Our home!

Life has been a little extraordinary lately. We are so completely overwhelmed at how God continues to bless us incredibly. It's so neat to really see God work... When we pray wholeheartedly... he really does listen and answer... I just love that! And you can't really explain the awe that comes over you when you see and realize the greatness of our God.

As you know from our last blog, Brian and I got our first home. After lots of sleepless nights, impatient waiting, TONS of signatures and finally a souvenir pen from the Title company, the next day, Tuesday, Nov. 25 we got the keys! What a fun feeling! Homeowners?! weird we're actually old enough for this!

The weekend before we got the house... we had to go out and do something to take our minds off of the house...



Our first time in our home as the official owners:



Brian and I immediately got to work that night, pulling up carpet to make sure that the wood floors we were dreaming about were really there. Thankfully under the stained, smelly, disgusting carpet, we found the hard wood oak floors! Unfortunately the previous homeowners were careless when painting the walls and left paint spots ALL over the floors.... so we now HAVE to get the floors refinished. If it weren't for the paint, the floors are in excellent condition! We decided to hire out to get them professionally done, We've heard several horror stories of amateurs attempting to sand and finish their own floors and it coming out uneven and even gouges in the floor. We want perfection.... yea right! :)















Talking about perfection... we've spent the last 4 days doing nothing but sanding the walls. The walls were filled with uneven spackling paste from other people trying to fix the wall. The first day we did it all by hand.... no electrical anything.... that took way too long! So we borrowed an electric sander and bought one for ourselves.. You can only image how sore we were after holding a 15 lb sander to the high walls and straight above on a ladder to the ceiling! Well.... I should say, how sore a wimpy office worker (who sits all day) is... AKA.... Me! Well.... my master/slave-driver... AKA Brian, doesn't give me much rest! :) (I still love ya "hun"!)













All the random pieces or furniture and stuff in the house is the previous owner's. She was planning on donating it all to goodwill.... but we decided to do it for her and keep what we want to! Including 2 REALLY good fans, shovels (snow and dirt), hoses, a really big nice desk, and tons of other stuff we really don't want... an 80's Boom Box (the kind you put on your shoulder and act cool while walking down the street), a 60/70s tv built-in the table like piece with a turn table and music equipment, and plenty of random items such as stuffed animals, cowboy boots, miller light light up plug in, mini jukebox, TONS of books.... ya know, the usual! lol!

We hope to get through all that today or tomorrow to come home to a "clean" home.

We're having fun with our home and already are getting more attached. And still dreaming of more projects to do "some day"! Our favorite part of the house is the deck looking into the back yard. We've already set up a bench in the yard and had a picnic/lunch break. Even in the 40 degree weather. As long as I'm in the sun, I can survive! :) Brian decided if we had a quote of the day it be: "If I never knew about Jesus and God, I'd totally be a sun worshiper" -Jill

We'll be in Louisiana Dec 4th (Thursday night) through the 13th (Sat Morning)! We're going to be in Pineville through Sunday, Then Deridder, then Baton Rouge, then back up to Pineville. So if you're in town.... call us! We're pretty stoked about going home! Happy Early Christmas!

HomeOwners!!!

yes!

After about a month of house hunting... one almost offer and one rejected offer... we got the house that seems to fit us perfectly! It's in the neighborhood we both enjoy - and on the lower end, which makes driving in the snow a lot easier when we dont have to go up steep hills. It has a cool basement.... which is something totally new to us! A GREAT fenced backyard with a nice covered deck... just asking for a new little part of our family ... that is, a DOG! The house is definitely a fixer-upper.. which we're actually real excited about... especially the wood floors under the nasty dirty grandma carpet!!!! But, somehow... she only took baths.... so we'll be installing a showerhead too! There are plenty of other things.... but those are the first two main projects on our hands that we'll tackle, hopefully VERY soon!!! The plan is to move in around Thanksgiving!!!! So soon!!!!

When we went to sleep last night it was a normal night, but when we woke up..... BEAUTIFUL! A city covered in white! SNOW!!! and it did all day! Im beginning to appreciate and like Klamath Falls more and more! So, Brian went to take some pictures of our new home.... only of the outside right now. We'll send more soon! Love you all!!

Another walk in the woods....but BIGGER

It's been much too long since we've posted pictures and told of our travels. So, in the words of the Princess Bride, "Let me essplain....Nope. No time. Let me summ upp!"

My fire detail on the Rattle Fire was great! Fourteen straight shifts of sixteen-hour days, working in, on, or in the path of, the 21,000 acre fire.


Some days were harder than others, but by the end of the two weeks I really was sad to go back to normalcy. To my delight and surprise, they stuck me on a chainsaw. It was the toughest job on the crew, but I hate to watch other people out do me.


This is the smoke column one of the days it blew up. It gained about 7,000 acres in one afternoon.....right over all the hard work we just finished. At this stage, the smoke is classified as a pyro-cumulous cloud, as in "fire cloud".

So I admit it. I blew it. I didn't make it home in time to celebrate Jill's birthday. But, I salvaged an attempt the day I got back.

But luckily, Mrs. Sherry - Jill's mom - stopped in for a visit.....after 16 hours of flying....and spent a week making some memories.

Jill and her Mom went to Crater Lake during the week, but the real fun started when we left for the West Coast to see some local vegetation.

I had seen the coast once before, but this was a first for mother and daughter.






The wife made me take the last one...I swear.

We spent the night in Crescent City, Cali., and the next morning we drove through some trees. A lot of trees. Big trees. I hear they're popular.






These at "The Trees of Mystery" were fun, but they were little squirts. It takes a little determination to find the BIG redwoods.




















(Having lunch under the redwoods.)
I was never impressed by one tall tree. I was BLOWN AWAY how ALL of them were ENOMROUS!!! I want to go back to find that one truly giant tree.






















Our second night we stayed in Eureka, Cali. then headed back over the Cascades to Redding. It was a lot of driving for one weekend, but our spirits were instantly lifted when Jill randomly yelled out "PICK YOUR OWN PUMPKINS??!!!! Can we stop? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!" As if I had a choice, we did, and it was the best rest break I've ever had on a road trip.

When we went to pay for our selections (tall skinny pumpkin for me, short squaty for Jill) there was a sign saying "Guess my weight and take me home." I was a little over a pound off, which wasn't near close enough. Jill, however, was within a quarter of a pound, so we brought the baby home! It's good to know she can pull her weight in pumpkins in this marriage. Next year I'm bringing her to the fair. PAY DIRT!!



Mrs. Sherry eventually had to leave the land of pumpkin bounty and return to the Promised Land, but we had such a great visit while it lasted. It was very special for her to fly all 2,500 miles just to see little ole us. Hopefully we showed her enough Western Wonders for her to come back some day. (I bet grandkids would be a sure fire OR How about grand dogs??! Yeah!)


So my chatting has gone on long enough, but maybe next time I'll tell you about my solo exploration of the Sky Lakes Wilderness after our first snow.














Notice the fresh deer tracks on the snowy trail? But I digress...

Thanks for tuning in and enjoy the Fall! We sure are!!

Maybe next time we'll have tales of how we purchased our own home!!