1. What did you eat on Thursday? A vanilla bean frappuccino, pizza, Chex Mix, etc
2. How many miles (kilometers) did you drive on Thursday? Dad drove me to work after getting me the frappuccino (I love when he does that lol), but it's just down the street from where I live, so zero miles lol
3. How many relatives did you see bon Thursday? Just dad
4. What did you wear on Thursday? Blue pants, a white shirt that said "cats and books: the purrrfect combination, black shoes, etc
5. Are you planning to buy anything in particular on Friday? I didn't buy anything

There's an Italian restaurant here that has a table next to a curtain, and I got to sit there this time, yay!

There was a random alcove behind the curtain..maybe it was hiding Narnia LOL

Recently mom and I went to a geocaching picnic (we hadn't been caching since going to Puerto Rico last October!), which was held at the Sons of Norway Lodge. I've been taking Norwegian on Duolingo for a couple years at least, and was hoping to find something there I'd be able to translate. I perused their cool bookshelf and found a copy of All the Light We Cannot See in Norwegian, which I thought was super cool! I could even translate a little bit of it, which impressed mom and made me feel smart LOL. Norsk er kult! I'm almost at 1000 geocaches too, exciting!

( aug 17-23 )

I finally got my Mac Mini and new desktop screen set up!

Importing the data from my old computer took FOREVER (note to self: next time use an Ethernet cable)..I was happy when I came home from work and saw it had finished lol. I don't really NEED a screen quite that big, but mom had an extra one, so I might as well use it if she's not (cheaper than buying another one too :P). My other computer was from, like..2014 LOL, so it was definitely time for an upgrade (I have a newer laptop, but I just leave it at my parents' house)

It's been a year since I had covid and had my life turned upside-down..I hope I never have to go through that again. D: Amazingly, neither of my parents (that they know of) have had covid yet..lucky!! It does help my mood to be at work again, though I still get very tired..I hope the sleep study results come back soon..

Check out how awesome the geocaching solstice souvenir is!

I love the design!! Definitely made our hard work worth it lol

( june 24-28 )

On Saturday mom and I flew to Florida..we had a layover at DFW, which is always SO WEIRD. That airport has completely changed..it's plush and modern now! I didn't recognize much flying in, except the general Texas feel haha. Teresa and Ron picked us up in Tampa and drove us to grandpa's house in Crystal River (80 some miles away). Grandpa goes to bed super early (it used to be 9, but it's between 7-7:30 now!!), so we didn't see him that night. Mom and I just wanted to go to bed after traveling anyway :P

Yesterday after everyone was gathered we took Theresa and Ron's dog Reece for a walk..it was pretty hot, even though it was relatively early. Grandpa came down the street on his 1929 Model A and gave me a ride back to his house! So cool!

After that we drove down to the ocean and stood on the boardwalk for awhile, and found a geocache on the way back, which had a $2 bill in it!! Cool! I love that Teresa and Ron like geocaching, because none of my other family members really do. I love how easygoing they've always been..if their daughter Stephanie was like "can we go to McDonald's?" Teresa would say "absolutely!" with no hesitation. We took a selfie after we found the cache:

Mom, Teresa, me, Ron

Then we went back to grandpa's house, had dinner, and went to Teresa and Ron's motorhome to hang out after grandpa went to bed (they're staying at a campground a few miles from grandpa's house). They have a pretty nice setup! After that mom and I went back to grandpa's house and went to bed

Today Ron took us to a trail that led to the Withlacoochee River (and found a couple geocaches in the area). It was SO, SO hot (high 80s) and wasn't enjoying myself at all. We only got halfway before we had to turn around, because I was completely miserable and overheating. We did find a place to park to see the river, which was clear and beautiful. I REALLY needed something cool to drink, so we went to Wal-Mart and I got a lemonade and some cooler pants. Ron drove me back to grandpa's house because I was tired and hot and DONE (everyone else went back to Ron's motorhome for a couple hours). I laid in bed under the fan and rested. I could never live in Florida, the heat and humidity are AWFUL, and I keep seeing "Trump 2024" flags and stuff..blech. Seeing family is nice, but I can't wait get out of this state on Wednesday. We had dinner after everyone got back, hung out, and then Teresa and Ron left for the night. Amazingly, grandpa stayed up until after 10 tonight!! Having people around probably helps lol..I hope he's not tired tomorrow though :P

( may 6-8 )

So far in Anchorage, I've gone to bookstores, gone out to eat, geocached (mom and I have found 11 so far. There's also been a bunch we couldn't find, ugh), hung out at the airb&b (I was disappointed in my "normal" bed LOL, I'm spoiled now :P), and yesterday I went with Ryan and mom to Flattop Mountain to find blueberries (there are some pretty fancy houses in that area haha). I'd never been up there before! We didn't find a lot of blueberries, but the scenery was nice. It has sprinkled/rained every day so far, but we've still had fun lol

One of Jo's friends (Rachel) has been checking on the cats every day (unsurprisingly, Abby yells at them when they come over LOL), and today they found Greyboy dead. :( :( :( He had gotten SO skinny and wasn't eating, so we we warned Rachel he could die while we were away. I hope he died peacefully. I definitely didn't expect Abby to outlive Greyboy, wow (I think he was around 14 or so? We had him since 2011). He had a great cozy life though..I'll miss his weird meow and his soft fur and snuggling with him purring while watching TV. Hannah got him cremated and a cast of his paw print. Greyboy was such a sweet cat and will definitely missed <3

( a couple pics from flattop )

13. If you had to tattoo your arm with a message to yourself, what would you write? "Go out and explore," maybe with a penguin..I've thought about getting that on my ankle lol

14. If you could earn the same pay no matter what job you did, would you pursue another profession? If so, what would you choose, and why? I don't think so, I like working with books and I'm good at it lol

15. Would you be happier with more control over what happens in your life or more control over your response to what happens? Hmm..maybe my response..that makes things easier too haha

16. If you were a role model to millions of children who closely followed you and your life choices, how would you change your behavior? I'd probably have to eat better and be less lazy :P

17. Do you squeeze the toothpaste tube or roll it? What’s the advantage of your method? I squeeze it..I just like that way better lol

The storm last night cooled down the temperature somewhat..it might have been too cold for other Kansans, but I thought it felt AWESOME haha. We went walking in the courtyard when we visited grandma, and found some rocking chairs to sit in lol

Me, grandma, mom (yay 3 generations!!), Aunt Gina reflected in the window lol, Aunt Cindy, Uncle Dean


They have a nice courtyard! We saw a red-tailed hawk fly by too! (Grandma loves birds, which I hadn't known, so she was very happy and said "thanks for visiting us!" hehe)


My bed has curtains, grandma's has a hat :P

We also went to Barnes and Noble (why not :P) and I found a couple geocaches. Tomorrow we're driving back to Kansas City (we'll visit grandma again before we leave) and mom and I are staying overnight (it's easier for everyone, I think), and then leaving Tuesday afternoon to go back to Alaska. That was a fast trip! It was nice seeing everyone again, and maybe now I can visit more often since Kansas is closer than England haha

( 24. Do you prefer popular music or relatively unknown music? )

Yesterday we didn't do anything too exciting, except for shopping and going to dinner. Today we planned to go to Mexico..everyone was comparing their terrible passport pictures, and when I went to show mine..my passport wasn't in my bag!! I must have taken it out at home for whatever reason and forgot to put it back in..I felt so dumb I hadn't checked before I left home! Everyone didn't want to go without me, but I told them to anyway (and get me a shirt), I didn't want my mistake to stop everyone else from going! (They only wanted to go for a couple hours anyway.) I hung out at the B&B and when they got back, mom said I wouldn't have liked it..everyone was in your face selling stuff (especially if you looked interested) and even followed mom begging her to buy stuff. Yikes, no thanks, that sounds so stressful! She got me a shirt, but had to keep haggling to get a reasonable price. I'm glad I didn't miss much lol (Jo had to stay overnight in Mexico because the border closes at 2, and the dentist would have been able to work on him longer without worrying about having to cross the border in time)

After that mom and I finally found a geocache (hard when you're busy and the only cachers in the group lol) and went to the Yuma Territorial Prison museum. It was interesting, though weird to think about who was in all those cells years ago (it opened on July 1, 1876, and shut down on September 15, 1909). The women imprisoned there were QUITE interesting lol, like the one who "stabbed her unfaithful lover, then cut open his chest, pulled out his heart, and threw the bloody mass at his face." OMG lol. There was the "Dark Cell," where prisoners were placed in a cage in solitary confinement, with no bathroom facilities or anything..it still smelled weird in there!! When Ryan turned his phone's flashlight on, we saw a few bats flying around and hanging from the ceiling! I thought it was cool they used to have a library with 2,000 books! The prison is supposed to be haunted too, but I didn't see any ghosts. :P After that we went to Barnes and Noble for a bit (why not :P)..amazingly, they had a copy of The Worst Journey in the World!! I already have that edition, but I was still very pleased (I've never seen a copy of it at the Fairbanks Barnes and Noble). I wrote a short note saying how much the book changed my life and stuff at put it in the book, maybe it'll inspire someone to read it! Then we went back to the B&B, had dinner, and played more Betrayal haha

We were originally going to stay another night at the B&B tomorrow, but our flight back to Alaska leaves at 7 something, and we'd have to get up at 3 something to make the flight. NONE of us wanted to do that, so we're going to drive back to Phoenix tomorrow after Jo gets done at the dentist. We'll still have to get up early, but we'll get a couple more hours' sleep at least. :P I'll miss the awesome four-poster bed lol, I must have one!! :P

( a few pics )

13. Is there someone you pretend to like but you really don't like? Hmm..I suppose so..

14. Have you ever raked leaves, and then played in them? I've raked leaves, but I'm not sure if I've played in them..maybe as a kid lol

1. In what forms of housing have you resided? Apartments and houses
2. What are the best and worst things about the location of your home? Best: walking distance to a lot of places, like work and the doctor's office. Worst: hearing the inebriated people fighting, hearing all the traffic..
3. Where would you keep a second home if you could have one? Maybe in the mountains somewhere
4. How well would you adapt to permanent RV life? It would be cool to see lots of interesting places, but I'd miss "regular" showers, a bigger living space, etc
5. What’s the prettiest thing to look at within five miles of your residence? Flowers people have planted, the river and hills in the background, etc

Here's something crazy..a couple days ago I logged a geocache I found, and went to look at the logs on my cache that people have found, and the last person to find it had posted a picture of her and two others..I love when people do that and look like they're having fun! I wondered if I'd ever seen them, and today a lady came in at work wearing a geocaching mask (cool!), and we told each other our caching names and I said I had one down the street, and she was like "oh yeah, I found that one the other day!" It was the lady from the picture!! How crazy and cool is that?? I love how caching brings people together lol (especially in a smaller community like Fairbanks)

I can't believe how fast August has gone..it seems like it just started! Every year seems to go by faster than the last..

( aug. 17-21 )

Dec. 31: Mom and I boarded the plane to Anchorage at 5 something..even though the flight was less than an hour, I still felt gross. We had a few hours to kill in Anchorage, so we hung out at the lounge upstairs (mom and Dana both have slept there lol) and had dinner. Even though it was dark when we landed, I could see there was no snow on the ground. A couple hours later we looked out the window and it was snowing like crazy haha..wow. Eventually we boarded the plane to Seattle at 9 or 10 something..I tried sleeping for like an hour, but it's just too hard and uncomfortable, so I gave up and watched Into the Storm instead. The flight attendants didn't do anything special for the New Year, but I'm sure they didn't want to bother the other people who were trying to rest

Jan. 1: We got to Seattle at 3 something in the morning..ewww. There were people everywhere just sacked out on the floor and chairs and stuff..unless I was in a secluded quiet place, I don't think I could do that. We had another long layover there, but we just had to hang out until everything opened (I felt SO bad for the poor people that had to be there at 4:30 D:). At the place we had breakfast (I felt like I was constantly eating haha) they played modern songs like "Umbrella" and "Can't Feel My Face"..and then they played "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" by Celine Dion?!? Oh my goodness, that was one of my favorite songs of hers when I was a kid! I don't know if I've ever heard that song in public (if so, it was in the 90s LOL), but it made me really happy and nostalgic! We left for Denver at maybe 6 or 7 something..I had a whole row to myself, so I could actually lay down and sleep somewhat better! I tried watching the rest of Into the Storm, but I couldn't find it! Maybe that flight didn't have it?? Weird. We finally got into Denver a couple hours later, but we still had to drive the 40 or so miles to where we're staying, Loveland. We were so tired lol. Even though we traveled the farthest, we were still the first ones at the house we're staying at. We needed a nap anyway lol. Eventually Aunt Cindy, Uncle Dean, Aunt Gina, Aunt Julie, her husband Kerry (I'd never met him before!) and her kids Joelle and Jessalyn showed up (Jordan actually has a house in a nearby town, so he's not staying with us). It was so nice to see everybody again! We stayed up late talking and then went to bed, which was awesome LOL

Jan. 2: Happy birthday, Apsley Cherry-Garrard!! <3 The bridal party were doing a bunch of fun things, so the rest of us hung out and were lazy haha. We had told everyone about geocaching, so eventually mom and I went to find some caches with Gina. She'd never done it before, and she LOVED it haha. We found five, yay! After that we went to a used bookstore, where of course I found too many books, and Gina payed for all of them as a Christmas present! Aww, how nice lol. After that we went back to the house, and hung out more and ordered Thai food..yumm. Julie and the others eventually came home..they were talking about the prayer things they were going to say, and someone suggested that she should rap them..and she DID, with Joelle tapping out a beat on the table. It was AWESOME and SO funny. I love that even though she's pretty religious, she has a great sense of humor about it as well (that's something I liked about Paulette too). We also watched this hilarious video of this Irish kid trying to convince her mom to let her go to the pub ("but I'm SIX!!!" *holds fingers up*) And then it was time for bed..yay :P

Today, Jan. 3: Wedding day! We Facetimed grandma for a little bit..I bet she was sad she couldn't come. :( When mom and I saw how nicely dressed and gorgeous everyone else looked, we just looked at each other and cringed. We weren't casual or anything, just..Plain Old Alaskans LOL. The wedding was at a church (Julie and her kids are Catholic)..I finally got to see Jordan, yay! I'm glad he remembered me. :P His bride Sara was absolutely gorgeous. They did Mass (I think that's what it was) as part of the wedding, which was a little tedious, but interesting (I didn't know they bowed as much as they did!). Julie's ex-husband and Jordan's birth father was there, which must have been really awkward..he's not really a nice person, and showed up to rehearsals yesterday drunk..eesh. Jordan and Sara looked completely shocked when they were pronounced man and wife haha. The other people stood around in the church and talked, but me and the others had to drive the 30 minutes back to Loveland (the wedding was in Longmont) to go to the venue and set up everything. We had like an hour and a half, which was just enough time, phew. By this time me and the others were starving haha. I finally got to meet Sara..I couldn't have said something normal like "hi, I'm Heather, nice to meet you!"..noo, I said "I've been waiting to meet you for hours!" *cringe* She was nice though, and Jordan thanked us for coming so far from home. We had food and cake and then it was time for dancing. Mom and I were just like "mehh" haha (especially since mom wasn't feeling well), but I had to go up when the Macarena came on! (The glass of champagne I had helped too LOL.) I had to teach Gina how to do it haha. I didn't know the moves to the other songs though, and I feel like I'd look stupid compared to everyone else, so I didn't go back, even though it looked kinda fun. After an hour or two of that mom and I were bored and tired of the loud craziness, so we left..yeah, we're lame LOL. I'd much rather be sitting here in my PJs (sorry Jordan :P). It's nice to relax after a long day. :) I took a couple pics, but my phone's battery is lame and died early, so maybe the others can send me theirs, so I'll wait to post them

Tomorrow we're going to Denver to see an exhibition of Monet's art..Cindy is very into art, otherwise I wouldn't really care lol. Maybe we'll go out to eat at a nice restaurant too ;)

( a shiny new 366 day meme, yay! )

It is..REALLY weird being 30 years old now. O_o I remember turning 20 was weird, but 30 is even weirder haha. It was another nice day as we drove up to Portage Glacier..I think that was at least my fourth time taking the boat out to the glacier (it has definitely changed since I was first there in 2009!). What better way to celebrate than standing in front of a glacier? I love that feeling lol. Portage is actually a pretty small glacier, but still looks big when you're up close (the face of it is actually half a mile wide!). Whoever named some of the glaciers around that area must have liked poetry, because three of them are named Byron, Shakespeare and Burns haha. It never seems like we spend long enough at the glaciers when I do those kind of cruises, but they have other cruises to do as well. :P It was lovely staring at the pretty blue ice though. <3 It didn't calve this time, but it's not really as active as other glaciers. As we walked into the visitor center, there was a geocache RIGHT THERE! It kinda felt like cheating signing the log since we didn't have to search for it lol. After we got back to Anchorage I went to Title Wave Books! I have little space left in my bags from all the books I've bought, so I was determined to only buy one or two..yeahh that didn't happen. :P I have little control in bookstores LOL. Somehow I'll find room. :P They had THREE copies of The Worst Journey in the World!! I had those editions, but I always love seeing Cherry's book :D (mom was like "phew! I was worried you'd buy every copy you'd come across!" haha). After having fun there, we found some geocaches and then had dinner at Olive Garden! Mmmm four cheese ziti and breadsticks. Someone needs to build an Olive Garden in Fairbanks already! After that we found a couple more caches and headed back to the room. 30th birthday successful! :D

Tomorrow we fly back to Fairbanks..I'll miss the glaciers, but I'm tired and ready to go home lol. It was a great glacier-filled vacation though :D

( pics from portage glacier )

I am now back home! The last few days of the vacation were busy, but so much fun. On Friday before the game we drove up to the college (UC Irvine) to scope it out so we knew what we were doing before the game lol (it wasn't far from the hotel, maybe 10-15 minutes away). We bought tickets and found a couple geocaches and then checked out nearby Fashion Island, an indoor/outdoor mall/plaza type thing.it was huge! Most of the clothing stores were nothing I'd like, and amazingly, there was a Barnes and Noble there! I've never seen one in a mall before! I probably spent waaay too much time there, at least two hours LOL..oops. :P I was happy to see a lot of people shopping there <3

After that we relaxed at the hotel and then went back to UC Irvine for the game (and found a couple more caches lol). It was really surreal actually being there! I kept looking for Debbie (Scott's sister), and finally spotted her on the opposite side from us (I sent her a message saying I was coming too). The area was super loud, but it was SO MUCH FUN!! They did really, really well, and it was awesome seeing Scott's famous "Stadick Scream" in person haha. In the second set, they completely annihilated the other team..one player had 3 service aces in a row, and Scott had around 3 blocks as well. They won that set 25-12! (The team they played somehow won one set over Hawaii the week before..no idea how, considering how they played this night..Hawaii is REALLY good.) Before the third set started we went over to where Debbie and her three-year-old daughter Selah were sitting..she was COMPLETELY shocked when she saw us..she thought I was joking when I said I was coming to the game!! We haven't been a huge part of their lives (we first met in 2003), so I thought she'd be like "ehh" about a distant cousin (third cousin, according to my family tree lol) coming to visit, but no, she was very happy to see us! She was sitting in the first row behind where the team hangs out when they're not playing at the moment, and Scott spotted us and waved! (Yay, he remembered us lol.) ( more under here! )

What a great trip! Exhausting, but fun lol. We had a big sale at work on Saturday, so there will probably be a lot of shelving to do :P

( more pics!! )

I have just now heard of the fire at Notre Dame at Paris, and now I want to cry. :( That is so sad!! My heart broke when I saw the video of the spire falling..omg :(