The Alaska Zoo

Earlier this month, Eric and I ended up going into Anchorage for a few days.  We had the chance to go to the Anchorage Zoo.  They have some pretty cool animals there that they don't normally have in zoos.  We also don't have some of the normal zoo animals (monkeys)!

The first picture here is the sleepy brown bear.  It just happened to roll over and "pose" for this picture.

 

Next we have a Dall Sheep.  I just had to take this picture.  It cracks me up every time I see it.  Look at that goofy looking "smile" on his face.

 

This next picture are the famous Musk Ox.  These guys are not very tall.  Maybe 4'.  They are cool though! 

Here is a polar bear.  Not sure if it's male or female.  It was restless in the enclosure.  Kept walking up to the white fence and tossing its' head back then walking around going back to the fence and repeating this habit. 

This next animal is only found in Alaska.  It is a Sitka Deer.  It sure was a pretty little guy.  

This pretty little kitty is a snow leopard.  I'm not sure how they keep it cool during the summer.  The like alot of snow, hence the name.  It was also restless like the polar bear.

 

This guy would not stand still for a picture.  I think the only time it stopped moving is when it had to pee!  It was fun to see him run around the cage.  This is a wolverine.  Pretty cool, but not as pretty as Eric's though! 

Finally, I think this is probably the mandatory photo that a lot of people have to take when they are at the zoo!  That was our trip to the Alaska Zoo.  I hope you have enjoyed your/our journey.

Eric's 2010 Bear Hunt

Well, I suppose I should put pictures up since it has been almost a month since he went out on the hunt!  He had a successful hunt that last about 10 days.  This bear was bigger than last years.  Huge claws on him.  He also had a really large head!

 

Since the weather wasn't being too cooperative when Eric was trying to get back to Bethel, he had a few days (3) to sit and wait.  So, what do you do when you get bored waiting for the airplane to come pick you up?  You build a snowman!  I had to laugh when I saw these pictures.  I figured you must be pretty bored to build a snowman while you wait.  Then I started thinking about that Tom Hanks movie were he takes the volleyball and makes it into "Wilson".

I was thinking that this snowman must have taken awhile to build, then I saw the next picture and just about died laughing.  Apparently it was only about a foot tall.

 

Well, that was Eric's hunt in a nutshell.  I'll have another post soon about our early May trip to Anchorage.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of those mom's out their, especially mine and the mother-in-law! The first is the card I made for my mom.  The second was made for Eric's mom.  The one I made for my mom is suppose to be a shadow box type look to it with the green frame popped out from the base.  Didn't turn out quite like the sample I followed but it's still cool because it's different.

  

The following pictures are from when our stamping group got together last weekend.  These are some bookmarks that one of the ladies made and then there is the picture of our table. 

Administrative Professional's Week

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked by the Asst. Director of the Campus if I had any ideas / would make something for the Admin Professionals.  After a lot of searching and thinking, I decided to do an "Administrative Professional Survival Kit".  I had plenty of the plastic Crystal Light tubes and they actually make good holders.  I also made corresponding Thank You cards to match the kits.  They were a big hit and I had a blast making them.  Glad I was able to use up all of my Crystal Light tubes!  They were taking up way too much space!

Stampin' Up Color Renovation

Well if you have heard already, Stampin' Up has come up with a new Color Renovation that will take place with the new catalog in July.  They are getting rid of the old color families and making some new ones.  This also means that they are getting rid of some of the main colors that they have had for awhile and then bringing back some of the past In Colors that were more popular.

If you are interested in any of the retiring colors, I suggest you put an order in as soon as possible.  It's hard to tell how much stock Stampin' Up has on hand and how fast they will sell it!  Note that alot of the purples are retiring.  Also, they have rename the color Kraft to Crumb Cake.

Has It Really Been 1.5 Months?

As the title states: Has it really be 1.5 months since I last posted?  I guess it has.  It's so easy to forget about this little blog site with Facebook around, but I do have some big news....
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just kidding!  But I got your attention, didn't I?

Okay, all kidding aside, I have been busy doing a little crafting.  My latest crochet project turned out great (at least I think so).  Check it out!

I have also done a little card making.  The first one was a thank you for Eric's dad and the second one was a birthday card for Eric's mom.

 

Girl Scouts Women of Science

I had so much fun helping out  at the Bethel Girl Scouts Women of Science program.  I spent most of my day yesterday helping out the Girl Scouts leading a group of 1st graders and taking pictures.  I also had the opportunity to meet Callan Chythlook-Sifsof, who is an Olympic snowboarder from Alaska.  She flew in for the day to support the Women of Science program for the Girl Scouts.  I had the opportunity to get her autograph and picture taken with her.  She is a wonderful inspiration for the native girls and such a nice person.  She wanted to stay longer in Bethel, but needed to catch a flight today to Europe for the World Cup.  Busy girl and she is only 21.

I think this has to be one of my favorite events that I volunteer with.  I get to see so many of the younger kids in town that I normally wouldn't see otherwise.  The kids got to learn about wildlife, methane bubbles, blood pressure, making casts, wind turbines, mining (with cupcakes and cookies!), rockets, tv production and ethnobotany.  Can't wait until next year!

Stampin' Up Sale-a-Bration and new Mini Catalog

Here's the new Sale-a-Bration (SAB) catalog from Stampin' Up.  SAB is an annual event that Stampin' Up does.  For every $50 you spend, you receive something from the SAB for FREE!!!!

http://xmission.com/~stampinup/catalogs/NovCatalogs/SAB_10_US.pdf

Here is the new Mini Catalog.  Since Stampin' Up has gone to 1 catalog a year they have come out with a couple of mini catalogs.  This is the newest one.  This catalog introduces the new clear mount stamps (still the great red rubber, but you use them with acrylic blocks!).  They are also debuting a new punch design.  This design will help with storage.

http://204.228.150.61/catalogs/20091231/OccasionsMini10_US.pdf

Let me know if you are interested in placing an order for anything!!!!!

New afghan

Well - for those of you that are on Facebook, you probably have already seen this picture but I still wanted to post it here since I seem to be lacking in the posts lately. I finally finished another afghan. This is for a lady I work with. She just had a little granddaughter a few months ago and ask if I would make her one. I wanted something easy and something I could make with year I had already had on hand. Here is what I came up with.

Why Santa Didn't Leave me Anything

'Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree
I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me
Could it be cardstock or inkpads or lace?
Or some stamps, I said, with a smile on my face.
And that's when I heard him...
"Hi Santa," I said
He replied, "You know...good girls should be in their beds".
"I know I should Santa, and now I've been caught.
But I was just so excited to see what you brought."
"Well, let's take a look in this room where you work".
He shook his head quickly and left with a jerk.
I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear.
"You've got enough crap,
I'll see you next year!"



This was just too cute not to post.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Quiz

I usually don't do these types of things, but i thought it would be fun. Also I realized that I have only posted 1 time in the month of December and thought I should try to bump that up a little!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?:
I love wrapping paper and especially home wrapped gifts!

2. Real tree or Artificial?:
I love real trees, but unfortunately we can't get them up here unless you want to pay a hefty price. The past three years we have been putting up a white artificial tree (2 years with gold and red, this year I did green and silver).

3. When do you put up the tree?:
Family tradition has always been the Friday after Thanksgiving. I remember putting up the tree as kids all the time on Thanksgiving break.

5. Do you like eggnog?:
yuk!

6. Favorite gift received as a child?:
Would have to be my Mini-Bake Oven! I love to cook and bake to this day.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
My Dad - unless I win the lottery and can afford the farm equipment he seems to put on his list EVERY year!


8. Easiest person to buy for?
My mom or my older sister.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Nope. Never have been into them.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Via mail... although this year they are going to be a little late again! I should be getting them from the printers sometime early next week.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
I think all of those years that we received socks and underwear as kids! Although they were needed they just didn't seem like they should be under the tree.

12.Favorite Christmas Movie?
Never really had a favorite Christmas movie, but watched all of the Christmas cartoons growing up.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
I start in August with my nephews while I'm home so I don't have to worry about shipping stuff!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Of course not - okay I am guilty ;-)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
I am a sucker for pretty much any type of Christmas treats.

16. Lights on the tree?
Definitely! Currently have white but I think next year I might want to do a different color.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
Elmo Wants a Hippopotamus for Christmas - Just Kidding, for some strange reason I really like Santa Baby and Baby It's Cold Outside

18. Hmm...where did 18 go??

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?:
dasher, dancer, prancer, vixen, comet, cupid, donner and blitzen…and Rudolph,

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Star, never really was into the angel topper.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Tradition was always Christmas Eve with Santa's gifts on Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
not having enough snow to make it feel like Christmas :-(

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
as mentioned earlier, green and silver - this year

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
It was ham growing up, now Eric and I usually do a roast of some sort. This year I believe it will probably be a Musk Ox roast.

25. What do you want to do for Christmas this year?
Relax, open a few gifts and just spend the day vegging!

WOW - has it really been almost 1 month since I updated this thing!?!?!?!?

Guess that means that nothing interesting has been happening here. Well, I did make it back to ND about a week after my last post. Nothing too exciting but seeing family and friends we haven't seen for 2 years since the wedding. We did have to take a picture by Eric's tree that he has grown from a seedling tree. He got it in elementary school when they used to give out seedling trees for Arbour Day. That tree is getting big!Eric's buddy Kevin (one of the groomsman - one right) was able to make it up to Edgeley to visit for a few hours before heading home to his parents in Bristol, SD. Jeremy (another groomsman - on left) also came to visit. He was also our ride back to Bismarck, ND to catch our return plane. We spent the night in Hazelton at Jeremy and Krista's place. Got to see their little ones (the 3 girls and 1 boy). Bridger was just a tiny baby at the wedding and now he's a pretty big 2 year old. He was my little guy while there. We were sitting down for supper and he was beside me. He leaned over and said "I love you". I love the sweetness and innocence of little kids!
While we were in ND, we celebrated Eric's birthday with some good beef steaks and baked potatoes and for dessert we had angel food cake with raspberries and ice cream. YUMMY! When we got back, we had to celebrate Eric's birthday again, but this time it was at a 7 year olds party! Karlyn just happens to have the same birthday as Eric and it started last year joking around about them sharing a birthday party. While this year Karlyn actually remembered that they had the same birthday and had her mom email me to see if Eric wanted to do an "iCarly" birthday party! We ended up going over for cake and ice cream. Here's a picture of Karlyn and Eric.
For Thanksgiving we went over to some friends (Karlyn's mom and dad). There was just a small group of us with enough food to feed a small army! We had ham, turkey, roast, mashed potatoes, 2 different stuffings, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, gravy, baked corn, dinner rolls, a grape salad and a whole lot of desserts!!!!!

Now it's time to start working on Christmas cards. I think I have it figured out, but I like to change my mind alot!

Well, I should really get back to work. Lunch hours just don't last long enough!

halloween treats

Well, I figured it was about time I posted my halloween treats that I did for work. i did a couple of different types.
I made little coffins and bats. I had a lot of fun with the bats, but I had to trace each one and then cut it out by hand.

Now I need to start thinking about Christmas treats!

Stampin' Up Deal of the Week

Well, I completely forgot to put up last weeks Deal of the Week, but it wasn't anything to extra special (at least I didn't think so). This week we have 4 different accessories on sale.

1/2" Library Clips Regularly $6.95 NOW ONLY $3.99!!!

Basic Jumbo Grommets Regular $6.95 NOW ONLY $4.49!!!

Circle Designer Brads Regular $5.95 NOW ONLY $3.99!!!

Mini Library Clips Regularly $12.95 NOW ONLY $8.99!!
If you would like to buy any of this or order anything else, let me know. These are great deals and will only last until early Monday morning.

Stampin Up Deal of the Week

Stampin' Up has brought back the Deal of the Week for the weeks of October. This week deal is actually 3 different punches. My Way, Trio Flower and 5-petal flower punches. These punches are available at the discounted rate of 10.99 each (originally 15.95 each). If you want any of these punches let me know and we can get an order placed!!!!
The sale prices on these punches are good until Monday, October 12 at 9:50 am (MT). The next deal will start at 10:00 am that same day. Once I know what it is I'll post it hear for you all.

Interesting Day - The Almost Moose Hunt

Those of you on Facebook have probably already heard about our almost moose hunt. For those of you who haven't or want a longer more detailed story, sit back, grab a drink and let the good times roll. Eric and I were all set to leave for our moose hunting trip yesterday. We got all of our equipment down to the lake (we were taking a float plane). Before I continue, I need to tell you that this was my first experience in a float plane so naturally I was a little nervous. These planes seat 4 people! We got everything loaded and the pilot takes off. We are only flying about 500 ft above the ground. You can see everything and it looks so awesome. Well about 12 miles into our 40ish mile flight we hear a POP and then the engine goes quite. Good thing we were above a pretty good sized pond. Eric taps the back of my seat and tells me to brace myself. The pilot set us down on the lake like it was a natural landing. As we landed we could see oil in the pond draining from the engine. Luckily he was talking with the owner of the plane/company (Renfro's Alaskan Adventures) and he just happened to be flying in that same area. He double check to see if he would be able to land in that area on tundra tires (big, fat tires, not regular tires). He was able to, but he had to land about 1 mile from where we were at. That meant hiking across uneven tundra! This was were the fun really started. For those of you that don't know what tundra is like, it is rather spongy and there can be little creeks running through it. Some of these creeks are really shallow and others can be really deep (keep this in mind!) We came across one of these creeks about 1/4 mile into the hike. Eric was walking a little ways to my left and Chip (the pilot) was walking a little ways to my right. We all were trying to find the best place to cross. I was watching Eric and it looked like he was having a hard time finding a spot so I kept looking for my own. I found a spot that looked good. I took the first couple of steps just fine and then with the third step I almost disappeared. I'm not lying. Before I knew it I was up to my chest in this little creek and for the life of my I COULD NOT, I repeat COULD NOT find the bottom of this creek. I was in waist waders thinking I would be okay, but my momentum kept me going forward and I ended up filling my waders!!!!!! Eric had already crossed by then and came running to me and Chip was still searching for a crossing and came to help also. Luckily Eric was able to help pull me out since I wasn't able to find any footing to move myself forward. After I got out we still had to go about 3/4 mile and I think I was a good 5-10 lbs heavier. Not good especially when walking on the spongy/uneven tundra. By this time we could hear the "rescue" plane coming so we started hurrying as fast as we could. Chip (who was only wearing hip boots) was still trying to find his way across. Eric and I got to the rescue plane (which was on tundra tires so it could land pretty much anywhere) and I was loaded up immediately (it was a Cub 2-seater; me and the pilot). This was my first time in a plane this tiny also! We got back to Bethel in about 10 minutes and I was unloaded so he could turn around and go get Eric. We were in a time crunch because the sun light was fading fast.

So now we sit and wait to see what actually happened to the plane to see if it is an easy fix or if it was a major fix. We may or may not get out moose hunting.

Two in one day!

Posts that is. I have had this afghan done for awhile now, but I didn't want to post pictures of it before the recipient received it. Got the official confirmation of receival (is that a word????) this weekend. So here is my latest crochet project...............................................
Just ignore Chubbs in the upper right hand corner. He always thinks he needs to be involved in my photos of my crochet projects.

I had so much fun making this one. This is the first farm animal one I have made and it was worth it. Plus I made a mom very happy! One of my dearest friends from the year I was going to school in Watertown was this recipient of this for her first little boy.

Long time, no update

I know it's been a long time since I've updated this thing, but there really hasn't been too much info to update with. I got back a couple of weeks ago from a wonderful trip back home. Here's just a few of my favorite pics. The first one is of my 6 year old nephew Caden playing soccer. In this picture he is waiting down the field to play defense.
This picture was taken by my sister "experimenting" with my camera. Since it's a point and shoot she was trying it out seeing if it is something that she'd want to get instead of dragging her big Nikon around. This chubby, cute little boy is my newest nephew Canon. He's 3 1/2 months in this photo.
And finally, here is the 3 year old Colton. I love this picture. Don't know if my sister realized that I took it or not. Colton is such a sweet, lovey boy. He's always running to mom for hugs and to let her know that he loves her!

How to Birdwatch......

..........according to Chubbs and Skeeter.

First of all you need to be able to have some nice sun shining weather and have parents that are willing to let you get outside instead of cooping you up in the house. Once outside stroll around until you find a spot that looks like a prime spot for birdwatching.Skeeter decided to sit on the ground and watch the birds in the trees. This is a good spot for some recon work for scouting from below.While Skeeter was hanging out on the ground, Chubbs decided to try to take a more hands-on approach. He sits in one of the living room windows and watches birds flying around and to this one particular birdhouse. Since he mastered climbing the stairs outside he has been able to get closer to the birds than ever before. Now you need to be able to climb to the middle platform. Once there he's thinking that this could be a good spot to maybe try to watch some birds.On second thought, maybe this side will have better access.Once you know the birds are in the the birdhouse you need to carefully balance your chubby body on a nice wide 2x6.Once you're balanced, you need to scoot your body closer to the house and so carefully reach up to try to get the top off.
And that is how you birdwatch according to Chubbs and Skeeter!