*Happy Birthday To Me*

So I just celebrated my 23rd birthday and I have a lot to be thankful for. Scott is the best husband I could ever have asked for. We went out on Saturday for my official 'birthday dinner' to Cattle Company Steakhouse. It was very yummy :) I also got to get some new shirts from Forever 21, one of my favorite stores. (I was so happy to find out that there was a Forever 21 in Anchorage!) On Monday, it was a somewhat relaxful day. I went to work for a short shift in the morning. Scott was a sweetie and brought some flowers to the store for me :)

I wasn't sure what to expect for my birthday being away from family and friends and just having moved pretty recently. I was completely caught off guard with all the love I got. I got a lot of love on facebook from family and friends. I also got a lot of love through texts and phone calls. I even got a cake from one of my co-workers at JoAnn! Thank you to everyone who thought of me! It really made my day!!


Scott and I have been so lucky in our move up here to AK. I was able to tranfer jobs and have networked my way into a school to sub at and possible get a job at. Scott has been able to work for some church members that are in our ward. We have a great apartment, are making some good friends and just loving life right now.

Settling In

So we've been here for just over a month now and we both still really like it. It rained for the first little while. They had a record breaking summer this year for consecutive days of measureable amounts of rain. I think it ended up being like 33 days in a row. The clear days are warm and bright and the days with little cloud cover, you can see the mountains.

I haven't secured a teaching job yet. I have a possibility of something in the next couple of weeks, if the principal gets the green light to hire. Until then I am continuing at JoAnn Fabrics. Its not my first choice but its a job and luckily I get to work freight so I get to be in the back a lot of the time. I am also going to be substituting. I turned in my application packet and I actually already have a day to sub on the 21st. (A principal I know suggested me so I had a day before I even turned in my packet!) I am also applying for a special ed assistant position. Pretty much I'm doing whatever I can to become an In-district applicant next year.

Scott is working hard. He is still working the temporary job for a couple in our church ward rennovating apartments. Next week he is actually going to be going to Kenai and working on their hotel there. He's had some interviews with a Ford dealership to work on their lot (not as a sales, but matainance) and Home Dept. We're waiting to hear back from them. He's still looking and applying other places. He's even going to look into taking some classes at UAA (University Alaska Anchorage) to get a surveyors license.

Here's some pictures of our apartment. We really are excited about it. We are the very first people to every have lived in it so everything is brand new. That's a big incentive to help me keep on the basic cleaning!










Its a 2 bedroom upstairs apartment over a storage garage. (Scott is playing Battle Tanks on the Wii)

We're Here!

So I was informed by my mom that according to my blog, we were still on our way up here. So I figured I'd update again. Dad was great and helped Scott drive the Uhaul up. There were some nastly frost heaves that made for a roller coaster ride but it was a good time. We made it here Thursday, August 5th about 1am. Kesa and Paul were great friends and opened their house to us even though they already had a houseful. (Shout out to them!) Luckily, we were able to find a great apartment by Saturday. Its a brand new smaller 2 bedroom set back with a personal deck. I've been working at JoAnn since Monday the 9th and been able to get quite a few hours for being so new. However, I am still on the look for a teaching job. School starts this Thursday but possibilities are still there. Scott has a temporary job installing cabinets and he'll keep looking for something more permanent.
It's been a short time and its been pretty overcast/rainy but it is absolutely gorgeous up here! Trees are everywhere and the mountains are amazing when you can see them :)

The only internet we have is from my phone so I will add pictures when I can use a computer that uploads faster. Sorry..

And We're OFF!!!

Just a quick note...Thanks to everyone who helped us get ready to go and all you stopped by to wish us luck! To those we didn't get to see..sorry and hopefully we can catch ya next time we're down.

Alaska, here we come!!

Yellowstone

So we took a week off of work last week and had a great vacation! Mom had been planning this for a really long time and it was great!

Before we were to meet up with the rest of my family in West Yellowstone on the 11th, Scott and I hopped on the bike and went to Jackson, WY to see the Bar J Wranglers. I'd never seen them and really wanted to before we left for Alaska. There were hilarious! It was definitely worth the extra day.

Then we made our way north and met up with Mom, Dad, Nathan, Amy and little Lucian. We spent 5 days hanging out with them and enjoying nature. I swear my dad has been sneaking something to Lucian because he is a COMPLETE grandpa's boy. It took Lucian at least 3 days to really have anything to do with me but by Wednesday evening he was doing pretty good with me and Scott (Scott better than me but o well, I'm female and he still prefers to hang with the males.)

We hit up some good places in and around Yellowstone including Mack's Inn Playhouse, Old Faithful, different hotpots and waterfalls. We saw a black bear, a grizzly, bison, elk, deer, and lots of inconsiderate tourists that don't know how to drive.

Most of the pictures are on Mom's camera so I'll get them posted as soon as I can get some of them.

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.