House Progress...

Hello Everyone -

Here is a quick update on the house. We now have the living room, master bedroom and office done!! The kitchen is coming along nicely and we still have the guest bathroom and the guest bedroom to finish.

Enjoy the pictures!



(The kitchen is all primed and ready for paint, notice the new oven hood)



(the office has been turned into a room to prime and paint the kitchen cabinet doors)



These are the colors in the master bedroom. There are 3 walls of the blue and 1 accent wall of the brown)




(living room with the new color and blinds back up)




(another of the living room)

(the office finished, notice the new light fixture)

It's Official...

Hello!!

Well, we are officially homeowners! We got the keys yesterday and have already started working! The living room is about 1/2 painted, the office is about 1/2 painted, all of the kitchen cabinets are off and ready for painting, the new fridge and dishwasher get delivered today and we have already had our first homeowners headache, a clogged sink that we can't get unclogged. Oh well. I don't know if it seems real to us or not yet, all day yesterday we had to keep reminding ourselves that it was officially ours. We took a lot of before pics, so when the work gets completed we will post the before and after so you can see the difference!! We plan on spending the next week finishing the painting and the other work we want to do and then moving next weekend (the 26th & 27th).

SO, now that we have much more space you are all officially invited to come stay with us!!

Tomorrow is the day...

We got the call this morning that we are closing at 3pm tomorrow!!!

We are VERY excited!!!

(we had to change this post because we were originally told we could close today at 3pm, but we just found out it got pushed back till tomorrow)

Still waiting..

Hello Everyone -

We still have not closed on our new house. The new closing date is next Tuesday, April 15th. We were supposed to close today but we got a call from our mortgage person and he told us that our new interest rate is lower then we had initially received, which is a GREAT thing! So they are changing all documents to reflect the new rate and we should be ready on Tuesday. The interest dropped 1/4 of a point, which doesn't sound like a lot, but its a pretty big deal when you're looking at a long term investment. The 1/4 point decrease adds up to almost $10,000 less in interest paid over the course of our loan. So we certainly don't mind waiting for this.

Even if closing happened next Tuesday it will still only have taken us 26 days from the date our offer was received until closing, which is GREAT, considering most closings take 30-60 days.

We still feel VERY good about this move, there have been a couple of other units in the same development that have come on the market in the past month that are smaller than our unit and are listed at MORE then what we paid for ours!! The Alaska economy is still very strong and we are not feeling the real estate and/or economic strain that is happening in most places, so we feel confident that this is a very good move!!

We will update more when we close!

Tis The Season...

For Home Buying and Baseball!!!

Here are a couple of quick updates:

Yesterday I flew to Seattle for Opening Day of the Seattle Mariners 2008 season!! I had a free airline ticket that was set to expire so I decided to use it to watch some baseball!! It was a great experience, lots of exciting pre-game ceremonies and entertainment and the Mariners won 5 - 2!! Which made the experience that much sweeter!!

Also, we got word yesterday that we could potentially close on our new home THIS Friday!! Or next Monday or Tuesday at the latest!! We are going to walk through the place again tonight to look over everything again. We are VERY excited and can not wait to close so that we can begin with the painting and the changes that we have planned!!

Happy Easter -

Hello -

We hope that you all had a GREAT Easter holiday! We went to church on Saturday night and on Sunday had dinner at home. The cake above is one that Sherri made and decorated!!

Quick house update: The inspection went just about perfect! Only a few very little details that need to be fixed. We also learned that the seller wants to close ASAP, which is perfect for us because we want closing to happen quickly!

We will let you know more as it happens!

MORE Updates...

Well..

Things happen for a reason. Yesterday the place we liked fell through and we were frustrated because of how far along in the process we were.

However, we believe that everything happens for a reason. Yesterday evening, after our deal fell through, we learned of a place that had previously been out of our price range that had just lowered their asking price by $20,000, and it was now in our range.

We looked at it last night, talked about what we would need to change (an old lady lived there before so it is kind of "old lady-ish") and decided that it would be a great fit for us.

This is SOOO much of a better deal. It had been on the market for the past 3 months listed at $179,000, yesterday she dropped it to $159,000, AND she said she would pay 2 years of dues to the condo association (about $8,000). SO..today we made an offer of $165,900 with her paying all closing and our down payment so that we can use that money to change and update what we want to. The offer was kinda low since she had already dropped the price 20K, and now we were asking her to basically come down another 4K with additional costs she would cover. WELL...she accepted our first offer, she didn't even counter offer!! SO basically we got the place for $157,900!!!

One of the VERY exciting things is that the last place in this development that sold had just been updated and was exactly the same as ours and it sold last November for $185,000!! So with the updates that we want to do and a little bit of sweat equity we should start off with about 25K of equity!! Which is ALWAYS nice!!

Here are the details of the place:

• 3 bedrooms
• 1 3/4 bath
• fireplace & carport (the last place had neither)
• HUGE living room
• Unobstructed views of the mountains and a lake. (wait till you see the pictures of these views!!)
• MUCH better location, it is actually only a mile and a half from where we are now in South Anchorage.
• GREAT potential!!

We will post pictures soon. We have seen how these deals can fall through so we are trying to stay grounded, but still hopeful that this will work out!!

We will schedule the home inspection for the next couple of days (didn't we just do this?)

We will keep you updated!!

Also, we have heard from several of you who have been following these updates and I just wanted to say THANK YOU for reading this!!!

Well...

Sometimes things happen that just kinda stink. Today we found out that there is an issue with the seller and the house deal fell through. Because of some things that the seller put in the description that wern't actually true it would end up costing us an additional $6,600 at closing. SO, we decided to withdraw our offer.

We really liked this place and were excited at the possability of making it our first "home", however, we know that there must be someplace better for us out there.

We actually already have a great potential lead on a place that is in a MUCH better area of town.

We will let you know how this moves forward.

One nice thing about saving up and being prepared for these BIG decisions is that we can be somewhat fluid and move as fast, or as slow as we need to.

ANOTHER House Update...

WELL -

We got the call this evening that our offer was ACCEPTED!!! SOOO, now we have the home inspection, hopefully everything goes well with that, and then we move forward with all of the paperwork, and we could close as early as mid-April!!!

Pretty amazing, as you can imagine, Sherri and I are VERY excited!!

House Update...

Well, we heard back on our offer. We actually submitted an offer that was kind of low, and we expected that they would counter offer, their counter offer is GREAT, better then we had even been hoping for, so we are sending back in the new offer with their counter offer details, and things look pretty good so far!!! H

opefully we will have official word by tomorrow night that they have accepted our offer!!!

If they accept, we will have a home inspection within 3 days and move forward on financing!!

House..

Hello Everyone -

Within the folder pictured above is the very first offer that we have put in on a house here in Anchorage!!!

We have wanted to purchase "a place of our own" for some time now. We decided to wait, get debt free, put money away in savings and now, finally, we are ready to buy!!!

We have looked at a lot of places and this place is within our price range and its also the place that we like the best!!!

It is a 3 bedroom 1/5 bath townhouse. The first floor has the living room, kitchen, dining room and 1/2 bath and the second floor has all 3 bedroom, the main bath and laundry area.

It has recently been remodled and has all new carpet, paint, lights and bathrooms.

The layout is GREAT, a good sized living room, nice kitchen and huge dining area. The master bedroom is nice and big with a lot of closet space and the other 2 bedrooms are kind of small, but will be perfect for my home office and a guest room.

We are will let you know when we hear back on our offer!!

Brief Update (from Sherri)

Hola. We haven't posted in awhile, so I thought I'd say hey and update a little on our life the past few weeks.
We've been house-hunting, hoping to be in a place of our own sometime this summer. We're really excited about that!! Adam is AMAZING at researching properties and keeping up-to-date on what the housing market is doing, and we've been saving money for a down-payment, etc., so we're praying for the right house to show up!
We're looking forward to a nice visit from my parents in June/July. They booked their tickets a couple days ago, so it's a go! They've never been to Alaska in the summer, so we're planning on doing some "tourist-y" things: whale-watching cruises, Denali National Park, etc. I'm personally looking forward to them seeing why I fell in love with Alaska! The summers here make the winters worth it! Although... our winter has been incredibly mild, compared to what's been tearing across the Lower 48! We don't dare to hope that break-up is officially here, but it appears that way! It's been in the mid-40's for a couple weeks now. We can even see grass on most of the hill behind our condo, which doesn't usually happen until mid- to late-April.
Also, Adam is VERY excited to go to opening day for the Seattle Mariners at the end of this month. He had a free plane ticket he had to use by March 31, and opening day is March 31, so that worked out perfectly! He's a huge Mariner's fan, so opening day will be a ton of fun for him! AND, they're playing the Texas Rangers, which is the team they were playing the day we went to a game on our honeymoon, so he's all sentimental about that! (How cute is he??)
Work for me is still going GREAT. I'm so thankful that God gave me this job! After years of jobs where I felt like I was never good enough, He's given me a job where I truly feel appreciated and loved, and I feel like I bring something to the table. My boss is such a great godly woman, and we start every day in prayer together. Who could ask for a better environment to work in than one that's covered in prayer daily? I love it!!
So, that's what's up with the Legg's right now. Keep checking in! We'll keep you updated on the house situation, and I'm sure Adam will let you know how the game went! :o) Ciao!

Winter Camping..

Hello Everyone -

Last weekend Sherri and I went camping with The Grenns and The Hawkins. We rented one of the "Public Use Cabins" that the State of Alaska runs. Nancy Lake, where the cabin is, was about a 90 minute drive from Anchorage and once we got to the location it was about a 1/2 mile trek back to the cabin. The cabin is pretty bare bones, there are some sleeping platforms (think plywood) and a woodstove in the center of the room. We brought wood with us so we started a fire when we got there, but the cabin never really got "warm". Despite being SOOO cold, we had a BLAST! We played Yahtzee by candlelight, had hot chocolate and just spent a lot of time hanging out and enjoying each other. Below are several pictures from our adventure!!!

** You can click on any picture to see a larger size

(Playing Yahtzee)

(Jana, Sherri & Jana Staying Warm)

(waking up)

(Me, Jana & Sherri heading out)

(Tim hitching a ride)

Two Updates...

Hello Everyone -

I have been meaning to update this for a few days so this will actually include 2 updates.

_____________________________________

The first will be about something that just happened to me.

I was at Fred Meyer doing some grocery shopping and I was in the check out line. I handed the cashier my reusable shopping bags that I always use and the guy behind me in line laughed and said "You must be a Democrat", in a very condecending way. Not sure how to respond I asked him why he thought that, and he said that it was because of my reusable bags, how I must buy into the whole Al Gore, global warming issue. I was pretty ticked off and I just told him "Actually I am a conservative christian that believes that we should be good stewards of the environment". By the look on his face I could tell that he was not expecting me to say that and he had no response.

This brings me to a blog that I have been meaning to write for sometime now. I believe that Christians should be the frontrunners of the whole "environmental" issue. I believe that if anyone should want to be a good steward of the environment it should be the people who believe that it was created by the same God who created us.

I think that too many christians have been scared to stand up on this issue because it has been viewed as a Democrat / Republican issue, and God forbid a Christian would side with the Democrats.

I think that churches should be recycling centers..I think that christians should be the best at reducing and reusing.

I think that we need to be honest and say..maybe we as christians..and republicans..have really dropped the ball on this. Maybe we need to stop being so damn political and admit that perhaps Al Gore is closer to the heart of God on this issue then George Bush is.

SO...I will continue to use my reusable shopping bags...I will continue to recycle...I will continue to try and encourage people to live less consuming lives...and if some ramdom person at the store thinks im a Democrat because of it, I guess that is ok.

_________________________________________________

Ok,

Now for my second update. As many of you know, Sherri and I have been involved in the Mike Huckabee campaign. This past weekend Mike's wife Janet Huckabee came here to Anchorage. We were in charge of setting up an evening reception for her supporters here in Anchorage. It was an awesome night, she is such a great woman and it was awesome to meet her.

Here are some pictures from the event!!

(a picture of Janet Huckabee, we had about 65 key supporters at the event)

_______________________________

(a picture of some of the main local campaign organizers)

___________

UPDATE: Mike Huckabee finished second in the Alaska Super Tuesday voting!! That is a HUGE victory for us as we were predicted to finish 3rd. We had no paid staff in Alaska and it was an entirely volunteer run campaign here.

Punished for being successful...

So,

I just finished our 2007 taxes and this is going to be a bit of a rant.

I'm kinda frustrated. Sherri and I are very fortunate to do well financially, I got lucky and got a job that provides great for us. As a young couple we are very blessed!!

However, I feel like we are penalized because we are young, successful and have no kids. We had to pay this year, granted it wasn't a crazy amount, but never the less, we had to pay. We paid more in taxes this year then some people make in an entire year. Yet somehow, we still owe. We have it set up to take the max out of each check, and we still owe. Blah.

If we had kids we would have gotten a hefty refund, I'm not saying that people with kids shouldn't get a refund, but why penalize people who don't have children and do well??

This is why I think the FairTax IS a great idea!!!

Just my thought.

View from my room in Puerto Rico - El Conquistador Resort

Hello Everyone -

Puerto Rico was amazing!! I liked it much better then the beach destinations of Hawaii, California or Florida! Much cheaper (once you are away from the resorts) and much less "touristy"

I encourage everyone to make it to Puerto Rico!! I am sure you will LOVE it!!

Off To Puerto Rico..

So, Tonight I (adam) leave for Puerto Rico for a week!! Every year my company has their "Annual Conference", last year it was in Orlando, this year it is in Puerto Rico. I am VERY excited about this trip and plan on taking LOTS of photos and I will certainly blog all about the trip when I return. As you can see from the photo above, I bought my snorkel gear..and tried it out in the tub. As long as it works as well in the Caribbean as it does in the tub I should be fine!!

Have a great week and I will see you all when I return!!!

Pina Coladas for EVERYONE!!!

Life is Good...

What a PERFECT January Day!!!

It is about 16 degrees outside...we have already received about 5 inches of snow, with another 4 to 5 inches predicted for tonight. The snow is falling softly in BIG flakes and it is so peaceful!!

Life is VERY Good!!

Happy New Year!!

Hello!!


We hope that you all had a GREAT Christmas and New Years!!

Our Christmas was really nice, we did church on Christmas Eve and then had family over for dinner. We spent Christmas morning together at home and then went to my moms house for Christmas dinner. We each got a ton of presents and had a really great day!!

For New Years Eve we went to Ristorante Orso for dinner with Jason and Jana and Tim and Jana. We then went to Blues Central to see Soulman Sam!! He is this amazing singer who makes you feel like you are in some blues club in the deep south. He covers a lot of famous songs and is always very entertaining.

Here are some pictures from our New Years Eve!!

____________________



(Sherri and I at Ristorante Orso)
____________________




(Everyone at dinner)
____________________




(Picture of the crowd and people dancing at Blues Central)

Don't Blink - message series at ChangePoint

This is the new series that we are starting at ChangePoint! The first message was this past weekend and it was AMAZING!

One of our favorite things...

SO..

One of the things that we have here in Alaska during the winter is "Ice Fog". It is basically a fog of small ice crystals. There are a few awesome benefits of ice fog. First, the morning after a good ice fog everything is sparkly white and beautiful. The second benefit is pictured below. It is much more amazing in person, the picture doesn't do it justice, but it will help picture what we are saying. The ice fog is so thick that any bright light is "captured" as a beam, straight into the sky. So you can look around and see dozens and dozens of beams of light shooting straight up!! It is SO awesome! This is a picture off of our deck of some of the highway lights about 1/2 mile away.

This is one of the things that we enjoy about winters here, so we thought we would share it!!

(you can click on the picture to see a bigger version)

Almost Christmas...

Hello!!

We are 5 days away from Christmas and both Sherri and I are VERY excited and VERY much in the Christmas spirit!!

Here is a quick update as to what we have been up to recently:

• We both have our Christmas shopping finished and our house is feeling very festive! Here is a picture of our tree!!

______________________________

• Every year the Captain Cook Hotel (where we were married) does a HUGE ginger bread town display. It is amazing! Last night we went to see it with some friends. Here is a picture!

________________________________________

• We are very much looking forward to Christmas Eve. We are going to the 4pm service at church and then having dinner at home. We are having Penne pasta with vodka sauce and reindeer sausage! Its a great "Alaska meets Italy" dish.

____________________________________________

We love you all and hope that you have a GREAT Christmas!!

- Adam & Sherri

A Night On The Town...

This coming Friday (Decmeber 7th), Sherri and I, along with Jason and Jana and Tim and Jana, are going to the opening night of Mel Brooks "The Producers". The broadway tour of the play will be here in Anchorage for 5 days and we are REALLY looking forward to seeing it! Sherri and I are BIG fans of the movie with Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick and Will Ferrell.

We are all going to meet downtown for dinner before the play and enjoy a night out "On The Town"

You may be suprised to know that Anchorage has a HUGE arts scene and brings up many national plays and artists. It is one of the things that we love most about Anchorage! There is always something "artsy" going on!

Kinda Cool..

SO, Sherri and I go to an AMAZING church. We are seeing awesome things happen constantly and we are both amazed at the life change, growth and new things that are going on in our community all the time. We always comment at how what we are seeing happen around us is SO much BIGGER then anything that either of us has ever seen before and it gets us so excited to ba a part of something so life changing.

Today (Friday, November 23) the New York Times ran a front page story that featured our church, ChangePoint. Here is a link to the article...http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/business/23megachurch.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin

ALSO..Make sure that you click on the "Audio Slide Show" on the left hand side of that page. There is a great show with some good pictures of our church and the SportsDome.

The pastor interviewed for the article, Karl Clauson, is our pastor who married us!!!

Let us know what you think!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Winter Wonderland...

Hello Everyone!!

Well..It is FINALLY winter!! We had one snow in October, but it melted right way and then we had no snow till this weekend. It was weird seeing grass in mid-November. But, it looks like winter is finally here to stay! We got about 4 inches of snow this weekend and everything looks SO happy and wintry. The above picture is from our balcony this morning.

Enjoy!!

Library Book Sale...

Every November our main local library has their annual "Book Sale". Sherri and I have gone the past few years and always leave with a ton of books for a VERY cheap price. The library has thousands of books on sale and you see people leaving with boxes and boxes of books!! This year we got some pretty sweet reads...Here is what we got:

Sherri's Books

• Wuthering Heights
• The House of the Seven Gables
• Canterbury Tales
• Heart of Darkness / Almayer's Folly / The Lagoon
• The Summons
• The Romanov Connection
• The Brethren
• A Painted House
• The Testament
• The Last Sin Eater
• The Book of God

Adam's Books

• Digital Fortress
• Winthrop's Boston
• The American Revolution by John Richard Alden
• The American Revolution by Bruce Lancaster
• New England's Best Loved Driving Tours
• American Voices, American Lives
• The American Past - A Brief History

So we got 18 books and only paid $7.50!!! A pretty sweet deal if you ask me!!

If you like to read I would encourage you to contact your main local library and see if they have a book sale. If so, it is a great place to get some cheap books, and you support your local libraries!!

Products that we LOVE!

Hello!!

This blog is going to be very different from what we normally post. We have a few products that we have found in our past couple years of marriage that we absolutely LOVE, and we wanted to share them with you!! If you have any products that you love and think we should check out, post a comment, we love trying new things!!



SO..here we go....





Kleenex Viva Paper Towels...


This is BY FAR our paper towel of choice. We love how tough and durable it is, we have driven to another store to get our Viva's rather then settling on another brand when our grocery store is sold out. They are almost cloth like, and we LOVE them!
__________

Cascade Action Packs






This was the first dishwasher detergent that we used that totally cleaned our dishes and didn't leave water marks. We now try and buy them in bulk at Costco! No messing with powders or gels, just drop one of these bad boys in and you are set!

__________

Cottonelle Toilet Paper

This stuff just flat out rocks! So soft..so great.

__________

ALL Small & Mighty Laundry Detergent





We live in a condo so we try and find the most compact, space saving items that we can. We saw All Small & Mighty when it first came out and tried it and haven't switched. It is concentrated so you use less, thus taking up less space. We will certainly stick with this product even as our homes get bigger.

__________

Kraft Grate-It-Fresh Parmesan Cheese






I LOVE Parmesan Cheese, but I LOATHE that powdered stuff that you find in most grocery stores. However, good fresh grated Parm cheese can be tough to find, and expensive. This product has a block of Parm cheese inside and you grate as you go. It is awesome..much better then the powdered stuff..and much less expensive then the big blocks.

__________

Well...that is about it.

No, neither Sherri or I work for any of these companies, we just though we could share with family and friends some of the great things that we have come across.

Remember to post a comment and share any great products that you use!!

Bye for now!!

First Snow!!!!!

We woke up this morning to the first snowfall of the year!!! It was a very light dusting, and it has already melted, but it still counts!!!!

The Cake...

Yesterday (October 12th) was Sherri's 26th Birthday. We had a great evening with friends, we had 11 people at the Grenn's house for a little party for Sherri!! I knew that I wanted to do something "different" for her this year. We both really enjoy the TV show "Ace of Cakes" and I got the idea to have an "unusual" cake made for her. I contacted the lady who did our wedding cake (who is absolutly AMAZING!!!!!) and told her my ideas and she said..YES! I can do that!!

First I had to figure out what I wanted the cake to be. Sherri is very "girly" and loves anything pink or purple, so at first I was thinking of a very girly cake. But then I got "The Idea". One of the things that Sherri loves is "Coach" bags and purses. I recently got her a new Coach bag in Seattle that she absolutly loves and uses all of the time. I thought...How awesome to have a cake made that looks like her favorite Coach bag!!! So, I secretly took some pictures of the bag, as well as her Dior sunglasses and sunglasses case and e-mailed them to our cake lady. She did all of the hard work and I picked up the cake last night just before the party. The cake was THE highlight to say the least!! I was amazed at how well it turned out and everyone couldn't believe how real it looked!!!

Here are some pictures....

Here is a picture of the bag from the side.

Here is a picture of her Coach bag next to the cake!!!

Winter Is Almost Here...

Hello Everyone!!

The Joke is that Alaska has 2 seasons...Winter..and Summer. Our Spring and Fall last only a few short weeks. The Summers in Alaska are AMAZING, I have heard hundreds of times that "it is the summers that make the winters worth it". However, I am one of the few who feel the exact opposite. While I love the Alaskan Summers and think there isn't a more beautiful place to be during the summer, I actually like the winters here the best!! I feel like the winters are just so romantic and peaceful. Lots of fluffy white snow, cold enough outside to keep you inside by the fire, wrapped up together. I just love winter!!! SO..imagine how excited I was when I walked outside and saw this...

That's right...snow on the mountains!! My guess is that we will get our first snow here in Anchorage within the next week or so. I had guessed between the 10th and 14th and I think I will hold by that.

It is hard to believe that we will have snow that soon when I also took this picture off of our balcony today. It is of the hill right behind our house. Looks like a nice summer day!!

Only 78 more days till Christmas!!!

Quite The Update...

It has been a couple of weeks since we have updated this so here is what's new in our world...

• Sherri has worked for Curves for 3 1/2 years, it has certainly had its ups and downs. We are glad to say that she no longer works there. This isn't TOO recent, it actually happened a couple of weeks ago. This is totally a good thing. Because we have no debt and are doing well financially there is no rush for her to get out and find "the first job available", instead she is taking her time, looking for a job that she will enjoy and that fits her gifting!

• We recently celebrated our 2 year anniversary! We had a great day! We went and saw the play "Defending The Caveman" and it was SO funny, a perfect anniversary play! We then went to Benihana for dinner, it is Sherri's favorite restaurant. We came home after that and had cake. I had the same lady who did our wedding cake make us a smaller "anniversary cake". It was so great!! (Here is a picture of our anniversary cake)

• I have been traveling a lot with work recently. I was gone some last week and I will be leaving again tomorrow afternoon for another trip. Hopefully travel will slow down once November hits.
  
  
  
• Sherri's 26th Birthday is coming up soon! I think we are going to have a bunch of friends meet us at Moose's Tooth, our favorite local pizza joint, for a fun evening.
  
  
  
• We are taking a class at church on Wednesday nights on the book of Acts. We are co-leading a table of young married couples with no children. Its great, we are only 2 weeks into the class and we are already loving it, and forming relationships with the other couples. We have about 700 people in the class so its pretty hectic, yet fun!
  
  
  
• We recently had a going away party for some friends from our small group who are moving to Texas. It was a great event and really good to get everyone together! (here is a picture from the dinner)
  

That is a quick snapshot of whats new with us. I will try and be better about updating this on a more regular basis!!

It's a good day to be an Alaskan!!!

Today the State of Alaska announced the amount of this years Permanent Fund Dividend check. This is the check that is paid to every Alaskan resident each year, based on the state's income off of oil. The amount this year is......drum roll please....$1,654!!! So that is a nice little $3,308 bonus to us next month!! The only plan we have for the money is that we are going to use $1,000 for our cruise in January, but the other amount will go right into savings!!!

This years dividend is over $500 more then last years, and they expect it to keep increasing!! Next year could be over 2K each!!

Wahoo!!

Just one more reason to live in Alaska!!

Quest...

This week our church started a new series called "Quest". This is a curriculum that our church created several years ago. This will be the 4th time that I have gone through Quest. This is the cornerstone curriculum for our church. It is BY FAR the best series I have ever gone through. It is such an eye opener, and really makes you change the way you think. It challenges many of the "traditional thoughts" of Christianity. I credit this series for helping me go from "christian" to follower and enjoyer of God. I HIGHLY reccomend that you listen to, at least, the 1st message in this series, it can be found on the church website at www.changepointalaska.com under the "message" section. Also, you can go to the "blogs" link on the website and you will see a Quest Blog, that is a site that we just set up for our church to interact with each other over these ideas.

Listen with an open mind and dont be afraid to challenge some of the typical christian misconceptions. Whether you are a christian or not, I believe that this message is relevant!!

Let us know what you think!!!

A Day At The Zoo....

Hello Hello Hello -

What a fun day! We didn't have anything planned and we didn't want to sit around the house so we decided to go and spend a couple of hours at the Alaska Zoo. Our Zoo is certainly no San Diego Zoo, but it is always fun. One of the best things is that you don't feel like you are in some "overdeveloped" space. It still has a real "outdoor" feeling to it. We saw the Polar Bears, Brown Bears, Black Bears, Snow Leopards, Tigers, Wolves and all of the other animals. Including Maggie the Elephant.

(adam's editorial comment of the week)

The Alaska Zoo has had elephants for as long as I can remember. However, Maggie is being moved in a few weeks and most likely there will not be another elephant in Alaska ever again. There has been a big national outcry against her being in Alaska. PETA and all of the other animal activists have protested and complained for so long that Maggie is now being moved to an Elephant Sanctuary in California. I agree that this is probably what is best for Maggie, however, there are 38 Million people in America who have a tough time putting food on their families table, but we will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on an elephant. Our priorities may be a little off.

Best Deal In Town...

Howdy!!

SO, we and our friends have stumbled upon the best deal in town. We love ice cream...who doesn't? The local Carls JR. Restaurants recently began serving ice cream. At first a single scoop of ice cream for .49 cents isn't a GREAT deal, but still a good price. The thing is, these are no ordinary scoops of ice cream. They are the gigantic hugely mondo single scoops. I took a picture tonight of the "single scoop" that they gave us. Can you believe that you can get that much ice cream for .49 cents?!?!? There is still hope for this world!!

Happy Labor Day!!!

this is a huge crevasse in the glacier we were walking on. These are massive cracks in the surface of the glacier that can go down hundreds of feet. It was pretty amazing to look into.


This is a picture of the glacier as we were walking towards it. You can see the glacier up in the mountain.



Here is Adam walking around on the glacier.



Here is Sherri next to a creek on the hike to the glacier.




Here we are on the glacier!! What a GREAT day!!


__________________________________


Hello!!!

We hope that you all enjoyed a long holiday weekend!! Today we went and hiked to Byron Glacier. It is about a 45 minute drive from Anchorage to the start of the trail. It takes you right up to the face of the glacier where you can actually climb up and walk around on it!! We had a great weekend and our hike today was the perfect ending!!! Enjoy the pictures from todays hike!!