Greetings from OREGON!

We're almost halfway through our Haskins' family roadtrip vacation....complete with a packed Ford Explorer, 2100 miles of driving, and chili for dinner! Don't YOU wish you were here?  So far we have stayed in Ontario, Oregon at the hotel we renamed "Ghetto Inn", (I think you get the point), a two-day trip in Prineville, Oregon to see our Aunt Pat and Uncle Randi, and we just arrived at Cannon Beach today.  

In Prineville, we had the awesome opportunity to go to Smith Rocks....a world-renowned National Park known for it's great rock climbing.  Kelly and I scaled up the mountains, and even my brave dad gave it a go!  I'm happy to say that my dad belayed Kelly and trusts him to be a good husband to me because he came down the mountain safe and sound!  Phew!  My Aunt Pat treated us to delicious food, and even went out of her way to cook veggie version for me....thanks Aunt Pat!  We ended the day galloping away into the sunset on my Aunt and Uncle's new horse, Badger.  

Happy Fathers Day Travis and Dad!  We love you guys!  

After 6 hours of driving, and a stop at Mount Hood, we arrived here in Cannon Beach.  The weather is gray and cold, but nevertheless it is gorgeous here, and we are happy to be out of the car for a few days!  The water is a bit too nippy to take a dip, but we plan on seeing haystack rock tomorrow and seeing some of the other sights of this gorgeous area.  

Kelly and I hope you all are doing wonderful, and if you're a dad, that you had a great and blessed Father's Day!  

Shelli and Badger the Horse!  (He looks so excited to go for a ride!)

Cool Dudes Kelly and Ty getting ready for more fun times in the car!  Woohoo!

Kelly showing off his sweet climbing skills up Rope-de-Dope at Smith Rock, OR.

Trusting my life with dad belaying me!  He did awesome!

Dad's ascent up the mountain, in boots!  I'm impressed!  

live in the now

Nothing quite gauges your own age like an all-nighter. Nothing. There was a day when all-nighter recovery was a 2 hour deal. Then it took half-a-day, then you needed to take the entire day after off just to get back on your feet. And now... now after an entire night of no sleep and running around on a Sunday night, by Friday I'm about 95%. 

So, friends and family welcome to Monday morning coming in at about 25% coherent, 70% exhausted and 5% hungry, yet here I am, blogging away in my partially comatose state. I spent the duration of Sunday night jumping between movie after movie on the big screen, some brutally vicious glow-in-the-dark football, video games everywhere, all topped off with pizza and junk food. Shelli took part in a good portion of the night, but she decided on being the wise one and heading home early, in time for enough rest to get up for work today. We obviously know where the brains in the relationship are. 

The all-nighter capped off an awesome year of youth ministry where we witnessed some incredible growth in our youth. We are switching gears for the summer before we ramp up in the fall. While I welcome the small break, I have enjoyed everything God has done this year, and look forward to the fall. Our youth have grown up so much in the 3 years or so I have been volunteering, and now working, with them. We attended one of the graduations of our youth and it was surreal to remember her just after her freshman year of high school and now heading into her freshman year of college. In many ways I am forced to recall all the growing up that has gone on in my own life when I realize how much has gone on around me. I am getting older, whether I like it or not, or no matter how hard I try not to.

So Friday when I actually recover from this last week (more on that later), we are heading off with Shelli's family to visit more of her family. I am looking forward to the vacation. Shelli and I have both been working hard these days and it will be nice to get away from everything for a while. I look forward to actually seeing and visiting the places I have heard so much about as we tour through Central Oregon and Northern California. And we'll be able to enjoy the plush and spacious traveling accommodations of the Ford Explorer packing 6 adults and one little Tyler, isn't that exciting? If you hadn't picked up on my sarcasm by now, we going to be real cozy for many hours on the road. Despite the cozy conditions there is nothing but excitement in our household as the day we leave approaches.

And one last final thought for the day: The last week of exhaustion for Shelli and I has come in the wake f the emotional roller-coaster of buying our first home. We have been up one side and down the other and through just about every emotion you an think of on this, ranging from excitement to disappointment, back to excitement, with a harsh turn toward overwhelming and apprehensive, finally landing back on excitement. Landing on excitement, because we finally pu tin a offer this week. We are expecting a counter offer, but we are hopeful that we are finally done with the shopping process and on to the purchasing process. We'll try to keep you updated more as the process takes shape, but for now thats the story. 

Might I add thats its just one more thing to help me realize how much growing up has been going on around us and in our own lives. The days of classes, playing on the quad and grades have finally given way to 8 hour or more workdays, mortgages and 401K's . I suppose I must embrace the reality. 'Live in the now' as Wayne Campbell a la Wayne's World would put it. 

Memorial Day

Historically, a day to commemorate those who have lost their lives for our country. Presently a day to remember loved ones who have passed away. Growing up, memorial day was just an exciting day to miss school. Now that I'm "old" :) I take more consideration into remembering those in my life that have died and truly appreciating the men and women who have given their lives for our country. My mom and I have a tradition of visiting Riverton Cemetery and placing flowers on the non-decorated grave of Ms. Rhoda Campbell. We wonder what her life was like, if she had children and a husband, the way that she impacted the lives of those around her. As long as we have had this tradition, her headstone has been absent of any flowers or decorations, which makes it meaningful to place flowers on her headstone.
If you are remembering a loved one that has passed today, take comfort in their life, in the joy that they brought to you, and the way they changed this world. Remember their amazing LIFE, and hopefully they are dancing with Jesus! Happy Memorial Day my friends!

insurance

Welcome to personal rant day. Every once in a while something comes along that completely rubs me in the wrong direction. Today's hot topic: insurance, as you may have guessed. I would like to mention how insanely infuriated I am with the insurance company. For two months now we have been in constant phone battles, not sweet little nice conversations, raging Star Wars Death Star battles (I am talking storming the beaches of Normandy full-on war here) with our insurance to get coverage for a medication.

Cost of meds with insurance $5, Cost without $150. Insurance Says 'No way, Jose.' So we appeal. Insurance fails to process appeal. So, we finally get appeal processed (meanwhile paying $5 a pill for this stuff). Final verdict 'Ummmm, nope.' WHY!!! Then what is the stinking point of insurance!! Why do we pay a monthly premium to have them tell us they aren't going to do what we pay them to do? Does this make sense.

The logic behind the denial, and its upholding: It's not its prescribed usage and there is not enough medical evidence to support this kind of usage. News flash: Every medication that is medically proven to work in this fashion has been a failure. Apparently, thats just means try it more. Or try a higher dosage, or... whatever. Medical researchers suck at their jobs. Seriously.

May I further vent by saying that upon calling today and asking for the information regarding the denial, the young gentlemen unfortunate enough to have to take my call, could not find the information. Saying 'I don't know where to find it,' Really? The company who denies our appeal, can't find their own denial. I really need someone to punch in the face at this point (I wouldn't ever really do that, but it sounds threatening, right?).

So, after Mr. Magoo leaves me hanging on hold for twenty minutes while he and his buddies do the hokey-pokey on the other end, he pops back on to let me know that he can't tell me the information on our denial because he can't locate the letter, but he can have it sent to us. WHAT!! You can send it to me, but you can't find it? Then how in the world do you send something you cannot find? This makes no sense to me. I assume, by natural logic, that in order to send something you would have to know its location, but what do I know. (let me back-track a little here with some mortar to fill in between the bricks of my story here: One four separate occasions we have requested or have been told that letters have been sent to us regarding this appeal and denial process. As of the time I write this little number we are currently 1/4, at least these guys are shotting better than the Jazz from three-point range (way to go 0-14 guys). Needless to say another letter was not exactly an exciting proposal to me.)

My head is spinning. Enough for now.

What about you? Whats your rant/pet-peeve/frustration of the day/week/life, feel free to chime in.

I am going to bed. At least in my dreams the insurance doesn't win.

Princess Mom!

My mom gets to be a princess for the next few weeks! She underwent surgery last Wednesday and is in the process of recovering, easier said than done, I'm afraid! She's been instructed to rest and recuperate, which, as we all know, doesn't exactly fall into my mom's top 10 favorite things to do.....she's always going, going, going....but for now, she gets to be waited on and enjoy being Princess Mom.

It's our turn to take care of her, after decades that she's taken care of us when we're sick! Thanks Mom! :)

If you could send a few prayers up for my princess mom; for a speedy recovery with no complications, it would be greatly appreciated!

Being the wonderful, kind, generous, loving....(and don't forget humble!).....daughter that I am, I refrained from posting pics of my mom in the hospital. Being, her favorite daughter, I wouldn't want to make her upset! Hehe!

A Toothless Grin, well....only 2 less!

Today was the day Kelly lost his wisdom teeth. We went in at 10 this morning, and after 8 hours of pre-op fasting, 40 minutes of surgery, and 20 minutes of post-operative recovery (in which Kelly was rambling on about who knows what!) he survived! He is on a strict mush diet for the next few days. Guess I better whip out the blender! I've already been catching up on my jell-o and pudding-making skills! He has been a trooper through it all, and has been in good spirits, or maybe that's just the drugs. Nevertheless, he's on the road to recovery, and hopefully the tooth fairy is on the road to our house!

Here are some pics of the blessed day, as Kelly recovers from the procedure...white knuckled grip on his pain meds.

spring fever

Fevers have been running wild in our house. Wild, I tell you. It all started about mid-February. Shelli took a short Spring Break trip to Las Vegas with Rachel where she got well acquainted with a small stomach bug. This week also gave way to the infamous spring fever which, being the solar powered couple we are, hits hard in our household. but little did we know spring fever would come with the real thing this year.  The following couple of weeks Shelli was feeling, lets just say 'not-so-good'. Shortly there after we took a trip to Moab to see my family for a couple of days, and Shelli began recovering, praise God! We happened to hit Moab during the busiest time of the year: Jeep Safari. So we decided to take my Dad's new Jeep out on some trails with my family. We had a good time and it was fun to get out and do something I really hadn't done since I was in high school. The weather was beautiful, although it was a little chilly. 

Spring fever took its roots a little deeper with this fun little outing; it was only fitting that as spring fever spread it would bring with it more illness. This time it attacked me. I contracted the vicious virus, which I was told is currently a national epidemic, which was scheduled to last 14-21 days, and it milked up all of them. I am just now starting to recover and sleep through the night. Returning from Moab we enjoyed a wonderful Easter with the Haskins and Lansings where Shelli and Adrienne continued their annual Easter Egg Brawl, complete with pushing, shoving and a new addition, spousal participation, as poor Tyler watched in awe. Don't worry though, Tyler eventually jumped in and stole the show when he decided he was going to start walking around the house like a wild man! 

Unfortunately, as I recovered the virus found a new host in Shelli, however the virus would prove to be the least if our worries. Shelli decided to shoot for the fence and bite off an ear infection to go with the virus. As I type the ear infection is still taking its toll, and nothing has kicked it, the viruses seem to have passed, and spring fever continues to plague us both as the temperature runs a full gamut of temperatures this spring with beautiful 60-70 degree weather sandwiched miserably between frigid snow and rain. God cannot seem to decide what season he wants it to be right now. 

As Shelli hopefully continues battle and recover from her ear infection, I will enter into the Dr's office this weekend to have my chompers ripped from my skull. Okay, so that's maybe a little over-dramatic, I am having my wisdom teeth removed. 

We eagerly look forward to the end of this season, whatever it is: the spring/winter, disease infested, virus infected, miserable rollercoaster of a season it is.

i like that boulder, thats a nice boulder.

So last weekend we went out snowshoeing with Michelle's parents. It was a blast, completely untouched beauty. We explored all up and out an din and down in these boulders, we (by we I mean Michelle and Pam) jumped off the boulders for a little fun. We had a great time. It was so beautiful and sunny on Saturday, God could not have blessed us with a better day! Thank you Lord! Thanks again to Pam and Gary for the great time. We look forward to going again soon. Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure:

changes.

It is official. This February I will start a new job with Capital Church as a part time youth leader and part time designer. For those of you who don't know, Shelli and I have been volunteering tons of time into the youth as well as the hours I have helped put in to the design and image of Capital. Well, what has happened is something I did not think would be possible for several years to come. But, All things are God's and all control is in His hands, which means He had a different idea. This is an incredible opportunity; in short it might just actually be my dream job. To spend all my time dedicated to the things I care most about and want to be able to impact in this world. This will hopefully mean more time together for Michelle and I, as well as the benefits of working with youth and still having the opportunity to create design work for the Kingdom. A beautiful combination. I am excited for all God is going to do, and look forward with expectancy for what the future holds. God is so amazingly gracious. Might I also add a huge thanks to Michelle, my wonderful, ever-loving and supportive wife. Whom I love more then anything and would be nothing without.

transition and all things new

So suffice it to say, it has been a few days since the last post. My apologies. But in our defense, it has been quite busy, Dec 21: niece Hailey's birthday, Dec 24: Christmas Eve, Dec 25: Christmas, Dec 26: Pam's Birthday, Dec 30: nephew Tyler's Birthday, Dec 31: New Years Eve & youth lock-in, Jan 1st: New Years Day and recovery from youth lock-in, Jan 7th: Classes began, Jan 10th: Michelle's Birthday (round 1), Jan 12th: Michelle's Birthday (round 2) and now January 4th: Blog update day! See we aren't that far behind, all things considered.

So lets start with the early stuff: December Birthdays and Christmas. First of all Happy Birthday, though late, to our niece Hailey, who is growing up faster than Jack's beanstalk. So this was [Kelly's] first Christmas with Michelle's side of the family. And it was a lot of fun, though I did miss my family over the holidays as well, but they made it tons easier by braving the weather and coming up the weekend after Christmas and spending it with Michelle and I (Thank you again!). So Christmas with the Haskins starts with the Christmas Eve pajama party and carries over to the next morning with a visit from Santa and some morning present opening. fill in all the down time with tons of delicious homemade meals and it doesn't get any better than that. However somebody thought it would be even more fun to spread the stomach flu of death to the family for Christmas ([ahem] Lansings), that meant all that delicious food had to wait for New years as Michelle and I found the perfect from-fitting grooves of the Haskins couches, with regular trips to the restroom as we recovered. As horrible as the experience was, it was short-lived (lasting only about 48 hours) and we were back to about 80% by the 26th. The 26th being Pam's birthday, but I'll come back to that.

Lets finish Christmas first. I made quick mention of the pajama party, well I better be sure to point out I received the incredible Penguin pajamas courtesy of the Haskins. For those of you who don't know I am a bug fan of penguins, so these particular items were pretty much awesome. Every one else's pj's were okay too, i guess. Gary also made some incredible frames with some etched glass for us and added some items to Adrienne's nativity scene. Gary is a regular renaissance man, incredible at just about everything. In addition to all of that we had incredibly generous families who spoiled us with all kinds of clothes and cool gifts. Thank you to everybody. We have been blown away at the kindness and generosity of everyone in the family.

On Pam's birthday we went out to Tuscany, where I had never been. But we had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the incredible food (Notice the holiday eating theme, I think I weigh about 300lbs now, but I can't complain about having enough to eat, I'll say that much. Delicious food over the holidays.). Then we headed back to our apartment to open presents. It was alot of fun to be around for Michelle's families traditions and to be welcomed into the family with open arms. It has really made me feel a lot more comfortable, especially being away from my own side of the family. I am really thankful for such great and loving in-laws.

The following weekend we had Christmas with the Johnson half and though it was a short visit, it was extremely important for me. My parents brought up all the gifts from our family and we all opened presents together (speaking of which, for ya'll that are still waiting on gifts, we're getting them in the mail, I promise! Sorry we are slackers!). Thank you everybody for the amazing gifts! We again were just blown away! We spent the rest of the time shopping, enjoying some games, and watching football.

Next was Tyler's first birthday. Wow is that kid growing up fast! After Tyler's birthday we had teh Youth New Years Lockin (we showed up late, at approx. 1am, after enjoying some more amazing food at the Haskins, fondue, steak, yumm........... mmmm....mmmm.... wow.) where we spent all night playing games and not sleeping. We then spent all day a on New Years'... asleep. Then back to work on Wednesday!

Since New Years' Michelle turned a year older (Her birthday was a blast including three day celebration from the 10th of Jan until the 12th of Jan, special thanks to the Haskins for great dinners at Olive Garden and Cheesecake factory. Speaking of which , if you do plan on eating at the Cheescake Factory, make sure you plan 3 days in advance, because I am pretty sure that is the current wait for a table), started classes again and its back to the ol' daily grind. Michelle and I have been enjoying the New Year though it promises to be a packed one. Michelle has three classes this semester, two online, plus work and all the usual. So, needless to say, it will be busy. But hopefully, we'll find out in April, if she will get into nursing school and, once completed, be done with school for a while. We are waiting to hear back from Westminster and Weber State.

So now that it is the new year, that means the new years resolutions. This year: discipline. To be more disciplined in all endeavors. Health, work, play, everything. Well, at any rate, we're not off to the best start, but thats the wonderful thing about discipline: being disciplined means you don't stop or give up, no matter how discouraging you may start. Look like it might be a long year.

So, just for fun, how about the rest of you? What were your resolutions?

So that pretty much fills in the gaps from then 'til now. Until next post!