Our Journey in life

Normal

2011-12-29T19:09:00.000-08:00

I used to be very abnormal in more ways than I like to think. Then again, what is normal?
I am normal in a lot of different ways. Today, I would like to talk about the healthy portion of it. I recently had a blood test done. This blood test said I was normal. My FSH, LH, Thyroid, A1C, and insulin are normal. My vitamin D is low and my Thalassimia is still holding strong. My Vit. D is low due to the fact I live in a dark, cold place. For this reason I am now taking 4,000 I.U. of Vitamin D a day. My Thallasimia is genetic and as far as I know and the doctors at this current time, I will continue to have it whether I eat healthy, take supplements or exercise or not. It isn't cureable.
Yesterday I had a spiritual experience that made me feel really good. I had an overwhelming comfort that I was doing everything right and that I will be blessed.
Through this life lesson, I have learned patience. Therefore, I don't know when I will be blessed. I just know that I will and I have to wait and see. I am totally fine with that. I probably have already been blessed, but I just haven't counted the blessings yet.
Having PCOS is not the end of anything. It is simply a wake up call that your body needs help. For me, it was a HUGE lifestyle change. Not a change that will last for a few weeks or months, but it will have to last for a lifetime. It takes courage and a lot of "no Thank you" to people offering you treats. Especially during the holidays. It is the hardest time. I find that if I don't give in at all, it is easier to turn all of it down.
Merry Christmas
Happy New Year!
My resolution for the new year is to be as healthy and as happy as I can be with what I have. "COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS Name them one by one."

You Might Be Tired of Hearing about all this, But I have to Update You!

2011-11-06T18:00:00.000-08:00

So, I was in Barnes and Noble getting books for Christmas gifts, and for my classroom when I stumbled upon this book.

Healing and Preventing Autism A Complete Guide by Jenny McCarthy and Jerry Kartzinel, M.D.

It interested me because ever since Autism started being on the rise, I have always had this feeling that my child(ren) would have some form of autism. This really scared me and for a few years before marriage, I thought I didn't want kids, for this very reason. I also had a feeling (for the majority of my life) that I would develop some type of cancer. Well, since I have been on the diet, exercising, and herbs, that feeling has gone away along with the children having autism. However, it still interests me and I thought I would read the book anyway.
So, you may ask, What does cause autism? The world doesn't know.
Actually, it is a list of different things that cause autism. This is why it is so hard to figure out what causes it. There have been studies done, that I read about not from this book, that say those kids are deficient in B vitamins. So, I figured give the kids supplements. Well, that is not the only thing that they have wrong with them.
The book talks about the TOXINs in our environment. HMMMM! That is what caused my infertility. No wonder I no longer have the feelings I used to about the cancer and autism, because I got rid of the toxins. So the author is a Pediatrician that adopted a son that later developed autism. He started documenting what made his son act out more, and also started documenting when he got worse. The first thing he realized was that it happened right after he gave him, his MMR shot. So, he started doing research on vaccines and found that they have a million different side effects. He started informing all the parents of these side effects and offering them the choice of vaccinating or not. Most of the parents chose not to vaccinate. Then he started realizing that gluten and dairy foods made him worse, so he researched that. Did some blood tests and so forth. He found that gluten and dairy act as an opiate for these children which is why they have such a high pain tolerance. They are also ADDICTED to these foods. He says start the kids on a casein free and gluten free diet as soon as possible. The longer you hold off, the harder it will get. (This was a very interesting part of the book. He talked about kids licking the floor because the mop solution their moms used had gluten in it.)
The point I am making is that this book is a must read if you are interested in learning how to prevent, or improve the autism in children of your own, or around you.
Another milestone in my life is that I started using more organic products. I now use organic face wash, organic hand lotion and organic deodorant and a different chapstick. I now use Burt's Bees and not the one that I was using that is full of parabens. Parabens act like estrogen in the body. The body has its own estrogen and doesn't need more. This in turn, turns into a toxin. I will switch over to other organic ingredients later, however it is very expensive to switch over, over night. A little bit here and there is going to have to do for now. In so doing this, I lost 2 more pounds in two weeks of using these products. Now, I am a little baffled by this too. However, a lady at my church said she believes it because she knows someone else that had the same thing happen. Toxins cause weight gain. another thing the Pediatrician talked about in the book is toxins. He said that we are all born with a garbage can. Everyone has a different size and so everyone's can gets full at different points in life. I personally think that the can gets bigger as we grow up. This is why it is soooooo important for young kids to eat organic and eat healthy, their garbage cans are smaller. He also said, that if the garbage can is not full, then you are fine. It is when the can overflows, when it turns into disease, illness, and other things.

I AM...

2011-09-01T22:36:00.000-07:00

speechless, still jumping up and down after nearly 5 hours of finding out, telling everyone (I made sure to tell Jim first) My heart is still pounding, I am now wondering, "AM I READY for THIS?" My head is spinning..... I am a third grade teacher!

I also want to mention, it is our 4 year wedding anniversary. We went out to a restaurant that we have not been to before, called The Pump House. Oh WOW! It was delicious. I had halibut and James had prime rib. Then we broke my diet to celebrate, not just the four years of marriage, but also the job, and I ordered dessert. That is something I have not done in quite a while. I had a lemon custard with blueberries.
Well, I need to get going, I have tons to do to get ready for tomorrow. I guess this also means, I will be neglecting this blog more than usual. Sorry.

Just a Regular Update!

2011-08-30T14:33:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to update on what has been happening and all that I have been thinking lately.
I decided that I want to become a Naturopathic Doctor. however, I will not do it at this time. For the simple fact that they are not very popular right now. In the last 10 years they have grown in popularity. So, I figure in 20 years, I will go back to school, and become a doctor. I realize that because they are not very popular, it would be very hard to run a business when I am not one for advertisement and selling myself. I am not a good sales person.
Other things that I have been up to....
Studying magnesium and its affects on the body. It really is important to make sure you are getting enough. It helps with preventing depression, anxiety, infertility, osteoporosis, the absorption of other nutrients, and so on. The absorption of B6 is just one of the many things this mineral does for our bodies. It is also higher in organic foods compared to nonorganic foods. The majority of it is found in the bones. Hence why when one is lacking it, they are prone to osteoporosis.

The Complete Woman's Herbal by Anne McIntyre

2011-08-17T17:26:00.000-07:00

So I have been reading a really The Complete Woman's Herbal. I have fallen in love with it. I borrowed it from a friend and decided I will buy my own copy.

It talks about what to eat and why. It says tht non organic food doesn't have magnesium. The reason the body needs magnesium is because it helps with the absorption of vitamin B6. It also helps stabilize hormones. Another thing I have learned from this book is about chromium. Chromium helps regulate blood sugar. However, sugar decreases the amount of chromium in the body so the more sugar you eat, naturally you will have worse and worse blood sugar levels. Now, that is kind of a given. However, I found it facsinating about the chromium.
Not only does it talk about infertility and the organic vs. nonorganic, it also goes through the entire life of a women. I have mainly been focusing on the infertility part. I have been glancing at other parts of the book as well and find them just as facsinating but don't have time to read everything right now.
Also, my computer is acting up so I can only view other people's blogs, but I can't leave comments. So, just know that I still love you all.

Something to Contemplate?

2011-08-15T17:52:00.000-07:00

Well, as you all know... I have been seeing a naturopathic doctor for a year now. This month marks the one year mark. I know I wrote that it would take a year. However, I know it is working, but it will take longer. (my cycles have returned somewhat.) My naturopathic doctor (ND) never gave me an exact time frame, just that it would take a while (Years). The internet is what said it would take a year.
Through all this I have learned tons and tons and even more tons about the human body that I would love to share with others. For this purpose, it has been crossing my mind to become a naturopathic doctor. I think I would enjoy this very much. However, there are things about it I don't think I would like so much.

Pros...
I can help people who have problems like I had.
I can still teach. (It will be different types of students.)
I have always been fascinated with nutrition and and biology.

Cons...
Chemistry scares me! I have never actually taken a chemistry class.
There is at least 5 years of school ahead of me.
I would have to at least temporarily move back to Washington as there isn't a university here that has ND degree provided. Or find a distance degree program which I am not sure it exists up here.

I have prayed about it. I have not yet received an answer.
To give you a little more information on what a Naturopathic doctor stands for, here are 6 principles that I found on a ND univeristy website...
1. The healing power of nature- Trust in the body's inherent wisdom to heal itself.
2. Identify and treat the causes- Look beyond the symptom to the underlying cause.
3. First do no harm- Utilize the most natural, least invasive and least toxic therapies.
4. Doctor as a teacher- Educate patients in the steps to achieving and maintaining health.
5. Treat the whole person- View the body as an integrated whole in all its typical and spiritual dimensions.
6. Prevention- Focus on overall health, wellness and disease prevention.

Do you think I should become a Naturopathic Doctor? What do you personally think of them?

The things I have learned over the year...
what are some things that cause miscarriage.
What are some things that cause heavy painful periods.
What happens to our food.
Why we should eat organic.
What cholesterol does for us.
Signs of ovulation and a whole bunch of other female bodily functions.
Detox- in my mind it is a wonder drug. It isn't really but it feels like it the way I see it.
What causes PCOS. (Well this is tricky because it isn't just one thing. It is a mixture of a whole bunch of things. I am sure my list will grow.)
The importance of castor oil packs.
The liver and all it does for the body.

Knowing what I know now, I will think long and hard about going to a MD again. I will probably not go back to a gynecologist since she is the one that told me PCOS can't be reversed or at least not that one. That is one thing that I have learned the most about. The body really does have an amazing healing power to heal itself.
I have suffered from this for 10 years. I have been on all different types of drugs for it... clomid, letrozol, another butt injection I can't remember the name of, metformin and birth control...
After 1 year of naturopathic medicine, it is almost gone.
Through this, I have also learned patience. Great things take time. My children are teaching me patience and they aren't even here on Earth. Faith in the Lord includes faith in his timing.
Just so you know, I used to be very skeptical on this whole go natural thing. I prayed about going to this doctor, and the answer was yes. My skepticism continued until about 6 months ago. 3 months ago it crossed my mind to become one. Today, researched what classes I need as pre requisites.

Weddings!

2011-08-09T23:20:00.001-07:00

We were n Washington for a few weeks at the end of July. We attended two weddings. John, James' brother, married Alyshia on July 29th. My sister, Rebecca, married Keith on August 6th. Both weddings had some type of mistake during the actual wedding. It is ironic because both were done by two different people. Apparently Alyshia was trying to marry her brother according to the person doing the marrying. (He said John Hunt instead of John Compton.) And my brother in law tried to marry me, as the bishop said Keith and Veronica.
James and I both had fun. We were running around like chickens with our heads cutoff trying to see everyone and do everything we wanted.
We went to Wildwaves while in there. We had a blast.
Sorry, I am not a picture taker. I took a total of three pictures the whole time I was there and I don't even have them. I will have to get a picture rounded up of my bride's maid dress. I was getting complements left and right. I actually was getting tired of them.

My Garden

2011-06-11T23:51:00.000-07:00

This is our second garden while living in Alaska. However, it is our first at our house, even though it is not OUR house. I can't wait to find a house of our own.

By the way, I don't think I ever posted about that. We did find a house. We both loved it. It was in our price range, perfect in everyway that we could see. We prayed about it and the answer was no. We didn't understand why until a few days ago. The foundation has issues that just now started showing up. If we had moved in we would have been living there for about a month then we would have had major issues on our hands. So, we are thankful for answered prayers, even if we don't understand them at the time. We are still looking, but haven't found anything that we both like and is in our price range.

Almost One Year Mark

2011-06-02T23:50:00.000-07:00

Last summer when I started seeing my naturopath to reverse my PCOS, I had this strange feeling that it was going to take that entire year to make things work. (Remember I said that it would take anywhere from 2 months to a year.) As the year mark approaches in the next two months, (beginning of August) I can certainly say that it will probably be that year that I had a funny feeling about. I think it is part of "your children will teach you patience" that is stated in my patriarchal blessing. Although, I do admit, I have not stuck to the diet and exercise like I was supposed to throughout the whole year. I mean, I still went out to eat, sometimes more than I ever should have allowed, I still ate sugar every once in a while, and there were times, I forgot to take my herbs.
However, I still have faith this is going to work to regulate my system. Some people (including my husband) seem to have some doubts. Well, if I am wrong, I did make my body healthier, lesss stressed, I lost weight, my facial hair reduced and my acne also reduced. (Which is more than any of the other doctors were able to do.) So, given those signs, I seriously believe this will work, but it will take the whole year. I also think it is a trial of my faith.

Organic Update

2011-05-29T22:58:00.000-07:00

I have been organic for almost three days now. I have noticed slight changes in my eating. I used to crave carbs, which lessened when I cut out sugar but didn't go away, but I seriously have not had cravings for anything all day. I also am eating less and feeling full at the end of my meals. I wonder if this will continue? It would make sense for it to continue because of the excess hormones they put in non-organic foods make the animals eat more and crave more. So, I am not taking those into my body therefore I should not have the cravings. Right?

Eating organic has made it so much easier to cut out the sugar too. I am not tempted to eat sweets. You might think this is because organic junk food is not available. Well, you're right it isn't but I simply don't have the urge to eat those things at all.
Organic food does cost more but I find that if I am not eating as much doesn't it even out?

I also have lost 1/2 an inch and about 1 pound.

PCOS Post

2011-05-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

So, I have a friend that has endometriosis. She started going to a naturopath too because she didn't want to have a hysterectomy. She said that through her studying and doctor visits she was told that excess estrogen can be what is causing her endometriosis. So, I started thinking. Could that be causing my cysts? I did some reserach. I found out that it could be true.
I am allergic to cow's milk so you would think I would be fine because I am not drinking the excess hormones they give the cows. However, since I found out I am allergic to cow's milk, I switched to soy which is a natural estrogen. So, I still have excess estrogen entering my body that could be contributing to my cyst problems.
Could this be ..... hmmmmm? This also means I will have to go organic on cheese and yogurt, and all other types of meat such as steak and ground beef and so on. This is part of the reason I am seriously thinking of switching to organic.

Summer!

2011-05-24T13:24:00.000-07:00

This is my birthday cake. In case you can't tell, it is an oreo cookie, with yellow frosting for leaves and a red m&m with black frosting for the dots. I loved making these. And they were super easy.

So, this is not my or my husband's foot. However, I loved these shoes and just had to take a picture of it and post it. These shoes are running shoes. I have seen them one other time. They cost about 100 bucks.

Here are a few other things that have happened.
-my husband hurt himself taking the jeep top off. (I offered to help and he said no. He lifted it by himself and twisted his hip. So, for the next week he has been hobbling around. He finally got into the chiropractor today. He has to go in for two more visits.
-We were going to the Temple this weekend, but that has been canceled because of the hip problem. The doctor said he can't sit in one place for any more than one hour. (It takes at least 6 hours to drive to Anchorage.)
-I have 1.5 lessons and 2 tests to go before I am done with my continuing education classes for my AK teaching certificate.
-I went off my no sugar diet. Then I went to the doctor and my cysts were still there so I went back on my no sugar diet. I am currently thinking of going all organic foods. My doctor says to eat organic when possible. Well, I haven't been doing that. So, I think I am going to make it possible. I am just having a hard time forking over the money to pay for it.
- I started acupuncture. This is to help the energy and blood flow to the ovary area and hopefully reduce the cysts. I have had one session. It will be a while before I notice a difference. There was no pain because the needles are so small it is not like a shot.
-School is out!!!
I have been riding my bike everywhere. The weather is beautiful. Sally comes with me the majority of the time. However, she did not come with me this morning because her paws are tender. I took her on a really long walk/ride to the church yesterday and she started feeling it. On the way back she was limping. I looked at her paws when we got home and she has some soars. Not bad, but I don't want to make them worse. I am wondering if I should get her shoes. Jim says no. If he is going to get an animal shoes, he is getting a horse. Sorry I don't have a picture of her actually running along side me. I didn't think of it while Jim was home so maybe later.

-I am planning a girls night for tonight. I don't know what we are watching but we will be eating popcorn and watching a movie. I bought ice cream. Well, so my no sugar diet isn't 100%.

My Birthday and a Bike

2011-04-23T20:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting for a while. I have been busy and then James came to me and said he wants to wipe everything off of our computer. So, I don't want to put any more pictures on the computer until after he has finished that. Even though I could just put them on the blog. I know that sounds kind of weird.
Anyway, my birthday was a few weeks ago. I decorated cupcakes and a very small cake for my birthday party that was just a small gathering. I didn't do anything spectacular. They were great tasting and looking. Pictures will come later.
I bought a bike today. My reasons for this bike is to have something to do other than walking for exercise because I am getting bored of it. Also, with gas prices, I figured I could save some money by riding my bike around town and to work. Well, given that I have not been on a bike in close to 15 years, it was a little tricky getting use to it again. I didn't crash but I was a little wobbly at first. I am nowhere near what I used to be. I am sure it is just like "riding a bike" and it will all come back to me. I think there were people looking at me funny today when I was riding it in town because I was "ahhh" a few times.

Snow

2011-03-22T20:59:00.000-07:00

This is a stegosaurus salad. I babysat. We also made different colored playdough, finger painted, played alphabet bingo and Uno.

This was quite a few months ago. I haven't had time to post these pictures. (The snow is actually starting to slowly melt now.) So, the three winters that we have been up here this is the most snow we have seen. This is not the most snow that has been here. The eyes are Sally's head poking through. It was deeper than her.

My Brakes

2011-03-13T23:48:00.001-07:00

Well, my brakes on my explorer needed some work. Maybe this was the reason I was having the nightmares. Ever since we fixed the breaks, I have not had any more nightmares. Who knows?!

My Therapy for Infertility

2011-03-03T22:55:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I had a slumber party with a five year old. It was a blast!!! I had the most fun. Our activities we did were...
-made playdough, and played with it.
-ate popcorn and watched Cinderella
-made a fort out of blankets and the kitchen table, sat under it to watch Cinderella.
-Played Don't Break the Ice.
-Decorated cupcakes
-Slept in the living room on a twin mattress with Savanah, Sally slept on the floor next to the mattress, and James slept on the couch.
-Ate pancakes, eggs and sausage for breakfast.
-Read stories.

In two weekends, I will have another slumber party with Savannah. Our agenda for that party so far is...
-Pudding finger paint
-French toast people for Breakfast.
-Picnic in the living room.
-making banana bread from scratch.
-melting crayons and putting them in the shape of hearts.

Tomorrow I will make Oobleck with Savannah. I made some tonight by myself, and I played with it at work as a Dr. Suess day celebration. (read across America). (If you don't know what it is... it is an interesting substance that is a liquid and a solid. Easy to clean up and very fun to play with for little kids under 10. Or in cases like me you never grow too old for it.)
These are all activities that I would do with my own kids or I have been wanting to do for a while and was thinking I would do them when I have kids and then I decided I couldn't wait any longer.

Infertility Update Warning too much info for some!

2011-02-21T00:40:00.001-08:00

A while back I did a post talking about my infertility issues. I would like to update that information as I am starting to see new things come to pass. For some, this may be too much info, however, I am posting it anyway because I am way excited about it.
I have been charting my Basal Body Temperature every morning about 4 months now. This is to help women to see when they are ovulating so they can plan around that time to get pregnant. I however, didn't start doing this charting to get pregnant. I started to see if I could see any patterns with what little I have of a woman cycle. Ok so I will be honest, mine has been nonexistant since I was 17. (Unless I took drugs to induce things to happen. But that is a different story.)
The first month, I saw absolutely no sign. My temps were very weird. I couldn't predict anything. I didn't show signs of ovualting. My second month, I showed a slight sign of ovulating, but it wasn't a for sure because it was a very slight dip in temp. However, I did have some spotting, at what time I think (according to the ?Ovulating? that happened) I should have been on my period. So, that was very exciting. Yes, I was excited about bleeding.
The next month, I showed a definant sign of ovulating, but no bleeding.
This month, I showed a definant sign of ovulating and I am having an extremely light period! My cycles are still not completely predictable. I am anywhere from 28 days to 32 days.
I still have a ways to go before I will be able to conceive on my own. However, this is a HUGE deal for me.
I have not lost anymore weight. I don't need to, I just want to. I am 5 pounds away from what I was when I got married.
My cholesterol is on the low end of normal. I enjoy eating my sausage every morning for breakfast. LOL Darn it if I ever have high cholesterol.

Brakes and Nightmares

2011-02-13T14:17:00.000-08:00

I have been having reoccurring nightmares that my brakes go out on my car. My first dream was not that bad. I hit my brakes and I was only able to slow down to 10 MPH. So therefore, I ran a stop sign on level ground. However, this last nightmare I had, I was going backwards down a cliff and my brakes didn't work at all. To make matters worse there was a fast moving river at the bottom of the Cliff that I landed in. Then I had to swim out and I was drowning.
Why am I having this dream? I am not one to read into dreams and think they mean something. But, why is it that I dream of the same thing over and over and each time it gets worse?

What Have I been Doing?

2011-02-07T22:55:00.000-08:00

This is how I feel lately with all my homework, jobs and house cleaning.

We had a visitor in our front yard. It was pretty interesting. Sally was running around in the house barking. I let her outside not knowing what she was barking about. That was a mistake. I decided to go out and see what she was barking and chasing. Well, I got to the side of the house where it leads around to the back yard and a HUGE momma moose poked her head out of the trees. I came flying back in the house and started screaming at Sally to come. Of course she was having too much fun chasing the moose. I knew that if they were mad enough or had a baby near, which there was, she could be stomped and hurt. I finally go Sally in the house. The moose moved around front and this is them eating twigs out of our front yard. Sally was going CRAZY! while they were out in the yard eating. I didn't zoom in very much. They were really that close to the house.

For about a week, there was a horrible oder coming from our bathroom. We told our landlord about it before we left for Christmas. He said he would come over and fix it. We came back from Christmas and the smell was still there. We told him again and told him our suspicion was that it was the septic tank. He agreed and we had it pumped. Our bathroom smelled much better for about a day and a half. Then the smell was just as bad as it was before. I cleaned everything, mopped the walls, floor, ceiling, scrubbed bathtub, toilet and sink inside and out of all three. I cleaned EVERYTTHING. The smell was still there! I sprayed the Scentsy room spray. It worked wonders. I knew it wouldn't last. We told the landlord again and this time we told him our suspicion was the wax seal. We were right. It smells so much better. The towel is where the toilet goes. It was fun watching.

We had -30 weather for quite a while. (It was a little while ago. ) Sally was really starting to get a lot of excess energy so I decided to bundle up and take her out.

She looks kind of like an Alien. I promise she isn't. We had fun. We came in often to warm up.

What Kind of Breath Do You Have?

2011-01-23T17:16:00.000-08:00

I was substituting in a kindergarten class on Friday. One of the girls came up to me during centers time (she was playing on the computer) and needed help with getting to a website she wanted to go to. I went and sat down next her her and was typing in the website. She asked me, while I was sitting next to her in close proximity, What kind of breath do you have?

I thought for a moment to try to figure out what she could be trying to say.

I said, "Does my breath smell?

She replied, "It smells minty.

I said, "that is my toothpaste."

Man, I am glad I brushed my teeth! Well, I brush my teeth every morning but still, I am glad it wasn't the stinky kind of breath.

Weight Loss

2010-12-12T22:16:00.000-08:00

So, I haven't been working out like I should. My weight loss has really slowed down because of it. However, I was at 20 pounds. But then the holiday season is here and I find myself munching here and there on things I shouldn't. So, my current weight loss is 18 pounds.

Current temperature is -30! Therefore, we only had Sacrament today.

I have been busy making cookies for caroling this evening. (This is not what I was munching on.) It is tradition that I started with my dear friend, Angie, and I have continued it with James as Angie lives in Ohio and I live in Alaska.

My New Business Scentsy! and the strange weather.

2010-11-24T00:05:00.000-08:00

Some of you may know of Scentsy. If you don't it is a company that sells high fragrance wax that melts using a warmer that has a 25 watt light bulb or smaller. They also sell travel tins, air fresheners, and room sprays. These scents smell really good. I have a list of favorites that I love! I went to one party and fell in love with them, so I decided to join the company and sell it myself. I got my starter kit tonight. I opened it up and realized that some of the things are broken. It obviously broke after they shipped it as the box was smashed. I suspect UPS dropped it when they stepped on ice.

This is my own warmer that I purchased before I was a consultant. I love the moose.
The weather here is very wacky right now. We warmed up and have had freezing rain for the last two days. School has been canceled for the last two days and is canceled for tomorrow due to the road conditions. This is the first time in decades that school has been canceled for the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District.

Our Trip to the Vet E R

2010-11-21T18:15:00.000-08:00

Sally, James and I were over at a friend's house. They have dogs too and Sally was running around outside playing with them. There was a saw on the porch. Sally ran up the porch and then went to jump off and hit her leg on the saw. She cut her leg pretty deep. Because it was the weekend, our regular vet was not open so we went into Fairbanks and took her to the Vet. E R. A big wad of money later we came home with a dog that looked like this...

I am sure you have seen these, but in case you haven't, this is to keep her from chewing/ licking her bandage/ sutures.

This is her booty she has to wear whenever she goes outside because of all the snow and her bandage can't get wet.

My Delicious Styrofoam Cake

2010-11-15T18:09:00.000-08:00

So, at work, the student counselor is always teasing and playing jokes on people. I decided I wanted to play a little joke on him. I came up with this idea about 3 months ago and planned it for psychology week, since his birthday had already passed.
I made a cake out of "tasty" styrofoam. Then planned a "Surprise party" in one of the classrooms he was supposed to go to that day. (I talked with the teacher before hand and he actually helped me come up with when to pull the trick on him.) So, I took the cake to work and quickly learned that the counselor was out sick. I was disappointed but I decided to leave it on his desk with a note that told him about the party that he missed and that I wanted him to be able to enjoy the cake so I saved it for him.
When he came to work, I approached him about the cake. He said it looked great and he couldn't wait to go home and have ice cream on it.
The next day, I decided to go inquiry about the cake and see how it "tasted." I found the cake still on his desk not even touched. I played along and said, "you didn't eat the cake?!"
Counselor: "It was a little hard."
Me: "why?"
"Because it isn't real. I picked it up to take it home and realized it didn't weigh as much as a regular cake so I tapped it and it didn't sound quite normal."

(Note to self: Put weights in it next time.)
We both laughed and he thought it was a great joke. He took it around with him for the majority of the day showing off his fake cake. I did make him a real cake but he wasn't nearly as happy about it.

Below is the real cake, not quite as fancy.

Anchorage

2010-11-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

I went to Anchorage. I looked at the weather before I left and all was good. Jim had to work so I went by myself. All was well till I hit Cantwell. There was a snowstorm. It wasn't horrible but there was plenty of snow and ice on the road. I started slipping so I started to correct it. It didn't help. I remembered Jim's exact phrase running through my head from two years ago when he taught me how to drive in the snow, "About 90% of the time you'll be able to correct." I started thinking, this is the 10% right now. I can't do anything. Finally out of desperation I hit my brakes! Which I know I am not supposed to do but I was going in the ditch no matter what. There was no way around it. I ended up in the ditch and was stuck, really stuck. Sorry I didn't get a picture, but at the time, I was more concerned with getting out of the ditch.

Well, not more than 5 minutes later, I had my snow boots on and had a guy with a truck stopped on the side of the road and he was able to pull me out. I thank Heavenly Father for this man, because I know it isn't something that most people would stop and do or have the equipment to do so. He actually put the tow strap in his truck that morning because he had a feeling it was going to come in handy! WOW! I wondered if he was a member of the church. I didn't think to ask I was more of thinking Thank you!!

After about 1 hour longer of being in the snow storm, I hit Wasilla and the roads were finally clear. I made it to Anchorage and checked into my hotel and headed straight for the whole reason I went there for in the first place, THE TEMPLE! I went through 4 sessions. It was soooo nice. I love the temple.

I also ate at a very delicious restaurant that you must eat at if you are ever in Anchorage, called the Mooses Tooth.

I am Unique and I am Confused by it!

2010-10-21T22:57:00.000-07:00

I went and had a blood test done at Saturday. The results came back and I went and consulted with my doctor about them. I am very interested in why the results say this because PCOS is linked with high cholesterol. However, I am unique and I have really low cholesterol, too low. So low she put me on cholesterol supplements immediatly. We do not know the cause of it. I still have PCOS and I am still having a little bit of problems with my blood sugar but it is going down and becoming more normal.
What I have learned tonight about cholesterol is a lot. It controls your hormones in your body anywhere from the estrogen to happiness. I have problems in both. Now that I have researched it, I can see how I have PCOS and Low cholesterol. My doctor says I am the first person she has heard of that has PCOS with low cholesterol. It has to be very rare because I have to research them separatley. They never come up together.

Country Concert, Pumpkins, Snow!

2010-10-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we had a chance to go to a country concert of Pam Tillis. James is a fan and I know of a few songs she sings like "Memphis." I don't know if that is the real name of it but I hope you know what song I am talking about. Unfortuntaley, we both forgot our cameras. We did take pictures with our phones, but they didn't show up too well.

It snowed a few weeks ago. It hasn't snowed much more than this. I am and so are many others disapointed by how little snow we have. We NEED more. It is supposed to snow on Thursday- Saturday so hopefully that will help things move along. The darkness comes around 6:30 PM and leaves around 8:30 AM. I haven't seen any negative temperatures yet, but they are coming. We have seen single digits and I think there was a night at 0 degrees.

Pumpkin carving time! Here are our pumpkins for this year. Mine is supposed to say, Goblin Goodies, Dusk to Dawn" BUt I had some issues with the knife breaking and wasn't able to finish. So This is as good as it will get. :-( (Note my skin in this picture. It has really cleared up with being on this diet. I have not pinpointed the reason it has cleared up, except I do know it has something to do with the diet. My suspicion is food allergy.)

Well...

2010-10-08T22:32:00.000-07:00

I am no longer stuck at 11.5 pounds. I have lost 13.5. It has been slowing down lately, which I expect. I also am over half way to my goal. I want to be the weight I was when James and I got married.
Nothing else has been happening with the PCOS other than weight. I have a blood test in a few weeks to test my hormone and blood sugar levels.
Not much has been happpening other than working out, and going to work. Sally has been begging for attention because no more walks. She is getting better with the treadmill, but hasn't warmed up to it enough that she gets on without a treat.
It snowed the day before yesterday and today, but hasn't stuck past noon yet. It will soon though.

Frustrated with Palteau

2010-10-01T10:18:00.001-07:00

I hit one of those plateaus that everyone gets while losing weight. I have been stuck at 11.5 pounds all week. Although I have lost another 1/2 in around my waist so something is happening at least. That is a total of 3 inches. I am still considered over weight.:-(

Spearmint Tea Upadate

2010-09-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

I just thought you would like to know that other people are saying that the Spearmint tea is noticeably working on me. I however, never even knew my facial hair was noticeable in the first place. I thought I kept the plucking up to snuff enough. Apparently not.
Current weight loss 11.5 lbs!!! I have to go buy a belt tomorrow. My pants that I bought tight are starting to fall off. 2.5 inches just around my stomach.

Taking the Dog for a Walk in the Livingroom?

2010-09-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

I love this treadmill. It shows so many different options and workouts. Sally on the other hand is still warming up to it. She isn't as scared as when we first brought it home. She will climb on when it is the slowest pace possible and only stay for a few steps if I have a treat. Compared to when we first got it, she didn't even want to go near it. I would say we are making a lot of progress.
In this picture I am 9 pounds down. Sorry I didn't take a before picture. But just imagine I had a muffin top pretty bad and a little double chin. I also bought those pants tight (on purpose so I would have pants that fit later on) just a few weeks ago.

This was my workout from last night. I was glad when I was done. This is when I started cooling down. My speed was faster. (about 4.3 MPH)

PCOS and Infertility (My longest post ever)

2010-09-16T18:56:00.000-07:00

Well, this post is about a problem I have had for many years. It may contain too much information for some, however, I have been way excited about all of this and am telling my story about being infertile.

I was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 18. I went in to the doctor for irregular periods and came out with birth control to regulate my cycle. PCOS stands for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.

I was told that when I wanted to become pregnant to go to a fertility specailist and do fertility drugs. Therefore, when James and I had been married for 6 months and prayed about having children and received the answer to try, I went to a fertility specialist. This doctor said, he would be able to help me. I believed it and was 100% relieved. I had faith in him and no worries. 5 months later, I had been on three different types of fertility drugs and some of them I tried different doses. I never once ovulated. I was disgusted and fed up with this doctor. So, I switched doctors. I went to this new doctor for a total of about 4 months. Basically, the same thing happened. I decided to take a break from the whole situation and later went to my gynecologist in Fairbanks. She is not a fertility specialist but still knows just as much as the other doctors did, as far as I noticed. She was nicer about it too. However, she was not able to get me to respond to the treatments either. I was still heart broken. Through all the drugs and stress, I gained 20 pounds. (I was a stress eater) I ate chocolate galore. I had it at lunch, dinner and late night snacks.

I took a much needed break from the drugs, but was still stressed and still eating tons of candy, especially chocolate.

I got so stressed, I ended up in the hospital for suicidal thoughts and depression.

After this episode, I started looking at my faith. I read my Patriarchal blessing and looked back at all the priesthood blessings that James had given me over the past 2 years. I remembered every single one of them said the doctors would know what to do. I thought, how could this be, I have been through so much and none of them seem to be able to help me at all they just make me more depressed and more stressed. I started really thinking about it and decided I hadn't found the right type of doctor.

After getting out of the hospital, I went to a psychiatrist. She pointed out that I am allergic to a lot of different medications and that I could be allergic to these fertility drugs. "There is a reason for your reactions," she had said. I decided that if I am not responding to fertility drugs, then what can I do?

I googled natural treatments for PCOS andcame a whole bunch of things including a naturopath doctor who I have been seeing for 1 month. I love her. I am 100% stress free. When on occasion I do get stressed, I handle it completely different and don't eat candy and chocolate!!

I have lost almost 10 pounds. My whole point to this post is not to tell you that I am happier, but that PCOS is reversible, treatable, and curable. It is the exact opposite of what all the other "specialists" have told me.

PCOS is diet and exercise related. It is also genetic. If you have a family member that has it, you are more likely to get it. It is a precursor to diabetes, heart disease, uterine cancer, and many other health risks. If one has PCOS then she is most likely insulin resistant. This makes it extremley hard to lose weight.

Here is what I have done so far......

*cut out all sugar including fruit. I do not eat anything that has added sugar or anything that has fruit. Fruit has a high level of natural sugar. Natural sugar is fine in moderation but fruit has too much for PCOS. This is only in the beginning. I will eat fruit later on in my diet. This helps to reverse the insulin resistance.

* Exercise is very important. I walk at least 3 miles a day. (Sally loves this part) I do sit ups as many as I can do then add 5 more. I need to exercise more, I just haven't set aside the time yet. I bought the following treadmill to walk on during the winter. Here is James and his brother Joe putting it together for me. They are wonderful.

*I take the following vitamins and herbs everyday as my naturopath prescribed.

* I do not eat simple carbs at all. I always make sure there is plenty of fiber in the carbs that I do eat.

* I eat some type of protein with every meal.

*I have always been big on staying away from fat, but now I am even more strict. I also eat more healthy fat.

The differences I have noticed in me are.....

*I am way happier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (This is an understatement)

*I am no longer depressed even though I am not pregnant.

*I have more energy

*I no longer have dark skin in certain spots of my body. (one of the so many symptoms of having PCOS I have had this dark skin since about 20 years old.)

*I have lost 8 pounds.

This process to reverse PCOS can take anywhere from 2 months, to a year. I think I have a ways to go. I am looking forward to it.

There are a few things I am doing that have not been scientifically proven but my doctor says they won't hurt me. They are....

drinking a little tiny bit of apple cidar vinegar with some water. It is to help blood sugar and insulin.

Sprinkling cinnamon on my cereal in the morning. It is to also help lower blood sugar.

Drinking 2 cups of spearmint tea everyday. This has helped with facial hair and other bod hair that I don't want. I have noticed a very slight difference. However, I have to drink it everyday or the hair instantly grows back.

I am horrible!!!!!

2010-09-09T21:52:00.001-07:00

So, we had our three year wedding anniversary and I didn't think once to take pictures!
We were actually kind of lame this anniversary too. We had a home made dinner that resembled a really nice restaraurant (Turtle Club). I made it homemade because I am seeing a new doctor and long story short I can't have a lot of different types of food for a few more weeks. So, it was homemade so I knew exaclty what was in it.
We also rented movies. We talked and hung out. It was nice. I would have liked to have done more, but it was kind of hard with hunting season, company over and our work schedules. Originally, one of the reasons we wanted to get married on Labor day weekend was so that we would have a 3 day weekend around the time of our anniversary so that we could go off and do things. It hasn't really worked to our advantage since we got married. lol

Life- back to the boring routine!

2010-08-19T23:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been taking two correspondence courses through the Univeristy of Alaska. Because I am still working on them, I decided not to persue a full time teaching job. I am back as a building sub same as last year.
My life consists of walking my dog every morning, (she looks forward to her walks and when we don't go, I hear about it) loading a dish washer, going to work, coming home, making dinner, laundry, playing with Sally (the dog) and then if I have time and am not too tired I do some homework before bed. So, as you can see, there really is not much for me to post about.
However, I threw a surprise Birthday (3 weeks late) for James. Katelyn decorated the cupcakes this time since I was at work all day and didn't see the reason in taking the day off work to decorate cupcakes when it was only the second day of school. I can not take credit for these sharks, although I have made one before. Pictures will come later

A Friend in Town

2010-07-15T22:16:00.000-07:00

My friend Sara is up visiting from Washington. We have had tons of fun. Here are some of the very fun things we have done!

On our way to and From Chena Hot Springs we saw 5 moose. While at Chena Hot Springs, we saw many, many ducks, 2 geese and birds. We have seen 1 rabbit and domestice reindeer at Santa's house.

Sara's gold pan, FINISHED!! She got a little more gold than me, so I showed her finished pan. this was extremely fun and I recommend it to anyone who is coming up here.

My gold pan not almost finished.

Sara's gold pan, almost finished.

My famous cupcake making was one of the activities we did. We made Panda Bears. It was very fun.

It's so nice to have someone with us that takes pictures. Now we have pictures of us when we least expect it. This is me and James walking around Pioneer Park (the area tat has the -40 room.)

This is proof that I have been in negative 40! I was kind of frustrated that I had to pay for this experience because I can experience it for free in the winter more than I want. However, I did it for Sara. (Notice how her hood is on and her coat is all the way zipped up and mine is not. LOL)

This is the McKinley Mac from McDonalds in North Pole. I love this meal. It is very similar to the Big Mac except it has bigger hamburger patties.

This is me in a lovely swimming suit. I just got out of the Hot Spring at Chena Hot Springs. It was my first time in the hot springs. It was wonderful. The hot springs are open year round and people go in them when it is negative 40 and so forth.

Sara and I on my four wheeler. We went four wheeling and it was one of Sara's favorite activities.

Sara in outhouse in ice museum. This is a mess to clean up and shouldn't be used. It is just for looks. There are rooms in the ice museum that can be rented out. They are very expensive and very cool! This outhouse is in one of the rooms.

Tomatoes at Chena Hot Springs' greenhouse. These tomato plants are unique because they are never cut or trimmed and they grow year round.

Goats at Chena Hot Springs. There are two goats. We fed them and they are very cute.

Baby Cupcakes

2010-06-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

These cupcakes were easy to make, but they took a long time. I made them for Katelyn's baby shower.

Sally's Spot

2010-06-04T23:33:00.000-07:00

Okay I can't figure out why it isn't working on the last post but here is Sally's favorite spot. It's under our bed. She sleeps here when I am in the room folding Laundry, reading scriptures, cleaning, or we are sleeping. I think it is because it is a tight, closed in space and she feels cozy. She is not claustrophobic. It is part of her breed.

Games and Sally's Spot

2010-06-04T23:21:00.001-07:00

I was not able to get this on video but I can try to describe it. Sally was chasing a fly around the house. If you have ever seen a dog or cat chase a laser light you get somewhat of the idea what was going on with this. However, it seemed better. It kept her entertained for a while too.

We had some people over tonight for pizza and a game night. We had fun. However, I want to share the game that we played. John bought it. It is called Dirty Minds. For example this phrase would be read out loud and the other people would have to guess what it is. If you can't get it correctly, meaning your mind wanders to the gutter, then you have a dirty mind. "What is long, hard, wet and full of sea men?" now this read out loud would make those last two words sound like the word semen, and well you get the picture. The actual answer is a submarine.How many of you got the correct answer???

Camping

2010-05-30T00:42:00.000-07:00

We camped along the Chena river. There are no roads back to this spot so we rode our fourwheelers. It was very nice. I rained for about 5 minutes then the sun came back out and dried everything. We saw about 5 boats go by on the river.

We ate dinner, built a fire and roasted hotdogs and then made s'mores. One of Jim's hotdogs fell off his stick because the stick burned off. He later used it as fishing bait. Surprise! He didn't catch anything.

This picture was taken just before midnight. I had to show you how light it is so late in the night.

We all three took cots, but none of us used them. Jim's ripped (the cot was old and ready to retire. It was from W W II !!!) So, I figured if he is sleeping on the ground, I might as well sleep next to him. Sorry about the darkness. It was taken pretty late, around 12:30.This is as dark as it gets though, it starts getting light again right around this time.

Accidents, Naps, and Selling

2010-05-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

John for those of you who don't know, is Jim's brother and he has been living with us. He needed to go somewhere yesterday and decided to take Sally along since she loves car rides. Well he has a truck and she was riding in the bed, which she always does in Jim's truck. We have never had any problems. However, it may have been the truck, or something else but she decided to jump out when John was going 45 MPH. He was shocked and scared that she got hurt. Well, it has been more than a day later, she is acting as happy as can be and we only found two scratches on her. They aren't even bothering her. So, there are new rules for her going on car rides: She is only allowed in my explorer because she can't jump out of it. No more truck beds for her. And she still loves car rides. I took her on one today.
Jim and Sally (and sometimes me) like to take naps on the couch. Jim works hard for us so I let him. I on the other hand feel guilty when I don't have to work all day.
I am going through all the stuff that we don't use anymore because Katelyn is having a yard sale and we are joining in. This extra bedroom is where we are storing everything till it happens.

Summer

2010-05-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

Well, it is really exciting but yet sad. It's a bitter sweet thing that school is out for the summer. I really enjoyed my job of being a building sub this year, especially the 9 weeks that I was a full time teacher for one who was on maternity leave. I miss it already and it has only been 2 days (aka the weekend).
My summer will be filled with correspondence courses that I have to take to keep my teacing certificate up to date. It doesn't expire until June 2011 but I don't want to be a procrastinater so I have already started. YUCK!!! I am back in school. Luckily it is only two classes but they seem to be interesting but hard.
Another thing we plan on doing this summer is camping. I will make sure to take pictures and all.
The sun is up around 4 AM I am guessing by the way it looks in our bedroom coming in through the blinds, and goes down around midnight. It's soooooo NICE!

spring Clean Up

2010-04-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

So, last year, we raked and raked and raked some more leaves and couldn't keep up with them. We raked the ones from our yard, but then the ones from the neighbor's yard would blow into our yard. We were never able to keep up with them. We still have leaves in our yard from last year. So, Jim asked the Landlord if we could cut down some of the trees. He said that was fine. We cut down the ones that were closest to our house and are going to make a horse shoe shape out of pine trees, or some other non leaf producing tree, and put a picnic table in the middle.
The twigs and small branches that were left over from cutting down the trees, were used to make a fire and we roasted marshmallows.
Sally had to be locked up because she kept barking at the flames and it was already 11 at night. It was funny because she looked like she wanted to play with the fire. Once she was locked up for a while, we gave her a second chance and she realized she couldn't bark and she laid down next to the fire.

Birthday Butterflies

2010-04-10T12:20:00.000-07:00

I had a Birthday! These are my "cake." I decorated them with Katelyn again. We had fun. They tasted good.

Melting Snow and a Long Lost Toy

2010-03-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

This green dot is a long lost toy stuck in snow on our roof. I threw the ball for Sally at the beginning of winter. It went on the roof. We got it back today.

My New Toy! St. Bernards, and a Wagon of Fun

2010-03-21T23:08:00.000-07:00

Since I am done with the maternity leave position, I am back subbing in all grades. I was in a fourth grade class this particular day. We had St. Bernards visit the school and pull us in a wagon. It was way fun!

We went down to ANchorage last weekend. I mentioned to Jim, on the way down, that I was getting tired of riding double on his four wheeler. Next thing I know, he is researching where to get the best deal, and takes me to a place in ANchorage to get a bike. I was not planning on getting one so soon, but evidently, Jim was tired of riding double too.

This particular day, it was perfect weather to go riding. Wearing the snowgear blocked the windchill. We rode for four hours and only came home because we were thirsy. We had a blast.

Playing Pool with Cupcakes?

2010-03-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

I am on Spring break right now. I am done with the maternity leave position, which is really depressing for me. I am not really looking forward to being a sub again. I have been spoiled getting to know the same class for the past 9 weeks.
Anyhow, since I am on Spring Break, I have some extra time on my hands that I haven't had in quite some time. I used this time to clean the house, play with Sally (who was starving for attention) and have a cupcake decorating day with a really good friend that I have made up here. Her name is Kate. She is a blast!

James and I are going to the Temple this weekend. It is a much needed trip down there. We are not use to living so far away from a temple and it gets really hard. We both have to take time off work, then we have to drive 8 hours (that's if weather is good, which there is a blizzard right now) and we have to stay in a hotel. That is just our first day. The next day, we actually get to go to the temple. We try to make it down every three months, but I didn't go last time because I was not able to get the day off. Sad times.

The Wedding pics

2010-01-24T19:03:00.000-08:00

Our Weekend

2010-01-20T20:01:00.000-08:00

We flew home for Jim's sister's wedding this last weekend. We both had fun. We also celebrated Christmas with both of our families. Jim flew down for about 10 days because he could get the time off work. I flew home for about 4 days as I had just started a new job and couldn't get time off like he could.
Nancy's wedding was beautiful and it brought back memories of my wedding. Eventhough the receptions were decorated totally different. I have pictures on Jim's phone but he has it with him and he is gone. I will get them uploaded ASAP.
Work for me is busy, busy, busy. I have been grading papers, writing lesson plans and dealing with cute, friendly first graders. I am exhausted and ready to fall asleep.

Jim and my four month old nephew, Maddox, that we met for the first time.

Maddox, (four months) his brother, Mason (4 years)Me 24 years. This is the day I few in, hence why I am not looking very pretty.

This is Jim's affair that he had while I was still in Alaska and he was in Washington. I am jealous.

James went to a hockey game for the bachelor party of his new brother-in-law, Heath.

Creepy Crawling Cupcakes

2009-11-15T18:13:00.000-08:00

There was a fundraiser at the school. I saw this book that showed step by step how to decorate really cute cupcakes. It has all holidays, a lot of animals and birthday themes. I flipped through it and decided to do the one that looks the easiest.
I think the scorpian is my best one. It's because it was my last one and I started getting the hang of it.

Halloween!! a little late & weather

2009-11-02T18:41:00.000-08:00

So, I know Halloween was last month but I figured it is never too late to post about Halloween.
My pumpkin is the spider and web, Jim's is the skull.
Our ward does not celebrate Halloween due to a Bishop we had a few years ago that doesn't believe in celebrating it so therefore, we have an entire ward that does nothing for it. However, James and I still celebrated without them knowing it. We carved pumpkins again this year. We also went to a Fall carnival at the elementary school I work at. We were walking to the door when the fire alarm was pulled so we went back later and it was pretty fun.
Our current weather: 5 inches of snow, negative 7 this morning, currently 1. Sunrise around 8:30, sunset around 5:00. Forecast, blizzard this weekend. We are supposed to be getting 18 inches of fresh powder this weekend.

Our Dishes Taking a Stroll, Sally Needing to be Washed, and Dark Northern Lights

2009-10-25T20:48:00.000-07:00

Sally had a playdate with one of my co-worker's dogs. They ran everywhere and slobbered on everything. Sally needed a bath afterward.

We stayed up till midnight last night standing in the driveway looking up into the sky at green wavy lights. Northern lights are pretty cool. We were not able to get a picture. Evidently our camera is not hightech enough because they came out black. It was our first time seeing the northern lights.

Our dishes decided to take a little stroll through our kitchen. It happened because our dishwasher is still not bolted to the floor and so when I rolled out the bottom drawer I forgot to push it back in when I rolled out the top and the bottom decided to roll away.

2 Really Exciting Things in my Life!!!!!

2009-10-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

I found out Monday that I will be a long term sub for a teacher that is going on maternity leave. I will be paid teacher SALARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is so good to have a full time teaching job lined up even if it is only for 3 months.
ALSO, something else happened that I have wanted and waited for for a little over a year. You see, when James and I moved up to Alaska, we were not able to see our house before we moved here and the company pays rent so I wasn't too concerned. Well, the very day I got here, I saw the kitchen and was not very happy because of the size, amount of storage space (we keep a lot of our kitchen things in the garage, not just food storage.) Well, there also wasn't a dishwasher. I came up with the brilliant plan to buy a portable dishwasher and put it where the fridge was and move the fridge across the kitchen. Well, we checked with our landlord and he said that if we bought a regular dishwasher, he would install it and put an extra cupboard in. We bought a dishwasher about 6 weeks ago. It had been sitting in the kitchen in a box till yesterday, when Jim had the day off and went and bugged our landlord to come install it. It is still not 100% put in. As you can see it needs a counter top and also needs to be bolted to the floor. But IT RUNS!!!!!! I am ecstatic.

Tae-Kwon-Do..... GREEN BELT!!!!!

2009-09-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

Yeah!!!!!! I am a low green belt in Tae kwon do now. I just got it. I am really excited in case you haven't figured that out.

2nd snowfall of this autumn

2009-09-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

This is the second time it has snowed this fall. It won't stick forever yet. It is slowling melting. Last time it snowed it was here for about 2 hours.

No longer just a substitute

2009-09-15T21:06:00.000-07:00

I am happy to report I finally received my Alaska State teaching Certificate in the mail. I also have a new job. I am no longer a traveling subtitute. I am a building substitute.This means I am guaranteed work till the end of the school year and don't have to sit at home and wait for the phone to ring. I show up at one school everyday no matter if I am needed in a classroom or not. If I am not needed in a classroom as a sub. teacher then I float around and help make copies, tutor, and so on. Today out of almost three weeks, was the first day I wasn't in the classroom and I kept myself plenty busy. Building sub looks really good on a resume for future full time teaching positions.

Our Growing Family

2009-08-28T22:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I am happy to report that our family is finally starting to grow.
We got a dog from a family in our ward that had to get rid of her because their son is allergic. She is a very sweet 2 two year old. She seems like she is missing her old home though because she started to whine a little. The other family has 4 children and since we have none, she seems to just lay there and do nothing.
Her name is Sally.

Work

2009-08-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I started back to work last week even before school started and no I do not have a full time teaching job. It is really competitive up here. I thought it was bad in Washington, it is worse up here. However, I am subbing full time and am in the same classroom for the first 2 1/2 -3 weeks. Today was the first day of school and we all had fun. Sorry, I don't have any pics.

I no longer sleep with my husband!

2009-08-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, you read that right. I sleep with Darth Vader.

Jim was diagnosed with sleep apnea about aweek ago. Now he sleeps with a mask on. He says he feels like Dumbo because of the tubing. He sounds like Darth Vader, so that is what I get to hear all night. The good news is, he doesn't snore anymore and the machine is actually quieter than his snoring. It is hilarious when he tries to talk with the machine on. It sounds like he is plugging his nose and trying to breath and talk at the same time.

Tae-Kwon-Do and Birthdays

2009-07-28T20:05:00.000-07:00

So, does he look 30? Yep, I am telling the world that Jim is 30 but when I turn 30, no one better know!

This is a picture of one of the Birthday cakes I made. I found these really cool food coloring markers at Wal-Mart and decided to try them out. They worked well.
I tried to light candles on the other cake, but when I was half way done, the wind came and blew all of them out:-(

All the kids, we were the only ones there that didn't have kids,and Jim and I had a water balloon fight. It was a blast. The people in the background are our guests picking up the water balloon scraps. (don't worry we helped as soon as our picture was taken.)

This is me and with my high yellow belt. I broke my first board tonight. (For those of you who don't know, they changed the ranking of the belts it is now, white, low yellow, yellow, low green, green, low blue, blue, low red, red, recommended black and then black with all the different degrees in the same order. Sometimes the yellow or blue or green and such is refered to as high blue, yellow etc.)

No Christmas for us :-(

2009-07-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

So, James and I are not flying home for Christmas this year. Instead, we are flying home for a wedding in Janurary. My sister-in-law, Nancy, is engaged. So, I don't believe she has a blog so I decided I would post about it.
Yeah, I know my life is so boring I have to post about other people's excitement.

Mushy Strawberry update

2009-07-06T14:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, so our strawberries are turning hard now. I think it was too much clouds and not enough sun.

The Second Ammendment

2009-06-30T14:56:00.001-07:00

I believe we have the right to bear arms. I know that if the government starts to rule over us and takes away our guns we will not have the ability or the means to defend ourselves against the enemy.
I feel strongly toward the right to keep the Second Ammendment.

mushy strawberries

2009-06-29T23:49:00.000-07:00

I know this sounds weird but we have mushy strawberries. We think it is because they are not getting enough sunlight. I know I said that we have about 23 hours of daylight but it has been overcast a LOT lately and I think that might have something to do with it. It is not because they are overripe either because I picked them and ate them as soon as they got ripe. Does any one have any suggestions?

Missionary

2009-06-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

Well, some of you know that I have been sharing the gospel with my cousins for many years. I kept telling her we are saved by grace and judged by works. No matter how many times I told her, it seemed it went in one ear and out the other. I couldn't figure it out. Last night I made the realization that she was getting her information from anti mormon literature and it had stated somewhere that we believe we are saved by works because of the verse in 2 Nephi 25:23 which states "after all we can do." I told her her via email that we do not believe we are saved by works, that she should be careful what she reads and that the Book of Mormon is true. One may read it and misinterpret it and not believe it and therefore say it is false, but then again one could misinterpret the Bible and therefore not believe it. We must remember that different people interpret different things different ways. I told her the "after all we can do" phrase just means we are judged by works.

Humanitarian Project

2009-06-24T22:25:00.000-07:00

So, since I am not currently working full time, I decided to do some service that I won't have time to do when I start work. I looked on the church website and found a pattern and a list of items that newborns need in third world countries. I put together two kits and home sewed two blankets and two gowns.
I am so proud of myself because I have not sewn anything other than hemming jenes and other quick simple stuff since I was about 12.

Alaska Summer

2009-06-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of what I have been up to since my parents left. We have about 23 hours of daylight. It seems like 24 because when the sun is down, it doesn't seem like it is and then it comes back up again. It is really nice. Last night was summer solstice so we will be decreasing in our daylight now. It is sad!!!!!! very sad!!!!

This table was free from some lady Jim knows. (I think from work.)I love it because it makes more counter space available in my kitchen now since I have the microwave and toaster on it. Before the table, I did not have much room at all to do my baking that I love so much!

I know this sounds weird (with all the daylight) but I have been enjoying reading a book. Most of you have probably heard of it. Talk about a guilt trip. I am taking this time off work since there is no school yet, to read some books that I have been wanting to read.
I have applied for full time positions. I have been told they are running behind and will not interview until the middle of July. I do not know if this is true or not but I actually don't need the job, I just want the job.

I have been teaching piano lessons to a young girl in my ward. We started about a month ago and she is doing great. I will start with three more students in July.

This is the big basket that I showed a picture of in the post titled my indoor garden. Well, it is now an outdoor garden. We have not had any ripe strawberries yet, but as you can see, we will have them soon. They are turning white!!!!! I can't wait and neither can Jim, strawberries are his favorite!
In addition to the strawberries we also have 5 plants of greeen beens (out or 4 rows) :-( Radishes coming up real quick and doing great, carrots like enough to can, zuccinni, lettuce, spinach, and one potato plant I found this morning while weeding (out of 4 rows) :-( Oh, and I almost forgot, we have tomatoes and bell pepper plants doing great. They are not producing yet, but will soon. They are getting big.

Tourist Season

2009-06-10T15:22:00.001-07:00

My parents and grandma are visiting. Here are the pictures of some of what we have done.

This is Blitzen. We saw 5 of the total reindeer. Blizten is the oldest reindeer that Santa has.

This is in the Santa Claus House with the real Santa and my dad.

I found a hole in our gable end a few weeks ago. Jim told the landlord but he didn't get to it. Now we have a bird's nest in there and the robin sits outside guarding her nest and dive bombs anyone who comes near it.

This couch has been on the side of the road leading to Denali for a little over a year. Each time we go by there is another chair and or couch with more bears.

Here are pictures of my indoor garden!

2009-05-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

It still freezes at night so we have not transplanted our plants outside yet. I have never done this with strawberries but it seems to be very interesting. I hope I did it right. They are in the basket and the green things in the small containers are my numerous bell peppers and tomatoes. (23 bell peppers and 18 tomatoes to be exact. I gave some away. So now we have 12 of each.)

Snow Bunny in Our Front Yard

2009-05-11T22:46:00.000-07:00

This guy was sitting outside in our driveway for a really long time. I was surprised he didn't move. He was so cute. Zoom in to look at the feet. They are big.

I was kicked in the head by a horse!

2009-05-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

Okay so not really, but it really feels like it. I have been sick for the past two weeks with a nasty, horrible, good for nothing cold. It recently turned into a sinus infection. I feel a little better today since I am on antibiotics.

With me being sick for so long, James has started to pick up on the cleaning a bit and he realized how much I was vacuuming. He started to notice a lot of leaves accumulating in the house. He vaccuumed them up and then decided to get rid of the problem all together and rake the yard! I have a wonderful husband!!

While I have been sick I have taken the time to read a really good book, "Behind Every Good Man" by John Bytheway. It was truly uplifting, and funny of course.

Cops and the E.R.

2009-04-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

Last night, or rather, very early this morning, at 2:45 A.M James woke me and said take me to the E.R. I was like what's wrong? Come to find out he had numbness in his arm and he didn't know what it was caused by because he hadn't been sleeping on that side of his body, so we knew it wasn't asleep.We thought it might be a mild heart attack. So, I rushed him to the E.R. Apparently a little too fast because I was pulled over for the very first time in my life. We told the officer what we thought was going on and he wrote down some information and sent us on our way.
It was not a heart attack, but we still do not know what it was.

Thawing? What a yucky process!

2009-04-22T22:18:00.000-07:00

Well, we are thawing! We still have a little ways to go but here are some pictures to show our progress. It is so exciting, I can open our back door to take pictures now. (whereas before it was through our bedroom window. lol Daylight- sun sets around 11 PM and rises around 5:30 AM (according to Jim because I am not up at that time.)
It is nice because the sidewalks are clear and I was able to walk to and from my Tae Kwon do class on Tuesday.

My boring life

2009-04-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

I don't currently have any new pictures.Our snow is ever so slowly melting. I slipped on the ice and hurt my wrist. I am visiting family.My sister-in-law, my future sister-in-law and I cleaned my in laws house today.That was a big chore.
School is coming to an end in Alaska which means I will have more free time but I will also have this syndrome called lack of moola! I am looking for a full time job since we do not have any children YET!? Where are they and why won't they come. They have this thing about teaching their mother patience!I guess?
James and I joke about our seeds in our garden being our babies and if that is the case we have 8 tomatoes and 8 bell peppers. (Started in the house of course).
Well, I just thought I would update since it has been a while. Talk to ya later.

Snowed in!!!

2009-03-02T21:56:00.001-08:00

Well, this isn't new news but we have snow! Here is an updated picture of how much snow we have. I do not have a ruler long enough. So, I do not know the inches. We are literally snowed in on the back side of the house. (I shoveled the front side).

The temperature is in the low 20's usually and single to negative digits at night.
It is beginning to look a lot like spring!!!!!!! It is so exciting. The sun is coming out a lot and it is "warm." We have about 12 hours of daylight right now. the snow will start to melt in about 8-10 weeks given on what we here from people that have lived here for years.

Chena Hot Springs!!!

2009-02-23T11:49:00.000-08:00

As a belated Valentine's Day, James and I had the cahnce to go to Chena Hot Springs. ALthough we did not go into the hot springs, we did eat in a very fansy restaurant. (okay so it wasn't that fansy but it was the fansiest we have been in up here in AK)The waitress set us my the window and while eating we were able to snap pictures of these snow birds.

After eating, we headed toward the dogsled teams and took a guided tour. During this part we kind of got wrapped up in the excitement and forgot to take more pictures but here is a picture of the dogsled puppies.
While we were there we also got to learn ho to hook the teams up and in what order they go. I actually messed up and put the harness on backwards lol. It was very interesting. Next time we go we will try to get more pics.

My Explorer Addicted to Nicotine??!!

2009-02-11T19:07:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of my explorer's old air filter before we changed it. The only explanations that I could think of were "mouse" or the person who owned it before us had a habit and hid it from his/her spouse very well. Jim and I had a good laugh about it saying my car needed to go talk with the Bishop.

IT'S REALLY WARM ALMOST HOT!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-01-17T17:20:00.000-08:00

We are having record breaking temperatures for January in Alaska. About half of our snow is gone. (This is a first. It is always here until at least April.)It has been in the high 40's for the past 4 days. This is bad news because the snow is melting and the forcast states it is supposed to get cold again this will present a problem for wells, sewers and other pipes that have running water in them. The snow acts as an insulation during the winter and therefore the pipes do not freeze. Well, when the snow is gone and the temp is cold enough, our well, sewer and our pipes will freeze. YIKES!
The reason we still have half the snow is because the ground is still forzen, therefor, keeping the snow cold and only the top gets warm enough to melt.
Also this causes other problems for our driveway. I had to shovel snow today because all the snow fell off our roof. I was told this wouldn't happen until April or even May. I had to use my four wheel drive to get into the garage last night. This morning I would have had to put on chains, which we don't own.
Well, so much for getting a picture of the sign about thawing your car.
This is "before" I started shoveling. (I forgot to take a before picture so I took a picture of what I didn't shovel.)

This is after

It's warm!!

2009-01-12T22:57:00.000-08:00

Well it warmed up today. Most of the ice on the inside of our windows in our house melted. It was -3 last I checked. It was so nice to go outside and not have your nose hairs freeze almost instantly.
I finally got my visiting teaching route this morning.
I also have a calling now. I teach the Valian 10 class. There are 10 students! I have not had my first lesson yet, (do to bad weather for church)So I have not taught yet.
Up here they do not cancel for snow, they cancel for temperature. When it is -30 there is just Sacrament meeting and when it is -40 or colder Sacrament is served and we go home. They do this because there is not enough plug ins in the parking lot for all the cars. So, this means everyone has to leave there cars running. That can run up the gas bill.
I saw a sign a few days ago that said something like, "Rent a stall to thaw your car." I will try to remember to get a picture of it. It was pretty funny but it is truly needed up here for those that don't have a heated garage at home.

COLD!!

2008-12-30T18:27:00.000-08:00

It is currenlty -40. It was -35 yesterday and supposed to be getting colder.
I got these really warm Pajamas for Christmas. Aren't they cool. I haven't seen PJs with feet slippers in years!

This is our front door. There is ice on every single one of our windows. Yes, we have the heat on and it is comfortably warm in our house.

Snow in Morton

2008-12-29T21:17:00.001-08:00

We are back in AK. Here are the pictures of the snow in Morton. There was a whole foot more in Morton.

This was taken in Jim's parent's driveway. We were pushing snow with the car's front bumper it was pretty cool. The driveway had been plowed but not recently.

Update from Morton WA

2008-12-21T10:57:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not there is MORE SNOW in Morton, WA than in North Pole. We went four wheeling and Jim got stuck so I climbed off the four wheeler so he could get it unstuck and I found myself in snow almost to my hips!!!!(this was drift snow not the actual depth of the snow.)North pole has about 2 feet and Morton has close to 3.
I do not have the equipment with me to download pictures so they will have to wait until we are in North Pole.

Picture Tag

2008-12-06T19:32:00.001-08:00

Okay these pictures are of James and I when we were moving to North Pole. They were taken right outside of Tok, AK. This was our last day of traveling. Our first day of driving in snow.
Yes Jim wears less clothes than I do. I get cold easily. He wears regular clothes that he wore in WA. I am jelous.
I tag
Chris and Monica
Scottie and Ang
Sara

Our trip to the Ice Park in North Pole

2008-12-06T19:10:00.000-08:00

This is the coolest park I have ever been to. There were numerous slides and a few "Ice baskets" (not sure what to call them, that you could sit in and be spun around. There was one slide that was really big. I was able to go down it once, but the line was long. So, we decided we would go back later when most of the younger kids are gone. The ice park is open from December to March.

Christmas things in North Pole

2008-12-05T18:31:00.000-08:00

His house is bigger. This is only half.This is one of Santa's reindeer. I do not know which one. I think it is odd. These reindeer can "fly" and they are in a pen that has no top.This is the world famous Santa statue that is outside the Santa claus house. It is the largest statue of Santa in the world. Stands nearly 50 feet, is 33 feet around and weighs about 900 pounds.This is an ice sculpture in case you didn't notice. It is in front of the Santa Claus house here in North Pole. Every year they have an ice sculpture.

the update

2008-12-04T14:15:00.000-08:00

We have both been busy. First I was sick, then jim was sick. It took like 2 weeks for one of us to totally get over it. We have both been working. (That is where I got sick. Darn kids at school lol.)
We also had Thanksgiving. Since it was just the two of us we were debating whether or not to have feast. We ended up doing so and invited Jim's Co-worker who also does not have family up here.
We will be flying home for Christmas. I can't wait.
We still do not have callings in the ward up here. But we did have a tithing settlement with the Bishop last night and he asked us what kind of callings we have had in the past. So, that makes me nervous. I told them I was the ward Organist. The Bishop's reply was "oh, really! Our ward organist is moving." I seriously regret telling him my past callings. This ward is HUGE and I do not feel ready to play with singers in it. (Those of you who have heard me play will know exactly what I am talking about.)
It is getting colder. There are days when it is neg.20 and once it was neg. 29. It is actually pretty warm today a whole 17 degrees this morning. (I didn't wear my long johns and I wore a short sleeved shirt!)
Sunrise is getting later. It is around 10:30 AM and sunset is around 2:45 PM.
Inches of snow 11 and hope there is more to be a better insulation so the well doesn't freeze when it hits you know neg. 40 or colder.
I wear so many layers it isn't even funny and that is only when it is neg. 20 I will have to go buy different gloves when it is neg. 40.

Fire drill in this weather??!!

2008-11-10T18:32:00.000-08:00

So, I don't have a picture of this but I did want everyone to know that today was my first day substitute teaching in AK. And just my luck we had a fire DRILL!!!! it was luckily during a heat wave and it was actually 13 degrees. Yes, that is right it wasn't negative. I am just glad that it wasn't like yesterday (negative 7 at 1 PM)I think it is insane to have to have a fire drill and go outside in such cold weather without the proper gear but they do it. I can wait for the middle of Jan. fire drill at neg.40 Yikes!

2008-11-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

Here is a new picture of our front yard. It doesn't look much different but there is a significant more amount of snow.

Weather again

2008-10-28T15:52:00.000-07:00

Well, it continues to get colder. Big surprise!! It was negative 9(9AM) when I turned on the weather channel this morning and it was negative 14 when Jim left for work(7AM). We currently have 8 inches of snow. I will try to remember to take a pcitre of it. I just don't know where my camera is right now. HAHA It is currently 0 degrees. it is 3PM and only 0 degrees!!!!!!!

Spoiled

2008-10-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

So, we have an auto start button for our Explorer now. I no longer have to sit in a cold car and wait for it to warm up. I can push the button up to a mile away, my doors stay locked and you have to put the key in the ignition to drive. So, it can't be stolen while idling in a parking lot. I have other buttons that tell me how warm it is in the vehicle and I can set it on a timer to turn off in 25 minutes. It will automatically turn itself on if the temperature of the car drops below 14 degrees.
It is a nessecity up here. If you don't have one your car will be broken.

Halloween Pumpkins

2008-10-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

My pumpkin is the ghosts and Jim's pumpkin is the wolves. This took a long time but they do look very cool.

Weather update

2008-10-16T12:42:00.000-07:00

Well it is getting colder. It was -2 when Jim went to work this morning. It is currently 6. No wind chill. Sunrise around 9AM and sunset around 6PM.

Man at work

2008-10-15T21:11:00.000-07:00

I LOVE this man. He does the dishes and I didn't even ask him to. Isn't he wonderful:-) I do hate this kitchen because there isn't a dishwasher.

After

2008-10-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

We are moved in!! Yeah no more boxes.

our living room not completely moved in.

2008-10-13T22:49:00.000-07:00

Current weather

2008-10-12T23:51:00.000-07:00

It was 48 degrees just a couple days ago. All the snow melted. It all returned overnight and stuck. We currently have about 4 inches. Last night it was 23 degrees. It is now 20 degrees this morning. Wind chill is 13 degrees. snow showers are supposed to happen around noon.
Sunrise around 8:30ish, sunset around 6:30ish.

Jim throwing his small snowball that he was able to make after warming it up in his hands to melt it together.

2008-10-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

2008-10-12T20:34:00.000-07:00

This was our first time playing in the snow up here in AK. We thought it was a wet snow because it isn't terribly cold yet, but we soon found out it was a powder because we couldn't make a snow ball. This made it hard to play in the snow because we do not have a sled or skiing equipment. (thesnowboarder is not us. It is a young man from Morton WA that Jim had in You mens when he was Young Men's President.)

Veronica's Snow Angel

2008-10-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

2008-10-12T19:46:00.000-07:00

Redneck Skiing in AK.

2008-10-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

What`s Your Snow Like?