A homework project...

So, for one of my classes me and another girl, Michelle, had to create a blog that was based in our field of study, education, and how technology has evolved in our area. It's been pretty slow going so far but we're working on it. I am focusing on doing more of an integrated curriculum. Meaning that I think that students should be exposed to music and art and those types of subjects in the actual classroom and integrating them into things like math, science, english, etc. Michelle is focusing more on a special education perspective and working with autistic children. Should be fun and you should all check it out at michelleandjess311.blogspot.com and leave us a comment/feedback.

November, glad its over!

So the last two weeks of this month have been a little hectic. Last Monday I passed out while I was in the shower, yeah a little scary. Luckily, Mac was there to catch me so I didn't hit my head or anything. Apparently I was out cold for about 45 seconds and then took another minute or so to get reoriented. Of course I sobbed the whole time I was coming too. So we went to the doctor just to make sure everything was alright with the baby. Thankfully it was just fine. They said I probably just got too hot and was maybe a little dehydrated and my blood pressure dropped and down I went. That's story number one...

Before I go to story number two, some good news. Thanksgiving! It was a little weird not being with mine or Mac's family but we had good friends to spend it with. Mac and I had to work but the hotel was super slow so we got paid time and a half to cook dinner and do nothing. Pretty great! Then on Saturday Mac and I got to skype with Tessa and Klaira and Tim and Sandra. It was good to get to see them and Klaira is getting so big and talking like crazy! Now to story number two...

Sunday morning came along and our church doesn't start until 1:00 so we just lounged around and slept in a little bit. But when I went to go get ready I found that I was spotting quite a bit. Not exactly what I was hoping to see. I instantly started sobbing thinking the worst had happened. I yelled for Mac and he tried to calm me down but I was a little inconsolable. I finally calmed down a little bit and he gave me a blessing before we left for the hospital. By the time we got there I had calmed down and had a good Sabbath headache going for me. Three hours later we had an ultrasound and everything was fine. They did a bunch of measurements and made sure the placenta was still attached and the cervix was still closed and everything checked out. A giant sigh of relief. The good part of all of this was we got to see our baby again. It even waved to us.

I am so thankful to have Mac in my life and for his ability to give me a blessing when I needed it most and didn't think about it. We are really blessed to have healthy baby and apparently a fighter. I can't wait to get to meet it and hold it in my arms. We told the ultrasound tech that if he happened to see any indication of what the baby was to feel free to tell us, but the baby was nice and cuddled up. I'm so grateful that everything turned out alright but I'm still recovering from the initial shock and stress of it all. Another appointment on Friday and hopefully the good news will continue.

Appointment number 2

So, we had our 2nd appointment the other day and it was quite possibly the shortest Dr.'s appointment I have ever been to. We got to the clinic, checked in and sat in the waiting room for a little bit, gotta love that! Then they take me back weigh me, take my blood pressure and tell me to go pee in a cup. (No problem there!) So, I get back to exam room expecting to have another in depth appointment and I hear, "Should we listen to the baby's heartbeat today?" The Dr. asks as she comes into the room. Well, heck yeah! That's almost as exciting as getting to see the little thing (which I thought we were going to get to do). She whips out the Doppler machine and begins to tell me how it's usually pretty hard to find the heartbeat when they're so small. "But don't worry," she says, "I'll be patient and we'll find it." Not two seconds later you could hear the heartbeat! It was so amazing and a very tender moment. The tears never hit my cheeks, so "technically" I didn't cry but it was definitely an emotional moment. Then, just like that it was over. That was my whole appointment!! I asked a few questions and we left. I think all total it took about 20 minutes once we got into the exam room. But at least we know the baby's heartbeat is strong and everything is going well. So, that's my story of our 2nd appointment. I'm hoping at our next one we'll be able to talk the Dr. into scheduling and ultrasound before we leave for Christmas, and that the baby will cooperate, so we can find out the sex. They don't usually do it until 20 weeks but they can do it any time between 18 and 20 and I'll be a little over 18 when we leave. So keep your fingers crossed for us!

We're PREGNANT!!

We are expecting and so very very excited! We originally planned on waiting to tell our parents until Mac's dad's birthday in November but we decided, "Why wait?" So we blabbed! It was pretty funny too because neither one of our parents believed us. It didn't take a lot of convincing but their first reactions were of disbelief. But we had our first appointment this last Monday and it was awesome. Aside from all the poking and prodding we got to see our little one. I am a little over 9 weeks and the baby is about the size of a grape. Which made it even more amazing to be able to see it's little arm and leg buds, watch it move, and see it's heart beat. So, crazy but mostly absolutely amazing! We'll try and keep up on updating and staying on top of this whole blogging business but here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

You can still see the yok sack above it's head and it's little arms and legs!

A front view, kind of looks like the face but it's hard to say when they're still so alien looking.

It's been a while...

Hello friends. I just thought that I would reassure all of you that Mac and I haven't been eaten by a bear or had any freak fishing accidents we are just crazy busy. But, I have a few spare minutes at work so I'll give you all a little update. =-)

Mac and I are both in school right now. We're attending UAS (University of Alaska Southeast). It's alright but it's been a lot of work for both of us. I'm taking 18 credits and Mac is taking 12 and we're both working the same shift together, full time for the Best Western. It works our really nice, but we don't have a life. We get up in the morning, go to school, then get done with school and go to work until 11:00 or 11:30pm and get up and do the same thing all over again. It's a lot of work but it will be worth it in the long run right? Sometimes I wonder.

I recently got a calling at church. I'm the 2nd counselor in the Young Women's Presidency. So far it's been really fun and not too demanding on an already overloaded schedule. But I know that the Lord is and will continue to bless both Mac and I for the willingness to serve. Mac also received a calling a couple weeks ago. He's been wanting one, just so that he doesn't get complacent. He's the assistant scout master. Which works out nicely for us again because both of our activities are on Wednesday nights.

It seems I've bitten off more than I can chew and my loving husband hates going to bed. Now you wouldn't think that would affect me, I can just go to bed when I want to, right? Sometimes I do, but most of the time I feel bad because even though we work together we don't really get to spend that much quality time together, which is just a part of life, but I still feel bad. So, needless to say we stay up too late and get up earlier than either one of us would like. I don't know how Mac does it and still functions, he's super human I think! I just wish he'd give me some of his super human-ness.

So, other than that, not a whole lot of anything interesting happening in the Anderson family! The fishing season is pretty much over, which is sad for the both of us and now there is nothing to do in Juneau. It really does basically shut down after the last cruise ship comes in. I thought Mac was exaggerating when he said that before but he wasn't. All the shops downtown start closing up shop, some of them a few weeks before the last cruise ship. And the hotel is starting to slow down now. We've had nights where we have rooms to sell which again, I didn't think would happen. Anyways, now that I've told you all how busy we are and complained a little, I've got homework to do. Yuck! =-P

Fishing in Montana Creek

This creek is one of our favorite spots to fish. It's down in this steep cut canyon and just beautiful, probably because its called "Montana" creek! Anyways, the chum salmon run up this creek to spawn and the dolly varden trout follow them up and eat their eggs, so that's what we fish for is the trout, cuz the chum's are nasty. So, here's some pictures of our last few trips to Montana...creek.

There are raspberry and blueberry bushes everywhere.

Beautiful canyon creek.

Mac, the fish slayer!

I was playing with the camera while Mac was fishing and thought this would be a cool picture. It didn't turn out quite how I wanted, but I think its still kinda cool.

My first dolly since we've been up here! Pretty nice too I'd say.

I had fun playing with our camera and trying out different settings. I thought this one turned out pretty cool.

Right as we were getting ready to leave Mac spotted these two big fish go zooming down the creek. They happened to be two king salmon, which we were not really expecting to see. So we stayed for what I thought would be a little while and Mac swung big streamer flies at these fish. I ended up snagging them a couple times but everytime it would wrap him around the snag and snap him off. This was one right before it snapped him off. He did finally get one to go down stream but it ended up swimming right under a tree Mac was standing behind. So Mac is trying to kick this thing in the head so it doesn't go up anymore and he just keeps on swimming and snaps him off. It was pretty good watching!

A new day on the creek....

I really like the way this picture turned out. If you look close you can see that Mac is whistling.

Blueberries...yum!

These next pictures I was just having fun. I was trying to get a good picture of a tail fin sticking out of the water so I just kept shooting and some of them actually turned out pretty cool.

Shake your tail "fin". =-)

Here's our bear! I don't know why but I am always the one who sees the bear first. As I was walking back toward where Mac and Justin were fishing I thought I heard some branches cracking or something but just kind of shook it off. Then as I got closer I could see that they were moving and a big black shadow was the culprit. So, trying to stay calm, I tell Mac that there is a bear. I'm not gonna lie I was a little nervouse because I was on the other side of the creek all by myself and it looked like the bear was coming across the creek my way. But he didn't and instead I got some cool pictures!

Coming down the hill...

Peeking through the trees.

Scoping out the salmon situation. Thankfully there was a "salmon" situation otherwise we could have a real situation on our hands! It was still pretty cool though. I wish I could have got a picture of it actually fishing, now that would have made my day!

Kind of a long post I know but I just had so many pictures, and believe me I cut most of them out! But we're having a blast here in Alaska. Getting ready for the coho salmon to start running and then school starts in a couple of weeks. I'm actually a little excited because then it will give me something to do at work when its slow, which it will be in the next couple months. Well, I think this post is long enough and if you stuck it out to the end of it I commend you!

Fishing

I have been meaning to post pictures of our fishing trips and I keep forgetting, so today's the day...

Sockeyes

Not my best picture, but the fish is nice!

There were a ton of whales out where we were and they were breaching all over the place. We actually barely missed one coming completely out of the water, we just caught the splash which was pretty cool too.

I was never quick enough to get a good tail picture, and every time I was ready the boat would rock and mess it up so this is as good as I got.

Hefting up the catch of the day...

100 pounds!!

Tanning

I haven't really been out in the sun, able to get a really nice tan, the one that lasts you through the winter, in over a year. Last summer I was in Alaska and whenever I was outside I was sportin the neoprene waders and a jacket so there was no sun touchin my skin. Before that it was winter, not much sun, and the summer before I was in Montana and had pretty good color. So, I figure it's been closer to two years since I've had a decent tan.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that I could see pretty much every vein in my legs and arms, not something I was used to, so I mentioned it to Mac. He kindly told me that it was because my skin had gone beyond pale and was now virtually translucent! I decided he was probably right when every time I went to church and saw my reflection in the doors and was appalled at my legs and their lack of any sign of pigmentation.

So the other day I went and bought a tanning package and tanned for the first time in a long time. It was glorious! So, I'm hoping that after a few weeks I never see my veins again!

One year anniversary!!

I know this was about 3 1/2 months ago, but I'm a bad blogger so you'll just have to bear with me! It's true, Mac and I have been married a year (a little over that now!) And it has been wonderful. People are always telling us that the first year is the hardest or that the first 5 years are the hardest, I don't buy it. Of course we had a few rough patches but nothing enough to constitute our entire year as being hard. Through it all I did learn a few things about my wonderful husband, some I already knew that have been reaffirmed and others that are completely new:

1. Mac is a wonderful cook! This I already knew but every time he makes something it is always delicious and I don't know how he knows to put what spices and flavors together. He just pulls things out of thin air it seems like. For example, the other day we decided we wanted some chocolate chip cookies so we buy the chocolate and come home, well, we forgot the baking soda (I think, one of the baking things) and he just threw in the ingredients, without measuring and the cookies actually turned out good. The texture was a little caky but they were still good with a glass of milk. =-)
2. I hate making decisions, even the little ones like what do I want for dinner, and it drives Mac crazy. He's come to completely loath the phrases, "I don't know" and "I don't care." I'm trying to do better, but I think Mac might be crazy before too long.
3. Mac has a lot of hobbies! I never knew someone could have so many things that they want to do or are currently pursuing, to name a few: fly tying, fly rod building, saddle making, making spurs, fly fishing or any fishing for that matter, bow and rifle hunting, cooking, learn to play the guitar, record some music, aspiring photographer...just to name a few.

I could keep listing things that I have learned through a year of marriage but it could get quite lengthy. The most important thing is that we made it through our first year and it was amazing, I wouldn't want my life any other way, unless there was a baby of course! ;-) But here are some pictures of us eating our wedding cake top...

It looks the same as it did a year ago!

Opening our 'present'.

Concentrate...

Who needs a fork?

Open wide! =-O

Sharing is over rated...

"Don't bite off more than you can chew"?