From Fairbanks to Anchorage

I finally finished my mini-mester at University of Fairbanks...well kind of I have one more paper to submit by tomorrow. But Jed and I decided to go to the Tanana Fair before we started packing!
The fair is awesome, it is small, but it has some really good food! We only had time for, corn on the cob that had been completely submersed in butter, deep fried chip-on-a-stick, Denali Creme puffs with a gallon of rich chocolate syrup on top, deep fried elephant ears, lemonade with vanilla. It was delicious!

I really love Fairbanks! It was a beautiful summer, warm and sunny all summer long!
But alas! Summer must end.
Jed and I moved into our dive of an apartment Thursday evening. We arrived to find that the carpet had not been fully installed...and that they only decided to replace the front room, not the bedrooms carpet. Also, they only painted where they had patched holes, with white paint over a creamy tan color...it looks great!
So needless to say it didn't help the smokey smell one bit! This is our fabulous kitchen...with bright orange counter tops.
(note the color in comparison to the fire extinguisher)

This is my favorite part the big windows...also because I can open the window and the smokey smell kind of passes for a minute.


We found an awesome couch at a clearance center and Jed recruited his co-worker to help move it up the stairs (3 flights of awkward stairs)

We were both really tired after moving everything in...but Jed had to turn around and drive back to Fairbanks!

Our summer fling ended!

Jed won't be back until school starts, about a week and a half...then he'll be back almost every 'weekend'.

I start working again tomorrow and I have walls to wash to see if the smoke smell will go away.

Just Some Randomness

Just some randomness!

Our happy little family, including the new truck, my car and the Willy's

Jed's new truck! It's really dirty because we just got back from Anchorage when I took this picture.

My little flower garden...home grown in the Midnight sun!

I finally figured out what my mystery plant was! I thought it was maybe a pepper plant...turns out it is a sunflower! I'm surprised it bloomed at all!

Crossing the Nenana Bridge!
It was a long trip! We spent the majority of the time in the truck driving around looking for a place to live! We were both very happy to be so close to home!

My snacks and new water bottle!

At the Tanana Valley State Fair Leah and I got Glittery Tattoos! We also ate sooo much food, and found some really fun things! And Finally!!
Yesterday was the annual ULCER ride...the 100+ mile ride around Utah Lake. I have fond memories of this ride...and I was unable to make it down to ride it this year. Every year Mama Beck, my sister Annette and I rode together! I rode after only two weeks from returning from my mission! I flew down last year just to ride...But this year it didn't happen and that is okay because Mama Beck is in bed, on a twelve week recovery from a nasty bike crash! So if Becky can't do it, none of us were going to do it. Annette also didn't ride this year. I thought of them though and really missed them...especially on our drive home we passed a gas station in Nenana that had 3 beautiful cyclists taking a break, and it really reminded me of all the good times!

Now Leasing!

Jed and I came to Anchorage this week to find an apartment. It was really frustrating! Rent is so expensive in Anchorage. For a 1-2 bedroom it is around $1000! That is the price for really ghetto looking apartments, in shady parts of town. We tried calling a bunch of places and no one called us back, so we drove by about 16 places. Most of them did not have parking space available for three vehicles. We finally got an appointment to see one, after seeing the apartment...we were so worried we weren't going to find anything, we were willing to take it even though it was more than what we wanted to pay...but then the manager told us that they didn't have anything available until September.

Why did you just waste our time showing us that apartment?! Which is not even available?!

We did get a hold of another property manager that dogged us the night before by telling us to call him back around 5pm and when we called the office closed at 4pm.

But
That worked out. The place is a nice looking area, with plenty of parking! It is close to the freeway, closer to campus and work. Plus it was in our price range! It has a washer and dryer, two bedrooms and a fire place!

It unfortunately had horrible carpet stains, a bad paint job and horrible smokey smell...since the last tenant smoked. So we tried to negotiate the rental price...instead the manager agreed to replace the carpet! Plus they might replace the hideous bright red kitchen counter tops. Hopefully that will take care of the smokey smell. If not any ideas?

Yay!
So we just signed a lease...and we can move in next week! (as planned!)
Pictures coming soon!

Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend.


Friday was our date 'day'...since pretty much spend the entire day doing dating activities. First we bought a new Frisbee and went to a soccer field on campus...Frisbee is hard! It is an intense workout too! Especially for us, we really suck and can't aim very well...well at least I really can't throw!
It was a really nice day, bright and sunny, hot about 83 degrees!

Then we went to see the movie Salt with Angelina as a Russian spy! It was good, it kept me guessing the whole movie. I was glad I saw it early.

Then we went to North Pole to eat at Pagoda...which is the best Chinese food in Alaska, by like a million times. It seems it is so hard to find good Chinese food. Jed and I seem to have bad luck with Chinese food...even before we were together, back when we were just friends we went to probably the worst Chinese restaurants ever! So of course we finally find a good one just before I'm moving back to Anchorage.

This weekend we also bought Jed's new truck (I'll post a picture soon...I can't find a 'look-a-like' picture on google)
That was pretty much an all day event.

I also spent about 4 hours cleaning my car, inside it gets so dusty living on a dirt road. I shampooed the carpets and everything. I also killed my battery...and was stuck at the cabin for four hours while Jed was driving out to Healy to get the new truck. It was frustrating considering we had two other vehicles in our driveway...but with no keys!
Sunday I also spent about 5+ hours working on the new truck! It was way worse than my car. The former owner worked in a mine and also had his little girl in it all the time...Kid mess is way worse to clean. I think she was a fan of smashing licorice nibs into the carpet.

It was a good weekend...but it went by too fast.

Mystery

So today I got a package from my two nephews B & W. They called early to see if I had gotten it. I was surprised that they had sent me anything. They sent me this cute little sign (above)...because I have an outhouse..

and then also included in the package was...

A TV remote??
Hmm... I wonder why they sent their TV remote? I thought.
So I am on the phone with Hilpy trying to figure out why she sent me a Remote, only to find out that she hadn't! At first I thought it was just one of Hilpy's ways of teasing me. Like when she is at my parents house and answers the phone and pretends I must have called her home accidentally.
But she was really sincerely confused.
She asked B&W if they sent me a remote...and they were very confused. Then really curious. So I sent her this picture to see if she had accidentally sent me her remote...but they have never seen it before.

The Mystery Remote!
I am hoping no one put illegal drugs in it and is trying to smuggle it into the country!
Maybe someone is now really sad because their package is missing a remote.
Are you missing yours?

Our Pioneer Adventure

Yesterday Jed and I slept in. It happens alot with Jed working graveyards. He can't fall asleep until wee hours of the morning, and I can't stay awake. The problem is, I don't wake up with him sleeping next to me...so I sleep for like 12 hours! I don't know how I do it but it really messes me up.

Well anyways, we slept in and didn't really have anything to do. Feeling slightly homesick, because it is the 24th of July weekend and my family is all together celebrating at Spanish Fork Fiesta Days...I knew we needed to do something fun and memorable. So we decided to drive somewhere! We packed our cooler, grabbed sleeping bags and a tent, just in case we liked it so much we wanted to sleep over. Then stopped for gas, before we decided which direction we would go. There are only so many choices from fairbanks, our choices were: Manly Hotsprings, a 150 mile dirt road, Circle also a dirt road for 161 miles, the Artic Circle (I don't know how many miles I think 300-400) or down around Cantwell.

We decided Circle...which is a little town along the Yukon, with pop. of 94. It was a beautiful drive. It was a little scary when we got into town, because it is not a tourist type of town, we didn't dare get out of the car because we were afraid some redneck would get out his shot gun for trespassing. We ended up camping about 3o miles south of Circle...it was the bestest spot ever! We built a camp fire and everything! The whole time we were there only two cars passed, and we were right next to the main road (the only road). It was very quiet! I hope to have pics soon.

Happy Pioneer Day! Hope you all had fun at the Rodeo, the parade, and the quilt show! ;) Love you all miss you tons!

Organic

I haven't been very good at writing lately. Since my parents came I've been feeling a little 'Organic'--you know going back to basics. I decided to use that phrase while we were traveling with my parents. It seemed like everyone around me was so quick to get a picture of anything that moved or didn't move, and most people were so busy trying to figure out their camera setting that they missed the bear or whale all together. Sometimes it is just really nice to see it "organically" or first hand and not through a camera lens. I found that most of the pictures I took didn't give it justice and I ended up having more fun explaining what I saw to others rather than trying to rush to get a photo and not seeing it at all. Not only am I feeling more "organic" with my photography, but lately with my internet access, too. That mostly comes from living in a cabin that doesn't have wi-fi. (I found it for a day...then it vanished). I have seriously cut back on my internet time. I obviously still access it, but I feel like I've cut my time way back.

But anyway here's just a quick update:

I started another mini-mester I have 2 1/2 courses....one is carrying over from last mini-mester and will be done by the end of this month. The other two are upper-division and crazy work! Social psychology and Women's literature...oh my goodness! They require a lot of attention and so much reading, it makes me question why I am going to school. My psychology class makes me feel like a real-life college student...like the ones you always hear about...an Atheist professor who just can't help but try to disprove the existence of God. It is somewhat entertaining, but I'm glad it's only a 'mini-mester' only 4 more weeks!

I'm heading to Anchorage this week to put a few hours in at the office. I am staying with my friend/co-worker and I am way excited to see everyone at the office.