After many years we finally have a new sofa.

I really liked the old one and it didn't seem to be THAT old to me. But, it was worn out in many places, a good part due to our puppy who is now ten years old. What is it about dogs that causes the need to generally "dig a nest" before they lie down? Kobi also has a compulsion to rub his face all over the furniture after a bath or a particularly sloppy, wet drink of water. His face looks hilarious after that with hair poking out all over the place, let me tell you!

Julie did a good job in covering it up but the task was an ever-ending one. Once we decided to replace it, the old couch did look pretty sad and worn. We debated over a few different couches. All were leather except for the one we finally chose. It has a heavy ribbed brown and black fabric that feels durable. The cushions are quite firm. Leather seemed a bit cold to the touch and we were concerned about what Kobi might do to leather. We liked this brown one and it does look nice.

Our next projects will be the carpet and perhaps something to replace the recliners. The problem with replacing the carpet is that there are a few other projects that should be done before the carpet is changed. And then there IS the dog to consider. Kobi has been and is still a wonderful and loving companion. He is more important to us than our things but he does necessitate the delay of certain upgrades. As it is, you see the photo of the new couch? The photo with the rabbit on the floor in front? The couch doesn't look like that. It has a protective blanket over the seat cushions. Oh well.... ;o)

Merry Christmas 2008

'Twas the night before Christmas and our house was very quiet indeed! This Christmas and the last are quite likely the most quiet we will have as next year there will be again the patter of little feet in our home for the holidays. We spent both with Julie's parents Don and Georgia without any of the other normal cast of characters. Julie and I went to Henry's for dinner on the 24th after a short day at work. My company has given us the 25th and 26th off too. So nice. I just love 4 day weekends. "Hmmm, today must be Saturday. NOPE! It is only Thursday!" "Hmmm, today sure feels like Saturday. NOPE! It is only Friday!" Yay! "Hmmm, today really does seem like it's Saturday. Yep, it's Saturday. Dang!"

We enjoyed a very nice day at the Rogers'es'sss'. We spoke to Kevin! Lindsay! and Ryan! I also was able to speak to my Mom and Dad. AND Julie spoke to her brother Steve. Eventually we got around to opening presents. We had the most delicious Georgia cooked prime rib dinner with new potatoes, broccoli and Julie's delectable rolls. After a rousing game of "Scene It! - SEINFELD" and a few slices of pumpkin pie with cream, we gathered up our things and Julie rolled me out of the door for home.

I am excited about all my presents! Everyone is so kind to me. I got some maroon sweats! (They are for lounging around at home like jammies. Julie says I can't go out wearing them in public. I told her I thought that is what old, fat people did with sweats- I am certainly NOT going to sweat in them! I am very disappointed.) I also got a new pair of slippers- sweet! AND...

look at this!








Oh yeah! Chewy, crunchy, scrumptious brownie edges all the time! Did you know that you can bake lasagna in this thing? I think I'm making brownies today. What? Hmmm? We have a trillion other fattening things to eat already? Good thing I have sweats!

Kenai Peninsula Trip

I spent Monday & Tuesday this week working on the Kenai Peninsula. The city of Soldotna is 140 miles south of Anchorage. Homer is another 75 miles farther south. While at one of my accounts a young moose came right up to the entrance and began eating the dead plants from the planter. I grabbed my camera from the car and snapped this photo.


I left Soldotna for home Tuesday around 2pm so that it would be mostly daylight for the approximately 2 and a half hour drive. If all went well, I would be home by 4:30 plus or minus a bit. It was a snowy and windy trip. I took a number of short videos of the blowing snow beginning just south of the Portage Glacier junction but had a difficult time deciding which ones I wanted on the site. These five made the cut from a total of 15 vids.



I stopped at Girdwood to get some additional fuel and then began what should have been the last 35-40 minutes of the trip. Twenty miles from Anchorage I came upon what is shown in this next video.


I changed my listening to the radio news and learned that I was stuck behind a head-on collision which had occurred just about 5 minutes ahead of me. The accident site is just around the visible corner of the road. The Seward Highway was closed and estimated to re-open in 4-5 hours! All emergency and towing vehicles had to come from Anchorage. One person died and two others were critically injured. The infant of the woman who died was unhurt. I spent the time reading and playing a game on my cell phone. Eventually a few cars were let through a few at at time. Because I was close to the accident I was able to get past it after three hours while the road was cleared and opened again an hour after that.


What a sad, sad thing to happen. I have often thought about what it must be like to lose control of the car (this is usually when after I feel the car slip a bit and my tummy clenches while I tense enough to ease the car back to where it is suppose to be. Over reaction is often the cause of complete loss of control and tragedy) on a curve and slide over the edge of the road into the trees/void or slip into the lane of oncoming traffic. Sometimes it seems a miracle that so few accidents happen at all. So I got home late and missed a dinner appointment with friends (yes... I do have a few; well, two). Others were not so fortunate. A second person lost their life today in another collision in town not four miles from our home.

To walk safe and sound into our warm home and into the arms of my sweet wife last night was a blessing not to be unappreciated.

Good Times

Maybe you won't get a kick out of this short video. I don't see why not! This is taken the first part of January 2006 right after Lindsay returned from her mission in Poland. Starring Lindsay, Ryan and Kevin. 'Twas good to have everyone home.

So, how do you get your dog.....

to pee in a cup??? Kobi hasn't been feeling well lately, and the vet wanted a urine sample. Rrrright. also, she wanted the first urine of the day, SO, cut to 6 am, it's very cold, very dark and very snowy. I've got my slippers crammed into Brad's big boots, jammies and a coat, a leash in one hand, a cup in another and I'm following Kobi all over the yard," go potty!" "go potty!" He's thinking this is the weirdest walk we've ever been on, but finally nature kicks in and I lunge in for the kill, and voila! The next jerk on the leash caused me to spill half of it, BUT we were successful. The things we do for our kids, I mean, dogs.

Clam Gulch Alaska

The summer of 2007 was a busy one for us. One of our jaunts was to the Kenai Peninsula and Clam Gulch with Kevin and Michael & Lindsay. This was a couple of months before Kevin entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo.

It was a wonderful trip with only a little bit of moodiness that might have but didn't ruin the trip altogether. You see, the "mood determiner" of the family usually does a pretty good job but now and then he loses all sense of rationale. One never knows what will trigger such irrationalities. This time is seemed to be the fact that we were at Clam Gulch at a very low tide which is supposed to be great for clam digging and it turned out to be clam digging at its worst. (There must be other determining factors for good clam digging because there were very few other clammers out there considering the low tide.) For some reason he took the affront personally (maybe it was because it was his outing and he, sniff, failed his family). We found very few clams. They didn't even cover the bottom of the bucket! I, a mean he, is sorry for the sulkiness. That's not fun for anyone!

AnyWAY, here are a couple of videos from that trip.The first one is Saturday morning getting ready for the day. Lindsay and Michael are in the pop-up trailer dressing or something. Unbeknownst, I forgot to set out the trailer supports in the back the night before so it tended to become a bit tippsy depending on weight distribution. This video is funny but was even more so when the trailer tipped the first time.


This second video is of Julie throwing rocks from the beach into the mud, well almost to the mud. We all got a kick out of her form. The video also pans the beach from north to south. The Redoubt Volcano can be seen across the Cook Inlet.


Here are a few more pictures from that trip. The campground is at Hidden Lake, about 60 miles northeast Clam Gulch.













































































Are you tired of videos? Here are two more that I like. Hopefully they are for your viewing pleasure.



They are so obedient...

Ho! Ho! Ho?

We had the Elders over for tacos tonight which is always a pleasant experience. Julie has communicated with Elder Thomas' mother before and thought it would be nice to send her an updated picture of her missionary son (he has been in our ward for over 7 months now! We usually take a picture of new elders in the ward, ask for their parents' email address and then send Mom & Dad a picture, they seem to like that). Do you notice anything sad in this picture of Elder Thomas and Elder Edwards?


It is a trick question because the sad thing is that the snowman (and it, in and of itself typically isn't sad, except for in Calvin's world) held up between them is the only Christmas decoration in our home. The ONLY ONE!

And it is not even Christmasy, it's wintery.

I'm not sure we should admit this. What the heck! This is the second year that we will celebrate Christmas without any of our children (we are quite depressed about it). Around Thanksgiving, when we traditionally put out the tree and the decorations, both of us were kinda dreading the work of bringing everything up from the garage and moving the furniture around to make our decos fit. We did that last year and no one, NO ONE other than the two of us even saw them! Sure, we enjoy looking at the pretty lights and I suppose we could get a life certainly and invite someone over to socialize once in a while. Once. But we didn't see the socializing thing happening, why change a firmly entrenched tradition? and maybe, just maybe we thought, we could live without the pretty lights for one Christmas. We wouldn't have to put them away after the new year, that was an enticing thought right there. Oh! but the Christmas music is somewhere in the decorations boxes. Wait, doesn't a radio station play Christmas music 24/7? Objection overcome. But, won't this mean that we aren't celebrating Christmas and that it isn't important to us?.... mmmmm, no- we'll read Luke 2 on Christmas Eve. Objection overcome. We are, as Jerry has said; "Golden".

So, there is our pathetic Christmas story. We promise next year will be better. How could it not? There will be the patter of little feet in our house once again for Christmas. I might even put up some outside lights!

Anyone up for a game?

We have begun a new activity on Monday evenings. It may even become a traditional type thing. One Monday a little bit ago we were looking for something to do. I asked Jul if she knew how to play Cribbage. Now, I remember playing cribbage with her before but it had been a long, long time. She said no and honestly wasn't enthusiastic about playing but the board was dusted off and a deck of cards found. We have been having fun playing each week now for a few.

Our wittle activity seems to be more on her mind than mine I guess because after dinner she said: "Guess what tonight is!". I ran through the list of her sometimes usual Monday night activity; "Dancing with the Stars?", no. "The Bachelor?", no. "Ah, The Bachelorette?", no. "OHH! The finalle of The Biggest Loser?", no. What then, I asked. Cribbage! she exclaimed.

One day we'll be playing for serious (maybe not, she isn't the most competitive type) but for now we help find all of the counters. So far, I'm only one game ahead. Anyway, it is a fun way to spend an hour. Especially since I'm playing my bestest friend.

Elder Kev

Nothing blog-worthy seems to happen in my life, so I thought I'd share some recent pictures of Kev on his mission. We are looking forward to talking to him in 10 days!

Kevin's fans

About the picture above, Kevin said:

"This was taken right after I said, 'Don't touch me Sister Saunders!' Afterwards she wrapped her arms around me and said, 'How do you like that, you punk?!'
It was pretty funny."

"Grandma Muriel" and her crazy hats.

St Paul in the background

He wanted to jump over this sign without hands but finally was able to with.

Elder Green & Elder Esplin

One more thing.
Kevin sent us this video a year ago.
Watch it a couple of times to catch all the nuances!

Kevin's Magic Trick!

Look at this piece of meat!!

Not this one!

This one!

















I had the pleasure of cooking this New York strip for the temple worker's Christmas party last week. It made the house smell SO good.

Families Gather at Times of Sadness

In October my stepfather Tom passed away in Nampa Idaho. I was able to spend a few days there with Mother and Family. I must say that even at such somber occasions it is wonderful to be with loved ones to share those moments. There were many happy and even hilarious times that made the visit so enjoyable. Conversations covered the gambit and included those that unavoidably turn to politics and religion and Oreos. It was very nice to meet Jason's new family. I have posted a few of my favorite pictures.


My sisters JaNel(left) and RaNae(right) and Mother


Very cute - Paul & JaNel's Aimee

Aimee likes to be the photographer. These two photos crack me up. (I was trying to get into the picture.)



I didn't quite make it.


Leo VanDenBerghe (JaNel's)


Aimee was so funny at the cemetery. I wanted to take a picture of her at this spot. She wanted to have her picture taken at another spot and ran there instead. I stayed where I was and called out, "I'm going to take the picture and there is nobody in it!" Lickity-split she hurried back in time to get in the picture. It is a cute one!


Elise, Jackson, Bradley and Aimee


Bradley (Aaron's son) took this picture. Elise-Jackson-Aimee


Jackson (JaNel's son) took this one. Elise-Bradley-Aimee


Paul VanDenBerghe and his two daughters Elise and Aimee

It seems I snapped up shots of the VanDenBerghe's kids more than anything or anyone else. I do have other photos if you'd like to see them but these got picked this time 'round. The kids grow up so fast.

Hillside View

(Click on the photos to enlarge)

I went to a housing development on the Anchorage hillside a week or two ago. I was talking to a contractor about installing stone cladding on and in a multimillion dollar home up there. The view was fanstupolis so I took a few photos. I could see all the way from Mt. McKinley in the north clear down past Mt. Spur to Mt. Redoubt (both of which are active [at times] volcanoes) in the south. The Alaska Mountain Range was gorgeous as was the sun glistening on the waters of the Cook Inlet at low tide. Our world is so beautiful.

Thanksgiving

Here be a photo of our quiet Thanksgiving dinner at our house with Don & Georgia Rogers, Julie's parents. Looks like one on the far left could do without any of the delicious pumpkin pie we had later, much later. Well, today is Sunday and I've already finished off the pumpkin pie. It's history. Still working on the homemade chocolate chip ice cream. Someone's got to eat it and Julie just doesn't eat enough of it fast enough!

We enjoyed a rousing game of Bridge wherein Grandpa and I won the evening by only 200 points. After that we played 7up-7down and chubby there won that game. It was a very nice day and evening. The best holiday weekend of the year. Four blissful work-less days... ahhhhhh. BUT! Now it's another 360 something days before the next one. I don't know if I'll be able to keep up my figure. Oh yeah, Christmas.

We both hope your Thanksgiving was great. We appreciate that our children had wonderful places with wonderful people to spend the day. We haven't heard about Kevin but he told us before that he had an invite to a nice family he likes a lot for T-Day.

Winter To Me ...

... is SNOW! Currently we are having a snow storm and I AM LOVING IT! My humble opinion is that if it is going to be cold it better be snowing. I admit that I am a strange Alaska creature. I do not downhill or cross country ski. I can count on one hand the times I have been on a snow machine. I seldom fish and hunt less than that. Camping and bicycling are activities few and far in between. I'm not much into hiking. And climbing mountains? HA! I did that once, okay maybe three or four times, but once was enough. One might ask why do I live in Alaska?

Well... I do like snow!

I like the way it looks all clean and white. I like to drive in it all clean and white. I really, really like to watch it fall, all clean and white. Falling snow is magical. It makes me feel like cozy fireplaces and warm chocolate on a sledding hill. Alaska is a gorgeous land. It is home. And it snows here. Alaska is a great place to be.

Anniversary

November 29, 1978
November 29, 2008

Today is the thirty year anniversary of my baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 30 years! It was truly a "fork in the road" decision, which has led to everything good in my life today. Because of that decision I have a wonderful husband (of 28 years) and 3 children who have brought nothing but joy and happiness to me. I have a life with meaning and purpose, the association of so many outstanding people whom I never would've met without the church, a network of friends and loved ones, and an understanding of things bigger and more important than my little world around me. It is the biggest blessing in my life, along with my loving parents and my family. It's great to look back at a fork in the road, and know, without reservation, that I picked the right way. I'll always be grateful for all the happenings that led to that point in time, 30 years ago!