Browsing Tag

adventure walk

Alaska

The Aurora

23 March 2015

Oh my goodness, the other night the leprechauns spread some very magical green lights in the sky to welcome in St. Patrick’s day! Wow, the aurora was indescribable. These pictures capture some magic, but when the lights are dancing across the sky and pulsing around, you just can’t take a picture of that. Btw, with my own eyeballs, I couldn’t see any reddish hues, but they do come up in the pictures because the camera was taking in more light than my own eyes, also making the picture more vibrant.

I was in awe.

About 11 pm, our friend Steve texted us and said their were red aurora up the inlet. This is cool. So we got un-ready for bed, put on warm clothes, and Chris packed up some camera gear and laptop and stuff. As Chris was walking out the door, I made some toast; I was hungry. And I love toast.

So we took about a ten minute drive went up to Diamond Ridge to watch the light show. :) The colors that came up were exciting and lovely. IMG_0163 IMG_0177 IMG_0207

After about an hour, we came home, got ready for bed again, and then I looked out our front window and it was fantastic. Northern lights watching from the comfort of our lovely home! Chris went to bed, but I couldn’t. So I grabbed the camera and my snowsuit and a blanket, and Edel and I went outside. It was so awesome possum. Wow. Normally the northern lights aren’t so incredible right in town. But it was amazazing. After about an hour, Chris came outside too. And then we decided we better head up to Skyline to get some pictures of the aurora dancing over Homer.

IMG_0220 IMG_0228 IMG_0231

Up at on skyline, I really enjoyed laying in the snow in my snowsuit, just looking at the sky. It was superb. And when we decided to leave our house, the northern lights started flashing and going from top to bottom like the earth was in a time warp or something. So cool.

With the dancing and flashing northern lights like they were the other night, I felt like a cat chasing a laser. It was perfect.

IMG_0282 IMG_0285

In my 26 years I haven’t seen the northern lights very much. Chris and I have together a couple times this winter. And other than that, I have a few goo childhood memories of my dad waking me up to look at the green glow out the window. And I have a memory of super good and colorful lights when we were driving up the Al-Can (aka Alaska Canada Highway) when I was about 12. We were further north in Alaska then, and it’s usually better up there. So the other night with the grand St. Patrick’s day show, it was pretty unusual and I was so amazed. Thank you solar storm!

Chris and I put some of our pictures on fireweedphoto.com. Here’s the link to a few more of the aurora!

Alaska

It snowed! PTL.

9 March 2015

I woke up this morning (it’s something I do everyday), looked out our window, and omg snow! So I strapped on my bootstraps, put my Iditarod headband on my head, and opened the front door for Edel to book it outside. The morning light + snow was especially beautiful so I grabbed our camera to do some hands on photography studying.

Chris knows a lot about photography, cameras, lightroom… and it’s so nice. I have a lot to learn about it all. I often capture some lovely photos, but Chris usually does all the editing. I took care of it today though! :) I’m thinking of doing some Kelby training so I can learn more about photography/adobe lightroom, because I love taking pictures and having good photos. It’s really important to Chris and me.

Edel and I were lucky enough to enjoy our adventure walk together this morning, and she ended up being the subject of most of my photos. She posed so well. :) I just love that puppy.IMG_9953IMG_9959IMG_9968IMG_9952IMG_9987IMG_9980IMG_0035IMG_0012IMG_9999IMG_0019IMG_0038

Alaska

Sheep, snow, and skies

31 January 2015

Note: scroll through those images. And if you want to let me know if you like going through pictures like that, or just scrolling up and down. Anyway…..

At 7 am our alarm sounded, with some not quite delightful little music to get us out of bed, and we got ready to hit the road (Jack). Chris went for a walk with Edel, I packed some snacks, we fetched our clothes, and got on the snowy ro-ad. It was quite nice and snowy from Homer to Ninilchik, then the roads were nice and dry after that. On our drive north we didn’t listen to much musics, just a little Hobo Jim here and there. We’ve really been liking his Woodsmoke album.

When we arrived in Anchorage we headed to the doctor, and Chris got an MRI to check up on his MS. It’s been five years or so since he’s had an MRI, so it was time he get one again. Thankfully it was free with the MS society since we gots no health insurance. Other than his first episode two months ago, there’s fortunately been no issues, and we pray it stays that way.

After the doctor (where I got free hot cocoa and watched food network) and a bit of shopping, we met up with Chris’s delta pilot friend Paul, and we ate pizza at our favorite Moose’s Tooth! Yum, Moose’s Tooth is delish. Stopping there is almost as important as stopping at costco.

We spent the night in Wasilla at our dear friends Ronnie and Sharon’s. My dad and Ronnie met back in 1989, when I was born! And so it’s so fun going to their house and talking with them. They are soooo very wonderful and make us feel great and take such good care of us. It’s so happy talking with them, and we talked about aliens in New Mexico too, which was super cool. When we woke up, it was -10 degrees and there were little bunny tracks all over the snowy yard. Presh. When I walked out the door in the morning, my snot froze to my nose hairs. Cool. I haven’t been that cold in a while!IMG_8210

We unfortunately didn’t go to the temple this time while in Anchorage. We usually do, but didn’t this time. I made a deal with myself that I’d do some family history work instead, since the two services go hand in hand. We did go to costco though before heading home, and we spent the usual couple hundos just so we could save money on a few items… haha there’s always so many great deals at costco and we usually always come out with more than what was on our list, but we don’t do too bad. Oh! And we picked up a bunch of pictures from costco that I had printed. Photos look so good in your hand.

Our drive from Anchorage to Homer was one of the best yet. It was so very beautiful and we had a few spontaneous little stops that really made the trip.

When we passed Beluga Point, we saw a couple peeps with very nice cameras and lenses taking pictures of the mountain. This is a good indication of mountain goats/Dall sheep. So we turned around to check it out! Sure enough, two precious white furry creatures on the mountain side! Most fortunately Chris is working on getting in the habit of carrying our camera stuff around with us.

I got out the camera, put on the extender, and put on the 70-200 lens, so basically our pictures would turn out lovely and close up! I felt kind of amateur just wandering over there and clicking some pictures. The other people there seemed pretty professional, and this one guy we were talking with had on the hugest fur boots AND fur hat that I’ve ever seen. He was cool. He told us to watch the animals, learn from them, and they’d let us know what was happening. He also talked about patience and how good photos take work, and waiting for that shot. Cool dude.

And it was so fun watching the Dall sheep. I learned from my Pops, that they were sheep and not mountain goat that we saw. And from the furry photographer man I learned that those mama sheep have little horns, just not the big curly ones like the rams do.  IMG_8348

I want to learn and practice more photography, so I shall. It’s so nice we’ve got a lot of great equipment. Chris and I were talking about Kelby Training on the way home. It’s like $20 a month for a ton of training videos and info. Chris has done it before and I think I shall try it out.

Other eventful events on our journey home, was stopping to get water that came out of the mountain. So since I was little, I remember seeing big huge icy water fall things down the cliff fronts, like frozen water that is beautiful and cool. And on this trip I realized that water just kinda comes out of the rocks. It was super cool. I remember seeing someone ice climbing up one when I was really young, and I was so confused and wondered how that person got frozen into a waterfall.

We made another stop just by some random trail to Manitoba cabin or something. The trees and forest were so snowy and magical and untouched. It totally felt like that Olaf seen from the movie Frozen. Chris and I just walked and ran through on the trail, took pictures, ate snow… it was great.

Not long later and we found some amazing little rainbow chunks in the sky. The sky looked majestic and whimsical. And I don’t know how the rainbow-y-ness was in some of the clouds (not in this pic), but it was cool. So happy we took the time to take photos.IMG_8448

We decided we should get a better view of the sky and sunset, so we pulled of on Skilak lake road, and what did we find… We saw a truck being pulled by a big team of dog sleds!! Crazy! The dogs must’ve been iditarod training maybe. Who knows. But it was funny and cool.

And then we saw more solitary beauty of the sky and lake and trees and glorious winter. We barely made it home in time for both of us to go to mutual at 7 that night.

Mutual was funny. We ate pummels (YUM), made paper snowflakes, played musical instruments, and wrote some postcards. Good time had by all. :)

 

Also, our home teachers came over the other night and it was great. It’s always nice being edified by good words. It was inspiring and motivating and helped me be more grateful. And then…. I went on a snowy drive to safeway to get some ice cream. And then I ate it.

The world is a very nice place to be.

 

Alaska

cold air, clean carpets, and cookies

26 January 2015

It is chilly outside! And beautiful. I love walks. Today on my walk with Edel, I had to turn it into a little run so I could stay warm! Brrr I haven’t been that cold in a while. It was oddly refreshing. :)IMG_7616

Edelweiss is shedding right now. We could brush this much hair out of her every couple days right now. “They don’t call them German Shedders for nothing!” And then I cleaned the carpets today too, and they look significantly better thanks to my stepmom’s rug doctor. This color and type of carpet is not ideal for us, but I LOVE CARPET. So cozy and nice.

IMG_4116IMG_7193

Our friend Richard joined us for dinner tonight, which was lovely. We shared some butternut squash soup with roasted chickpeas. I LOVE making food and sharing it with people. Love it. I learned some good things today and my desire to learn all sorts of things is growing, especially after some very inspiring Humans of New York posts today. Check them out. HONY post enlighten me everyday. Today I held some home concerts with my guitar and ukulele. The animals really enjoyed it. :) It was fun playing and singing again. I haven’t been practicing much lately, though I do make sure to play piano regularly. My harmonica skills are still minimal, but shall increase soon! :) IMG_1779Also, incase you were wondering, yesterday’s fantastic cookies are mostly in my belly. I won’t tell you how many cookies I ate today, because I really have no idea how many. Probably like 20 haha. Not kidding. Boa noite!

OH! I saw Robby today! I LOVE HIM! He’s my downs syndrome foster brother that lived with us for about 7 years. It was soooo good seeing him and hugging him. He is full of light and love and it was contagious.

Alaska, Favorites

Adventure isn’t far

21 January 2015

Chris and I wanted to go on a little outing. We packed our puppy, camera, sleeping bags, warm clothes, a couple books, PBJ supplies, an excessive amount of fruit snacks, and got on the ro-ad. We headed north and after a couple short hours we arrived at our destination, Hidden Lake. We had no reception, and Chris intentionally left his phone behind, and it got dark. So we ate and then took a nap, at like 7 pm. I tried to keep Chris from sleeping by coercing him to play alphabet car games with me. We did the ABCs of countries, US cities, maybe animals, and at some point Chris was ready to sleep. We just laid our sleeping pads (I mean sleeping pad, since we forgot one) and cuddled in the back of the car with da pooch Edelweiss.

At like 10 pm or so, we were done napping, so we got some granola bars and headed out for an icy walk under the starry skies. Edel was read for adventure and we fortunately have a great glow in the dark ball for her that we launch and chuck and throw and project, and she still has energy to fetch the ball ten hundred more times. Our walk was so nice. So lovely to disconnect and feel the world around you.

After an aokay night’s rest in the car, letting Edel out many times in the middle of the night to prance around, we got up to b-e-a-utiful surroundings. Here in Homer, the weather has been oddly warm and lacking snow. So it was so nice seeing some white around and to have a chance to wear my snowsuit! Awesome.

We went on one of the greatest hikes ever, with nature delighting us with so many wonders, and my cozy snowsuit eventually got waaaaay too warm. So I did the old snowsuit trick of unzipping and letting the top half of my suit dangle behind me. Chris and I took pictures all along the way and it was absolutely splendid.

Cooper Landing called us next, and we saw a bit more snow there, which was exciting. There were definitely some winter wonderland moments. One of our stops was Widman’s, where I got some hot cocoa and burned my tongue, and Chris got his cream soda. Edel had some water, and she was happy with that. She’s pretty much usually always happy.

This little trip made Chris and I happy too. There’s a lot of wonderful wonderment around us, sometimes it pops up right in front of you, and sometimes you have to just look for it.

Here’s a whole bunch of lovely photos.

IMG_7973IMG_7976 IMG_7987 IMG_7992 IMG_8007 IMG_8009 IMG_8026 IMG_8027 IMG_8030 IMG_8047 IMG_8086 IMG_8054 IMG_8060 IMG_8067 IMG_8072 IMG_8077 IMG_8081  IMG_8092 IMG_8096 IMG_8103 IMG_8107 IMG_8110 IMG_8123 IMG_8126 IMG_8130 IMG_8131 IMG_8150 IMG_8152 IMG_8158 IMG_8161 IMG_8165 IMG_8166 IMG_8169 IMG_8196 IMG_8204

Alaska

It’s true.

27 December 2014

There’s no place like home.IMG_1461 IMG_1673What a most beautiful sky that welcomed us.

 

 

Alaska

November 28th

28 November 2014

I’m grateful for warm showers, and when the bathroom isn’t very freezing when I get out of the shower.

I’m grateful for the great trail by our house and the Christmas tree hunting I’ve been doing.

And I’m grateful for our delightful evening. Tonight Chris and I have had some great Christmas celebrations with Christmas movies and paper snowflakes and pumpkin pie and thanksgiving leftovers. Really really good and simple memories.IMG_0579IMG_0584 IMG_0585

Alaska

November 24th

24 November 2014

IMG_0400IMG_0412IMG_0418IMG_0422My walk this morning was extra lovely. I’m thankful that our loving creators made this beautiful world for us, full of diversity.

Holly and I helped Mom move today, and that was very nice too. It is very good to serve.

I’m grateful for this sight I saw today!!!! A guy cruising around with a cat on his shoulders!!

FullSizeRenderIMG_0431IMG_0438I’m grateful for our food. We had pita pizzas tonight before going to watch Interstellar. They were pretty grand. The movie was good too. Kinda cuckoo to wrap your mind around all the three hours of black holes and time warps, but twas good indeed.

We got a glow in the dark chuck it ball for Edel. It is so funny playing with it with her in the dark! First this glowing ball soars off into the distance, and then Edel books it, puts it in her mouth, and the glowing orb comes bouncing along back at us. So funny.

As always, I love the end of the day, praying and talking with my honey husband.

Alaska

November 22nd

22 November 2014

It is lovely to live so close to the beach! We need to go more. It’s just a walk away! I’m grateful we went to the beach this morning, and that there was a really nice lady who took a picture of Chris and Edel and I!

I’m grateful for Homer’s delicious food. Maura’s, the Bagel Shop, Finn’s Pizza, Fat Olives… Chris and I love the Bagel Shop. I do desire more yummy food around here though. This summer Chris and I ate out a lot (lots of good pizza), but now that I’m not cleaning boats at night, evenings are free for cooking and making delicious food of our own!

I’m grateful for savemore’s Christmas festivity too. Yahoo wamu.

IMG_0390-1IMG_0378IMG_0382IMG_0385

Alaska

November 19th

19 November 2014

IMG_0282 IMG_0291 IMG_0296 IMG_0297I am grateful for my beautiful morning. Edel girl and I went out for our walk, and just decided to head all the way down the beach. Being the end of November, the sun rises pretty late in the morning, so fortunately I’m usually awake during sunrise, which is one of my very most favorite times of day.

I’m grateful for the bagel shop and their heavenly bagels and schmears. We had a girls lunch there today and it was quite nice. Than I went back to my sista’s house, where her cat Spike gave her a hug, where she gave my dad a haircut (but absolutlely no beard trimming), and then I said cheers to my pops since he’s headed back to the slope for work work. IMG_0304

I am so so grateful for my nieces and our adventures together. They fill me with life and love. I picked them up from the bus stop and then we went to safeway (formerly Eagle:)) and got some things to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. When we first walked in the store, there’s all the flowers. And the girls were like, “Can we get Mom some flowers?”

And they really wanted to get her some flowers. So we did. And it was splendid. We decided on tulips, but they couldn’t decide on a color together. So I’m grateful for the florist working there, because she offered some help and made a half pink and half orange bouquet of tulips. Then the girls wrote a little note on those little flower cards for their wonderful mother. So precious.

A buch of us peeps got together for dinner at a friends house, where I partook of half a burger of a real, wild cow. It was good. Grateful I liked it. :) I’m not a burger eater, but with all the yummy burger fixings, and an opportunity at healthy meat, I’m grateful I said yes.

I felt really grateful to be a mutual too. We prepared thanksgiving food baskets tonight for some needier families. I’m so grateful for the faithful relief society sisters who came to help. And I’m grateful for the words and conversation we all shared. I’m grateful to serve in the YW presidency with Katie and Brittany (and Tammy), and for their wonderful lessons and their love for the Lord, his gospel, his church, and his children.

I am so grateful to come home to my sweetest sweet, and our animals (or our petting zoo as my silly sally sister Stacy calls it). IMG_0349(Amelia kitty not pictured, since she was out and about doing who knows what. Cats are funny.)

Alaska

November 14th

14 November 2014

IMG_0095Aloha Friday.

I woke up nice and early, which is quite rare these days. At a dark 6 am, I got out of bed and laid in front of the heater. I’m so grateful for our heater so that I don’t have to freeze! Someday we’ll have a wood stove and that will be ever so lovely.

I’m grateful for beautiful mornings. And for a puppy who gets us going in the morning.IMG_0099

I’m grateful that I said YES to a phone call for substitute teaching at the school in the Russian village, Nikolaevsk! When I was little we lived right by the Russian village in a little cabin and we had so many great forts in the woods. Today was my first day of substitute teaching. It was great. Really great.

IMG_0111The school is so unique, with maybe like 70 kids K-12. There is focus on preserving the Russian culture and remembering the Old Believers. Not all the kids are Russian of course, but it was great because I felt like I was in a different place. It was all new and exciting and the kids were really great.

The half hour drive in the North Fork wilderness was beautiful and brought back lots of memories. So I’m really grateful for how all of that worked out. IMG_0118

IMG_0119

I am especially grateful for the inspiration of the spirit, and that I followed the spirit and made a salad for the ward Thanksgiving dinner. :) I didn’t feel like using the salad spinner (because I don’t like it very much) and I didn’t feel like cutting up veggies (I was being a sloth), but I felt like I should so I did. And pretty much it was like the only green salad there, so I’m glad I could make a nice contribution. :) IMG_0126

I’m grateful for our wonderful Homer ward and the lovely Thanksgiving party. I’m grateful for the crayons and paper leaves so that we could write down things we were thankful for. I’m especially grateful for the moment when little Katy came over and said, “Can you help my write ‘my sister’?” Goodness those two nieces of mine are so precious and such good sisters.IMG_0124

I’m thankful for texting and picture messages so that my siblings and I can stay in touch. :) I’m grateful for my in-laws and that I love them and they love me. I feel wonderful being in Chris’s family.

I’m grateful for movie time with Christopher — we watched Gattaca (the first ever dvd my family owned when I was a kid) and folded all the laundry, which is great! Grateful for Chris, who got me some chocolate gelato, which made movie/laundry time even better.

AND I’m grateful that our friend told us “the lights are out” and we got to watch the Northern Lights for a couple hours on a dark chilly hill under a beautiful sky. (This picture is obviously not an iPhone picture, like the rest of my pictures these days. Also, with the slower shutter speed, the camera captured a lot more light than we could see with our lovely eyeballs and supervision. We couldn’t see any pink, only green. Nevertheless, twas really beautiful and lovely.) The sky was magical with the northern lights and starry starry night.

aurora

Alaska

November 11th

11 November 2014

11/11 – super wish day!

I am grateful for ponder time to think about what I most desire.

IMG_9932

Joy is always at the top of my desire list. When I make wishes, happiness is always included in the list, and it’s something I’m quite often blessed with. I’m really grateful for that, and that the Lord is happy to grant us our righteous desires. He knows what is best for us and he knows what and who we need, and when we need them.

I’m really grateful for my parents. I think they are the bee’s knees and I feel lucky to have them both. Lately we’ve been working in this semi hoarder house that my dad just bought, cleaning it out and selling stuff and such, and it’s nice to do some good work with both my mama and papa.

Here’s a picture of a cool moon boot. Who doesn’t love that?

IMG_9859

I’m grateful for Christopher, obviously. :) I’m just so so happy and glad to have him as my companion. I don’t ever want to be without him. He gives me so much purpose and motivation and happiness.

IMG_9838 IMG_9840

I’m grateful for washing machines! What a dream washers and dryers are! Our washer has been broken for quite some time, but we took a nice, dark, rainy drive and got us a new used one. Lovely.

I’m grateful for spaghetti squash. Yum. Made a recipe similar to this one tonight. Yum. I’ve recently acquired a liking to fancy cheeses btw.

I’m grateful for DOWNTON ABBEY OMG I LOVE IT. We (including the pooch) really enjoyed watching it tonight. Oh I love them all.

IMG_9931

Alaska

November 10th

10 November 2014

Monday. It was pretty sunny. Most of the snow has melted away. Kooky.

IMG_9803

I’m grateful that we had Chris’s business friend/mentor/investor over for dinner. It was a really lovely time. Enlightening and inspiring. I love our home and I’m grateful for the lovely space that we have.

We gave thanks and ate our yummy salmon (that we caught this summer) and stirfry and quinoa. Delish. I’m grateful for the things we’ve been blessed with and how accessible things and information are to us.

I’m grateful for the blessing that it is to talk with others and share experiences and stories. Stories are wonderful.

I’m also grateful for the Family: Proclamation to the World that we have framed on our wall, in portuguese of course.

Also, I’m grateful for the good use of facebook. It is so helpful in keeping in contact and sharing parts of our lives with others.

IMG_9809IMG_9795

Alaska

November 6th

6 November 2014

Some days I make it difficult to get out of bed. This occurs when I’m feeling like a sloth and I don’t feel motivated to do much. This cycle often spirals downward. The results are not ideal. Well that kind of happened today. Annoying. Buuut it happens.

I’m grateful for a dog who reeeeeeally likes getting outside when we wake up. I’m grateful for this because I always enjoy these walks with Edel (and Christopher, and our kitty Bel sometimes). It is so beautiful and I’m especially grateful to watch the seasons changing this winter. IMG_9727

I’m grateful for our home and our clothes and our baskets and for my friendship bracelet making time today, which made me feel more productive than laying in front of the heater with Edel. And I’m so grateful I got all my substitute teacher paper work done! Yay.IMG_9732

 

I’m grateful we live sooooo close to the beach and the ocean! Chris and I took Edel down there tonight and it was delightful. The world is a beautiful place.

IMG_9740

Also, I am obviously no longer studying at the blessed BYU-Hawaii. I am soooo extremely grateful for the many classes I was able to take there, the lessons I learned, the professors who taught, friendly students, interesting subjects.. so grateful for it all. I do miss school. I am grateful for my peace building classes, oceanography, physiology, biology, world history, english, french literature, communications, anatomy, Eburne’s classes, anthropology, personal and family finance, physical science, volleyball, soccer, church history, doctrine and covenants, old testament, book of mormon… so many wonderful things I learn and hope to keep learning!