Chillin' like ice cream fillin....

So I just watched the Jason Mraz DVD again, it's pretty good stuff... however I have to say that I like him much better when he was just begining and didn't have so much of a band behind him, more acoustic and raw and less electric suits his sound better... His new album is great though, pick it up if you haven't already.

I bought myself some cross country skis to go to and from work and to play in the snow with...


I have been out on them twice now in preparation for my first run to work tomorrow... it's going to be a bit tougher than I thought but hey I am saving gas money and helping the environment and getting exercise all at the same time right? Today I almost made it all the way to work, got a little lost and ended up in the middle of a "frozen" lake... lets just say that next time I will take the trail around the lake... that thing was creaking and cracking the whole time! I should have brought the camera with me today though cuz I went at sunset, which lasted mroe than an hour, and the scenery was beautiful. I saw some bear prints in the snow out behind our neighborhood yesterday and I am looking forward to meeting him on my way to work someday... not.

The dogs are a handful as expected, but they slept through the night last night for the first time with no accidents and everything! For a while there we were going to make them into puppy rugs...



My latest project has been revisiting the closet and creating a shelf and drawer corner to put stuff in instead of dressers and I will be mounting them up tonight so I will put a pic up as soon as we finish....

K, better get to work, talk to you all soon!

Ben

Alyeska Trip 2!

Here is where we spent the day today... it was a nice ride and the second time we had been there, we went to see a downhill ski contest but it was over by the time we got there... we still had fun and took some great shots of the beautiful scenery. The new puppies came along and did great in the car. Hopefully next time we visit this area we will be skiing ourselves!

The winds get pretty fierce through here, it was a cold one today, in the teens! This is the view down turnagain arm, alyeska is at the end on the right, that was our destination.

The super long sunsets are wonderful!

The view down turnagain arm, named so by captain cook, who had to turn around again cuz it doesn't lead to anywhere!

The peak that we raged on today...jk ;)

This is the valley that alyeska is in.... pretty great views huh....

Kaena about to take a big nap, we tired the dogs out so much yesterday that they couldn't be woken up, it was nice to sleep a while after that. We were posing them for pictures and stuff cuz they wouldn't wake up for anything!

Cubby being the cutest dog ever!

Puppy love!

What else could you want in Alaska!!!???!?!?!!

Hey everyone!
When I got home today from work, I walked in the door to Vanessa and Ben holding our 2 new puppies!!!!!!!! They are so adorable and squishy and cuddly! They are 6-week old Akita/Black Lab mix furballs of fun. Ben's is the boy, the more beige colored one who was named Cubby (he's gonna be a bear when he's older!) and mine is the girl, the whiter one who was named Ka'ena. Enjoy the pics!!!!!

a true alaskan family!

hungry in the kitchen!

can't get enough!

tug-of-war!

Hey everyone!

Time to play cathup with our blog posting....

So to update you on the goings on since xmas, man it sure has been a while since we posted pics huh?


Here we go!

After christmas we got our big present! We moved into our new home on the 29th I think it was... It was dark out but we still had so much fun! Our first task was to paint the garage before we filled it with a ton of stuff....

Before...

before

during

during...

after... and yes I helped... ;)

So our next project was a microwave for the kitchen as they took the one that was here with them when they moved out of our house... We decided to put in on over the stove one to replace that awful vent hood that was there... before...

during...

a little break!

oh and we decided to refurbish the oven wile we were at it... it was pretty gross... we bought new drip pans and cleaned it all up... before...

during, half cleean...

after

So Vanessa finally made it... here is a shot of us picking her up at the airport!

she was a little out of it after her flight... ;)

When we got home we put her right to work with our next project.... the office loft.

before

nasty wall paper closeup... before....

during

during

During!

more during! Yes this project took about 3 days... we still aren't completely done, an after picture will have to wait but you will get to see some of the results...

the first color we chose... which didn't pan out how we wanted...

too mcDonalds!

There that's better.....a soft greenish

Hanging the new book shelves... the after pictures on this are going to blow your socks off!

We were so happy with everything that we got this year, you guys bought too much stuff! Thank you though it was very nice to feel so loved on the holidays when we were so far away from all of you guys!

Here is a shot of Lisa getting ready to open her presents....

So after we were sure that Santa had come, (look at all those wonderful presents!!! Thanks everybody!), we lit a fire to warm up our christmas in the temporary housing...

So we assume everyone has seen our christmas card picture by now, but just in case we didn't have your address or a postal worker went psycho, here it is!

so much to do!

Hey all...

We finally got the internet at home! It's pretty late here now, about 11:30 I guess, so I wont make this the master post that we owe all of you, but I will put a little something up here to tide you over until the weekend. It is my last day of work tomorrow for the work week, Lisa has the day off, so I bet you are going to get the monster picture posting then, sorry it has been so long but I am sure that you all can understand how busy moving can be!


So we pick up Vanessa tomorrow at the airport! Yea!! we are pretty excited to see her again...Can't wait to welcome her to her new home and show her around what we know of the state, how limited that might be up to now...

We have managed to get our kitchen into shape and sort of get a start on lots of house projects and we have even managed to unpack all the boxes, albiet into a large pile in the middle of each room... but hey unpacking 119 boxes is quite a task in itself. So we can't wait until Vanessa gets in to help us decorate and put everything away so we can resume some sort of a normal life again, and get back to exploring our surroundings and making friends! Speaking of friends Casey and Annie said that they are coming to visit us at the end of the winter! We are so freakin pumped to hear that! Can we get a Hell Ya????

OH and Amber and Ty are planning a trip too! We can't wait to see them again too! It will be so nice to see family as it has been quite a while. Can't wait to have a fishing buddy, so dont forget the pole that we bought in Iowa k Ty?

With all the house projects we are taking before and after pics so everyone can follow the progress, might move that section to the website once we get that up and running again!

K, well I better get to bed now, look for a picture fest tommorrow!

Ben and Lisa

quick quick double quick

Hey everyone, the quickest of quick posts... dont have internet in the new house yet.... really busy with work and the house... taking tons of pictures... getting internet asap.... will post more soon, sorry gotta go at work now!

Ben