Winter weather blows!

Ok, so I was supposed to be up in Moscow, Idaho today going to an Open House for the internship at the Counseling Center at University Idaho. The weather has a way of changing one's plans, though.

I had planned on flying into Lewiston, ID (it's about 40 min from Moscow and had cheaper flights with slightly better times than flying into the Pullman/Moscow airport). My flight left Sunday afternoon and connected in Seattle. I made it to Seattle fine. My flight left Seattle bound for Lewiston fine. Then about 45 minutes or so into our flight (which is only about an hour long total), the pilot comes on and says that we are headed back to Seattle because there is too much snow on the runway to land in Lewiston. It was apparently still snowing pretty hard too.

So I get back to Seattle and after about 45 minutes, they were still saying our flight was "indefinitely delayed." It was slowly becoming clear to me that I was not going to make it to Lewiston. Plus, even if I made it to Lewiston I wasn't sure I would even be able to drive the 45 minutes to Moscow. It's apparently up hill pretty much the whole way and would be crazy in the snow. I started looking into what the flights were like for this morning (Monday morning) in the hopes that I might be able to make it to Moscow in time for my Open House. There were only two flights, neither of which get me there in time and both of which were totally booked anyway. The airport was a madhouse because it was also snowing really hard in Spokane and Pullman/Moscow too. Spokane's airport had closed earlier Sunday afternoon because a plane slid off the runway. Flights had apparently stopped landing in Pullman/Moscow sometime Sunday morning. I also heard that the airports in Pasco, WA and Walla Walla, WA were also closed. It was INSANE! So, I decided my best bet would be to hop a plan back to Boise.

I managed to get on an 8pm flight to Boise and arrived at the airport around 11pm. After discovering that my bag didn't make it (no shocker there), I talked to the Horizon people....the woman said they did eventually cancel my original flight to Lewiston and that they canceled most of the other flights to Spokane and Pullman/Moscow too. By the time I made it home to my house it was 11:45pm. I was exhausted and starving because I never got dinner. It was a crazy travel day. It was apparently a good thing I made it out of Seattle last night when I did...they got several inches of snow over night and the schools were all closed today. The airport delivered my bag this morning and all is well. It is a total bummer that I didn't get to go to the Open House, though. I already had my interview with U of I (it was a phone interview), but I was looking forward to meeting everyone and seeing the site. Oh well. It just goes to show you....winter weather blows!

back from Reno/Salt Lake City

I went to an interview in Reno last Wednesday and then an interview in Salt Lake City last Friday. I was gone from Tuesday night until Friday night. It was so hard being away from Matt and the kids for so long. I was so happy when I got home! The interviews went well. The people at the Reno VA were pretty cool and it seemed like a cool place to work. The interview in Salt Lake went really well. That place rocked!

I'm technically done with interviews now. I have one more trip....University of Idaho does phone interviews (I had mine on Jan 7th) and then they do an Open House on Jan 28th. The Open House is just a chance to meet everyone, ask questions, and see the site. They won't be asking me questions, so it should be pretty laid back. I will be so glad once all this traveling is done!

interview updates

I had two interviews the past week...one was a phone interview with the counseling center at the University of Idaho. They only do their interviews by phone. I will go up there at the end of the month for an open house and will get to see the site and meet the people, though. The interview went ok. Phone interviews suck. It's so hard not being able to see the people on the other end.

The other interview I had was in Spokane. It went ok too. The site is pretty cool and the people seem like they would be great to work with.

I leave tomorrow evening to head to Reno--the interview is Wednesday. Then I fly from Reno to Salt Lake City on Thursday. I have an interview in Salt Lake on Friday. Then I get to come home. This will be my longest trip and I'm dreading being gone for so long. I will miss Matt and the kids like crazy!!

Anyway, I'll keep you posted.

Had another interview

I got back yesterday from an interview in Salt Lake City. I left Wednesday afternoon and got back yesterday around 6:45pm. The interview was at a community mental health agency (one of the biggest in the country--it serves 3 counties, has several different sites, and about 1400 employees). It's a really cool site and I would get experience with all kinds of things (assessment; individual and group therapy with children, adolescents, and adults; residential and outpatient programs; alcohol and drug treatment). I think the interview went pretty well, although I always obsess over all the things I could have said differently. I know I answered some questions well, but didn't do so hot on some others. The people were all really great!

The hardest part of the interview was having to leave the kids. It was the first time I had been away from Jessica since she was born. Matt did a great job holding down the fort while I was gone. I was so happy to get home and see everyone. I travel to Spokane next week.

Christmas Pictures!

Christmas was a lot of fun this year. Christopher was very excited about Santa coming and had fun leaving cookies and milk for him on Christmas Eve. Here are some pictures from Christmas morning.

Matt opening one of his presents.

Jessica playing with her new bunny from Aunt Melissa

Jessica chillin'

Christopher loved opening presents. He helped Matt open most of his presents too.

Christopher with his new puzzle. The look on his face cracks us up.

Jessica studying her new butterfly

Jessica with a bunch of her new stuff!

Christopher with his stocking

Me opening a present

Here is Christopher with his new bike that he got from Santa

We went over to my parent's house for Christmas dinner. There were a bunch of people there this year--the four of us (me, Matt, Christopher, and Jessica), my parents (obviously, since it's their house), Jeff (who was home from school), my grandmother (who is visiting from Maryland), my Uncle Don and Aunt Jane, Alli and her husband Brandon, Meghan and her husband Justin (who were visiting from Seattle), Justin's grandparents, and Justin's two sisters. It was a ton of fun having everyone together!

Here is the table all set.

Here is Christopher opening some presents.

Here is a shot of most of us while we were opening presents

Jessica with Mimi (that's what we call my Mom)

Jessica with Aunt Meghan

Fun in the snow

These pictures were taken on December 24th. Matt and Christopher went outside to shovel snow and build a snowman. Matt did most of the work. :)

Christopher helped shovel the side walk.

Here's the finished snowman!