Back to the beginning...

I jumped in the middle of this blog and never really told how it all started. So we are going back a bit... I moved from UT to work for my Dad's business and looked for a house where I could afford to have a fenced yard for my 2 Siberian huskies. At the time, they were my life. Their names are Kolee Poki and Sequoia and they were like my kids. I found a house in Marysville which was farther north than I had hoped for since I would have to drive down to Bothell everyday for work. I went to Snohomish high school which was not too far from there and Hans was from Arlington and was prompted to go back to visit his parents for a while during the holidays before returning to college. So long story short we were both led to the same little Singles branch and found each other. I wouldn't go so far to say love at first sight but it didn't take long to be fond of each other. We had a lot of fun and spent many hours talking about everything you can think of. It wasn't long before we were talking about marriage and with the wedding moved up to February we got married a few days shy of dating 3 months. I know, I know. I always laughed at those quick relationships too but when you just know, you just know and no amount of waiting is going to change that. So now 14 months later it feels like we have been married for longer but yet it has flown by in other ways. He was made for me and I didn't even realize it as much before we were married as I do today. He is one of the best men I have ever known and I feel truly blessed to have found him and that he loves me so much.
I look forward to all of our adventures together!

I'm Back

So we just got back from a very brisk but beautiful walk around Ward Lake - not far from our house. It was very peaceful with all the wildlife and stillness except for the occasional sound of a animal in the forest or the rushing of the streams. It was my first time on the walk and I loved it! I have added a bunch of pictures from our receptions and wedding day. Yes, being considered a newlywed still lets me be excited about posting those pictures still. We had a really great photographer and the person I had do my hair/makeup did a great job. The way we had it set up allowed me to get dressed up into my gown 3 times, so I definitely feel we got our use out of it. As I said before, we were married in February and had a nice luncheon in Salt Lake with some family and friends at Grand America and then were off to start our honeymoon by afternoon. It was a very special day for us. The temple grounds were not flowering yet... in fact the day before when we landed it was snowing but on our wedding day it was a decent day. We even got a little patch of blue sky and sun over the temple. So since I wanted to have springtime wedding photos were postponed our pictures until April when we had originally set to be married. We already had the reception center booked for April 6th and family already had travel plans to come during that time but we decided we were ready to be married earlier...why wait? We came up with the plan to get married on February 16th and do the luncheon then go on our honeymoon and fly back to WA (which is where we were living at the time) and have a reception there and then one in UT as planned in April. Needless to say it took some planning and some traveling for our families but it turned out good. We really enjoyed having our wedding day separate from the rest and we were not all frazzled by the end of it. I would however, maybe suggest just having the reception the next day or something like that. Anyway, our first few months of marriage were busy! We had a wonderful cruise to Mexico for our honeymoon and came back to our receptions and then unexpectedly we needed to move. It was my idea to move to Alaska--Hans had lived up here before and loved it but I have never been. I figured he knew people, had a job lined up and loved it so much so we prayed about it and we packed up our house into a storage shed and took our car loads of necessities and drove to Canada and took the ferry up to Ketchikan. It was quite a long drive and I didn't know what to expect once we arrived but we made it. It was definitely quite a culture shock for me but I have gotten more used to it and it has become pretty nice.
We have been renting a house with a view of the ocean. It is a little old blue house that we have had to do work on but it has a nice deck and view so we have lived here ever since we moved here...well, a year ago. We are going to look for a house soon so we can stop paying rent and have a place of our own but the search still goes on for that...

We officially have a blog!

So I am not sure why it took us so long to get this started...but here goes. We now have a blog so hopefully I can keep everyone updated on the newest and (maybe not so new) events in our lives. It looks like plenty of old and new friends have already made it here. It's fun to see how everyone is doing. I will work on this more but here is a little snippet of info:
Hans and I were married February 16, 2007 in the Salt Lake temple. We recently celebrated our one year anniversary. Hooray! I realize for many of my highschool buddies this is a mere memory but I got a later start. We are living in Alaska in a little town that is on a small island. It is really beautiful here with trees, mountains, ocean all around us. It does rain here quite a bit but it is days like today when the sun is out and total blue skies... amazing! Makes you glad to live in a little piece of the world that seems somehow untouched by the world so much. We get to go boating, fishing, hunting (although I can't say I have done much of this yet) a whole new world for me. I am not quite used to the whole small town scene but there is enough about up here that I like so we are staying for now. Hans loves this place! It is home to him even though most of his life was spent in WA. It's funny... I spent most of my life in UT but claim WA, go figure. I could see that maybe down the line I will find out this is home for me too.
There are lots of new adventures and really great people up here. We don't have any kids yet and none on the way... in case you were wondering, most people ask that first.
I recently changed jobs from office work to being a nanny for some friends of ours. They have 2 girls who are really cute and we have a lot of fun. I will hopefully get some pictures of them up soon. Hans is a commercial diver by trade and had been doing that last summer but decided to change careers. He has a boat captain's license and has found a good company to use that with. He will be taking pilots out to meet cruise ships as they prepare to come into town... not the pilots that you think of (or at least what I think of) it was all new to me. Yes our little town is a happening place during the summer...cruise ship mania from the end of April until the end of September. So if any of you friends out there are thinking of a cruise, come to Alaska and you will always stop at our island and we can say hello!
Well, I will have more to come but today is actually a beautiful day in Alaska and my husband is bored waiting for me to stop typing... so we better go out and enjoy what is left of the day!