Puzzled

Ever since we worked on the puzzle with our neighbors for New Years, we have been wondering why we don't do puzzles more often.  And the bigger question was…why don't we even own any puzzles?

Now we are the proud new owners of a puzzle!  And we put it together over the weekend (while watching the first season of Veronica Mars.  Luke had never seen it before and with the movie coming out soon and all...I needed to get him up to speed!)

Here is the not-quite-finished-yet picture I took--

This one was a Thomas Kincaid picture that 750 pieces.  I already have my eye on our next puzzle.  It's 1000 pieces and it's totally AWESOME!!!  It's a western mountain scene.  I'm sure I will document it once we finally get it and put it together.

DIY Kitchen Backsplash

Luke and I decided our kitchen would look great with a backsplash, so we went to Lowe's to see what they had in stock.

We decided we liked this glass and stone tile, and then we got the supplies (or should I say Luke got the supplies) and we jumped in.

It looks like a whole new kitchen now!

Before pic...getting it all laid out the night before the main event.

Luke did the hardest parts.  I like to think that I did help a little though :)

First section is done!

After photo, taken a week or two after the project...complete with dishes, blender, and my latest craft project (advent tree ornaments...I'm sure I will post about them on here someday...)

The tiles up close

Desperate Measures

Despite what the lady at the local Coca-cola distribution office said last summer, cherry coke zero has yet to make an appearance in Alaska.  (She said it would be here in the fall...of last year...  Lies!)

Well guess what??  Amazon sells cherry coke zero, so we bought some...and enjoyed every sip!  

Adventures in babysitting

My friend Lindsay and her husband went out of town for a few days, and she asked me if I could watch her kids (ages 11, 9, and 5) while they were gone....Sure!  Why not?

Well, we all have survived!  :)  And we even had some fun along the way...

Wednesday.  Day one.  Hiking group, bike ride, and cupcakes.

Hiking group has started back up again (after taking 2 weeks off for 4th of July and Activity Day Camp).  We went back to the North Fork trail.  And to our dismay, the wonderful peninsula the kids played on last time was now an island.  However, that didn't stop some of the kids from making their way through the shallower parts of the freezing glacier water.

 One little kid in the group asked me if I would carry him across the water.  I told him "no way!"(...besides go ask your mom...not me!)

Needless to say, we didn't stay as long as we did last time.

Here are some cool things we saw along the trail.

Some berries.  (Berry season is coming!)

Caterpillars! (although...I don't think they are the nice kind...)

After we got home, we ate lunch and then went on a bike ride to the "bridge".  (I call it the "Welcome sign bridge".)

After that, we went out to buy cupcakes from the cupcake truck.  I bought one of every flavor, and they were all very delicious!

Thursday.  Day two.  Sand dunes, McDonalds, and movie.

I saw on Facebook that my friend was taking her kids to the sand dunes in Anchorage.  I was intrigued by the thought of there being any such thing anywhere in Alaska.  So I googled it.

I made plans to head down to Kincaid Park.  The kids whined: "we're going to drive all the way to Anchorage to see a pile of sand?"  Skeptics.  They had no idea the fun that awaited.  (I didn't either...I had my fingers crossed that we could actually even find them...and that it wouldn't be lame...)

Well first of all the sand dunes are located by a motocross park.  So they got to see motorcycles doing jumps and stuff.  They loved it!  (And now they all want to ride motorcycles.  Lindsay-you are welcome...)

Eventually we made it to the top of the sand...(which was directly behind where we were standing while we watched the motorcycles...)

Lovely view of the mud flats...and ocean.

We walked to the north side of the sand dune and soon the playing (running, jumping, rolling, digging) began.

The pictures don't do the steep sandy hill justice.  I ventured down half way...and is it what it looks like when you turn around to come back up---

Here is a picture looking across the Cook Inlet to Point McKenzie.

We stayed for 2 hours or so.  (And for future reference...have kids take extra clothes when you go here. I had them take extra shoes and socks...not clothes.  Oh well.  You live you learn.)

Oh this is what the trail looks like on the way to the sand dunes...  You go from forestation...to desolation...it's so weird!

And then we were off to find the closest McDonalds!

After lunch we went back home and the kids showered and changed, and got ready to go to the movies.  We saw the new Ice Age movie.

It was a very fun day!

Friday.  Day three.

I wanted to go to the park, but the kids didn't...  Weird.  Whatever... They were probably still trying to recover from yesterday's awesomeness.

YAY! We got a freezer!

Luke's boss gave him an award at work (a "spot award" I think is what it was called...he got it for working really hard on some projects and being a smarty pants :) wahoo!).  And with the bonus money he was awarded we decided to buy a chest freezer.

We looked all around, and finally found the best deal at Costco.  We took my dad's car, but even with the very back seat out and the middle one folded down, it didn't quite fit.  And to make matters worse, we didn't even take any string or bungee cords or anything to tie the back door down just in case it didn't fit.

But then I had a brilliant idea.

"We can use my purse strap!"

Pure. Genius.

 We were able to make it home safely.

We love our new freezer!

Weekend Review

Let me start off by saying...I love Roku.

This is similar to what we have...you can read about it here.

We have one for our t.v. and it allows us to watch the BYU channel (for free!) without having to have all (or really any) of the cable channels.  It's awesome!

Anyway...moving on...

Conference was soooooo good!  I can't wait to hear and read the talks over and over.  There were fabulous messages shared, and I was definitely spiritually fed.  (I mean it...Thanksgiving all the way through Christmas fed...)

Some of my favorites were:

President Boyd K. Packer
President Henry B. Eyring
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
President Thomas S. Monson
Elder Robert D. Hales

...just to name a few...

On Sunday, my friend Lindsay Roberts (you may remember her...she's the same girl from the Northern Lights post...) invited me over to her house for traditional biscuits and gravy conference breakfast with her and her family.

And oh my goodness- it was delicious!  (There was sausage AND bacon in the gravy.  Mind. Blown!)

I watched both sessions of conference with the Robert's gang...with a game of Ticket to Ride in the middle.  (So fun!)

We even played conference bingo during the sessions.

(This picture was taken before I ate all the purple pieces...that's the problem with having candy as the bingo pieces...)

Lindsay and I also went on a Sunday walk.  She showed me around her neighborhood, and showed me where the stairs down to Alpenglow Elementary are.  (I live down near-ish the elementary, so now I know how to get around the neighborhood better on foot.  Hooray!)

The paths are all still covered in snow.  So that plus a beautiful sunny Sunday made things get a little slushy.

Don't worry...I got out.  (I  could tell you all were worried...)

Sunday night the Robert's family was invited over to dinner at our bishops house.  Since I was at their house when they got the invitation they told the bishop I would be coming over with them...  (Talk about being in the right place at the right time!)  We had delicious BBQ food and we played a really fun game called Take It Easy.

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It's such a fun game!  I loved it!  (But it's hard to "take it easy" during the game...especially towards the end...)

And that's all I have to say...for now anyway  :)

Oh wait...one more thing.  I took this picture tonight at 8 p.m.

It's really easy to lose track of time around here...especially at night!  I have a feeling it's going to be an interesting transition getting used to all this light...and hopefully it won't include any form of insomnia :)

This Safety Moment brought to you by...

The title of the post was inspired by Luke's job...  Every meeting starts with a safety moment.  (As they should!  He's working with dangerous stuff!)

Anyway, on Monday nights we have (or try to have...) Family Home Evening.

Last night we played a really really really fun game called Qwirkle Cubes.  (Thanks so much for the game mom!)

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I barely beat Luke.  It was really a close game!

I only beat him by 5 points!  (That's after I got 6 points for finishing first...yep.  he was robbed!)

We also watched a conference talk.

We thought the message shared was really good!  Heavenly Father loves each of us and wants to answer our prayers!  (even if our prayer is about finding a quarter so we can buy a piece of chicken :)

Another thing we did last night was put together an "Alaskan Emergency Car Kit."

It includes:

Toilet paper
Light Sticks
Socks, Hats, Gloves
Duct Tape
Tow Rope
Fire Extinguisher
Head Lamp
Extra Batteries
Space blankets (I call them tinfoil blankets...)
Sporks
Cups
Paper and pencil
Deck of cards
Knife
First-aid Kit
Dehydrated meals
Snacks
Stove/Extra fuel
Chapstick
Tarp
Bandana
Shovel
Tire chains
Blankets
Hand Warming Packets
Water Bottles

...and more :)

We had a such a great time getting everything together for this.  (And most exciting thing of all- we got to buy a sweet duffel bag to put it all in.  I like bags.  Probably a little too much.)

Winter Clearance

New slippers courtesy of the REI winter clearance sale.

(FYI...REI winter clearance in Alaska is the Best. Thing. Ever.  We still have months of winter left and now we can get the warm stuff we need for less.  Brilliant!  Finally a sale that makes sense!)

Check You Out

It's Friday + I thought this sign was funny= Friday funny. (Math is so easy sometimes!)

Only in Alaska...

Today we went to the Apple store, and guess what?  They have an iPhone app that you can use to check yourself out at the store.  (If this is old news to you just nod your head and say 'that's brilliant'...to me this is cutting edge, people!)

So, if the employees are too busy, pull out your iPhone, scan your bar code, and pay using the credit card on your iTunes account.  What?!?

The guy who helped us download and use the app for the first time said the employees will never ask if you have already paid for something as you leave the store...Apple is trust based...  (Luke says they can afford to be trust based because they make a guh-jillion dollars...or more...every year.)

And then we went to Teavana, where I found something amazing.

Behold the electric tea pot!

Pretty sure there's not an app for that...yet...

Happy Halloween!

Last friday night (date night) Luke and I carved a pumpkin.  It turned out to be incredible!!!  Of course we chose the hardest pattern in the book.  Of course I made Luke do all the hard parts, but I did help with the big/easier parts!

Here are some pictures of the Halloween Fun.

Our pumpkin had a lot of guts!

It took awhile to get them all out...

Luke transferred the pattern.

He was the master of the details of the pattern.

Can you guess what it is??

I carved out the outline.

It's a haunted house!

Isn't it AWESOME??  Best pumpkin carving ever! :)

We hope you all have a "SPOOKTACULAR" Halloween!