Ducks Unlimited Banquet

To continue Michael's 30th Birthday celebration, we attended the smaller Ducks Unlimited Banquet, or the Hunter's Dinner, in Anchorage this past weekend. If we dressed in camouflage, then we got a raffle ticket to win a gun! If you wore camo pants and a camp shirt, you got two tickets! Since Michael and I love to dress up for things anyways, this was right up our alley!


This dinner was also military appreciation. Michael got a raffle ticket just for being in the military! I tried to get a ticket, but you had to be active duty to get this. I even pulled the "I'm carrying his baby!" card to get the extra raffle ticket! This didn't work! Haha!

Michael also spent a crap load of money on raffle tickets! So, you probably think that we won something, right?

WRONG!!

All of these tickets and we did not win one thing...not even the extra decoys the DU peeps had sitting around! Ugh! This was super frustrating! However, Michael did have a really good time and Ducks Unlimited is an organization he really supports. In the end, we weren't too upset about all of the money we spent since it did go to a really great thing!

That's for the Birds...

On Saturday, Michael and I drove down to a local bird watering hole. The ducks, geese, and bald eagles were out in full force. Here are some of the photos...

Michael's New Lens

Michael has to go up to Fairbanks for work stuff twice a month. The ride up to Fairbanks from Anchorage is really beautiful, especially on a clear sunny day.

I got Michael a new zoom lens for a his camera for his birthday this year. Of course, he took it with him on his last Fairbanks trip. Here are some photos he took of some caribou that were grazing along the way! Enjoy!

Derby Time, Again!

We went to the last roller derby bout of the season last night. This was, by the far, the best and most exciting bout we have seen! The Rage City Rollergirls (Anchorage's team) played against the Oil City Rollergirls (Edmonton, Canada's team). The last time Rage City played Oil City, Rage City lost. This bout was a very close game almost the whole time! Canada had a really good team and their girls were hardcore! The bout came down to the last jam, which lasts two minutes. Anchorage was behind by one point, and then, during the last jam, Anchorage scored four points causing us to win by three points! It was incredible!

Go USA!! During this bout, the drunkards in the beer garden (conveniently where we were sitting), all started chanting "USA! USA"! It was like the Olympic hockey game between Canada and USA all over again!

Our friend, Jill, is from Canada. She was actually born in Edmonton! So, she unfortunately pulled for the Canada team to win. She even wore her Canadian sweatshirt and toque (what Canadians call a snow cap or beanie or toboggan). I warned her that she was going to have to sit on the other side of the arena if she wasn't pulling for Anchorage. However, we were able to come to a truce and she sat with us. We did ask her to pose for this photo when the bout was over, though, and like the true champ she is, she did this without any complaints!

This could be due to the fact that she loves the USA and all of her American peeps! Plus, she's been cheering for the Anchorage team for the past two years and it's hard to just turn that love for a team off for one game. Jill, you were a great sport and I will proudly wear my "Roots" gear with a smile because of you! :)

After the bout, we went to a local sports bar where all of the roller derby team hangs out after the bout. It was a great night and an amazing way to end the season! We have already decided that we will be buying season tickets for next season! Go Derby!

Michael's 30th Birthday Party

Michael has been on vacation this past week. We didn't go anywhere and really didn't do anything too special. He has been super stressed out from work and with a huge work inspection, baby, and back-to-back summer guests right around the corner, he decided a week to just chill out and relax was well needed! Since Michael was going to be off all week, we also decided to go ahead and have his 30th Birthday Celebration this past Friday.

The theme of Michael's party was camouflage! We also wanted this party to be an

artery-clogging, deep-fried extravaganza! We made beer-battered halibut and ling cod, mozzarella sticks, french fries, and homemade hush puppies! (Note: Our party was the first time hush puppy experience for most of our party guests! In NC, hush puppy mix is sold in the stores. Up here in AK, not so. We actually had to find a recipe and make our puppies from scratch!)

Michael got several gifts from our friends. He was mainly hooked up with all forms of alcohol!

However, he did receive some non-alcohol related gifts. Some of our friends, Brandon and Kelly, bought Michael a Zeus statue. They said that Michael reminded them of Zeus! (Don't ask me why!) Now, Michael has the hugest head imaginable!

Since we were having nothing healthy at this party, I made Michael a homemade, from scratch, giant chocolate sheet cake with homemade icing! Yum, yum! This cake was amazing and was quite a hit!

Michael didn't wear as much camo as other people, but this was because he spent a good portion of the beginning of the party frying up heart-clogging food! However, he did wear his "It's My Birthday" necklace for a little while!

The party was a lot of fun and Michael and all of our buddies brought in Michael's birthday with a bang! The hardcore drinkers actually stayed up until 615 in the morning partying! Michael didn't get out of bed until 4 PM the next day, and I think that's only because I made him get up!

Michael's actual birthday is coming up this week! So, if you all remember, you should send him baby stuff! He said that's what he would really like for his 30th! ;)

Big Fluffy Flakes

Here are a couple more photos from the mid-April snow storm we got this past week. These photos were taken from our back porch!

Is it not the middle of April?

So, we woke up this morning to SNOW! Lots and lots of snow and it hasn't quit the entire day!


I know I complained earlier in the winter about not having much snow, but we're in Springtime now! No more snow!


Everything had pretty much melted and we actually had been seeing grass and buds on trees!

Hopefully, it will all melt away soon...or, at least, before Michael's birthday celebration! :p