Thanksgiving in Juneau

 After our time out of Alaska we just could not warm our bones.  So, Amanda bought herself an insulated snow skirt...and she loves it.

 We left Anchorage after work on Wednesday in a snowstorm.  Tory and Karl had a Thanksgiving Feast planned for Thursday.  They invited some of their friends (who's families live far away) and we had more food and laughs than can fit in one day.  We chilled out on Friday, took a tour of downtown Juneau, had some Russian dumplings at Pel'Meni, and finished the day with some bowling.

 Saturday Tory had booked a back country cabin for us.  It was 4.5 miles one way, and the sun was going down.

 We loaded up the dogs, kids and gear and hit the trail

 it got dark at mile 2

 We made it to the cabin after 4.5 hours of pushing on thru the snow.  the kids did great (the trick here was to reward them with candy every 1/4 mile).  We were all tired and just wanted to warm up and chill out.

 Tory had prepared a wonderful dish to warm our bellies

Ryan, you just snowshoed 4.5 miles, half of which was in the dark and you still have left over energy?

 Phinn was wasted.  Little did he know he had to hike out and get on a plane the next day.

 Yes, we did have some spirits to warm our spirits

 We did have a showing of the Northern Lights, but once the sun rose we had a great looking day ahead of us.

 we kept our hope high knowing we'd be going for waffles once we got back to town.  this is the view from the waffle place

 Brothers.  when did that guy get so tall?

Ryan, Amanda and Destiny/

   Thanks again for hosting and having a great time all the time.  love you guys.

The wedding of the year! :-)

I'm so proud of my lil sis, Ashley, and am truly happy that she has found a best friend and life companion with Scott Doody. The wedding was beautiful and I was honored to be co-maid of, uh, honor with my baby sis Sarah. Check out pics below!

Florida!! (I'll do a separate special blog for the wedding day :)

Well we've been back in Alaska for a few days and this cold is making it impossible for us to get over how much we LOVED the beautiful weather in Florida the entire time we were there. I was glad to spend some real quality time with my family, and we even got to visit with Jay's extended family too. Thanks for a great vacation! Miss you all!!

 yay vacation! When my parents got into town I tricked them into being delivered to the bar where we all met up and shared food and fun memories

 Left to right: My stepdad Paul, Sarah (back), Ashley (front), Me and my Mom

 My Dad, Ashley, Me and Sarah

 Jay and Dad just before the wedding rehersal

 My baby sis Sarah and her beau Evan

 My Mom, the flower girl (Arlyn...sorry if I spelled it wrong!!), and my stepsister Amy at the rehersal dinner

 The blushing hubby-to-be, Mr. Scott Doody

 Like I said in the title, I'll do another blog fo the wedding day. So this pic starts the day after the wedding. My cousins Caryn and Sheryl joined my sister, Dad, Mom, Jay and I for a delicious experience at the Cheesecake Factory in West Palm. Our waitress was a "special" person and later found out that my phone was missing because when she cleared the table she tossed my phone in the buss bucket with the dirty dishes. Thanks moran! and Thanks Sheryl for helping me find it!

 My cousin Sheryl :-) It was her birthday!! Happy Birthday!

 We had a ton of fun going to Deerfield Beach with Jay's cousin Heidi and her little guy, Dylan. He was such a ham at the beach!

Cutie!!