Eklutna

We took off last sunday with my brother Jeff & his girlfriend Raechel to Eklutna Lake/Glacier.  It's a 13 mile bike ride around the glacier-fed lake and to a cute little cabin that holds 13 people.  We all carried a load in our backpacks, while Jason & Jeff each took a day to pull the bike trailer.  When we finally reached the cabin it was dark, and I had to make our double-layer pizza with just a headlamp to see what I was doing.  We forgot our coal for our dutch oven, so had to use the inside of the 

stove . . . but mmmmmmm, did it turn out yummy!!!  For breakfast we had dutch babies (flour/milk/eggs/syrup) and then went as far as we could to reach the face of the glacier.  While we were back there we saw 6 dall sheep!  Eklutna is our family favorite to go camping/biking, and this time was no exception with the fall colors and calm, glass-like lake.  Simply breathtaking and a blast.  If anyone is up for coming with us next time and splitting the cost of the cabin let us know!  {On certain days you can have 4-wheelers which makes it easier with kids}

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our New Stove

Jason & I get more and more excited about backpacking and obtaining more gear for the future.  We only lack a backpacking stove and a water purifier . . . until now.   Jason created the lightest stove ever {after watching youtube}.  He took an empty sprite can, cut it up, stuck it together with insulation inside, poked holes in the side and on top {to fill with fuel} . . . and wham bam! We have a stove!!  He uses a can of Heet to use for fuel, filled up the sprite can with water . . . and 5 minutes later . . . we have boiling water!  Pretty sweet if I may say so myself!  Supposedly it will hold a pot of water.  Im sure we'll be testing it out more just for kicks!!

Kill What . . . . ?

I know I haven't written about the girls going to school yet.  But I have been told to blog this particular account of Meg.  She gets a little bugged that she only has 6 other girls in class and there are 15 boys. She claims that boys are chasing her at recess and one told her that he is in love with her! {she rolled her eyes at that one}

At the dinner table on the 4th day of school:

Meg: Mom guess what I did today!?

Me: Tell me Meg

Meg:  I was being chased by this boy at recess and I didn't want him to chase me.  So I stopped him and said "come here . . . I have a secret to tell you . . . I've killed a boy before!"  Then the boy ran away screaming!!!!

She was so excited & proud of herself to tell me this break through.  We couldn't help laughing and thinking 'where on earth did that come from.'  We later had to explain that she could get in serious trouble at school for saying things like that.  

I'm afraid we have not heard the end of Meg's experiences at school, praying that none of it gets her in trouble!!!

Love Hate Relationship

***WARNING***

***READING COULD BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH***

{or appetite}

Many of you have read that I enjoy gardening and my thumb has lately turned green.  But now I have mixed feelings.  I love being able to watch things grow and be able to go to the back yard to pick something and eat it, especially lettuce.  With all the rain we have had, we haven't been able to mow our lawn; the chickweed is out of control, and now the slugs are ATTACKING my garden. This was just today, the other day I {NO LIE} killed 40-50!!!  I get so creeped out by these things. They DISGUST me!  I brought a cabbage inside, and twenty minutes later, one was crawling out of it!  Ahhhhhhhhh.  This is insanity!  Salt has become my friend as well as the phrase "die . . . die . . . die" {with a vengeance}.  Even watching the salt eat their bodies, making them bubble, and excrete nasty slime in a trail as they try to escape was disturbing. I've had dreams about these suckers.  They give me the willies.  I'll take forcing my zucchini to have sex ANY DAY over dealing with slugs!!  My neighbor told me to go buy beer and leave it outside.  I guess they like it and they drown. So if any of you see me at the liquor store, shhhh . . . don't tell the Bishop!!

Alive

Dead

Horticulture Sex Ed

Jason and I watched a special on PBS late one night about bees and how there is a epidemic crisis with bees worldwide.  It's very interesting and scarier to me than global warming.  Watch it online here.  

Albert Einstein said . . . "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left.  No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

So in connection with this documentary, we've had NO bees this summer, creating NO growth in zucchini and squash.  People have reported losing half their bees this summer.  So . . . I had to learn the art of mating flowers.  The female flowers are attached to the end of the zucchini/squash, and the male flowers just grow off the plant.  For the zucchini to continue to grow, the females need to be pollinated.  The male and female each have different body parts in the middle of the flower. In order to pollinate them you have to take the male pistol and rub it all over the female stigma.  Bees naturally take pollen from the males pistol and then fly to the female and pollinate that way, but with lack of bees, gardeners are seeing that they have to hand pollinate.  It was a little weird at first making flowers mate, but now it's just fascinating!  It's also a scary thought not having bees, and I'm sure we will be hearing a lot more about the loss of bees and honey in the near future.  

Female

Male

Hawaiian

One of my Young Women, Nelli, is a Hawaiian & Tahitian Dancer . . . and she rocks!  She had the kids and I over one day to show us her different dances. Owen couldn't take his eyes off her, and when she shook her hips he said excitedly "woah!"  She taught me how to move my hips and how to use the poi balls.  {It's NOT easy!}  Nelli is going off to Hawaii for college and is hoping to work at the Polynesian Culture Center.  She made the girls and I poi balls just before she left.  Today the girls were in the office dressed like this dancing to music.  We'll miss you Nelli, and good luck! 

        

Anniversary Adventures

We know it's not France, but part of our anniversary adventure was getting backpacking equipment. We took off sunday up a valley {South Fork} in Eagle River to Symphony/Eagle Lakes.  It's about a

7-8 mile hike.  As we hiked back, we passed people warning us of a bear . . . escalating my fear of hiking at 9 at night.  Finally at 11 we pitched our tent on Flat Rock {5-6' above ground}, easing my fear of a bear.  But at 3 o'clock I awoke to the bear next to me checking us out.  He hung out all day grazing for berries about 400 yards from camp.  Monday we enjoyed the amazing weather and scenery to the lakes and fished for grayling.  I was the champ for the day with a 15"-er.  On the spine of the mountain between the lakes was a huge shelter that people camped in.  We have never been backpacking before, but with a couple more necessities, I think we'll really like this sport!

 

   

 

     

   

10 Years

Today is our 10 year anniversary!  We got married 8.8.98 in the Oakland, CA Temple.  Time has literally flown by!  We finished school at Ricks College in '99, sold our International Scout, and drove up the Al-Can Hwy to Alaska and have been here ever since.  We had a blast taking our wedding pictures!  {Jas begging my dad to marry me, me taking all his money, Jas fighting my bros off to run away with me}  Wish we still looked that young!  It's been a good life!  10 down, an eternity to go! 

 

  

Oh, Sweet Halibut

Some friends of ours, Erik & Angela, from Soldotna took us on the sweetest fishing trip EVER! The weather in Homer couldn't of been better with sunny skies and breathtaking scenery! Since we've lived here {9 years}, Jason has never been ocean fishing, until this year. He went earlier this summer with friends out of Seward for Silver Salmon, but said that this Halibut trip BY FAR surpassed the Salmon one. The pictures say it for themselves on how much fun we really had! I had the first one on, but much to my constipated face {mocking Jason} and chagrin, it was only a 3lb-er. We both caught a Sand Shark . . . I didn't get a pic with mine since Erik was freak'n me out about the poisonous thorn on it's spine . . . {He said it would kill me, maybe I'm a dummy, but who cares, I still didn't want to be near it} . . . and Jason caught an Irish Lord. Halibut in itself isn't all that pretty, heck anything with two eyes on one side is pretty weird, but they taste sooooooo yummy!! Our favorite fish bar none. Angela makes the best Halibut Chowder . . . mmmmmm . . . I'm already salivating!! Kudos to the Masseys for a totally-awesome-kick-butt-halibut-slaughtering-day!!  We loved it!

   

   

   

   

Traditions

By far this is the most common thing our family does is eat the best popcorn you will EVER eat, Jason's air-pop popcorn!  It's a phrase that even Owen has mastered . . . "dad . . . popcorn" . . . just before bedtime!

But our most favorite time to eat it is during our new favorite TV show . . . WIPEOUT.  If you haven't seen it, you NEED to!  You will laugh so hard your cheeks will hurt and you might even pee you pants!  I guess it's on tuesdays on ABC, but we just watch it on the internet.  This is the hardest we've EVER laughed when this guy was supposed to go across these bouncy balls, and literally does the splits . . . OUCH!!  Check it out, your wont get through it without laughing! :D