The REAL First Day

So after working for the Office of Children's Services for close to 3 months, I am finally done with my training and I can actually take on cases of my own!! It is so nice to feel useful again!! I was so busy today and it was awesome! Please remind me of what I just said in about 6 months haha!

So tomorrow, April and I head off to Unalaska, AK! We leave at about 11:00, have a layover in Anchorage, and then board the flight for Unalaska at 2:00. We should be in Unalaksa around 5:00p.m.

I will update more later! Love y'all!

Anddd I am back!

I am sorry that it has taken me so long to give an update! I had such a great time in Texas and it killed me to get back one the plane to come back to Texas! I am very blessed to have such a wonderful family and to have had such a wonderful Christmas! We had Christmas eve at Meemaw and Ken's house with Ken's family and had Meemaw, Ken, and Aunt Donna over on Christmas Day! I lovvvve Christmas...all the family, gifts, food and games! Love it! While I was home, I was able to hang out with my friends, a good portion of my family, went to six with Garrett and rode 3 rides in about 5 hours, watched a tear jerker with mom and Aunt Donna, had an awesome new years eve with a bunch of friends, and shopped a lot! Sounds like a great 10 days to me! I really do love Texas and all my loved ones there!

Anyway, Christmas vacation ended and I am back in Alaska! I spent a week in homer and then Sophie and I boarded another plane to anchorage and I am in the process of completing round two of training for my job. And I will say it again, 2 weeks is a long time to be away from home! However, training round two has been significantly better than round one. I have made friends with some coworkers and it is made a world of difference! I hate that we all live at different parts of Alaska!! I have two more days of training and then I am back in homer! But again I will board a plane next Tuesday and will spend 3 days in Unalaska, AK with my coworker and I am soooo excited about that!

The weather has been crazy snowy for the most part. I heard that typically a harsh winter means a gorgeous summer! I can't wait!

Here are some random pictures I have taken:

Frozen Yogurt is something that I definitely took for granted in the Lone Star State... now it is a luxury! The only frozen yogurt place is in the airport in Anchorage and I treat myself when I layover there! 

It is so funny to me how snow binds together and just hangs there

By far the best find at Half Price Books ever!! Thank you mama for finding this and buying it for me :)

Look at all the snow!

Brother waiting in line at Six Flags over Texas! We only got to ride two rides and stood in lines forever, but it was so great hanging out and having bro-sis time

Love this picture!

I think Sophie thinks she is a cat. I was cleaning and walked into my room and there she was on my window sill!

I am still alive!

I am so sorry that I have not blogged in 2 and 1/2 weeks! Things have been crazy and I have been doing a lot of traveling. In fact, I am in a hotel room in Anchorage for my second 2 weeks of training. I had just typed out this long (and wonderful, might I add) blog post and then lost my internet and lost my entry!! :( Needless to say, it is 11:08 p.m. here and I do not have it in me to rewrite it tonight. This post is just to say hello, I have not forgotten about this blog, and I love you all. More to come tomorrow! MUAH!

Leave it to me....

Leave it to me to add unnecessary drama to an already stressful day!! Here is how my morning played out...

I woke up this morning and thought "Man, how did I wake up before my 5 a.m. alarm went off??" Then I checked my phone and it was 7:05 a.m.!!!! Please know that my first flight was leaving Homer at 7:30a.m.!!!! I immediately started freaking out! I called the Homer Airport as I was frantically throwing clothes on and pleaded with them to hold the plane and she said that if I can get here by 7:30 that they would. Looking back on it now, it was truly an act of God that I was able to finishing getting dressed, take Sophie out to go to the bathroom, load Sophie's kennel and my suitcases in the car, turn everything off in my apartment, and speed to the airport and make it there by 7:27 a.m.!! I was sitting on the plane by 7:35 a.m.!! Incredible!! Luckily for me, there is no security check at the Homer Airport and the flight only consisted of about 8 people. Thankfully, Sophie and I landed in Anchorage and I was able to recheck her through to Dallas and I was able to grab some breakfast before my flight to Seattle. I am currently flying to Seattle right now and I am enjoying inflight WIFI! Oh the technology of today!I should have about a 3 and half hour layover in Seattle and then I am homeward bound!

All in all, I am so excited to come home for this break!! I can't wait to see everyone and relax and enjoy the holidays! Maybe it will finally start feeling like Christmas!

MOOSE!!!

So my coworker and I went to our separate homes for our lunch break today and I got a text from her saying that when she went to let her dogs out in the backyard, there were three moose chilling out there! I told her that I had to see this and drove over to her house! Sure enough, three moose were laying down in her backyard! I was standing like 12 feet from them! So cool!

Sophie, we aren't in Texas anymore....

Mama and her babies

This was the mama moose

That was probably the most exciting part of my day! Here are some recent pictures that I haven't had the capable internet to upload!

This great contraption has saved me from eating only lean cuisines and cereal!

My tree! I couldn't resist and I got it for a steal!

I found this at my new favorite shop- Blackberry Bog

Breakfast pizza!! It is garlic olive oil sauce, cheese, oregano, bacon, and three eggs cracked on top. Sooooo good!

My new grips for the bottom of my boots!! Those blue things are metal studs.

Well I better be off to the store! I have to make enough cookie dough for 9 dozen cookies!! We are doing a cookie exchange at work and I have to bring one dozen cookies for each person involved. I am making cookie and cream cookies! We will see how they turn out!

Blah Blah Blah

I apologize that I have not been writing much lately! I really have no excuse! But exciting news is that I come home to Texas in 5 days!! I leave Homer on Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. and have a lay over in Anchorage until 10:00 a.m. and then a layover in Seattle until 6:00 p.m. and then finally (after a very long day in transit) will arrive at DFW around 11:30 p.m. And I just found out on Friday that Sophie girl will be making the trip as well! Turns out that Alaska Airlines will still fly animals in the winter, it is way cheaper to bring her home than board her, and I get to have her with me!! I am so glad she is such a great traveler! What is even more nice is that since I am flyer Alaska Air the whole way, they will be transporting and taking care of her the whole time. I am a little nervous to fly out of Homer to Anchorage. Not only is it my first time to fly in a plane that is smaller than 50 people but I am praying that the flight is not delayed or canceled because of the weather. Weather around here has been crazy!! There is barely any snow on the ground and it has been raining for the past two weeks or so. The temperature vacilates above and below freezing so it will rain and freeze and then melt and freeze again. It has made things very slippery around here. This morning, I went to finish my Christmas shopping and my car slid down the hill of the driveway and I almost crashed into a wood planter on the side of the drive. It was so scary!! So I went out and bought a pair of "grips" (they are things you strap onto the bottom of your boots that are rubber and have metal studs on the bottom). They allow you to walk on ice without slipping. I parked at the bottom of the driveway and walked up to my apartment with my new assurance that I wouldn't fall!

I found a new store in town that I love called Blackberry Bog. I think I could spend hours in that store and if I had a ton of money, I would buy everything in there. I got some Christmas presents in there and managed to buy myself a couple things for me. For some reason, my internet will not allow me to upload pictures right now so I will update tomorrow with the pictures I have taken.

Something that is great about living here is the night sky. I have always been a fan of the moon and stars but it is amazing how much bigger and brighter they are out here. There are some nights when the moon feels like it is hanging in the trees in the back yard and nights when the moon isn't out at all. Tonight is particularly dark and the stars can be seen in patches where the clouds have separated. The head of my bed is up against the window and I like to open the curtains at night and look at the stars before I fall asleep. I also like to crack the window open and fall asleep snuggled in my warm bed.

Surprisingly, the cold really hasn't bothered me. I thought that I would get sick of bundling up or wearing multiple layers all the time but I haven't. The darkness has been an adjustment though. The sun has been rising around 10 a.m. and setting around 4:30 p.m. so when I wake up at 7:30 a.m. every morning, it still feels like it is the middle of the night. I was finding myself getting tired around 5 p.m. every night so I listened to my co-worker and started taking Vitamin D. It is so strange that I am taking it because in Texas there was never a lack of that vitamin! I have been told that on Wednesday (December 21, 2011) it will be the shortest day of the year and that after that we will start gaining a couple mintutes of daylight each day. I feel very fortunate not to be living in a part of Alaska that sees total darkness because I am pretty sure I would go crazy!

Work is going well and I am starting to gain some more responsibilities around the office. I will be able to take on a case load in a month and I am ready. I do not like being the newbie who has to shadow workers because I feel so incompetent and like a burden. However, I love my boss and coworkers. I basically follow around my coworker, April, all day and that is fun. I wish we could convince my boss, Margit, to let us work in teams like police officers and then we could do everything together!


Well I better hit the hay! 4 more days of work, 5 days til Texas, and 7 days until Christmas!! I love this week!! And I love y'all!

Cold in Anchorage... in more ways then one!

Well folks, I have a cold! And it is just really bad timing because tomorrow I have to do a mock interview for training and it will be videotaped and watched by my supervisor and the class! Now I am going to be all snotty and cracky voice on tape!! Thankfully, this portion of training will be over in 2 days and then I will be in Homer for almost two weeks... then I'm coming to TEXAS!!! Over then this stupid cold and training, nothing has really been happening! The weather has been weird! On Sunday, the weather was the same in Anchorage as it was in Keller! So weird!

Anchorage!

Keller!

 

These are my new snow boots I got! I love my Academy boots but both pairs I got developed holes in the bottom :( 

This isn't a recent picture but I stumbled across it and love it! 

I cannot wait to see my family! I miss y'all so much!