Sunset from the deck...

Last night we had an amazing sunset. We have something in Alaska called "Alpenglow", which is where the sunset casts a pink glow on the surrounding mountains. Last night there was GREAT Alpenglow and we went outside on the 2nd floor deck and watched it for a few minutes. Our camera doesn't do a very good job of picking up the pink, so the picture doesn't do it justice, but at least you will get the idea.

Spring Snowstorm - Anchorage, Alaska

Yesterday we had a HUGE snow storm! It had been in the mid 50's and sunny all week and it looked like Spring was here to stay. Guess not!! Enjoy this video I took this morning!

This weekend was also supposed to be the "Heart Run" it is the largest marathon in Anchorage with over 8,000 participants. As you can imagine, it was cancelled.

The world is smaller then we think...

Howdy -

So this is a break from the regular house updates to blog about something that amazes me.

We have been having AMAZING weather the past week or so, however, the past few days there has been a haze in the air. Apparently so many people called the local weather service station that our local newspaper ran an article on where the haze is coming from.

The fact that we have a haze isn't amazing, it is what is causing the haze that blows my mind. It is actually coming from 2 sources. First, a forest fire in Russia...Second, a sandstorm in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia!

The Russian fire isn't that surprising, Alaska is very close to Russia, so I guess that I can see that. But a sandstorm in a Mongolian desert affecting the weather here in Anchorage, Alaska?? That is pretty crazy.

I'm not sure why, but this news story just amazes me. Here is the link...http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/ap_alaska/story/384424.html

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!!!