Turning Alaskan

12/11/09

2009-12-11T15:21:00.000-08:00

Today's sunrise: 10:03 a.m.
Today's sunset: 3:42 p.m.

Temperature: About 18 degrees

There have been a series of foggy days this week and this morning was absolutely amazing. I was driving to seminary thinking, "Is there a prettier place to be during the winter time?" I don't think so. If you feel differently, I welcome your comments. Some pictures turned out better than others, and I know I've included more than most would like to see but this is mostly for me to be able to remember this place when we leave, so I apologize for any redundant pictures. I also had another amazing moment in the car on the way to the library when I looked to my left and saw a humongous--and I mean absolutely huge--moose on the side of the road. It was the largest I've seen and I almost thought it was fake. I realize it was on the side of the road and a fake moose isn't the first thing you'd stumble across in that situation, but seriously folks, it was big. Amazing. Here's a link to an article about a white moose that was spotted in Fairbanks: http://newsminer.com/bookmark/5132604

These are icicles right outside our kitchen window:

Some pictures outside the library:

Our hand rail going up to the apartment:

Some more pretty pictures:

This one shows two snow shovel trucks going over the lake I showed pictures of a few months ago: http://michellesyearinalaska.blogspot.com/2009/08/wednesday-august-12-day-61.html

I took this one to show how everything get's white: even the fence around that tree.

This is the Anchorage City Museum which is right across the street from where Matthias works. They've been doing a bunch of construction for the past year, part of which was to make the front area beautiful with trees and landscaping.

This one didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. It's on the highway we take to get nearly everywhere we don't take the other freeway for that's East of here. There's a stretch where you're surrounded by trees on both sides, which is partly shown here. With the dark evergreens and the white branches of the deciduous trees, it really can't be beat. Oh ya, the fog helps, too.

I've made several hundred pretzels this week for a variety of people: my seminary students mostly and some of Matthias's co-workers. It's been a time-consuming project but they are so delicious!

Tonight we're going to see an independent film called "paddle to Seattle" for the Anchorage Film Festival. It's about two guys who kayak from Skagway to Seattle. It should be pretty interesting. More updates on our Christmas visit home to come! Merry Christmas to everyone!

Wednesday, November 19

2009-11-18T11:17:00.000-08:00

Ummm.. can anyone else believe it's November 19 already? Needless to say I've neglected my blog and there are many good reasons why. I'm a bit sad I've come to the point where it's nearly hopeless to go back and catch-up because I'd have to make up things that I can't remember about at least half of the days. I'm going to have to come up with another plan.... Until then, life has been fabulous. I have been working at the district office from 8:30-5:00 most days helping in their library: organizing, moving, etc. I love libraries, and I've loved working there these past couple of weeks. It makes me think I should have been a librarian sometimes. Anyway, it's made for some long days, since I still have to plan a seminary lesson when I get home and I'm trying to go to bed by 8:30, due to the 4:30 a.m. wake-up call each morning. So the days have started blending together and time has been passing faster and faster. Here are a few highlights:

*I'm beginning to tell the difference between -5 and 5 degree weather. And trust me, it's discernible.
*I just found out today that my INSULIN PUMP is going to be sent via UPS in the next week or so......VERY EXCITED about this, as it's the big motivation I had for starting to work again. We got more coverage on it than we expected and will get it in two phases: the pump itself and later, the continuous glucose monitor which is a separate machine that gives you 5 minute updates on what your blood sugar is. So fantastic!
*I have more scripture mastery verses memorized right now then at any time during my high school seminary career. This is a miracle and a very good one because if we're practicing them in class and I don't know them then how are they supposed to?
*I'm in full-blown Christmas mode right now and can't wait to go home to visit family! I miss them so much!!

So again, I'm going to come up with a game plan for this blog and how to fix what I've messed up. Hopefully this weekend the new plan will be in place.

Saturday, October 31: Day 142

2009-11-01T20:14:00.001-08:00

So here are the costumes:
Since we forgot to get a full body shot, I will mention that my legs were wrapped in bandages as well (to symbolize the whole "not feeling well" idea). The pictures from last night were not included because they WERE full body shots and were just a little too depressing, as I look like I'm 5 months pregnant and I am not even 1 day pregnant. Matthias somehow got roped into helping at one of the carnival activities. Squash bowling, or something like that:
This is sweet little Kaelyn Wilson in her Tigger costume bowling. With her little binky and waddley walk, I dare say she was the cutest kid in costume there.

Here's Katie Owen and Courtey McElwee. Courtney flew out of Anchorage for Wyoming about 8 hours later. We miss you already Courtney!

There was a pumpkin carving contest. These were two of my favorites, although I forgot to take a picture of the one that looked like Pres. Monson!

After the ward carnival, we stopped my Haleigh Robinson's region swim meet to cheer her on. Then we were off to a bonfire in Indian, AK, which will actually not even show up on a map of Alaska if you google map it. It's so small it's not really even a town. Mike Thomas, a newly baptized member of the church we know from sitting in on a lesson with him, invited us to his cabin along with a bunch of his friends. His cabin is the very last house before you hit Chugach State Park and is surrounded by trees. It's amazing!

Some of the guys there were throwing fire crackers into the fire and it made a really cool stream of firey flurries in the air:

The following two pictures were taken from standing in the same spot:

No joke! I turned from the fire and pointed down with the camera and zoomed in on the ground where these leaves were. Didn't that picture turn out cool? It was in the mid-20's and it was most certainly the coldest bonfire I've ever been to. But we really weren't that cold. I had on a jacket but no hat and gloves and I was toasty warm. We had such a fun day together. I hope all of you had a fantastic Halloween, too. If you will and I haven't already talked to you about it, what did you dress up as? What did you do?

Friday, October 30: Day 141

2009-11-01T18:47:00.001-08:00

Today was a mad scramble to get costumes for a party we were going to tonight. Matthias was going as "balloon boy" and I finally decided on going as H1N1, thanks to a conversation with my mom. There was just nothing to choose from by way of women's costumes. I will include the picture of us in tomorrow's post as all of the ones from tonight with the two of us turned out horrifically.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun costume hunting with Matthias. He's a blast to hang out with. And we had a great time at the party. The Wilson's threw it and had invited several other young couples. We competed in a relay race, a couple rounds of Bunko, and the classic game of "Mophia". I was a "murderer" the last round and no one guessed it. Hee hee hee. It was lots of fun!

Our friends, the Simpers, were an Ethylene molecule. I had to ask them what that meant. I also had to ask Matthias just now what it was again and how to spell it.
Isn't Halloween fun? I love dressing up and I think this year was my favorite as far as costumes went for Matthias and I.

Thursday, October 29: Day 140

2009-11-01T18:34:00.000-08:00

Sad news: My friend and seminary student, Courtney McElwee, is moving to Wyoming. No one up here is happy about it. We decided to get together today and say good-bye. I don't think there has ever been more junk food in our apartment than there was today. Airheads, chewy Nerds, caramel corn, cupcakes, mint Oreos, chips and dip, soda, and coffee cake. And for the healthy stuff: grapes, strawberries, carrots, and kiwi. We had a good time playing the game called "Animal Signs" which we've played as a group several times. I was proud to come up with a new animal sign: the camel, which was a big success in my opinion. And then we watched a scary movie...can't remember the name but I spent a large portion of it trying to block out the scary music and strinking up conversation during the most suspenseful parts. I'm not one for scary movies and never have been.

From Top to Bottom: Ryan Iacovelli, Austin Blanch, Courtney, Sasha Sandoval, Jacqueline Sandoval

Left to Right: Sasha and Arianne Asay, Cara Wilcox, and Katie Owen

Austin and Courtney (and all the junk food)

Katie, Brittany Suaava, and Sasha

I'll miss you, Courtney! I wish you could stay up here with us.

Wednesday, October 28: Day 139

2009-11-01T18:27:00.001-08:00

Tonight Matthias and I got a good laugh out of this tree I tried to cut out of posterboard:
It's supposed to be the Olive Tree from Jacob 5 for a lesson tomorrow in seminary. We're doing a combined activity with the other 3 classes and I'm in charge of giving a history of the scattering and gathering of Israel and how that relates to the olive tree allegory. This was precisely the topic I was avoiding because it is not one I feel expertish about. Fortunately as I was reading I got this idea that I thought would make it more real for them but it required me to cut out a tree...and before you say that is the ugliest tree cut-out you've ever seen before let me just say it could be a lot worse. I am not including the before-I-trimmed-up-the-branches picture. Luckily Halloween is just around the corner and I can just say I meant it to look spooky for that very reason.

Tuesday, October 27: Day 138

2009-11-01T18:02:00.000-08:00

What a super cute idea, Heidi!
My friend, Heidi, sent out Halloween cards and a letter updating on the past year a lot like people send out at Christmas. I love the idea of doing it at Halloween though! I might steal the concept of this idea and do one at St. Patrick's Day because that's a holiday that Thy and I really make a big deal out of. Christmas time is so jam-packed I've never made time to do something like that. Totally loved the "Fortunately, Unforunately" pattern, Heidi. You are so clever and fun! Anyway, it inspired me to be better about sending a yearly hello to all of the friends and family who mean so much.

You know the quote, "No man is an island"? I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I think about all of the millions of moments when my life has been shaped by someone saying or doing something for me that encouraged me to be better and/or made me smile when I may not have otherwise. It also reminds me of the talk by Elder Eyring "O Remember, Remember" where he talked about how he wrote down the evidence of what God had done for him or one of his family members that day. (I can't get the video clip to embed from youtube, but here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF01BQAcj8E) So many times those acts of kindness from others for me have been answers to prayers and gives evidence to me that God is in the details of our lives. It also encourages me to be better at doing the same for others. It's usually through another person that God answers our prayers. One of my favorite quotes is from C.S. Lewis:

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealing with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours…Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbor, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ…the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.”
(C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, 39-40)

I love that. "All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations." When we were reading in seminary about Nephi dying, I had them write down a few things they want to be known for when they die, or something they want on their epitaph. One of the things I want to be known for when I die is that I was someone who helped everyone I interacted with to be better, or happier than before. If I died today I really don't think that would be mentioned but hopefully I have lots of time to do work on it.

Monday, October 26: Day 137

2009-11-01T17:32:00.000-08:00

So, announcement: I've started to substitute teach in the Anchorage School District. Not because I'm aching for something to do but because I'm hoping to save up for an insulin pump pretty soon here. Today I took a part-time job at Bowman Elementary and loved it! The subfinder system is kind of funny because it's not very specific to what grade or even what you'll be doing within a particular grade, which is hard sometimes because teaching 6th grade is a much different thing than teaching kindergarten, as you can imagine. So I was a little nervous for this one because all it said was "SPED Resource K-6" which could mean a variety of situations. I walked into a preschool room and found that I'd be working with another adult to teach 6 special ed preschoolers for 2 hours (the listed job time was 4 hours). The other adult was the TA who knew the whole routine and where everything was. So I basically followed her directions the whole time. And only 4 kids showed up, so it was a pretty easy afternoon. The kids were really cute, too. Hopefully I'll get to go back because it was all so fantastic!

Sunday, October 25: Day 136

2009-11-01T17:13:00.001-08:00

I don't know if any of you have had the chicken pot pie from Costco, but it is one of my favorite things in the universe. We had the missionaries over for dinner tonight and I thought it was a perfect excuse to cook one up. The crust is to die for and all the insides are equally delicious.
Does anyone else ever get sucked into the samples they give? Up here, they give samples every day of the week and about half the time I go there I end up buying something I've tasted. So last time I went I tried this tasty gingersnap cracker things that are really low in sugar and fat. I figured what the heck, why not? They are so tasty with hot chocolate and a variety of other things. A few nights ago we tried them with fat free sugar free lemon pudding and it was one of the tastiest things we've had in a long time. Matthias was so bold to say that it was one of the tastiest desserts he's had (okay...he added the word "recently" at the end, but still)

Well, tonight Matthias brought this to me:

Pretty sweet, hu? It was the last helping of lemon pudding with a few of those tasty gingersnapper yummies...not sure what they're really called and too lazy to go look at the box. I'm not sure how "healthy" those things are if you go through a Costco-sized box in a week between two people.....

Saturday,October 24: Day 135

2009-11-01T17:03:00.001-08:00

Today was a "get-er done" kind of day with not much excitement to report. Lots of cleaning, laundry, lesson planning, grocery shopping, etc. I was at Target today and made a splurge purchase that I don't regret for a second: a pumpkin spice candle. Candles are the kind of thing I hardly ever buy but I always want. And they make me so happy--I never regret buying a candle. This candle specifically has already brought more joy than a lot of things that cost $8. The smell of pumpkin invites all kinds of good feelings and gets you in all kinds of good moods. For me it can get me excited for Halloween, fall, Thanksgiving, pie, holiday memories with family, even pre-Christmas excitement and wondering what to get who. For me this year, it's even more exciting because it's reminding me that in not too long, I'm going to be on an airplane for HOME!! (We fly out of here December 16--which seems like a short time, seeing as it's been since last Christmas that I was home). I can not WAIT to go home and see everyone. Alaska is an awesome place to live and we have an amazing ward with great friends. But nothing can replace family and I'm super excited about visiting. So to come back to the candle, it was a great purchase today, because it made all of these exciting feelings come bubbling up to the surface and I only wonder what took me so long to get it?

Friday, October 23: Day 134

2009-11-01T16:44:00.000-08:00

Tonight Matthias and I ate at a new place: Snowgoose Restaurant.
Matthias's friend from work, Nick, and Nick's girlfriend, Carry, invited us to go with them. Wish I would have thought to bring my camera, but I'm pretty forgetful that way. Thanks to google images, we have some different shots. For example, in the summer, you can sit out on the balcony and see this view:Since the temperature was in the 30's and it was dark outside, we opted to stay inside. Matthias tried a meatloaf sandwich--something neither one of us had ever heard of before but he was a huge fan of. And we all shared an appetizer called "spud nachos" which was just nachos with potato chips as opposed to corn chips. It was as greasy as you're probably imagining. Since none of us are afraid of greasy food, we dove in and loved it. I ordered a caesar salad that tasted way too fishy but thankfully the waitress switched it out for a house salad. I was glad to have something green go inside of me to help balance things out. We don't go out to eat that often, so it was fun, especially since we had good company.

Thursday, October 22: Day 133

2009-11-01T16:34:00.001-08:00

We have the coziest fireplace!!

I LOVE fireplaces. We're in the sweet spot right now when it comes to having fires in our fireplace because in a few weeks or so it will be too cold for it (the hot air from the fire will just be sucked right up the chimney due to the 20 degree or lower weather). So we're trying to have fires as much as possible. My favorite thing is to sit right there on the fireplace benchy thing and read a book while I get all warmified. What makes it even better is having that really awesome guy on the couch, too. He's pretty amazing.

Wednesday, October 21: Day 132

2009-11-01T16:13:00.000-08:00

My in-laws gave me a gift card to Old Navy for my birthday and I've been saving it for when I lose a few pounds. Well....I haven't lost a few pounds and I decided to just go see what they had today. I often go into stores and feel old because nothing looks cute and I remember my older sister saying when I was in high school that it was hard for her to find anything she liked and I would think "There's so many cute clothes! How can she think that?" Well. That's my thought nearly every time I go shopping now. I think some of the problem, though, is that the few things I do think are cute, don't fit me the way I want them to. They always look better on the manaquins. (I think I spelled that wrong)

Anyway, I found some socks that stole my heart as soon as I touched them. They're the thick, fuzzy kind that are blankets for your feet. I wanted to get 7 pairs--one for each day of the week--but restrained myself and just bought one. They are the most fabulous socks I've ever owned. If they look a little worn in the picture it's because I already wore them before snapping the shot. Thick socks are a MUST this time of year on this part of the globe. So I just may have to go back and get more.

Tuesday, October 20: Day 131

2009-10-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

A little over a week ago, when I woke up and stepped out of bed I immediately felt a pain in my right foot. Right on the top where you foot meets your leg and it bends. It just felt like my muscle had been stretched the wrong way and for the first few steps it was really bad but it started to feel a little bit better as the morning went on. I figured it would go away in a couple of days. Well a few days ago, I started to notice it was swollen in that area. And it's very sensitive to touch. It doesn't necessarily hurt when weight it put on it, but when I move it around or touch it at all. I have no idea what it is, although I'm nearly certain it has to do with muscle, not bone. I really don't want to go get it looked at but I'm wondering if I should? I've stopped exercising entirely and I'm really starting to feel lowsy about the whole thing. Any suggestions?

Monday, October 19: Day 130

2009-10-20T13:21:00.001-07:00

Is broccoli still healthy if you drench it in ranch? Does the ranch negate any health benefits of the broccoli? I need to know. I bought a huge bag of broccoli at Costco in hopes it would force me to eat more. I definitely have eaten more but the increase in Ranch dressing ingestion since then has risen dramatically. What do you think? Am I better off eating broccoli if it means more Ranch? I can't quite handle biting into raw broccoli without masking the flavor. Boiling it I hear makes it lose some of the nutritional value. Broiling it makes it dryer than dry. Does anyone have a good way of making broccoli taste good?

Sunday, October 18: Day 129

2009-10-20T13:17:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was the odd girl out at dinner. We had three of Matthias's friends over, two of which had wives who were out of town. I think the funniest part of the night was when one of them asked me, "Are those noodles homemade?" I laughed at him and said if by homemade he meant putting them into boiling water then yes. Who makes homemade noodles?

Saturday, October 17: Day 128

2009-10-20T12:54:00.000-07:00

The Simpers invited us to their celebration of Target coming to South Anchorage tonight. It's maybe a 3 minute drive from our apartment and I've been there probably 5-6 times already in about 2 weeks since it's opened. It's on the way to nearly everywhere so it's the perfect place to drop by for the one item I forgot or whatever it is I need. So it really is a fantastic thing to celebrate. They organized a scavenger hunt for each team to go do in the store itself. Clues led to different items you can find there and you had to take a picture with everyone on your team as evidence you found each one. We left for that portion of the party, unfortunately, but we were leaving for good reason...

Judge Beistline (the judge Matthias works for) was giving a presentation in one of the courtrooms where Matthias works. It was for a group of homeschoolers but we wanted to go to support and I wanted to go to hear more about his good stories from the cases he's worked on. I was not disappointed.

After it was over, we went back to the Simpers to hang out. They had a chocolate fountain going with all kinds of things to dip in and I caved and had some. She made this amazing cake in the shape and design of the Target symbol and it was cut in bite sized pieces that you could also dip in the chocolate. Was she trying to kill me? Cake and chocolate? Arughgg! It was so delicious.

Friday, October 16: Day 127

2009-10-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

Rachel invited me over to her place for lunch today. I love that we live close enough to walk down the street and do that sort of thing. She made these delicious homemade rolls we made into sandwiches along with some tomato soup and goldfish crackers. Yum. I totally want to steal her roll recipe. I could have eaten a dozen of those.

She has the two most darling little girls. The youngest, Lucy, was born about 4 months ago and makes me completely baby hungry. I think there's a reason we're brought into this world so cute and tiny.

Thursday, October 15: Day 126

2009-10-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

So fall has lasted so long up here! Here are some of the latest pictures. Most of the leaves are off most of the trees. However, some trees don't have any and some trees still have all of them.

Anchorage sunrise: 8:41am; sunset: 6:49pm

Phoenix Arizona: Sunrise: 6:32am; Sunset: 5:55pm

Havana, Cuba: Sunrise: 6:28am; Sunset: 6:00pm

Shanghai, China: Sunrise: 5:58am; Sunset: 5:15pm

Site Source: http://www.sunrisesunset.com/

I thought the fact that Phoenix is setting at 5:55 as opposed to 6:49 p.m. was pretty interesting. So our sunrise is already pretty different from most parts of the world, but our sunset has yet to be sooner than many places. We lose 3-4 minutes a day on the sunset side so it won't take too long. The later sunrise hasn't affected me much yet. Maybe when it gets to be 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. it will get a bit old. I think the sun setting earlier is the thing that bothers me more. But if you keep yourself busy, it really doesn't affect much at all (as long as I take my vitamin D).

Wednesday, October 14: Day 125

2009-10-19T18:53:00.001-07:00

Today was our book club night for "The View from Saturday". Very cute Newberry book by E.L. Konigsburg. Would be a great book to teach "voice" to an upper-elementary aged student but also just a fun read for anyone, really.

I was going to get a picture with all of us in it, but about half-way through, I got something in my eye and it wasn't just some fuzzy thing. It looked like a white fleck of paint and it would NOT COME OUT! Not only would it not come out, it wouldn't budge! I tried everything. And since it was bringing me a lot of pain, I didn't really interact with anyone that much for the rest of the time. Luckily, I was hosting so I was able to spend time in my own bathroom using every technique I knew how to use to get this white thing out of my eye. After coming out of the bathroom with countless unsuccessful attempts, I tried to act pleasant but I couldn't hardly keep my eye open because every time my eyelid opened or shut it hurt. 20 minutes after they left (and about 45 minutes after it originally got in my eye) I was at my wit's end. Thank goodness for the power of prayer, because that thing was not coming out any other way. I was so relieved when it was out I started crying. If anyone knows me well, they know I have an issue with eyes. The eye doctor is the most traumatic place you can take me. I hate going. When I was younger, my mom would have to pin me down on the bed just to give me eye drops.

Remember this thing?

That puff of air that you never know when it's coming? I can't handle it! One time my doctor reassured me that they could test it another way and "not to worry". Then he got this big pen-like thing made of metal and it came closer and closer and pushed on my eye over and over again. Is that supposed to be better? So from now on I've chosen to opt out of the glaucoma test. Maybe atleast until I'm older and the chances of getting it are higher than now. What a torturous place the eye doctor is. I hope I can grow up someday and be tough about it.

Tuesday, October 13: Day 124

2009-10-19T18:39:00.000-07:00

Today we had some spooky lookin fog. I love fog! And we have it fairly often here--moreso than any other place I've lived. Some of the coolest pictures have fog in them. Most of the time when I think of cool fog pictures I think of the Golden Gate bridge, which is funny because when I looked on google images there were more fog pictures of that bridge than any other. One morning not too long ago we were driving from seminary to Thy's work and I looked over through the mist and in the midst of some pine trees was a mom and baby moose. Would've made a killer picture, right? So sad I didn't have my camera. It was awesome. Here's the best fog picture I could come up with from my own camera this morning. I'll try to get some better ones in the future. These are some trees outside our apartment at the end of the street.

Monday, October 12: Day 123

2009-10-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

Matthias had the day off (thanks to Columbus) today so we decided to go whale hunting! Yes. That's what we do in Alaska. Maybe whale hunting isn't the right word. We were not looking to do this:It was more like we were whale spotting:We did everything that a devoted whale spotter would do. We did research, tried a variety of locations, whale calls, and whale dances. We even used binoculars. This is what we found:And actually, the whales we were looking for weren't supposed to be black, but a light grey:

See any white-gray bumps?

We didn't either. So we've decided we'll just have to try another day. We did go back to our special ocean viewpoint to whale spot, which was nice in and of itself. I kept thinking how cool it would be if a beluga popped his head up and waved his fin at us.But all was not lost. It was a beautiful day outside. High 40's/Low 50's with hardly a cloud in the sky. So it was very convenient that Matthias had the day off for one of the fleeting fall days.

Sunday, October 11: Day 122

2009-10-19T17:13:00.000-07:00

I just finished this book tonight...and I have to warn you. The book was great--really great--and only about 3% of it overlapped with the movie making it different and exciting to read. About halfway through, however, the plot took an unexpected turn and the whole second half I was more confused than I've ever been reading a book. I kept thinking the author would tie it together in the end. I was livid when I finished the last sentence and NOTHING WAS TIED TOGETHER. I talked to Matthias about it, as I had been ever since the plot twist, and tried to figure it out with him. I gave him as many details as I could remember and we were both stumped. Then he asked me if it's possible if the author might have included a bunch of short stories in this addition that had nothing to do with I Am Legend. "No way!", I thought. Sure enough, I turn to the Table of Contents and yep--there it was. A list of short story titles all included within the walls of the front and back cover of my book. I was so upset. Not only had it tainted the whole experience, but they really weren't great short stories. I Am Legend itself was wonderful. Everything else--not so great. So here's my warning: If you ever pick up this book to read, please keep in mind that if the plot comes to a nice ending and then all of a sudden you realize there's still lots of pages left so you keep reading to find out what happens next--this is no plot twist, friends. Nothing happens next but a lot of unrelated stories that have nothing to do with I Am Legend...because they aren't part of I Am Legend at all.

Here's the trailer in case you haven't seen the movie yet.

Saturday, October 10: Day 121

2009-10-19T16:43:00.000-07:00

I've been reading this book,"Pete Sampras: A Champion's Mind", for some very obvious reasons: Pete Sampras is the best American to ever play the sport of tennis. I am American and I love tennis. Therefore, Pete Sampras is someone who can't be beat when it comes to tennis heroes of mine. It's been fun to read him talk about playing his big rival, Andre Agassi, and some of the matches I remember watching in jr high/high school when tennis was such a big part of my life. Here are some excerpts I especially like:

"It's true what they say about winning being a habit. Once you open that Pandora's box of doubt, all kinds of nasty things come flying out. I can't stress how important it is to train yourself to seek clarity at moments of doubt. You have t stay calm and have complete faith in your abilities. It takes a strong mind."

"Everybody has a place in this world, and spends a good part of his mature life carving ot his niche--the zone where he is comfortable...I decided that I had this great talent and I wasn't taking care of it. I had the Gift, and I was turning away from it, at least on some of the very occasions when it was maybe the only thing that could pull me through. It wasn't going to be good enough for me to just be in the mix; it would nag and wearat me. I realized that the game as not about getting somewhere, but staying somewhere. Some of us, we get there and we don't want to let it go. We don't want to see some other guy take it. And that's ultimately what makes you a warrior--a fully formed, mature competitor."

"All the while the knowledge pressed in on me: the job doesn't ed when you get to the final; in some ways, that's just the beginnin. Your tournament is like a sand castle. You lose the fnal and it's like the big wave came and,in seconds, washed away all that you had built. I remembered my dad and that acid comment he made in Louisiana: 'Look, that reporter is talking to Mal now.'"

"In tennis, you always have two opponents out there--the other guy and yourself. You can't worry too much about the other guy, other than dealing with the shots he sends your way. The most important guy you have to eat is yourself--the part of you that's prone to doubt, fear, hesitation, and the impulse to give up. If you're too busy struggling with yourself, like some players, you can hardly be expected to beat your opponent."

"When I evaluate how I was able to win so many matches over so many years, a few thing pop up as keys to the accomplishment...Throughout my career, whenever I made a critical mistake, I just wiped it off the hard drive. I don't really know how I developed that ability to move on instead of dwell upon, but I had it...If you train yourself not to let things get to you, they don't--although you probably need to be predisposed that way for the training to work fully...Maybe I'm just built a little differently,but a big part of my mentality and ultimately, success, was making a conscious decision not to lose it in front of others."

"The road was getting awfully bumpy for me...People really don't care about you that much; basically, you're only as good as yor last win; people often love what you do, while you can do it, but there's nothing really personal about it; many people are interested in you for what you can do for them, not necessarily because of who you are, or even how great you are; you may do special things, but you're nothing special; nobody in tennis is given a free ride based on past performance. Some of those truisms are fair and all of them are realistic. But tennis players are selfish and disinclined to see things objectively."

It was really interesting to hear from an insider how the media and the "public" played a part in a tennis player's life. One of the big Nike commercials in '95 was fun to go back and look at. They won't allow you to embed it so here's the link if you're interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkFytHPxa_4

I miss the days of Sampras and Agassi. It's too bad some good things have to change. I love these pictures--especially the "early years" one. Why do they both look so upset? And why did Agassi ever think it was okay to wear neon green biker shorts?

Friday, October 9: Day 120

2009-10-18T16:36:00.000-07:00

Today I got to see Cara (Wilcox--from my Sunday School class) at a gymnastics meet at Dimond High School. Gymnastics was always something I was afraid to really get good at growing up. I found myself completely tensed up while watching her in each event. She's really talented, and won the overall competition! It made me a bit homesick to watch Kenzie. Going to things like this always gets me reminiscing about high school and the things I was involved with like tennis as well as old friends, etc. It's funny how different life is as soon as you get that diploma. A lot of things don't matter any more and some things start mattering a lot more.

Thursday, October 8: Day 119

2009-10-18T16:26:00.000-07:00

So after looking forward to Jim and Pam's wedding for so long, I was a little disappointed in tonight's episode of The Office. One of the only highlights for me was Kevin's hairpiece: Did anyone else feel disappointed?

Wednesday, October 7: Day 118

2009-10-13T18:04:00.000-07:00

Thy and I were watching clips on youtube and hulu for a little too long for our own good. But here's one I thought was pretty funny--although by the end it's a little over the top with the "porcelain fountain" emphasis. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised to see a commercial like this up here (if you recall the super cheesy "love your colon" commercial I posted about back in July--(http://michellesyearinalaska.blogspot.com/2009/07/thursday-july-2-day-20.html)

Tuesday, October 6: Day 117

2009-10-13T17:56:00.000-07:00

This is what our tire looked like after I dropped Matthias off at work. Funny enough, I noticed it right as I was about to leave for the gym--and I actually had motivation to go! When does that ever happen? Well, flat tires are never convenient, but I guess if all it's doing is keeping you from a work out, one can't complain, right?

We were just going to take care of it in the evening but the Elders serving in our ward volunteered to put the spare tire on. Fantastic! Later in the evening Matthias filled up the tire with air and put it back on...hoping it will stay inflated since we can't find a hole anywhere. Since I'm again writing this from the future looking back, I can say it's been pretty smooth sailing since then, minus another fill up on air. Ha ha--we're putting it off taking it in for as long as possible.

Monday, October 5: Day 116

2009-10-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

I am still feeling residual good feelings from conference this past weekend. Elder Holland's talk continues to be my favorite. I have seen miracles happen in my own life since I started seriously studying the Book of Mormon these past couple of months. Add my name to the list of testifiers--I know this book is true!

Sunday, October 4: Day 115

2009-10-07T14:26:00.000-07:00

So when I type in the date, I keep catching myself typing "Aug..."--I can't believe it's October! I know, I've mentioned it before. But seriously!

After conference today, Matthias and I took a short road trip to Eklutna Lake (just North of Eagle River about 45 minutes North of Anchorage in Chugach State Park). Here are some pictures:

On the way back, we stopped off at Mirror Lake:

They look like paintings. Alaska in the fall can't be beat and we've been loving every minute of it.

Saturday, October 3: Day 114

2009-10-07T13:53:00.000-07:00

Since I seem to forget to pack my camera around with me to keep this blog interesting and packed with good pics, I am going to get a little creative here about today. It was full of opportunities for pictures and yet the camera stayed in the closet due to my own negligence. So here is the first symbol that represents my day:

Conference!

We watched the morning session at home and the afternoon one at the church because our internet was making things slow and frustrating at times. I loved it. 5 new temples were announced: Brigham City, UT; Concepcion, Chile; Manaus, Brazil (which is right on the edge of the Amazon); Fort Lauderdale, FL; and Sorpotel, Japan. And 83% of Church members live within 200 miles of a temple. My favorite talks today were from President Uchtdorf, Elder Oaks, and Elder Anderson.

Girl's "Night" was actually afternoon since we're two hours early here and priesthood session is from 4-6. I invited the girls from Thy's old Sunday School class over (Sasha & Jacqueline Sandoval, Courtney McElwee, and Katie Owen), and we played "Nertz"--one of my favorite card games. I am always up for a round of Nertz, even if I don't win. We had a good time.

A baptism! Michael Thomas's baptism. He came over for a lesson with the missionaries on Sept. 24 and it was the most powerful lesson I've ever sat in on. He had really great questions and you could tell he knew it was all true. His baptism was equally amazing and I was very happy to be there.

And:

We went to Moose's Tooth to celebrate Rachel Vander Martin's birthday along with her family. Wish I would have brought my camera! We shared part of Thanksgiving day with her and her family last fall and she lives just down the street from us.

When we were finally home, Matthias said a few times "Today was a good day." And I have to agree. Today was a very good day.

Friday, August 2: Day 113

2009-10-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

Checking the mail was so much fun today--Sariah sent me a birthday present and it was awesome! I asked for a longer skirt that could go with a lot of things, since I am now sporting a skirt daily and have only 2 long skirts for the upcoming 6+ months of ice and snow. The miracle of the whole thing is that it actually fits. That is harder than it sounds, because skirts and pants are not an easy thing for me to fit nicely in due to the way I store extra calories in one convenient location: the abdomen. So anyway, I really like how it flairs out at the bottom and the lines they've created with seams in all the right places. Thank you Sariah!

Thursday, October 1: Day 112

2009-10-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else weirded out that it's already October? Holy cow. Where did August and September go?

The miracle of all miracles happened today: I went to see Dr. Tanner--an endocrinologist, or "diabetes doctor"--and he actually knows what he's talking about. I've heard his name buzzed around here and there since we moved up here but he isn't on our insurance's special list of people they cover really well. But I finally decided to just pay the bucks to see him since I wasn't getting much help with the other doctor. And it was totally worth it! He sat and chatted with me for about an hour getting to know what my goals were with my blood sugars, what I was currently doing, and then proceeded to teach me about things I didn't know. Amazing. A doctor who knows more than the patient about the disease they are fighting. Seems like it should have happened sooner than this, right? It's really not that I know so much about "D"--it's just that I think a lot of "D" doctors get stuck in the rut of information they got when they were first trained and I feel like I've been getting the same questions and advice for years and years, which made me begin to wonder what my d-doctors were good for, anyway? Within minutes of talking to Dr. Tanner, he said, "Why are you taking NPH? Throw the bottle away when you get home." He then prescribed one new kind of insulin that does the job that both my other night time insulins were supposed to do. Fabulous!

I could go on and on. Suffice it to say, this doctor is awesome and I've already learned new stuff with a follow-up appointment next week to see how I'm implementing it. He even gave me a new meter so my blood sugar readings will be able to hook up to his computers and we can see patterns with my numbers. Yeaaaaa.

Wednesday, September 30: Day 111

2009-10-07T11:37:00.001-07:00

So nothing new happened today...same ol' same ol'. But I haven't mentioned yet that I've started a surprise project for Matthias. Whenever I bring it up, it drives him crazy that he doesn't know what it is and I love it. Don't we all love a good surprise? This one is going to take awhile to make happen and will either be for Christmas or Valentine's Day. But here's your only clue Matthias: it involves turning something we thought was a tragic reminder of things gone wrong into something that will be kept and treasured. Hopefully that didn't give anything away. Ha ha. I love being part of something mysterious.

Tuesday, September 29: Day 110

2009-09-30T12:10:00.000-07:00

No, no, it didn't snow today (and yes, that's not really a picture I took) But it was the first morning I came out to find an icy windshield. Our ice scraper was buried away in our storage unit so I had to sit and wait for the defroster to do it's winterly duty. That's its one big duty. (hopefully someone can guess what movie I'm thinking of??) I'm actually not feeling as much dread in my heart for winter this year, which is obviously nice (no one wants to feel dread in their heart)--but very surprising because last year at this time, I was. Maybe it's because we had such a phenomenal summer. What an amazing summer!! (We've listed it as the #2 summer of our lives...last summer being #1 with our Europe adventures) I'm looking forward to feeling cozy on the couch, reading a good book while snow is falling, the holidays, the dog races, the space heater Matthias has promised me from Costco to keep my feet warm, potentially learning how to cross country ski, and whatever else this winter might bring. Now, I will readily admit that I may not be completely excited for loading on the layers and boots every time I want to go outside, or pushing the shopping cart over a thick sheet of bumpy ice, or scraping the window at 5:15 a.m., but I'm surprisingly feeling okay about the whole thing. So I'm not gonna fight that.

Monday, September 28: Day 109

2009-09-30T11:53:00.001-07:00

Before this week, the pages in my scriptures between 2 Nephi 12-24 were stuck together. And since I'm catching this up on Wednesday, I can say that in the past two days I've spent

somewhere over 10 hours getting through 2 Nephi 12-19 verse by verse, marking, highlighting, and writing in quotes from smart Isaiah authors. I had 3 other books open that all had things to say about what the verses meant and definitions of words/phrases that I've grown up being frustrated by because nothing made sense. And although I am no expert on Isaiah, I finally get the stories and the themes and messages that are in there...it's crazy. Understanding Isaiah has been in the same category as doing family history--I always assumed I would somehow figure it out and do it when my hair is grey. It's been amazing to see the words come to life and take on meaning. I guess it's a lot like learning a new language that way. So although I hesitated to blog about this because I didn't want it to sound like a Sunday School lesson where I'm trying to convince my audience that they should read Isaiah, too, I really just feel like I need to document this for my own life: this is the first day that Isaiah actually made sense to me and some of these verses and stories will now be among my favorites.

Sunday, September 27: Day 108

2009-09-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Matthias helped a family move out of our ward and into Eagle River, the town just NW of Anchorage. He said the drive there was so amazing that he took me along the same route so that I'd be able to see it, too. Here are some shots that I took while in the car on the highway just out of town...
We took a road that began to wind back and forth, higher and higher:
And......scene.You can see the road we took in this picture, and in the distance, downtown Anchorage and of course the inlet.

Last year fall ended abruptly and from what I've heard from people who've lived hear a long time, this fall has been much more typical. I don't think there's a prettier place on Earth to live during the fall time than Alaska. And as you can see, it won't be fall time much longer, since the snow is creeping down the mountain. It provides for some great pictures.

Saturday, September 26: Day 107

2009-09-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

I hung out with my friend Amy (http://michellesyearinalaska.blogspot.com/2009/08/wednesday-august-26-day-75.html) and her neighbor, Lisa. We practiced making buttercream roses. I am very rusty in this skill, so it was good to practice.

Today was also the R.S. broadcast and there was a soup buffet dinner afterwards. Whenever I can think of an excuse to make my new favorite recipe of potato soup, I do it. I got it over Christmas break from my mom who had received a recipe box-package of crock pot recipes. It's sooooooooo good. I mean, it's the soup I will make when my future kids get sick and whenever we need a pick-me-up during a cold winter day, or just comfort food any time of year. Since I have such a strong testimony of this soup, I am going to share the recipe with you now.

The broadcast itself was really great, and I got excited for conference this weekend. I carpooled with some nearby ward members, Karen Warner and Juliet Belnap. I think fall conference always has a little bit more excitement for me--maybe because it kind of reminds me that the holidays are coming and I just love fall time so much.

Friday, September 25: Day 106

2009-09-29T10:20:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Gabe's baptism and I'm so sad I can't be there. The #1 "con" of living in Alaska is not having the flexibility to go to big family events like these. Even more than the cold, dark winters, it's the being far away from family that gets me the most. I honestly think I could bear the Alaskan winters for years and years to come if we were closer to home, because there are so many cool things about living here. I'll be thinking about you, tomorrow, Gabe! I love you!

Thursday, September 24: Day 105

2009-09-29T08:41:00.001-07:00

I'm starting a secret project for a gift I'm giving Matthias maybe for Christmas or Valentine's Day, depending on when I finish it. I'm really excited!

I also went digging for rocks today for an object lesson in seminary (have you ever heard of the one about fitting big and small rocks into a jar and likening it to scripture study? I'm hoping it's not too overused...like maybe they've heard it before.) They're hard to come by around these parts...atleast on our street. We have a trail that is just about 50 yards from our apartment so I thought I'd find lots and lots there of all shapes and sizes. All I found were some little ones and it wasn't like I could just scoop them up by the handful. It was quite a process. I'm sure to anyone who saw, I was probably looking pretty strange. Anyway, I'm still on the lookout for bigger ones. I hope I can find some before the snow gets here.

Wednesday, September 23: Day 104

2009-09-24T12:39:00.000-07:00

So.....we see our fair share of police officers in the neighborhood we're currently living in. Maybe once a week I'll be driving home or look out the window and see a cop car or two. Well, I'm not sure what was going on next door today, but it involved 5 officers, 3 cars, and a taser. Whoever they were looking for wasn't home, but it certainly provided some entertainment during our dinner. Don't be nervous, mom. I'm sure we're safe and sound inside our cozy lil' nook.

Tuesday, September 22: Day 103

2009-09-24T12:17:00.001-07:00

Good things have happened in Anchorage since we moved here as far as shopping selection is concerned. For example, they didn't have a Target in Anchorage when we got here, but there's one open and now there's another one being built 3 minutes from our house (October 11--can't wait!). And the Wal-mart wasn't a "super" one, meaning you couldn't get food there. Not anymore! They have extended the store and put in a food section that is nearly complete. The dry food and freezer sections are done which has made our food shopping so much happier. Now I can buy items that actually cost about the same (for the most part) as in Utah. Although I don't especially like going to Wal-mart, when I consider the price difference, I suck it up and go. I have to say, Target and Wal-mart really accommodated us well when they timed their expansion in Anchorage. What did people do here before this happened?

Monday, September 21: Day 102

2009-09-22T20:18:00.000-07:00

I know this might be a creepy picture, but it's kind of how my back has been feeling lately. I went into an urgent care about a week ago with an overwhelming pain all up and down my spine. I found out I have an "erector spinal spasm". I was relieved to hear that it was a muscle problem, and not a bone one. Today was my third time going to physical therapy. I'm really hoping I can be restored to my normal back self and wonder if it will ever feel the same again. Look how dramatic I'm being...it's only been a week. "Patience is a virtue," as mom would say.

Sunday, September 20: Day 101

2009-09-22T20:07:00.000-07:00

Day 100! I can't believe it's already been 100 days. That went by really, really fast. Now, only 265 more. There have been several times when I wanted to give up on this project...just yesterday being one of them. But it's so cool that I can go back on any day (for the past 100 at least) and see what I was doing or thinking at the time.

We had the missionaries over tonight for dinner. I tried a new recipe out: Creamy Herbed Pork Chops. They don't look as good as they tasted...yum. I wish I could take credit but the recipe did all the work. I love pork chops and this "took it to the next level", as they say. Lots of good flavors packed into that thick, creamy sauce. Put it over some brown rice and--BAM--you have yourself some good eating ahead.

Here's the recipe for anyone interested:

4-6 pork chops
2 Tbsp. butter
2/3 c finely chopped carrots
1 Tbsp. dry parsley
4 tsp flour
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried thyme
1 tsp instant beef bouillon granules
1 1/3 c milk or light cream
4 Tbsp. water

Cook chops and carrots in butter in large skillet, browning meat well. Remove chops (cover with foil), reserving the drippings and carrots. To drippings, add dry ingredients. Add milk/cream all at once. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Stir in water. Return chops to pan; spoon sauce over top and heat through. You can simmer on low for an hour or so to get it more tender and let the flavors marinate.

Saturday, September 19: Day 100

2009-09-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

This morning reminded me of a children's book I used to read to my class called "We're Going on a Leaf Hunt", because that's basically what we did. And I don't think I've ever seen more beautiful scenery. See for yourself:

It was all too pretty to be real. And then we saw this little fella:
And the mom:

At first when we saw them we were a little ways away and couldn't get closer because of a steep spot right in front of us. It was really hard to tell which road led to the yard they were in, but Matthias was determined and we finally made it. Lest you become afraid that the mom moose was mad, let me teach you the ways of moose: If their ears are up, they're just curious. If they are straight back, then you should turn the other way and run. So we were fine.

These flowers were just growing on the side of the road. Isn't that amazing?

We just had to take a shot of this house. See if you can find anything strange...

Yes, of course, there are gold lions guarding their property. Why wouldn't there be?

It really makes you wonder. Later in the afternoon I played some tennis with Ryan and his friend, Brian. Ryan was in my Sunday school class and plays for the Dimond high school tennis team. It was so incredibly nice outside...high 60's but it felt like mid-70's. For a little bit towards the end, I sat against the fence as the other two played and let the sun hit my arms while listening to lawn mowers. I actually felt like I could've been at home. I loved every second of it.

Friday, September 18: Day 99

2009-09-22T12:53:00.001-07:00

We had our friends, Brandon and Amanda Wilson over tonight for dinner and a game night. I seem to always forget to take a picture at times like these because it doesn't seem natural to stop in the middle of a game or dinner and say, "Everybody say, 'Cheese!'". I guess that's one of the drawbacks of doing a "picture a day". You have to take pictures even when it's inconvenient or feels a little strange. Well, anyway, here are the games we played:Blokus was a birthday gift from Matthias a year ago, and it's one of my favorites. Yahtzee Texas Hold 'Em I won at a family party...I think a Christmas party at my Aunt Karen's. I have lots and lots of memories of playing board and card games with my family and my extended family on my mom's side. I love a good game, and plan on having a lot more of these kinds of nights this winter.

Thursday, September 17: Day 98

2009-09-22T12:38:00.000-07:00

I went to my first seminary faculty meeting of all time tonight at the Anchorage Institute building (the picture above is not the specific one I went to....I forgot my camera). We listened to a training broadcast from Sister Julie Beck for all CES employees and volunteers. She told us they had asked many of the youth all over the world why the 1st Presidency invested so much money in educating them through seminary and institute. I have to say, I don't think I could have come up with exactly the right answer, although maybe I would have come close. It was enlightening to here that it is to help them be able to be sealed in the temple and be better husbands and wives, fathers and mothers. She said that if a seminary teacher got everything else right but didn't help their students understand the doctrine of the family, it was all a waste. So, understandably, I've resolved to make that my goal for this year.

Wednesday, September 16: Day 97

2009-09-22T12:24:00.000-07:00

Tonight Matthias and I went to see Jonah Goldberg, who had come for "Constitution Week" at UAA. I didn't know who this was until Matthias told me. He's a bit like Glenn Beck, although I like Glenn Beck a bit more, but maybe that's because I'm more familiar with him. Two school year's ago, I used to put his radio show on after my students left and listened while I got stuff done. Anyway, tonight was definitely interesting. I have to say that my absolute favorite part, though, was the guy sitting to my left, and let me tell you why. He, too, had a camera. But I'm not exaggerating when I say he took about 100 pictures of Mr. Goldberg. Not only that, but it was the same angle, same everything. He'd get it centered, hold for a second, click, center, pause, click, over and over and over. The first 5-10 times, I thought, well maybe it was blurry or something. But it became quite clear to me that something much more serious was going on. I can't even venture to guess what but it was so amusing to me.

Another interesting thing that made me wonder a lot was something we saw on campus:
Can anyone figure out what this is supposed to be? There was no description or title or any sort of marking on it that could lead one to conclude what it is. Very strange...

Tuesday, September 15: Day 96

2009-09-22T11:46:00.001-07:00

The leaves are no longer changing just in the mountains now, but all over. I'm living in denial that winter is coming. We're going to have a perpetual fall. Fall is definitely my favorite season. I love the smell and crispness of the air. It reminds me of trick-or-treating when I was young, and Thanksgiving, spending time with family, and the anticipation of Christmas. So many memories are tied up in the fall time. Living up here makes me feel like Halloween is next weekend, when it reality it's more than a month away. Likewise, I feel like Thanksgiving is a month away, when really its two. And Christmas shopping should start any day now, right? Well, you get the idea. It's easy to jump the gun up here because the air and leaves are giving me a different idea for how close things are. Don't be surprised if another day or two revolves around the changing leaves. It's just that it's one of my favorite things.

Monday, September 14: Day 95

2009-09-17T15:50:00.001-07:00

I saw this while preparing my lesson for seminary. I love it. We're all just trying to get by the best we can, dealing with our own set of "issues" that have been dealt to us. I love that it reminds me that I need to look around more and see if I can help someone else, instead of getting so wrapped up in my own problems.

Sunday, September 13:Day 94

2009-09-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

Today was my first "lazy" Sunday in a long time...maybe since the volcano erupted and church was cancelled. Anyway, it was stake conference and it was over by 11:00 a.m. so the rest of the day was ours! It was so nice. I really enjoyed stake conference. Most of it was a broadcast that was made specifically for the members in Washington and Alaska. It included talks by Elder Nelson, and President Monson along with a couple others. Elder Nelson talked about how the translators in the church who are working on translating the Book of Mormon into other languages can, if they're working at their best, translate 1 page a day. And that's from a known language to another known language. He then said that Joseph Smith, when he translated the Book of Mormon from an unknown language to a known language, he averaged 8-10 pages a day! And that he completed the whole thing in less than 3 months. I feel like I had heard that before, but it had been awhile and I had forgotten the specific numbers. It's incredible to me. I have been working on this idea to help my seminary class get more excited to read their scriptures the night before they come. Since I'm writing this 5 days later, I can say it hasn't really taken off like I wanted it to, but I hope if I keep promoting it, they'll start to do it. Here's the idea...it's been taken from another teacher and tweeked a bit. I spray painted a Book of Mormon gold and set it by the roll sheet as they come in. They can take it and put it at their seat if they have a "golden insight" from the assigned scripture block the night before. They mark the verses they liked, sign their name in the margin and anything they want to say about the verse along with it (or a cross reference, whatever). Then, since I'll see the Book of Mormon on their desk, I'll know they want to share something after the devotional. I modeled this the first day and everyone seemed to like the idea, but so far I've been the only one to share. Hopefully, we'll get some takers here soon.

Saturday, September 12: Day 93

2009-09-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

I love this! We've been watching the U.S. Open a lot today and I couldn't help but show this shot by Federer. This year is the year of upsets and it's been fun to see some unseeded or very low seeded players beat some of the top ones. Anyway, you just have to watch this shot.

Friday, September 11: Day 92

2009-09-13T18:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is a problem. I have tried to hide the cords that spew out of our TV area in many different ways. This has been my latest attempt in this apartment, and it's still not satisfying me. Anyone have ideas? What do you do to hide your cords?

On a totally different note, today was our last day working at the temple since we both have other callings that are demanding more of our time. It has been a great experience working there, the two of us, and I will miss it. I know it won't be our last time, but it will probably be the last time before we're old and potentially grey. So it was with a bit of sentimentality that I walked out of there tonight.

Thursday, September 10: Day 91

2009-09-13T18:29:00.001-07:00

Today I went to lunch at The Perfect Cup with my friend, Kristy, and forgot my camera. So I found a couple of pictures that show a few places we walked past/went. I couldn't find any of The Perfect Cup itself, but it's located in the Dimond Center Mall, so we found ourselves walking past the stuffed moose, bear, muskox, and Canadian geese to get there. Anyway, we're both making great efforts to eat healthy and were craving the same thing: a teriyaki chicken salad. It was about as good as it sounds, which is really great, so no complaints there. As for the company, from day 1 of being in this ward, Kristy has been one of the first to befriend us. She is also a transplant to Alaska and has 3 adorable kids. One of them is the cutest girl, outside of my own nieces, that I have ever been around. (See the bottom of this post: http://michellesyearinalaska.blogspot.com/2009/08/friday-july-31-day-49.html)

Afterwards, we shopped around at Old Navy, which is in this hallway (below) and a new store she introduced me to called "Torrid", which is a very peculiar store, but one that has pants that fit fabulously. So I'll now know where to go when the need arises. I hate trying to find pants that fit well, so I was grateful for the tip.

Wednesday, September 9: Day 90

2009-09-13T18:12:00.000-07:00

Good produce can be hard to find in Alaska, especially my favorite fruit:So when I pushed my finger against one today at Costco, I grabbed it immediately when I found that they weren't hard as a rock. I haven't had a good one since we moved up here, except for last week when I had part of one at a friends house. She said she found them at Costco, so I was on the look out. They are a couple of days old and already there are 6 gone. Delicious! Costco, by the way, has become a weekly stop for me because they have the best produce around--that I can find anyway. And the price difference between produce there and other places is extremely lower. This peach find was extremely exciting, and definitely blog-worthy in my mind. Now if I could only find a good watermelon.

Tuesday, September 8: Day 89

2009-09-12T22:24:00.000-07:00

Things are starting to change around here. The air is just the tiniest bit chillier and the sun is setting a lot earlier. (September calendar for sunrise/sunset in Anchorage: http://www.sunrisesunset.com/calendar.asp?comb_city_info=Anchorage,%20Alaska;149.9;61.2;-9;1&month=9&year=2009&time_type=0) Today it rose at 7:08 a.m. and set at 8:46 p.m. We lose about 6-7 minutes a day. The leaves have been changing for a couple of weeks now (in the mountains, even longer) and it's gorgeous. The leaves here do something so strangely beautiful. One leaf will be completely yellow and the one right next to it will be completely green still. And it will be that way throughout the whole tree, so that when you look at it, you see both colors at once. I hope this is making sense. Every time I see it, I don't have my camera or we're in the car so it turns out blurry. But I am determined to capture it so it can be documented forever.

Monday, September 7: Day 88

2009-09-12T17:26:00.000-07:00

This morning Matthias surprised me with a gift certificate to have an 80 minute massage at the Alyeska spa.....it was fabulous. Best present ever.

We also went to look at Crow Creek Mine, not far from where we were staying. It's unlike Independence Mine because people actually still pan for gold here. You can pay $15 to go for the day and look for as much gold as you can find. Apparently there are several "regulars" who come, which I think is fascinating. We chose not to mine, but instead to have a look around.

There was a self-guided walking tour you could pick up at the front, which we did. The red house below, on the left is the home of the owner and his family. They live here year round. Seeing the actual tools and trinkets that were used back in the day was pretty cool. I looked up active gold mines in the world on wikipedia and found this: "Alaska currently produces more gold (in 2007: 673,274 troy oz from lode mines, and 53,848 troy oz from placer deposits) than any state except Nevada.[3] Nearly all of the large and many of the small placer gold mines currently operating in the US are in Alaska." I really liked this next one. The soda cans in that little pond are not garbage...you just put your dollar in that bucket and pick the one you'd like. I have to say they were a bit unappetizing but the idea was very amusing.

For lunch we went to this place called "Jack Sprat" which was described as "world cuisine, both fat and lean". It had a hint of a granola feel to it, but the food was absolutely delicious. I got a caesar salad wrap and yam fries while Matthias got a halibut taco and salmon soup. Since I never cook fish, this was his big chance.

I had such a great time hanging out with Matthias. I'm a very spoiled wife and I know it. I'm totally okay with it, too.

Sunday, September 6: Day 87

2009-09-12T15:58:00.001-07:00

So...the mystery trip is revealed! Matthias kept making the wrong turn to confuse me and it worked. I had no idea where we were headed. I finally got a good idea of where we were going about 5 minutes before getting there: Alyeska Resort! This was where we went with Becky to go on the tram and eat dessert, so I was definitely excited to be back.

The lodge itself is huge! We were on the 7th floor, which wasn't the top one but up enough to get a good view. There was a wall of windows, and this is what we saw looking out:

Here's another view from a window on the 2nd floor on our way out to hike:We went on "Winner Creek Trail", which is now my favorite hike in Alaska without a doubt. It started out pretty normal, with lots of trees and a fair amount of up and down. We saw a lot of mushrooms, which made sense because there was a "fungal fair" going on that weekend down the street a ways. About 2 miles or so in, we came across this gorge that was amazing! These are some shots from all angles:The color of the water, again, was what really sent it over the top. There was a little pool of water, specifically, that held our attention for quite some time because it looked like it was carbonated. Hundreds and thousands of little bubbles were coming up to the surface from way deep down somewhere. Pictures won't do it justice, but it's worth a try.
After climbing around the gorge we went maybe a mile more and saw a hand tram that you could pull yourself across an enormous gorge. I think it may go without saying that I was having a borderline panic attack watching Matthias go on his own. We did it that way going over for the sake of a good picture, but came back together, which made me feel better. That way if the rope broke, we were both going down and I wouldn't have to be a widow.

It was so much fun!

Saturday, September 5: Day 86

2009-09-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

Tonight Matthias and I drove about 20 minutes to Beluga Point to watch the sunset (I think dinner at the judge's house on Thursday inspired this thought). I've never lived anywhere where the sunsets are so awesome. We walked/climbed just a bit out to this little rock that was right on the water. Indescribable. Now that we know about this place, we will take anyone who comes to visit us here to have the same view.

This isn't the rock we were on, it was just cool looking.

This was the rock we were on:

Friday, September 4: Day 85

2009-09-12T14:56:00.001-07:00

This past summer whenever it's nice outside, we run at Hanshew Middle School's track. It is up a little higher on the mountain so you can see the coastline from where you're running. This is the same place where the big group of geese was in the middle of the track a couple of weeks ago. There had to be over 50 and I wouldn't be surprised if it was more like 100 geese, pecking at the ground and chasing each other around. There's also a frisbee golf course and softball diamond so there're always a few people around. I'll really miss running outside here this winter.

Thursday, September 3: Day 84

2009-09-12T14:41:00.000-07:00

This was the view from the house we had dinner at tonight. Judge Sedwick, one of the judges at the court that Matthias works at, but not the one he clerks for has a dinner for all of the court clerks each year at about this time. It's always a good time and this year in particular, I noticed the sunset from their dining room. The great part about Alaska is not only the beauty, as shown in the pictures, but the people. They are really down to earth and not in the competitive rush that a lot of other places bring. So it was nice to find myself--not at all the fancy and formal type--feeling quite at home in a place that might normally feel stiff and confining to me. The judge and his wife, along with all who were there, were cracking jokes and just there to have a good time enjoying each other's company. There's something to be said for a place (no matter how cold it gets) where that can happen.

Wednesday, September 2: Day 83

2009-09-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

These chips are going to be the death of me.

I discovered them in June while in Denali Nat'l Park and I've never been the same. Favorite flavors: original and sour cream/onion. They are like kettle chips but thinner and tastier. They are fried in peanut oil, my favorite. What am I supposed to do? Not eat them? Precisely my goal. Tonight just may be the last night I am blessed with their deliciousness. Because even though they give you the carbohydrate count on the bag, somehow my blood sugars never cooperate afterwards. Could it be all the fat? (picture an over-the-top valley girl voice with that last question) I know the answer and I've been trying to deny it.

This is my commitment post: I will not eat a bag of these delicious chips unless maybe I will on Halloween or Thanksgiving and even then, only 1-2 servings. And if then, my blood sugars still do not cooperate, then I will ceremoniously bury the bag with any leftover offending chips to go the way of all the earth.

Tuesday, September 1: Day 81

2009-09-10T16:18:00.001-07:00

I love downtown Anchorage. 4th Avenue is my favorite part. It's got the Saturday Market, little shops all the way up and down, the tourist cabin, music in the park, and the starting point for the Iditarod. There's not too much traffic, and you can almost always find a parking spot without too much hassle. And around this time of year, you can see these pots of flowers spilling over with flowers that have multiplied exponentially under the midnight sun.

Monday, August 31: Day 80

2009-09-10T15:10:00.001-07:00

Today was so much fun! Becky and I went on the Portage Glacier Cruise, the Wildlife Conservation Center, an Iditarod tour downtown, Moose's Tooth, and Lake Hood! We had to pack it all in before she left. Here's the view we saw as we pulled out of Anchorage and got on the Seward Highway. This is what I love about living in Alaska.

We were so prepared for the icy wind! Layers are key on an Alaskan cruise.

This time of year, the moose's antlers are starting to shed, which you can kind of see from this picture. Within a month or so, they should fall off completely.

The puppies at the Iditarod thing was definitely the highlight. But there were also some fun things they did like they had one of their dogs pull 800 lbs of weight and then a whole team pulled a big truck across the gravel. Then they showed us how they can steer the team with voice commands. Pretty impressive.

I really wish Becky lived up here! I was sad she couldn't be here for longer. Love you, sis!

Sunday, August 30: Day 79

2009-09-04T17:43:00.000-07:00

I don't think it can get any more beautiful than this right here:

Did you see the leaves that are turning yellow in the above picture? Can you believe it's already happening?

We took Becky to Independence Mine, so if these pictures look a bit familiar, it's because they are. This time, though, we went driving up the road a bit further and found a hidden lake and short walking trail that led to a great view of endless mountains. (It's called Hatcher Pass and a lot of hikes lead off from this point)

Some old buildings by the mine, and the view of the mountains from those buildings.

When we got back, it was cupcake making time! Becky is a pro when it comes to cupcakes. We picked a recipe I had never tried before but I will definitely keep it around, because they were some of the best cupcakes I'd ever tasted before. They had a peanut butter hersey's kiss in the middle, with a peanut butter cake and chocolate butter cream. And finally, Reeses Peanut Butter cups to top it all off. Wow. With my birthday on the 23 and hers on the 25, we had every reason to celebrate big. And so we did.

Saturday, August 29: Day 78

2009-09-04T15:25:00.000-07:00

I love the Alaska State Fair!
It can't be beat, as far as state fairs go. The produce is huge and the food is better than ever. Here are some highlights:

These duck heads are out of this world!

We got the chance to see some chicks hatching. I can't figure out how to get the video of the chicks hatching up with this chick picture. It's stuck at the bottom of the post (you'll have to pase the playlist at the bottom in order to hear the video, although all you'll hear is the people next to us commenting on the "mama duck" and the "baby duck". So maybe muting the sound would be the better option). Here are a few that hatched before we got there that were pet-able and oh so cute.

And the glorious corn dogs. If you remember last year, we posted about these same ones. And yes, those two are just for me. This is not to be judged. If any judging is occurring, it should be to judge from the pictures that you should get two, too, if occasion permits you to be at the next AK state fair.

You know how I love a unique and colorful flower. I only picked four pictures, but trust me when I say I took more pictures of flowers than I did produce.

Later on in the evening, we grilled some chicken and zucchini/squash in kabob style at Taku lake. First picture is of Taku Lake, the second is of Campbell Creek right next to the lake.

Friday, August 28: Day 77

2009-09-04T14:24:00.001-07:00

Becky is here! I made her a delightful treat with leftovers: cream cheese frosting with Heath bar bits and caramel all atop a graham cracker "crust".

Earthquake park is a place where there are some information displays and evidence of the earthquake that was up here in 1964. It was a 9.2 and did a lot of damage, some of which is still evident today. We went here on the way to other places and it was also a nice view of the coastline.

Here's a warty looking salmon we saw in Ship Creek. I think it's about 95 years old.

And of course, we had to go to Alaska Wildberry Store. Here is a Willy Wonka shrine next to the world's largest chocolate fountain. All of the main characters have signed the picture--very exciting.

Dog mushing 101 is the free class my mom and I went to as well. Becky liked it so much that we decided we need to do the one downtown on Monday that lets you hold the cute little puppies.

In the evening, we drove to Alyeska Resort, which is about 45 minutes South of Anchorage in Girdwood. We rode the tram up to a restaurant called Seven Glaciers and shared a few delicious desserts. We had great viewsfrom where we were eating of the mountains and then walked around a bit afterwards. It was cloudy, but we could still see enough to appreciate the awesome view.

A close up of our desserts. To die for!

Riding the tram and eating dessert up top was the highlight for me. Matthias and I definitely plan on doing this again and probably more than once. The tram ride is free if you make the reservation to eat at their restaurant, which ends up saving you money as long as you keep your eating simple. If we would have just paid for the tram for the 3 of us, it would have cost $54. As it was, we spent about $25. So they paid us $29 to ride the tram. Awesome!

Thursday, August 27:Day 76

2009-09-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

Today I spent the afternoon helping a friend (Virginia Owen) with an eagle cake, for her son's (David) Eagle Scout of Honor program. I was mostly there for moral support and a board to bounce ideas off of. The only thing I actually did was frost the cake and did the border. I liked it that way. Less pressure! She did a fabulous job and it was fun to use two brains to come up with ideas and problem shoot.

Note to self in case I ever do this cake: the wax paper transfer does NOT work with your favorite icing recipe. Use Wilton one if you must use that technique. Otherwise, a toothpick and freehanding skills are necessary. Also: the bottom of the wings were used with a tip 104 with fatter tip up and tilted at 45 degrees.

Wednesday, August 26: Day 75

2009-08-27T11:31:00.001-07:00

Tonight I had a combined birthday get-together with Amy Rock and Annette Ford, two good friends from my ward. Amy is from Barrow, and Annette is from Colorado, and here we are all together in Anchorage, being friends! Anchorage is pretty cool that way. It seems like everyone is from somewhere else. So you can learn about lots of different places. Amy, for example, being from Barrow has tons of stories about whale hunting. We watched a documentary from National Geographic about whale hunters in Barrow and she knew nearly everyone on the show. It was pretty fun. Then we decorated our cake. It was mostly just for fun, not for looks. We were just practicing different things and experimenting with new tips.

Okay, here's a clip from wikipedia about Barrow: "There are freezing temperatures on an average of 324 days per year.[8][9] Freezing temperatures, and snowfall, can occur during any month of the year.[7]
Barrow is a desert, with an average of less than 5 in (127 mm) "equivalent rainfall" per year, which includes less than 30 in (76 cm) of snow." For the whole thing, click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrow,_AK. It's truly a fascinating place.

Amy, me, Annette, Amy's kids Jaida and Joey
Me, Amy, Joey, and Jaida

Amy and Jaida

Annette and Joey

Tuesday, August 25: Day 74

2009-08-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

It's my sister's birthday today! Happy birthday, Becky! She's coming to visit in 2 days and I can't hardly wait.

Today in seminary we made a time capsule. Everyone answered a few questions and sealed their answers up in individual envelopes. Before they sealed them up, they wrote on the bottom half of the paper the things they would have to do to get where they wanted to be in May. Just like in the Old Testament times when a person would tear a garment when making a covenant, they tore the top half of their paper from the bottom half and sealed the answers to the questions in an envelope. Then they glued what they would have to do during the year in the front cover of their journals. All the envelopes and pictures are going in this box which I'm going to seal up until the last day of seminary.

Monday, August 24: Day 73

2009-08-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

So I met a friend who is diabetic on dlife.com when I posted something about diabetes on there. She and I have been emailing back and forth now for a few months. Come to find out, she lives in Springville, is LDS, and with having diabetes as well, we have so much in common! She has four kids, which is awesome, because for the longest time I've been wanting to talk with someone who has had kids with Type 1. Anyway, she sent me this nice gift for my birthday. It's been a huge blessing to know her and I just love how sometimes God leads you to someone because He knows what you need.

Sunday, August 23: Day 72

2009-08-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

It was kind of a stressful day, but also a fun one. It was my last day teaching my Sunday School class so I was really sad during church about that. The class gave me some good advice about being a seminary teacher, though, and I know we'll still have them over. It's still sad. No use trying to be positive about it. It will just take a bit of time to get over it.

After church I finished decorating the cupcakes I'd be using at seminary orientation. Then the Simper's had us over for my birthday dinner. I forgot to mention that for breakfast, Matthias made me waffles with sausage. I made buttermilk syrup (yummmmmm. Oh my goodness, yum). He's going to take me on a surprise overnight trip somewhere in a couple of weeks for my gift. I'm excited for that!

Buttermilk syrup:I know, the picture is sideways. I don't feel like going back to change it.

Anyway, Jenny took my request for dinner: macaroni and cheese with reindeer sausage and cream soda. She also made green beans and garlic bread. Delicious! I gave her my mom's recipe of the mac-n-cheese and it was so tasty. Then we ate the cake I brought along, toffee cake, with pralines and cream ice cream. All of my favorites! They were so kind to have us over. It was nice to not have to worry about dinner and have someone besides the two of us to share part of the day with.

Jenny was trying to sport her cast but the photographer cut it off, making it look a little bit weird that she only has one pant leg down. I figured an explanation was in order.

The other stressful part besides Sunday school was seminary orientation. I was worried about presenting the grading policies and trying to convince everyone that coming to my class was going to be fun. I think the cupcakes helped. It at least ended things on a good note. I felt so relieved when it was over. I can tell I will really enjoy this class, and loved putting faces to the names on my roll sheet.

Saturday, August 22: Day 71

2009-08-27T09:28:00.001-07:00

It was so nice out this morning! Thy and I went running at Hanshew Middle School's track, where we've been going every time it's nice out and we aren't lifting weights that day. This morning I wish I would have had a camera because there was a huge flock of geese in the middle field the track goes around. They were honking and eating worms. I'm pretty sure they're Canadian geese. That combined with the view of the coast would have made for a good picture. But anyway, it was kind of fun to run around them and watch them chase each other around.

I spent most the afternoon making these:

We had them at our going-away party for Daniel Schwicht, who is in my Sunday School class. He's off to BYU-Provo next week and we'll miss him a lot! I'll always remember when I first met him and we played "two truths and a lie". His lie was that he was a really good ballet dancer. I wanted to call him on it, but was afraid that maybe he actually was a ballet dancer and didn't want to offend him so I picked something else.This is him on the left, Matt Rindlisbaucher on the right.Cara and Haleigh showed us some of their moves. Something about a shaky leg? Snakey leg? I'm not sure. It made me feel old because they knew all of these moves that had names I had no idea about. It was a fun night. I knew at that point that I wouldn't be there Sunday School teacher past the next day so I had to hide the sad I was feeling. They are such a good class. I love 'em!

Friday, August 21: Day 70

2009-08-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

Today my friend, who is also my visiting teacher, brought me a healthy salad for lunch. I loved it! It was my first time eating feta cheese. I was worried it would taste like goat cheese and was a little bit hesitant on the first bite but it was actually really good. The salad was a spring mix of lettuces, strawberries, kiwi, almonds, and feta cheese. It was so kind of her to bring it with her lesson and it really made my day. I think sometimes it's easy to think that if a person is an active member of the church that they don't need a visit but I really appreciate it every time.

Thursday, August 20: Day 69

2009-08-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

oday was a bunch more seminary stuff: reading and watching training videos. So I thought instead of showing you more of the same, I would post a picture of a new way of organizing books I heard on HGTV at the gym.

I love to organize! I've even thought in the past about being a professional organizer. But I don't think organizing other people's stuff would be as much fun. I like to be able to live with the things I organize...to have a system for things. This is not to say my apartment is always organized, but I do my best. So this idea sounded like fun to try. The design lady organized the house's books by spine color. It looked extremely cool in the room she was doing because the whole wall was full of books. So I was a bit disappointed when my shelves looked a little less dramatic. We have two different book shelves, this being our smaller one. The bigger one has our church books in it and they all have black or dark spines for the most part. But I do kind of like this arrangement for the smaller one, even though it's not as much of a "wow" factor as I saw on TV. Maybe when we have our dream room someday that's full of books (like the library on Beauty and the Beast) it will look better.

Wednesday, August 19: Day 68

2009-08-20T12:10:00.000-07:00

I drive by this spot every day after dropping Matthias off at work. I didn't notice they were supposed to resemble fishing poles until earlier this summer when they put the flower pots on. I think they are so delightful. Another indicator that we are "not in Kansas anymore". Very Alaskan.

Tuesday, August 18: Day 67

2009-08-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

After dropping off Matthias today, I looked over and saw some angelic sun rays coming onto the Chugach mountains. I love living by mountains and these ones are some of the most classic ones I've been around. From the angle I was at, I only got a shot of a couple of them but some of them are so pointy at the top they look like the mountains you might see a kindergartner draw.

Monday, August 17: Day 66

2009-08-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

People sometimes ask what I do all day. I don't work. I don't have kids. So what in the heck do I do?

I grocery shop.

I clean.

I research healthy recipes and then cook them.
I test my blood sugar a lot and research online about diabetes stuff.
I measure out the food I eat and write everything down.I exercise.I blog. (your screen serves as my picture of that)

And then my callings. Hopefully I'll be released from some so I can just focus on seminary!

So I don't know if that uncovers the mystery behind my days. Of course, I try to take time to hang out with Matthias, read an enjoyable book, enjoy the sunshine, and watch the Food Network here and there. I have enough challenges to help me grow for right now, but not so many that I feel crazy inside.

Sunday, August 16: Day 65

2009-08-20T10:47:00.001-07:00

Here are some of my seminary goodies just waiting to be organized and used:Today I sat at the feet of a veteran seminary teacher of 11 years. She poured the ideas out like fireballs. All of us newbies were scribbling vigorously. It reminded me of my first couple of years teaching school. Same overwhelmed feeling of "where do I start?", and "I'll never be like her." Fortunately once I left (the meeting was 3 hours!), I had to go back to the beginning and remember the basics. I don't have to be her...just me. Me with the Spirit, that is. And that seems a bit more doable.

Saturday, August 15: Day 64

2009-08-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

Today I was still feeling pretty ill. Matthias was going into work because if I felt better the next day we were going to go on an overnight adventure to who knows where (he's planning a surprise trip for my birthday!). So just in case I miraculously felt better he decided to get extra work done so he could take Monday off. I decided to tag along and hang out in his office. Boring, you say? No. Not boring. They have very comfy couches, and I had a lovely book I borrowed that we started for book club:

LOVE this book! Highly recommend it. I'll quote from the back of the book: "The classic story of the man who gambled for Christ's robe and won." Have any of you read it? It's fabulous.

Friday, August 14: Day 63

2009-08-18T22:26:00.000-07:00

This is how I felt today, except the pain was a litte lower and to the right. The doctor at urgent care thought I had appendicitis......or a bladder infection, or a cyst, or, or, or (there were a few potential problems). She said to keep a close eye on it because if it got any worse, I needed to go straight to the emergency room. So, after 3 hours of urgent care fun, I walked out with a prescription to take care of a potential bladder infection (the test came out negative, but I drank a lot of water so it was hard to say it was conclusive), and the warning that my appendix might burst if I waited long enough.

Fortunately, since I'm writing this post many days later, I can give you the happy ending: no appendicitis! Hallelujah!

Thursday, August 13: Day 62

2009-08-18T22:13:00.000-07:00

Girl's night out...I'm usually not one for girl's night out and maybe it's because I don't have kids that I'd like a break from and I never want to be away from home when Matthias is back from work. But they reeled me in when I heard they were doing cake decorating. They asked me to do a little ditty on how to fill and decorate cupcakes. Another lady, Beverly, taught how to make a rose and some other fun things. It was a lot of fun! And speaking of cupcakes, here's a picture of the largest cupcake ever made (according to the Guinness Book of World Records--see link for all the stats: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32438528/ns/us_news-weird_news/). It is 1,224 lbs., took 12 hours to bake and included 800 eggs and 200 pounds each of sugar and flour. They estimate it has about 2 million calories!

Wednesday, August 12: Day 61

2009-08-17T13:38:00.001-07:00

Who doesn't like a public library? I sure do. This is the Anchorage Loussac library and it was one of the first places I knew how to get to by heart. The first couple of weeks we moved up here, I came here probably 7-8 times, partly for something to do, but mostly because of the resources that are here....internet, books, soft chairs. When you're apartment and job hunting, those are the things you need most. Well, atleast the internet. The books and soft chairs came in handy when I needed a break from the hunting.

Anyway, today I took time to do some reading out on the lawn. There is a fountain (picture below) I sat by, which is really cool to see when it's dark out because they light it up in a variety of colors and the water reflects it, which makes a really cool sight. Maybe I'll come back with my camera during the winter.

And later I found that there is a park with a small pond to walk around right next door, kind of hidden. Using my regular route, it doesn't even go by there. And especially in the winter when everything is frozen over, it's impossible to know where the lines on the street are, let alone a pond with a pathway. There aren't any fish in the pond, this guy is practicing his form during his lunch break. That's an Alaskan fishermen right there.

I've got to include the duck pictures. For some reason ducks, like flowers, just beg for me to take pictures of them. It's not like ducks are so unique that I had to take the opportunity because it might be my last, but for some reason they're fascinating to me. I like how in this one, you can see the reflection of the ducks in the water.

And this one, you can see the duck's head under water. I also love the ripples they make when they paddle around. I know, I'm starting to sound a little bit crazy. But I was mesmerized. I think when I bring my future kids to ponds or places with ducks, I may just be more into it than they are.
As I'm looking at ducks, a floatplane flies overhead, and again I'm sweeping my camera up for a shot. I have so many pictures of these things, but I love them! Where in the world can you walk out of a city library to find a park with a guy practicing his fishing form, and then look up to see a floatplane low in the sky?

Tuesday, August 11: Day 60

2009-08-17T13:08:00.001-07:00

Why did no one tell me Duff was coming to Anchorage? Duff is the owner of Charm City Cakes, which is the place where Ace of Cakes is filmed. Duff came to Anchorage this past April, and let me tell you, it was not publicized very well because I research what's going on each week pretty thoroughly. I get weekly emails about major events and also all kinds of not-so-major events each week and nowhere did it say that a Food Network star would be performing with his band at the Spenard Roadhouse. What a bummer.

I took some pictures of his Alaskan experiences from the TV screen. For some reason I couldn't get the pictures to turn out very well.

For some reason he thought it would be fun to jump in the freezing cold water. I think it's absolutely crazy. It was 18 degrees that day.

Then he got dropped off by helicopter to AK back country to snowboard down a mountain. Again, a little bit crazy in my mind but I know to some people that would be their dream.

Then he learned how to be a musher:
After coming back, he was in charge of making a cake for a celebration in New York for Alaska's 50th Anniversary. I'm not sure why they were celebrating it in New York? Maybe because Alaska is so awesome? Here are some pics of the cake: Watching Ace of Cakes inspired me to do cake decorating and it would have been really cool to meet Duff but alas, now I am left to blog about the missed opportunity.

Monday, August 10: Day 59

2009-08-11T14:32:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to go pull weeds on the temple grounds today and totally spaced it. I'll be going on the 24th--hopefully I'll remember then. I bought a planner for this specific purpose. It's written in there and everything. Somehow I still manage to forget things. I used to be such a "planner person". I'd write everything down and cross it off when it was done. There are glimpses of that every so often as you look back on past weeks.......but still nothing like it used to be. I'm not consistent with it and I don't thrive on lists like I used to. And there are two sides to that: it's bad in the way that I'm much more forgetful now and space things I really should remember and good in the way that I'm much more laid back than I used to be. It reflects that there is much less stress in my life because I'm not obsessing over everything that just has to get done. But spacing things like weeding flowers at the temple is not good. I had said I'd be there and now I'm one of the flakes that didn't show up.

I don't like that one bit. I'm recommitting myself to actually looking at my planner and writing things down.

I also missed the opportunity to take a picture of the tastiest little potato thingys I made for dinner tonight. We were feeding the missionaries and I wanted to try something new. I remembered something I saw on The Next Food Network Star, and they actually turned out!

Here's the link to the actual recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/5-minute-individual-potato-gratins-recipe/index.html

I didn't have the recipe when I made them so I just eye-balled it all. Put a few pieces of thinly sliced potato on the bottom of each muffin tin, 1 baby slice of swiss cheese, another few pieces, poured a couple of tablespoons of cream, then one more layer of cheese. Amaaaaazing. They were all bubbly and crispy when I pulled them out.

Then it was off for a run outside because it was a lovely night. About 65 degrees with a light breeze. Perfect running conditions.

Hmm...I've been searching online for a picture of those potatoes and can't seem to pull it off. It's too bad. But I'm sure I'll make them again, and soon. If any of you try it out, let me know what you think!

Sunday, August 9: Day 58

2009-08-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

This is how I felt today. I guess maybe I can't say too much until I've been set apart because I'm not sure who will be looking at this blog until then, but today I got the scariest of all callings and spent most of the evening trying to recover from the shock by laying on a blanket with Thy at a park. You can post your guesses and we'll see who is right when I can give more info. Let's just say that I've often thought to myself that I could never ever do this calling. I think there's something to that--the last time I said something like that it was: "I could never have diabetes." Just a warning out there to anyone who may be thinking of using that phrase any time soon. DON'T do it!

Saturday, August 8: Day 57

2009-08-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

What? I should photograph for National Geographic? Really? You think I could be the best they've seen? Why.....thank you!

Today was another sleep in day, due to the fact that we didn't fall asleep until about 3ish with Thy's flight coming in so late. After being lazy for awhile, we went to clean the church and then it was off for a hike!

We decided to go check out the Eagle River Nature Center trails. We read about how there are beavers there with some nice trails around the area. All we saw were beaver dams. They must have been sleeping. There were a billion of them, though, and it really made me wonder. Do beavers migrate?

It was a pretty flat hike...almost to where it was more like a walk. But it was 3 miles, so that should count for something. Here are the shots I took (besides the amazing one that began this post)

The reason I took this was to try and capture the way the glacial water cut the edge of the ground so deep. I don't know how well you can really see that in the picture.

Paths like this one are what I pictured when I was little and heard the story, Little Red Riding Hood.

The above picture made me feel like I was in the movie "Signs". Can anyone tell me what could have made this mark, aside from extra-terrestial creatures?

Friday, August 7: Day 56

2009-08-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

Courtney and I stayed up waaaaay too late last night. Therefore, we accidentally slept in waaaay too late today. I will choose to not say when we finally made it to the kitchen for breakfast, but the sun was high in the sky. After breakfast (I will have to do a separate post on my love of Fiber One pancakes and Fiber One products in general) we played Qwitch, a game kind of like speed but with an extra twist, and Blokus (my birthday present last year--love it!). I'm grateful that Courtney wanted to spend time with an old lady like me who is probably no fun at all. But I enjoyed myself, so I have to give a shout-out to Courtney and say thanks! You didn't really think I would take a picture of us in the state we were in, right? PJ's, scraggly hair...

I went to work at the temple tonight at 5:00. Tonight they let me go early, at about 8:15, so I headed for home to clean the house up real nice for Matthias. I caught a glimpse of the sky while in the kitchen and just had to get a picture.

The sun set tonight at 10:21 And we lose about 3 minutes a day on the setting side and 2-3 minutes a day on the rising side (which is at 5:45 a.m.)

Matthias's flight got in at around 2:30 a.m. I don't think I need to express how glad I was to give him a big hug at the airport. He's my whole world. Thankfully, I had great friends who made his time away much better.

Thursday, August 6: Day 55

2009-08-11T12:22:00.001-07:00

Day 2 without the husband.

Slept in (always a good thing), got my hair cut (I love Flor!), went to Borders and browsed books on their comfy leather seats, had dinner with my friend Annette at Bear's Tooth (you order your food when you get there, walk into the movie theater they have and they bring you your food midway through the movie. Their sister-restaurant is Mooses Tooth so you can imagine whether or not I enjoyed the food. The movie showing was "Up" and Annette is fabulous company so I was definitely satisfied with my experience), played volleyball (the only thing I managed to take a picture of) with some people in the ward, and brought home with me Courtney, Sasha, and Jackelyn to watch "Pride and Prejudice" the LDS version. Courtney stayed the night while the others went home and Courtney taught me the ins and outs of Facebook which I'm still not sure I've mastered. Thank goodness for friends who helped me make it a good day.

Wednesday, August 5: Day 54

2009-08-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

Matthias left for LA today and I was not happy! Not only because I always miss him terribly when he goes, but I had been planning on going with him on this trip. However, we decided to save that trip money for a trip this upcoming winter when it's cold here. It's a pretty good trade-off, especially if our plans all work out the way we hope but it was still sad to drop him off, knowing I could be going with him, headed for the beach.

Picture, then, the strength it took to make it to the gym today....

It was not easy, but I went on that treadmill for the allotted time and left patting myself on the back for being a good girl.

I hate not having my husband around!!

Tuesday, August 4: Day 53

2009-08-11T11:59:00.000-07:00

Today had some mixed feelings. I loved it because I got to spend time with some of the YW and YM in the ward, but it was sad, because it was the last time I got to hang out with Brooke before she left.

I had a breakfast for her and some of her friends. All in all, I think there were about 12 people at the breakfast. We had crispy french toast, sausage, cheesy hash brown casserole, grapes, and juice. Crispy french toast is my favorite sinful breakfast food and I always feel a twinge of guilt after eating it.

To make up for the extra calories, we went hiking on Flat Top mountain. It's the most popular hike in the state, or so they say. I like it enough, although the last stretch is pretty scrambly for me and I don't like to scramble. It makes me feel squeemish about falling. Here's a group picture half-way up:

And when we made it to the top! (6 of us made it, Eric Wilcox is taking the picture) It was so windy that we decided to just go with the wind and make it part of the picture.

We spent time sitting in that little cove that protected us from the wind. It was pretty dang cold. From left to right: Penny, Cara, Brooke, Cindy (I just met Cindy today, she got back from college in Arkansas and is really fun), and I.

I will miss having Brooke in class and at other activities. Good luck in Wyoming, Brooke!

Monday, August 3: Day 52

2009-08-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Lake Hood and read while I watched the float planes come down. With the exception of one scary incident with a big bee, it was very relaxing. I spent most of my time reading Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. That guy is quoted often for a reason. I took a C.S. Lewis class when I was at Ricks and it was by far my favorite class outside of education classes throughout all of my college experience. So I have several of his books but I absolutely have to recommend Mere Christianity, The Great Divorce, and The Screwtape Letters to anyone who hasn't read them. If you're looking for a book to read for a book club, any of these would be fabulous.

Here is one of my favorite excerpts I read today from Mere Christianity:

"Long ago, before we were born, when we were inside our mothers' bodies, we passed through various stages. We were once rather like vegetables, and once rather like fish; it was only at a later stage that we became like human babies. And if we had been conscious at those earlier stages, I daresay we should have been quite contented to stay as vegetables or fish--should not have wanted to be made into babies. But all the time He knew His plan for us and was determined to carry it out. Something the same is now happening at a higher level. We may be content to remain what we call 'ordinary people': but He is determined to carry out a quite different plan. To shrink back from that plan is not humility; it is laziness and cowardice. To submit to it is not conceit or megalomania; it is obedience."

(For more info on the word "megalomania" click: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/megalomania)

There are so many nuggets of wisdom in this book. I find myself smiling when I read it thinking, "I never thought of it that way!" He nails down concepts that float around in my head but could never put into words. I find him fascinating and delightful.

Sunday, August 2: Day 51

2009-08-06T00:35:00.001-07:00

Here's the Sunday School class that I love:

We took a picture since Brooke and Daniel will be leaving soon for college. From left to right: Haleigh Robinson, Cara Wilcox, me (I really hate this picture of myself, but I'm taking one for the team right now), Brooke Mcelwee, David Owen, Ryan, Matt Rindlisbacher, Daniel Schwicht, and David Wilcox. I'll miss you Brooke and Daniel!

Later in the afternoon, Matthias and I brought books to Lake Hood to read while we watched the float planes. About 40+ ducks started to come onto the runway and I became very concerned about their safety. I couldn't get all of them in 1 picture until they converged but then my battery died. Luckily, whenever a plane came, the plane compensated. But it was strange to me that the ducks didn't even seem to flinch. This big, roaring floatplane is coming right over them and they're just sitting there. Finally, one plane made a few of them flap frantically away but nothing extremely dramatic. I kept wondering what was going on in their little duck brains.
I love Sunday afternoons when Matthias and I can be together without the regular stuff to do during the week. I miss having Sunday dinner with family, but it's nice to be able to do things like this together and coming to Lake Hood will be something I miss when we don't live here anymore.

Saturday, August 1: Day 50

2009-08-05T20:21:00.001-07:00

Breakfast at the campout and look who I find relaxing:

I just don't know if it could get any cuter. Things wrapped up around 11:00 and then Matthias and I decided to go on a hike. We went up the highway about 10 minutes to a trailhead to see "Thunderbird Falls". It's a 200 ft waterfall that I had read about but never seen. The main trail took us along a drop-off with the creek running below. These trees are literally right on the side of the cliff. I don't know if you can tell, but the creek water is peeking through the holes between the trunks. The drop-off was probably a couple hundred feet or so, and it was almost completely vertical.

Then we got to the main viewpoint...

...which seemed very anti-climatic. Doesn't it look small? I mean, it's beautiful, for sure but I felt a bit mislead....the stuff I read said 200 ft. Well, we found a side trail that led to the bottom, where you could walk alongside the creek. It led right up to the waterfall and we were not disappointed. Although we couldn't see the top part of the falls, we could get really close to the bottom part and it was amazing! We were so close the air around us was all misty. This first picture is on the way down. There were so many layers of green.

And then walking up to the base:

A little further:

aaaaand....scene.

I love waterfalls!

One of the best parts about finding this side trail was that we came across a bear!

Friday, July 31: Day 49

2009-08-05T19:54:00.001-07:00

Today was the ward camp-out! I spent the morning and afternoon preparing. Being on the activities committee, I went and bought food for breakfast and called some of the people who signed up to bring food. I also made a huge salad with apple chunks, almonds, cheese chunks, and corn chips. Yummm. And then, of course, packing. Matthias couldn't find a sub for the temple so it was just me until about 10:45 p.m. Julie Monson (see lovely lady in picture below with her daughter in the tent) gave me a ride. After dinner, there was a big game of ultimate frisbee: adults vs. youth, which was pretty competitive.

Then, the animal game (as described during girl's camp week). Here are some key pictures of some of the animals. First, David Wilcox being the monkey:

And Lori Bentley doing I can't remember what animal. But it looks good:

Later on, we played a game that I'm not sure what the name of it is. But it consists of patting a broom on the ground while saying "Peaches! Peaches! I love peaches! I love peaches, _____" I forgot the last phrase...."give me some?" I don't know....anyway, there's more to the game but it's almost more work to explain than it's worth. The point of it to me, was to watch everyone go up and do something silly with the broom and take their picture. That was the fun part.

And Kristy:

Matthias finally came! I had to get a picture of him and it turned out like a zombie-eating-a-s'more picture. It cracked us up so much that I decided not to take a redo and just post this one, purely for the fun of the memory of how much we laughed over it.

Okay, looking at litte Jenna Gardner makes me want to have children. She is one of the most adorable little girls. I'd have to say the cutest one besides my ultra-cute niece McKenzie (who is much older now, so Jenna is in first for girls under 5 years old). Just look at her:

Thursday, July 30: Day 48

2009-08-05T19:29:00.001-07:00

Baby shower day! I spent the whole day baking cakes, making filling and buttercream, and decorating like crazy! But the idea in my head turned into a fairly successful reality. It was awesome to see it come to life and I think Rachel liked it, too. The shower was for Rachel Vander Martin, a very good friend of mine who just had a baby girl named Lucy. It was kind of cool to have the shower after her baby was born because the baby could be passed around to all who came instead of being this mysterious bump on the mother's belly. For some reason, I forgot to take pictures of Rachel and Lucy! Whoops!! I forgot all about the camera after I took pictures of the cake and cupcakes at the very beginning. I'm sure I'll get a chance to get a picture of them again soon.

Wednesday, Juy 29: Day 47

2009-08-05T19:01:00.000-07:00

For every 100 times I've gone to the store and not found exactly what I was looking for, there is a time when I find every single thing I had in mind and even more. Today was one of those fortunate days. I had an idea for a baby shower cake and there were several things I would need in order for it to work. If even one of those things was missing, I'd have to start from scratch. And so it was with a great amount of nervousness that I headed to Michael's....and found every single one of them!

Mini clothespins and a type of string that would work for a clothesline:

Cupcake liners with baby feet and ultra-cute baby bottle cupcake toppers:
The cutest stickers to hang from the clothesline:
And something I wasn't even looking for but had a great amount of excitement about: Weekly Menu planner sheets with a magnetic back to stick on the fridge! Every week, I scratch out my own with a pen and paper for all the dinners that week. No longer! For only.60 each, I got menu planner pads that were actally super cute, as well as functional. Amazing! Finally, the cutest little notebook that will be the perfect gift for a someone I have in mind next week. Thank you, Michaels! You have made a loyal customer very happy today!

Tuesday, July 28: Day 46

2009-08-05T18:35:00.001-07:00

Rain, rain, go away!

It's been raining waaaaaay too much. Come back, sun!

Monday, July 27: Day 45

2009-08-05T18:19:00.001-07:00

Today was all about catching up. First: get food. Second: laundry, laundry, and more laundry. There was a super sale on Bounce dryer sheets at Costco so I got some for the very first time in my whole life. They were AMAZING!! My clothes went from emergency-status-smoke-stink to bounty-fresh-can't-stop-from-smelling-them-good. I am seriously considering writing a letter to Bounty and expressing my gratitude for their product. Maybe they'd offer to pay me big bucks to go on a commercial for them. Honestly, I thought dryer sheets were a big rip-off but with my super coupon I though, "What the heck?!" And my life will never be the same again...

Sunday, July 26: Day 44

2009-08-05T18:16:00.001-07:00

This is about all I saw today. And my eyes were closed so I really didn't see much of it, either.

We got back from girl's camp at midnight. So by the time we got home and both had a shower, it was more like 1:30 before our heads hit the pillow. Which is way to late when you have to wake up early enough to finalize a Sunday School lesson. Somehow I muddle my way through it and made my way back to bed after the 3 hour block. After that it was all about vegging with Thy doing absolutely nothing but whatever the heck we wanted. It was wonderful.