A Quick Weekend in Oregon

Scott and I at McNary Dam

This last weekend was the annual OVFA conference in Hermiston, OR. Scott and I made a very quick trip up to it so that I could formally thank the OVFA for a scholarship I had received through out college. We had some free time on Saturday before the banquet so Mom and us visited the McNary Dam and the fish viewing room. The banquet that night was pretty good! It's been a long time since I've been to a conference but I enjoyed being surrounded by firefighters! Dad was the auctioneer for the auction benefiting the Oregon Burn Center. They had some good stuff this year but the prize of the night was my dad's tie :) It was the last item bid on and it sold for $700! Gotta love those generous people and all the money that was given to the Burn Center.

Mom and I in the Fish Viewing Room

After coming home from Hermiston, we were able to spend about an hour with my nephew Lucian. He's gotten so big! He's 10 months now and is definitely a Grandpa's boy! I barely got to hold him or play with him. I settled for enjoying his funny faces and sounds that he's picked up. Lucian did ok with Scott. I guess he's been going through a phase where he doesn't really want much to do with females. Poor Amy. I did give him a couple of small board books. He bit right into one :)

Isn't he just adorable?

Lucian making snorting sounds

He really liked the book we gave him!

There's not much to update on our Alaska plans. We're still slowing boxing things up and moving them out to Scott's parents' house. For those in Ontario, we are planning a get-together for Aug. 1st. Not sure much of what the plans for it are yet but that'll be an easier way for us to see everyone before we head out the next morning. I'll update with more info about that later too.

Feeling Real

This last weekend was really exciting for me because it's all starting to come together and seem real. On Saturday, Scott and I made our reservation for the Uhaul. We got a 14' moving truck with a car hauler trailer to load the Jeep up on. We're going to pick it up the evening of Friday, July 30th. Then we have it for 10 days or less if we're done with it. To make it even more exciting is that the price is actually about 200-300 dollars LESS than we were expecting!

Besides getting the Uhaul reserved, we've actually started packing and moving things out to Scott's parents' house. We're moving things out there so we can have our apartment pretty empty and cleaned before we get our Uhaul. That way we aren't wasting time with packing the Uhaul and then cleaning our apartment. So far its just been books and my fabric (which I condensed into two totes. I am very proud of my self :) and a couple of random things, but its enough to make it feel real. Unfortunately, that doesn't even begin to make a dent in what we have. I'm not a huge pack rat anymore but stuff does pile up and you never know how much stuff you have until you have to move.

Wasilla, Alaska

Here are a couple random pictures I found of the Wasilla area. It is about 45 minute drive NE of Anchorage with a population around 7,000. They call it "The gateway to the Alaskan adventure." Isn't that appropriate for us? :) Although it may seem to be very isolated, there are a lot of normal things there. There is a Walmart, Fred Myers, Target, Home Depot and luckily for me, a Joann Fabrics. Wasilla is part of the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. Its been compared to Cache Valley, UT by one of my friends who have lived in both places. The Mat-Su Valley is also the main agrculture hub of the state.

There is a chance that we will live in Palmer, Alaska which is right next to Wasilla in the Mat-Su Valley with a population around 5,000. Right now our hope is for Wasilla but Palmer would be good too.

The Beginning

I thought some people would want to keep up with what me and Scott are doing with our Alaskan adventure so I figured I could try my hand at blogging. So we've been talking and planning our move since at least January.

First question is "Why are we going?"

The answer is simply because we can. We don't have kids, I just graduated, we've both lived in mainly the same areas our whole lives and why not?

Next question is "What are we going to do up there?"
I've applied for teaching jobs in Mat-Su school district and Anchorage. I won't know from Mat-Su until July but I'm very hopeful about it. I had a very optimistic interview with them in April at a job fair in Seattle. However, if I don't get a teaching job I have talked with the JoAnn Fabrics in Wasilla about transfering up there as a safety net. Then I could work my way into the district by getting an aid job or subbing.
Scott says that he's going to "hunt and fish all year" but we all know that he'll do something else. He's not picky about what he'll do. He's talked about even going back to school while we're there. He's thought about going to a trade school for welding or even finishing his machinist certificate.

At this point we're planning on leaving Logan on July 31st and spending a day in Ontario and leaving for our 3-4 day drive to Wasilla, Alaska. I'll keep this updated as more plans are made :)