Quick Trip to Klamath Falls

Before we left to Alaska I wanted to make one more trip to Klamath Falls to visit our friends there. Kyle had come for ten days which also included Thanksgiving. I thought that would be a fun trip for us to go on. (And there would probably be snow and Kyle could drive it, I am still nervous to drive in the snow, I know that is kind of funny now that I am living in Alaska and that is all we have right now- hopefully I will get the hang of it.) Our plan was to leave after the bazaar, but a storm had hit the pass so we put off till the next day.

Here are the kids enjoying the ride down to K Falls, The reason for Kallie's funny face is because she is singing to the song that is on. When we got into town we went over to our good friends the Peterson and had dinner with them. Their family is so awesome and I treasure our friendships with them. Cathy had set up a girls night out with all my great friends in Klamath falls. It was so fun to get together with them. We always have so much fun, I sure do miss them.

Here is all the ladies, sure do love ya all.

Kathy, Janette, Chris, Christy, Carissa, Jamie, Julie and Cathy

We had rent a room at the Running Y Ranch and enjoyed our night stay there. In the morning we wanted to go swimming but the pool was closed off to kids for adults swim. We did the next best thing pretended to play video games. We check out and then went and visited with  Ryan and then headed home. It was so much fun to go see everyone.

Kyle's Graduation Part 2

I know that it has been a couple months since Kyle graduated, but the first post I put up was pictures from Kallie's camera and I never got around to the ones on mine. These are pictures that we had taken after the ceremony at the little social they do afterwards.

The whole time that Kyle was going to school, I told him I wanted him to walk. So I could get a picture of him in his cap and gown with the whole family. Now the picture I dreamt of the whole time was not the one I got. 

 Here is the family picture. Not exactly what I was hoping for (Karlee eating an apple, weird faces from the kids, and sunglasses), we were only able to get one picture snapped with all that was going on. But you I am grateful that we did get a family picture. :0)

 I loved it, Kyle was smiling from ear to ear that day. I don't blame him, I was too. 

I am so proud of him.

Kyle and I.

We made it, I mean he did it!

P.S. He is really enjoying working as a Nuc Med Tech! He loves his job!

Kyle Graduation

We took a trip down to Klamath Falls so Kyle could walk in graduation. The three years we were going to college; I told him "you are going to walk so I can get a picture ( Plus there is something about walking for graduation- I loved it when I did for Snow College). And in the end I think he was glad that he did it.

Kyle's mom and brother also came down for it and we were grateful that they came for the support. (They had car trouble coming down and I feel so bad about that).

Our little cheering crowd.

On day of graduation we got up early so we could get a good seat. We did but my friend had an even better seat so I gave her my camera, the following pictures are done by her-Thank you Chris!

Here is the bag piper that led the procession of golden owls, professors, and the graduates.

Tyler, Ryan, Kyle, and his professor Rick

Kyle looking in the crowd, trying to find us.

We are on the top row waving our arms for him to see us.

Kyle is first one in from the 2nd loud speaker.

Kyle getting ready to walk on stage

First hand shake, she is the head of the radiologolic department.

The lady in the red coat in the back ground is the ASL translator.

At this point it was drizzling with the wind blowing.

YAY!!! HE GOT IT!!!

The actual diploma was in the case.

President Maples gave it to him.

He is checking it out! WOW!

We are in the crowd blowing our horns and screaming his name, (he couldn't heard us - but the men in front of us was not to happy with our excited happiness.)

We are so proud of him!!!

Way to go Kyle!!

Family + Lava Beds+ Swimming = FUN Weekend

This past weekend my parents, Serena and Randall came and checked out Klamath Falls, where we live and all go to school. They got in to Klamath Falls around 10 am. We then went over to OIT so Kyle could give them a tour of the campus and show them where he goes to class.

Then we went to the Lava Caves in California. It was a lot of fun. We had never been there before and either had the other. It was really cool and neat to go into them. There is over 300 tunnels, we only did three caves.

Had dinner then went over to there hotel swimming pool and the kids had a blast. They came to church with us and had dinner too. Then they were back on the road to Portland. It was a quick weekend (I swear it went super fast), but it was so much fun. Thank You for coming Pa2, Ma2, Serena and Randall. Come back anytime- love ya!

Ma2 Comes for a Visit

After school got out Ma2 came out for visit to Klamath Falls to see where we lived. She came in on Kelsie's birthday but got in real late and dark, so she couldn't see much. Her train had been delay because a bomb threat in Salem. The next morning we showed her around our house (in the light), and around Klamath Falls. We took a hike in Moore Park, where you can over look the lake and part of the city. This is a picture of them sitting on a bench at the overlook.

Here are the kids hanging out on a fallen tree on the hike.

This is from another time that we took the same hike. But I like this picture because it reminds me of an AT&T commerical with the kids standing as the bars.

During the rest of the time that Ma2 was in town. We went to lots of parks, took a lot of drives around town and the area to show her around. We even made a trip to California, we only live about a half an hour from it. So we drove to the border and then said we went to California. We went to church. And just enjoyed having Ma2 visit with us. Ma2 Thank You for coming and visiting us.

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day in Klamath Falls they have a parade, the kids and I adventure over to it. And ran into some friends, we watched the parade with them. Here is the kids waiting for the parade to start.

Giving the Shriner a high five as he drove past in his "really cool car" as Jaron would say.
Then the kids and I walked over to Veterans park to view the field of flags. It was an awesome sight.

We are so grateful for our freedom, that so many have sacrifice so we can have it. Thank you Troops and their family. There are two special ones to me. My brothers Scotty and his family, and John. Thank You for all you are doing for us. We love you!!!

Flash Flood Warning...

...Over there in Jackson County, but there is a flood in my garage. What is up with that? Tuesday I had done a couple loads of Landry, was working on the goody bags for Kelsie birthday party, and watching two kids for the lady I visit teach. She came and picked up her kids, as she picked them up it started to hail which turned into a down pour- wait no it was like someone was pouring a bucket of water on us. At first I thought this was cool and reminded me of the Portland area. I had even let the kids go outside and play in the rain and puddles.

While they were outside I went into my garage to grab the clothes out of the dryer to fold them. When I open the door there was a stream, wait no a river of water flowing through the garage floor. Oh I was sick to my stomach to see all of that water. Luckily when we moved in we put all the plastic boxes on bottom stacking the cardboard boxes on top. so they didn't get wreck. But we still needed to get the inch of water out of garage. So for the rest of the night Kallie, Jaron, and I squeegeed out all the water. Luckily it was muggy out so the water dried quickly once we got the water off the floor.

Fun times for a place that claims it only like rain here 10 days of the year. When it rains it pours.

"The Sound of Freedom"

Today I went with Jaron and his kindergarten class on a field trip to Kinsley Air Force Base. It was a lot of fun and Jaron enjoyed it too. The Air Force Base is on the edge of Klamath Falls. It is a base where they train pilots in F-15, you can always hear the jets go over our house or town. It is a cool sound to hear all the time. At first when we moved here the jets were really loud and noticeable but over it is just something I expect to hear. But the sad part is that the jets are moving to the Boise base at the end of the month so that they can repave the run way here.

We arrived at the base and loaded off the bus and into a room where the pilots told us what we were going to be doing and handed out earplugs and explained to us that we needed to keep the earplugs in. We were going to go watch the jets taking off.

We loaded all of us on the AF bus and drove on over to the runway and got out of the bus with our earplugs in and watched as jets took off. It was so awesome when it took off past us it would shake your whole body. Jaron loved it. We were able to watch and feel six jets take off. The pilot that was giving us the tour, told us that the noise the jets make are not just noise but the sound of freedom.This is a picture of one of the jets taking off.

After we watched the jets take off, we went back to the classroom and a pilot came in and showed us all the gear they wear when flying the jets. It was cool to see, I didn't know that they had to wear these air chaps (that is what they look like) around their legs so that their blood continues to flow right. Because they go up so high so fast. This is a picture of him in his gear.

We watch a couple short shows about jets and then went out to the hanger and got out picture taken with a pilot in the cockpit. And then a group shot next to a jet. I don't have those pictures because I was able to in the picture, but I will post it when I get them. The picture below is what is on the back tail of the jets.

This is a picture of Jaron and I on the way back to the school on the bus. We had a lot of fun together I am so glad that I got to go with him. He is such a good boy. I love him so much.

Search for the Bald Eagles...

This Saturday we went for a ride as a family to go find the Bald Eagles (Kyle said that once we found them we couldn't make jokes make any bald jokes (0: ) It was a fun time had by all in the van. Klamath Falls area is known for the opportunity of being able to see the Bald Eagles. They have a festival it is called Winter Wings Festival. If you want to see the link about it, it is http://www.winterwingsfest.org/. The festival is over Presidents Day Weekend but we thought that we would go find them this weekend, next weekend is a little busier. So we left at 1pm , that was our first mistake we should of left early in morning. You are better able to see them in the morning. When we got on the road we headed down into California, towards Klamath Basin . As we drove we kept our eyes open for Eagles- that was our main goal. But as we went we saw this lake that had over a 100 some kind of white birds it was awesome to see. I think they were White Pelicans, this picture does not do it justice.

We stopped at this one view point, to see if we could find some there. There wasn't, but it had a great view of a lake. So Kyle got a picture of the kids on the rocks to look like birds. We had birds on our mind. As Kelsie got out of the car she said "Wait I got to get my camera so I can take my pictures". It was cute because her camera is a toy Tinkerbell camera, not real. Then when she got back in the car she had brought her handful of rocks that she collects whenever she sees rocks. She was ready to share them with Karlee and I said no Karlee can't have rocks she will eat them. Kelsie then chucks the rocks out the door and says "Oh okay goodbye rocks," she cracks me up by the things that she does.

As we were heading towards the ranger station visitor center, Kyle started making this weird whooping noise and pointing. I was looking at him like what is wrong, but he kept pointing and whooping. Finally he slowed down the car to almost a stop and said "LOOK!" On the side of the road there was about 20 doe deer eating the grass. He said it was a sight that he had never seen before. And that his hunter side came through and was very excited to see it. Now we have an inside joke for Kyle on what sound we make when we see a deer. (0:

We stopped at Visitor center and saw a video on birds, got pamphlets, and asked where would be the best place to see the eagles. They had this cool wall that had bird wallpaper and actual stuffed birds hanging form the ceiling. I thought that would make an awesome picture to make it look like the kids are standing in the middle of the birds. Here is a Jaron flying with the birds. Below Kallie is being attacked by the birds, just kidding Karlee is attacking Kallie's zipper. But I love Kallies face in the picture. I couldn't get Kelsie to pose in the pictures.

After we got our pictures with the birds we headed out on the Wildlife Tour Route (by car) on Tule Lake. It was is a one way 9.6 mile tour. The self guided tour talked to us about how the lake has gone down from what it was, and what kind of bird we could see. So we continue to keep our eyes peeled for the eagles, we thought maybe we had saw some but it turned out they were crows. We were almost done with route when we saw one sitting on the pole perch, so we crept closer and closer all the while snapping pictures in hopes that we could get a shot. Well we got close and this is what it was....

Okay it is not a Bald Eagle, but at least it is an eagle. We are just claiming that he is dirty and hasn't had his bath yet for the Winter Wing Festival. We are thinking that he is a Golden Eagle. We were excited to see him. And to be able to have a fun afternoon as a family seeing the new area where we are living. We can't wait until it warms up so we can go see the Lava Beds down here.

This Is The Way To Grandma's House

Saturday December 20th we left Klamath Falls at 6:45 a.m. in order to miss the snow storm that was coming and make it to Gladstone. Kyle had checked the weather for two weeks prior to this. Trying to figure out what would the best way to go that would require the least amount of time that we would have to keep the chains on. He decided taking highway 140 and going through Medford to get to I-5. The usual route we go is highway 97 to 58 then to I-5 and that takes about 4 1/2 hours. But with the snow and different route the drive took longer. It ended up being 6 1/2 hours. We drove with chains on from Klamath Falls to about 15 miles before Medford. And the streets were good as we went into Gladstone. But on our tail was a snow storm that the Portland area had not seen in 30 years. I am so glad that Kyle was wise to the weather and got us there safe. Here is a picture of us going through the pass by Medford. They received more snow in Gladstone then what I got a picture of in this pass.

Baby It's Cold Outside

We had two feet of snow here in Klamath Falls. Being from Gladstone/ Oregon City I totally thought that they would cancel school for that, but I was wrong- they still had school all week, except for Friday. I don't trust myself driving in the snow. So I had to walk to get the kids from school. The school is only a half of mile away from our house. I bundled up Kelsie, Karlee, and I. And we went and got them. The kids and I were frozen when we got home. We had hot chocolate to warm up. YUM! This is a picture of Karlee and I and how we bundled up to walk and get the kids.

baby it is cold outside

All I want for Christmas ....

Ever since we moved into our place here in Klamath Falls the refridgator wouldn't work right it would either freeze the food or just be as warm as room temputare. So we told the land lord and she got us a new fridge Yay!! Another thing that hasn't worked since we have been here is our dyer the funny thing is that it worked when we lived in Oregon City. But when we plugged it in here it wouldn't warm the clothes. I thought it was the fuse but the land lord thought that it was our dryer. So she let us borrow her dryer, since our wasn't working. When we plugged in her dryer it wouldn't warm up clothes. So she called her electrician and he came and took a look. Guess what the problem was... the fuse. So now we have a working dryer again in our house Yay!! Can I tell how excited I am that I don't have to take a week worth of clothes to the laundry mat to be dried. Fun Stuff.

The old fridge- Rest In Peace

The NEW fridge-Yay!!!

They Said That It Would Come and It Came

"There are Angels among us"

"Watch out, duck!"

" I finally got to wear my snow boots"

"I wonder if this is full of snow I will find out"

The weather man said it was going snow, and it did. The kids were so excited they got dressed as fast as they could. And finally able to wear there snow boots, which they have been begging to wear since they got them. But we always told them to wait because it would look kind of weird. The kids had fun in the snow and then came back in about ten minutes later, it takes them longer to get ready, then the amount of time that they spend outside.