A picture update

I was finally able to download some pictures on Mom and Dad's computer so thought I'd post a few from our time here in Alaska. This post is a little heavy on the pictures.

Here are Sam and I after church on Sunday morning. That afternoon we all went caroling and then over to some friend's house for snacks.

Christmas morning we gathered around to open gifts. Chad had come down from Fairbanks the night before. Mom and Dad's Rottweiler, Lucky, had a ball tearing up all the wrappings from the gifts. We had trash bags to put all the trash in, but Lucky had another idea.

Sam and I on Christmas morning

Lucky in the middle of the mess.

Lucky

Dad got a new .45 for Christmas and Chad had his .22 along, so the next day we all went out to target practice in the driveway. Since it was pretty cold, it didn't take long for us to be finished and ready to head back inside to warm up.

Dad and Sam being silly

Taking my turn at shooting. (My belly really isn't that big yet - I was wearing Sam's coat)

Mom decided to join us.

Chad, Dad and Mom

While growing up we only had wood heat, but after all of us kids left Mom and Dad got a Monitor stove. They use the Monitor alot, but still supplement with wood heat, which I love. While Sam was here he spent quite a bit of time filling the trailer by the front door with firewood and bringing loads of it in to burn. With the cold weather we've been having it didn't take long before his face got all frosted up from being outside. I think he really enjoyed it though. There is nothing more invigorating than being out in that cold weather. It's so fresh.

Sam's proof that it was indeed -35

Looking all frosty from being outside.

Fog swirling around Sam from the door being open.

Sam had to fly out of Fairbanks on Sunday evening, January 4th. We would not have normally travelled such a distance at -40, but since we had to take Sam to the airport anyhow Mom and I stayed up there a couple of days to get some shopping done. I've never seen the ice fog as bad as it was in Fairbanks those few days. It was so thick that we could only see about a block in front of us. The ice fog was making the trees beautiful though. They all were covered with thick frost.

Prior to coming to Alaska I knew I wanted to get a lot of shopping done for the baby while here. I feel more comfortable shopping in stores I know. Back in Germany we do have the PX, but it's not a real big store and besides that what you buy there everyone else has as well. There are German stores, but the sizes are completely different and I thought I could get better deals here in the states. We'll have to get the bigger items for the nursery in Germany (I think we'll put in an order at the PX when I get back), but I took advantage of some good sales here to get us set up with baby clothes. I never knew shopping for baby clothes could be so exhausting though! Between the cold weather and trying to plan what we need for the baby it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, even though we did enjoy it. It was confusing thinking about what we needed for 3 months, 6 months, 9 month, etc. Thankfully I had Mom to help. After finishing at the first store we headed back to the hotel to drop off what we bought and take a breather.

When we finished shopping the following day I felt pretty good about what I'd bought. Obviously there will be other things to buy, but I feel like we have a good head start.

Before we left the hotel that second morning in Fairbanks I called our house in Germany to make sure Sam had arrived safely. He was there, but his luggage had been lost. It's an exhausting trip, but I was glad to hear he had made it safely. Gabby is driving him crazy. He said she won't move more than 2 inches from him. She follows him everywhere and keeps pestering him for some lovin'. I think she's more dog than cat sometimes. When he woke up the following morning he saw that through the night she had brought in 5 of her toys and dropped them by the bed. I'm so glad he's home with her. It's hard on her when we're away for so long.

Well, that's about all I have for now. Mom and I are going to get ready and meet Dad for lunch this afternoon. I enjoy just being home, but it's nice to get out of the house every so often. I have another week and a half here and then I'll be heading back to Sam. I'm not in a hurry to leave home, but it'll be nice to be back with my husband. Until next time...