Happy Holidays!

Hatcharooko!

Hatch is such a mamas boy

Christmas Day by the fire

Doesn't he look like he belongs here

Bright and early Christmas morning! Aron was so SO excited to be awake!

So I thought I better update because we haven't for awhile.... Happy Holidays! We had an awesome Christmas and were very very spoiled. We stayed home and had a fun day together! We had a big fire outside and cooked hot dogs haha it was a hell of a Christmas meal! We recieved so many packages full of treats and goodies! Things are going good here we are starting to settle in a little bit more and fixing things up how we want them. The job search is a rollercoaster one day we want to find one the next day we are fine with where we are at and the next day we are making plans to ditch our current circumstances and head out into the bush haha so I guess we will just see what happens. We are pretty excited for New Years we are BBQing and we have decided to celebrate New Years with Utah since we spent most of the year in Utah so at ten o clock we will celebrate! Hatch is HUGE! He is such a handful and so free spirited and he loves air pop popcorn haha it is the funniest thing we give him one piece at a time and he eats it like an old man and we just laugh our heads off and that is pretty much our entertainment haha!

Mc WHAT???

Most people are content living inside the box, playing by all the rules, and overall fulfilling the role of there lives however we have discovered that we are definitely not most people we live life on the edge not standing on the edge of course that would be stupid rather we hang by our fingertips to the point where we might slip however we would rather take the chance of falling then not knowing the feeling of hanging there at all….. I’ve added a few words to my vocabulary this week such as village, pedal bike, water hauler, wood stoker, basket weaver and land locked. I’ve also taken a few words out of my vocabulary such as vehicle, take out, white folk, technology, and civilization. By the way did I mention that my husband interviewed for a job in McGrath….. you might be thinking McGrath…. McGrath…… where have I heard of that well you haven’t and don’t bother googling it because you will get nothing….nodda…. zilch! I spent countless nights praying for the phone to ring…. And then it did….. and I’ve now learned the life lesson …. If your going to take the time to pray for the phone to ring you should also take the time to pray for the specific person you would like to call. Haha no we really are SO SO excited just for the opportunity to interview and the possibility of getting a job. Living in a village would be so adventurous not to mention extremely intense oh and did I mention that one of Aron’s responsibilities would be to make the Native’s aware of wildlife laws and regulations and hold them accountable if they break any of the laws and regulations….. for those of you who aren’t familiar with Natives this isn’t a trophy hunt this is there livelihood hhhhmmmmmm….. the villagers our gonna love us…. Looks like I got a real John Smith on my hands but I’ll tell you what that damn Pocahontas better watch out……….

zero degrees and eight miles

We went on a hike today. We both had the day off so we spent the morning down at the Trading Post drinkin coffee hanging out with the old timers talking about prospecting gold..... I'm pretty sure thats how we will spend most of our summer.... anyway then we went on a hike up Hatcher Pass. We had a lot of fun! Hatch did pretty good for about 15 steps and then he was cold and ready to be carried so Ar carried him in his coat via kangaroo style haha its was pretty freaking cute though. We saw three dog sled teams on the trail. It was so awesome! We had such a fun day today! Probably my favorite day in Alaska thus far.....

A lil taste of Willow

The Willow Trading Post.... A local hang out pretty much the only place to hang out haha we also do our laundry here.

The espresso house that sells everything!

Our road

The burger bus

Willow Airport



We have successfully made it one month in Alaska! We have also been successfully married for two months! Were broke as a joke however we still have the choice of chicken or beef.... ROMAN that is! We are loving married life and I'll love it even more when I can train Aron to stop moving the damn showerhead. haha Aron has applied for a lot of jobs and were crossing our fingers, our toes and would like to invite you all to cross your fingers and toes so that we might get a job soon! We have really been counting our blessings lately..... we've also been counting our toilet paper squares haha but we would like that say thanks again to all of you who made this dream possible for us especially those who have gone above and beyond we are truely grateful for our family and friends and the great support system we have. We love it here in AK. Willow really feels like home and we are really hoping Ar can get a job around this area so we don't have to move. People in Willow are just crazy enough to make us feel like we are still sane. We love the town, the people, and the endless miles of trees, rivers, and lakes that surround us. We love Chip the squirrel that lives under our house. Aron has tried to kill him but he keeps missing haha but we have to kill him because he is eating the installation. Hatch loves Chip because he can hear him through the hard wood floor and he can't figure out what it is but its pretty entertaining to watch. Hatch is doin good. He wants to be apart of whatever is going on which is cute however when I'm trying to take a bath and he's trying to leap over the tub.... not so cute well were just out here in our lil cabin tryin to live our lil dream..... until next time

Greetings from the sticks....

We have been in Alaska now for 3 weeks. Work is going good for both of us. Its not ideal but were getting by. Aron has been applying for biologist positions so hopefully we will land something soon. We have meet some interesting people. It's cool that no matter where you go you can always find good people. We love the town we live in. Willow is definitely one of a kind. Locals warned us if the people don't like us we will find out pretty quick. Take a look around at any local bulletin board at the post office or the trading post there are posters for missing people everywhere and its not because people are crazy and just kill people and hide them in the woods..... well it might be haha but its more like we are a little behind the times and stuff like that is still handled by the people. Actually the crime rate is pretty low here. There is an open carry policy here so everyone has a gun and everyone knows everyone has a gun which is probably one of the main reasons the crime rate is so low. It seems that people here in Alaska are either the craziest people or the smartest people and sometimes its both. It's amazing how many people are here in Alaska to hide out and live the "real" American lifestyle I've never been so educated on current politics, federal tax laws, and what We The People actually have the right to do and don't do..... Work has been a little bit of a struggle lately because we have been working opposite shifts so we haven't really seen a lot of each other lately which sucks for us however Hatch loves it because he never has to be home alone. We some how managed to both get off the same days this week though which has been really fun. Hatch is doing good he is nine weeks old now and he has been so fun and entertaining. He is growing so fast and we have so much fun with him. We went out with some friends today to help them pick out there christmas tree and Hatch had so much fun riding in Aron's backpack. We are very excited for Christmas we have decorated and our cabin is very festive! Other then that I guess not to much is new..... were just pluggin away livin the dream.......

Meet Hatcher aka Hatch

Introducing the newest member of the Bauer family....... We finally did it......... we went back and forth should we get a dog? is it the right time? can we afford it? should we just do it? what kind of dog should we get? yes for the 100th time Aron it HAS to be a puppy! well today we took the leap..... I found an add on craigslist for puppies in palmer so I thought what the heck might as well just email they are probably a lot for a choc lab but it won't hurt to try right....... well they were a lot cheaper then I thought they would be.... Aron had to work today so I had the lady meet me and sportsmans warehouse so I could show Aron the puppies and of course he fell in love so I TOOK A PUPPY HOME! ..... and then the adventrue began..... I was so excited I put a blanket down on the front seat, put my brand new puppy down and he laid down and fell asleep..... It was so cute! Five miles down the road he woke up he jumped from the floor back to the seat over on my lap and then leaped over the seat into the back seat in my frantic of trying to get him back into the front seat luckily I hit a red light.... I stopped at the red light took off my seat belt reaching as far as I could trying to grab him my foot slipped off the break so I started rolling once I realized I was rolling I slammed on the break after my struggle I returned our new puppy to the front seat only to look over to the car next to me looking at me like I was some freak of nature talking to myself and jumping into the back seat of my car in a frantic at the red light..... haha and thats how we spent the next 20 miles together.... him trying to leap over my arm into the back seat and me not letting him....... It is so cute to watch him run and slide on the hard wood floor he is so playful and has so much energy.... and we just LOVE him!

UPDATE!

So everybody says Alaska is cold but Alaska is not cold its down right freeze your ass off, don't breath because it hurts, pray your car starts at least one more time. We thought it would be cool to get a outside thermometer so we could see the temp but its completely useless because it only goes to negative 20 and it stays there for most of the day! But were getting use to the cold and still loving Alaska! We both got a job which is SO exciting because now we at least we know were gonna make it......for now....... barelly haha I am working at sports authority in the tech shop and I sell snowboards and ski's and Aron is working at sportsmans warehouse. He starts tomorrow and I'm a little nervous about him working with the public because he can't even walk through a department store with out feeling like he needs to break something because of all the people haha hopefully he will land a biologist job soon :) So we just found out that when you move to Alaska and you get a job you only have ten days to get a Alaska drivers license and supposedly the test is really hard. We called and got a quote for our car insurance and its going to go up 30 bucks a month! 30 bucks! It doesn't sound like a lot of money but that is two jumbo size bags of M&M's and we all know how Ar needs his M&M's. We are really looking forward to the holidays I came home from work last night and Ar had christmas music on and candles lit our cabin is so cozy we love it! We are planning on having Thanksgiving with our landlords/neighbors/new friends. Aron is outside right now installing plug ins on our vehicles because seriously if we don't plug them in they aren't gonna start. Its only November and its already this cold we can't even imagine what the dead of winter is going to be like but we are really excited to get out and play in it!

HOLY SNOW!

This sign is up our road so this is us telling someone where we are going... haha

This is our closet luckily our room is huge we don't have a very big closet so Ar got this long board at lowes and put a bunch of nails in it and WALA I now have a place to put all my hoodies! plus now I don't have to decorate that wall.

Our beautiful quilt that my beautiful mother made

The bathroom.... it might be a little small but I'm grateful for what I got..... running water is a priviledge around here!

High Temp of the day 20!

Our home

This is our Trash Service.....

Aron in the snow!

We haven't had much snow since we've been here but then all of a sudden today BA BAM! SNOW! We have discovered when it snows here it doesn't just snow it dumps it snowed a foot today in two hours! Unfortunately for us we went to Wasilla to look for jobs during this time so on the drive home it was really fun trying to stay on the road that the plows couldn't keep up with. The job hunt is going well but everytime one of our phone rings we get really excited like op this could be the call that tells me were gonna make it.... haha but so far no such calls..... We are having a lot of fun exploring and finding new things and meeting new people were just gonna keep pluggin away looking for jobs!

The Bauer Shack

Home sweet home! Well were here we finally made it! We live her in Willow in this cute and cozy cabin we love it and have spent the last few days getting it all set up. We got the internet tonight which is just about the most exciting thing ever since we have been sitting in the library parking lot stealing there WiFi to look for jobs! We love love LOVE Alaska so far! and I'm sure we will love it even more when we can make some money to pay some bills haha I would put our address on here but we don't have one. We have no idea what it is and neither does our landlord so we just got a P.O. Box so if anybody wants it just let me know and if you need our physical address we live in Willow if ya head up towards hatcher pass your on the right path go pass the railroad track if ya pass the hitchin post sign you've gone to far keep an eye out for the bush planes the bushplane airport is not to far ..... Willow is a pretty cool lil town I've never been anywhere like here we have a post office a gas station,video store, liquor store combo! We have a coffee stand that you can also buy pizza, and shakes at. And we have a library which is hardly ever open hence why we have to sit in our car and steal there WiFi! I'll post some more pictures of our cabin soon!

so for those of you who don't know.... me and aron decided to move to alaska during our trip to yellowstone in july he had been talking to his uncle mark on the phone about alaska when he got off the phone we started talking about alaska and how cool it would be to live there a half hour later we had this crazy plan to go and today that crazy plan came true
not the screws! (thats from Aron dad)

Tok

Well we arrived in Tok, Alaska. Tok is not a big town you don't even have to blink to miss it. We are staying in the one and only hotel open in Tok there isn't any restaurants but they do have a grocery store which is where we purchased our dinner tonight. Aron is having a hungry mans dinner and I am having a lean cuisine panini thank goodness our hotel has a microwave! The road was long today we made it 400 miles and it took us 9 hours. The road was the worst it has been the blacktop freezes so much that its buckled the whole way which really throws the trailer around a lot it makes me really nervous when i see the trailer in the mirror and then i don't then it comes back again then its gone again ah! woah! it can be intense! We blew a tire today it took us one hour to change it and when I say us I mean Aron I just gave moral support and took pictures! A couple people passed by and asked if they could give us a hand which was really nice of them but my handy man Aron had it all under control. After close observation Aron came to the conclusion that it was NOT due to the long bolts he used to hold the license plate that caused the tire to blow..... I knew it was gonna be a long day when I spilled my coffee all over my lap this morning and it wasn't just a little bit I have had a full on coffee look a like pee stain all day long thats embarrassing! Our cell phones work now which is exciting but not the most exciting thing of our day.... we were pretty stoked to get out of Canada. All the gas pumps in Canada look like they came straight out of an 80's film they have the numbers that flip nothing is digital and you can't pay at the pump. The parking in Canada is a lot smaller then it is in the U.S. it may not seem like that big of a deal but when you have a truck and a car on a trailer it was a pain to try to park anywhere! But I think our biggest complaint about Canada was the coffee lids everywhere we got coffee they had those cheap plastic dixie lids the kind where you literally have to tear the plastic to open the flap to drink out of and when you do drink out of them they cut your lip who can drink out of those things?! We stopped at the Welcome to Alaska sign I made Aron promise me 3 days ago that we could stop at that sign because I knew that we would just wanna fly by and get to our destination. We are really anxious to get to Palmer we could of kept driving and made it there late tonight however we could of also kept going slid off the road and spent the night huddled up freezing.... I'm glad we decided to stop and this lean cuisine panini is a lot better then you would think I don't know if its because I'm in Tok, Alaska where they have nothing else to offer or it really is that good. We are very excited to get to our new home tomorrow and would like to thank all of you that have helped us get this far in our journey! God bless! (thanks what people say around here haha) they also say "ya know" and "sooo" and "eah" ha! Gotta love it! Until next time....

and that was Wednesday....

This is the only gas station open between Watson Lake and Whitehorse. A nice man with a trashy beard and his dog came out and pumped our gas for us we were talking to him and he told us that last Thursday they didn't have much snow just a few flurries in the air and then it snowed 4 feet! To bad we weren't a week earlier haha we also ate breakfast here the cook was also the cashier,waitress, and mother of two! It was really good homemade food!

This is the Alaskan Highway if your in between the two tree lines your doing alright!

Our goal for tomorrow is to get to Tok, AK thats about 300 miles up the road. Hopefully our phones will work! Tonight were doin a lil laundry, watchin a lil baseball, and eatin a lil pizza!

slow your row

So we've come to the conclusion that Alaska is already making us slow our lives down. We drove for 9 hours today and made it 300 miles. The road is snow packed, slippery as snot, and makes us pucker up like no other. Aron does a pretty good job keeping us on the road and straight for the most part and all I do is find a tree ahead and tell myself we just have to make it to that tree and then when we get to that tree I find another tree and tell myself the same thing. We are 900 miles away from Palmer which is about three days drive on the ice road. There aren't many places to stop on the Highway and the places that you can stop at have a gas station and thats it. Gas just seems to get more expensive we paid 100 bucks for a half a tank of gas today and with the gas mileage were getting thats about a dollar a mile. We are literally in the middle of nowhere I've never felt so distant from everything. Aron says we are in BFE haha..... We entered the Yukon Territory today and it seems like the more North we get the further back in time we go and the thicker the accents get! We are staying in a town called Watson Lake tonight. The town is about a 1 kilometer long we ate at a place shit I can't remember what it was called something Jakes but it was a restaurant a gas station and a mechanic shop all in one combo haha it decoration was pictures framed of all the trucks and cars that had rolled or tipped over on the Hwy. We actually saw a truck hooked to a utility trailer rolled over on the side of the road we slowed down to make sure nobody was in there but it seems they had already gotten out and gone for help. We went to the grocery store ( the only store) and the prices of produce almost made me faint! Grapes for 6.00 a pound Bananas 1.79 a pound and they looked like they had been frozen all brown and mushy eeewwww..... canned fruit was 2 for 6.00 for a can of fruit! Aron told me he was never going to complain about prices again after being in this town! haha I hope I can hold him to that! We see more wildlife on the road then cars. The more North we get the fewer people we see. we saw caribou, buffalo, a eagle, a fox, a coyote, and a owl. We are hoping that the weather stays clear so we can keep slowly poking a long..... my funny moment of today.... Aron got out of bed this morning and went to look out the window and before he got to the window I said honey what are you gonna look at you don't even have your glasses on and he said "like I need my glasses to see" and he turned to look out the window and ran right into it! It was so damn funny!! haha

Canmore, Alberta

This is the bar we had to go to send the gun

driving into the boarder
At the boarder

ha we made it!

Ar looking at the map cuz he doesn't believe me