A Message for Me

Before Aaron deployed, he left me a little gift on our computer desktop. I watched it tonight. He had made me a little video message of him talking to me. (Sorry not telling you what he says!) I have tried not to watch the video too much because it makes me sad. I hate that I can hear him and see him yet not be able to snuggle up into his arms. Although it does tug my heartstrings I love that he did this for me! (He also left me some songs on the desktop to listen to when I feel down. I told you he was great!) We say 'I love you!' all the time in e-mails and over the phone but it is so nice to see the words roll off his lips. And they are such nice lips!

I can't wait until I hear it in person, staring into his eyes that are letting me know everything is going to be alright. I like to think I am a fairly strong women. And even though I knew marrying Aaron that deployments were part of the deal, it certainly isn't always easy. I have my nights where I crawl into bed and have a good cry because I miss my best friend terribly. I am excited for the day when I can feel his arms around me strong yet gentle, and know that for the first time in months I am whole again and that the tears are happy tears!

I am happy to say that time will come NEXT MONTH! I know! I am so stoked I can't even express it in words. I don't know exactly when and I know the date will probably change about 15 times before I finally get to attend the Welcome Home ceremony but I don't care. I can't wait to see his handsome face. I not only see the light at the end of the tunnel, I can feel the warmth from it.

Only during deployments do I wish time away at alarming rates! I know you are not supposed to wish your life away but my life is not complete without Aaron with me anyway, so I am hoping I get a free pass on that one. So with that said, I wish time would fly by until I was in my husbands arms again and listening to him tell me he loves me!

My Love

A Day of Beauty

For Martin Luther King day a few friends and I traveled about an hour up the road to Girdwood, AK. It is the tiniest town but it has a giant ski resort, Alyeska. We didn't go up to ski but to look around and see the mountains.

Pictures from the drive to Alyeska.

We saw these sheep on the side of the road on the way there.

Here is the tram we took to get to the top of the mountain. I forgot to take pictures of the acutal resort buildings, oops!

Coming off the tram.

The beautiful mountains!

Picture on the way home. I liked the reflection!

We saw these moose on the way home at Potter's Marsh. There is a huge boardwalk there to enjoy the wilderness around you. The moose were there feeding. Pretty cool!

Don't wink at me...please!

I had the unfortunate privilege of meeting a creepy winker today at Wally World. He wanted to cut in line ahead of me to buy a pack of cigarettes. So instead of just asking politely he felt the need to wink at me at the beginning of the question, during the question (awaiting my response) and at the end (when I am sure he was claiming victory in his mind).

Little did he know, I let him go ahead of me so I could get rid of him as soon as possible. Creepy. Straight up creepy. I wish I would have yelled as he was walking away, "You're not that cool!" but I didn't feel like being rude. At least not out loud.

Why do guys do this? Do they think flirting will give them a pass for anything? If you are a man reading this please take this advice to heart...don't wink at people to get your way! It is weird. And you might think I am just getting old but I didn't like it when I enjoyed being the center of a flirting mans attention.

I was interested to read people's opinions of this winking madness. CLICK HERE to see what I found.

The part of the articles I found funny was when they said this:

"And most women have never complained and would never do because of the immediate feelings they catch from this mere, one-eyed appreciation."

Ha ha ha! They obviously have never asked me! So why am I rambling about this? I have no great reason other than knowing some man out there thinks he beat me with a mere wink. Ugh. Never again!

Winter Wonder

Pics of ice on my front door. I used my macro. Love it!

More Fairbanks...

Here are a more pictures from my trip up to Fairbanks before Christmas...

Cherie and I at a part of the pipeline. I know that seems weird but I was excited to see it!

Pretty big right? I guess it is so large because it has to be insulated so much.

We took a dog sled ride we when went up to Chena Hot Springs.

It is amazing that such small dogs can pull so much weight. They were pulling 5 adults!

It was a fun experience but it was so cold! Remember the whole -36 degrees thing I mentioned in a prior post? Well, it doesn't help anything when you get into a sled and sit in a bunch of snow. My butt was numb for hours!

Stopping for a photo op.

Fun! I can't wait for Aaron to get home so we can go on a ride together. I bet it is much more fun snuggling up with someone!

Here is where they lived. There were a lot of dogs!

I thought this dog was so cute. I don't think he appreciated the photo op.

Alaska has so many wonderful thing to see and do! I hope you consider it someday as a vacation spot. Don't go to the beach again! All beaches are the same. Once you have seen one you have seen them all! :) Branch out this year and tackle somewhere new!

Icy Wonderland

During our trip to the North Pole, we visited a bunch of ice sculptures located next to Santa's House. (Random: Spellcheck wanted me to change Santa's to Satan's. Jeepers!) There was also a Santa RV Park but I didn't feel the need to capture that on film! The sculptures were amazing! There were at least 15 of them. We went there first during the afternoon and decided to go back down at night. I am so glad we did! The ice sculptures came to life at night and you could see so much more detail.

This one was my favorite! What skill to make such an amazing piece!

The AK quarter.

A cool Santa.

A crazy maze ALL made of ice!

A huge piece. Me sitting on it and freezing my bum. Again, ALL ice!

This was the day it was -36 degrees out and this is a picture of Cherie's hair freezing! Even her eyelashes were turning white.

Cherie, Kim and Carlo. They were such gracious hosts!

A slide made of ice. The sleds were way to thin to take to many turns. It was so cold on the bum!

Cherie on the way down.

Us on our very cold chariot.

Cool huh!?

Me laying on a block of ice they use to carve things. I wanted to lay on it so you could get an idea of size. Dumb idea! I was cold for a very long time after this!

A beautiful angel.

The whole place was amazing! When we went back at night we saw couple getting married in front of one of the sculptures. I didn't want to take pictures of their big moment without asking but I was tempted! :)

Home for the Holidays

I ventured to the 'lower forty-eight' (as they say around here) for Christmas. I had a really fun trip but learned quickly that a week wasn't enough time at home. Next time I will stay longer! The time went by too fast and the flight was too long for that short of a jaunt! It took me 11 hours to get there (thank you for only one stop!) and the trip home was 20 hrs! Of course you have to account for the 4 hour time difference. I got up at 6:00 am on the 29th and landed (or so my body thought) at 3:00 am the next day! Ugh! Although, in AK time it was only 11:00 pm.

I got to meet Anderson, my nephew, for the first time. He is so stinkin cute! And he is such a happy baby!

Syd and I doing our annual silly picture. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a nice one with her!

Anderson with his new Tonka truck.

He and I hanging out at Dad's house.

Don't you love the little mohawk!?

Syd playing her new Wii. That thing was a blast. We were all dancing to one of her game at some point in the night. Thank goodness I think (I hope!) no video was taken!

My dad with Anderson. I think they look alike! :)

Getting ready for dinner.

This what happens when I got to feed the baby!

Mom with her grandbabies.

Two great kids!

I didn't take near as many photos as I usually do. Because I am losing it at a young age I forgot to put my CF card back in my camera before I left. I got one at Wally World eventually.

Hopefully, Steph will send me the pics from my time at the Pearsall's house (hint, hint...ha ha!) I had a really good time at home but it sure went by fast. I can't wait to go back and visit again soon! I hope you all had a great Christmas holiday with your families!