Denae tagged me on her blog, so I thought I'd post my replies on my blog. Anyone who wants to do this is tagged! :) Alicia

*what is your occupation? I take care of my mom
*what are you listening to right now? Jay Leno's monologue
what is the last thing you ate? dinner - mexican type food, beans, meat, taters, green chile
*do you wish on stars? yes I do
*if you were a crayon what color would you be? a purple/blue hybrid
*how is the weather right now? cold-ish
*last person you talked to on the phone? my mom
*do you like the person who tagged you? absolutely
*how old are you right now? 27 and 297 days
*your favorite drink? lemonade
*favorite sport to watch? I’m not really into sports, but I love watching rodeo and monster trucks
*have you ever dyed your hair? Yeah, quite a few times
*your favorite job? I don't know
*any pets? Scruffy (cat), Mya (dog), Heathcliff (loud screechy goose)
*favorite month? hmm, May or December
*favorite food? That's a tough one, I like a lot of stuff
*what was the last movie you watched? Fantastic Four, rise of the silver surfer
*favorite day of the year? I don't really have one
*what do you do to vent anger? rant, or listen to loud music
*fall or spring? Summer, or if I have to choose between fall/spring, I pick fall
*hugs or kisses? gotta have both
*cherry or blueberry? cherry I guess
*living arrangements? living with my parents, in an apartment downstairs
*when was the last time you cried? a couple weeks ago I guess
*what is on the floor in your closet? Shoes & water storage, and some junk
*who is the friend that you have known the longest? Um, I don't know, my mom I guess
*what did you do last night? Finished quilting part of a quilt, watched movie
*what inspires you? music
*what are you afraid of? I'm afraid of the dark, I admit it
*how many cars have you had? 6- F250, escort (2), durango, Dodge Ram, F150
*how many keys are on your key ring? 9
*how many years at your current job? 4 years 2 months
*favorite day of the week? Anyday that isnt' bad
*where have you lived? Joseph OR, Homer AK, Tok AK, Bozeman MT, Laie HI
*first cd you ever bought? I'm not sure honestly
*favorite vacation? hmmm, the one is November I think
*favorite tv shows? Top Chef, Project Runway, Iron Chef, Real Housewives of Orange County (I admit it, trashy as it is, I like it), Grey's Anatomy.
*5 things on my to do list today: get my hair cut, get some groceries, price shelves, fix dinner, get ready to go to Anchorage tomorrow morning EARLY
*Snacks I enjoy: String cheese, cookies
*What I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire: Pay off debts, give to both sets of parents, buy a house way out in the sticks, maybe an island, just live, do what I want, enjoy myself.
*3 of my bad habits: bad language, impatience, not finishing projects I start
*5 jobs I have had: dishwasher, gift shop manager, petroleum dispension technician, personal care attendant, baker at PCC
*5 things people don't know about me: I don't like bugs, I don't like soccer, I love Get Fuzzy the cartoon, i'm allergic to fish, I forget stuff a lot.

A little scrapbooking

I wanted to post something today, but if I took a picture today, all it would be of would be the sideways snow that is streaking past our house. Justin's been sick for a week, and he was going to go out and ride his snowmachine today, but when he got up in the middle of the night, he looked outside and the snow was going sideways. Poor guy, he hasn't been able to go riding much, with his ankle getting tore up, and then just as that's getting better he gets a terrible flu. And now its snowing and blowing like crazy. So, since I didn't have any pictures of something fun going on today I thought I'd post some scrapbooking pictures.

We've really been working on organization a lot the last month and a half. I think its starting to take hold, we've been trying to be brutal about getting rid of stuff, and for getting things set up with a system, and getting the right furniture to hold stuff. We're using our old entertainment center from Joseph in the scrapbooking room as the bookcase for holding our papers and tools. I think it looks beautiful. I'm very pleased with it, now if we can just keep it that way. The picture below is our regular bookcase where we keep the magazines, and albums we're making/have made.
I started off with the zoo layouts.


Sorry about all the desk stuff in the background, I forgot to crop some of these pictures.

We loved the cat on the left. He was SO cute. He had these really neat arm bands of dark fur around his front legs. Very cute, very cute face too.

Here's Justin helping grandpa and grandma with their outside Christmas lights.

Here's me and Alli at aunt Earlene's the first time we came through. She's a real sweetheart.

I've been doing a lot more scrapbooking lately, but I am doing 12x12 inch layouts now, and I'm not great at scanning them, and then fixing them so you can see the whole thing, so I thought I'd try and experiment and try taking digital pictures of them, and see how that works. I'm sure the picture won't be that great, but maybe it'll give you all and idea of what I've been up to. I'm working on the pictures from Justin and I's trip down south. But before I did that, I made my cards for the year, birthday, mother's day, and father's day. I have a few more to make, but for the most part I'm done. The birthday cards we chose were SO detailed. It was a set of four aliens, and ships, rockets, etc. Well, you can see the pictures. It was so ridiculous with all the parts that I had to take a picture of all the teeny tiny pieces. :) There was a strip of pieces on the adhesive about 20-25 feet long when I ran all the pieces through. It was very detailed. But cute.

Random pictures

Here's some pictures I found on the camera today, and thought I'd share them with you guys. We took a big snow machine ride in december, with some men from church, there was 6 of us - me, Justin, and 4 men from church. We went way out in the hills, and just rode around, and they climbed hills and stuff. I'm a chicken, so I mostly stayed on the trail and tried to learn how to use my machine and not be so frightened of it. :) We stopped for lunch and took these pictures, although I'm bummed I didn't get a picture of Justin.
I look horrible in this picture - ugh. Oh well......
Here's Trace, and in the background is Tony.
Here's Mya on her pillow this morning. When it got cold a couple of weeks ago we moved her out of the unheated entry and into my living room, and just never moved her back. She's learning to live with the family, and not get into trouble. She just looked so cute this morning with her little blue bear laying there (lying there? I can never remember which one to use) with her.
I was talking to a friend last night, telling her about some organizing we did on saturday, and she suggested I post it on the blog so she could see it. So I figured I might as well do that and show everyone. Anyone who has stayed at our house stayed downstairs where Justin and I are living, and so hopefully you can picture this. Downstairs is a little hallway that right in the middle of the house that leads to the stairs that come upstairs (the inside ones). Well, in that little hallway was a set of built in shelves that we have been using for holding things that no one knows where to put them, or the kind of things that don't have homes anywhere else (extra building supplies, spray paint, duct tape, soap, etc). So on saturday we decided to take all that stuff out, clean up the shelves (very very dusty) and put all our books in there. They look GREAT! They look so organized, and it makes a much nicer feel walking through there, plus it feels so good to get something organized. I love projects like that where you can do the whole project in an afternoon. Now all our books are organized by size and subject. We have a church books section, leatherette western history books, non fiction, paperbacks, and on and on. I'm very excited. :) I did have to leave some of the stuff that had been on the shelves, stuff that needed to be inside and warm, so that's on the lower left corner, but I'm going to put some doors on there and make that a cupboard one of these days. Or maybe when I rebuild/reorganize my closet I'll make a space for stuff like that.

President Hinkley

I just wanted to add my tribute to all the ones I'm sure will be coming out about President Hinckley. Pres. Hinckley has been the only prophet that I've really known, since being old enough to know, and to be active in the church. I'm glad for his sake that he will be back with his sweet wife, he's spoken about how lonely he was without her, and I'm sure they're happy together. But, it will seem strange to not have President Hinckley, he was so straightforward and just plain cool. I'll miss his smile, wit, and humor, as well as the tremendous instruction. Alaska has a temple because of Pres. Hinckley, and we were sealed as a family in a temple that he designed on a napkin, its pretty amazing to think about.

Hello

I just felt like blogging today, not that I have a whole lot to say. I didn't want to post a pictureless post, so I looked through my laptop and found this picture. I figured we can all use a little reminder that spring will come again this time of year. Its supposed to be between -5 and -15 tonight. Its already -13 in Soldotna, and 3 here and the sun hasn't even gone down yet, so I know its going to be cold. I guess that's why we live in Alaska though right??? :)

We had our ward conference today, and it was very uplifting for me. I really liked the personal council from our stake president, and bishop, aimed just for our ward, it was really refreshing, and nice to hear a message by the priesthood just for our area. It was mostly about how we need to be more forgiving, and that people aren't perfect, but we have to learn to let things go, and also about the choices we make and the lasting consequences. It was really inspirational, and I got a lot out of it. I wish I could do better all the time about following the things I learn, but I guess we all do the best we can, so I'll just keep working on it and hope I get it down someday. :)

We're doing good. Justin left the house yesterday for the first time since the day after Christmas, so I think he was glad to get out and about. His ankle is still really hurting him, but he got some sports tape, and taped it up tight to hold it together so he can walk a little bit, and start using his ankle. I'm doing good, I took some time this last week, 2 afternoons, to scrapbook, and make a bunch of cards. It was really nice, and very refreshing to do something creative that wasn't holiday related. I enjoy doing all the holiday things, but then I'm glad when the holidays are over too, and I can go back to just doing regular creative fun things. Doing stuff just because I want to, and not because it has a deadline, or a season.

Well anyway, I just wanted to say hi, and do a little blogging today. I hope you are all well, and enjoying your winter, whatever kind of winter you're having, and if you're not enjoying your winter, well then, just think of the daffodils. :) Love Alicia

the Patient

Mya and Scruffy have been worrying about Justin, since he got injured, and they've been following him around, and sitting on him, and staring at him. Its pretty funny. Just wanted to share some cute pics. :) Alicia

The rest of the trip

Ok, this is just a neat old building. Unfortunately, either right before this or right after this, I can't remember, I ran over a bunny. It was really sad, I've never even run over a squirrel before, and I squished a bunny. I was very upset, but not much I could do about it. :)
Vernal temple
Waiting in line at the Taco Bell drive through in Vernal. It was seriously the SLOWEST drive through I have ever been in.
In the convention center, in the area where they show all 12 of the original Book of Mormon paintings, the first time they have ever been displayed together as a collection. They are really impressive, much more detail than you can see in the miniaturized versions.

Cute meeting house in Silverton
I'm fascinated by old mining equipment and mining areas, so it was really cool to be able to drive through the pass between Durango, Silverton, and Grand Junction, and get to see all the old mining stuff. I took pictures of a couple of sings that talk about how much material was mined and sold from there. It was really interesting. Justin's very insterested in mining too, so that was fun to talk about and share.

It was really cold up there, on the north side of the mountain, heading down into Silverton.
I don't remember where this was, but it was pretty. :)

Well, that wraps up our pictures from the trip. Well, the ones that are worth sharing anyway. I already posted the Christmas lights on the family christmas blog, and the rest are scenery and repeats. We had a really great trip.