Monday, June 28, 2010

Exciting News!!!

Can you guess who is who?
After framing these to put in our bathroom, I realized how
much our babies look alike! Kind of scary actually!!

This has definitely been a very exciting week in the Gallagher house! After not hearing anything about jobs on Monday, I went to bed a little let down. However, that did not last long! Tuesday morning I get a call from Genieve from KANA (Kodiak Alaska Native Association) offering me the administrative assistant job!!!! God is SO good!!! After that call, my schedule filled up very quickly for the day. The kids and I ran all over the place meeting about daycare stuff, getting drug tested (me not the kids), getting medical paperwork filled out, and tons more. We were wiped out but over the moon! Hydie and I even made hydie-friendly brownies to celebrate!


Wednesday I began my cleaning madness and organizing for the Sunday yard sale. Thursday I became an official KANA employee. I am now the new KANA Community Services Administrative Assistant to 6 different administrators. Yes, I think it sound very professional :). John then cooked some amazing halibut that night. Carter had his first real meat....halibut. Yes, he's an Alaskan baby! He loved every bite!!!
Friday, we even got more good news. John will be an ET2 as of July 1st!!! I am SO proud of him! He definitely deserves this promotion! Sunday we had a yard sale with another Coastie family and were able to get rid of a bit of our stuff. I am so thankful to have at least some of that stuff out of our house. After the yard sale, I was back in cleaning mode and getting everything organized and "ready" for my first official week of work. My wonderful friend Danielle is coming to our house during the day to watch the kids. We are so blessed to have the Pack family back in our lives! So, now we are to today, also know as Jade's first day of work in the past 2 years. Man was it hard to get going this morning. I did have lots of butterflies and nervous this morning, but they soon faded and I really enjoyed my first day of work. I already have 2 full pages of tasks I need to accomplish in the next couple days. I very much appreciate all the many thoughts and prayers about the job! Now, I am praying that the kids will get in the CDC (daycare on base) soon. Danielle will be keeping them until the CDC has spots available, but we would really like to get them in as soon as possible. Thanks for all the prayers!
This is Carter's new favorite past-time, getting stuck under the table!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Fishing and Father's Day Fun!


We have had a semi-productive week I guess you would call it. We went to the park several times, I baked, John went halibut fishing, John and Hydie went fishing, I had an interview, Hydie and I had movie night, we celebrated Father's Day, and I saw my first "dumpster diving bear." Yeah, I would say we've had a week worth writing about!





John and our neighbor Andrew finally after many attempts to rent the Coast Guard morale rental boats were about to go out halibut fishing. I believe this was Andrew's first time halibut fishing. To say the least, they had a blast! After being gone most of the day, I get a text message from John saying that he wished Andrew would quit catching all the fish and give him a turn. I assume it was beginners luck that Andrew kept catching the fish. While waiting on the guys to fish cleaning the boat and hauling the fish and supplies up to the parking lot, Hydie decided she wanted to hang from the ropes like the fishies. So being the non-germaphobe mother that I am, I let her hang from the ropes that are made to hang fish on. Yes, mom I made her wash her hands as soon as we got home. We then spent the rest of the evening packaging fish. Have I told ya'll how wonderful halibut is? If you haven't ever tried any, it's definitely a reason to come to see me! I think that will probably be one of the biggest things I miss about Kodiak when we move.


Thursday night Hydie and I decided since Daddy had a Coast Guard poker tournament to go to that we would have a movie and popcorn night. I finally found Hydie's kettle corn popcorn at Wal-Mart so it was just another reason for us to have a date. Hydie picked Toy Story (1) for us to watch while we were at Wal-Mart. After getting Carter to bed, Hydie and I snuggled up in the big chair and watched Toy Story and ate popcorn. Gosh, I love moments like these! Makes me want to freeze time.
John had to work most of the weekend due to contractors doing installs, and he had duty on Saturday night. Since Daddy was away, I decided to try a new recipe I found for pulled pork in the crock-pot. It cooks for 12 hours and then you take it out and shred it. I started it around 8 p.m. so it would be ready Sunday morning for Father's Day supper that night. I had to give myself time just in case it didn't turn out. Around 2:15 a.m. I was woken up by this loud bang noise and then lighter tap noises. Of course, the first thing that ran through my mind was the crock-pot. I immediately jump out of bed and run to the kitchen expecting the top to the crock-pot to be tossed across the kitchen and there to be roast and onions splattered all over my cabinets....Negative. I then decide that it must have been someone throwing something into the dumpster since the dumpster is right outside our house. I go into the bathroom and look out the window. To my surprise, their is a HUGE bear standing against the dumpster pulling trash out. The only thing I could think at the time was that I needed to call the military police before he does some real damage or gets into the road. I watch milpol drive through with their light on, but the bear in no where in site. After a few minutes, I hear the same noise but this time it sounds farther away. I figure he has moved to the next dumpster across the playground. Then I hear the milpol truck make this loud beep noise. I head back to the window and I see the bear stick his head out of the dumpster and then jump out. Milpol then followed him up through housing and finally off base. My adrenaline continued going the rest of the night. All I could think about was the bear "breaking" into my house because he smelled the roast cooking. No, I have never heard of bears breaking into home because they smell something cooking, but what else was I suppose to think about at 3 a.m.. I'm just thankful John was on watch during all this commotion so he could at least calm me down a little.
These pictures were taken from a friend on base the same night I saw the bear. In the midst of calling milpol I never thought to grab my camera. My camera is now living on my night stand just in case the bear comes back.


Sunday, after John came home from work we finally were able to celebrate Father's Day with him. We had pulled pork sandwiches (that were wonderful by the way), baked beans, fries and key line pie for dessert. We then went to the park by our house and played until bathtime. I hope all my favorite daddies had a very good father's day. Especially Happy Father's Day to my daddy and John's daddy! Thank ya'll both for raising us to be honest, hard working people who love our Lord. We definitely would not be the people we are today if it wasn't for ya'll! We love you!!!





I am still in the job hunting stage, well I guess you can say I have advanced from the hunting stage to the waiting stage. And if you know me, you know I don't wait very well. I am about to go crazy waiting to hear something, anything. Please continue for me to allow God to guide me in the direction He needs me to follow, and that I will know soon as to what that is He wants me to do.

Monday, June 14, 2010

What a fun week...


We had a very fun week last week. We went hiking, took a trip to the Touch Tank, welcomed friends to Kodiak, played on the beach, and went fishing. The Operations department on the CGC Alex Haley decided it was time to take a break from work and spend some time with family and friends. This trip consisted of hiking on Near Island and going to the Touch Tank; two things our family had never done. Yes, we have been hiking other places, but we haven't ever been out to Near Island. We had so much fun! Hydie walked almost the entire trail by herself without complaint. Carter of course was in the backpack carrier on Daddy's back. Hydie was definitely in heaven with all the "wild flowers" through the trails. We spent more time picking flowers than some of the group spent on the trails.
After enjoying the beauty of Kodiak, we headed to the Touch Tank. It is a mini version of an aquarium. Hydie LOVED touching all the star fish, crabs, and fish. Carter enjoyed watching the fish in the HUGE circular tank that is in the middle of the room.




We are so excited to be able to welcome our friends Andy, Danielle and Alyssa to Kodiak. Andy was one of John's teachers while in A-school in Petaluma, CA. This transfer season, Andy got orders to the CGC Munro that is stationed here in Kodiak. Hydie and Alyssa are only a couple months different in age, and they played really well together. We haven't seen the Packs since Hydie was 2 months old when we stopped in California on our way to Alaska. Welcome to the ROCK Packs!
On Saturday, Carter took his first "scoots" forward. He has been scooting on his belly backwards for a while, but he actually had belly off the floor and crawled 2-3 times before he slid to his belly. Mommy and Daddy are so proud of our little man for hitting another milestone!


Yesterday after John got home from duty, we packed up the kids and the cooler and headed to Monashka Bay to have some fun in the sun with the Brown family. We set up tent on the beach (yes we have black sand but at least ours is suppose to be black unlike the Gulf Coast), and the girls immediately began playing with their beach toys. Carter and Nichole watched mostly while the big girls played. John and Jon decided to take Hydie and Lindsey fishing so they hiked down to the water and fished. To MUCH surprise, Hydie caught her FIRST fish! John was such a proud daddy! He even got a little teary-eyed... They immediately ran back to camp so Mommy could take pictures. Hydie was oh so proud of her fishie. To avoid having to take the dead fish home and explaining to Hydie that it couldn't sleep with her, we decided it would be best to "release" it back to the ocean. John took Hydie back down to the water and explained that the fishie missed his mommy and we had to let him go home. Thank goodness for waves that took little fishie away. It was definitely a sweet, sweet moment

Sorry for such a long post, but I am going to try and update the blog about once a week. I have another interview on Wednesday and I got a call yesterday about another job so please pray that I will get a job SOON


Friday, June 4, 2010

Back in Kodiak!

Our adventure to Mississippi finally came to an end, and we are now back as a family in Kodiak. We can't explain how much we miss each and every one of you Mississippians, and thank you for all the fun memories we will have forever. We just got internet hooked back up yesterday and to say the least I am SOOO thankful! You don't realize how hard it is to live without internet/phone/cable until you don't have it. Thank goodness John and I both have internet on our phones so we could at least pay bills and catch up the latest Facebook news. This past weekend, Kodiak hosted its annual Crab Festival. The road is always lined with food vinders and then there is a "midway" where the rides and games are. This year was definitely our most fun year, minus the rain, since we have been in Kodiak. Hydie was actually able to enjoy a few of the rides and games which made it so worth standing in the rain so she could just ride the train one more time. Of course, Hydie's favorite part was the cotton candy, and if you have ever been around her while she has cotton candy you know it does not last long. Hydie also enjoyed a turkey leg for the first time ever! She would not touch it on the bone but devoured it when I pulled pieces of meat off for her. I, of course, enjoyed fresh crab legs. Thanks to John, I actually was able to get to the meat because "fresh" crab are MUCH harder to crack than the ones you get at Red Lobster.


We also went out fishing the other day. It was so much fun! Hydie LOVES her "fishy pole" and thinks fishing is the best thing ever. John is obviously VERY excited that Hydie loves to fish. He now has a fishing buddy, but I have promised him that we would all (including me) go fishing together as a family alot this summer. Carter also seemed to enjoy being out by the water. He stayed in the backpack, but he did enjoy watching his daddy and sister.


We are finally settling back down into a routine and getting acclimated to the 50 degree weather. Carter had a much harder time adjusting to being "home" than Hydie ever did, but it was definitely expected. He misses his grandparents BIG TIME!!! Hydie, of course, went straight back into the normal life of Kodiak. While getting settled, I have been on a hunt for a job. Yes, I have been a stay at home home for 2 1/2 years now, but I have decided that the time has come to end this chapter and begin a new one. The kids will more than likely be at an in-home daycare since the only "real" daycare has a huge waiting list, but I am actually ok with that. So please pray that I for one get a job and two find daycare for the kiddos.