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!

2 in one night!

WOW! Hey-hey....two blog updates in one night! Don't worry...it won't be a month and a 1/2 before we write again!

"Huntin" for moose in the park across the street. Adam is armed with a stick..pssshh! haha!
I saw the mother and baby back again, but since Adam was at work, I decided not to venture out to see them myself (snow is harder to run in!) So, we went out to track em down when he got home.


Ah-HA, found ya! OH...and this lil guy gave us a tiny scare....he "playfully" ran at us. We of course both yelled "shit" and ran faster than we thought we could! He was just playing with us though! ;) No, but really.....all of the moose we have encountered have been extremely chill, this one was a little upset with us, which was good--we had our eyes opened and it gave us a wake up call. Just because they're in the middle of town....doesn't mean these beasts aren't wild!

moose tracks

moose poo-poo.... we knew we were on the right trail. Especially after Adam tasted it to make sure it was fresh....hehe just kidding!

From our guest room window!

At the base of Flat Top mountain--lookin over Anchorage

Gorgeous view of Anchorage. (This was Adam's picture idea...ain't he cute?!?!)

Cross-country skiing the powerline trail near Flat Top (where we saw the mating moosers!)

I almost peed myself....we weren't even going very fast.....one of Adam's legs came out and his ski flew up in the air, followed by the other leg. When he landed, an arm swung around and he popped himself in the head with his pole. SOOOOOO funny!

Our view while skiing!

Can you see the mountains lit up in the horizon?!?

Mountains lit up in the horizon!

Flat Top looks...very....flat!

Ice fog crystals collected on the rubber pokey thingys on my new tires!

Full view of my tire...funny!

I don't know how, but this is a gigantic star lit on the top of a nearby mountain that can be seen from Anchorage.

Can you see the star on the mountain?!?

Well, what else?!?

-Adam and I are both continuing to work our butts off! I am managing to stay away from the school on the weekends....Adam still goes in. He is VERY busy, but loving it! We both are fortunate to have jobs we thoroughly enjoy and great people to work with.

--We have 4 ski/snowboard areas with in 40 minutes of us, a couple only 10-15 mins away! We are going to Alyeska resort in Girdwood this weekend. We are staying the weekend in a cabin with 2 other couples that are becoming good friends...... we all enjoy spending time outdoors-especially in Alaska!

Oh my goodness...how could I forget?!?! DID YOU WATCH THE GAME TUESDAY NIGHT?!?!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAWKS!

--Check back again next week.... we are making a point to update the blog at least once a week, for our faithful blog followers! hehe. THANKS GUYS!! We love Alaska and love sharing our experiences with you...the next best thing is----COME VISIT!!! :)

**An incentive... I saw 3 moose within a block of our house between 4:30 and 5:30 last night!lk

an UpDaTe......FINALLY!!!

Hello!!! We apologize---we have been extremely busy (and back home for the Holidays!) so our blog update is well over a month OVER DUE! oooooops! BUT we are going to try our hardest to get at least 1 update a week from now on, even if it's just the "Alaska picture of the week"!

Downtown Anchorage by the iceskating ring!


BEAUTIFUL!! Snow+ice fog+twinkle lights=WINTER WONDERLAND!

A gingerbread village....amazing!

The ice fog on a tree. In Anchorage, we get a "winter" fog for 1 day to a few days at a time which

COVERS EVERYTHING in beautiful ice crystals!

The ice fog hit the park across the street!

Out our front door.... pretty eh??

the most gorgeous sunset ever!

Adam's first time iceskating....in a light wintry snow!

First time skating....hitting a hockey puck w/in 5 minutes!

Oh-boy! Big man on skates!

The scenery of the trail we were on!

HEHE! First time firing up the snowblower!

Oh-Boy!! Big man got stuck!

Goofball!

Getting down the challenging hill!

OOPS!

Mama wanted to play in the snow!

It's a BEAR, it's a LYNX, it's a WOLF.....nah it's just Angel mama!

Snickers cuddling in with me while I worked!

Yes he is a cat....but he's from a HAWKEYE family!! :)don't worry it was just water!

Alrighty peeps...... here is life in a nutshell!

-Snickers passed away :( He was 15 years old and lived a happy life! We all miss him, Angel is still pretty mopey. The vet's office made a really cool paw print with his name in clay-like material, hung by red ribbon. (red was his favorite color, he humped Adam's red Santa pants and pulled THE SAME red shirt out of my closet time after time ---Jackson Elem.tshirt!---

--We have been ENJOYING the Alaskan winter. If you have checked the weather....most days are warmer and milder here than in Iowa. I FROZE while in Iowa for Christmas...the mixture of cold and wind made Anchorage seem "tropical"! Reason being that we are on the edge of the bay. We have started cross-country skiing and are snowboarding at any chance! You saw some pictures of the ice fog....just a really foggy winter day that leaves everything "frosted" and beautiful!

---YES we have daylight! That was teh number-one question when we were home. On December 19th when we came back to Iowa...sunrise was around 10:30a.m. and sunset around 3:30p.m. December 21st is the shortest day in Anchorage....so we are gaining daylight again. Around 5-10 minutes a day! Don't forget that Alaska is a HUGE state....so there is quite a difference in weather and daylight, depending where you are in the state.

----Adam was back in Iowa for 1 week and I was back for 2. 2 weeks seems like a long time, but I didn't get to see/spend as much time with everyone I had wanted to or do a few things I had hoped to do.....BUT it was a fabulous time! The nieces/nephew have really grown-up, it's truly amazing how much they have changed in 6 months! MISS YOU ALL!

SeAsOnS GrEeTiNgS!!!! (a little late!)