Masters Complete!

Today I officially turned in my final two assignments of my masters program and in TEN days I will walk with my wonderful family and professors watching! I also had my final class as a TA tonight. It's hard to believe that only two years ago, I started this journey and had very little understanding about helping kids with disabilities. I've been very tired lately with everything settling down and my body has been quite achy due to my body adjusting to the lack of stress, funny how the body starts to hurt when it's getting better. No I have not been this way for two years, just more stressed than usual since starting a new job, student teaching and living in a new place. After class I was ready for a nap, but instead a friend invited me for a hike and anyone who knows me well knows that I will never turn one of those down. So my friend Jada and I started out on west glacier trail, which is the trail opposite of the visitors center at Mendenhall glacier. We were having too much fun and with such long days this time of year plus little to do for work, we decided to go for it and hike as far in as we could. Roughly six miles and three hours later we ended with some incredible pictures (that don't do the views justice), a spying session on mountain goats, and a great workout! As I drove home I thought to myself, what a better way to complete this step in my journey. I can't explain how amazing this journey has been or much I've blessed by it, but I can say that I will never regret my decision to do any of it or come to Alaska with my amazing family. Thanks Jada for getting me out on a beautiful day so that I could celebrate properly :) T minus 7 days before I see my friends and family!

Scouting like a good boy.

Mountain goats!

Happy kids and mama!

Juneau!

Above the glacier and ice fields!

And Done!

Whoa May is here!

May 1st! Really?! How did that happen? What happen to March? Even when things aren't going perfectly, time seems to fly by. Does that mean we're officially old ;) A lot has happened since spring break and there's still a lot coming in the next few weeks. Tourist season officially starts this weekend with the first cruise ship coming in. Can you believe that?! Isn't it still winter? Who's taking a cruise? Haha. With tourist season starting, the shop that John's working at is getting very busy and pumped for their first tour season. It should be a VERY busy summer for them! We've enjoyed getting to know the folks at the shop and their families; everyone is really fun and chill to hang out with. John has been working just about every weekend there and says it feels more like playing. John recently had his 32nd birthday at the shop after hours, but did not know that it was going on so when his friends came in he started selling range time lol. Em and some friends went downstairs and had their first shot at a fully automatic machine gun. It was actually really easy to shoot and a whole lotta fun! Afterwards, Em threw a shirt at John and said "Happy Birthday", we all kind of laughed and then proceeded to the room where the food and presents were. We ate some deliciously catered food from a local place and hung out for a bit. John was spoiled with some Tommy Bahama and more guns...squirt guns.

The next day after the shop closed up, the NRA had a big dinner(just what the birthday boy wanted) and we got to go to that. It was pretty fun and there were some really cool things that were auctioned and raffled off. The best part was the company and food. Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day with the warmest temps yet and clear skies. So before the dinner, while John was at the shop, Em spent the day outside with a short run at Eagle beach, a drive out the road, and a beautiful hike with a friend up Mt. Roberts for the first time. The views were incredible and it was about 10 minutes from home :) Em tried to take John there Monday night, but couldn't find it up the skinny windy roads so we did our newest trail, the Treadwell ditch trail behind our place. It's great hike and run that takes us straight up and then smooths out to flatter steady incline with water and vegetation everywhere! Next time, Em said she'd look at the map before we go because gps isn't good around here :). With some challenges, she was able to find Mt. Roberts and Perseverance trail earlier this week and enjoyed a lovely hike and run with their beautiful views :)

At the beginning of the month Em got to go to San Diego to return to the annual CEC conference. As always, it was an amazing conference where she learned a ton. She attended sessions on a variety of topics including helping children avoid prison, cool reading materials, some great math and reading apps, and two specifically for new teachers. She's already been able to use some of what she took away from the conference in the classroom and she's super excited to continue using all of them next year. While at the conference, Em had the privilege to present her poster again, but even more exciting was that she had her published article with her. So she got to share all the cool things that she and her professor Alex wrote about and discuss ideas with multiple people who came including swim instructors, adaptive PE teachers, and special educators. The weather was really warm while she was there. Em chuckled when she was sweating at 65 degrees and others were shivering. She went for a run and remembered how much she did not enjoy the heat while running, but loved being able to run to the San Diego Zoo where she has her first memory as a child. She hopes to be able to return to conferences for ever :)

A few weeks prior to CEC, Em defended and passed her Master's defense however she was not happy with her performance at all. She had started the first rounds of testing at school that week and didn't feel good all week in general. After her defense, she felt terrible and cried for a while. Even the pups couldn't console her because she was so disappointed in herself. She was happy to have learned she passed, but not happy otherwise. Overtime she moved on and tried to let it go, but she is still not happy with how it went. She is happy however to be passed that step and to have had a better presentation in San Diego.

Em graduates in 16 days! Seriously where has the time gone? Didn't she just graduate with her B.A.? Didn't John and her just move to the Palouse? Now two years later we're here in Juneau, in our own home, Em's teaching career is starting to peak through and John is a business manager! After 5 weeks of testing with students, her defense behind her, the college courses complete, and the school year wrapping up, Em feels like things are a bit quite right now. However she's not complaining :) She knows next year will be quite different. Just as things are settling down for Em, they're picking up for John. He will be helping out at the dock selling tours for the shop, working the gun counter and still responsible for the business side of things. He'll stay very busy, but is very happy to be a part of the team. Em is going to help out as well when she is not teaching at the summer program. It should be a great summer with lots of adventures ahead!

We are excited to come see our friends and family and enjoy the 70's and 80's that Pullman is experiencing. Only two weeks away! We hope you're all enjoying your spring weather and finding time to be with your friends and family as well. See you soon friends!

 Looking down from Mt. Roberts.

 The tram at the top of Mt. Roberts.

 Mili looked like a puppy in this eagle's nest.

 One of the views from Eagle Beach!

 Treadwill trail, 3 miles in.

 Ammo tried to chase the guy with the chute. Silly pup.

 Em got a new toy for hunting and brought the muzzle a little too far back. She didn't shoot John's bag, but the power off the muzzle didn't care. Whoops! The gun shoots great :)

 Only in Alaska.

 We got to go to an MMA fight with some friends and see a guy from Texas get beat by a local :)

 The view from dinner one weekend!

Spring break is over, the sun is shining and Some more friendly facts :)

Well I suppose if I can spend hours with my nose in my kindle, I can write a quick blog post. Spring break is over and Em goes back to work tomorrow. For the first time in three years Em's college and work had the same spring break so she was without schedule work for 5 days! She also normally has a lot of school work to do, but since she's student teaching now it's different. It worked out though because John's new boss (I'll get to that later) needed to go to Seattle for his daughter's surgery and needed a dog sitter. His dog though is a 24/7 kind of dog and requires company literally all day. Perfect for a dog loving teacher on break! So Em spent the week with 3 dogs and a cat hanging out mostly at home reading 3 books and occasionally taking a break to go have lunch with John, take the dogs for a walk, or clean up a bit. The pup's name is Benelli and she is just under a year old with LOTS of energy. Mili and Ammo definitely got more activity this week and loved it. Benelli had to go back to a new dog sitter this week and she was sad to let them and John go. John had to walk her out to their car because she wouldn't leave him :( Fortunately we'll see her a lot and get to play often!

 Lunch break at the Glacier one day and through the beautiful disc golf course the next :)

So yes about that new boss thing, John is still working for Hecla as a cost analyst so don't fret. A few weeks ago John went into a local gun shop (WHAT :O) with his ISU jacket on and the owner (Benelli's dad) started talking to him because he used to live in Idaho Falls. He loves ISU and found out that John studied accounting there. GO BENGALS! They were jokingly talking about needing someone to help out with the books and run the show on the weekends. As John was walking out he said "I'm not kidding about that work thing". So long story short, John ended up going back in a few times and by the next weekend was working there. The place is extremely nice with some really cool guns and a nice gun range downstairs. They have a special secured section that holds guns that are not for sale, but just to look. We thought this was the perfect place for John to put Em's grandfather's WWII service pistol. This place is secured more than our house so we didn't mind putting it there for others to enjoy. Em has no expectation of ever seeing a paycheck from them, but does expect to see new(er) toys and spending a fair amount of time there. The place is like a museum and really chill so Em likes to spend a few hours there to bring John lunch and let the pups say hi. Benelli is always there when her dad is so we get to see her. John's always been THAT guy in gun stores that hangs out all the time and enjoys it so for him it's a fun way to spend part of his weekends. The guys and gals there are all really cool too and make for a fun group to hang out with. Today John was sold a slide fire grip that turns a semi automatic gun into an automatic gun and we both got to shoot it on a few of our rifles in the range. Gotta admit, it's pretty freakin fun and ridiculous in a good way! John is pretty proud of Em and her ability to handle it :D

After John closed up the shop we drove the dogs out to Eagle beach, which is at about mile 27 of 36 in Juneau so it's fairly "out the road" as us locals call it ;). It's unbelievably beautiful out the road because it's the highway following the coast line and there's mountains surrounding you on every side, plus you can't see town! Eagle beach is one of many turn out points that is available and is one of the areas that the ocean meets fresh water. It's just passed Herbert Glacier, where we were a few weeks ago. It was very quiet and Em plans to go there more often to run with the dogs because it's dirt road with water and mountains! We came home just after sun set behind the beautiful mountains and worked together to make a good pesto dish...Go TEAM KLEIN haha, and to get ready for the week.

One other fun update is that Em has a summer job with the school district teaching PE to a k-5 summer camp! She was officially offered the position over break and is really excited to be able to put her skills to use and continue working with kids. They even said she gets to do all of the planning and can use the pool, so she plans to schedule it weekly and do swim lessons with each group! John has also decided to sign up as a volunteer firefighter for the community and will begin his journey to becoming an EMT and firefighter 1. It's a long process because the classes are already scheduled, but he's able to attend the weekly training's and work his way to going out on calls. He's always enjoyed being a part of Search and Rescue or organizations like that so he's excited to start this! Interesting fact for you...did you know that only about 3% of fire calls in the country are actually for fires?! Crazy huh?!

So now begins the end of the academic year, which has snuck up on us so fat. Em defends her master's project this week and is excited for the CEC conference coming up in April. She looked over the sessions this week and is really looking forward to what she gets to go to and to present on her and Alex's paper! John is getting more settled into his job and into the community. Summer is just around the corner and we are both enjoying the recent addition in sun light!

A few more friendly facts for you before we say good night...

1. The Norther Lights are so amazing and cooler than we ever thought possible. We saw them a few weeks ago and spent over two hours watching them on the balcony with our Christmas blankets.
2. Merrils are awesome shoes! Em is on her 3rd recent pair and wears her water proof boots almost every day. They're like slippers.
3. The mail moves very slow here and overnight shipping is NOT POSSIBLE so please don't ever pay for it, because it won't ever work.
4. It's not unusual to be running or driving and see a glacier pop up out of nowhere, it happened three times this week.
5. John has a new scar...on his head from being too tall and forgetting to duck. He kept his eye on the prize and not what was in front of him. He required 10 stitches but is ok :)

6. The bears are not awake yet, but it's time to start being on the look out.
7. Alaska is an amazing adventure!