Welcome To AdventureLand...

Ok, so here are the pictures from last night's grand opening of AdventureLand, our church's new childrens ministry area. It was an AMAZING night, the place was PACKED. About 10 minutes into the event they announced that, even though the auditorium was already full, there was still a line of cars 20 deep coming onto the campus off of the highway! I am going back to the church on Monday night and will hopefully be able to get better pictures of everything since there wont be as many people there. Here are some highlights of AdventureLand: A two story tube slide that looks SO much fun, A huge city scene with buildings and mountains, they even have fiber optic stars in the "sky" above everything. They also have L.E.D. spotlights that change the sky color so it looks like the northern lights, a rock climbing wall, a underwater room that has props in it that blow bubbles so it looks like you are actually underwater, The Hangar, which is a room that is designed to look like an actual airplane hangar with a plane and everything, yes, a real, lifesize cessna airplane! That room also has air hockey tables, foosball, basketball, 6 video game stations and tons of fun "high tech" toys. The King Cove, which is basically a huge indoor play area, has a huge boat that kids can climb through, slide down and play on. It also has several "tunnels" that crawl through a fake rock wall that was built. The main hallway, the best part of the hallway is the huge hollowed out log you walk through. The log even has "forest sounds" built into it so when you walk through it sounds like you are in the forest. The nursery has a much more "calm" feel than the rest of the areas. There are a total of 12 different nursery rooms. They included some smart "extras" in the nursery, such as an industrial size washer and dryer. SO, if a child makes a mess on their clothes, they can wash them, dry them, and have them back in clean clothes in a matter of minutes. These pictures really don't even begin to capture the real feeling of the whole area. It is something you have to see in person, it is amazing to look at all of the detail that was put into it. The new childrens ministry area is about 70,000 square feet. SO, when you come to Alaska we will certainly set up a tour so you can see it for yourself!! You can click on any of these pictures to see a larger image.

Thanks For Looking!!

Thank You State of Alaska!!

Every year the State of Alaska gives a check to every Alaskan, this is called the Permanent Fund Dividend. It was set up in the 70's during a time when the state was in the beginning stages of oil development. There were several politicians who felt that the resources on the land belonged to the people of that land. So they set up a fund that gets paid into by a small percentage of the oil revenue that the State of Alaska makes each year. Then, each fall, the State of Alaska pays a certain amount out to every Alaskan. They just announced the amount of this years check. So, on October 4th, Sherri and I will each receive $1,106.96. Just for living here. That will be a nice little $2,200 bonus for us!! They also do a 6 year outlook and estimate what the checks will be for the next few years and they are saying that the check amount will continue to rise quickly!! Next years checks will probably be in the $1350 - $1450 range. It is a great boost to the local economy every October because there is so much extra money. This is a very common time for people to take vacations and make big purchases. Figure this, the average family, with 2 adults and 3 kids will get an extra $5,500. That can certainly help a family's budget!! The largest dividend check payout was in 2000 when the checks were $1,963.86. They expect that record to be broken in the next few years though as dividend check amounts rise. Last years checks were $845.76, so we had a pretty big jump in this years check amount! The Permanent Fund is a pretty amazing concept, you can learn more about it and how it works at www.apfc.org

Summer Is Hanging On...

Howdy!

Normally in Alaska, September is the beginning of Fall. Around the first of the month the temperature begins to drop and by the middle of the month the leaves are turning fall colors. Sometime between the beginning and the middle of the month the first snowfall will appear on the surrounding mountains as well. By the end of September the leaves are off of the trees and onto the ground and we are all certain that winter is on its way! The first snow normally happens in the city sometime between the beginning and middle of October. However, this year seems a little different. It is now the middle of September, we have had non-stop sunny days since the month began and there is little sign of any changing colors. We have been able to be outside playing disc golf almost every day and the temperature is quite nice! There isn't even any snow on the mountains! Which is nice, however, I must admit that I think mountains look better with snow! No doubt that summer is coming to an end and fall is quickly approaching but the beautiful September we are having has been an excellent end to another summer.

In other news, we are going camping this weekend with about 10 of our friends which should be a great time! We are going to a place called Eklutna Lake (see picture above). It will be an awesome weekend of kayaking, camp fires, tents and fun! We are VERY excited!!

Also, we are now only 10 DAYS away from our 1 year anniversary!! That is awesome! It has really been a great year, I am sure that we will post a recap of our 1st year together on here soon.

That's all for now. We will post camping pictures when we get back after the weekend!!

Apparently we are young, smart and not that cold!

Well,

CNNMoney recently released some "top 25" rankings for cities across the country and I am proud to announce that Anchorage has been listed as the 22nd smartest city in America!! Apparently we have 32.2% of our population that has a bachelor's degree or higher. Also, we were recently awarded the "Best City for twenty-something's" award that was based on the amount of outdoor activities that are available, amazing job growth and a very high average income. A list that Anchorage was NOT listed on that may come as a suprise, is the "Coldest cities in America" list that CNNMoney also compiled. There were 25 cities that made the list. These included cities from Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, New Hamshire and Iowa, but no Anchorage :o) We were also named the "Best American City for Entrepreneurs" which is a good thing to hear since Sherri and I are wanting to open our own business! The Milken Institute also named Anchorage as one of the 50 strongest economies in the country. The Green Guide said that Anchorage has the best Air Quality Index in he country. Also, Anchorage is the "Least Taxed" city over 250,000 residents in the country. This is mainly because we have no state income tax and no sales tax. Also the Anchorage area continues to be one of the fastest growing areas in the country. So, lets review. Anchorage is smart, young, not that cold, clean, great place to own a business, fast growing, strong economy and very little tax. Why would you not want to live here?!?!?

Why I Love The Alaska State Fair...

<-- Look, Corn!! Just Like Indiana, well, except for the Mountains in the background.
<--That's a BIG Mushroom!!

<-- Try putting that in a soup!!











Howdy!

On Monday, Sherri and I went to the Alaska State Fair. It was a beautiful sunny day and we decided that we might as well take advantage of it! I have decided to compile a list of my top 3 favorite things about the Alaska State Fair. So, here goes:

1) In a state of only 600,000 people the fair draws about 300,000 each year. You have to love an event that attracts 1/2 of the states population.
2) Denali Cream Puffs & Giant BBQ Turkey Legs. Easily the two best foods at the fair. The cream puffs are HUGE and topped with either chocolate or an alaskan mixed berry topping, we had the mixed berry, and oh boy!!!! The turkey legs are amazing, the meat falls off of the bone and it is covered in BBQ sauce. MmmMmm Good.
3) GIANT Vegetables! This is a little known fact to most of you in "farm country", but Alaska holds a HUGE number of world records for the largest vegetables. Including a 39 pound turnip, 63 pound celery, 65 pound cantelope and a 75 pount rutabaga. One of the more well known events at the Alaska State Fair is the annual Giant Cabbage Weigh Off. Each year this draws tons of people and many cabbages that break the 100 pound mark. Because of the LONG Alaskan summer days flowers and veggies have the perfect growing conditions and reach massive sizes.

Overall we had a great day at the fair! We had some awesome food, got to see a lot of fun stuff and really enjoyed our time together, I even won Sherri a stuffed animal at one of the carnival games!! We are already looking forward to next years fair!!!

Just Because It Is Next To The Trash Doesn't Mean It Should Get Thrown Away...

So, I learned a VERY good marriage lesson yesterday. This weekend Sherri and I went to the mall to walk around, while we were there she bought a pair of shoes. We got the shoes home, left them in the bag and set them on the floor. Yesterday afternoon we were doing some house cleaning and we always put the full trash bags by the door so that we take them with us next time we leave. Well, last night we went out with some friends to play Disc Golf and as we left I took out the trash. I grabbed all of the bags that were by the door, thinking that I was doing a good "husbandly duty". So, late last night we are getting ready for bed, both in our pajamas and Sherri asks a question that I didn't expect to hear. "Where are my new shoes?" I had remembered taking out the shoe bag and box with the trash, the only problem, I never made sure that the shoes were OUT of the bag and box. So, we grab a flashlight and an umbrella, we tromp down the stairs and out to the dumpster where, low and behold, sitting at the bottom of the dumpster was the shoe bag. So with some nifty use of the umbrella handle I hooked the bag and rescued it to safety!

So, in summary:
taking out the trash = good
throwing your wifes brand new shoes away = not good

Life Is Good...

I must admit, life is pretty stinkin' sweet right now. It just seems like things are going great. We have awesome friends who we are getting to know more and more. We are having amazing weather. We love where we live. We have an incredible church. The bookstore is moving along. We have been getitng outside more and more to do things. The mountains are covered in green and the sunshine just really makes them look amazing. Sherri is getting out of a job that she has never really liked. Life is just good. I don't know if I would change things, even if I could. It is really awesome to just be happy. Just look at life and really feel content.

We have a double baby shower tomorrow night with our small group as two of the couples are expecting babies in the next month or so. So the ladies will hang out and do the baby shower stuff inside and the guys will be involved in an intense game of street hoops.

I will begin traveling with work quite a bit over the next couple months. I have trips to Fairbanks, Juneau, Kenai and two Seattle trips. I will be in Seattle on August 22 - 24th and it just so happens that the Mariners are playing the Yankees on thoes days, so I got my tickets and am excited to see the games!!

I have been playing a lot of disc golf lately and I feel like my game has really been improving, which is nice. Also, Sherri and the other wives have been coming with us and walking the course. Its nice to be outside getting exercise.

We are only 46 days away from our 1 year Anniversary!! That is just amazing, the time has really flown by!

Ok, I suppose that I have said enough for now.

Here is a little known Northern fact: In the summer Anchorage is known as the "City of Flowers", because of the long daylight hours the flower displays in Anchorage are amazing. The City of Anchorage has 461 different flower gardens that it maintains. Also, they hang over 1,000 baskets downtown each summer. There are also some awesome private residence gardens as well as the Alaska Botanical Gardens and the Anchorage Garden Society that host several garden events throughout the year.

The picture above is of a small side street in downtown. It shows a couple of the smaller flower beds and also some of the hanging baskets.

Our New Home...

Hello Everyone!

This will be our new "home on the net". It will be easier for us to update, and it's free! WooHoo! We will continue to update this regularly with what's happening in our lives. Please feel free to leave us any feedback or suggestions that you would like too! Thanks!