The Brady Bunch: Changes

I did it. I turned in my two weeks notice and survived my last two weeks of work! I can't really even describe the amount of relief that I feel knowing I never have to go back to my old job. Of course, with that change comes more worry if I'll like my new job and what challenges that will present, but I'm up for the challenge as long as it is an environment where I am treated with respect. For now, I'm taking the week of Thanksgiving to recuperate and then I'll start my new job.

One thing I've always struggled with is remember to trust in the Lord's plan for me, and not just make my own plan happen by sheer force of will. I'm can be pretty stubborn sometimes (shocking, I know) and I like to think I know how things should go. Over the past year I've been constantly reminded that I'm not in charge and I think I finally got the message. I'm trying every day to see the big picture, and it is getting easier. Things will work out, don't they always? In the moment we can't see how, but down the road it all makes sense. I'm grateful for an eternal perspective and for everything I've been blessed with.

Lately I have really been missing family and friends at home. There is just something about having people who truly know you and love you and accept you for your quirks and all. We are going home in January and it will be much needed time to spend with our loved ones. In the same breath, I can't believe how much closer Mac and I have grown since moving to Alaska. We have loved having so much time to spend together and having to be creative in entertaining ourselves since it is in the negatives outside and it gets dark at like 4:30. We have been playing lots of UNO, enjoying our favorite T.V. Shows, and looking forward to our first summer in Alaska....in just FIVE short months. :)

I guess it is time for some new photos since I've been so busy lately that I haven't even processed most of them from the past few months.

Enjoying our weekend getaway to beautiful Seward, Alaska

I can't wait to come back next year when it is a little warmer!

Having fun at the Sea Life Aquarium in Seward.

I love starfish!

Getting a little Salmon Education

We must have watched these Sea Lions for 20 minutes. They were so entertaining!

Practicing my dogsledding skillz

Mile 0 of the Iditarod. Can't wait to experience this next year!

Beautiful snow capped mountains EVERYWHERE.

Our first Alaskan Landslide. We really wished it would have blocked the whole road so we'd have a reason not to go back to work and school, but unfortunately we got around it.

One of our favorite spots....The Wildlife Conservation center! Almost every time we go we see the bear trainer, but this time we were pretty much the only people there and got to talk to him one on one about the bears. These Kodiak bear cubs are being sent to a zoo in Sweden next year. The trainer just stopped going in their enclosement a few weeks ago because they have gotten too big and its not safe any more. Uh, yeah! This is how they feed them now...with a big pipe!

We LOVED having Jeff come visit us in October! We tried to get him to see a glacier while he was here, but the weather wasn't cooperating. We could hardly see anything, and it was FREEZING!