Jeff was in the paper today!

Wesley announces its newest executive

BY JERRY SIEBENMARK
The Wichita Eagle

Wesley Medical Center has hired Jeff Sollis to replace one of its two chief operating officers, but the 29-year-old native of Murray, Utah, won't hold the COO title just yet.

Sollis, whose first day of work at Wesley was Nov. 30, will be involved in the daily operations of the 760-bed hospital.

He was hired to replace Sam Serrill, who is retiring and shared the COO title with Steve Edgar.
Hugh Tappan, Wesley's president and CEO, said that he is "restructuring responsibilities across the organization."

In that restructuring, Edgar will retain the COO title and focus a lot of his efforts in areas such as physician recruitment and business development, Tappan said, while Sollis will have more operating departments to oversee.

In Sollis' time in hospital administration, he said this is his biggest assignment yet.
"This is a large tertiary teaching facility with a lot of service-line depth," he said.

Before Wesley, Sollis was assistant administrator at North Suburban Medical Center in Thornton, Colo., in the Denver area.

But that 157-bed hospital, which is an HCA hospital like Wesley, "wasn't quite enough to prepare me for that next step" in my career, Sollis said.

He said what attracted him to the job at Wesley was not just the size of the hospital and the scope of its operations. Just as attractive was the idea of being mentored by Tappan and Edgar.

"Somebody in my role, it's key that you have a CEO and COO who are willing to be mentors," Sollis said. "For me, this is a great next step."

Sollis' wife is Rachel and they have a 4-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son. They are expecting twins in January.

Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2010/12/09/1626662/wesley-announces-its-newest-coo.html#ixzz17jUtv188

A Little Update

I'm more than a little behind on pretty much everything, but I wanted to share how we've been doing since our big move. And then I'll retroactively blog. (Wait, that's what I've been doing for the last six months...)

We made it to Wichita on Thursday, Nov 18th and drove straight to the new house for our final walk through. Anna and Isaac ran circles in every room and up and down the stairs over and over. It made closing the next morning even more exciting. Everything went smoothly and we officially became home owners around 11:00am Nov 19th.

Jeff thankfully had the whole week of Thanksgiving off which we mostly spent unpacking and spending money. Jeff was offered a pretty generous moving package which allowed us to upgrade on a few things. It was REALLY fun since we just don't ever go out and buy stuff. We got a new dining room table, new chair for the living room, a TV (a total treat since we haven't had one for the last couple of years), and reluctantly, a new bed. (Our bed frame didn't fit upstairs so we had to buy a split frame. Not exactly what we wanted to spend our money on, but whatever.)

Jeff's parents flew out for Thanksgiving weekend and after a nightmare chain of events they finally arrived in Wichita about 6:00pm on Thanksgiving. We missed our big T-Day reservations (there was no way I was cooking a bird this year) and ended up at the only open restaurant in town, The Golden Corral. Don't be jealous.

The rest of the weekend was wonderful. It was great to have Jeff's parents around to help us. Larry and Jeff were able to get a lot of little projects done, Marlene and I were able to shop quite a bit, and Anna and Isaac got lots of attention. Everyone was happy.

Real life began this week and here's how things are shaking out:

Jeff has been "drinking from the fire hose" at work. He's jumped right in and there is a lot to learn and do. He's generally working about 12 hours a day, usually 7-7. The people he is working with are really great and have been super generous.

Anna is having a bit of hard time adjusting. I think all of the stress of moving combined with two very distracted parents has taken its toll. She vacillates between her normal happy, bubbly, sweet self and being moody and emotional. I'm sure this is normal, but I'm anxious to get back to a good day-to-day routine before the her world is turned upside down again when the babies are born.

Isaac, on the other hand, is thriving. He has loved exploring every nook and cranny of the house, he's sleeping like a champ, and out of the blue started talking in small sentences. (Communication!) My new favorite thing he does is state, "I crying." while crying. Because he just wants us to really wants to understand he's sad, I guess. It's adorable.

I'm doing my best to keep my head above water. My days basically consist of going through boxes, resting, playing with kids, resting, cleaning up, resting, trying to bend over, resting, making food, resting, and then dropping dead at the end of the day. I'm 33 weeks and really hoping these babies stay put for another 5 weeks. Otherwise they will be sleeping in cardboard boxes and packing paper. I am loving, loving, loving our new house. It is such a pleasure to live in such a beautiful home.

And if you managed to get to the end of this long, pictureless post I'll reward you with the mental image of me standing in front of a lovely copper brown used mini-van. Because we bought one yesterday. And I won't even be mad at you for laughing because of all the times I swore I'd never own one.

Grandma and Grandpa

Cocoa Party with Grandma Marlene.

Thanksgiving dinner at the Golden Corral.

A delicious dessert.

Waiting for the horse-drawn carriage to arrive.

Our Last Week in Colorado

We tried to spend our time doing some of our favorite Colorado/Denver activities during our last week. We weren't able to do all that we wanted, but did manage to fit in a few things.

Anna requested one last trip to the Children's Museum and beignets from Lucille's.

Of course we ate at Benny's one last time. (This picture was taken just down the street from the restaurant.)

Anna and Isaac spent some time playing amid all the boxes.

And after they were gone, they had fun playing in the empty closets.

Lastly, we tried to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous November weather Colorado offered up this year.

Some of our favorite memories and outings while living here:

• Camping and exploring in Rocky Mountain National Park
• Fireworks in Estes Park
• Snowboarding Vail (Jeff)
• Visiting The Royal Gorge, walking the bridge
• Rockies, Nuggets and Bronco games (thanks to Jeff's work we had some sweet seats)
• Drives/snores up the canyon
• Pearl Street and great restaurants in Boulder
• Tattered Cover Bookstore
• Larimer Square (and especially Osterio Marco)
• Bonnie Brae Ice Cream Shop
• The Denver Temple (visiting the grounds with the kids and doing sessions.)
• Red Rock Amphitheater
• Visiting various parks all around town
• The Denver Zoo and the Nature and Science Center
• The Bay Water Park
• Shopping in Silverthorn while Jeff fished the Blue River
• Learning to cycle (Jeff)
• Having so many family members visit and letting us show them around.

We have tried to make the most of living here the past 2 1/2 years, but there are a few things on my "Colorado List" that were never realized.

• Visit Durango/Telluride, CO
• Tour the Molly Brown House
• Complete the downtown sculpture scavenger hunt
• Ski a Colorado Resort
• Hike Boulder Falls
• Have High Tea at the Brown Palace
• Visit Garden of the Gods

Of course the best part about Colorado and what we will miss the most are the friends we've made. They became our family and we already miss them dearly.



Ladies Who Lunch

Kathy, Jeanette, Me, Rebecca, and Kirsta

Right after we moved to Denver I was invited to join a "lunch group." Every Thursday one member of the group hosts a full lunch, including desert, for everyone. The kids all play while the moms enjoy a couple of hours enjoying good food and good conversation. (Kids eat before they come.) Recipes were then uploaded to a community blog where we could all access each others great meals.

This became my most favorite time of the week and where my most dear friendships were formed and I was able to step out of "mommy-mode" and have smart, funny, opinionated conversation. I think I will miss the "Thursday Lunch Bunch" more than any other part of my day-to-day Colorado life.

The group has grown and shrunk and members have changed, and sadly this is the only picture I have from dozens of weekly meetings. Missing from the shot are some amazing friends: Lisa, Brittney, Valerie, Becky, and Rachel.

We Made it to Wichita!

We are so excited to be here!

Jeff's Send Off

We've been so blessed by the people Jeff has worked with over the last two 2 1/2 years. They have been so good to our family and have become dear friends. We all went out to Elway's for one last hurrah. I'm going to miss all the fun dinners and get-togethers with these folks.

Carol (Dir. of HR), Jenn (CEO), Jeff, Erica (CNO), Art (COO), Deb (CFO)

The crew with their significant others.