Visiting Family in WA and OR

I was lucky enough to have 4 days off in a row and chose to drive up to say hi to my family in Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA. It was a typical rainy winter day in Portland but I still had fun playing with my cousins and exploring the city.

I thought it would be fun to go for a run over the bridges. It was raining. Hard, and sideways. I was soaked! Needless to say it wasn't very "fun" but I did love the view of the river and bridges.

This is a typical weekend day in my Cousin's house. All of the boys gathered around the video games. With dad taking over once in a while to beat the unbeatable levels.

This beautiful little girl is Kinsley. She's one of the happiest babies I've ever met. With two older brothers, a cat and a dog, she goes with the flow and has a smile on her face all of the time.

I made the mistake of petting my cousin's cat before going to bed and didn't wash my face and hands. Apparently I'm still allergic to cats.

I wanted to go to Multnomah falls while I was in the area and I had the pleasure of my cousins and their kids tagging along for the day. It was a little cold and rainy and the hike was steeper than the kids thought it would be but everyone was a trooper. I do have to say, for once the view at the top is nowhere near as awe inspiring as the view from the bottom. I hope to come back here soon.

Mt Bachelor

Chris wanted to do something fun for his birthday and so we planned a ski trip up to Mount Bachelor with a few coworkers. We were able to rent a vacation home that everyone could stay in with a hot tub and fireplace for only $30/night per person. It was great!

 I love this man soo much! We are two peas in a pod. 

This is Chris' "old man shuffle"

Good food, great times, wonderful people, priceless memories.

New Years

 We decided to get out of town for New Years and headed up to Medford, Oregon for a fun filled night of pool, drinks and dancing.

A nice dress and heels never stopped me from shooting some pool :) 

 Such a fun night!

One of our good friends and fellow Paramedic Jon Parker met up with us just in time to ring in the New Year.

Six Flags

I have to make a confession. Chris and I bought season tickets to Six Flags! We have an unspoken agreement with our coworker Brandon that whenever we are off doing something fun we're to send him photos. Lets just say that he got quite a few "roller coaster selfies." In these selfies though, you will notice I look a little more like a hick than usual, one of the porcelain caps that I had on my teeth fell off. I figured might as well smile through and have fun anyway. We also tacked on a quick drive through San Fran at the end. I sure do enjoy our adventures together.

Pre emptive "still in work parking lot" selfie!

Highway of the Redwoods.

Saracina Vineyards

 Waking up in San Francisco!

 We were photo bombed!

Adventure to the Oregon Caves

Chris surprised me with a reservation at the Chateau at the Oregon Caves. We were stoked to be getting away for a couple days. This trip would turn out to be one unforgettable trip for both of us. As we were driving up HWY 199 Chris noticed that his car was handling funny so he pulled over to check it out when his tie rod snapped. We were stuck. Unfortunately we were on a portion of the 199 where our phones did not get service. Chris drives this road atleast twice a month and knew that we would get service at the next rest stop just before entering Collier Tunnel. We decided we would walk the mile or so to that point and call for a tow. I was wearing Durango cowboy boots and we were both dressed night for a date night and made for two travelers on the side of the road that no one would stop for or pick up. Short story long, we ended up having to walk and additional 3 or 4 miles to the Agriculture station that is not always open. We were fortunate enough to catch them just before they closed for the day. I had a blister the size of a silver dollar on my heel from my boots and we were more than happy to sit and wait for the tow truck to come get us and take us back to our car. We and the car made it back to Crescent City without too much trouble. Chris and I weren't about to let that put a stop to our date so we hopped into my car and transferred our bags over and set off up the 199 for the second time that day. I'm so glad that we are both laid back and are able to go with the flow and have fun no matter what the circumstance may be. We learned a lot about each other and how we handle the unpredictable situations that life may throw at you. Needless to say, we were able to make our dinner reservation and enjoy the rest of our trip. I'm looking forward to going back sometime. The Chateau was so cute and cozy and the caves were awesome. Here are some pictures from that trip.

This is the view from our room. 

The weather was overcast and raining when we arrived but cleared up over night and gave us sun for our hike.

I can't remember how many flights of stairs you climb throughout your tour of the cave but I do remember feeling like I had just completed leg day at the gym.

The receptionist at the front desk thought we looked great and offered to take our picture. We were the best looking couple at the lodge that night. We missed the memo that the fancy restaurant had more of an informal dress code. Oh well, I enjoyed every minute of it!

First of many adventures with Chris

This is one of the first dates Chris and I went on. It was almost 1 year ago exactly. We went to this really cute cafe in Port Orford, Oregon called Red Fin. Their patio overlooks a beautiful cove.

Its been over a year!!

I've been pretty terrible about posting in my blog while here in California. I do have to say it's been on hell of a year and I will do my best over the next few weeks to get a little more up to date.

Being a Paramedic has not been like I expected at all. Many long shifts with sleepless nights and countless hours and miles on the road to transfer patients to the care they really need. That being said I'm not going through all of these rough times alone. I have an EMS family here that I've gown to love and appreciate so much, and I can't tell you how great it is to bring the ER a patient that is laughing through those hospital doors. I would not trade this first year of working as a medic for anything. I'm so grateful for the good and bad times, the happy and the sad. I'm doing what I love and have the pleasure of sharing it with the one I love. For those of you who don't know, Last year when I moved out here, the crews all warned me about working with Vorhes. They kept telling me that he was tough on new people and a real "treat" to work with. Chris took me under his wing and taught me how to treat patients and apply our knowledge to evaluate and treat the patient as we saw fit. Those weeks we had the opportunity to work together were some of the best I've had on a rig. We had patients that were critically injured, rolling in laughter in the back of the ambulance. More often than not at our own expense but we didn't care, it's what we live for. I couldn't ask for a better friend and support. Since then, we have done everything together and I couldn't be happier. As I said before, I will do my best to update the blog with pictures and stories from all of our adventures.

Life is great!

Katie