The Pierce Update
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Seasons Change
Wow! So much has happened since my last post. John came home from work and said he wanted to move back to Washington in February of 2011. I was settled in up there in Alaska and was working part-time in the kids' school as substitute teacher, librarian, and office staffer. I really enjoyed it. Learning all the kid's names was fun and challenging. I learned that I prefer the older crowd, and didn't like teaching first grade so much. In May, I found out I was pregnant and we made our move back on June 10th. Wow! Looking back, that was INSANE!
So we moved back to Washington and began our house hunt. We finally signed our closing documents and moved into our first home on December 30, 2011. My due date was the 20th of January and I was really hoping the baby would come a little early so John could be present for his birth. Well, he didn't come early. John went back to work and I went to a doctor's appointment. Our doctor said, "You'd better tell John to come home." So I called him at work and told him to come home. He began the 24 hour trip back home and arrived just in time. He walked through our door at about 4 p.m. and I was admitted to the hospital at around 8 p.m. Tarver didn't arrive until the next evening at 8:02 p.m. weighing 8 lbs 12 oz, measuring 19 inches long and fuzzy with auburn hair.
Now we're settled into the house (although it's not decorated--we have a lot of painting to do first). The kids are attending the wonderful school right down a walking path from our house. And Tarver is fitting in quite well with the rest of the family. I'll post some photos of the house. Just realize that lots of changes are in store. On our agenda we have: a kitchen to re-do, every wall to paint, the kitchen and bathroom floors to re-do, a bathroom remodel (maybe two), LOTS of landscaping work, and two decks to add-on.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Settling in nicely
Thursday, August 12, 2010
We're Home!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Heading North!
It's going to be a busy month. I've already begun packing the things we have here in Washington. I've decluttered the kids' collection of stuff--a little bit. And I've been daydreaming all day about my new house--it'll be a home once we settle into it.
People always ask me what I'm going to do in the winter and how I'm going to cope without daylight. Well, since I've never lived nor even visited Alaska, I don't really know. But....I will say I am a crafty person. I scrapbook. I sew. I want to sew a few quilts. I clean. I organize (over and over again)! I play piano and cannot wait to tickle the ivories on my piano again! I want to learn how to play guitar. And on my bucket list is "learn to play fiddle." I also love to workout, just haven't had the time lately. I think I'll have plenty to keep me busy!
I am SO EXCITED to see Alaska. I was really scared 8 years ago when John said he wanted to move to Alaska someday. My thought was, "Alaska?!!!? It's like a whole other country up there!? Is he joking?" Of course, he was serious. Had you asked me 12 years ago, a couple months before John and I got married, where we'd be living now, my answer would have been in the Puget Sound area. But then I went to college in Pullman and fell in love with the Palouse. After I graduated, we moved to California--NEVER in my wildest dreams--no, nightmares, would I have said we'd live in California! But I survived California, thanks to wonderful friends and a great church. I never would have guessed that John and I would have lived apart for a year either. Today marks the one year mark. YIKES! Time flew by.
So here we are. Thank God we've made it. And thank God I have an adventurous soul.
If you had asked me 12 years ago, where I pictured myself, I would have said "In John's arms." And that's where I'll be! I'm counting down the days.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
John's on the top of the world!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Halloween Fun
Since John is in Alaska and was touching down in Fairbanks at the time we began carving, I had to cut open, scrape out and carve the pumpkins without the extra set of hands. One thing I have to admit is that I loathe the feeling of pumpkin. It makes me itchy and it's cold, so my fingers get a wee bit frozen.
When all is said and done, and I step back and look at the cutely carved, amatuer looking gourds, I feel joyful. I have two hands that are capable, a creative eye, and still have both my hands after slicing and dicing away at the extra large vegetable.
This year, Liberty chose a headstone, and Canyon chose Thomas the Tank Engine. Funny thing, Thomas was really difficult (and Canyon's pumpkin is beginning to get a little soft) and the headstone took me about 5 minutes.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Lost in the Wilderness of Alaska
- 8:47 p.m. - I text Sandra to Ask when John is expected home.
- 10:58 p.m. - Sandra texts "tonight"
- 10:59 p.m. - I tell her thanks and I haven't heard from him and wanted to hear his voice.
- 11:00 p.m. - She says she hadn't heard from him either.
- Sometime after 11:00 p.m. Sandra called to tell me she talked to Johnnie's wife Sherry, and that the Haviland (enclosed ATV that runs on tracks) had lost a track sometime around 3:30 p.m and they were walking to find a road. They could hear a road, but so far hadn't found it.
- 3:28 a.m. - Sandra texts me to tell me that Johnnie had been picked up by family rescue crew. That where they were was a "swampy mess" and John and Chris (and Johnnie's two boys) were still out there and waiting for morning for daylight for rescue ("pickup" in Alaska standards).
- 3:32 a.m. - text from Sandra saying that it was hard to get out and she wasn't sure why John and Chris hadn't followed (although in hindsight, probably because you wouldn't want a couple kids trapsing through the swamp and getting hypothermia.) They had built a fire.
- 3:33 a.m. - Sandra tells me Johnnie says John and Chris are fine. They'll come on out in the morning.
- 3:42 a.m. - I start panicking and thinking John must be hurt and they're keeping him stable by the fire (you know how creative a mind I have and boy was it working overtime last night!)
- Hours passed and I got more confused and worried and popped a Xanax knowing that at least I could sleep a little and not go into complete panic mode!
- 7:27 a.m. WA time, 6:27 a.m. Alaska time -Sandra texts me to tell me "it's not daylight yet."
- 10:56 a.m. - Johnnie texts me to tell me that he "got ur (my) hubby and heading back"
- 11:03 a.m. - I text Johnnie "Scared me to death!"
- 11:10 a.m. - Johnnnie texts me to say "He is fine lost some weight" (HAHA-my addition)
- 11:12 a.m. - I told Johnnie "Well, I married a big guy I want a big guy back!"
- Waited and waited and waited to hear John's voice.....
- 2:02 p.m. - John finally calls me from a cafe they all rode 4-wheelers to so they could eat.
Oh my good grief! John has survived his first Alaska wilderness adventure and I am still a little groggy from the anti-anxiety meds I used to keep me from completely losing my mind! Keep in mind the last time I'd heard from John was at 2:05 p.m. on Saturday-- 48 hours prior! At that time he told me they'd arrived at the cabin and it was awesome up there. Right on a lake, mountains in front of them, he wished I could be there, I would love it.
Items on John's Christmas list (my creation): sattelite telephone, personal GPS, survival kit, rifle with lots of ammo, trained pigeon (so he can send it out to deliver the message of his whereabouts).
John jokingly said the next time, it's my turn and he's sending me out with Sherry, Johnnie's wife. She's an Alaska gal through and through and a heck of a baker from what I hear, so I'll be OK. My toes may freeze off---literally, but I'll survive.
Sigh. And I'm off to take a 5 hour energy shot.