Hoonah Bound

You know those people you see in really random places doing really random things but its usually really cool random places and really cool random things and you just kind of ask yourself... who lives like that? well WE DO!! Were moving to HOONAH! We are gonna roam with the Natives, eat the best sea food in the sea, watch all the whales, learn how to sea kayak, become friends with the bears ( there is a ton of bears), mountain bike all around the village, order our necessities through bush orders, and live the village life in the rain forest in Hoonah.
We are leaving our cabin on the 27th driving back through Canada (AH) to Haines, AK getting on a ferry to Juneau, AK hanging out in Juneau for 2 days then getting on a ferry to Hoonah so if the plan goes as follows we should be there on January 31st. Hoonah has 180 miles of roads most of which are logging roads there is one place to eat two bars a post office and uh..... thats all I know at this time...... We haven't found a place to live yet...... but if we did have a place lined up that wouldn't really be us haha this is the third time we have loaded up everything we own without a destination however the first time we have moved by ferry.... We are really bummed to leave Willow. We really really like it here but ya never know one day we might end up back here. We have so much stuff we have to get done in the next couple of weeks...... Other then our big exciting news about the job we are doing pretty good. Life seems to keep going faster and faster. Hatch is huge I know we keep saying that but he just keeps growing and growing. Me and Hatch have a date today we are going to go to the vet to get shots and some paper work to get through Canada then we are gonna visit Aron at work. Hatch has really become part of our lil family. He is such a riot and his lil personality just keeps growing and growing. Aron thinks Hatch needs a friend.... I'm not sure if he means a puppy friend or a baby friend....... hhhhmmmm.... don't get your hope up to high dad.... until next time...

2010

Not much to update about but I get so much crap from everyone when I don't write on here so I thought I better..... A couple new things I guess... Aron has a job interview tomorrow for a State Trooper Tech position in Honnah I have no idea how to pronounce it but I do know that 900 people live there. It is an island off of Jeauno which means we would have to move but who knows the grass may be greener on the other side.... I got a promotion at work I am now the Tech Lead which is really fun I like the fact that I run a snowboard/ski shop and three guys work under me its really fun and we have a blast for the most part I mean its still work but its a pretty chill atmosphere and at least I'm making more money. Hatch has turned into hell on wheels and for some unknown reason he has set an internal clock to wake up every morning at 5 AM and its not a pleasant hey everybody im awake its more like a I'm gonna run around and leap and bark in your sleeping face until you decided to wake up and play with me and Aron is so far from a morning person and he is half awake yelling at hatch how he needs his sleep and he can't possibly wake up right now and play with him and when hatch continues to freak out and yelp Aron then turns to the threat of all threats and proceeds to tell hatch if he doesn't stop he is going to make some nice puppy slippers out of him and then I get pissed off because I hate that the dog is barking and Aron is threatening to kill him so I get up play with hatch downstairs for a half hour then we all go back to bed for a few hours and that is how we start every single day of our lives haha..... I've also decided to join every other overweight person in America and set the new years resolution to get in shape so since the day after Christmas I have been diligent to Jillian Michaels and her 30 day shred! which really should be called let me kick your ass for a half hour and then watch you die in a pool of your own sweat. haha ..... have I mentioned yet that we haven't had water for a week now haha apparently are psychotic drug dealer waste of a life living on our damn tax money neighbors think it is totally acceptable to flush foreign objects down the toilet so they don't have to pay for trash service (some people are so freakin unbelievable!!!) so we need to pump the septic tank which really isn't that big of deal that is if we knew where the damn thing was! So Aron has been searching for it... the owner of the property has no idea where it is... the previous owner who put it in is now 85 years old and doesn't even know what day of the week it is let alone where he buried a septic tank years ago is..... oh and in Alaska the only permit you have to get on property is a driveway permit after that your free to do whatever you want on your land.... you can build anything.... install anything.... so its not like we can go down to the court house and figure out by some sort of record where it is.... by the way there is no court house..... so poor little Aron has spent hours mostly in the dark seeing how we only have about 5 hours of light right now searching for it with a weed burning torch a bottle of propane a piece of rebar and a post hole driver and a shovel and he is doing this in negative 15 degrees our landlords went to Michigan for the holidays and should be back later this week but until then we will keep searching tonight my job is to hold the torch..... wish us luck! So I know I started this blog saying not much to update I guess there was more then I thought..... hope everyone is staying warm and enjoying the new year!

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.......