Iditarod: "The Last Great Race"

Jeff and I attended our second year of Iditarod events and had a great day together. Temps this year were in the 20's (much more tolerable than last years negatives) but it snowed ALL day long, which became annoying while walking into the wind. We started off heading into town early to walk around, look at all the teams and dogs preparing for the opening ceremonies for Iditarod 40. We then continued on the tradition and stopped at a cafe and had some breakfast. We then met up with our good friends Leonard and Lisa and their 2 kids and watched a few mushers go by. I of course was into the picture taking mode so I convinced Jeff to walk along the trail about 2 miles watching until the very last musher and his team went by. This year there are 66 teams, starting with 16 dogs each...that is over 1000 dogs. Watching them go by just brought chills to my spine. I also got teary eyed when the ceremonies started... these dogs get so excited and to see them interact with their musher is just amazing.

4 time Iditarod Winner Martin Buser... just chillin in his sled waiting for the ceremonies to start.

These kids were adorable... you know darn well if they were mine I would have this pic framed and hanging in my house. These are future iditaroders right here!!

Lance Mackey set a recorde for 4 STRAIGHT iditarod wins. I was cheering for him last year cuz he would've been the first musher to win 5 wins. Maybe this year?

"Harnesses on, booties strapped... lets get this show on the road"

Mitch Seavey, is a legend. He has only won once, in 2004, but is racing this year with his father who is 74 years old, his son Dallas Seavey, and his youngest Conway Seavey just won the Jr. Iditarod Race last week. We love the Seaveys, we have been to there place in Seward and have played with all their dogs. Whenever we have visitors come up, this is a must see in Alaska.

Conway Seavey...

Dallas Seavey... this is who my mother in law is voting for. She watches and follows the mushers in Utah and we can't wait to have her up here next year to enjoy it in person. Dallas has many wins as a Jr. Iditarod musher and Yukon Quest winner and has come in the top 10 finishers in the last 3 years. He took 5th last year.

Taking a break, enjoying an amazing breakfast at Hot Stix. I sure love my husband and all the fun we have together making "traditions"

Only in Alaska... some day when Jeff shoots his Black Bear you WILL see him wearing it!!! :)

Look at those dogs, tongues sticking out... loving every minute of their run.

In the ceremonial start, Mushers have Idita-riders in their sleds (usually previous winners, spouses, or prominent people in Alaska). NOtice the second rider in the back taking a tumble... I'm sad I was zoomed in too close to capture it all. This corner was the scene to many sleds being rolled.

This lead dog (the Black one) is Demon. He made headlines this week because while practicing in town at a local park just days before the start, he was attacked by a moose, got his shoulder bruised... but here he is and he will be leading his musher along the trailer. Again, another sign of how tough these dogs are.

Musher Karen Ramstead has a team all of Siberian Huskies... they are GORGEOUS!! some mushers have all siberian, some have all Alaska huskies and some have a mix of both. But the siberian huskies in my mind are the prettiest... and someday I WILL own one  to remember my time here in Alaska. :)

These dog were running to their own beat... they were all over the trail. Lets hope they don't run like this in the actual race, not sure how efficient it will be :)

Check out their colorful booties. whenever one would fall off, a volunteer would grab them and throw them into the crowd. I wanted a bootie so bad...

And here is my bootie :) I had to wait until the very last sled #66 go by... when I saw it fly off the lead dog I watched it get stomped on by the other dogs then get ran over by the sled. I wasn't sure if anyone else saw it happen but I was determined to get it... so as soon as the sled went by I dove into the trail (which was the middle of an intersection) and got my souvenier. Oh i was so happy... until I could smell it... wet sweaty dog smell!!! :( Yuck

Later in the afternoon we attended the Vintage Snowmachine "parade" ha ha, more like a snowmachine parking lot. It was cool to see all the different styles and even see them started and spinning around in the streets.

In Alaska, if you saw "Snowmobile" you get laughed at. They are snowmachines here and in the lower 48 snowmobile... strange I know!

And our very own Miss Fur Rendezvous enjoying her time on the snowmachine.

Then we enjoyed the snow sculptures. I really wanted to catch them at night when they were all lite up but it was snowing so much lately I wanted to see them before the became unrecognizeable due to the fresh snow fall.

A family in our ward, The Call's, carved this. It took them over 62 hrs... they were out everyday with their 2 young kids (age 4 and 2) They won first place in their division. The detail was incredible. Good job guys.

And last but not least, Running of the Reindeer. Always a comical event. I would love to participate but it is way more fun to watch and laugh at everyone. I'd understand peoples' expression of FEAR if these were WILD but they are from our local Reindeer Farm, where they are used to being touched and hand fed. The only difference now is they are "In HEAT". At the other end of the street is a female... ha ha!!!

Random... just this past week they announced Bristol Palin was starting filming her first reality show here in Alaska... and guess who I saw just 10 feet in front of me. As soon as the camera's had me in the back ground I was waving like crazy... so maybe come spring time when the show airs I will be seen... ha ha ha ha!!!

So some interesting facts about this years race:

• The Beringtons, Kristy and Anna, are the 1st identical twins to enter the same Iditarod. Kristy is a veteran of 2 races and Anna is a rookie.
• The Seavey's will start 3 generations of mushers for the 2nd time in race history. Dan (74, who also ran in the very first iditarod race), Mitch and son Dallas.
• Mandatory sled gear: an ax, cold-weather sleeping bag, snowshoes, eight booties for each dog, a cooker and pot capable of holding at least 3 gallons of water plus adequate fuel to bring water to a boil, a veterinarian notebook and a cable gangline or tie out capable of securing the entire team of dog. Gear is checked at at the firt 24 hr check point and any other check point deamed necessary. If a sled is found not to have all these items, it is a 30 min penalty. (which is huge because at any given time 5-10 mushers are within 30 min of eachother)
• I'm rooting for Jeff King:another 4 time Iditarod Champ who had retired in 2010. I was sad he didn't come back last year to compete with Lance Mackey and Martin Buser (both 4 time champs) but he came back this year. He is the race's biggest all-time money-winner with $808,720. For him to become the Iditarod's first millionaire, he needs to collect another $192,000, the equivalent of 5 more finishes in the top 5.
• This years Iditarod Champ whins a $50,400 check plus a new Dodge Ram pickup worth $43,000.

Jeff and I started our day at 730 am and didn't make it home until that evening at 8 pm. We were EXHAUSTED. What a long but very fun filled day. It was so fun to be out enjoying Alaska's winter activities. We are super excited to head to Fairbanks this up coming weekend for the world famous Ice Sculpting Contest.

  

Iron Dog Race, Big Lake

Last Sunday, Jeff and I took off with our friends Mac and Jaime to Big Lake to watch the start of the Iron Dog race. We loved going to this last year and were super excited to go again. It's been a long winter with very few activities. This weekend is the start to a month of fun activities... Fur Rondy, Iditarod, Ice Sculptures in Fairbanks... and then before you know it it's SUMMER!!!! FINALLY!!!
We met up with our friends Leonard and Lisa. it sure was fun to get out, relax, walk around and enjoy the company of friends.
So the races actually are held on Big Lake... and the crackes this year were HUGE!!! Here is an article I found a few days after we went to Big Lake...
"Officials with the Mat-Su Borough Emergency Services say they're concerned about unusually thin ice on parts of Big Lake. The 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmachine race starts today at South Port Marina on Big Lake and goes to Nome and then Fairbanks.
Lakes Fire Chief Bill Gamble said ice on Big Lake usually averages four to five feet thick. But this year, drill tests show it's only about 30 inches in the area of the parking lot and where the snowmachines will race. He said heavy weight could cause the ice to crack or lead to flooding. He advises people to be cautious, spread out and use common sense.
Mat-Su Borough Emergency Manager Casey Cook said several agencies will monitor the event in case of ice-related issues"

SOOOOOO glad I didn't notice this article prior to attending the activities on the ever so thin lake

Recognize this guy... the first time we say him was last year at the Iron Dog and then we saw him all month... so excited to see him again this year. It's like "where's waldo" except this guy is a little easier to point out :)

Todd Palin was racing again this year. I was determined to be more aggressive and was going to try to get a pic with Sarah Palin but she was no where to be seen this time.

Infertility update

So as I was printing off last's year blog book I noticed I haven't updated my infertility post in over a year... and a lot has changed since then. Next month will be the 2 year anniversary of trying to get pregnant... WOW!!! So, we new we needed some serious help. We stopped seeing our regular OBGYN. He was just not leading us in the right direction and he completely miss diagnosed me. So we ended up seeing an endocrinologist who specializes in infertility and let me tell you... she is AMAZING!!! We love love her. First off, after 6 months of clomid for me which was unsuccessful... Dr. Balthazar ordered a whole slue of labs, tests, and scans to rule out everything. And the outcome... I don't have endometriosis, my ovaries are excellent, I ovulate monthly (my last doc told me I didn't) and my fallopian tubes aren't blocked... so long story short, there isn't anything wrong with me. So then we switched gears and started looking into Jeff's labs. Sure enough, his sperm count is WAY low! Normal sperm count is 20-60 million... my husband had 4 million. So we followed up with a urologist just to make sure there isn't a blockage or infection. Everything is fine there, so all that is wrong is low count. So just last month Jeff started CLOMID. Can you believe it! The drug they gave me to ovulate (which I didn't need) has been found to help mens sperm count. So after 6 weeks or so of this treatment, we will do a repeat analysis and see if the count has increased. If not... well our only option is IVF. We are really praying we don't have to head down this road, just because of the headache of more testing, injections, pills, and the EXPENSE. and unfortunate for us, there isn't an IVF clinic in Alaska so we will head to Utah for treatment. We appreciate all the love, support, and prayers said on our behalf. And trust me, we have done our share of fasting and praying and we will continue to do so until we have a little infant (or 2 :) safely in our arms. We continue to feel the Lords hand in our lives and are so greatful for all he has blessed us with. We are trying to take this the best we can... but to be honest it is killing us both. EVERYONE we know is pregnant, or just had a baby. In fact we joke about it, but have you seen the movie Good Luck Chuck. Every girl Chuck dates ends up getting engaged to the next guy they meet and Chuck for the life of him can't seem to fall in love, none the less get engaged. Well Jeff and I feel this way. Everyone we meet, talk to, work with, live by, etc are pregnant. After awhile it gets old!!! But we know our turn will come someday. For now, we have eachother and we value every second of our time together. We are best friends and have the greatest marriage someone could ever ask for.

Our Temple Sealing Pics...

They are finally here!!! It seemed like eternity waiting for these pics to get to Alaska but it really has only been a month since we were sealed. It seems like it was months ago that we went through the temple. Seeing the pics just brought all the emotions back again and I'm so thankful to my dear friend Annie who took her time and talent to capture our special day. It's going to be hard to find one to blow up and put on canvas to hang in our house.

Would you have ever thought that we were sealed in January. The weather was GORGEOUS and so PERFECT!!!

So glad my mom made it today. She was extremely ill and I don't know what I would have done without her there. She is my best friend and best mom a girl could ever ask for.

We had so many people come to support us. We truly are surrounded by the greatest family and friends anyone could ask for. And now we are all sealed for eternity.

Harris family... thanks for traveling to come support us. We love you all. And thanks for being the greatest in-laws a girl could ever want.

Burton family, minus Elder Burton, Scott, Brooklyn and Dan... everyone got a nasty bug the week prior.

Jeff and his brothers and their cousin Reggie

My best friend and love of my life and through eternity. Thanks babe for loving me and for choosing me to be your wife and friend. Here's to FOREVER!!!