Park City is our home now!!!

Okay, so we haven't quite moved in to our place yet, but July 1st is just around the corner!  Right now, we are staying with Andy's aunt and uncle, who live in Park City.  We have a few things to do around town tomorrow.  Our apartment is in an area where we have to get a P.O. box because mail is not delivered to houses in Old Town (an area of Park City around Main Street).  So...the post office is on our "to do" list.  We also need to find a storage unit because the apartment comes furnished.  The landlord doesn't mind if we put her things in storage and use our own but, now, we just need to find a storage unit around town.  Our belongings arrived in Salt Lake City about a week ago and the moving company will deliver them on Tuesday.  It's been so long since we've seen our stuff (2 months) that we really don't remember what all we packed!

I hope to post photos really soon because we have a lot to share. 

    

Our Journey...So Far

Our trip from Alaska to Utah went flawlessly. Cooper did great on the airplane (from Anchorage to Seattle). Our truck was waiting for us in Seattle so we picked that up and then we were off! On our first day, we drove through Rainier Park, hoping to set up camp along the way but, unfortunately, the weather wasn't too cooperative. It was rainy and we didn't even get a glimpse of the mountain. At the pass, we even encountered about 8 feet of snow left from the winter (and it was still snowing)! We ended up camping at a KOA in Yakima, WA. On the second day, we stopped at a few wineries in Yakima. Delicious! We drove about 5-6 hours each day and, on this second night, we camped along the Snake River in Lewiston, Idaho. Idaho is absolutely beautiful! Day three took us across Idaho and into Montana. It wasn't the easiest place to find a campground but, eventually, at 7:00 p.m., we came across Angler's Roost. On the fourth day, we continued our journey across Montana and, somewhere along the way, we took a turn to the south and made our way to Yellowstone National Park. On that first night in Yellowstone, we camped at the Mammoth campground. Upon entering our campsite, we saw an elk making its way through our neighboring campsite. Crazy! We saw (and heard) a lot of wildlife in Yellowstone. On our first night, we fell asleep to howling wolves. We got up the next morning and continued driving through Yellowstone. The weather started off windy and rainy but, eventually, the clouds left us and the sun came out. We saw A LOT of bison along the way. We even saw 3 moose but they were small compared to what we've seen in Alaska. Andy saw a black bear. There were mountain goats and something that looked like pronghorns (but we're not sure if they were pronghorns). In the latter part of the afternoon, we made our way to Old Faithful. Awesome! That night, we camped at a campground in Grand Teton National Park (which is directly south of Yellowstone). A fox ran throug our campground and we woke up to a half inch of snow! It's a good thing the mountains were out the day before because we didn't see a thing the next day. We enjoyed our drive anyways, and ended up staying in Jackson Hole, Wyoming that night. We would love to go back there some day. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperating with us on this particular day/night, so we ditched the tent for a night and stayed at a cabin at the local KOA. We woke up in the morning and made the push to Salt Lake City (about 250 miles).

Right now, we are staying with some friends in Salt Lake City, actively looking for a place to live in Park City. For those who are not aware, Andy and I were both hired as teachers in the Park City School District. We are quite excited!! Andy will be teaching 4th grade and I will be taking a break from special education and teaching 2nd grade. The best part...we are teaching at the same school again!!

So...that should take us up to the present time. Unfortunately, I don't have photos to post at the moment. Andy's camera ran out of juice and I forgot to pack my cord that hooks my camera up to the computer. I will post some as soon as I can, though.

We hope all is well with everybody.

Good-bye, Alaska

Andy and I would like to say "good-bye" to all of our friends in Alaska. It has been an incredible last 7 years and we will cherish our memories from Alaska for many, many years to come. To all of my girlfriends who are reading this--whenever you get together with "the girls," know that I will always be there in spirit. :)

I will not be posting anything until we arrive in Utah so, until then, we wish everyone well and hope the giant mosquitoes don't get you!

Our love to all...

The BIG Day

Yesterday, May 30th, was a big day for us. The movers came and loaded up all of our belongings. Never having gone through a big move like this, it was, actually, quite interesting to watch the process. Andy and I had packed everything up. Since we had to be out of our house so quickly, all of our things had already been moved to our friend, Kellie's, house. It made it much easier for the movers because everything was in the garage. Still, anything that was not in a box, was wrapped in brown padded paper. Even backpacks full of clothes were wrapped. Talk about a lot of recycling when we get all unpacked in Utah! While I stayed with the movers, Andy took his truck down to the port so that could be shipped to Seattle. We leave Alaska on June 6th, fly into Seattle, pick up the truck (which will be waiting for us at the airport) and start our road trip to Utah. Even though it is only a 15-20 hour drive from Seattle to Salt Lake City, we plan on making it about a week-long trip. We'd like to stop by Yellowstone and any other place we see along the way. It's all just part of the adventure...

The heaping pile of brown paper-wrapped belongings


It's hard to believe that our entire life can fit into 3 large wooden crates (4 if you count the crate for the sofa)!


Of course, I had to include a photo of Cooper. This is, mostly, what he did while the movers were working. Andy and I are both quite surprised by how well Cooper is adjusting to all of the changes.

Good-bye, Kincaid

On May 17th, our great friends at Kincaid Elementary had a good-bye/wedding shower BBQ for Andy and me. It was one of the most beautiful days--sunny skies and just a light breeze. It was a perfect day to be outdoors in the company of some truly wonderful friends. The last day of school was hard; the staff at Kincaid has been our family for the last 6 years. We have so many wonderful memories to hold on to, and look forward to keeping in touch. Here are a few photos from the BBQ:






This is me with my teaching assistant of 6 years, Roger. What a great guy!


My very dear friend, Angie,(right) with her teaching assistant, Betty. Angie is a special education teacher at Kincaid.

It's Official

Well, the papers were signed last Thursday and it's official...we sold the house!!!! We are now living at a friend's house until we fly out, which will be some time around the first full week of June. So...if you would like to get a hold of us, our cell phones will be the way to do it. Andy: 907-632-8121; Jana: 907-632-8071. It's been a long, exhausting process and we are glad it is over. We still have A LOT going on, though, with job hunting and wedding planning.

We hope everyone is doing well!

An Update...Finally

I don't have any new pictures to post but we wanted to get you updated on what's been going on lately.  It's been a very busy last few weeks!  

Our house went on the market in early April.  Six days later, we received an offer!  We countered, he signed, and the journey began.   The home inspection and appraisal have been done.  Our realtor got an "okay" back from the appraiser, meaning we didn't have anything to worry about, and, so, the packing begins.  We should be closing some time during the upcoming week.  It has all happened so very fast.  Andy and I are kind of in a whirlwind right now.  With the closing happening really soon, we had to find a place to live for our last month in Alaska.  We'll be staying with our good friend, Kellie.  It will interesting to see how Cooper does around her cats.  Our belongings will be shipped down to Salt Lake City on May 30th.  The truck will be shipped soon after that.  We'll fly into Seattle around the second week in June, pick up the truck, and make the drive to Utah.  Cooper will have to fly on the airplane, too.  The doc better have some good drugs for that trip!    So that, in a nutshell, is what has been going on lately.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we got 16 inches of snow last Friday.  After a week of sunny skies and temperatures in the 50's, I think we were all in a state of depression.  It seems to be melting pretty quickly, though.  

We hope everyone is doing well.  To all of our family and friends down in the Lower 48, we are really excited to be closer to everyone.  To all of our "family" and friends in Alaska, it will be hard to say good-bye but we look forward to our visits back to Alaska and your visits down to the Lower 48.    

Taking a break (and, luckily, not a break) during break

Ahhh...now that's a catchy title.  Andy and I have been spending a majority of our spring break getting the house ready to put on the market (it goes on this weekend) that we decided we needed a day to go out and play.  So, we headed down to Alyeska for a gorgeous (I mean gorgeous) day of skiing.  It was so clear that we could see for miles and miles.  That doesn't happen too often up here.  We skiied for a good 2 hours before we needed to refuel our bodies with some delicious lunch at the Sitzmark.  After that, it was back on the slopes.  This is where "and, luckily, not a break" comes in.  We were skiing down an area called Trapline and I got going a bit too fast.  (I was trying to keep up with Andy but I now know that that will probably never happen.)  I ended up off the groomed trail and that's when it happened.  I remember thinking, "I'm going to crash.  I wonder if I will break a leg or hurt me knee.  Will the ski patrol have to come and get me?"  Anyways, crash is exactly what I did.  In Andy's words I had a yard sale, meaning one of my skiis, my goggles, and my hat were not attached to my body.  They were up the mountain a ways.  I flipped, rolled over and, I think, did a few somersaults.  I did not break any bones or hurt my knees.  I did not have to have ski patrol come and rescue me. Right now, I'm nursing a pretty sore neck but things could have been a lot worse.      

March Madness

Well, where do I begin?  It's been a really long time since I've updated the blog, that's for sure. With school, getting the house ready to put on the market, getting application packets ready, and wedding planning, I guess it's safe to say that time is going way too fast.  Now, on to the fun stuff!

Before the temperature got into the upper 30's and everything turned to ice, we got out snowshoeing and skiing quite a bit.  We had some beautiful blue-bird days and, oh, did that sunshine ever feel good!!  


The Iditarod started last weekend.  We always go downtown and watch the ceremonial start.  What a rush those mushers must feel as they embark on their 1,000+ mile journey to Nome.  We always seem to meet some really nice people, too.  Some people even come up from the Lower 48 for the event.


It's kind of hard to see him but Lance Mackey is the one in the white bib. He won the Iditarod last year.

School is going pretty well.  We are at the end of 3rd quarter, meaning there's only 9 more weeks of school left!!!!  Andy and I work with some really wonderful people.  It will be sad to say good-bye.  I'm really excited that some of my girlfriends will be making the trip to Utah for the wedding, though.  We'll have such a good time!

A Mini Vacation

Andy and I went down to Girdwood with some friends over the weekend.  It's only about 40 miles from Anchorage but it still feels good to get out of Anchorage, even if it is for only one night.  We stayed at a friend's cabin and spent much of our time cross-country and downhill skiing.  The Alyeska Resort is walking distance from the cabin.  It was very relaxing!  

Other than that, we really haven't been doing too much.  Our Sundays are no longer consumed by football (I think I'm still grieving the Packers' loss).  We try to get out cross-country skiing a couple times a week.  We've gotten a lot of snow lately so the skiing has been great.

School continues to be school.  Andy and I run the Student Council at our school and we, just recently, started up a recycling program.  Alaska does not make it easy to recycle but, with this program, the Alaska Waste company comes right to the school to pick up our mixed paper.  We are both really excited to get something like this going at our school.

Enjoy the photos!   

This is the area where we went cross-country skiing. It's a HUGE area for skiing, dog sledding, snowshoeing, etc....


Brrrr...the temperature was hovering around 0 degrees throughout the weekend.

Happy New Year!

We hope everyone is having a great start to 2008.  Andy and I go back to work tomorrow after our 2-week break.  I can't believe we are already 1/2 done with the school year.  It's only going to go quickly from this point to the end of the year.  Phew...it's going to be a busy one!

Just wanted to put on a few photos.  Enjoy!

We're rockin' out on Guitar Hero on Christmas morning.


We had our friends, Angie, Jeremy and their little 2-month old baby, Natalie, over on Christmas day.



We spent New Year's Eve at a Blues Traveler concert. This photo is a bit blurry.

Merry Christmas!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year!  The snow has been decent so we've been out cross-country and downhill skiing.  We've heard that the Midwest has been getting pounded with storms.  Be safe.  We are thinking about you all!!!!

Arrgh...We need snow!!!

I feel like we are trapped inside of a bubble and can't get out. I can't remember the last time we saw the sunshine. We have no snow--zero, zilch, nada. That means, we can't go cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, or sledding. It decided to rain last night, and then freeze, so we'd be risking our life to take the dogs for a walk. Arrgh. Please...wherever you are...do the snow dance for us...send us some snow...please!!!  I can't imagine living in Alaska and not having a white Christmas.

A Morning Visitor

So picture this...I'm sitting at the dining room table, eating my egg and toast and sipping my coffee, and I hear a kaboom. "What was that?" I asked myself. I walked to the front window and saw the culprit...a moose had knocked one of our pumpkins off the porch!! He was right on our front porch, helping himself to our beautifully carved pumpkins. The dogs went wild, as to be expected. At one point, I wasn't sure how we would get out the door and to the car. Twenty minutes later we left for work, with a big moose guarding our front yard. Ah...what a way to start the day!


Our morning visitor eating his breakfast


Hiking at Kincaid Park at sunset


Don't you think we should enroll Cooper in some sort of doggy modeling school?

A Little of This, A Little of That

Andy and I were in Salt Lake City November 1-5 for a friend's wedding. We also had the opportunity to drive up to Park City and do a little wedding planning of our own. We got to see where the reception will be held, meet our wedding coordinator and scope out some options for lodging. Andy was in his friend's wedding so we were quite busy most of the time. The week we got back to school was parent/teacher conference week so we are not doing too much this weekend. Those conferences are mentally exhausting (just like IEP meetings).

We have started a wedding webpage but have a few things to tune up before announcing the address. Stay tuned for that...

I have included a few photos from the wedding. Enjoy!

Andy, Jeff (the groom), Nyk, Sloan


It was a beautiful, SUNNY day for the wedding.


It was great to see our friends again! Weddings are usually the place where we can all be together.

My Wisconsin Trip

I just returned to Alaska from a 5-day trip back to Wisconsin. Family came from all over (Alaska, Arizona, D.C., Minnesota, Chicago) to help celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday. I got to see my aunts and uncle that I haven't seen in a few years. I also got to meet my little cousins from D.C.!! (It's hard to see each other when you live on opposite ends of the country!) We all had great fun!! The next time we'll all be together, again, will be in August for our wedding. :)

Here are some photos...


Each year, from when my sister and I were little to the time we moved away from home, we did a fall run to the apple orchard, pumpkin patch, and cheese factory. My sister and I were both home so, even at age 28, I still enjoyed the fall run.


On Saturday, we had to get Gram out of the house (my cousin drove her around to do some errands) so we could decorate for her suprise party. I didn't know everybody at the pary but it was sure fun to make the rounds and strike up conversation with people.


Even at 80 years old, Gram still loves her Bud Light!

Ahhh...The Weekend

Wow! I can't believe I haven't updated the blog since August. I wish I had some super exciting things to share, but I don't. Lately, it's been school stuff and more school stuff. I can report that this is one of my most challenging years as a special education teacher. It just feels like things are never going to slow down and my head is spinning out of control. Anyways, enough of the school chatter.

The days are getting darker and there is a chill in the air, so you know what that means--winter is coming...really soon! There is quite a bit of snow up on the mountains and it is slowly making its way down to the city. I am excited to get out and ski and snowshoe, but I just wish our fall would last longer. We are utilizing the time we have left (before the snow comes) to get things done outside and around the yard.

I'm off to Wisconsin next Tuesday - Sunday for my Gram's 80th birthday. I should have some more photos to post when I get back.

We hope everyone is doing well!!


Each year at the Alaska State Fair we like to look at all of the giant vegetables, products of the abundance of sunshine we get in the summer.


Just call him Andy, the Tool Man, Tullis! Andy built this fence on the side of our home.


This tree is in our front yard and its bright yellow leaves lit up our living room.

And...we're off!

Well, we have officially started school. The kids came back last Wednesday, August 22nd. Andy and I are still trying to get back into our "school routine" and build our endurance back up so we are not so completely exhausted after a school day. It helps to have Cooper because he is a good excuse to get outside after school. :)

For those of you who haven't heard yet, we have a place and a date for our wedding. The big day is August 9, 2008, at the Park City Mountain Resort in Park City, Utah. We are so excited!! The wedding ceremony will be held up in a meadow, which means guests ride the chair lift up!! Then, on the way down, everyone rides the alpine slide!!! How fun! The bride, groom, and photographer are the only people who can ride the chair lift down but, I told Andy, we should take the alpine slide down.

Otherwise, not too much happening around here. I've included a few photos:


On the top of Flattop Mountain


When my sister was in town, we went on a glacier cruise out of Whittier, Alaska.


Andy and I went fishing with our friends, Jeremy and Angie, one day. A thunderstorm rolled in but that didn't stop us (and all of the other people) from fishing.

Photos from the Crow Pass Cabin

Andy set everything up while Cooper and I were out playing in the snow.


Thank goodness for plastic champagne glasses, otherwise I don't think they would have survived the hike.



Cooper played his role perfectly!


At Crow Pass, on a hike to see Raven Glacier

It's Been a Whirlwind!

We arrived back in Anchorage (from the Crow Pass Cabin) last Wednesday afternoon and then had some good friends from CA, Ryan and Martha, arrive in Anchorage Wednesday night. They were here for only a short time so we were on the go quite a bit! We had a great time, though. Last Friday night, we stayed in a yurt overlooking the Eagle River. The sounds of the river were so relaxing. Cooper came along with us on this trip and, as usual, enjoyed all of the sniffs and smells of the outdoors. On Saturday, we drove down south to the Kenai River/Russian River area for a few days of camping and fishing. On one of our days of fishing, we caught sight of 4 bears!! Bears are known to frequent the Kenai River/Russian River area because they know that fish are being caught and they can find some carcasses. They also know that people usually have food in their backpacks. (In the past, fishermen left their backpacks/bags on the shore while they were fishing and the bears have gotten into them.) There are now rules that you need to wear your backpack and have your fish (that you've caught) on you at all times. That may mean hanging them from rope from your waist. Anyways, a grizzly bear and her cub were the first 2 bears to make an appearance. The little cub was, actually, pretty cute. They got pretty close to the people on the river but as long as you don't bother them they won't bother you. About 5 minutes later, 2 black bears came down to the river. This was only the 2nd time I've seen bears from such a close distance and, let me tell you, it gets your heart pumping. Our friends from CA were lucky to have seen both types of bears within minutes of each other. Overall, we all had a fantastic time and are now awaiting our final visitor of the summer--my sister!

Here are some photos of our latest adventure:


Our friend, Joe, performed at a local bar one night. While there, we ran into a local celebrity. If you watch "Deadliest Catch" you'll recognize the guy in the middle as Captain Jon.


Ryan, Martha, Me, Andy and Cooper in front of the yurt right before we started our 1.5-mile hike back to the truck.


This is one of the grizzly bears we saw at the Russian River. The little cub is behind the mama bear and, unfortunately, did not make it into the photo.