Hold the Phone

I was talking to my mom the other day and she said she was wearing shorts and that it was about 80 degrees. As soon as I picked my jaw up off the ground I marched over to check our temperature and it said that it was 5 degrees. I started freaking out saying that we were having a heat wave! Please note that the day before we had a blizzard and the weeks before our blizzard we were having negative 10's 15's as high temps. I don't know if any of you reading this wished you had winter this year, but let me tell you, we've had plenty and to be quite honest....I'm ready for summer. Here in Alaska we don't really get a spring, not like a Midwest spring anyway. Last year a couple of days after school got out is when the river ice broke up.

Ben just returned from Anchorage as he took his Science Fair team to state. Every one of our kids got either first or second in their category! Good job, Mountain Village Strivers!!! Let me back up a couple of weekends ago. A group of us went to St. Marys to visit some friends and we were able to catch some dog races and go to their store where they have a deli! Chicken nuggets have never tasted so good. Ha, I joke. They really weren't that great and they didn't feel so great in your stomach afterward either, but at the time it seems like a GREAT idea. It was a great day though and we were able to get out and ride our snow machine. The day before we went to St. Marys we went across the river and were just going through some of those trails and as we were going we came within 40 yards of a moose. It was just standing in the path which let me tell you...the paths are only about 10ft wide if that. The moose and I made eye contact as I was telling Ben to turn around. As we were turning around another moose came out. I was freaking out, but it was pretty cool thinking back on it. Ben had his gun, so it would have ended poorly for the moose if he chose to charge us. As we were coming home we saw some pretty good drifts, so I attempted my first snow machine jump. We have such a big machine that I hardly got any air, but it was pretty fun.

Ok, fast forward to this last weekend. Ben left on Thursday and so I had a girls night on Friday night. We all made something breakfast related and had breakfast for dinner. It was pretty fun! We also ran out of water for the 100th time this year. The water remained off until Sunday morning. The internet went out from Friday until Monday around noon. I'm kind of embarrassed to put this, but I watched SIX movies over the weekend! I couldn't do laundry or do dishes...so I watched movies. I woke up on Saturday and had no voice and had a big headache, so yep...I watched movies. ABC family really is at fault here. They had good movies one after another. On Sunday I had one of my students visit me and we made bread together. It was a lot of fun.

Ben just got back today and surprised me with flowers and a haircut. Let me tell you, he is looking fiiiiine! I'm so happy he is home. Anyway, my eyes are about to close, so I'm out. Thanks for reading y'all!

P.S. The pictures are of Ben's High Octane kids, my student who helped me make bread, flowers, and Mountain Village.

With love,
Ben and Anne

Spring Break!!

Hello Everyone,

Another busy month has gone by us. I've meant to update the blog several times, but something always got in the way...probably facebook or my new found interest called pinterest. A lot has happened since the last blog. Where to begin? Well, Ben took his Tsunami Bowl team to Scammon Bay where his team took first in the quiz bowl section. We celebrated Valentines Day which is also the day we started dating three years ago. This year for Valentines Day, I got Ben six different sampler salsa's as he LOVES chips and salsa. Really anything that will satisfy his need to set his mouth on fire. I used to be just like Dennis where ketchup was always good enough for me. However, I must say, I've been cooking and baking with more Frank's Hot sauce. In fact, I put a couple of chicken breast in about 1/4 c. of Frank's in the crock pot for a good 6 hours, shred it up and put it on a salad. It's delish! Maybe you should try it Dennis. :) Anyway, back to the salsa..it came a couple weeks late and three of the bottles were broken, so that was kind of a bummer. Ben apparently got me a head scratcher....It hasn't gotten here yet. I'll let you know how it is when I get it. I know you all are very jealous at this point.

It turns out that we will be coming back to Alaska next year. We signed our contract for the 2012-2013 school year. Who knows if it will be our last or not. Every time I think about leaving the people here I about tear up....so we will continue to let God be in control. We still feel called to be up here. Ben bought bibles for all of his High Octane boys and they seemed to be excited about it. They have been more open with Ben in telling him what they want prayer for. I can't imagine living a day in their shoes. We have a lot to be thankful for! I celebrated Dr. Seuss Day with my kiddos on Tuesday. We made Dr. Seuss hats and ate green eggs (deviled eggs) and ham (summer sausage) Dr. Seuss day and St. Patricks day are two of my favorite holidays to celebrate with my kiddos. I can't believe how much my kids are growing both physically and mentally.

Ben and I are on Spring Break right now, which is quite awesome. We started our break on the 29th and will return to school on Monday. On Wednesday I went in to get all my work done for the next week, so that it wouldn't be lingering over me all break. It's still been about 10 below, so we haven't gotten out on our snow machine too much. We are hoping to head to St. Mary's tomorrow. I got some spring cleaning done today, which isn't the same as spring cleaning down in the lower 48. We still have snow and will have snow for a good while. I did light a lilac candle though to make it "feel" more like spring cleaning. Other than that, we have just been lazy bums enjoying each others company.

This is my last month of tutoring, so that will be freeing up my time after school. I feel like these last couple of months will fly by and it will be time for Ben and I to venture on home to Minnesota/South Dakota. Ben and I are SO excited to spend time with our families and all our new nieces and nephews. My sister Sarah is due on June 25th.

Happy Birthday to Kathy, Adam, Ryan, and Ava Harvey!!! We miss everyone so much and can't wait to be home for the summer!

With love,
Ben and Anne Harvey