My Parents

Today is my parent's 26th year anniversary. I can't believe they're old enough to have been married that long. They are both still so busy and doing so many things that it doesn't seem possible. Low and behold, it's the truth.
I just wanted to let them know how grateful I am for them and the their examples in my life. Growing up with parents who brought our family close when we were younger has sure helped keep all of us close. I 'm not quite sure how they did it all! Between soccer games, horses (shows/races), church activities, and countless other things they still managed to find time to spend with one another. I feel so blessed to have them as my parents. They created a wonderful family - the BEST family (ok so I'm a little biased). Hopefully, Brett and I can as good as parents as they are.
Now that I am married I am even more grateful to my mom and dad for, not only teaching us kids how to live righteously and always do our best, but also for their example of what a marriage should be. They didn't sugar coat life and tell us it was going to be easy. They taught us that there will always be rough times but that is no reason to pull away from the ones that mean the most to you, especially your spouse. I am grateful for the respect that they show each other and I hope that I can show Brett the same respect.
I feel so lucky to have such wonderful parents and great siblings. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! You're the best!

Tourists for a few day

Yesterday I had the priviledge to be able to join Brett at work and don't you worry - I GOT VIDEO! Unfortunately, the video is too big to fit on the blog so it will have to wait until we get home BUT if I get it broken down I will be sure to get it on here. It's great! We took the "deluxe tour" of Juneau. It was such a fun day and I really enjoyed seeing Brett with the tourists and watching him work. We started at Glacier Gardens. This is a beautiful rainforest garden that a man and wife created. The man was doing some excavating and accidently slammed a tree upside down into the ground. He thought it was kinda cool so he left it and planted flowers, hanging flowers in the roots. (Picture to the left is of an upside down tree) He was so impressed with his "mistake" that he created lots of these upside down trees. These trees along with the natural beauty of the rainforest is a main attraction for the tourists in Juneau. Unfortunately, the giant golf cart that we were on broke down when we were 5 minutes into the 1 hour long tour. It was a mess! They asked us to go to the glacier and then come back, in hopes that the golf cart would be fixed. No luck. So they were asked to just take a walking tour of the lower levels of the gardens. Some of the tourists were very upset but Brett was the hero and acted swiftly to help appease them anyway that he could. He was a champ. We also visited the Mendenhall Glacier. We've been there many times, but I have never been in the vistor's center so we took a trip inside. It has lots of neat displays about glaciers and I learned that it's the most visited glacier in the world - SWEET! Our last stop was the Macaulay Salmon Fish Hatchery - home of the longest fish ladder in Alaska. This is home to about 2 million salmon every year. The salmon make their way back home to spawn. The fish jump the ladder, when they make it to the top they are "shocked" (this is what they tell the tourist but really it just kills them because that's what happens when they are done spawning anyway) they take out the eggs and once the eggs are hatched they are "imprinted" by chemicals in the water. It makes the water smell a certain way so that the fish know where home is when it is time to spawn. I have never seen so many fish in my life. It was so cool to see that many fish.

Today we decided to see a few things that we've been wanting to see but haven't had a chance yet. We visited the St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church here in Jueanu (it has got both of us in the Christmas mood, and we have had the song 'Jolly ol' St. Nicolas' in our heads all day). Alaska used to be home to many Russians and this church was brought here when they were here. It was actually built in 1894 in Siberia and then disassembled and shipped to Alaska. It is also in the book called "A Guidebook to the 500 Most Notable Buildings in the United States". Who would've thought?!? We took a tour of the state capitol building. The granite inside was very pretty and all from right here in Southeast Alaska. They are in "special session" right now discussing the pipe line but they were on break from lunch so we were able to see the House and Senate Rooms - very cool. Our last stop of the day was the Alaska State Museum. We spent about 2 1/2 hours in here looking at how the native people of Alaska lived and the early years of Alaska. It was very fun to spend the day together and become even more appreciative of the great land that we are living in right now. We finally got a few things crossed off our "To Do" list today and will hopefully get everything crossed off our list before we have to leave this gorgeous place! Check out more pictures from our Day as Tourists here.

A True Alaskan Adventure

This afternoon we had the wonderful privledge to get "hooked up" through Brett's work with a helicopter ride to a dog sled camp. So not only did we get to take a helicopter ride for free but we also got to play with Huskies and go for a dog sled ride. It was truely spectacular! We loved every minute of! To give you an estimate of the tourist industry here, this small 1 1/2 hour trip cost an adult $500! Yikes! Luckily, we got to do it all completely free. It was very cool to be able to see Juneau from above and be able to look at what we've been living in for a couple of months. The glacier looks completely different from the air. The dogs were so cute. They are so full of energy and all they want to do is go, go, go. The dogs are actually being trained for the iditarod. They use hauling tourists around all summer as a way to get in shape for the race. The mushers and handlers live up in the icefield for 6 days a week. They only get 24 hours off a week. They live in small huts that acutally look quite cozy. They are the only people in Juneau that have a tan. The sun always shines up there because they are above the clouds and the sun reflects off the snow. They all look like skiers from Utah in the winter time. Most of our dogs came from rescue centers where Adam, our musher, rescued them from abusive or bad situations and is now training them to pull. He is also keeping his friends dog in shape. One of his dogs is the "spokes dog" for the local brewery. He was very pretty - blue eyes and all. Needless to say, we had a blast!

Tag... I'm it

I just got tagged by my dear sweet sister-in-law, Natalie. I have to let everyone know 7 Random Facts about me and let me tell you... it's not easy. I had to cheat (i'm not really sure if it's cheating or not) and ask Brett some weird things about me and he sure came up with them fast. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not but I hope you all enjoy learning a little bit more about my crazy self.

1: I am "The List Queen". I make list after list after list. I'm not acutally sure where I picked this up or how but I did. I make a list everyday of all the things that I need to get done that day or would at least like to try to get accomplished. It's my way of keeping my thoughts and my actions on task I guess. Sometimes I feel lost and very unorganized if I do not have a list. Brett likes to tease me and often asks, "well, have you made a list?" when I am running around
frantic with lots of things to do. (I have the best husband ever)

2: I am not tickelish. The ONLY person that can make me tickle is my dad (and my sister occasionally) I can just control my tickle nerves extremely well and let me tell you, Brett hates this. My dad tickeled me a lot when I was a kid and I think I just learned to control it. I used to be really tickleish but for some odd reason I am not anymore.

3: I am a twitcher. When I sleep, usually when I am falling asleep, my muscles go insane and spasm like crazy! They do it even worse when I have had a hard days work (ex. playing soccer, riding horses, lifting, hiking) One time Brett and I were watching a movie, curled up on the couch, he was laying in front of me and my leg twitched so hard that I knocked him half way off the couch. He had to catch himself from falling on the floor.

4: Zit popper: one who enjoys popping zits. I learned this from my mother and my older sister. They would often attack me when I was younger and pop all my zits. They would tell me that they are doing it out of love and that they don't want me walking around with gross zits all over me. So I became obsessed with always making sure that I don't have any gross whiteheads or huge blackheads on my face. Unfortunately, for Brett, I do the same for him too. I am always checking him for zits to make sure that he doesn't go out in public with gross zits on his face. He hates it but he is very patient with me. Now - I don't like popping everyone's zits - just people I love and don't mind getting their zit scum on me.

5: I fall asleep during most movies, I don't fall asleep in the theater but if me and Brett are watching a movie just cuddling on the couch I most likely fall asleep. Growing up I was always the last one to go to sleep at sleep overs or watching movies late at night but every since I graduated high school and have been so busy the only time I have to relax is when we watch movies, so it's my time to really relax. I love curling up on the couch and watching a good movie with Brett (or at least until I fall asleep), it's now one of my favorite things to do. Brett asks why I always fall asleep and I just tell him that I get so comfortable that I can't help but fall asleep.

6: I have to get things prepared for the next day before I can fall asleep at night. Example: I have to lay the clothes out that I am going to wear and pack my bags for the next day. I have this superstition that if I don't, I will wake up late the next morning and it will be a horrible day. So I just prepare the night before so that even if I do wake up a little late I don't have to waste time deciding what to wear and I'm not as likely to forget something as I run out the door.

7: I HAVE to have my clothes hung up facing the same direction and grouped by colors. My closet looks something like this: sweaters at the back grouped together in colors (just during the summer, then they move to the front during the winter when I wear them everyday) then all of my shirts are grouped together by color and either short or long-sleeved. Then my dresses, once again, grouped by color.

So now everyone knows my oddities and my OCD's. I am now tagging Brit Hansen (you just got started on the blog world so I thought it'd be a nice welcome for you), Nicole Pettingill, and both Megan and Zach! I'm also tagging Dearth and Maynes because I know they love blogging! Good luck and I will look forward to reading all about you!

They named a Lake after us!

On Friday afternoon we (Megan, Zach, Brett and I) headed out to Peterson Lake (ok so it's spelled a little wrong - but it's still cool!). Megan and Zach reserved a small cabin there for Friday and Saturday night so we hiked out on Friday. It was about a 4.3ish mile hike. I love hiking here because everything is SO green! It is seriously like walking through the jungle. It is just gorgeous. We really enjoyed the hike, other that it has been raining the last couple of days and it made thre tail pretty muddy. Despite the slippery, muddy, wetness we had a great time.
This cabin sits on a lake that has very small trout in it - they feel especially small when you are used to catching 25 lb. salmon! There was a canoe that was big enough to hold all of us so we took a couple of adventures out on the lake. It was so peaceful out there. It felt as if we were the only people on earth. It was so relaxing to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
Unfortunately, Brett could not get Sunday off so we had to leave Megan and Zach and return home without them. We were so sad to leave but because we left I was able to make it to church today. The first time since May 4 and boy was it refreshing! I love this gospel and I love the sacrament. It felt so good to be able to enjoy a regular Sunday and not have to worry about work. It sure will be nice when we can enjoy the blessing of the scarment in our life every single week again. It's amazing how drained you really do feel when you do not have that opportunity to partake of the sacrament on a weekly basis.
Sorry about the tangent there - the camping trip was awesome! We love enjoying the outdoors, getting dirty, fishing, hiking, and everything in between. We feel so blessed to have to opportunity to live in such a beautiful place. We hope that you can enjoy our trip with us and check out our pictures here!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July everyone! Brett and I have been together for over a year a half but oddly enough we have never seen the fireworks together. Last summer I was in New Jersey so this summer happens to be the first 4th of July that we've spent together. Here in Juneau, the firworks happen every year on July 3rd just before midnight. They have to do them that late because it just barely gets dark enough at 11:30, so they bring in the 4th with fireworks. Everyone in the entire city goes downtown to watch the fireworks. There are people everywhere! We found a spot along the east side of the harbor by one of the cruise ships and we got to enjoy the firworks together. Megan and Zach have been in Seattle for their 5-year anniversary (HOLY COW!) so we were by ourselves. We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed spending the day together. The fireworks were quite amazing because the clouds were really low so they were brighter and louder. Plus, they echo off of the mountains on both sides of the channel, so every "BOOM" is loud! Every big firework that went off sounded like a huge cannon exploding. Sometimes we felt like we were going to have to take cover. It also made us realize that being away from home is harder during holidays when you know family traditions are still going on back home. We sure do miss the fun events of the good ol' Cache Valley. We miss everyone from home but we are having a blast up here! And in Brooklyn's words: "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."