Meet Olla

Since moving up here to the spacious, spread-out state of Alaska, we realized we wouldn't be able to keep up our "one car thing" much longer. It was impossible for me to take Mark to work, drive back, run errands, drive back, pick Mark up, drive back in our fuel guzzler. Hence the little one, Olla. Said like the Spanish hello, "hola!" It's a manual, but I'm having a lot of fun driving a stick again. So far, it's getting 37 mpg average. Go Olla!

Denali Train day II

The morning on Friday, we re-boarded the train above. We got in the same car, letter C, and kicked two old people out of our seats. For which, I felt bad because they got mad at us! It is not fun when people get mad at you, especially when they're old and should be enjoying life. Goodness! After that encounter, my mood was lightened when I got to see the views from the other side of the train: 
I'm not sure where we were when I saw this cute little boat on the rainy lake, but I'm glad I got the shot. When we were about 2 hours into the train ride, and in the yummy dining car, I saw this HUGE Matterhorn-looking mountain. It was just unnatural looking. It was different than any mountain I had ever seen. The first signal that it was just HUGE was the snow billowing off the sheer cliffs being hit by its own weather-system's wind. It was Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in North America, and the tallest mountain from base to top in the world: 
You are probably thinking, "No, Jayci, Mt. Everest is the highest in the world".. and you'd be right. Elevation-wise, Everest is the highest peak in the world. But Mt. McKinley is the biggest mountain you can see in this world from base to peak. Mt. Everest starts at about 13,800 feet and ends at approximately 29,000 feet; giving it only about 15,200 feet of mountain. Mt. McKinley's base is at about 1,000 feet and ends at 20,320; giving it 19,000 feet of sheer mountain. HUGE. Did I explain it well enough? I am still trying to catch my breath after seeing it. These pictures do NO justice, it was the most bizarre looking mountain.  
Below is more of the marsh-land of Alaska... with lilly pads! It was so sweet and simply beautiful after such a monstrously scary-looking mountain. 
Mom and Dad, I miss you so much already, it was SO much fun having you here; I'm glad you came to visit. You two are getting funnier and funnier every time I see you. I love you! 

Denali Train day I

Thursday morning my parents, Mark and I heard the female conductor holler "All aboard!" and then boarded the train above. Two engines, lots of passenger cars, two dining cars and one caboose. Personally, I loved the dining car. But the views were pretty snazzy as well: 
Above is the view from the highest, longest bridge of the train ride. It was 300 feet high and 2oo (?) feet long. Below is a view of one of many lakes. A lot of the tundra landscape is unfriendly to people. It can act like quick sand in many parts! I'm glad we were on sold train tracks.
The train ride was 8 hours long, but on this ride, I decided I love the lurch of the train. It lulled me into quite a few cat naps, I had time to read my mystery, and every now and then we'd all get excited when someone shouted "Caribou! Caribou!" in a sing-song voice. Mark thought he saw two black bears, one hopping out of a tree, and one running back into the bushes, but we were going fairly quick at those times, so he's still unsure. 

six mile lake

Today after picking Mark up from his squadron, he and I drove to the Six Mile Lake that's on base. The road goes right in between these two water ways, and the lake is connected under the road, sort of like a bridge, but not quite like a bridge. There were two different kinds of boats: the one pictured above, and the one pictured below. It was delightful.
This is my personal favorite. On the boats' sides it said "rent me"... so maybe I will.

shish kabobs

oh my! On Friday, I knew I wanted shish kabobs on Sunday, today, so I went to the grocery store, got Italian Salad Dressing, a purple (really called red... but who am I trying to kid?) onion because of their oh-so-sweet oniony flavor, and four bell peppers, 2 green, and 2 red. Then steak and chicken. Last night we marinated it for our small and simple BBQ fast-breaking-feast. Yum!

baby shower

This morning I threw a last minute (planned-within-the-last-few-days, last minute) baby shower for a friend I knew from Del Rio. She got here about 4 weeks ago, settled into her house two weeks ago, and is due with her first little girl within the next couple of weeks. Since next week I have family coming, I wanted to do it before I got too busy, and before she got too uncomfortable.
Here is the table with cute little cookies and napkins after we moved all the gifts from the empty-space to here: 
Cathy, Kristen, Nicole, and Jill before opening gifts, and here I am after the gifts have been opened:
It was fun, but a bit worrisome throwing such a spontaneous shower. She got a bunch of cute little clothes for her soon-to-be daughter. I love purple and yellow together, so for the clothes I gave her, I tried to stick with that theme. I wish I had gotten a picture of the yellow dress and ruffled-underwear I got for little Aurora; it was adorable! Happy Baby Shower, Nicole!!

11:00 pm black bear

Yesterday night about 10:30 Mark wanted to go on a bike ride. Anywhere else, this would have been crazy, but it was still really light out. He got almost down to the church near our house and noticed some people pulled over taking pictures. Then he noticed this huge black bear staring at him. Mark booked it back up to our house so we both could see it. So I grabbed Buckwheat (instead of putting him in his cage - we were in a hurry!) and we drove down to where Mark had seen it. I am glad we ended up taking Buckwheat because I've never heard him growl and bark like that; not like there is a predator around. He doesn't mind moose one bit, he loves rabbits and squirrels for the chasing factor, but I've never heard him like this. He must have known it was some sort of a predator. Sorry about Mark's "no's" trying to keep Buckwheat hushed! I couldn't not laugh.  Then on the way back home we noticed a moose on the other side of the street just up a ways. I'm wondering if the bear was following her scent? Maybe we kept it from it's next meal. Good thing! I don't think I'd be interested in seeing a bear + moose fight in our back yard. oh my!

So here is the moose video - it will work if you click on it (in case it looks a little strange).

 

peep hole

I apologize if you frequent this blog, but I just wanted to post this here as well. Yesterday Mark went to work putting the peep hole into our front door. I was so surprised that the woman that lived here before didn't have one put in. Her husband had been deployed for an entire year, so needless to say, I feel good it's apart of the house now. 
It took mark about 2 minutes to drill through the door, and this was the view pre-glass. Hello over there!
Here is our model, Buckwheat, demonstrating that it works. It looks like it's always been there! Nice work, Mark. Well done. The simple things can make the biggest of differences. Except for today when Mark and I answered the door to a teenage girl asking for money to send her to a Florida acting and modeling school. Why didn't we use the peep hole? Now we're out 15 bucks. We're suckers. Don't get any wise ideas. We're not doing that again.

the finds

Having someone stylish living in the house before you, makes for some fun shopping magazines and cute advertisements heading your way. That is the case here. The girl who lived here before had some serious subscriptions.  Anyway, there was one that came in the mail that got my attention. There must be a few different versions of these ads sent out nation wide, because this is the only one like it I've seen (above). So below are a couple of the finds. 
I really loved the design of this gold pendent on the necklace, and the chain wasn't ordinary. The dressing room wall was so nice a texture that I snapped a quick one. Reminds me of something from Spain. 
Now this find reminds me of a Swedish girl's braids... possibly named Grettle? This short-sleeved sweatshirt was just cute and comfy. And cheap! So there you have it. I had to wear the necklace yesterday to church, so here's the proof that I love it: I couldn't wait.

weekend mishaps

This weekend has been full of mishaps for us and our house. First one happened Friday night when the sun poked its shiny head out onto the mountains and Mark was walking the pups (we're dog sitting) and I walked out onto our wet deck to take a picture with his new camera. Well... we got locked out! I'm a genius, I know. At least I didn't do it while he was away! Luckily we had a window open earlier and we thought it was still unlocked. Problem was, it was on the third story. So after hoisting the ladder up to Mark, then bringing it down so our neighbor Jason could get up and hold it for him (hoisting it a second time.. I'm tougher than I look!), Mark leapt through (and hung for about 2 seconds while he wiggled in - was a second too late for it with the camera). That was a close one. Then this morning, Mark and I were so tired from a late night of leaping through windows, that we were rushing out the door so I could lead the music for sacrament meeting. We forgot to take the trash out. Yesterday afternoon I had thrown away the remains of a yummy DQ dessert cup with extra chocolate and brownies. This is the moment all you dog-free people will be reminded WHY you don't have a dog. Buckwheat found it while we were at church and smeared it into our very light-colored carpet. There is no picture because it looked so nasty. After baking soda paste, Resolve, it is nearly gone. He felt sick all afternoon. LASTLY: 
While cooking dinner for our friends, the Betz, and Clark, we decided to use the oven at 450* to finish cooking some meat. The steam from the oven when we opened it would set the smoke alarm off and make the dogs whine. It was horrible and happened like 5 times. Who says Newspaper is wasteful?! Good thing I got to take advantage of Nordstrom's half-yearly sale yesterday, otherwise this weekend would have been way too much fun! hurray for good-buys!

color pallet

I've never seen pine trees with purple or aqua needles until yesterday. It's as though the Northwest has turned a bit tropical.
This was the only leaf remaining on this spring-loaded bush.  So stubborn, but still photogenic. 

films

Excitement all around! Last night, or early this morning (12:01 am), you decide, Mark and I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. What a great movie. Mark and I were talking about some of our concerns before the movie started. We were worried that the CGI wouldn't be as good as the real stunts and explosions they had to use for the first three. We were worried that Harrison would be too old (he was old, but still marvelously Indy). We were worried that the sound effects would be different and not the baseball bat on the punching bag. But it was! They even threw in another great fight scene with another Russian that just wouldn't quit. They even still had the greedy woman (seems to be a theme in these movies). 
When we drove to the theatre at 11:00 pm, the sky was still a light blue with a red lining on the horizon where the sun had just fallen. When we left, see the picture above! The sun was nearing the horizon again at 2:40 am, but just north of where it went down. The sun does not always set in the west and rise in the east here. The sun just sort of stays in the northern portion of the sky all day (and apparently all night as well). It is strange how close we are to the top of the world up here. 
Mark wore all his Indy gear to the movie, but wore only his leather jacket into the theatre. There were a lot of other guys who dressed up though, so no worries there. The theatre was packed, and with a fun audience, it made the movie even more exciting. Hope you all get to see this film.

leave it to the beavers

Yesterday was a such a nice day, that me and a nice couple from our ward took our pups (Lucy and Buckwheat) to this park near the center of Anchorage where the trail stretches around this very large pond. It's a lot bigger than what this picture makes it look like. There are a few beaver dams around the lake, some ducks, mosquito swarms, and dogs that are swimming, catching sticks and sniffing. Buckwheat had a thrilling nose-full. 
It sprinkled a little, but for the most part it was sunny, a bit breezy, and just beautiful. It was a nice way to spend part of the Sunday. 

and the winners are

1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes for our Ward Dessert Contest tomorrow night. One of the responsibilities as Activities Chairman is to go shopping for prizes! Below we have the winners:
3rd Place: the three toothpick sets and holders. 2nd place: the green [dessert] plates. and the 1st prize is the set of salad tongs with mother of pearl handle-ends. 
I really want to win them myself! Though I have no idea what I'm going to make... any ideas?

colorful

Here in Alaska, people LOVE to paint their houses different, exotic colors. I think it must be a coastal thing, because near the water it can be sort of overcast and grey, so the people make up for it by painting the exterior of their houses. In our neighborhood there are all sorts of fun colors. I thought I liked the light olive green, but now... NOW I have my favorite color. And it belongs to my lucky neighbor, Jeanette. Hers is the aqua colored house. The olive green next to it was what I loved before. Here's a close-up on the little shiner:  
Side note: I took these two pictures last night at 9:00 at night! But it was overcast and a bit drizzly, so you can't really see the entire effect of a late-setting sun. Maybe these are the make-up showers for April. May showers bring June flowers!

eyes

There is a reason for my lousy blogging and no pictures. It is my vision still. On Friday, my eye doctor didn't see the improvement he had hoped for, so he put me on steroids. Steroid drops to be precise. If I don't pinch my nose between my eyes, after a few minutes I can start to taste the awful bitterness of the drug. I can't understand why anyone would drink, or inject, or eat steroids. Anyone else have difficulty understanding? I'm supposed to use them 4 times a day, but I've been bad and have only used it 1 to 2 times a day because I have to sit there for two minutes with my eyes closed and pinching my nose with a piece of tissue so it catches my stinging tears. Sorry to whine. They are improving though! I have another appointment on Wednesday, and then the doctor is getting deployed, so I'll be playing Musical Doctors, and giving updates and reasons for why I'm not blogging/photographing (I intertwined both of these because one completes the other these days!). I think I'll pull out my camera this week again. 

Actual leaves are springing from the tree-buds now, and with light rain mixed with sunshine, I spent the day thinking of what summer will be like. I'm so excited!

and cut!

That's a wrap people. We're in the house!! It is so comfortable and wonderful and everything we hoped for. Things are unpacked and ready for use. Our smiles are sticking and so are the brownies in the pan (we have no olive oil). This past weekend, Mark's family flew into Anchorage. They arrived Sunday night and left Tuesday night. It was motivation to get things unpacked just when we moved in, but it was even more of a motivation to have guests coming. I think they were expecting a lot more work than we gave them. It was great having company, and I'm looking forward to my parents coming in a few weeks. 

The place I looked forward to the most:  our own bed! 

We took Mark's family to the Alaskan Wildberry shop and they finally had 

the chocolate fountain on. It looked and smelled delicious:On Tuesday we went 60 miles SE of Anchorage to a Preservation park that houses injured or sick animals. It was nice to see these rehabilitated animals! They were beautiful, strong, and healthy looking. The muskox even had babies, so I think these Alaskans are doing pretty well. 

Here is one of the three grizzlies we saw digging for roots. There was one bear (would be to the left of this one in the picture) that would pose for the cameras by resting his chin on his clawed fist (reminded me of a certain movie with "portraits by Deb"... it's unmentionable here!). 

These two bald eagles are some that are actually on base. They have been in this cage once they were found injured, each over 12 years ago. I had no idea that eagles could live so long. When these birds are on the ground, they are about half the height of a man. 

This is a muskox baby (calf?). In Best Buy, for all the televisions on display, they play a nature video of these native animals. A part of the clip is of a baby muskox hopping around on the ice and then falling flat on its side like a baby pup or colt. They are adorable, and have such 

big personalities! There were two of these tiny oxen that were annoying the adults. It was quite a show. The babies would run up to the adults who were eating fresh hay and get chased away by huffing, hoof-pounding adults over and over again. They were so cute: 

A reason that this update has taken so long was because of my eyes. Remember in a previous post when I mentioned my new oculars and my itchy, red, allergy-ridden eyes? Well, I finally got in to the optometrist and it's not allergies after all. My eyes have been 

attacked by a toxic chemical. That's right! I was shocked too. Apparently, my corneas reacted horribly to something new (we suspect a certain face wash) and never got a chance to heal because I wear contacts every day. So now I can't see, clearly that is, and with vision 20/80, I have been given thick eye drops and a command to wear glasses all the time while avoiding driving. They're on their way to being healed. Thank goodness! 

I will post more pictures of the house on my other blog soon. Tomorrow we receive the shipment of things we took with us to Oklahoma, and then I have my first of weekly visits with the optometrist to monitor my progress. Thanks for checking in on 

the update!

 

happy things

We are still in the house process, but it is winding to a quick close; we're hoping by this weekend. Especially since some family is coming into town. The many inches of snow is quickly melting, and today it is drizzly and glorious. I can't not love drizzly days. My history class is winding to an end, after I had a 1920's culture paper due a couple of days ago. It was long but really interesting. I compared the advertisements, popular values and priorities to today's popular culture. It is such a fast-paced time; everything seemed indestructible. As for the snow day we had last weekend, we had to let Buckwheat leap around in his version of white dirt, and he certainly did! Here is a video of him that shows his jumping the best. Every now and then he would stumble or get stuck in the snow and wait for more energy to chase the invisible squirrels. Here is the leaping deer for your entertainment: 

*reminds me of 101 dalmatians when the puppies are trying to race through the snow. 

seasons change

On a walk with the pup the other day, I was trying to take some snapshots of all the different trees in bloom, or trees about to blossom. It was beautiful knowing that Spring was finally here. 

Most of the trees around here are either some variation of pine or aspen, but there are a few that I just have no idea what they are. I'll have to wait until my dad gets up here to learn just what they are. 

Below is the picture of what the pussy-willow blossoms are turning into. Big yellow bee-looking blossoms. They still look soft! 

After all these Spring blossoms, this morning I woke up to .... drumroll please.... this: 

It's still beautiful, fortunately. Perhaps I still think it's beautiful because I never truly lived anywhere (but BYU) that snowed. The sun is staying up until 10:00 and it stays light until 11:00 at night now. I'm shocked it's not 100 degrees here. I hear it is still possible to get a sunburn here, even with temperatures averaging 75-80 in the summer. 

There has been so many more moose poking their heads out in to the roads, and they're acting more spooked because the bears are now awake... and hungry! Our friend saw a bear near the BX (Base Exchange) by a pond about 2 days ago. I'm taking my camera everywhere, don't you worry. Oh, that's a pretty bad reason why you shouldn't worry. Don't worry because we're taking our BEAR SPRAY everywhere. There. Feel better? I do! 

Update: It's been snowing all day and now it's up to about 15 inches of snow and it's supposed to continue all night. So long, Spring.

color me again

I just had to go back with all this Spring Fever in the air! This time I took a girl friend of mine, Chrissy, and we had a blast. Her favorite holiday ever is Christmas so she did a snow-man platter. It was the last one and was actually designed and made by a woman in the Anchorage area. So she had to snatch the last one while she could! When we decided we wanted to go, I knew I wanted to do either a pot or a huge mug, but I didn't know how I wanted it to look. When I was trying to do pink polk-a-dots, I realized via happy accident, that if you waved the brush a certain way and brought it away from the surface at the same time, it actually made a rose! I went to town with the Queen of Hearts when I found that one out.
I left the handle the clay-white and did little roses inside and out with little green bee-lines instead of leaves. The whole of the outer-side of the mug is sea-sponged with green avocado. 
I'm soup-er excited about this mug. When I get the final version back next week, I'll post a picture with the finished ducklings as well.