Farewell Land Lovers!

I, Jake (yes I know it has been forever since I actually blogged and no Kari is not forcing me to do this)...anyway, where was I. Err..yes, I am heading off on Saturday for another field project. By plane and large ocean vessel I will make my way to a small atoll, about 1,000 miles south of Hawaii. Over the next several weeks I will serve as part of the team working to restore this unique and vibrant ecosystem of the tropics. I have decided to add a map to the blog to keep you all informed of my travelings throughout the year. After the project the ship will take me to Samoa, where I plan to spend a few days exploring and hopefully fishing. Then back on a plane to Hawaii, where Kari will meet me for a well deserved (for her) vacation. For more info on the project, check out this website http://www.protectpalmyra.org/. The 'project updates' section will be updated regularly throughout our time on island, so check back often for awesome pictures of restoration in action.

March and April and May, Oh My!

I know, I know, it has been a long time. At this point too much has happened to post in detail, so I am sticking with just the highlights...

March: We made a trip down to CA to visit the Bonham side of the family. Spent most of the time in Susanville visiting with Grandma Jeanne and Grandma and Grandpa Bonham. Despite the fact that it was March, it snowed for the vast majority of our trip. As it always is though, it was great to spend time with them. After a quick stop in Alturas we headed home, indeed through more snow.


At the end of the month both of our moms happen to be in Portland on the same day. Jake's mom was here for work training and my mom had bid a trip and had a short layover. So, for the first time since the wedding (almost three years ago!) the mom' got to catch-up over dinner with us. It took all of about 12 seconds with both of them in the car before we were asked about grandkids! But I suppose that's what moms do. : ) Jake's mom stayed through the weekend and enjoyed the sights of Portland with us. The zoo was the big excitement. It rained off and on all day, but in true Portland fashion we just put our hoods on and continued trekking. It was fun to show off our city and have her here for a visit.

 

April: My mom was celebrating a milestone birthday this year (don't worry mom, I won't say which one!), so I packed my bag and headed to UT. Jake had planned to come until we discovered that Delta had put a black-out on buddy passes for the weekend due to Easter. So I was flying solo and he was staying home enjoying a bachelor weekend. The trip was short but fun. I got to watch our niece Maizey and nephew Xavier play soccer for the first time and it was awesome! The party for mom turned out great (nice work Mike!!) and everyone seemed to have a great time. I was happy that I could be there for the celebration. Easter came next, which means we were off to dad and Margie's house to hide egg, watch the grandkids find them and then eat entirely too much lunch. Xavier turned out to be a rockstar egg finder and needed additional storage for all the goods, and I was happy to help. That night I was back on a plane and heading home.

May: We took advantage of the gorgeous day a couple weekends ago and headed up to Elk Mountain for a hike. When planning this excursion we thought we would actually be doing two hikes that day since Elk Mountain was only about 3.5 miles round trip. The website said it was steep, but that appeared to be an understatement. Whoever created this trail was a fan of the "shortest way to get from A to B is a straight line" theory. After gaining almost 2000 feet elevation in 1.75 miles we were at the top. Hard work to get there, but the views were great. We could see all the way to Mt. Hood. Enjoyed some lunch and then headed back down. At that incline, going downhill is as much work as going up! It was a great hike though and felt so nice to be out in the sun.

Now here we are half way through May already. Planning to enjoy the next couple weeks until Jake leaves for his next world adventure.

Another Year Older

I had a birthday. Every year it happens, but somehow I think the time between them is getting shorter. I will admit, in the grand scheme of things I am not by any stretch "old". But I have now crossed the bridge and have landed on the side closer to 30 than to 20. Yikes!

Ok, enough of the pity party. I actually had a really good birthday. At the beginning of January Jake asked me what I wanted to do for my big day. Out of no where I decided that I wanted to try snowshoeing. So that is exactly what we did. We got up early and headed out toward Mt. Hood. Sadly the first spot we wanted to go to did not have a plowed area to park. Knowing how we operate, there is always a plan B for us! So off to the snow park we went where we would snowshoe up to Twin Lakes.

After bundling up and strapping on the snowshoes we hit the trail. It didn't take long before the gloves and hats came back off. It turns out that snowshoeing is quite a workout and it no longer felt cold outside! After a couple miles we made it to the first lake. It was very cool to see. The whole lake was completely frozen over. We stopped to enjoy the view for a while and re-fuel with some lunch. With renewed energy we headed back. It was a great way to spend the day and I definitely learned my lesson that snowshoeing is WAY more than just walking around in the snow! Even though it was tough and exhausting (I might have fallen asleep on the couch at 8:30 that night!), I would totally go again. The next day we relaxed and then enjoyed a dinner out.

It was a wonderful weekend all planned by my fantastic husband. Love you Jacob.

A Not So White Christmas

This year we spent Christmas in Utah with my family. To save room in the suitcases Jake and I exchanged gifts before we left. It was kinda fun to spread out the holiday fun over multiple days. Once we got to UT it was great to see some friends we haven't seen in a while as well as all the fam. Jess was even able to make it in from Alaska (not without a little adventure of course).

It wouldn't be a holiday trip to Utah without what has become our traditional get-together with our friends from college. As usual this involved plenty of drinking, lots of snacks, tons of pictures and a few games played. This year we invaded Kevin's parents house in Kaysville and it a blast.

Somewhere along the line we got off track with the Leystra's on the holiday switching, and this year was a Jenkel Christmas. So we had our festivities on Christmas Eve. There was a ton of delicious food and lots of laughs throughout the evening. After dinner we did the gifts and Xavier and Maizey loved showing off their new stuff.

Bry even got in the festive spirit...

One of the highlights was after the gifts were finished the kids wanted to get an update of Santa's progress. So Mike got out the smartphone and found the Santa tracker. In a vague motion he pointed to the screen and said "there he is, on his way but he can't come until you are in bed". This prompted two very different reactions - Xavier went into hyper drive that everyone needed to clean up so he could go to be. On the other hand, Maizey ran to the kitchen practically in tears to tell Leisl that she wanted to go to bed right then. Jess tried to console her by saying Santa wouldn't come until she was in bed, at that moment the doorbell rang (neighbors bringing treats) and this induced full blown hysterics from Maizey. It was the saddest/funniest thing ever! After much more consoling and her basically kicking everyone out she finally got to bed and we all went home. It was a great night full of fun, laughter and most importantly family.

Christmas day started in typical fashion, with me waking Jess up and her complaining that it was too early. We had a the traditional coffee cake breakfast and then did stockings and the few gifts that we didn't do the night before. Then came the entertainment for the morning with Jess and I performing a little Christmas karaoke. We have video, but I will spare everyones ears and not post it. But I am sure you can imagine how horrible it sounded!! After the laughter stopped we had to get ready to go over to dad's house. I was glad we were able to visit that day because he got terribly sick the day after Christmas so we had to cancel our dinner plans. It was another wonderful Christmas day, even if there was no fresh snow.

The day after Christmas Jess, Sis and I met up with our friend Jess Montgomery who was in town from ID. It was fun to catch up since we have not seen each other in a very long time. That night since dad was sick we all just hung out at mom's house and snacked and chatted. We even managed to get another good sibling pic!

We had one last lunch with everyone before we were back to the airport and heading home. It was a good trip and we enjoyed seeing friends and family.

Very Thankful

This year was a California Thanksgiving. Jake got home from island the Tuesday before and we packed up the car and headed south the next morning. Thanks to a bunch of snow we had to take the long way, but since Jake had been gone for 3+ weeks I didn't mind having a little more time to catch up. Our first night was pretty low key, just enjoyed some dinner and caught up with the fam. Thanksgiving day was great. Grandma Jeanne was able to be up in Alturas with us and Zeke, Catherine and their boys joined in the fun as well. There was plenty of delicious food and it was wonderful to be with family.

On "black friday" we decided to take the little boys sledding. I had not played in the snow or gone sledding in many years and forgot how much of a workout it is hiking up the hill in all those winter clothes! But it was so much fun!! There were many times up and down the hill and many crashes along the way too. What a blast!

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing, playing games, watching movies and just enjoying time spent with family.  It was a very nice weekend and a great way to spend the holiday.I am so thankful to have a fantastic husband and such loving family on both sides. Love you all.

Bonham Ranch, Smoke Creek Desert, Nevada

Last weekend we made a trip down to Alturas to see the Bonhams. The main reason for the trip was to go out to the ranch in the desert of Nevada. Jake had not been out there for about 12 years and this was going to be my first time to see it. I was really looking forward to seeing it and hearing more stories about life on the desert. Saturday started early with Jake and Ethan going down to Susanville to pick up Grandpa Bonham. Meanwhile Jerry, LaDel, Zeke and I finished getting ready and headed down to meet them at the turnoff to Wendel. Along the drive out to the ranch we passed the site of the old town of Flannigan where both Grandpa and Jerry attended grade school in a one room school house. When we got to the ranch area the first stop we made was at one of the natural artesian springs, where Grandpa filled up his water jugs with "good water". To many people this sulfur flavored water would not be ideal, but when it was all you knew for most of your life I suppose it would be good.

This ranch was in the Bonham family for about a hundred years and served as a stage stop with a hotel, a cattle operation and the home to 4 generations of Bonhams through the years. It was fascinating to hear the stories and try to imagine how it must have looked back then.

The original house that at one time was part of the stage stop. 

Ethan, Jake, Jack and Jerry checking out Round Hole, a circular pond that is fed by natural springs from underground.

 

The chicken coope and pig pen on the left. View to the east.

 

 Jerry, Ethan and Jake in front of the bunk house. Jerry was telling us about how he used the side of the building as a backstop for playing baseball and field goal posts for football, when he was a kid.

 

 Grandpa Jack loves getting out of the house and out to visit the old ranch site.

It was a beautiful day to be outside and I greatly enjoyed my first trip out there.

Race for the Cure 2010

Last weekend Jake and I tied on our running shoes and headed downtown to run in the Portland Race for the Cure! Gerber was sponsoring a team for employees and family and we decided to join in the fun. We were a little nervous that we would get rained on since it was POURING on Saturday night. But when the alarm went off at 5:30 on Sunday it had stopped and thankfully held out until we were getting on the train to come home after everything was over. We were both super excited about our times - I got a personal best at 25:36 and Jake did too (even though this was his first real race!) at 22:34!! After the run we walked around the booths that were set up and then headed to the meeting spot to find the Gerber team. At the end of the day we ended up running one 5K and walking another! Plenty of exercise for that early on a Sunday morning!

Jake wearing pink had to be documented!

There were In Memory Of signs to wear so of course I had to dedicate this one to Tutu!

It was a good day for a run and a great cause.