J-J-July

Yes we did, we bought a 4 wheeler and took it out with friends to Hatchers Pass.  We went through rivers, deep mud, and prowled on rocks.  I am so proud of this machine.  Money well spent.  Cory found this beast on craigslist and got a great deal on it. He has been wanting to get a 4 wheeler for awhile. Now that we have a garage to store one in, then we are set!  We plan to get another one probably next year.  It sure is great transportation to get us to beautiful places where no one has been.

We went clam digging for our first time in Ninilchik, which is 3.5 hours south of Anchorage.  The first night Cory and I thought we knew what we were doing, but were totally clueless. We only caught 3 and the limit is 60 per day.  We knew what to look for in the sand, it was just that we were not digging with the right technique.  Well if we had done it right, we probably would of caught a lot more.  We tried again the second day after camp and among the 4 of us we got 40.  Yum Yum!  It was a blast camping.  I love camping and I wish we could do it more often.  We took our 4 wheeler out again to get us to hot spots on the beach far away from camp.  Here we are with our friends, Cory and Amelie Cummings.  My friend, Crystal also came down and brought her new puppy, Sol.  I wish I could go again when the tides are super low in August, but I will have weddings to photograph.  It is just so fun digging for them.  It is like a treasure hunt!

My colleague, Deanna, invited me to go hike Flat Top with her.  I was absolutely glad to.  I am proud of her for taking on this mountain.  It was a fun time and it was my first time hiking my favorite mountain this year.  I'd hike this mountain once a week if I had more time.  It is a great work out and quite beautiful. 

Julie, my cousin, graduated with her Medical Assisting certificate from the Alaska Career College.  We are all so proud of her.  She did this as a mother and working.  She stayed up late studying constantly and on top of that finished with a high GPA.  She is now applying for jobs as an MA and I wish her luck.  Cory came to her graduation and had us all yell "GO JULIE" when she went up.  Julie was chosen to speak for her class and her speech was heart warming and to the point.  She even made her mom cry.  Too bad Cory had to go back to work, but we were glad he came during his lunch break.  Julie, you rock and keep it up.  Keep inspiring our family.

Well this Saturday Cory leaves to Witchita, TX for training. He will be gone until the 28th, which is two weeks.  Since we were dating, we have been so lucky not getting shipped away.  This will be the first time apart.  When he gets back from Texas, he will have 6 days at home and then he is off to Utah for a week for more training.  Pretty bummed he will be gone for a third of the summer now.  I plan on keeping busy while I am at home and I hope to catch a lot of salmon too!  

June Bug

Wow so June has been so so busy! First of all, we finally bought a house and got all moved in. Cory and I are so happy with our new 3 bedroom, 2 bath, and 2 car garage home! On top of that we met our "attached" neighbors and they are super cool cats. They are both in their late 20's and I am so glad we get along great.

Cory and I moved in June 15. That morning was spent packing up our little apartment and right when we got the keys we started painting the inside of our condo. Every wall was white and now we have nice colored accent walls. We have never painted walls before and I didn't realize how hard it is. It is just a repetitive process to get the right color. We had to put at most 3 coats on some walls. After painting, we grabbed a friend, my brother, and a U haul to move our belongings.  I couldn't believe how much stuff we had and now everything is spread out in our nice condo. I am so proud of Cory for his hard work in getting us a home. He has done some projects already at home, like make shelves in the garage, paint more coats on some walls, added shelves in the office and what not.  Here are some pictures of the inside of our home.  This place totally beats our one bedroom apartment we lived in for 3 years.  How rewarding it is to save money and finally buy a home of our own :)

Added shelves

Maroon master bedroom 

Kitchen with coffee brown

Living room with painted orange fire place

Orange dining room

I ran the Run for Women which is a 5 mile annual race for breast cancer.  It is a phenomenal event and I love running this course.  I got my friend, Crystal, to do it with me.  I am so proud of her for finishing.  We had a blast and after we went to downtown to meet up with friends and my cousins at the Gay Pride festival.  I have never been to the GP festival, but went because I was invited this time. We definitely got our carbs back eating gyros there.  Yum yum!  There was also a parade and people singing on stage, which were very good.

I also worked at NBC volleyball camp again, for my 6th year. It was a ton of fun as always. This year was different for me because I didn't coach, but instead was the directors assistant. I couldn't believe all the stuff involved behind the scenes. Like planning night meetings, planning intensity night, making sure the right of amount of supplies are on hand and etc.  I was happy to help and loved giving back to NBC.  This camp only lasts 5 days, but it sure feels like a month.  Us staff are always on the go for the whole day!  Super action packed and absolutely memorable. 

A group of us drove down to Girdwood, which is 45 minutes south of Anchorage to hike the Winner Creek Trail.  The trail ends at this beautiful gorge and a hand tram.  Unfortunately, the hand tram was closed for repairs.  The weather was great and so was the hike :)

On one of the super sunny days, Cory and I relaxed out with our little raft on Taku Lake.  It was so nice to just relax and get out of the house.  Oh yes, just got to take advantage of the sunny days.  We also went to sushi right before this and it was super delicious!  Our sushi spot is Haru Sushi because their rolls are the bomb!

On top of everything, I am taking two summer classes.  One is an upper division statistics course called scientific sampling and the other is another upper division course called abnormal psychology.  I needed one more upper division credit to graduate in December and I chose to take a fun elective, hence abnormal psychology.  I am totally intrigued by both subjects.  Once these classes are over, I will have 3 more classes to take in the fall and then I will receive my bachelor's degree. I cannot believe it!  


My photography business has boomed this month as well with 5 weddings.  Check out the photos here
Epic Photography AK Blog.  I love how I can still provide in our income by my business.  I have been blessed that these strangers chose me to do their weddings.  I have two more weddings in August. 

M.D.W.

 This year has been a pretty eventful Memorial Day Weekend for us, which I am super happy for.  Cory took Thursday and Friday off, which gave him a 5 day weekend.  Work has been pretty demanding on him, in which he would of worked 12 days in a row (Reserves must work 1 weekend a month), but instead he cut that short.  Which was good to rest.

The Premo Cabin

On Friday, we drove out to Kenai River where our friends, Banan & Crystal, knew a guy named Mark Premo to meet up with for some camping.  Mark owns a very nice cabin out there right on the river.  We loved his property and it gave us great ideas for a future cabin.  They even had a pavilion to keep the fire going when it rains.  When they first bought the property, 25 years ago, the spot had an outhouse and a small cabin, the size of a medium sized living room.  It fits 2 bunk beds, which was where we slept.  They use the original cabin as a guest house now.  So, they later built a 2 story cabin next to the original cabin.  That cabin was so nice and cozy.  Gosh, it was perfect.  It had a kitchen with bar counters, 2 bathrooms, and 2 large bedrooms.  I was impressed when I heard they built and wired/plumbed it themselves, minus the frame work.

Under the Pavilion with the Kenai River behind us

Anyways, we had ourselves a good time for the first camping trip of the summer.  We met Mark's son, Joe, and Joe's friend, Mike.  They are school buddies.  Very cool and chill fellas.  We got to take advantage of a photo opportunity that was Cory's idea.  They had a sweet, cute, yellow couch under the pavilion and Cory the idea to set it on the river rocks for a photo.  Observe photo above.

My Bocce ball with the closest
they have ever seen next to the pallino

We had amazing steaks and vegetables that Banan & Mark grilled up.  No lie, had to be the best steak I have ever had.  No BBQ sauce needed since the seasoning was done so well.  We mainly sat around the fire and played a new game to us called, Bocce ball (pronounced "baw-chee").  It is basically like shuffle board, but with these weighted color coded balls and a yard.  The goal is to throw the weighted ball as close as you can to the pallino from a set throwing place.  The pallino is a smaller, lighter ball that is usually a bright color for ease of spotting.  First time to six points, wins the game.  We played two sets in teams of two, minus Mark, who played solo.  The team that lands the closest to the pallino obtains a point.  You play to six points and the winner of each round gets to throw the pallino in a new spot.  I found that game really entertaining.  I will not forget how I impressed Cory with my throwing skills when I knocked Mark's ball out of the way to win a point.

The next morning (Saturday), lets just say we slept in until 11:00am.  It is so hard to go to bed when your having fun and the sun is still up at midnight.  We gathered our things and decided to pack up to head back home, hence the UFC fights were on that night.  We thanked Mark for his hospitality.  Can't wait to go back again with our friends.

Cory & Rovic haaving a blast on the trampoline

Chef Ken in the house

Well, my cousin, Junior, was having a BBQ for his birthday.  He just turned 17 and he wanted a BBQ with the family for a celebration.  When we got home from the Kenai, we unpacked, showered and headed straight over.  When we arrived, there was lots of delicious food on the table outside. Ken had BBQ'd all of it and was still on the grill, impressive.  Ken is my cousin's (Julie) boyfriend/babydaddy :)  I was also happy to see "filipino-style" spaghetti on the table too that my Aunt made.  The food was amazing and I ate so much, like it was Thanksgiving.

Cory jumped on the trampoline with the kids.  It was hilarious.  He was chasing them on all fours and the little kids were running around trying to stay away from him.  From their screams and laughter, they were definitely enjoying his company.  We also met Julie's new puppy, Reese's.  Ken surprised her with a puppy just last week.  So awesome to welcome that little fella into the family.

Cory ready to watch some UFC Fights with Reese's

We also ordered the fights there and most of us adults were watching the UFC fights.  The fights were pretty good.  Most of the cards were heavyweight fighters going against each other.  It was like bulldozers colliding.  We then called it a night and headed home.  On the way home, we bought the movie, The Grey.  Cory's favorite.. I swear he could watch that on repeat if he wanted.

So Sunday rolls around and we had planned to hike with our friends, Fiona and Larisa, out by Wasilla.  Unfortunately, it was raining.  We had to take a rain check on that one, which was a bummer.  We were so excited to go hiking somewhere new.  At least we have all summer.  Instead, we did a couple things around the apartment.  Cory took me out to a movie and we saw The Avengers, finally!  I kid you not, we tried to see that movie twice before.  Both times, there has been long long lines and we were like no thanks.  So, now that the movie has been out for awhile, it was safe.  Although, the theater still filled up slowly, but not like a chaotic opening week.  I definitely enjoyed that flick.  So much action!  Plus it was comical seeing these superheros go into disputes, when all along they were supposed to work together.  Great flick.  We ended our night with ice cream in our laps and watching one of our favorite shows, Tough Love on VH1.  Super entertaining.

Family

Cory giving Kadyn a lift

 Monday we were welcomed to the sunshine and blue skies.  What a great day to go fishing!  Cory and I ate a filling breakfast, packed our chest waiters, packed a lunch, and then met up with Julie, Ken and "the kids".  "The Kids" are brother and sister, Junior and Amanda, who are our cousins; Justin, my brother; and Kadyn, Julie & Ken's son.  We were all bound to head south for hooligan dip netting aka hooligan fishing.  The hot spot for hooligan fishing is about an hour south of Anchorage, near 20 Mile River.  It was mine and Cory's first time doing this. There is a technique involved, which an older gentleman had to call us out on our wrong technique.  In fact, he spotted us up at the parking lot near the porta potties.  I went up to the porta potties and he calls for me.  He discussed how me and "the man in the brown waiters"(Cory), were doing it all wrong.  It was nice of him to tell me, but I found it funny.  He probably thought we were so stupid.

So, we quickly learned it is not like dip netting for salmon, where you just set the net in the water, wait for a punch, and pull the net in.  For hooligan, the nets are smaller, hence the fish are way small.   You basically, dip your net and graze it with the current then lift your net up to see if you caught anything.  You don't even feel the fish in your net because they are so light.

It got exciting when you would dip your net in and find a couple hooligans in your net when you pulled the net up.  The most I heard someone catching in one dip was 33 hooligans.  I just wanted 5 in 1, which I didn't get.. BUT.. Junior got 5 in 1, so yay.  Anyways, Julie & Ken brought 5 nets total.  Whoever wasn't fishing was grabbing hooligan out of the others' nets and putting in the bucket.  The hooligan came in for a good hourish run, which was an exciting catching time.  But later the run became very slowwwww.  Overall, I had a fun experience.  Although, I did get stuck in the mud flats and Cory had to pull me out.  Conclusion, I got out safely, but I lost my shoes to the mud.  It was hilarious.  Later, Amanda got sucked into the mud and she lost a boot while Cory was pulling her out.  Fortunately, we were able to dig that back up.

Hey, I got one and I have no shoes!

Cory, Kadyn, the puppy and I left early.  We babysat Kadyn and Reese's until Julie & Ken were done fishing.  Kadyn was getting bored fishing because all he did was grab fish out of nets.  One day when he is bigger and stronger, he will definitely get to have the joys of dip netting.  He's only 5, so much more room to grow.  Unfortunately, for the 2 hours after Cory and I left, nobody caught hooligan.  They only caught 1, but put it back.  All together we did catch a bucket full of the hooligan.  So we were definitely satisfied from the first run.

Oh, this weekend has been so nice and refreshing.  It was great to spend time with Cory again, since he has been working so much.  I've missed him and his time.  I give this MDW a 4 stars!!  I shall leave you with two videos.  One is of Cory playing Bocce Ball and the other is of Cory chasing the kiddos on the trampoline.

♥

Movin' on up

Cory leaving for work and giving me  kisses :)

Ok so, I am back to this blog!  Things were so busy I didn't make time to write in this to catch you up.  I even tried to make a new blog on tumblr, but that was a fail.

Anyways, life has been really good to us and I am very fortunate.  Cory has been working for a month and a half now and he loves being a working, providing husband again.  Our apartment complex has increased its payments.  We started paying $840 for rent in 2009 and now we pay almost $1100.  Now that we are ready to buy a house, we decided it is time to leave this place that keeps taking advantage of our bank account.

After a couple weeks of looking and with the help of our realtor, we finally found a condo we liked.  We plan on making this investment into a business plan.  Once I get my teaching job, we will rent this condo out and find "the home of our dreams".  We are really happy with this plan.  The condo we bought is 3 bedrooms, 2 bath and 2 car garage.  Bye bye 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment.  We hope to close on the condo mid June.  I am super excited to check out garage sales and craigslist for some stuff to fill our new home this summer.

Took Mom out for a pedicure for Mother's Day

I am also going to be taking 2 classes this summer so I can stay on track to graduate in December.  My photography business will give me stuff to do and income to bring in.  I have 5 weddings in June, which is awesome.

When August comes around, which is volleyball season, I will be back to coaching.  The JV coach, Stan, resigned which bumped the two C-Team coaches.  I will now be coaching C1 instead of C2.  C1 is mainly sophomores and C2 is at the freshman level.  I am very excited for this opportunity.  We will be looking for a C2 coach that will be coaching by my side and sharing the gym.  I hope we find someone great and amazing!

This summer just started and I hope to go on many adventures in Alaska.  My family and I plan on going hooligan fishing with nets Memorial Day.  It will be a great start to summer.  Although, I have been walking, running or rollerblading the coast trail on sunny days.  I can't help it, I must be outside :)  I hope we get to go camping, hiking and more.

Until next time :)

Uncle Hulk and Kadyn

February Air

So, it has been 3 weeks in working out with Cory and I feel like my body has been making good progress.   I feel like I'm getting stronger and my stomach is feeling flatter.  I also, have more energy during the days, which is awesome.  I don't think working out exhausts me as much as school does.  I usually end up breaking down Wednesday nights because I am so exhausted from homework.  My brain power shuts down, like running on empty.  Cory always keeps my spirits up by telling me I am doing a good job with focusing on school so much.  I want super good grades this semester, because last semester was rough coaching volleyball and going to school.  He knows how important school is to me.

Anyways, Cory pushes and encourages me everyday we work out and I love it.  I am currently super sore on my whole back.  I have been sore before badly, but having your whole back sore, is something else.  Especially when you use your whole back for pretty much any daily activity like sitting, standing, walking, etc.  Tomorrow will be the start of week 4 working out together in the mornings.  I am so proud of myself!  It is nice to do something together everyday, since all I do is go to class and do homework during the weekdays.  Cory will usually go to the gym again at night while I am doing homework, so the place is nice and quiet.  Good for him :)  He is an animal.

Every weekday morning goes like this:

6:30 or 7:30AM: Depends what day it is to wake up due to class in the morning
Breakfast:  1 toasted cinnamon raisin bread with crunchy peanut butter, honey, and banana slices on top with a glass of orange juice or water
Vitamins:  Multivitamin, CLA, Flaxseed, probiotics
Gym time for an hour:
around 10 minutes of cardio for warm up
around 50 minutes weights
Post workout meal:  Protein shake with eggs, orange juice, milk, yogurt, frozen fruit

So anyways, we started rock climbing last weekend.  We went again this weekend too and we plan on going probably once a week during the weekends.  It is so fun.  It sure works you out though.  My back and, especially, forearms get quite the work out.  We've invited friends both times because it is just a great activity to do for all.  We've mainly focused on bouldering, which is climbing without a harness, but you don't go very high.  Bouldering is very technical.  There are routes on the walls guided by tape color.  Each route is marked in the beginning that determines what level that route is.  The levels start at V0, which is the easiest of holds, to V16, which is pretty much tiny pinch holds.  Right now, I feel pretty comfortable with V3 and I want to get better.  As the levels go up, the more logic and skill is needed to climb such routes.  We have been to AK Rock Gym and Cassell Rock.  Our next place to check out is the APU rock gym.  Each gym has a different aura and different routes marked.  Although, rock gyms usually change routes, probably, weekly.  Here is a sweet picture I photoshopped of us climbing.  All Cory's idea, but my photoshop skills.

This weekend we also got to play some poker with our friends, Banan, Derek and Crystal at Banan's house.  We went to dinner Friday for sushi and poker became a subject and we decided we should all play after dinner. Well this was my first time playing without any help.  Thank goodness I took STAT307 at UAA, because that helped me memorize all the hands and in what order they go in.  In that class we had to find the probably of each hand using fractions and combinations.  It was pretty cool.  The first time I have played was with Cory back in 2009 with his friends.  He helped me out a lot, but this time, I was solo.  He was proud of me for winning some hands, which was sweet!  Sometimes it got pretty intense.

So at Banan's house, we played 3 games.  We made out making some money in the first round, but the next two rounds we lost too much money.  Woops!  Should of stopped after round one.  But you just get so excited and hope to win some more.  I would love to play again.  Eventually, you just have to start being a good liar because the probabilities are so low.

Poker night with the Tarrs!  Banan making a silly face.

Well, now I will close.  Time to do some homework.  I pretty much do mathematics homework everyday.  It never ends and some days it depresses me, because I'd rather be doing something else.  Thank goodness Cory encourages me when I am down.  5 more classes to go after this semester.  The goal is so close, yet so far!  Oh, I forgot to mention it snowed like 18 inches this Saturday too.

Upcoming events:
- Gly is photographing a wedding on the 11th in Wasilla
- Cory has weekend duty 11th and 12th
- Going to Alyeska for a night on the 18th

Always,
G

Workin' it

As we were driving to the gym Monday morning, Cory asked me, "What are you going to work today?" and I reply with "I don't know yet, maybe just do a full body circuit.", then Cory suggests, "Why don't we work out together?"  Well, that surprised me, because the last time I remember working out together was back in 2009, when we would run together outside on the Anchorage trails.  I agreed to work out with him, but didn't know what that would entail.  His workouts are that of cross training.  That is where you lift weights, but have less breaks in between sets in a circuit.  It works your endurance and strength at the same time, which is awesome for the body.  

Anyways, I did 5 days in a row with him, Monday - Friday.  I am proud of myself for sticking with him and I think I would like to implement working out together in our daily routine.  I mean, Cory will workout regardless, but keeping up with him?  That is something else.  Plus, this will keep me way in shape and it's beneficial working out with your spouse.

For the whole week, Cory was the lead and I just did whatever workouts he had planned for us.  He really helped me with my form on various workouts and introduced me to some that I don't regularly do.  I am proud of him for being encouraging, helpful and patient with me.  I did get frustrated at times, only because it took me a few moments to get the form right on some work outs. 

When we work out, we work out with as much intensity as we can, because otherwise, you probably shouldn't be at the gym if you aren't going to work hard.  We may not have conversations, but we still have fun doing the work outs together.  Anyways, I know he has always wanted to workout together like this.  It is about time we do this together.  I don't know why we didn't make this a regular thing before.  Working out is his FAVORITE hobby and if I keep doing this with him, I am sure it will benefit our relationship/marriage too :)  I know for a fact he is enjoying working out together and that makes me happy.

Winter Break in OR

This year we spent our month long winter break from college in Oregon. We had purchased our tickets in September.  At the time, Cory was surprised that I suggested we go down for break. It has been a year and a half since our last trip down, when we drove from AK and back. We were due to see his family.  So, we brutally took our finals a week early and flew December 13th. We left freezing, snow filled Anchorage and met with snowless, wet Oregon.  Must be global warming, because it is not typical for Oregon to be absent with snow.  This trip gave us not only an opportunity to visit Cory's family, but also spend our first holiday with them.
To pin point the cities we visited:
Mom(Colleen) in Bay City
Dad(Duane) in Mt. Hood
Grandma Larson in Beaverton
Nick(brother, 29), Billie Jean(Nick's fiance, 23) and Danika(daughter, 2) in Burns
Kevin(brother, 23) in La Grand
The Flecks (aunt/uncle/cousins) in Eugene.

We were so lucky not to rent a car, because those are so ridiculously expensive.  His family was so helpful to drive us from place to place. We've driven 2,142 miles to get from city to city with about 35.7 hours driving total. Unfortunately, I get carsick and would drug myself with Dramamine before long car rides, which saved my stomach.  Although, this gave me a nice excuse to sit in the front *evil laughter*.  Poor Cory would be squished in the back seat, where it is too small for him.  Those Toyota Tacomas weren't doing it for comfort.  He's a trooper though and took one for the team every time and took many naps back there :)

The Oregon Map, stars where we visited

We also had the opportunity to meet up with his friends from high school in the cities we stayed at. It was a high school reunion for Cory.  He hasn't seen his buddies for 6-7 years and thanks to Facebook, we were able to communicate and find time to meet up.  He was pretty nervous to see them because it has been awhile. It didn't take long at all to get comfortable with each other.  I was glad to meet his buddies and their spouses. I met the Petersens(Seth, Trisha, and their son Sawyer), the Wilbers(Casey & Cara), Nat & Troy, and Lee.  We all got along great and had fun times. They were all very nice and fun people.  I hope they come visit us up in Alaska.  I would love that!
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So, let's get on with it and timeline our trip:

13 December 11 - PDX to Mt. Hood 40 miles

Dad picks us up from the airport. We stay with him for about a week. While with him, we went to the gym every morning. We took advantage of the pool and hot tub at the Mt. hood athletic club as much as we could, just to soak in some relaxation. One of the days, dad took us to a family fun center to ride go carts, hit base balls in a batting cage, and play arcades.

Dad also just bought a new house that we haven't seen yet.  It is a nice ranch home with 3 bedrooms, 2 bath and 2 car garage.  I loved the size of the place.  We had a lot of good conversations with Dad.  My favorite one being the one where he talked about how proud he is of all 3 of his sons.  It was just nice to hear him say nice things about them all.  I learned that when Cory was growing up, he always had a determination to try his hardest.  When Dad was coaching, he never saw a kid work as hard as Cory on the baseball field or basketball courts.  It was just inside him.  I know this now, that he is the type that will work hard, no matter what he is doing, and it pays off.  It's inspiring and he is proof that hard work pays off.  That is definitely one of the things Cory and I have in common, determination.

17 December 11 - Mt. hood to La Grande 255 miles 

We packed up for the weekend and drove out to visit Kevin in La Grand. The 3 of us stayed in the Best Western hotel with Nick, Billie Jean and Danika meeting us that night from Burns.  We were excited to see the brothers, Billie Jean, and especially Danika, our one and only niece.  Last time we saw Danika, she was almost 1 years old and just learning to walk.  Now, she is 2.5 years old and she is a running, talking machine.  It is amazing how much kids develop in just one year of growth.  Funny how you can see her personality bloom already.  With Kevin, we had sushi, stopped in WalMart for some errands and played more arcade games.  We also agreed to go to McDonald's to let Danika run around in the play center for a few hours.  Cory loved playing with her in there.  Although, Danika did leave Cory for another toddler in there, which was pretty funny to dump her Uncle Cory.  It was great to see Kevin.  He is doing really well and we are trying to convince him to move up here, possibly next summer or fall.  He never said he wouldn't, so, I really hope he does because that would be too awesome.

18 December 11 - La grande to Mt. Hood 255 miles

We drove back to dads and got home around 10:30pm. We were so exhausted from the long drive.   The next day, we planned to make our drive to Moms in Bay City.

19 December 11 - Mt. Hood to Bay City 119 miles

Dad drove us to Beaverton to Grandma Larsons house, where we would meet Mom. We spent sometime chit chatting at Grandmas until Mom showed up. On the drive back, I felt really sick. Well come to find out, Cory and I had some stomach bug. So, we were wiped out for a couple days before Christmas. It was a blow being friends with the toilet. It wasn't fun sharing one toilet at the time, either. But on one of the sunny days, we had the strength to go to Cape Lookout for a small hike and picnic lunch.  Cory and I also went to Astoria to do some shopping and sushi on a different day.  By the weekend, we were off to La Grand again to see Kevin for Christmas weekend.

@ Grandma Larson's home

24 December 11 - Bay City to Pendleton 287 miles

So, we drove out to Pendleton and stayed at a nice hotel there.  This time, Cory drove because Mom is small enough to fit in the back.  She didn't mind one bit.  There wasn't much scenery while we were driving, but the only cool thing I saw were windmills.  The hotel was real nice and we again, abused the pool and hot tub.  The hotel was pretty much empty because of the holiday.  It was so weird not to spend Christmas without my family.  I really missed them.  They said it wasn't the same without us.

25 December 11 - Pendleton to La Grande 52 miles

We visited Kevin Christmas day.  Cory bought him a nice Jordan zip up. We chatted about stories, played lots of card games and just relaxed at his place.  Again, we tried to convince Kevin to move to Alaska.

25 December 11 - La grande to Bay City 339 miles

After seeing Kevin, we spent the remainder of Christmas driving.  We drove all the way back to Bay City that night, which was about 6 hours from Kevin's. We weren't able to stay at his place because there is literally no room for us and we didn't want to hotel it up again.  Anyways, glad we got home safely with all that quiet, tiresome driving. I called home to wish my family Merry Christmas at one of our gas station stops. Definitely missed the filipino food and time with them.

For the remaining week with Mom, the weather was stormy. We made time to visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory, which is 5 miles away from moms. Funny, she thinks that's a drive.  We had ice cream and took some pictures. Cory went into the cheese sampler line about 7 times.  The cheese cutter lady sure gave him the stink eye.

Midweek, Grandma and Grandpa Waters drove from Scappoose to have lunch with us at Moms.  We had delicious taco soup and then pumpkin pie.  It was really great seeing them.  It is just nice to see Grandparents because both my grandmas are in the Philippines now.  Grandpa Waters told us many stories of when he was in Navy.  It was quite entertaining and let's just say he was one rebellious soldier.

We also introduced Mom to her very first modern, 3D movie at the theaters.  We watched Hugo, which which the only cool thing in the movie was the Atomitom Robot.  It was one of those movies, you can only see once because it was just long and kind of slow.  Anyways, being Mom, she was super excited to watch a 3D movie. She even had a stranger take our picture with our 3D viewing glasses on.  Cory was super embarrassed.  I thought it was hilarious seeing her try to catch the snow flakes that were falling in one of the scenes.

29 December 11 - Bay City to Eugene 137 miles


Cory's friend, Seth Petersen, had invited us to come over for some drinks since he knew we were coming to Eugene for New Years.  Well, we figured out a working plan to go down to Eugene that weekend where we would see Seth, watch the UFC 141 fights, and see The Flecks.  So, we spent 4 days in Eugene and had quite some fun, minus driving in their downtown.  They have one ways, that have 1 lane for cars and 1 lane for bikers.  It drove us nuts.  Cory, accidentally, drove on the side where the bikers were, and that definitely frightened some bikers.  I am sure we weren't the first to do that, but we quickly figured the streets out.

While we visited Seth's family, Mom stayed at the hotel.  She was able to go to the Flecks and hang out there for the night.  Seth and Trisha were absolutely awesome and great hosts.  Their son, Sawyer, is such an adorable 9 month old baby.  He is the calmest baby boy I have ever met and quite the cuddler too.  Seth is now a researcher for U of O and seems to enjoy it.  Trisha, who is an RN, also invited her coworkers with their significant others.  I met awesome people at their house party, one in particular, Marie, who is also passionate about photography.  We had talked about photography for most of the night and we shared our work to each other. We were stopped due to a few rounds of playing CatchPhrase with the whole group, which was a blast.  The night went on and we stayed the night at their cozy, well designed place.  The next morning we had coffee, had good conversations and they even made us awesome breakfast.  I can't wait to see them again because I really enjoyed their company.

The next day, Friday the 30th, Cory and I relaxed back at the hotel Mom was staying at.  She decided to leave for the day to catch up with one of her old friends.  So, we decided to play in the pool and hot tub.  We also took the truck out to find a decent sushi restaurant.  I must say, over all, I was not impressed with the sushi chains in Oregon.  We only found one place that we really liked, but that was near the coast.  By nightfall, Cory and I went to the Wetlands Sports Bar to watch the UFC fights featuring Brock Lesnar VS Alistar Overeem.  The bar was very dark, stunk, had old big screen TVs and just had an uninviting aura.  This made me miss the Peanut Farm, because it is way better.  For those UFC fans that missed it, some of the fights were alright, but the main event was not impressive at all.  The fight ended in about 2 minutes and 30 seconds in the first round with Overeem giving a TKO to Lesnar.  Lesnar buckled down when Overeem gave him his about 15th attack to the ribs.  So Lesnar retired from the UFC that night, which was about time.

New Years Day we woke up with much needed sleep.  Cory, Mom and I headed down to breakfast and then used the pool and hot tub one last time.  We then packed up and headed to the Vally Center Mall in Eugene for the day.  We did some shopping, had lunch and caught that 3D movie.  By then, it was time to go to the Flecks and celebrate.  I was so excited to see Aunt Linda, Uncle Darrold, Melissa & David(their daughters Ainsley, Kylynn and Skyler) and Tyler.  This was our first time seeing their house that they built.  When we pulled up in the dark, the front of their house had mud that was leveled out.  Low and behold, Mom didn't see it and got stuck in the mud pit.  The girls witnessed it all as they were waiting for our arrival, and they burst out laughing alarming everyone inside what Mom had did.  Embarrassing.  Well we got out, thanks to 4WD, and happily greeted everyone.

Their spacious ranch home was on a huge lot with a 3 car garage, 3 bedroom and 2.5 bathroom.  I loved the large living room and open kitchen with an island.  All night, the girls played hike and seek with Cory and I.  For dinner, we had delicious calzones that Aunt Linda made.  Then they sung me an early Happy Birthday with a chocolate cake, which was awesome.  Aunt Linda's birthday was near too, on the 5th and I on the 3rd.  We were pretty much singing happy birthday to each other.  After cake & ice cream, we adults played Pictionary and Taboo until the countdown came.  Twas a fun night with barely any sleep.  The next morning, first day of 2012, they made us breakfast before we were off to be dropped off at Dads.

1 January 12 - Eugene to Mt. hood 138 miles


Mom drove us back to Grandmas in Beaverton to meet Dad, so we could stay with him.  Sadly, this was our goodbye with Mom.  We had a ton of fun with her and we miss her everyday, although we miss her even more now that we are back in Anchorage.  Dad had to work this night.  He is a state trooper and duty called.  Cory and I decided to go to the gym that night and watch a movie at home.


2 January 12 - Mt. Hood to Burns 240 miles


Dad drove us all the way to Prineville, which was a great halfway point for Nick to meet us.  We met at Billie Jeans parents house.  They were so nice and inviting.  I was happy to finally meet them, because Billie Jean talks about her family often.  I can see how important her family is to her.  We said our goodbye to Dad and transfered our luggage into Nick's car. We had a good drive with funny/nice conversations.

That night, Cory wanted to surprise visit his best friend from high school, Troy.  Troy was in Burns, with his girlfriend, Nat.  They were visiting his family and also came down to see us.  Troy is a forest firefighter in Idaho and Nat is a student/musician.  She plays keyboard and sings for the band, CatchLight.  So, we drove over to Troy's Mom's house really quick before dinner.  It was exciting seeing Cory so happy to see Troy.  I am glad to finally meet him, since Cory told me so much about him.  We chatted as much as we could until Nick gave us the text that dinner was ready.  We had to say our goodbyes but planned on seeing them after dinner.

Billie Jean made us delicious elk steaks with scalloped potatoes.  I never had elk and I actually liked it.  After dinner, Danika demanded her and I play tea party in her room.  She is quite the bossy 2 year old, but then again, she was very excited to have someone play with her.  Soon after, Troy and Nat came over.  We all played CatchPhrase with Nick and Billie Jean, and talked all night with some wine.  Before we knew it, it was late and time for bed for a new day.

It's the 3rd and guess who's birthday it is? Yea, this lady.  I woke up with a birthday kiss and greet from Cory.  This year, Cory got me an Ipad2, which is AWESOME!  Ah, I love him!  Thanks for spoiling me.  I had no idea what was in the box, because it was disguised in a medium flat rate mailing box.  He had mailed my gift to Mom, who wrapped it.  Sneaky trickster.

So for this day, Nick took us out to the Reservations in hopes of finding deer.  I have never seen a buck before and had my camera ready for one.  Well, we drove 30 minutes out of Burns and yes, we saw many!  I was pretty excited and we got some sweet shots of them.

That night, we went out Glory Days Pizza.  There isn't much in Burns at all, so couldn't be picky of where to eat or go.  Cory gathered up his buddies from high school for my birthday dinner.  This was the first time I met the Wilbers, Lee, Troy's step dad(Jean), and Troy's his step mom(Sue).  We had a great dinner and easily made conversation.  The pizza was pretty good also.  After dinner, we all(except for Nick, Billie Jean, Jean and Sue) went to Lee's house to keep the party going.
We played CatchPhrase, which is always fun and competitive.

Cory had brought an ice cream cake, which I had no idea he had stored in Nick's freezer.  Sneaky trickster, once again.  Everyone sang happy birthday to me, which was nice of them.  Lee cut my ice cream cake, but he broke 2 knives in the process.  He said it was OK, since the knives were cheap anyways.  Ice cream cake is not easy to cut into, it is like cutting a rock.  But it so worth the struggle.  Although, we did transfer the "party" and cake over to Nick and Billie Jeans, so they can be part of the night.  We all played more CatchPhrase and just enjoyed each others company.

I learned that Casey owns a ranch, Cara is a CPA(good for her, awesome!), and Lee owns his own contracting business and is in the Army national guard.  Great success.

Well to sum the rest of our time in Burns.  Cory and I had the opportunity to go check out some caves with Troy and his step Dad.  Unfortunately, I got a bad cold and had to sub myself out.  I wish I had gone, but thats alright.  When I was better, Cory and I went to dinner with Jean, Sue, Troy and Nat at a place called the Tavern, where we played pool.  We haven't played pool in a while, and I am not that good.  I did get better though and now I wish we had a house so I can put a pool table in.  It's a fun game with strategy and skill.   Games I like.

We spent great time with Nick, Billie Jean and Danika.  Nick took us out to the wilderness in hopes of finding a bull(elk).  We had a little hiking to do,  but this time they boys brought the guns and I with the camera.  Unfortunately, we didn't spot a thing out there, but at least we got to be outside.  One of the days, we went out to the baseball fields to play catch and hit some balls.  Billie Jean gave me some pointers when batting and I told her she should coach.  She's a natural and would be an awesome coach.

Danika definitely wore us out, but in a good way.  Her favorite words to say are "No", "Mine", "Stop it".  It is her way or the highway.  She is super energetic and I can't wait to meet her again.  She is going to be a totally different girl and I hope she remembers us the next time, who knows when that will be.

Our last night with Troy and Nat, we played Taboo at his place with his Mom(Gail) and step dad(Jeff).  Taboo is probably mine and Cory's all time favorite game.  We played two rounds over some drinks and as always, the boys get so competitive.  Cory and I played again against Nat and Troy for just one round and we totally whooped.  The game is so much easier to play when people on your team are people you really know.  Troy even busted out his high school scrapbook to reminisce him and Cory's high school days.

For our last night in Burns, Lee invited us, Nick, Billie Jean and Danika over for dinner.  Boy, was I impressed!  He made us roast beef au jour, shrimp scampi, salad, teriyaki vegetables and fully loaded baked potatoes.  There was so much food, it was awesome!  Kudos to him.  He even baked us brownies for dessert and they were moistly, delicious.


9 January 12 - Burns to Mt. Hood 240 miles
Our time in Burns was up.  We had to say goodbye to Billie Jean and Danika.  Danika was pretty bummed to see us leave.  She kept saying "no, Aunt Gly, you stay".  Well, when we were saying goodbye, she was due for a nap and was pretty cranky.  I had to bribe her with chocolate to get a hug goodbye for the both of us.  Nick drove us to Prineville, where we met Dad.

The remaining days, we just relaxed at Dads.  He had to work for those days, but we found time to spend time with each other.  We had pizza at the Brightwood Tavern and played more pool.  Before we knew it, it was already time to get on the plane for home.


11 January 12 - Mt. Hood to PDX 40
Dad took us to the airport early because he had work.  We said our final goodbyes and saw Dad drive away.  I am so happy to have left for break and see the family there.  Cory and I really needed to leave home, just to get away from the stress of school/work/life.  Now that we are home, it has been absolutely rejuvenating being back in our king size bed.  I also feel like our relationship has grown stronger, which is a great feeling.  We are hoping now that family come up to see us next time around.  They are due to see Alaska :)

Oregon, until next time,
G