Saturday, December 24, 2005

Hey everybody!

Sorry we haven't posted anything in a while...we have been having trouble with our internet connection. Turns out we never had one! We had been picking up on a signal from someone else in the complex that we are staying in! So we got the temporary housing to install one and it should be up soon, as for now let the piracy continue... lisa asked me to let you know that if you want to view old posts just check out the archives section...

With that out of the way... let us wish you all happiness and joy for the holidays... wish we could be with you all. We will update more and give you a report for christmas soon! We promise....

We have been real busy getting ready to close on the new house and preparing for the holidays! I have 2 jobs now, working at sears and Providence health systems. I work for sears so we can get some deals on home stuff and then my job at the hospital is working out great! I love the place and the people... Hopefully I will be involved in alot of good things there. So needless to say I have been quite busy with the 2 jobs working about 13 hours a day! Lisa has been doing great at work and is learning so much and working real hard too! We are excited about christmas and will be spending it with some of lisa's coworkers, hopefully we will make some new friends for the holidays! Soon after that we will be moving into our new house and getting started on all the fun that comes with that! It will be nice to start to settle in a bit.

It snowed quite a bit today, nice to have so much snow for christmas, we haven't had that in so long.... Oh almost forgot to tell you all that Lisa has started to learn to play the guitar, she has an acoustic of her own now... We are excited to be welcoming Vanessa from Hawaii soon, we miss her and can't wait to have her back in the group again....

I guess that is the quick and dirty version, so I will leave you with warm wishes for you and yours... Check back for christmas updates!

Ben and Lisa!

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Soaking up the Alaskan ways!

First and foremost, just wanted to tell all our friends and family "THANK YOU!" for checkin out our blogger and seeing what we are up to. Its great to show you instead of just telling what we're doing. Also, it was great to talk to all of you that I spoke with on the phone this weekend, I'm trying to catch up now that some things have calmed down (except the house!). Amber B, keep healthy and give all your boys hugs and kisses (and shakas to Kolin. Pam, you will be in my thoughts more than ever and my fingers and toes and eyes are crossed! DaNa, always great to talk to you, very envious of your trip to Mexico. Mom and Dad, glad to hear grandma is there safe and REALLY excited to hopefully see some pics of the new house on a blog of some kind! Kevin and Spring, thank you so much for putting together your blog so we can still feel some Hawaiian warmth---love the banana hammock pic!
Ok....now to share some things we've been doing. A couple of days ago the temps got warm enough to allow snowman building! So while I was at work, Ben spent some time on our new neighbor. The temps kinda melted him and all the other snow away, but when there's more, I'll build my own.
Went to an Ace's hockey game (Alaska's pro team) and forgot how much I liked going to hockey games after being away from it. That got us in the mood to try our luck out on the ice and go ice skating. We both had a blast. Ben took the "well if they can do it, I can too" approach and was trying some fancy footwork---did pretty well, defintily fun to watch!



Then today we went ice fishing. It was an event put on by the city where they would supply the rods and bait and would drill a hole for you. So after about an hour, we had caught a total of 6 rainbow trout! We went home and fried them up in some butter for a good fresh lunch. Mmmmmm.

Ben ice fishing

Monday, December 05, 2005


Some highly anticipated shots of the new house... of course the furniture is going with the seller! We just got back from our inspection and found some issues that we need to get fixed before we close, so keep your fingers crossed that we still get it! This is a view of the downstairs living room, we think it has potential as a game room.... There is a little door about 2 feet tall on the wall to the right that leads to storage, thinking we could make that an extra bedroom and rent it out to a kegerator! There is a bedroom and a bathroom and laundry room down here too, oh and access to the garage is directly behind me.... Nice big 2 car garage.

Looking back at the living room, sliding door leads to deck and backyard... never used fireplace! A moose head would look good up there dont you think?

Master bedroom, the bathis around the corner to the right, 2 sinks and all....

The soon to be office, we will be getting rid of that nasty wallpaper!

Looking back towards the loft office and the master bedrooms from the living room... the entrance is down the stairs.

This is the dinning room, just off the kitchen to the left, just to the right of the bookcase is a window with a view of the Chugach Mountains...

Sunday, December 04, 2005


deep snow...

Mt. McKinley in the distance....

Lisa on the trail in Eagle river...

More great views.... the alaska range

View from a hike in Eagle river...

Just the other day we decided to go to eagle river to check it out and go on a short hike.... this was the parting shot from anchorage...