Category: Weather

Snow and sickness

12/1/2013

snow

Frost sticking to the trees

We finally received snow! It’s always super exciting when the snow comes. It’s so beautiful as it majestically floats down from the heavens and covers the ground with a sparkly soft blanket of white. Okay, that feeling really only lasts for a little bit, until we remember how cold it is going to get. Togiak is only 65 miles away, so winters in Dillingham are not much different than there. Our temperatures usually range from -10 °F to 30 °F. Since we are up river a little bit and not directly on the coast line the winter storms from the Pacific Ocean won't affect us as much as in Togiak. Don’t get me wrong; we will definitely feel the weather, but just not as much. So far, we’ve had a week of snowfall and a week of clear skies and cold weather⎯cold enough that we had to start plugging our car in at night.

Even though our weather will be very similar to that of Togiak’s, our winter will be drastically different than in years past. This year we have a car! We loved driving our 4-wheelers around. We actually miss it quite a bit. It’s amazing how nice and quick it is to just jump on your 4-wheeler when going somewhere. However, it really is only nice for short distances. We feel so pampered now. We have a car that is fully enclosed with a heater; can’t say many 4-wheelers have that option. We recently switched over our car tires to studded winter tires to help with snow and ice. As nice as it is to have a 4-wheeler, a car is nicer.

sickness

It feels like not much has happened in our house recently because sickness has been present for the past two weeks. Both Kaitlyn and Kaylee got sick after getting Flu vaccines. Kaitlyn was only sick for a day or two; Kaylee for much longer. Kaylee had a cold about two weeks ago then received a flu vaccination last week. The next two days following her vaccination Kaylee was miserable. She wasn’t interested in eating or drinking, she had a horrible deep cough, she slept very little, and was super cuddly (which is out of the norm for her). After two days she developed a bunch of red dots over her head and torso. Tuesday morning we took her to the hospital (which doubles as a hospital and walk-in clinic) and got her looked at. The pediatrician who saw Kaylee gave us a list of illnesses that she had. Kaylee had Roseola, an ear infection, and bronchiolitis (not to mention she was cutting a tooth). Talk about a wake up call. Thursday morning when we took her to get a Flu vaccine she was fine; Tuesday morning she was a mess. It’s amazing how fast things can change. The nurse at the hospital/clinic told us that Kaylee probably didn’t get the flu from the vaccine, but it may have weakened her body a little. Kaylee was given Amoxicillin (anti-biotic) and a nebulizer with albuterol for her cough. The Amoxicillin is a 10-day process and the nebulizer is just until she begins breathing better again. To say the least, things have been strenuous. To top it off, the Amoxicillin gave her diarrhea, which resulted in horrible diaper rash (with lots of screaming). I guess sickness is part of growing up, as well as training first time parents.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to give Kaylee Priesthood blessings. A Priesthood blessing is truly one of God’s great gifts to man. It’s surprising to me how surprised I am when I give a Priesthood blessing and it works. I know it will, I have participated in many; yet there is always a little bit of me that stands back and thinks, “Wow, that was amazing. It was instant!” My testimony is strong, yet without fail, it is strengthened each time I am part of a Priesthood blessing, especially to my children.

Giving a Priesthood blessing reminds me of a scripture in the Book of Mormon. Alma 37:6, “…behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass…” Giving a Priesthood blessing is such a small and simple thing. It takes only a moment, however, such great and miraculous things come because of it. I know that our Heavenly Father looks out for His children, and I am grateful for the experience that I have to be able to give a Priesthood blessing to my daughter.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with some good friends of ours, the Calverts. They are members of the Dillingham LDS congregation with us. They have four kids, two of which are close in age to Kaylee. Kaitlyn and Kaylee spend a lot of time with them playing. They are a great family and we are very grateful they are here and friends with us!

We had dinner at their house. They made the turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, gravy, and a slough of desserts. We brought homemade rolls (three varieties), 24-hour salad, Watergate salad (both of which are Phillips family favorites), and sweet potatoes (which really should be categorized as a dessert, rather than a side dish). It was great fun spending time with them. After dinner we played fat-dog and laid on the couch moaning while we watched Cirque de Solé.

Thanksgiving always brings great time off from work too. Kaitlyn and I got some chores around the house checked off our list, but mostly laid around watching movies and putting up our Christmas decorations. It has been a great weekend to be home with family. We’re sad that we are not closer to our extended family down in the states, but this time together has at least made the three of us closer.

Week XCVII: Weddings and Wheels

5/29/2012

So the cruise was fantastic. We’re posting this a little late because of all the fun we had with family all visiting for Valerie’s wedding. There were essentially two things we needed to do this past week, 1) buy a car, and 2) help with the wedding. Let’s attack them one at a time.

Summer Car

Our new ride...an 1999 Audi A4 1.8 Turbo

We have been planning on driving a bunch this summer. We know we’re going to Washington at least twice, Utah, and possibly Arizona. Because of our travel schedule we wanted to have our own wheels. For one thing, we weren’t entirely sure that Kaitlyn’s parent’s cars were up to the challenge, and it’s just nice to have your own wheels. So, we searched KSL classifieds for a few days and found about 10 or so cars that we liked within our price range of a couple thousand dollars or so. We didn’t need a super nice car, just one that would run without needing too much work done to it and had good gas mileage. We drove to Utah on Tuesday, May 22nd and started visiting the cars picked out on KSL the night before. At first glance, we had our eyes on a 1998 Mercedes C-Class. One wouldn’t think that you could find a Mercedes car in good condition for a few thousand dollars, but his one had rebuilt title, meaning it had been in an accident sometime in it’s life. I (Tim) love these types of cars because it means, it they’ve been repaired correctly, they are a fantastic bargain. We liked it, but didn’t love it. So, we moved on to out next listing. We tested, two Volvo’s and two more Audi’s until we settled on a 1999 Audi A4 manual. This car seems to be just what we were looking for; right price range, good shape, and able to handle long distance. And it looks good too! It’s a little smaller than we’re use to, but it’ll work for a summer car. My parent’s have agreed to store it at their house over the winter, so we’re good there. We’re happy with it. (Plus, I think Kaitlyn loves having a manual because she’s turned into a little rally-car racer!)

Valerie’s Wedding

Valerie and Brad

Valerie’s wedding was fantastic. Things seemed to go very smoothly, because of careful planning on Kaitlyn’s mom’s part. She made all the food and was slaving in the kitchen for probably three weeks before the wedding. In total, I think she cooked about 500 crepes, 200 egg rolls, cooked 22+ pounds of chicken into bite size pieces, etc. etc. She was amazing. Kaitlyn and I spent most of Thursday and Friday helping cook and ready the reception hall, or rather turning a normal church gym into a reception hall.

Valerie asked me to be her photographer for the temple and she was planning on asking someone else to shoot the reception so I could enjoy the festivities. Boy, am I glad. Shooting a wedding is a ton of work and there was a bunch of people that both Kaitlyn and I were able to reunite with at the reception.

Valerie’s wedding was plagued with poor weather. There were forecasted thunderstorms for most of the weekend. This meant that, as her photographer, I needed to do some planning. I decided to ask her if she was okay with taking her wedding pictures the day before her wedding, since there was nicer weather. She and Brad agreed that would be a good idea and we took most of their pictures on Friday rather than Saturday. This turned out to be a good idea, since Saturday poured rain for most of the day. Luckily, there was about a twenty-thirty minute break after the temple ceremony that allowed me to take some group pictures. Since, I was worried the weather might return, I rushed through the picture taking. It was a little chilly outside, but luckily we finished most of the group pictures I had planned before the rain and wind came back, which prevented us from taking anymore group pictures. Overall, they turned out good.

Week LXXIV: Coming Home & Reindeer Love

12/18/2011

Phillips Family Christmas Tree 2011

I (Tim) am so glad to be home! Kaitlyn mentioned a bit on last weeks post that I was gone traveling with wrestling. I’ll spare you the details and simply direct you to read her post for them. A quick summary though, I took my wrestling team to the regional tournament in Dillingham, Ak the first weekend in December and we got stuck there an extra day because of poor weather. When we did get back I wasn’t home for more than 24 hours before I was back out on a plane traveling to the state tournament. This wouldn’t have normally been the case, however, bad weather keeps planes on the ground, so it’s wise to travel before bad weather can ground you. The state tournament was great. I only had one wrestler qualify to wrestle at it, however, he is the first in many years. He lost both of his matches there, but it was still good for him to go and compete. On our way back on Sunday, we encountered another storm and were unable to make it back home. Instead, our pilot rerouted our plane to Anchorage. We overnighted there and tried again the next day. Around noon on Monday we took off and headed for home. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it before another storm moved in and we go stuck for most of the day in a small village called New Halen near Iliamna Lake. Near the end of the day we were able to get the other wrestling team who we were traveling home with back to their village. Because my village is further out, we needed to wait till morning to go. Pilots don’t fly in the dark here. When there is only 6-8 hours of flyable daylight, you don’t have much time. Long story short, my wrestler and I overnighted again Monday night in Dillingham and made it home around 12:30 on Tuesday, 13 days after we had originally left for the regional tournament. Being gone from your bed for that long is one thing, being gone from your classroom is another. I just want to reiterate what I already said, “I’m glad to be home”!

This past week has been finals week for our high school. I actually missed some by being gone. Luckily, the sub I had was great and helped out a bunch. As soon as I returned I had to jump straight into finals and getting all that rolling. I didn’t really have much of a chance to sit and relax. Christmas vacation was well earned this year. :)

On Thursday this week was the annual Christmas program. The community loves it. Quite a few of the parents and relatives of the students come and watch the students perform. As a middle school teacher I (Tim) was in charge of helping the 8th graders put on a performance. A few weeks ago we decided on a play called “The Promise”, by Ted Dekkar. It’s cute and runs about 10 minutes. While I was away for wrestling, the substitute was suppose to practice with them. Unfortunately, the student’s didn’t really have anything done. The day of the play we spent two class periods learning what to do. It was a bit rusty, but for the most part turned out relatively well. The kids might not think so, but I think they did well. Kaitlyn has been preparing her P.E. class for weeks to do a Native dance.

Her class performed the “Reindeer Love Song”. The students got all dressed up in traditional native dress and performed.I think her class’s performance was the best of all the performances. Kaitlyn has been practicing the dance in the living room and kitchen this past week. She was originally planning on dancing with her students on stage, but right before the performance decided against, stating that she wanted her students to have “all” the glory. I think she should have been up there anyway.

Kaitlyn's first hand made Quilt

Kaitlyn definitely keeps herself busy. Everyday she does some sort of activity. Recently, she has been crocheting and quilting. She just finished her first quilt yesterday. It’s pretty neat. I told her that she needs to make a “real” quilt next time, because it’s only big enough to cover our feet. :) She said okay. She is currently working on an afghan. (the blanket, not the person)

Week LXXIII: Spouseless and Dealing with the Dangers of "Warm" Weather

12/11/2011

Manokotak

    This week has been anything but dull. Be prepared for a long blog post. I don’t even know where to start: perhaps with an explanation of the title. I have been spouseless for the past 10 days. Tim left for wrestling regionals a week ago Thursday. Because of weather, he didn’t return home until last Sunday, which was the same day that I was leaving to chaperone a trip in Manokotak. Tim got off the plane and I got on the plane. (Too bad Tim wasn’t wearing more cologne. That way I could have at least smelled him on the plane as I flew to Manokotak.) Happily, one of Tim’s wrestlers qualified for state. This meant that Tim and his wrestler would have to leave on Wednesday to travel to the tournament. (No problem, I would be back Tuesday and get to see him before he left.) However, Monday morning Tim was unexpectedly informed that the weather was supposed to get bad so he would be leaving in a couple of hours. Poor Tim had to have a substitute Thursday and Friday of last week for wrestling regionals and then again for this entire week and with no prior notice that he needed to have sub plans ready. I did not envy his position.

Manokotak

    I spent last Sunday evening, Monday, and Tuesday at the Manokotak school. I was chaperoning three girls from our student council at the district’s first student council retreat. I would chaperone those three girls anywhere. It was probably the easiest chaperoning job I ever had to do. I tried to stay active and involved in the activities they were doing, while at the same time writing finals and reviews for my classes. Drew, one of my students, asked me why I was ALWAYS on my computer. I just told her it takes a lot of work to keep up with all the questions she asks me every day. It was fun to see another village in our district and to see another student council at work. The only thing I would have changed about the trip was the air mattress. Tim had our good one at wrestling regionals. Since he returned a day late he never had a chance to hand it off to me. This left me with the old air mattress that had a couple holes in it. I brought along some packing tape, thinking I could just tape them up really well . . . that doesn’t work. One night I went to bed at 11:00 pm and was on the floor by 11:15 pm. In case you didn’t know, the floors in Manokotak school are pretty hard.

Tim students must think he abandoned them. Am I doing the same?

            I was tired when I came back from Manokotak, but happy to get back to my classroom. Having a substitute is so much harder than just teaching class yourself. I went straight to the school on Tuesday afternoon to see what got accomplished when the sub was there and to set up for class the next day. Wednesday morning I woke up to a VERY dark room. You never realize how many little lights are on in your house until the power goes out. I was a bit confused when I woke up. I wasn’t sure if I was in Manokotak or at home. It finally hit me that I was at home and my power was out. I got up and realized that I had slept in an hour (no power, no alarm). I quickly went to the shower but found that we also had no water. Wonderful. When you sleep at someone else’s school for two nights, you don’t get to take a shower. I was overdue! I grabbed my towel and bathroom bag, shoved it in my backpack, and headed to the school, hoping that I would have enough time to shower there and prepare for class even with my sleeping in.

            The school also had no water or power. After about an hour of no success getting the power back on, my principal informed us we were on an hour delay. We teachers couldn’t do anything but wait. It’s hard to work in your rooms with no power, especially when the sun doesn’t rise until after 10:00 am. Finally at 9:40 am, we got an official word that school was cancelled. I couldn’t have been happier. I really didn’t want to see my students with 3 days of grease built up on my body. To make it even better, my friend Heather told me her water was working and it was hot! To Heather's house I went.

            Day 3 of the week had come and gone and I had yet to see my students. Thursday came and, because of icy roads, school started an hour late. I was able to teach a couple classes and then had to have a substitute again because I had a meeting to attend over distant delivery with all the science teachers in the district. (My students were quickly getting untrained with all these substitutes!) Finally, by Friday I got to teach my own classes. I swore to myself that I’m never having a substitute again . . . until January 13th when I have my next science teacher meeting.

One of the students dancing it out at the lock-in.

Lock-In

I guess I made up for the all the time I was away from the school at the beginning of the week. On Friday, the student council hosted an all night lock-in. The doors were locked at 11:00 pm and the students were not released until 6:00 am on Saturday. This means that I arrived at school on Friday morning at 7:00 am and, with the exception of an hour and a half to get dinner, I didn’t leave the school until Saturday morning at 7:00 am. 22.5 hours at the school in a 24 hour time period: that was a long day! The lock-in went fairly well. We had a lot of support and help from the teachers and the students were well behaved. I hope they all had fun. Activities included movies, video games, board games, food relays, basketball tournaments, and open gym time. We also had a great concessions stand and some free food. My body is still trying to recover from staying up all night long. Maybe by Monday I’ll be back to normal.

Nikiski

Wrestling

State wrestling was held in Nikiski, near Kenai. Unfortunately, I can’t report much on how it went and what’s been going on with Tim the last week . . . as mentioned before, I haven’t seen him for 10 days. I do know that his wrestler is spending every spare minute in the hotel pool. (There are no pools in Togiak.) I also know that he didn’t win his matches. Tim was supposed to start flying home today and make it as far as Dillingham, but bad weather rerouted them to Anchorage. I hope they get home tomorrow, but you never know in bush Alaska. At least he gets to see roads and big stores while he’s out. That’s always a treat for us.

Dangers of “Warm” Weather

I used to think that the weather here was not that bad because it really didn’t get that cold. We had way colder winters in Rexburg. I’m learning though that sometimes cold is better than warm. The last couple of weeks here have been in the low 30’s. This means freezing rain. The roads have been so icy that many days you can’t go anywhere and if you do, you have to drive extremely slowly. Last week I went down the hill at about 10-15 mph and was still fishtailing on my 4-wheeler. On Saturday afternoon I went to the school. (Yes, right after I had spent the entire night there; you’d think I can’t get enough of that place.) It was really icy and really windy. As I stepped off my 4-wheeler, the wind starting blowing me across the parking lot. Because it was so icy I had no traction to keep me in place. I grabbed for my 4-wheeler to anchor myself and it just blew across the parking lot with me. I quickly let go and struggled in an attempt to get back to it to retrieve my bag. Finally I realized the only way I was moving anywhere was to crawl. So here is Mrs. Phillips on a Saturday afternoon crawling across the empty school parking lot. I made it back to the 4-wheeler, retrieved my bag, and stood up to head toward the front doors of the school, but it was hopeless. The wind just kept blowing me away from the front doors. It was too icy for me to try to walk against the wind. So I finally just concentrated on keeping my balance. The wind blew me about 50 feet away to a patch of snow where I could finally get some traction. As soon as I made it into the building I texted Heather (who lives in the school parking lot) and warned her that she had to wear her ice cleats to make it the 100 feet from her doorstep to the school. Maybe -20 F wouldn’t be that bad.

Snow and sickness

snow

sickness

Thanksgiving

Week XCVII: Weddings and Wheels

Summer Car

Valerie’s Wedding

Week LXXIV: Coming Home & Reindeer Love

Week LXXIII: Spouseless and Dealing with the Dangers of "Warm" Weather

Tim & Kaitlyn

Friends & Family

Archives

Categories