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. 

happy Earth Day

The World Is Just Awesome:

 

The Discovery Channel. I can't get enough of this commercial.

you give me fever

Spring Fever is in full bloom in my mind. Since the trees aren't blooming yet (they're almost there), I've had to do what I can to make myself feel Spring-y. Above are my elusive glasses! My eye allergies are still in 'full bloom' so unless I'm wearing my contacts, I can barely see, even with the new prescription! And eye allergies are the reason I'm not pictured with my glasses; my eyes have been itchy and red, so I don't think it would have been a nice introduction to such cute eye wear!
These two trays I painted like mosaics for night stands to collect miscellaneous pocket dwellers. The blue/turquoise one was for my nightstand (I'm getting pretty anxious to be in a real home), and when I showed my sister, she said she liked it. I asked what colors she would like and she said "pink and green"; leave it to her to pick out the cutest things. I even like hers better than mine (I can't believe this still happens now that we're practically adult sisters, and I'm the age I am). So! happy belated, little sis! And happy spring, Alaska!

a day in the life

Life can get pretty mundane in a hotel over the space of a couple months, so for poor little Buckwheat, he gets to window watch. Every day around three he starts to play the "Is that Mark?" game. He gets all excited when he hears a certain rhythm in footsteps, or keys jostling coming in from the parking lot. So yesterday I put him on the sunny corner of the bed so he could watch outside to pass the time until his play mate, Mark, came home. He didn't even budge until he knew for certain Mark was walking through the door. What a pup!

music

I haven't ever really talked about music that I listen to on here before; that is about to change. A few weeks ago I was browsing iTunes and taking advantage of the free time. I came upon a duet composed album called She & Him. I was diggin it. Around the second song I realized who She sounded like. As I looked up to the album information, I realized it was who I thought! It was Zooey Deschanel in all her old-fashioned glory. I've had her listed on my 'profile info's favorite music' for quite some time, so you can imagine I was pretty excited about this find. This album has a lot of the sound from years' past, country and new age combined. It is whimsical, relaxing and melancholy (in a non-melancholy way for the listener). It's a style that used to be played on the radio, but is now harder to find without buying the old record.

These pictures are on their website, but the coloured one is only seen when you scroll over the ball in the white picture. I'm just thrilled! 

The New Calling: Ward Activities Committee Chairman. oh my! I am pretty excited though. 

If you're interested, go to my other blog to see pictures of the inside of the house.

wildberry

There is a chocolate shop in Anchorage that is more of a tourist destination. The World's Largest Chocolate Fall is found inside, and there are the most delectable chocolates you could fathom. They pick their own wild berries from the mountains, juice them to make their own sweet jellies, then dip them in chocolate that they make onsite. It is delicious! My favorites thus far are the pretzels dipped in peanut butter, then milk chocolate and the raspberry-jelly chocolates. Anything raspberry I have to get my hands on, so it's really no surprise. 

*I've never had one of the above pictured fruits dipped in chocolates, but they look very old-world yummy. Go to the link provided for the fountain to check out their goodies!

already

Already in our new ward, I have been called to a new (BIG) calling, and I have been asked to speak. On Sunday I was asked by our first counselor to choose my favorite (is that possible?) General Conference talk that I heard that weekend and speak for 20 minutes on it. Normally, in the past, I have spoken with Mark, so when I am under my time limit, I can sit down and he can make up for my 3 minutes (he's really good at drawing from his well of spiritual knowledge). But this Sunday, I am flying solo. No wing man. So I have to speak for 20 minutes.  I have chosen President Uchtdorf's talk: "Faith of Our Father." It will allow me to speak on a few different things, like our new wonderful first presidency:  Mark, I suppose, has been great at lying low because he has yet to be assigned a calling, or a talk assignment. I love having the opportunity to give a talk, but the nerves are relentless! 

happy things

In February, while visiting family on our way up to Anchorage, Mark's brother introduced us to "Flight of the Conchords - Jenny". Its even funnier the second time through. Have a laugh on me today.

what happened?

Over the weekend, it snowed again. It only snowed about 5-6 inches in the heavier parts, but it was supposed to be spring!! Secretly, I was pretty glad to see it snow here before Spring came in full-bloom. It was so nice and relaxing to watch it all fall. I haven't seen it snow in years. 

Some recent realizations:

 

- I love when someone calls Buckwheat "the Toto dog"

-Stepping in fresh powder snow is wonderful!
-Buckwheat LOVES to get "dirty" in the snow. I think he considers it 

white dirt. 

Right after I took the above picture, a branch gave way and covered 

Buckwheat in snow. He didn't mind one bit. 

Thomas Edison

I don't think I ever knew what Thomas Edison looked like. 

Here he is, unkempt and wrinkled, in his research lab.

new history

It has begun: a new class, that is. I have resumed my classes once again, since being on a break for moving. The last class I took ended before Christmas began, and I have missed it. This class will end the week we move into our house on May 1st, and then I will take another two week break for setting up the house, and then there will be no more breaks from then on. The class is US History from 1865-1945; I chose this class because of the early 1900s. I'm fascinated about those years. I just wish it encompassed the 10 years after, as well! 

eye glass test

Looking for new frames is one of the hardest things to shop for. Mark and I went to one store on Saturday, and found two frames we both liked on me. One was a bold, funky shaped frame that Mark said made my eyes look oh-so-good. The other pair was a small metal 'hiding frame' as I like to call them (ones that don't make you so claustrophobic). I love them both, but I didn't know quite what to do. One is fun and fresh, the other is practical and perfect for wearing at nights when I just want to read. So what did I try next? The eye-glass personality test, of course!                                    "From Salsa dancing one night to a poetry reading the next, your eclectic tastes call for a variety of frames. When you're feeling bold and sassy, look for dramatic colors and shapes. Nurture your conservative side with a more subdued pair of metal eyeglasses from timeless designers like Donna Karan or Anne Klein. For the social butterfly in you, don't forget about a pair of sexy frames to take you to evening and beyond."

You see? Didn't help me. At all. 

sign of spring

On a walk this afternoon with the pup, I found this pussy willow tree on the edge of the forest behind our building. This is my favorite spring-time plant; they're irresistible! 
Hopping around in the tree was this fuzzy little bird and its play mate. My guess was that they were making their nest out of the softest things possible for their little hatchers. 

What are your favorite signs of spring?

hockey game

Last night we went to our first Anchorage Aces' game. It was a blast! I got to enjoy my sport-nachos and I had a grand time asking Mark, "what just happened?" We sure wish we had the Pikes nearby! Dan could have explained a whole lot to us. It was a lot of fun though. These Alaskans love their hockey and the enthusiasm was contagious. 
Giving adult hockey fans their own personal cowbell is like giving kids their own bubble wrap.

moose chase try II

Ok. I got it up and running below. Every time I would see the moose start to run, because I was looking through my camera at everything, it looked like they were running towards us, so that's why at the end I said, "let's get outta here." It was crazy to see this in person. The video doesn't do their size justice. And they aren't even some of the bigger moose we've seen. 

Knock yourselves out!

Anchorage

Cook Inlet of Anchorage in the p.m. facing North

moose chase

When driving home from dinner last night, we saw these two moose being teased by kids, and when they didn't want to take any more, they chased the kid into the river! Moose: 1. Kid: 0. 

think A Christmas Story + moose + the bully with yellow eyes

Reeder's Digest

Not one of our better pictures, but it was such a cute place, I couldn't walk away without a picture of us celebrating our hatching chicks.
Mark and I set up his brother on a blind date with a girl we met here in Anchorage, and it was a great time. After the greatest pizza at Moose's Tooth, we went to Color Me Mine, painted our eggs, then went back to our apartment for a game of Golf (if you'd like to know how to play, I can email you the rules) and two games of Deal or No Deal led by Mark (there are no rules wen Mark's in charge). I lost my leftover pizza when Mark decided to put it on the top of the roof rather than pizza-ize our car, we drove away from the mall, I turn back to talk with Aimee and I see this big shiny thing (our pizza slices wrapped in aluminum foil) fall down her window as we were going through a light! Besides that, it was a very fun night for us all. I think I'm going to talk Mark into going back again.