Homemade Always Wins

It has been a whole month since we went to CA, but I am finally posting about it. It had been a few months since our last visit, so we made the journey south. After spending the night in Alturas, everybody (Jake, Kari, Ethan, LaDel, Jerry, Zeke, Catherine, Cooper and Tristan!), piled into cars to go down to Susanville. It is always nice to be able to visit with all the grandparents, but this time there was the added bonus of homemade ice cream! This was not the modern version of add the ingredients to the KitchenAid and wait. This was soaking the barrels the night before, mixing the ingredients in a bowl and putting it into the tub, adding ice and salt and cranking!   

 

Ethan and Jerry did a fantastic job while Cooper and Tristan supervised.  The final product was so good! One batch of vanilla and one batch of pink lemonade. It definitely made it feel like summer. After we had all cooled off with a treat Jake took me on a tour of the property. Since he spent many years living there, he was an excellent tour guide. The little ones decided to come along as well. 

I love this picture because Tristan looks like a tiny version of Grandpa Jack, always with rolled up jeans, plaid shirt and a blue hat. 

 

 Grandpa Jack, Jerry and Jake

It was a gorgeous day to be outside enjoying time with the family and a cold treat. A little more visiting and then it was back in the car to head north. One more night in Alturas and it was time to go home.

A Much Needed Vaca

As I mentioned before, Jake left for a work trip back at the end of May. His route home was going to take him through Hawaii, so it was decided that we could not pass up this opportunity and bought a ticket for me to meet him there for a vacation. The plan was for me to arrive on a Thursday and he would get in on Friday morning. This was going to be fine because I have a friend stationed there for the Army and my mom was going to be there for work so I had people to hang out with. All went well with my flight over and I had walked out to wait for the rental car shuttle. I glanced up when I saw a guy walk out from around a pillar nearby but thought nothing of it. As he took a couple steps closer I realized it was Jake! I was so surprised!! When I talked to him the day before I left he said he was in a hotel, which I took to mean a hotel in Samoa, not having dinner and drinks with my mom in Honolulu. This was a fantastic way to start a vacation.

We had a few ideas of things we wanted to do during the week, but mostly just looking forward to relaxing and catching up on all of our stories from the last two months.

Highlights from the week:
Seeing the Grovers (Jake's aunt, uncle and cousins).
Visiting Punchbowl and Jake's grandfather's grave for the first time.
Waiting all the way until day two to get sunburned!
Actually getting up on the stand-up paddle board.
The aquarium.
Eating breakfast on the lanai.
Pineapple! Guava juice!

Kayaking in Kailua and seeing sea turtles.
Seeing the houses my mom grew up in. Of course, Dukes and Moose McGullicuddy's.
Macadamia nuts as a souvenir.

It was such a great week. I asked Jake pretty much every day if he was sure I couldn't just retire and not go home. The answer never changed, so it was back to reality after a week of fun in the sun.

Now for the pictures...

 

Good Times in the Car

Sissy came to visit! Last weekend Sis made the short trip up from SLC to keep me company. We had Italian for dinner and then just hung out at home the first night. I introduced her to Portlandia, a TV show that mocks Portland, which is funny because it is so accurate. Since she used to live here, I knew she would appreciate it. This also provided the new theme for the weekend, "Put a bird on it". The weather was on our side on Saturday so we packed up our tennis shoes, sweatshirts and rain coats (just in case) and headed out to the coast to enjoy a day at Cannon Beach. It has been a long standing joke that we always seem to have an unusual amount of fun in a car together. This time was no exception. After wandering on the beach we walked up and down the main street and stopped in literally almost every store as we did not want to miss anything (especially if it had a bird on it!). Sis made some excellent finds and we re-discovered that I have a tiny head. Every hat I tried on that day was way too big, except the ones from the kids section, so alas, I did not purchase a hat. But we had a great time soaking up the sun and seeing the sights. The next day we got our shop on at H&M, since it has not yet arrived in SLC. After a fun weekend, and a little strategic packing to fit all of her purchases back in her suitcase, Sis was back on the train headed for the airport and I was on my way to work.It was a short visit but I certainly appreciated the company. Thanks for coming to visit Sissy!

Sailor Steve! (and yes, my hair totally loves the wind)

While we did have fun, we were sad that Jess could not be here. So I will include a picture of her anyway cause I love her!

Thoughts...

Just a warning that this post gets a little mushy - so if you aren't in the mood I would check back later. : )

Well, Jake has been gone for one week now. It's one of those times that one minute I think about it and it seems like he just left, and another time it seems that he has been gone for a long time already. Still not sure which is better. Every time he is gone I am reminded of just how lucky I am to have him in my life and how I probably don't tell him enough how much I appreciate all he does for me. It's the little things that remind me, like when I had to take out the trash and recycling and thought to myself "I can't remember the last time I had to do this". Or when I come home from work and there is no one here to ask how my day was. Normally I would tell him about a funny thing someone said or did, or how crazy it was trying to get everything ready for our board of directors visit next week. When he is gone I usually try to keep a running list of things to tell him about if/when I do get to talk to him. But thinking about it now, the funny thing that was said would loose its charm by the time we got to talk and would require a whole back story to go with it. Our time is limited when connecting via satellite phone and in the moment all I really want to do is know that he is ok out on that island and tell him that I love him. Nothing else really seems to matter. The weekends are the hardest. During the week I have work, gym, dinner, dishes to fill my day. All I have left is an hour or so to check the news and read before going to bed. The weekend though is two whole days and my only must-dos are workout, laundry and grocery shopping, certainly not 48 hours worth of activities. I am thankful for my mom and sister who are planning visits this month to keep me company. And I am sure Jake appreciates this too, as my alternate activity is usually shopping!

At the end of the day I am grateful that he is only gone for a few weeks at a time and those kind of trips have become more the exception that the rule. I think of the military wife's whose husbands who are gone for months/years at a time facing a whole different kind of "invasive species" and know that I could have it much worse.They say distance makes the heart grow fonder... I would say this is true, but with that distance also comes a bit of sadness.

Now, don't get me wrong, it is not all bad. I do enjoy my alone time as well. Eating a bowl of cereal for dinner (only occasionally, I swear!), staying at the gym a little longer cause there is no hurry to get home, having half as much laundry to do. As with most things in life, there are pros and cons, and really I am a little jealous that he has been able to see so many neat places that the majority of people never get to experience.

One week down, five and a half to go. I know I can do it and when I do, my reward will be a fun-filled vacation with the love of my life. See you soon Jacob!

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.