Alaska Day! A sign maybe?

I forgot to mention that John and I chose not to go on our camping trip for our anniversary because we new we'd be going to Alaska the next weekend hehe so that was actually planned and believe it or not October 18th is not only our anniversary, it's also Alaska Day! How perfect, it must be a sign :) Happy 9th Anniversary to us!

http://alaskadayfestival.org/

Going on an adventure!

Well the cat's out of the bag, John and Em are going on an adventure to Juneau, Alaska! That's right we're moving to the beautiful town of Juneau on the south east peninsula of Alaska. We're SO EXCITED! If you're not familiar with the geography of the state, you can see Juneau on the map below. As you can see Juneau is surrounded by ocean and mountains, but has very few roads and there are no roads leading into Juneau so you can only fly or take a boat to and from Juneau. Wild right? Juneau is a temperate rain forest on the coast of the Gulf of Alaska so it rains quite a bit and is actually warmer than many parts of Alaska, the climate is similar to Seattle. However it is MUCH smaller so you don't get any traffic and in our opinion much prettier :) Juneau is surrounded by mountains that are covered in snow year round and absolutely beautiful. Juneau also has a ski resort that gets snow in the higher elevations, although it rains a lot it snows enough to have lots of fun. Snow shoeing, skiing, ice skating and even ice climbing! This beautiful part of Alaska is called the valley of the Glaciers because there really are a lot of glaciers that have run/bike paths leading straight to some of them from town! How awesome is that?! Mendenhal Glacier is a huge, beautiful glacier on one end of Juneau that has ice caves underneath we can go explore and the glacier lake freezes over in the winter. Locals ice skate on it, instead of a man made one! In the summer time this place is so incredibly green (more green than it is now) surrounded by beautiful mountains and has an ocean full of whales and some of the best fishing in the world. The locals say that after a year, you'll think of whales like we do cows because they're around so often. That is so freaking COOL and I can't imagine getting sick of that sight. The little wannabe marine biologist in Em is ridiculously excited! Juneau also has an awesome running club that puts on a lot of events all year including a marathon and triathlon. Everyone she spoke with up there participates and encouraged her to come join them. There's even an Ironman nearby :)

Although Juneau is known for much less sun than the average place in America and gets a lot of moisture, it is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen when it clears up. How do I know? Well as some of you recently found out, John and I had the opportunity to fly to Juneau a few weeks ago because an old coworker of John's asked if he'd still be interested in Alaska (when John and I were in Poky, he applied for an internship up there, but it didn't work out). His prior coworker had given John's name to Hecla mining company in Juneau because they asked him who would make a good cost analyst. Isn't my husband awesome?! So John applied and after having a successful phone interview they scheduled an onsite, but insisted that Em came because they wanted to make sure that the whole family is on board for this experience. Well that only helped sell Em on the idea and on the last day of the interview at dinner (did I mention they took us to sushi) they offered John the job! While in Juneau, Em set up a meeting with a few people from the school district to discuss potential job opportunities and to give them her resume. That went really well and Em is going to have a lot of opportunities up there. She is getting her final semester of school (student teaching) all set up in Juneau and she's waiting to hear on a few jobs :) Did we mention over the summer they had sped, PE, and adaptive PE jobs :D After talking about it for a while and trying to defend staying in Pullman we decided that it just didn't make sense and that this was way too good of an opportunity and an ADVENTURE. We said "Why Not?" we're young, with no kids or a house holding us back so let's do it! It's going to be quite the adventure and will take some adjusting, but like the locals say you just embrace it and love what Juneau has to offer and you'll love it. Thank you to our friends and family that have been so excited for us and shown their support, it means the world to us. We know some aren't real thrilled, but we are and we know this is what's best for our family at this time so that's what matters! The memories we've made in Pullman and the relationships we've built will stay with us forever. Em wishes she could take her kiddos with her, but technology will have to do. Em's department even chose to support her from Juneau by flying her to San Diego to present at the national CEC conference in April, even though they has already planned on it from Spokane. What an amazing department! Em really knows how to pick em ;) John will be starting work on December 1st and jumping on the ferry November 26th. His new job is going to move ALL of our stuff for us, and it'll be an adventure just getting there. We'll drive our cars to Seattle to jump on a ferry and take a 2 day trip to Juneau with the pups and TJ and then get the rest of our stuff a few weeks later. John is going to fly back down for Christmas and then we will take the kids and Em's car to Seattle and jump on the ferry. We'll be there before New Years! We'll be back in Pullman in May for Em to graduate with her masters! We couldn't be more excited and blessed to have such an amazing opportunity and are looking forward to this great adventure!

 Us in front of the glacier after Em met with the school!

 The waterfall near the glacier!

 Part of an beautiful and sacred memorial. The memorial of St. Theresa!

  The view right after it opened up from the fog :)

Mendenhal Glacier!

For more pictures check out Em's google plus link below.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/108861661253026254795/albums/6076864817279604401?authkey=CKzfiNLf6YCqLA

Holy Smokes it's already November!

Geesh, I can't believe it's November 4th already. WOW time flies! Em was just saying to someone yesterday that she graduated from college last year, but it feels like it's been many years. Is that possible? How is it that we have lived in Pullman for 2 years now? Not only that, but we have married for NINE YEARS :O that is pretty crazy! So much has happened in 9 years and we have come so far in that time together. John and I picked a beautiful time of year to get married, but it wasn't actually the best time in regards to schedules. We often take a day to go somewhere outdoors and celebrate, but this year we have just been so insanely busy and the weather didn't really play out for us. Instead we grabbed a bite to eat where John got to enjoy a bib and a lot of sauce!

You could say that Em got a pretty amazing anniversary gift, but it wasn't really planned ;) Em enjoyed yet another amazing state conference in Boise at the beginning of the month. She got to see her friend Samo, who she hasn't seen since she moved from Pocatello and attend some great sessions. She even won a small gift for buying a ticket to help a group of students head to the national conference. She also gained a bigger distaste for big cities and the traffic that comes with them. Cities are nice to visit, but we would never want to live in one. I know Boise is a small town for most, but we like really really small towns :) However the day that she left Em's jeep decided to really break down. She had been having some minor problems before hand, but John had done some work on it and thought things were fixed, because they acted fixed for a bit. By the time Em got to work that day, her car was over heating and she had to park it for a while. It continue to over heat so she got to take John's baby on its first long trip and drove it to Boise. When Em got back, John and his friend Mike had done almost all the work they could on her jeep, but it was still struggling so she took it into a shop and they reported a hefty 3,000$ fix and a lady that had a lot of miles on her. So then came the decision...do we fix her or do we trade her in? After getting a second shop's opinion and talking with the Jeep dealership, we decided to get Em a newer car with better gas mileage and whole lot of other updates. The dealership gave us a great deal and Em is quite happy with her new rig which includes heated seats, auxiliary, traction control, and anti lock breaks! She's looking forward to getting bigger tires ;)  

John enjoyed his first conference, a Project Management one in Phoenix Arizona and returned on Halloween. He had an awesome experience and learned a lot. He also received a lot of confirmation on the direction he is going with his career. He got to fly over the Grand Canyon and Mt. Renier, which were both incredible. He looks forward to going to more conferences and traveling more. Oh and Em is pretty proud of herself for encouraging him to look into the idea ;)

On top of Em's conference and her broken down car, she had more news shared with her the day she left for the conference that contributed to the roller coaster ride. She received an email the morning of her trip that the article she wrote with her professor was accepted for publication in the biggest special education journal! She was and is so excited to have such a blessing in her life. Things are already moving along quickly and as soon as it's published she will be able to share it all with you. That is one step closer to a great career for Em and she's extremely grateful for her professor who supported her in the process, this wouldn't have been possible without her. 

Anyway, well welcome to November and the ever extremely ridiculous early time of Christmas. Can we please enjoy Thanksgiving and turkeys? Christmas is great, but the Turkey wants to keep its month and the Klein's would appreciate saving Christmas talk until after Thanksgiving day! The end of the year always brings busy times thanks to school and the holidays, but it'll be over before we know it so we better enjoy it! 

September update

Well with the last day of the month and finally a few minutes to write, I thought this would be a good opportunity to post an update everyone about everything I've wanted to in the last few weeks. To no-one's surprise, I'm sure, we have had a busy month full of activity and blessings. This time of year is beautiful and rivals the snow capped mountains that Em loves so much. The changing colors makes for some peaceful scenery along with cooler temperatures, making it motivating for Em to hit the trails in the afternoon and even take a study break in the process. What better place to read/study than outside in nature?

 The doggies are liking this time of year too because the trails aren't very busy when mom goes so they get to be off leash :)

 Like we said above, this month has been filled with activity and blessings. Labor day weekend was a busy time for us. For those that don't know, John and I attend Appleseed shoots and have been involved with the program for about two years now. For more on this program you can follow the link down below. About two years ago John picked up an orange hat which made him an instructor in training and has been working on the steps to become a full instructor and receive his red hat. At the beginning of this month he practically ran the local shoot with about a dozen shooters and earned his red hat! The shoot boss was so impressed that there wasn't even a question about him getting it, which was great for Em and John's dad because they got to see him get it and take pictures! Em had previously picked up her orange hat when she shot rifleman, but hasn't really done anything besides hand out targets. Labor day weekend Em acted as an orange hat on Saturday and helped out with instruction which helped her to get to the next step in the orange hat process. She was really proud to see John get his red hat and do so well because he's worked so hard for it and we are both passionate about the program. It was fun too because two of our friends were orange hats at the shoot too so most of the volunteers were friends :)
http://appleseedinfo.org/

Matt, Em, Kris, and John after the shoot!

 Look at that stud!

 Trading in the hat.
After Saturday's portion of the shoot, we took our new roof top tent out and tried it out for the first time! Although we only slept and didn't really camp, it was awesome and so easy to set up. Em even felt like she got a good nights rest for her half marathon the next morning. We are excited to use it a lot!

Oh yeah so while John completed the shoot on Sunday, Em ran her first trail half marathon at Moscow Mountain. She had been stressed out the previous few weeks and not running as long, plus it was her first half marathon in the mountains so she was going to happy with a finish, especially because she woke up with a horrible sore throat. She ran a lot of it, walked a lot of it, and loved all of it! It was starting to get really pretty that weekend with fall colors and she met a few people who were running their first half marathon EVER. What studs right?!?! It was fun and a heck of a work out; Em was definitely tired when it was over, but she's sold on the idea of doing trail runs more! She just wishes she could make it up to the trails more often :/

 About half way through!

 At the start!

 Not just a good instructor, but a damn good lookin one too ;)

 He should be a pro!

So after Labor day weekend, we got into the full swing of things and started getting into a routine with school and work. John has been spending a few nights a week at his parents house doing class work with his dad. Once they figured out how to get through his course work and figured out a routine, they were enjoying the class and John really enjoys not going to campus at all. This program is much better for his life currently. Em's has continued to be on campus twice a week and has enjoyed TAing for multiple classes. She's already taught once and gets to teach again tomorrow, which she really loves! Her mind and body have started getting into the routine of school and work again and she has really been enjoying working with Rielynn and learning so much from him. She does miss working with some of the other kids though. She's looking forward to seeing them more often during student teaching. About two weeks after Labor day, Em went into her 4th attempt taking the math praxis. She hadn't improved her score at all so she was hoping to get a better score, but was not at all preparing to pass. Well she happened to get a 165 and the passing score is a 164!!! Yup she FINALLY passed and almost screamed out loud in the testing center when she saw her score. She couldn't believe it and went straight outside jumping around like a little girl screaming and acting like a dork. She called John, Alex (her professor) and her friend Marianne to tell them the great news and celebrated with a starbucks before she had to go to class. After class John took her to Tri state to get her the 22 rifle that she was working to earn when she did pass math and then to dinner :) Passing this portion of the test is such a HUGE relief for Em because she was truly worried about passing it and whether she would be able to before student teaching or even graduating. She still has the science test to pass, but her scores there have improved and she is starting to recognize most of the questions. That test is on October 13th and she is not concerned about eventually passing this one. She is much happier only have science left than having math left, because she knows she will pass science. 

The dork dancing around outside of the testing center!

Em is headed out to Boise tomorrow for the special education state conference and she is very excited for another conference plus she gets to see and stay with her great friend Samantha (Samo) that she has not seen since graduation almost two years ago! She also found out recently that her department is going to sponsor her and help her get to the national special education conference in San Diego in April so that she can present on her (hopefully published) paper! She is VERY grateful and was VERY surprised to learn about this amazing gift! She is a very very lucky young lady who has been blessed so much by her time at U of I getting her masters. She's managed not to be killed by her professor too even though she's made a few mistakes!
John is hard at work on the Jeep and Truck when he's not studying or at work. He's looking into more shoots now that he's an Red Hat and getting ready for some cooler weather. He's picked up disk golf, completed a golf tournament for work, and gone hunting. We managed to get one more river float in before the end of summer and Em saw her FIRST big horn long sheep, in fact she saw THREE! State animal of Nevada and she had never seen one until last weekend in Lewiston, ID! The float was awesome and was very relaxing start to the week.
The Klein's are doing great right now and looking forward to some camping trips here soon! Did we mention our 9 year anniversary is in a few weeks? WOW!!!

First Week back to the grind!

Well the first week of school for us has passed. It has been a busy one, but not a bad start. Slightly different than what we expected, but we both expect it to change a little. The day before public school started, Troy had a teacher work day and a surprise to me, Dr. Wappet came in to do our compassion training. Dr. Wappet is a director and professor at U of I who has a background in special education and mental health services. He taught most of us (I say most of us, because I have a health minor so much of what he spoke about I was already familiar with) about stress, what it does to the body and how kids experience the same problems as we adults do. I already understand most of what he spoke about, but it was interesting to hear about the specific effects on children and how we can help them. It was refreshing to hear a professional encourage movement and relaxation to general education teachers, including stating that "taking PE out of the school is one of the worst mistakes we could make". Go Doc! Anyway so that filled most of my Monday, that and getting the classroom ready for the week. After discussing our schedules more, it was decided that I wouldn't work Thursdays anymore. I do wish I could have the option to some of that experience, but there wasn't really one. I suspect that they will need more help in a few weeks once school gets underway, but for now I'll be using Thursdays to study and sub. School hasn't even started for one district yet and they've already called me for two days to sub in September.
I had my first real day of school on Tuesday with Rielayn and we were both worn out after our first full day of school. We attended PE, an assembly, and recess, and cut out a picture of his hand on a heart for his mom. He did really well and taught me a few signs already, but was awfully quiet on the bus ride lol. He was gone the rest of the week with his family, but he returns this Tuesday. I think I'm going to like my classes this fall, especially my disability policy class. We haven't met yet, but we've started reading a novel called "No Pity". It's a great read and I suspect we will have some great discussions about having or not having pity on those with disabilities. The professor is also Dr. Wappet! My language disability course is taking some getting into, but the most recent chapter included some applicable tools for students so I expect it to get better.
John is doing well and really loving his new Jeep. He says he really loved the Subaru, but he loves the jeep more now than when he first got the sub lol. It's a good thing cuz I'm not going to let him get rid of it, we're going to have way too much fun with it. Yesterday he spent hours putting wires throughout the jeep and setting up his ham radio. It's actually really cool and everything locks up if needed too.

The hitch came and he attached the hitch cover we had from the truck. I don't know how, but I had forgotten we had it and was excited to be able to attach it again! We are expecting the rack for it on Tuesday so we can put the tent on it and then we'll be set. We will have A LOT of fun with this rig! His class is going OK, he's happy to not have to go to campus and be able to study from home. He and his dad are "attending" the class together from his dad's place and they're going to do the homework together. The only thing that is making it difficult for him now is that the material is dry, the professor is not that interesting, and he knows some of it from work already. He says it will get better and he still enjoys it over the other option. I think as he actually starts diving in and doing work he'll enjoy it more.
Other than a few walks with the pups, some tasty food and a few fun nights this weekend, that pretty much sums up what we have going on. John is going hunting tomorrow with a buddy and I'm going to be working on things for the classroom, studying, and going for my last long run before my half marathon on Sunday. We were hoping to go camping, but our friends couldn't make it and the weather wasn't that great anyway. Until next time TTFN!

We're a full fledged Jeep Family!!

Well John finally gave in and traded his WRX in for a better and more practical toy! OK practical may be pushing it, but it is definitely more our lifestyle and perfect for the puppies :) We didn't get the color on purpose, but funny how it's a mix between Bengal Orange and Vandal Gold! John was tossing the idea around for a while, but Em is biased and let him make the decision on his own. She didn't want to persuade him ;) Jeep Rubicon? Like it's even an option!!!

We're now a Vandal Family!

John has come over to the dark side and is now a Vandal. He will be doing the Engineering outreach program getting his masters in power engineering. He's excited because he doesn't have to deal with the Pullman campus anymore and his courses are online, which will work much better with his work. School starts Monday. We still consider ourselves loyal Bengals though :)