The Big 0-3 (Jay, not the Rockies)

We celebrated Jay's 3rd birthday today and took him to Chuck-E-Cheese. He had such a good time he went to bed 45 minutes early! Check out the cool Spiderman bike he got for his birthday.

It's Official Part 2

Today was the swearing in ceremony. The official swearing in ceremony is not until November 3rd, but one of the partners is friends with the district court chief judge who comes in to our office and swears us in early. So, now it is really official.

I am taking requests

For those of you coming to Vegas this weekend, let me know if you have any requests for omlette ingredients.

It's official!!!

I passed!!!

http://www.nvbar.org/admissions/0607results.htm

Two in a row

Jay cracks me up. Lately he has been having a kind of a hard time going to bed at night, and last night he fell asleep on his floor while playing with his toys.

Tonight, I saw his light on and I went in his room to check on him and he was asleep on the floor again.

Post a comment with your best guess for how many nights in a row Jay will fall asleep on the floor.

More pictures

Interesting news

A friend of mine from my mission forwarded me this letter yesterday:

Dear Brethren:

We are pleased to announce the creation of the India New Delhi Mission, effective November 1, 2007. Elder Gary R. Ricks, a senior missionary currently serving in New Delhi, has been called as the mission president. Sister Florence Ricks has been called to serve as his companion in this important undertaking.

The India New Delhi Mission will include the northern portion of India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. The rest of India will be retained in the India Bangalore Mission and Sri Lanka will be added to this mission's boundaries. Included in the Singapore Mission will be Singapore, East Malaysia, and West Malaysia. The service center in Bangalore will support the India Bangalore and India New Delhi Missions, with the Singapore service center assisting the Singapore Mission area.

We express our deep appreciation to President Melvin R. Nichols of the India Bangalore Mission and President Bryan Skelton of the Singapore Mission for their outstanding work and that of their missionaries. We offer our congratulations to Elder and Sister Ricks for their significant callings. We are confident these changes will increase our effectiveness in establishing the Church in the countries of these three missions.

Sincerely,

Asia Area Presidency

In a way I kind of feel sad that Sri Lanka is no longer part of the Singapore Mission. Serving there was an amazing experience and I feel bad that current and future missionaries called to the S'pore mission won't get to have that experience.

More Rex Madness

Introducing ...

As most of you probably know, we had a new addition to our family last night. Rex Thomas Butterfield was born on September 18, 2007 at 9:41 p.m. He weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz. and was 20 inches long. He and Lindsay are both doing great and will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow morning.

Update ... or something

I guess I have gotten out of the habit of posting. I don't think I realized it has been so long. I guess the easiest thing to do is to post a few highlights to catch everyone up.

July:

-Took the Bar Exam.

- Moved to the Northwest side of town.

- Had about $2,200 charged to my AmEx. $680 to the Monte Carlo Hotel and $1,500 to Bed Bath and Beyond. AmEx shipped me a new card overnight and reversed the charges without question. That alone was worth the $125 annual fee (or whatever they charge me).

August:

-Trip to Utah for Troy's farewell.

- On the drive back to Las Vegas, had tire tread separation on I-15 about 15 miles outside of Vegas. Had to change the tire on the side of the freeway at 10:30 p.m.

- Started working on August 13th. I am working in the area of medical malpractice defense, so I represent hospitals and doctors when they are sued by patients. It is pretty interesting work. Plus, I have a pretty nice office (about 12x14 or so) and Lindsay bought me a mini-fridge as an early birthday present.

- Witnessed an attempted shooting at my apartment complex. I had literally driven 15 feet past this little punk 14 year old kid when he turned and fired three shots across the street in the direction of some other apartments. I called 911 and got to give the cops my statement and make an ID of the kid when they caught him.

- Had fine-needle biopsy performed on my thyroid nodule. Not fun. They numbed the surface but not the thyroid, so I could feel it each time (5 total) the needle was inserted into my thyroid.

- Got results of biopsy. The results came back benign. That is a good sign, but my Ear Nose and Throat Dr. wants to keep an eye on it and have another ultrasound performed in 6 months to make sure it hasn't grown/changed, etc.

- Had "the montezumas" 19 times in 4 1/2 hours from 3:30 to 8:00 a.m. last Sunday morning. Thought I was going to die. Beat that you little trout sniffer.

I think that pretty much catches me up for the past two months.

Cancer? Is it cancer? Do I have cancer?

Some of you might know that I was recently diagnosed with a thyroid nodule after having an MRI for neck pain. After the nodule was discovered, my doctor sent me for a thyroid ultrasound (it's a boy!!) to determine whether it was a solid mass (potentially bad) or a cyst (not a big deal). The ultrasound results showed that the nodule was a solid mass, with a small secondary nodule that was part mass and part cyst. The next step in the process was to go for a thyroid scan where I was given a special medicine in an iodine capsule (iodine eventually makes its way to the thyroid) and 6 hours later they performed a scan to determine whether the nodule was hot (making too much hormone), warm (normally functioning tissue) or cold (not functioning tissue -- bad). I had an appointment with my doctor and an Ear Nose and Throat doctor yesterday to review the results of the scan. The good news is that the scan found "no cold defects." So it is unlikely that the nodule is cancer. The ENT wants me to have a biopsy performed just in case, but he said there is no rush to get it done, so I can wait until after I take the Bar before getting the biopsy.

Anyway, the whole process kind of reminded me of one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes where George has a "white discoloration" on his lip that he fears is cancer. I've copied a few of my favorite scenes below for your reading enjoyment:

[setting: doctor's clinic]
GEORGE: You see, It's right here. It's all white...
DOCTOR: Oh yeah. Yeah. I've never seen this before.
GEORGE: You've never seen this before?
DOCTOR: I'm gonna have to take a biopsy on that. (George grabs the doctor's arm)
GEORGE: (dramatically) A what?
DOCTOR: A biopsy.
GEORGE: A biopsy?
DOCTOR: Yeah.
GEORGE: Cancer? Is it cancer? Do I have cancer?
DOCTOR: Well I don't know what it is.
(scene ends)
[setting: Jerry's]
GEORGE: A biopsy!
JERRY: What did he say?
GEORGE: He said he didn't know what it was.
JERRY: Alright. So?
GEORGE: When I asked him if it was cancer, he didn't give me a "get outta here". That's what I wanted to hear: "Cancer? Get outta here?"
JERRY: Well, maybe he doesn't have a "get outta here" kind of personality.
GEORGE: How could you be a doctor and not say "get outta here"? It should be part of the training at medical school: "Cancer? Get outta here!" "Go home! What are you crazy? It's a little test. It's nothing. You're a real nut. You know that?" (Jerry gives him half of his sandwich to hopefully shut him up) I told you that God would never let me be successful. I never should've written that pilot. Now the show will be a big hit, we'll make millions of dollars, and I'll be dead. Dead Jerry. Because of this. (showing his lip)

The next day ...
GEORGE: This is George Costanza, I'm calling for my test results. Negative? Oh, my God. WHY! WHY! WHY? What? What? Negative is good? Oh, yes of course! How stupid of me. Thank you. Thank you very much. (he hangs up)

It's official...

I received my diploma in the mail today. Here are a few pictures of my graduation for those of you who weren't able to be there.