Nativity Sets

Well, I broke down and bought a second nativity set this year. I guess the one I bought in Germany wasn't enough for one year. So I got a second one yesterday. So that brings the total to four I currently have out in my apartment. Then there's the other dozen plus that I have in storage at my parents. I think the only thing I have more of is books. Oh well, I guess there's worse things I could be spending my money on.



The one I bougth in Germany



Figured this one was pretty appropriate considering where I live.

Terminations Dust

Termination dust hits the Chugach range. That was one of the headlines in the Anchorage Daily news this morning. For those of you outside of Alaska that means that we got the first snow fall of the year. It was just a light snowfall and only stuck to the ground in the mountains, but summer is over for the year.

Igloo

This post is for Landen so he can see the "igloo" I live in here in Alaska.

This is part of the beautiful view I get to see each day.

The front of my apartment building. I live on the top right.

My front room and the door to the balcony

My messy kitchen

My "Igloo" even has a bed in it. The room is complete with walk-in closet.

In case you're interested, there's also a spare room if you feel the need to visit.

Ferry to Alaska

I promised that I'd post some pictures from the trip up, so here they are. Ireally have no excuse for it taking so long. It was a gorgeous trip and I'd love to do it again.

The Ferry

The back deck where people camped

The elevator I had to take my car on.

The port in Bellingham

One of the light houses

Ketchikan

The kids of barge I had to order everything on when I was in Barrow.

Pretty pictures from the trip.

Nauvoo

So, I'm a little late getting these pictures up. Here are a few shots from the family's drive back to Nauvoo for the family reunion.

The Sanders kids on a green dino.

She refused to kiss it. You'd think after all the cartoons they watch I could have talked her into it.

Kid's Parade

The family at Carthage.

Nauvoo by night.

The Gillis kids rooting for Mike to beat Grandpa.

Yes, he really is holding it.

Idiots

Dad and I decided to stop by Upper Provo Falls as were were driving home from the Uinta's. It's always a pretty place to stop.
Some idiot decided it would be a good idea to try and kayak down the falls. His friends ended up having to pull him out because he was unconscious. He was awake by the time that we left and they'd called 911. Some people do the stupidest things.

Europe Trip

I guess I'll post a few pictures of the places I got to see this last month. The only problem is, we didn't spend much time in anyone place, so I'll justhave to go back and see them all again.

Netherlands

Heidleburg

Dacau

Venice

Verona

Lucern

Paris by day and night

The Queen

Room with a View

I have had an interesting view from my classroom for the last two years. This last day of school it was a little foggy, so I thought I'd send you a few pictures of what I get to see everyday. It's better when it's really foggy and you can't see the buildings at all in the background, but this at least gives you a little idea of how it looks. Last year I had a student who feaked out every time it was foggy and made me shut the blinds.

Personally, I think it looks cool when it's foggy.

Job

Well, about two weeks ago I put in my letter of resignation. So I am officially without a job for next year. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I was in Anchorage where I had interviews with school districts throughout Alaska. I received two job offers, but I turned them down. I had a screening interview with the principal of the school I really want to go to, but I wasn't offered a job because they are still doing internal transfers within the district. But, she said she really wants to hire me and that she sees no way she will fill all the positions that I could take and wants me at her school. She also said that she would like me to come back sometime and tour her school. I took that as a really good sign. I was also told by a few other districts that as soon as the internal transfers were done they had a job for me. So, while as of now I'm unemployed for next year, I'm not too worried about finding a job.

Problems at church today

Today we had some problems at church. First, in sacrament meeting, we had two families walk in and there was nowhere for them to sit. We had to pull out the hard/unpadded chairs for them to sit on.

Then in Relief Society, we had so many sisters in the Relief Society room that we had to get chairs out of the other classrooms and put them in the aisle. There was no way to walk in the room. Even then, we had a sister standing in the doorway. It's a good thing the fire chief didn't stop by. The sisters sitting in the middle had to wait for the sisters on the edge to leave and move their chairs so that they could get out. We decided that we need to stick the primary outside in the conex and take over the primary room. That or add a second story.

Then at the potluck, all the round tables were set up with chairs around them. We usually only use five of the seven. Half of the branch had gone through the food line, and there were no more spots to sit left. So, we had to pull out the long tables that never get used and pull chairs out of all the classrooms. It was a little crowded in the chapel/multi-purpose room. I told the branch president he might want to look into getting a bigger building.

Isn't it nice to have problems at church.

Basketball

This year, our girls team has had an interesting time. Here's a new story about what's been going on. If you have a bunch of time to waste, read the comments and you'll get an idea of people's midset up here. It's not necessarily good.

http://www.adn.com/2010/03/15/1184935/barrow-keeps-defying-odds.html

By the way, the girls took 5th in state and the boys took 3rd.

Battle of the Books 2010

My team just finished up this years Battle of the Books. This year's team work really hard. We meet at least once a week during lunch to study and they meet on their own.

I decided to take the role of coach a little bit more seriously. Here's what they had to do when

they missed questions

.

On the 26th of January we competed in the district battle. They did very well and beat the 2nd place team by over 30 points. Since the total points possible was 128, that was a pretty big win.

Here's a picture of the team during the battle. Popcorn was a favorite treat during the competition.

Celebrating the Win.

Showing off the medals they received.

Posing with their district trophy.

We made it to the state competition. They made it all the way to the second round of the tournament where they took 10th place. Here's a picture of them in the sate battle.

Sun Again!

Once again it's that time of year. The sun choose to show it's face over the horizon. We had a teacher inservice planned for Saturday during that time. Luckily, even the administrators realized what an important day it was and allowed us to have an extra long lunch so we could go out and see it. Fred, R.J., and I drove out to a spot where we could get a good view of it.