Northern Lights from our living room

Tonight we were treated to one of the most amazing Northern Lights displays that I have ever seen here in Anchorage.

Normally the lights are very faint in the city because of all the city lights, you generally have to get out of town to really see them...well, not tonight!

From our living room we watched the colors dance across the night sky in amazing fashion!

I was able to get a couple of photos, they don't do it justice at all, but you can at least see that I am not lying ;o)

The lights are really hard to photograph, and I think this is the first time that I have ever been able to actually catch them on camera. Only the blues and greens showed up, but there were streaks of pink in there as well.

Simply amazing to watch when they are out in force.

Does anyone still check this Blog?

Hi!

So we have been terrible about updating this blog. We kind of assume that most of our "readers" are on Facebook and are already aware of the happenings of our life. But we will try and be better about updating this, at least monthly.

The BIG news for us is that we are celebrating our 5 year anniversary in a couple of weeks!

Can you believe it? 5 years already! Amazing!

Time has really gone by quickly!

For our anniversary we are taking a few days and heading down to Seward, Alaska. It is a beautiful little town, somewhat of a seaside oasis and a really perfect place to get away and relax.

We found a GREAT B&B that we are going to stay in: The Alaska Paddle Inn

It is one of the highest reviewed B&B's in the state on Trip Advisor and we are looking forward to our time there!

Work continues to go great for both of us. I am really enjoying my new position at ChangePoint and have had no regrets about making the switch. Everyone that I work with is amazing and I really look forward to going to work each day! What a blessing! Work for Sherri is good, they have had a slower summer than expected, but it has allowed them to get work done around the office, so that has been nice. She continues to work 5 days a week, but will probably go back to get 3 day a week winter schedule before too long.

We are also enjoying a great streak of weather! We had a beautiful start to our summer and are having a beautiful end, but most of the middle was full of rain and clouds, so the current sunshine is much appreciated!

That's all for now! More later!

Job Change!!

Hi Everyone -

I (adam) am changing jobs!! This is a BIG change for us and I blogged about it over on my other site.

Read all about the change: HERE

MOOSE IN PARKING LOT - ANCHORAGE, ALASKA!!!

Summer is here!

Hi!!

I am SO sorry that I have done such a poor job over the last couple of months keeping up with this blog!

Summer is upon us and we have been staying quite busy!

We have already had several days in the 70's and a lot of sun over the past month! It really feels like summer is upon us! We have all of our flowers planted and everything is green and blooming!

We spent Memorial Day weekend at a cabin on Nancy Lake and enjoyed a couple of days away with 7 other friends! We swam in the lake, enjoyed camp food and laughed a TON!

Sherri has been getting busy at work and is now working 5 days a week. Work for me has been going great! My hotels have been full since early May and the busy summer tourist season is really upon us. I was in Fairbanks last week for 3 days on a work trip and I will probably be heading to Juneau in the next couple of weeks as well.

Next weekend (Summer Solstice) we are staying in town and will be enjoying all of the summer solstice festivals and concerts that are happening around town. Summer Solstice is a BIG deal here in Alaska and there are always a lot of things going on that weekend.

The following weekend we are borrowing a friends motor home and driving to Homer for the weekend with 2 other couples! We sill be going out fishing and enjoying the ocean and scenery in Homer! It will be another nice 2 day getaway!

We are really trying to get out and enjoy as much of Alaska as possible this summer. Most weekends we are busy with trips or events and I will try and keep this blog updated as we travel around and enjoy summer!

Here is a photo of one of our flower beds this summer:

Perfect Day in Alaska

1/2 through April?!

Wow, I can not believe how fast time is flying! Can you believe that we are almost 1/3 of the way through 2010?

A lot has happened since our last blog, so here are the highlights!

• I turned 30! Sherri, Mom and Susan surprised me with an AMAZING birthday party on April 3rd at Mom's house! I was shocked! I couldn't believe the number of people who came, people from every era of my life, it was so perfect!

• We also had our annual "co-birthday celebration" for Jason and I. We rented a limo and it took us to the Double Musky in Girdwood, it is one of the best restaurants in Alaska and has a pepper steak that the Food Network called the Best in America. What a fun night!

• The Easter Art show that Sherri and I participated in went GREAT! On Friday night (actual night of the show) we had about 500 people come through and then the pieces stayed up all weekend during the church services, so an additional 5,500 people got to see them! A few of our pieces actually sold and the response that we got was wonderful! We are already planning the next 2 art shows!

• I launched a new blog! It is called Faith.Life.Media. and you can check it out HERE .

• For the past couple months we have been taking a course at church called "Maximum Marriage" and it just ended this week. It has been awesome and we are very glad that we took it!

I think that may be all from us. It seems like the past month has been SO busy for both of us with work, life, church and everything else that comes up!

I will try and update this more often!

World Ice Art Championships - 2010

I was recently in Fairbanks for work and while I was there I went to the World Ice Art Championships! This was my first time going to them and they were AMAZING! Enjoy this video of my time there. The video doesn't even come close to doing these carvings justice. Just amazing. And cold.

Has it really been 3 weeks since our last post?!

Hello Faithful Readers!

I apologize for our lack of posting the past few weeks but here is an update on what we have been up to.

We had a great Valentines Day! We continued our tradition of staying in and making a great dinner for just the two of us. This year we had filet's and lobster! This was our first attempt at cooking live lobster and it went great! Everything turned out good and we had a nice evening together!

Our weight loss goal is continuing to move forward, together we have lost 13.4 pounds this year! Also, we think that number will grow over the next 40 days because we decided, along with our best friends, to give up eating out at restaurants for Lent! This actually will be tougher than it seems, I bet we eat out 4 or 5 times a week on average. Most of our friends are young couples with no kids so it is easy to get together and go out for dinners. So far it has been going really well! We are doing dinners with friends at our homes on Friday and Saturday nights and Sherri and I are doing our dinners together at home the rest of the week. It is allowing us to test new recipes and eat healthier than we have been! I am actually looking forward to the next few weeks, although I must admit, we are looking forward to going out for sushi as soon as this is over :o)

Finally, we have both been busy with an upcoming art project. Anchorage is a VERY artsy town and the first friday of every month they have what is called the First Friday Art Walk, where all of the galleries around town stay open late and have a featured artist, and food and music and wine and it is just a great night to go around and see lots of great art. Well, the first friday in April happens to be Good Friday. Our church has a really great Artist Community and they came up with the idea, what if we told the Easter story through art. The idea came when one of the leaders of the group was in Venice, Italy and was touring the old churches, she saw that it was the art in the churches that told the story and she thought, why cant it be like that again? SO, thus "The Easter Project" was born. Basically if you are an artist, of any medium: painting, drawing, music, photography, poetry, graffiti, visual arts, or anything else, you take a verse, or an idea from the Easter story and create a piece based on that. When we get all of the pieces together in order you will be able to walk through the show and see the entire story, from beginning to end displayed through dozens of art pieces. So, on Good Friday we are having a big art show at church and then the pieces will stay up and be displayed all through Easter weekend so thousands of people will get to see this! Sherri and I are VERY excited about this project! It looks like we are entering 4 pieces to the show, 2 each, and we will post pictures and updates as we begin to create!

Work is still going well for both of us, I will begin traveling more (2 trips in the next month) but it will be nice to build the air mile account back up!

Finally, we are experiencing a VERY warm February! We have had several days in the 40's and a lot of snow has been melting, Feb is normally our coldest month, so this is a very nice break

Moon over the Mountains

Here is a picture that we took from our deck with the moon over the mountains. I love this photo!

Moose Outside My Office

Here is a video of a moose right outside my office the other night!

Winter Camping Video

This past weekend Sherri and I went camping with some friends. Check out this video for a quick look where we went!

Crystal Gallery of Ice - Anchorage, Alaska 2010

Here is a video of Sherri and I exploring the ice carvings downtown in town square.

100 in 10!

Howdy Folks -

I just returned from a very successful business trip to Dallas, Texas. While I was there it was colder then it was in Anchorage, why does that keep happening?

Anyway, now that I am home we are really turning our eyes towards 2010. One of our biggest goals in the new year has to do with health. We are approaching this on 2 fronts: what we do and what we eat. We are going to try and be more active, especially in the winter months. During summer we are out a lot hiking, camping, going on walks, but in the winter we tend to be inside and less active. This also will include what we eat. Our biggest targets will be to cut back on late night eating & snacking and eat more at home and less out at restaurants. This will allow us to control what goes into what we eat. Also, for Christmas we got a juicer and we are going to juice a lot more, (we have already started doing this!) because this can be an easy way to get essential nutrients that we are not currently getting enough of.

So, health can actually be a tough thing to judge and weight loss is certainly one aspect of it, however, it can be the most easily judged aspect of it. So, we looked at our weight, looked at what we have lost when we have been active and we both think that our goal is attainable, yet challenging. So, for 2010 we are aiming to lose a combined 100 pounds! Wow, that seems like a lot. However, in the summer of 2008 we lost about 50 pounds in a 3 month period when we were both really pushing hard.

We have added a "tracker" to the upper right hand side of this page and we will try and remember to update it weekly with anything that has been lost.

Hopefully 2010 will be a year of great change! We look forward to having you on our journey!

Trip to Indiana Recap

Hi Everyone!!

We recently got to spend several days in Indiana with family and it was a GREAT trip!

We spent the first couple of days in the South Bend / Mishawaka area with Eric, Lisa and Ian. It was such a blessing to be able to spend time with them in their house and get to spend some quality time getting to know Ian! While there we were able to tour the Bethel College campus and attend one of their chapel services, go to the College Football Hall of Fame and take Ian to Build-A-Bear to help make one of his Christmas presents! We also got to experience Lisa's amazing cooking! We read their blog often and hear about her recipes and love for cooking, but being able to experience it first hand was just awesome! They are a great family and we loved the time that we were able to spend with them!

We then spent the remainder of our trip in Fort Wayne with Sherri's parents. We packed a lot of activities into a short period but we had a blast! I got to experience my first taste of Indiana High School Basketball and what a game it was! Southside won with a last minute shot and the atmosphere was just electric! The stereotypes of Indiana and basketball are true!

On Saturday we had the big Amstutz Family Christmas and I think we had around 40 people come through the house that day. It was really great to get to see family and spend time with them, especially around the holidays! Both Sherri and I wish that we had more one-on-one time with everyone, but we feel like we got to connect with everyone pretty well! That evening we had a smaller Christmas with the immediate family and we finished the day up with a delicious dinner of Alaskan Crab and Shrimp Scampi! It was a great ending to a great day!

On Sunday we got up early and drove into Indianapolis for a Colts game! We got to see history made as the win gave them the most consecutive regular season wins, as well as becoming the winning-est team in any decade. Pretty Awesome! After the game we were able to go on the field and hear a few speakers, but honestly, I was more focused on being on the turf at Lucas Oil Stadium than I was with anything they were saying, it was just a great experience all around and a memory that we are super glad we got to share with family!

Monday was our last full day there so it was spent with some last minute shopping and packing.

We headed for Chicago on Tuesday, along the way we stopped in Warsaw and got to spend a few minutes with a friend who now works for Grace College, it was cool to connect with a fellow Alaskan in the heart of Hoosier country! We forgot about the time difference between Chicago and Indiana so we got to Chicago earlier than we expected, we filled the time with a trip to Wrigley Field and then we wrapped up our trip with a quick visit with my brother! He happened to be in Chicago for business that day and it worked out perfectly that we got to see him!

Our trip was not as long as we would have liked it to be, but we are so thankful that we got to see as many people as we did and we really did have a great time! On the trip back home we both agreed that this was probably our best trip yet to Indiana! Being able to spend time with Ian and finally meet Kaylyn were certainly highlights of our trip! We are certainly a proud Aunt & Uncle!

Christmas Blog - 2009

Hello Friends & Family -

My, how fast time flies! Can you believe that 2010 is only a few short weeks away?

2009 has been a GREAT year for Sherri and I, and we wanted to give you a quick re-cap of it, as well as a peek into the year ahead.

A Look Back

• One of the main highlights of this year for us was our trip to Ireland in March. We were able to spend 10 days there over St. Patrick's Day exploring the Southern part of the country. It was an amazing trip that went far beyond our expectations! We took over 500 photos, met some amazing people, saw breathtaking sites, almost died dozens of times as I attempted to learn how to drive on the other side of the road and came back with a deep desire to go back to Ireland.

• Work continues to go well for me. Despite a slow tourist season here in Alaska, my hotels still performed very well and are always among the largest revenue producers in the country! In November I celebrated my 3rd Anniversary with Extended Stay. This year was also the first time since we got married that I haven't traveled for work! Due to the economy my company put a travel freeze in place so I only had 1 work trip this year! In the previous years I traveled 20 plus times per year, so being able to be home has been wonderful!

• Sherri still enjoys her job greatly. She loves where she works and the people that she works with and that makes all the difference! In October she celebrated her 2 year anniversary with TecPro! She feels fortunate to work for a company where she feels valued and appreciated. It has been a place where she has been able to use her talents and giftings and also learn new skills.

• In September we started working with the 4-year-olds at our church during one of the Sunday morning services, and we are loving it! The kids are just amazing and we look forward to every week that we are with them!

• We have now been in our house for over a year and a half and it really feels like "us". This year we changed out all of the closet doors and we are planning on putting in hard wood floors in the kitchen and dining room and adding a dry storage area below our stairs. These will probably be winter projects.
  

• We had an amazing weather year! Our summer was filled with, what seemed like, non-stop blue skies and perfect days! We were able to get out camping several times and really enjoy the Alaskan wilderness.

• Tomorrow morning we are leaving to visit family in Indiana from December 7 - 15. We are looking forward to seeing everyone. We have a busy trip planned but it should be a lot of fun! We will get to celebrate Christmas early with everyone there and we are really looking forward to that!

A Look Ahead

• I will be in Dallas for a week in early January for work (here comes the travel again)
• In April I turn 30! What kind of senior discounts do I qualify for at 30?
  
• Sherri and I are still discussing possible 2010 vacation destinations.
  
• In June we are going to Seattle to see U2 in concert! During that trip we are trying to plan for several days in the Oregon / Idaho area so that Sherri can meet much of my family that lives around there! Details to follow!
  
• We will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary in September!

We hope that 2009 has been a great year for you! Feel free to check this page often as we try and keep it updated on a regular basis. Also, e would love to hear from you so leave us a comment on this page or send us an e-mail to adamandsherri@gmail.com and let us know how you are! We are so thankful for the strong support system of friends and family that we have, life is sweeter because of all of you!

Many blessings in 2010!

Here are some photos from 2009:

View from the hot tub during one of our "getaways"


Summer sunset, 11:30pm!

Dunguire Castle in Ireland


Celtic Cross in Cashel, Ireland


3 Moose on our lawn!


View on our hike back from Byron Glacier


Denali (Mt. McKinley) on a Fall day

Scarves

Sherri and I are big believers that true Faith is more what you do, than what you say. We enjoy looking for ways to put our faith into action and this year we had a great idea.

Can you imagine a worse place to be homeless than Alaska? Being homeless is never easy but when you add to that our long, cold winters, it just seems extra tough. Winters can be hard on us and we have a thermostat that controls our heat with the push of a button. Trying to imagine living outside in the cold just seems miserable.

So, we decided that anything warm that we could give would probably be much appreciated. On Black Friday we found a great sale on fleece at Joanne's Fabric. We were able to buy $150 worth of fleece for $50! We spent the last few evenings measuring, cutting and tying 55 scarves to hand out to the homeless here in Anchorage! So for less than $1.00 per scarf we were able to provide something that hopefully makes them a little warmer and let's them know that they matter, because everyone needs that, especially at Christmas, right?

Winter is here!

Hello Everyone!

Well, after an AMAZING summer and a much longer than usual Fall, winter has arrived in Alaska! We have had our first snow, the temperatures are colder and the days are shorter. However, with winter comes the holiday season! The house is currently decorated for Thanksgiving and we have lights up outside already. We will start decorating for Christmas soon, and I can't wait! This year we are continuing our "Black Friday" tradition of staying up all night with friends and getting in line for shopping at 3am! Many of the black friday ad's have already been released on-line and we are already planning our attack! Here are some of the things that we have been up to:

• Filled our "Operation Christmas Child" shoe boxes last night for Samaritans Purse. This is something that we do every year and always enjoy!
• Last Friday (the 13th) I celebrated my 3rd year anniversary with Extended Stay Hotels!
• We bought tickets to go to U2 in Seattle next June!!
• Have decided that a Blu-Ray player is on our "black friday" list this year.
• Sherri has been busy painting Thanksgiving / Christmas crafts, and then look awesome!
  

Sherri's Company on the News!

Here is a local news story from this week that involves the company that Sherri works for!

http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=11411984

You can just read the text of the story or you can actually watch the video of the story on that page ( I recommend the video)

Good job TecPro!!

It's almost November already?!?

Hello Internet Friends and Family!!

We hope that you are having a great Fall and that October has treated you well!!

We are doing great! Our house is all decorated for the season, we have our pumpkins carved and our Halloween costumes all picked out (pictures to be posted later).

Sherri has been doing well, she battled a cold last week but he is feeling better now! Work is going good for her and she is still really enjoying her job! We recently came across some papers of companies that she sent applications in to when she was looking for a job last time, and just looking over them made us SO much more thankful that she ended up where she did. Work can be a little slow for her at times but being with a company where she feels respected and is often encouraged and praised by the people around her makes all of the difference.

Work for me is going good as well, we actually had a strong summer season despite a drop in tourism thanks to the national economy. Our hotels stayed mostly full and I am very thankful that we didn't see the decline that many hotels did. Lately I have been busy volunteering time at ChangePoint, our church, heading up our Social Networking ventures. This includes Facebook, Twitter and an amazing new program that we are still beta-testing that allows people to access virtual bulletins via iPhone, Blackberry or computer from anywhere. It is pretty awesome to be able to have all of the sermon slides, verses, notes and calendar info right there with you. We recently launched a new Facebook page for the church and after less than a week we have over 400 "fans" and we have a campaign in place to get to 1,000 (look at the fun new gadget here on the right side of our blog that follows along with the Facebook page)!! I really enjoy social networking and social media so this has been a perfect fit for me!!

We are still enjoying working with the 4 year old's at church, each week that we serve we have so much fun and really learn to love how trusting and honest they are at that age.

We booked our trip to Indiana in December and we are both looking forward to it! We will be there from December 7 - 15!! We are looking forward to seeing as many people as we can and enjoying time with family!

This weekend we are doing our annual Halloween Party with our friends. The theme each year is "things that go together", so you could be a famous couple, or a pair. In years past we went as a plug and an outlet and Gilligan and the skipper. We can't reveal our costumes, however we think that this will be our best one yet. We will post pictures after the party!!

We still don't have any snow! Watching the news reports of snow in places like Minnesota, Denver and the East Coast has left me feeling a little bit left out!! There was a chance of snow last night, but it never happened, SO, it appears that we may be into November before we get our first snow because they are forecasting several days of clearing and sunshine now.

That's all for now, we hope that you have a great Halloween and enjoy what is left of the Fall season!!