Alaska-Part 3

To finish off our fabulous trip to Alaska here a couple of georgous pictures of the Alaskan scenery.

Wednesday morning we decided to do a session at the Anchorage Temple, and low and behold in this small world, I saw someone I knew there! One of my best friends and roomates from college is from Palmer which is about 45 min north of Anchorage, anyways, her mom was working in the Temple that day! She helped us in the dressing room, AND helped me out later in our session! It was so fun to see her!

That afternoon we headed to Kinkaid Park for a round of frisbee golf. It was the most beautiful course I have ever played, not that I've played a whole lot of different courses, but is was so peaceful. There were a LOT of trees which was challenge, but you just felt like you were in your own little world. The park is over 100 acres, it has mountain biking trails, large open areas, lots of trees...we saw a big bull moose here the last time came, but not this time. No moose sitings as of yet on this trip.

This is throw number 2 on this hole for Brad.

And throw number 3 on the same hole. Like I said, the trees were a challenge.

Michael, Daren, and Landon.

Dave taking a turn.

Our frisbee golfing crew.

Thursday we went to Whittiar, a super small town, which includes exacltly 1 apartment building, and is only accessible through a 2 1/2 mile tunnel. Daylen LOVED the tunnel drive and talked about it the rest of the day, luckily we got to go through it again on the way back. We were hoping to hike up Whittiars Pass and see the great views from up there, but rain and fog foiled that idea. So instead we walked around a bit, went in a few shops, bought some yummy donuts, and met up with Heather and the boys at Portage Glacier to take that cruise.

Here we are in front of Portage Glacier, did you know that glaciers are blue? That's how you can tell if it is really a glacier or just snow. Blue with lots of crevasses, really cool looking.

On the way home we stopped at Potters Marsh to see some wildlife. We saw a couple of bald eagles and lots of fish. No moose. No bears.

Friday we headed north to Eklutna Lake and did some kayaking. My first time kayaking and it was really fun, kinda cold, but fun.

Saturday morning we decided to hike the infamous Flat Top mountain. It was our last chance since we were all leaving later that day. On the way to pick up Brad's brother, Chad, what did we FINALLY see? A MOOSE!! A mama and her 2 babies just walking down the street. So of course we had to pull over and watch them for a minute and take some pictures. They were literally RIGHT THERE. It always is like this, the very end of our trip we finally see a moose in the wild.

My batteries died after just a couple of pictures. Here we are at what is called the "saddle." After this point your just a hop, skip, and a jump from the top. Except that last jump you are pretty much just climbing up rocks, no trail. My mom made it to the top! And on our way down we passed Chad finishing the last part for the 2nd time helping his mom up to the top. So Karen made it all the way as well! Our moms are awesome!

We went to the zoo that afternoon to see our bears, then it was time to eat dinner and pack and be on our way. We love our visits to Alaska, we just wish we could make more often than every 3 years. We loved having both our families there (well, part of both of our families) and hope to make it back soon!

TODAY

We FINALLY closed on our NEW HOUSE!

We are so sad to leave our amazing ward and fabulous neighbors,

but we are so excited about this next chapter

in the lives of the Brad Gasaway Family!

We are moving to Salem,

not far away,

we love the area.

Alaska-Part 2

We finally got to relax a bit on Sunday. Church wasn't until 1:00PM so we got to sleep in a bit. Brad's dad took my dad, Brad, and sister Lori to a place called Shipcreek where you can watch the Salmon run. There are a LOT of fish, I saw it last time we went, it's pretty cool, there is a waterfall the salmon actually jump/swim up.

Grandma Gasaway with the kids.

Grandma Goodwin with the kids.

After dinner we headed over to Flat Top, a famous mountain in Anchorage for it's flat top, imagine that. We just went to the look out spot where you can see the whole area. The actual hike came later in the week. It was super windy. You can tell better in the picture of my parents and sisters below.



Monday we did a few things around Anchorage like the Chocolate Factory (YUM), there is a huge chocolate waterfall inside. I just realized I don't have any of the pictures, my sister took a bunch of cute ones of Kate loving the mansized stuffed teddy bears they have. We also went to the Ulu factory, where all the famous Ulu knives are made, I brought one home to use with my cooking. We took the little trolley ride around downtown which Daylen thought was pretty cool.

Tuesday we hiked to the Russian River falls, and also to the river to watch some real Alaskan Fishing. (We didn't actually do any fishing ourselves this time, which I am ok with.) Kate had a nice ride, and Daylen ended up on my back for most of the 6 mile hike. I definitely got a good work out that day. A few of us also wore backpacks carrying guns seeing as we were in bear country. A part of me really wanted to see a bear in the wild this time, but at the same time I was glad we didn't actually have to USE the guns. The hike was beautiful, as were the falls.

Our moms!

Daylen "fishing" in the Russian River!

After the Falls we headed on to Seward to the Sea-Life Center. The kids really enjoyed it, Kate got very excited looking at all the fish, she kept pointing and "talking" at them. Unfortunately, it was POURING rain in seward and very foggy so we couldn't really enjoy the scenery there or see the boats. Lots of day cruises and fishing boats go out of Seward. They were having a flood watch while we were there. We were just glad it was a nice day earlier for our hike.

Trip to Alaska! Part 1

Here we are in the airport, ready to go visit Grandma and Grandpa in Alaska for 9 days! We had such a fun time, even if it did rain most of the time, it was a nice break from the heat. We actually had to drink hot chocolate to warm up. We were able to convince my dad to come, so both grandmas and grandpas were there as well as Lori and Kara. Alaska has got to be the most beautiful state I have ever been to, and yes I have been to Hawaii. I love the green mountains, the water, glaciers, the wildife...there is no place like Alaska.

Daylen was so excited to ride in the airplane. When they called us to board we told him it was time to get on the plane and he gave a big "Yeah!! We are getting on the airplane!" As you can see they enjoyed looking out the window. We flew to Denver first, then to Anchorage, a little counter productive in my mind, but it was cheaper. It just made for a long 5 hours, but we made it!

Saturday was our first full day and Dave and Karen have neighbor who is way into gold mining, so he took us to Crow Creek Mine for a day of mining. This is serious stuff, he has a dredger that sucks the dirt and small rocks and gold from the bank, then we would pan for gold from that stuff. Here is my dad in his waders shoveling dirt to put through the sloosh (sp?), we didn't find as much that way.

I love Karen's outfit here, keeping warm while panning!

Brad and his brother, Chad, who lives in Anchorage as well, are running the dredger here. It was some seriously hard work. It took moving lots of rocks out of the way and plugging along. We found quite a bit of "flakes" between all of us, and even a small nugget. We were hoping to find enough to pay for the trip, but that didn't happen.

Some of us took off after lunch to hike to the hand tram. There is a picture farther down of it, basically its a little cart you use to pull yourself across the river way far below. Heather, Chad's wife, acted as tour guide. We did this hike the last time we were Alaska, but I was 7 1/2 months pregnant with Daylen then. This time was MUCH easier! Just a ways passed the tram is this bridge and fast, rushing river. It is a very beautiful area.

Lori, Kara, and I. It was pretty cold, fashion took a backseat. The flannel shirt I was wearing over my sweatshirt really did add a lot of warmth.

My mom and Kate. Georgous isn't it?

Here is the handtram, you can't really tell from the picture, but when you are halfway across, it is WAY down there!

This was just day 1, we jam packed out days full and took over 200 pictures so there will be more to come. I just need to pick and choose my favorites. It's going to be hard!

Cousins Party!

We had a fun lunch party at the park last week

to celebrate birthdays and babies. I love getting together with my family.

We need to do this more often!

4th of July celebrations

Now that July is over halfway over, I'm finally getting to our 4th celebrations. We had a great weekend with 3 of Brad's siblings and their families, and my sister, Lori, also came to visit for the week as well. We started off with some Snowbird fun, the Alpine slide, panning for jewels, and swimming...

We of course cannot get together without a little homerun derby action. Brad is still the running champion, he was on fire thanks to Randy's great pitching as usual. We are determined to have a pitching machine next time Randy!

Followed by some fun and cooling off with water balloons in the back yard.

"Fill my balloon up please!"

Daylen had his first experience with fireworks and he did not care for them too much. He got scared so he and Ivan hung out inside.

Here's the crew after the fireworks were over.

We had a great time together, even if it was in close quarters. I don't think we had any extra floor space, but it was well worth it! We love our families!