The next stage...

 If you haven't already heard....

That's right! The board decided last Tuesday (the 29th) and we have been tirelessly checking Grant's email for the last week, waiting to hear our fate! Today we found out that Grant was accepted into a GPR (general practice residency), and will be stationed at Camp Pendleton!!! The news came on a perfect day, as we had freezing cold temps and apparently some snow flurries (although I was in a windowless classroom all morning/afternoon and missed this snow show all together).  

San Diego/Camp Pendleton had topped our "request list" so I didn't feel like it was a huge surprise, but I was still entirely prepared for a Chicago assignment, just in case. We are obviously excited for good weather, palm trees, the beach, In-N-Out and so many other wonderful things about California, but most of all we are excited to be almost in the middle between my parents and Grant's parents. It has been quite awhile since we've lived close to family, and although immediate family will still be several hours away, it is a doable weekend trip and a lot less expensive.

To celebrate, we took the afternoon off from studying, house hunted online for over an hour (I realize this is totally ridiculous, but it was still a lot of fun :)  and then went out to dinner at Saul Good (chose a restaurant that we would miss from Lexington)...

As evidenced by the picture, Grant still has a mustache...and his deal to me was that if we got orders to southern California that he would get to keep it until Christmas, but anywhere else, he would shave it when we heard. So, if there is any negative to this job...another 3 weeks of the mustache is it! (but I guess it's a small price to pay in the long run :)

It is still a little bit unbelievable...the fact that we will be done with school, have a real income, be moving to California, be leaving Lexington, etc...it's going to take awhile to sink in. Unfortunately we have finals and boards to study for in the meantime, so all the dreaming will have to be put on hold for a bit!