Hoarding?

Ok, so with the New Year right around the corner I have been thinking about many things I want to improve on in the New Year. I'm not saying "resolutions" cuz let's be honest, who actually follows through with those. But as I've been home the last 10 days without working (thanks again hives) I've had alot of time to contemplate and possibly admit to the fact that I have a hoarding problem. Let the pics explain it all...

Anyone else able to sympathize with me in the fact that I have WAY TOO MANY CLOTHES. HA HA, kinda embarrassing. But I love clothes. So let me just tell you now, the rest of my house DOES NOT look like this. I find myself a very clean and semi-organized person. Minus the 3 nights in a row of working, I always have the house cleaned, vaccumed, and laundry done.... just not folded. I have a MAJOR issue with folding and hanging up clothes. (So much that I just barely unpacked my clothes from my luggage from when I went home to Utah in OCTOBER :) A little side note, I have so many clothes that Jeff has to use the guest bedroom closet. So let this be a new start... after 1 large garbage bag of old clothes (donating to the garbage), 1 large bag coming back to Utah to give to my sisters and organizing old summer clothes in to bins, my closest is organized and room is CLEAN!!!

Christmas Day

Since I went to bed so early on Christmas Eve, Christmas day started at 530 am for me. I was so excited to have Jeff open his presents that it was a struggle to wait til 7 to wake him up. We woke up and opened our stockings and other gifts from Santa then headed off to church. Jeff and I were narrators for the Christmas program given in Sacrament. It sure was nice to start off the day going to church, inviting the spirit into our day.

Once we got home we started opening gifts before all the family members started their skype sessions. Before we opened gifts, Jeff looked at the tree and said "Wow, who are all those for?" Yes, we were spoiled this year.

Jeff got Call of Duty PS2 game, new basketball shoes and shorts, clothes, hunting socks and hydration pack, dice games (for us to play together), and a new phone (once we get to Utah), and tons of little stocking stuffers from Santa (aka Momma Cherie)

I got new make-up, tons of hair products, clothes and new knit shoes from the hubby, baking stuff, DVD's, my first nutcracker since being married (i got one every year from my mom when I was younger). oh and how could I forget, I got tons of candy from the hubby as well as floss and a new electric toothbrush (that Jeff has actually used more than me :)

And the dogs... how could we forget them. They got new toys and chew bones from santa. They were in heaven

The rest of the day consisted of me cooking homemade caramels, seven layer chip dip (which ended up being the culprit to my horrific hives break-out for days, thank you avocadoes) and then we had a nice spiral honey glazed ham, mashed pototoes, beans and rolls.

It sure was a nice relaxing day. We skyped with both our families multiple times and I even got to talk to Elder Burton, who by the way only has 6 months left of his mission. It was so good to hear from him.
Overall, despite the fact we missed family so very much, we sure had a good day together and are more than pleased with the wonderful gifts we got. Sure glad I got to spend the day with the bestest husband ever!!!

Christmas Eve 2011

Well it is finally here, Christmas has arrived. It's been a rough week knowing we wouldn't be home with family and we both agreed that we will never be away from them on Christmas again. You can buy all the presents in the world but unless your surrounded by family, remembering the birth of our Saviour, christmas just isn't the same. But we tried to make the best of it. The day before we went and delivered our secret santa stuff. Let me tell ya, what better way to start the Christmas spirit. Jeff and I pray we will always have the means to help others. I wish more families who are financially stable (not just well off) can find a way to provide for other.

So on Christmas eve We went out and had a great dinner at Cattle Company steak house and then came home read some Christmas books (Burton family tradition), opened our pajamas from Santa and then we tried to watch a Christmas movie but sadly I feel asleep on the couch at 9 pm while Jeff stayed awake until 3 am. When I woke up at 2 to head back to the bedroom I noticed Santa had come and filled my stocking. So Santa had to come twice to our house cuz Jeff's stocking and the dogs was still empty :)

This pic just makes me laugh, both dogs looking at us.

Random pic... KO likes to sleep under covers and but he knows as soon as I get into bed, neither dog is allowed to sleep with us.

And little Chewy, I was trying to set up the camera for our pajama photo and Chewy jumped on the couch. Whenever he hears my camera turn on he always runs to me. Good thing he is photogenic (sorry to sound lame, Jeff and I find happiness through our dogs since we don't have kids)

First family Christmas Cards

I love this time of year for many reasons. One of the simplest reasons is I look forward to Christmas Cards. This year we got so many cards from family and friends. We got some that I had no idea people even knew our address. So I figured before it got too late in the season I would send out our first family card (minus the dogs, Jeff didn't want them in the pic for some reason) Along with the card I sent a letter to update everyone on what a fantastic year we have had and a light highlight of what we have been up too. This will definately be a tradition that we carry on from here on out...

Hello family and friends,
Wow, where did 2011 go? It sure has been a busy year for the Harris's in Alaska. It is hard to believe that we have lived here now for 16 months, but we love it. If you ever come to Alaska, you will know what we mean. We live for the summers here. It is the most beautiful place ever from the lush green trees, beautiful ocean sunsets, waterfalls, glaciers, and TONS of wildlife. We have seen our fair share of moose, bears, bald eagles, dall sheep, and whales. And the fishing here is to die for. I have never been so excited to go fishing or to even catch the size of fish we have caught here. We had a busy summer camping every weekend and creating the best memories ever.
I have been staying busy working at both hospitals in town. It’s been hard working nights in the winter because I go 4 days straight without seeing the sun due to the fact that it comes up at 10 am and sets at 4 pm (my sleeping time!) We both have to take mega doses of Vitamin D to keep us sane. I do what I can to try to be a good house wife and have loved learning to cook new meals, especially when it comes to cooking fish. I’m still the sunbeams teacher and love all 8 kids. In fact, they are keeping me with the same kids next year which I’m very grateful for. I was fortunate enough to fly home to visit family twice this past year. I’m thankful for my husband who allows me to leave while he stays home and continues to work, go to school, and tend to the dogs.
Jeff has probably had the busiest year of his life. He has worked full time (multiple jobs from detail manager at a car wash, district manager at ADN newspaper and most recently selling security systems for APT) goes to school full time, and has been a very loving and supportive husband giving me probably more time than most wives get. He also stays busy being the 1st Counselor in the Elders Quorum presidency and even takes time to go on splits with the missionaries. And now I’m proud to say that after 16 months of some very heavy school studies, he is finally graduated, YEAH!!! He is so glad to be done and looks forward to not only having a steady job, but starting his career as an Air Traffic Controller. He took his ATSAT test a few months ago and blew it away, passing with a 97.1 %. I couldn’t be more proud of him.
So what’s next for us? Jeff will put in for 2 states he wants to work at (we will put in for Alaska and Utah). We could wait up to a year to hear where he gets hired, but once he is hired he heads to Oklahoma City for 3 months of intense training and then starts 3 years of on the job training. We wouldn’t mind staying in Alaska another 3 -4 years, as long as our families continue to come visit or I get to continue to fly home a few times a year. Jeff was offered a job teaching ATC labs here at UAA and he will continue to sell security systems on the side. I will continue to work both jobs and do my best to support my husband and his busy year ahead.
We really have been so blessed and are so fortunate to have such amazing family and friends. Moving to Alaska was a huge step but we definitely know we made the right decision and love where our lives are headed. We thank each and every one of you for your love, support and prayers. And we would love to have many more visitors. Consider this your official invite to Alaska; we have a spare room just waiting for anyone to come visit.
We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. We pray that the spirit of Christ is in your home and that we don’t forget the true meaning of Christmas.
Love, Jeff and Tricia Harris

What I hate most in life...

One of the things I HATE the most in life is grooming the dogs. I wouldn't do it myself except for the fact that having 2 dogs gets really expensive from dog food, treats, toys, vet visits, flying to Utah, and grooming. So to cut back on a $100, I just have always done it myself. It seriously takes 2 hours to cut, bath, and blow dry. This is the longest we have let their hair grow and I knew I had to do it sometime this weekend for 2 reasons. 1- We have to get a certificiate of health for them to fly and they have to be weighed so I wanted to cut at least a pound off each dog (they have become so fat here in Alaska) and 2- they get super hot on the plane and it makes for a long 5 hr flight, so they needed to shed a layer before next week. It actually took 3 hours this time and by the end their was hair floating all over the bathroom and my back was SHOT!!! despite what my husband says, I WILL take them to get professionally cut next time.

Polar Plunge 2011

This past weekend was the annual freezin for a reason Polar Plunge. It is a fundraier for the special olympics and it was amazing to see so many people there... in fact the announcer said there was over 12,000 people jumping. Just incredible. This year it was alot warmer out, in fact it was 38 degrees at 11 am when we left, a huge difference compared to the -1 degrees last year.
So we get there and met up with all our friends. There was some complications with the amount of money we had raised and they weren't allowing everyone to jump, so Jeff volunteered to sit out so Mac and Ryan could jump, since this was their first year taking the plunge. We had a blast watching everyone and especially watching the reactions on Mac and Ryan's face. Terry said the water was much cold this year, but it makes complete sense since the air temp was alot warmer. We will see if we will be around for the 3rd annual polar plunge next year!!!