It's Almost Springime!! Happy Easter :)

The temperature is 30-40 degrees here on a daily basis now - people are bringing out their shorts - seriously!! It's amazing what feels warm to you after being in weather from -20 degrees to 20 degrees for 5 months!! Brant and I have not gotten out our shorts yet, although we've switched from heavy winter coats to a light fleece :) The snow is finally almost melted, and we were able to take the studded tires off our cars. We were told not to get to excited because last year, they got 2 feet of snow overnight on April 25th!!

We have been having quite a few "Girls' Nights" at work lately. A couple of weeks ago, my friend, Valerie, hosted a Spa Night at her house. There were about 10 of us at Valerie's house, and 3 ladies that worked at a spa came over and offered massages, pedicures, manicures, facials, and some other stuff. I had a pedicure and an awesome massage. It was really nice to spend a relaxing Friday night with the girls! Brant was on call the same night and was called down to the ER at the end of his work day....I got home from Girls Night before he got home from work - how sad! This is my favorite picture from the night...this is Kay after she finished getting her head massage. We told her she'd better run a brush through her hair before she got home or her husband would wonder what went on at Girls Night! haha.

Our clinic was closed on Friday for Good Friday, so several of us went hiking to Wolverine Pass in south Anchorage. It was a nice mild day - about 35 - and we hiked for about 2 hours and went to lunch at a great pizza place - The Moose's Tooth. It was a really nice day off and we all enjoyed spending most of the day together!

Hope everyone reading this is enjoying the warmness for us!!!

Happy Anniversary :)

For our anniversary we went down to Alyeska ski resort in Girdwood, about an hour south of where we live. We drove down Saturday morning and checked into our room. Brant has his own














snowboard, but I still rent as I don't know if I really want to invest in a snowboard quite yet. I've only been snowboarding 3 times before, I'm not good, and Brant has been a great teacher trying to build me up so I'd be ready to go down the "big hills" at Alyeska. I have been practicing on the














ski slopes on base, which apparently aren't that big - they were to me! We rode the tram up to the top and had lunch a Glacier Express, 2300 feet above sea level - the view was amazing.

After lunch, it was finally time to test our skills on the slopes. I really did not enjoy snowboarding until this weekend at Alyeska. I really had a great weekend, the weather was gorgeous, and we got to spend two days out on the slopes. The best part was, I learned how to turn :) so I didn't have to spend the weekend on the bunny hill. I think I can get on most chair lifts now without busting my butt. Except for lift #1 at the resort - I only got off that once because I think I got whiplash.

I was able to snowboard on the same slopes as Brant all day. Well, he would either go ahead of me and stop to wait, or he would let me get a head start and then catch up with me :) I'm getting there. No major injuries incurred except for some large bruises, sore muscles, tender tailbones, and whiplash from getting off the lift :)

Saturday night, we went to the Double Musky for dinner. It has been featured in a lot of "Best Of" magazines and was recommended to us by a lot of people. It was wonderful - and we even had Double Musky Pie for dessert - yummy :)



Sunday morning, we slept in and had breakfast at the resort. We hit the slopes for a few more hours before heading home, whipped! We got home and had leftovers for dinner and our wedding cake with champagne for dessert - it was italian cream cake - and it was still wonderful after being in the freezer for a year :)

Fur Rondy 2009

Last weekend, we went downtown Anchorage with Richard, Lori, and Avery to the 2009 Fur Rondy Festival (short for Fur Rendezvous. It is a 74-year old tradition that celebrates life in Alaska. We got there early for the parade...it was freezing. Luckily, we were standing right next to the coffee shop and they were loaded with hot chocolate :) We took advantage of that! We watched the parade for about an hour then watched the Sled Dog Races for awhile. We were up close and personal watching from the starting line, and they had streets blocked off all around town for the race. The actual Iditarod race doesn't start until March 7th, so


these were the sprint races.

After we were done watching the races, we went down to the ice sculpture contest. This was my favorite ice sculpture...Scrat from "Ice Age." All of the sculptures were amazing and so detailed! After browsing around the sculptures, we were all getting pretty cold, and Avery was getting pretty tired, so we walked back to eat lunch at the Glacier Brewhouse - one of our favorite restaurants in Anchorage.



On our way, we had to walk through the fair. Yes, it was probably 15 degrees, snowing, and there were people riding on the ferris wheel and the pirate ship, and the potato sack races. I guess they don't know any better, and we couldn't think of anything more miserable! After filling up and warming up at the Brewhouse, we drove to the airforce base and went snowboarding from about 5-8PM. It was my last chance to practice on the 'small hill' until we headed to the 'big hill' on our anniversary. I took advantage of it :)