Cory's 25th

Cory's 25th birthday was last week and while I didn't get any pictures of us (woops....) I did take pictures of the cake and sushi cupcakes I made!

He wouldn't let us sing to him but I insisted on at least blowing out candles.

Old man ;)

Random Pictures

I had such an amazing weekend in California for Trisha & Josh's wedding! Everything was beautiful, and it was so nice to see (almost) everyone!

Now back to the cold reality of Alaska! It is currently about 34 degrees with a chance of snow later on. The leaves are pretty much all gone from the trees now, but they were beautiful when they turned! Here are some pictures from about a month ago when we went to Eklutna Lake:

Rudy clearly enjoyed himself

I'm starting to notice a trend with all of our pictures together. We thought about actually asking someone to take the picture for us, but that seemed too easy.

A few weeks ago I got to go on a field trip with one of the classes I'm observing to see Byron Glacier down in Girdwood. It was so cool! Although it made me very sad to learn that the glacier has retreated (aka shrunk) about 3 and a half miles in only 90 years. :( And apparently not too long ago it used to touch the edge of the parking lot near the visitor's center and now you have to hike about a mile and a half into the woods to reach it. Still, it was an awesome experience!

Chunks of ice floating in the water!!

Really?

Ummmm......it's snowing?

First snow. September 26.

Brrrrrr

Yesterday when I took Rudy for his morning walk, there was a thin layer of ice covering the grass, and I had to warm up my car to remove the sheet of ice covering it too. Oh the first frost....a sure sign that winter is on its way. Wait, it's still September?!

Stuff! And State Fair

Hello again! Here' s a little update on life in the Last Frontier - I started classes, which will definitely keep me busy between the practicum in the elementary school and all of the work, but I am really enjoying it so far (let's be honest, I'm a nerd and I like school). I am also now a substitute teacher with the Anchorage School District! Cory got his platoon and is working hard - except this weekend, he has four days off for Labor Day!!

We've been here less than a month and have already lost about 3 hours of sunlight. Can you believe that? And that's just the beginning. Our friends have all seen moose multiple times, but we haven't seen one yet. I have been keeping my eyes out though, I really want to. Cory saw a black bear on post the other day, he said it just stared them down for a few seconds then walked back into the woods. Let's see, what else....well this weekend we went to the Bear's Tooth and Humpy's. Yes, those are the names of bars. Oh how quickly life changes :)

Oh and we booked our tickets home for the wedding! We are officially going to our own wedding WooHooooo so excited!!

Today we went to the State Fair. Aside from the fact that we chose probably the worst day in terms of weather, it was a lot of fun. They serve about every kind of food you can imagine...all on sticks for some reason. Pork chops on a stick, chicken on a stick, steak on a stick, foot-long corn dogs (clearly on a stick), and this was especially inventive - chipstix - potato chips on a stick, and last but certainly not least, chocolate-covered bacon on a stick. Yes. Chocolate-covered bacon on a stick. Obviously I had to try it.

Probably the highlight of my day was getting to hold four week old Alaskan Huskies...Iditarod sled dog puppies!! And we got Dallas Seaver's autograph, the youngest musher ever to run the Iditarod. He turned 18 the day before his first race!

This guy was carving out sculptures from logs with a chainsaw. Pretty impressive.

Cory wanted the one that said "Go Away"

The moose cost $2,000 each!

We've heard about the giant vegetables, and they do exist! There was a pumpkin that weighs 1,101 pounds!

This pig was huuuuge; 800 pounds. Let's just keep in mind though that the pumpkin weighs more than the 800 pound pig. Crazy.

And there were babies, so cute!

Check this out...they were literally butting heads. It was painful to watch. The little one has some sweet moves.

We miss everyone so much and can not wait to see you all!! Call us and keep us posted on life back home :)

Flat Top Mountain

Today we went hiking at Flat Top Mountain. It was absolutely gorgeous...

Not just blue sky and clouds, it's water and snow-covered mountains, my camera is terrible.

Anchorage skyline...zoomed in very close

Holding on for dear life.

Finally reached the top!! Sure the top is flat, but the way up, not so much....

It got pretty intense. I think this video will describe it just fine.

Pictures of the Apartment

Here are some pictures of our apartment, finally! These are "before" pictures, I'll post more when everything comes together. We're still working on it, we painted the living room and master bedroom, and are slowly filling in furniture.

Kitchen - the front door is on the left, so you walk in to the kitchen.

Living room from kitchen. I love our fireplace!

Balcony

View of the mountains from our balcony!

From the living room. Guest room door open on the left, the coat closet is the shut door, bathroom and master bedroom in that alcove.

Guest room aka your room!! Don't worry it's bigger than the picture seems.

Coat closet on right, door to master bedroom on left.

Master bedroom

Closets in master bedroom

It looks so much different now that we've painted and started decorating. I can't wait to show you updated pictures.