What You Acquire in the Life of a Styers

2011...A Year In Review

2012-01-01T21:15:00.000-09:00

Well, it once again has been months since I have blogged. I thought it would be fitting if I did a post summing up '11... some of it I may have posted before, some of it might be new to you!

January------
We changed our life plans and packed up our basement apartment in Cedar City, UT to move permanently to ALASKA.

(Cedar City...we lived in the basement)

I experienced the coldest temperatures that I could ever imagine... It got so cold my car could no longer read the temperature. (It was somewhere around -65). My car read it as ---.

We made the move because Devin decided to become an Air Traffic Controller, which has been a perfect choice for him thus far. (He'll graduate in May).

February------
We got settled into living in Alaska. Devin enjoyed plowing the driveway...

March------

My brother Zach got his mission call to Paraguay!

April------

We officially moved into the DOME HOME and we got Big Red.

(that's not our van)

May------

I got to go to my annual family reunion in Corolla, NC.

June------

My sister-in-law Kyla got married.

July------

We did our annual Gulkana River Rafting trip.

August------

We went to Utah for my brother Zach's farewell.

September------

Devin and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary on the 24th and we bought a piece of property!! (Construction coming Spring 2012).

October------

Enjoyed our Alaskan fall before the snow hit

November------

Did a little Black Friday shopping and got a steal of a deal on a 46" TV. It was a pretty cold wait outside of the store:

The snow started pounding in:

December------

Started it off with getting in the Christmas Spirit. (Devin put up his family's Christmas lights)

Then I got to go home for Christmas :) It was great to spend time with my family in Utah.

We got to skype with Zach in Paraguay:

Got to go to Temple Square

Then when we got back to Alaska, we had MORE snow and freezing temps.

(our church)

today's temp

Our Street

Well...that sums up 2011. Looking forward to 2012! Happy New Year!

Alaska Developments

2011-10-02T15:20:00.000-08:00

Once again time seems to always escape me- but at least I'm getting a blog post in!

Well we have had some fun things developing here in Alaska...and I will tell you about them!

1st: We bought some property!
Yay! This whole process has been very exciting. We recently purchased 1 acre, and are planning to build a small cabin on it in the spring. We are looking forward to a place that we can call our own. Take a look below!

Last weekend, we went and cleared all the brush for where the structure will be...

We found a Dr. Pepper bottle on our lot...

I will keep posting as we make further progress. For now, there won't be too much going on, due to the upcoming change in season. Which leads me to my next development:

#2: The snow is coming.

I feel like everyday I look up at the mountains, and I can see that the Alaskan snow is slowly creeping up on us! The level on the mountains gets lower and lower everyday.

Looks like someone is getting ready for Christmas...

Oh I'm not ready for winter! But there is not really any stopping that. By the end of this month, I'm sure we will have had our first snowfall. The temp the other morning was 25 degrees... It's creeping up on us.

#3-We loved the fall development.

We don't have the snow yet, so we are still enjoying the full development of fall. The leaves were all golden, and it has looked so pretty against the deep green pine trees that fill the mountain. Fall comes pretty early in Alaska, and doesn't last super long, but we are luckily still enjoying the last few lingering leaves.

Fall also brought with it some beautiful sunrises that I enjoyed on my drives to work.

I also got to go the Alaska State Fair for the first time- which is a big deal in Alaska. It lasts for 2 weeks, and thousands upon thousands of people come to enjoy it. Here are some highlights:

Big pigs and little pigs

This is a huge pregnant cow

Home grown flowers

And a HUGE bag of kettle corn

Also, last weekend we spent the day in Anchorage for our 2nd Anniversary! We had an awesome dinner at Lone Star, and I even got to see a pink ice rink in the mall! Check it out...

This weekend we got to go the Alaska Aviation Museum for Devin's class, which is on Lake Hood. Lake Hood is the largest float plane airport in the world! Kind cool, eh?

All else is going great! Lots of good developments!

Finishing up Summer...

2011-09-04T19:21:00.001-08:00

Well it has been quite the span since I last blogged. Time has just flown by, summer is basically gone, and all the leaves are changing golden yellow here. Since it has been so long, I will give a quick recap of the last 2 months.
Here a few random pics:

Devin deconstructing Kyla's pink fridge from her wedding.

Did you know paint just peeled right off a fridge?

we made tie-dye shirts in young women's

isn't Alaska beautiful?

In July we got to go to Kenai, AK and Devin went dip-netting with some people we know. I went along, but wasn't allowed on the boat for the dip-netting part since I have not yet gained my Alaska residency.

But they ended up catching 100 sock-eye salmon...

(Here's a portion of the catch)

It's pretty cool how it works-they get in the boat and stick these large nets in. Then the fish swim right into the nets, and wa-la! You got your salmon.

These people are doing it from the shore, but you get the idea. It can be done both ways.

Afterwards, we were on the beach for quite a while we filleted and rinsed off the fish. Then we drove home the next day, and washed and sealed all 100 fish.

Look at the loaded down fridge. And this was when we still had a quarter of the way left.

Talk about a lot of salmon.

After our Kenai trip, we were back home and did a lot of working and normal busy life. We got one more camping trip in, and one last round of fishing in for the season. Devin and I went with Bret, Britta, and their boys. Easton loved taking his fishing pole out there and "catching the big one."

In August we got to do down to Utah and see my family and my brother Zach one last time before he took off on his mission. It was so fun to see them, and to spend some time with Zach. Here are some pics of our trip:

When we went in to Days Market to visit our old co-workers, we ran into Jordan Thompson who grew up with Devin in Alaska. He is serving his mission in Provo right now. It was pretty crazy to run into him!

Zach's good friend Austin was his "greeter/host" who picked him up at the MTC

In October he will take off to Paraguay!

And now we are back in Alaska, soaking up the last few days of warmth that we are going to get. The other morning was beautiful-

next up: SNOW!

July in Alaska Part 1-Mount Marathon

2011-07-17T20:19:00.001-08:00

It has been forrrrreeeeevvvvvvvvveeeeerrrrrrrrr since I have blogged. It has just been insanely crazy and busy; moving from one thing to the next, there has been little time to get on the computer. I thought I would fill you in a little on what we did for our 4th festivities. The rest of our July adventures will follow on the 2nd installment, called: "July in Alaska Part 2."

We woke up early the morning of the 4th and drove the 4ish hours to Seward, Alaska. The drive is incredible.

Dev and I got there earlier than the rest of his family, and we got to walk around Seward and explore the town a little bit. It is such a neat little town- like one of those sea-port towns you see in the movies.

We even enjoyed some amazing ice cream bars. Mine was chocolate ice cream, dipped in white chocolate and oreos. (This is me personified in an ice cream bar). Devin got vanilla, dipped in white chocolate and sprinkles. The girl at the counter informed us that he was purchasing the "Princess Bar."

Look who else came to Seward:

WALDO!

Well, the reason we even went to Seward (along with the other 40,000 that flocked there that weekend), was because there is an annual race that goes on every 4th of July. MOUNT MARATHON.

This is different than any other race you can imagine. Let me tell you about it.

It started in 1915 when two men challenged each other to race up Mount Marathon and back down in under an hour. This is the mountain.

It is an ascent of 1.75 miles up, to an elevation of 2800 feet. During the first half of the mountain, you get about 25 feet of elevation for every 100 feet of trail.

Well, the race grew like wild fire. From year to year, the spectator numbers have grown. There is a youth race, a women's race, and a men's race that take place that day.

Between the men and women, there are about 700 racers, and another 260 are added to that with the youth group. Ages of the runners range from 7 to 80 years old. If you want to be apart of it, it's quite the challenge. Past runners who successfully complete the race from the preceding year are guaranteed a spot in the next year's race. For those who want to join the race, the chances are slim. From 2010 out of the 300 men that entered the lottery, only 21 got through. So you can enter that way, but it only gives you a 7% chance to get in. The last option is the night before the race, there are several slots auctioned off. The bids for this year were over $1000. It's a hot commodity to be apart of this thing!

Can you see all the people?

It was pretty exciting to watch though. There was such an excitement that filled the air. It was pretty crazy to see the people racing up to the peak, and then flying back down at amazing speeds.

Here are the racers going up.

The Styers' spectating

And back down...

It was quite the exciting day. And then we had a beautiful drive home. Interestingly enough, we did not see any fireworks on this 4th of July. It doesn't get dark at night here in Alaska, so it makes it kinda hard to see fireworks. Instead, we were graced with colors in the sky through like 4 different rainbows on our drive back home! It was quite the day.

slooooooow down

2011-06-24T12:31:00.000-08:00

I have been soooo busy lately. This was a nice video to watch this morning.

Hope everyone remembers to appreciate the things that matter most.

OBX: My Favorite Vacation

2011-06-05T15:52:00.004-08:00

Tomorrow ends the 11 day vacation that I have been on. What a nice week and a half it has been.

It started on Friday the 27th of May. The day came most welcome, as the week leading up to it had been a busy one. Devin left to go bear hunting that Thursday, and at lunch that day he showed me this video:

Comforting, huh? By the way, everyone asks me if it's Devin on the raft. It is NOT him. Haha, or anyone we know. His brother found the video on youtube.

But anyway, after only getting 3 hours of sleep the night before, I woke up early that Friday morning and drove through sunny, 75 degree Alaska, to get to the Anchorage airport. Then I took off from Anchorage, and flew the 5-ish hours to Salt Lake.

I then landed in Salt Lake where I met up with all of my family.

Everyone but me, my dad, and Trav's gf Annie took off on a Southwest 4ish hour flight to Baltimore. The rest of us were on Delta, and my dad and I were lucky enough to fly first class! It was my first time, and I was in heaven. For the first time in my life, I would not have minded if the plane ride was another 10 hours.

This is my dad and I showing off our "first class snacks." Instead of stuff like peanuts and pretzels, you get Harvest Cheddar Sunchips and Twix candy bars.

We even had a nice hot meal, which right before we were given a steamy hot towel to wash our hands and face. My dad and I had a great, relaxing time. We spread out on the huge seats, watched movies, and played yahtzee. I never knew what a different world first class was.

Then we landed in Baltimore.

That night we drove 3 hours to Hampton, VA. We slept in a hotel there, and met up with some of my mom's family. Then, the next morning we drove to our "heaven" in North Carolina. It is called the Outer Banks (OBX) and is a strip of islands off the coast of the mainland. We stay in a small town called Corolla.

On the way, we stopped at this cool Farmer's Market called the "Morris Farm Market." It was such a neat place, and had all this fresh produce.

Then onto the OBX in NC at my grandparents beach house! Enjoy the pics (there are lots).

mom and trav at an intense game of paddle ball

Boogie Boarding with the fam

sand crabs and where they live

resting in the "sleeping chair" after a long day in the sun.

(on top of the lighthouse. note: travis is scared of heights, can you tell?)

Fishing:

While I was fishing on the Atlantic Coast, Devin was 6000 miles away fishing for King Salmon in Alaska. (He was unable to go on this trip because of school).

I just love these two pictures combined because I think that it describes both of our personalities very well. For one: Devin is a pro fisherman, and my fish is puny. But also, you have me on the left in my shorts and T-shirt with my sunglasses fishing barefoot at the beach. Then you have Devin on the right, in his nice warm Simms jacket, fishing for huge salmon on the river in beautiful mountainous Alaska. Good times :)

When I went to wake up Timm for early morning fishing, this is what I saw:

Tired I guess.

(my dad had to leave early for work :( )

Our annual "Farewell Corolla" picture. Then on to get bagels:

french toast bagel

Then on our way back to my grandma's house in Maryland.

-Made a stop by our favorite place: the Dismal Swamp. Sounds dreary right? Through here is actually an inter-coastal waterway, where people can boat from Florida to Maine.

Mine and Zach's annual picture on the bench. (2008, 2009, 2011)

We also stopped at Chick-fil-a, my favorite, and the DC temple. So beautiful.

Visiting with our cousin Matt:

And now, we are all relaxing on my grandparents new porch, enjoying the nice cool Marlyand air on a Sunday afternoon. It is wonderful!

Tomorrow we all fly home. Sad it's over, but excited to go home and see Devin and be onto the next adventure!

What the Men Do

2011-05-22T22:17:00.001-08:00

Well, this picture has no relation to this post, but it belongs in the last post:

I forgot that I had taken it, because I took it on my real camera. I have gotten so in the habit of taking photos with my phone, that I forget I have another camera.

This is me, my cousin Rachel, and my mom. Enjoying our cheap, and good food at the BYU creamery during women's conference.

I just had to include it because I love these ladies.

Now, for the post: "What the Men Do."

My sis-in-law Britta and I usually find ourselves together doing various sewing, cooking, and craft projects while our "out-doors men husbands" go on weekend camping trips, bear hunts, morning fishing trips, and day long hikes. I'm sure you will be hearing more in depth about all of these activities as the summer progresses, but today I am going to show you the day long hike they ventured on. Bret, Devin, and Dillon hiked Matanuska Peak, while Britta and I patiently waited for them to return. It took a little longer than we were expecting because the weekend before they hiked "Lazy Mountain" and were back in about 4 hours. I guess that's why it is called "Lazy Mountain."

Here are the photos:

Here is Dillon- "King of the Rock." (this reminds me of this guy from Mulan-"King of the Rock")

The boys came back to our "Dome Home" for a bbq that Britta and I planned at the last second. They were all super sun-burned. It's hard to tell really how bad it was from this picture, but here is Devin:

You can probably tell that it was not a very pleasant sun-burn. But when are sunburns pleasant? Also, if you notice in the background corner, left hand side, there are the two love birds: Kyla and Sam. Their wedding is coming up next month!

Also, while Alaska is filled with so much majestic beauty as you can see from all the mountainous pictures above, there is also another side to Alaska which just makes me smile. (see picture below)

Notice the school bus? Looks like a school bus just parked there right? Wrong. It is a chinese restaurant. Only in Alaska will you find a Chinese Restaurant made out of a school bus. Hopefully in the future will I be able to visit this restaurant, and do a real blog post about it.

Stay tuned...

A little trip

2011-05-13T16:13:00.000-08:00

So it has been forever and a day since I have last posted. Life has been sooooo busy lately, and we don't have internet at our house, so my time on my laptop is way more limited. I guess that can be a good or a bad thing.

One exciting thing, is that Dev and I got the chance to fly down to Utah for a nice little trip. It was wonderful :) So great to see my family, and to enjoy some of the things about Utah that I miss. Let me do a recap of our trip.

What sparked this vacation? Well, we needed a new vehicle. Devin starts school next week, and with him driving to Anchorage all the time, it is kind of hard to get to where we both need to be with my white little "bird poop" car. (That's what Devin and my brothers like to call it). So, we ended up finding a truck in Utah, so we could drive all our stuff up to Alaska and make the final move up here. It was also kind of necessary to have a truck, because how can you live in Alaska and not have a truck? It kind of becomes a necessary part of life living up here.

Here she is. Big Red. (I am not a fan of having shells on the back of trucks. However, for transporting your stuff 3000 miles north, it is a huge plus). Luckily things worked out quickly for us, and we were able to knock out getting this puppy the first day we were there. This allowed us to enjoy the rest of our time in Utah, and not be stressed about finding a vehicle.

As for our other activities:

CAFE RIO

Can't believe how cheap gas is in Utah. In Alaska it is $4.25

Went with my mom and dad to get their new Swagger Wagon.

J Dawgs

Can you believe you can get a dozen eggs for .69?

Purple Turtle in celebration of my Aunt Emmy's birthday. She loved purple, turtle candies, and was left in Turtle River on her family's road trip.

My mom and I always go on jogs to the Provo Cemetery. (Not the one by 900 E). Everytime we go here, there are bunnies all over! They just roam the cemetery.

It's so pretty. It's up on this hill that overlooks the valley.

We went to the BYU Creamery, and I could NOT believe that a hamburger was $1.89. And they were SO GOOD. I can't believe I have been missing out the greatness of the creamery after all this time.

We went to BYU Women's Conference because my mom spoke this year. She did such an amazing job! I wish I had a photo of her from that day. But, because I am lacking a photo of my mom, I took a picture of the record board at the SmithField House. There is my mom, Judi Hare (maiden name), on the bottom of the board. She has remained on there after all these years, for setting a record at BYU for the triple jump in track and field. My mom is a woman of many talents and accomplishments. Not only is she an incredible athlete, but she is an incredible teacher. I love her!

Well, that pretty much sums up our trip to Utah. It was so wonderful to go and be there with my family. Devin and his dad drove both of their new trucks up to Alaska, and I got to stay through the weekend and fly home. Now we are back up here, and awaiting summer to fully grace Alaska. It's on it's way, because the sun doesn't set til 11:00. :)

So grateful that I can have so many wonderful places apart of my life. Not only can I enjoy and always love Utah, but I get to live in Alaska, the land of the "midnight sun." Bring on the summer time!

From here to there, My Birthday, and the Dome Home

2011-04-08T18:43:00.004-08:00

We have done a lot of moving lately. Between moving from Cedar, to staying at the Styers, to house sitting, and now finally we have moved to a place for the summer. It has been a very transitory time as you can imagine. Let me go into more detail...

For most of March we stayed at a family's house while they traveled to Hawaii for vacation (and tried to avoid the tsunami at the same time). We had a lot of fun at their place. I don't know if you can tell from this picture, due to the tundra that we live in, but their house is on a lake. It is so beautiful!!

We also took care of their two dogs. Spike: the "baby dog," and Trigger: the black lab. Devin and Trigger got a long really well, mostly due to the fact that Trigger loves playing fetch. He will get any ball you throw, and when he brings it back, he drops it right at your feet.

Spike on the other hand was petrified of us-at least for the first few days. And then, things took a 180 turn. He went from being so terribly scared, to trying to get up into bed with us.

Haha it was so funny. The bed was too high, so he would just jump and jump without any avail.

In the midst of our here to there, I made eclairs for a young women's activity. My friend from work let me borrow her "injector" as I like to call it. It was sooooo efficient!

It definitely came in handy as I ended up making around 85. Maybe it's time I opened a bakery, and got a machine to do it for me...

Haha this was totally on accident, but one of them came out looking like rubber ducky :)

Life back at the Styers was full of... can you guess?

Yes, TANK. He is probably my favorite blogging topic.

This time he was being sought after by all the family members, as opposed to him doing out the seeking.

Easton wasn't the only one who wanted to be with Tank.

Well, now we have moved out of the main Styers residence, and into... the dome home.

(the van is not ours)

Yes, I feel like we live in an igloo. The house is basically a big circle-a dome rather. It's pretty cool! A guy in our ward works up on the slope for 2 weeks on, and two off so he isn't around much. So we are going to live in the "dome home" this summer to keep an eye on his house, and Devin will help him build the little cabin he is working on (that you see on the right).

You can't see very well from the picture, but my favorite part is the porch:

It will be so nice in the summer! So, for now we are in the dome home. Pretty cool eh?

As far as other things go, I had my birthday on 040411. It was a good day- I didn't take many pictures, but the two pictures I did take are two of my favorite things. Flowers, Cold Stone, and Homemade Cafe Rio.

Yay for birthdays :) I wish we could have them more often...maybe not the getting older part, just the celebrating and the outpouring of love from others. It's kind of cool that we can celebrate the day that we got to come here to earth.

And as far as the rest of what we've been up to, I will just let you see through pictures.

chocolate oreo gelato (one of the many benefits of my job)

babysitting cute nephews

touring Kyla's new lakehouse (you can't really even tell that kyla and I were there from the way this picture looks)

snack time

monkey bread on general conference morning

and lots of snow, even though spring is trying to push its way through!

And the place is...

2011-03-26T21:37:00.001-08:00

So we had an exciting week in my family this week! My brother Zach got his mission call!

And wanna know where he is going?? The Paraguay Asuncion mission!

Isn't that so neat? Zach is such an awesome kid, and has always been such an example to me. He is going to make a GREAT missionary! August 17 he heads to the MTC! And he told me that he's excited because he not only gets to learn Spanish, but 80some% of the people there are bilingual. So he has a chance of coming back tri-lingual. The people there also speak Guarani.

Anyway, exciting news! Can't wait for him :)

Northern Lights

2011-03-18T15:38:00.001-08:00

So I've been waiting and wanting to see the northern lights ever since I first came up here. Actually for probably longer than that, but I knew in Utah that that would never happen. But then, once I moved up here, I knew it was a definite possibility. Well, we got up here Dec. 13 and since then I have kept my eye on the lookout. We even let several people know to watch out for them for me, and if anyone ever saw them come out, then I was supposed to be made aware! Well, last week I got lucky! Devin's brother Bret texted him and told us to go outside, because the lights were there. It was awesome! Definitely a cool experience. I tried to take pictures, but I don't have a good enough camera, and so of course it being pitch black outside, I had no luck. There is a guy in our ward however that takes awesome pictures, and he happened to catch them! He even let us know they were out too! Everyone was looking out for me! :) I want to show you so you can see a part of the beauty that Alaska has to offer. Thanks to Bruce for taking such great pictures, and all the credit goes to him!

Awesome! :)

What to Blog About

2011-03-06T15:38:00.002-09:00

While going through the pictures that I have taken the last 5 weeks or so, I realized that a lot of them are all of Tank. When no one is around, he does stuff like this:

(by "this," I mean sleeping places that he shouldn't...like Rhea's bed)

And when people aren't around, he still loves to sleep, he just likes to be by people.

(even if they are only little babies)

We decided that maybe Tank just needs HIS OWN blog, since it seems that I am always so amused and fascinated by him and his sleeping habits.

Maybe one day Tank will get his own blog... but speaking of new blogs, I am in the process of creating a new one. It will be more of a "tidbit" blog. More will come on that later.

As far as an update on our lives far, far away in Alaska, things are going great. It is still pretty chilly, but is warming up, so on lucky days, it gets to be around 20 degrees. We had a big dumping a few weeks ago, so Devin was excited to be able to get out the 4-wheeler, and plow the big driveway.

And guess who had to be in on the action?

Yep-Tank.

As far as other things we've been up to... we have had a few "house sitting" jobs for some of those Alaskans seeking warmer climates. A few weeks ago we stayed at a family's house who went down to AZ. We had a lot of fun holding down their fort and watching their two little dogs that I think blend right in to their Alaskan winter surroundings. We kept pretty entertained by these two.

This coming week, we are heading to another house while the family hits up Hawaii... Sounds nice, huh?

Meanwhile, I am keeping busy and dreaming of a house of my own one day, that will have pretty cabinets like these.

But, life is good up here in this winter wilderness. I'm keeping busy and amused with things like:

My cute nephews

2. Moose in the yard all the time

3. The sky and the beautiful mountains

4. And things you really wouldn't see anywhere else but here, like:

A garage at your neighbor's house that has to be so big because they have their own personal airplane:

And seeing things like polar bear rugs:

Yes...I think that Alaska always has something new you can discover.

Yay!

2011-01-24T15:38:00.002-09:00

Wild Winter Whirlwind Week

2011-01-18T00:14:00.001-09:00

Well, a lot of people have been asking me what we are doing back up in Alaska (for those of you who don't know, we are up in Alaska), where our life is going, what we are doing, etc. This is the post that will describe all of that, and more. It's going to be a long post. A post about last week. It was literally exactly what the title of the post describes: A Wild Winter Whirlwind Week.

Perhaps before I go into a deep depiction of last week, I think I will need to back up in time a little bit to give the situation some context. As most of you know, we came up to Alaska for Christmas break. We were planning almost the whole time on going back to Utah; attending our next semester at SUU, living in Cedar City, etc. That was the plan. But, life isn't really about making plans. That's what I've realized. :) It's about living. And what comes with living? Unexpected changes, adventures, new ideas, going where you need to go and doing what you need to do. Sometimes in our life, we do have to make plans. I'm not against planning, I think it is a great thing. However, life does throw unexpected curves which change our plans, and while unexpected, often times they are good curves!

Anyway- one night we were all sitting around at the Styers, when the career of "Air Traffic Control" was brought up. Long story short, our ears were perked, and Devin and I did a lot of investigating on this intriguing career the next few days. The more we learned about it, the more it fit. It honestly felt like we had been trying to solve this "career jigsaw puzzle," and when this option (one that we had never thought about before) came up, it was like we finally found that missing piece.

Devin and I became really excited about him pursuing this. There was one problem that was a big bummer for me- there is no schooling institution in Utah for training in this field. There are other routes that don't involve school, but Devin and I thought that the best route was for him to go to school for it. This way, he felt that he would have a more solid foundation that would help him later on.

Anyway- there wasn't one in Utah, but one of the best places to go is the University of Anchorage Alaska. That seemed to work out good, because the plan was to move up here eventually anyway. It was a little bit of a bummer because I was looking forward to having these next few years at SUU in my home state. :) Not that I don't love Alaska, because I LOVE Alaska, but it's kind of a bummer being far from your family right? That's the hardest part about it. But sometimes you gotta do hard things-they just make you stronger! Plus Devin and I both know what a good opportunity this is, and we are so excited about it.

So-once the decision was made, there were arrangements that had to be made as well. We already were flying back down to Utah anyway, so we kept those tickets so we could get back and pack up our apartment. That day of traveling was a crazy one! Devin and I flew out of Anchorage and went to Juneau. It was so beautiful! I loved flying in there. Unfortunately I had a sinus sickness of some sort, so when we were landing, instead of being able to enjoy the beautiful scenery, I was instead having a pressure explosion on the right side of my face. I won't get into detail about that...

This is probably what you would rather see:

Anyway-we then flew from Juneau to Seattle. We left a little late, so when we got to Seattle, I walked off that plane, and got right on the next plane which would take me to Vegas. Devin on the other-hand flew to Phoenix to pick up our car which we had left there at his grandma's before Christmas Break. As a result of me just getting on the plane in time, something else of mine did not get on the plane in time. Can you guess what?

This is what I looked like. Except I'm a girl, not this man.

(I never knew there were so many comics about airports)

It actually was not that bad of an experience. Surprising, I know. I was flying on Alaska Airlines, and they were very considerate and apologetic, and they even got me a voucher for 2000 free miles! My bag got to the Cedar City airport the next night, and so it worked out great. Luckily that night I was sleeping at my apartment in Cedar, and so I had clothes and things to hold me over until my bag arrived.

Anyway-back to my travel day. I got into Vegas without my luggage, and then took a shuttle from Vegas to St. George. My mom and brother Timm then picked me up there, and we drove to Cedar City. On our way, we passed the Claridge Inn (Lauren Rule, if you are reading this, that is where we stayed when you went to St. George with my family...some interesting memories and laughs about that place, haha). That brought some smiles.

Devin arrived the next day after his 8 hr. drive from Phoenix to Cedar. Then, we began PACKING!

It was a blessing having my mom there. It allowed the packing to get done so much more quickly and smoothly. I'm so grateful for that. I never got around to putting up pictures of our apartment, so I will do that now. I'll put up the ones of after everything was cleaned out-the other pictures make the place look like a disaster because of all the packing that was going on.

bedroom

bathroom

kitchen

spare bedroom

family room

It was a great little place! Sad to say goodbye, but the most fun part is that we get to look forward to the next place we will live! Another adventure on its way.

So-we got all packed up, and then drove the 3 hours north to Provo. This was great because we got to spend a few days with my family there. It was quite the party as always- Cafe Rio, Just Dance, movies, games, Rhett's birthday, Zach's basketball game, etc. Another highlight was that Murphy (our Newfoundland dog) knew I was home, and so he kept pushing the garage door open to come inside and be with us all. Instead of ushering him back out into the garage or backyard where he dominantly resides, we let him stay in, and kicked the little dog-Moe- out. Here is a video that I took for my cousin Rachel, because I know she would appreciate this kind gesture towards Murph.

Here are some pictures of our "bear" lounging around with us in the house.

Here are some other highlights of our visit:

Rhett turned 15- (haha we realized we didn't have candles)

Zach getting a pass on the court

After a few days in Provo, we were back to being travelers. And then began our 55 hr. drive to Alaska! Boy was it a journey.

This is a summary of how our trip was broken down, and then I will let you enjoy the documentation.

-We drove from Provo to Idaho Falls, and then stayed the night Wednesday.

-The next day we drove from Idaho Falls to Edmonton, Canada.

-The next morning, our car wouldn't start, due to the cold temperatures. (2 hr. delay, but due to the blessed timing of things, we were able to get some help from a nice man that came to work on the hotel's elevators).

Back on the road...

-After that we were on our way. We drove through the snow (or rather, Devin drove) to Ft. Nelson, and spent the night in our car (because we didn't want to turn it off again...) Then we drove the rest of the way till we got back to Big Lake at 5:00 am Sunday morning.

Now...Here is the documentation. Please give the closest attention to the temperature gauge in my car.

I saw this, and thought: "Oh 0 degrees! That's pretty cool." Just wait.

This picture (below) is when we decided to leave our hoagie buns in the car the night in Edmonton. They were frozen the next morning (obviously), and so this is my attempt to de-thaw them using the defroster of my car.

This is my window getting iced over from the inside. It got way worse than this.

Driving through Canada:

I love these next two pictures. Don't they just almost look like a black and white photo? I think it's so cool.

And we met some friends along the way:

Isn't it beautiful?

And then in Haines Junction, Canada (about 10 hrs. from our destination) we stopped to get gas:

And the car looked like this:

snow blasted

And then my temperature gauge got below -40.

But my car didn't know how to react. So instead of reading -41, -42, or -50 (which it got to in Tok, Alaska),

it just said: ---

Then we knew that it was beyond cold. It was freezing. Actually more than that.

And so the next chapter begins! :) Put your seat belts on!

New Years Day

2011-01-16T19:04:00.000-09:00

Well, 2011 is here! I have a "big update about our life post" coming up, but for this one, I just wanted to do a short little snippet of what we did for New Years. That night we enjoyed a variety of games which included: volleyball, floor hockey, bezzerwizzer and quelf. (Bezzerwizzer is an AWESOME trivia game. If you are looking for something new, that's a good buy). After games, we headed outside for the countdown to midnight, which started the "gorilla fireworks show."

The next day, to celebrate the New Year, we went...skating! (Before which we enjoyed a great Prime Rib Dinner). While we were skating, Britta demonstrated her amazing figure skating skills to me, since I've never seen her skate before. She kept saying that it all wasn't very good, but all of us were WAY impressed. I had a video, but blogger won't work...

All the girls (and Lane)

Ok, now here is the one with all the Styers girls.

An Alaskan Christmas

2010-12-30T13:47:00.001-09:00

I thought I'd blog about Christmas this year, and what it was like in Alaska. First of all, like any other kind of holiday, it was full of lounging around.

Also, because the whole Styers family was home for the holidays, we took

family pictures and some candids. (There were many many more that I could of posted, but due to the high quality of the pictures, that would take all day to load them all on here).

pre-family photo

getting ready

family photo

post family photo

b&d family photo

After a relaxing and delightful Christmas Eve/Day (demonstrated by the photo below), we headed to the new Big Lake Ice Rink for some late night Christmas skating-in this temperature:

Here are all the Styers siblings.

The girls

The Family Hockey Game

Micah getting ready to get attacked by Dillon and Lane.

Speaking of hockey, the boys had their Houston High Alumni Game. Here are some highlights from that event.

By accident, I caught this photo of Devin, Dillon, and Lane in action. (below)

To sum up this Alaskan Christmas, let me just point out a few things I have discovered here that you may not find anywhere else.

1. Moose lickings.

This may be hard to see, but see on the back of the car where there is an absence of dust/dirt/grime? On the bottom by the bumper? Well, that is due to a moose licking off the salt that gets stuck on the car from the salted, icy roads.

2. Freezing Temperatures.

That is the temperature on an average day. It's been warming up lately, but don't be surprised if you come here, and the temperatures drop into the freezing negatives! It's so cold that sometimes there are icicles forming inside the house.

3. Beautiful pinkish skies against a completely white landscape.

4. Driving behind a dog musher's truck full of huskies and topped off with sleds.

Speaking of dogs, Tank has still been keeping us entertained.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas :)

Christmas Travels

2010-12-22T12:15:00.000-09:00

I have been a very bad blogger lately. Just a little update about our recent activities. Devin and I finished school on Dec.8, and took our last finals. It felt great to be done! Then we packed up our car, and headed to Queen Creek, AZ to visit some of Devin's family that lives down there.
While we were there, we got to do many things which include: put up lots of Christmas lights, play games, meet up with my cousins Krista and Steve for mexican food and nelson's frozen custard, enjoy the warm 70 degree weather, relax, and on Saturday night Devin, myself, Micah, and their cousin Kaitlyn got to go see Brian Regan live. It was awesome.

This is him. If you haven't heard him, look him up on youtube. He is hilarious! We laughed so hard that night that our cheeks hurt.

Also, when we met up with my cousins, Krista gave me these beauties:

Aren't they awesome? They make me happy every time I see them.

Now we went from warm Arizona to freezing -15 degree Alaska. It is great! :)

More to come on that later...

Hair cuts

2010-12-10T12:28:00.000-09:00

This is probably old news now, but I'm a little behind in blogging. Last weekend, I took the plunge and went from this:

to this:

Cut off all 10 inches, for something fresh. It feels very refreshing!

(Especially the washing and blow drying part)

Puttin Our Ping Pong Faces On

2010-12-07T19:25:00.001-09:00

Wow, I have been out of the blogging world for awhile. And right now I really should be finishing up a few things for our last days of school this week, but I just was in the blogging mood. I thought that maybe I should do a little Thanksgiving recap since we had a really nice and enjoyable thanksgiving!
We headed up to Provo, and Devin's sister Micah came along with us. Then, we just had a nice and relaxing weekend with lots of turkey, games, and an awesome ping pong tournament. That is mostly what was documented, so I will share some of the pics with you.

Dad vs. Mom

P.S. Mom won. ;)

Meanwhile, while everyone was battling for first place, Moe (the dog) was waiting patiently under the table so that he could get the ball when it dropped to the ground.

Another game we enjoyed was Sedarahc. This is basically Reverse Charades. If you haven't played it, I highly recommend that you do. It will keep you laughing for hours. I do have a video of it, but blogger is being dumb and not letting me upload my videos. Go here to check out the website. Good Christmas gift. :)

Happy game playing :)

Let it Snow!

2010-11-11T12:54:00.002-09:00

This is kind of what it looked like in Cedar City last night.

Yes, we finally got our first snow fall.

And in a few short weeks, we will be in this beautiful state of Alaska, enjoying a complete winter wonderland.

Yummy in my Tummy

2010-11-07T18:15:00.000-09:00

A little while ago, I found this recipe:
Braided Bread

It immediately began taunting me with its good looks. So, a few weeks ago, I attempted it. However, I didn't just make the normal bread, I ventured out to the cinnamon bread that she provides at the bottom of the page. I will show you the process in pictures. (These are from making the cinnamon recipe that she provided. You will see at the end, that Devin and i decided to make a smothered version, which I will explain later).

Closing up the cinnamon inside!!

Loaf #1! (by the way, the recipe makes 2 loaves, so that's why I decided to tweak the second loaf a little bit). For loaf #2, I used this mixture for the cinnamon filling/smothering that we got from another recipe:

1/2 c. brown sugar

6 T. butter

3/4 t. cinnamon

Melt the butter just enough so that it will easily stir in with the other ingredients. Don't melt it too much, otherwise it will be SUPER runny (it already is runny anyway). Then do the same thing as before (flatten out the long strand of dough, and spread the mixture inside). Only this time, instead of it being a crumbly cinnamon mixture, it will be more runny and pasty. After you spread the mixture across the long strand of dough, sprinkle a little bit of "Jello butterscotch cook-n-serve pudding" on top. (Just the straight powder). Then, do your best to fold the dough over and pinch the edges. The mixture will leak! After you have braided the 3 strands together, spread more of the mixture on top of the braid. Add more butterscotch powder as well. (For those of you who don't like butterscotch, it is so overpowered by the cinnamon, that it doesn't alter the flavor to be butterscotchy-don't worry. You could probably get away without even using it if you don't want to).

Then, you have your two loaves ready for baking! Yum!!

Left= my smothered version

Right= MADE version

And when they come out of the oven, your whole house will be filled with the most delectable cinnamon smell you can think of, and your taste buds will be happy!

Enjoy!

Recent Favorites

2010-10-30T21:57:00.000-08:00

I just thought that I would share with you some of the recent favorites of my life. On a side note, whenever I say the word "favorite" I think of Brian Regan and this quote:

"How many outs Brian?" "GRAPE! I'm gonna get grape, or cherry. They're both... favorites, so either one is good, but if they have both, I'll get grape, because grape is a little more favorite. But if they don't have grape it's like alright its fine, cause cherry's favorite anyway. It's like another favorite, but not as much. Not as much favorite. But they're both good. They're both good."

Brian Regan is definitely a favorite of mine. If you don't know who he is, I highly recommend you look into finding out more about him. Start by going here.

Ok, back to my favorites.

First, this commercial:

Haha, I love the song from the 70s, and I love the baby's face. It always make me laugh every time it comes on, even if it's a little dumb.

Second, this movie:

Just saw this for the first time last night, and I loved it! Such a good movie. Does anyone else think the dragon looks a little like Stitch?

Third, this song:

For those of you who don't know, the boy Katharine McPhee is singing with is Zachary Levi, who plays Chuck on NBC's Chuck. (Another favorite of Devin and I's). This song I discovered awhile ago, but it has recently become another favorite, since Chuck has become increasingly more of a favorite.

Fourth, another TV show: The Event.

I'm waiting to see how this show really turns out in the end...You know how sometimes a TV show can be pretty good, but then by the end of the season it goes sour? I guess we will see what happens, but for now it's become a new favorite. It's on right after Chuck on Monday nights, so it works out nicely!

Fifth, watching my brother Travis play football on ESPN.

These are some stats from tonight's game that we are currently watching. It's exciting to see him get more and more playing time every game! We are looking forward to next year's season to see some more Travis action :)

Sixth, the feeling of Christmas approaching! Today at Wal-Mart, amidst the hustle and bustle of Halloween shoppers (getting their last minute costumes), we saw off in the distance, the first Christmas tree of the year. Oh my friends, Christmas is not far!

Well, these are my "latest" favorites. I'm on the lookout for more, so if you have any, please share! :)

Last Weekend

2010-10-28T15:22:00.000-08:00

This is a little late of a post. I have just been lazy about blogging-I'm asking myself, "Can that really be possible? To be LAZY about BLOGGING?" But yes, sadly, it is.

Anyway... Just a little update of the fun events from last weekend.

One of my favorite people, Haylee came to visit us. (If you don't know, she is the reason Devin and I even met each other). She had a softball tournament in St. George, so she came to stay with us, and then we were entertained by watching her softball games on Friday and Saturday.
Here are some pictures!

Getting ready to run home

Haylee playing 1st base

I know this is kind of a bad picture, but I thought it was kinda cool. I like how you can see the blurry ball, and Haylee getting ready in the background.

Here is a little video:

As part of our St. George weekend, we also hit up Brick Oven (yes, it is not just in Provo anymore!) and also made a Subway trip for lunch on Saturday. Then this picture resulted:

Haha, our cheesy smiles.

This is besides the point, but St. George had a lot of these pretty things, and I couldn't believe they were still in full bloom in the middle of October. I had to take a picture because I thought they were so lovely.

Haylee headed back to Provo on Sunday morning, and then Devin and I enjoyed the rest of the weekend before having to head back to school on Monday morning. Look at how pretty the view was Sunday night from the porch.

For those of you who are already enjoying the presence of winter, we are still snow-less. Today was a beautiful 60 degree day, and we are still surrounded by these, which I love:

More About Fall

2010-10-19T17:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I am happy to announce that fall has arrived in Cedar City. I thought the leaves would never change, but...they have! The first red tree I saw on campus made me so happy. (It wasn't this one, but you get the idea-close enough).

Also, I have to add that the fall weather has been fantastic! We are having like 65-75 degree days, and it is so nice!! Getting ready for November to approach, which means-snow.

Also, Halloween is coming up, and I was very excited to get a package in the mail from Devin's mom this week. Look at this cute Halloween countdown:

I think fall is becoming even more of a favorite.

Surrounded by boys

2010-10-17T14:18:00.000-08:00

This weekend we got to spend with these boys:

Excuse the date of the picture-they look slightly older than this now.

Due to the fact that they had Thursday and Friday off for UEA (Utah Education Association), my mom and dad drove them (my brothers, incase you didn't know) down to hang out with us for the weekend. Then, my mom and dad continued their way to St. George until Saturday.

Some highlights of the weekend included:

Hot dogs and brats on the grill with the famous chip dip
Wrestle Mania
Games, games, and more games (Mexican Train!)
500 in the park
Oreo Shakes and...
Mario Kart until 3:30 (am)

Sounds like a boyish weekend huh? Well, we had a blast despite the fact that I was greatly outnumbered.

There would be more pictures, but...well the majority of the time was spent doing the last thing on the list, and so I had some lack of documentation (mainly due to the fact that during half of that activity, I was sleeping on the floor).

Saturday everyone headed back to Provo, but before that, we got to once again enjoy the tasty delights of the Cedar City Pizza Cart.

Oh, and not to mention more Mario Kart, but this time we got mom and dad to participate :) My dad kept wondering why he came in last every time.

Well, now that the weekend is practically over, tomorrow is: BACK to SCHOOL! I don't know whether I am excited or not... Looking forward to next weekend :)

An October Weekend

2010-10-12T21:01:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we were very lucky to enjoy many of the great things that fall has to offer. I will just name a few: visitors, homemade chili, festivals, musicals, belgian waffles, and that crisp cool weather that lets you know that autumn has arrived. The only thing that was lacking, was the color on the trees. This is my first fall in Cedar City, but there has not been much "leaf color changin" lately. Maybe I have the image of a fall at SVU in my mind, and that is what I am expecting. If you are wondering what kind of a fall I am talking about, this is it:

I guess the Cedar City red rock will have to make up for the lack of trees compared to the east coast.

But I didn't come to point out what I am missing, I am writing to point out the things we were able to enjoy this past weekend. Read on...!

Our friends Todd and Michelle came to visit, and so that is mostly what made the weekend so fun. Todd played hockey at BYU with Devin (for a little background on how we all met).

We started the weekend off with a drive to St. George on Friday. First stop:

Yes, it was sooooo good. After our delightful dinner, we continued our drive through St. George to Tuacahn to see... TARZAN. It was such an awesome show because there were "gorillas" suspended everywhere in the air. I wish we could have taken videos or pictures, but you know how copyright laws go. Here are some from the Deseret News and Tuacahn websites.

For those of you who don't know, Tuacahn is an outdoor amphitheater right amidst St. George's red rock. The stage has all these cool water features, and it just has some beautiful surroundings.

Here is my really bad picture of the stage. The red rock behind the stage is the natural environment I was describing.

Here's Dev and I right before it started.

Anyway, it was a pretty neat experience. I would recommend that you go see it, but the last showing is this weekend, and it's sold out. Plan ahead for next year though, because they are putting on "The Little Mermaid." Should be pretty awesome.

To end the night we made a stop at Nielsen's Frozen Custard. Delicious! Go ahead and make a stop there if you are ever in St. George.

The next day brought even more of a feeling of fall. We basically went from festival to festival around Southern Utah. Okay, we only went to two, but it felt like an all day event!

The first stop was Kanarraville, Ut. This was the "BIG TREE" annual fall festival. This festival brought us the coolest small town feel, crisp autumn air, homemade chili, and caramel apples. It was awesome! There were probably only 20 people there at the most.

Yummy huh?!

After our visit to Kanarraville, we then drove about 20 minutes to New Harmony. New Harmony had a festival of their own, which was on a much larger scale. This one had all sorts of booths selling all sorts of goodies, and they even had a car show which was pretty cool.

After our enjoyable time at the festivals, we ventured back to our house and spent the rest of the day relaxing, playing games, and watching a movie. It was a wonderful fall Saturday.

The next morning after church we had some belgian waffles to complete the weekend. So enjoyable!

Fall is here and we are loving it.

Favorite Frugal Foods...

2010-10-04T10:41:00.000-08:00

I always like making new things for dinner...
And I always like it when things are cheap and still taste sooooo good!
So, I'm wondering if anyone that reads this has some new ideas for me.
What are your favorite frugal foods?
Please share :)

I didn't have a place for all these weird shaped things...

2010-09-28T17:08:00.000-08:00

I like how I have blogged the past 3 days in a row. That may be due to the fact that my homework has slowed lately... Knock on wood. I usually don't share with the world the crafts that I do, because if you ask most people that know me, they will tell you that my crafts always come out slightly "off." This project did, but I'm not going to point out to you what I feel is off about it. However, I think it is a handy tool, because I was having a hard time finding a place to put all these weird shaped things.

You're probably wondering what it is I am talking about. Well, I will tell you. The "weird shaped things" that are taking over my life are headbands. I have collected so many that they do not like to fit nicely in my drawer anymore. So, this is the contraption that came about:

Amazingly enough, this contraption holds them all perfectly!! All you need is an empty oatmeal can, cute paper, and modge podge. Then wa-la! Now your headbands don't have to take up the whole drawer! (I might also add that they are now each more accessible too)!

Time flies...

2010-09-27T16:33:00.000-08:00

On Friday we celebrated our one year anniversary. I can't believe it...time flies!

What a great day.

To celebrate, we got to go spend the night in St. George, which is only a quick 40 minutes from our house! It was nice to not have to drive very far, and then wa-la! We were out of town! :) We did some window shopping at the outlets (dumb because they are called the "outlets" when in reality only like 2 stores are real outlets). Then we went to see the movie, "You Again" which gave us a few laughs, and followed that with a superb dinner at Texas Road House! I left that place feeling more satisfied with a restaurant then I have in a long time. Then we enjoyed some of the best things about a hotel: the pool and hot tub, and the complimentary breakfast the next morning. What a delight!

And what a great year!

From Las Vegas to Logan and Everywhere in Between

2010-09-26T16:13:00.003-08:00

One Thursday afternoon, Devin and I GOT ON THE ROAD and left our little town of Cedar City, to hit up the big city full of lights-Las Vegas. Why?

Well let me explain.

Devin's sister Micah had an 18th birthday.

She had never been to the Cheesecake Factory

(and her favorite dessert is cheesecake)

We went to the Cheesecake Factory in Caesar's Palace to celebrate such an exciting day.

It just happened to work out well, because Micah lives in Arizona, so she could take a quicky flight and zip over to Las Vegas, and we could take a quicky car ride and zip over there from Cedar City. So we met up, and spent Micah's 18th birthday in Las Vegas. (all very well-behaved of course :) Haha.

It took forever to park...but I won't even get into that.

After we finally found where to park, we went right in to the Cheesecake Factory. We had a little bit of a wait time, so we entertained ourselves with shops in the Forum, as well as this pretty neat aquarium right outside of the restaurant. If you like cool looking fishies, watch this video.

The aquarium was also equipped with this rather cool looking sting ray.

Meanwhile we were also able to check out a gallery from a world-known photographer. Peter Lik. We were all blown away by his photographs. Check out his website here. Also, some of his pictures right below:

We finally got our food and cheesecake!

We did a little walking along the strip after our dinner/dessert- Watched the Belagio fountain show twice, and then were intending to go to the M&M store, but didn't make it before it closed. So, then we turned around and headed back to Cedar City.

We were ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

-(on the way home, Micah opened presents!)

(Headbands from Rhea)

(Miss Piggy from Lane)

(Micah's cute!!! purse from her mom-homemade)

Although we got back to Cedar City fairly late, we still gave Micah a tour of our house, and the next morning took her to school with us.We actually only went to one class, but Micah just hung out until Devin and I got done. Also, before school we were able to meet up with Katherine Burr (friend from Alaska, who is also going to SUU).

Following our campus visit, we hit up the Pizza Cart.

I'm not even joking when I say that this is the BEST pizza I have ever had. Right on Cedar City's Main Street, on Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays, this pizza cart is set up outside of Ace Hardware. It's cooked in a brick oven, and comes out with this smoky/grilled taste. It's extremely appetizing.

We enjoyed: Pepperoni

and

Three cheese Pesto (not pictured)

After our delightful lunch, we played a few games back at our place, and then were

ON THE ROAD AGAIN to Provo.

We ran several errands, one of which included hitting up Krispy Kreme doughnuts with Haylee. We got them Hot 'n' Ready, which means two things:

A. For going into the store, we got a free one

B. They melt in your mouth because they are hot off the press- or the conveyor belt I guess I should say.

The next day we got up and were on our way to several new adventures. The first of which included bowling.

Here is Zach getting ready to knock down the pins.

Some more pics in the alley...

After two games of bowling, our next stop was Boondocks. Here we enjoyed some bumper boats, and Go-Karts. We weren't expecting to get so wet, but it's hard when you are getting sprayed constantly by water guns attached to the other boats.

You can probably tell from this picture that we got a little wet...

Now onto the Go-Karts, which Zach won, just because his kart was faster than the rest of ours.

After Boondocks, we were ON THE ROAD AGAIN to LOGAN! On the way, we were entertained with a large book of Mad Libs. I would post them on here, but when you get boys picking your nouns, adjectives, and verbs, you can imagine the kind of results that come about.

We arrived in Logan and then went right to Aggie country to watch Travis in his second college football game! We were all pretty excited. Here are a few pictures to describe the evening.

(passed the temple along the way)

(Miss Piggy came too)

(There's Trav!)

(I love this one of Micah and Timm-below)

That was the football game. Don't worry, the night didn't end there. We went back to the hotel, and had a swim party-which mainly included the game of Categories as well as the game of, "Brooke just got out and dried off and has her towel wrapped around her, so lets push her back in the pool so she gets soaking wet again." (The three participants in this game were: Me (of course), Timm, and Devin). You can guess the roles that Timm and Devin played in this game. After our pool party, we got some late night Subway (open 24 hrs. in Logan) and then headed back to the hotel to play games, but instead we all ended up falling asleep. We had a long, busy day.

The next morning we woke up and WERE ON THE ROAD AGAIN to Provo. This road trip also included Mad Libs, as well as a long game of "Would You Rather..." (generated from the iphone). You probably would rather not know the kinds of questions we got asked...

We arrived back in Provo, went to church, came home and had dinner, and then WERE ON THE ROAD AGAIN to the SLC airport.

Sadly Micah had to leave, and we had to head back to Cedar for school the next day. But oh was all that driving and traveling worth it :) Can't wait till the next time we are

ON THE ROAD AGAIN.

The Change that Blew Through

2010-09-08T17:41:00.002-08:00

We Moved...

So we left Alaska (above)

and came to Cedar City, UT (below)

We are oh so lucky to live in the basement of this beautiful house.

Fall is coming, which means: football is here...

After a lot of help from many wonderful people, we got our stuff moved in, and we went back up to Provo to enjoy a weekend with my family. We started it off with some football: Zach had a game at Timpview, and they came away with their first victory of the season over Pleasant Grove. Prior to the game, we got to have dinner with Devin's grandparents who just moved to Pleasant Grove. The next day we headed up to Logan to visit Trav and watch his team scrimmage at Utah State.

We ate ice cream out of a sink...

Sounds a little gross...actually there is a local diner in Logan called Angie's and they serve gigantic ice cream sundaes in a sink... We stopped here after the game.

Zach enjoying his ice cream.

Zach and mom.

We started school...

After my one year hiatus from school, it feels good to be back. Not only back, but in a brand new place. Devin and I are both going to Southern Utah University (SUU) now, and are really enjoying it. We like the small-town feel, the more personal classes, and just being in a new place. Here are a few pics of some spots on campus.

Micah came to visit and played with us for Labor Day weekend!

We enjoyed some ice cream from Macey's, more football, nickels at Nickel City, and some good time dancing with "Just Dance" on the Wii.

(That was really Zach's ice cream...haha we got regular size cones)

Timm with his stache

We ended the weekend with a nice trip to Five Guys Burgers and Fries!

Last Post from the AK-for now...

2010-08-15T17:41:00.000-08:00

So we leave on Wednesday. Anchorage to Oregon and Oregon to Salt Lake. There is a lot that has to get done before that time, so I am doing my "farewell Alaska" post now. But we'll be back in December. I'll do some picture highlights to sum up our last few weeks...

TANK had surgery

before...

after...

You may or may not have noticed in past pictures of Tank (see picture above), but he had a rather large tumor on his leg. The l o n g e r we were here, the bigger it got.

Anyway, he finally went under the knife.

Luckily it was benign.

A little while after the surgery, he had to get this cone for his head to keep him from licking his wound.

He got so used to going to the vet, that one time when Devin and I went to leave, he jumped in the car thinking he had to go back to the vet (something Tank very much enjoys).

Devin and I house sat for a family in the ward, and while we were there, their dogs had puppies.

I so wish that I had a picture of this family (the Lee's) house. I don't know why I didn't take one while we were there. It is the coolest/cutest log cabin you'll ever see, and they built it. Anyway, we stayed over at their place for about a month while they traveled around the lower 48. The last day we were there:

SURPRISE!

Well, we knew that it was a probability.

I went fishing for the last time (this summer) and actually caught salmon.

They are definitely stronger fighters than those grayling (aka Grayline as Zach calls them) on the Gulkana.

And then Devin filleted them on the sand:

Now they are in our freezer.

Lane cleared the drive in entrance to the Super Store.

The video is really small, and bad quality (because I took it from far away on my phone) but if you make it full screen and watch it a few times, you'll probably be able to see how cool this is. Lane is super awesome good on his dirt bike.

We have broken records for 29 straight days of rain.

I'm getting ready to see the sun again.

Speaking of this picture, yesterday was my last day at Fred Meyer. (Mixed feelings on this one)

I guess we have to say goodbye to Alaska for now.

Goodbye Big Lake.

Goodbye Holly Lp.

Goodbye beautiful Alaska.

Until Christmas time... :)

Gulkana Video

2010-08-07T12:43:00.002-08:00

After many attempts to try to upload a video from blogger itself, I gave up and am using the facebook file. Here is the video from our Gulkana trip. To see the whole post, continue scrolling below!!