More and more light!

Well, it's getting closer! I read an article that stated that Anchorage will have as much light as the rest of the country on the Spring Equinox (March 20th)! That is very cool! Then, after that, peace out, suckas, because we will be leaving all of you in the dust when it comes to sunlight! It will be daylight all day and night long! Whoop whoop! Actually, I'm a little nervous about this since I'm not exactly sure how my body is going to react to sleeping in the daylight! We are going to buy some black out curtains to help keep the light out. Someone told us that people also cover the windows with aluminum foil...however, you become a baked potato in your own house because it gets so hot! Good point! I think the dogs will be fine since they sleep all the freaking time as it is!

Things are going well up here. Michael flew to Juneau this morning. He may be getting Juneau as one of his areas that he has to cover. This means he will be flying down there once a month for a week at a time to try to recruit people. They don't have a permanent recruiter stationed there, so one of the Anchorage recuiters has to go there to find people. Michael hopes to get this area because he thinks there are a lot of potential recruits in that area. I don't really want him to get this area because that means he will be gone at least one week a month...but that's just me being selfish. He really wants that area, so I actually will be happy for him because maybe he'll meet his quota faster and get a little extra time off! Sa-weet!

I still haven't found my "9-5" job yet, but, somehow, I have managed to fill up my days with various things. I have started to volunteer at the animal shelter. We were all worried about me doing this because you all know my obsession with pets and if they were going to be put on the chopping block, I may not be able to help myself and bring them all home! However, this is pretty much a no-kill shelter. They will euthanize if the animal won't be able to be adopted out due to various reasons, such as aggression. They may also have to euthanize if the shelter is full. Luckily, it hasn't been full at all since I've been volunteering so the animals aren't in a huge rush! I figured a lot of people would like to volunteer, but just don't have the time. Well, I've got the time, so why don't I put it to good use! :)

The dog park we go to has been populated by a few moose lately! They are not even scared by the dogs or people. It's amazing! Unfortunately, everytime I've seen the moose, I don't have my camera. But don't worry, I'm working on it and I will get you more moose pictures! I'm not exactly sure if the dogs have seen the moose yet. Whenever I spot them or some other dog park goer alerts me of the moose, I turn around before the dogs...mainly, Freedom...see them. Freedom does not like horses, so I'm assuming she will not like moose! And I definitely don't want her to go piss that moose off and then bring that pissed off moose back to me! So I just turn them around and try diverting their attention. The dogs probably have seen the moose and just don't care. They like to make me think I'm protecting them, when, really, they're just protecting me. :)

The view from Elderberry Park in Anchorage!

I'm not exactly sure what mountains these are...I'm still trying to learn my Alaskan geography!

One of the views from the dog park. I'm pretty sure these mountains are the Chugach Mountains This is Conner Lake...it is frozen and you can walk across the whole thing! I was throwing Bracken a ball and when it landed, we lost it! (The snow is so deep on the lake that the ball disappeared into the powder!)

The two beasts!

The Chugach Mountains

Woof, woof, woof! (aka-come visit us!)

Dog Park!

We took the dogs to a local dog park in Anchorage. Once you're in the park limits, you can unleash your dogs and let them run! This has been an awesome place to take the dogs since we
don't have much of a yard here. Plus, the interaction and socialization Freedom is getting at this park is helping her realize that she is not the queen diva like she thinks she is!

It was 13 degrees F today! However, icsicles still formed on Freedom's muzzle! Brrrr!

Michael all bundled up to stay warm!

NC State in the house!! Go Wolfpack!

I'm standing on a freaking lake!

The new Alaskans!

Me and the dogs

We thought that this was pretty cool! We've never actually seen a real snowflake look like the snowflakes you made in school!

We were actually pretty obsessed with these snowflakes. We took 12 pictures of them, but I didn't think we should post them all! :)

Maybe a blizzard...

It snowed all day yesterday! We think it might have actually been a blizzard! Hahaha...to most people from areas with a lot of snow, it probably wasn't a blizzard, but to us, it was one!!

At first, I did not like shoveling snow, but now I look at it as an opportunity to get my workout in for the day. So now, I welcome the snow shoveling because that means no gym time for me! Sa-weet! There's only a few of us on our block that actually clean our driveways. I guess the housing folks are full of crap about fining us for not cleaning the driveways. Oh well, their threats worked on us!

New Years Eve 2009

Getting ready to go out and bring in the 2009 right!

Us a little into the night and having some fun with the camera!

Michael wearing his New Years hat!

Me going to get some food! Yumm!


Us getting ready to hear the comedians!

Snow Booties

Freedom with her new snow booties!

A close-up of the new shoes


She really does not like them. At first, she tried to bite them off of her feet. Then when she started walking around in them, she lifted her legs up like she was stepping in muck! She's lucky we haven't bought her a full body snow suit yet...which I have seen in one of the pet stores!

Woronzof Park

Part of the view at Woroznof Park in Anchorage. This is the city with the Chugach Mountains in the background. The to the left of this view (not shown) are the Talkeetna Mountains and Mt. McKinley! Mt. McKinley is pretty tall from here and it's at least a 5 hour drive from Anchorage!

Michael and me cheesin'!

Us and the view. These pictures were taken at about 2 PM in December.

Michael in his new home

Stuff Around Our House

Michael getting ready in the "Arctic Entry" in our house! This is the procedure we have to go through everytime we leave the house! Luckily, we have a bench down there now to make the process go by a little smoother!

The Chugach Mountains. This is the view when I leave the gym! This was probably taken about 10 AM during January.

This is the view from our back porch! Amazing...


Another picture from our back porch!

Our First Joint Viewing of a Moose!

We were hanging out a Woronzof Park. I wanted Michael to see the most beautiful view in Anchorage! We weren't able to see any of the view because of the fog, but we did get to see our first moose together!

This picture was taken with NO ZOOM!! He was really that close to the driver side window! We are still trying to get used to seeing these gorgeous animals in the city! I know we look like we're not from around here due to the fact that we stop every single time we see a moose on the side of a road or in a neighborhood, whereas most Alaskans just go on about their business!

Amazing! The moose doesn't even pay attention to the people around him.

Chugach State Park-Dogs Real First Outing in Snow!

The amazing view on the trail we were hiking in the park! We still can't believe we live here!

Me and Bracken on our upward snow hike! Everyone around us used snow shoes or cross country skis! We are obviously not used to snow...notice our shoes!

Michael and the view


This was during the time the dogs had to stay at the kennel until we could move into our house. We were able to take them out for the day and go hiking. Michael also decided that they deserved a Wendy's burger! Who says these dogs aren't spoiled?!?

Me with the pups! This trip was their first time in real snow! Michael and I were nervous about bears, wolves, and moose. We had been watching every show possible about this state and a lot of the shows talk about dogs bringing the wild animals back to you! That would have been cool to see an animal up close, but I don't think we were quite ready for that kind of encounter!

1st blog

Okay, I told everyone that we were going to get a website up here, so here it is! Check back frequently because we plan on updating this often with our new adventures and pics!

Things are good up here. It is so beautiful up here! Michael and I really like it here and think we may even want to come back up here when he retires. We are also in the worst part of the year, the winter, and we already really like it! The -22 degree F weather we had was not so cool, but that only lasted a couple of weeks. I never thought that I would think 22 or 23 degrees F was actually quite warm until I experienced the below 0 temps!

Michael's job is going. He is not a huge fan of this assignment, but he's getting through it. He's a Marine and they overcome and adapt! I still am looking and applying for permanent jobs. I have started working at Weight Watchers! I really like it so far! I will continue to work at WW even after I get my "9-5" job. I think WW is a wonderful program and it helped me lose over 61 lbs!! whoop whoop!

The dogs are adjusting well to the weather up here. I don't think they like the deep snow too much, but they're getting used to it.

That's about it for now.