2011

It's funny how slow minutes/hours feel like they go sometimes (mostly when you are doing something you would rather not be doing) but the days, weeks, months just fly. It is 2011 and I look back at my last post which was back in July and think where has all the time gone? I had several times when I wanted to post things and had some pictures to do with it but it takes so long to upload our big file photos to the blog. I guess I should not complain because we were able to save up and purchase a nice camera which takes better pictures. We had some good pictures of our trip to Ketchikan, Homer and other camping spots this summer. I am still going to try and get some new pics posted but it takes a bit of work.

I am almost finished with my degree. I have one last semester!!! It is going to fly by I think but we still have a lot to accomplish which is a bit scary. I have some huge tests written and clinical and when all goes well... I can get licensed as a Dental Hygienist. Did I mention that I am SO happy to be finishing up. It has been a journey and I have enjoyed more things than I thought I would along the way but it is time to wrap it up :) I will still have just 13 credits to take after I graduate in May to finish a Bachelors degree so I plan to get that. I will walk with my friends but then just get those done as I can. The university just approved the Dental Hygiene Bachelors of Science so the classes/curriculum is still in the works. We are just coming off a month break and it has been awesome to be home and free! I do not look forward to Monday when I go back full force but the sooner I face it the sooner it will be done right?!? Hans is going to play turbo speed student and take 20 credits this semester. He will be quite busy along with me. Luckily, most of his credits will be mechanic courses which he enjoys and come pretty easily for him. I know he is excited to finish up as well. He will still have to take some classes next fall but will be able to work for his practicum portion of the program as well. So that means we will go from being both full time students to both being able to work jobs. That will be nice.

We are of course hoping to start our family any time which would change my working plans but that would be fantastic.We pray that we can be blessed with kids of our own soon but are very grateful for all of the kids we already have in our lives.

Amy has a new assignment at church as Primary teacher to the Valiant 9's and also the Activity Days Leader. So some of the girls get a double dose of me! Ha ha. I just worked on planning out the entire year of activities which was more difficult than I had anticipated. I am very glad that it is all worked out now (I am sure I will still tweak it a bit) but basically I just look at the calendar and go with it.

Hans is in between callings now at church. He got released from the Elders Quorum Presidency which is what he has been in since we moved to Anchorage. We will see what he gets next.

Hans is very excited about hunting and has taken steps to try and get some hunts in this coming year. We have been spoiled having moose meat in our fridge the past year and when we finally ran out he needs to get us more. We plan to go to Fairbanks again this March for spring break. We had a wonderful time last year seeing the ice sculptures and want to go back. We hope our friends the Matthews will make the trip with us this time. We are very grateful that they are in Anchorage. Now that Lyle and Ashley have moved we don't have any family up here. The Matthews have become our second family and we do many things together. We spent the holidays with them and had a great time. This was the first year since we have been married that we did not travel around Christmas. It was different but a nice change of pace to actually decorate our home and enjoy some time here.

We have several big things coming up. I am going to Chicago for a dental hygiene national board review conference in February. Then the trip to Fairbanks for spring break. Oh and I have my actual board review the Friday before that which I need to do well on to be able to move onto the clinical portion on May. The first weekend in May I graduate and all of the parents are scheduled to come and share in the celebration. Then I have a week to think about my clinical boards which will be in the middle of May. By my birthday I will be set... done with school, graduation and tests for the license. Then we do to Hawaii to celebrate. We have many blessings in our lives and lots of good things to look forward to. We just need to get through the semester--one baby step at a time.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and wish you a year full of good health and happiness. This year I hope to do better at posting on the blog so all of you that are not near us can share in our adventures. Until next time....

Iditarod glimpse

We had a good time out on the lake just down from where they have the start of the Iditarod. One of Hans' friends at work has a cabin that his Dad owns out there. It was fun to be right by the sleds as they went by. I had never been so close to the dog teams before. It was fun to see huskies again, although they use different types of dogs then what mine were. It was a nice afternoon but super cold. We went for a snow mobile ride afterwards and that was fun too. A good day out in Willow. We hope to be able to go out there again sometime. It is all melted now and they tell us it is a pretty good temperature in the lake. We might go out sometime and ride around on the inner tubes they have before it gets cold again.

Yes... I did.

Change our blog photo... FINALLY. It just took some time to get a photo that Hans and I both agreed on to post. We like this one. It was taken in Girdwood at the gorge. We went over on the hand tram and it was definitely worth the hike.

A new season for camping....
We have been camping a few times this season with the Matthews. We always have a good time but it is always such a short trip. It would be nice to take a longer camping trip. (They are going on this long weekend but we are staying home. Last year we camped for the first time on the July 4th weekend and did not like it. It was soooo crowded) Anyway, we hope they will have a great time and have lots of fun stories to tell us. Above are some pictures from our Portage Glacier camping trip and a couple of ptarmigan photos from Denali.... sorry about the haphazard way the photos are loaded. I forgot how goofy they load up out of order if I am not careful. That's what I get for not blogging enough :0)

So it is already July 1st. Time really is going fast now. The days and weeks just fly by for us, I am sure for all of you too. You would think that since I am home I would have lots more time to keep up with the blog and post our pictures but not really. We do like our new camera though and I do have pictures to post so hopefully they will load up for me this time.

What else? Oh, I had a birthday and it was good. Hans planned a surprise appetizer party at Applebees for me. He invited the Matthews and Lyle and we went to Happy Hour where most of the appetizers are 1/2 off. It was really great. We ordered some of everything basically and all shared. I love that kind of stuff. Missy made me a nice blue cake. I think it is the fanciest cake I have had homemade for me in a long time. My Mom used to make us kid cakes that were pretty intense but since we have been older it is usually pretty normal. I will try and get a picture of that on here too.

Blast from the past photos of Hans cutting the fish we caught at Clover Pass. I found them on the computer and thought I would post them since we will be visiting next month.

This one is camping too... It just loaded up here in the middle of these other photos.

This is one of engagement photos we took of Lyle and Ashley while at the gorge. It was pretty amazing there. Hans and I kept wanting to jump in and ride the waves down like a water slide. I don't think it would have turned out for the best.

So what has been going on... Well, as I mentioned Lyle is getting married next week which means Hans' family is coming up to Anchorage for it. His parents and Yolaunda will be here. Sarita will not be able to make it from England. Also, my Mom and Dad Ruben will be in town for 10 days at that same time. They have been planning a trip up here to visit us for a while now and it just turned out that Lyle decided to get married the same time in July... kinda funny. So yeah, it is going to be a busy couple of weeks. I have been LOVING being home and not going to school full-time. I decided not to work this summer either so it has been great. I am taking a couple classes online over the summer because I still needed my second English credit to graduate and... as of our class (2011) we can now get a Bachelors of Science in Dental Hygiene! So I am taking a Music Appreciation class to fulfill my last arts requirement for that. I am also going to do a 2 week externship in Ketchikan in August. Hans will be coming with me and he will get to hang out and visit, fish, go to the dump :) and basically relax. It will be good for him since he has been working full-time and taking a 4 hour math class each week. He deserves a break. So I am a little nervous because I don't know what to expect on the externship but I heard it will give me good experience and everyone else that has done them is glad. So look out Ketchikan, we are coming back soon!

We have been trying to finish up projects here at the condo before all the family rolls in next week. It is getting there. We have a lot done, it is just down to finishing touches mostly. We have a long weekend coming up and we chose to stay in town so that will give us extra time to finish up. I want to post pictures from our Fairbanks trip/Iditarod experience but I don't know if they will get done today. We also have another camping trip to post where I learned to use Hans' big chain saw... stay tuned.

Spring

Is such a relative term up here. Today though is beautiful... blue skies, sunshine and it actually does have the hint of being warm out. I guess when you are used to temps at or below zero for the last while anything about freezing feels like shorts weather.

What's new here on the home front:

Tops on the list is that school is wrapping up for the semester. That is really great news. We both are taking a class or three( that would be me) I am actually taking 2 online classes and I am taking this rural externship course that will give me credits towards my Bachelors degree. I really wanted to get the experience in Ketchikan. There is a native clinic there and then we could get back for sure to visit. I found out recently that it looks like the powers that be over at the clinic said it was OK for me to do the externship there. We are still working out the details because I would be the first one from our school but I am excited. It is planned for the last part of July and early August. Hans is going to be coming down with me and we will be around for about 2 weeks. So look out Ketchikan we are coming! We are exciting to get back and visit everyone.

Hans is doing really good in school with his diesel mechanic classes. He has been taking them part time in the evenings after work. He has learned some things and learned that he knew quite a bit of it from his own experience. I am getting better at working in the clinic on patients. I still would like to be faster but I have a need to be thorough as well. I am working on both. It is very weird to think that our class will be the seniors and "know" more soon :)

We are excited for Spring to come and Summer so we can get doing things outside. We hope to do a lot more camping and exploring places around here. We have some communities that we need to visit and check out.

I am not sure what else. That pretty much sums up what is going on here. We hope everyone had a good Easter. We had a good day here.

We are working on getting a fancier camera that has the lenses and everything so hopefully I will take more pictures and post them showing all of our adventures in Alaska.

Spring Break

Thank you Spring Break! I really needed you. We are currently in the middle of the break and it is going by fast... sadly. I have been able to get some things done around the house and homework/scholarship stuff done. Hans is still working this week until we leave for Fairbanks on Friday morning. This weekend the Iditarod started and we were able to join in the fun. Hans' friend invited us out to a cabin that is on a lake that the trail runs through. We got to go right out to the line and cheer as the teams came flying by. It was a neat experience and made me miss my dogs. We also got to go on a 20+ mile snow mobile ride which was very fun too. It was chilly but I was prepared with many warm layers so I didn't freeze to death. There were many fans out some with snow machines, skiing, helicopters, small planes you name it and it was out there on the lake.

We have been getting more snow. Last night and today it snowed a bunch and so the mounds are back to where they were before they melted... maybe even larger. I do hope we get a break soon and things can thaw out for spring.

My Mom told me she was planting tulip bulbs today in her yard and that spring flowers are popping up in Utah. I don't have land to plant anything right now but even if I did--it would be a few months before I could plant. It's strange how different two cities can be. Well hope you all are enjoying March wherever you call home.

I am going to try and focus on the good things going on up here and not get stuck on the freezing cold and snow always coming down lately. Fake it 'til you feel it.

Melting

So I looked out today and the mounds of snow are actually melting! This is our first year up here so I don't know if we will get another round of snow before it's all over but for now... hurray! We can see the roads again.

I really don't have motivation to keep up with the blog much right now. Sorry everyone. After I am at school all day and do studying and homework I just don't have much left. We are past the month mark in clinic. I have officially worked on "real" paying patients for a month and I have mixed emotions. I definitely feel like I am more comfortable then I was a couple of weeks ago but I haven't really had the easiest cases. It is all for learning and will be for my good, right? That is what I tell myself on the hard days. We haven't had any tests yet but they all start on Monday and keep on rolling the following week as well. On the bright side, with the busy schedule it sure makes the weeks go by fast. Hans is doing awesome in his class. They are almost finished up since it is a condensed class that only goes half the semester. He will start a new one after that. He took to ASE test today on air conditioning systems for heavy duty trucks and regular automobiles. For those that don't know what ASE is --basically certification tests that will help him get a job as a mechanic in the future. Work is going pretty well for him too.

We just had our 3 year anniversary on the 16th and that was fun. We celebrated the whole weekend since we had school on the actual day. Time flies when you are living...

Let's see what else? Spring break is just around the corner the second week in March and we are going to go see the ice sculpture contest in Fairbanks. We also haven't been up there at all yet so we are going to check it out too. The Iditarod is starting around then too so we get to go and check out one of the false starts in Anchorage. Which basically means they pretend to start the race in town so everyone can come down and see the dogs and cheer. It should be a good time.

I guess that wraps it up in a nutshell. We continue to plug away on the condo and it is coming together nicely. I look forward to having more time to get the rest of it done but as I mentioned we are pretty short on that these days.

We hope everyone is doing well wherever they are. Here's to spring coming soon with better weather and flowers!

So much to say..

So little time. I am officially way behind to catch up on the blog. I guess I can catch you all up with saying we have been busy with school, work, moving, remodeling, decorating, unpacking and recently traveling. We just got back on Wednesday from our winter vacation. We had time off from school and Hans was able to get time off from work so we went. First WA then UT and we saw lots of family and some friends. It was a nice break and I wasn't too excited to come back to "real" life and more school. We did come back and I am starting to adjust back to the thought of having my days run by someone else. :) Oh the joys of college programs. But it only lasts so long and quoting what I have heard several times this trip... I am going to work on less stressing and just doing my best and enjoying the journey. Hans was of course excited to get back home. It was a long time to be in UT and we spent a lot of time sitting around eating/visiting and I know he was dying to have more activity. He is back to work and the first day (yesterday) was great for him. I ran errands and got our books for school and unpacked. Today I have my list of chores including making room in our second bedroom for all of our new bookshelves that have been staged by the door since Thanksgiving. I am excited to get some things finished up around the condo before it gets too crazy around hear with homework and studying. I have at least a couple more days.

We did take pictures and I will wait on the details of the trip until I can post some of them. I hope to do that sooner than later. It's a goal. It was so nice to see everyone we did on the trips and thanks for all the wonderful hospitality! We had a good time. Thanks for the memories!

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.