you better stay in your dens...bears!

yipeeeeeeee.... our "training wheels" hand gun for bear protection while in Alaska's great outdoors!


44 mag, 4inch barrel, Taurus Tracker....stainless steel


We will both take shooting lessons....even though we have shot many a handgun.... safety first!

The view on our winter/spring hike-- mountains/ocean

Adam taking it all in!

Okay... we were on the trail of a moose...or 100 moose!

Moose poopoo.... you could literally stop anywhere on this mountain and see a pile of moose poo somewhere around you. It was CRAZY!

A hungry moose had been through here!

LOTS AND LOTS OF tracks and signs of moose! BUT, funny enough, it wasn't until we were driving through town that we actually saw one! aaaaaaaaah!

For those of you who are curious... Adam's public health service/military uniform

and again...with a few more accessories!

Alrighty...quick update...

**daylight today..............................8:17-6:11, the days are getting longer which means the kiddos are getting crazier!

**we are still on the house hunt, looking again tomorrow. just not finding "the right one"

**Fur Rondevous (sp) is this weekend.... a huge Anchorage celebration that started back in teh day with miners and hunters. A couple events....FIREWORKS, rides, parade, dog sledding, and running of the reindeer! I'm sure we'll be checking it out and letting you know how it goes!

**Adam's basketball team is moving on! They play again Thursday...wahoo!

**Our hike last weekend was aimed towards looking for moose sheds. Didn't find any...THIS time! We even got off the trails a bit and used our "wild" instinct! tehe

**We have been working out, cooking meals, and feeling better than ever! By "we", I mean "I". Cuz Adam has been working out all along! BUT our dinners have been new and delicious!

**Adam is in his inpatient rotation of residency now. This is his second week and he has already seen two miracles. One involving an older man with heart problems being brought back to life and another was a premature baby who survived after 1.5 hours of something or other. All with the help of Adam--calculating/mixing/giving drugs! It has been pretty intense, but he is enjoying it! If you want to know more details and specifics....ask Adam!

.....come visit us!

Valentine's Weekend!!!!

Curious Chena and ANGRY ANGRY Angel! Angel did not move from the couch the entire day I puppy-sat!


We played in the snow in the backyard...there is a lot of it!


Hehe... Angel growled at Chena, so she barked back!

Angel and I all tuckered out after a day of puppy-sitting! Chena is an AWESOME puppy.... but still a puppy, with lots of energy!!


Mmmm, I picked up some live lobster for our Valentines meal

Angel was VERY interested in those "fishy" things!

AAAaaaaaaaaaaahhh don't boil us!! Adam has a creepy smile on his face!

Angel enjoying the scraps! It was DELICOUS!

Here is Kincaid beach in the winter.....the one with all of the pretty rocks!

Skiing along the beach, next to the very mysterious and cleared "road"! We have no idea WHY there need to be a cleared path or HOW a truck got down there!

Yup, Adam was playing on the huge chunks of ice. On the "frozen" mud flats.

.....he wouldn't listen to me anyway, so I just let him go and took pictures!

Waiting for Adam.... I had to drag him away!

Well, that was our Valentines weekend. Adam worked while I puppy-sat on Saturday. We also had a fabulous date Sunday night......getting our taxes done! BUT it is nice to have it all over with......our first tax-time experience together!

I had today off, for President's Day. All I did was clean and do housework... Angel followed me and watched all day.

We will continue the house hunt on Wednesday. We saw 6 houses last Wednesday night, a couple possibilities, but nothing that really screamed "BUY ME!" Just waiting for the right one to come along. Eagle River is a town about 20-30 minutes away. It is a GORGEOUS community and you can get a whole lot more for your money in houses there. The negative is the commute...there is only one road to/from Eagle River--Anchorage. It happens to be a highway, but in the winter or if there is an accident, the commute can be 1+ hours. But we do have some friends who live out there....we may check a few out. Ideally, we would like to stay in Anchorage.

Oh... summer plans thus far

*June 3(i think)... I will come home to Iowa. Adam will be back the 10th for a wedding. We will return to Alaska together on the 13th.

**July 1 we leave for Sanibel for JESSI/GRANT'S WEDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We will return to Alaska on the 12th.

***July 14-21 Jenny and Nathan will be visiting! Whoop whoop!!!!

****July 23-August 7 Kevin and Jeanette will be visting! Whoop whoop whoop!!!!

*****Sometime in September... Grandma Ruth and Jeanette will be visiting!

wooooooooooweeeeeeeeeeeee, summer is going to be AmAzInG! Also, our friends Shawn and Erin just bought a pop-up camper. We may be buying a house....but we might not actually stay in it until August! hehe!

February 8, 2010

"Ski for Women" A cross-country skiing race benefiting women's clinics in Anchorage. It's an all morning event, with actual races, and a fun race....the "party wave" with costumes. There were some AWESOME group costumes....more pictures to come (they're on my friend's camera) We were suppose to be a bride with bridesmaids but ended up being one guy w/ 5 lovely prom dates! These women all work with Adam and are pharmacists at ANMC.


Adam's strep throat..... he absolutely needed a picture. --Gross! Can you see the white, bubbly, nasty stuff on the back left?

Another boo-boo. Adam was playing basketball and had to step out for a couple minutes because his shoulder was hurting. Well, it got worse and he didn't sleep all night because he was rolling around in pain. He woke up the next morning with this nasty bruise running up his arm (the bruise is from the swelling and blood draining under the skin). The doctor said he partially ruptured his bicep tendon. He is grumpy....hasn't been able to workout/lift and he has a big basketball game on Thursday. He keeps saying he is going to play and I keep giving him the stink-eye!

On our way up the mountain in Ronda the Rondo.

GORGEOUS!!!

2 bald eagle buddies just hanging out, enjoying the beautiful Anchorage/mountain view behind them!

One flew away-- you can see the mountains a little better. Pictures just don't do any of these experiences justice.

Chena taking a snooze....Adam loving it! She came over to play with Angel, only got 4-5 slaps on the nose, good thing Angel is declawed! We might get to puppy-sit her this weekend!

Snowboarding at Arctic Valley.... on the ice! Anchorage in the background. We go over and down that edge-- a little intimidating but FUN!

Beautiful mountains and valley behind Adam. Also... a huge scary drop-off about 4 feet back!

Um yah....I was a little anxious on this ancient thing!

EEEeeeeeeeekk.... our chair lift! If you are familiar with Montezuma's old rickety chair lift....this one was even worse!! Boarding down the icy mountain was actually a relief for getting off this thing!

Okay--so as you can see, Adam is all beat up! The first event was this... we decided to go snowboarding last Sunday, even though we haven't had a snow fall for a LONG time and the conditions were icy. Well, as you can see, there are bushes/grass/rocks/sticks sticking up in some areas because the lack of snow, you just have to keep an eye out and steer around them. Well Adam nailed a stick and it totally took him out. He was wearing his helmet, but hit his head so hard that he was dizzy and seeing stars. OF course he refused to leave and go home because it was only our 3rd run. Finally, 1/2 way down the next run, he asked if we could go home. I was like, "UM YEEEEEEES!" He had a sore neck and headache, but it eventually went away. Then he ruptured a tendon playing basketball. Now he has strep throat. Keep him in your thoughts! It's been a rough week!

I will take my class on a field trip tomorrow... to the Anchorage museum! Remember always LoViNg field trips?!?!? Well, as a teacher, I completely dislike them.......they had better behave! I have already threatened our next two field trips!

Still on the house hunt....looked at three last week that were all no-go. One was way too much work (and extremly over priced once you saw the inside), another was on a busy corner, and the third...well I don't even remember the third, hence the reason it as a no-go. We have a few more on our list to check out. We have an awesome relator and mortage adviser....we are really learning a lot about this whole process and are SO EXCITED!!!

Love you all and miss you!

January 27, 2010

Angel Mama relaxing with Adam. Bad combination for him-- Angel+recliner= fall asleep! She is such a good cuddler!

Mount McKinley/Denali in the distance

ice floating through the inlet

Anchorage- home sweet home! BEAUTIFUL!

brrrrr-- on the inlet/ocean

This past weekend, Adam and I went for a drive. Amazingly, we didn't see any moose, but we came across this pretty scenery! We also went cross-country skiing.....keeping pace with our buddy, Shawn, kicked our butts! We were planning on snowboarding after a leisurely ski--but geesh, we were so worn out, we couldn't even think about boarding! So..... we went "house-hunting" instead! YUP! We are starting our house search! Adam accepted a job offer....so we will be here AT LEAST a few more years! We are looking on the outside of Anchorage.....in the wilderness, yet not too far from work. (unfortunately, there aren't any homes for sale with space for horses).

Hmmm... what else is new!?! It has been pretty chilly here, colder than Iowa...for a change. On average--I believe Iowa has had the colder winter! HEHEHAHAHAHA. AND we are gaining daylight back very rapidly!

We are both working hard, but enjoying it! We are finding a balance for personal life, yippee! We have been cooking yummy meals together and working out. We actually cooked and ate an 8 pound ham..... in two days. The reason we had an 8lb ham was silly....we went to the store for a 3lb, precooked, boneless ham and came home with an 8lb, raw, boned ham! So.....we roasted it up and expected it to last us all week. It was SOOO YUMMY!!....it was gone the next day! :) We also made blueberry muffins with frozen Alaskan blueberrys....thanks to Danae and Tyler for helping us pick them!

We are REALLY missing our nieces and Kane. Annie still doesn't understand why I can't "just come see her". She invited me to a movie...and wouldn't accept that I live too far away.

:(heartbreaking! Kane is walking!....he told me "tatatataaaaa" and giggled on the phone the other day! Syd is doing AWESOME in school. Brooklyn, Heidi, Shanin, Breanna, and Annie LOVE every minute they get to spend together. They baked/frosted cookies at gma/gpa's house last weekend, called Aunt Danielle, and Uncle Adam........and went to the new "Squeakquel" Chipmunk movie together. They are the best of buds! Emma sent us a video--she was waving to Uncle Adam and cheering/clapping for Aunt Danielle! We miss our kiddos!!!

Well...Angel is now sitting across my arms--it is difficult to type. I think she's telling me it's time for bed! She has discovered the awesomeness of sleeping UNDER the covers, instead of on top!

Love you and miss you all!

Just playing!!

Cross-country skiing at Russion Jack park! Through the trees! Quite a challenge when your skiis are as long as Adam's!! hehe




And now---out in the open. No moosers though:(


Awww one of the 13 lab puppies our friends have!

Just chillen!

THIRTEEN puppies!

This is Cheena...our other friends bought her and took her home yesterday. Auntie Danielle will be busy spoiling her!

cuuuuuuute puppy! (peed on Adam! :) )

Alyeska night ski trails

Adam and Shawn headed down the mountain... Yes, those are clouds in the valley (which is usually ocean.

(don't mind the date...still haven't changed that on this camera...oops!)

HEHE a lil boy's board compared to Adams!

Beautiful view!!!

Alrighty peeps! We have been working...working....working.... and PLAYING HARD! We spent the weekend in a cabin at Alyeska ski resort w/ two other couples. IT WAS A GREAT TIME! Some of us ended up with some pretty nice bruises....because it was actually--ICY! We were a tad disappointed with the snowboarding conditions, but it was totally worth it! Oh-and moms-- we wore our helmets! :) We also went to the Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival.........

a-ma-zing! It was downtown Anchorage---when you walk in, you are handed your "mini mug" and thirty tickets to use throughout the night. Each ticket is worth a 2oz sample. We had a fabulous time, met quite a few people from Iowa, and ate the best chicken wings I've had since Fitzys in Iowa City! It's just too bad we can't remember which samples we really liked, they were all delicious! We are already excited for next year---future visitors--this event could possibly make a winter visit to Alaska worth it! MORE PICS COMING SOON!