Monthly Archives: May 2016

I was put on call for my shift this morning, this time I did request it.  I didn’t want my cohort who had so kindly offered to come cover my last four hours to have to work after working for the last four shifts and half of the night.  She did ended up being on call her portion of the night.  I wanted to be closer to the hospital than Murrieta and so we talked about several different options.  Uncle Richard could drop me off at Starbucks 0.5 miles from the hospital so I could walk there if they called me.  We were trying to avoid having multiple cars in Banning as I was to go straight to the airport after work.  Uncle Richard didn’t want me to be sitting by myself all day even though I had several things I could be doing. ( I didn’t really either but I was willing). I knew the floor was kind of busy and could easily get busy enough to need me.  I was only 30 minutes away so we made that the plan.  The bonus being extra quality time with my Uncle.  I joked with him that we have had more quality time together in the last three months than the total of my life so far these last 33 years.  I will take it.  I never turn down extra family time.  We started with a blue ribbon breakfast where I opted to stay in the car and work on thank you notes. Followed up by two different city planning meetings that I was able to attend.  It was in one of these meetings this morning when I was texted that my coworker who had generously offered to cover my backside this afternoon had been called in.  I was a little confused as to why they hadn’t called me.  I was close and awake way early just to be available.  But they were being thoughtful.  Thinking that I was still tucked away in Fallbrook they wanted to save me the trip for only a few hours of work.  I was appreciative of their thoughtfulness and torn.  I didn’t want to give up my last few hours of my time as part of the San Gorgonio OB team and a chance to say goodbye to my coworkers, but I was so enjoying the one on one time with Uncle Richard that I think we were both in need of besides that he had just started a meeting that he was heading.  I took the opportunity to stay with Richard and am so thankful for Tracie being willing to go in early when they called her instead of me.  The picture/plaque is a going away gift that Marisa made for me last night.  I’m not sure when that girl sleeps.  Thank you Marisa I love it.  I told her the only thing missing is a picture of her and Uncle Richard. After the meetings this morning (including sneaking out with Marisa to go shoe shopping during one of the meetings…I bought the cute shoes below for Hannah Banana.  They are just her style) Uncle Richard was receiving quite a few messages from the local media about two of the main “stories” taking place.  We jumped in the patrol car and checked out the situations below.  It was fun to watch the media interviews I think Uncle Richard likes to have all the microphones pointed towards him.  Grandpa called while we were still at the fire to let me know he was in his way to pick me up to take me to the airport.  Hannah’s new shoes.  I’m excited to give them to her.  Below since the SBPD was so busy today we missed lunch.  Grandpa and I went to an early dinner of carne asada tacos and horchata shakes.  With a side of loquats that grandpa had picked today in Fallbrook.  We visited for a little while before he dropped me off. As ready as I am to see my husband and kids again I will miss Grandpa, Uncle Richard, Marisa, and all the people at San Gorgonio.  I’m going to miss this view from behind the Women’s Center too! ❤️I arived early into Medford at 1145pm.  So tired from my whole 4 hours of sleep in the last 40 hours.  But glad to be back in the arms of my husband.  We get to experience a rare treat of two nights and one day just us get away.  I do have a class tomorrow, but we plan on taking advantage of our little getaway.

It was different to spend this Mother’s Day so far away from the kids.  We are not even in the same state.  I thought it might be sad, but it actually wasn’t.  I love my work, and being able to be with other mothers new, and grieving, on Mother’s Day can’t be beat.  Every day is Mother’s Day in Labor and Delivery.  We wrote Mother’s Day cards to the mom’s on the unit.  And otherwise had a peaceful shift.  I will be home to my little blessings soon, but in the mean time I know they are being loved on, and having a blast with family.  Just knowing they are so loved blesses me beyond belief.  

Friday I caught up on the blog mostly, grandpa asked me to sign him up for Facebook, and we ran a few errands.  Uncle Richard had told me that I had better be thinking about where I wanted to eat dinner because he wanted to “wine and dine” me.  I asked him what were some places in the area and decided on RJ’s because I had never been there before.  It is a steak house here in Murrieta.  Ribs and veggies hit the spot.  Afterwards we picked up Bart at the groomer because it was close by and near time.  Marisa had the idea to go bowling which sounded great to me.  The lanes were all full when we got there, so we put our name on the list and continued on to the arcade area.  We played some air hockey and shot some hoops before our name was called. I haven’t been bowling in such a long time.  I’m not great at it, but I sure do enjoy it.  

It was a fun way to celebrate!  

A little while ago grandma said she would take the kids to make glass floats at the beach. Yesterday we went to do just that. We did decide to do paper weights instead thinking they would be more durable.

Hannah was the first to go incentives she knew what colors she wanted.

She had a good time and was very pleased with the results.

Since eve was not old enough she picked out the colors and the design and I did the work.

She did a good job.

Last was Caleb.

He must of had a good time because we got a picture of him smiling.

Thank you grandma for the wonderful experience we had such a good time.

~Chad

My Grandpa has struggled in his advanced retirement age to find a purpose for his presence still on this earth.  He wants to make a difference in the community and feels less and less capable of doing so, until recently.  In the last year maybe less he has been given a heart for prayer and praying for the people in the community where he lives.  Praying for revival.  In the last month he has spearheaded 24 hour a day prayer for a week, and helped organize for today the national day of prayer each church in Falbrook to take a section of the town and walk through it praying for each family and home.  Our church was to meet at 0900.  I had not planned to be back from hiking so I had not committed to helping, but was so thankful that it worked out to be with him for this event.  We had six people which maybe wasn’t the turn out he had hoped for but we were reminded of the story of Gideon and knew that the people who were supposed to be there would.  It seemed like a big area but I could see that we were overlapping territory and each house may have been prayed for several times.  The weather was perfect for that kind of exercise not too hot or too cold, but just right.  A fellow homeschooling family we met in this assignment was there.  I was blessed in getting to spend so much quality time with God, one thing that is so amazing to me is that we think we are giving so God can bless others and we totally are.  But, The whole time God is using that same scenario to bless us back and work on our own hearts.  We started walking at 0930 and finished at 1220.  I thought some people may think my walking pattern was suspicious, but I must have look very warm and friendly because so many people smiled and waved or said goodmorning as I walked past.  Grandpa met me at the last street and we walked it hand in hand.  Finishing our Fallbrook prayer date off with a cup of coffee at Starbucks.  We came home and I’m not sure what else we did all day.  Grandpa sat at the table reading his Bible.  I layed down for a nap at around 5:30pm and didn’t come back out of my room until morning.  

Chad and the kids spent the day with Chuck and Donna at the beach.  Today makes 14 years of our life on this earth lived with the absence of Cassie, Chad’s sister.  I remember those first few years never did 10 seconds go by when my memory did not flash back to something Cassie related.  Only knowing her two years is definitely my loss.  I sure am thankful for the memories we did make.  After the first visit when I stayed I slept on the trundle pull out in Cassie’s room one morning I woke up when she was coming back to her room from the shower.  She was new to this whole one leg thing and had not figured out how to do both the towel and crutches.  You can imagine which one did not make it back to her room from the bathroom.  I took one look at the situation and decided that I would continue to pretend to be asleep until she had a little more clothes on.  I fessed up to this later and shortly after we returned to college I recieved a cute card in the mail.  On the front of it it read “I was sitting here naked thinking of you” I about died laughing.  She could be so serious some times but that time she got me.  This story still makes me laugh.  I have two sisters maybe that should make this loss easier, but I know what I’ve lost that makes it hard.  I was so looking forward to having Cass as my sister-in-law….

It got a little cold in the night, I started with the sleeping bag as just a blanket then I was in the sleeping bag with it zipped to my knees then to my chin and then back down to my waist.  I was afraid of sweating and then getting to cold, but I left waking up sweaty.  So though I did get cold I put on my beanie and then turtled my head into the sleeping bag.  I must have fallen back to sleep though because some how Tiffany managed to get already with out waking me up.  I took the 800mg of Ibuprofen as soon as I sat up. I was hardly sore at all amazingly, and my back held up.  The chiropractor was the most concerned about my back with sleeping in the ground hence the new pad that I had been waiting to arrive Monday. The pre packaged egg breakfast was alright.  I like how easy it is to boil water and have a meal just like that.  If any of you know me well you know Chad does all of our cooking and there may be a good reason for that. Well Tiffany did all the cooking on our trip. I am thankful for that.  She was more of an expert in her jet boil and I just made sure we reserved enough of our water to be able to make it.  (really Tiffany did that part too) maybe she just keeps me around for comic relief, but I’d like to think that my presence benefited her too.  We made it out of camp around 0630.  We had a 1000′ climb right out of the gate and we wanted to get it done before it got any hotter.  The guy who worked at REI was headed out of camp around the same time, we didn’t ask him for help with our packs, but we all three put them on together and we walked through the steps of the best way to put on your pack with us.  He said that it is a passion of his to help people with enjoying the great outdoors and we sure we’re thankful for his help.  The pack felt light on my shoulders today and I could move my arms.  Yoda, knowing it was only 5 miles to water and it would be a strait up climb wanted to lighten her load so she shared some excess water she was carrying.  We enjoyed every drink.  We needed up having water remaining when we finished but in our heads we did not have enough water and were cautiously hold on to our remaining supply so we were so thankful for the gift. 

My layers came off quickly once we started moving.  My legs were only a little stiff, and I had to keep stopping during the climb to stretch my calves. 

All of the beautiful Manzanita trees made me think of getting ready for Al and Liz’s wedding with Aunt Susan.  Wrapping the manzanita in Christmas lights.  It’s rich red branches and charming foliage made it feel very unlike we were walking in a desert at all. 

The view was a stunning reward for making it up the climb. 

As glad as I was to get so far before the heat of the day it was sad to come to the finish line so early in the day. 0915…

We walked in the opposite way of the rest of the hikers as we made our way back to the truck. We used the restrooms, put our packs in the back and drove to the famed malt shop that caters to the PCT hikers.  We ate a very early lunch (a milkshake for me) and visited a while. 

The guy in the white shirt is the one who helped us with our packs he, the gray shirted one and Yoda in the lavender all have recently hiked the AT. Everyone was so engaging and looking out for one another it was a fun culture to be a part of if only for one day. Yoda asked if she could get a picture with us which of course made us feel loved.  
We gave a ride to a hiker to an outfitter store he was already struggling with shin splints and had been hulled up in Morena Lake for three days.  It was on our way and a pretty drive at that. We got into San Diego and stiffly unloaded the car, sorted out bags and parted our ways…with Tiffany and I both happy, but also in disbelief that it was over allready.  All that planning and anticipation…the hike already felt like a dream that was a life time away.  The family was surprised to see me back so soon.  I took a shower and washed my clothes and dishes.  Then turned my phone back on and let everyone know I had made it back to civilization safely.  As soon as my phone was on it buzzed with messages.  I was overjoyed to see that my sweet husband and beautiful kids went hiking too. 

I’m in love with those sweet faces. 
I went with Marissa to show her horse, but mostly sat in the car trying to stay warm. When I did get out j could hardly walk which made me giggle as I knew I must look rediculous. 

I’m clean and smelling good again, so thankful for this experience, I am continually humbled by the grace, blessings and love I have been shown/given by my Heavenly Father.
The link to Yoda’s Blog http://5millionstepswithkatie.blogspot.com/2016/05/may-fourth-be-with-you.html?m=1

0400 Tiffany was up and in the shower. 0415 I straitened up the couch where I had been sleeping unplugged my phone sending out a mass text to my MIPs (most important people) well the ones who would be worried about me and my emergency contacts letting them known where we would be, what time we plan to be back, who I was hiking with and that I was putting my phone in airplane mode to save on battery.  I was quickly changed into hiking clothes.  We ate hard boiled eggs and peanut butter tortilla wraps for breakfast chugged some water and watched for Jay.  He showed up around 0445 and we were off.  I followed in in grandpa’s truck he calls The Boy Scout planting it at the campground in Morena Lake at the 20.3 mile ending we had chosen for this small section hike.  We checked in at the camp office and paid our $3/night X three nights imagining that we would be quite slow.  We then all climbed in Jay’s car and headed to Campo only 6.8 miles drive from Morena Lake.  Tiffany checked us in at the boarder patrol office like the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) book suggested.  They acted like no one had ever done that before.  Oh well, we want to make sure we are being smart about this hiking through the desert 20 miles in the heat with no water source thing.  Jay got us as close as you can get by car unless you have an all terrain rig.  We could see the start.  We were so nervous and excited.  What had we gotten our selves into?  The trail marker and register were literally right next to the boarder. There were other hikers there so we took our turn to have a few photos together at the start.  Arriving,I believe, around 5:45AM. Tiffany kept saying, “I can’t believe we are hiking on the PCT! We’re hiking on the PCT!”

We also took one picture with Jay.  Thank you Jay for the ride!  The brown fence next to us is the Mexican border.

The view from the trail marker was gorgeous. 

Off we go!!!!





These pictures are going to be completely out of order because today the Blog is deciding on it’s own to put them in what ever order it wants and I don’t really want to fight it.  We were so surprised by how much shade and greenery there was.  Every plant was green and blooming and completely gorgeous! The shad still helped some in the heat of the day but we still felt every one of the 82-84 degrees in the sun working so hard with heavy packs on our backs.  One step at a time.  Out of our 5 liters of water (I had 5.5) we needed to save one liter for cooking and two for the second day.  We both ran out of our allotted two liters before we hit the 10 mile marker.  It was so hot and we were so thirsty.  We had heard the best camping place was around mile marker 15 at a place called Howser Creek. (Don’t be fooled there is not water there) we rationalized that since we were going over half way today we could use some of tomorrow’s water.  There was for sure water at Morena Lake.  My legs were so tiered for the descent into Howser Creek. I was fumbling a bit with each step.  Not because o was dehydrated or had heat exhaustion just because we had hiked a long ways with a lot of weight on my unadjusted legs.  Causing them to be a bit shakey.  I was so thankful for the walking pole that Tiffany gave me to use.  I decided that if I ever did get a chance to do a through hike I would need two poles.  I just don’t have good enough balance plus the addition of the pack making me top heavy and the tiredness of my legs acting like they may choose to just give out at will made me take tiny slow steps especially on the descent. 

None of these pictures show the steepness of the trail as I wasn’t for pulling my camera out on those parts where I just needed to keep my momentum.  I stumbled into camp between 4:00 and 4:30 Tiffany was ahead of me a little ways and I could hear her talking to some of the other hikers.  I inflated the new air mattress and practically fell onto it maybe two feet off of the trail.  I could not move another muscle.  A lot of other hikers came by we estimate maybe 50 people started the PCT with us May 3rd we had no idea it would be so crowded. We felt completely sheepish saying we were stopping in Morena Lake when the rest of them were aiming for Canada.  We wanted to through hike it with them so badly.  After resting about 30 minutes I decide to try to move and I could not move my arms at all. Severe pain in my shoulders and neck warned me with every slight muscle twitch to not do that again.  Tiffany found my predicament hilarious.  She kept asking me if I wanted some of the snack foods she was having and for the most part I answered no.  Until she got to the Mangoes where I bargained that I would have some if she could throw it right to my hand, because my arms literally could not move. I couldn’t get up, or get anything out of my bag.  This must be a common hiker problem because one of the other hikers piped up with, “Oh, you have T-Rex arms” and that is exactly what it felt like.  It was so painful but I got them stretched outage well as my shoulders and that crazy pain and stiffness never came back.  Still I could not imagine what agony would be felt in the morning when I had to put that pack back on for the 1000′ elevation climb to get out of this Howser Creek bed oases. I took a short little walk to find a good bathroom spot making attempts to keep my muscles moving as to maybe not as sore tomorrow and they seemed to work.  This whole pooping in the woods business would take some getting used to.  Dinner was tasty we ate kind of early and we’re all zipped in to our tent by 6:30 or 7:00.  Ours was probably the nearest to the trail but in a grassy spot there were quite a few campers with in 50 yards of us and we all gathered on the grassy patch for dinner which allowed us to get to know the other hikers we were hiking with.  Three of them had recently hiked the AT.  Two girls from Portland were hiking the trail with thier corgi so they were doing mostly night hiking.  Several were international visitors with strong accents and a group of just post college age boys that all stuck together.  We enjoyed the stories from the AT hikers.  One of them worked at REI where Tiffany is from in Minisota he was helping the Portland girls learn how to take their packs on and off correctly and how to adjust them after they we on.  We listened and watched taking in all of this information.  A man brought a couple of two liter bottles of water for people who had underestimated their water needs.  He was a “trail angel” one who watches out for hikers in this area as he lived close by.  We did use some of the emergency water.  We could have made it out with what we had, but we were so thirsty it was hard to save our 1.5 liters (each) that remained for the hike out. One of the AT hikers who had earned the trail name last year of Yoda for often speaking like him asked me if I had Ibuprofen for my stiffness and I had to admit that although I had planned to bring some it didn’t end up making it in my bag from my work lunch bag.  She said, “do you have chapstick?”and yes I did have that.  I was waiting for some kind of weird soreness hack done with chapstick like I had experienced in cycling with Red Man chewing tobacco, but know she was proposing a trade. Ibuprofen for tonight and tomorrow for use of my chapstick.  She had managed to forget hers at the home she stayed in the night before.  I told her that I only had 5 more miles to hike she might as well keep the chapstick.  She handed me two 200mg tabs for tonight and one 800mg tab for tomorrow morning.  Now that, I thought, was brilliant!  If I get a chance to through hike I’m getting a prescription for scored 800mg ibuprofen tabs. I don’t generally take them until I really need them and that is a much more compact way to bring soreness/pain management with you. 

I didn’t know until the next day that Tiffany had documented our exchange.  Yoda has a blog that I plan on following.  I so wish we did not have to stop but could keep on keeping on!

 I have been wanting to go backpacking for years now.  Chad has taken Caleb and Hannah each individually but ever since college I have had a little one at home that one of us needs to keep an eye on.  I know there are backpacking families with young kids, but their parents know what they are doing and have gone before kids, most on long distance hikes.  When Hannah was six we bought a kids pack and my backpack the old model on clearance at REI Eve was going to be turning three and we were just shy of a year from starting our trip and wanted to have the things for backpacking so we could do it if we were given the opportunity.  Besides that, we could not take much in the car with us as we traveled about the country so backpacking sized camping gear made more sence than the things that we previously camped with.  For this reason we already owned most of the stuff that would be needed.  After packing it with us the first year and only using it a handful of times for camping our way to Wisconsin and at Lake Villacito in Colorado we haven’t packed it with us the last two assignments.  The timing worked out and family was willing to help get the gear to us.  Stephanie gathered our backpacking stuff from our camping tub and my in-laws  brought my loaded pack south when they visited us in the beginning of April. I did need to purchase a few items and had luckily been saving up some of my weekly play allowance and had enough to get most of the things I needed.  I run on a pretty minimal closet so we took a look around REI and found a down jacket on clearance for $46 which is an amazing deal.  I could hardly believe it. We also picked up a tank top there that was synthetic fabric thinking that I would need light weight.  I didn’t think about the potential of the straps rubbing my arms and needing a protective layer from that so needless to say I ended up getting another shirt to wear with kohl’s cash (from replacing my two pairs of holy jeans).  That cost me a whopping $2.15 after taxes.
I bought the purple synthetic long sleeve shirt at Walmart along with a cheap pair of sunglasses. I also bought a stick of sunscreen and bug spray.   I didn’t end up taking the bug spray as they didn’t seem to be a problem on the first section of trail in the desert anyway. 
Our sleeping bags are down and very compact but only go down to 32 degrees so an emergency bivy seemed like a good idea.  I didn’t use it but if it had been any colder I might have.  We looked at food options and I decided on oatmeal packets.  And a rice pasta probably not much more nutritious than ramen but it is light and cheap.  Tiffany had picked up a packaged misquite chicken for dinner and eggs for breakfast.  Since we ended up only needing those two meals we never got around to my oatmeal and pasta.  Guess I will be packing those for lunch at work these next few days.  I also learned the power of electrolytes for preventing bonking out when doing endurance events from training for and completing a century bike ride in 2011. 

The Starbucks card was a gift for Jay.  Tiffany’s friend who was dropping us off at the start.  In the shuffle of getting everything to San Diego Monday after a long shift at work it was forgotten in Murrieta.  He said, “No payment accepted.  Getting you guys to the start of the trail is my adventure for the week.” So alas it shall be quite a burden using that gift card myself. 😉The other part about planning this hiking trip was the logistics around it being the heaviest flow days for my period.  That took some research as to how to handle that.  If you want specific details on that let me know I would be glad to share I just thought that it may be too much information for some.  

Monday morning the new sleeping pad I had ordered to help ease the sciatic pain had not yet come in the mail. I thought the pain may flair back up as my back injury was only a week before. It had gauranteed delivery by that evening.  I decided that if I needed to swing back by the house for the pack I might as well leave everything there and pick it up after work.  I left the house at 0445 with sticky notes on my pack not to forget the tortillas n the fridge and everything that needed to go stacked around the end of my bed.  I got off work late at 7:00pm getting into Murrieta around 8:00pm then changed my clothes and gathered the refrigerated items as well as stashing my purse and wallet only taking the necessities out of it (this is where I left the Starbucks gift card in my wallet 😟) and headed south to Chula Vista getting in to Tiffany’s around 9:30-10:00pm.  I had a pounding headache and still needed to organize and pack my bag.  Tiffany was carrying the tent and o was carrying the stove and food. She had a water bladder j could use and we both made sure we had at least 5 liters of water on us. At  2.2 lbs/liter  it was heavy but there is no water for the first 20.3 miles.  I took out anything that was not deemed absolutely necessary but still the packs seemed heavy.  Neither one of us had a scale so we don’t know how heavy.  We had to have all the water, and should maybe have had more.  We finished packing and showered crawling into bed around midnight.  It had been a long day, my head still hurt and I still had to talk myself into sleep.  A mixture of excitement, anticipation, and a since of what have I gotten myself into churned through my mind.  Sleep sleep I needed to sleep 0400 would come soon and I needed at least a few hours. 

I feel bad.  Both my sister Suzanne (and family) and my mom have visited while we have been here and I have not detailed much or any of either visit. On this blog.  Mom came for her spring break in March.  We had just started packing up the house.  As a grandchild, not even a child of the estate, there was a lot of things that I did not feel comfortable sorting or making any decisions on and Grandpa could not help me.  It was just too stressful for him.  I could check in with each of the thre remaining kids and make decisions that way but that process is arduous, and very time consuming.   Mom was able to come in and work for nearly a week straight sorting all of the tax forms, legal documents,  and supplementing the boxes labeled with each grandkids name to make sure they were filled with items that would have specific meaning to them  as well as the specific items that had been requested from the estate. It was a hard and emotional job filled with tears, late nights, and early mornings.  I had been in a similar boat and was so thankful to have someone to share the burden with.  I however was not a very good partner in crime as I only had one day off the whole time she was here.  I did get to be off the morning she left however and so we got coffee and I drove her to Uncle Richard’s house where she met up with her sister for her sister time drive up to Sacramento to head home.  A lot was accomplished the week ended with many packages getting sent to loved ones and a u-haul driven to Sacremnto filled with items for the Sacramento family, Susanville, and Redding.  At that point the house no longer looked like Grandma and Grandpa’s house which made packing up easier.  We could breath easier as most of the “has to go to this person” stuff was done and the “should be done by a child not a grandchild” stuff was also done.  We worked away one or two work days a week taking some time to go away and still do some things besides work and the house.  Suzanne came the last four days we were in the house for the final push.  As much as I dislike not being able to answer all the questions as to where exactly everything is we needed the help. I also worked the entire time she was visiting except for the one crazy errand day where I might as well have not been home.  The kids are so cute.  I struggle at being a good auntie so it was fun to see Hadassah being so happy to see me.  I have lost ground with Elijah though.  After last summer we were on pretty good terms but at such a young age we are again strangers to him 😟.  Each visit was exactly what we needed when we needed it to get the job accomplished. 

I love my Desert Valley girls.  I have been wanting to visit since we arived back in California.  There are a number of reasons why it had not happened yet, one being the 2.5-3hour drive, and the other main reason is Chad is with the kids allow the time, I feel guilty about requesting to take other “field trips” besides work. That has him watching the kids all by himself.  On Satueday night the house keys had been turned over to the tenants, and my work was done.  The kids and Chad were in Oregon so I took the opportunity to visit Desert Valley L&D.  I met Anne for lunch first the. Visited with the nurses for about 2.5 hours.  A lot has changed there in a year.  I got to visit with a few of my favorites, but missed so many more that I would have loved to see.  2.5 hours was not enough, but the hospital is in a bad part of town and Gramdpa was worried about me being out so late.  It was hard to leave.  There is such good fellowship with the Nurses.  I love you guys!!!!