Moving Trip

So, I haven't blogged for awhile so this post is going to be SUPER long cause we just moved to Seattle and went on a fishing trip to Alaska. This post will also have a ton of pictures so get ready.

Here we are a weekend or two before leaving Colorado with my family going rafting down the Colorado. Needless to say, don't go in June-it's cold, fast, and scary.I couldn't believe how HUGE my hips look in this picture! Ty is wearing a wet suit circa 1980...Here's an adorable picture of my three little bros showing off their rafting gear

Afterwards we went down to Royal Gorge and I saw this old fire truck and couldn't resist snapping a picture.


It was pretty late, so the light isn't very good, but if you look at the website there's a pretty neat video.

Our moving adventure started early Monday morning (early being 6:00am) as we got all our stuff packed in our car to drive to Utah. However, we were making a surprise visit to Ty's parents so we told everyone we were actually driving through Idaho. In order to help the drive be more productive, we bought one of those DC adapters for the car that converts the car current to household current so we could work on our laptop in the car. We did get some work done, well, mostly Tyler because I get to sick in the car. We arrived in Provo right on schedule and boy were mom and dad surprised to see us. We all got together and ate a scrumptious meal, had FHE, and then went to TGIF for Ice cream (thanks dad). It was great to see everyone!
Then we trucked off to Idaho the next afternoon after a morning of golfing and shopping--that's when I found my swim suit, yay! We arrived at Uncle Greg and Aunt Vickie's house a little later than planned, but we still got to see Aunt Mary Jane and some of her kids, who I hadn't met yet. They were so hospitable and we stayed up (too late) talking and having fun. The next day, Wednesday, we made the last leg into Washington. We had never been to the house we are staying at, so we were relying on my phone's GPS to guide us. Well, we made it into Redmond where we would be staying, but the road we were supposed to turn on to get to their house didn't exist! After aimlessly driving for like 20 minutes, a kind man finally came out and told us how to get to the place we were going and said that the GPS was wrong because the road we were trying to go through really didn't. It was funny. When we arrived at the house we would be staying at we were taken back. The house is GORGEOUS! The people we're staying with are so kind and generous and we are loving it here. The things that I have to get used to are:
1) driving forever to get anywhere
2) all the trees
3) sea level cooking
4) sea level breathing
5) sea level weather
6) living on a septic
7) everything "GREEN"
ok, well you get the idea, there are lots of things to adjust to.

The next afternoon we flew to Anchorage where my grandpa picked us up and showed us around town.

This is the house they lived in for years in College Town when my grandpa was in the AirForce. Unfortunately, the house hasn't been kept upand it bugs my grandparents tremendously.


At least the lawn is green...We went to Alaska to go fishing. Usually we go to fish salmon and halibut, but this year the river outside the cabin was closed to King Salmon fishing, but fortunately for us there are many other types of salmon to fish:
My grandpa has a hanger in Birchwood, about 10-15 minutes from downtown Anchorage. Here he has an apartment for him and my grandma to stay in the in-between trips from the cabin and stuff and he also stores all the equipment. For anyone who hasn't been to Alaska, it truly is the land of the wild. The only way to get in and out of the cabin is by bush plane, float a boat up the river, or in the winter, snowmobile in. In the following picture you can see the snow mobiles and the Cessna 206 that we fly into Willow, the second stopping point before reaching the cabin. We slept in the hanger on a very nice queen size bed that my grandpa keeps for visitors. Thankfully we had plumbing and electricity at this point and the mosquitoes weren't even bad.
Here's my grandpa and Tyler flying the 206 to Willow.
It was cloudy and rainy when we got there and stayed that way all week, here's a pic of the beautiful view of the Susitana River that the Deshka runs into...
Once we land at Willow,(in my gpa's words, the only people that live there are either running away from work, or running away from the law). we take the SuperCub (a serious bush plane), which only has 2 seats so we make two trips. The first my gpa and gma go, then the second me and Gpa sit in the seats and Ty is stuffed back in the baggage area.
This is another pic of the 206 at the Willow hanger.
Here you can see how Ty is smashed in the back. I tried to sit back there since I am smaller, but he wouldn't let me. What a gentleman.
This is another view with a little more sunlight.

Once we arrived at the cabin, the mosquitoes were out in force! This is the girls' outhouse, closest to the cabin because we can't just stand off the porch when the need arises and it's scary to go out when everyone's sleeping cause of bears
We took a trip out to my other Gpas cabin so I could show Ty and so we could check on everything. His property is probably a mile from my gpa ashby's. He has been working on creating indoor plumbing to encourage my gma to come out with him...

voile! it works:)
here's an interior view of the "A" frame cabin my gpa wallace built with his bare hands!
This is the landing strip right outside the Deshka cabin. Only for a Supercub because it is only 800 ft long at best. Years ago one of my gpa's friends tried to take off with his Cessna 182 and fell nose first into the river! No one died thankfully but it was definitely a warning to pay attention to the weight and take off requirements of your aircraft.
This is the Deshka river where we usually get our King Salmon. Since we couldn't, we spent our time eating (my gpa's a fantastic cook) and reading. It was a great R&R for us.
This is the interior of my gpa's cabin. I wish that I could desribe how neat it is! Everything had to be floated in on the river. Including the logs! My grandpa spent 2 weeks floating the river with over 40 logs in freezing temperatures.

This is the front view of the cabin. Tyler and Gma are watching out for the wildlife.
My gpa always takes care of the wildlife, and although you can't see it, there's a fox in the distance we had been watching eat the food we left on the porch.
Here's another view I was trying to get of the fox.
After spending two days at the cabin, we went to Eagle River for church and afterwards did a little sight seeing. This is at Earthquake Park, overlooking the Knik arm of the Cook Inlet. On March 27, 1964, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in North America shook all of Southcentral Alaska. The Good Friday Earthquake was originally recorded between 8.4 and 8.6 on the Richter Scale and later upgraded to a magnitude of 9.2.
Monday we decided to go to Homer to try our luck at Halibut fishing. "Homer is a city located in Kenai Peninsula Bourough in the U.S. State of Alaska. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population was 5,364. One of Homer's nicknames is "the cosmic hamlet by the sea"; another is "the end of the road". A popular local bumper sticker characterizes the town as "Homer - A quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem." Most of what I saw was off the spit where we loaded the fishing boat and took off to Seldovia--you can only get there by boat or plane, surprisingly enough:) This is a picture of the Harbor at Homer
Once we arrived at the Seldovia cabin, I was astounded by it's beauty! Even though temperatures never get above 50 degrees F, as long as you're bundled up, it's fun.
This is the Seldovia cabin.
Another misty view of the beach at Seldovia.

We tried to keep our boat in the water, but the tide was the lowest of the entire year and, we got beached.

The next morning we took off in the boat to go fishing. I had a terrible stomach ache the entire time (because of motion sickness) but was still able to enjoy the time. This is Ty reeling up his first halibut!
There it is! a small 12-15 pounder
Satisfied after reeling it in...
We had catch after catch, but then finally we had a hang up. Tyler spent over 1/2 hour trying to reel this one up and what was it but....A GIANT OCTOPUS
The water was getting too choppy so we traveled back to the cabin and cleaned the halibut. After we threw the carcasses on the beach, over 10 bald eagles flew in to feast.

That next night we went back to the Deshka cabin for our last night and decided to chop some wood. Here's Ty showing me how to do it!
And me!
Moose ears.
Tyler on his pole that he and gpa fixed up to shear the roof since it was sagging.
The wood we chopped.
Some sunny views of the Deshka
My gpas 1940's Jeep

Taking off to go back to Birchwood before we left to go back to Seattle.

This is the coolest thing, so when you fly you can't ever see the propeller, but when I took this shot of the runway I got this interesting time lapse of the rotating props.
Well, there were lots of interesting times, and I just have to say I am glad that we are back safely. Alaska is always trying to kill you.

Swimsuit Success!

On our moving trip, I went with Ty's mom to look for a swimsuit and I found one! It was under $50 at Macy's!
I love how the top comes low enough to cover my stomach, and the boy shorts!!! So awesome:) I actually tried it out today while we washed the car...no pics of that though!

Swimsuit

Any one know where to find a cute swim suit under $50??? I'm searching...and coming up with NOTHING!!! I really like this one from Anthropologie:

Or this one from Tommy Hilfiger:
I wasn't going to buy one this season, but mine had an unfortunate accident and is now going to be used solely for work out purposes. HELP

My Friend Karissa's opened a new hair salon and...

She's having a GIVEAWAY!
SALON K (owned by Karissa and Mik Severe) is having a giveaway for this cute Motley Handmade headband. Perfect for summer! To enter go to karissasalon.blogspot.com. Giveaway will end next Wednesday June 10th. GOOD LUCK!

Politiks

While I was in the airport during my travels, I picked up the Wall Street Journal. I usually resist the urge because it generally frustrates me immensely to hear what's going on in our country and the idiots running it..., but I did and read this interesting article I wanted to share. Maybe all of you aren't in to following politics, but this article at least comforted me in knowing there was someone else who shared my view...

The 'Unseen Deserve Empathy, Too
By John Hasnas

"While announcing Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee to the Supreme Court, President Barack Obama praised her as a judge who combined a mastery of the law with "a common touch, a sense of compassion, and an understanding of how the world works and how ordinary people live." This is in keeping with his earlier statement that he wanted to appoint a justice who possessed the "quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles."

Without casting aspersions on Judge Sotomayor, we may ask whether these are really the characteristics we want in a judge.

Clearly, a good judge must have "an understanding of how the world works and how ordinary people live." Judicial decision-making involves the application of abstract rules to concrete facts; it is impossible to render a proper judicial decision without understanding its practical effect on both the litigants and the wider community.

But what about compassion and empathy? Compassion is defined as a feeling of deep sympathy for those stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering; empathy is the ability to share in another's emotions, thoughts and feelings. Hence, a compassionate judge would tend to base his or her decisions on sympathy for the unfortunate; an empathetic judge on how the people directly affected by the decision would think and feel. What could be wrong with that?

Frederic Bastiat answered that question in his famous 1850 essay, "What is Seen and What is Not Seen." There the economist and member of the French parliament pointed out that law "produces not only one effect, but a series of effects. Of these effects, the first alone is immediate; it appears simultaneously with its cause; it is seen. The other effects emerge only subsequently; they are not seen; we are fortunate if we foresee them." Bastiat further noted that "[t]here is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: The bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen."

This observation is just as true for judges as it is for economists. As important as compassion and empathy are, one can have these feelings only for people that exist and that one knows about -- that is, for those who are "seen."

One can have compassion for workers who lose their jobs when a plant closes. They can be seen. One cannot have compassion for unknown persons in other industries who do not receive job offers when a compassionate government subsidizes an unprofitable plant. The potential employees not hired are unseen.

One can empathize with innocent children born with birth defects. Such children and the adversity they face can be seen. One cannot empathize with as-yet-unborn children in rural communities who may not have access to pediatricians if a judicial decision based on compassion raises the cost of medical malpractice insurance. These children are unseen.

One can feel for unfortunate homeowners about to lose their homes through foreclosure. One cannot feel for unknown individuals who may not be able to afford a home in the future if the compassionate and empathetic protection of current homeowners increases the cost of a mortgage.

In general, one can feel compassion for and empathize with individual plaintiffs in a lawsuit who are facing hardship. They are visible. One cannot feel compassion for or empathize with impersonal corporate defendants, who, should they incur liability, will pass the costs on to consumers, reduce their output, or cut employment. Those who must pay more for products, or are unable to obtain needed goods or services, or cannot find a job are invisible.

The law consists of abstract rules because we know that, as human beings, judges are unable to foresee all of the long-term consequences of their decisions and may be unduly influenced by the immediate, visible effects of these decisions. The rules of law are designed in part to strike the proper balance between the interests of those who are seen and those who are not seen. The purpose of the rules is to enable judges to resist the emotionally engaging temptation to relieve the plight of those they can see and empathize with, even when doing so would be unfair to those they cannot see.

Calling on judges to be compassionate or empathetic is in effect to ask them to undo this balance and favor the seen over the unseen. Paraphrasing Bastiat, if the difference between the bad judge and the good judge is that the bad judge focuses on the visible effects of his or her decisions while the good judge takes into account both the effects that can be seen and those that are unseen, then the compassionate, empathetic judge is very likely to be a bad judge. For this reason, let us hope that Judge Sotomayor proves to be a disappointment to her sponsor."

---Mr. Hasnas is a visiting professor at Duke University School of Law.

Anyone else feel this article speaks volumes about President Obama's ignorance? Or am I just too conservative? I was talking the other day with my dad about this and we started discussing The Founding Fathers and the kind of government our country actually is. According to WikiAnswer:

"The U.S. is a Federal Republic. This means that there is a federation of states with a republican form of government. Unlike what many people expect, it is not a direct democracy. It is a representative democracy. Although many people might say it's a democracy, we actually live in a republican society , which is a political system where the supreme power is held by the citizens who have the right to vote for officials and representatives responsible to them."

Therefore, Republicans seek to protect our republic while Democrats try to push for a more democratic government; more power to the states or to a centralized government. All we need to do is learn from our ancestors who met and worked during the Philadelphia Convention who debated these very issues: Virgina Plan (The Virginia Plan threatened to limit the smaller states' power by making both houses of the legislature proportionate to population) versus New Jersey (Under the New Jersey Plan, the current Congress would remain, but it would be granted new powers, such as the power to levy taxes and force their collection.An executive branch was created, to be elected by Congress (the plan allowed for a multi-person executive). The executives would serve a single term and were subject to recall on the request of state governors.The plan also created a judiciary that would serve for life, to be appointed by the executives.Lastly, any laws set by Congress would take precedence over state laws.) and finally the Connecticut Compromise (Robert Sherman said, "That the proportion of suffrage in the 1st. branch should be according to the respective numbers of free inhabitants; and that in the second branch or Senate, each State should have one vote and no more.")

Well, I just think people don't understand...and they don't care but it is our duty, obligation and RESPONSIBILITY to make informed decisions:) This article shows that just because it sounds good to take from the rich to give to the poor, giving to the poor may not actually help.

I wish I had a video camera to record the beautiful weekend I had last weekend; I went to my friend Brittany's wedding in St. Louis, Missouri It has been like 7 years since I've been to Missouri, and even longer since I've been to St. Louis. Brittany and I have been friends since my Sophomore year at BYU and she has been telling me about her "farm" in Missouri and how cool it was. Funny thing though, she didn't ever describe how absolutely breathtaking the view was!!! The reception was out in Dixon, 2 hours from St. Louis and it was up on a hill that was so majestic it is no wonder the pioneers were disappointed at the Utah Valley view;) So lush and green...It was the perfect evening. The backyard was simply decorated for the festivities, but when the sun set, no paid venue could match in beauty! Here's some pictures from the occasion...

OH yes he's making the grab...

Love ya Brit!!!

secret project

I haven't been posting because every weekend I've been busy working on a secret project...ok, well it's not really a secret, but I'm actually thinking of starting my own business. I need some ideas for a name, and here's the product:)





IDEAS? COMMENTS?

EL DIA DE LA MADRES

Mi madre es fantastica! y la madre de Tyler tambien....bueno, (I just realized I was writing in Spanish and that most of you wouldn't be able to understand what I was talking about...My apologies...) I made some fantastic gifts for my moms for Mothers' Day: For mom Ashby I surprised her with a new temple dress...the history with this gift is that she not only made my temple dress I was married in, but also my wedding dress I took all my pictures in. She is an amazing seamstress...I am not. However, she rarely does anything for herself and has been wearing the same temple dress since the 80's. Not only is her dress out of style (not most important), but doesn't fit her very well. So, I made one to look EXACTLY like the one she made me. Now we are twinners:) It is very flattering on her and has just the right touch of embellishment...Also, before anyone is too impressed, I actually bought the white dress from WhiteElegance and then took off all the stuff they had on the dress and put my own pearls and stuff on.:)

For Tyler's madre, I made her a cute apron. She has some aprons and bought me one of those Flirty Aprons for our wedding, I thought it turned out ADORABLE.

Also, since I was on a sewing rampage, I decided to try to replicate this cute skirt pattern...here is my sister modeling the final product:

My beautiful sister

I was waiting to post until Mothers' Day because I wanted to post pictures of my "projects", but I got home to Colorado and realized my younger sister, Erin, hasn't seen her wedding pictures at all...I decided to help her by making an album and posting some of my favorites here. We had the same photographer and you can notice some similarities:

I tried to post more, but was unsuccessful, so here's the link to the album:

http://picasaweb.google.com.br/carissa.rasmussen/ErinNathanWedding?authkey=Gv1sRgCNXspN6c463VWg#