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Falling Ash

It's official, Mt. Redoubt finally hit us. Eruption began last Sunday with multiple explosions in ensuing days/nights. Because of wind direction and the height of the explosions we've missed all the ash action. Thursday we got word that we would be the receivers of all the excitement. The largest explosion of 65,000 feet had occured and apparently the wind was pushing it our way. We never got ash that day. I really thought we were in the clear. I was wrong. Yesterday there were 3 eruptions and the second one sent the ash to us. It took the ash 2 hours to travel 110 miles. Mike and I and gone into Sam's Club to make some purchase's. We were in there no more than 30 minutes when we walked out and it's raining ash. Mike ran to Schuck's Auto to get air filters and I ran to work to cover all of the computers. It reeked outside of Sulpher. I later learned that the amount that fell was no thicker than a dime, but it's still enough to be concerned about. The Anchorage Airport has completely shut down. Prior to that it was at each airlines discretion of whether they flew or not. The last time the volcano erupted was in 1989. Volcano followers believe that because of it's history the volcano is likely to continue to erupt for atleast another 2 weeks, if not longer, which could very well hinder my vacation plans to sunny California. I'm most concerned about this. I've been counting down the days until visiting family, warm weather, shopping, roller coasters, In-n-Out and Olive Garden. I'm not going to be all that ecstatic if I have to reschedule. I guess only time will tell. Until then we will focus on not breathing the ashy fumes!

Sister Beck

On Thursday we had the opportunity to have Sister Beck, the General Relief Sociey President, come and do a special fireside. She was up here visiting some family and they arranged to have her speak. The church was packed! Cars were double parked and were lined up down the street for quite a ways. It's not very often that we have such celebrities up here so I was glad that so many people took advantage of attending! She gave a great talk and I wanted to share some of the things I learned:

• All we need is our covenants
• We don't need credit to do it the Savior's Way
• Be in places you can feel the spirit
• Communicate/Pray with our Father in Heaven
• Write Questions that you want answered in the front page of the Book of Mormon and when you find the answers write them on the back page of the Book of Mormon
• Make personal connections by writing in the Margins
• Start a gratitude journal
• Transitions ARE NOT a Disease!!
• Exercise Faith
• Relief Socity is the ulimate Peace Corps.
• When behavior goes up against doctrine, doctrine will always win
• We are for family, we aren't against anyone
• The Lord takes individuals and makes GIANTS
• We are living the life we signed up for
• No ability exceeds revelation. We should learn to seek personal revelation, understand when we receive it and ACT upon it!
• We need to use our abilities for good
• We are living an experience to prepare us for the dream

It's amazing how much of the 'little' stuff I forget about, but how big of a difference it makes! I was very grateful for her words and for the experiences she shared with us. She is an amazing woman and has done so much for not only the women in the church and world but also all mankind. She is on the board for the perpetual education fund and has assisted with disaster relief all around the world. We are greatful to have a leader like her.

Only in Alaska...

Last Saturday I had to go into work for something, and I pulled into the parking lot and was trying to unlock the clinic door when I heard a noise behind me. I looked back and saw this...a moose eating our trees. Earlier in the week Mike and I had talked about how we hadn't seen as many moose this winter and then this happens! I think that this is one of my favorite things about Alaska. No other place do you see moose crossing the highways, let alone the side streets. And it's not uncommon to see bear in the city during the summer. Although a moose isn't the nicest of all animals, I'd much rather be in an empty parking lot with a moose than a bear! I'm still unable to find my camera so I took this photo with my phone, so unfortunately you can't get accurate depth perception with this picture, but I was a lot closer to this moose than the picture perceives.

The Pepper

I just want to give a shout out to my D.P. and all the good times it has brought! It's no big secret that I LOVE Dr. Pepper, but it's pretty sad how much I really enjoy it. Some say it's the caffeine addiction, but I beg to differ...there's nothing like the taste of that great nectar! For my wedding I had actually considered having a Dr. Pepper fountain. I'm also fairly particular about the 'kind' of Dr. Pepper that I let touch my pretty little lips. My preference goes in this order: Fountain, Can, Bottle. The sad part is you could blind fold me and have me do a taste test and I could tell you which was which. I crave the fountain..no lie. The bottle I can actually turn away. But it goes even deeper...I have my favorite places to get them to. For instance, Arby's has too big of a straw and for some reason that affects the taste and I just don't like it as much. Taco Bell, Wendy's McDonald's and Holiday gas station has some good stuff all around, taking in consideration all variables (location, taste and straw size as well as price!) When I'm deciding on where to go for lunch I will always take into consideration where this great sauce is served, and I could name every restaurant in the Anchorage area that carries it! But I have to say the all time, most consistent in taste and just down right refreshing is Sonic. They bubble up some good stuff! It's just too bad we don't have one here in Alaska.

Valentine's Day

We had a lovely V-Day this year. It's the first year we have actually celebrated because my brother was here last year and the year before Mike waited until after Valentine's to start dating me to avoid having to celebrate! :) On Friday Mike had these beautiful flowers delivered to me at work. On Saturday Mike took me to Campobello Bistro for dinner. I had a Halibut dish and he had Filet Mignon that tasted like Veal. We had an enjoyable night out.

Long Time

So I'm sure everyone feels as though life is a whirlwind at some point in their life, if not ALL the time, but I tell you what ...since getting married I don't think I've stopped running! It just seems if it's not one thing, it's another. Work is crazy right now. On top of being abnormally busy for a February we have been short staffed for a month, and although more is getting accomplished it does take a toll on me. Not to mention that we have been in constant training mode since August with people quitting and/or needing to be terminated (which as the Office Manager I get the privilege of doing :( ) Which has meant I've been working the last couple of Saturdays. And all of the staff is amazing and is helping out in every way possible, which I'm grateful for, but it's all still a little overwhelming at times! And then there is school. And then there is callings. My average arrival at the homefront is 8:30 p.m. And then poor Mike is the one who ends up having to make dinner, because he gets home earlier than I do and we wouldn't eat until 11 p.m. if we waited for me to get home! I believe I've had some sort of event every night this week, and I'm not as young as I used to be, so I don't bounce back quite as quick as I used to with less than average sleep! Oh...and I was asked to give a talk in Sacrament this Sunday so I've been working on that as well. I'm not complaining, because busy is good....but is it ever going to slow down? Even a little? I keep thinking that once I'm finished with school life will get slower, but I have a feeling that isn't so. Is there anyway to slow down this journey we call life?

Snow Day....Sort of

Today we are experiencing Anchorage's version of a snow day! Basically that means it's WAY to icy to travel on the roads. Monday we woke up and it was 15 degrees outside. We had been in the negative numbers for almost 2 weeks straight, so 15 degrees was a real heat wave. Yesterday it snowed for the first time since Christmas I believe. It'd been too cold to snow. Now it's warm enough to snow but of course it's still cold at night which turns the roads into an icy mess. There are MULTIPLE cars/trucks/SUV's/4x4's in the ditch along the highway. All of the schools, Elementary to University's, are closed for the day. And on top if it all there is no power at the clinic, so even if we did make it there safely we wouldn't beable to be very functional. So I took advantage of the situation and cleaned the house and am watching American Idol Season 7 re-runs!!

Callings

Mike and I have been in our ward 3 months now and we just got our callings. We did a good job of dodging the Bishopric! :) I was a little nervous about the callings we would get now that we are in a family ward. It's pretty easy to avoid Primary in a Singles Ward! I actually wouldn't mind Primary, but sometimes it's easier to get to know the other members in the ward in Relief Society. But with Mike being a fairly recent convert, and us being new I thought for sure we were Primary bound. I was pleasantly suprised. I have been called as an Acheivement Day's Assistant....I don't think it gets much better than that! So on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month we have an activity. They didn't have acheivement days when I was growing up so I'm rookie to it all, although I do have some funny memories helping Joanne when she was in charge a few years back!! She had a interesting group of girls though. We have 5 girls that come each time and I'm really looking forward to it. Mike and I have also been called as Ward Missionaries, another calling I'm looking forward to. I think my favorite part is that we get to go to church and just enjoy it! All in all we are pleased. And if you have any ideas for Acheivement Days don't hesitate to share!

Mike's Birthday

Mike's Birthday is Christmas Day and because birthdays are such a big deal, I didn't want his to fall through the cracks during all of the holiday celebrations so I suprised him with a birthday week. He had no idea and I had so much fun doing it!

DAY 7: Mike LOVES pistachio's so he received pistachios and whoopy cushions!

DAY 6: A Nerf Gun...which he proceeded to use me as a target. I'm not sure I was expecting anything less!















DAY 5: Movie tickets to the movie Valkyrie






























DAY 4: 4th Season of Lost


















DAY 3: MONOPOLY..he loves he game...I'm horrible at it!














DAY 2: Mario Kart for the WII















DAY 1: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE, Mike has a love for watches...he was really suprised! Mission Accomplished!




Happy Birthday, Mike! I Love You!