I got tagged

Cortney tagged me for all these questions, so here goes:
1. How often do you go over the speed limit? All the time, but I'm trying to get better

2. Do you dance like crazy when no one is looking? I have before, but not often

3. If you were going to be stuck on a desert island which book, movie, and which CD would you take with you? I'd take my Bible, a good worship CD and maybe Grease or Dirty Dancing

4. What did you get in trouble for as a kid? beating up my brothers

5. What really gives you the creeps? dead people

6. What was your favorite toy when you were a kid? Barbie

7. You run into a friend while shopping. Where were you? We just moved to Alaska so I have no idea

8. When you fall asleep are you usually on your side, stomach, or back? stomach

9. If fat or calorie intake were not an issue, what food would you consume the most? I'd have to add if health concerns were not an issue then the answer would be CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM!!!

10. If you could hire one of the following, which would it be: Driver, chef, maid, or stylist? CHEF

11. What movie have you watched the most? Shag, Grease, or Dirty Dancing

12. What perfume do you wear? My most recent buy is No Ho by Bond #9 and Very Sexy Dare

13. What was your favorite sitcom growing up? Little House on the Prairie and Fresh Prince

14. What were you doing the last time you had a really good laugh? I laugh a lot with Jackson

15. What was the very first concert I ever attended? I think it was Garth Brooks

16. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list? Scott Hamilton

17. How long does it take you to get ready in the mornings? just me...about an hour

18. When is the last time you went to the mall and what did you buy? A few weeks ago when I first got to Alaska I was not prepared for it to be as cold as it was in the dead of summer so I did not bring any warm church clothes. Therefore I had to go to the mall and buy something to wear to church. I ended up with a black suit from Banana Republic and some black boots

19. Ever go to camp? Sure...Palmetto Bible Camp

20. Do you collect anything? no

So now I tag Andrea, Brooklyn, and Elizabeth. Have fun!

Jackson's 2nd Birthday and 1st poop!

We celebrated Jackson's 2nd Birthday in a low key fashion this year. It was just the 3 of us, but Jackson didn't seem to care or notice. :) We are so blessed to have had 2 years with this precious boy! God is so Good!!! This was his present. He LOVES it!!! He is obsessed with trains! Of course by now he has destroyed the track and now Scott has to find another way to keep it together. I think he is going to screw it to the table.A couple weeks after his 2nd birthday he had his first poop on the potty! We were so proud of him and he was so happy too! Right after that, we put his diaper back on him then he pooped some more in the diaper..AHHHH!!! One step foward, two steps back! What can ya do?

Salmon Fishing

This past Friday, I left to go fishing for salmon with a friend from church and his friend from work. We got to go to a private cabin. This was huge because I have never fished for salmon. This means that we would not be shoulder to shoulder trying to get fish. Also the family that owned the cabin were guides on the Kenai River. They helped teach me what I was doing. This is their cabin. We fished right out front in the river.



This is looking up the river at the house next to this one. They were out fishing too.

This is Paul and Derrick fishing. The river was very cold. It is flows from a lake that is glacier fed. We had to take breaks every once in awhile to warm up. The river is around 40 degrees.

These are the three fish that I caught on Saturday. I put my boot in the picture to give you perspective on how big the fish were. The limit on catching Red Salmon are three a day. My boot is a size 12. They had a lot of fight and were really fun to catch.

Here are the three that I caught on Friday evening. We fished until 1 am that night. Once you hit midnight you can catch three more but that didn't happen for us. With all six salmon it made about 45-50 steaks. We will be eating good for a long time!!

Crow Creek Pass Trail

This is a hike that I (Scott) went on this past Wednesday. It is a trail that goes for over 20 miles. I only did five miles of it (10 miles round trip) to reach Raven glacier. Those pictures are later on in this post. It was another truly amazing hike through beautiful country. This trail was about 50 minutes from Anchorage. This is a picture looking from the trail back toward the town of Girdwood.

This shows some of the beautiful scenery along the trail.

You can see the trail below in this picture.

This shows one of the many rivers that flow through the area. These are all from snow or glacier run off.

This was part of the trail. In the back country, some of the snow has not melted. A hiker can be seen in the distance. This trail had more snow on it than any other I have done yet. Ironically I was wearing pants and a short sleeve t-shirt though.

More scenery!

This is a picture of Raven glacier. I ended up deciding to hike over to it. I have never been that close to a glacier before so I wanted to get a better view. My adventurous side couldn't let this opportunity pass! The steep snow bank on the right of the picture is what I hiked along to get to the glacier. Mom, I know what you are going to say!

Here I am on the glacier. The glacier went all the way up to the top of the mountain. The further up you went the more snow was on the ground. Further down it was more ice and rock. Behind me was a couple who were camping along side the glacier. I think they were surprised to see me!

Here is more of the icy/rocky part closer to me and just ice in the distance.

Here is a beautiful iced lake along the trail. The reflection made for an amazing scene.

This is the river leading out of the lake.

I was blessed to run across some mountain goats along the trail. I was able to get within 15 yards of these three! I hope to be able to hunt them while in Alaska. You can see them along the side of the rough terrain. The are very adapt to climbing.

Here is one up close. He is shedding his winter coat.

Here are the other two. I was amazed at how close they allowed me to get.

O'Malley Hike

Yes, more pictures from a hike. I told Scott on Monday I wanted to go on a walk somewhere outside where it was pretty since the sun was out. We arrive at the Power Line Trail which is wide and not steep to walk it and Scott sees O'Malley trail off in the distance that goes to the top of a nearby mountain and of course he convinces me we should take the hike instead of the walk. Here we are before our hike...not walk. This is the Power Line trail I wanted to take....it looks pleasant, doesn't it?

If you look closely you can see the O"Malley trail going up the mountain in this picture.

At the top of the mountain there was snow that Jackson played in and ate.

We have learned that Jackson does not get cold as easily as I do (which is like Scott), but when he does get cold, he gets as angry as I do about it! He was screaming crying on the top of the mountain from being cold before we got his coat on him. After that he held the hood down all the way over his face until it got warmer. Here he is peeping out for the picture.

The next 4 photos are views from the top of the mountain. As usual, the view was amazing and quite a marvel of God's handiwork!

You can see the city of Anchorage off in the distance in this picture and the one below.

Falls Lake Hiking Trip

Scott decided that he wanted to take advantage of the good weather and go on a hike. Jackson was sick so he had to go by himself. After it was over, Scott was glad he went by himself becasue it was a hard hike. He decided to hike the Falls Creek Trail up to Falls Lake. This is the beginning of the trail. It is a three mile hike (one way) with 3600 feet of elevation change. That means really steep! For those that use the incline on a tread mill, that would be the equivalent of being at 23 degrees of slope for three miles. He started hiking at 7:15 pm.

This shows some of the lush vegitation along the hike.

The trail was very narrow at times. For a majority of the trail, it was only one person wide.

This is Falls Creek. The trail followed it all the way up to the lake.

This was the start of a little side trip Scott thought would be cool. He had seen some Big Horn Sheep up in the rocks and thought he could climb up to get a better picture. The mountain he climbed up was so steep he had to climb it on all fours. These were some of the beautiful wild flowers growing on the side of the mountain.

Here are some of the sheep Scott saw from a distance. The following picture shows how far he had to climb in order to get to them. He got within 100 yards to get this picture. He wishes he could have taken a shot at these!

The white dots are the sheep from the other picture. As you can see, it was quite a climb to get to them.

This is a picture looking back at the ocean.

As the trail went higher into the mountains, some of it was still underneath the snow!

The river is underneath the snow coming from the bottom left of the picture.

This shows the lake. It is more of a pond though. It is surrounded by mountains and is fed by the melting snow.

There were areas in the lake that still had ice in it. Scott dipped his head and hands into the water. The water temp was in the 30's!

This is another view as Scott came back down from the lake. This was taken at around 10:30 pm.

This is Scott really glad to be back at his truck done with the hike. He was completely exhausted. He finally finished the hike around 11:45 pm. He is still recovering today!

Scott and Dad's Trek to Alaska

These are some pictures from Scott and Dad's trip to Alaska. This one is Scott driving through Kansas. As you can see there was a lot of beautiful scenery to look at.

This picture is Scott driving into Estes Park Colorado. The scenery has gotten a little better.

This is a rock that Scott decided to climb that was outside their hotel in Estes Park. The climb was very steep. My brother Ross would be jealous.

This is a picture of the entire rock.

This is a picture of the hotel in Estes Park. The open window is the room Scott and Dad were staying in.

This shows the hotel and the beautiful surroundings.

This is a view from the road through the Rocky Mountain National Park.

Here is a sweet picture of the two adventurers.

Here is Dad standing in front of a bunch of snow at 12,000 feet altitude. This was June 15 and the temperature was 30 degrees.

Here is a picture of the cabins near Dutch John, Utah.

This is a picture from across the lake. You can see the cabins in the background. The scenery was beautiful.

This is the sunset over the lake.

This is the inside of the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park. Scott was in log cabin paradise.

Here is a picture of Old Faithful before going off.

Here is the outside of the Inn.

Here is Old Faithful going off.

This is the view from our hotel room just outside Glacier National Park.

This is the ferry that takes cars across the Yukon River. The highway turns to dirt on the other side of the river. They traveled on the dirt highway for over 100 miles.

Here is Dawson City. It was the last stop before they entered Alaska. None of the streets were paved because of the perma-frost. It was just under 2 degrees lattitude from being at the arctic circle. This was on the longest day of the year. This is as dark as it got the entire day.