How quickly time flies! A year ago we arrived in Mountain Home (we actually arrived on March 30). This is the longest I've lived in one place since I started grad school in 2006! It's been kind of nice to be able to settle in and not worry about moving and changing jobs, etc. We haven't been in our house for quite a year yet...we closed on May 4th.
Anyway, this was sort of a meaningless post, but I just thought I'd share our "anniversary." :)
Showing posts with label Idaho. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Idaho. Show all posts
Friday, April 1, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Just another day...
p.s. if you zoom in, you can see the babies! They were so cute running around and jumping. :)
Monday, November 15, 2010
Visitors!
Wes, Katie, & Brianne (Grant's brother and his wife & daughter) came to visit from the 10th through 14th! It was great to be able to spend some time with them and show them a little bit of Idaho. Unfortunately, Wes had the flu on Thursday, so that was a lazy day for all of us.
Friday we headed to base to show them the squadron and watch a few jets take off. Then we headed out toward the Bruneau Canyon Overlook, which we've been to before, but it's pretty neat so we wanted to show Wes & Katie. On the way there, the road crosses through part of the Air Force's bombing range, and we were lucky enough to see two A-10s practice shooting their guns (I'm sure there is a better term for it, haha!). They would fly down super low, shoot their gun, and then fly back up pretty quickly. We could even hear the guns. It was pretty cool!
Saturday, Grant and I had jet photos, so Wes & Katie took a short trip to Sun Valley for the day. We all met back up Saturday afternoon and ordered pizza and hung out for the night. They left early Sunday morning. Hopefully they enjoyed their stay in Idaho. We enjoyed having them! :)
Friday we headed to base to show them the squadron and watch a few jets take off. Then we headed out toward the Bruneau Canyon Overlook, which we've been to before, but it's pretty neat so we wanted to show Wes & Katie. On the way there, the road crosses through part of the Air Force's bombing range, and we were lucky enough to see two A-10s practice shooting their guns (I'm sure there is a better term for it, haha!). They would fly down super low, shoot their gun, and then fly back up pretty quickly. We could even hear the guns. It was pretty cool!
Saturday, Grant and I had jet photos, so Wes & Katie took a short trip to Sun Valley for the day. We all met back up Saturday afternoon and ordered pizza and hung out for the night. They left early Sunday morning. Hopefully they enjoyed their stay in Idaho. We enjoyed having them! :)
Friday, September 3, 2010
New Job!
"Again?!", you ask.
Yep, that's right. I found another job, and the best part is that it's right here in town! No more driving 1 hour each way. AMEN. Before I start telling you about this new job, I should tell you that I didn't quit my previous one. I still work PRN for them. When I took my last job, I knew it would be part-time/PRN, and that the distance would be temporary for the summer. By the time August came around, I could barely take the drive. Even though it was only 2 days a week, I was filling in at other clinics on other days, and it was just too much. 9 hour days + 2 hours on the road = not much time at home to relax. So the timing of the new job was just perfect, as I finished my committment at the other job on August 30th.
So, how did this new job come about? Before we left North Carolina, and when I was first job searching here in Idaho, I googled "speech therapy" in our town. An official company name did not come up, but a person's name did, so I just assumed she was a solo SLP who gave private therapy. I moved on and figured there was nothing in town, and I started looking in Boise.
Come June or so, as I'm driving down the street in town, I passed by an office that said speech therapy on the window. Shocked that I wasn't able to find the company on the internet, I wrote down the phone number and made a mental note to call them. I tried to do some online searching about the company, but couldn't find much. I kept putting off calling for another month or so, and finally, as I was driving into Boise one day, I thought, "Why not? Just give them a call. It can't hurt."
It just so happens that I was able to reach the owner of the company on that very first phone call! We hit it off and she told me that my timing was perfect. She had just hired another speech therapist in July, but her schedule was filling up quickly, and they could use more help. We set up a time to meet in person, and she told me more about what the company had available. They offer private speech therapy in the clinic, as well as home-health (adults), Infant-Toddler (Early Intervention...a lot like what I did in NC), and contracts in the schools. The particular position the owner was looking to fill was in a middle school and an elementary school. Not exactly what I was looking for, but I said I'd try it out. I felt like I could give up my "dream job" in a hospital for the shorter drive. It would take me about 10 minutes to get to work now! Awesome!!
School was starting a little more than a week from the time I met with the owner. Since then, I've been working 3 days a week. I do my testing and see kids 2 days a week at the middle school (5th & 6th grades), and then travel a little farther to an elementary school (K-6) 1 day a week. I have an assistant at the middle school who helps see the kids while I do testing, and she helps with a little bit of the paperwork. The way the company has set things up with the school, we only treat articulation (speech sounds) vs. language (vocabulary, following directions, etc.). Usually it's the other way around, but I won't go into that. Anyway, I LOVE articulation, so this job is turning out to be perfect for me! I love the extra time I have at the end of the day, I love the shorter drive, and I love helping the kids learn to say their sounds better! I also work Tuesday through Thursday, and I can't tell you how nice it feels to have Monday off. Sunday is not such a bad day after all!
I'm so glad I was able to find this job. I'm really liking it so far, and I have a feeling I'm going to keep liking it! Plus, since it's a school position, I'll get holidays and summers off, with the option of working in the clinic if I want! LOVE IT! :)
Yep, that's right. I found another job, and the best part is that it's right here in town! No more driving 1 hour each way. AMEN. Before I start telling you about this new job, I should tell you that I didn't quit my previous one. I still work PRN for them. When I took my last job, I knew it would be part-time/PRN, and that the distance would be temporary for the summer. By the time August came around, I could barely take the drive. Even though it was only 2 days a week, I was filling in at other clinics on other days, and it was just too much. 9 hour days + 2 hours on the road = not much time at home to relax. So the timing of the new job was just perfect, as I finished my committment at the other job on August 30th.
So, how did this new job come about? Before we left North Carolina, and when I was first job searching here in Idaho, I googled "speech therapy" in our town. An official company name did not come up, but a person's name did, so I just assumed she was a solo SLP who gave private therapy. I moved on and figured there was nothing in town, and I started looking in Boise.
Come June or so, as I'm driving down the street in town, I passed by an office that said speech therapy on the window. Shocked that I wasn't able to find the company on the internet, I wrote down the phone number and made a mental note to call them. I tried to do some online searching about the company, but couldn't find much. I kept putting off calling for another month or so, and finally, as I was driving into Boise one day, I thought, "Why not? Just give them a call. It can't hurt."
It just so happens that I was able to reach the owner of the company on that very first phone call! We hit it off and she told me that my timing was perfect. She had just hired another speech therapist in July, but her schedule was filling up quickly, and they could use more help. We set up a time to meet in person, and she told me more about what the company had available. They offer private speech therapy in the clinic, as well as home-health (adults), Infant-Toddler (Early Intervention...a lot like what I did in NC), and contracts in the schools. The particular position the owner was looking to fill was in a middle school and an elementary school. Not exactly what I was looking for, but I said I'd try it out. I felt like I could give up my "dream job" in a hospital for the shorter drive. It would take me about 10 minutes to get to work now! Awesome!!
School was starting a little more than a week from the time I met with the owner. Since then, I've been working 3 days a week. I do my testing and see kids 2 days a week at the middle school (5th & 6th grades), and then travel a little farther to an elementary school (K-6) 1 day a week. I have an assistant at the middle school who helps see the kids while I do testing, and she helps with a little bit of the paperwork. The way the company has set things up with the school, we only treat articulation (speech sounds) vs. language (vocabulary, following directions, etc.). Usually it's the other way around, but I won't go into that. Anyway, I LOVE articulation, so this job is turning out to be perfect for me! I love the extra time I have at the end of the day, I love the shorter drive, and I love helping the kids learn to say their sounds better! I also work Tuesday through Thursday, and I can't tell you how nice it feels to have Monday off. Sunday is not such a bad day after all!
I'm so glad I was able to find this job. I'm really liking it so far, and I have a feeling I'm going to keep liking it! Plus, since it's a school position, I'll get holidays and summers off, with the option of working in the clinic if I want! LOVE IT! :)
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
"Play On"
I just realized I never blogged about this! I can't believe it.
Back in May, the radio stations were announcing that Carrie Underwood was coming to Boise on June 1 to do a show for her Play On tour. I would have loved to go, but I didn't think much of it because it was a Tuesday, especially once I found out I'd start my first day at my new job on the 2nd. But then, Grant sent me an email stating that Carrie was offering a military discount to get tickets for $10 a piece to say thank you to our service members! How could I say no to that?! Tickets at that price went on sale the Saturday before the concert, so I waited and found 2 "okay" seats, but I was fine with it for a total of $33! Grant and I both said being tired at work the next day would be worth it.
We arrived at the concert and found our seats, which were really not that bad at all. We were on the upper level, on the right side of the stage. We actually had a pretty good view. Sons of Sylvia and Craig Morgan opened for Carrie. Sons of Sylvia was an interesting mix of music...I honestly could not figure out if they were bluegrass, country, rock, or what. It was weird. Craig Morgan was really good, to my surprise!
Carrie finally came on and lived up to her amazing-ness!! She is so so talented and sounds just like she does on her records as she does live. She's super sweet and couldn't be any more beautiful. I LOVED the concert and enjoyed myself. And luckily, we didn't have to stand the whole time. :) If I ever had the chance to go to one of her concerts again, I definitely wouldn't hesitate!
She rode around the arena above the crowd in this truck! Super cool.
She wore some awesome shoes throughout the show, by the way. ;)
Here are some video clips...hopefully they don't take too long to load. Enjoy!
See what I mean about how awesome she sounds live?!?
"Undo It" is probably my favorite song of hers ever! So sad it's blurry.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Adventures in Idaho
Here are some photos from places we've visited during our first few months in Idaho!
Bruneau Dunes State Park - The tallest single-structured sand dune in North America at 470 feet. These are only about 30 minutes from Mountain Home! Pretty crazy.
On our way to Bruneau Canyon...the road actually crosses through a part of the AF bombing range that MHAFB uses!
Used to be used for Native American human sacrifices!
Pink Flag (girls weekend) in McCall. Really pretty!
Craters of the Moon National Monument &Preserve in Arco. This place used to be used for astronaut training because it is similar to the moon's surface. The "mountains" are actually spatter cones (miniature volcanoes) and cinder cones (formed from erupted lava with high gas content). Most of the eruptions that have occurred in this area and across the Snake River Plain were not your typical volcanic eruption where lava spews from the top of the volcano. These eruptions occurred from the ground and lava flowed out as the earth's crust heated up.
On top of "Inferno Cone", 6181 ft. elevation. It was hard to breath as we hiked up this steep, half-mile cinder cone.
Joe & Wanda were visiting!
It was so windy! This was probably right before we got dirt in our mouth.
Grant the explorer...haha! We hiked around the Broken Top Cinder Cone Trail Loop. Broken Top is a result of the most recent eruption, occurring 2,000 years ago. Geologists believe that future eruptions in the area are likely. So cool!
Those are flowers on the side of the hill. They grew randomly out of the hardened lava and cinder.
Grant in one of the caves, actually called a "Lava Tube," formed by a lava flow that cools on the outside with hot lava flowing within.
I explored the cave all by myself! Everyone else was too scared. I crawled through the space in the picture below and came out where the light is shining through. :)
One side of the Broken Top Cinder Cone was covered in trees and shrubs, while the other side was basically all lava and cinder ash! Very cool to hike around.
He picked me a flower.
This last photo is the actual volcano! As I said earlier, the mountainous cones are not the volcanoes. The volcanoes were in the ground and the cinder cones were formed as "frothy, molten rock was sprayed high into the air from linear eruptive fissures like this one" (from my Broken Top Loop Trail Guide). When the cinders fell back down to the earth, they piled up forming cinder cones.
We also floated down the Boise River in a 4 person tube while Wanda and Joe were here. The water was freezing, but it was a nice 6 mile float that took a little less than 2 hours! I'd love to do it again!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
We bought a house!!
That's right, we bought a house! When we found out we were going to be moving to Idaho, we decided that we were tired of living on base and wanted to start making our money count! So we I had been looking at houses on the internet for quite some time. Grant didn't start seriously looking until early March. When we arrived in Mountain Home, we arranged to see as many houses as possible with our real estate agent (who was awesome!) over the next few days. We spent two days looking at houses and put an offer on one at the end of the 2nd day. After about a week of negotiating back and forth, we were officially under contract!
We had a tentative closing date for May 4th, so we spent the month of April in the TLF (hotel) on base. We were super excited to get the keys and have the movers deliver our stuff. So we've been in the house since May 4th (movers came on the 5th), and yes, I've been slacking that long to write this post. I realize many of you have been waiting for this, and I do apologize. I had every intention to do this on the 4th. I even took the pictures that day! Obviously, we have been making some changes and updating some things, so I will post those as we finish those projects. We just got new furniture for our bedroom and side tables and entertainment center for our living room today!! LOVE!
So anyway, here are a few pictures from the day we got the keys. Enjoy! :)
(This picture is from earlier in the month, after we were under contract. I had to get a picture of the sign....SALE PENDING!!)
This bedroom is off the left of the hallway as you come in the front of the house.
This bedroom is off the right of the hallway.
Extra full bathroom next to the bedroom in the last picture.
Living room looking in from the hallway.
Living room looking from the dining room/kitchen area.
Dining room, which is off the right of the kitchen.
Office "nook" that is in the hallway leading back to the Master bedroom. You can sort of see it in the picture of the dining room.
The laundry room and door to the garage are off the same hallway, directly across from the "nook."
Master Bedroom, looking in from the door.
Master Bedroom Closet, which is off the bottom right in the last picture. It has two top shelves on the other side and one rod to hang clothes. It's pretty good size!
Master Bathroom, which is off the left side of the room as you come in the door, opposite of the windows. Full size shower, with 2 benches!
Double sinks!
Patio...entrance is off the dining room.
Patio and deck
This side of the house faces east. The windows are the Master Bedroom. Not sure what/where the large stones came from.
North side of the house. Door goes into the garage.
Uhh...this is how our stuff came the morning of the delivery. Kinda scary?
This mountain of paper came out of ONE box!
Hope you enjoyed the tour! Hopefully we can get some before/after pictures up soon. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
