Fur Rondy "voo"

Each winter there is a festival in Down Town Anchorage called the Fur Rondy. It is a kick off to the Iditarod Race and is packed with winter activities and lots of food. Tyler actually did the TV ads for the festival this year. If you haven't seen them yet visit www.furrondy.net and check them out. They are a local adds so if you are from Alaska you will know why they are so funny and you will know everyone you see in them. If you aren't from Alaska you can enjoy as well but they won't be quite as funny since you won't know the people in them.

The one event that we ventured down town to see this year was "The Running of the Reindeer". This was a new event and I was quite surprised at how entertaining it actually was. There were 1000 people signed up for this event so they ran two groups: men and women. At the sound of the gun, all the women took off running followed by the reindeer behind them down 4th Ave. They ran past tourist shops, office buildings, a theater and roadside hot dog stands (or maybe they were reindeer sausage stands). The reindeer pasted up most of the runners in no time. It was quite a site to see as everyone went flying down the street....there were a few slips and crashes but that made for even more entertainment and a successful event since no one was hurt.



There was no walking involved in this event like we had expected..everyone, including the reindeer, bolted towards the finish line. I have never seen down town so packed with people in my life for one event. No one even cared how cold it was outside 'cause you were shoulder to shoulder to the person next to you trying to see the excitement. There were even some brave (or maybe crazy) locals who watched from rooftops.

Look like fun? Maybe next year we'll see you in Alaska among the hundreds of people running with the reindeer.

"How bout dis?"

Those are the famous words of my oh so cute little niece Providence Joy. Translated to proper English "How about this?" is a phrase she picked up from Jon and it is a solid part of her vocabulary. She even has me saying it more than I used to.

I just got back from a wonderful weekend down in Seattle with the two Cross girls (my nieces) and my Family (of course I saw long time high school friend Doris-Rai as well...but I consider her family).

I had a packed weekend with lots of activities, including eating Pho noodle soup for the first time with Anna in Seattle, going to the Zoo with PJ, Rosemary and Amie and Shopping all day President's Day with all the girls in my family. The shopping trip was a huge success and I have a feeling PJ is going to be a shopper, so watch out Amie, you might have many shopping trips ahead of you.

The sun managed to peek out from behind the clouds a few days for me. I was enjoying every minute of the warm 50 degree weather. Especially since a few weeks ago I was looking at temperatures like this:
I miss the Fam already and holding those dear little girls.

And of course the cutest thing was seeing PJ hold her little sister. She sure does love Rosemary and will not go anywhere without Rosemary right along with her.


Well the trip and short vacation were wonderful and relaxing but over too quickly. Now it is back to the work day and normal activities.

The Newness

That's right winter projects have been underway in the Gates house. We have finally updated our livingroom and painted over the stark white walls.

For Christmas Tyler reacieve a flat screen LCD/HD TV and that is what kiked off the big painting/redecorating project. Of course like any project it always turns out to be bigger than you expect. We decided we wanted to mount the TV on the wall above the fireplace to open up our livingroom. Well in order to do that we had to remove the mirror (which was way outdated anyway) from around the fireplace.
Then we had to plaster and texture the wall where the mirror had been. After that we painted. And then finally we could hang the TV.
Any normal project planners would have taken a Friday off of work and done the whole project over a long weekend but not this Gates famly. We of course started the project on a Monday night after work and continued to work on it each night for several hours. Mixing the work day and the work project at home made for a long and tiring week...throw into that the fact that we did it a week and a half before the Superbowl when we were planning on haveing 15 t0 20 people over for the big game and you get the picture...a crazy week (filled with Fast Food and Pizza).

But as you can see we did it! The livingroom is far more open and the whole room looks warmer and more cozy with the warm colors on the wall. All the walls are painted a beige color with one dark brown accent wall. And it was all completed in pletny of time for the Superbowl.

There are still a few things left to finish up...like hiding the TV/Cable Cords and getting a stand to house the DVD Player, X-Box, and Cable box...and eventually getting a recliner for the corner of the room. But those all come with time.

Holiday past

So it has been forever since we have last updated this blog. Life has been busy and we have had the great joy of having lots of visitors over the past few months. My favorite thing over the past few months was havnig my family come up for Christmas and spend about a week with us. Here are a few pictures to show you how our time was...


Tree Treking with the Gate's Fam...Our tree was perfect this year...looks a litte small here but it was just the right size.


At the Crow's Nest on the 20th Floor of the hotel down town for Dessert and Drinks with my parents...it was a blast but we were sad Anna had to miss it.


Outside of the house Christmas night...it was snowing but hard to see it in this picture. It was a great Chritmas with lots of family, presents and of course lots and lots of food.


Well the holidays are now over and life goes on. Though it still looks like Christmas time outside with the snow, the holiday season is long gone and we are moving on with our lives...waiting and hoping that some time soon Summer will be here...or at lease weather warmer than the single digits and negative tempratures we have had this past week.