Last weekend in AK for awhile...

Once again, I'm blogging when I should be doing something else. There's laundry to be done, dishes to wash, army gear scattered across the floor waiting to be picked up, gifts to wrap, beds to make, and packing to be done. It's okay, though. I have plenty of time. This morning I woke up feeling so amazingly content. I have a best friend to spend the rest of my life with. I have a roof over my head and food in my belly. I have a plane ticket to Tennessee to spend Christmas with our families. Life is sweet!

This past weekend was wonderful. On Saturday, we made the snowy drive to Chena Hot Springs to enjoy sitting outside in 15 below Farenheit weather. The water felt so good as long as we stayed crouched down the entire time. It sure is a cold walk to get to the springs, though! We took a video of us running. Stay tuned, I may post that later! After we dried off we walked over to the restaurant located by the hot springs for a cup of cocoa with vodka and vanilla chambord. Pretty tasty! On the way home, we stopped at the Trapline to eat. We tasted gator as an appetizer and had burgers and ribs for dinner.

On Sunday we had a nice day doing a bunch of nothing. We slept until around ten, then we got up and made our way to church. I really enjoyed the sermon called "Escaping Materialism." I think it's a good lesson to learn and remember around Christmas time especially. The real reason for the season escapes so many of us sometimes. We forget that it's a celebration of the birth of Christ. It's not about stressing over having money to buy the best gifts or wondering if you'll get the newest updated version of your favorite toy. I enjoyed having the reminder. Truly, all I want this year is time with friends and family.

The rest of our Sunday was spent at Barnes and Noble sipping coffee and purchasing last minute items. Nope, our Christmas shopping is still not done (tsk tsk)! When we got home, J decided to fix us a feast! We really enjoy cooking together and hope that we continue to do so in ten or twenty years from now. It's a great way to spend time together and also accomplish something productive together. I've got to say, he did most of the work last night. I grated lime peels, stripped garlic cloves, and sipped on a celebratory beverage. I'm including a picture of Jordan's creation: angel hair pasta with pesto, lime flavored shrimp, and scallops. Yum!