Mini Vaca :)

Yay for a mini vacation! Scott and I went down to Kenai this week (we're still here as I'm posting). We're staying at the hotel that his boss owns and he works at sometimes. For the most part we're just haning out and fishing but Scott is doing at least one day of work...Which is today so I've been just lounging around today reading and now blogging!

 We came down Monday afternoon and then on Tuesday we went fishing on the Russian River. Scott's boss's family was down for a family reunion and they let us tag along for fishing. They had a pretty decent day. Scott  wasn't sure how to set up his fly pole because fishing on the Russian and the Kenia Rivers aren't like any fishing I've ever seen! They call it 'Combat Fishing' because you can be shoulder to shoulder with other fishermen. Also, its not a 'Cast and Reel In' kind of fishing either. I would call it more of a 'Snag and Drag'. You throw your line out, which has a weight and then some leader line with a lure/hook, and then you let it drift for like 5 seconds and you jerk it out and hope you snag a salmon in the mouth. (You have to snag it because they don't really chase the lure so you won't really get a bite.) Scott snagged a salmon with his first cast after lunch but it wasn't a mouth snag so he had to let it go. After that he wasn't having the best of luck for awhile, but then me being the friendly person I am, had a nice chat with an older guy from North Carolina who comes back every summer to fish. He helped Scott set up his pole and land his first Alaskan salmon! 

Combat fishing (and this actually isn't that crowded!) 

 Scott's first snag that he had to let go

 The one that Scott got to keep

 I didn't fish because we're still technically non-residents until Aug. 7th and I didn't want to buy a multiple day non resident tag just to fish for 2 days. We're going halibut fishing on Friday so I'm going to just buy a one day tag for Friday. Also, we only have 1 pole and 1 set of waders and I'm not going into that cold water without waders!

Me on the shore and Scott fishing

RODEO...Alaska Style

I love a good ol' rodeo. The bulls, the broncs, the cowboys and the cute little muttonbusters. Scott and I decided to have a night out and go the the rodeo. I must admit that it wasn't anything like the Caldwell Night Rodeo or the Idaho Stampede but it was still a good time. It was like a small town rodeo in the middle of Anchorage. We did happen to know one of the bull riders who actually goes to our ward for church. His name is Bobby D and he is amazing. He's been riding for a long time and he has a couple of unique tweaks. Bobby D is legally deaf and blind! He can hear a little with hearing aids and he can see shapes but thats about it. It was a lot of fun watching him take on a bull and ride it the whole 8 seconds!
They don't bring stock up because it's expensive and try getting a live animal through Canada! That means its local stock, which was kind of small and some of the steers looked like wooly mammoths! They were really shaggy! (I couldn't get a good picture to show the long hair)
Another thing that was different was some of the events they had and didn't have. Instead of Calf Roping and Steer Wresting, they had Double Mugging in which they used steers and one guy roped the steer, another on the ground wrestled it to the ground, and the roper jumped off and tied the 3 legs. They also had Ribbon Roping. One guy ropes the steer, another on the ground grabs a ribbon off the tail of the steer and runs back to the gate.

 

 As you can see, there's nothing special about the arena but it was fun to be back around the rodeo/country feel...even if most of them are wannabes 

*Girl's Camp*

Growing up, I didn't have the best experiences at Girl's Camp. Now I'm a leader in the Young Women's program and I wasn't too sure about how I felt having to attend Girl's Camp again. Luckily for me, I have a great group of girls to work with and the other leaders were awesome!

All the girls in the chorus line for our ward skit

 

 Smile girls!

 

  One of our Munchkins, "True Blue" and our Elephant  

and Mary's phone..tisk tisk*wink*

The awesome leaders!

  

Our girls ready for the Survival Skills Amazing Race

 

Happy Birthday Mary!

 Just hangin' around...

June Book Club

For the month of June (even though we met on May 31 because of summer) we read Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster. It was written in 1912. That means the copyright has past so if you want to, you are able to go to gutenberg.org and download it for free. I bought the book because I don't have an electronic reader and I don't like reading on the computer screen.
Anyways, its about a girl who is raised in an orphanage that ends up getting to go to college because one of the trustees says he'll pay for it. All he asks for in return is for her to write him once a month. Well, she writes him way more than is needed and this is all of the letters she writes. The book's actually pretty modern in its style and ideas for being written in 1912. I enjoyed it.

We're taking the summer off of book club but we'll get a new book picked out in August for us to 'discuss' in September.

Meanwhile, I'll be keeping myself busy by reading some retold fairytales by Cameron Dokey and listening to some classics on audiobook. (So far I have Little Women and The Red Badge of Courage checked out.)

Wasilla Ward Volleyball Champions!

(This should of been posted at the beginning of May.. )

For the 3rd year in the a row the Wasilla Ward took home the volleyball. In the championship match, we gave up the first game. It was best 2 out of 3 so we knew we had to win the next two. The 2nd game we won 26-24. The 3rd game was intense but we pulled it out. I can't take any credit for the wins. The youth were awesome and worked well together! Hurray!

Summer Begins!

Lazy Mountain Hike

I was feeling pretty ambitious and have been wanting to take full advantage of the mountains and the gorgeous weather we've been having. I knew Ashley Breshears likes to hike so I proposed we go and go we did. I knew I wasn't in the best shape but I didn't realize just how out of shape I am! Lazy Mountain is actually one of the shorter hikes but the first part is pretty straight up the mountain. I'm excited to try some other ones. Besides getting my butt kicked by a mountain, it was an awesome hike. Things have greened up and the view was amazing. 360 degrees of mountain views. 

These pics are from 1/2 way up... 

 The little bump in the left of the picture...that's the Butte. We thought about hiking that but decided to tackle Lazy Mountain instead. Man it looks like nothing from up here!

pics from the top...

 Matanuska Peak is behind Ashley. We think it could be  fun hike towards the end of summer :)

 I look like a giant...and it was pretty windy if you can't tell by Ashley's hair.

On the way back down... 

 

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

May Book Club

This month we read and discussed Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

This was my pick. I love Tamora Pierce and her way of writing fantasy. Most of her main characters are female and I love the way she intertwines all of her series by having them in the country of Tortall and mentions the characters throughout all the different series.

Alanna is a girl that doesn't want to learn to be a lady. She wants to be a knight in a world that doesn't allow female knights. So, she switches places with her twin brother, who wants to be a mage (sorcerer), and pretends to be a boy. She is very determined, smart and stubborn. We had some good discussion about the qualities that she had to have to be able to endure what she did.

Next month is Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster