Waiting over

So you know how when you are waiting for something to happen and it takes forever? Well that is what it has been the past month or so for Hans and me. We had this opportunity basically just fall into our lap and we decided to ride it out and see what happened. So after the waiting and wondering tomorrow afternoon we sign the closing papers on our first large purchase together. We are buying a condo here in Anchorage. Who knew right? I didn't think we would do it but the price was right. Now comes the really fun part of painting, carpeting, cleaning, moving. You know the drill. There will be some definite changes but it will be nice to have our own little place that is ours (after however many payments that is).

School has been soooo busy for me and Hans too. I have moved from just working on my fake mouth to actual people. Not real patients, just the others in my class but it is still quite the experience. I still don't feel really comfortable but it is coming easier. I am enjoying it despite the rigorous schedule. Last week I had 3 tests and a quiz and it was tough. I ran myself so hard that I got sick. I am on the tail end of it now but it has been quite the week. Hans loves the weekends so he actually has a few moments to himself (in theory) to just relax or check craigs list or whatever. We now need to be packing and getting things ready to paint this weekend. Plus it is conference weekend so things will be a little hectic even on the "days off".

We finally locked in our airline tickets to WA/UT for Christmas. We used air miles so the pickings were slim as far as days but at least there was space left for us. We are only going to be in WA for about 3 days but UT will be 3 1/2 weeks. It will be nice to get a break away after finals and everything is over. We are going to another state with cold and snow... go figure. Too bad they don't live somewhere warm and tropical. (for me anyway, I think Hans would melt somewhere like that)

We hope everyone out there is doing great. It is so busy here that we have no time to keep up with everyone. I am sure I don't have to tell you... we all have busy lives. I just need to remember to take a break and relax and have some fun sometimes. So there.

PS it is really pretty fall up here right now. It is colder for sure but the leaves have all changed and there are sunny, crisp days that are fun. I am told that the snow and cold are on the way... There is already plenty of snow on the mountains around here. I can't say that I am going to love all of that but we will probably be too busy to even notice much.

Busy Bees

We are busy, busy. This school schedule is very busy for us. I think Hans might have it worse right now since my schedule is pretty spread out through the week. He works and has to go straight to school pretty much 2 nights and only has a couple hours to himself (usually filled with homework and little things like eating dinner) He hasn't had much time for anything. I am a full time student which I think you all know so I just have that to do. Don't get me wrong... it is plenty for me. I am learning all new vocabulary and we got our instrument sets. Today we started working on our typodant (fake mouth. I named mine George because we need a familiarity since I am going to be in his mouth for months). I have very tired fingers and am forming a blister on my ring finger of my right hand which is used to fulcrum (support) your working hand. I finally found out today that I am going to be a right-handed hygienist. (I truly think I could do it with either hand but I think since the majority is right it will be easier for me to conform. It may come in hand if I get really tired someday or maybe I will be able to chart and check at the same time since I won't have to put the probe down to write... we shall see. It is pretty exciting though and it is all beginning to feel real.

Hans is liking his classes so far and will be taking his tools into the school shop tomorrow for class. It is lucky for him that he has some working knowledge of these things so it won't be all brand new.

We of course have time off for Labor Day and UAA gives Monday and Tuesday so with no classes on Friday we will have a very long weekend. No definite plans but we do hope to do some fun things. We had talked about going camping out of town but I don't know if we will end up doing that. It will be crowded and when we run around all weekend it gives us no time to relax and recoup for the next week. Last weekend was pretty full with the church's Relief Society retreat. Hans was volunteered (by yours truly) to be one of the Priesthood that went up to spend the night with us at the cabin. He and the other guy slept in the barn. It was really a heated huge garage with a loft really so don't feel too bad for him. The ladies slept in the cabin and since not many of us stayed the night there was plenty of room. I invited Missy to come be part of our ward to get a little break away. We had a good time. Hans and I were getting some good ideas from their cabin about one for us someday (or maybe a home). We have talked about building a log home in the future....

Hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend and gets out and does something fun. Especially for those of us in Alaska--before the bad weather comes.

3 days into it...

and still alive. School that is. Hans and I started back to school on Monday. He had a mishap and wasn't on the list to get onto the base up here that his night class was at... so no class for Hans on Monday. I, on the other hand have had 3 days of fun!! :) It is actually pretty fun to have a goal and learn a lot of new things. I always did like to learn, just didn't always love the homework. For the next 2 years at least teeth are going to be my life. Good times.

Summer Fun

So we have been having some fun this past month or so and I haven't had any time to blog. Plus I was trying to upload photos and they weren't working on here. I added them on facebook so you can check the album out there or click or use this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=290530&id=530165787
That shows some of the highlights of what we have been up to. We have been camping a few times.. once by ourselves 4th of July weekend and then twice since then with the Matthews. We have had a fun time with them exploring new parts of Alaska.

There are many photos of just scenery so I apologize for that but it is just so beautiful up here right now. We are getting to know some people in our ward and have had a few dinner/game nights with them. On Hans' birthday in July we had a fondue party (Hans and my first time) It was a lot of fun. The next day I made dinner--Hans ordered it and we had Lyle and the Matthews over to celebrate with us.

I am winding down at work. I only have 4 days left! Hans is working as a weatherization tech for the municipality up here and is enjoying it. He is learning so much and will be able to make whatever place we live in better for us in the future. Too bad he didn't know all this back in the ice box blue house in Ketchikan...

We start school on the 24th and I am very excited for that. Hans will be going at night and working full time still. We will be busy, busy but that is good right? Keeps us out of trouble.

I hope all is well for you guys. We are doing well. Did I mention that I got a car? We found a used 2 door Acura that is working well for us. I drive it mostly and we take it to buzz around town and we have even taken it camping. It has done more off roading than I ever did with my 4 runner Gracie. Pretty funny.
Anywho we shall see if I can keep better track of this in the future. No promises but I will try.

What's New

So here is the run down... I am working as a receptionist/greeter person at ACS and spend most of the time sitting at the desk looking out the glass doors. I almost beg people to give me busy work to do to help pass the time. It is a job and I do have benefits starting tomorrow which will help with my requirements for school--dentist, shots etc.

Hans interviewed and got a job working for the municipality of Anchorage as a weatherization guy. I don't really understand all of it but it pays almost the same as his job in Ketchikan and he will be home at night. He will have benefits too (which will come in handy once I don't work after August) Plus it sounds like it will be something that will interest him. Score. It looks like for the fall semester he will work that job (presuming he really does like doing it) during the day and do classes at night. I will have at least 15 credit hours but possibly 18 if I don't get the appeal approved for Nutrition. So we will be plenty busy.

We both spoke in church on Sunday and it went well. I got violently ill for no reason on Sunday night and after hours of throwing up.. it stopped. It felt like food poisoning but Hans ate the same thing?? Weird. I am much better today.

Today the clutch went out on the truck while I was driving it--not too fun. And the emergency brake broke at that time as well. It was quite a time sitting on the hill at the stop sign but someone was nice enough eventually to help me roll back into a parking lot. So Hans is outside working on fixing it and I tried to keep him company for a couple hours but it's getting chilly. I am told it will take a good 6 hours or so to fix this so thank you light in Anchorage! I don't have to be at work until 9am tomorrow so that gives us roughly 11.5 hours, should be enough time.
I have a paid holiday on Friday so we are planning to take off for the weekend. We are going to go camping... somewhere. We haven't decided yet which direction we are going to go but we are going! I am excited to finally go. We have never gone yet. Break in our wedding presents-tent, lantern and other camping gear.

2 weeks ago we went for a drive on Saturday and went south to Girdwood and checked out the place and decided to keep driving down to Whittier. We went through the long tunnel and weren't impressed by the town at all but the drive was cool. We took some pictures that day and hopefully I will get them posted sooner than later.
I guess that is it for now... We hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July. Have fun and be safe.

One day....

We may have an updated photo.. maybe. I have been thinking for awhile now that we need to get a real picture taken of us now in Anchorage somewhere. The ones we have up are over 2 yrs old but we still like them :) I will see what I can do.

So here is the update in a nutshell...
I am working at ACS (a phone/internet) company here in Alaska. I was hired to do a sales/service job but since I am starting school in August (YAY!!) I don't have the time to be trained, shadow someone, etc, etc. So I am staying on as a receptionist/greeter. It is a bit less money and less responsibility and a little boring to tell you the truth. I don't have to worry about learning all the new programs and I still get benefits for the next couple of months. It should be fine. For this week, I am doing the "leftover" jobs. I have this storage room to organize, clean for the rest of the week. They have archived files in there that I will need to sort through and box up correctly. Should be some fun!

Hans had hurt his shoulder a few weeks ago. We don't know how he did it and the Dr thought it might be tendonitis. He had to wear a sling for 5 days and had to do some strengthening exercises to build it up. It seems to be healing fine.. not back to 100% but it is improving which is good news. He had time to study the CDL book and he aced all of his tests. I think he did the written for all the endorsements except for hazmat. So he could potentially drive alot of vehicles. He is riding with our friend Bruce this week in a cement truck. He has been nice enough to let him ride along to learn. Now all we need to do is find him a truck & trailer to take his test in and it will be great! He hopes to get a driving job somewhere before school starts up. If not, he will have a class A CDL which will come in handy no matter what.
He got a calling at church and was sustained on Sunday as the Elders Quorum Secretary. I was happy for him and he is excited to be able to serve. I am still waiting to see where they put me...We met with the Bishop to get to know him and he asked me where I would like to go. I hadn't been asked that before so it sort of threw me off. So we will see.

I guess that is mostly it for now. We are excited to have Yolaunda visit this weekend on her way to the cruiseship. It will be fun to see her. The Matthews made it safely from Utah and we dropped by on Sunday to say hi to them. We are excited to have some friends up here. We are looking forward to a fun summer full of nice weather and hope to get a camping/fishing trip in or two.
Oh, I forgot to mention that they are putting in an additional water line on our street and have the road closed with a gigantic hole in the road. So everyone on the street is driving through our yard. I took a couple of pictures just because I think it is so odd. I will try to post them sometime soon. And we have a baby black bear that likes to eat trash around our neighborhood. I think he is really cute and hopefully I can get a good picture of him to show everyone.

I got in!!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I did get in to the dental hygiene program. So we are excited of course. It will be a lot of work but really great. This one is going to be short but sweet. We don't know what Hans is doing yet but at least we have my plan figured out for now.

Another year gone by

I had a good birthday thanks to many of you and of course my husband. We had a quiet weekend but it was very nice. He made me some really great food and waited on me which was great too. We went for a nice long bike ride on the trails by our house on Saturday. It was alot of fun to just spend time together and he made it a special day for me. Thank you to all of you who remembered and called and messaged me.

We have been working on Hans' online math course which has taken many hours over the last several weeks. I am happy to announce that yesterday we were able to close that chapter. He took the final and did great. This will enable him to sign up for an interview for the electrician interviews in July and re-take the placement test for UAA and test into a higher math level. I am very grateful that I could be here to help him and who knew that I could still do math after all these years? It was really good practice for me too and helped polish up my skills for my test that I took for the dental hygiene program. We are still waiting to here the results of that but I was able to get everything in... just in the nick of time. I think the interview went well too so we are of course anxiously awaiting that decision. I interviewed and got a job offer and they are waiting on the finalization/background check etc to come thru. It will be for ACS and I will have benefits right away which will be nice and hopefully I will only have to work a few months until school starts. Hans has an opportunity to ride with a friend of the family and get some experience so he can get his CDL. We feel very lucky for this opportunity and he is starting the ride alongs today. He has wanted to get one for some time now and this should prove to be a good time to do just that.
The weather is still great here. I keep hearing how it is not normally this sunny and nice but I wake up every morning and it is blue skies. We are definitely not complaining. It actually rained the other day and it was a nice change but we promptly went back to sun. There are some things we miss about Ketchikan.. people, the ocean, fish, the ward etc. We are enjoying it here though and I think the consensus is that our time here will be good. I must say that so far life has been different from how it has ever been since we have been married. We have made a lot of changes in the past 2 years and I am sure there are many more to come. I for one, intend to do my part and then sit back and enjoy the ride.