Greetings From the Great White North

So I can never get Mac to post on our blog, but a lot of times he sits by me while I update and puts in his two cents.  However, he has a blog he shares with his buddies back home and occasionally posts on that blog, so I just stole it and am posting it here!!  Some of it might be a little bit of a repeat of my last post but it will give you a different perspective. Enjoy!

Alaska, the final frontier, these are the voyages of the starship USS Little Godzilla (thats my tiny 2wd Toyota!)....Something about boldly going where no man has gone before, star date something, I don't know.

Anyway, as you all know, I would like to be kept up to date with the goings on in your lives, and it's only fair that I share whats up with me.

To begin, Alaska is awesome, albeit the strangest place I've ever been. Tucker can vouch for me on this, Alaskans are strange Jose's. It's hard to explain why it is so weird up here, but it almost feels like it's ten years ago. Red Box came up here just 2 years ago, and Verizon doesn't even exist north of the Lower 48. It's pretty archaic. But like I said, it's amazing. In my private pilot ground school class we are working on maps right now, and every time I open the Alaska one I'm blown away by how immense this place is. The state is 1/3rd the size of the whole contiguous United States, it would take years to even get a grasp of what there is to do here.

I don't know how long we'll be here, but I am trying to convince Jaime to let us stay and work here for awhile. I will be graduating in December 2012 and I found out that at that time, there will be tons of positions opening in Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam. So those might be where I submit my name to work when I get done here. I voted on Guam, but Jaime isn't so hot on that idea, and she wants to live in Hawaii. So let me know what you guys think.

We are not pregnant yet. We just passed the one year mark of trying to have a kid, and it's starting to get to me. I know it can take awhile to conceive, but I didn't know how taxing it could be emotionally. So keep us in your prayers, and we name the kid after one of you...

Anyway, I better sign off. I have a test in my aviation history class in a few hours and I didn't study as much as I wanted to. So adios mi amigos, I shall talk to you laters.

Noteworthy Notes about Life in Alaska

Hi Family and Friends!  I know, I know, it has been a long time since our last update, and to be honest, not that much has happened!  Life has just been so busy and we are just trying to keep up.  So here are a few noteworthy notes about our lives in Alaska:

1. Mac is rocking Air Traffic Control School!  Seriously, he is so smart and it is fun to see him doing so well and learning so much!  His Aviation History teacher was giving him tons of praise because he is at the top of the class and said, "You know Mac, you really get it.  I wish I had a whole class full of Macs!!"  Hahaha, he'll be embarrassed I told you that but I can't help but share.  :)  He was invited to do summer semester next year which means that he will graduate in December 2012 instead of April 2013!!  That is great news, but really crazy that it is only one year from now!  We found out that when he graduates there will be a lot of Air Traffic Controllers retiring in Guam, Alaska, and Hawaii.  I vote for Hawaii but Mac has his heart set on staying here in Alaska for a few more years.  There is just too much hunting and he needs time to hunt Bear, Caribou, Mountain Sheep, and anything and everything else.  We'll see....but right now it looks like we will be picking Alaska and Hawaii as our two states to work in!  (For those of you who don't know, after Mac graduates we will submit two states to the FAA, saying that we will work in either of them.  We only get two states, so we will end up in one of the two that we pick.)

2. We finally got callings in our ward!  Yay!!  Mac is a ward Mission Leader and is loving going to the Gospel Principles Class.  And drumroll please......I'm in the PRIMARY!!  Surprise, surprise! :)  It was a fun month and a half of socializing with adults in relief society, but it is back to the Primary I go!  I get to work with the blessed 4-5 year old boys who are totally crazy and out of control!  They are really sweet though and I think I'll really enjoy teaching them.  Our ward is having a Chili cook off this Saturday and Mac entered the contest.  Keep your fingers crossed that he wins the best Chili!

3. My job is awful.  I wish I was exaggerating, but I'm not.  My boss is really quite mean and it is a pretty negative work environment.  I'm contemplating changing jobs, but starting a new job is so much work.  I'm trying to decide if it is worth starting over again, or if I should just tough it out for a while longer.  I just hate having a job on my resume that I only worked at for two months.  It just doesn't look good, so I may just stick it out for a while.  Mac is really supportive though and always helps me change my really bad attitude by asking me what I'm supposed to be learning from this experience.  One thing I have learned for sure is that nothing good comes of tearing people down.  I never realized until now what it feels like to basically be told you are worthless if you make one tiny mistake.  The hard things in life make you stronger.....right.....RIGHT??

4. Infertility is the worst.  This has probably been the biggest challenge of our lives to this point.  We hit our one year mark of trying to have a baby this month and in a way I can't believe it has already been a year, but at the same time it seems like it has been an eternity.  Some of you might not know all the details, and honestly I didn't really want to tell everyone because I didn't want to have to deal with people asking about it, but it is clear that we are in this for the long haul and I might as well just get it out there.  The doctors "think" I have polycystic ovarian syndrome, or PCOS.  They "think" this because I have enough symptoms to qualify for that diagnosis, but I don't fit the profile of someone with PCOS.  They have done a million tests and everything is normal so I guess that is the best they've got to work with.  I really like my doctor here and he is being really pro-active and I'm really really grateful that I found him.  This experience has given us many opportunities to turn to the Lord.  How else do you deal with something like this?  It seems like something so good and worthwhile and righteous should be easy, but for us it isn't.  Everyone keeps telling us that when we finally do have a little baby of our own we will appreciate parenthood so much more, and I think that is true.  We know our kids are out there somewhere, so keep us in your prayers.  We need all the help we can get!

5. We are going to Seward this weekend!  This was a trip we wanted to take right when we got here but we weren't able to make it happen.  We only get to go for a day because of work and everything but it will just be nice to get out of anchorage and enjoy such a fun town.  Our good friends go to Seward all the time during the summer and they say you can camp right on the beach and hear the waves crashing as you doze off to sleep.  Doesn't that sound A-MAZING?  

6. It is freezing here.  Literally!  I got into my car the other morning and the temperature on my rear view mirror said the temperature was "ICE".  haha.  It was below freezing, so it told me to beware of Ice.  We've got lots of snow in the mountains but it hasn't reached us yet.  I can feel it in the air though, I bet we have our first snow in the next few weeks.  The days are getting much shorter now too.  It is getting light about 8:30ish and it is dark outside by the time I get off work at 7:00.  It makes me dread the days of December when the sun rises at 10am and sets at 4pm. I think the only thing that will get me through is knowing that Summer is coming.  Summer here is going to be unbelievable!

Well, I guess that is it for now. All in all we love our lives here and are so glad we took this crazy leap of faith and moved 3,000 miles to the Great White North.  It has been an incredible experience and we are so excited for what the future will hold for us.