January 8, 2013

     We had quite a year last year. Not to go into a lot of details, but we have made our way to the Great Alaska Council here in Anchorage Alaska. Lyman started his new job as the Chief Development Officer. He is the fundraising guru and he loves to fundraise. Hopefully with all of his schooling and his CFRE will pay off for him and the council.
     We started our new commitment on Sept 1, 2012. Yes it has been quite an adventure just moving here. We were told that "what goes to Alaska stays in Alaska". So we were able to go through all of our belongings and decided what to sell and what to leave in storage and what to bring to Alaska. That was quite a chore after 33 years of collecting things we now have to part with a lot of our treasures (or junk) depends on how you look at it.
     We went from a 2700 sq ft home in Midland to a 1000 sq ft cabin. Quite a change I must say.  We don't have room for much. We had to purchase a storage shed to hold our belongings that wouldn't fit into our cabin. We have always wanted to have a cabin in the woods and we got it. :)  
     We made our trek to Alaska, said good-bye to ManDee and Scott, stopped off at Utah and visited Shad, Brittany and their kids, Lacey, Tyler and their kids and then started our adventure to Alaska. We had to make good time so we could catch the ferry in Canada that would take us to Haines Alaska and then drive to Anchorage. We drove hard for many days, but we made it. We sure saw some beautiful country though. Parts that we have never been in before. Took some pictures for you all to look at. 
     So we made it to Alaska and our cabin needed to be fixed and painted. It was used as staff cabin and yes it was yucky!! So we lived in another part of the camp until we could get the cabin liveable and before the movers brought our stuff. We had a power outage for 3 days and not having any of our stuff here to endure the outage we had to buy things that would help us through it. One thing we had to do is to bring water up from the lake to flush the toilets so at least we could go potty. Yes we lived like pioneers for 3 days. We saw a baby and a mommy moose go to the lack and drink, saw a fox, lots of squirrels, martins, etc, but no bears (yet).
     Trying to adjust now to 5 hours of daylight here. We are behind a mountain so we get no sun at all. Yes we have our HAPPY LIGHTS and yes we need them. Taking lots of Vit D too. Then we will probably complain when we have 16 hours of daylight and can't get to sleep. We can't be satisfied can we? We have had several snow storms but nothing like they are used to. I know it is just for us so we can adjust to our new life.
     Anyway, here are some pictures for you to enjoy:

                                          Glacier

                                          Dee on the ferry from Canada to Haines

                           Dee found her name, the exact spelling here in Alaska

                                          The Denali range, Mt. McKinley

                    Glaciers while we are on the Whittier ferry the day after we got here to Alaska

                                                      Water falls

                                          Seals found a resting place

     Moose love the water. While we were passing through we found out is was hunting season. Surprise that they weren't hiding                                                 

           If you look hard enough you can see 2 dots. They are bears that we saw from a distance

   Snow at our cabin. This was a major one at that. We did have snow on Christmas which we haven't seen for a number of years.

 This is where we are living at the Rasmuson Scout Reservation. There are 2 camps here. One is for the cubs scouts, which we live, and another is for the boy scouts.

 This is the road to our cabin. The cabin is just ahead up the road. I need to find a picture and I will post later. Maybe in spring time when we can fix the outside with flowers.

     This is a picture that Lyman took of the frozen lake called Edmunds. This is on the edge of the Scout property that we live on. A lot of people snow shoe and ski on it.
As you can see they are beautiful pictures. We will post more I'm sure as Lyman takes his camera everywhere. And we enjoy looking at them too.

General Conference Weekend

One of our favorite talks by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.
This is a sign to put on our fridge to help us to remember to
be good and not talk bad about people or to judge, gossip, holding grudges, etc.
Conference was very good again this year. Of course there are many of the talks
that will help us to become better saints. We will work on these things for the
next 6 months.

Quilt

Here is my final project that I have been working on for months. It is a quilt design that I have always wanted to do since I quilted for a lady in Centerville, Utah. So, yes, it has been a long time. I have a friend in the ward here in Midland, TX and I asked her to help me. She didn't think I could do it because I haven't pieced that many quilts. She helped a lot and gave me a lot of hints. But I cut, sewed, and sewed, and sewed the pieces together. Then came putting it all together and finally quilting it. It is now on our king size bed and boy it sure looks great. I can actually say that I'm proud of my self. Now I get to move on to the next project. I have got to do 2 baby quilts, one for our new granddaughter to be born in May and for a niece that is having her first. Let the quilting begin......

BTSR Fires

The picture on the left is Lyman ready to go up with the firefighters to assess the damage at camp. It pays to be the CEO...lucky guy

We have been fighting fires at the Buffalo Trail Scout Ranch (BTSR) for the past 2 weeks. Here are some pictures that Lyman has taken.

As of today Monday April 25th the fires are still in camp. They were able to get out all of the livestock and moved to a place in Balmorhea. But as of today they will be moving them back to camp because the fire is going back to the city. Just can't get a break. Water line in the back country is down. Hopefully it will be able to get rebuilt before camp opens up in 5 weeks. We need all to pray for rain. Hopefully we can also get some donations for feed and hay for the animals.

It's SPRING Time!!

Yea! It is finally Spring time here in West Texas. Love all the trees that have come out in bloom. We had such a cold winter that we are ready for the HOT weather. I know, I know, we will want the cold as soon as it gets over 100 degrees this summer, but right now we welcome the warmer weather. On March 15th 2011 ManDee and Scott signed papers as new home owners. They have been living with us since last July and now are excited to move into their own place. After the people moved out and they were ready to move in they decided it needed more work than they orginally saw. So for the next week they were busily cleaning, painting and fixing things so that they could move in. They are finally in now with still much to do, but at least they are in now and I think they love it (better than renting and cheaper too). It does look really nice with the new paint. So that now makes all of the kids in their own homes. We are so proud of them all and for all that they have accomplished. Shad has gotten new job responsibilities with his work and just loves it. He has put his marketing resources from his Masters program into play and really enjoys his job now. Brittany has been able to back off of work, but still works a couple days a week. The kids are growing up so fast we can hardly believe it. Brooklyn loves school, she turns 7 this year, Chandler is starting T-ball,he turned 4 and Easton is 7 months old now and growing up so fast. Can't wait to see their home to see their finished fence in their side yard for the kids to stay in the back yard. Lacey is enjoying her job. Just wish she could get the hours she needs for work, but doing OK. Hard to leave Cameron, but gives daddy time at nights. Tyler is busily working and going to school too. Cameron is 18 months old now and is quite the little man. The have gotten into a nice home and they are now going to put in the other side of the fence and then their yard will be complete. Lyman is busy at work as usual. He has a break from his Masters program also. He has had a hard time knowing what to do with himself as he is not as busy at night. He will start back up the end of the month and then is done in October. Quite an accomplishment for him as it has been a life long goal of his to get his Masters Degree. I'm so proud of him and his accomplishments. Busy guy he is. As for Dee, I'm busy with all kinds of projects for me and others. Finally got money (from Lyman) for my birthday to make us a quilt for our king size bed (which we don't have yet). I have always wanted to make a quilt for our bed and now I have the fabric. Just need the time. We have been working on family history for Lyman's side of the family. So much work to do, but fun to see the families come together. Well this is it for now. We sure enjoyed the conference talks this past conference. Always enjoy reading them when the Ensign comes out. I always pick one or two of the talks and work hard to make them a part of my life. We enjoy what the gospel has done in our lives and are excited to see the growth of each of our children and spouses and now grandchildren.

It's Almost Spring

Haven't written for a while so I thought I would update the blog. We are so glad that it is almost spring here in West Texas. We had quite a cold blast here and we even hit an all time record. We got as low as -10 with the windchill and that is unusual for this area. It was so cold that it froze our pipes. Even when the plumber said that the new tubing would stand up to the cold to -31. (Has now renigged on that comment). Anyway needless to say it was scary to not have any water at all. Thank goodness we had water bottles that we could use for the time being. It sure makes you stop and think what kind of heat and water backup you have in case of a real emergency that lasts longer than just a few days. Other areas had their electricity go out, but we were lucky ours did not.
This makes us think, "Do we have enough food storage, water, blankets, gas for the generator, some kind of heating, etc. Guess we had better get on this so we won't be out in the cold next time.
For the last 7 months now we have had a lot of things in the house go out. Lets see, dishwasher needed to be serviced, a/c went out, then of course the heater needed to be replaced to make the upgrade of the a/c, water softener went out, we had a water leak in the house from the pipes in the slab under the house, (this plumbing all had to be replaced and they put the pipes in the attic) the water heater went out, (couldn't get a hold of the plumber so Scott and his dad replaced it for us) washer and dryer went out, and now we are waiting to hear about when the shocks on our car need to be replaced (OK enough already). Needless to say we are tired of so many things breaking down. It sure has been a test of our FAITH. We remember the scripture that says "after the trials of your faith the blessings will come." We have been blessed and thank our Heavenly Father for the trials that are sent our way so we can become stronger. Faith builds character ane will leave it at that.

Family Pictures 2010

Here are our Family Pictures for 2010. The family is sure growing isn't it? We are thankful for each of our children and grandchildren. They are very dear to us. We love you all so much.

During this Christmas season we reflect on all our blessings throughout the year and can't help believe that we have been truly blessed. We have also been blessed with the knowledge of the gospel which is in our lives and the lives of our children. As we reflect on the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and all that he has done for us; we hope that we can be examples to others as He has been to us. We hope that this Christmas Season brings much happiness to all of our family and friends.