a weekend at cama-i.

this past weekend was cama-i.

it is a HUGE festival where people come from all over to celebrate native dance and culture.

cory and i really enjoyed watching the different village dancers.

this particular group is from a small village called hooper bay, they were really good.

oh and berlyn (yes, we decided to spell her name with a Y) LOVED it.

she was kicking like crazy!

though most of her kicks landed on my ribs it was fun to feel her get excited about the music.

OH AND AT CAMA-I THEY HAD FROZEN YOGURT!

THE ONLY TIME I HAVE EVER SEEN A YOGURT MACHINE IN BETHEL IS AT CAMA-I.

IT WAS GREAT.

I GOT A TWIST CONE!

my dilemma.

just in case you forgot (but i don't know how you would) i live in bethel.

a rural Eskimo town in alaska.

a great place. lots and lots of amazing people and good friends.

but there is a problem with our little frozen wonderland... the hospital.

don't get me wrong.

the hospital is a great facility with amazing nurses and doctors that really know their stuff.

but they are missing one key employee  - an anesthesiologist.

which means

NO EPIDURALS!!!

none whatsoever.

yikes!

everyone here has their baby natural, it's the only way they've ever know.

me being a utah girl where the hospitals are baby delivering factories,

it's hard to think that an epidural wont be an option.

 - - -

well it isn't an option in bethel.

 - - -

here is where the dilemma comes into play.

i COULD fly to anchorage and have her at providence hospital, which would give me the epidural option.

i know what most of you are saying, 'well just do that, sounds easy enough'

if only you were right.

there is just one thing that is keeping me from planning on an anchorage delivery.

PAID MATERNITY LEAVE.

if i can work to my one year mark then i will qualify for a three month paid maternity leave.

but if i have my baby before the one year mark, then no money for me.

lets take a look together at how close these two dates actually are....

now do you understand?
if i want to plan on an anchorage delivery they want me to go in at least one week before me due date.
well that isn't an option if i want my maternity leave.
ugh.
so the best option we have come up with is to take the chance that Berlin wont come early.
we really have nothing to go on except that my mom didn't come early. so that's good.
anyways.
this is our predicament.
i really don't want to have a natural delivery.... REALLY REALLY DON'T!
but i REALLY REALLY want to be paid to play with Berlin.
double ugh.

what would you do?

take the chance that she wont come early and try to hit my one year mark?
- then fly anchorage the second i qualify for my maternity leave.

or

forget taking chances and go to anchorage early, that way have a guaranteed epidural???

K300

last night was the K300.
it's an annual 300 mile dog sled race that begins in bethel.
with bethel being such a small town when anything exciting happens, everyone goes to enjoy the fun!
sadly i forgot to bring my camera, but luckily i still had pictures from last years K300.
(last year? wow, i still can't believe a gilbert, arizona girl has lived in the alaska cold for this long)

on another note.
looks like our recruiting is paying off,
we have SUPER close friends planning on moving up here.
i know i have said it once but i will say it again...
bethel has changed our lives.
sounds cheesy, but it's true.
we wouldn't be where we are today without it.
sometimes i think about what would have happened if i had said no to corys crazy alaska plan....
i know we wouldn't have a house, that's for sure.
looking back i have no idea how cory talked me into living here
but i am really glad that he did.
i might complain about this place now and then
but i really do like it.
life is simple here.

my weekend job + a happy food item in bethel

notice the pregnancy chub growing on my face... ugh.

i have been a blogging bum lately.

but.

i have a good excuse.

everyone meet collen.

my new weekend job.

his mom works with cory at the police department and needed a sitter.

i watch him friday-saturday-sunday-and monday nights.

poor little guy is teething right now, so he is not much of a sleeper.

but it doesn't matter, he is sure good practice for april.

even though everyone says its totally different with its your own kid.

anyways. that's why i have been a blogging bum.

but on another topic....

I GOT TO HAVE MCDONALDS!!!

i know some of you are rolling your eyes, or thing i am gross for being so excited.

BUT SERIOUSLY I WAS SO EXCITED!

my co-worker went to anchorage and came back with this beauty...

there is a mcdonalds in the airport right next to the terminal you always take to come to bethel.

so most people snag a couple before they come home to sell.

these 89 cent burgers can easily go for 5 bucks in bethel.

sad huh.

luckily mine was free and let me tell you, it was SO VERY VERY TASTY!

for all those who think i am going mad, you try not having any kind of fast food for a year!

you would miss mcdonalds too.

baby kicks....cory



i think every blog post deserves a picture.
even if it has absolutely nothing to do with the post.
think of it as our way of documenting bethel.
* * *
this boat cor found just laying on the side of the road.
we have been here a year and haven't noticed it till this week.
its crazy the things you find in this little town.

 anyways, story.
so its like five in the morning and cory and i are up talking
(somehow we both woke up at the same time)
after we get some water and lay back down i tell him that i haven't felt the baby kick all day.
you must know that i feel the baby all the time, so to not feel it was weird.
cory tells me not to worry and that he would get him to kick for me.
he then starts knocking on my tummy like you would at someone front door
and REALLY loud says, "hey you baby. WAKE UP."
after probably blowing out my babies newly formed ear drums
he puts his head on my tummy and listens.
i don't know if he expected the baby to talk back or what.
but the next thing i know the baby does the BIGGEST HARDEST KICK YET.
right on cory's face.
i laughed so hard.
i could just see this pissed off zygote telling his dad to BACK THE HECK OFF!

i really hate venting on a blog, but...



random bethel pic
see how the lake is freezing...brr

wow. i am lame.
it is a saturday night and i am blogging.
i have had two girls crying tonight over boys they've never hung out with.
i have had two boys get upset because i wouldn't take them to the basketball courts to play.
and i had one girl come back from the hospital completely high on whatever they gave her.
AND they want me to give her more of that stuff in an hour.
AND AND they want me to bring her back to the hospital at 4am for another IV.
(seriously would 7am really make that much difference?)
what happened to my pre bethel life?
i miss that life.
lately i spend my saturday nights waiting up for teens to come home before curfew.
the old me would have been out and about on a weekend.
cory and i would be at a friends for a game night,
or maybe on a date (i will never think light of dates again)
whatever we would be doing at least it we would be with friends and family.
sure. bethel has brought cory and i closer than we ever have been.
sure. bethel literally jump started our marriage in leaps and bounds financially.
sure. bethel not just helped me to grow up, but made me grow up. i am different...
 in a good way.
and i know in the end this small little year will make all the difference.
BUT it can seriously suck (pardon the language)
i am lonely.
i miss my family.
oh my goodness, understatement of the year.... I REALLY MISS MY FAMILY!
i can't wait to be home for christmas.
cory and i both agree that we need a re-charge. a re-boot session if you will.
then we can head right back to bethel and stay till april...
once april comes we'll go back to utah and have the baby.
then head back to bethel in june to finish another round of summer working for cory.
crazy plans. but hey. we're a couple who is always making plans and goals.
i'm sorry if i sound blah. i really hate venting on the blog.
i dont' know. you must have caught me on a bad night, i did just wake up from a nap.
well if you call accidentally falling asleep to grey's anatomy on hulu a nap.

thanks for reading, but another dorm girl is screaming at her boyfriend on the phone.
i need to go.

don't worry about me. i am just in a funk. i will love life again tomorrow....
i always do.

p.s. i am 18 weeks. baby is the size of a sweet potato!

snow in sept.

moment of silence please... as we say goodbye to summer.
oooo and while were at it, lets just skip fall and jump right into winter!
grr. 

alaska, i no longer like you.

on a brighter note:
the baby is as big as a plum.

best 5 bucks i've ever spent.

did i mention i live in an elementary school?
yep. this lovely door you see will lead you to the kitchen and family room.
but the door has a problem.
it stopped locking.
usually it is always locked. like we don't even have a key for it.
it is just always locked.
you can get out but you CAN'T get it.
and that is how i like it.
well magically the door decided it wanted people to be able to get in and out.
dumb.
with cory being gone... YES cory is gone. 12 day vacation to AZ/UT.
seeing family and friends.
since i got to go to san diago without him, he gets his own vacation without me.
haha. yes we take our vacations without each other.
kinda weird for newly weds....
wait. am i still technically a newly wed?
or am i now just another married person?
i wonder when the cut off is.

anyways back to the door.
so it wont lock.
not good.
especially that i am alone at night with 10 teens.
i worried about them (and i) being safe.
so determined to get the door fixed i grabbed some tools and got to work.
for about twenty minutes i studied how the door opened and shut
how the gears turned and the do-hicky arm thing at the top allowed the door to open.
i tried finding a lock for a key.
then tried every key i had.
seriously, i tried everything.
finally i got tired of trying and decided to bribe the kids.
i marched into the girls dorm and said,
"i'll give 5 bucks to anyone that can figure out how to lock the front door"
the girls got up fast to give it a try.
they opened it and shut it.
watched it and poked it.
nothing.
then shawna walked in and asked what we were doing.
obviously she had missed my bribing speech.
we told her that we were trying to lock the door.
she walked over.
looked at it.
opened it (just once)
then walked over to the kitchen
i thought she wasn't going to try
next thing i know she is back with a fork
she jammed it in a little area of the door and said, "try to open it now."
it wouldn't.
SHE HAD LOCKED IT!
i gave her the 5 bucks and said thanks.
best 5 bucks i've ever spent.

drunk people peed on our door.

(night time in bethel)

cory is my hero.
okay that is kinda lame, but listen to what happened today.
so we were in laying bed watching date night
AND
some of the girls start knocking on our door saying there were some drunk people outside their door.
so of course we get up to go look through the window to see.
the girls were completely right.
two drunk people (a couple) were sitting on the stairs to the dorms from door.
cory went the door to tell them to leave, while us girls watch from the window.
well get this, cory opens the door and to his surprise the guy has his p**** out
and was peeing on our door.
CORY WENT OFF!
i probably would have screamed and locked the door (and ran away),
but he took the more manly approach
us girls couldn't see the guy peeing we could only see the girl he was with,
but we could hear cory.
he was yelling loud, saying that this was a school and that what the guy was doing could land him in jail.
he also yelled other stuff but i couldn't remember.
ooh and cory made the guy apologise to him!
then cor called his friends as the police station and had them come pick up the couple.
i was so proud of him and the girls were laughing really hard.
in bethel i see a lot of drunk people.
most of which are completely harmless and wont bother you.
but some people can be a little aggressive.
and like i found out yesterday other drunks just want to pee on your door.

adios.

(our first babs house)

we are officially saying goodbye to our second babs house.

our next home will be the new girls/boys dorm.
this will be our third move in eight months. sheesh.

i can't even explain the new school.

something only pictures could describe.

- lets just say we are literally living in a elementary school.

- - - classrooms and all. oh and my kitchen is the cafeteria.

hope everyone having a good LONG weekend.

our has consisted of packing and moving...

ho hum, not the most exciting time.
still cory and i are enjoying the last couple days without kids.

dead things.

a quick visit to cory's work usually results in me playing with some dead things.
see the thing behind the buffalo?
its a wolverine...
WHAT THE HECK?
think about how sexy wolverine is in x-men
and to think he is named after that weird looking animal. hmmm, interesting.

yeah. its kinda creepy in there.

living the simple life.

i'm not a stalker.

it might look like it.

but really i'm not.
i just am trying to document our life here more.
the people, the places... pretty much everything.
i mean we wont be here forever, sigh.
i never thought i would say this, but i will be devastated to leave.
i can't even explain how different my life is in bethel.
it keeps cory and i so close knit.
+ it has helped me to grow up.
all in all we are living the simple life.
no one here knows what seven jeans are or have any idea what nordstrom would sell.
people are just happy and excepting.
they don't care what you look like, what you are wearing, or what kinda of car you drive.
they just care that you are healthy, doing well, and enjoying life.

some of the nicest people on earth live in bethel. swear it.

welcome to yupik class. please take a seat.



random pictures unrelated to post.

cory and i have lived in bethel for almost seven months now.

we have learned a lot about the native people and culture.

but there is one thing that we are still trying to get a grasp on...

yupik.

i have started to pick up on some words and phrases, such as:

(this is not the actual yupik spelling of the words)

((i tried to write them in a way that you could sound them out))

uss = listen to me

una wha ni = you or this one

die-gaa = come here

quyana = thank you

umpy = hurry up

as piq = good

so if i wanted to say, "hey you, hurry up!"

i would say, "una wha ni, umpy!"

well that concludes your first lesson in yupik.

come back next time for you lesson on numbers!



no more rain (at least not today)

thank goodness!

sushi anyone?

what are most couples doing at 2 am?

sleeping.

what is this couple doing at 2 am?

taking pictures with a giant salmon!

we have salmon all the time.

smoked salmon.

teriyaki salmon.

grilled salmon.

soon to try homemade sushi.

another free thing we have enjoyed in bethel.

cory came home from work a little before two in the morning.

he was very excited and wanted me to grab the camera.

luckily, i was awake and quickly grabbed my camera.

honestly, i had no idea what we were going to take pictures of.

but who cares.

i ran outside to find a huge 40 lb salmon.

i will admit i didn't want to take a picture with it.

but after cory reminded me it would make a good blog post

and kindly gave me his hoodie.

i was happy to take on the early morning fish photo shoot.

sorry the pictures are so dark.

usually it is still light out all night

but with as much rain as we have gotten

it's been pretty dark at night.

red. white. and blue

i hope everyone had a happy independence day.

we sure did.

the pictures above are from the festivities (parade and carnival).

people would boat in from villages near and far to join in the fun.

YES. it was still a cold over cast day,

but seeing all the excited faces made the day what it was.

the carnival was my favorite part.

since there are no real games or rides, people had to be inventive.

the picture above with the soda bottles is a game of ring toss.

the kids loved it.

simple.

the last picture is me with the owner of subway.

since she is the keeper of my diet coke we have become good friends.

life here is

- - - - - - - -

fyi:

all phones in bethel are dead again.

so if anyone called in the past 2 days and it went straight to voicemail

trust me, we are not screening your calls.

we just don't have any phone service.

they said it should be fixed tonight.

keep your fingers crossed.

it wont stop raining....

(the one picture i took during the rainy days)

it rained everyday last week.
saturday it finally cleared up for a bit.
cory and i were excited to get out and walk to the river.
on our way back it started raining again...
like pouring!
it was kinda fun. kinda cold.
we walked a little over a mile in soaking wet clothes.
since saturday it has rained and rained and rained.
when will we get a break?
oh. and poor cory. he is on the river everyday (and night)

one word: overtime.
even if it rains he will still be out with the research team.
anyways.
after all this rain i am starting to think i have *weather depression*ha. i don't even think it is a real thing.
but i get totally bummed when it rains this much.
grrr.
grrr.
grrr.
that is the sound i make when i am totally bummed.
(or when cory and i are losing at settlers of catan, tyce and rachel understand)
cory makes me happy and we laugh a lot.
i try to be as happy as i can when he is around.
i doubt he would even know that i have been out of it.
he works so hard.what husband wants to come home to a grumpy wife.
i know i wouldn't.
i really just want to be outside taking pictures.
it is quickly becoming a lovely little past time for me.
when i get home i would love to take a class.
till then all i can do is try to take pictures worthy of posting.
wow. i sure am rambling on this post.
i'm starting to think of this blog as more a journal than anything.

subway changed my quality of life.

subway got a fountain drink machine.

my quality of life just sky rocketed.
its the 32 oz cup.
the long bitable straw.
the ice cold diet coke (with a splash of dr.pepper).
oh man. i want another.

cory got the job!

cory got the job he has been wanting for the past month.

he now works with a research team at fish and game.

he loves being able to be on the river everyday.

i am so proud of him.

i love that he gets to do something he really enjoys.

(i also love the paycheck).