Kassan Long House

 

Kassan is an little old native village. Long ago there was a cannery there but all that's left now is a few houses, a school, library, a town office(which is more than most of the towns have here on the Island. It funny at home it's rare to find a town that only has a post office, school, and library. Here it's the opposite- most of the towns are just that- Honest! Anyway I love this little town. Its old and ran down but so charming in it's own little way. The people are friendly and they have a little town dog(Chihuahua)that thinks he owns the place. However my favorite thing about Kassan is the Long House. To get there you walk on an old boardwalk that runs along the sea and through some peoples yards(yes-really) but they're friendly. Then you walk about a mile or so through a beautiful old growth forest and over some cool old bridges. You know you're there when you see the totem poles reaching up to the sky along side the beautiful old trees. It's a magical place. The first time I went it was just Bela and I and we drove on the dirt road so far that I thought we were lost and we turned around. We found out that we weren't lost and that it just takes over an hour to get there so Bela and I went back the next day. We met a nice guy named Louie who gave us directions to the long house. I'm glad he did because I never would have dared to walk though the peoples yards. Louie can see the whole town from his Klavico office. He can look out his window with his binoculars and tell you what's happening anywhere in town. Our first trip to the long house was a beautiful sunny spring day. Bela and I took pictures and played on the beach. We watched seals watch us. We saw sea lions and heard a Humpback Whale. We had such a fabulous time that the next day I pulled the kids out of school and took them back. It was fabulous again only this time we watched the humpbacks play around in the bay. Sooo Cool! I was my first time just sitting and watching and listening to them. They're loud, big and beautiful. I guess third times the charm. So by this time I was in love with this special place. Unfortunately the long house, like the village, is old and ran down. I thought it was such a shame that the massive, delicately carve totems are just slow rotting away along with the long house(meeting house). I wanted to do something to help and found out the they were already doing a fund raiser to earn money to apply for a grant for restoration. I would love to be part of that process. I really believe that it's for a worthy cause. It is truly a magical place.

Salmon Berries

The Salmon berries are abundant here in Southeast Alaska. The kids and I have been enjoying foraging. We have collected lots of salmon berries. Bela loves to eat them right off the vine. We've also been sampling Blueberries and Thimble berries. I made some freezer jam and salmon berry pie the other day it was fun. I have especially enjoyed the sea asparagus. At first I didn't like it I thought it was too salty. Then I tried it in some pasta salad, eggs skillets, with red potatoes and today I put it in some potato salad. Needless to say I am quite found off it and wish there was way to preserve it with out losing the crispness. I may try to can it??? I also need to can the salmon that Alex is going to smoke. We leave here in 10 days. I have mixed emotions. I'll be sad to leave my new friends and this beautiful place but I'm excited to see my family and friends. I'm also anxious to get home and get things organized and unpacked.

Happy Birthday Porter

Porter turned 7 this year. He requested a sleepover for his birthday. I was a little weary because we've never done a sleepover party before but it went off with out a hitch. We only invited 5 kids and they were all awesome. I'm grateful that the boys have made such good friends here in Alaska. They were such good kids and all asleep by 10:30. Amazing-huh?

Porter I love You! Your smile brightens our days and fills our hearts. The other day you told me you were a wantachee. I asked you what in the world a wantanchee is and you told me it's a person who make music with their body. Thanks for the clarification. You're a handsome funny,funny boy.

Fishing with Whales on Father's Day

We had an incredible fathers day. Alex was like a kid in a candy store. We went fishing on the ocean. While we were out he caught his first King Salmon. He was literally jumping up and down in the boat yelling, King, I got a King. OKAY-I know he's usually reserved and a little quite, Mr. Cool, but apparently that doesn't apply to fishing.
We went camping for the weekend and pulled the boat along to do some fishing per Alex's request. I was hoping to enjoy the sun laying on the beach but it was Dads day so Dad got his way. I'm so glad he did. After we went to El Capitan cave we took the boat out to the east side of the Island through Dry Passage. I was worried as usual- It was uncharted territory for us. There's so many markers out there for rocks and what not that is looks like a miniature golf course. I think Alex thought he was on the slalom race course in the boat. Believe it or not we survived without any incidents! Although- I did have to close my eyes a few times and take a few deep breaths- Alex keeps me on my toes. He was going slow but I worry. I don't know how he puts up with me but I'm grateful for his adventurous spirit. He keeps me from turning into a total worry wart.
Once we got out there Gabe caught a Shark(dog fish) which he thought was cooler than anything. So fun! Both Alex and Gabe were on top of the world. Porter was pretty excited too. It's not every day you catch a shark. The shark kept trying to bend up and bite Gabe's arm. Porter thought that was so funny. I made Gabe write in his journal and he said, "I caught a shark with triangle scales and teeth. It was the size of my sister with ninja reflexes." I love that kid.
After that we went out into the open ocean(yes I was worried again but did my best to keep it to myself). It was so sunny and beautiful. I was so relieved when the ocean was as smooth as glass. I didn't know that was possible. It was incredible!! We were fishing along side sea otters, sea lions, porpoises, eagles and whales. The otters are so cute. They float on their back and crack open the shell fish. The sea lion are curious and come up close to the boat to see what's going on. The eagles are like the seagulls back home, they are so abundant, which to me is crazy and beautiful. My favorite thing was the whales. They are massive and majestic. There was two pods of them in the bay. I'm not sure what they were doing probably mating or playing but it was so cool. We watched them breech(jump all the way out of the water 3 times) and fluke(I think that's what it's called when they flap their tail around on the top of the water.) It really was heavenly and so indescribable. It will go down in the books as one of those unforgettable days. The only sad part was my camera ran out of batteries after Gabe caught the shark.
We finished off an amazing day with a great dinner. We came home and cooked Alex's fresh caught Salmon. I told him Mothers day better be good next year. Maybe a trip to the MET and some fancy restaurants and did some one say shopping. Just Kidding- he says I just got lucky, I think he's right. And I'm so glad we did because he deserved it. I'm so grateful we got to share the experience together as a family.
Needless to say I haven't seen Alex much lately. He has the fishing bug. It's 11:00 pm barely getting dark and he's still out fishing.
Thanks for a Great Fathers Day Alex. I Love You:)

Gabe catching the Shark



Bela hiking at El Cap


Whale Pass

Our Little Princess

 

Bela is getting so big! She is mostly full of jibber jabber but it seems like everyday is adding a few more sounds or words to her repertoire. she can say mama, dada, don't(could have been one of her first words),no, thank you, woof, craby,craby,craby, quack,quack, meow, eyes, nose, mouth and the list goes on. My personal favorite is her new trick; when we pray she folds her arms and smiles sooo big. Just like she is the center of the universe which in our little family she is:) not always. Once she sees that we've all noticed how cute she is, she claps.
Porter said today that he thinks it's kind of annoying when Bela talks so much. He then proceeded to ask Gabe, "Is that why princesses are so annoying?" of course Gabe said, Yeah!
How sweet it is!!

Alaska Summer 2010

We have been blessed to spend this summer in Alaska. Alex is doing a 4 month detail for the Forest Service. When we are finished in August we will go back to life as usual in Pinedale. Everything will be as if we never left. I've wanted to write about this experience for a while so pardon me if it ends up a little long. Mostly I want to go over the events that got us hear.
When Alex told me he applied for the job I didn't think that much of it because he puts in for a lot of jobs. After he mentioned it I started getting this feeling, like a reminder that I should start getting rid of some of our junk. That I should organize and sort what was important to me. I did a little here and there and the prompting kept coming back. As far as I knew we weren't going anywhere and a little here and there was go enough. I didn't do a whole lot in the beginning. When we found out we were going to Ak we had less than a month to prepare I was a little frantic but it could have been worse. I knew then and know now that the promptings were from the holy ghost and if I would have listened closer it wouldn't have been as stressful. You might think that it shouldn't have been that big of deal in the first place, after all it's only four months. Well- we lost tenants in our Pinedale Duplex, Brigham City house and Payson House. Therefore I was not feeling like we should come to Alaska. We prayed and we both felt it was clear that we should and it would work out. So we proceeded forward with faith and put in the effort on our part to do what we could. We decided to move out of the duplex we were in to the unexpectant vacant one acrossed the street. That involved us moving but we were planning on doing that eventually. We immediately found tenants for our Payson and Brigham City houses within a weeks time. So all was well and we were off to AK. Well I know that was a gift from Heavenly father to get us on our way. Apparently we still had more faith to grow.. because we lost our tenants in Payson and we are just now getting new tenants. Which really hasn't been that stressful. I'm very grateful for the help of my parents and brother in showing our house and looking after it.
Our journey has been wonderful. We had a great trip up here. We stayed on the Columbia River in a quaint little lodge. We also got to spend sometime with Uncle Jim and Aunt Dodie. They have a lovely little cabin at Mt. Baker. Gabe and Alex went skiing with Jim. Oh another little blessing- we were able to get on the ferry all together as a family. It was sold out and we couldn't make reservations but we got on with our truck. The ferry ride was an adventure. It was ruff weather and not quite like the cruise boats we were use to. One day we all layed in bed for a while but other than that it was good.
Since we've been here in AK it has been fantastic! Were having a blast but I'll write more about that later. I just wanted to bear my testimony that I know the holy ghost was there with me prompting me to get ready. I know that we were suppose to come here for whatever reason the cards came together so we would do it. I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for this experience and the lessons that my family is learning. It has been really rewarding for Alex. Which is so great because he deserves it.
Here are some fun pictures of our journey.
Our cabin on the Ferry

Gabe by a lighthouse

Gabe flying in the wind

Setting sail at the port in Bellingham

The Lodge on Columbia River

You might wonder- Where is Porter??? He was not interested in being in any pictures, so there you have it.

 

So I wasn't able to post any pictures previous to Hockey because they're on the broken computer. Maybe later. Hockey was such a great experience for the boys. Even Porter liked it although he probably wouldn't tell you that. gabe was the beginning skater on the team so it was a challenge but he stuck it out. He is a trooper. He wrote this in his Jornal about hockey,"We won the state championship. I felt like I was king of the world. It was my first year which was even cooler. So my advice is try hockey even if you think you are not goood at it."

Updating the blog

My how time flys. I am going to attempt to go back and update the blog. I can't believe it has been so long. I remember the last time I intended on updating was right after Bela blessing. She is so big now. So- we'll see if I can start there and update some of our big events like moving in to the duplex, hockey and Alaska.