Alas-KA!

My friend Brittany Pacini da Silva has been living in Anchorage, Alaska for the past two years with her husband Chris while he racks up his flight hours. It was time for them to move back and since Chris needed to stay an additional month for some more hours, Brittany needed to start the drive out before the snowy season set in and they got stuck up there for another winter. Cue my part in this. I flew to Anchorage to spend two days exploring and then we're going to start our drive back to Salt Lake City tomorrow.

 

Yesterday, I dropped Brittany off at her job and had the car all day to go exploring the city. I was carrying some sacred materials for work and so I stopped off at the Anchorage Alaska Temple first thing. They were in maintenance closure, but one of the counselors was there overseeing the work. He was kind enough to inquire what my plans were for the day and then drew me a map that turned out to be awesome! I drove from the temple down the coast to go to the Portage Glacier. Unfortunately, I was one week past the regular season so the ferry was closed and I couldn't go out to the glacier. I hiked to one instead in the. pouring. rain! I had an umbrella and went about a mile up the trail until I was able to see the glacier. Talk about soaking! Plus, it was very secluded up there so I'm glad I didn't run into anybody else...including wild animals.

 

Next I drove to the wildlife animal conservation park. You had to drive through the park to the different animal area. I'm glad I got to stay in the car because it was still pouring. It was fun to see so many different animals though. Elk, bear, moose, bison, musk ox, etc. Micah would have been in heaven! I stopped at the gift shop afterward to pick up some hot chocolate so I could dethaw a bit and it was perfect!

 



 

After the animal park, I drove up the road to the little resort town of Alyeska. The big hotel there has a tram that goes to the top of the mountain where you can get off and walk around. Of course, the pouring rain was actually snow up there. It was cool to see the clouds drift in and make it look like you were in a secluded, closed off area, and then they would blow away and you'd see all of the valley stretched out below us.

 





 

Next I drove to the Beluga Whale look-out point and stopped and tried to do some whale watching. I didn't have any luck spotting anything even though it is the right time of year for it and the tide was in. I drove back in to Anchorage, went through the city to the north side where I stopped at the Alaska Native Heritage Center. Of course since it is off-season, it was closed. But they did let me in for a bathroom break.

 

Brittany works at the Medical Center right next door to the Heritage Center in the VA section. I made it back in time to pick her up from work and then we met up with one of her work friends for a goodbye dinner at Moose's Tooth for pizza. She brought her two kids and they. are. Adorable! I would have smuggled her son home with me if I could have. He loved playing spiders with me which kept him occupied so Brittany and her friend could really say goodbye.

 

Today, I dropped Britt off at work again and then headed up the road to Wasilla. After some searching, I found the Iditarod Trail Headquarters. Of course I couldn't take a sled ride because I missed the season by a week, but I looked through the museum and watched a couple of films. I also tried finding Sarah Palin's home to no avail. I don't know why I did that last one though, probably just because I was in her city. Brittany drove me around the city after work to show me the float planes harbor which was cool and the ocean off of Anchorage. We also picked up supplies for our road-trip.

 

Special Manti Sealing

Karen suggested that we ride together down to Manti for the sealing of Gordon and Shauna Johnson to three of their adoptive children. I thought that was a fantastic idea and we met up in the parking lot of Macey's. I knew we had a problem when we both got out of our respective cars and tried to get into the other's car. What she actually suggested was that I drive the two of us down. We stopped for some greasy lunch at a mom and pop drive-through which of course was delicious, and we TALKED about EVERYTHING. Any possible subject that you can think of, we touched on it at one point or another. The sealing was so beautiful. When Shauna's son Chandler, who is 6 years old, walked into the sealing room and he saw his parents sitting there, his whole face lit up into the biggest smile I've ever seen. It was so sweet and got me teary-eyed right off. We were all dressed in white as we were in one of the sealing rooms off of the Celestial room. After, we walked around the temple and took pictures and also met up at a local park for sandwiches. I'm so glad they invited me!

 

Sunday was the dedication of the Brigham City Utah Temple. I went with mom and dad to it at the stake center for their Spanish ward so they could say hi to any of their ward members that they saw. Jeremy Call was in town so we prepared for him to come over for Sunday dinner and mom and I ended up having what I call 'Armageddon'. It stemmed from a disagreement on me being the one who always does the dishes at their house and morphed into something else entirely. We ended on good terms after, but our relationship has felt a little strained since. It should be noted that I ended up setting the table, cleaning off the table, and washing the dishes. Like I said. Today, I met up with Jeremy after work and walked over to the Nauvoo Cafe with him so he could have some dinner. He's interested in possibly working for the Church and moving back from Fort Collins, Colorado to Utah.

 

 

Belated B-day Celebrations

Amy Felix didn't consult her personal assistant and made plans for her and Amanda to come up and go to dinner this past Monday. Amanda had already made plans where they bought us play tickets to go see Persuasion at the Off Broadway Theatre on Friday. That means I got two celebrations! Sarah came with us to the play and we met up ahead of time at Pier 49 for some pizza. I liked that we did something a little different by going to the play - which was good, except, for two very poor casting choices. It made the play more comical than it should have been, but still fun.

Mile Marker 35

Karen, Shauna, and Barbara were up in Salt Lake again on Thursday to do some Family History research. We met up at the Nauvoo Cafe and sat outside on the terrace to eat our lunch. We always have such a good time together. Shauna said that they were given permission from the First Presidency to have their adopted son Abraham sealed to them and invited me to come to the sealing. Can't wait!

 

Friday I was taken to the Olive Garden by some of my work friends to celebrate my birthday. Another group of people that always have a good time together. I think I'm learning in my old age to appreciate the good friendships even more. I went down that night to stay in Pleasant Grove and enjoyed the rest of the weekend with the fam. Good times! While there, dad went through some of his old mission boxes and we saw pictures of him on his mission, his old missionary companions, and even some old letters from one of his converts, Alicia, who I'm friends with on Facebook. I took a picture of her letter and sent it to her so we could enjoy the experience together.

 

Dad is standing next to then Elder Spencer W. Kimball!

Holiday Weekend

To start off the Labor Day weekend, I went to Heber Friday night and stayed with the Zabels. Lori, Cody, and Ari were there also and we had a good time Friday night dancing to Lori's wii. EVERYBODY had a good time dancing to the wii...that includes Brett. Enough said. Saturday morning we all went to Swiss Days in Midway. Jeremy played his trumpet in the Marching Band and was completely ashamed afterward to be seen walking the booths in his band shirt. After seeing the hat he was willing to walk around in, I can't believe he was embarrassed about the shirt! =D

I spent Sunday and Monday at mom and dad's. We went for a picnic up the American Fork Canyon with grandma and also Sherry who was in town looking for homes to buy (they want to move to Utah County from Mesquite). It was lovely weather up there with the shade cooling the heat down just enough for us to enjoy our card games.

Getting Along Swimmingly

I sent this brain-teaser out to a bunch of family and friends. You're supposed to count how many squares you see in this image. I'll give the answer at the end of this blog entry.

 

 

 

Tonight, I finally went lap-swimming again for the first time in two years. It felt so good to be back in the pool! But, the place we went to was crowded and not up to my standard (I was spoiled by the Pacini's pool). I went with a temp co-worker who I've become friends with and it was a splash! The pool is 25 meters long and we ended up doing 650 meters during the time we were there. Made me feel like an Olympian! =D

 

The square answer is 40. Did you get it?

SYTYCD

We're down to the top ten in one of my favorite shows, So You Think You Can Dance. I haven't bonded as much with the dancers this season, but there are still some really good ones and I still love to watch. I've taken to watching the show downstairs in the living room at my new place. There isn't a DVR there, but I have a roommate who kind of likes to watch too and sits down to join me. A little bonding time if you will. Tonight, she baked cookies and brought me some along with a glass of milk, and then she came and got my glass off the floor afterward and washed it and the dishes. She told me she likes to serve. I responded that this is a great match then because I love to be served! It got a good laugh out of her. I hope she doesn't think I was kidding...  ;-)