Wednesday, February 25, 2009

I'm trying real hard to keep up my end of the deal. I'm here, posting.

We had amazing weather yesterday. I couldn't stand it so I took the second half of the day off and went flying. I flew up over some glaciers by our house and then headed over and took some aerial photos of NOLS Alaska where I work. Below are some pictures of my trip. They are not the best but I was flying and taking pictures at the same time.









That brings up something else. With this new camera that we have, I have taken up a bit of an interest in photography. I don't really know much about it, but I am doing my best. I will use this blog to showcase some of my better pictures. For those of you that are a little more photographically inclined (or even if your not) I welcome feedback and constructive criticism on my work.

I have been working hard on the entryway remodeling project. It is the most dramatic remodel we have done up till now on the house. As soon as I am done I will post some before and after pictures (I am pretty proud of it). After that's done, its on to building a kitchen island with a dishwasher in it(we currently don't have a dishwasher).

Not much new in the baby world. We have an appointment next week with the doc to hear the heartbeat for the first time. Right now the baby is about the size of a grape.

Its supposed to snow for the next 4 days. Should be fun this weekend.

Monday, February 9, 2009

We're back, plus one!

Ok, I have been getting a lot of crap (mostly from Leigh) about not updating our blog. So here it is.I will do my best to keep up with it a little better, but you guys are going to have to stay on top of me.

First and foremost, we are having a baby! We don't know if it is a boy or a girl yet, and we don't know what we are going to name it, and Richell hates to call it "it." So from here on out "it" will be referred to as "the baby," only of course until we give "the baby" a name. Which, when that happens, all you lovely people will be the first to know. The due date, as of now, is September 26th.

We have been having a great winter. The weather here has been crazy this winter. At one point we had two weeks of -20 degree weather and then immediately following that we had a week of 40 above and rain. All of the snow (not the snow in the mountains) melted and the streets flooded, and then it was back to zero and everything was frozen. The good thing is, all the while it was raining down here, it was dumping snow in the mountains making for an amazing winter wonderland.

We got out for the worst of the cold spell. Most of it happened while we were in Florida for Christmas. We had a great time. We spent a lot of time at the beach, surfing, and I spent quite a bit of time kite boarding with my brother. Richell went spearfishing for the first time and she shot her first fish. It was huge! We bought ourselves a new Nikon D60 for christmas so everything we have done since then, we have many great pictures of.

Richell's "huge" fish!


A day kiteboarding at East Beach


Back in Alaska, we haven't really done much snowboarding, I have only been up once, but I am not to worried about it. The best riding season up here is February and March anyways. Richell hasn't been snowboarding at all, and seeing as now she has to protect "the baby" she decided not to snowboard at all this year so she doesn't risk falling (she falls a lot). As for me, I seem to get my plate so full with hobbies that I end up having to start picking and choosing which ones I do. I have spent a lot of time flying. I did my first solo flight just before Christmas,and now I am just trying to rack up the hours. I have some more hurdles to jump through and a few more tests to take, but I am hoping to have my private pilots license by this summer.

Flying at Bald Ridge




Richell and I have also been doing some snowmachining. We have spent some time riding out at the cabin in willow as well as a great trip up to the top of Bald Ridge that gave us a great view of Denali and Mt. Foraker.

Richell in front of Mt McKinley and Mt. Foraker


The rest of my time has been spent remodeling our entryway. It is the last thing we are going to do to this house and then we are going to quit spending money on it and start saving to build our new home.

That is the last few months in a nutshell. Like I said, I will try to update more often. As long as you guys (Leigh) keep bugging me, it should happen.