Smorgasboard : )

Wowza, totally random thoughts to *try* to sum up the past little while : )

Soo, 2012.

Here goes..

Back in February life really started changing for the better- getting engaged to my best friend : )

Thus, from there, I made some "career" changes, moved around quite a bit, and enjoyed the company of many wonderful friends and family..

First, my sister and some of my aforementioned wonderful friends came to visit in April..

My bridal shower was also in April.. Andrea was a fabulous hostess!

It was Alaskan themed, and was so nice of everyone to get together to celebrate our

upcoming wedding with me.. Felt so fun to have some of friends from 'home' there!

And to have a sister there.. could not have been better!

How lucky to have my personal attendant AND a sister there!!

All the way in Alaska.. : )

Then, I moved to MN for the month of May, where I got to spend some quality time 

with my sisters (including a whole week with Kate in MQT! : )..)

And got to see my friends a bit more, fit in a couple weddings, and had so much fun

seeing everybody for a little while before the eventual move, marriage, and life changes..

Dress shopping In MN.. 

Shannon- you were in my/our hearts the whole weekend!!

(insert yourself for pretend ;)...)

Living in MI for the month of June was awesome.. 

To spend so much time at home, and to be able to have lots of time for visiting..

Aaaahhh.. bliss...

Before either Luke or I knew it, our wedding day had arrived..

Crazy how fast the time actually flew!

Thank you Janel for taking some beautiful pictures..!

Fun to get some at home : )

Also-- THANK you Janel for saving my hair day!! : )

(didn't she do a beautiful job?? talent!)

Sisters..

I love, love the necklace from my Dad..

He picked out such a beautiful one!

He decided to get a necklace for each of his girls on their wedding day..

Such a wonderful heirloom..

Thank you Dad.. : )

-----------

Then we were on our way back to Alaska.. was so fun to have some time just to ourselves

before needing to settle into daily life again.

(I do keep hoping for an 'official' honeymoon someday,

somewhere warm, and tropical, and hopefully on a cruise ship..)

But for now, the memories of our drive back are fun to look back on..

 Things got a bit squirrelly on the drive up.. didn't take long at all before- "How much longer, Luke??"
Turns out life in a vehicle day after day is not my calling : )

We did stop at some beautiful places, however..

Like Muncho Lake, known worldwide as being

the "most beautiful lake in the world"

The colors were outstanding!

We also stopped at Liard Hot springs..

 And even had a candlelight fish dinner in the vehicle.. goodness gracious. are we cool.

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When we arrived back in Alaska, and back to our lovely cabin : ),

we settled into life as an Alaskan couple..

Dipnetting, watching an airshow at the Air Force base,

having company, camping, etc..

So much fun, but will have to do a separate post for life at home..

Things could get lengthy otherwise! : )

Home Again, Home Again..

Hello!
We are FINALLY back into a swing of normalcy, settling into our lovely home-sweet-cabin, and it feels amazing..
To unpack into a closet after living out of bags and boxes and moving between three states, not to mention crossing the country to do so, in the last two months while planning a wedding?? whew. feels good.
Will post pictures soon of all the activity, just wanted to update at least a bit of a post to remind everyone I am still here! :) haha
(I am especially excited to post all of the funny misinterpretations people asked me about life in Palmer... Haha, for example- 'where do you get your groceries from?' and 'isn't it dark all year?') lol.. funny stuff.. Thank you everyone who was able to make it to our wedding, we loved loved loved seeing everyone, and remember- you are always welcome to stop by if you are ever driving through Palmer. :)

AKk! I'm getting married!

The day started out simple enough..

A hike up the butte,

with beautiful views the whole way up :)

Here is my handsome man!!

(he was happy as can be the whole time up.. no wonder!)

After myself huffing and puffing and truely believing the top was getting farther and farther away..

.....

We got there and saw this..

so worth the hike!!

so I began taking a bunch of pictures and enjoying the view..

.....

Here he is just before asking.. ;)

(unbeknownst to me.. the whole thing was a complete suprise!)

Here we are!! JUST engaged :D

He scooted right next to me, pulled out the box,

and asked if I would marry him..

I said YES of course!

.....

And here is my ring..

It has a round diamond, two little diamonds and two sapphires on either side..

and unique to ak, it has little gold nuggets on it :)

(that way we will always have a piece of ak, Luke said..xo)

I love how unique and different it is!

(now I wish it didn't need to get re-sized.. don't want to part with it!)

Here we are, getting to the bottom of the butte as fast as possible..

to share the news :)

slid down most of the way.. haha

we went to share the news with Luke's cousins,

so fun and exciting to share this day with them..

and just wish we could see our friends and family at this time!!

(sorry we are sideways.. :S)

Our big day is June 30th.. we are so excited to start planning this new chapter of our lives!!

:D!

Lemme tellya. I just adore craigslist.

It is like garage sailing without the use of gasoline.

And seeing as I really don't own a car that is very beneficial.

.....

Anyway, scored two of the purply/maroon chairs for six bucks!

I have been looking for mid-century modern barrel-like chairs to re-upholster

and then put them in Luke's cabin..

These are not exactly what I had in mind, but I do like the simple shape,

the smallish size, and the fact that they 'float' off the ground will help in keeping the

living space from looking too crowded..

.....

I decided that since the cabin has a very yellowy undertone to the wood,

Will upholster them in gray with a plaid material for the seat cushion :)

Like this:

Love the dimension of heathered gray :)

will throw on some nailhead trim somewhere because I am a sucker for that trend.

And how cozy would an ikea sheep rug be thrown over one?

Excited for this project.. :) will have to post the 'after' once they get finished.

sometime this year. 

field trip!

Once upon a time Luke brought me on a field trip to his work.

Much to the excitement of everyone.

Well, at least to me.

.....

You see, typically listening to how his days go

and how this machine does this and that,

and when you factor in the x and the z to the y 

in order to drill the proper radius according to the proportions

 on the glarbarfafblagar and comparing it to the flangafluungit

because obviously that metal chunk is better than the other metal chunk

and the superturbo3000 machine does... *beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!*

.....

that was my brain shutting down.

...

So, he brought me to see it all.

Now I can visualize what he talks about, and the *plan* was that I would be able to understand him.

But my brain is small. Ah well.

...

It was still fun to see him in front of the actual superhurboturbo3000.

and he turned that chunk into that neat thing!

And metal blocks into those!

All in this room full of intimidatingly large machinery.

I was fascinated. And proud of him. And awed.

And now I believe I may be dating the world's smartest man.

(Maybe that was his plan all along...?)

hahaha, but it was very fun to see it all! an interesting date :)

a take on Valentine's day.. :)

Luke and I didn't get a chance to see each other on the 14th,

but did on the 15th and we will celebrate "Valentines' day" on saturday.. :)

I know there are so many people who feel as though it is a silly holiday, but I love it.

We already know how much we mean to each other, but a day dedicated to just that?

perfect. :)

Cheesy or not, I am really looking forward to saturday and spending a day with my Valentine..

.....

Walk through the "front yard"..

One fine evening Luke came down to visit, and we went for a walk through Kincaid state park. :)

If you keep walking straight out of the driveway, across the road, and onto the trail,

you end up smack dab in the park.

And it is WONderfully wonderful.

Lovely fall color.. wish I showed up better, it was so golden looking...

.....

It takes about ten mins or so to get to the dunes part of the park.

Upon arrival, you will see the final resting place of "the goat".

Only those who really knew what "the goat" was will be able to appreciate this photo.

...

Luke was all fired up and went charging on ahead to get to the top..

(or we were in a race and I *may* have been losing.)

:)

Such a lovely evening deserves a good flip.

Can you believe this beautiful ocean vista is just a small stroll out the front door??

Who wouldn't want to live here?!? :)

Looking out over south Anchorage, you can see quite a distance into the Turnagain arm,

the same place one can watch whales of all sorts. :)

Those headlights along the near side of the mt are

about 25-30 miles down the shoreline, it feels magestic to see that far while standing

so high above the ocean..(about 200 ft above to be precise). 

Can't wait to have some visitors here!! :)