Our New Home

We will be renting this beauty for the next little while in North Pole, Alaska. These are not great pictures as I pulled them off the internet listing, but you get the idea. Steve is already on his way, driving the U-haul full of our stuff, and should be somewhere in Canada by now. I will join him at the end of September when I have finished up some projects at work. I will visit him during the first week in September and will post more photos then.

The Great Alaska Adventure Begins

When we landed in Fairbanks, AK last night around 11 pm the sky was not yet totally dark but we were less interested in the sights and more interested in sleep. This morning we got to see how beautiful it is here. Today we looked at hundreds of rentals...okay, maybe not hundreds but it felt like hundreds. Now we have to decide if we want more space or a garage. Either way, we will have to outfit our cars with an engine heater that plugs into an electrical outlet when the tepms get really cold. But, the good news is the last few winters have been very mild - according to one local. She said the it never got below -40 last year. Phew. That is a relief. Nice and balmy.

Today was productive as we got some good advice from Santa Clause in the town of North Pole. Yup. We really did chat with Santa and he though we should live in North Pole instead of Fairbanks as it will be closer to Steve's work. Santa, we may just take your advice.

Today we also learned that most homes use oil for heating and that you can pick wild blueberries in the summer. We also paid no sales tax for our Italian dinner made by real Italians. All in all it was a pretty good day.

Guatemala

This trip to Guatemala was awesome! We spent the week working on a 22 room hospital that will serve the entire valley. Right now, people have to travel many hours to a hospital which is very expensive. Most cannot afford the trip resulting in prolonged suffering and often death.

Our goal was to get all of the wall panels up and ready to be covered in concrete and we reached our goal with the help of some of the local villagers and kids.

We also had plenty of time to play.

Grandma's House

Steve and I used our three day holiday to go visit my grandma in California. We enjoyed a little sunshine, a little rain, and the company of family. We ate San Fransisco sour dough bread and dewberries with rice pudding...my favorites! And of course there were plenty of Yahtzee games. I love visiting my grandma. She is so delightful to be with. I also love her home. Her house is so cozy and full of great old memories. I love sitting on her porch and listing to the muffled sounds of train whistles and bell chimes from the nearby church. No matter where I live, I am always home when I visit Grandma.

On Saturday, we drove into the city and visited Golden Gate park.

Japanese Tea Garden.

We also visited the Conservatory of Flowers that was featuring the "Wicked Plants: Botanical Rouges and Assassins" exhibit of deadly flora. Very creepy.

And of course we had to visit the Golden Gate Bridge.

U2!

Steve and I have been waiting a long, long time for this U2 concert. We bought tickets for the 2010 show which was canceled due to an ailing band member...specifically Bono. So we waited for them to come again in 2011 but this time Steve was scheduled to be at a work training in Omaha that same week! So disappointing. So my dear friend Megan got to join me. Yeah! We had a great time, the concert was amazing, but we wimped out and left a little early. We were tired and our ears were ringing because the music was sooo loud. We must be getting old. The stage was pretty incredible.

The giant mirror ball on top of the stage was very cool. It filled the entire stadium with little circles of moving light.
More awesomeness.

Field of Peeps

Even though Peeps are not necessarily my favorite tasting Easter candy, I still love them and must have them for Easter! I love their bright pink and yellow sugar, their cute little faces, the way they stick to Easter grass, random loose candy in your basket, and each other. I love that they taste better when they get a little stale and how they look all lined up in a row. They are an important part of my Easter celebration and so Steve will buy some for my basket even though he thinks I'm crazy. I might be.

He even found some chocolate mousse flavored Peeps dipped in dark chocolate. Okay, those were amazing! You would be crazy not to love them.

This year I wanted to try something different with the Peeps...so I decided to roast them! And {hold breath here} it was awesome! The outside got crispy as the sugar melted and the inside mallow turned into creamy bliss. I even liked how they puffed up and became strangely deformed. Yes, this was a good idea.

I think my dad liked it too!

Birthday Celebration!

For Steve's birthday I surprised him with a snowmachining trip at Daniel's Summit in Heber. We spent 4 hours enjoying the spectacular beauty of the earth and of course the super speedy snowmachines. It had been snowing all week but on Saturday is was blue skys and sunshine! The landscape was so beautiful, full of new white fluffy snow, aspen trees, evergreen trees and vast vistas covered in a dusting of powdered sugar. It was a great way to celebrate Steve and what an awesome husband he is.

No sign of Spring

We had high hopes of snowshoeing to the top (or near the top) of Mt. Nebo on Saturday but all the roads were still closed. So instead we walked to Maple Lake which was beautiful. It had been snowing all morning but cleared up just long enough for us to enjoy being outside for a few hours. We are starting to get really antsy and anxious for spring to get here and although the snow is beautiful, we are ready for some sunshine!!

Weekend Fun!

April and Andy came to visit us this weekend. Yea! To keep them entertained we took them to the Wheeler Farm near our house for a little Bocce ball, goose stalking, goat petting and kite flying. I think they liked it.

I think I need to mention here that Steve and I beat Team A&A in all three games. We are the Bocce champions of the world!

April was the best at goose stalking. That goose had no idea it was being followed.

Awe, look how excited he is to be flying a fish kite.

Thanks for coming to visit! Come again!

What is that?

TVP. Textured Vegetable Protein. It is most often used as a meat substitute. Made from soy, it is full of protein and contains no fat. It comes in flakes, chunks, grains and needs to be rehydrated before consuming. Sound appetizing?

We got some TVP for Christmas and haven’t been brave enough to try it. Last night we got home from work and found our cupboards bare - except for the ingredients for tacos…minus the meat of course. So it seemed a perfect time to try out our TVP.

We were surprised that it wasn’t half bad. It basically tasted like the taco seasoning we put in it and not much else. We have been trying to find ways to eat less meat and this was a good option. Steve said he would eat it again so I guess we will be hunting down some good TVP recipes for the future.

The big AZ!

Last weekend Steve and I were in Tucson, Arizona for his annual work conference. This year's theme was "Cowboys" so cowboy and cowgirl attire was required. We did our best. Luckily my dear friend Merissa loaned me those totally awesome red boots which were a big hit and admittedly quite fun to wear. I might need some of my own.

We had great weather on the first day, I even got a little color while sitting by the pool but by the time we left it was snowing...which only happens in Tucson once every 7 or 8 years. So much for escaping the cold. I did get a quick hike in while Steve was in meetings and at the peak of the hill I climbed I could see into the Saguaro National Forest. All the crazy cacti reminded me of my days living in the Arizona desert. Good memories.

{cactus hiking trail with resort in the background}

{this Saguaro cactus had to be at least 30 feet tall!}

{Ye-haw!}