
Nutrition Assessment
Developmental Nutrition
Pharmacognosy
Nutrition for Pain & Inflammation
Drug Induced Nutrient Depletion & Herb/Drug Interaction
Experimental Analysis
Exercise Physiology and Sports Nutrition
Critical Evaluation of the Current Nutrition Literature
Therapeutic Nutrition
Food Science

People thought Cory was crazy when he signed up for the extra degree. The chiropractic program is rigorous enough, and adding another program on top seemed daunting. But we both agreed it would be very advantageous when he was done... which has turned out to be true. He's learned so much; it's been quite the eye-opener.

For example, he's learned about a diet/detox program - one that he wants to use in practice - and he convinced me to to join him in doing it. I never thought I'd see the day when I would agree to a diet... but we've been on it for about 3 weeks now, and we both feel so much better. We've both lost weight, we don't feel sluggish in the afternoon, and I think I'm actually sleeping better at night. All by changing the foods we eat, and taking some supplements. It's simply amazing. And marvelous. This is just one example...

Our post-graduation plans aren't defined; we're still in the 'deciding' phase. Cory's toying with the idea of going home, opening his own nutrition practice, and teaching others how to help themselves... or something like that. But I know that this additional degree is going to bring good things for Cory, however he decides to use it. It's already brought good things to our little family of 2.