Portrait Practice

Had a fun time with Bern and Ang yesterday, checking out his new D90 - we're twins now! Between the two of us we managed to figure out a few of our camera settings, and Angie was a great sport modeling for us, she always looks great!

Bernie having a "bright idea..." yeah, I know, we're dorks

After all that shooting we ran in to Fletchers to warm up and get a bite to eat. It's so pretty in there! Very elegant...

Hatchers Ride Part 2 - a quick vid

Hatchers Ride

Yesterday I took a half day and Chris and I headed with Tim up to Hatchers to get in a little ride. This was my first time out this winter, and as I'm typing this I can't even tell you how sore my arms are! But it was a lot of fun, and I'm so glad we got to go! The weather was perfect, blue skies, and in the mid 30's up in the mountains.

Christian and Tim, taking a break near an old mining building


That's me! Christian encouraged me to try a little jumping. I didn't get real far off the ground, but it was my very first INTENTIONAL jump, so that was exciting ;)

And me again... riding the project sled



Christian doing some real jumping...

Only in Alaska...

So yesterday (Saturday March 7) was the start of the Iditarod, the "last great race". Sara and I headed down to check it out. Since this is the first year in many years we can remember it being above zero for the start, there were LOTS of people that came out to watch the start, and everyone was decked out in their finest!

Fur hats are all the rage at Fur Rondy - people pull out their furs for the week of festivities, including the Iditarod start. If you don't have a fur hat, don't worry, you can buy one downtown during this week long event from street vendors!

And boy, oh boy, are there some sweet fur hats out there! Now these hats, you can't find from just any street vendor. These are the real deal...

This little girl scout was my favorite - so cute! She was selling cookies ;)

This guy was the best - a WHOLE WOLF!! Sara and I couldn't beleive our eyes. Everyone was taking this guys picture...

And of course, the doggies!

Applesauce

So yesterday I decided to try making my own homeade applesauce. I had some when I was in Washington a week ish ago, and it was wonderful! I can't eat apples raw, but I love them, so this is a perfect way to get my apple supply! This was my first time canning anything other than fireweed jelly, so I decided to document the process. I should have starting taking photos sooner, like of the pretty organic gala apples I used, but oh well...

Ingredients:

• Apples (approx 3 lbs)
• Water
• Cinnamon

The only "special" tool I used for this was my immersion blender. I love it - it makes things so much cleaner and easier to blend! But you can use a food processor or blender for your sauce.

Step 1. wash & peel apples. Remove cores/stems etc.

Step 2. Boil the apples in about 1" of water until soft (I added a cinnamon stick to the water for flava - just be sure to remove it before you blend!)

Step 3. Blend to desired consistency, which for me is very chunky. Add additional cinnamon to taste

Step 4. Jar it up! I had my prepared sterilized jars ready to go... be sure to wipe up any spills before putting the lids on.

Step 5. finally, Water bath! This sterilizes and ensures that you can store your cans safely. This is where I started photographing... Boil approx 15 minutes (depending on jar size and elevation)

The final product - yummy delicious homeade applesauce, no sugar added!

Guinness was a big help too...

Portland

I didn't take a whole lot of photos on my recent trip - partly because I got sick as a dog a couple days in and didn't have the enegery to even get dressed, let alone drag my camera around with me... it's a bummer, but that's life... I still had a great time and the weekend before I got sick, I did take a few pics of the family...

Mike and his gf Megan, waiting outside the downtown Voodoo Doughnuts- the line was insane... and he hates having his picture taken...

Voodoo Doughnuts... the magic's in the hole... highly recommended. They also do weddings. Go figure...

Hair of the dog...

At one of the nicer restaurants that we visited for happy hour, they made these amazing flaming coffee's - the bartender was a pro, and it was great fun to watch him work.

Megs always looks like a model...

Cristen hurt Mike's back by jumping on him a few moments before this, so here she's returning the favor by giving him a piggy-back ride.

80's par-tay

Saturay night we had a great time heading to the Kulis National Guard Cabin Fever Reliever party. Uncle Bernie brought all of us, and the theme was 70's and 80's - it was a blast! We had a lot of fun finding our costumes and of course, checking out all the great outfits that people came up with. So - here are a few fun pics of all of us!

Ice Sculptures

This weekend Sara and I headed downtown to check out an exhibit in Anchorage called project Freeze. But apparently, since it has literally been freezing they didn't have their stuff done - or if they did, we just really didn't get it!! So instead we headed to the town square to check out the ice sculptures that were done for the 50th anniversary of Alaska's statehood!