Holy smokes... it's been FOREVER!!

Sorry it's been so long since I did anything on here- almost a full year!! I will try and be better. We got the internet at our house in October, so it should (I hope) be easier. We don't have to bug our friends all the time to use theirs! Life is just day to day life around here... not a lot changes, I guess that's part of the problem of me not keeping up on the blogging! I guess there have been a few since last April- Sam started a new job as a boiler technician. He really likes it a lot. It's really satisfying for him- he goes to work and people have no heat- by the time he leaves, they do! :) In Alaskan winters it's probably a good thing to have some heat! He's doing really well- he just had his 3 month review and came out with a $2 raise! I'm really proud of him- he works hard, and he's good at what he does. I'm still working at the credit union, my job doesn't change a lot! I am in the Primary Presidency now- the 2nd counselor. It's keeping me busy! The kids are just so cute. Definitly a handful, but the things they come up with... always good for a laugh! :) Sam is the 2nd counselor in the Young Men's presidency, and loves it too. He's over the deacons, but only has 3 I think! Our ward has either lots of little ones, or they're all grown up. That teenager range is almost non-existent!

It's been really warm this year- I'm definitly not complaining! There have only been maybe 3 days that it's reached -30 so far. That's unheard of up here! I love it! Don't get me wrong- it's still cold, but I'll take -20 over -45 anyday!

Hmmm...

I just realized that we haven't downloaded the pictures from getting the tree or the ones from Mexico yet. So I guess we'll have to do that and get back to the blogging again later. I tell ya... one day life will be in order!! Oh... so you may notice that the top of the tree is all flattened out and chopped off. Well, the deal is that the tree ended up like 1 1/2 feet too tall for the house, so we had to take some off. So we did a little but, then a little more, then it got to the point that the only way the topper would fit would be to cut JUST a bit more. Problem was that with JUST a bit more, it flattened it out. Oh well, you never really look at the top of the tree anyway, you only see what's at eye level. And for me, that's not very high!! :)

We did have a great vacation to Mexico... Sam's friends down there were AMAZING!! They truly are very loving and giving. The lady that we stayed with gave up her house and stayed with her sister so that we could have the whole house to ourselves. We made some other good friends down there, too, who drove us around and showed us cool things... it was great. While we were there it was my birthday and they threw me a great party! They bought a sheep and cooked the WHOLE thing (well, except the skin of course), including all the guts and brains. I didn't eat any of that part, yuck!! They got me a yummy cake and sang me a bunch of songs and cheers in Spanish, then sang Happy Birthday in English!! It was really fun. I got some yummy recipes and tried them out at home. I should have taken pictures (I put it all in my Mexican pottery to serve it). We had a Mexican dinner party and everyone was impressed. I think I found a new way to do tacos from now on!! :)

A little catch up...

So here it is... April, and I am just now getting back to the blog... yeah, we really do need to figure out something for internet at our house!!! Here are a few pictures of the Christmas tree because I promised them!!! Then I'll get back to other stuff...

Christmas tree!

Well, we FINALLY got our Christmas tree up and ready for the year, but I don't have pics on my computer yet. I'll have to have Brandon M downlaod them from his camera (he took some decorating it) and Sam needs to download the cutting ones so that we can put some up. It was fun!! We took the snowmobiles out and went back into the middle of nowhere and found a lot of great Charlie Brown trees. I was getting pretty dicouraged... I wanted a more full tree because 1. that's how they're supposed to be, and 2. we actually had room for a big one! Anyway, after a few hours of riding (well, Sam was driving and I was riding... except for the 8 times he dumped me into the snow, but who's counting...) we finally found some great trees. It was funny to read Michelle's post and see that there was no snow, then compare it to ours and I was walking through snow that came up past my knees. To check out the trees. It was nuts. Sam's coworker and his girlfriend came with us. They're about the same age as us, and we had fun getting to know them better. They're pretty funny. I can see why Sam has a ball with him at work... the stories he comes home with... oh man! It's great. So anyway, it was great to get out all my old ornaments from growing up and going through them. I think that's one of my favorite parts about decorating the tree. All the ornaments from when I was younger bring back memories, and it's so cool. Expecially this year, being able to share them with Sam. I'm so lucky... he's so great! :)

The shot and pics

Here are pics from the trip. There are musk ox, caribou, us in Deadhorse, the pipeline and sunset at about 3:00pm, and Happy Valley (there is a small DOT station and airport there... people live there). Enjoy! :)




So here's the video. It doesn't show the shot real well, because he's kind on the top of a little hill and the caribou was coming up at him. He shot it at about 10 FEET!! You should make sure your sound is on while it's playing- it's lots better that way. Make sure you pause the music though!
OH... I almost forgot to tell you how cool this was! After Sam got his caribou I was standing up by the road waiting for him, and the caribou started coming right at me. I crouched down with just my camera and started taking pictures. They literally were coming RIGHT AT ME! I was debating in my head whether or not I needed to move out of their way, stay where I was and they would go around me, or if I was going to get trampled by them. I must have moved just a bit because all of a sudden they stopped and just looked at me. I kept clicking pictures, then they turned and ran back down the hill. After they left I stood up and counted my steps (I take two steps to Sam's one) to the herd. 12 steps!! 12 steps away from 8 wild caribou!! It was nuts!

Finally...

So here's the thing... I typed up this whole long post, all about Sam's hunting trip and everything that's gone on lately, and it took forever, and then because our internet is SO STUPID, I went to save it and the internet disconnected, and it deleted it all. Since then I haven't been able to connect at all!! LAME! This is the funniest part though... Sam and I came down to Anchorage this weekend to go to the temple and brought my laptop in case we wanted to watch a movie in the hotel room... turns out they have wireless internet! So, I'm taking this very rare opportunity to update our blog! You all better appreciate this! :)

Okay, on to the updates. We're supposed to close on the house in a few weeks, we're waiting for the inspector to get the papers back to us. I'm super excited, it's nice to be able to relax every now and then! We love it. It's cool to step back and look at what's been accomplished.

Here's Sam's great update: He shot 2 caribou this November on the North Slope. We drove as far north as you possibly could and did not see one single caribou. That's insane... usually there are bunches! As far north is about 500 miles north of here, to Deadhorse, AK aka Prudhoe Bay. We were about halfway home before we saw a small herd in the middle of the road. There were 10 caribou, one bull, eight cows, and a calf. Sam was able to shoot the bull and one of the cows, which was nice to be able to share the extra meat with some of our friends who needed it. It made a really long, boring drive A LOT better!! It was super exciting. Sam hasn't ever killed anything with his bow before that, so he was really excited, and I'm super proud of him!! I'll try to get some pictures on here for you as well. If I'm super smart, maybe I can get a video for you. He's got a cute little dance he does! :)

Thanksgiving was great. It was really quiet- there was only us, Sam's brother Brandon, and another friend of ours, Monica. We made a yummy deep fried turkey, and all the great goods that go with it. I also made my first pumpkin pie... it was fantastic! I'm proud of myself!! We just hung out, ate, and watched a movie. It was a good, calm day! We truly are grateful for all the things that we have. We both have amazing families, our friends are great, we have a beautiful home, good jobs to provide for our needs, and the wonderful gospel to guide us daily. Thank you all for all your love and friendship... hopefully each of you feel ours as well!

Quilting...

So, many of you know I started a quilt a LONG time ago (like 3 years) and I still haven't finished it. Things get busy these days! I really really need to start it up again, it's going to be SO pretty!! Anyway, if you like to quilt, or want to get into it here's a site that's pretty cool. And they're doing a giveaway with some really pretty patterns and stuff. You should check it out!http://thevillageshopblog.blogspot.com/