Our First Cache in Alaska & as a married couple!

The small statue near the ever-so-slightly 'engraved' rock entitled Hannah's Cove

We went along the coastal trail.

The first cache we found together! Even in the snow!

Looking inside at all the goodies! We took a pen and left a tagged duck last picked up by Andrew in MA.

I was trying to capture something here...

This one came out better.

One of the tunnels we walked through.

This poem was on a plague near the lake where the coastal trail 'splits' and near a cache we were looking for.

We found this one (well, Andrew did)! The name of it was 'supe-rsized' yet it is a micro....silly.

Just a little surprise for ya

That's right people! Gas here is now at $4 a gallon! Quit your complaining!

We have a new addition to our little family...

His name is Chip.

We have had him for a week today. We adopted him from Anchorage Animal Control.

Isn't he so adorable?!

Our bedroom set was delivered!

The one lonely nightstand we get (on my side!)

The bedframe. It is a platform bed so all we needed to buy was the mattress!

The main dresser. I have all my non-hanging clothes in this one.

A better shot of the main dresser with the mirror.

The second chest we bought with the set.

This is a close-up of the design on the set. It is wine casket wood and cork I believe. The rest is Bazillian wood.

Photos from the housewarming party on Saturday March 25th 2011

Hot Crab Dip

I got the recipe from my aunt Gina in Washington State.

A sad attempt at oreoballs

Andrew's Taco Dip

No-bake Fruit Cheesecake

Some Party Pics

PLaying Beer Pong in the Basement

More Iditarod Pics (from my phone)

Just watching the spectators.

A musher is flying by!

A full team shot.

Some new furniture pics....except the bed set

The couch!!! It is actually not against the wall anymore but out in the open. Leather and Suede!

Our new glasses, stemless wine glasses, old mugs and our new dish ware we ordered from Macy's!

Unpacking the plastic on the chairs.

A better shot of the chairs. The seat is a leather cushion. Really comfortable.

So I need to update.
I've been working in the cafe at Barnes and Noble recently and will be for at least the next two weeks (through the end of the April 9th week) which is okay except that after three days of training I am already sick of it. I would like to be up at the registers at the front of the store for a while. But here I am. In Cafe. Oh well.

Yesterday I took Chip (our adopted kitty) to the Diamond Animal clinic and hospital over on East Tudor street. I got there okay. Chip didn't like the car ride. And during the visit he was a little scared because there was a lot of outside noise near the room (we were near the waiting room and there were a couple of rambunctious dogs outside). He did pretty well with the tech exam (DID NOT like the temperature gauge...I wouldn't either if I had a thermometer stuck up my bottom!) and was very curious about the room. The vet was wonderful. We did a blood test for fec-leuk and what is essentially kitty AIDS (which we had to pay for) and got medicine to de-worm him - especially since he came from a shelter situation and hadn't had any medicine for that. The actual exam was free because the animal control gives out a coupon for a free health exam which is honored at fifteen or so area vets. We chose this one because they are open twenty four hours and have good reviews from the animal control.

Tonight I have to work from 6-11 pm which is good I guess. A little bit of a bummer because Andrew and I wanted to go on a double bowling date with one of his coworkers and her boyfriend. Maybe next week. On Saturday we are having an open house/housewarming party. His coworker Lloyd suggested it and everyone in his office is pretty excited about it. It will just be finger-foods and appetizers I think. I am planning on making a no-bake cheesecake, oreo balls, a hot crab dip (recipe thanks to Aunt Gina), Nachos with salsa/ sour cream and I think we might order pizza. It will also be "Bring your own drink" so we don't have to supply it all. I am looking forward to it. Except for all the baking and preparation I have to do tomorrow!

Another thing. We went to the Hospitality House Married couples night at the pastor's house in Eagle River last night. It was so much fun and feels so good to be back in a bible study/instant set of friends. They had dinner (which we ate before because Andrew didn't know but that didn't stop him from eating more!) then we read together Matthew chapters 5-7. After which we talked about what stood out to us in the reading and then broke up into small groups to pray for each other before coming together as a group for corporate prayer.

And I was reminded not to worry. Jesus told us not to worry about what we will eat or wear or drink because even the birds and the lilies are provided for...and lilies do no work at all! So I prayed that I would be able to focus less on worrying and more on how God will work everything out. And then, on the way home, I was tested. Don't you love that? When you ask God for something, he always gives you a trial to test you. I've stopped asking for patience because I don't want to be tested!

On the way home I was tested. I worried about putting gas in the car and buying groceries on Saturday and having to use my check for things instead of putting it towards my bills then not being able to pay them.... and I worried. Then I went to God and said 'Didn't I just ask to not worry? And here I am worrying before coming to You. This is silly. I know You will work everything out for us.'

2011 Iditarod!!

Hey all! This Andrew :) Caitlin's been asking me to get photos of our trip to the official start of the 2011 Iditarod. Unfortuantely I don't have that many, but I do have a video or 2! Enjoy!

And here's the videos

This lady was originally from Martha's Vineyard, MA!!!!

Pictures of the house before we got furniture, but had still moved in...

the kitchen

the other half of the kitchen

the new mattress

the bathroom sink

shower curtain

Living room

Door to the 'deck'

Stiars to upstairs

If I didn't know how to ski before... I certainly do now!

So on Friday I went down to the base's golf course to take part in some cross country skiing lessons. I found out about it through Andrew - he got an email about it and since I really had nothing to do until the evening, I figured that I would go and see what it was all about.

I got to the parking lot and went inside. I asked the woman there about lessons but apparently it is more of a rental and you go out on your own. I haven't done it in probably five years so I told them I had never done it before and this was my first time. So the woman (TSgt Thomas) showed me what to do and how to pick out boots and poles and skis and also gave me a crash course in how to propel myself.

So I went along and did the first small loop in about a half hour. I was feeling pretty good once I go back to start (and by then another two women had started. A guy from the Arctic Warrior (newspaper) was there and I got my picture taken  - and later interviewed...more on that later - and he was taking photos of the other women getting started as well.

I decided to go around again.

I got to one of the points where the trail splits - I could either go about a quarter mile back to the golf building (and I could practically see it through the trees) or I could go right, and loop around the back of the golf course. I had about forty-five minutes before lunch a this point (and meeting Andrew) and I'd been going along at a pretty good clip that I figured it would be worthwhile to try something different.

So.

I am about a half mile up that section of the trail and there is a slight incline but I'm not terribly worried. For whatever reason I look up and to my left, just within the tree line, barely five feet away is a freakin' huge MOOSE!!! Just chompin' away at some brush.

My heart stopped. (well, not literally, but I got really scared, especially since he/she stopped munching and paused before going back to munching.

Ever so quietly (which really, in essence, was quite loud), I crunched my way to face the way I had just come and skied out of there as if my life depended on it - my life did! I was so scared!!! I tried to look back, to make sure it wasn't coming after me and OMPH! I fell onto the front of the skis, giving one of my knees a nice bruise (found out about that later). I got up as quick as I could and skied away...

By the time I felt I was far enough away (practically until I could see the building in sight) I slowed down. Man was I sweating! I took off my skis  - very shakily - and returned to the rental room to share my store. And Rest. For I was sweating as though I had just worked out hardcore for an hour. And it was probably only two minutes.

(okay so I didn't stay long enough to whip out my camera phone and take a photo - I was too scared! But this gives you an idea how big they are!)

hmmmm what have I done so far today? Not too much. Andrew had to go to some breakfast thing with a big-wig that came to base so he skipped out early. He came back after breakfast because he forgot something and I decided I would drive him in so I could have the car today...the same will be true tomorrow since I have a second call-back interview with the Barnes & Noble store up here!

Yesterday we found the library together and rented a couple of movies to help us hold oer boredom before we can more into our house after this weekend. I'll have to tell work that I can't start until maybe next weekend or at least the latter part of next week because I would like to be there when everything is getting moved in!

We went looking at Bed Bath & Beyond the other night and set up a registry...even though we re already married! We pretended we were engaged and had a May wedding coming up...but mostly we wanted to look at the items there and be able to get an idea/list of everything we might need an/or want to have for the new house!

My task today is to figure out a list of very important things we will need to start off with as soon as we move in (like bedsheets and towels) and also create a secondary list for the items we can wait on, such as  curtains or a tv stand etc.

So I am off to do that.

and maybe this afternoon I will swing over to Masha's house and visit with her. But I'm not sure yet.

Love Love

My friend Syndal is writing a paper on the losing economics of today's American Church. I read what she posted to Facebook and at the bottom of her post, this is what she had written...


“The purpose of the church is to mobilize a people to accomplish a mission. Yet we seem to have turned the church as troop carrier into the church as luxury liner. We seem to have organized ourselves, not to engage in battle for the souls of peoples around the world, but to indulge ourselves in the peaceful comforts of the world. This makes me wonder what would happen if we looked squarely in the face of a world with 4.5 billion people going to hell and twenty-six thousand children dying every day of starvation and preventable diseases, and we decided it was time to move this ship into battle instead of sitting on the pool deck while we wait for the staff to serve us more hors d’oeuvre.” (Platt, 2010, p. 170-171).


...And it has struck a cord with me. And I agreed. I recall first going into a particular church in an area I lived for about a year of my life and not being welcomed in. Actually, out of the entire year I was there, I can say that besides the pastor and his wife, I only know one family I could consider 'well'. Isn't that sad?

Welcome to JBER Alaska!

Well, let's just say that the city is really Anchorage but the base itself is practically a city so...

Andrew and I arrived from over fifteen hours of flying in Anchorage at 12 am on Saturday March 5th. His friend Carlos picked us up and dropped us off at the North Star Inn, located near Andrew's current dorm. We slept until 9 30 am or so, then went to breakfast at the DFAC (basically the cafeteria) and then went off into Anchorage to hit Bailey's, a really nice quality furniture store. After about two hours of browsing and poking around, we settled in on the bedset we would like to have. It is made out of Brazilian wood and old wooden wine casket pieces. We get the bed frame, a low dresser, mirror, and one nightstand. We added in the taller hest as well so that we would have more room to put our clothes. We also picked out a mattress. We decided that we would buy the mattress ourselves rather than use the wedding gift money for the bedroom set that my mom set up for us.

We also went over to the animal control center and visited with a at named Oscar... who is so lovable and friendly and is such a sweet cat. We would like to adopt him I think but we couldn't because we don't have a house yet...or an address for that matter.

Sunday we woke up earlier again but this time after breakfast at the DFAC we headed over to Wasilla high School (about 41 mile North of Anchorage) to catch the shuttle to Willow AK to see the [official] (re)start of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.I've always wanted to see the beginning of the race ever since I was little and I would be reading sled-dog books like those by Sue Henry. We stayed there for about an hour before catching the shuttle back to the car. We went to Red Robin for Dinner before heading back to the Inn to ret and relax and watch an episode of Sherlock Holmes from Netflix. We also moved the rest of his personal items from out of his dorm room and into the back of the car.

Today, Monday,  we got a lot of thing done. I got a military ID card so now I can shop at the grocery store on base and I will basically use this card as my identification card for wherever I go on base(and gt discounts off base too!) We signed me up for the Tri-care medical insurance like Andrew has. We finished the military housing application forms and got to look at sample show apartment. And the funny thing is that Masha (Spinney) will be living just down the street from me! We stopped by her house to see her shortly before going on with our other errands.

Right now I am back at the hotel writing this. I am sort of feeling blah. Andrew had to run back over to his dorm to give his dorm manager a letter from his supervisor about processing out, and also grab all his cereal he's got stored away so I can have breakfast in the mornings. He also has to bop over to his squadron for something. I'm not sure what.

oh, and I had a group interview at Barnes & Noble this morning. It went well I think.

Anyways, time to make a list of everything important we will need to get for the house next week!

Caitlin