School Again...

I know I kind of slacked about posting photos this summer, but I tried to post a few things recently. I start my third year of optometry school tomorrow, which will be the last year of classroom work I have. This year my schedule involves lecture classes for 12 hours a week, lab learning for 2-4 hours a week, clinic for 4-8 hours a week, and teaching a second year lab for 5 hours a week. I am excited to teach the second year lab, and I am definitely excited about clinic too. This year I will also be the President of VOSH (Volunteer Optometric Service to Humanity) which is the group I have gone to Mexico with for the last two years.

Nick and I already have a busy fall schedule planned, here's the highlights in case you are interested:

Labor Day Weekend - friends Shane, Shaybree, Kurt and my sister Lezlie are visiting

Sept. 12-13 - retreat for Women in Optometry organization

Sept. 16-20 - Nick visits Iowa

Oct. 9-11 - Nick and I go to Louisville, KY for Weekend to Remember Marriage Retreat

Nov. 11-16 - I go to Orlando, FL to present a paper at American Academy of Optometry. Nick will join for the last two days to go to Disney!

Thanksgiving - no specific plans, but we will stay here and have dinner with our friends Josh and Lezlie again.

Dec. 14- 18 - Optometry school final exams

Christmas - we will be coming to Iowa, but we don't know the exact dates yet

And of course I have quite a few VOSH events in there to attend and plan, and of course we will probably try to go to a few football games! And then Nick and I both have birthdays too...this will be a busy fall semester!

By the way, don't forget about my other blog with scrapbooking pages on it: http://kaciescrapbook.blogspot.com/

Welcome Home Candice & Thai!

Our friends Candice and Thai live at the same townhouse community that we do, so while they were in New Mexico for the summer we watched their apartment. We decided to surprise them when the came home with a bedroom full of balloons. Six hours and 1200 balloons later...

My Grandma Callaway

R. Arlene Callaway

8/28/25 - 8/9/09

R. Arlene Callaway, 83, of Whitten, died Sunday evening, August 9th, at the Oakview Nursing Home in Conrad. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, August 13th, at the Whitten Community Church with Pastor Jim Hartman officiating. She will be laid to rest in the Benson Cemetery at Whitten. Visitation will be held from 5-7:00 p.m. Wednesday at the Mitchell Family Funeral home in Marshalltown. A memorial fund is being established. For condolences, please visit www.mitchellfh.com. Ph 641-844-1234. Born on August 28th, 1925, in rural Whitten, Iowa, she was one of three daughters born to Henry and Charity Ruth (Sisson) Koch. She attended the Felix #6 rural school and graduated from the Whitten Consolidated High School in 1942. On December 29th, 1945, in a double ceremony with her sister, she was married to Gene McKeehan. To this union, one son – Dennis- was born. Mr. McKeehan died unexpectedly at a young age. On New Year’s Day of 1950, at her sister’s home west of Whitten, she married Ray Callaway. They made their home near Whitten all of their married lives. Mrs. Callaway was employed at Ford-Hopkins in Marshalltown following graduation, the Tallcorn, a canning factory in Grundy Center, sorted seed corn, worked at Mis-Steak House in Whitten and retired from wallpapering and painting. She treasured her family and attended the Whitten Community Church, was a member of the Eldora Bowling Hall of Fame, the Union OES, Kensington Club, Benson Cemetery Society, Whitten Alumni, and supported many community needs such as the Whitten Fire Department and the Union Ambulance. Last year (2008), she served as a co-grand marshal for the Whitten Days Parade. Arlene also was a great cook, loved to dance and scrapbook and garden. Left to cherish her memory is her three sons: Dennis and Kevin (Jo) of Whitten, Jim (Tammy) of rural Conrad, eight grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren, her sister Clara Ann Hauser of Conrad and nieces and nephews. In death she has rejoined her parents, husbands, sister Joyce (Robert) Wilson and brother-in-law Dale Hauser.

Our Research at the Junior Olympics

DSCN0489, originally uploaded by AOA SVS.

Since last summer I have worked with a professor at IU performing research that tests the eye movements of athletes and non-athletes. We use an infrared eye tracking camera to record where the person is looking as they are instructed to look at a computer screen and do things like simply hold their eyes steady while the background moves or move their eyes quickly back and forth between two dots.

We recently had the opportunity to travel to Des Moines, Iowa to conduct our research on the athletes at the Junior Olympics. A big group of optometry students and optometrists also came along to perform basic and sports related vision screening tests on the athletes. It was a great experience and also a great opportunity to visit Iowa.

Parent's Visit and Indianapolis Zoo

My parents came out to Indiana to visit for a week around the 4th of July. We planned a big BBQ on the 4th with family and friends, but of course it rained the whole day...so we ended up with a dozen or so people in our tiny living room, but it was still fun. While my parents were here we also took the dogs swimming at Lake Monroe and visited the Indianapolis Zoo. The zoo was nice, and my favorite part was the butterfly garden exhibit.

Upcoming Iowa Visit!

For those of you that don't know, my sister Lezlie will be graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Dance from the University of Iowa this Saturday! Nick and I are leaving on Thursday to drive back to Iowa to be there for her graduation. Unfortunately, Nick will have to drive back to Indiana on Sunday to work on Monday. But I am staying in Iowa until Memorial Day (the 25th) to visit friends and family! I'm so excited!

Farmer's Market

I went to the Bloomington Farmer's Market for the first time this year. I was hoping to get some fruit, but it obviously wasn't quite in season yet. I got a strawberry smoothie instead, and took some photos of the action - the Farmer's Market really is a busy place!