Finally, right :)

I am TERRIBLE at keeping everyone updated. Handslap I know. I am posting here just to attempt to share our lives in Alaska after 2 1/2 years living here. We LOVE it here! We feel at home here and even if we PCS (hopefully to Germany) we will return to AK For Sure!! Brad has been deployed now for 6 ½ months between KS and Afghanistan, and we are counting down the days til he’s home with us. I have posted lots of pictures on my Face Book so please look there to see what we have been up to this past summer. I also have a few projects done that I will post on my craft blog in the coming weeks, I hope.

Life has swallowed me whole but I guess that’s normal for me :)

This is what keeps us busy now and this coming fall.

So Mondays Kenzie has a science class, Zac is a Den Chief for cub scouts and Kalea has Girl Scouts.

Tuesday I usually go into work at the commissary to do mark-downs and salvage and Zac has Order of the Arrow (Boy Scouts) or Venture Crew (Boy Scouts), they alternate weeks.

Wednesday Zac has Boy Scouts

Thursday all 3 kids have a Glass Fusion class and the occasional Girl Scout meeting.

Friday all 3 have Drawing class, the girls have Irish Dance and Kenzie has Girl Scouts.

Saturday the girls have dance and of course most everything else the kids do falls on the weekend.

Sunday I have inventory at the commissary so I go into the deep freezer and count all the food in there and in the fridge. BRRRR!

Zac also has a Boy Scout meeting monthly to meet with his National Jamboree troop. Next summer Zac is going to the 100th year anniversary of Boy Scouts in America. He’ll be joining over 40,000 other Boy Scouts from around the world. He is also busy fundraising, right now its Boy Scout popcorn. Anybody want some??

Zac passed on the People to People student ambassador trip to Australia. I asked Zac his opinion to which trip he would rather make and he chose the once in a lifetime Boy Scout trip. He felt he can always join the PPL 2 PPL program or travel on his own. A very mature decision to me.

I also have been cleaning houses for over a year now so sprinkled in the mix I clean and do the final inspections with the housing authorities (days/times vary) Brad was my business partner but since he deployed a friend has come to help me.

I work for 3 different companies at the commissary (been almost 1 1/2 year there) so I am always there at weird hours/days setting displays, coupons, prepping major sales and audits. So my work schedule never is the same day to day or week to week.

I have been trying to squeeze some “me” time in and have been hitting the gym 6x a week for about 2 ½ months. 2 days cardio, 2 days weights and THANK GOD 2 days of yoga. I am also trying to find time to scrap, knit, breathe LOL and I even signed up for a quilting class.

I am still having Thyroid issues, mainly because I forget my Amour. Yet another reason I need Brad here with me. I was diagnosed with Cervical Dystonia last winter and had to have Botox injections in my neck, shoulder and back. WOOZERS! Not fun! My physical therapist believes I tore my Rotator cuff but I refuse to ride on the fun MRI train again. Why at 32 am I falling apart?? LOL

We have a great group of friends so literally every night and weekend we have friends over or we are over at their house. We have our TV shows we watch together, shopping we do, working out, girls nights, scouts and Skinny Cow time (my new FAV ice cream sandwich, YUMMY!!) They are our family here. I can’t wait til we get to see our friends and family when we travel outside. Looking more like next spring when Brad can join us.

Ok, well I am done for tonight. Kenzie has her 2 BFF’s spending the night (like every other weekend LOL) and Zac has Boy Scouts at 7:30am, stop laughing it’s not funny. Nope still not a morning person! I will try my best to update more often. Night everyone!

December in Alaska ‘07

Dec 10th we got the keys to our house, the one w/o wheels. We are a bit overwhelmed by the space. Not that is necessarily a huge house but the laundry room is larger than the RV.
We pulled up the RV and unloaded our home. You would NOT believe how much crap you can stow away in an RV.
We also unloaded our 8x40 storage unit in 3 days with temps in the teens.
I had the boxes stored in the garage and basement so we could leisurely unpack. I figured all the stuff we needed we had in the RV and had in its place in the new house. The boxed stuff could slowly find its home. Well the packers in CO thought it would be a funny little joke to mislabel the boxes and mix everything together. No one will believe that the kitchen stuff ended up being in the hiking stick box, literally the LAST box I opened. We had company and she stayed for hours past when she wanted to leave just to watch the show.
Winter Solstice was a bit of a surprise. We were expecting the sun to be resting and to barley appear. This being the shortest day of the year and all. The sun rises around 10am and sets by 4pm. I am still confused why people think of Anchorage as dark 6 months of the year and made of ice. I am sure it is true for the Northern part of the state but not here. Everyone I talk to laugh and say, it is a big secret (Alaska). If you have ever been to Colorado, this area is like CO but on steroids.
The temps have been nice. We have touched down below 0 but have stayed in the teens most of the month. Snow fall came on xmas and coated the area but still very light.
We had some friends over for xmas dinner. It was nice to entertain again. Living in the RV we were unable to have the shindig’s like we normally do for the holidays.
We were able to continue our tradition of cutting down xmas tree. For $5 we bought a pass to cut down a tree on Elmendorf AFB. Just waited until Dec 24 to do it this year
Zac is learning about snow removal. He has been assigned drive way duty. He even shovels the neighbors drive too as she just had a baby and 2 other small children and a husband who deploys ever couple days. Good Boy Scout, doesn’t even complain… too much anyways.
I started work at American Greetings this month, you know the card company. It is flexible and I am able to make alittle xmas money. Working at Archivers gave me lots of experience in plan-a-grams and setting new displays.