Starting Fresh

So, it has been well over a year since I last updated this blog. I am officially a terrible blogger. I had the best intentions to keep this updated for our friends and family. Apparently life had other ideas for me and kept me busy. Not that I couldn't have found the time...

I have decided to start fresh for 2010. In almost every aspect of my life. One of my New Year's resolutions (I have this one every year) is to keep in better touch with friends and family. This blog is definitely one of many ways to do that. So I am going to make it a point to update and add photos. Especially since 2010 will hold a lot of changes for us. We are going to be moving this year from Alaska to some yet-unknown Army post, and we will be selling our house (or trying to anyways).

Right now, L and I are in Wisconsin, spending a nice, relaxing evening with his father, Tom, up at his house. L is going over his Iraq photos. There is a nice fire going, and Tom still has his beautiful Christmas tree up (minus the decorations-it's still pretty). A very picturesque evening in the North Woods. Tomorrow, we head out to MN to visit with my family. This is the first time L has been home since he returned in September from Iraq. We only have a week so we have had to pack a lot into this trip. We plan on spending a longer period of time in WI and MN in June or July. So hopefully we can catch up with our friends on that trip.

Like I said, I really want to keep this updated. We will see. Stay tuned...

Cold Summer Blues

The weather has been a bit disheartening the past two weeks- very cold (60* highs) and cloudy. I don't mind a few days of this weather, but where did the sun go??? Fairbanksans take their summers very seriously. With this weather, people feel cheated of the legendary summers the Interior is known for. And to know that we have to go back to 6+ months of winter very shortly is hard to swallow. Hopefully it will clear and warm up soon so that we can make the most of what we have left!

I have been keeping myself very busy while L is away at NTC in California. I have been participating in the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival for the past week. The FSAF is a great way to get the community involved in the many different artistic opportunities Fairbanks has to offer. I am taking two classes- Women's Vocal Performance and Middle Eastern Dance. The vocal class has a performance this coming Friday evening, and our dance performance is on Saturday afternoon. I am nervous about the dance performance- Middle Eastern dance is not easy! You can check out FSAF's website here.

L is doing well in CA. He says it is hot there- a balmy 108*! I guess it is good practice for his upcoming deployment! He will be leaving CA the beginning of Aug. and heading to WI and MN to see family and friends. I will be joining him there. I am very excited to be going home! And L and I will be flying together for the first time when we head back up here! We have been together for almost 6 years and have never been on the same plane together! I know that is a silly thing to be excited for, but I really am looking forward to it!

Well, I need to get some more laundry done before my FSAF classes tonight! I will try to update this more often- I promise!

One more quick thing- here is a picture of the view of the Alaska Mountain Range from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. You can see forever from this view point. This was taken on the 2nd of July with Luke's dad Tom, and his friend Fran. This was the clearest I have ever seen the mountains from Fairbanks. It was breathtaking!

Lonely

L is on his way to California for some training. He will be gone for a few weeks. I am bummed out. It is just hard to deal with because I know he will be deploying not long after he gets back from CA. This is like a super-mini-preview of what is to come. We have to go through separation a lot as a military family. But it never gets any easier, that is for sure!

I plan on getting a lot done while L is gone. I want to paint the kitchen (we got a little sick of painting when we tackled the rest of the house!) and do some more decorating. I might even have a garage sale! It is amazing what we ended up with after the move. You would think I could have gone through it all before we packed it up and took it with us to Alaska! Oh well, maybe I can make a little cash! I plan on donating what I don't sell to the Salvation Army or some place like that.

Well, I think I am going to try to go to sleep. It is no fun knowing that you will be sleeping alone for a while! :(

How Time Flies...

Holy Cow! I did not realize it has been so long since my last post! We have been very busy in the last two months. We attended L's Battalion Ball (which I did the decorations for), painted the interior of our house, saw Elton John in concert up here in Fairbanks, took a nice trip to Seward, AK (although the weather left much to be desired), and had L's mother, aunt, and uncle up for a very nice visit. Tomorrow L's father will be in town for a few days. We are looking forward to showing him around!

The weather has been gorgeous! Sunshine and nice breezes- no humidity at all! I love that about Fairbanks! We reached 80* today, which was a first. I can't complain at all, though! The summers make everything worth it up here!

Tomorrow is the Summer Solstice, which is the longest day of the year. There is a Midnight Sun Festival downtown that L and I plan on checking out. I was sick last year and couldn't go :( . I want to find one of those bank signs with the time and date and take a picture to show how light it will be at midnight! There will be sunshine tomorrow for like 21.6 hours or something crazy like that. There never is actual darkness because of twilight and dawn. It is all very surreal and we are very lucky to have had the experience! We hope some of you will get the chance while we are still here as well!

Happy One Year Anniversary!

Today L and I celebrated our One Year Anniversary of owning our home! We moved in one year ago today. We are very proud of our place and love owning our own home. We hope you all will get to visit! We have a guest room waiting!

Our home!

The Winter Blues

Old Man Winter just does not want to give up! We had nice weather all last week- in the 50's- and then Thursday hit and it was back to snow flurries and 30-degree temps. I am just really sick of all of this. :-( I can't wait for spring, if it ever gets here. And then summer, which will go all too fast. At least the weather is so beautiful that it helps to forget the winters for a while! Wish us luck that spring will come at all this year!

The Best of Alaska (so far)...

I have finally put some photos of the last year up here in Alaska together. I put them up on my Facebook account, but there is a link that I can share with friends and family. There are two separate albums. Hope you enjoy!

Album One

Album Two