End of Summer Vacation...boo!

Well, as my photos are trying to upload and probably won't I will type. It's been a while since I posted.
My arm is completely healed and it was tendonitis from Berry pulling me, so I decided to get Halte so she doesn't pull. It works wonders.

My last two weeks of summer vacation in Galena were incredible. David was so good to me in so many ways! We watched movies, baked, cooked, spent time with visiting pastors, blueberry picking, and had a bonfire by the Yukon River and Dunes. I got a drum lesson from Karrie (David's sister). She is so gifted musically! It was fun to serve a group of people who got stuck in Galena due to smoke from the wild fires. They were on their way to Unalakleet Bible camp but had to overnight. It was so fun to see people I had met a year ago at Bible Camp!

Seeing Jason, Myra and Romay was great! I love them! They make me laugh real hard and are always there to listen. Romay and I had fun seeing the moose and her calf. She thought the moose was looking at her, but I knew a baby had to be close by. I couldn't believe how close we got! Romay is just plain fun to goof around with. She's an amazing girl!

I got to spend an extra day in Galena due to flight mix ups and couldn't have been happier! The next day I left to Unalakleet for a math in-service. I so did not want to go; Galena seemed more exciting! I loved the Math inservice! I learned a lot and feel so more confident in teaching Math. I can't wait to start. It was great to see friends I haven't seen from the district and meet my new staff. We have a rockin staff this year. God has answered prayer and brought a Christian friend to Koyuk who is about my age. She loves God and His Word. I enjoy sharing favorite Bible Verses with her!

I also moved into a different apartment. I love it so much! I love the sun and the windows in the living room; either of these I did not have in the other apartment. I also have an extra room that guests can stay in. The new treadmill will also go in there! Super excited to run! I missed doing that in Galena when I used Myra's.

I got out once to go upriver with Elvina, Jean, and Kim. What a blast with those women laughing and just enjoying God's creation and blessings of berries!

One week of work with the staff has ended and we got a ton done! I have 11 kids this year and am super excited to see them tomorrow! I really want to teach well and have fun! We have a picnic tomorrow and am hoping the rain stays away until then. We have gotten tons of rain. Tonight is beautiful with the sun!

Berry has been enjoying her new running buddy Emily. She runs all the way up to Devils Hill and back and listens! When she went with Erika some months ago, she didn't. Berry also has a new taste for sweet potato pie. David made this awesome pie in Galena and Berry took it off the counter and ate the other half! She also killed her first rabbit on the ski trail! It was a little disgusting to see but I was proud of her!

Well off to read and bed!

Door County

Hello all! I'm back in the Mosquito State of Alaska! They aren't too bad! I hurt my arm so I probably will not type until later. It's pounding with pain! So I will try to upload as many photos as I can. Ok, so an update on my arm: tendonitis from Berry jerking my arm when she is a leash. Praise God the doctor was coming Monday. I got a shot of something and my arm was feeling a little bit better after two hours. My other arm that I got the shot in still hurts. Yeah, I was a wimp and cried a teeny tiny bit. It hurt a lot! I was icing three times a day and now I'm not icing it all, but still taking ibprophen about every 8-10 hours. I have a lot more movement and strength back already. i'm thankful for answered prayer: quick healing!

Door County: My grandparents took me sailing in a bay in Michigan Lake, maybe Green Bay, but not sure. It was a little rainy when we left, but we got 1 1/2 hours in. It has always been one of my dreams to go sailing. We had an awesome younger couple who also went with us. We did a lot of talking and laughing. 2nd photo

I got to milk a lamb! How flippin awesome is that! He was so cute. This doesn't compare to the zoo I went to with my whole family and grandparents in Wallace, Michigan. I can't wait to post those pictures of holding and petting animals a lot of people do not get to do often. At THE FARM there were just a bunch of farm animals. I loved the massive horse, holding a chick, kitten, and the cows sticking out their tongues for you to feed them corn. After the zoo, we went to this awesome restuarant where the food was delivered on a train! This mini train track was set up in the bar and through the kitchen. All these little kids that were there loved. I did also. I thinK my Nanna enjoyed it more than I did. She is so young at heart!

The next few pictures is of the cedar forest we went hiking in. I was impressed with how my grandparents did it! They were a little cautious, but took their time and did an amazing job! You can see lake Michigan through the trees. We camped all week at Peninsula State Park. Wow, is that beautiful! Here is a picture of my Nanna. It took 7 tries to get a good picture of herself. She was trying so hard to "smile". The sunset was spectacular!

We ate our first dinner by the lake. It was so nice to soak up the sun that evening! The other pictures are random ones, not from the trip. I spent time with my sister at her spacious apartment. I made sure to use the treadmill and we went swimming. It was so neat to swim at night, under the stars and so peaceful! We also walked across the street to coldstone. I would not even consider moving from Koyuk if there was one here. My favorite ice cream in the world! My sister and I also saw UP. Super great movie! Love it! A tear jerker and just a wholesome family movie.

More photos of Door County another time.

Off to read and very excited to have my rummage sale tomorrow to make some cash for flights to Galena and MN. I've also been very busy moving into the other apartment that has windows in the living room and an extra bedroom! I just need the darn carpets cleaned, but the special extension is no where to be found, but someone gave me an idea that it might be in the trailer, why would you not put it back where you can find it? i'm not sure. It was a frustrating morning. Glad that is over! Now I just need to find the key to get the cord. Goodnight!










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Random Fun!

Well, Berry is having a hard time going for walks on leashes. She let me know how she felt when I had the opportunity to let her run free in a wildlife Refuge. She took off chasing rabbits for 30 minutes of not listening when she was told to come. She listened at first, but 30 minutes was obviously not long enough for her to run off her 3 weeks of energy built up. Dad and Mom came with with Belle. It was so embaressing to have Belle listen who is only a year old and Berry not! Shock Collar here I come! They played in the river that we walked past and loved it! Belle is still learning how to swim: she does not keep her head in the water but splashed all around to tire herself out. Berry swam for like two minutes, but was more interested in all the new smells and running! She ran so fast when I called her to come she plowed right into me and I fell straight on my face! Stupid hyper dog! We also saw the cutest baby red fox. I felt so scared for it because it was right on the road, confused if to cross or not. Finally, we scared it back into the woods. Belle and Berry on the other hand were barking, trying to get out the windows to play with the darn fox!

My sister, Jess and I spent the last two days together at her apartment: swimming, watching Bride Wars (ok movie, but don't reccomend it...I was not a fan of all the revenge that took place). She has a Coldstone right across the street so we visited that and I have new favorite: All Lovin' No Oven: birthday cake icecream with choc. chip cookie dough, choc, syrup, and whip cream on the top. The icecream flavor comes out more in this sundae than Birthday Cake remix. Swimming at dark under the stars was fabulous! The next day we had mexican food at Abuelos! Yummy! Then it was off to my 2nd favorite coffee shop.

I got back into running and have enjoyed it! I'm only running 15 minutes at a time and power walking the rest. I plan to build up to 30 minutes. It feels so good to sweat and hopefully see some muscles developing and some weight lost in some areas. Berry does an amazing job running with me on a leash. It's been too hot to run outside: today 100 degrees and humidity. Hopefully it will cool down so I can run outside. In the mean time, I'll enjoy my Pilates DVD's, weight lifting.

Thursday I leave to go on a RV trip with my grandparents to Door County! I haven't been there since I was a kid! We will meet my parents, sisters, dogs up at my granparent's house July 2nd then stay until the 5th and then come back to Belleville for a few days and then leave to AK. I think this is my first time saying, I really don't want to go back. Hmm....how much longer will I stay in Koyuk? Only God knows and trusting him to show me the path where I should walk.

Sad to leave Minnesota!

It was amazing week in MN. I started out staying with my first roommate in college and best friend, Betty Yang. She is an amazing woman who loves God so much and asks me hard questions to grow in my faith. I was excited to meet her fiance, Kyle who makes me laugh so hard! He had neat pets for me to hold and pet: snake, Australian dogs, and geez can't think of the name....you'll know it when you see it. Betty of course make me work hard in her Pilates class and Body Works class that I was sore for a very long time, then she said a walk will help with my soreness, but she forgot to tell me it was a 4 mile walk. We also had fun shopping a Victoria Secret's. I think we did more laughing than buying! Eating out was the the most fun! I really enjoyed my conversations with Betty that challenge, help me to understand Bible Verses. We ate out with $5 appetizers with Kyle, Tyler (Kyle's roommate), my High School friend Missy. It was equally fun getting appetizers with Missy. I love her questions and her sarcastic jokes!

After visiting with Betty, we met with Johanna and her family. I finally got to meet Gabe. He sure is a cutie! We met at Big Bowel and then had to say goodbye to Betty. I was trying so hard not to cry, but all of a sudden the tears were flowing! It was great to play with Gabe, watch him drink from a glass, and take lots of photos of him. I was blessed to see one of my other college friends Sunday afternoon while I was there who I have not seen in 7 years. I also met her family: Greg and little girl, Audra! Wow, what a smartie! Johanna and I took Gabe to a zoo and that was great! Gabe was incredibly tired but was a good sport when I kept taking him out and then putting him back in the stroller. The animals were so awesome! I felt like a little kid at a zoo, geting all spazed out. We had a fun breakfast at Perkins, after we went to the doctor's for a check up for Gabe. He did a incredible job getting a poke! No tears!

After coming back, I realized how much I miss my Christian friends. I praise God for their friendship and makes me want to live closer to them.

Dad's Birthday!

My dad celebrated his (I don't know) birthday! I'm sure he won't mind that I forgot. I made a scrapbook for him of his 50th surprise birthday party about 6 years ago. Darn it, I remembered! I believe he turned 56. My goal was accomplished! I made him cry. Our neighbor girl also made my dad get tears to his eyes. Nora brought over a card with a fish and a boat with people fishing in it that said, "Happy Birthday Glen!" If you don't already know, my dad loves to go fishing!

Other fun times so far:

I had a great time with my grandparents who visited last weekend. We went garage saleing, out to eat, and shopping while the guys went boating. I look forward to spending more time with them traveling to Door County in their RV.

I've been enjoying eating out at Buffalo Wild Wings, Red Robin, and African restaurant. The fresh fruit and vegs are always a treat.

Loving the coffee shop with internet!

I'm leaving on Monday to go to MN to visit Betty and Johanna, and baby Gabe. I'm going through baby withdrawls! I miss them so much!

Babysitting tomorrow for Nora and Henry, can't wait!

Enjoying walks with Berry and Dad!

My kind of young man!

This is the neighbor boy, I've been waiting to meet a long time! He's my kind of young man who loves trees and being outside. I can't wait to babysit him and his smart, adorable older sister, Nora. It was fun playing hide and seek with Henry behind the trees, play with him in the yard and on the slide. I miss kids who are toddler age. His smile just brings so much joy to my heart!

Bath Time!

Jess gave free baths at her Vet to Belle and Berry. Belle is my parent's chocolate lab. She is so wiggly and cute! Berry looks real cute, but she really is a bully deep down. She attached Belle a few times already because of a ball and just to be a brat. They are slowly getting along! They played with a tug toy this morning. If Belle hears Berry "play" growl just once, she stops playing. So hopefully they will play together soon.

Berry loved the car ride, while Belle sat on my lap the whole way there and then on the way back Berry took her turn. It's been fun to spend more time with Berry and play with Belle. I definately miss having Berry just run free. Walking her on her leash, just doesn't give her the exercise she needs. Berry is loving sitting outside on her rope for long periods of time.