Freezing cold sunsets...

So its has been frickin freezing here for the last week or so - below zero every day. It sucks. BUT it gives us some pretty incredible sunsets. So Sara and I took advantage of some spectacular views and snapped a couple pics along the Seward highway this evening. Gorgeous! You have to run back to the truck to warm up after about 5 minutes, but it was worth it!

Yeah, it's cold out there...

A few Christmas Pics

All my siblings came to Alaska for Christmas this year, and we had a great time heading to Alyeska resort in Girdwood for a couple days. It was great to do something a little different, even though I don't ski or snowboard anymore (I gave it up a few years ago, when I just decided I suck at it). Chris went snowmachining (or snow-mobiling for you non Alaskans) during the day, and all in all, it was a great time!

Megs and John pose with mom at Alyeska, before taking of to go boardThey are just SO excited to snow board!! (Never mind it was totally FREEZING cold outside...)

And to Guinness, the best gift of all, is the wrapping paper. He got a little pissed that I kept tying ribbons around his collar, but the paper made up for it...

Guinness does his famous "king of the mountain" pose with Cristen, smiling for the camera

Guinness loves to be the center of attention...

Dot and Chris

Thought everyone would like to see a couple of Dot and Chris' Christmas photos! It was FREEZING outside, and really foggy downtown, but we had a little fun anyway ;)

New Camera

Ok, I know I haven't updated in awhile - all the Christmas preparation is a lot of work!! So, my apologies - Renee! - for not getting any new posts up in awhile. I promise lots of fun new pictures soon, as I experiment with my new camera, a Nikon D90. It also takes HD video, so Chris is excited about that... expect some snow machine vids soon!

But for now, I was playing with it last night and captured Guinness surfing the web. I checked the history - scottiesgonewild.com - I think it's time we had "the talk..."

Doggie Stories

Surfing the web today I came across several blogs detailing the exploits of pet scotties, and I had to laugh. There is definitely something "special" about scottish terriers. And by special, yes, I mean "special". In fact, one of Guinness' nick names is short bus... Chris and I are always entertained by Guinness' antics, and I in the spirit of the fun blogs I found today, I thought I would share some of my favorite stories...




Guinness and the Moose...

For all of his life, Guinness has hated moose. When they come near our yard, he sounds the alarm, running his route along the fence barking frantically and trying to scare them away. He has even barked at moose statues in much the same manner - not able to tell the difference. But up until recently, he was never face to face with a live moose. On a recent trip to Costco, I headed out to the garage, with Guinnes (not on a leash, cause we're just hopping in the car). I hit the button to open the garage door, and come around to let Guinness in the car. But as soon as the garage door was open a bout a foot and a half he was gone. What I was not aware of was that there were not one, but two young moose hanging out in the street near our house. But Guinness knew. I had to wait for the garage door to finish opening before I could run after him, but as it did the picture before me would have been funny if I hadn't been so frantic. Here is this tiny little black dog CHASING a moose up the street, nipping at its heels. The moose didn't know what to make of this little thing biting at it, and fortunately just decided to run. I went running down the driveway yelling for Guinnes to come - even though I had little hope of his actually obeying... But - miracle of miracles, as the moose when running by me, Guinness actually did stop and came to me! The moose kept going, and I caught my pups and man-handled him in to the car. I guess God knew I didn't want to visit the pet ER that day...

Favorite Toys
Like many dogs, Guinness' favorite toys all make noise (or have a treat inside...) and like most dogs, his main purpose in chewing on any toy is the find the source of the noise and destroy it. Recently, he received a laughing dracula toy from a friend, which he loved. I cannot tell you how that silly dracula laugh sound gets stuck in my head. I'll be folding laundry, making dinner, whatever and out of the blue, "whah, hah, hah, hah...." and it's over and over and over... I think I understand why parents don't appreciate noise making toys for children...

Puppy-tude

Guinness has attitude. Or pupi-tude as I like to call it. I've never met a dog that can stare you down the way he can. Those little brown eyes speak volumes. While cute and cuddly when you have food he would like to sample, the minute you try to pick him up or cuddle him you get "the look" and the head turn. As a little gentlemen he finds it's extremely offensive to be scooped up into someones arms and held. That is for children, and he is a little man! He will crane his neck as far away from you as he can while you hold him, and look to other people for help. And the second you let him go, he's gone...

Going for a Ride

Like most dogs Guinness loves to ride in the car (although he prefers Chris' truck - more roomy) but he also likes to go for rides on your back. I really have no idea how he learned to do this, but he's done it since he was a pup. And he especially likes to do it to Bernie... go figure. If you are laying on the ground, on your stomach, watching tv, surfing on the laptop, whatever, Guinness will hop on your back and stand there. He then fully expects you to take him for a "ride" around the room. You crawl around on all fours and he stands at attention on your back steering the ship, in his mind. I'm sure the dog whisperer would tell me that it's bad behavior because he's trying to dominate, but it is pretty awesome to watch.

Ok, that's enough stories for now. Hope you enjoy the antics of our scottie!

Why we love Scotties...

Saw this today -

Nov. 6: Political reporter Jon Decker was just about to pet Barney, the White House dog, when the Scottish Terrier bit him, resulting in a visit to the White House doctor. MSNBC's David Shuster reports.


I have always thought that Barney and Miss Beasley were super cute scotties - and yes, they have that trademark scotty attitude. I could totally see Guinness doing the same thing!

Youth Costume Party 2008

Last Friday we had our Youth group costume party. While about half the kids decided to come "as themselves" (lame!) we did have a few exceptions...

This year's winner, and reigning champion was Osama Bin Laden. He got serious props for wearing that beard almost the entire night, it looked pretty itchy...

Near the end, our "pimp" wanted to make sure I got a picture of him choking Osama...

An 80's diva and one of our "I came as myself" kiddos

And the whole group - I was Sara Palin (in the middle) Although I didn't have my McCain '08 pin, just ran out of time...

I made some pretty sweet decorations - I should have taken more pictures of them, but here is the only one I found...

Ta-Da!

Ok - so here are some after pictures finally! We still have a little bit of touch up work to finish - like putting up the veneer on the back of the cabinet, as you can see!

The new sink... and the second faucet (we had the first one all hooked up, ready to go, and it was a leaker!)

Closeup of the counters - so you can see the color/texture

Overview of the whole kitchen!

Original Kitchen

So i dug out the original pics from when I bought the house 4 years ago for a little comparison... it's amazing to look back!

This is the view from the living room in to the dining room - notice the carpet in the dining room? And note that lighting fixture - yeah, that's right. Pizza Hut called, they wanted it back.

Looking from the kitchen to the dining room - notice the wall!!

Get a glimpse of the hot linoleum an awesome fruit wall paper border... Yipes!

You can just barely see the little globe light over the sink... it was brass - with frosted "flowered" glass. Again. Yipes!

and the stove - wedged right up against the wall...

Remodel - In Progress!

So for anyone who has been to my house in the last, oh, 2 years - you may know we have a kitchen remodel in progress! Well my friends - the wait is almost over... And I couldn't wait to share it via blogger!

Our new counter tops and breakfast bar should be installed by the time I get home this evening - and needless to say, I am SO excited! Stay tuned, because I'm sure everyone else is just as excited as I am... I'm sure...

Here are some "before" pictures from a couple days ago - although I will have to dig up some of the "original" before pictures to compare later... back when there was a wall dividing the two rooms and carpet in the dining room... yikes!

Pulling off the backsplash to do the final touch up-painting


And a partial "after" of our new fridge! Gotta love that freezer on the bottom...

Fall Photo Shoot

Thankfully - before the snow flew, we had a chance to get some pics taken with my good friend Renee Vanni (check her out - she is an amazing photographer!)

Chris always looks like a model in his pictures... how does he do that??

Thanks Renee - you are the best, we always have a great time photographing with you!!

Ladies Retreat

Had a wonderful and relaxing weekend hanging out at Laverne Griffin camp outside Wasilla with the ladies from church. I brought my mom along and we had a great time playing games, chatting, doing crafts and being rejuvinated. The weather a bit chilly - but it was still lovely.

Line up for the group photo!
Mom was making Christmas gift tags - expect to see these in a couple months!
I love playing games - especially with a bunch of ladies. The laughter never ends!
The lake was just beautiful in the mornings - a little fog, and there was a big group of swans, but to far away to see in the picture...
Everybody made a hand print and all weekend we went around and wrote little notes to each other on your hand. It was so fun to go back after and see what people wrote to you!

Happy B-day Jeff!

Had a fun time hanging out with Chrissy, Jeff & Carsten yesterday - and it was Jeff's 47th b-day!! Thanks for sharing your old-school photos with us Jeff - and you'd better put those under lock and key, or you really may find a slideshow appearing sometime... ;)

Photog Adventure - Part 1

Bernie, Sara and I decided to go on our first photog adventure this weekend, and made Angie come along to be our model! She was a great sport, as we went in search of fall colors north of Chugiak. More to come, but here are a couple favorites that I had time to grab...