First Successful Moose Hunt!

I crawled out of our tent in the dim chill of the morning to visit a bush, the treeline still a dark shadow against the glow of the sun's first rays, when one of the shadows snorted... a moose sounds just like a horse when it clears its nose. But the immensity of the antlers is much more startling than a horse, and when they turn and face directly toward you, it scares the pee right away. I waited until he decided the foliage was more interesting than whatever was crouching in the bush and I snuck back to Chadd who was still sleeping more soundly than I ever do camping. "Chadd! There's a bull moose right behind our tent!" He jumped up much faster than when I say it's time for church. And proceeded to stalk this guy...

He visited us a couple more times before we left.


It was SO serene and beautiful. Five days with just me and my husband in the middle of wild country that beckons adventure. My mom flew up and had a blast with our beloved sons and while we rumbled our pair of four-wheelers 25 miles back in over large rocks, swampy mud, deep creeks, and seemingly impossible terrain. Fortunately, I didn't flip one this time, and each time we got stuck we did eventually get it out... even when the mud was above the top of the wheel. I don't think experience is ever going to take the challenge out of getting back in that country.

The second day we hiked the equivalent of climbing Pioneer Peak- which Chadd and I summitted this summer- scouting through his awesome hunting scope to carefully count the brow tines of many bull moose antlers and estimate the inches of the span of their rack. In this area of Alaska their are VERY strict laws for hunting moose. Unless you have a specialty tag, a legal moose has to have a rack over 50 inches in width or 4 brow tines, or it can be a spike or fork. One hunter we spoke with on the way out reflected the challenge well, "When have you EVER seen a moose with FOUR brow tines?!" And if you get an illegal moose? You risk getting all equipment used in harvesting that moose confiscated forever: guns, fourwheelers, truck, even your plane if you used one. So, if you thought a moose rack was probably 48 inches but were 99% sure, would you risk it?! We decided to keep our wheelers this year.

Now, many of your wives have men that hunt and might bemoan the addiction. But I had a blast! Picking while blueberries for breakfast while Chadd glassed for moose, climbing amazing peaks, the fresh still quiet of the vast valley, I'm sold. Hey gals, get a great work out, husband bonding, and a break from kids at the same time! Talk about adrenal recovery :)
It's times like that which remind me why I live in Alaska.

We were headed out the last day and Chadd decided to drive up one last hill just to look- and right when I was fixing lunch there he was, a fork! I don't enjoy the killing process- but it's healthy food! And sure is a LOT of work. We didn't eat or drink from breakfast till 10pm. And then the processing took 3 more days. But it's finally in our freezer. Thank you God for your favor!

Meat! We passed up so many huge rack
bulls for this LEGAL guy.
I know Chadd's tongue looks diseased,
but its an Alaskan tradition on your first kill
 to grab whatever was last
in the moose's mouth and stick it
in your own....
kidding...! 
It's a Cliff bar ;)

So we've had an offer accepted another house. It's a neighborhood house close to town. I can't wait to avoid the 45-60 minute drive from our current rental in Big Lake. It'll be great to own a home again.

Cyrus and Darius crack us up and challenge us every day. Cyrus is turning into such a little boy. I take him out ptarmigan hunting with his BB gun. He's so serious about it, stalking and scouting, while Darius chimes in "Ssshhhh" from my back.

We Did It!

AFTER!

BEFORE

We have officially bought, flipped, and sold our first home- closing June 26: 1 year and 8 months after purchase. Our first (and last) successful flip for a solid profit! It's been difficult and inconvenient at times living in a home we're fixing up, especially the kitchen remodel. A lot of sweat and labor. But if it gets us closer to where we want to be then it was worth it. And we've thoroughly enjoyed living in this fabulous home in the meantime. We went from camper, to 1,296 square feet, and ....Back to a camper again! Yep, that's right. We have another camper parked in our yard. The last one we lived in and sold for a profit. Hoping to do the same with this one. We may park it on our generous friends yard or if we find that perfect lot of land for sale, we may park in on our own turf! Will we live in a camper through the winter in Alaska you ask? Well....probably not. But we'll see....

Before

After

My husband, Chadd, does incredible work. This place went from Eyesore to Accent. We have had countless strangers stop as they drive or walk by and shout, "We love what you've done with the house!" And they haven't even seen the inside!

Kitchen After

Kitchen/living Before

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

Another great accomplishment is that I completed a triathlon! The Gold Nugget Triathlon, an annual all women's event, is 500 yard swim, 12 mile bike, and 4.1 mile run. Whoowee! I won't say it was a breeze. If you're as competitive as myself, it's nearly impossible to "take it easy." But thanks to my incredible friend Vera who got me signed up and swam or ran with me every week, and my co-worker who lent me her awesome racing bike 2 days before the race, I finished 44th out of 211 in my age class. There were 1,448 women competing in the entire race.  see for yourself!

Third Newbie: Chadd is full force with the new business Apex Building Solutions. He's getting jobs in and also enjoying working double-team with his friend who owns Walby Homes Construction. The bookkeepping still lands on me, but we're keeping things a bit simpler this time. 

Memorial Day weekend family fourwheel camping trip. You can't tell, but I am completely covered in mud.
Thank goodness for awesome rain gear! )h, and That's Darius on my back.

Swimming in Cottonwood lake right near our house.

Family affairs-- our boys are running circles around me, literally. So much laughter, and so much crying! I once asked a dear friend Danielle who had 4 boys at the time what the secret was to raising boys. She replied: "Don't care about dirt, and don't care about noise." Boy, is that so true. And I made the mistake of pulling Chadd's mini Djembe drum out of storage in my dejunking frenzy. Oh man.... Darius at 1 yrs old can now rival his brother with noise and mess. He's a natural at pulling organized dishes out of the dishwasher and pestering his brother to steal his toys. And though Cyrus as shown some increased maturity at age 4, the most typical behavior stirs in inner knot thinking, "Ugh, grow up and act like....you're not four!" Naw....he's a often a delight. But I definitely have to get them out of the house or we'll all go crazy. Luckily we have a nice lake right down the road, a great yard, parks in town, and hiking trails a short drive away. Cyrus impressed me breathless last week when he bounded up the back of the desperately dusty Butte (the side without stairs that is unlisted), while I huffed and puffed with Darius in the trusty Ergo on my back. Unfortunately coming down was not the cake walk up had been as we mistakenly got on an old abandon horse trail that was nearly impassible. But with a little life metaphor a perhaps some toddler shoulder riding, we made it down alive. 

Darius summitted the Bodenburg Butte!

So, closing and moving in 19 days. Packing and homefying said camper. Enjoying my mommy break two days a week when I put on my Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner hat. Oh, and did I mention Chadd starts an away job tomorrow morning working 7-9 days away/2 days home for 2 months? There's lots to do: Right now we have 3 guys from Lancaster, PA lodging in our newly purchased camper who just got back from summitting Denali (formerly known as Mt. McKinley). Our church Northgate Alaska is meeting in a tent with evening potlucks all summer. This weekend the boys and I are going to the Rodeo with our friends and hiking Lazy Mountain (not lazy at all) with my co-workers. King (Salmon) Fishing is starting and dipnetting with a visit from my father from L.A. in July --Chadd is taking off for. Hoping to fill our freezer with 110 Salmon in our 2 district allotment this year! 

Come visit! Though, you might have to set up a tent until we have our home built :)

Frozen But Not Forgotten

The sun rising on Denali (formerly known as Mt. McKinley),
Denali is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet above sea level.
This is the view over a frozen lake from our friends family cabin!

Following our friends out to their cabin

 
Most of you are probably welcoming red buds and thunderstorms as silver white winters melt into spring; Or perhaps, as a semi cooler season tempers out to a mild ambient weather until the blistering heat returns... But here in Wasilla, Alaska, we've barely tasted above-freezing. While there are huge patches of brown grass showing through in some sunny yards, we are still driving UP into our driveway onto the packed snow, passing a Daddy-son snow fort in our front yard made out of chunks of concrete-style snow. Last week I drove over a lake for the first time. Locals plow a road across for speedy access in the winter. Even though we saw a jeep drive over the lake right before us, it's still a bit unnerving looking down out of your car over clear ice with cracks as big as your hand.

The Johnson Cabin

Driving on a road over a frozen lake

 

 "Break up" in the valley can occur anytime from late February to April. But I've heard it can come with a false spring, temps as high as 60, only to cry "tricked ya!" with another couple feet of snow with sub-zero temperatures. But this has been a "good" winter with sufficient snow and cold for snowboarding, snow machining, sledding, and all the other  sports so loved. We've had the chance to do some of each along with a nice weekend at our friends family cabin. Chadd bought me a pretty pink snowboard and I'm still hoping to use it on the south side of the mountain for spring boarding at Hatcher's Pass. 

I really didn't mind the winter too much. The worse part was the WIND. My word, I'd take -15 and stillness over 26 degrees with a 40 mile wind that cuts though all clothing and threatens frostbite to any sliver of bare skin. That was the only time I really couldn't take the boys outside. Along with the wind came snow drifts. I remember as a child joyously constructing a fort and slide tunnel in a drift up the side of our barn in the storm of 1996 in Virginia. This wasn't quite as gleeful. The wind blew snow over our previously plowed driveway until it completely buried it. You couldn't even see where the drive had been. I am chagrined to say I foolishly attempted to back the car across to make it to Cyrus' last indoor turf soccer practice. This blunder was followed by the next 45 minutes digging it out only to drive it back to where it had just been parked. This wasn't your nice fluffy snow easily pushed aside with a four-wheeler plow. It was solid packed snow you can nearly walk across. Even our neighbors snow blower couldn't crush it. It took an hour of chopping and tossing with metal shovels in the dark after the boys were in bed, with a break to catch our breaths and watch the northern lights dance slowly in the sky. It reminded me of a time when Chadd and I furiously dug a channel for the rising water from a downpour in Haiti to prevent the basement from flooding. Good times. 

Chadd shoveling, or chopping, our driveway full of drifted snow.
My hand nearly froze from the wind taking this picture,
till I quickly put it back in it's glove and went back to helping him.

Cyrus learned to clear off the walkway as a chore (or a punishment), sometimes several times in a day. I'd have helped him more but ironically our snow shovel is still buried somewhere in the snow...

Alaska is year round adjustment: The boys are now starting to go to bed while its still light and we put on snow pants for warmth to attempt to bike on the icy paths.Yet most of life is pretty normal. We've almost finished the kitchen remodel and have a handful more areas to complete before we list our home. If we get it ready by May it'll be a 1 1/2 yr flip. Not too bad. You may ask our plan after the sale. It is flexible, but may include renting an apartment and building our next investment from the ground up. 

The biggest news of the quarter is Chadd quit his employed job at Taylored Restoration to strike out once more on his own. The new business: Apex Building Soutions, LLC. Check us out on facebook. Chadd's networked a lot of connections and area know how after 2 years here working construction. Some of the design adjustments for building in an earthquake-prone arctic region are quite interesting. I'll have to let him tell you about that. Once the website is finished we'll hit the advertising hard and see where the Lord takes it!I've stepped up to working 2 days every week and 3 days every other. Still enjoying my job immensely. Darius still comes with me but he'll be joining Cyrus at our fabulous babysitters soon. He's almost walking and just getting into everything. He turns 1 April 8! Wow. A whole year...

 Even in Alaska it's easy to nestle into the daily routines of making a living, enjoying and surviving the preschooler years, and improving life around you. It takes a trip out to the back country or a walk through silently snowy woods to whisper a question, "What am I really about?"  What's MY purpose in the hustle and bustle here and there. Do I contribute more than just wiping diapered butts, doing pap smears, and endless cleaning?
I taught my first mother-daughter class for young girls about their changing body and body image. This time I used a curriculum called Maidens by His Design and held it at my workplace. It went fabulously! We had 11 daughters and their moms who were thrilled.

While we were visiting PA for Christmas
a friend of mine challenged me to find MY
own personal style. Here it is: I call it
Sporty LumberJill (trademark pending...)

And I finally felt I made a difference in the world again! I'm excited to do more classes for this age group and older. It thrills and "empassions" me (my word). And this is what God is about: What makes YOU come alive. If that's all things mothering- AWESOME. If it's opening a bed and breakfast GO FOR IT!! ;) If it's having a voice through publishing books, or teaching art, or making a crowd of people laugh - Do it! Of course we have to work the details and bring home the bread and butter, but God designed people to spread His life by being the best YOU  you can be. 

Well Chadd, Cyrus and Darius are out for a chilly four-wheeler ride and will return at any moment cold and hungry.  Until next quiet moment with nothing urgent--stay warm, and stay ALIVE!