Em is Here!!!!!

Emily came in April 9th and we have been having a blast!! She works during the week and I have classes but we have gotten together almost every day to do dinner and hang out! She has a checklist of things to do in Fairbanks from one of her friends and we have already made a pretty big dent on it! We went to North Poler her first weekend here and saw the reindeer. We've mostly gone to the food places but this past weekend we took a drive out to Chena Hot Springs along with Justin. We did a 3 1/2 mile hike and then went and relaxed in the hot springs! It was very relaxing!! This coming weekend we are flying down to Anchorage which should be fun! The weather is calling for snow and rain but we are going to make the best out of it no matter what!! I'll have to get some rain boots before we leave!

Bag #4 - Sent to my friend Ben's mom!! :)

The inside with pocket

North Pole Em's first weekend here! No Santa though :(

At the top of Angel Rocks...the hike we did near Chena! It was a very warm day!

On our way back down...I was unaware we were really starting a snowball fight but we sure had one!!

Just a few days!

So the biggest news that I have is that my cousin Emily will be here on Friday and I am sooooo very excited to have her here!! As Memere said, Alaska will never be the same!

I had a really good Easter. I was able to skype with both sides of the family which were some of the highlights of my day! Justin and I cooked a big ham dinner and a nice relaxing day. Also this weekend, I went to a Roller Derby and below is one of the pictures from it.

I finished my third bag and posted a couple pictures of it below. The next one I make is for my friend Ben's mother!

Besides that, not much has been going on. I am just really looking forward to having Emily here!! There is soooo much sun now and it keeps getting brighter! The temperatures have gotten up to about 50F and it is bright out until about 10pm!

Roller Derby

Justin and I with our Easter feast!

Me on campus...there are huge mountains behind me but they don't come out on camera!

We colored Easter eggs and of course I marked one!

My third bag!

Inside with the pocket

This weekend Justin, Ben and Ben's friend from home and I went out to Chena Hot Srings and rented a little cabin for a night. It reminded me a lot of the Maine Outing Club cabin at Sugarloaf since it had no running water or electricity and the lights and stove were run off propane. We went on a walk along the Chena River as the sun was setting, played some cards and relaxed in the hot springs!

Sun setting on the Chena River

ME!

Justin inside the cabin

Me outside the cabin!

Ice Sculptures

Spring is coming in Fairbanks!! It is finally warm enough out to be outside and when the sun is out it is WARM even though the temperatures are in the 30's.

I had my first full committee meeting this morning and it went really well. I received a lot of input about my project. I have a woman from Vermont who specializes in geosciences and soils and a man who specializes in tree growth.

This past week a few friends and I went to check out the World Ice Championships. Even though the sculptures were already judged, they were open for public viewing. There was also a big ice slide which was a lot of fun! We went back at night and all of the sculptures were lit up which was really cool. I posted a lot of pictures on Facebook so if you have access to that I would highly recommend checking them out! If not, I posted some below.

Last night my indoor lacrosse intramural team won the championships! We played an all male team with not a lot of skill but a lot of athleticism and poor sportsmanship. We put them in their place and won by one point!

Scorpion stinging a spider

First place for multiblock...tropical sea fish!

Moses

Playing on the kid's sculptures!

The ice slides!

An Igloo!

Sculpture at night

The slides at night!

Got my green for St. Patty's Day!

This weekend I am headed out to Chena Hot Springs with a few friends and I am really looking forward to it!

I bought at sewing machine a few weeks ago and thought I would share a couple of my projects (especially for Memere!)

Bag #1

Bag #2

This week I am on spring break so I have been catching up on work and sleep! More projects to come soon!! :)

More and more light!

Things are still going well up here in Fairbanks! I haven't been up to too much so far this semester, but we have gone on a few small adventures...

We went to see the start of the Yukon dogsled race. It's over 1,000 miles long and takes them about two weeks to finish!

Me overlooking the start of the race! It started on the Chena river right downtown.

I got to touch the pipeline!!

Justin and I

I found some amazing x-c skiing at a place called Birch Hill. It's well groomed, free and has lots of hills!! :)

The temperatures are slowly getting warmer and the days are much longer. The sun comes up around 8am and sets around 6 pm! Most of the time I don't need my big jacket anymore which is exciting! We had a few days last week where the temps actually got up to 35 and the snow started melting everywhere! It's back below freezing now but it's nice that the sun is strong enough to do that now!

I'm really looking forward to Emily coming April 10th! My family is coming out in June and I can't wait for that either!! I miss everyone lots!!!

Back in Fairbanks!

It has been a while since my last post! I have been busy with break and getting back into things at school but everything has gone well!!

Break was wonderful! I made it home in time for Christmas and it was great to see most of my family! I was able to visit with almost all of my friends, go skiing for a few days, go to a few contra dances, visit UMaine, play large amounts of Super Scrabble with the family and just plain relax!

I flew back up to Fairbanks on Jan 19th and Justin spent the first week up here with me! It was good to have someone here to help settle me back in! About half of my friends aren't returning this semester, but I am enjoying the alone time! I still have a few and they are keeping me going! :)

I haven't been able to do too much exciting stuff since I have been back. I am only taking two classes: Statistics and a GIS course. Between classes and research stuff I have more than enough to keep busy!

The temperatures are finally going up a little bit and the amount of daylight has increased tremendously since I left back in December! The high temperatures for this upcoming week are all between zero and positive ten! The sun is coming up around 9:30 am and setting around 4:30 pm which isn't nearly as bad! It is still hard to get up before the sun, but at least it keeps getting earlier!

I took a bunch of pictures over break and since I've been back, but here are just a few! If you want to see more, they are all posted on Facebook!

4 Shmos with Memere and Pepere on Christmas!

Joel and I while x-c skiing with the family at Duck Brook in Acadia

Out snowshoeing with Mom and Dad!

Skiing at the Camden Snowbowl with Jess and Andy!

Annabelle's first birthday party!

Skiing at Saddleback! (Em, Me, Don, Gerard & Joel)

Back in Fairbanks....

The Chena River...Ben, Justin and I took a walk down it one afternoon

Pretty trees on campus!

Since I've come back, many ice sculptures have been put up. This one is outside the engineering building!

Walking on a warm day!

That is about all I have for now! I will try to keep posting more regularly again! I'm really looking forward to when Em comes on April 10th!!