Autumn Leisure :)

Fall is suddenly HERE! After living all my life in one of the states that usually see fall last, I am now living in the state that sees it first! It's a strange feeling watching everyone excitedly anticipating the changing of the season down in the lower 48 while I find myself suddenly surrounded by it, without warning.

Jonathan and I had most of a weekend off together last week. We spent Saturday doing little chores around the house that we'd been meaning to do for weeks. We hadn't had the time to properly organize our house since our grocery run; it felt really good to do that! We also had fun putting together our cheap, little Walmart bookshelf. 

Slowly, finally, we're making our little place look like a home instead of just a parking-spot. Only just in time to leave though, since, as of November 1st, we are moving into a house! Hooray!!! We are super-excited that we'll soon have space to get ready for our littlest Wright, coming in February.  :)

Back to our weekend, on Sunday we were able to go for a hike with a newly-engaged couple here in Port Alsworth. :) Adam and Amy are lots of fun and really adorable together. ;)

We didn't make it all the way up the mountain....the pregnant woman in the group was wheezing and moving at a snail's pace when it started getting steep. *wink* 

Jonathan and I stopped at a beautiful view and chilled together (literally) while Amy and Adam hiked a little further up. It was pretty wonderful.

 We watched the planes coming into land...below us.

We didn't make it to the top but we're still a long ways from home. You can barely see Port Alsworth there, across the bay.

Tanalian Mountain, we'll conquer you someday!

An Alaskan "Vacation"

We read a list on Facebook titled "You know you're an Alaskan when... "While we haven't been in Alaska long enough to relate to all of them, we definitely agree with  number 2) "Vacation" means going to Anchorage for the weekend."

I never would have imagined calling a shopping/doctor's appointment trip a vacation, but that's how exciting eating out, riding in our own car, and grocery shopping are to us now. :P

We had a wonderful time in town, and it was really good for us to take a step back from work for a few days and enjoy being together, doing whatever we felt like (as long as it came from our to-do list).

We ended up flying into Anchorage at different times. I went in first and helped out in the office until Jonathan arrived a few hours later. It was kind of a scuzzy day weather-wise but I still got to see some amazing landmarks on the flight in.

The village of Nondalton. It's only a ten-minute flight from Port A. but I'd never seen it before. It looks pretty small and lonely out in the middle of nowhere!

Port Alsworth is somewhere THAT direction. :)

 Getting up above the clouds.

 Mount Iliamna (so I'm told). You can see the small plume of smoke coming out of the top. It's an old volcano.

Glaciers surrounding Mt. Iliamna

A glacier "river"

Mt. Redoubt, a more recently active volcano. Too bad it wasn't very good weather for pictures. :/

Our first order of business when Jonathan finally arrived was lunch! We made a bee-line for Wendy's, where I realized I was biting into my first burger and fries in over four months! They were gooooood.

We spent the rest of Saturday running various errands and talking each others' ears off. :) While I was scouring the racks of a few thrift stores for maternity clothes (which I didn't find), Jonathan found a just-our-size chest freezer for an exceptional price! We bought it and the freezer shipped out almost immediately and was ready and waiting for us when we came home loaded with groceries. It is a huge blessing!

Sunday was the BIG day. We spent four hours in Costco and another hour or two in Walmart, but found a lot of good deals on things we needed, like warm socks!

We're learning how to shop more like Alaskans all the time, buying in bulk and choosing items that will stay fresh longer or are freezable. This time we made the switch from powdered milk (yuck) to boxed milk (hmm...). Shelf milk isn't completely new to me, I had it during my visits to Moscow but, while I'll take it over powdered milk, I still much prefer fresh milk.


Some of the things we miss in Port Alsworth are fresh fruit and vegetables. When we're shopping for a month or longer, we have to buy more frozen produce instead of fresh. We eat salads, fruit and some fresh veggies for a week or two after a trip into town, but after that anything left over has gone bad, so frozen is a much more practical, if not tastier, option for us.

By Sunday evening we had (almost) all of our shopping done and were ready to celebrate with our friends, Steve and Heather (and Kayden!) Routh, at Olive Garden! Olive Garden has been my favorite restaurant for years; I'm sure I could eat their salad dressing with a spoon. It was amazing.

Monday morning we found our last few grocery items and still had time to kill before my appointment so we had a date at Barnes and Noble - just like we did when we were dating! :)

Finally, the time came for my appointment! The doctor says everything looks great, my surgery is completely behind me pregnancy-wise, and we got to "see" our baby wiggling around for a few minutes! *happiness*

Coming back home was a lot more fun (minus the extra-bumpy flight) this time than the last. For one, I'm not recovering from surgery (score!) and for two, we have a house and freezer packed with yummy food!

Life is good.

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I spend lots of time marveling at (read: attempting to process) all that has happened in the past year and especially in the last few months. Our lives are so very different that it often feels like we're living in a foreign country already! Looking at past pictures from home sometimes makes me feel like I'm staring at different people in a different world. I won't lie. It's difficult. But I am clinging to the hope and certain knowledge that this is exactly where God wants us, that He is with us in every moment, and that...

 "There are far, far better things ahead than anything we leave behind (C.S.Lewis)".

In other news, it's been a while since I posted any pictures, mostly because I've been working too much to get out and take any. :) But the other night Jonathan got off early enough for us to take a walk after dinner and look what we spotted! (Unfortunately I hadn't brought my telephoto lens.)

Someone was asking for more pictures of "around town". This request stumped me a little bit. Besides the mountains and the lake, there's not much to be seen except airplanes, hangars and houses. :) Here's my attempt:

This is the (W)rec building. ;) They're in the process of giving it a winter coat of insulation and turning the storage rooms into a new apartment. This means lots of banging in our building. :)

Among the other improvements to the building, our porch was torn down and a new, insulated entryway was added. I briefly considered sticking a couch in it and calling it a living room, but decided it would be too cold. (jk) Still a very exciting addition!

The Farmhouse has a garden to be envied.

 

 Look at those beautiful rows!

 

Here is the field Jonathan plays Ultimate Frisbee on. Not a bad view, is it?

 And finally! This is where I spend 2 mornings and three afternoons a week. A lot of action happens in that tiny corner!!

My view.  :)