Moving is hard! Playing now to Refresh and Prepare.

Shanna on top of Wolverine Man (Anchorage, AK)

The past few weeks in Kodiak were super busy, full of emotion, and full of exhaustion, but I can sum it up as good and acceptable exhaustion.

Last Ski in Kodiak by Pyramid.  Kodi & Sadie love exercise & the outdoors

Movers came March 14 & 15th.  Carpet cleaner came the 16th.  Going away party was the 17th.  Jason left on the 22nd for Fire Academy training in Texas.  Last day of my job at KCHC on the 27th, then traveled to Ninilchik for my last work trip on the 28-30th.  I then returned back to Kodiak for the weekend which included house finishes, packing, final ski with Patrick and Nora, Easter with the Pigage's and McClure's, a peaceful evening with a another dear friend, Ginny, and an early morning departure from Kodiak.
On the start of my departure from Alaska, I got to spend the day with Meg in Anchorage for a final bucket list 10 mile hike on Wolverine, and then that evening, off to Utah.  I arrived to Utah on April 3rd with my eyes so sooo heavy and maybe half closed.  I spent the day meeting and getting to know two new sweet classmates, hiking and eating one's cultural food.  I also got to stop by my new home and drop off some bags and frozen boxes of meats.  While there I met my landlord's 99 yr old father.  Oh wow! what a completely adorable older gentleman!!!  He smiled the entire time and was so lovely!!  He said he could see I had glasses on and I had dark hair and he asked if it was real.  He was loudly listening to "old day" 1920's sounding music on his Amazon speaker.  It was wonderful and beautiful.  I find myself often questioning now, what are the necessary boundaries between a landlord's family and pets and me/us--the tenants, that live above them in this Utah house!?  Thank goodness I have a smart landlord husband and a smart - practical future roommate....

Farewell to Utah for now... because the next day I was off to Chicago to visit my sweet friend from Nome who now lives in Rockford, IL; 3.5 short days with her family, and now off to Cleveland for 8.5 days to visit the Podoll's.
School starts in 1 month exactly (as of yesterday).

Below are the few pics that I captured during this transition period.

Farewell cake for J&me.

Last Ski with Nora Saltonstall & her father (our photographer)
Pyramid Mtn behind us

Last ski in Kodiak
with Patrick and Nora Saltonstall

Easter with the Pigage's and McClure's,
on top of Old Woman

Carrie's Art at Easter

the Bays of Kodiak from Old Woman
Easter Hike (Old Woman, Middle and Kalsin)

View of Kodiak from Old Woman
Easter Hike

3 Sisters, Monashka, and Antones on Kodiak

Oh Kodiak we will miss you! Until later, we hope!

Meg and I on Wolverine Mtn, 10.5 mile hike.
Excellent finale to time in Alaska

Argentinean Empanadas (meat, potatoes, olive, hard boiled egg, cumin, paprika, salt)
made by Vannina

Organic Valley Dairy Farm.  Felt so surreal in so many ways!

um YUM!  fresh, raw, organic, unpasteurized milk 

"we go to the farm" to get the milk!
Lauren and I are not in Alaska anymore!

Me, Sagan, Ethan and Lauren

Such a fabulous trip with Lauren!

No Sunday fun day, but Friday funzi

Friday I woke to much excitement.  The snowy grey skies were gone and blue skies had returned.  I had a few errands and things I had to do but then I looked at my roommate, Rob and said, I have to go to Pyramid, It's too nice not to.  (also knowing I needed to work out as 2 days before were weak to none, and the next days to come were not going to include any play either).
I quickly convinced him to go out with me.  We got to Pyramid and I saw my two favorite guys, the Saltonstall brothers.  One was skate skiing or shall I say blazing around the parking lot and up the mountains ...he was everywhere and fast!!!  The other speed skinned up the mountain and then met us at the top at one point and skied a quick lap with me while Rob continued to climb up, and then he went down with Rob and I.  I sadly convinced him to do Sharon's traverse with me which ended up being bumps and ice and no new snow since the day before blew 30-50 mph winds when it was snowing.  However, I'm not sure his way down was going to be any better for me.  I decided that when I saw him rabbit hop continuous turns in the steep brush, which I knew I couldn't do.  

Before leaving I lost Kodi and then this crazy truck came plowing into the parking lot and got really stuck from missing the turn in and hitting a burm of snow!!!!!  I saw the GV license plate and immediately thought it was a a truck full of Navy Seals showing off.  So I told Rob and Dicky that we should leave fast before they make us pull them out.  I was not impressed!  This was an odd reaction I realized because usually when the Seals are around its all giddiness for all girls.  hahaha
The next thing I know, my husband and several other swimmers are jumping out of the truck, saying hi and then they all so strongly pushed the truck out of the snow.  I couldn't believe it, it was quite comical at this point because it wasn't the Seals, it was my husband!!  I said hello...I gave him and them a piece of my mind about him taking my safety ski beacon on their training and not telling me and leaving me without it for my back country ski... and then left to head back to town as we had date plans soon that evening.
On the way to town when we hit cannery row, Rob and I found the greatest flock of eagles poached on the rooftops awaiting their "evening meal" as Jason calls it.   sorry my pics are not that great.  I will try to get some better before leaving Kodiak.
When I moved to Kodiak I told myself that I would not take a bald eagle for granted living here with the winter load of them taking up winter residency here, because there are people in the lower 48 who never see an eagle in the wild for their entire lifetime.  Therefore, each time I see one, I still marvel at their greatness.  Their talons, their nests, their beauty and their ability to ride a thermal in the sky over a giant mountain or the great ocean out front of Kodiak.  (we can add this to the list of my many things I will miss of Kodiak!).  ~Shanna

 

SUNday Fun day again and again, I'll take it!

North Bowl looking up to Pyramid

What an exhausting 4 day weekend all because we are moving!
Thursday was errands and more.
Friday was a lot of "what are we going to do today Jason?"  "what is our game plan Jason?"...then suddenly I made the decision, we are going to have a garage sale because I was drowning in stuff, stuff that needed to go bye bye.  So we did!  We set up in our driveway a garage sales worth of stuff in 2 hours and entertained people to buy our treasures for about 3 hours.  It was perfect weather but a bit chilly.  A few hour laters and oh about $900 later, we were more pooped but happy.  One more garage sale to come this coming weekend!  but my mind still sees that....Jason has tooooo much stuff! whew!

Saturday we did the tax free day in town and spent much of our garage sale money :( but on new cool stuff that we needed for Utah.  We attended a memorial service, dined with our sweet friends the Kreskes' for an amazing dinner of bacon flavored Dall sheep burgers and lots of veggies!

Sunday we finally played after days of no exercise and no time for any!  And boy did we play.....3 laps on Pyramid.  Pyramid was gorgeous Sunday.  Very little wind, super sunny, and warm!  I skinned up in my t-shirt and very light synthetic long sleeve top.  I even contemplated at times taking my long sleeve off!  We busted incredible laps in the north bowl and the south bowl and then we were going to do the regular lap down, but the sun was magnificent in the south bowl that we decided to enjoy it longer by taking the south bowl out.  All was good till we got to the bottom by Three trees where the old tracks were hard with a cover of new snow.... bang, bump, scrape, clunk, might have been all the words to describe the entire way down on 3 trees.  Oh well..... as Jason put it..it can't all be perfect snow! :)

Jason skinning out of North Bowl

South Bowl first tracks.. we got them!  that is a cloud not snow blowing on the summit. 

Us in South Bowl

Time to use up the freezer food.  King Crab feast after skiing

Kodi in complete exhaustion after 3 laps on Pyramid 

Besides the skiing, one other highlight of my weekend among so many was a cute local Girl Scout who was selling cookies at the grocery store, when she said... "it's okay Shanna you don't have to buy any cookies because you are a dietitian."  Finally!!!  a Girl Scout/family respects me for not wanting to partake in the annual Girl Scout cookie craze.    ~Shanna

Lots of Food again and big news for a house!

I have Thursday and Friday's off.  It really is the life...though I don't make as much money as 40 hours makes.  I'm still determining how I feel about that.  Mostly though, I love it!

Thursday was a busy one again with some sweet news to end the day.  

In the early morning, I had my annual dental appts.  I learned from my new dentist that I shouldn't use my sonicare with toothpaste as it (toothpaste) is abrasive on my teeth.  But then I should follow up my wet clean sonicare session with a manual toothbrush that has toothpaste on it for maybe everything but my teeth to get that "freshness".  I'm not sure I agree with this!  My very trusted dental hygienist may or may not have rolled her eyes when I asked for clarification.

Jason had x-rays for his post coast guard physical.  

We then met in the middle and started our day.  Today included a lot of food for some reason. We had both been craving scones, so I made scones.  We also were drowning happily in 5# of carrots from our produce order so we made a yummy orange carrot juice, a jar of fermented carrots, and 3 pans of Shepard's Pie because we were absolutely still drowning, and not so happily, in white potatoes.  I can report that we are down to a half of bag of whites now and a lot of sweet potatoes.  These potatoes are comically testing my German roots.  ;). Friday (so today as written) we had potato pancakes.  Thank you mom for sharing this recipe with me. 

After 3 pans of Shepards pie, we visited a sweet dear friend to assess her yard after our huge wind storm on Monday and Tuesday that still leaves her without cable, internet and phone.  This is a problem because her son who visits on Saturday nights doesn't stay when there is no tv/noise for him to enjoy.  The way she shares that story is hilarious!  

We then walked the dogs and then we had a FaceTime interview with our future landlords; though at the time we didn't know they were going to pick us from the other family.  It was very nerve wracking because if they declined us, we would be back at square zero for our living situation in SLC come April/May.  About an hour or two later, we received the news that they DID pick up and we have a place to live in SLC or actually Cottonwood Heights, Utah!  Whew, what a relief for both us and our roommate Menerva!  

We also hit the garage finally for cleaning/weeding/prepping for the movers who come in two weeks! Ugh....Jason has WAY too much stuff.  on another note, though our rental house offer was a major high of excitement, my husband declared that we will be selling my hunting pack as it will sit and rot for 2+ years while I'm at school.  Talk about major sadness and tears at that moment.   ~Shanna

Sunday Fun Day retro post

Sunday was a busy day...okay actually all days these days are busy as we continue to prep for our move to Utah.

did I wear my shoes wrong?  look at the tips ????

We had church and then I worked on my to list as fast as I could before our 2 pm departure for a group hike with some friend and Jason's bosses from Orions.   At 3pm we set out for a hike up Sharatin mtn. north trail.  This trail is about 2 miles through the trees, twisting and turning and up and down but mostly a looonnng gradual incline.  It then opens into alpine meadows with a sprinkle of spruce trees here and there until you climb out of the trees completely in the alpine.   We almost got to the no trees, but actually stopped at the start of the alpine and "summit".


A bit before we left the trees, we put on our snowshoes that we were carrying to handle the deeper snow.  the snow was perfect for snowshoeing.  It was firm where needed and fluffy but not post hole fluffy.
Overall, it was the perfect Sunday fun day hike and with excellent company.

Jason, Sharon and Steve on Sharatin

My favorite bay and view on Kodiak.  Behind the 2 tall spruce trees is Whale Island

I also learned today after church that I booked my ticket wrong.  Jason and I were working on his travel Saturday night and mine too.  Mine from ADQ to SLC with a long layover in ANC.  Then the next day after arriving to SLC, I fly to Chicago to see a sweet friend and her family that I met in Nome.  A few days later I go to Cleveland to see the Podoll's and my absolutely hilarious and adorable godchild Maryn!  then a week later I meet Jason in KC.  There we will buy a car and drive west.  So the wrong ticket!?  I was supposed to leave Kodiak on the 3rd and arrive to SLC on the 4th. But since the coast guard books this ticket from Kodiak, I went ahead and booked my others.  I realized on Sunday that the ticket I booked for Chicago and beyond from SLC actually was booked for me to leave on the 3rd out of SLC.  (insert hand on head!). So if I had to keep the ADQ to SLC ticket, it would have had me arriving to SLC at 8am'ish and then leaving at 9:30am'ish for Chicago.  Soooo...I leave the day after Easter now from Kodiak!  :)   Moral of this story.  Don't drink social when booking tickets :).  ~Shanna

Food = fun and happiness

Yesterday (Saturday) was about being productive, blue bird skies, and friends.

Jason and I slept in as we have been burning the midnight oil a lot lately.  I fear Monday is going to be a tough one as it seems to catch up to us on our first day back to work for the week!

As Jason put it, I was on fire (<- me, Shanna).  We started our day with day two of a beautiful, whipped berry/fruit/collagen shake.  The dietitian in me isn't sure I'm in love with the fact that it was full of just fruits, but we had them, and they needed to be used up, and this was a way to do it.  However, I am in love with the whippiness that it has at first and the most beautiful pink color I've ever seen aside from my traditional strawberry birthday cake.  :).

 


We then made a wonderful hearty breakfast for us and our roommate Rob, of eggs, so many yummy veggies and potatoes because we have SO many potatoes in our house due to our produce coop!
While we were making breakfast, we received a knock on our door from two young teenage girls who were participating in a weekend food famine in their church and they were seeking food donations for the local food bank.  Yay, bye-bye a whole bag of new potatoes!!!!  and several other things!  This is my favorite annual visitor to my door besides my father! :)

We finally made it outside for the day.  Jason geared us up for ski, however when we made it to the parking lot of the ski mountain, there was NO ONE else in sight!  Some days you would rejoice that you "get first tracks" or the whole mountain to yourself.  This was NOT one of those days.  The winds had been blowing 18 mph with gusts up to 38mph at the airport, I believe I heard.  The temps were hanging around 37 at town so that means about 32-35 at the mountain.  There was a beautiful beam of warm sun on the mountain but everyone knew today was not the day that the snow was going to warm up and turn to corn.  At the parking lot I wouldn't even get out of the van!  Jason made multiple small walks to assess the snow and thankfully reported back to me that it was a no go. The snow was ice, hard, and no thawing had happened today.  Thank goodness!!!  Instead we found a protected brush area to walk us and the dogs while the sun was still beaming and giving us the weekend Sun Day feelings of warmth and happiness.
After the walk, we retreated to the local water hole and ran into our good friends DJ and Tim.  It's so fun to have a place to stop into that allows for random adult social time.

At home we made a new recipe that I found to help use up one of our 3 heads of cauliflower, again from our much loved but well supplied produce coop.  The recipe was: buffalo wings made with cauliflower.  Holy hot and YUM!!!  Besides no excessive chewiness from chicken, we still got the whole effect of hot wings from the baked cauliflower.  I even made the recipe wrong because Moeder's can't read recipes or follow them right, but I think my mistake was not noticed and that is how I will make these puppies in the future!

Other food I worked up Saturday in the morning before our outing was homemade sauerkraut and a cauliflower pizza crust for this week, along with our veggies for our egg fritata that we will make Sunday night for our work week.
Meanwhile, I am working on my 3rd round of moose bone broth in the crockpot, with one more to go!  Now to eat all this food before April 2nd, as I just booked my airfare out of Alaska to SLC, then to Chicago to see Lauren, then to Cleveland to see the Podoll's, and then finally to KC to start our ever exciting road trip through Kansas!  Thank goodness I have many friends and family to see along the drive because Jason may not allow me to pick our road trips anymore! ;).

Also...good vibes appreciated as we are narrowing down on some rental homes in SLC.  It will feel so relieving once we sign a contract!    ~Shanna

We hike without skis too!--Retro post

We have shown a lot of snow and skiing pictures lately, so I wanted to show (or tell you) that we hike too. 

 

Hike 1: Cope Mtn from Burma Road

Sunday was a fun, slow, adventurous day to enjoy in the sun and with friends.  We started the afternoon with some sweet Coastie friends who do Sunday hikes.  I met two girls at the golf course the day before who knew our friends and said they were hiking with them and that we would join.  Crash their hike, why not!  Jason had volleyball at 3pm though so we were only able to join for a bit over an hour.  In that time we wound down the road and around the curves and a little ways up the old Burma Road on the back side of Old Woman.  It appeared to be a sheet of ice, but fortunately covered in semi wet snow that barely presented the ice below.  After the hike I talked Jason into letting us go to Java Flats which is my favorite place on island for yummy food.  Then home for his games and me to do what??????  Hike again!  Not enough motivation to solo ski again, so I hiked with some more friends on Pillar mountain.  It was a gorgeous day up there!  

It was there that I finally got my video of Kodi to show to our Anchorage dog rescue friend, that Kodi is not a lab like we thought he was.  

It was a big deal when we got Kodi that we got a yellow lab, per Jason's wishes, requests, insistence, etc :). My desire for a brown lab, husky, German Shepard, etc all got veto'd.  After a year of having Kodi, we learned/concluded that he really is a husky but looks like a yellow lab.   YAY!!!

Kodi doesn't live for the water (nope not a lab), is smart and cautious on the ice (yep much like a husky/sled dog), is long and lean (yep, again, hello husky), and LOVES the snow (yep he is a husky!).  

We love this guy and despite finding a place to rent in Utah is more difficult because of him and us having a dog or a large dog in fact...he is a keeper and life is more incredible and warm hearted with him.

This is Kodi when he finds snow.  You would think he has fleas but I think it is his way to say, I LOVE this STUFF!

   

On Pillar looking towards the Prongs and the Sisters 

Dinner that night.  
Carrot soup with caramelized onions it is when you have too many carrots to use up!  And roasted broccoli too because of the same story!  We love vegetables!
Surprisingly, this kept us full all night too!  (added some chicken sausages in it for the protein) and believe it or not, the recipe was from Campbells.com and was still fully homemade (no packaged foods minus the sausages).

~Shanna