What we have been studying at church...

We are about 8 weeks into a study on the book of Galatians. We took a 4 week break from this series over the Holiday season and we are starting back up this coming weekend. This is a short video the church put together with some of the key points from the series thus far. It's been a really powerful series for Sherri and I and we wanted to share this.

A Christmas Blog

Hello Everyone!!

This is our annual Christmas Letter (in blog form). Welcome to our first time readers and welcome back to our regulars. We try and use this site as a quick and easy way to give updates on happenings, events and just general stuff that goes on in our life way up here in Alaska.
___________________________

A lot has happened since our last Christmas letter! Here are the highlights...

* We bought a house! We closed in April and moved in in May. We spent a few weeks totally redoing most of the rooms before we moved in, so it was nice to move into a space that already felt like "us".

*Our kitchen after we finished*

We have really enjoyed living here, we have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. One of the bedrooms is an office, one is our master bedroom and one is a guestroom (so come visit!!). We have an amazing unobstructed view of the Chugach Mountains from our living room as well as a view of Campbell Lake from our 2nd floor balcony.

* We also bought a new vehicle this year. After having some mechanical issues with our Saturn we decided it was time for an upgrade so we bought a Mercedes M-Class. We got a great deal on it, the previous owner was a professor at the local University and he took amazing care of it. We have really enjoyed it and it has been GREAT here in the winter! We still have the Kia as well and it is still running perfectly!

*The new car, on a drive along Turnagain Arm*

* We are both still with the same companies, Sherri is an Executive Assistant at TecPro (www.tecpro.com) and I am a Regional Director of Sales with Extended Stay Hotels (www.extendedstay.com) We have each had excellent years at work and both feel very blessed by our jobs. Sherri works in an amazing environment where everyone goes to our church, she has an amazing boss that treats her with respect and I don't think we could possibly ask for a better position or environment to work in. I get to work from home, which I have to admit, is awesome! I have my office here and I come in and have a place where I can just focus on work. Its pretty perfect.

This year I traveled a lot with work. Everywhere from Puerto Rico to Seattle and all over the state of Alaska. I don't mind the travel, the air miles are nice and it makes it easier for us to travel for vacations.

*We spent several days in Seattle in September celebrating our 3rd Anniversary. We went and saw Phantom of the Opera, did a bunch of shopping, toured a great winery and just enjoyed our time away.

* Sherri's parents visited us for a couple of weeks in June and July this summer and we had a great time! We got out and saw quite a bit of Alaska and really enjoyed having them here with us in our new home!

*Sherri and her parents below a portion of the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline*

* We were able to get away a few times this year to go camping and just "get away from it all". I think the most memorable experience was when us and 2 other couples went winter camping last February. It was SO cold and we had to hike through the snow to get to the cabin, but we had such a good time and it is a memory that we will always cherish! In fact, we have a follow up trip already planned for next February!

*Here we are walking to the cabin. So foolish.*

* This year also brought an addition to our family! We adopted a kitten from a local animal shelter and she has quickly become part of the family! Sherri wanted a cat because I am gone a lot traveling for work and having an animal would make the house feel less empty. Her name is Missy and she has been soooo much fun to have around. She is certainly a mommas girl and she is almost always found laying on or near Sherri.

*Here is Missy, just after we got her*

* We are still actively involved in our church (www.changepointalaska.com) and are currently co-leading a small group of other newly married couples who don't have children.

* Sherri has been getting back into her art more this year. Our guest room also doubles as her art room with her drawing desk there and all of her art supplies. I think having a dedicated space where she can go and create has helped.

____________________________

That is just a small snapshot of the past year in our life. We have had an amazing year, we are greatly enjoying marriage and each other, we love our new home and have really enjoyed "settling in".

We feel so blessed to have such a great network of family and friends, we love you all and wish you a very Merry Christmas!!

Love, Adam & Sherri

A quick trip around the house at Christmas

Hello Everyone -

We hope that you are enjoying the Holiday Season! We have our house all decorated for Christmas, both inside and out, and thought we would snap a few pictures so you can see how it looks.

Enjoy!

Here is our tree with all of the presents!!

Here is our fireplace with our stockings! (yes we have a stocking for our cat)

We did the railing going to the second floor with lighted garland

Just a fun Noel sign that Sherri painted this year

Our nativity set on the table at the top of the stairs on the 2nd floor

Lights out back leading to the door


White LED lights that we hung on the front of the house

Just Watch...

You will enjoy.

So cute.

An Update!!!

Hello Everyone!!

We hope that you had an excellent Thanksgiving and are enjoying the "Holiday Season".

We haven't updated this in a few weeks so I will do my best to catch you up on what we have been doing!

___________________

* We had a great Thanksgiving and we stayed up all night in order to be in line for Black Friday shopping at Best Buy at 3am!!!

(Us with Jason & Jana in line at Best Buy at 3am)

* We are, for the first time, doing an Advent Wreath and celebrating the entire season of Advent. It has been awesome and I am sure this is something that will become a family tradition of ours.

(This is a picture of the Advent wreath that we made)

* We went and saw George Balanchine's production of "The Nutcracker" last week and it was great!! It was put on by the Oregon Ballet Theatre and they did an awesome job!!

* We have all of our Christmas lights up outside and the tree and decorations up inside! So it is feeling very festive around our house!!

* We got our first good sized snow storm last weekend. We got about 10 inches of snow, which makes everything look perfect for Christmas!

(here is a picture of our tree covered in snow with the white lights)

* Next week we are going to see the Broadway production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" that is starring Ted Neely, the guy who originally played Jesus in the movie. It should be fun and we are both looking forward to it!!

___________________

I think that is about it. Work is going good for both of us, my company has put a "travel freeze" into place so I am home at least through January, which is really nice!!

I will blog more later with more "Christmas pictures" of our tree and house all decorated. Also, what our plans are for Christmas.

On a lighter note...

It was announced today that the Broadway production of The Lion King is coming to Anchorage for 6 weeks of shows in September & October of 2009!! Both Sherri and I are REALLY exited to see it!!

Reflections on an eye opening business trip...

Howdy -

So I have been in Seattle for the past couple of weeks working. It has been a pretty successful trip from a business perspective, but it also really opened my eyes to the current financial issues going on around the country. See, in Alaska we have been pretty shielded from all of the issues, we have heard about them on the news, but we haven't actually seen or felt them. We are fortunate that our state is dependant on an industry that is still thriving (oil) and that we have had multi-billion dollar surpluses to store away for "leaner" times.

I went into meetings this week only to find out that the person I was supposed to meet with had been laid off, this happened a couple of times. I heard dozens of stories about spouses, family and friends of our accounts who have been personally affected, either by losing their job, or having hours drastically cut. It was pretty unbelievable. It really made all of the news stories that I have heard suddenly become real.

I felt heart broken for these people, they have been affected, not because of anything they did, but because of a broken system. People who planned on retiring soon, now working till who knows when. One person I met with was an older lady who's husband had been an engineer with a HUGE local company for almost 30 years, about 5 weeks ago he lost his job and because she doesn't make enough to cover their bills he had to take a part time job at Barnes & Noble just to make ends meet. Here is someone who went from a high paying job with a Fortune 500 company, to a bookseller at a national book chain. It just didn't seem right.

I have had a lot of down time at my hotel the past couple weeks to think and reflect on all of this and here is what I have come up with.

1) I am VERY thankful that I live in a state that is doing well financially. I am also VERY thankful that we have leaders (Gov. Palin & others) who, when we have multi-billions of dollars in surplus, don't spend it. They save it because they know that, while today we have plenty, tomorrow we may have need.

2) We need to fix the economic system in America. Now, I have no idea how that needs to happen, BUT, I do know that bailout after bailout will not help. If we bail a company out, but don't change the flawed approach that got us here in the first place, we are only delaying this happening again.

3) We need to be fiscally conservative. Now, please do not read that statement as "we need republicans in power". We have had a republican president for 8 years and we have a 10.6 TRILLION dollar national debt. Ugh. We need to take an honest look at where we stand financially. As Americans we need to be honest about our finances, maybe there are things we can't afford that we need to cut out, and maybe there are things that we can afford, and simply don't need. Just as American families need to do that, so does our government.

4) Americans need to save. I know that I blogged about saving a few weeks ago but I think it is important enough to say again. We have become so dependant on credit, that when the credit is no longer there we are helpless. Here is a blurb from a Washington Post article about the financial state of the American family, I think it is pretty interesting.
_

"Meet the typical American family.
It has about $3,800 in the bank. No one has a retirement account, and the neighbors who do only have about $35,000 in theirs. Mutual funds? Stocks? Bonds? Nope. The house is worth $160,000, but the family owes $95,000 on it to the bank. The breadwinners make more than $43,000 a year but can't manage to pay off a $2,200 credit card balance."

_

No wonder we are in the place we are. We are living with such a small "cushion" that when something unexpected happens (loss of job, loss of hours) we are quickly in trouble.

_

5) Americans need to give. Huh? Didn't I just say we need to save..now I'm saying we need to give? Yup. Our church runs a soup kitchen in downtown Anchorage that feeds 90,000 meals a year to the homeless and working poor in our city. The local newspaper recently did a story on them on how they are seeing a HUGE increase in families at the soup kitchen. Average, working, American families. There are thousands of families who have to choose between rent and food, and when there is a soup kitchen and food bank where you can get free food, the choice is made easier. Sherri and I have found that every time we give, we are never without. In fact, honestly, we believe that 100% of the reason that we have been as fortunate as we have financially, isn't because of any striving or achievement of our own, it is because right from the start of our marriage we made the choice to view our money as a tool not a yardstick. Something for us to use, not something for us to be measured by. So give, no matter how much or how little, give to organizations that meet practical needs. I think that giving helps us stay aware of how blessed we really are, and that is something that we all need to continually remember. We have much to be thankful for.

_

Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege.

- John D Rockefeller

_

Who knew that a 2 week business trip could turn into a multi-paragraph blog/rant.

Election

In a matter of hours we will know who the next President of the United States will be. Polls are opening around the country and we are sure to have a HUGE voter turnout today.

Thomas Jefferson once said "We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate."

Your vote is important, participation in our country's democratic process is important.

We have a choice between two men, both qualified, both inspiring. I am choosing John McCain. I do not believe that Barack Obama is a radical Muslim, un-American, or any of the other "titles" that some have tried to put on him. I just believe that when it comes to leadership and a direction that is best for America, John McCain is my man. I strongly disagree with Obama's economic and health care plan and I think that they both are VERY flawed.

I am aware that the polls look like Obama will win, and if that is the case, he will be my President. I will pray for him and hope that I was wrong, and that our country becomes better for electing him.

Our country is very politically divided right now. We have the far religious right, we have the extreme liberal left and then the rest of us who fall somewhere in the middle. I think that we need to work towards a more unified America. We can disagree on the issues, we can debate policies, but we should remain respectful. Our politics on both sides have become nothing more than overblown personal attacks that do nothing to make our country better.

We live in the greatest country in the world. We are at our best when there is unity among us. As we move past this election cycle it is my hope that, no matter who wins, we would support our country's leadership and work toward America becoming the greatest force for good in the world that we can.

Perhaps we all need to be willing to listen to, and work with, people on the "other side" of where we personally stand.

Halloween Pumpkin - 2008

So every year we carve a pumpkin for Halloween. It is always a fun evening that we look forward to. Here is a picture of the pumpkin that we carved this year!!

Birthday snowman and another trip to Seattle

Hello!

Sherri celebrated her 27th Birthday on the 12th and we had my mom, my dad and Susan over for dinner. We had received some snow that day and my mom, unbeknownst to us, was outside making a "birthday snowman" for Sherri before she came in. So when she got here we looked outside and this is what we saw...

Pretty funny.

____________________

Also, I got a call from my boss yesterday asking if I would mind going to help some of the hotels that we have in Seattle for a couple of weeks. The economic downturn has really hurt them and they are in need of some extra help. I will be in Seattle from November 2 - 14. Sherri and I aren't looking forward to being apart for a couple of weeks but we make it a point to talk several times a day when I travel and we text a lot, so it will be OK.

That's all for now

Taxes...the truth

During this presidential election there has been a lot of focus on each candidates tax plan. I found this great chart put out by a non-partisan tax group that helps explain exactly what each candidates tax plan will do.

I am sure that I will blog more on this later as I have some VERY strong feelings when it comes to taxes and redistribution of wealth.

What a difference a week makes..

This picture was taken last weekend, after we put up some of our fall decorations.

___________________________________________

This picture was taken this week after our first snowfall!!

_____________________________________________

All of the snow has melted and it has been replaced by rain, but winter is certainly on its way!!

Missy hates us...

We bought our cat, Missy, a great new Christmas outfit. It comes with a reindeer hat and a jingle bell neck thing. She absolutely hates it. But it looks SOOO funny. Here is a picture of her trying it on. She is SO not happy. Pets are great fun.

Please Use Spell Check..

Sherri and I were at True Value looking at Christmas lights and we noticed a spelling error on ALL of their boxes of multi-colored LED lights. All of the other colored boxes said "Strawberry", but these "special" boxes said "Starwberry". How is it that thousands of labels were printed, attached to boxes, sent to True Values across the country, and this was not caught? I am pretty sure that someone lost their job when this was discovered.

Economy...

Hello Readers!!

The economy has been front and center in national news recently and financial matters seem to be at the front of everyones mind. We all have to be savvy and smart with our finances, one way that we can do that is choosing where we keep our money. Local banks and financial institutions are great, but for saving money they offer some of the lowest interest rates around. Sherri and I use ING Direct for our general and emergency savings accounts because they pay some of the highest rates around. We have been VERY happy with them and highly recommend them!!

We received this from ING Direct and I really liked it and thought I would pass it on. It is a good read and helps provide some good financial points.

__________________________________________

OUR DECLARATION OF FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE.

1 - We will spend less than we earn. Saving a little out of every dollar we bring home is the foundation of independence. Without it, we can’t build equity in our home, we can’t invest for the future, and we can’t be ready for challenging times. We promise to pay ourselves, always.

2 - We will use our home as a savings account. Besides shelter and comfort for our family, the role of a house in our financial life is to build equity. We will have a healthy down payment when we buy. We’ll choose the mortgage that lets us pay down the principal fastest. And then we’ll leave that equity safe where it is instead of spending it on things that don’t last.

3 - We will take care of our money. It’s not enough to have money in a bank. We will put it where it will grow. We’ll keep track of it. And we’ll check every account we have every year to protect ourselves against fraud.

4 - We will defend our credit worthiness. Good credit is going to be precious in the years to come. We will pay our bills on time. We’ll borrow only when we need to and in amounts we can comfortably pay back. And then we’ll do just that.

5 - We will ignore unsolicited credit card marketing. We decide when we need a credit card, not some marketer. And mostly, we probably don’t need another one at all. We won’t even open those solicitations. We’ll shred them.

6 - We will know the cost of borrowing. The interest lenders charge us is real money, too. When we buy a mortgage or finance a purchase, we’ll figure out what that interest is really going to cost in dollars, add it to the purchase price, and ask ourselves if it’s still worth it.

7 - We will invest for the long term. Futures are built out of patience and prudence, not luck. We will not put off being a saver because we think there’s a lottery win in our future, in Vegas or on Wall Street.

8 - We will take care of the things we have. We work hard for our money, and it’s disrespectful to waste it – or the planet – by treating our possessions as disposable.

9 - We will remember what matters. We are not the things we own. If we have to spend and spend on bigger, more impressive things to keep up with our friends, then they are not our friends at all.

10 - We will be heard. Our representatives in government and the corporations we deal with need to know that we are paying attention. If we’re silent, we’re accepting the status quo, and the business practices that got our country into this situation will continue. We are not going to accept that.

3 Years Ago...

We're Home!!

Hello Everyone -

We returned home last night from our trip to Seattle, and what a trip it was!! We had SOOO much fun!! Here is a little recap of the trip.

We flew into Seattle late Wednesday night and went to the hotel and got settled.

Thursday we did a bunch of shopping during the day and that night we went to SkyCity for dinner, which is the rotating restaurant at the top of the Space Needle. The food was awesome and the views were amazing!! After dinner we went to see the Phantom of the Opera at the Paramount Theatre downtown. Sherri had never seen the play and we both loved it. After the play we went to a famous Seattle "drive-in" style hamburger place named "Dick's" that is SO good and is a Seattle legend.

Friday we drove an hour to Olympia and had lunch with my cousin Lisa and her husband Paul. We had a great time with them and it was great for Sherri to meet them and have a chance to get to know them a little! After lunch we went and got their daughter Gillian from school, I hadn't seen her since she was a baby and now she is 11!! My how time flies!! After we left Olympia we drove to the SuperMall which is a large outlet style mall. After doing more shopping we decided to leave for the Journey/Heart/CheapTrick concert. We were mainly going for Journey, the concert started at 7 and so we left about 7, knowing we would miss some of CheapTrick but we were ok with that. We plugged the concert venue address into our cars GPS and off we went. It told us we had about 10 miles to go, so we figured that we could be there in 15 or 20 minutes. WELL..Let the adventure begin..about 1/2 mile from the mall we hit traffic. I thought, surely the traffic getting to the concert isn't backed up 9 1/2 miles!!! Well...it was. We stayed in the traffic line for about an hour or so and finally decided, IF we get to the venue we will probably miss all of CheapTrick, all of Heart and most of Journey, so we can wait for another hour in traffic or figure out something else. About that time we passed the Muckleshoot Casino, which is the largest casino in the Pacific Northwest, Sherri had never been to a casino and she had expressed an interest, and I have been to a few and have always enjoyed myself, So off to the casino we went. We were, at first, disappointed in not making the concert and sort of viewed the casino as an "OK" back up plan. We ended up having some of the most fun of our entire trip at the casino!! We took a hundred dollars and once that was gone we were done. We played slots, walked around, listened to some terrible casino band and just had a great time! We ended up spending a couple of hours there, AND we left with more money than we started with!! On my last slot spin of the night we won 3000 credits ($30.00) which put us $12.27 above what we started with! It was SUCH a fun experience and a night that could have been disappointing ended up being a highlight of the whole trip!!

Saturday we slept in a little and we started the day by going to IKEA, Sherri had never been to one and we ended up buying some very cool stuff for the house. After IKEA we hit up Olive Garden for lunch and then we went to the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery for a tour / tasting, www.ste-michelle.com. This winery makes some of our favorite Riesling so we were VERY excited!! We were able to taste 8 different wines and we went on a great tour of their facilities. After the winery we headed North to the Seattle Premium Outlets. It is a higher end outlet mall with stores like Coach, Calvin Klein, Burberry and a ton of others. We bought a few things (Sherri got 2 new Coach purses) and we headed back to the hotel. We grabbed dinner and called it a fairly early night.

Sunday!! This was certainly my favorite day!! We got up and headed to Qwest Field for the Seahawks / Rams football game! We got there a couple of hours early and walked through "Touchdown City" which is a large area they set up before each game with lots of booths and games and entertainment. After we were done there we went into Qwest Field for the game. We had AMAZING seats, 6 rows from the field at the 25 yard line! The game was great, the Seahawks won and it was a VERY fun time. After the game we went back to the hotel to change and we headed back downtown to go to the evening church service at Mars Hill, www.marshillchurch.org. This is an amazing church! I listen to their podcasts weekly and have read a couple of Mark Driscoll's books (he is their pastor). This is a very "modern" church that really connects well and relates well to a very contemporary city like Seattle. This church has grown rapidly, as fast as a thousand people a month at times. They were starting a new series called "The Peasant Princess" based on the Song of Solomon. It was one of the best teachings on marriage / love / relationships that I have heard. Pastor Mark tells it like it is and it was a great message!! You can see more and even watch the message at http://www.peasantprincess.com/, Sherri and I have decided that we are going to watch every weeks message in this series. If you want to watch the message scroll to the bottom of the page linked above and you will see the 9/21 message. Click on that and the video will load.

Monday was our last day in Seattle so we headed down to Pikes Place Market, walked around, got a coffee at the very first Starbucks store and just enjoyed the sunshine and our last few hours in Seattle.

It was an awesome trip and we had a ton of fun, but I think that we were both ready to be home!!

Here are some photos from our trip!!

(Sherri at SkyCity)

(entrance to Chateau Ste Michelle Winery)

(View from our seats at the Seahawks game)

(us at the game)

(Sherri before the game with Seattle skyline in the background)

(Sherri at the casino)

And we're off!!

Sherri and I are leaving tonight for our vacation! We will have 5 days in Seattle and we will take lots of pictures and blog all about it when we get back!!

It is hard to believe that we are going there to celebrate our 3rd Anniversary, it is amazing how fast the time has gone!

Seattle Trip Update..

Hello -

So next week (17th) we are off to Seattle for several days! We got our tickets to the Seahawks game on Sunday (6 rows from the field)!!! We just bought tickets to see Phantom of the Opera while we are there, and that same night we are going to SkyCity for dinner, it is the restaurant at the top of the Space Needle!! We had planned on seeing Shrek The Musical, but the reviews have been less than stellar so we decided to see Phantom instead. We are also still going to the Journey/Heart/Cheap Trick concert and doing the winery tour and all of the shopping that we had originally planned.

We will be back on the night of the 22nd so I will blog about our trip when we get back!

Still amazed...

Hello Everyone!!

Well, to say that the last week has been crazy would be a HUGE understatement. I don't ever remember a time when Alaska, or a fellow Alaskan has received so much national attention. Every time we turn on the national news we see our Governors face and see reporters giving stories from our town! I think one of the reasons that it is so strange for us is that this is a woman that we have met, sat in church services with and wrapped a Christmas present for. Even after a week, it still seems unreal.

We thought that her speech at the RNC was AMAZING! We are happy that the rest of the country is getting to see what we have known for some time, that this woman is awesome!!

We would be happy to answer any questions that any friends and/or family may have about her or how she has governed Alaska. FYI, a new poll came out today and she has an 82% approval rating here in Alaska, that is even with the "scandals" that the national news seems to focus on, so she much be doing something right!!

Also, leave us a comment, let us know what you think about her, her speech, or anything else.

Great Day To Be An Alaskan!!!!

Hello Everyone -

As most of you probably know, John McCain announced today that he has picked our very own Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin as his choice for Vice President!! Both Sherri and I are BIG Sarah Palin fans but we know that she is unknown to most people so we wanted to post a bio so you can get to know her. We know that once you get to know her, what she has done and what she stands for that you will love her as much as we do!

This is a VERY exciting day for all Alaskans! We know that Sarah will be a GREAT Vice President.

___________

Fred Barnes in The Weekly Standard:

The wipeout in the 2006 election left Republicans in such a state of dejection that they've overlooked the one shining victory in which a Republican star was born. The triumph came in Alaska where Sarah Palin, a politician of eye-popping integrity, was elected governor. She is now the most popular governor in America, with an approval rating in the 90s, and probably the most popular public official in any state.

Her rise is a great (and rare) story of how adherence to principle--especially to transparency and accountability in government--can produce political success. And by the way, Palin is a conservative who only last month vetoed 13 percent of the state's proposed budget for capital projects. The cuts, the Anchorage Daily News said, "may be the biggest single-year line-item veto total in state history."

As recently as last year, Palin (pronounced pale-in) was a political outcast. She resigned in January 2004 as head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission after complaining to the office of Governor Frank Murkowski and to state Attorney General Gregg Renkes about ethical violations by another commissioner, Randy Ruedrich, who was also Republican state chairman.

State law barred Palin from speaking out publicly about ethical violations and corruption. But she was vindicated later in 2004 when Ruedrich, who'd been reconfirmed as state chairman, agreed to pay a $12,000 fine for breaking state ethics laws. She became a hero in the eyes of the public and the press, and the bane of Republican leaders.

In 2005, she continued to take on the Republican establishment by joining Eric Croft, a Democrat, in lodging an ethics complaint against Renkes, who was not only attorney general but also a long-time adviser and campaign manager for Murkowski. The governor reprimanded Renkes and said the case was closed. It wasn't. Renkes resigned a few weeks later, and Palin was again hailed as a hero.

Palin, 43, the mother of five, passed up a chance to challenge Republican senator Lisa Murkowski, the then-governor's daughter, in 2004. She endorsed another candidate in the primary, but Murkowski won and was reelected. Palin said then that her 14-year-old son talked her out of running, though it's doubtful that was the sole reason.

In 2006, she didn't hesitate. She ran against Gov. Murkowski, who was seeking a second term despite sagging poll ratings, in the Republican primary. In a three-way race, Palin captured 51 percent and won in a landslide. She defeated former Democratic governor Tony Knowles in the general election, 49 percent to 41 percent. She was one of the few Republicans anywhere in the country to perform above expectations in 2006, an overwhelmingly Democratic year. Palin is unabashedly pro life.

With her emphasis on ethics and openness in government, "it turned out Palin caught the temper of the times perfectly," wrote Tom Kizzia of the Anchorage Daily News. She was also lucky. News broke of an FBI investigation of corruption by legislators between the primary and general elections. So far, three legislators have been indicted.

In the roughly three years since she quit as the state's chief regulator of the oil industry, Palin has crushed the Republican hierarchy (virtually all male) and nearly every other foe or critic. Political analysts in Alaska refer to the "body count" of Palin's rivals. "The landscape is littered with the bodies of those who crossed Sarah," says pollster Dave Dittman, who worked for her gubernatorial campaign. It includes Ruedrich, Renkes, Murkowski, gubernatorial contenders John Binkley and Andrew Halcro, the three big oil companies in Alaska, and a section of the Daily News called "Voice of the Times," which was highly critical of Palin and is now defunct.

One of her first acts as governor was to fire the Alaska Board of Agriculture. Her ultimate target was the state Creamery Board, which has been marketing the products of Alaska dairy farmers for 71 years and wanted to close down after receiving $600,000 from the state. "You don't just close your doors and walk away," Palin told me. She discovered she lacked the power to fire the Creamery Board. Only the board of agriculture had that authority. So Palin replaced the agriculture board, which appointed a new creamery board, which has rescinded the plan to shut down.

In preserving support for dairy farmers, Palin exhibited a kind of Alaskan chauvinism. She came to the state as an infant, making her practically a native. And she is eager to keep Alaska free from domination by oil companies or from reliance on cruise lines whose ships bring thousands of tourists to the state.

"She's as Alaskan as you can get," says Dan Fagan, an Anchorage radio talk show host. "She's a hockey mom, she lives on a lake, she ice fishes, she snowmobiles, she hunts, she's an NRA member, she has a float plane, and her husband works for BP on the North Slope," Fagan says. Todd Palin, her high school sweetheart, is a three-time winner of the 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmobile race from Wasilla to Nome to Fairbanks. It's the world's longest snowmobile race.
Gov. Palin grew up in Wasilla, where as star of her high school basketball team she got the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" for her fierce competitiveness. She led her underdog team to the state basketball championship. Palin also won the Miss Wasilla beauty contest, in which she was named Miss Congeniality, and went on to compete in the Miss Alaska pageant.

At 32, she was elected mayor of Wasilla, a burgeoning bedroom community outside Anchorage. Though Alaskans tend to be ferociously anti-tax, she persuaded Wasilla voters to increase the local sales tax to pay for an indoor arena and convention center. The tax referendum won by 20 votes.

In 2002, Palin entered statewide politics, running for lieutenant governor. She finished a strong second in the Republican primary. That fall, she dutifully campaigned for Murkowski, who'd given up his Senate seat to run for governor. Afterwards, she turned down several job offers from Murkowski, finally accepting the oil and gas post. When she quit 11 months later, "that was her defining moment" in politics, says Fagan.

Her campaign for governor was bumpy. She missed enough campaign appearances to be tagged "No Show Sarah" by her opponents. She was criticized for being vague on issues. But she sold voters on the one product that mattered: herself.

Her Christian faith--Palin grew up attending nondenominational Bible churches--was a minor issue in the race. She told me her faith affects her politics this way: "I believe everything happens for a purpose. In my own personal life, if I dedicated back to my Creator what I'm trying to create for the good . . . everything will turn out fine." That same concept applies to her political career, she suggested.

The biggest issue in the campaign was the proposed natural gas pipeline from the North Slope that's crucial to the state's economy. Murkowski had made a deal with the three big oil companies--Exxon, BP, ConocoPhillips--which own the gas reserves to build the pipeline. But the legislature turned it down and Palin promised to create competition for the pipeline contract.
She made three other promises: to end corruption in state government, cut spending, and provide accountability. She's now redeeming those promises.

Palin describes herself as "pro-business and pro-development." She doesn't want the oil companies to sit on their energy reserves or environmental groups to block development of the state's resources. "I get frustrated with folks from outside Alaska who come up and say you shouldn't develop your resources," she says. Alaska needs to be self-sufficient, she says, instead of relying heavily on "federal dollars," as the state does today.

Her first major achievement as governor was lopsided passage by the legislature of the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, which is designed to attract pipeline proposals this summer. The state is offering $500 million in incentives, but the developer must meet strict requirements. The oil companies have said they won't join the competition.

Palin's tough spending cuts drew criticism from Republican legislators whose pet projects were vetoed. But her popularity doesn't appear threatened. "It's not just that she's pretty and young," says Dittman. "She's really smart. And there's no guile. She says her favorite meal is moose stew or mooseburgers. It wouldn't shock people if that were true."

Anniversary Trip...

It is hard to believe but next month we will be celebrating our 3rd anniversary! We decided to celebrate this year by going back to Seattle, where we went for our honeymoon. We both love Seattle and look forward to having a few great days there again!

Some of the things that we have planned:

• Concert with Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick!! Sherri and I both LOVE Journey and we cant wait to see them!
• Seattle Seahawks v.s. St. Louis Rams football game! Sherri has never been to a NFL game, so this will be her first!
• Going to see "Shrek: The Musical"! The world premier is happening while we are there, and after this it opens on Broadway!!
• Tour of the Chateau St. Michelle Winery (one of our favorite wineries)

We also plan on doing A LOT of shopping! It will be nice to get away for a few days and have a chance to relax and do some fun stuff! We will be gone from 9/17 - 9/22

I am sure that we will take a lot of pics while we are there, so we will make sure and post some when we get back!

Cha Ching!!!!

A couple of months ago our Governor announced a plan to give an "energy rebate" to all Alaskans to help off set the high energy costs. She said that as a state we can not sit around and wait for the Federal Government to act when we have plenty of resources our self. Alaska, being an oil state, has a state surplus that runs into the billions of dollars because of the current high cost of oil, and this plan basically wanted to take a portion of that windfall and pass it on to to the residents of Alaska.

There has been a lot of discussion in our state legislature on how this could work and last night they voted to give $1,200 to each Alaskan!! This money is going to be added to our annual Permanent Fund Dividend check that we already get each October. The dividend this year is expected to top $2,000 for each Alaskan, so when you add in the energy rebate, Sherri and I will get $6,400 just for living in Alaska in a couple of months!! Along with the $1,200 payout they are suspending the state gasoline tax for a year which will drop gas prices and they are putting millions of dollars into energy assistance programs for people in rural areas of Alaska who need more help then people like us in urban areas.

You all are sure you don't want to live here? ;o)

Here is the article in todays paper regarding the rebate:

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/487182.html

A NEW BABY!!!

Well..not really.

Here is the story. We had 2 cars, Sherri's is a 2001 Kia and mine is a 2000 Saturn. We have had almost no problems with Sherri's car, but mine has seemed to be one thing after another. Normally not anything HUGE, but still a pain. A week and a half ago we were in my car (saturn) driving down the road and it felt like the engine lost power, you put your foot on the gas and it crept forward but had little acceleration and it died at stoplights. We knew that something was seriously wrong so we took it to our mechanic. They looked at it and told us that it was something with the engine and that it was big enough that we would probably be better off taking it to the saturn dealer, so we did. They had it for about a week trying to figure out what exactly was wrong.

Meanwhile Sherri and I decided to start looking around at cars, our idea was that we would get mine fixed, sell it and use that money to get something new since my car kept having issues. We found a car that we REALLY liked and was in the price range that we wanted and so we test drove it and got the ball rolling, but we were still waiting to hear a final word on the cost to fix my car. Well, this morning we got the call...the car needs about $7,000 in repairs!!! Let me remind you that this is a 2000 Saturn and it is only worth about $4000, at best. Apparently something happened in the engine and that triggered a few things, basically, it needs a new engine and a few other things. Blah.

SO, obviously our plan changed, since the car needs so much work we have to scrap it, we may get 500 for it if we are lucky. BUT..in a lot of ways this is a very good thing. The money that we were going to use to fix my car we just used as a down payment for our new car, and we don't have to worry about selling my old car.

What is this car you ask? It is a Mercedes ML320. It is the Mercedes Sport SUV. The car has only had 1 owner and he was a professor at UAA (local university) and it was maintained amazingly! The car practically looks brand new! It has low miles on it and it has only been serviced at the Mercedes dealership. We got it for about 4,000 below what it is worth and with what we put down we have very easy payments.

Needless to say..WE LOVE IT! It will be SO much better to have in the winter, it will be much nicer for me to take work clients around in and when we do decide to sell it the resale on these in Alaska is pretty good. The gas mileage is just a little below what my Saturn got, so that is nice as well.

Here are some pictures!!

Long Time Coming..

Howdy -

I have been meaning to post this for a little over a week now. SO here is an update on us. Sherri's parents were here for 2 weeks from June 24th - July 7th. We did a TON of stuff while they were here and we had a great time and really enjoyed having them be our first "house guests".

We had an Open House a couple weeks ago and we had about 20 people come, it was good to see everyone and they all got to see our house completed!! It was a beautiful evening, we played "ladder-jacks" and had some great food!

Sherri is still loving her job and she is now working 4 days a week!

Work for me is also going very well, we are currently in the middle of the peak summer tourist season here in Alaska so all of my hotels are staying full!

We finally made it camping for the first time this summer! We went to a campground about an hour and a half from here. We had a great campsite just a few feet from a river and right at the base of a mountain! It was a great quick getaway and we enjoyed hot dogs and marshmallows around the fire!!

We are starting to research and plan for a fall / winter vacation for us. We have a few options and we hope to decide something in the next month or so.

Missy (our kitten) is doing GREAT! She is growing like crazy and we have really enjoyed having her! She is up to 2.5 pounds and the vet says that she is very healthy!

That is about it for now, I will post some pics from Jerry and Denise's Vacation below. Enjoy!!

____________________

Here is Sherri and I in-front of our new house! (just kidding)

Here is a picture of Matanuska Glacier, we saw this on the drive back from Fairbanks!

Here is a picture of the USAF Thunderbirds from the Arctic Thunder Air Show that we went to!

Here are a bunch of Steller Sea Lions from the wildlife cruise that we went on. We saw sea lions, a sea otter, a whale, a ton of sea birds, amazing scenery and we had quite the ride on some very rough seas!!

Here are Jerry and Denise with Santa and Mrs. Clause at the "Santa Clause House" in North Pole, Alaska!

Our New Addition...

Hello Everyone -

It has been FAR too long since we have updated this! The biggest news is that we have a new kitten!! Her name is "Missy" and we got her from the local animal shelter. She is 3 months old and we are really enjoying having her as part of our "family".

Some other changes are that Sherri is now working 4 days a week at Tecpro. She had been working Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but she has now added Tuesday which is great!!

Jerry and Denise get here next week and we are really looking forward to having them here for a couple of weeks! We have some great "Alaskan adventures" planned and I am sure we will take LOTS of pictures and I will make sure to blog about everything.

That is all for now!!

Quick Update...

Hello -

So here is a fast update on what's new with us. This past weekend Sherri and I went and hiked in the Portage Valley near Portage Glacier, it was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed being outside in the sun!

Tonight we are going to see Elton John in concert!! We are both very excited, he is a musical legend and it should be an amazing show!!

Sherri finished the guest room!! It looks SO great! We bought a bed for the room and it is all ready for guests (hint hint hint for everyone who has not been to Alaska). Here is a picture of the room (before the bed and furniture got moved in)....


We are also tearing apart the downstairs bathroom because it is getting finished this weekend! We are installing new lighting, a new vanity top, new sink and new toilet and we are painting!! Today I removed the old lighting and medicine cabinet, and removed the caulking from around the sink.

This bathroom is the last BIG project that we have!! So we are hoping that as of early next week we will have everything crossed off of our list that we wanted to do!!

The whole process has been SO much fun, we have enjoyed MANY trips to Home Depot, we have not enjoyed the thousands of dollars that we have spent there, but it is an investment, right? We have also enjoyed the many late nights trying to get projects finished. However, I think that we are most enjoying just being together in our own home.

We will post bathroom pictures once it gets finished!

Hello Summer...Nice To See You Again...

Here I am getting ready to work in the garden at about 10pm. It's still light!!


Here is the outside now. The bed on the right has the flowers and on the left has the veggies. You can see our new bench up against the house and the bird feeder in the tree. We also put in a decorative metal fence on the back side of the flower bed, to separate it from the walking path, but it is hard to see in this photo. (click on the image to enlarge it)

_________________________________


Hello Everyone!!





Well, summer is here. We have had a couple beautiful weekends with sunshine and temps in the 60's. So we are officially in the early part of summer! Our house is looking great and we only have a couple more projects till we are finished!! The nice weather has allowed us to focus some of our attention to the outside of our property. We have a nice front area with a couple of very nice flower beds and some great outside space. We decided that we would use 1 bed for flowers and 1 primarily for vegetables / herbs. In the veggie bed we have planted strawberries, blueberries, chives, basil, mint and lettuce. I will be planting a tomato plant this coming weekend hopefully. In the flower bed we got a great mixture of flowers and i think it looks very good! We also bought a bird feeder (seen in the tree in the photo) and a new outside bench (also seen in the photo) that gives us a nice lace to sit outside on nice evenings.

It is staying light till after 11pm so that has allowed us A LOT of time outside. We have been working outside in the evenings, and we have been going for evening walks around the lake and the neighborhood.

That is all for now, I am sure that we will post more soon!!

A little "before and after"..

Hello -

Well, the move is over, we are totally out of the condo, we went over last night and did all of the final cleaning. We are making a lot of progress on the new house. We have already unpacked dozens of boxes and it is really starting to feel like "home"!! I thought I would give everyone a little glimpse of the before and after pictures of a few areas of our house so you can see the progress that we have made.

____________________

First, here is the kitchen. This was BY FAR our biggest project. As you can see the cabinets were all dark wood. We painted the cabinets white, changed the oven hood to a more modern one, and we added a new dishwasher and fridge. The only thing in the kitchen that has not yet been done is the new sink faucet. We have it purchased, it just hasn't been put in yet.

(kitchen before)

(kitchen after)

____________________

Next we have our Dining / Laundry area. The laundry room initially had these hideous gold / glass bi-fold doors covering the laundry room. We changed the doors to a nicer bi-fold and we even used the same brushed nickle knobs that we used on all of our kitchen cabinets. We also put our pan rack on the back wall.


(dining / laundry before)

(dining / laundry after)

____________________

Finally here is the old and new entry way lights. The person who lived here before had an obsession with gold. And honestly, it isn't really our style. So we changed the entry way light to a more modern brushed nickle light. One of the guys from Tecpro, where Sherri works, was kind enough to come out and install the light for us!

(entry light before)

(entry light after)

These are just three of the areas that we have shown we also are finished with the master bedroom, office and living room. We will try and post a "walk through video" sometime very soon to show the whole place!!