Relay for Life

Have your participated in Relay for Life before?  I had not.  I didn’t know what to expect, and really didn’t know anything about it. 
So what was this all about?  A friend from church, Dani Gilbert, was diagnosed a couple of months ago with Colon Cancer.  This has obviously been a life changing event in their family, and an eye opener for the rest of the ward.  We have watched her go off to Anchorage every couple of weeks for chemo treatments, and have prayed for her and her family.  In May several of us ran a triathlon, something that Dani had been training for but was not able to do.  We had a big representation from the ward, all wearing bright green shirts with the logo Tri for Dani.  That event had been a lot of fun, especially doing it with so many friends cheering each other on.  After completing the triathlon we all were geared up and excited to do something else.  A 24 hour relay sounded great to me. 
And so it began.  Dani organized the team “Tri 4 Dani”.  Many people got to work on fundraising ideas.  I was slow in that aspect.  I have never been good at fundraising.  I can’t ask people for money, and I really had no ideas.  Another friend, Audrey, organized a bake sale; which we were all glad to contribute to.  Who doesn’t love to bake up treats for a good cause? 
The big day dawned, with only a partly cloudy sky, and excitement running high.   I still was not quite clear on how everything worked, but walking all night somehow appealed to me, so that was the time slot I signed up for.  I showed up to find ort booth around 5:00 pm Friday night to bring the tables.  I say booths set up all around the track, each one had something to sell, raffle, or auction in the name of the cause.  There were already a lot of people there, but I didn’t have time to stay.  From the sound of it I wish that I had for the kick off ceremony.  But alas, I had found my fundraising idea.  I would decorate  mini cakes to be in a silent auction on Saturday.  As I would be out walking all night I had planned on getting these done earlier so that I would be able to go to bed, but things never work out as I plan and I had to run home to complete the cakes.   I had already spent several hours already, but still had a lot of work to do.

In the end I think the time spent was worth it.  Plus I got some good practice making and working with fondant. 
By 9:30 I was headed back to the field to deliver the finish cakes and then was supposed to hurry home and straight to bed.  That didn’t quite work out either.  I brought Chad down with me to see everything that was going on.  At 10:00 at night lots of people were still going strong, the d.j. had the music blaring, and the track was full of people walking.  At our booth it had become a ward activity.   There were lots of people from church there, and other coastie friends that had joined the team.  We also had several things going to raise money, popcorn, hot chocolate, face painting, hair up dos, bottles of water, soda, and strings and bead so that people could count their laps. 
The kids had also come with us, and were excited to see many of their friends there.  We had our own little tent village for the people that had decided to camp overnight.  The kids really wanted to stay, so at 10:30 we were rushing home to grab the tent and sleeping bags.  Chad would stay home with Kaylin while I took the rest of the kids camping.  There was till plenty of day light left at 11:00 to get the tent set up and attempt to have kids in bed by midnight.  That did not work either as they were too wired to stay in sleeping bags, and couldn’t resist the pull of popcorn.  
At midnight was the luminary ceremony as people bought luminaries in honor of loved one lost to cancer.   During the midnight hour no one was to be out walking.  I spent that time in our tent with other night owls talking and laughing, and mostly trying not to fall asleep.  I find cake decorating for hours at a time can really take it out of me.  I had finally threatened the kids that I would take them home to sleep if they did not stay in their sleeping bags, so for the time all was quiet. 

At 1:00 am I began.  My good friend Ambee Hill signed up to walk with me.  Walking all night long alone really would not have been any fun.  We kept a nice easy pace, not wanting to get completely worn out.  And we had our string of beads, collecting another bead each time we came past our team tent.  I told Ambee I wanted to get 10 miles.  Does that sound like to much? It sounded reasonable to me.  That is just over 3 miles an hour for the 3 hour time slot we had signed up for.  But did we really want to maintain that kind of pace for 3 hours?  Not really, but 10 miles still sounded impressive.  During our time we talked about Primary, she is the President, I am the councilor.  We talked about families, and kids, and husbands, and workouts.  Around 3:00 we were joined by a girl from another team, and we enjoyed a morning of walking with friends.  The weather was nice, with was not windy, and we were not very chilly as we kept moving.
We had originally signed up to walk from 1 am to 4am, but as 4:00 came we felt good to keep going, and we were at 4 miles and wanted to get to 10.  We watched as each lap become lighter, and we hoped to see the sun come up.  Alas, hope of a brilliant sunrise were dashed around 4:30 when the cloud gathered and let loose the rain we all know so well.  Just a half hour to go and we looked forward to the hot chocolate waiting in our tent, warm dry sleeping bags, and some sleep.

We made it, wet but feeling accomplished.  4 hours of walking, 10 miles down and time for some sleep.  Sleep did not last long as the d.j. cranked up the music at 6:00 to wake up everyone on the track.  By 7:30 the kids were all up so we gathered up the wet sleeping bags, grabbed some doughnuts from Safeway and headed home, where we knew it would be dry and warm.
After getting a couple of hours sleep we loaded up all the kids and the stroller and was back at the field for another hour of walking.  The silent auction closed and I got some gratification when I saw the demand on my cakes.  I was a little worried how they would pass the night in the tent with the rain coming down.  Then we began taking down tents and packing up.  The kids had a blast running around with friends and the excitement in the air was uplifting.   
Then it was home to spend several more hours, not sleeping, but writing a talk for the next day.  I had been called on Thursday night and asked to speak, so Saturday night was really the first and last chance I had to prepare.   I think that it went well despite my lack of sleep and writing in a state close to delirium.  Soon it too was accomplished and  the weekend was over.

Here are some random pictures Alyssa took during all the festivities.  Enjoy!

 

Rot, Mold, and Cob Webs

The last few days were very busy, long, and tiring days. It really all began a couple of weeks ago, Chad and I had walked around the back of the shed looking for the kids. Chad leaned against the back wall and realized that if he tried to, he could push his hand through the siding. Yep, it was completely rotten. Normally we never go back there, so we had not noticed the problem before.

This week the weather turned clear and nice, so Chad jumped on the chance and planned on replacing the rotten siding. Wednesday night after work we headed to the hardware store to get the needed materials. He began pulling off a small chunk of siding to find that everything underneath was rotten too. He made the decision to take the next two days off work, and the project began.

Thursday morning dawned cloudy, but no rain; so we began to peal off the siding. This was also the day of Brett Banks funeral up in Anchorage. All day I could not keep my mind off Tiffany. I wish that I could have been there with her, but my place was here helping Chad. The missionaries came by for a few minutes to pull down the rest of the siding. You know that it is really bad when it all crumbles in your hand and the wall comes down in handfuls. Step one was done, we could now see the extent of the damage, and the need for another trip to the hardware store.

We consulted with our neighbor, who does construction, and a friend from church. The plan began to form. First we would need to replace the rotten beam that was holding up the floor joist. We could rent a couple of jacks and jack the floor up while we pulled out the old and put up the new. Instead we got a 2x12 inch beam in behind the old ones and braced it up from behind. This meant crawling around under the shed to get this beam up. Chad is not a fan of spiders or their webs, and we found a lot.

Getting the first support beam in actually took most of the first day. So Friday morning we were ready to start pulling the rotten one out.

And put the new one up. We now have 3 2x12 boards nailed together. We used pressure treated boards so that we will hopefully never have to do this again.

Next we needed to replace the rotten footer beneath the rotten studs. We also had to cut out part of the floor that was also rotten. In the beginning we had hoped to not have to pull down the whole wall. That meant moving food storage and taking down the shelves. In the end that actually seemed like the easier option. So, while Chad made yet another trip to the hardware store, I got busy moving everything off the shelves and began taking the shelves down. Chad got back with a new electric drill, and we had the walls done in no time. (This was the only tool he had to buy for this project. Amazingly we already almost everything else that we needed. We did have a drill/screw driver too, but it was battery powered and Chad was tired of charging batteries.) So each armed with a power drill, we tackled the walls.

Then we cut about 7” out of the rotten floor. Most of the studs were no longer even attached, but were just hanging from the header.

Next Chad used his handy fence he made to rip down the ply wood to patch the floor up. And we got the new floor put down.

Then we began replacing the studs one at a time.

I was not just the camera man on this job. I was getting down and dirty with it from the beginning, but I asked Chad to take one picture to prove it.

Finally we had the floor in, the footer replaced, and studs that were actually attached.

By this time it was about 9:30 at night. We were able to put the 2 x 12 cap piece to seal up the floor joists.

A huge apology to the neighbors as we were still using the power tools until about 10:30. I know that it doesn’t look it, but when the sun comes out it stays out. We finally were ready to put up the siding and seal it all in for the night. Over twelve hours of work, but we defiantly had something to show for it.

We still had another hour of clean up just putting all the tools away, but it was nice to have the deck to work on. We had lots of room to work and we had things scattered all over the back yard.

Saturday came, but we were not done yet. We had made quite the mess with all the demolition.

With the kids help we got it all cleaned up. We loved having a big old truck, to help haul everything off.

Chad cut down the tree branches that had been against the shed wall. These had been the culprit behind the whole rotten mess. The branches against the wall kept the moisture and rain from ever drying out. Cutting these down should keep this from happening again. As he cut we began to see more light filtering through into the yard and he got excited and began limbing more trees. Now he starting to thing about what trees we can get rid of completely.

When we began this project we had no idea all that it would in tale. I know that if we had known we may not have undertaken it ourselves. Once we started we just took it one step at a time and it all turned out. We got the whole project done in less than three days, and we did it all with just the two of us.

So what is our next big project? Shingles. Anyone want to help.

Too Many Good Bye’s

Yesterday I stood at the ferry dock with Sam as she said good bye to her best friend, Dara.  Sam and Dara have been almost inseparable since the first day of kindergarten.   Sam is my shy child, at least for the first 5 minutes after you meet her.   She had been really nervous going to her first day of school.   She was looking forward to doing all the things Alyssa got to do, but she was scared because she would not know anyone.   That only lasted until she got to the door of her class room.  Sam has an infectious spirit and she gets along with everyone, and she was so excited to come home and tell me all about the two girls she met that lived close to us.  For the past four years Dara and Morgan have been a fixture in our home.  Not many days go by without one or both of them coming by to ride bikes, play, or call to invite Sam over.  She has been really lucky to have two such wonderful friends, and I love having them in our home.  They have come to church activities with us, sleepovers, parties,  and play dates.   If ever we could not find Sam, we never had to look very far.

Living in a Coast Guard community we have seen our share of friends come and go.  Summer can be an exciting time to meet the new friends moving in, but almost every year we have to see someone go.  This year Sam is saying good by to the Overcash family, and her best friend.  For several months Sam has started to cry remembering that Dara’s family is transferring to North Carolina.  Since school was out we have had a sleep over every week with Dara being the friend of choice more often than not. 

So yesterday found the two of us standing down on the ferry dock with cookies and balloons in hand.  Sam and Dara both putting on a brave face for a couple of pictures. (The pictures will have to come later as I didn’t think to grab my camera.)   Dara’s mom and I trying to hold back the tears ourselves.  They had just a few short minutes to talk before they were called back to the car to begin loading.  As we watched them walk away the tears really began, Sam sobbing and my own tears mingling in as I hugged her tight.  There is not much I can say to make her feel better.  She has other friends, but like her mother, she becomes really attached to people.   Saying good bye sometimes is just too hard. 

It has been an emotional week for me as well.  The tears keep falling of their own free will, and my heart is broken for my own dear friend.  Living so far  away from family, our church and our friends have become family.   One of the many friends that I have had to say good bye to over the years is Tiffany Banks.  Tiffany became a great friend for our first three years in Kodiak, doing many things together.  We were even pregnant together.    With babies on our backs we went hiking and to the beach.  We even took a belly dancing class together through the college and preformed at Crab Fest.  In all my time with Tiffany I saw the kind of person I wanted to be.  She was patient with kids, willing to teach others and share of herself, and she was truly compassionate.  

Last Wednesday on July 7 we got word that a Coast Guard Helicopter stationed in Sitka had gone down.  Chad called me to let me know and said call  Tiffany to make sure Brett is ok.  They had transferred to Sitka three years ago and  Brett was a flight mechanic on the helicopters.  I didn’t have her number anymore, so I got on facebook to look it up.  She had posted, “Pray for Brett”.    That told me he was on the downed ‘copter.  We still did not know, but I posted that we were praying.  Within minutes Terri Musgrave,  another long lost friend called.  She had seen my post and had  just got the news, Brett didn’t make it.   We cried together for Tiffany, for her two boys, and for the little girl who will be born in September without a father.

Today I watched the Coast Guard Memorial Service  that was broadcast from Sitka.  Tears could not be stopped as I identified Tiffany walk in and sit on the front row.  I could see her, but she was still so far away, and I felt helpless in her suffering.  We were created to be compassionate people, and my heart was breaking for her.    I ached to give her a hug when she was presented with a flag followed by the 21 gun salute and the playing of taps.  

Many times when we say good bye it is with the hope that we will see each other again.   As I told Sam standing out on the dock, we can always email and call.  Maybe they will come back to Kodiak someday.  I know I was looking forward to Brett and Tiffany possibly coming back next year.   For now the tears keep coming for the friends who are gone, the ones we love and miss.   And prayers continue for Tiffany and her family.

Out of the mouth of babes

If I don’t record those cute things the kids say I will never remember them. 

I guess Connor has gotten into the super hero stage.   Not really, but he likes the sayings.  A couple of weeks ago he was getting breakfast.  He ran into the kitchen saying “Sugar to the recue!”  Of course I busted up laughing, and asked what sugar was rescuing him from.  He grabbed the sugar canister and ran back to the table where his bowl of cornflakes as waiting.  He very seriously answered “from starving, Mom.”   There may have been an eye roll in there, but I was laughing too much to pay much attention.

 

Last night was another of those moments.  Chad and I were sitting comfortably watching a movie.  We were about 1/2 through when Chad decided he wanted popcorn.  He was slouched down in the bean bag and wanted a hand up.  I sent Kaylin to help daddy.  She walked right up to Chad, threw her hands in the air, and very clearly yelled “Up!”  

 

Well she was helpful.  Once we stopped laughing we got up and made popcorn.

Independence Day Run

The Independence Day run was held on Monday July 5. Yeah!! This meant that I was able to run it. The last big even with a 40 mile bike ride, but it was held on Sunday, the day before Memorial Day, so I was not able to participate. I only found out a couple of days ago that this year the run would be on the 5th, and I was really excited. In fact I was so excited that I convinced a couple of good friends to run it with me. See what a great friend I am? I drag others along on my painful quests! Thank you gals for coming along!!

Do you notice that I am on my tip toes to be just a little bit taller next to these two. Those who might not remember, I am a shorty.

Crystal, Ambee and I ran a 1/2 marathon last fall, so this should have been nothing. Except that I did not spend the winter running on the treadmill, like Ambee did. Ambee left me in the dust. Still I was pretty happy with my time of 1 hour 9 minutes, and according to my GPS it was 6.33 miles.

All in all, it felt really good to be out running, and the weather once again cooperated with us. Yesterday it had turned rainy again, so I was sure today could be miserable; but the sun made an appearance and there was very little wind.

We had a couple other friends that also participated, so we all had to get together at the end for another photo opp. Way to go everyone!