Chuck A Rama Baby!

Well, Jamie started a new chapter in his life this week. He is now employed at the good old chuck a rama in south Orem. It is not the most favorite job he has had. It really doesn't challenge him but it is a job and in this economy we will take it. It is going to take some getting used to not being able to take off on trips whenever we want. My job is flexible and with Jamie being self employed it was really easy to get a way. Not so much any more. However, I will give that up to have my husband working again. Thanks to bishop Header for helping us out with that job. It was a big blessing.

BBQ Competition at Miller Motor Sportspark

We competed at a professional BBQ competition at Miller Motor Sports Park over Memorial Day weekend and did really well. We got 3rd place overall. 2nd in Chicken, 3rd in Brisket, and 7th in Pork and not that great in Ribs. This is a great feat for us because we have never placed in Chicken or Brisket before. Jamie planned everything out really well and stuck to his schedule and it payed off.

Jamie receiving the award for 2nd in chicken.

Jamie receiving the award for 3rd place in Brisket.

Jamie receiving the award for 7th place in Pork.

Our Brisket turn in.

Our Pork turn in.

Our Chicken turn in.

Utah BBQ's only T playing the guitar.

Our cute boy watching the motorcycles.

They had crazy stunt rider shows a couple times a day. They were crazy!

Seattle

On our last day disembarking in Seattle we got to roam around their famous market and see all the fishmongers and their cheese festival. It was fun to see the flowers and trinkets they were selling. We also said goodbye to Grammy. It was so nice to be able to go on the cruise with her. We miss her. I was really special to be able to see her play with Matthew.

Grammy playing with Matthew at the market.

Just after lunch we had to say goodbye. We love you Grammy.

At sea

This is now, that was then. The first picture is of Jamie on the Alaska trip, the next one was on the same ship to Mexico in January of 2009. As you can see, his favorite thing to do on the ship is relax and that is exactly what he did. This trip was a little less relaxing than the one to Mexico simply because we had the results of our last cruise, Matthew, with us. We still got to enjoy rest and relaxation away from work and every day life.

The sunset in Price Rupert

The sunset from the ship.

Prince Rupert

At Price Rupert we went on a nature walk. As you can see above Sage and Matthew are pretending to be Bella and Edward. Aren't they cute. The walk was a lot of fun. We walked along an old railroad track that was mostly covered with vegitation. We were looking for the sea plane dock. We finally did find it but didn't ride a sea plane. We found some great sea stars in the water and Matthew had a great time playing with them.

An old forest we walked through.

We found a giant snail.

Matthew is on a big old stump.

Another family photo.

Here I am practicing my photography skills.

This was along the railroad tracks. The pictures doesn't give it justice. It was really pretty.

Jamie did his best navigating Matthew through the forest over old railroad tracks. It was a bumpy ride a lot of times but Matthew loved it.

Sweet baby blue eyes.

He is such a happy kid. So many people asked us on the cruise, is he always this happy? I had to say yes. I am so lucky!

This was a neat beach we found.

Matthew was really curious about the sea stars.

Don't worry, we put them back where they belong.

Skagway

In Skagway we took a bus tour back into Canada to the Yukon along the route where the gold rush miners went. It was neat to see how difficult it was for them. I don't know how they did it. The had to pack 2000lbs worth of goods over miles of rough terrain and the majority of them never found gold. We had a great time. It was our only day of the cruise that was snowy/rainy. We passed frozen lakes and beautiful mountains. We all got stamps on our passports for crossing into Canada.

Behind us is a frozen lake. It was a really pretty blue.

We had opportunities to get out and walk around. Matthew really loved it at this lake.

Matt and mommy playing on the shore.

The mountains here were really pretty with the clouds

Matthew was trying to walk.

Walking along the beach.

More beautiful scenery.

The Yukon sign was as far as we went.

Up at the top of the mountian pass was really foggy. The trees even though they are really old only grow a few feet tall.

Us as the Alaska sign.

This is the bus we took.

Matthew sitting on the sign that talks of the Klondike Highway. He can say now he has been to the real Klondike when he goes on his Klondike snow campout when he is a scout.

The Inside Passage (Our favorite day)

We got to cruise down a small passage to a glacier on our favorite day of the cruise. The scenery was amazing! We saw 2 glaciers, one just as we were entering the passage and another at the very end before we turned around. There small and large icebergs floating all along the way. We weren't lucky enough to see them but some people in our group saw a couple of bears from the ship playing on shore. There were water falls and rock walls, and gorgeous mountains given to us by God. I am so thankful for the wonderful earth on which we live.

The first Glacier we came to.

At this glacier I went up top to the deck to watch with Matthew because we were on the other side of the ship. He sure had fun jabbering at all the people up there.

This is the shore line near where the bears were spotted.

There were a lot of glacial blue icebergs floating along our way.

I couldn't count how may pretty waterfalls we passed on our way to the glacier.

We were able to see all of this from our own balcony.

We passed a lot of these shear rock walls pretty close to the ship.

All the mountains were show capped like this one.

Another pretty waterfall.

The view of the glacier as we approached.

As we were all watching the glacier Jacob looked up and saw this avalanche. It wasn't a big one but it caught the attention of everyone on deck. It only lasted a few seconds then the rock wall was back to normal once again. It was really neat.

A close up of the glacier.