Part Three

Wednesday morning we headed up the Tracy Arm Fjord to a beautiful glacier. We got up early to watch the beautiful scenery and hopefully try and see some whales. We passed ice bergs on the way up and they were so beautiful! As we were headed back out on our way to Juneau we decided to hit up the hottub with the Plummers, and the other two Rich families. It was so great to be sitting in the hottub in the back of the cruise ship while watching the sights.










A little while later we pulled up to Juneau. We all piled into two vans and drove out to Mendenhall glacier. We hiked a trail up to the glacier for a closer view of it and a beautiful waterfall right next to it. We were lucky enough to see the glacier calve also. The water looked so cold and for Brad and his brother Mike, the temptation was too much. On the hike back to the Visitors Center they decided to jump in the water. It was the funniest thing ever! They went right in. I do have video if anyone wants to see it come on over. It might be a little too revealing to put up on the internet. HAHA!!












After the glacier we headed back into town to a Fish Hatchery and learned all about salmon and why they come running back up the streams. We decided to head to Walmart to get all our souvenirs then hit up downtown Juneau for a little shopping. I was so glad to be able to get back to Juneau. It is such a cute little town.

Alaska Part Two

Day 3:
On Tuesday we were in Ketchikan. This is such a beautiful part of Alaska. We started off the morning with some deep sea fishing. We met our captain (I think his name was Mike...but can't remember) and headed out to sea.






While on the way to our fishing spot we spotted the Time Bandit. Anyone that is a fan of Deadliest Catch will get excited...Brad sure was! :)



I spotted my house on the boat ride. I can dream right?



We started salmon fishing at it was a little slow but picked up. Before long Brad felt like he needed to go. Well, he asked Mike where to go. He pointed to a toilet at the front of the boat and said it was for the ladies. He then proceeded to grab a plastic pitcher and said something to the effect that the boys go up to the front of the boat, fill up the pitcher and then dump it into the ocean. Uh..okay. It was one of those times when you aren't quite sure if they are joking or not. Well, I took it as serious and Brad took it as joking so when the time came for Brad to go, he asked Mike again and Mike gave him some crap saying Brad was the first to ever complain. He finally told him to go on the toilet. Okay, he was joking about the whole pitcher thing. NOPE! A little while later he ordered everyone to the back of the boat because he needed a potty break. What? Well, he moved to the front of the boat about three feet away and filled the pitcher. Yes we heard everything. There is a first for everything! The famous pitcher below...



We kept spotting eagles on the beach. Bill got a rock fish and Mike told us to watch. He yelled, threw the fish back in the ocean and an eagle flew off the top of the pine tree, swooped down, grabbed the fish and flew back to the shore. It was so cool!! You don't see that everyday. I'll have to add the video later. You can see the eagle's white head on top of the pine tree in the picture below.



We caught around fifteen fish; fourteen pinks and one silver. Mike was really concerned about blood on his boat so he didn't like us to take too many pictures after pulling in the fish...that's why they aren't that great and I'm really cheesin it...







I do have to say that I think Mike was more interested in visiting then fishing. I know a lot about him now. I know about his childhood, family and even his Diet Coke addiction. I found out he knows who my cousins are in Vernal because he hunts also. Here he is telling his stories:





We decided to have the fish fileted and shipped to our house. We've been enjoying it ever since. As we were coming back into shore all these sea planes started landing on the water around us. It was so much fun to see. Next time we'll have to take a tour by these sea planes.








Afterwards we headed to Creek Street to walk around and see the salmon running. This was such an amazing thing to see. The river is almost pure black with all the salmon in it. It was so crazy to think that these salmon can swim up some of the obstacles that they do. You can see the fish jumping up in the first picture below. In the second one if you look closely all the little "bumps" on the water are fish.




As we were walking back to the ship, we looked out toward the ocean and there were so many fish jumping. It was so much fun to watch.
As the ship pulled away from Ketchikan I couldn't help but think how gorgeous it was. I don't think I could live there all the time, but the mountains, water and trees were breath taking.
This was also the day my dad had his open heart surgery so while it was such an amazing day, I was not myself. So thankful for prayer and cell phones!

Alaska Part One

Finally!! I'm finally getting around to blogging about Alaska. I can't believe it's been almost two months since we left. We had the best time and even though I was going through a bit of a hard time while we were there, I have such good memories that I will always remember. I have so many pictures that I decided to break it down into a few posts.
First off, we got to go on this awesome cruise with Brad's family because of Bill and Carol, Brad's parents. This past July was their fiftieth wedding anniversary and to celebrate they took us all on an Alaskan cruise. I know...they're awesome!!

Day 1:
We left August 8th which was a Sunday morning. We had to leave about 4:30 in the morning because of our early flight. We were staying at the Richs and planned to get up at about 4:00. Bill decided that we were waiting too long and decided to wake us up at 3:45 by coming into our room, flipping the lights on and loudly declaring it was time to get up. I'm just glad I was covered. :)
We arrived in Seattle and it was freezing! It was raining and we grabbed a shuttle and headed to the cruise ship. We got there and were lucky they were letting us board the boat early. My sister-in-law Lori realized then that she had forgot the passports for herself and her husband. Luckily, they were still able to come on the cruise by answering some questions. :) We boarded the boat and of course headed straight to the buffet. The buffet was pretty good on this cruise but I'm just not a huge fan of buffets. I feel like there's quantity, just not a ton of quality...
We left port at 4:30 and had to hurry and get ready for sacrament meeting which they were going to have on the boat. Brad's parents booking their cruise through the Cruise Lady and they were able to arrange all this for us. They had asked me to play the piano for the meeting so I had to be there early. Michael Ballam was the headliner for our group and I walk in and he's playing all these beautiful arrangements by memory...I had to take over and there was no hymn book for the prelude. Great!! I am no Michael Ballam that's for sure. Luckily they were ready to begin. I found out right before we were to start that the man that was to lead the music was President Spencer Kimball's son. So neat! During the sacrament meeting they started passing the sacrament. I can't tell you how many times people forget me when I'm up by the piano. I had to get their attention.. Finally the water was coming around. These were different trays then they use at home and all the cups were there waiting for me to pick. I grabbed one, put it up to my mouth and tipped it in. It was empty!! What??! The man passing the sacrament looked down at me and said, "That one has already been used." Oh yummy!! So, that's how you do it. The next one I took I made sure was full..haha! Gross.
That night we went to the formal dining room and had dinner. So yummy! I love that you can choose anything you want and most of the time it tastes so good! We then headed to the welcome show they always have and played cards in the buffet room until we were too tired and had to go to bed. Brad's family is always into cards and it's so much fun.

The Sapphire Princess-our ship



Sailing Away from Seattle




Day 2:
Monday was a stressful day. It was the day I found out everything that was happening at home with my dad. Although I was so worried about my family back home, I did manage to have fun on the ship. We were at sea all day Monday. We filled the day with some intense ping pong games and that night was one of the formal nights.

Itty Bitty Soccer

I put Coop in Itty Bitty Ball again and this time they played soccer. Coop seemed to really like it and actually participated most of the time...I might have enjoyed it even more then him because of the good friends that were there with me. We have so much fun talking while the kids are playing and then heading to the park to eat lunch. I'm looking forward to the next time!