(heading out to catch the bus)
(waiting her turn to go into class. She got the same teacher Shan had last year which is great since we loved her.)
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
First day of school
Today is the first day of school. I now have two 5th graders and a kindergartener. Yikes where has the time gone?
(heading out to catch the bus)
(waiting her turn to go into class. She got the same teacher Shan had last year which is great since we loved her.)
(heading out to catch the bus)
(waiting her turn to go into class. She got the same teacher Shan had last year which is great since we loved her.)
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Mt. Adams
I've been so bad with journaling so this is an attempt to catch up a little. This is going to be a long entry so feel free to read on but I won't be offended if you just look at the pictures. :)
There are some advantages to being the YW president. Not only am I able to get to know some great youth, I get to participate in things I normally wouldn't have. The end of June (24-26) was Dance Festival. Along with going to the practices, I volunteered to help at the actual festival. One day I worked a few hours in the girls changing tent during the dress rehearsal. The next day I helped during the lunch time. At that time, Sis. Cook, 1st counselor in the YW General Presidency was there and I was able to get a picture with her and hear her speak. Watching the festival was amazing. There were seven different stakes there with over 2,000 youth and it was fantastic.
There are some advantages to being the YW president. Not only am I able to get to know some great youth, I get to participate in things I normally wouldn't have. The end of June (24-26) was Dance Festival. Along with going to the practices, I volunteered to help at the actual festival. One day I worked a few hours in the girls changing tent during the dress rehearsal. The next day I helped during the lunch time. At that time, Sis. Cook, 1st counselor in the YW General Presidency was there and I was able to get a picture with her and hear her speak. Watching the festival was amazing. There were seven different stakes there with over 2,000 youth and it was fantastic.
July 9-10 I took part in climbing Mt. Adams. There were a total of 11 youth and nine adults. My pack weighed 40 lbs. The water is what made it so heavy. I was carrying 5 liters, 2 liters for the climb up, 2 for the summit and one for coming back down. The climb started out fairly gentle on a dirt path with some melting patches of snow. It was a warm day, the weather was beautiful and it didn't take too long to get hot, sweaty and thirsty. We left as a group around 1:15 and soon after that you could tell who was going to struggle. I had to stop twice at the beginning to apply moleskin to an already forming blister. Not a good sign. We had to rent our boots, cramp-ons and pickax so we all were wearing shoes we weren't used to. But after puting on the moleskin and using duct tape, we were on our way again.
The climb up to the lunch counter(where we were going to be spending the night) was hard. We didn't have very long with the dirt paths before it became all snow. Because of all the snow, we basically went straight up the mountain rather than a gradual accent with switchbacks. I didn't like to stop very often because I didn't like how I felt once I had to get going again, so I tried to rest as little as possible and took it at a gentle pace. There were a few places where I'd take 20 steps and rest for 5 seconds then take 20 more and rest again and only once did I have to take my pack off.
By 7:30 I finally made it to the lunch counter where the first section of our group was already starting to set up camp. I had been in the middle of the pack and the girl I was sharing a tent with was clear at the back. It was another hour before she showed up with someone else carrying her pack.
We put on warmer clothes, it was cooling down very quickly, set up our tents and climbed inside to warm up and get ready for the next day. I hardly slept that night. Soon after putting on my warm pants, I discovered I had forgotten to put sunscreen on the small portion of my exposed legs and I got sunburned. The ground was extremely hard, I had no pillow, my muscles were starting to feel the strain of the climb and the minute I laid down, it was as if I got an instant cold and I couldn't breath out of my nose anymore.
We put on warmer clothes, it was cooling down very quickly, set up our tents and climbed inside to warm up and get ready for the next day. I hardly slept that night. Soon after putting on my warm pants, I discovered I had forgotten to put sunscreen on the small portion of my exposed legs and I got sunburned. The ground was extremely hard, I had no pillow, my muscles were starting to feel the strain of the climb and the minute I laid down, it was as if I got an instant cold and I couldn't breath out of my nose anymore.
(the view from the lunch counter, looking up to the first summit. The very top summit is beyond that)
Around 7am people were starting to stir and I was feeling restless so I started to get ready for phase two of the climb. It was quickly obvious to me that I might not make it all the way to the top. I had no energy and wasn't feeling very well (two of the youth had gotten altitude sickness the night before). It turned out that four youth stayed behind. We all got our cramp-ons on, pick axes in hand and our small back packs on with only water and a bit of food and we were off. The second part was much harder than the first. Because I was so weak, it was much slower going. There was a time I got real worried that I was going to be sick. I soon caught up with a group that had to stop and re-adjust their cramp-ons and they fell in behind me and offered encouraging words and chatted the rest of the way up. I kept telling myself, just another step, deep breath, sip of water, keep going and eventually we got to the first summit. From there you could glissade back down the mountain or continue up to the top. There was just no way I had enough energy to climb another two hours to the top and then get back down. The Granges, who had been behind me, decided to keep going while I waited for the last two, who were way behind me, to get to where I was.
(At the first summit, just over 11,000 feet)
(Looking down at the climbers from the top of the first summit)
(Mt Hood in the distance)
(Looking up from the first summit to the top of Mt. Adams)
Once Haley and Linda finally reached the first summit where I was, they had a quick rest and then we took our cramp-ons off and prepared to slide down the mountain. I was thinking this was going to be the best part but I was totally wrong. I let Linda go first, then Haley, thinking that Haley could go between the adults in case anything happened to her, one of us could help. So they take off down the hill and I sit down on the slide and start off. Immediatley I notice that it's not going to be as fun as I thought. The pants I was wearing weren't your regular ski pants, they were extremely slippery and I found myself going way too fast and out of control. I was using the pickax and my heels to slow me down but it wasn't much help. One of the times I managed to stop myself I actually got up and walked over to the side to rest and figure out how I was going to get down. My arm was killing my from breaking and I had absolutely no friction to help slow me down. One hiker passing on his way up gave a few suggestions. I could make my own slide that might not be as slippery, I could sit on my back pack and use that as some resistance or I could hike back down. His buddy suggested I take my pants off, which I replied that I might as well, my butt was already frozen. Well, the thought of making my own slide scared me, I couldn't use my pack because we had put all the cramp-ons in it and I could easily maim myself with them, and it would take hours for me to hike back down. So I climbed back onto the slide and eventually made it to the bottom. I did a lot of praying and shed a few tears during that ride. My pants were so slippery that when I got to the bottom where everyone else had stopped and gotten up, I continued sliding another 30 or so feet, extending the slide.
I make it back to the lunch counter where everyone is breaking camp. We get our packs loaded and start heading back down the mountain. The snow was very soft so it didn't hurt the knees coming down. In several spots there were slides that we would go down on. These were much easier to slide down on, they weren't as steep. There was at one point a split in directions; either go down and to the right or go to the right first, then down. I chose to go to the right first because it was the most traveled path There were only two other people in my group who went that direction. As I was walking behind Jay, my foot slipped off the path and I started sliding down the hill, heading right for trees and rocks. There was a little part of a tree sticking out of the snow that my foot caught and stopped me. To the right of me was a slide that I could go down, if I could work my way over there, then all would be well. So I started inching my way over. I would dig my heels into the snow and scoot over. At one point, the snow gave out and I started sliding down again. There were two rocks sticking out of the snow that were able to stop me again. By this time I was so freaked out that I actually said a few choice words. I hear, "Sister Ward, are you ok?" One of my Laurels was standing up above me on the path I had just slipped from. I apologized for my language and she laughed and mentioned that considering my situation, she totally understood. I managed to get my ice-axe detached from my pack and used that to help me get the rest of the way over to the slide. For the remainder of the hike down, we all stuck together more closely.
I wouldn't say it was fun but definitely an experience that I will never forget. I ended up with a huge weeping blister on my heel, despite the moleskin. My boots were so full of water that nothing would have helped prevent blisters. The underside of my nose got so burned it blistered and for days felt like dry crusty boogers were stuck to it because of the scabs it formed. My neck, shoulders and back were so sore that I ended up going in for a massage (darn). I now have the ugliest tan line from the sunburn and hopefully by next summer it will be gone.
I make it back to the lunch counter where everyone is breaking camp. We get our packs loaded and start heading back down the mountain. The snow was very soft so it didn't hurt the knees coming down. In several spots there were slides that we would go down on. These were much easier to slide down on, they weren't as steep. There was at one point a split in directions; either go down and to the right or go to the right first, then down. I chose to go to the right first because it was the most traveled path There were only two other people in my group who went that direction. As I was walking behind Jay, my foot slipped off the path and I started sliding down the hill, heading right for trees and rocks. There was a little part of a tree sticking out of the snow that my foot caught and stopped me. To the right of me was a slide that I could go down, if I could work my way over there, then all would be well. So I started inching my way over. I would dig my heels into the snow and scoot over. At one point, the snow gave out and I started sliding down again. There were two rocks sticking out of the snow that were able to stop me again. By this time I was so freaked out that I actually said a few choice words. I hear, "Sister Ward, are you ok?" One of my Laurels was standing up above me on the path I had just slipped from. I apologized for my language and she laughed and mentioned that considering my situation, she totally understood. I managed to get my ice-axe detached from my pack and used that to help me get the rest of the way over to the slide. For the remainder of the hike down, we all stuck together more closely.
I wouldn't say it was fun but definitely an experience that I will never forget. I ended up with a huge weeping blister on my heel, despite the moleskin. My boots were so full of water that nothing would have helped prevent blisters. The underside of my nose got so burned it blistered and for days felt like dry crusty boogers were stuck to it because of the scabs it formed. My neck, shoulders and back were so sore that I ended up going in for a massage (darn). I now have the ugliest tan line from the sunburn and hopefully by next summer it will be gone.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
I did manage to get these two pictures of the kids when we went out to get a Christmas tree. My parents live up the street from a tree farm so mom and I walked down while the kids rode with Papa. It got too dark after I took the one of Aiden so that's all I got of us picking out the perfect tree.
This was too funny. The kids had lots of fun playing in the boxes.
Aiden is so funny to watch play video games. He does this everytime he plays.
Happy New Year
At least we're hoping this year will be happier. Doug's last day with May Trucking was December 23rd. Christmas was nice having him home. He started working for FedEx Ground December 28th. Right now he's still in training, although there's not much training he needs. The guy he's riding around with won't be quitting until the end of this month, something neither Doug or his supervisor new about. We both thought it would be sooner but oh well. Right now Doug's just trying to get a feel for the route. Apparently it's a rather large route and FedEx does things a bit differently. He'll have to go through his truck every morning to memorize and organize all the packages, something he didn't have to do with UPS. The pay isn't the greatest (but more than May) and we don't have benefits but at least he's home every night.
We've rented out our bonus room to a couple in the ward that just got married. We thought long and hard about doing that and had some concerns but so far it's been alright. We've been having fun getting to know them better. With the huge pay cut Doug got we needed to do something and I'm thankful the Lord planted that seed for us.
My camera flash is still broken so I don't have any good pictures to post. Hopefully we can get that issue fixed within the next couple of months.
We've rented out our bonus room to a couple in the ward that just got married. We thought long and hard about doing that and had some concerns but so far it's been alright. We've been having fun getting to know them better. With the huge pay cut Doug got we needed to do something and I'm thankful the Lord planted that seed for us.
My camera flash is still broken so I don't have any good pictures to post. Hopefully we can get that issue fixed within the next couple of months.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Black Friday
No, I'm not talking about shopping. Today feels like a black cloud's been hanging over us. The whole year has been feeling like that but for a moment there, it seemed as if it was starting to clear up. Now, who knows.
It all started this morning. I get up with Doug at 6:30am to take him down to the Jubitz yard where his rig is. I was planning on just dropping him off and hurrying back home but he asked me to stay a minute and when he tried starting truck, it wouldn't turn over. He tried again, nothing. Great, the battery's dead. So for the next half hour, we tried to jump his truck, all the while I'm thinking he's going to blow up my car and there's no way my vehicle is going to give him enough power to charge his three batteries. Just when I'm ready to start crying because I really need to get home and he's really got to get on the road, a lot attendant comes by and Doug asks him to help. I go home and a while later Doug calls to tell me it only took about another 10-15 minutes to get his batteries charged. Mind you, it took an hour just last week to charge his rig when he had it in the shop for some repairs he needed done while he was down in So. Cal. That was a headache.
So I get home and a few hours later I decide I need to call the bank and see where we're at with the paperwork they were suppose to be sending us in hopes of saving our house. This process started back in July. I was told in Sept. that we no longer qualified for the program we were trying for so now we qualified for a different program and that we needed to wait up to 45 days for a packet that was going to be sent to us. During those 45 days, I called numerous times to see if anything had been sent out and everytime we were told we just needed to wait. Finally one guy told us if we hadn't gotten anything by the 18th of Nov to call back. I called back on the 19th and after a lengthy time being on hold, while he was trying to get more info., he comes back on and tells me that they were going to be puting a rush on it and if we didn't get anything by the 25th to call back on the 27th. I was told today that the request was never pushed through to the loan modification department so there is no paperwork being sent out to us. Excuse me!?!?!?!?!? Then what about all those other customer service reps I had talked to? Why wasn't this addressed to me all the other times I've called? They're looking at the same screen, the same information, the same notes! She didn't know but she'd be glad to see if we qualified for one of their programs now. I was so mad I hung up on her. I thought it would be best to give myself the weekend to cool down.
So Doug makes it to his stop, delivers the load, picks up an empty trailer and heads back home. Yay, he'll be home tonight then tomorrow afternoon he'll be off to pick up another load. About an hour later he calls to tell me his truck broke down........AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He's 104 miles away. We've lost count of how many times that dumb truck has been in the shop. After descending a hill, he notices a knocking sound when he tries to accelerate and it is also losing power and he's barely crawling, with an empty trailer. That's not good. He pulls over into a truck stop, checks his oil and notices it smoking. That's really not good. Then his check engine light comes on. He calls breakdown and after waiting an hour it's decided that he'll be towed back to Portland. It's 9:30 pm and we're down in Portland with the kids complaining they're tired and it's cold and "when are we going home?".
So, his truck is in the shop now, for who knows how long, and we still haven't heard anything from FedEx regarding whether or not he got the job. We were suppose to have known Wednesday. Now it's the weekend, he's ready to call May and tell them forget it, I quit but if he does get the new job, he'll have to start on the 7th which is a week from Monday and odds are his rig won't even be looked at until next Wednesday.
And, I've been trying to sell a few things on Craigslist to 1) get rid of some extra stuff we've accumulated and 2) try to earn a little extra $ for Christmas, which is going to be very small this year. I had some chairs posted and have faithfully checked my email to see if anyone was interested. I checked it about 9pm on Wednesday and then this morning, seeing how surely no one would be checking craigslist on Thursday. Well, someone wanted to buy them for Thursday because he was having extra family come in and needed some more chairs. He sent the request at 10:30pm on Wednesday. Ugh. I had tried selling these chairs a few weeks ago with a few nibbles but I still have them. The other thing we're selling in our waveless waterbed. It's still in good condition and I have/had a man wanting to come look at it. He was going to come over Wednesday but traffic was terrible so we scheduled for him to come tonight and he was going to be bringing his girlfriend because he was really interested. Nothing.
On the bright side of things, Doug will be here tomorrow to help with the twins birthday party.
It all started this morning. I get up with Doug at 6:30am to take him down to the Jubitz yard where his rig is. I was planning on just dropping him off and hurrying back home but he asked me to stay a minute and when he tried starting truck, it wouldn't turn over. He tried again, nothing. Great, the battery's dead. So for the next half hour, we tried to jump his truck, all the while I'm thinking he's going to blow up my car and there's no way my vehicle is going to give him enough power to charge his three batteries. Just when I'm ready to start crying because I really need to get home and he's really got to get on the road, a lot attendant comes by and Doug asks him to help. I go home and a while later Doug calls to tell me it only took about another 10-15 minutes to get his batteries charged. Mind you, it took an hour just last week to charge his rig when he had it in the shop for some repairs he needed done while he was down in So. Cal. That was a headache.
So I get home and a few hours later I decide I need to call the bank and see where we're at with the paperwork they were suppose to be sending us in hopes of saving our house. This process started back in July. I was told in Sept. that we no longer qualified for the program we were trying for so now we qualified for a different program and that we needed to wait up to 45 days for a packet that was going to be sent to us. During those 45 days, I called numerous times to see if anything had been sent out and everytime we were told we just needed to wait. Finally one guy told us if we hadn't gotten anything by the 18th of Nov to call back. I called back on the 19th and after a lengthy time being on hold, while he was trying to get more info., he comes back on and tells me that they were going to be puting a rush on it and if we didn't get anything by the 25th to call back on the 27th. I was told today that the request was never pushed through to the loan modification department so there is no paperwork being sent out to us. Excuse me!?!?!?!?!? Then what about all those other customer service reps I had talked to? Why wasn't this addressed to me all the other times I've called? They're looking at the same screen, the same information, the same notes! She didn't know but she'd be glad to see if we qualified for one of their programs now. I was so mad I hung up on her. I thought it would be best to give myself the weekend to cool down.
So Doug makes it to his stop, delivers the load, picks up an empty trailer and heads back home. Yay, he'll be home tonight then tomorrow afternoon he'll be off to pick up another load. About an hour later he calls to tell me his truck broke down........AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He's 104 miles away. We've lost count of how many times that dumb truck has been in the shop. After descending a hill, he notices a knocking sound when he tries to accelerate and it is also losing power and he's barely crawling, with an empty trailer. That's not good. He pulls over into a truck stop, checks his oil and notices it smoking. That's really not good. Then his check engine light comes on. He calls breakdown and after waiting an hour it's decided that he'll be towed back to Portland. It's 9:30 pm and we're down in Portland with the kids complaining they're tired and it's cold and "when are we going home?".
So, his truck is in the shop now, for who knows how long, and we still haven't heard anything from FedEx regarding whether or not he got the job. We were suppose to have known Wednesday. Now it's the weekend, he's ready to call May and tell them forget it, I quit but if he does get the new job, he'll have to start on the 7th which is a week from Monday and odds are his rig won't even be looked at until next Wednesday.
And, I've been trying to sell a few things on Craigslist to 1) get rid of some extra stuff we've accumulated and 2) try to earn a little extra $ for Christmas, which is going to be very small this year. I had some chairs posted and have faithfully checked my email to see if anyone was interested. I checked it about 9pm on Wednesday and then this morning, seeing how surely no one would be checking craigslist on Thursday. Well, someone wanted to buy them for Thursday because he was having extra family come in and needed some more chairs. He sent the request at 10:30pm on Wednesday. Ugh. I had tried selling these chairs a few weeks ago with a few nibbles but I still have them. The other thing we're selling in our waveless waterbed. It's still in good condition and I have/had a man wanting to come look at it. He was going to come over Wednesday but traffic was terrible so we scheduled for him to come tonight and he was going to be bringing his girlfriend because he was really interested. Nothing.
On the bright side of things, Doug will be here tomorrow to help with the twins birthday party.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
More job update
We went to court yesterday for Doug's trial and it went well.
We dropped the kids off at our friend's house at 6:30am on Tuesday and headed down to Newport. We got there about 1/2 early so we sat out in the hall, not knowing if we were suppose to go in the court room or not since there were already some people in there. Three more people showed up and five minutes to ten we all filed into the room. The case before us still hadn't been resolved and the judge told them to come back in 45 minutes. I was thinking it was surely going to take longer than that for the four cases but it went rather quickly.
The first lady gets to plead her case after the officer makes his statement. She was ticketed for going 20 over the limit. The judges verdict: guilty. $110 please. The second man also pleads his case for his speeding ticket. Verdict: guilty. Another $110 please. The third victim, ticketed while speeding and with a suspended license. Guilty. $322 Great, it's not looking good for us. It's now Doug's turn. He and the officer are sworn in and the officer (whose last name is Jennings) makes his statement. In it, he explains how suprised Doug was to discover that his license had been suspended. At the end of his speech, he asks that the state dismiss the case. The judge was very suprised and immediately says "why?". The officer then explains that the addresses didn't match up because he had move (thus the reason we never got a notice telling us his license was going to be suspended) and because he went the following day and took care of the problem and filled out the necessary paperwork. She asked for his evidence, looked it over and told Doug, "I was going to find you guilty. It is your job to notify the DMV when you move. Case dismissed." Uhhhhhhhhh.......Thank you very much your Honor! Doug stands up, turns to shake hands with the officer, tells him thank you and we walk out the door.
We walk down the hallway and start talking about what she said, it's our responsibility to notify the DMV. Well yes, we know you have to let them know when you move within the state but moving out of state? We turned around and went back to ask the officer if he knew if we were suppose to do that when we move out of state. He had no clue, and told us to drive safe. I don't know what the judge was thinking with that comment but I'll definitely make sure all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed next time we ever move.
Whew, what a relief. So this morning Doug had an interview for FedEx Ground. He was offered the job but he still needed to go fill out an application. We had been given this man's name through a friend and Doug had only talked with him over the phone. Today they met and he liked what he saw in Doug. It's not the job that he really wanted, working for a contractor, no benefits, no paid holidays, but he'll be home every night, it's better pay and will hopefully get him to an even better job with FedEx, driving the big trucks. It's not final, they still have to do background checks and all that. It was never brought up the reason why he left UPS so we're hoping that won't be a problem. If all goes well, he'll start Dec. 7th.
These past few months have been so stressful but that light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. Thank you, everyone, for all your prayers! We have been greatly blessed.
We dropped the kids off at our friend's house at 6:30am on Tuesday and headed down to Newport. We got there about 1/2 early so we sat out in the hall, not knowing if we were suppose to go in the court room or not since there were already some people in there. Three more people showed up and five minutes to ten we all filed into the room. The case before us still hadn't been resolved and the judge told them to come back in 45 minutes. I was thinking it was surely going to take longer than that for the four cases but it went rather quickly.
The first lady gets to plead her case after the officer makes his statement. She was ticketed for going 20 over the limit. The judges verdict: guilty. $110 please. The second man also pleads his case for his speeding ticket. Verdict: guilty. Another $110 please. The third victim, ticketed while speeding and with a suspended license. Guilty. $322 Great, it's not looking good for us. It's now Doug's turn. He and the officer are sworn in and the officer (whose last name is Jennings) makes his statement. In it, he explains how suprised Doug was to discover that his license had been suspended. At the end of his speech, he asks that the state dismiss the case. The judge was very suprised and immediately says "why?". The officer then explains that the addresses didn't match up because he had move (thus the reason we never got a notice telling us his license was going to be suspended) and because he went the following day and took care of the problem and filled out the necessary paperwork. She asked for his evidence, looked it over and told Doug, "I was going to find you guilty. It is your job to notify the DMV when you move. Case dismissed." Uhhhhhhhhh.......Thank you very much your Honor! Doug stands up, turns to shake hands with the officer, tells him thank you and we walk out the door.
We walk down the hallway and start talking about what she said, it's our responsibility to notify the DMV. Well yes, we know you have to let them know when you move within the state but moving out of state? We turned around and went back to ask the officer if he knew if we were suppose to do that when we move out of state. He had no clue, and told us to drive safe. I don't know what the judge was thinking with that comment but I'll definitely make sure all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed next time we ever move.
Whew, what a relief. So this morning Doug had an interview for FedEx Ground. He was offered the job but he still needed to go fill out an application. We had been given this man's name through a friend and Doug had only talked with him over the phone. Today they met and he liked what he saw in Doug. It's not the job that he really wanted, working for a contractor, no benefits, no paid holidays, but he'll be home every night, it's better pay and will hopefully get him to an even better job with FedEx, driving the big trucks. It's not final, they still have to do background checks and all that. It was never brought up the reason why he left UPS so we're hoping that won't be a problem. If all goes well, he'll start Dec. 7th.
These past few months have been so stressful but that light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. Thank you, everyone, for all your prayers! We have been greatly blessed.
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