Metlakatla Baptism

In church it was announced that there would be a baptism in Metlakatla the following Saturday.

In Relief Society they announced that members with boats were going to try to take people.

And to contact the bishop if you wanted to go.

In Elder's Quorum it was announced that boats were needed.

And to contact the bishop if you could take people...

The differing versions made me laugh.

It sounded like a great opportunity.

And I meant to follow up on it.

But we never did.

On Friday night two of the Elder's came for a visit.

We had a great time with them.

Their visit reminded me of the baptism the following day.

It was after 9:00 in the evening when Andrew sent the bishop an e-mail.

Would it be possible for us to catch a ride on a boat?

E-mails went back and forth a couple of times.

It was after midnight before we had all the details.

And after a couple of days where I had gotten behind on my sleep,

We needed to decide:

Was it going to be worth it to get the boys up and be at the boat by 8:00 AM?

It was one of those things that I knew would be a great experience.

But it sounded so terrible to have to wake up that early.
(Remember it was already after midnight.)

Not only that, but we needed to pack lunches,

Try to make a dessert for after the baptism,

Dress in church clothes,

Have warm clothes for traveling on the boat because it gets colder down on the water,

Bring things to stay entertained because there will be down time before and after the baptism.

etc, etc, etc.

Yikes!

Lots of things I hadn't even considered!

We went to bed having made the decision to go.

We had originally planned to take Peter to a drop in soccer game in the morning,

But I assumed he would be happily surprised with a boat ride instead.

Around 2:00 AM I woke up and realized Ammon's light was one.

He was reading.

Just couldn't sleep, he said.

I told him to go to bed - that we had an early morning.

I woke up a little bit later to see that Ammon's light was on again.

I explained a little more firmly that we had an awesome day planned.

But that he needed to get some sleep if he wanted to go!

Morning came all too soon.

As usual, Andrew was out of bed well before me.

I heard Peter wake up and a few minutes later Andrew came back into our room.

Peter was NOT as OK with the change of plans as we had hoped.

In fact, he was pretty darn mad about it.

By this time I was losing my nerve.

I had no idea how big (or not big) the boat was.

I had no idea how far into the ocean we would be.

A couple of years ago we took a boat out in Bear Lake.

Open water is one of my secret fears.

It freaks me out to consider the creatures in the water.

The idea of me ending up in the water with them is traumatizing to me.

And that is just with lakes and rivers.

Now we are talking about huge, never-ending bodies of water - 

With whales and sharks and who knows what else.

And it is early in the morning... and cold...

And maybe Peter just wants to play soccer and we should do that since we told him we would...

But after a little while Peter got on board with the boating thing.

I came out into the living room where Andrew was working on packing our lunches.

"Does it smell like chocolate chip cookies to you?" I asked.

"Oh, those are the brownies I made for the baptism," he replied.

Ammon was still sleeping.

Another out for me.

"You and Peter should definitely go, but maybe I need to stay home with Ammon."

Andrew wasn't a fan of that idea.

He had is own list of reasons why maybe we didn't want to go.

(Like, did he really want to spend his entire day off at a baptism?)

He wasn't really thrilled with me ditching him and "making" him go if I wasn't going to.

The morning was back and forth like this.

And all the while I was praying that if I did go, I wouldn't be completely terrified the entire time.

We decided it was time to wake Ammon up to get him ready.

He didn't get up.

We tried again.

And again.

A few times...

Finally he got up.

And after all the back and forth, we eventually determined that we would all go.

Rather than meeting at the bishop's house at 8:00,

We met at the dock at 8:30.

That bought us just enough extra time to get out the door.

I had NO idea about what to expect from the boat.

The bishop had mentioned that it could be cold, so I pictured it being pretty open.

I couldn't guess about the size.

But I was imagining something bigger than what it was.

The boat had enclosed seats - that made me happy.

It looked like it was meant to seat about six people.

We had TEN - five kids and five adults.

Yikes.

Our family of four really burdened the group.

Being the lone woman, and pregnant to boot, I was given shotgun.

That got me out of the crowded masses in the back.

Although I still rode with Peter on my lap.

But we all got in, and enjoyed the experience.

It was still before 9:00 when we left.

The sun was creeping out over the ocean and the view was amazing!

Rather than being terrified, I just loved the ride.

Well, until Andrew and Ammon started asking about the likelihood of seeing whales.

Apparently that was a pretty common occurrence.

I just tried to tune out the conversation and "go to my happy place".

I assume I'll get over it with some experience,

But for now I still have anxiety about a whale coming up under the boat and knocking us over.

Or jumping up out of the water and landing on the boat!

I really don't need to see a whale unless I am viewing it from land!

And maybe I spoiled it for everyone else.

Because I continued to feel safe for the entire boat ride - a definite answer to prayers.

 And we never did spot a whale.

I am adjusting to the beauty of Ketchikan,

Although there are still moments when the beauty of the ocean takes my breath away.

Metlakatla was it's own kind of beautiful.

I expected it to be more of the same.

Instead it was a more rural and country feeling beauty.

There were animals out and more open field looking areas than what I've seen in Ketchikan.

The Elders from this area met us at the dock.

The were going to take as many people in their car as they could.

The rest needed to walk to the church.

Three of the kids piled in.

The missionaries mentioned that they needed an adult.

The bishop tried to send me.

We all pointed out that I couldn't go - the missionaries needed a male adult with them.

So the bishop send Andrew.

Away the car went.

And then the bishop realized that the two kids NOT in the car were mine.

Ooops.

He apologized for sending Andrew with the OTHER kids and leaving me "alone" with mine.

But it was no big deal.

The boys had fun walking.

They were riled up and full of energy.

It had been a fun ride on the boat, and now they were exploring a new island.

At one point the bishop asked if I wanted to stop and wait for the missionaries to come back.

I declined that opportunity, but they came back soon after that and picked up the boys and me.

While we had been impressed that this little remote island even had a church building.

We were also "impressed" with how quaint it was.

There are no hallways in the building except for one that separate the bathrooms from the font.

Other than that, the church is basically a small cultural hall with a few classrooms around the perimeter.

And a relief society room.

Andrew got a kick out of that - even in the tiny church, the women got their own room.

Actually, for how small it was, the church was impressive with what it had:

a kitchen, a custodial closet, a library, and four classrooms.

Of course, one of the classrooms was being used as a bedroom for the missionaries.

They are Ketchikan missionaries, but their area spills over to Metlakatla.

They generally go over a couple of times a month.

When they do, they stay for several days - and they need a place to stay.

They hook a hose up to the font to use as a shower.

We had a few hours before the baptism was scheduled to start.

Peter asked me to play Skip Bo with him.

Ammon was looking for a partner for Phase 10.

About that time, the people getting baptized arrived.

It was a mother, her 15 year old step-son, and her 9 year old daughter.

The husband had been baptized a few months earlier.

The 9 year old was happy to play with Ammon.

She wasn't super familiar with the game so one of the Elders helped her out.

The mother and step-son were being taught about priesthood, home teaching etc.

Andrew joined that conversation which included the other men we had come with - the bishopric.

The baptism itself had a really good turn out.

A lot of family members came to support Janis and her family.

We also had a second boatload of people from Ketchikan, and a few members from Metlakatla.

Metlakatla is part of our ward.

In January of this year they had 4 people attending meetings there.

(They join our Sacrament Meeting via Skype and then hold their own Sunday School lessons.)

They are currently up to 14 people who regularly attend!

There was more down time after the baptism.

The bishop and stake president needed to take care of some business.

But they wanted to be sure to be off the ocean before dark.

Pretty soon time had run out and even though they wanted to do more visits, we needed to head back.

It was just as pretty heading back, as it had been that morning.

In some ways it was even more beautiful - we passed an amazing rainbow!

This time both of my kids wanted to sit on my lap in the "front".

The bishop offered to let Peter sit on the floor between the two front seats.

Ammon took my lap.

It worked out well for Peter that he was the closest to the driver.

The bishop decided to go to the back of the boat to get himself a soda.

He asked Peter to "drive" while he was up.

And wouldn't you know - it was the ONLY time during the whole trip that we noticed other boats.

Of course it looked like Peter was going to crash right into them.

Andrew and I, not being at all familiar with the speed of boats were fairly nervous.

And the bishop, knowing everything was fine just took his own sweet time.

Even after the bishop took the wheel again, I really wondered if he was paying attention.

We were getting closer and Closer and CLOSER.

And it just looked like we would crash.

He never changed course.

And we missed the other boats "by a mile".

After that I noticed that he was heading straight into a wall of rocks.

I was confused, but at least learned to trust him.

At least I thought I did...

It took me a few minutes of wondering when he would turn away from the rocks.

And then I noticed an opening in the rocks.

We were already back to Ketchikan.

He was going into the little place the boats dock from.

Before we knew it, we were back on dry land.

The kids were eager to explore the dock while the adults got things ready to pull the boat out of the water.

Andrew and I just stood around, not good for much...

Well, at least I took some pictures...

Overall, it had been a FABULOUS day!

We felt so lucky to have been able to go.

And so glad that we went through with it despite all the chances and excuses not to.

And though we really felt like we hit a jackpot experience just with the boat ride etc,

We are also so happy to have met the Faber family.

They had some medical concerns that needed to be addressed immediately following the baptism.

They took the ferry to Ketchikan and stayed the night after visiting the ER,

So we were able to see them in church today.

They had originally thought Brother Faber had had a stroke.

"Fortunately" it turned out to be Bells Palsy.

It was fun to see "friends" at church today.

I was able to sit with Janice in Relief Society.

In Metlakatla, they don't do the third hour, so it was fun to see her experience that.

After church her husband went to rest at a members home where they stayed last night.

But I offered to help her run errands,

(Picking up prescriptions for her husband and buying pants for her daughter,)

So she stayed with us and was able to be there when Andrew was set apart for his calling.

I told Andrew I had offered to take Janice on her errands

(Even though it was Sunday.)

He just said, "At least you aren't taking her to buy alcohol."

(Yup - I did that once as the Relief Society President.)

(It was a controversial issue between us at the time, but he later saw the wisdom in it.)

It really was an amazing weekend.

I just can't believe I didn't think to get pictures of the Faber family on their baptism day!

I don't think the missionaries even took pictures.

But that loss aside, everything was wonderful!

"Welcome to Ketchikan."

View from the hospital parking lot.

There are things I really love about small town life.

I love the pretty much nonexistent commute to anywhere.

Everything is so close.

I love having my husband come home for lunch every day.

I love the small class sizes for the boys school.

I realized this morning that I am 32 weeks pregnant and have yet to buy anything for me or the baby.

Obviously I don't miss out by not being closer to stores - I'm not a shopper.

But some things we take for granted are still catching us by surprise.

This morning we realized that we hadn't filled Ammon's prescription.

Can we hurry and get it done before school?

No.

There are three pharmacy's in town.

None of them open until 9:00.

We were excited that the bank is closed on Monday and Andrew will be home from work.

The boys will be at school.

JACK POT!

We get to go see Ender's Game without needing to figure out a babysitter!!!

WRONG.

Andrew looked up movie times this morning.

He looked up at me and said,

"Welcome to Ketchikan."

I had no idea what he was talking about, but he explained.

He had discovered that matinees only play on the weekends here.

Bummer.

Guess there is some give and take with our new life here.

But finding a babysitter or waiting to see a movie seems a small price to pay.

Rotary Beach

My original plan for Sunday afternoon was to make another attempt at finding Ward Lake.

But after Ammon asked for a beach, I decided to go ahead and make that happen.

I asked some of our local ward members where we should go.

Bugge Beach, also known as Rotary Beach was one of the suggestions.

It was a quick drive from home, though it was further south on the island that we had previously been.

There was a nice little area that was kind of separated off from the ocean itself.

The boys had their boots on so Andrew encouraged them to see how they would work.

After we had spent some time walking along the beach, the boys explored the water.

Ammon was very careful with every step, checking to make sure the water was below his boot line.

But he got to the point that it was right AT his boot line.

This meant that when he took a step and his knee bent down a little, his boot was under water.

It acted like a huge cup, just letting the water fill into the boot.

Poor kid had to get out and take off his boots and socks.

It was kind of cold, but he decided he was still fine to stay.

While Ammon was dumping water out of his boots, Peter and Andrew started skipping rocks.

They had a blast and Ammon quickly joined the fun.

After a while Peter decided to venture further out into the water.

Andrew saw some large rocks and cautioned him to be careful - they were slippery.

But despite the warning, Peter got caught on some of those slippery rocks.

Down he went, into the waist deep water.

His pants were completely soaked.

The air temperature was in the 40's which was pretty cold after being doused in water.

Fortunately Daddy was there to save the day.

Andrew scooped Peter into his arms and quickly carried him back to the car.

They stripped him out of his wet clothes and bundled  him in Andrew's dry sweatshirt.

Ammon and I followed.

Our outing had come to an abrupt end.

But it had been fun while it lasted.

We are eager to continue to seek out all the different beaches and hikes here in Ketchikan.

Skip Bo

 This boy is probably the one who is least suited for our change.  He has done well and is enjoying life in Ketchikan.  But he thrives on having people around and on getting lots of outside time.  He LOVED the 1.5 mile scooter ride home from school every day in West Jordan.  Now he has a 0.2 mile walk.  It just doesn't get out the same level of energy.  And really, it doesn't seem like there are any good places to get out and ride his scooter near home.  He is between soccer seasons, so he is missing the crazy running up and down the field that he is used to.  He has a LOT of energy that he likes to expend.  He has always been a really good sleeper and I am learning that is because he plays hard during the day and is TIRED by bedtime.  Lately he is having a harder and harder time falling asleep.  Fortunately he gets PE at school three days a week, and the next soccer season is about to start, but in the mean time, we needed to find some activities to keep him from going completely crazy bouncing off the walls.  We've ventured out for some outings, but we also wanted some things to do at home besides just watching TV and playing computer games.  So we went back to some of our favorite activities!  Peter has LOVED playing Skip-Bo with me since he was three years old.  And he has gotten really good at it too!  He knows his strategy - when to play his cards and when to hold them to avoid setting me up.  He wins at least as often as not.  And more than anything, he feels like he is getting the attention he wants and is happy to play.  I think as winter sets in and it starts getting dark earlier and earlier, we will be playing lots of games around here.  I'm glad my boys seem to enjoy them as much as I do!

Frog Pond Trail

I am a major homebody.

I love the outdoors, but I rarely get up the drive to plan and carry out an outing.

This is one reason that Ketchikan is a good fit for me.

I can find beautiful places like this literally within minutes of my home!

We can stay for a long time if we want to.

Or, if we need to get back home quickly for any reason, we can.

We found Frog Pond Trail by accident.

We were actually in search of Ward Lake.

I turned a road too soon, so we found the pond.

We took the trail and it actually links into the Ward Lake trail we were looking for.

But we decided our little hike was enough for one day.

We headed back up to the pond and the boys enjoyed throwing rocks and sticks in the water.

Ammon really wanted to find a beach to walk along.

The sun was setting and I didn't know where to take him for a beach, but I knew a great view of the ocean!

The plaza parking lot - where else?

So easy and convenient.

Ammon just gazed out into the ocean as the sun was setting.

He seems to be especially soothed by the water and already craves it.

We are looking forward to continuing to explore this island we now call home.

(And glad to be doing it during hibernation season...)

Halloween Festivities

It is always interested to see into the thoughts of children.

One of Peter's concerns about us moving was that we would miss Halloween.

We assured him that Halloween would still happen in Ketchikan.

We ended up enjoying a fun ward party on the 30th.

There was a carnival in the cultural hall with a variety of games.

Afterwards, the children enjoyed trick or treating through the building.

Ammon and Peter both had a great time!

Just a few days earlier, we had made sugar cookies at home.

Ammon had picked his favorite cookie and even named it:

Delicious Delight.

At the ward party he was excited to announce:

"Mom, I found a way to UPGRADE Delicious Delight!"

Apparently marshmallows between TWO layers of frosting is the trick.

Peter enjoyed getting candy from each of the different activities that were set up.

On Halloween day I was able to visit the classrooms of both boys during their parties.

It was fun to see them so comfortable and happy with their classes.

They had massive amounts of treats!

By request, I made Fudgy Oatmeal Bars for Peters class and No-Bake cookies for Ammon's class.

After going back and forth between the two parties, school ended and we walked home together.

That night was trick or treating with Dad.

Normally we eat Red Beans and Rice on Halloween.

But we used a different brand of sausage and it was WAY too spicy.

I don't even remember what we ended up making instead.

Andrew took the boys out to Jackson street for trick or treating.

The traffic gets blocked off and the policemen are out to keep everyone safe.

They entire community goes to that main street so we didn't get any trick or treaters at our house.

I enjoyed a quiet evening at home.

When they got back we were amazed with all the candy they had!

We each had some and then sent the boys to bed.

We expected them to be riled up, but the trick or treating wore them out.

They were asleep before we knew it.

Saturday Outing With Dad

After spending Saturday morning puttering around at home,

We decided it was time to venture out.

We ran some quick errands and then were off to show Dad some of the places we had discovered.

Along our way we saw a nice little pier and decided to stop.

After enjoying that view for a few minutes we continued on our way to Creek Street.

It was as beautiful as it had been the day before.

They boys were excited to be back.

Peter needed to use the bathroom, so we went into the museum.

It was very VERY small.

But Ammon was fascinated!!!

Andrew and Peter left ahead of us.

I stayed back with Ammon while he soaked in all the different artifacts.

When Ammon and I caught up with Andrew and Peter,

they were exploring the tram.

I had assumed it was closed during the non-tourist season.

I was wrong!

There was an "elevator button".

Andrew pushed it, and down it came to pick us up.

They were all excited to ride it.

About half way up Ammon said,

"I feel a little bit nervous."

Me too - Ammon.

He and I are the ones who don't like the Ferris Wheel.

Nerves not withstanding, we made it to the top in one piece.

It took us to a hotel with a restaurant, and a few small buildings.

We found a path to walk back down.

I was relieved thinking that Ammon would walk back with me.

He didn't.

So back to the tram we went.

By this time we had learned that the tram could safely deliver us to our destination.

I don't know if it was experience, or direction,

but somehow the trip down seemed less frightening.

It gave me a minute to really enjoy the beautiful view from so high up.

We finished our walk down Creek Street and then headed home.

Family Pictures

It has been FOREVER since my family has done pictures.

When we announced that we were moving, there was a panic to get them done.

It wasn't my favorite timing.

I didn't especially like the "6 months pregnant" look I was sporting.

And the pictures would be outdated within months.

But my family felt that something was better than nothing.

So, in the midst of packing, a mere four days before loading the truck, we did pictures.

Everything was last minute.

To simplify, everyone wore clothes we already owned.

For how thrown together everything was, the pictures turned out really well!

And as I drove through Canada,

mentally berating myself for not taking candid pictures with my siblings and parents before leaving,

I was glad to know we had a big family photo.

This picture includes:

My parents

All six siblings

(Three boys, three girls - I'm the oldest.)

All four in-laws

and

All nine Cousins

(with number ten on the way!)

(unless my sister adopts her foster baby before Laurie is born - then Laurie will be number eleven!)

Love this big, crazy, ever expanding group!

XTRATUF Rainboots

Our neighbor Barbara came down with a very unexpected and generous gift.

 She bought the boys each a pair of amazingly sturdy (and expensive) rainboots.

The boys loved them and spent the day traipsing around in them.

Tonight she also brought Ammon a pair of wool socks she made for him.

(She is working on a pair for Peter as well, but they aren't finished.)

He LOVES them and decided to sleep with them on.

He explained, "Normally I hate sleeping with socks on but that's how comfortable these are!"