About Me
- Jeff and Karen Doherty
- We were married in September 2005. We're best friends, and we love traveling and exploring new places. We like sci-fi movies and watching the history channel. Our little boy was born February 1, 2010. He is named Jeff Jr. or JJ. Our daughter Moira was born July 28, 2011. We have a cat named Munchkin. Jeff is a career military officer, and Karen works for a family services program for the Army. We live in Monterey, California. We are making this blog for our family and friends who we miss and want to share our life with.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Hi Family and Friends!
We are sorry it’s been so long since we’ve posted! We are having fun and doing great. We’ve settled into our new house, and we’ve been working hard. Our cats are doing well. They love sitting in all the windows in the new house and are on constant watch for birds.
We hope you enjoy our stories and pictures. Well, not as many pictures as we would want. Our camera is safe somewhere at home, we just don’t know where. We’ve unpacked everything but a few boxes of books, so the camera is most likely under a book…
We miss all of you and hope you’re doing well too!
Love,
Karen and Jeff
We are sorry it’s been so long since we’ve posted! We are having fun and doing great. We’ve settled into our new house, and we’ve been working hard. Our cats are doing well. They love sitting in all the windows in the new house and are on constant watch for birds.
We hope you enjoy our stories and pictures. Well, not as many pictures as we would want. Our camera is safe somewhere at home, we just don’t know where. We’ve unpacked everything but a few boxes of books, so the camera is most likely under a book…
We miss all of you and hope you’re doing well too!
Love,
Karen and Jeff
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
We're Moving!!!!
We are moving into a NEW house!!! If we won the lottery, I don’t think we could be happier! We have been on the “new house waiting list” since November 2006, and were told we were #181 at that time, based on seniority. We got a call last Monday that our number was up and would we be interested in a new single family home? The answer was yes, of course!
The U.S. Government currently has a partnership with several private companies to rebuild the old housing that is part of the military housing around the United States. Normally, when we live in military housing, we do not pay rent. If we choose to live off base, we would be given a housing allowance. For this partnership, we are given the housing allowance, and then we pay it as rent to the development company. This gives them the money needed to rebuild the communities.
When we moved into the military housing in November 2005, all of the new homes were occupied and there was no waiting list. We moved into an old home. By military policy, once you have a place to live, you have a place to live. There is no opportunity to move within the base housing. You can leave at any point, but once you're there, you're there.
Since we are here much longer than originally planned, we are paying into the new houses more than most people and we are not receiving the benefit of living in one. The cost of rent off base is much more than we receive for the allowance, so we are forced to live on the military housing. (Forget even buying a home here…)
A group of us families got together and complained about the situation. The Commander listened and had a new policy put in place to allow families like us who will be here long term to move into the new houses… So here we are!
We are now waiting for the City Inspector to come and give the Certificate of Occupancy! We were getting pretty frustrated that we couldn’t buy a house or afford to live in a better situation, but now we’re pretty sure we got the best deal!
Anyone want to come help us move?
The U.S. Government currently has a partnership with several private companies to rebuild the old housing that is part of the military housing around the United States. Normally, when we live in military housing, we do not pay rent. If we choose to live off base, we would be given a housing allowance. For this partnership, we are given the housing allowance, and then we pay it as rent to the development company. This gives them the money needed to rebuild the communities.
When we moved into the military housing in November 2005, all of the new homes were occupied and there was no waiting list. We moved into an old home. By military policy, once you have a place to live, you have a place to live. There is no opportunity to move within the base housing. You can leave at any point, but once you're there, you're there.
Since we are here much longer than originally planned, we are paying into the new houses more than most people and we are not receiving the benefit of living in one. The cost of rent off base is much more than we receive for the allowance, so we are forced to live on the military housing. (Forget even buying a home here…)
A group of us families got together and complained about the situation. The Commander listened and had a new policy put in place to allow families like us who will be here long term to move into the new houses… So here we are!
We are now waiting for the City Inspector to come and give the Certificate of Occupancy! We were getting pretty frustrated that we couldn’t buy a house or afford to live in a better situation, but now we’re pretty sure we got the best deal!
Anyone want to come help us move?
S K Y D I V I N G!!!
What an experience!!! WOW!!! We went skydiving December 16th and it was so totally incredible, beyond words – you have to do it to understand the feeling!!!
We went up to 15,000 feet and did a tandem jump with an instructor. We had a 60 second free fall, and then the instructors opened the parachutes and we slowly drifted to the ground. The free fall was wild; it didn’t feel like we were falling at all, but like we were being pushed upwards. The time when the chute was open felt like we were sitting in the air. When we landed, there was no impact - all of a sudden I was sitting on the ground.
We have to do this again!!!
We went up to 15,000 feet and did a tandem jump with an instructor. We had a 60 second free fall, and then the instructors opened the parachutes and we slowly drifted to the ground. The free fall was wild; it didn’t feel like we were falling at all, but like we were being pushed upwards. The time when the chute was open felt like we were sitting in the air. When we landed, there was no impact - all of a sudden I was sitting on the ground.
We have to do this again!!!
Monday, January 22, 2007
Monterey County Women's Crisis Center
Karen is going to volunteer as a survivor advocate at the crisis center soon. I begun a 60 hour training program to learn about domestic violence and sexual assault. The training will be completed during the first week of February, and then I will volunteer on the crisis hotline. I may also volunteer to be part of the team that meets the survivor at the hospital to help her or him go through the processes.
The classes have been incredible so far, and at the same time sad. We are all excited to be part of this agency. The crisis center offers many wonderful services to the community from free therapy to parent training.
The classes have been incredible so far, and at the same time sad. We are all excited to be part of this agency. The crisis center offers many wonderful services to the community from free therapy to parent training.
Disneyworld here we come!
We are going to Disney in March! Jeff was selected to take Army Family Team Building Master Trainer classes, which will be held in Orlando in March. Karen is going too, to take the Program Manager classes! We are so excited to be selected to take these classes, AND to spend time in Orlando.
Karen's parents and grandma are going to come to visit. This will be the first time we will all be together since November 2006
Karen's parents and grandma are going to come to visit. This will be the first time we will all be together since November 2006
Merry Christmas!
December 2007
Dear Family and Friends,
This has been an amazing year filled with many changes for us. We started off the year settling into our new home in Monterey, California. Monterey is a beautiful seaside town about two hours south of San Francisco. We live less than a mile from the Pacific Ocean in the foothills of the mountains. Monterey was the capital of Mexican California, and it has a lot of historic homes and buildings.
The Florida National Guard moved us out here so Jeff could study Arabic at the Defense Language Institute (DLI). In the course of making new friends and learning about Army programs, Jeff met an officer who was recruiting people to staff the Language Immersion Center at DLI. Until November, Jeff was working as the Officer in Charge of this program.
Karen has become very involved with the Army Family Team Building Program (AFTB). AFTB provides training and knowledge to spouses and family members. “It is AFTB's mission to educate and train in knowledge, skills, and behaviors designed to prepare our Army families to move successfully into the future.” Karen has attended advanced training provided by the Department of the Army and has earned the title of Master Trainer. Karen is also the Family Support Group Leader for Jeff’s California National Guard Company.
In July, Karen began work as a Facility Coordinator for CB Richard Ellis with the McGraw-Hill worldwide contract. This contract includes McGraw-Hill and their business holdings of J. D. Powers, Standard & Poor’s, and radio and television stations. She works with two senior facility managers to support eleven locations from Washington to southern California.
We are proud to announce that Jeff received a promotion to First Lieutenant in late October. Jeff has now served in the military for twelve years as both enlisted and as an officer. He has fulfilled these positions on Army Active Duty, as a Reservist and a National Guard Member for Florida and California. With his promotion, Jeff has been given a new job at DLI. He is now the Executive Officer at the Asian I School. There are eight language schools at DLI, so this is quite an honor. An Executive Officer in this position is equivalent to an Assistant Dean at a civilian school.
We’ve had a lot of fun over the past year, and have taken some great weekend trips around California. If you’d like to read more about our ongoing adventures or see some recent pictures of us, please visit our blog: http://jkdoherty.blogspot.com/
We hope everyone is doing well. We wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Karen and Jeff
Dear Family and Friends,
This has been an amazing year filled with many changes for us. We started off the year settling into our new home in Monterey, California. Monterey is a beautiful seaside town about two hours south of San Francisco. We live less than a mile from the Pacific Ocean in the foothills of the mountains. Monterey was the capital of Mexican California, and it has a lot of historic homes and buildings.
The Florida National Guard moved us out here so Jeff could study Arabic at the Defense Language Institute (DLI). In the course of making new friends and learning about Army programs, Jeff met an officer who was recruiting people to staff the Language Immersion Center at DLI. Until November, Jeff was working as the Officer in Charge of this program.
Karen has become very involved with the Army Family Team Building Program (AFTB). AFTB provides training and knowledge to spouses and family members. “It is AFTB's mission to educate and train in knowledge, skills, and behaviors designed to prepare our Army families to move successfully into the future.” Karen has attended advanced training provided by the Department of the Army and has earned the title of Master Trainer. Karen is also the Family Support Group Leader for Jeff’s California National Guard Company.
In July, Karen began work as a Facility Coordinator for CB Richard Ellis with the McGraw-Hill worldwide contract. This contract includes McGraw-Hill and their business holdings of J. D. Powers, Standard & Poor’s, and radio and television stations. She works with two senior facility managers to support eleven locations from Washington to southern California.
We are proud to announce that Jeff received a promotion to First Lieutenant in late October. Jeff has now served in the military for twelve years as both enlisted and as an officer. He has fulfilled these positions on Army Active Duty, as a Reservist and a National Guard Member for Florida and California. With his promotion, Jeff has been given a new job at DLI. He is now the Executive Officer at the Asian I School. There are eight language schools at DLI, so this is quite an honor. An Executive Officer in this position is equivalent to an Assistant Dean at a civilian school.
We’ve had a lot of fun over the past year, and have taken some great weekend trips around California. If you’d like to read more about our ongoing adventures or see some recent pictures of us, please visit our blog: http://jkdoherty.blogspot.com/
We hope everyone is doing well. We wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Karen and Jeff
New Pets
We have 2 new snakes.
Jeff had a ball python for years. That all ended when Jeff met Karen. Jeff took the snake on his first date with Karen (don't ask) and was afraid to take it into her house, so he left the snake in the car. The snake, being a snake, explored his car and was never seen again. While going to our local pet shop here in Monterey to buy fish, we saw that they had a ball python similar to the first, so we adopted it back in July. The snake has been living happily in our computer room in a glass tank ever since then.
A few days before Christmas, Karen was notified at work that there was a HUGE snake behind one of the copy machines. People were afraid of this (possible) anaconda that had gotten into the building. I went up to the copier and didn't see anything, and then all of a sudden, there was a little wiggle by the cords. It seems somehow a baby gopher snake got in the building. Its about 10" long and thinner than my little finger. I brought it home from work and it now lives in another glass tank next to the python.
Our little kitten loves to sit on the floor and watch the snakes. We are putting up a picture of her getting curious about the python.
Jeff had a ball python for years. That all ended when Jeff met Karen. Jeff took the snake on his first date with Karen (don't ask) and was afraid to take it into her house, so he left the snake in the car. The snake, being a snake, explored his car and was never seen again. While going to our local pet shop here in Monterey to buy fish, we saw that they had a ball python similar to the first, so we adopted it back in July. The snake has been living happily in our computer room in a glass tank ever since then.
A few days before Christmas, Karen was notified at work that there was a HUGE snake behind one of the copy machines. People were afraid of this (possible) anaconda that had gotten into the building. I went up to the copier and didn't see anything, and then all of a sudden, there was a little wiggle by the cords. It seems somehow a baby gopher snake got in the building. Its about 10" long and thinner than my little finger. I brought it home from work and it now lives in another glass tank next to the python.
Our little kitten loves to sit on the floor and watch the snakes. We are putting up a picture of her getting curious about the python.
Friday, November 24, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends that we couldn't be with this year. We miss all of you, and we wish we could have been together!
We spent a great day with our friends Robert and Michael at Shauna's house with her boyfriend, Eric, in Sacramento. We all bought some dishes, and Eric made the turkey! The food was wonderful, and we all ate until we felt like we would burst :)
We spent a great day with our friends Robert and Michael at Shauna's house with her boyfriend, Eric, in Sacramento. We all bought some dishes, and Eric made the turkey! The food was wonderful, and we all ate until we felt like we would burst :)
California Guard - Family Support Group Training
We've been busy for the last few weekends!
Karen is the Family Support Group Leader for Jeff's California Guard Company. November 18-19, we went to Sacramento so she could get some formal training and ideas for running the group. All military branches have Family Support Groups or Family Readiness Groups, or a family group with a similar name. These were all set up during the last Gulf War as a way of getting family support and communication. The group is an important part of each military group as its the way the family members can communicate with command. Its also a great way to make friends!
We met people from units from all over state. Karen was invited to be part of the state Family Support Group Council.
Sorry, no pictures from this weekend. It was just classroom stuff...
Karen is the Family Support Group Leader for Jeff's California Guard Company. November 18-19, we went to Sacramento so she could get some formal training and ideas for running the group. All military branches have Family Support Groups or Family Readiness Groups, or a family group with a similar name. These were all set up during the last Gulf War as a way of getting family support and communication. The group is an important part of each military group as its the way the family members can communicate with command. Its also a great way to make friends!
We met people from units from all over state. Karen was invited to be part of the state Family Support Group Council.
Sorry, no pictures from this weekend. It was just classroom stuff...
Disneyland November 4-5
Hi everyone, we know its been a while since we've updated this blog, but life has been going good and quiet, which is a very good thing!
Karen was invited by one of the Army Reserve units in southern California to teach some Army Family Team Building classes on Sunday, November 5th, down near Ahaheim. So, we decided to make it a fun weekend, and we stayed at the Sheraton across the street from Disneyland. We drove down Friday afternoon and had dinner in Downtown Disney. We spent all day Saturday exploring and having fun at Disneyland. Saturday night we went to Medieval Times for dinner to celebrate Jeff's birthday, and to see the jousting show.
Sunday Karen taught her classes until noon, and then we went back to Disney to go to the California theme park part of Disney. We had an absolute blast!!! We have fun together all the time, but this was just great. The rides were awesome and the park was beautiful!!! You can see from the pictures that it was just great!
Karen was invited by one of the Army Reserve units in southern California to teach some Army Family Team Building classes on Sunday, November 5th, down near Ahaheim. So, we decided to make it a fun weekend, and we stayed at the Sheraton across the street from Disneyland. We drove down Friday afternoon and had dinner in Downtown Disney. We spent all day Saturday exploring and having fun at Disneyland. Saturday night we went to Medieval Times for dinner to celebrate Jeff's birthday, and to see the jousting show.
Sunday Karen taught her classes until noon, and then we went back to Disney to go to the California theme park part of Disney. We had an absolute blast!!! We have fun together all the time, but this was just great. The rides were awesome and the park was beautiful!!! You can see from the pictures that it was just great!
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Karen has started her new job!!
YAY!!! Go team Doherty! Karen started her new job for CB Richard Ellis on Monday. Karen is the Facility Coordinator at the McGraw Hill building in Monterey, and she also works with the Salinas and San Francisco offices, and 2 offices in Washington State.
So what is a facility coordinator you might ask yourself? A facility coordinator works directly for the facility director in managing projects, day to day tasks and administrative functions for running the physical part of a building. We're the people you call when your office is too hot or a light is burned out or if the roof is leaking or the parking lots needs to be updated to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act..... This is the same sort of job Karen had in Florida, except this time there are no free tickets!!!!
Jeff is doing great in his job. The Public Affairs Office was taping part of their new recruitment video at his site yesterday while the Arabic students were in for the day. All military project funding is currently frozen solid. Jeff has been soliciting donations and help from the community. Today he received a donation of 2 practically new industrial sized refrigerators from California State University - Monterey Bay for students to use for their food when they do overnight immersions. Way to go Jeff in saving all us tax payers around $5000!!!!
The cats still continue to taunt the neighbor dog!!!
So what is a facility coordinator you might ask yourself? A facility coordinator works directly for the facility director in managing projects, day to day tasks and administrative functions for running the physical part of a building. We're the people you call when your office is too hot or a light is burned out or if the roof is leaking or the parking lots needs to be updated to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act..... This is the same sort of job Karen had in Florida, except this time there are no free tickets!!!!
Jeff is doing great in his job. The Public Affairs Office was taping part of their new recruitment video at his site yesterday while the Arabic students were in for the day. All military project funding is currently frozen solid. Jeff has been soliciting donations and help from the community. Today he received a donation of 2 practically new industrial sized refrigerators from California State University - Monterey Bay for students to use for their food when they do overnight immersions. Way to go Jeff in saving all us tax payers around $5000!!!!
The cats still continue to taunt the neighbor dog!!!
Friday, June 16, 2006
Jeff and his baby
God only knows why the kitten did this, but one afternoon she started to lick Jeff's head after he got a hair cut. Maybe she thought he was another cat?
Our roses
Here are our first roses blooming in our front yard. One plant is actually bright pink and the other is a very intense orange. They are also very fragrant! This is our first time with roses and they seem to be doing well here.
Our cats are bullying the neighbor's dog
Notice our cute little kitten sitting in the flowers, and see the dog through the slats of the fence? Yes its a little hard to see, but the dog was moving around a lot so it was hard to get a good shot. The cat is actually taunting the dog. She even stands up and bats the dog on the nose with her little paws.We think both cats enjoy teasing this poor dog. As soon as they hear him bark in his backyard, they will run to the fence if they are outside or meow to him through the sliding door in the living room. The dog, of course, goes nuts barking and his people make him go inside.
Jeff's first day at work
Here is our fearless soldier ready to deploy on his first day of office duty.....
Jeff's new job
Jeff is doing great in his new job. He is excited to go to work everyday and has so many things to get done yesterday. The men and women working with him in the immersion program are very proud of everything they've done and can't wait to get the program up and running. Their target opening date is July 1st. I think they'll get it done.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Life in an alternate universe....
A few weeks ago Jeff and Karen volunteered to help a local army unit practice going into Iraqi villages and working with the locals. We dressed up in local clothing for the day. So this is how we would look.... Needless to say, no one who knew Karen before that day recognized her fully covered from head to toe!
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Very sad news....
It is with a very heavy heart that I post of Mimi's passing earlier today. Mom called us earlier this morning to let us know that she and Kevin were both with Mimi to hold her hands and tell her that they loved her. She will be missed by all who knew here.
Karen
Karen
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