Coming Soon: Denali Pics

All: I'll begin sorting through our pictures from Denali, however, splitting cameras/shooting whimsically leads to long organization.

Also, if you are receiving a mangled/mutilated wedding invitation: my apologies. The USPS decided to go crazy on handling. I received a few returned invites in sore condition (the good part is on the inside, anyway :)

6 Weeks and Alaskan Wildlife

With only six weeks until the wedding, we're definitely feeling the heat. So far, we've gotten about 35 invites out, and my goal is to work on them more this weekend. I switched to nights this week, so there were a few days that Cody and I didn't even see each other in passing. He has a few more busy days at work (the weather is being quite kind to the Alaskan golf industry). This weekend is a championship tournament, so Cody will surely be ready for our mini-vacation to Denali next week!

Here are a few pictures from the past week or so:

We spotted a lady moose on a drive around the fancy houses overlooking the Turnagain Arm (we picniced at Potter's Marsh, deciding to try a new place to eat when neither one of us felt like cooking- Winky's Wings, 4+stars by Cody's rating)

Cody's spotted a pair of bear cubs on the course today... luckily mama bear was nowhere to be seen or heard

We discovered a fantastic lakeside trail located within Anchorage

We added a beaver to the wildlife count here in AK... it's swimming between two trees there, branch in mouth

Beavers' handiwork was visible all around the lake- there are even signs warning about the number of aggressive rodents living in the lake

Scoping out walking sticks for Grandpa

Engagement Pictures

Our engagement pictures are published! Some can be found on Facebook, or through our photographer's website:

http://www.karapennington.com/blog/engaged-emlyn-cody/

If you'd like to see all the pictures, just let me know and I'll share that website.

Sunday Funday

After working almost 48 hours straight (Callaway sponsored a 24-hour event at the course from Friday 6:00pm- Saturday 6:00pm), Cody took today off to relax and catch up on sleep. But surprisingly, that didn't really happen. After church, we enjoyed homemade apple streusel muffins (I couldn't sleep last night-- perhaps my body is anticipating my upcoming switch to nights) ...rated 3.5 stars by the taste tester himself and then we caught up on our netflix. Later this afternoon we headed to downtown Anchorage, since we hadn't been there since Easter Sunday. We took in some touristy shops and the Anchorage Market... all quite enjoyable. The area is all very neat and the atmosphere is perhaps the best part...

Our carefully plated breakfast this morning (I really think the melmac is a nice touch...)

Puffins exist!

The Anchorage Market, held every Saturday and Sunday through mid-Sept

Cheesin' at the market

Stylin' in a Floyd Turbo (Cody doesn't buy it that 'Floyd Turbo' is the actual name)

TWO pennies in one day!

Wait for it... we found a third penny press! All with different designs...

Rough design for boutonneires

We worked on a few wedding details tonight too... assembled the bouquet and centerpiece/pew decorations too. We're working on deciding on parts of the ceremony as well... so we welcome any volunteers for participants. Otherwise you may become volu-'please help us out's. :)

Fourth of July

Although fireworkless, Cody and I enjoyed a lovely Independence Day. We rang in the day with a late showing of Transformers (in 3D, of course). We emerged from the theater at midnight, only to be greeted by the sun. On the drive home, some of the streetlights weren't even on. Perhaps we will be missing all this sun come December...

Stylin' in our 3D glasses

Midnight in Anchorage, Alaska

Cody only had to work a few hours yesterday, so we headed downtown to catch the city's festivities. The parade was impressive, or at least the half we saw. We lunched there as well, trying some local fare (spicy reindeer bratwurst and a gyro). We finished up the day with a little shopping. We did find Cody a pair of black shoes for the wedding (on sale for $31, plus we had a gift card, so only ended up paying $6!). Now, it's just getting him to wait until the wedding to wear them. Our main objective was to buy a grill, which indeed we did. Cody insisted on a charcoal grill, so now we had the latest technology inside in our carport, woot! I'm very excited to enjoy a few steaks and burgers soon!

Enjoying the parade

We spotted a Nebraska family!

AF band of the Pacific... had an awesome Ray Charles/Louis Armstrong- inspired vocalist

Just a man and his new grill

Caillat didn't really like her outside time...

Our 4th of July feast, including corn on the cob (50 cents each! ekk!)

Cody and I have taken to playing board games in the evening. As it stands now, I'm winless in Sorry!, but the reigning Monopoly champion. Will keep you all updated on the tallies...

Quite the Habitat

Just a day in the life of the cat:

Hunting birds...

We discovered she is quite the car cat...

Enjoying the passing scenery when we picked Cody up from work last weekend

Then she enjoyed some sock basket time

Ever begging for running water...

The now grey-black chair: proof of her near-constant occupation

Enjoying evening cuddles on her favorite blanket

And finally, it never takes her long to position us to meet her knee cravings

Alright, and just to show we're not crazy cat people: proof of our interaction with society:

We volunteered at Habitat for Humanity this week  (Cody was able to arrange his schedule to take the day off, so we were able to accompany other St. E's members at the construction site). I am now more educated in setting foundation footings and pumping cement, not to mention arranging J-bolts before said cement sets. Whew. The project includes building seven homes (four separate buildings) and we were able to set the footings on the last house, and help pump the cement into the sides of the single-family house. We're looking to help again on another St. E's day in a couple months. (The families are set to move in at the beginning of '12).

Modeling our safety attire

Setting those J bolts!

Recovering from his cement-hose holding duty

Enjoying the sunny afternoon more than the cloudy morning

What's a Descent Without a Fall?

Cody was able to take the afternoon off yesterday and we headed out to hike Falls Creak Trail, one we'd driven past several times off the Turnagain Arm. The start of the trail was a straight climb... which turned out to be pretty slow going for us. The trail runs alongside a waterfall, so along with the lush woods, we could hear the water too.

At the trailhead

The woods were very thick and green... it was perfect hiking weather- dry and 50 degrees

A man in his element

And a goof in hers

One of the best views- the entire climb was facing north, so we had to remember to turn around to check out the view

Wildflowers

The valley

Enjoying our picnic supper we packed

 Perhaps we didn't pack quite enough

Enlarged to show detail... 3 white dots on hillside are dall sheep: there's proof!

On our way down

Perhaps running down the mountain wasn't the best idea: at least I only fell once (although I'm still working on getting the black soil stain out of my pants)

Where we can often find Caillat

It goes without saying that Cody's been very busy at the course...still. I've still been keeping busy at work, enjoying working days for the next 3 weeks before I change to nights. Cody and I are hoping to make a trip to Denali at the end of July, as long as the course can survive without him for 72 hours or so.

Wedding update: still working on centerpieces and decorations. We've decided on mason jars of varying sizes, now we just need to decide what to fill them with (which flowers, golf balls, etc). We're hoping to take our wedding bands in to be engraved soon, as well as deciding on our music. We met to decide on wedding flowers/church decorations with the woman that volunteers her time to decorate for weddings. She does a great job, so I'm hoping to relinquish that to her. Invites will be completed in the next couple weeks or so, and I'm hoping to get those all addressed/mailed by the end of July... keep a look out in your mailboxes!

Enjoying whale-less Beluga Point last weekend

Apparently dall sheep only travel in groups of three...

We didn't see any whales, just beautiful views...