NSUJL Goes to Avista Line School

Unfortunately I'm writing this a day early, in my sweats, while catching up on the 2 hours season premier of Greys (so intense!) instead of driving to Canada with my husband.

Lesson learned: just because Mike is a journeyman does not mean that schedules don't change last minute and I can plan fun days. boo.

Friday afternoon Wes and I traveled up to Ione to hopefully see Mike for longer than a few hours. When he got home he came with the news that they're working Sunday. Bittersweet, Sundays are "big money days" so it will get us closer to our budget goals buuuut that means no day off for daddy until the 13th now. Unless of course, that changes too. I knew he'd work Saturday so I had plans to find a little hike to go on with Wesson but buckets of rain changed that.

Instead we spent the morning snuggled up watching horse videos & listening to rain. Than we got to spent some time with another line girlfriend, Colleen! After each of us scanning Pintrest for a new recipe to make for our guys, we ventured to the local grocery store and headed back to our trailer to visit. I love meeting new people on the road, especially sweet girlfriends who know exactly what we go through!

All in all even though we didn't get to see Mike nearly as much as we wanted, it was a very relaxing weekend. I was able to find a few more freezer meals that I'll have ready for Mike to take back, turns out my meals were a hit with a few guys so my 8 week stock turned into 4 week stock. Lineman love home cooked meals ;) And they deserve them. Working out in pouring down rain, getting soaked to the bone standing and a 3 foot wide steel, structure waiting for a helicopter to bring the line... yeah they deserve it.

photo cred: Nick Durrant. Mike's job...

Now that I got you caught up on my trip I do have some exciting stuff to share! I went to the Avista Line school Friday morning and had my first NSUJL presentation!

I was so nervous to go but with the support of my family, friends and husband who reminded "babe they're just a bunch of guys like I was 5 years ago..."

I headed out there bright and early, last time I was there was taking my first picture of Mike on a pole during his own graduation.


When I walked in they introduced me and handed me the most bad ass little copper scorpion.

I went through my power point and answer questions without a beat. I was actually pretty proud of myself, it's been years since I've had to talk in public so yeah I was pretty damn nervous.

But I survived, walked away educating soon to be apprentices, got a few new members and another runner for the High Voltage 5k which you have TEN days left to register for before the price goes up!! pleeease sign up I'm hoping to have a great turn out! :) follow this link here to sign up HERE

 

 

Although this was my first speaking it was just the boost of confidence I needed, I'm ready to take on the NW and get the NSUJL word out there!

 



5 Things Monday

Happy Monday friends AND happy fall! After 9 months of summer this family has been ready for summer.

This last week was a tiring one for this momma. This was Mike's 7 days on week so having no break, all my days started running together. Not to mention little buddy has been working on these last 4 teeth and they were just not pushing through. He's doing better but still teething sucks.

1. Despite the teething/no napping business I was very pleased what I got accomplished with NSUJL. Since the NW was is majorly lacking support, that's been my main priority. I was able to put together 25 "welcome packets" and get those sent off, made contact with a local power company & hopefully meeting with them next week. And I finally found a 5k loop and made our flyer! The local support already has been wonderful, I am so excited to see our turn out! Again if you want to run please follow this link HERE and sign up asap! being a virtual section our sign up dates are a little sooner, just because we want to make sure our tees get here :)

making packets! dance mom & tea helped ;)

 

 

2. We got to see my favorite line family! Brandon, Astra and the newest addition Bashlyn got to come home for a visit and although it was a quick little meet up I still got to hold sweet baby Bash and chat with one of my favorite people ever. As you guys have read before this life is crazy stressful and there are a few days I don't know how I would pushed through without this individual cheering me on from states away. We are so blessed to be apart of your life!

 

quick side note: uhm so I'm slowly getting baby fever but this little boy is READY ;) he didn't want to go with me after yoga day care earlier because he didn't want to leave 8 mo old Logan. Seriously so sweet.

 

 

3. Since this was the first weekend in a long time we haven't had Mike home I was bumming pretty bad. Luckily I have pretty great girlfriends to help fill the void. No pictures but Friday night was pizza & Epic with Kelsey. Pretty cute movie but don't ask Kelsey (someone's eyes were a little heavy ;)) Saturday morning Brandy & Robyn came over and had pancakes to start the day.

 

I know we chose to live the life we do but it really doesn't make it any easier. But having rad people surround else makes it a little easier!

 

4. Would be the rest of Saturday! Dad invited us on a drive up the river. It was so nice to get out. By the way I found where I'll be picking huckleberries next year, there were even a few berries still on the bushes! We completed our day with homemade fries and cold beer at the Pritchard bar. yuuummy!



 
 

its scary how much this little boy loves power tools

 

cutest picture, ever. grandpa's little helper!

 

 

5. Tone it up! I know a few of you have asked about my "random" hashtags on IG but they do have purpose! I joined the Tone It Up community at the start of summer but missed the last challenge so I basically took a few recipes here and there, did the work outs but hey it was summer! I didn't commit. Well TIU just started the #friskyfall 6 week challenge and I'm stoked to be join. I love motivation and this little package was the perfect kick start to the next 6 weeks! You can sign up to have a TIU buddy each month. You basically get a pen pal via email and at the end of the month you make up a cute little motivation package of your favorite things and send it off. So fun!

 

motivation buddy Stephanie rocks :)

 

 

So there ya have it. That was my pretty simple first full week of being without my hunny. Luckily this weekend we have some fun plans to look forward to :) 

 

 

Ione, Wa

I just realized I never filled you all in on Mike's new town, not that there's much to tell about. I can sum up Ione, Washington in two words: beautiful & tiny.

Although it is located in the great northwest so that gives the little town major points, it's also Alamo, NV status. Meaning lucky for Mikey his wife doesn't mind bringing him fresh veggies/fruits and yogurts that don't cost $3 a pop!

I wasn't planning on going back to Ione this last weekend since the week before we got Mike set up (it rained on us the whole time so we stayed inside and lounged all weekend) so I wasn't set on the idea of going back. Buuuuut Mike said I needed to come since the RV park was throwing a BBQ and Mike wanted to show off his cute family ;)


I took off on the hour and a half drive after Shannon & Tommy's wedding, congrats again guys!!

my wonderful parents

handsome date of mine

party animal!

 



We pulled into the RV park and instantly was introduced to Mike's new crew, was handed a nice cold one and handed off Wesson to daddy... this momma was off duty ;)  Mike always gives me a hard time for asking so many questions about the job and who he's asking about but it gives me a comfort knowing the guys watching my husbands back. So this weekend was extra nice getting to know more of Mike's Par crew. This crew actually had a few familiar faces. Landon was our apprentice neighbor from our Wyoming days and was actually the first person to give me a hug (even before Mike haha) when we found out we were pregnant!

daddy's best friend.

Saturday night turned out to be pretty awesome, sorry to those who I continued to send obnoxious snaps... bad me I only took snap chats and don't even have any pictures to share now! woops! Basically our night consisted of beers, lineman, a new linewife fran, fire, and 3 guitars. Good night.

We woke up early Sunday morning and loaded up the truck to go explore. We ran into a hiking trail that we've added to our list of to do while in Ione, well hopefully before it snows!

big boy!

The camp hosts wanted to show their appreciation to the Par guys staying at the RV park and throw a yummy BBQ. Since it was Sunday they moved the food into the shop so all the guys could catch the game. Good food and good times. 

Wes & Wendy! Of course he wouldn't leave the ranger... typical Wesson!

Gabe the camp host showing Wes how to use the horn. Yes Wesson used his charm to get Gabe to take him around a few times...

Landon, aka baby whisper

 

With all the excitement of the day our charming cry baby of a child would. not. sleep. He was exhausted but just wanted to party in the shop! Sooo giving up we handed him off to Landon who within a half hour had him asleep in his arms. WHAT?! seriously he doesn't even sleep with me...

 

We're not back home and Mike is back to climbing the ridiculously high towers. We're already planning our next trip over to see daddy. We're thinking a trip to Canada will need to happen :)

 

I know I've posted these everywhere already but seriously how cool are they?! I am SO damn proud of my husband and all the line crews. Stay safe guys!



1st Freezer Meal Experience

I figured I'd jot this down in case any other linewife is experiencing guilt after no longer being able to cook her man dinner every night. haha okay so honestly I'm over the guilt pretty much but I do feel pretty bad that Mike is going to be working a ton of hours/ days straight and has no one to help me out so I turned to Pintrest!

before

 

I had a few of you ask for how I did this and I'll tell ya right now I'm not creative, I didn't come up with these on my own. I scanned pintrest during afternoon nap time and picked out a few recipes, created a master grocery list and went shopping. I only spent $77 on groceries and all these meals should last Mike til the end of October! It only took me about 2.5 hours and that was with Wes hanging around and eating dinner in between. It was really easy but there's no way I would have done this in the trailer. We ran out of room so we moved stuff to the table outside. It was quite the mess.

helper bees

 

I don't have all the links because I would get sent into one blog and just keep clicking. Here are the links I do have but you can find a ton more just typing in freezer meals :)

Here's the list of freezer meals I did:

• Bean & Cheese Buritos, we made 2 dozen! I added Spanish rice & shredded chicken to beef them up a bit ;)
• Teriyaki Chicken
• Chicken Posole (2 bags)
• BBQ Chicken (2 bags) this was ridiculously easy.Chicken, BBQ sauce, vinegar- BAG!
• Taco soup (2 bags) this was actually mom's recipe and one of Mike's favorite. I just took all ingredients and through them in a bag after browning the ground beef, easy peasy.
• Pumpkin Muffins I actually made 4 batches of these yummy things. Its fall, Wes & Mike both love them and Christopher had a really bad weekend so I took some to him too. Sharing is caring peeps.
• Last but not least a made 3 dozen peanut butter cookies, just a simple recipe that is easy to make!

after, cookies not pictured ;)

 

We ran out of room in the trailer freezer so I actually got to snag a taco soup bag and chicken posole. I'm actually looking at more recipes to do this again but this time I'll get to keep them ;)

teeny, tiny freezer packed with yumminess!

 

So yes it was a little imitating writing everything out but once I got going it was simple. I started with the muffins and cookies so I was constantly rotating those in & out of the oven while I was mixing everything else up. I'm happy my hubs will be eating good out at the trailer park and not living off of pizza rolls, ick.  
 
 

Labor Day Weekend

In our house Labor Day weekend has always been known as "black sheep bash weekend." Honestly I still have no idea why its called that but roll with it...

It's always just been known the McBrides sneak away to St Maries to Mike's grandparents cabin. Like most things the apprenticeship took us away the last two years but we were finally able to get back and it was one of our favorite times yet!

such a stud.

We headed to the cabin early Saturday morning after stocking up on camping food, filling the coolers with beer, loading up the four wheeler and hooking up to our home on wheels. Once we got down to the cabin we immediately cracked some cold ones and put the boat in the water. Unfortunatly the boat didn't last too long since Mike was on a mission to sink it ;) not really but the seal cracked so it was a short lived boat ride. Wesson loved it. Shocking I know. That kid loves anything that makes loud noises!

perfect afternoon!

Matt, Kelsey and Orion came up later Saturday afternoon to join in the festivities and it made the weekend that much sweeter. Pulled pork sandwiches, huckleberry cheesecakes, and drinking games lead us to more laughter around the fire and a night swim.

Rem & Orion being cute in the water

I don't know what it is about the st maries river that makes us feel like we're 18 again. Its a beautiful feeling to go back to the place where we really feel in love and the place where noticed my soon to be husband fiddling with a box in his pocket (aka my ring ;)) all day.

 

Sunday was spent on the dock catching fish and more swimming before heading into town to watch the best firework show we have ever seen. Matt's words " best damn American bad ass firework show. How have you guys not let me come before!?" he was in awe... and so was our little boy. After Matt bought Wes his own bag of popcorn he laid on back and enjoyed the show. Pure happiness.

Us girls grabbing a drink at the blue ox before

I'm lovin this pic mainly because Matt's face is the same as Wessons... ;)

awwwwwh

boom!

our group :) xxxx!

 

It was the perfect last hoorah of the summer. I know technically there are still a few weeks left but in the great Northwest the leaves are starting to turn and leggings are starting to come out. Its September!


Oh and I'm one very happy linewife.... Mike had orientation last Friday and his crew decided to wait another week to start work! yippee so I get my lineman on my birthday! Wes, Rem and myself will move Mike to Ione Saturday morning and get him all settled in and hopefully catch the train ride everyone keeps talking about!

We'll be fully enjoying these last few days because come Monday Mike will be working 13 days on 1 day off until Thanksgiving/Christmas time. It'll be a long few months but you can bet we'll make the best of it and me and the boys will be road tripping lots to see daddy! :)

Happy September Friends :)