Happy New Years!

Happy New Year's everyone! Say goodbye to 2011 and hello to 2012. Today will be mellow yet busy for me. Sean's working so I'm going to go to the Laker game with my parents- I'm bringing my friend Kaylin as my date since the hubs can't come. Then since today is also my brother's birthday, I'm going to stop by his place in Long Beach and say hi, Happy Birthday and eat some food. It will be a relatively early night for me- I'll probably celebrate the East Coast NYE but most likely wont make it to midnight here on the West Coast.

Yesterday Sean took a break from his new found love of spearfishing and decided to go free diving for lobster instead. He brought back a good sized lobster as well as some scallops.

I cooked them up for him and he had a lunch of fresh lobster tail and pan seared scallops. I'm not much of a seafood person (although I do enjoy the fish he brings home), so I didn't eat any of it, but did cook it up for him.

Hope you have a Happy and safe New Years Eve, and see you in 2012!

Merry Christmas

This weekend was pretty mellow yet eventful at the same time.  Sean worked a 72 from Thurs thru Sat so I got some of my last minute shopping done, had dinner with a cousin in town from Colorado and cleaned the house and got it ready for Christmas Day. Christmas Eve I went and had dinner with my Grandma. My brother went to his future in laws to celebrate and my parents were in Cabo, so I decided to make the short trek up to Culver City so that my Grandma didn't have to spend Christmas Eve by herself. We had pea soup and tamales (her neighbors dropped some off just as we were sitting down to eat so we had to give them a try!). I was in charge of bringing dessert so I made some lemon bars that my Grandma gave me a recipe for years ago which were delish! Christmas Day we spent part of the morning with Sean's mom, then came home, made breakfast, exchanged our own gifts and took a nap and had an overall lazy afternoon. Around 4 Sean's dad, his fiance, my brother and Nicki came by and we had dinner- pulled chicken tacos. It was a great night- all that was missing from this Christmas was my parents, but they were sitting on a beach in Cabo, enjoying a Christmas margarita I'm sure! It was a great little Christmas- only one hiccup- at around 10pm, Sean and I came down with some food poisoning till about 4:30 that morning, so needless to say, the day after Christmas was a lazy one. Hopefully everyone had a great day with their family and friends. Next up, New Year's!

Luscious Lemon Bars

Luscious Lemon Bars

Crust
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 up Kretschmer Wheat Germ (if you can't find this, crumbed graham crackers work as well)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup (5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon) margarine, softened

Filling
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose four
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 3/4 teaspoons grated lemon peel
Powdered sugar for dusting

Heat oven to 350. Lightly spray bottom of 13x9 inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray. Combine crust ingredients in large bowl. Mix on low speed of electric mixer until well blended (mixture will be crumbly). Firmly press crumbs onto bottom of pan. Bake 15 min.

*note: make sure the butter is softened and well distributed in the crust or you will end up with dry patches in your crust and it will fall apart when you cut the lemon bars*

For filling, combine sugar, flour, and baking powder in large bowl. Add eggs, blend well. Gently stir in lemon juice and peel. Carefully pour over hot crust, and bake 25-30 minutes or until edges are light golden brown and filling is set.

Cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and cut into squares. (if not cooled completely, it will not cut well).

Enjoy!

Hide and Seek

So I decided a couple days ago to keep my camera ready to go on my desk should anything fun and interesting come quickly along that I want to be sure I capture. Well, since we don't have children yet, this usually involves my dogs. Most of time when things happen, I don't have my camera ready, so this should solve that!

Well, Ace and Summer are very spoiled by their dad by both of us. This often includes getting giant bones and raw hides from the pet store. If you wondered whether or not they miss them when they're gone, ask Ace. The second Sean gets home, he goes straight to the cabinet where we keep the treats out of reach. It usually goes like this... *whining* "Ace no" *more whining*, "Ace not now"... eye contact.... *sits down with smug look on face saying- I know they're in there* Sometime I ignore him, sometimes Sean we cave and give them their bones. Both take them and try to get as far away from the other. Summer is a little more food dominant, and doesn't like when Ace gets near her with her bone. On the other hand, Ace is the least food dominant dog I know and will let Summer stare him down. he'll move because he hears something and she'll promptly jump at the chance to steal his bone and hoard it in her spot.

Today, I think Ace had enough and was searching for a spot to hide while eating, without the threat of our little sneaky one. Today, as I sit at my desk, I've realized he's set up camp in my office behind the papizan chair.

Still keeping a watchful eye of course

Later when he decided he was done with the bone, he decided to find  a new hiding spot.

How bout in their play tunnel?...

decided against that fast.... can you see the look of contemplation on his face?

The final resting place? Well, I'd tell you then I'd have to kill you, he decided that under my desk by my feet would be the best bet. With mama guarding, Summer won't steal it there!

Eat Your Veggies...

This weekend was a fun, eventful, busy weekend. But not busy in the way where you feel exhausted, busy where you feel like you did a bunch of amazing things, and look back on Monday thinking, I wish that weekend could have lasted longer! Friday night was an impromptu date night. We decided last minute to get tickets to see Shrek the Musical at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. We ate dinner first a delicious little gourmet pizza place nearby called Pizza Ortica. We experimented with some Bruschetta that had ground lamb, white beans, and tomatoes- delish! I had some yummy raviolis and Sean a pizza. After dinner we walked over to the Performing Arts Center.

excuse the crappy phone quality and bald head in front of us, it was the only picture I had of the night

I love anything live- musicals, dance performances, music, anything. Shrek was too cute and kept the audience laughing the whole time- kids and adults alike!

Saturday my mom and I did a quick stop at the fire department's open house to say hi to Sean who spent the day cooking up a boatload of hot dogs for the kiddos and families that came out to see the station. Then, my mom and I explored a nearby home goods store, and went to see my cousin Elise's soccer game. It was great to hang out with my mom and Aunt Kathleen whom I adore, but don't see enough! Then I whipped us up a yummy dinner of halibut in a tomato and artichoke broth with a side of onion potatoes and salad.

Sunday we tried to go to church but got all discombobulated with the service times (they recently added a service, and this weekend was baptism weekend, so times got all switched up and changed up again). So we came home, Sean went surfing and I went and bought some veggies for our at home veggie garden I'm going to attempt. Sean built these awesome planters for me, so we'll see if my green thumb kicks in! I bought strawberries, lavender, red and orange bell peppers, scallions, chives, and seeds for carrots and mixed baby greens. A little herb garden portion and more veggies to come.

strawberry jar

lavender and red bell

Orange Bell and Chives and Scallions

That night we went to a friend's 30th birthday and had a great time with friends, eating some delicious carne asada steak tacos and too many desserts including cookies, avalanche bars, and Sprinkles cupcakes. Sunday ended with happy memories and full bellies! Here's to another week.

Pistols, Pizza, and Pumpkins

This weekend was fun, mellow, but still eventful. Thursday afternoon after work I had done a little cleaning in my office- went through our bills and organized them on a due date calendar, went through my "accounting" for my business, and went through a little bag we had of random gift cards. Some of these gift cards are years old, and have just accumulated from Christmas Gifts, birthdays etc. Normally we grab them and put them straight to our wallets, especially if we know we want to use them right away, but sometimes we will forget to put them away and I'll just grab them and put them in this bag. We had a TON of $$ worth of gift cards in this stash- movies, food, shopping, gas, you name it! Being dorky and trying to be organized, I created a little spreadsheet that I'll keep on my desk with an inventory of these gift cards, along with certificates from discount sites that we've purchased. By organizing them, and then keeping them in their own separate wallet in my purse, I think we'll be more likely to use them. I decided Friday would be the perfect date night to put these to use. We went to the Himalayan Grill (one of our favorite Indian Restaurants, and used a certificate that we had purchased through Living Social. Our friends Jeremy and Sheen joined us, and after dinner, we went to the movies using a certificate for 2 free tickets that we had gotten. We saw Machine Gun Preacher- which was pretty good, but not exactly a feel good movie. We all walked away feeling conflicted on how we felt about the movie's main character, but it was still a nice night.

Sunday when Sean was off again, we went to church in the morning and then met Jeremy and Sheena, along with Jer's brother and sister-in-law for brunch. Then we took a nice lazy nap and cleaned a little before my brother and his fiance came over. The four of us headed down to the gun range for a bit.

Then while the boys cleaned out our pumpkins, Nicki and I prepped everything for dinner. We made Bobolis' which were delish! I haven't had one of those in a LONG time! Then once we were done eating, we all carved out pumpkins. Nicki and I opted for more traditional Jack-O-Lanterns, while Josh was feeling patriotic, and Sean got super fancy and whipped out the power tools to create his octopus. 

I did a Stash on mine in honor of Stashtober!

After the proud unveiling of our handwork, we ate some homemade ice cream sandwiches with chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream and watched Scream 4. It was a great night, and I even made us some pumpkin seeds this morning! A couple of the seeds were sprouting, so I saved them, wrapped them in some wet paper towels, and am trying to find a place to experiment planting them. Maybe next year we'll have pumpkins from our own yard :) We had such a fun time, that I think we're going to make a tradition out of it- can't wait for our second annual pistols, pizza, and pumpkins!

Rainy Days....

This happens to be my favorite time of year- and days like today are my favorite- especially now that I can work from home on days like today. 

Outside it looked like this... 

Inside it looked like this...

Side note- summer isnt much of a model- no posing for pictures.... she would much rather be sticking her face in the lens, hence the only shot of her I could get was munching on her bone- nothing will take her away from that!

Dear Santa...

Source: pdffun.com via Christie on Pinterest

Is it weird that I've already started my Christmas List? I'd be lying if I didn't have a sticky on my computer already tallying up my selfish desires since September (or maybe August). Don't judge....

October Resolutions

                                                                                                 Source: Pinterest

So I've decided in the tenth month of this year, to make some resolutions. Sure they are normally reserved for the New Year, but why not make resolutions whenever you want? I've decided on a few resolutions/good rules to live by:

• Make your bed every morning- this goes back to being a kid and having my mom tell me to make my bed. I get it now, having a bed that's made in the morning just makes your room look better and more appealing, not to mention its much nicer going into a made bed when it's time to go to sleep.
• Always get up when your alarm goes off (do not hit the snooze button!). This is going to be extremely hard for me. I love my snooze button. The thing is though, is laying there through hitting the snooze button 2 or 3 times, doesn't really give me more sleep! It goes off again in 10 minutes, so I'm up, what's the point? Ask me tomorrow how this goes, I have a feeling I'm going to have a long struggle with this one.
• Work out in the morning- this is going to be hard for me too. Ever since hours and hours of dance after school, I've found it easier to work out in the afternoon. Here's the problem- when you are an adult and have a job and other things to do, it's hard to get motivated to go to the gym later, when all you want to do is veg on the couch after a long day. I'm going to try to do it in the morning, before I get ready, so that I have no excuses....we'll see how this goes.
• Actually get ready for the day- the thing about working from home is that it's easy to stay in your pj's till noon, or all day! I find though, that not only do I stay in my pj's, but it actually makes me sleepy all day. Get up Amber, and get dressed! I don't need to get fancy, but actually getting ready makes me not only presentable should someone knock at the door, but I actually feel ready- ready to work, ready to get things done!
• Always floss- I don't floss everyday, I'm not going to lie. So I am going to try to floss every day (perhaps my appointment reminder for the dentist that came last week is responsible for this one).
• Always use a coaster- no one like rings on their furniture
• Put the laundry away- I'm guilty of piling the clean folded laundry in our room, or out of site in the guest room, to the point that's ridiculous. If I put it away right after I fold it, it will take me less time then trying to put multiple piles away at the same time, not to mention makes my house look clean, and not like a slob lives there.
• On that note- put everything away when you're done with it! No just setting it on the counter, leaving it on the table/chair, or leaving on the floor- put.... it.... away. Again, it saves time in the end, and makes my house look nice!
• Drink more water- good for your health and good for your skin....done.
• Hand-write thank you notes, and send a note to say hi every once in a while. I don't know anyone that doesn't like receiving a letter in the mail box. It's thoughtful, and shows that you care enough to spend a little extra time, and a few cents on the postage.

What are some good life rules that either you practice now, or could resolve to do now? 

Goodnight moon...

Source: guardian.co.uk via Amber on Pinterest

It's midnight on a Sunday, and what am I doing still awake? Cleaning. Ever since I was in high school, late nights would randomly induce cleaning kicks. I guess there are worse things I could be doing up so late, but now that I am done and look at the clock, I think- Why in the world am I still awake? Oh well, at least I'm going to bed with a clean office, clean laundry, clean dishes, cleaned coffee pot, Halloween/Fall decorations, and a tidy house. Good night world, and hello Monday morning. I'm sure I will be one grumpy lady in the morning when I get up for work.

Funny Friday

This morning Sean went surfing and when he came home he brought me a beautiful bouquet of lilies which I put in a vase and put next to me on my desk in the office. Sean tends to get me flowers for no reason every once in a while which is nice, but this morning, he gave them to me and said "I had a nightmare last night!" When I asked what it was about he said that it was about a conversation we had last night. He said that in the dream, I was right about what we were talking about. So I asked "why is that a nightmare?" His response..... "Because I was wrong!" Oh I love my hubby. TGIF friends, hope you have a great weekend!

If....

Ok, so I've been a little absent. I've been going through a blogging funk- "Nothing interesting enough to write a post about is happening." Oh well. We've had a lot going on.... again. Sean finished and passed his Engineers test- YAY! Now we just have to wait for the official results. His test is good for a year, so depending how many spots end up opening up, and what his rank is for the test, we will see if he is able to promote. Even if it doesn't happen this year, I am extremely proud of him for all his hard work and dedication he put into studying and getting ready for the test. If one thing I've learned about my husband, it's that when he puts his mind to getting something done, it's going to happen. I'm proud of you Sean!

Any way, I just started looking at pinterest this morning- so amazing. I'm just waiting for my invite right now so that I can officially join and start pinning things that I'm interested in (not sure if "pinning" is a part of the official lingo, but it sounds right). And I got to thinking... If I was talented enough and could do any job in the world or have any full time hobby what would it be? Well of course money in this scenario would need to not be a factor, but I came up with the following- If I had the talents and time, I would love to do/be the following:

- a chef.... even though now it's just for me an Sean, and my meals aren't gourmet, and sometimes turn out awful, I would love to cook. I love cooking and baking and making food, the smells that fill the house, and the food you get to eat when you're done!

- a photographer.... I have a nice camera that I've barely started experimenting with, but as I continue to experiment and more photos come out nicer, I get more excited. Something about being able to capture the moments of your life- even the simple ones, is very satisfying and pleasurable.

- a singer... now this is where the caveat that if I could have the talents come in. I love to sing- to my dogs, in the shower, in the car, walking down the street, anywhere... my only downfall- I don't have a good singing voice.

- a dancer... I loved dancing and performing- give me a character to be while I dance, and I'm all for it. I'm rather shy around people I don't know very well, and tend to be kind of awkward some times, but when I danced, I could become any character- not saying I was the most talented one in the bunch but I loved playing the role. I no longer have the skills I used to, but I still love to dance (even though now it's mainly around my house during episodes of Glee, or with my iTunes playing when no one's around to watch me but my dogs).

After writing this post, and thinking about it.... even though these aren't things I can pursue full time and in lieu of my job and regular life, I am making a commitment to myself to include them in my life more often. I will cook more, take more pictures, sing more (sorry everyone), and dance more. These are things I love and things that make me happy. If you could spend all your time doing things you love what would they be? Ask yourself- even though I may not be able to do this full time, how can I incorporate it in my life more?

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Busy as a Bee

So I realize I haven't blogged in a while, but I feel like Sean and I have been so so busy with many random things. This week was a pretty busy one. It started out with a full house- our friends were having their place tented so we offered for them to stay here with us with their dogs instead of having to front the expensive boarding fees. It was a blast and hilarious. They have two dogs, one little Pomeranian, and then a big guy- some type of mix they're thinking with pit, Rhodesian ridgeback, and who knows. Both are the sweetest dogs ever. Ace LOVED having Reef here- finally someone his own size to play with. Summer liked it sometimes, and Meeko was happy that they had each other to mess with. Tristan and Sean were working together one of the days at the same station, so Amanda and I played the good fire wife role and brought a yummy nectarine blueberry cobbler to all the guys at the station along with some vanilla ice cream- there were no leftovers which is nice because then we probably would have eaten too much. Amanda was kind enough to cook a delicious meal on Tuesday- shrimp tacos, with homemade Mexican rice, and homemade refried beans. Although Ace misses his friends, they were exhausted after everyone left. It was fun, and nice to know that all the dogs get a long if anyone is traveling and needs to leave the pups behind for a little bit, and was great to get to spend some good quality time with our friends.

Yummy Nectarine Blueberry Cobbler

Just a moment of stillness

We of course had more going on during the week, but now it is Labor Day weekend, and I'm looking forward to enjoying the 3 day weekend in the sun!

Happiness

A few girlfriends and I recently started a book club. We just had our first meeting a couple weeks ago, and read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.

The book was very different than expected- I'm not sure exactly what I expected but I think I thought it would read more like a novel- but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing! The book was about the authors attempt at a year of finding happiness through focusing on different areas of her life each month. I really enjoyed the book and found a lot of what she did was applicable to things in my life. Although I haven't dedicated myself to laying out a plan and setting measurable goals, I have tackled a few things that she suggested. One thing was to de-clutter. In the book Gretchen de-cluttered her home, and was enthusiastic about helping others to de-clutter theirs. The weekend after I finished the book, Sean was in Havasu for a bachelor party, and so I decided I was going to de-clutter, spring clean, organize, whatever you want to call it! I moved from room to room, putting things in bags to donate, throw away, or in a couple instances, to put away in a box to hold onto, but that I didn't necessarily need hanging out in my drawers/shelves, etc. I went through my closet, my clothes drawers, the office, my bathroom (I had expired medicine, half used products, etc), the guest room, and our electronic cords and things. I still have more I want to go through - the kitchen, Sean's clothes (I'll have him do that so I don't get rid of anything he wants), the movie drawers, and the hallway closet)- but so far I've filled 4 large trash bags full of things to donate, and a couple trash bags full of things to throw away. At the same time, I've made more of an effort to put things away and maintain a clean house rather than having to do a huge cleaning because of things we left out. I must say that I am happier with the cleanliness and tidiness of our home, and that I actually know where things are now!

Also, like Gretchen did in her book, I tackled a nagging task. I finally hung up a picture my parents gave us, cleaned the microwave (it was pretty bad), hung my diploma in my home office, got an entry table for our home, filed away some papers, unpacked from Alaska, ordered some wedding photos to frame and put up in the house, make a CD for my mother-in-law with the photos (I know I'm only a year behind), and fixed a couple things like a broken ornament. I have a couple more tasks that I want to do like get some pictures framed and hung, but all in all, it feels good to have that done, and not have things laying around ready to get done.

One more thing that I thought about and made a conscious effort to make time for things I enjoy doing, but that are easy to overlook. One of these things is reading. I LOVE to read. I think that being in a book group will help motivate me. Another thing is doing the crossword puzzle. When I lived at home with my parents after college, my mom and I would do the LA Times crossword puzzle every morning together. I loved that! Getting up and working on it while having my morning coffee and breakfast. Sean and I don't have a newspaper subscription, but my mom had bought me a couple crossword books after I moved out (I think for Christmas), that have just been sitting on the shelf! When thinking about how I spend my time, I realized I watch a lot of TV. Shows that don't really mean anything in a meaningful way, except for entertainment, so I decided I would watch less and read and do the crossword more. That same weekend that I de-cluttered, I didn't turn the TV on once. 4 whole days! It was great, although I realized I had no idea what was going on in the real world. Since then, I've finished our next book club book (The Help, definitely a must read!), and have completed a handful of crossword puzzles in the mornings. Sean and I still enjoy watching TV and spending that time together, but it feels good to do these other things I like as well.

There are other principles from the book that I can apply to my life. I am very happy with my life and feel very blessed. Focusing on things that make you happy, can only make you happier! So..... what makes you happy?

The Last Frontier

Last week we went on our first family trip since the addition of two family members- Sean and Nicki!! I am so excited for Josh and Nicki, I think I've already said that in an earlier post, but I'll probably say it so many more times. Anyway, our trip started in flight. We made the trek up to LA early that morning to meet at my parents house and catch our flight out of LAX. Mimosas were flowing before we left for the airport. The plane flight was nice and short. We flew over CA, OR, and WA, seeing sights such as Yosemite on the way.

Look closely toward the center- there's half dome!

We spent half a day in Seattle seeing sights such as the Public Market looking at all the fish, flower, and craft vendors and then starting our active week off right walking to the Space needle.

Friday morning we embarked on our journey to Alaska. Alaska started out with a couple days of cruising up the Pacific coast past the US/Canadian border to the wonderful state of Alaska. We absolutely loved our time there- what an amazing place, so much nature and wildlife and what an amazing display of God's handy work. The air was clean and crisp... OK it was a bit cold, but the sights were absolutely breathtaking.

Our first port was in Juneau. All bundled up, we set up on our first excursion - a bike and brew. Now apparently the week before Alaska was sunny and warm, however when we came into town it was overcast and rainy. We all dressed appropriately in layers- none of which we removed. The guides gave us some not so flattering rain gear- waterproof pants and of coarse a rain jacket. Prepared for the weather we set on our way with some road bikes and looking like yellow blobs. The ride, although rainy, was still very beautiful. We stopped to get a view of the Mendenhall glacier. Can I tell you- you can see my pictures, and see pictures in magazines, but pictures don't quite do it justice.

We then rode our bikes around to be right by the glacier. I wish I could draw an arrow on the picture above. See the right side of the glacier? Insert arrow there. We saw our first glimpse of icebergs too!

We then rode our bikes back to the bike shop and they drove us to town where we tasted a little beer, tried reindeer sausage at a funny saloon, and then made a slightly tipsy ;) trek back to the boat. 

Now I cant remember actually what day it was while we were cruising, but the captain said that if we got up early we could see whales. I will admit I reverted back to a child waiting for Santa to come, and woke up at 5:45 am, bundled up, and went out to our balcony to hopefully spot Shamu or Free Willy. Now, we didn't see either of those two, but we did see Humpback whales. It was amazing, I think we saw something like at least six whales just from the side of the boat. As we kept cruising we'd see one here and there- needless to say, I was not disappointed.

Our next stop was Skagway. In Skagway we did a Wildlife Safari... what's that you ask? Well first we got on a enclosed catamaran boat, and traveled about an hour to glacier bay. We saw eagles, waterfalls. and another whale!

We went on a short bus ride up into the rain forest (yes rain forest, but not quite like Costa Rica, it was a temperate rain forest), learned a bit about some of the local plants and went to a small camp where we geared up for our canoe ride. Now we were to compare the bike outfits and the canoe outfits, the canoe outfits won... 

From there we got into a large canoe- fit probably 10 people or so, and canoed our way up to the Sawyer glacier. On this trek we saw Eagles, Gulls, Gulls chasing and attacking the Eagles (true story), fresh glacier ice, and even a Blonde Brown Bear- Winnie the Pooh? The glacier was amazing and looked like meringue through the binoculars.

Tired, Sean and I napped most of the way back to the cruise boat. After we got back into the small town of Skagway, we walked around, visited the local volunteer fire station, Sean even got to find Sarah Palin's house- can you tell he's excited, and he got to try some fresh Alaskan King Crab Legs- my mom and I split some clam chowder- delish!

Our next "stop" on the cruise boat was into the Tracy Arm Fjord. Where we were surrounded by ice and got to see the glacier break off or fracture. We even spotted a seal friend! It was truly breathtaking, and beautiful. 

Our last stop was Victoria British Columbia. Although not as amazing on the wildlife front. It is truly a beautiful city, with flower pots and gardens everywhere- probably why it's called the garden city? We stopped by the Empress Hotel, had fish and chips at a local pub for some beer and cider, went to the Craigdarroch Castle, and walked around. 

We were sad to step off the boat, but our bodies still were rockin' a few days after! In Seattle before we set foot on the plane back home, we had a mellow day in the city, and even went to the movies to see Captain America! That night we met with some of our family on my dad's side for a nice little reunion at Buca-Di-Beppo. Five of my dads siblings were there, along with many cousins, and even the pope! We had such a great time, drank a lot of wine, ate a lot of food, and had a lot of laughs. It was great to see my family that we don't get to see often enough, and what a great way to end the trip!

nice hair Josh!

We are still recovering from our trip- I walked away with a little cold but all in all, it was amazing. There was so much more that happened on the trip, but this post would go on forever, and so many more pictures- but I think I've bombarded you with enough! I wish we could have spent more time in the amazing state of Alaska... I'm sure we'll go back some day!