Photos from the Bay

On Saturday Dani and I went to Auke Bay with Ben to help him with a photo/video assignment for a friend. While we were out there he let me borrow his camera again to play with. There were a few bald eagles enjoying their high perches over the water, and they didn't seem to mind me playing the tourist.

The professional at work

Ben's assignment was to get footage of the bay and some grizzled fishermen/women for a video about halibut conservation in Southeast Alaska. While Dani and I aren't fishermen, we tried to look as grizzled as possible and seemed to pull it off. It was hard to keep a "devastated face," and Ben captured some pretty good bloopers. Check out the final trailer and the outtakes on his new website! He also posted on there some amazing long exposure photos taken that day and since. I hope someday to be as talented as he is!

Mendenhall Ice Caves

Dani and I needed our hiking fix this week, so we scrambled out to the glacier via West Glacier Trail on Wednesday. The route was pretty icy but our trekking poles were lifesavers. When we did this trail in May it was considerably warmer and although the ice was beautiful in the sun, the ice caves were smaller and we didn't feel like going too deep because of their unstable condition in the summer heat. The glacier is constantly changing and moving, so new ice structures form all the time. When we went out there this week we discovered that a small stream had burrowed a cavern into the glacier. The ceiling of ice was relatively thin, so the entire tunnel was illuminated by the sunlight above. While it's not wise to lounge around down there for extended periods of time, we were able to dart in and snap some pretty rad pictures.

Opening of the ice cave

Cirque formed by the glacier

Saturday morning my buddy Ben and I went back (we left at 4:30am so I could be back to work by 2). I've been wanting to learn more about photography, and Ben was kind enough to bring his equipment and let me borrow a camera to get some experience with something other than my camera phone. I learned a lot from him and we got some sweet photos! Most of the ones shown here are courtesy of the professional. This time we brought crampons, so before we went down into the cave we trekked around on top of the glacier as the sun rose. It was incredible!

Should I be on the cover of Nat Geo or what???

The blue tunnel seemed to stretch on forever

On Sunday we enjoyed dinner with our friends the Fields. It was great to be with them and spend some quality time with our furry buddy, Fynn. With our plane tickets purchased it's becoming more and more real that we won't live in Alaska forever, and Dani and I agree that the thing we'll miss the most is the friends we've made up here and our fantastic ward family.

Bad News and a Birthday

Well, Chris and I haven't been able to come up with a good way to put this, but here we go:

We're no longer hiking the Pacific Crest Trail this summer.

We've made this decision primarily because the Sierra Nevada mountains have gotten so much snow so far this year that we no longer have enough time to complete the trail in our window before returning to school late August. We're probably the only Americans who are lamenting that California is headed out of their multi-year drought - I mean why couldn't El Niño just wait one more year for us?! Not wanting to fail before we even started, we've decided not to section-hike by leaving the trail early and instead take the summer to move to a new city (to be determined in March when we hear back from nursing schools). We'll find jobs and continue to save up for our future. After all, we still have a lot of school ahead of us and tuition isn't cheap... and neither are kids (NOT a hint about being pregnant, remember, this is about the future).

We also realized that although thru-hiking the PCT has been a goal that we've looked forward to for the last year, we've looked forward to our dreams of school, a career, and being parents for our entire lives. While it's definitely not a one-or-the-other deal, forgoing the PCT this year will put us ahead for our "big life priorities." We haven't given up on our hike forever, but rather have come to a pivotal point where we've been able to admit to ourselves that although hiking it would be an incredible achievement, it doesn't do much to help us reach our eternal goals. For now the PCT will have to wait on the back-burner--still a dream--but taking second to the things that really matter. I think Dallin H. Oaks said it best when he said, "We should begin by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it. The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives."

Wednesday night we had a fun date night. Chris and I decided to go on a run together, and ended up running to the library. We meandered the library and both found some good books that we are excited to read. Nothing beats a free date of exercise and learning.

Chris got in a fight with the ice at the crosswalk

We also celebrated my birthday this week! I must be getting old because when Chris asked what I wanted the only thing I could think of was a bubble bath and time to relax. Working two jobs and 13+ hour days is starting to catch up with me, and I've definitely been feeling a lack of rest and well being lately. Luckily Chris pulled some strings and was able to grant my wish. Friday night we stayed in one of our favorite rooms at the B&B (what will we do when we move back to the lower 48 and no longer have a great connection for more than affordable get-away nights!) and you better believe I enjoyed every bit of that huge Jacuzzi tub and feather bed. On Saturday morning (my actual birthday) we met up with our friends Liz, Johnny, Camille, and Ben for breakfast. After breakfast we headed out to take some fun pictures. Liz and Ben both love photography and thought it would be a fun birthday gift to take pictures for me - they were right! I'm really not much of a model, but Chris makes me look good and it's fun to have some professional grade pictures together. Ben even designed a new top for our blog with one of the pictures he took and the lettering for "The Andrew Family" - we love it! Here's some fun pictures from my birthday for now, and more of our photo-shoot is to come as they finish editing the pictures.

Using the selfie-stick to capture the whole crew
L->R Liz, Chris, Me, Camille, Ben, Jonny

Ben set his camera up on the tripod and did some long exposure shots with the creek. They turned out pretty awesome!

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew

Living the Alaskan Dream

This week was surprisingly sunny--we almost had seven full days of clear skies! The last couple months have required adjusting to: while we get a limited 5-6 hours of daylight, most days it's extremely dim due to the clouds, fog, and angle of the sun. It's like someone just turned the fluorescent lights in the warehouse on but they still have to warm up. On the other hand this week it was energizing to have the sun out and not a cloud in sight.

You know you live in SE Alaska when a sunny day makes the front page...

We took this opportunity to get away from the city lights and watch for the auroras, and we weren't disappointed. After work one night the aurora forecast was a level 5, so we waited and watched near the Mendenhall Glacier. For hours all we could see were the stars and a faint green glow on the north horizon, but finally around 1:30am the lights began to dance. This wasn't our first time seeing Lady Aurora, but definitely the most spectacular! The green pillars seemed to flash and pulse, resemblant of neon lights in Las Vegas, except our message was "Viva La Juneau!"

Also this week while doing errands for work I spotted a coyote in a field hunting. I hurried to flip on my hazards and pull over, thinking it might be a wolf (one of my last "Alaskan Wildlife Bucketlist" creatures). While it was too small to be a wolf, it was neat to watch him hunt. He attracted the attention of other drivers and passers-by, and they all slowed down or stopped. You don't have to go out searching for wildlife in Alaska, the wildlife comes to you.

Alaskans Brake for Wildlife

Cozy Christmas Cabin

We were so thankful that we got a couple days off work for Christmas!

Christmas Eve day we hiked out to Cowee Meadows cabin. The snow was absolutely gorgeous, and though it was pretty cold we still enjoyed the two-mile hike.

Bridget Cove behind us

Our Christmas tree for the evening

For dinner we packed out a shepherds dinner (an Andrew family tradition), and it sure tasted good in our candlelit cabin. We also kept up the tradition of reading the Christmas story from Luke 2.

Our time at the cabin was warm, simple, and fun. It was a rare clear night, and the full moon was spectacular. We especially loved how it reflected off the never-ending blanket of snow.

Our cabin in the moonlight

Chris warming up breakfast on the kerosene stove that heated the cabin.

The most spectacular part of our trip was the hike out. While hiking back towards the trailhead we came across three moose! Moose are rarely seen in Juneau, so this was a real surprise.

When we returned to our apartment we opened the only wrapped present under our tree (thanks to the snail mail in Alaska, haha). Although I'm not even sure it counts as a present considering how hard I worked to earn it! My older brother Josh gave me a challenge back in April where if I wrote 30 papers on different topics (mainly books and movies he listed) he would buy me an iPad mini. And I've gotta say, as much as I love my brother we sure have different tastes in books and movies so this this was no easy task. But I did it and he followed through on his end of the deal, so Christmas I unwrapped my new iPad! Thanks Josh! (And sorry Andrew siblings, but your oldest brother won't be in a position to give you sweet opportunities like this anytime soon.)

Unfortunately Christmas went a bit downhill after this. Chris didn't feel the greatest when he woke up, but kept thinking it would shake off. However, by late afternoon the not great feeling didn't go away but instead escalated into the chills and a high fever. We had to cancel our plans to go to dinner with our friends (who ever so graciously then came and dropped off dinner for us - we really do have the best friends!).

We spent the rest of the weekend and the beginning of this week with one of us sick, and then the other, and now - a whole week later - we're both in quarantine recovering from the flu and fighting off pink eye.

Remember to pray and remember to play, 

Mr . & Mrs. Sick-in-Bed-Andrew

A Christmastime Miracle

This snowy and chilly December has been one of love and friendship; and we are really excited to share some pictures with you of our Christmastime miracle.

One day at my job downtown I was talking to my good friend and coworker Liz about our plans for Christmas. I mentioned to her how Chris and I weren't doing gifts other than gear for the PCT and because we're only living in Alaska temporarily we planned to skip the Christmas decorations this year. For those of you who do not know I LOVE Christmas, and I LOVE Christmas decorations! Well, apparently my love for all things Christmas showed in our conversation, and being the astute friend that she is Liz noticed the disappointment I was trying to hide when I told her we decided not to decorate for the season. 

Liz is one of the most thoughtful people I know, so when she noticed this she decided to act. Unknown to me, her and her husband Johnny contacted our friends Ben and Camille and decided to bring Christmas to us. One morning she texted Chris and asked him to hide a key for our apartment so they could sneak in while we were at work and decorate. Of course Chris willingly obliged and our Christmas elves got to work. 

When we got home from work that night we opened our apartment doors to a beautifully decorated Christmas miracle. Our friends did such a great job decorating that even Chris was surprised - and he was in on the secret plan! Being the emotional female that I am I broke into tears, and continued to cry for 20 minutes straight. We were the recipients of such a heartwarming act of service, and one that we are sure to always remember. Since we were on our honeymoon last Christmas this year felt in many ways like our first Christmas, and it was so wonderful to have a home that reflected the season we were celebrating. We are one couple that will definitely always remember our first Christmas tree. 

Wanting to share our love of the season with others we decided to come up with a goodie to give to all of our close friends and ward members. Instead of going with traditional cookies or candies Chris and I decided to give out bags of homemade granola. We made gallons of our favorite granola, and had fun delivering goodie-bags to all the people who have been a part of making our time here in Alaska so meaningful. 

We ended our fun week by making gingerbread houses with Johnny, Liz, Ben, Camille, and a
family that Johnny works with. Though neither Chris or I are engineers or artists we still had fun making little graham cracker and frosting creations. Chris made the yurt that we stayed in for our anniversary, and I tried to make a cabin. Though we have to admit, the best part of the whole night was definitely the company (especially the cuddles from Ben and Camille's little baby Liesel)!

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew

Yurt in the Yukon

We failed to get a post up covering the first week of December, so we'll fill you in briefly on what went on. The week was busy with school and work, but mostly filled with celebrating our friends new baby! Our friends Ben and Camille had their first child, and we quickly fell in love with their beautiful baby girl. We helped them out with dinner a few times and just tried to spend as much time as we could with their little family.

Following our week of baby celebration for our friends came a week of anniversary celebration for us! Can you believe we've already been married for a full year?! The last year has just flown by, and yet we feel like we've been together forever (which really is a great thing, since we are blessed to be together forever). There's a saying that goes, "the first year of marriage is the hardest," and if there's any truth at all in that statement then Chris and I are going to have the easiest marriage ever. We've loved every moment of the first year, every new thing we've learned about each other, and every adventure we've shared. We are continually in awe at how much more we love each other now than we did a year ago, a month ago, a week ago, or a day ago. Right when we think it's not possible to have any more love, it increases, and it's ever coming more clear what it means to have Christ-like love. We've tried to center our marriage around the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we have definitely seen the blessings from it.

To celebrate the best year of our lives we went on a trip to Whitehorse, Canada. With the help of a ferry and a rental car we were able to stay in the most magical location - an original Mongolian yurt on some private land outside of town. We spent a long weekend snowshoeing, walking around town, swimming in hot springs, talking in Canadian accents using the word "eh" as frequently as possible, and warming up by the wood burning stove in our little orange yurt. It was perfect. So perfect, that I can't adequately describe it with words, so instead here are some pictures and a video that Chris made of our trip.

It was a beautiful sunny day on the ferry to Skagway

It was COLD. Or maybe we were just wimps.

The yurt overlooked a secluded lake 

The inside

Our host informed us that the yurt was actually made in Mongolia, and we were impressed with the intricate hand painting on the supports and door. The owner ran some power cords out to the yurt for lighting and built a weather-proof roof over the top. Mongolian tradition is to step over the threshold with your right foot without touching the door frame.

Don't worry, there was a full bathroom inside our host's home we could
use when we felt the need for running water.

We hoped to be able to take advantage of the secluded location away from light pollution to enjoy the northern lights, but every night the clouds moved in.

Our host let us borrow snowshoes and we trekked around the frozen lake below.
This friendly dog decided to join us, and his confidence was comforting when we would hear cracking and moving of the ice beneath us. 

My hair and Chris's beard got frosty from our breath as we hiked.

Our ferry back to Juneau was late at night, so we threw our sleeping bags
on lawn chairs in the heated solarium and snoozed.

Remember to pray and remember to play,

The Old Married Couple,

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew

P.S. Yes, I, did win the dance off we had while driving around Canada. And though the video may not adequately show it Chris did participate, he just didn't have moves quite as smooth as I did.