Where have I been??

Obviously I've been horrible about writing the past few months.  Things around our house have been status quo.  Excited that there is only 6 weeks left of school up here.  The girls and I are coming home to Texas for part of the summer!  My niece is graduating from high school, so we don't wanna miss it!  Here are some picts from the past few months of activities to catch up:

 

Sport Season's are short here.  Volleyball was only 2 months long.  Cailin had fun taking a break from swimming to participate in school volleyball!

 

We went sledding up at Hatcher's Pass.  We bought a GoPro over Christmas, so we've had fun capturing our adventures on it!

Jenna took snowboarding lessons in Feb.  She did awesome and loves it!

Valentine's Cookies

Valentine's Dinner

 

Chinese New Year's!  We had some neighbor's and friends over.  Please notice all the boys decided to make funny faces! 

 

Red envelopes for Chinese New Years!

 

 

Jenna went to her first school dance :)  It was beach theme.  I had a good giggle because all the kids wearing snow shoes and coats just to come to the dance.  Let's just say the coat check was full.

 

Ice skating with friends!

 

St. Patrick Day...Jason was sick but I still made some yummy things.  Homemade Irish Soda Bread, Guinness Cake and Shepard Pie

 

The Moose are out, but so are the bears :(  Haven't seen one yet luckily!

 

Jenna celebrated her 9th Birthday :)

 

Jump Rope for Heart at School

 

We went to Hawaii for Spring Break!  My parents met us there and we got to visit my best friend :)  Jason and I also celebrated our 14th year of marriage while there :)

 

Acting silly

Family Photo!

 

Tour in Hawaii of where Lost and Jurassic Park were filmed.

 

One of my latest cooking things...Spicy Mexican Chocolate Cookies. 

 

We are finally starting to work on the yard!  We are hauling in LOTS of soil....More picts to come of the finished product!  Of course, we still are waiting for more dirt (they only had a portion that was unfrozen!)

2014 Holiday Season

Here and gone too fast.  That is how the holidays felt.  It went by so fast I hardly had time to process it all.  We spent Thanksgiving in Alaska and went home to Texas for Christmas.  Well, the girls and I went home.  Jason had to work so he stayed in AK and held down the fort (thank you Jason!!...he knows how much it means to me to be home for the holidays). 

November:  Thanksgiving was spent with our wonderful neighbors!  Chris and Doug Studer - I am thankful for your family!  We split up the cooking and of course ate a ton.  It was a wonderful time and I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of it all!  I went to lots of craft fairs over the month of November looking for that perfect Alaskan gift to bring home. Cailin completed the Red Cross Babysitting Course and Jenna made Student of the Month!  Jenna wrapped up her soccer season and will start snowboarding lessons in Feb.  Cailin is still swimming, but will take a break to do school volleyball in Jan/Feb.  We finally got some snow!  It was only 3 days and a couple of inches, but still fun.  The weather warmed up and so it pretty much melted afterwards. 

December: The girls and I traveled back to Texas for Christmas Break.  It snowed the day we left and continued for a few days.  Again it warmed up later and melted the snow.  So, it's pretty much ice right now.  Being home for the few weeks was so wonderful!  We were able to see a lot of friends and spend lots of time with family. I loved having my Mom cook for me :) We did eat out when we were visiting friends.  All our favorites (Chick Fil A, Chuys, Buca di Beppo, Panera, Shipleys, Dim Sum, the list goes on...) I miss having a variety of food to choose from!

Hope everyone had a wonderful New Year!  Stay warm!

Some moose (meese?) near our house

Chris and I Black Friday Shopping!  Thank goodness for handwarmers! Standing out in the freezing temps is a new experience for me!

Aces Game!  Our friends invited us to a game.  I forgot how much I like to watch hockey!

 

Student of the Month!

 

Another positive about living in AK...it's so cold you can keep drinks cold in your car or food on top of your car to stay frozen!  I took this when I went and got ice cream while waiting for Jenna to finish at piano and it needed to stay cold.  I sat in the warm car with it on top.  Luckily I remembered it before I drove off!

Cailin and Iona

Jenna and Abby

Cousins!

No license picts for a while...the cars are sooo dirty with the snow and mud.

October 2014

Fall weather?!?  I live in a state that actually gets fall weather!  Unlike Houston which has two seasons, Summer and Summer, it's nice to see the leaves change.  Now, my fellow Houstonians, do not think I'm saying anything bad about the weather.  I constantly defend the weather to everyone I meet in Alaska.  I am a True Texan and love all facets of it.  I'm just saying that since I'm subjected to living in a state where most of it is frozen tundra, seeing some leaves change colors is nice before the big snow hits.

Has the snow and dark weather hit?  Not too bad yet.  We are getting around 7 hours of daylight and the snow is still mostly in the mountains.  Snow is coming...They are forecasting it daily very soon.  Temps are hovering around 30 in the day and 10s at night.  We did not have any snow on the ground for Halloween, I am thankful for that.  Local folks kept talking how unheard of it was to not have snow by now.  So, either it will be another mild winter or the harsh weather will last extra long. 

We've been active with school events this month.  Choir concerts, Carnivals, Swim meets and Soccer games.  I started a Bunco group here in AK to get to know some of the ladies I've met.  It is such fun!  We haven't done much hiking this month, but maybe in November.  I want to see some of the places we went over the summer with snow.  I think it will be so amazing.  The Northern Lights have been pretty active this month too.  With some cloud coverage it's hard to see though.  I've been trying to get pictures, but unless they are really bright the pictures won't turn out.  I'll keep trying though.

I do have to  admit I have found something I like about living in Alaska.  The radio stations crack me up!  They don't really have a station that plays just Top 40 music.  Most of the stations are all a mix of the 80s, 90s and today.  Personally, being fond of the 80s music I find it's nice to be able to listen to both.  For example here are the last few songs played on the radio (sorry if it's not the right song name, but you'll know what I'm talking about) : All about that Bass; Baby, Baby, Baby (TLC); Stay with Me (Sam Smith); Shoop (Salt and Pepper); Pompeii Song; Escapade (Janet Jackson) and If this is it (Huey Lewis and the News).  So, as you can see it's quite the range. 

I think with the weather changing and we won't be home for Thanksgiving it is making me a tad bit sad.  I love spending the holidays with my family :)  I'll be home soon enough though, so in the mean time I've been cooking up a storm! Salsas (Chuy's salsa fresco and creamy jalapeno), homemade calzones, cookies, cupcakes, and pumpkin bars. 

Found a CopyCat recipe for Chuy's Creamy Jalapeno - modified slightly and it's sooo close!

 

 

My new favorite drink! 

 

Halloween Carnival

Carnival at the school

Trick or Treating

Here are some of the fun license plates this month:

 

Better go!  Hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving and talk to ya soon!

 

Sept 2014

This month we are getting back to a routine.  Mary Ann came to visit in early September and everyone is settling into school and after school activities. 

 

As winter is approaching I'd like to take a moment and reflect on the road conditions in Alaska...  When we first moved up in Feb, you couldn't see the roads from all the snow cover.  Essentially, you drive on what you think is your side of the street/road.  When the snow melts, most of the lines are non-existent, so you continue to drive on "your" side of the street or road.  Road work begins as soon as the snow melts.  The studded tires really wear the roads out fast.  With it being light most of the time, they work late hours.  Then mid summer lines start to appear on the roads.  This is an example of the lines painted on my street..

 

 

 

I don't know about you, but driving down a straight road with wavy lines is always how I like to drive.  The funniest part of it is the really big curve toward the end...  So, as winter approaches and the lines will no longer be visible soon, I thought I'd share.

 

 

Speaking of winter coming, two things locals say about the snow.  When the fireweed plant dies it's 6 weeks till winter/snow and when the snow is half way down the mountains, snow on the ground in 2 weeks.  I guess it's like ground hog's day with these predictions, but I'll take them.  Here is what a fireweed plant looks like.  Super pretty in the summer, but a MESS in the winter.  When they die off, they make this white seed stuff that flies EVERYWHERE! They started dying off late Aug/early Sept, so winter is soon....

 

 

 

Here are some fun things we did when Mary Ann was in town. 

 

Face painting at the State Fair!

Rides at the Fair 

Cream Puff at the Fair

Largest Veggies Grown!  I've never seen veggies this big!

Jenna had a field trip, so we got to go too!

 

One of my neighbors has a firepit, so we made smores!

 

 

If you remember from last month, I turned 40.  Well, so did my best friend early this summer.  We try to take a girls trip every year, so we decided to go to Vancouver, BC to celebrate our milestone Bday.  She doesn't like to be in pictures, so I'm being nice and just posting a few picts from the city :)  We loved Vancouver!  The city was awesome.  So much to see and do.  I definitely recommend it.  We did the Vancouver Foodie Tour the first day.  Great!  They have several options, food trucks, restaurants, or the public market.  We did the restaurant tour and sampled all the best places to eat!  Yum!

City View

 

Got my hair cut!  It's short!!

Drinks at Tableau...amazing drinks!

Sorta like Pike's Market, very cool!

"Poutin" - local favorite of French fries, gravy and cheese curds

Olympics



 

 Bike riding around Stanley Park Seawall

 

Capilano Suspension Bridge!

 

 

Ok here are this month's custom license plates :)

 



 

 

 

That's it for this month! Talk to ya'll in October!