Wizard of Oz

The girls and I had an outing today, we went out to see the Wizard of Oz museum, I have wanted to go since we moved here and just never got there, so today we did. It was pretty cute, lots of memorabilia from the movie, I learned that in the books Dorthy's "ruby slippers" were silver, when they made the movie technicolor had just come out and they thought they would look better in red. We had lunch after and then took a scenic drive home, stopped at an old school built in the 1800's and at a spot on the Mormon trail where the pioneers passed by on their way to Utah, it is still marked with an original wood sign (you can barely read anymore) and they have an old wagon there.

Crator Lake

Today we went up to Crater Lake, it was amazing, the views all the way up were unreal and when we actually saw the lake it was just breath taking. Even though there is no snow in town it was above the car on the drive up, and most of the buildings when you get there are still completely covered in snow. Here is the road as we drove up.

A view of the lake, this is the deepest lake in North America and the ninth deepest lake in the world.

Here we are "snow blind" trying to get our picture taken.

We are on our way home tomorrow, I am supposed to work at the airport tomorrow night so I hope it all goes smooth, if it all goes as planned we will be back in Kansas by about 2pm tomorrow, though I hear Denver has been snowed in for two days and no flights were going out, so I am hopeful planes will be up and going when we get there and we can get home with no trouble. I think all the pictures are posted on our Picassa site now should you wish to see the rest you can access them from the family pictures link on the left.

Jacksonville

We went back out to Jacsonville yesterday to visit the museum and the Beckman house, I love history so it was really interesting for me. This is a piano in the museum, I think this is gorgeous

This is a set from Peter Britts original photograhy studio

Last night we stopped over to see Richards niece Brittney and our newest great niece Alyssa, she is the sweetest, happiest baby, it was fun to play with her.

Here is Brittney with her Mom Kari, Tony and baby Alyssa.

Today in Oregon

We had a lovely day today exploring the area, we went to Jacksonville an old west town here, this is Richard in front of the original well.
We checked out Touville Park where we would have had the reception if we were having it in Oregon, this is us at the park in front of the Rogue River, this is right after we saw a bald eagle fly down to get a fish.
We had dinner tonight with my brother in law Jesse, sister in law Tiffany and niece Skyler, that was fun since I have not seen them for about three years. (Jesse is Steve's brother)

Big Foot

We took a hike today to see the Big Foot Trap, I had never even heard of such a thing, but it was fun I guess some miner saw some tracks in the 70's so he built this, never caught big foot but I guess he got some bears in it. We also stopped by McKee bridge a historical site there, it was so gorgeous. After our hike we went up across the California border in the mountains and hiked awhile there, the rivers are so clean and there are so many trees here, it is alot like Colorado, though they have more trees here, makes me miss the mountains and trees.

Rich and Edi: Baby Shower

Rich and Edi: Baby Shower

Baby Shower

We went to Matt and Kim's baby shower today, it really was a lot of fun, they had a big cook out and lots of family there. Here they are opening some gifts.
Group picture, that was fun trying to get everyone in one place standing still.
Matt with the Dallas blanket I made them
Great Nieces Baily, Mahaila, and the twins Brooklyn and Braylynn
Braylynn and Brooklynn having cake.
So far our trip to Oregon has been very fun, Richard sister and the rest of the family have been wonderful to me, it is good to finally get to meet them in person, and to be made to feel so welcomed into the family.

Here we are

Well amazingly enough we made it on the sold out flight to Eugene Or. from Denver, our plan had been to rent a car here and drive the three hours to Medford, we have a code share agreement with work for the car rental places so should not be a problem, ha we got here went to rent a car, it is Spring Break here so almost all the rental places are sold out, Hertz had a compact car they would rent us for one day for 230.00, WHAT! I did not pay that much for our week at the hotel I reserved (well okay I paid a little more but not much and it is for a week!) in the end we called Richads Brother in law who is driving up to get us so we did not have to pay so much for a drive, in the meantime we are hanging out in the lounge having a nice dinner and just enjoying ourselves so its all good even with a bump or two in the road.

Off Again

Well I made it home from my trip back to Mancos/Durango, it was so nice to be home for a couple days, but I was glad to get back here to my family. I feel like I should have my own personal spot in the little cafe in the airport I think I have spent so much time there lately. We are off again tomorrow for our honeymoon trip to Oregon, we are very excited about that, took a little creative thinking to get a flight that would work, the one we wanted was sold out and since we fly stand by for work we most likely would not have gotten on it, but luckily we came up with a couple back up plans to get us there tomorrow afternoon, so it should work out fine. We wanted to make sure we were there before Sunday to atend a baby shower for Richards Nephews soon to be born baby, a lot of his family will be there so he was really wanting to get there for that.
Wish us luck with all our flights and we will keep everyone updated on how it goes.

I just finished reading Escape and am now in the process of reading Stolen Innocence both are stories of girls/women who were raised in the FLDS church and left, they each played a part in convicting Warren Jeffs, their "prophet" I grew up very aware of this church as it has its headquarters in Southern Utah and I grew up in Northern Utah and I also knew two girls who joined that church and left my hometown to relocate to Southern Utah.
I have always been against religious persecution, and when we received news in Mancos (Colorado) that the FDLS church had purchased property there I was one of the first to defend their choice to live with out being persecuted, I also felt strongly for the children and mothers of the children who were taken away by Child Services in Texas, now I do not now or never have condoned the behavior of this church, but I felt if they believed they should be free to practice their religion, now however having read first hand accounts as to what goes on within this religion in the name of the Priesthood and God I am appalled. The fact that children are forced into marriages they do not want and these same children have never been taught what will be expected of them once they are married as far as intimate relationships with their husbands horrifies me, the girl in Stolen innocence was married to her cousin at the age of 14, barely older than Cheyenne, I think of the long term psycological problems that these children will experience and it just breaks my heart. I find myself filled with sympothy for the people of this religion many of who I believe truly believe they must do as they are told even if they feel it is wrong for fear of being damed to hell if they do not blindly follow, at the same time I find myself angry at the leaders of this church who use the fear of not making it to heaven if you do not do as they say, even to the extent of removing wives and children from fathers and assigning them to new ones, telling women they have no say in their own lives or the lives of their children, I have always tried to teach my own children to research religion, pray,ask questions and make their choices based on what they feel in their hearts are right for them.
I also find myself angry at how closly people asociate the LDS church with the FLDS church, I know for a fact that The LDS religion belives in families, mothers and fathers are expected to protect and teach their children never to force them into unsafe situations, they are taught that families are forver, they do not condon child abuse, insest or basicaly giving your daughters into slavery.
If you have not read these books, they are very interesting reading, and were certainly an eye opener for me as to what goes on still in this day and age in the name of religion.

Cake for dinner

I have decided I can eat cake for dinner for a week if I want since I am convinced I burned enough calories yesterday to last me at least that long! I worked for Cari and since it is Spring break we are short staffed, so it was just Chris and I, the afternoon started with us checking in for two flights, no problem, but then one flight called in as we were trying to get ready for them the second flight called in early so while I tried to get the last few people checked in Chris brought in the first plane, got the people off and un loaded the bags, as I headed out to load the bags the next plane landed so I had to run to bring it in, then get the people off and into the building, since both the truck and the cart we use to load and unload bags were being used I was trying to reached gate checked bags in the back from the ground, I am only 5 3 so I do not reach well! Finally I was able to run get the cart to unload the rest of the bags while Chris got the new people on the first flight, then I had to unload both planes worth of luggage run back get the new luggage out to the plane, make sure everyone got on and was ready to go, now we are supposed to turn a plane in 10 minutes, meaning from the time it lands to the time it takes back off, we have 10 minutes to load and unload people and luggage, amazingly with just having two of us we made it! (there would be 3 to 4 of us for that shift usually) after we finished all that we still had to run in and release lost luggage that had come in, pull un claimed luggage from the belt, take luggage claims from people and get our times into the computer before dispatch calls to find out why they are not in!!!! I work at night usually so I have lots of down time that they do not have during the afternoons, I have more computer work on my shifts and often work the shift alone while there is more outside work on the afternoon shift and it takes more people, so while I like them both it is different and I sure get a good work out!
I leave for Colorado for a few days this afternoon so I will have a bit of a break, I am looking forward to it as I have been working as many extra shifts as I can the last two weeks to cover other peoples vacations and to make some extra money for our trip to Oregon next weekend.

Rich

OK I do not talk all that much but here I go ( Edi Says I should) I am 42ish extremely proud to be maried, wow didn'tI get lucky. I think that in relationships it is very special for " her to be my best friend" Ok mushy stuff is over , Edi and I are building a great life together. I know very well that she has a large family compared to mine, communication with you guys is great. I am sure you will all like my side 2 bro's and a sis' (yep I am the youngest) I would like to thank Marjorie, Nichol, EJ and Amber for making their way here for our day. I do think for the kids Steve will always be a big part in their lives, I would never jepordize that. I am a proud stepfather and I certainaly would never attempt to compromise his integrity. Anyways as Clint and EJ should know I am really easy going. Some day soon I will retire from the Army, one thing though will never change. Edi is my Angel!!

To my brother in arms Semper Fidelis


Rich

Off Again

Well it looks like I am flying to Denver on Wed. for work, I think I spend more time in Denver since I moved to Kansas then I did when I lived in Colorado. Once I get home from there I have to get ready to go back to Colorado (Durango) for a couple days, then home again for a few days then Richard and I leave for Oregon, we are taking our mini honeymoon in his hometown and attending a baby shower for our soon to be new great nephew, I will also get to meet my new sister in law finally so that will be fun. We had intended to look at reception sites while we were there but now it seems we may be having the reception in Texas at his brothers place instead. His sister is in the process of moving there so she will not be in Oregon in Aug. and she was the one helping us plan it all so it makes sense to move it. His brother bought a nice new house and good size piece of property when they moved from California to Texas so it sounds like that might work out well. Looks like I need to plan a trip to Texas now to look at the property and see for sure what I need to get ready, thank goodness for my free or discounted flight benefits at work they have sure come in handy lately!!!!

Storm watch

We are under tornado watch, my first one since being here, the pictures are from the one that hit Chapman last May (about 11 miles from us) should be interesting!

Our week

We got a call from Levi's school counselor she has set up an appointment to review his IEP plan and make some changes since he still seems to be struggling in a few areas, it seems to be mostly organizational skills, when he does the work AND turns it in he does pretty well, it just appears he does not turn it in, I do not understand doing the work and then not getting credit for it, but trying to get him to follow through is hard! He tests really well when he is not timed, so he is learning and retaining information, I know his dyslexia plays a part in his hard time, but I do not think that is the biggest problem, after many years of working with him when he was younger he actually reads at a higher than grade level, again it just takes him more time. We have always had a hard time getting him extra help because we were told he had to score low in two areas and he never did, it has always come down to he just needs more time. I hope we can come up with a new modified plan that will help him, right now he has a "study class" that is just for him to do homework in and get tutoring if he needs for any of his classess so that has helped some.
We filled the paperwork with the courts in California to get Richard released from guardianship of Krissy, since we have no contact with her, Toni has not allowed her to call or write since we sent her back in May, and since Toni refused to take any of the doctors advice and get her any of the counseling she needs or to even try any type of medication we have decided we cannot continue to be responsible for her, the Army would not let us take her off the insurance without the courts removing guardianship, even though we do not even know where she is for sure now. I think it was a hard decision for Richard, but after he had to call the sheriff just to find out if Krissy got home okay, and numerous emails and phone calls from Toni last year telling him he was nothing to her and even though she lived with us we had no say in her medical well being (she is his step granddaughter) and being told her behavior is normal (lying, stealing, violence, destroying property,inappropriate touching of other kids) and that the doctors do not know what they are talking about, it just became to much, the guardianship states he is responsible if she destroys anything or hurts someone, so we are now waiting for an answer from the courts as to whether or not we will have to appear or they will just terminate his part of the guardinaship. I pray daily that someone will step in and help that child before it is to late, the doctors in Colorado told us we had a very small window of time to get her the intense help she needed if we wanted a good chance of sucess, but again without the support of Toni it became impossible for us to continue. We hope now the courts will step in a force her to get Krissy treated, every kids deserves a chance at the best possible life they can get, I worry that she will not get hers.
On a brighter note I feel like I am back among the living, after feeling so sick, stressed and run down I am finally feeling better, so much to my childrens dismay we will be starting spring cleaning this weekend!