K300

Bethel is the starting grounds for the Kuskokwim 300, an annual 300 mile dog sled race. The town here is so small that when anything remotely exciting happens everyone goes to enjoy the fun. Cory was in Anchorage buying groceries the night the race started, so I went alone to take some pictures…

The race starts on the frozen river in town. There were over 100 cars, trucks, and vans parked right on the ice. I felt a little nervous walking out to get the pictures. I know it won’t crack, but still the words “what if” seemed to repeat in my head.

I did experience a first while at the race…
I’ve had a runny nose the past two days, I think my body just isn’t used to the cold air. Well while I was taking pictures of the dogs everything in my nose froze! not cool.

Crystal Light

Cory flew to Anchorage today for groceries. Just so everyone knows we take a plane from Bethel to Anchorage to get food. The hour flight isn’t bad. Actually we enjoy getting out of town and driving around Anchorage!

The price of food in Bethel is ridiculous!

There is one good thing about high prices, we have completely stopped buying soda. Instead, I am living up to my Wrigley ways and now always have a full pitcher of Crystal Light in the fridge. I think if my parents moved up here they would go broke on supplying my mom with her daily Diet Coke(s). She’s not the only one, while writing this I can name another 5 people that would probably also spend all their money on Diet Coke. HAHA.

Bethel Alternative Boarding School

Cory and I have decided to become dorm parents. This was an idea we had when we first got to Bethel, but until recently did not believe it fourth was for us. Now we both feel strongly that we are supposed to be dorm parents. We went to the school/house last week to check it out. It is a three story house with an extra "crow's nest" floor reading area (you have to climb ladder like stairs to get up to the nook). I can't wait to take pictures. There are 5 girls that live in the house with us, we are literally acting in place of their parents. These girls are from the villages outside Bethel. The girls families range from a 15 mintute to 2 hour flight from the school. They come to Bethel Alternative Boarding School to get a higher education. The school is connected to the house, which is nice, they can sleep in a bit. We will hopefully be moved out of our current apartment and situated in our new place by the end of the week. We are excited to get to know the girls and help them anyway we can.

Pictures of the new house and hopefully the girls will be up soon!

nice boochy boochy

recently one of my favorite beyond favorite aunts was diagnosed with

BREAST CANCER

luckily she is one smart girl and gets checked for lumps regularly

it is in the beginning stages and hasn't spread

doctors believe they will be able to remove the cancer with surgery

- - - - - - -

it is hard being 3000 miles away and getting news like this

it makes me want to be home

my positive parents only tell me the upbeat

but i would be lying if i said i wasn't scared

our families have always been close

she gave me the best marriage advice

not to mention she came all the way to UTAH for my wedding

- - - - - - -

i was thinking

for people that might have questions about breast cancer

i would definitely have you check out monya moments

this is my dear friend kayla's mom

she was diagnosed last year and is now on her 7th chemo treatment

she tells how it is. good.bad.andugly

she is an amazing blogger

i really think some might enjoy reading her blog

....LOVE YOU SUE....

4669

bethel is such a small town that everyone's phone number starts the same:

907.543.####

when asked for our phone number, all we answer with is 4669

i feel like people here are asking for my extension

* feel free to call anytime *

To Pass The Time

Tomorrow we will have officially been in Bethel for 2 weeks! We have been busy driving the town, getting jobs, meeting our new ward.... and so on. I personally don't start work till the start of FEB. Sitting in a town where you know no one, where the sun doesn't come up till eleven, where all elderly people speak a completely different language.... i've been bored. So what did i do to curb my boredom...

SUBSTITUTE TEACHING

That is how i finally got internet. Currently, I am sitting in the band room. I have spent the day listening to kids practice their instruments. If you know me at all, you will know that I have absolutely NO musical talent or knowledge at all! Kids will ask me questions and instead of answering them I say, "Class, now who can tell me......." HAHA! The school I am at today is 7th through 12th graders. LUCKILY i have the 7th and 8th graders today! I think the older kids might see through my FAKE BAND TEACHER skills.

Let me just say that some of the kids in here are AMAZING! They have so much musical talent and most if not all of them are self taught. My last class in particular had this incredible piano player. He is only 13 and sounds just like Jim Brickman. I couldn't believe it!

What is fun about being SUB is I can teach any grade, K-12. Tomorrow I could get a call from the elementary school and be a 1st grade teacher. They even said that if they are under staffed I could be put in the Lunch Room as a cook. But they also said that rarely happens. LETS HOPE... for the children's sake.

today has been a blast!!!

one. two. three

one: I GOT TO ALASKA!
sitting in the airport got old real fast. i got up early thursday morning hoping to get on a flight to alaska... didn't happen. i was flying standby so i only got the seats that were left. if the flight is full, it's a no go. so instead of spending new years with my mr. brian in alaska, i brought in 2010 with my 5 year old sister. it was fun to spend new years with kaylee, something i will always remember. after watching the fireworks and hitting pots and pans outside with the neighbors i went to bed with hopes of getting on the next flight to anchorage. luckily, i was the last one on the plane. that flight was at 7 am, the next flight was at 3. so i spent the next 6 hours waiting, not knowing if i was even going to get on the 3 o'clock flight at all. the lady said it was over booked by two and there were 15 standbys.... not very good odds. weird thing was, i was the last one to get on plane, again! the plane ride itself from phx to anchorage is 6 hours... yuck. to make things worse, some guy was in my window seat and i didn't have the guts to tell him to move. so i sat in his seat, the middle. then the whole plane ride (or at least when i wasn't fake sleeping) he was telling me about the tattoo he had just got.

the two things i learned about this random guys tattoo:

1: it is a quote. from a star wars book, not the movie (he was very clear about that).
2: his tattoo is upside down... he said he put the tattoo upside down so he could easily read it if he looks down. creeper. oh and the tattoo is on his tummy.

two: star struck!
today i got a picture with what some might call an alaskan god:

johnathan hillstrand. captain of the time bandit.
ever seen the show deadliest catch?

cory and i love this show. we have probably seen every episode, well, maybe not all... but a lot. we took this picture in homer, alaska. it is a cute little shop that sales deadliest catch merchandise. it's cool because the actual time bandit boat docks at homer, it was fun seeing the actual boat in person!

we saw captain johnathan at the arctic roadrunner (a burger joint in anchorage). cor took me there to meet robs family. who were so fun, might i add (and joni if you ever read this, i checked out your etsy shop, and LOVE it). as we sat down to eat our "mexican ham" sandwiches, who do you know walk in and sits down two tables from us.... captain johnathan! at first i tried to be sneaky and take a picture without him knowing. but i embarrassed cory to much. lol. i didn't even know cory could get embarrassed. so instead of being sneaky, i got up and asked him if i could have a picture with him... he was really nice and said YES!

three: packing for tomorrows journey west.
as much as i have loved being in beautiful anchorage. i am really excited to actually get to bethel. tomorrow we will get a on another plane, along with all the stuff cory drove up here, and fly (only an hour) to bethel. i really just want to get situated in our new apartment. cor and i had to put all of our stuff in totes then tape them up so they are ready to ship. sadly not all of the totes made it to alaska okay.

this tote got ripped open by a rock and snow packed inside. it has been so cold the snow hasn't melted, but ticket to ride did get it pretty bad. we are pretty sure seth-jacque and tyce-rachel will understand our pain for almost loosing such a game!

well, we are all packed and ready to go. next time you hear from us we will be settled in bethel. hopefully with plenty of stories to tell!

.bethel here we come.