You know you live in Alaska when....

You go fishing only to see this bear!

Do you see the black bear in the trees? Well, we didn't....until we were about 5 feet away from it! It was an incredibly amazing, and bit frightening experience!

We had just walked up on the boardwalk of the river after fishing all day. We had walked about 6 or so steps when Darron suddenly jumped back yelling "BEAR!" We all looked to the side and saw this beauty watching us from the trees. We see bear at the river all the time, but generally IN the river...not on the Boardwalk. With guns in tow, we were able to safely walk past her with no problems.

I guess we had been fairly warned by this sign! :)


This is the Kenai River, about 2 hours south of Anchorage. This is our favorite fishing hole. When the salmon are "running" we generally catch them here, along with everyone else as you can see. Believe it or not, this was not a crowded day. When the fish are really hot, it's literally almost shoulder to shoulder fishing. Some might say it's not fun to be that packed in, but as long as there is a fighting salmon at the end of my pole, I have a blast!

And here are our trusty men filleting all the fish we caught! The limit on red salmon is three a day. Darron can catch a fish in a mud puddle, so he always limits out. I had actually caught about 5 this trip, but only 1 was legal....the rest were either "snagged" in the tail or head, or got off right as I was about to have it to the shore. Oh well.

We try and make it to the Kenai River a couple of times each summer to enjoy the BEAUTIFUL river and mountains, along with good friends and fun fishing. This was our trip last Monday....Darron played hookey from work and we went for the day with Craig and Becca. We had a GREAT day, saw 4 bear total, and came home with 3 salmon each for the freezer.

I'm about to put my on the smoker now....

I truly love living in Alaska and all the adventures it has to offer....I just wish my family lived here with me!

Washington DC Trip

I always forget this uploads pictures backwards, so my trip is a little out of order. Oh well.

I left late Thursday night, July 9th for Washington DC/Virginia and was gone until July 19th....almost 10 days! Earlier this year my teaching partner, Valerie, and I were accepted to the We The People Institute at James Madison University in Virginia. We applied with over 100 other people and we were one of 45 to be chosen. Our trip was all expenses paid....airfair, food, lodging, etc. We were so excited! We were in lectures/groups all day, everyday and we had some homework to do each night. We were learning about the Constitution and its history and how to teach about it in our classrooms. Although I am not a history nut, this conference was AWESOME!

We were each put into group of 5 or 6 for the week with a mentor. THis is my group: me, Joan, Karen, Angela, and Julie. Bernard was our mentor. He was definately the BEST! We had to prepare all week for a Simulated Congressional Hearing in which we had to, as a team, give a six minute prepared speech answering specific questions about the Constitution. Then a panel of judges would have four minutes to ask us follow-up questions. This is my team at our Congressional Hearing. It was fun to show off all we had been learning.
We stayed at James Madison University (Father of the Constitution). We lived in the dorms and ate in their cafeteria. The food was actually outstanding! We each had our own room and we had one bathroom mate. My bathroom mate was a girl named Kelly from Ohio. We spent a lot of time together and got along great.

One of my closest friends from ACU, Amy, lives about 45 minutes from JMU. She and her little boy Charlie drove down to take me to dinner one night. It was SO GOOD getting to catch up in person. Thanks to our blogs, I felt like we hadn't missed a beat with each other. That night was definately a highlight of the trip for me. Her little three year old boy took this picture of us....impressive! :)

This was Gifford Hall, the dorm we stayed in. Beatiful on the outside, decent on the inside!

Valerie and I flew into DC about two days before our conference started so we could tour all of the major monuments. We didn't have time for any of the museums, but we were going all day and night to capture the monuments. This is this Vietnam Memorial....very somber and humbling.

We made it to the Arlington National Cemetary and we were able to see a Changing of the Guards...awesome experience. It's incredible to try and take this all in. It makes me very proud to be an American and so thankful for the thousands that have given their lives for our country and our freedom.

The Washington Monument. We actually got to ride the elevator to the top of this and lookout! I guess they only give out so many tickets for the day at like 8 in the morning. We made it to this monument at 8 at night and were asking about it. A younger teenager was working the line and we played the "we're teachers from Alaska" card, and he let us slip in the line with no tickets!! It was so cool! And by the way, the neon green sticker on my shirt was for the trolley we were riding, not a new fashion statement! :)

I flew all night and landed about noon on Friday. By 3 pm we were off and going...first stop, our Alaska State Senators office. One of our senators, Mark Begich, was at his office between meetings. This sign is at his office door. His staff told him we were in from Alaska and we were teachers and he told them to send us in. He visited with us briefly and took some pictures with us. :)

Excuse the windblown, stuck to the side of my head, hair. This is in front of the Capitol building (obviously). We did go inside, but we didn't want to take the long tour....too much to do. Here's a cool fact: the Senator's have their own office building to the right and the Representatives are in their own office building to the left. Each building is connected to the Capitol by an underground tunnel that has it's own trolley for the Congressman. And yes, I got to ride the trolley with our Senator's staff member. How cool is that!

While in DC, Valerie and I stayed in a hotel that was about two blocks from a metro station. We took the metro (like a subway) every where we went. By the end of our two days, we were metro PRO'S! It was actually very clean and a pretty cheap, cool way to travel. We had fun and we were proud of ourselves for figuring it all out so quickly.

I had a terrific time on my trip and I missed my family greatly! My heart actually ached for my children by the fourth day, but I tried to fully enjoy my trip. Darron was fabulous with the kids and encouraged me to enjoy myself and to not worry about them. I do think he missed me though because when I got home he had reorganized/cleaned the laundry room, the house was spotless, he had bought a new comforter set for our bed and he had written about 20 little notes and left them all over the house for me. So sweet! I told him if he wasn't careful, I'd go out of town more often! :)

Disneyland

Well, this post is only about a month and a half late, but better late than never! :) Here are some of the highlights from our trip to Disneyland. After spending two weeks in Texas, we stopped off in Disneyland for a week before flying home to Alaska. Maggie and Peepaw met us in Disneyland for the first 3 days we were there. We had hotel rooms across from each other and Preston and Payton loved going back and forth. After Maggie and Peepaw checked out of their room to go back to Texas, the kids had a hard time understanding that Maggie and Peepaw were no longer in the hotel room across from us!

We were blessed with beautiful, mild weather while in California and we had a very memorable, fun week! I"m pretty sure I've haven't walked that much in quite awhile...but it was probably good for me considering all the junk I was eating! :)

Preston LOVED the rides at Disneyland. He, alone, made this trip worthwhile. This is Pres and I in the teacups.....not my favorite (spinning round and round leaves me feeling a bit queasy) but he sure loved them!
Payton was such a little trooper! There wasn't a ride she went on that we didn't see this happy smile. These are the teacups.....again! I think they were Payton's favorite! :)

We had so much fun with Maggie and Peepaw. Darron, Preston, dad, and I rode the big Ferris Wheel. This is us on the Ferris Wheel. I think Maggie and Peepaw enjoyed their time with us. I wish I had a picture of dad riding the Screamer Rollercoaster of the Tower of Terror.....now THAT was fun!

Maggie and Peepaw bought the kids their own Mickey ears and had their names put on the back. Payton didn't wear hers too long, but she was adorable when she would keep them on.

Preston picked out a Cars set of Mickey ears. He wore his non-stop and they are still finding their way all over our house! :)

Andy, my big bro, is out to sea with the Navy, but his wife and two kids were able to make the 2 hour drive to spend one night and day with us at Disneyland. Preston and Lizzie hit it off great! They were often seen walking together holding hands! :) Lizzie is about 2 months older than Preston. They loved being together. Gavin was also with us....he is almost 2 and just as adorable as can be. It was so nice to see them again and spend time together!

Preston and mommy being "Goofy."

Preston kept saying he wanted to ride a rollercoaster. Being the good parents we are, we decided to let him try Thundermountain. :) This is like a run-away mine train that goes pretty fast up and down and in and out of dark tunnels. He was just barely tall enough and we tried to tell him it would be really fast and dark and scarey. He continued to say he wanted to ride, so Darron and I got in a seat and Preston rode in the seat behind us with Peepaw. This picture was taken just BEFORE the rollercoaster started. I didn't get a picture afterwards, because I was too busy consoling a teary-eyed little boy. Needless to say, he wasn't a big fan! :) But, we were so PROUD of him for trying....he's not normally too much of a daredevil! AND....two days later, Preston wanted to ride Splash Mountain (the big drop off that goes into water) with his daddy and he LOVED it! :)

Preston spotted Goofy the moment we walked into the park on the first day. Payton didn't cry, but she wasn't sure what to think. She was trying to grab him! Preston got more and more brave as the week went on and started taking his picture by himself with the characters. He wouldn't let us go with him. My big boy! :)

Eventhough Darron says he planned this trip for Preston (and Payton), I'm pretty sure he was just as excited, if not more! These are my boys at the entrance to Disneyland. THey didn't want to stop for a picture, they were ready to head in!

We had such a great trip: beautiful weather, wonderful family time with Maggie and Peepaw, fun rides and shows, and happy/well-behaved kids. Who could ask for anything more? :)

Trip to Texas

THis is our sweet Payton in her adorable little night gown at the Lake House. I'm pretty sure she was in mid-sentence for the photo....no telling what she was trying to say!
My best friend from high school, Kelli, and her family came to the lake for an afternoon. Of course Maya and Preston wouldn't allow us to jet ski without them! It was a fun afternoon, but very windy on the lake.

We were fortunate enough to drive to Abilene and spend the night with Darron's college roommate, Jody, and his family. We took some time to drive around town and rehash great memories made while at ACU. In the background of the picture is where the magic of Darron and Jen all started! See the middle brown building? Darron and his roommates lived on the left while my roommates and I lived on the right. This was not planned, and we were not dating at the time....far from it! But, thankfully, the Lord had a plan and within the year, Darron and I were in love and I was preparing to make my first visit to Alaska. That townhouse holds alot of wonderful memories for us (keep it clean guys)! :)

We also spent some time walking on the ACU campus and reliving our wonderful college years. We both agreed those were much less stressful times in our lives, although we probably wouldn't have thought so then! They have made so many changes on the campus and it beautiful. It was so nice to be back there.....some of the best memories of my life were made during those years. Here's a shout out to all of my ACU friends.....thanks for the great memories of laughter, silliness, deep talks, tears, Bible studies, discovering who the Lord really is, and just plain fun! I love you guys!

While on campus, we also spent some time indocterinating (spelling?) Preston so he would grow up knowing where he is going to college! :) No, we'll let him make his own choice but we'll also do what we can to "encourage" ACU!

This is for all the ACU friends. We were lucky enough to eat lunch at Harold's BBQ!! It was SOOO good.......rough part of town, hole in the wall joint, but the BEST BBQ you'll find! We told Harold we came all the way from Alaska for his brisket....it made his day! :)

And is my sweet girl and how we found here on many car rides. She was such a trooper. She got much less sleep than normal but she was happy and just took naps when she found the time!

We went to a FT. Worth Cats Minor League Baseball game with my parents one night. It was my mom's company picnic night so we joined them. It was also my mom's birthday and I think she enjoyed getting to show off the grandkids. Preston enjoyed the game and it was a beautiful sunset with the Ft. Worth skyline in the background.

Payton and Maggie on a boat ride at the Lake House. Payton wasn't a huge fan of the boat because she couldn't walk around....but she made the best of it and Maggie enjoyed the snuggle time.

Preston driving the boat with Darron in the background and Peepaw just out of the picture giving Preston directions such as, "A little right....no I said right.....a little more right.....no, right....." I think Peepaw quickly discovered Preston doesn't know his right/left yet. But by the end of the trip, Preston was beginning to understand! :)

Preston and one of the many fish he caught. He is an avid fisherman. Standing on the dock with a pole in the water was all this little boy wanted to do! I guess he takes after his mom and dad since we both love fishing! Preston's job was to catch the minnow out of the bucket and then let us bait his pole. He could cast his own pole and reel in his fish. Peepaw also taught him how to grab the catfish by the tail to throw it back in. It was so fun fishing with him!

We had a WONDERFUL trip to Texas. Very busy and full of lots of good family/friend time, fishing, relaxing, and eating great food! Thanks Maggie and Peepaw for such a great visit! Wish we were there now!

Next to come....hopefully in the somewhat near future....Disneyland pictures!

Preston's First Soccer Game

I can't believe my little boy is old enough to play soccer this summer! Preston played in his first soccer game on Wednesday night. His team has actually already had three games, but we missed them since we were at Disneyland. The organization we are playing in, Spyder soccer, is pretty disorganized, but they stress kids being active and having fun. And they seem to be having a great time!

Somehow I ended up being slated as the "co-coach" for his team so I was pretty busy during the practice/game too. How hard can coaching three year old soccer be, right?! :)

Here are a few snapshots from Pres's first game. This picture was actually the very end of the game. For some reason (probably no nap and over excited), Preston had a melt down at the end of the game and didn't want to shake the other teams hands. This is him sitting in time-out taking a break to calm himself down. Once he heard there were snacks, he was good to go! :)

I love this picture that Darron took!

Coach Jen giving a pep talk to Preston and his cousin Max before the game! :) Notice Preston clearing out his sinuses so he could breathe good during the game?

Preston and cousin Max before the game! There are also three other little boys from our church that are playing on the team, but they couldn't make the game that night. The boys were so excited to play together.

They are truely like brothers. I hope this is the start of many sports seasons together!

And where was Payton during the soccer game? She was attached to her Aunt TT that she hadn't seen in three weeks. She would hardly leave her side....until the end of the game. While passing out snacks, we noticed she was missing because she wasn't right in the middle of the food. We looked around, and she had vanished to the other end of the field with the other team. Uncle Scott ran down to get her and found her in the middle of the team with three juices and two snacks tucked away in her arms! That's my outgoing, carefree, eater of a little girl! :)

I'll try to post some Texas/Disneyland pictures later tonight or tomorrow so be sure to check back. But for now, it's off to more laundry and cleaning on the house. Does it ever end??