Structure Fire Training…

Saturday morning,  Bill, Lacey and I went down to Boise to the Fire Department Training Tower with the Wilderness Ranch VFD to do some structure training. We had to suit up with air tanks/masks and all and crawl through the smoky, dark building and find dummy victims and bring them out. We also learned how to bring an injured firefighter out, and lets just say it isn’t quite as easy and glamorous as on tv! The air tanks and gear add an additional 40 pounds or so to the weight. 

Up The Stairs

Bill and I bringing Lacey up the stairs...look at that blue vein popping!

Lacey and I

I'm bringing the "baby" down the ladder

Twas The Night Before Christmas….

And the mom screwed up the Christmas presents….. 

Santa can't sneak by ME!

I thought I’d be smart this year, since the kids claimed to have discovered their presents before Christmas last year, and I had everything sent to work, then we loaded them into Mrs. P’s van, went to church, sent Jeremy and Tim out in the snow to take the presents out of her van and put them in the back of the white truck (Gabe’s dad’s). I even hurriedly pointed to it, since it was freezing and snowing and I was trying to keep from busting my arse in my boots…no, not the warm winter ones, the 3 inch high heeled ones….

A bit later, Gabe’s dad came back in and said “There is nothing in the back of my truck, are you sure you put them in the RIGHT truck?”. Panic! Ran out to look for the truck I’d pointed out, it was gone. Luckily, I know what pretty much everyone drives and was pretty sure we’d put them in Jim’s truck, rather than some total stranger who’d shown up for the Christmas Eve service. I tried calling Jim from church but they weren’t home yet, Jeremy said we should just go home and go get them after the kids went to sleep. So, we loaded up, went home, called Jim, he’d found them, but there seemed to be one missing. I called Mrs P to see if we’d left one in her van, and we had. 

So, completely exhausted, Jeremy and I dragged our butts off the couch at 1 am, after the kids had fallen asleep in the living room floor (trying to catch Santa in action) and headed out. It had snowed 18 additional inches during that time though and was still coming down hard, the roads hadn’t been plowed. What to do? The kids can’t not have Christmas just because Mom is a blonde! 

So we putted along, in 4wd the whole way, unsure if we could even make it up the hill to Jim’s house, let alone up the hill to Mrs P’s house also. We did though, it went off without a hitch and we pulled back up my driveway at about 2 am. Unfortunately, at that point, we couldn’t make it back up and had to carry everything up. 

By the time we got up here, got settled in, got everything wrapped and under the tree (with the kids still sleeping in the floor), it was after 4 am.  At about 5:15, Gabe came screaming up to say that Santa had come and could we open presents? I pulled him into bed with me and managed to milk an extra hour or so before we had to go face the music. The absolute ecstatic excitement of the kids was well worth the trip though. Next year I’ll have to come up with a better plan!

 

Santa can't get by ME either, and if he does, my guard dog (puppy) will surely wake up!

 

What?? How'd THAT happen?

 

The stockings were hung from the....wall....with care....

Rockband for the wii! Drums included!

 

2 Nintendo DS's!

 

Is it? Is it? It is! It is ALMOST a full smile! He's been wanting a PSP for YEARS!

Santa brought Jeremy a new watch!

 

That didn't take long...

 

Clean up the mess? What mess? I have a DS and that is all that I care about!

A week full of Blessings!

 

Christmas Photo 2008

 

 

It has been one of the most blessed weeks in a very long time.  The week started out snowy and a bit chaotic, since I was still driving the car and was unable to get around very well, my employers (The P’s) insisted that I take their AWD van home at night, so that I could actually get here. The van is really nice and surprisingly gets through the snow very well and it meant a lot that they entrusted me with it.  Finally, on Friday, my friend who was helping me find some 4wd wheels came through and I got to go pick it up. This one is just a loaner until I get mine, but it works! It’s a little silver Dodge Dakota with the full dual cab, it was in an accident so it has some body damage on the drivers side, which he can easily fix, but it runs great. It isn’t luxury and it isn’t even close to as nice as ‘my’ truck that I miss so much, but I’m very thankful that I’m able to drive this one and get around so much easier in the snow. 

The same friend also had a truckload of clothes for me to go through and find homes for and they ended up being very very good clothes, and will benefit a lot of people, as well as my family. A friend was able to pick out some very nice things for her girls and in the process, some wounds between 2 friends have begun to heal.  One was really able to reach out to the other and offer some badly needed help.  That is probably the biggest blessing of all! 

Mrs. P gave me my Christmas present early, a pair of Sorel boots with fur trim that will get me through the snow with warm feet! They are a little clunky, just because of the design of them, but still cute and I’m loving them! I also finally (after 3 winters in Idaho) bought something besides knit gloves to wear, so I’ve spent the weekend toasty and warm, for the first time in a while! 

It is Christmas week and I feel so absolutely blessed right now!  I’m so happy to be surrounded by people who care so much!

A Day of 7’s….

Ok, this was written and was supposed to be posted several days ago but I haven’t had internet and can’t add the pictures from home like I intended, so here it is minus the pictures, I’ll add them this weekend!

Taking my cue from Pastor Ryan (www.thisisreverb.com) today, please take a moment to check out his blog. I’ve only been following it for a short time, and have found a lot of inspiration in his writings. He’s far from your typical ‘Pastor’, he’s a little younger than the norm and…oh yeah, he’s all tattoo’d up. 

7 things you probably didn’t know about me….

1. When I was about 7 years old, I was playing tag with a friend and I tripped and fell head-first into a very deep, very full ‘hog wallow’ and was covered in pig poop and mud from head to toe. I sat in the bathtub crying my eyes out as my mom tried to scrub it out of my hair and my friend went home.  (go ahead and laugh, I know you are picturing it. )

2. When I was in the 3rd grade, my friend Angie and I (we are STILL friends!) wrote love letters to baseball players, which we selected out of her pile of baseball cards. They were a little um….’romantic’ for 3rd graders to be writing. I got busted by a not so happy mom.

3. The first beer I ever drank came from the church refrigerator. I was helping with Monday night Catechism classes when I was in Junior High and discovered beer in the fridge of the Rectory (apparently the Knights of Columbus met there and would have beer at their meeting).  I was only able to choke down a sip or two before dumping it out and it was many years before I tried another one!

4. I graduated 2nd in my boot camp class of 80+ men and women and earned Company Commander’s Honors and my choice of schools.  Not bad for a 17 year old with no life experience! I did have a lot of hard work experience and I was in great shape, so that helped.

5. Before I decided on the Navy as a career, I really wanted to be a rodeo clown. I still think it looks like a LOT of fun, I’m just not so sure I could run that fast anymore!

6. I am constantly in search of the ‘perfect’ ink pen. Before my children started running off with them, I had stacks and stacks of them. Every time vendors bring them in or I see a new style at the store, I have to buy it and try it out. I think that I secretly hope that the right pen will improve my awful handwriting.

7. I get choked up and teary eyed every time I see an ambulance lit up, because I know at that very moment, a life hangs in the balance, and I pray for whomever is inside and their family.

7 Favorite Pictures

7 Favorite Things to Do

1. Hang out with Jeremy (duh!)

2.  Hang out with my kids, as long as they are actually behaving.

3. Travel

4. Snowboard

5. Take the boat out

6. Read

7. Sit in front of the fire

The Best Birthday Ever…

Just because I can’t sleep now, I’ll write a little about my birthday weekend.  

We picked Jeremy up from the airport late Thursday night and I got the 1st of several very sweet birthday cards then. Friday morning we got to sleep in while the kids headed off to school, and we had a bit of a lazy day, which I think we both really needed!  I also got another birthday card that morning, a funny one that time.  After the kids got home from school (and Jeremy changed a tire on my car), I got a card from each of the kids, and another very sweet one from Jeremy, as well as a necklace with hearts and a pink sapphire, which I absolutely LOVE! Then we went into town and got a quick dinner at a Hawaiian BBQ place by the theater, and then we went and watched “The Dark Knight” at the IMAX.  Definitely a good movie, but pretty twisted. 

Then, because we couldn’t find a ColdStone close enough, we hit the Dairy Queen for some ice cream before we went bowling. Bowling was fun but the kids were getting a little cranky and started fussing, so after 2 rounds, we called it quits and headed home. 

Saturday, we made breakfast, gathered up some garbage that needed to go to the dump (what a fun weekend chore when your boyfriend is visiting, eh?) and then went and disposed of that, met up with Karen and helped them do some moving for the rest of the day. The new house is great, they are mostly settled in now! Jeremy played a couple of games of flashlight tag with all the kids and then we headed back. 

Today was church, then off to the airport . We had lunch at a Mongolian BBQ place, then dropped him off at the airport, I had just taken our exit when he called to say that he hadn’t been able to check his bag and I needed to come back and get it, so we turned around and went back, got the bag, he made a mad dash for the security line and we took off again. I had just pulled up to get gas at the gas station at our exit and the phone rang again. They’d given his seat away, and he wouldn’t be able to get on another flight till later in the evening, so we got gas and headed BACK to the airport, where we got to spend a few more precious hours with him while he attempted to get some work done. 

Now, we’re back home. Coming home is the toughest part of all.  It always amazes me how quickly he becomes a part of our everyday lives, and then it seems weird when he isn’t here.  I honestly did not know that it was possible to love someone even more with every passing day. 

I do have some pictures, but since it is already getting late, I’m going to wait till another day to add them.

One of those days…..

Don’t worry, at this point, I’m just laughing about it….I’ve given up. Or maybe it is lack of oxygen…who knows.

Got a propane delivery arranged finally. Had to be home so they could pressure test the system. They delivered a day early, I wasn’t home. I called, proceeded to throw a hissy fit, got them them to agree to send someone up on Thursday (original day of delivery, my day off) to hook it back up. Didn’t pass pressure test. Told me to call someone to come find the leak. Finally find a company that will come all the way up there, takes all of a half hour to find out that there is a gas line that comes up behind the refrigerator and the cap is just loose enough that it leaks. Whew! Easy fix. Gets fixed, repairman hits the road, call gas company, hoping they can come back up, retest and hook propane up. Nope. Next week sometime. Reminds me of this little funny that I found last year and had set as my work wallpaper for a long time.

1st Day of School!

At last….

I’ve been pretty proud of us, we’ve managed to get clothes laid out, shoes lined up, backpacks ready and all they have to do is get up, brush hair and teeth, put clothes on and out the door! I leave for work before they leave so it is their responsibility this year to get themselves ready and out the door and we’re adding Gabe into that mix this year.  If we can keep up our routine, it will be pretty easy!

Patchwork Puppies!

We had puppies tonight! Poor Fiona is just exhausted. We noticed all day that she was fidgety and nesting in different areas of the house, we had to leave to run errands for a little bit and came back and she was just pacing.  We settled her on the doggie bed and within an hour, she was in hard labor! The first one took a while (this is her first, and last litter) and when that first one came, she just put her head in my lap and cried and whined…and when it finally came, it was easy to see why! For a small dog like her, that puppy was huge!  A half hour or so later, the second one was there, and then in another half hour or so, a third. Those three, she would lick but wouldn’t tear the membrane away from them, so I helped her do that and then she took over, but after the third, she was a pro at it and cleaned them right off! I was really glad I could be there though to help her with it. As of now, we have 5 puppies and I suspect there may be one more coming. They are all different colors. I thought the father was a beagle, but these puppies do not look like beagles! More like maybe Australian Shepperd or something. 

Fiona is being a perfect little mother, licking the puppies and nursing and taking great care of them!

The Second Boat Story….

Here it is! I finally have a moment to write it out, but I know it has been a few weeks, so hopefully I don’t miss any of the important details!

The Saturday we took the boat out was an absolutely beautiful day! It was in the 90’s, our first really hot day of the year. I’d taken the boat in that week to have a few things looked at and it was running great.  We got to the boat launch, put it in the water, Marie and her kids showed up, so we took off through the canyon and zipped out into open water. After a while, we decided to go ahead and put the tube in the water and get the kids on it, and they had a lot of fun with it!

We had to meet Karen and the kids at the boat launch, so we dropped Marie and the kids at a dock and Jeremy and I went and got them and took them out too.

I finally got Karen on the tube and was doing my best to dump her off into the icy cold water, when the boat started dying. At first it was just frustrating, get all the way up to full speed and it would just stall….so we headed in to let it cool down for a while and make some hot dogs.  Let me stop for a moment and add the fact that someone (me) forgot to bring a grill rack for the camp stove, so Marie cut open soda cans and put the hot dogs in that to cook!

We ate, swam for a while, a few people got pushed off the dock (myself included) and I finally decided to take a couple of the kids back out. The boat seemed to be running fine and then it died and I couldn’t get it restarted. Finally after about 10 minutes, I got it going again and we headed back towards the dock, but it died again just short of the dock. Another 10 minutes and I finally got it going again. 

We decided at this point that rather than risk taking some of them back to the boat launch and not making it back for the others, we should just try to get everyone and everything back in one trip. At least if we break down, we are still all together!  We stuffed 16 people in my 6 person boat, along with coolers and supplies, and Jeremy in the tube behind the boat.  It looked a little something like this…

So off we went…..and it was all I could do to keep the boat going. We came around into what should be the “no wake zone” except the bouys weren’t out yet, and every time I tried to slow to the required 5mph, the boat would start to sputter and die, so I finally decided just to leave it and just get in. We came around the corner into the general area where the boat launch is and there was an Army Corp of Engineers boat right there. They waved us down and asked me to kill the engine, I explained that we were having trouble and I might not be able to get it restarted but they said that was ok, so I shut it down.   Marie asked me if I thought I was gonna get in trouble and my response was pretty much “it is just the Army Corp of Engineers, they build dams, not write tickets!”. Uh yeah….turns out they DO write tickets. However, I explained the situation, why we were way over capacity and going so fast, got a lecture about it, the kids got coupons for ice cream since they were all in life jackets (though Jeremy wasn’t too thrilled to be asked his age when they were handing out ice cream coupons to those under 13), and the guys took them on board their boat and escorted us back to the dock. 

Thanks guys!

So…the boat is back in the shop….hopefully it is something simple.  Until the next adventure, I wish you ‘Fair Winds and Following Seas!’

The H.M.S. Dream Maker

She’s a runner! We showed up at TriState Marine this morning at 9:30 and a very nice mechanic named Kasey dropped everything to come take a look at it…tested a couple of things, put new spark plugs in, tweaked a few things and actually got it to sputter and start, but he thought the ignition module was bad….which sounded weird to me but what do i know? It was an easy fix and less than an hour and a half after we got there, we were pulling away, boat running like new!

I keep going out there and starting it to make sure it will still start and it starts first time! It is so awesome!

I finally got around to putting the lettering on it….for those of you who don’t know, HMS stands for Her Majesty’s Ship, which is actually a British thing….but it works for me too Dream Maker has a dual meaning…it had been a dream of mine for a long time to own a boat….and it is also the name of a very dear friend’s business. So…HMS Dream Maker it is! 

I can’t wait to take it out on Saturday. We have a big day planned, Jeremy will be here (woohoo!) and Karen and Marie and all the kids are coming down and it will take a few trips to get everyone there, but we’ll pick a dock somewhere and get everyone settled in and make some food and then take a few at a time out for a ride on the boat and just hang out. It is supposed to be really hot this weekend, so it will be perfect!

 

P.S. Yes, that is a humongous tie down that you see in the picture, if you’ve seen my driveway, you understand why it is there. I live in fear that the boat will slide off the trailer IN the driveway and it would take a crane to put it back on…so that is just a little extra security .