Six more days until the winter solstice. And we are loving it more and more! Sure it's dark until late in the morning and early in the evening, but if we get outside and play it's really not that bad. The sun rose at 10:11am and set at 3:34pm today. Sounds wretched, but with all the fun we can have you don't hardly notice. By December 21 we will only lose three more minutes of daylight. I think I can handle that! Though we are all three praying for more snow, as are many outdoorsy Alaskans. If we get enough we can take our newly acquired toys from directly from our house instead of only being able to hop on after trailering them 25 minutes up the mountain. Chadd woke me up one morning before leaving for work and we got our first sight of the Aurora Borealis flickering green streams across the northern sky! It's so fascinating. They move so fast! I can't wait to see more. The northern lights can also scatter pink, blue, violet, and white. It got up to 30degrees today, also not bad. Cyrus dislikes bundling up as much as his father remarks that he did when he was a little tyke. So his coat gets discarded quickly in anything over 20. He's a tough little Alaskan.
A bundled winter bike ride down to frozen solid Cottonwood lake
near our home
The breath freezing vehicle scenery on a regular return from work
We have one more reason, and the best so far, reason to love Alaska: Snowmobiling!! (AKA: Snowmachining, or "sledding" as Alaskans call it)
It took a day, but Chadd has caught on skillfully, too be expected. I am getting there. We are waiting for some real deep fluff so we can really practice the turns, side-hilling, and counter-steering. Getting stuck is a natural part of the sport. Different techniques, a shovel, and a lot of huffing and puffing get it back on top of the snow and off again. The scenery surrounding us is as amazing and the exhilaration of flying over hills and bends. And now that Cyrus is not whining the whole time about being cold it's a lot more fun :) Better than four-wheeling, we love the winter! And we still have yet to ski, snowboard, and watch the dogsled Iditorod in February. Let it SNOW!!!
(If this video is not working go to our youtube channel to watch it. It's really cute:)
Thanksgiving Vacation to Florida! (via Texas)
Cyrus and I flew to Texas to roadtrip to Florida for a Thanksgiving family reunion and 60th anniversary celebration while Chadd stayed back to work on the house. We embraced the sun and splendidly enjoyed wearing one layer of clothing, playing in the waves and spending time with my wonderful family. My family came to this hotel when I was a child so nostalgia smiled as I watched my son play in the same settings. This has made the Alaskan winter much shorter. Thank you Grandpa!!
Cyrus and his cousin Brooklyn playing too rowdily
the moment he started feeling better.
My crazy endearing Graybill family. And my grandparents
(On the right with the white hats) celebrating 60 years together!!
A rest stop on the 12 hour drive from Dallas to Panama City.
My Dad paid for a charter fishing trip for four of us!
Cyrus got very sick with respiratory wheezing and a high fever. It was the worse
severely sick he has ever been and the most difficult trial for me. We almost went to the ER/Urgent care four times.
But thanks to my cousin Amber lending her son's nebulizer and giving us some remedies, my Mom's purchase of
a bushel of expensive herbs and staying up with us all night, and my sister spoon feeding him broth and honey herbs,
but mostly, a desperate prayer of a humbled crying mother, he started to improve. Many more of my extended family who were at the hotel were also praying earnestly. Praise only to my Lord and Savior!
Winter Alaska Kid activities #2: Open Gymnastics day. Cyrus LOVES it!
Anti-Alaska-is-all-remote-boonvilee photo:
10 mile traffic for 2 hours heading to Anchorage on fresh snow
Helping his Daddy fix a cable to plug in his truck.
Winter has certainly arrived in Alaska. On a prior post I exclaimed how gorgeous the Alaskan Autumn is, well, winter has breathtaking vistas all the more. I'm anticipating every season has it's own newness of wonder in the far North. Seasons are so wonderful!
News of the month: the previous supposed perfect position I had with a functional family medicine physician did not work out for her. She realized she needs a FNP (family nurse practitioner), which is the degree I actually want to add on someday. She gave me some great references though. I am now working as an RN at a teen boys residential treatment facility. I know! I have pursued a career in Women's health and now I am working with teenage boys. Crazy how God works huh? And I am really enjoying it. Tomorrow is my first evening off orientation so we'll see how it goes. They get pretty rambuncious, pretty much every day. Sometimes ending in a "hold" or wholes in walls or kids AWOLing and being returned by the troopers. Fun stuff!
The Embassy Suites, a 4 star hotel Chadd surprised me with for our anniversary. T
hey upgraded our room to a jacuzzi master suite on the house :)
Baba experiencing the Alaskan winter!
As I started the above position I got word that a local birth center may be looking for a CNM. Discouraged to check into it by a proven assumption that they would only want a full time, night call available midwife, I sent them an e-mail anyhow laying out my situation and desires. And lo and behold they wanted me! It turns out it will be a perfect fit for our mutual needs. I will begin working one day a week doing women's health in January then decrease hours at the Summit and increase at the birth center. Day hours only, and I may even get to pop upstairs to a birth. They have a great midwifery team with two FNPs and one CNM/FNP as well. They are even beginning to bring functional medicine into their practice and two of them are in curriculum with IFM to get certified. It will be a great place to learn! So instead of no jobs, I will now have two! God is awesome :) Though your life situation may look foreboding and ever unchanging, He has a plan if we place our trust and delight in Him. Keep your chin up and smile, especially when it's so hard it feels like being a fake hypocrite. Keep pursuing Him in honest desperation and He WILL come through. There IS a light at the end of the tunnel.
Baba ad Cyrus working on the floor
20 weeks! Half way there!
We enjoyed a wonderful visit with my Baba (Chinese for father), from L.A. He had certainly never been to Alaska for it and came prepared with brand new boots and hats and the works. He was an immense help with finishing our upstairs bedrooms so we could move out of the loud cold basement. And he was a wonderful toddler sitter, cook, and house cleaner the entire week I had orientation in Anchorage everyday.'
Boy, am I glad I don't have to commute like a HUGE number of the MatSu valley residents. One day when it snowed it took me 2 1/2 horus! bleh. On a good day it is 55 minutes from our house. But Alaska DOT does not see it necessary or perhaps cost efficient to place the good old sodium chloride on the roads. They like to to a little plowing for when it gets deep, and scatter gravel on more trafficked areas. So when there is fresh snow the roads are white, and the
There's no way I can show you the incredible beauty with a 3 inch digital photo. You'll just have to come see it yourself ;)
back roads remain so. Most people get studded tires. Some parking lots are complete sheets of snowy ice. Ice pickers (straps with sharp studs to go around your boots) are sold at many locations. We haven't bought any yet but we both want to. Probably a good idea with my changing center of gravity and balance. It might sound awful to you, but actually I love it. The beauty of glimmering white rocky peaks over a backdrop of clear blue skies is a marvel anyone can see. Just dress super over warm, don't hold still outside, and start your car at least 15 minutes before you leave the house.
Weather report:
Sunrise tomorrow morning: 9:16am
Sunset tomorrow evening: 4:07pm
Winter storm warning with 12-20 inches the next two days. WooHoo!
-6 F currently.
He survived a wintry fourwheeler excursion!
Baba driving a fourwheeler for the first time.
Cyrus and I leave for Texas this Saturday where my three nieces and three sisters and their hubby's reside. We'll then roadtrip with Mom and Melisa and the girls to Panama City Florida for a Thanksgiving Graybill Family Reunion and my grandparent's 60th anniversary celebration. And SUN!!! So excited. I'll be searching for a tan for sure. Chadd would have loved to come but he decided to stay back to hopefully remodel the whole kitchen while we're gone. That will be nice to come home to :) Tootle loo!
Our first home remodel is moving right along! We've been in the house for 17 days now. Here is your enjoyment of the before pictures with a video at the end of the current progress.
I forgot to exclaim in the video over my very first VERY OWN washer and dryer!! I have been sharing a laundry appliances with others since...well always, including five years of marriage this month. THANK YOU, for all of you who have so generously let me use your washer and dryer, especially when I forgot my clothes or left a mess or favored the dryer instead of the clothes line. Thank you genuinely. And now it is SOOOO nice to have my own I can hop down to throw a load in (and take excellent care of :) any time I want. Count your blessings!
I also should have said the bedspreads were from Nana and Popop. Of course!
We are excited to host my father from L.A. who is coming for two weeks later this month. He wants to help us work, the day he arrives. Cyrus is super excited, and he is our first guest in our first house! It won't be a nice finished home, but at least the bedrooms should be done.
So we currently have sunrise at 8:45am and sunset at 6:32pm. We are losing 6 minutes of daylight every day until the winter solstice December 21st. We have a lot of rain this fall, but today was blue sky and sunny, high of 46degrees and low at night of 36. Not too bad! All the snow sporters are wishing for snow instead of rain though. We are too, as we might get a snow mobile (or snow machine as the call them here) for some awesome family excursions!
Oh, and we are getting a stove tonight! It is a Jenn Air that Chadd got off a job at a great discount. Yay!
Wow, has it been a wonderful fall. Autumn is by far the most beautiful season in Alaska so far. With the yellow birch trees scattering their leaves in the foreground, and snow capped mountains in the backdrop, the cozy smell of chimneys drifting their smoke from first of the year fires in wood stoves mixed with dirt, decaying leaves, leather and horse. Riding with the three of us (actually four of us!) down birch leaf covered trails through the woods brings such fresh seasons joy.
The pictures cannot even give you a glimpse of how beautiful it is. It's a 360 view, five senses experience. Imagine enormous rocky snow kissed mountains on three sides as you drive to church, babysitters, and walk out of Walmart. Pretty amazing.
We had our first snow that stuck October 1st. Enough to have snow ball fights, go sledding, and build a giant snowman! Cyrus loved it. And there was finally a clean ground for my usually mud drawn child to play in :)
Cyrus in his beloved tree-house his daddy built for him.
A true before picture. Those bushes will be coming out too.
Our most exciting and recent update, we bought a house! Three bedroom, 1 1/2 bath. Split level with wonderful downstairs play room & utilities/laundry. We're pretty ambitious first time home-owners. Within the first two days of closing we had the shed renovated and organized with our belongings, those three curb-appeal-stealing, insurance-agent-scaring trees felled that were right next to the house, almost all the carpet tore up, and tons of junk thrown out. Now the yard is mowed, the floors scraped, and we're working on pulling those stumps out and finishing the flooring prep for a coat of odor-sealing primer. I never thought I would enjoy mowing a yard so much! But when you OWN it, and it makes such a drastic beautifying improvement, it is so rewarding. Even pulling carpet staples on my hands and knees with a pregnant belly is rather fun! Cyrus has been a great help, most to the time. He got his prayer though. Chadd hates the color (Sorry Mom! ;) and will paint it as soon as higher priorities are completed, but Cyrus prayed for a BLUE house, and he got it.
Chadd up the the tree to tie a rope and direct its fall.
I'll have lots more house renovation pictures.
The rest are on Chadd's phone and he's working in Talkeetna overnight right now.
