Sunday activities.

Jen, Ashley and I went out for a short ride today. Krista didn't want to go, she was hanging with Rachel. We went out to the Willow swamps, hoping to get some pictures. We only got a few, since we concentrated more on riding. We rode 32 miles. Both girls got cold (Wimps), the temp was only -3 when we left the truck. There was a little bit of powder to play in, but we stuck to the trails most of the day.

Okay this is Jen writting now.  DAVID wasn't cold cause he was too busy showing off, so he was huffing and puffing so hard his goggles kept getting fogged up, I tell you it must be hell getting old, I on the other hand wouldn't know as I am MUCH YOUNGER than him lol.

























The 3 of us. (Krista missed out on a good day)

Jen finding some powder, and doing her thang.

Somebody needs to tell Ashley, it is best to keep both skis on the snow.
(Jen says - but that wouldn't be David as his are BOTH off the snow!)












Jen says- Case in point, both ski's off the snow.  I didn't know an OLD DOG could learn new tricks LOL

Longer daylight hours.

We have a little over 7 hours of daylight now, and it really seems like a lot compared to last months just over 5 hours. We are gaining 5 minutes of daylight a day right now. It is a very noticeable difference. We have been hanging in the teens for high temperatures and down around zero for the lows this last week. We will try to get it a little warmer for everyone coming up for graduation in May.

This last week hasn't been too exciting, girls in school and us working. I was able to finally get the Christmas lights down outside and a few other items I needed to catch up on. We were able to stop by some of the ice carvings in downtown Anchorage. We took a few pictures to share. The ice carvings in Fairbanks usually have a lot more detail, and a lot more of them to look at. Since we are not sure we are going to make it up there this year, I thought I would post a few of the ones from here.

We had our second vintage race this year, another 5th place finish for yours truly. A bit disappointing, but still had a great time. The bright spot is I ran up front until the left front ski spring collapsed, and the tether had another issue. By the way anyone have a ski for a 77 kawasaki....lol not the most common part to find. I do have a line on a suitable replacement. The girls were a big help, and ashleys boyfriend andrew.

Hope everyone is doing well, we miss you all and wish you were here.
(So when is everyone moving up?)

Weekly Fabulous Four update

Well I think I am officially getting senile! It all started with not remembering what part of the house I had left off cleaning and after numerous "hey mom's" from the girls and "hey jen's" from David, some where in there I had let Kodiak outside to go potty and forgot all about her. Well about four hours later, I finished up cleaning and laundry to hear this horrible whining and scratching at the back door. I thought OH CRAP I forgot about the dog!!! Needless to say it is a good thing she has separation anxiety and doesn't go far from FOOD LOL. Also a good thing it was a relatively warm day as she had been out there for so long. So of course feeling guilty I spoiled her with all kinds of treats and let my 65 pound lap dog sit on my lap on the couch. She was happy as a clam, then I felt a little less guilty. Now I just have to hear the teasing from Dave and the girls about "oh don't let mom near the dog she will lock her outside and forget about her", good thing I have a good sense of humor, must still be feeling guilty LOL.


Well the girls are back in school from Christmas break, each of them was spoiled rotten, of course. They have softball practice that has started for pre-season and so far both think it is "okay". Should be interesting when games start and I have two different sports schedules to keep up with on top of Dave's work schedule. But it will be fun to watch them both play. By the way, Krista has yet again changed her hair color. She now has pink and blue stripes in her hair. Got to love the girls sense of originality LOL. At least she is not asking to tattoo her face or something crazy like that LOL, to that the answer would be ABSOLUTELY NO!!!!

David leaves for Kansas City on February 1st for two weeks for work, the girls and are both excited and sad. Sad to be with out him for two whole weeks, and I have to do both parent teacher conferences for each of the girls by myself, joy, joy LOL. But excited cause we are eating CHINESE while he is gone!!! Although he countered that with he will be eating at Sonic, Steak and Shake, Boston Pizza and Olive Garden, the jerk! OH WELL! For those of you who do not know, David DOES NOT do Chinese food. The girls and I love it and only get to eat it when he is out of town. He is taunting us and saying he will go out to eat and will send us pictures of steak and shake food, sonic burgers and icies and olive garden bread sticks and pasta, the EVIL BUTT!!

We are trying to get vacation dates and times nailed down for this summer and are TENTATIVELY looking at June 26th-July18th, yes we will be driving on my birthday. We will be driving down so about 3 days driving down and 3 days driving back. We are thinking about being in Idaho first and hit Washington on our way back. Okay not to sound mean about this, but we are not going to be driving all over creation, soooooo if you want to see us you will have to come to us this year. When we get David's co-op schedule figured out and my work schedule figured out we will post some firmer dates. But so far that is what we are "hoping" to be able to do. Also in the works is Arctic Man, for those of you who don't know what that is, it is sort of like Sturgis, for snowmachiners, but much tamer than Sturgis. It is something David and I have wanted to do for a long time, question is do we take the girls and the dog with us, OR do we have them go to a friends house and the dog into a kennel for those four days, we are still deciding LOL. Here is a link to the events so you can see for yourself http://67.131.251.172/. It is actually a pretty cool event that happens every April, you know us crazy people who live up here in the frozen north, it isn't fun unless you have snow! Here is the link if you want to check out what we are going to go see, and NO we will NOT be competing in the events, although it did cross David's and my mind to possibly convince Ashley's boyfriend Andrew to be towed behind the sled on a pair of ski's, but sigh, I don't think we could keep the temptation out of going just a bit to fast and forgetting to stop when he fell down (evil laugh LOL)

Here are some of the latest pictures.

Little Ms. Princessa, your days are numbered girl it is called boot camp LOL

Okay first she had bright pink hair, then we dyed it this color kind of a teal. Now......

It is pink and blue, it actually looks really kind of cute on her.

Ashley and Andrew (the boyfriend)

A beautiful view (krista took this one with the camera we got her for her birthday)

Me cooking, of course LOL

Okay and you wonder WHY she thinks she is a people.  This is one of David's really old shirts and for fun we put it on her, she LOVED it! LOL

Kodiak on "her" bed LOL (Krista's room but Kodiak now sleeps with krista, her choice not ours LOL)

Well off to bed.  We miss everyone a ton and love you all!  Can't wait to see those of you who will be coming up in May for Ashley's graduation, wish more people could make it, but we understand.

Wonderful Alaska Weather

It has been a couple exciting days here for us, thanks to the weather. We started off the day Sunday with the winds blowing 45 to 50 mph and a temperature around 28. Since Sunday the winds have been blowing at least 50 mph and up to 78 mph with the temperature hanging right around 10 degrees. We have been without power for up to about 7 hours at a time. Last night we used the fireplace to keep the house warm. We also have a backup propane heater, but we didn't have to get it out.

On Sunday I had a vintage snowmachine race, that we almost didn't go to. When we got up Sunday the wind was blowing pretty hard, so I debated going since the girls wouldn't have much fun in the wind. We checked the winds in Houston ( yes we have a Houston Alaska population around 2000) and they were calm, so we went. Day turned out nice, even though it is only about 20 miles away the winds were calm and the temperature was around 8 degrees all day. The girls were a big help and great support. We use a "Le mans" style start, where you stand back about 10 feet and when the flag drops you run up start your machine and go. Well when I ran up my sled wouldn't start, I had to pull it off the track and do some quick troubleshooting. My sled didn't come stock with a engine shut off tether and they are required, so I had installed one on Friday, after only using it a few times it had broken. I quickly pulled apart the wires and disconnected the tether and it fired up. I was only able to make one lap but it was still fun. So for the main race we did 10 laps, and I hate to say it but getting old and being out of shape; well lets say 10 laps was enough. I started off well and was in the top 3 until I decided to take a big bump a little off center and the sled went left and I went right. (quit laughing Uncle bob, and no Jen did not get it on video) Okay so I jump back up and get the sled started without getting ran over by anyone behind me. Now I am in last place, but the old Kawasaki has quite a bit of snort down the straights. I was able to get back up to 5th place and right on the tail of 4th place and then after running 7 laps my lack of being in shape started kicking in. Now you have to understand the bumps on the track had gotten pretty deep, I say they were at least 10 feet deep but Jen says I was exaggerating that they were more like 2 foot pot holes. Well regardless the technology of the 1977 Kawasaki doesn't have much suspension for this type of racing. Every bump I hit felt like I was in a rodeo and my arms weighed 5000 pounds. I was able to take a couple of shots at 4th, but never able to complete the pass safely. I thought about sliding in on the inside of him, but I used something called a brain for once. I hung on to 5th, but was glad for the checkered flag. Jen had a beer waiting for me (yes I married a life saver). I had a great time and can't wait for the next race on the 24th of Jan. Well now I have 2 teenage girls that want to race. Ashley wants to race the next race, and if I could find a cheap old single cylinder machine I would let her. They are quite a bit slower and less of a chance of her getting hurt. I don't want her getting a broken bone or something that could possibly disqualify her from the Air force. Would love to see it, but don't want her taking the chance. Krista said she wants to race in the 340 class, but the Kawasaki is a 440 so that is out for now.

Here are some pictures.

Ice Sculpture

Downtown Anchorage

Web cam from Anchorage with fog

Track repairs

The Start

Making the turn

Going down the steps.

More pictures from the summer

Here are some more pictures from the summer.
















































Nice flower picture.

















This is a small glacier near portage.















Lake below glacier.















Knotty caribou.
















Near Paxon.















Horse tail falls.




















Bridal falls.




















Worthington Glacier.































One big cabbage.















Little susitna river.

Rambling thoughts of Days past

Okay most of you know I used to have Harleys, and for those of you who didn't know that, well now you do.  I found some old pictures today of me and the bikes, man do I miss them!! But I have 3 years and counting and I will have one again.  Dave and I were thinking about getting another one, but I would like to wait till both the girls are out of the house, that way we can devote what little time we have with them, and then when they are gone..... Dave and I will be hitting the open road with the sound of the wind in our ears!!!(Helmet laws kill the whole wind in your hair saying LOL)

Okay the next pictures are just to prove I am a true biker chick.  1) Yes I have been to STURGIS, and 2) I ROAD my bike, not trailered there, not hired someone else to ride it there for me, not had it flown there, not rented while I was there.  I ROAD it all the way from Bellingham, WA to STURGIS, SD.  It took 2 days and yes my butt was soar!!!

Also ever wonder what David looks like on a Harley?  Well I can tell you he looks DARN good!! Here is the bike we are planning to buy once the girls are off to the AirForce and College.

Past years photos

Well it is coming up on 1 year since we moved up from Kodiak. We have taken a lot of photos in the last year, somewhere in the 2300 to 2500 range. I thought I would share a few more from the last year. By the way, if you want to zoom in on most pictures just click on them.


Uncle bob and Krista















Pond by Cordova















Winter has arrived.




















Time for dinner.















Waterfall by Valdez.