Fishing in Alaska

This is Chris and Bee fishing at Hillberg lake. There wasn't very many fish but it was fun.
They stock this lake twice a year, once in the Spring and then in the Fall. They have a fishing contests in the Summer. And then Ice fishing contests in the Winter.
Here is a moose to the left of us, about a football field away.
Here's my Bee running in an abandoned parking lot. Behind him is the ski slope.

We saw this guy as we pulled out of the lake. He is about the same size as the one Chris got last year. How cool is it that we can see this, literally minutes from our house.

He was a skiddish bear...which is just the way we like them. We stopped long enough to watch him walk across the road and left him alone.

Here's another picture of my HOTT hubby!

Here is a big picture of where we were sitting for a few. This is the slope where Chris went snowboarding for his first and last time. It was his birthday the first year we were here. I was el prego so no new sports for me.

So Chris fell down and really hurt his knee. It was about 3 times the normal size. He still has trouble with his knee when the weather changes...old fart! :)

Here's my little Turkey. Don't you just wanna kiss him?

I did. Don't worry.

Here is a block that I finished for Bee Inspired. I hand pieced this block together. Isn't the fabric cute? I hope she enjoys it.

Review of New Year's Goals

1. Workout before I blog. (If you don't here from me for awhile....this might be why.) We bought a treadmill this past year and it hasn't had much use. And I have a new iPod.

FAIL. I haven't worked out in months....

2. Write birthday cards to everyone in the family.

FAIL. I sent out for January....and that's where it stopped.

3. Read scriptures every day, along with prayers. I got new scriptures for Christmas.

Fail kinda. I haven't read every day but pretty close.

4. Go to the temple at least once a month.

PASS!!! I have gone to the temple every month since January. At least once.

So not so good for Kritta but at least I didn't FAIL them all. Maybe I'll make some more soon.

How are you doing on your New Year's Goals???

Future Day

Today was a day to look at our future in our house.

This morning I went to the doctor's to talk about my fertility issues. We decided that we are going to try a clomid challenge. (click to read more) I have to watch my cycle closely but hopefully I will be prego before we leave!!! They say that it's 80% effective. AWESOMENESS!!!!

So I gotta wait for my first day of my cycle....waiting.....waiting....

Second thing we did today, looking at our future, we went to get pre-approved for a home loan! We wanted to know what we were approved for so we didn't get our hopes up.

We got approved for $20,000 more than we even dreamed of! SCORE!!

(What do you think, is this nice?? HAHAHA We aren't even close to this!)
So our world is looking pretty good around here. We need to get our truck paid off. That is our next game play.

Anyone have an extra $10,000 laying around that we could borrow??

Memorial day

Enjoying a relaxing day with my hubby. Feeling grateful that he is home.
Hug a soldier today!

Our quilt!

This beautiful quilt was made by my friends in Bee Inspired.

Each person is in charge of a month. That person sends out fabric to everyone in the group with instructions. We do what is asked and shipped it back to the person in charge. She then has a bunch of blocks to make into a quilt!

How fun is that??

I know, that's why I'm a part of two of them.

I am going to start another myself after I get settled in New Mexico.

If you are interested, let me know! It's gonna be a blast!

Cakes

So I have been doing A LOT of TV the past few days.

My favorite show, by far, is Ace of Cakes. Duff would be the coolest boss EVER!

I love how they can make amazing things for cake! That is so cool to me.

My friend Kate, does the same thing.

So I went to Charm City Cakes website and did you know that they have to have $1000 down on the cake?

I guess I'm not getting one anytime soon.

Especially since I have a hard time paying $20 for a Diary Queen ice cream cake!!

I will get a Charm City Cake when I win the lottery! (hahaha)

Does anyone else watch this show, besides Alyson?? I know she does!!

Winner!!

Congrats to Aunt Spicy!!

She gets to choose something for me to make. But I'm kinda scared cuz she is a wonderful quilter!!! (Go check her out!)

It's like playing music for a music major!


Sorry for my absence around here...I have been hit by a huge semi-truck called The Flu.

I'm totally achy and don't even wanna sit at the computer for too long.

Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow. My house is falling down around me! :)

You are gonna miss this..

My mom says, "You are gonna miss this," when I call to vent about my two year old.

I laugh and say, "Yeah probably but I wanna smack him right now!!"

We both laugh and I feel better.

I haven't really realized that I really am going to miss this until tonight.

Bee woke up at about 1am.

I went into his room, rolled him in his blanket and rock him in the rocking chair.

As I sat down, I realized that his little body doesn't fit the long way anymore. I can't hold him like a football and rock him.

It was just 2 years ago, that I could put him on my arms and rock with room for a Boppy pillow and water bottle!

It was a year ago that I could still fold his little feet into my armpit and still rock him.

My little baby is now a little man.

I sat there and rocked him for longer than I usually do. Just thinking of all my blessings. Listening to his little snores. Being able to get up and rock him without having to worry about bills, jobs, food, etc. Just being in that dark room with my little man, putting him back to sleep. Just one mission.

Bee-
I am so very grateful for you, Little Man. You are such a great person. I can see your personality show through every day. You LOVE being outside, running around. I can't wait until we move into a house with a fenced yard so that you can your little heart out.
You know how to brighten up a room. People stop in the stores just to see your smile again. You have a cute little snort when you laugh. (That your Dad hopes you loose soon! But I kinda like it.)
You LOVE Hooch. Anytime you are outside, Hooch should/needs to be too. When we go fishing, you chase Hooch around. He follows his nose, you follow him.
I am so grateful that you are in our little family. You bring such joy. I can't wait until you wake up every morning so that we can go get breakfast together.
I love you, Little Boy!
Mommy

Don't miss my giveaway on the post below! It's a good one!

Giveaway

It's close to my 300th post!!

That means giveaway time!!!

The person that can tell me what time I took this picture (or closest to) I will make (1) something for them.

I took this picture tonight. I live in Anchorage AK.

A quilt, wall hanging, Christmas tree skirt, apron...you know, the good stuff, will be yours!

Rules:

1. Be a follower

2. Guess what time this picture was taken.

Anyone that doesn't answer the question, isn't in the bowl to be picked.

I don't care if you google it. If you put the time in, you get chance. Just remember it was from my back yard. I know the exact time. I will decide the winner.

Alaska folks are welcome to guess too. We don't play faves here at Kritta-land.

The giveaway will end on Saturday night at 9pm AKST!

Have fun!

Orders!!

We got our orders!!!!!! We are going to Holloman AFB, New Mexico!!!

Here are a few pictures from google. I'm soooo excited!

Can you just see me with a tan??

It is such a relief to know where we are going! Just to have a plan.

We are going to still be leaving in August.

We are looking at buying a house down there. Any thoughts? Suggestions??

Oh we are just so excited!!!

Updates

I have started packing the little things around the house that are just stuff. That I'm sure we don't need but for some reason I can't get rid of just yet.

Maybe when I'm unpacking and just wanna get through the boxes.

On the plus side, my hubby thinks I'm a superstar!

Chris is a bare-ist...is what I call it. He likes all the counter free of EVERYTHING. Table cleared. Coffe table-free of magazines, remotes... you get the picture.

I, on the other hand, like STUFF.

I sometimes wonder how we have stayed friends, let along married all four years! (I know sounds like forever to you too!! ha ha ha I kid.)

Bee is a little puppet. He started this morning singing to the TV commercials. (Maybe it's cuz I do it too.) We went and bought shoes today for him. He is no longer in the toodler section.

He is wearing size 6, big boy shoes. I almost cried. Seriously he will be two in 4 weeks....where did it go??

I HAD to check out the shoes at Old Navy and they are having an AWESOME clearance sale. I don't know if it's all Old Navy's but this one had like 50 $1 racks. Usually they have $1 sales, it's crappy stuff no one wanted. This time, it was the WHOLE store!!! (except the front new stuff)

SOOOO I had a few things hop in the cart. They were a dollar people!!

Note to self: Don't even bother taking Old Navy swimming suits to the changing room. They have no support for your huge boobs and you will just get frustrated. I don't care how cute the blue one with the white polka dots is, your knockers aren't gonna fit.

Chris has almost ALL of his weekends planned out for the summer with fishing and hunting trips.

I have plenty of fabric and a Bee to keep me busy!

We are still waiting on orders but hopefully we'll know SOMETHING Monday.

Pictures of quilts to come!

Easter pics-late

I think I lost like 5 followers yesterday.

I'm sooooo sorry for NOT putting a disclaimer on my post yesterday. I had NO idea you guys watched the show. I just thought it was my hubby and I! Seriously. Oh and Taron.

I learned my lesson and won't let anymore. Promise. Will you come back now?




As I was looking through the computer files...I found these. I don't know why i didn't post them before! So here they are!

This is how we do Easter Egg hunts in Alaska, on base!!

This is Hanger 5. It is a HUGE building. It holds like 5 huge planes in it at once.

Anyway they take out all the airplanes and helicopters. They have people fill the plastic eggs with candy and a few slips of paper.

On the slips of paper is a number, you take it to the semi-truck in the building and they pull out awesome prizes. This year Bee won a basket with candy and a water gun!

Last year I took Ethan and Nova, kids I watched and they won a bike!

They go in age groups, 0-4, 5-8 and 9-12. For the 0-4 group they put out 5,000 plastic eggs. 5-8 group they put out 7,500....and 9,000 for the big kids! AmAZING!!!
Here's the group we went with....Sister Leonici, Sis Bankhead (my fave), Anna, Taron, Kimber in front with Braydon, Daylon holding Nicki and Ethan pushing Bee.

Here is everyone getting eggs. Shawn and Schubs went with so I could take pictures.

Here is Bee in his Sunday best, going to Church. Auntie Kassy bought him this outfit. So handsome.
I don't know what this look is for but seriously made me laugh. I just love that kid!

Chris was in Fairbanks so it was an adventure with Daddy. We'll catch you next year, Dad!

Wonderful gifts

Happy late Mother's Day. I have done a busy weekend but it was great!

To start out...we WON!!!!! Chris and I won a kid-free Saturday cuz of this show!

We bet a kid-free Saturday with Taron and Daylon. We spilt the 12 teams into two groups.

Victor and Tammy won!!! They are brother and sister. They won a bunch of the legs. But almost lost in the third leg because Victor wouldn't listen to his sister. He finally listened and came in second to last.

l Here is everyone in this race! I'm so glad that there are still good family shows on TV.

This show makes me grateful for so many things and makes me want to live it up, wherever we live. You can find adventure anywhere.

So anyway we went fishing on Fort Rich yesterday with the Keller's. We caught (meaning Chris) about 5 lake trout. It makes a difference when the lakes aren't frozen!!

Today we went to church and then I got to take a 3 hour NAP!!! I know, be jealous!

Then we hung out and just had a relaxing day in the sun!

Bee got me a Daring foot for my sewing machine so I can stipple my quilts!!!!! (YAY!!!) How did Bee know??!

I'm for VERY grateful to be a mommy. It is so wonderful to have a little munchkin. I hope to have some more soon.

Plans for the week: finish the STUPID Christmas quilt, finish bee blocks, and start work on the Magic Quilt!!!

Pictures to come! I'm tried from all that cheering I did when our team won!

Dear Freddy's Customer

Dear Fred Meyer's customer,

Hi. My name is Krista. You don't know me. But I feel like I know you.

You were in front of me in the Express Lane yesterday. I ran into the store with Bee, my son. He hadn't had nap and was letting the whole store know with his screaming.

I decided against getting all the things on my list. I just grabbed what I needed.

And practically ran through the store, with a screaming kid, and ended in the Express Lane. This is where we met.

You were ahead of me. You turned and glared at me. I'm assuming it was because of the two year old in my cart. I understand he was yelling.

That is actually why I was in the Express Lane, so I could hurry on out of there.

Well I looked passed the glare, but could not look pass the fact that you were paying you $50+ bill with quarters. They weren't rolled either.

I KNOW times are tough. Trust me, I have been known to scramble in the McD's line for a couple extra quarters.

BUT the Express Lanes are for the people that need to run in the store and run out.

I did notice that you had less than 20 items. (I had time to count.) Thank you for not going over the limit. I really appreciate it.

I had time standing in line, to think of many things I'm grateful for. (I try to count my blessings when I'm getting angry.) It took a total of twenty minutes for you to count all your quarters. TWENTY MINUTES IN THE EXPRESS LANE!!!

(I was trapped, by the way, there was another lady behind me.)

So while I stood in line, trying not to harm my kid, you counted.

Can I make a suggestion, so you don't get shot...roll your quarters, take them to the bank and get bills. People will be less hostile toward you. You may even have people offer to help you out to your car. Instead of you, looking/begging for help.

I'm just trying to keep you safe! (And me out of jail!)

Krista

(PS I talk way big. I would never do anything to a little old lady.)

Menu Planning

Mary asked me for my menu. So I thought I would post to for you guys. And for future viewing.

Now keep in mind, Chris is working swing shift. Which means he goes to work at 2pm and gets home at 11pm. He doesn't eat breakfast so Bee and I have cereal. And a sandwich for lunch with crackers.

I also use 1.5 lbs of hamburger so I make quite a bit. (It's cheaper to buy it that way at the comissionary.)

May 1- leftover spaghetti
2-taco salad with hamburger
3-BBQ at Flitton's- Brats with buns
4- homemade pizza (I make bread for Fast Sunday sacrament and make extra for pizza)
5-Enrichment night-leftovers
6- Sister missionaries- french Toast (their fave)
7-Chris' meal (hambruger, torillias, salsa, tomato soup)
8-leftovers
9- Burgers with buns
10-Lasaguna (bought on sale otherwise I wouldn't have bought them)
11-Nachos
12- leftovers
13- Potato Soup
14- leftovers
15- Pancakes with bacon or saugage
16- Out to eat- Sealing Anniversary
17- Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese
18- Taco Soup
19- leftovers
20- Ckn Enchilladas
21- leftovers
22-26 Chris is fishing so Bee and I don't usually make many meals...maybe one and eat the leftovers
27-Chili
28- leftovers
29- Tomato Soup with Grill Cheese
30-steaks and mashed potatoes
31-Enchilladas

One of the goals I was trying to fulfill with menu planning was to stop wasting all the leftovers. I throw away a lot of food. So that is why there is a lot of leftover nights. Thankfully I have a hubby that doesn't mind leftovers.

So what do you guys cook for your family??

Any suggestions for me?

PS I am gonna mark it in the red but hope I will continue to do the menu planning. It's really kinda of nice.

Planning meals

So I tried to finish another one of those goals, over there...<--------

Planning meals for a month.

I made a list of what I was going to cook every night.

I bought a little calendar and wrote it all down.

I had nights for leftovers.

I went to the store and bought exactly what I needed, nothing more, nothing less.

I only spent $200, which is awesome in Alaska.

I have been making meals. Sticking to the plan.

BUT

I didn't take into consideration that we have a room mate. He goes through phases of when he eats and doesn't. He will eat out every day for a month and then eat here three meals a day.

SOOOOO

I'm going to have to put a hold on the meal planning until we move.

Darn.

I was so excited that I only spent $200.

Our weekend

Our weekend was pretty exciting around here.

First I quilted this quilt. This is the first quilt I have actually quilted without going along the seams. It is a whole bunch of swirls. It isn't perfect by any means but it looks cute enough.

This is the front of the quilt. It is for a Sister Missionary in our ward. She and I have become fast friends. I sewed the clothes onto the the front. The swirls are in the red and orange. I did a large wave in the black and white fabric. Then just did as little as possible on the clothes.

She totally loved it.

This is the edge of the lake. The stuff right there in the middle is ice too. The top of the ice was melting. It was so thin that it looked like it was water.

Our new friend, Ben, cast his hook out there and got it stuck on the ice. He did the normal tugging but it wasn't budging. So he gave one last tug and the hook went flying. IN TO THE BACK OF HIS HEAD!!!!

Here is Ben with a fish hook. Thankfully he had the smarts to turn around when he tugged, otherwise it would have been his cheek. We ended up leaving and taking him to the hospital.

This was Bee playing around the lake. He loved it!

(P.S. Alaska gets a lot greener but you have to wait for about another 2 weeks. The snow JUST melted here.)

This is a view of the lake we were at. It is in a secret location, at a secret spot that no one can say were it is because it's secret. (Or so my hubby says!)

Sunday we went to church. I played the piano for Sacrament meeting because the songs weren't in the organ.

Brother Nichols came up to me after Sunday school and said, "Sister W, I love that you play the piano and not that stupid organ thing!" Oh it just made my heart happy! (Bro. Nichols is about 85 years old and I think has said 5 words in the 3 years I've known him. And never anything to me. He is just a quite man.) So I think I might be playing the piano more, just to make that man happy! :)

OH and I totally have issues with the player organ. During the last song, I went to push play for the second verse and bumped the wrong button. The whole song changed and the tempo....so there was a huge long pause waiting for my to set things right! At least our ward is small and they just laughed!

We went to a BBQ for dinner and had coconut shrimp that was deep fried. I'm not a fish fan but I have to say, I didn't have to choke it down! It was a lot of fun over at the Flitton's. All the kids played outside and the adults sat in lawn chairs, chatting away! It was wonderful!!

We are going to miss out Alaska friends!

Fishing

We, W's, are going fishing to enjoy this beautiful Alaska day. I'm bring my camera and a good book.

When I get back I will tell you one of my stupid fears!