Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Still Burrrr
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Burrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Flying By
Speaking of work, I am actually on break starting on Tuesday, and I don't have to start up again until January 2. I am so looking forward to it! I love my job, but sometimes you just need a break! I'll talk to you all later~
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Record temps set
You'll never guess what we came home to after work tonight. We had a bag of marshmallows sitting out on the counter that was open. Skeeter is my plastic bag kitty and low and behold the bag was on the floor in the spare bedroom. See pictures below. She actually ate a few of them!!!!!!
What an adorable little stinker!
Other than that nothing much is going on here. I'll post more later~
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Changes
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Christmas is in the Air
I really love how the red/gold bows pop on the tree. I have gold beaded garland and white lights.
If you look close under the tree, you can see that we have a few presents, but it seems that Chubbs has chosen this spot as his new favorite resting place.
Well, it's almost time to get ready for bed. Chat with you all later~
Friday, November 23, 2007
Thanksgiving #1
I just got off of Messanger with my sisters. That was awesome. We have decided that we will try to get together once a week and "chat". It was alot of fun.
I'm pulling out the christmas decorations today and am trimming the tree. Actually I took a break from that to update this. Once everything is decorated I'll post a picture.
Later~
Friday, November 09, 2007
Look into my eyes, you are getting sleepy
I had to laugh when I got this. I was drinking water and almost spit it out. If it doesn't work for you and you don't eventually see the giraffe, let me know and I'll email it to you.
Well, it's Friday and it's almost time to be done with work for the week. I can't wait. I'm ready for the weekend. I had to spend some time getting Travel approval for a conference next month in Portland, OR. I'll be there from Dec 9-12.
That's the exciting news happening here. I'll hopefully writing more exciting news later~
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Blog Changes
I had to deal with one of the schools today. That was 10 minutes of trying to convince them that they need to turn the data in so I can send it in to the Department of Education so we can continue to keep our funding. I hope I convinced them. I guess I'll see in a few weeks if I get any paperwork back from them. I can see where they are coming from because in the past the program hasn't been able to help all of the students that apply to come to the camps. I'm trying to figure out some way that we can include more students without breaking our budget. I did that last summer and was told that I have to make sure it does not happen again. Ah, the dilemma's (is that spelled right?) of trying to accomodate the vast lands of the YK Delta without a road system.
Well, it's almost time for blogger to have a scheduled outage, so I will get this posted before then. Talk with you all later~
Friday, November 02, 2007
Happy Halloween.....a couple days late
This is one of the cards I made at the Stampin' Up party. I've never really thought about making Halloween cards, but I didn't feel like making Christmas cards yet and those were the only stamps available for us this time.
Well, Eric finally comes home tomorrow night. He's been in West Virginia at training for work for the last 3 weeks.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
New hair cut and new computer
Notice the separate keypad on the right hand side. That's nice. It's a 17" screen. Well, I'm off to a Stampin' Up party. I'll write more later.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Rain?
On another note, my computer was in Anchorage yesterday, so hopefully it makes the cargo plane today and I'll have it tomorrow! It's wishful thinking but it could happen. Alrighty then. I'm going to get to work and I'll keep you all updated as things happen!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Computer and Pictures
What does all of this mean? It mean that I won't have to take my slow work computer home to try to do anything anymore! Yeah.
Okay, I need to get back to work. Later~
PS. If any of you have pictures you want to email me send them to amy.gronke@gmail.com
Sunday, October 21, 2007
The Promised wedding Pictures
This has actually has to be one of my favorite pictures.
Okay, hopefully that satisfies some of you and I'll post more later.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
So, what do you want to know?
As far as the weather goes I don't think we've gotten above 30 in the past week. We've had snow on the ground since then also. This is what we woke up to last Saturday. This is the view from our dining room window looking down on our driveway.
I just realized that I had the following picture on the camera from Jimmie Joe's (Eric's dad) b-day party. This is the beaver hat (I would put down the Yup'ik name but I'm not sure how to spell it) that we er, I made for him.
Well, I'm going to sign off for the night, but I promise I'll post some wedding pictures tomorrow.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Waking Up to Snow
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Snow Anyone?
Eric is doing good at work also. He flies out next Saturday for 3 weeks of training in West Virginia. The Fish and Wildlife Service has a huge training center out their and requires new employees to attend training out there. I think he's going out today with one of the guys from work to look for something. Maybe bear and caribou?
On a side note, I cut my hair. Not super short, but they did take about 3-4 inches which is alot for me. I'll try to get a picture posted soon. Well, I'll write more later. ~Amy
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Updates
Well, I better get going. I'm using my work computer to do this because my laptop crashed on me. Eric and I are looking at getting a new one but for the time being posting may be limited.
~ Amy
Sunday, September 02, 2007
2 weeks and counting
Sunday, August 05, 2007
The Sun will come out Tomorrow
As of this past Friday I am officially off work. We accidentally overran our budget by a few thousand so I am required to take some extra time off. That's okay though because I was running out of things to do. I've spent the last couple of days doing some wedding things and of course some fun things. We finally figured out Eric's wedding ring. Yeah I know we waited til the last minute but those of you that know Eric knows that he has a tendency to procrastinate on things. Here's a general picture of what the ring will look like. Replace the turquoise with onyx and the gold with white gold and you got yourself the ring.
We are slowly getting RSVPs back. Those of you that haven't sent them yet (you know who you are) please do so.
Well, I'll write a little more later ~ Amy
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
At first I was afraid...................But I survived!
RSVPs are coming in the mail daily. We have been getting about 5 a day. Thank you to all that have sent them back. Those that haven't - where are they!!!!! Just kidding. You still have time. I'll be heading back south on August 15. I'll be in Minnesota for a few days and then back home. I have to go to Brookings to finalize a few details for the wedding.
Well, I'm going to go. I took today off to recuperate and try to get my cough under control. Last week I almost lost my voice for a few days. That sucked especially when I had to raise my voice to the kids.
Catch you all later ~ Amy
Monday, July 09, 2007
Dirty Jobs
This is Mike wearing a Lynx hat that belongs to Doug's son Dalton. Dalton was the one who had the idea of sending Dirty Jobs the email about the duck swabbing. One email was all it took to get them interested.
And here of course is the obligatory photo of the "star" with the little people. Excuse the expression on my face. I believe someone said something and I laughed a little too hard! I told Mike that I had to do the "touristy thing" and he said that it was his pleasure and that he was the tourist.
For those of you that haven't seen the show basically what they do is go around the country doing jobs that people contact them about that they think are "dirty" jobs. This guy is just as funny in person as he is on TV. Doug (the Deputy Manager of the Refuge) brought up the idea of putting VITs (vaginal transmitters) in the moose that Eric works with and Mike seem interested in the idea. How knows, come April they may be back here following Eric around with his moose work!!!!!
Well, that's about it for my night. I'll post more later ~ Amy
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
We Finally Hit 70!
We have some exciting news for the YK Delta. Mike Rowe from Discovery Channels Dirty Jobs will be here doing some work on the Tundra. Every one from Eric's work is invited to go over to one of the managers houses to hang out with the crew from the show on Monday night. I'll keep you posted.
I will be finishing up wedding invites tomorrow and should be able to get them into the mail on Friday. I'll be glad to get those done but kinda sad because I've enjoyed working on them. Well it's 9:20 pm so I think I will get going so I can surf the web a little more before I go to bed. Later ~ Amy
Monday, July 02, 2007
Update
Eric and I ordered a few shirts and pants to try to decide on groomsmen and groom outfit and I think we have made a decision. Here's what the Groomsmen will be wearing.
And here is what the groom will be wearing (except he will be wearing black pants, not BROWN!). The shirt has a pinstripe towards the from of the collar and match ones of the cuffs.
Here's a picture of all the the wedding attire together.
Well, I better get going. I'm almost done with all of the invites. They should go out in the mail this week. I'm excited to get them off the table and in the mail. One less thing to worry about. I'll write more later ~ Amy
Saturday, June 23, 2007
2 Down 3 To Go
As far as wedding things go, I'm almost done with the invites. I have to do a few more things with the envelopes but they should be ready for the mail in a few days. I think we have found the groomsmen outfits. Here's what we are thinking.
We are still debating on what Eric is going to be wearing. He'd like to try to find a black shirt with white collars and cuffs. I'll keep you posted on that. Well, I better get back to the laundry. I have to get most of my weekend stuff done today because I'll have to work late tomorrow afternoon and evening. Later ~ Amy
Friday, June 15, 2007
I'm Alive and Kicking
Well, I better get going. It's 10:45 pm and I should probably get some sleep because I've been working 12-14 hour days since Sunday and I can tell I'm getting sleep deprived. I'll try to write more this weekend. ~ Amy
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
It's a bird, it's a plane, well, it's a crocheted plane!
This was made for a co-worker of Eric who is a pilot with the Fish and Wildlife Service. Him and his wife had a little girl about a month ago. I think it turned out pretty good and I love how the colors turned out. I was a little skeptical when I got the yarn in the mail but it worked out.
I spent some time this past weekend working on the invitations, with the help of the Itty Bitty Kitty. I got all of the inserts printed and cut and a majority of them assembled. You should have seen Skeeter (also known as Itty, Bitty Kitty) watching the printer. She was so amazed at the paper going in one end and coming out the other. Here's a picture of her watching.
Well, it's 9:50 pm and lighter then light outside. I do believe the official sunset tonigh is 11:58 pm. We are almost to our daylight high point. We will gain roughly another 1/2 hour in the evening and another 1/2 hour in the morning and I think that's it.
I guess I should start getting ready for bed. We try to force ourselves to be in bed by 10:30/11:00 so we still get enough sleep. I usually wake up about 5:30/6:00 because of the light but force myself to stay in bed until the alarm goes off at 6:30. Skeeter usually comes to cuddle me in the morning. She loves to lay on my chest and put her head up by my chin and just look at me. It's really quite cute. I'll have to try to get a picture sometime. ~Amy
Saturday, May 26, 2007
11:00 pm and it's bright as day
I spent the day today working on the wedding invitations. I printed inserts, cut them all apart and did some glueing. I also got most of the envelopes addressed. Here's a mock up of the invites. The front is going to have some sort of monogram on it, I think. A lady from work is working on one this weekend for us!
Well, with the sunlight has come the birds. We have a few bird houses around our house and the cats love to sit in the windows and call to the birds. Little do they know that the windows aren't open so they can't hear them. Here's a picture of the kitties in the window.
Well, I suppose I should try to get some sleep. It's nice that we have a 3 day weekend. I love my job, but at the same time, I love my weekends and time off. I better enjoy it now because once June 10 hits, I'm a slave to work (except for Saturdays).
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Wedding Dress
So, what do you all think????? I absolutely love it!!!!
I have all of the invites folded I just need to print up the inserts, cut and assemble. And then of course stuff all envelopes and address everything. I have roughly 2 full weeks to get all of this accomplished. I'll get pictures of the invites as I assemble them. More later~Amy
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Cats, Cats and more cats!
Can you find the real animal in the picture below? I just couldn't resist taking this picture of Chubbs. He looked like he fit in with the rabbit, ducks and grouse.
Well, I better get going. I'll do more either later today or tomorrow. ~Amy
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Skeeter
Sunday, April 22, 2007
April Showers bring May Potholes??????
On another note, last week Eric finished collaring his moose. They darted 38 cows and calves. They gave them beautiful neon orange necklaces to wear. It took them all week to get these collared. As far as his taxidermy goes, he ordered a Fleshing Machine to help with the hides. He sent in the hides of his lynx, rabbits and foxes to get tanned. Once he gets them back he should be able to start on mounting some of them.
I ordered some paper samples to try to get the invitations worked out. I have to get these done within the next month because once June rolls around I won't have any time to do them, let alone think :-) I have Raquel on a mission to find me some yarn. I won't say what it's for, that's a surprise ;-) I'm hoping the dress I ordered will be in the mail soon. I'm excited to see how it looks.
Signing off for now ~ Amy
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Wedding Details Coming Together
Okay, we have finally got most of the plans together for the wedding. The wedding party is all on board. Eric has chosen 4 of his buddies. These are listed in no particular order yet: Jeremy Duckwitz, Josh Miller, Brett Amdor and Kevin Monteith. The lucky ladies paired up with these guys are Wendy Finnegan (my sister), Alethea Caraway (my best friend), Shawnda Hildebrande (Eric's cousin) and junior bridesmaid Brinley Mathern (Eric's niece). Bridesmaids dresses have been ordered and almost everyone has gotten theirs. Still trying to decide on what the groomsmen will be wearing. I found another dress and have put in an order. If all goes well, I should have it in 2-3 weeks. Here's a picture of the dress.
For flowers I think we are going with something simple. Calla lily bouquets is what I'm thinking. Along those lines, I am thinking that the details for the cupcakes will be Calla Lilies also.
I am in the process of ordering paper for the invitations. They are going to be simple pocketfolds. We've got a pretty hefty guestlist going as of right now.
Well it's time for me to start making super so I will talk to you all later ~ Amy
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Flashback to the Past
Happy Easter to everyone out there. Not much happens here on Easter. Yesterday there was an easter egg hunt for the kids but that's about it. We didn't even get Good Friday off.
The kitten (who we have officially named Skeeter) had her first vet visit yesterday. She got a booster, wormer and the rabies vaccine. Next month she will be spayed and declawed. Poor girl. She's my little sweetie though. She sleeps above my head on my pillow. There's been a few times when she would stretch out and end up with her head on my shoulder.
On other note, we have a new pet for a few weeks. Once again we are dog-sitting for Sadie. It's been an interesting few days for Sadie and the kitten. They are starting to finally warm up to each other. Chubbs on the other hand is not warming up to Sadie yet. He will sit in the middle of the hallway and won't let Sadie into the living room. She's too scared to do anything about it.
Well, it's about time to feed Sadie so I'll sign off for now. I promise I'll do a wedding/crochet update soon!~Amy
Monday, April 02, 2007
Fiascos oh my!
Well, I survived the weekend, but let me tell you it was touch and go for awhile starting late last week. The first fiasco was the bridesmaids dresses! I finally found the perfect one after searching online for 2-3 months. I decided to order them and the were completely gone from the website. I was lucky that they were available from another company and the girls have finally got them ordered. Here's what they look like.
The second fiasco, that I'm still trying to work out, is my dress. I thought I had found the perfect dress. It's Ivory instead of White, but I didn't imagine it to be as "yellow" as it was when I opened the box. I was so disappointed. Here's the picture from Nordstroms and then the picture of the dress beside the bridesmaids dresses.
These pictures portrait the dress much "whiter" than it is. So the search is on once again for a dress for myself. I'm leary of getting anything that says "ivory" now, so it will only be white for me!
Okay, I'm off to look on the web for another dress. ~ Amy
Monday, March 26, 2007
Let it Snow!
First of all let me start out by saying Happy Birthday to my sister Raquel and my brother Nick. They both ended up being born on the same day. Now on to the good stuff.........
Woke up this morning and it was blowing snow. The schools were cancelled by 7:00 am. Eric and I kept listening in the hopes that there would be more cancellation, but there wasn't. We had a 3-4 foot snow drift in our driveway. Good thing it was the light fluffy stuff.
This past weekend I took a sewing class on making the traditional "qaspeq". It's pronounced kus-puk. They are shirts that both men and woment wear. I haven't gotten a picture yet, but I will soon. I'm trying to make another one, but I'm going to modify it a little. They are pretty boxy shirts and I like mine more fitted. We'll see what happens.
This coming weekend is the big Camai festival. It's a big dance festival where natives from around the region and elsewhere come and dance. They also have native arts and crafts and food. I'm going to see if I can find a video camera and take some footage to send home. If I do get a camera I'll try to take video of the town also.
Well, I need to go so I can watch Deal or No Deal. There is a lady from Alaska on tonight. She is wearing some of the traditional clothing and so are some of her relatives. I guess they are also doing some native drumming. She's from Dillingham, which is way south of here, but still Alaska is Alaska, just like South Dakota is South Dakota!
Tangerciqamken atata (See you later).
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Life In Alaska (Bethel to be exact!)
We are up to 12 hours of sunlight. Sun comes up around 8:30 am and sets about 8:30 pm, but we can still see outside until 9:00 pm. I was actually enjoying going to work in the light then congress had to do the early time change, so we will be going to work in the dark for at least another week, maybe two.
I'm staying busy with work. I've been going to talk at the High School and Middle schools about our summer camps. That has been fun. I enjoy getting out and talking with these kids, especially the 5th to 8th graders. The college is wrapping up it's Spring Break week. Staff actually got yesterday off. That was a nice change. Eric has been keeping buys with work. The past couple of days he was in Hooper Bay, a small village along the coast of Alaska. Tomorrow he is leaving to do some Fox trapping with a couple of the guys from work for work, so he's relaxing today and taking it easy.
For those that are curious about wedding details, we have finally booked a reception/dance location for the wedding. It will be at the Staurolite Inn. It ended up being cheaper for both rental and food. I am in the process of getting a block of rooms reserved. Once that is done, I'll let the wedding party and family know so they can get reservations made. I've been searching high and low online to try to find a bridesmaid dress I could tolerate that wasn't ungodly expensive to no avail until yesterday. I thought I found the perfect Bridesmaid dresses but I wanted to ask Eric his opinion before I did anything. Last night when he got home I showed the 2 dresses to him and he actually liked them, so I thought today I would go online and order one of each to see which one I liked better in person. Yeah, great plan but unfortunately for some reason the website is not coming up! I hope it's just a temporary glitch! It better be. I hate to think I have to start the search all over again. Poor computer probably feels the same! As for my dress, I have decided to order one. I've tried to find a pattern that I liked, but the ones I found that I likes, I didn't like once I started making them. I should probably order that here soon, but I'm trying to decide on the size to order. I've put on a little weight since we moved up here and I have been trying to lose it. The smaller size will be a little snug, but I think the larger size is just going to be too big and since it's a halter dress, I don't think it can be altered right. Who knows! Well, I'm going to get this published before I forget. If your lucky maybe I'll write more today or tomorrow! ~ Amy
Monday, March 05, 2007
Addition to the Family
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Ivory Earrings, Beaver Hats and Hair Coloring
Well, I finally did it. I colored my hair and I went darker instead of lighter. I love how it looks. The picture above shows the original color. Everyone at work said that it's the perfect color for me. Here's a few pictures. Don't look at the expressions on my face. I took them myself. I'm also putting in a picture of a hat I made. Let me know what you think (about the hair and the hat). I'll try to have Eric or someone take a better picture of me so you can see the hair better.
Well, it's getting close to bedtime. I'll write more later ~Amy
Vegas Update
Here's a picture of the outside of my hotel at night when all of the lights are on.
These last 2 are of the fountains at the Bellagio and of M&M World at MGM Grand.
Well, I'm going to sign off for this post because I don't want it to get too big to publish. ~Amy