A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

Relaxing. Last night was the best night of my summer. No stress. No kids. Good company. and watching the sunset over the water. I went with my friend Kristina out on her boat.

How do I explain my thoughts on Kristina. I love her...she is someone that challenges my thinking and I surprisingly love that. She makes me laugh. She helps me set goals. Not only that, but she has helped me in my mid-life Juneau crisis. In someway, it feels everything is going to work out. She is so logical, where I am kinda a scatter brained (too many thoughts going through my head). She has helped me get organized in my home. She doesn't even realize it, but her life has touched mine...something that hasn't been done in the way she does. I know she has a lot of friends because she is such an inspirational person and I am so glad I can call her my friend.

Thanks for a great night! Thanks for the talk. It was well needed, as you know.

Love Beth

GO HERE FOR PICTURES

Help me Doctor!!!

So I went to the doctor today and asked her a simple question. I said:
"I am moody often and don't want to be. Is there any specific diet that could help my mood?"

Now, I don't know if this helps but she said there are 3 things that factor in your mood and can help. Eat HEALTHY, EXERCISE, AND GET YOUR REST. If your tired, you tend to not be happy, so setting a schedule that you can follow everyday. I thought, this is a good time to change my diet and my life...so I just need to do it.

I googled "stay at home mom schedule" and found some very good tips on how to schedule your day. Not just for you, but for your family. I also found some good points to schedule bible study before you get ready in the morning.
Here is to Organizing your life and keeping your sanity. Doctors really do help, without prescriptions!

SURPRISES

Last night at 9pm, my door bell rang. Most of the kids were in bed except for Mattie who just wouldn't go to sleep. I wondered who it was because I don't get many late night visits. If it was Andy, he would have his gun in hand, but me I just answer the door...

Well, it was the neighbor kid Chris and said they just got a lot of crab and wanted to see if I wanted any. I thought, am I dreaming? Did I really fall asleep and dream of this? Because we all know that CRAB is my all time FAVORITE!

I went over there and watched them get all 23 crabs ready for the pot. Here they are, all cooked,hot, and ready to eat!!! Mmmmmm.....

So this was definitely a surprise to me. I love surprises and it felt good to be loved by neighbors. I came home and surprised my sleeping children by waking them up. I always liked to be woken up to share in the enjoyment, so I knew they would too.
Surprises are good. They make you feel good. They are unexpected when your daily routine is usually expected. It was just what I needed at 9 at night.

ANOTHER POST ABOUT POLITICS

Have you listened to the radio? Or turned on the TV news lately? Well, if you haven't, President Barack Obama is trying to pass this bill that is focused on the health care system. Some of you have reason to like the sounds of this bill-where the govt system will some how take care of your health insurance needs. For some of you, this sounds good. I understand your need for health insurance.

The Problem with this is that the US doesn't have the funds just sitting in a bank, waiting to be spent. No. The US is in the hole! ( I think to myself, when I am so broke I can't afford food on the table, do I go out and buy a new boat?...) I'm talking, they are cutting money from the military when we are at the BRINK of a possible huge war (North Korea), and this is what is the most important? Let me ask you this, what would be important to you??

What scares me is what could happen to my choices. Not just at the doctors office, but our financial future and where we will have to pay all this back. You don't get anything for free...someone down the line is going to pay.

So I found some comments from other people that make some good points. But I do understand and sympathize with those that there company doesn't offer insurance.

How does the govt think they can control costs and insure everyone........ Cant you see they will ration everything and you will not have any recourse. You cant sue the govt if you feel like they did not cover or treat you fairly. Do you think people in Canada and Britain sue the govt for bad service?

The bill says in black and white that if you are not enrolled in the government plan you are taxed an additional 2.5 percent and your employer will be taxed an additional 8 percent..So the answer is NO, you cannot keep your plan....Just read the bill..Its on line..1018 pages

VBS 2009

One of my kid's favorite things about summer is Vacation Bible School. They have gone the last 3 years and L.O.V.E. going and learning all the stories in the bible. This years theme is "keeping your eyes on Jesus". There is a lot that goes into this theme such as using the talents you are given, to having faith everyday, even in tough situations. The VBS we attend is with the Church of Christ...a very loving family in our lives. Enjoy the pictures of the kids.

This day was about making Jesus our "coach". Just like coaches in sports, we look up to him. It started out with a puppet show and songs to get in the mood. Even Mattie, little 2 year old Mattie, loves the energy at VBS.

The snack was simple...yet very memorable. It was a warm tortilla with butter, cinnamon, and sugar. It was shaped into an arrow pointing up to remind you to always "look up". At snack time, it is also a time to work on a little scripture mastery.

Today's was John 14:23.

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and
my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Each class is about 20 minutes in length and this is a class where it is a game. The object of the game is to have one person blindfolded and another person leading. The leader tells the person blindfolded where to find their chair and sit down in it. You have to trust the person and listen to their guidance. This is Trey and his partner giving him instruction. There is even a craft. This day was a banner, that goes right along with the themeMattie has her own class. I watched her through the glass window outside...boy am I sneaky or what! She has no Idea I'm watching her...One of my favorite stops was learning about the apostle Peter and his challenges he over came with faith. I personally learned a lot about Peter and how numerous times, his faith was tested. I think of my challenges and then I know why the scriptures are there. They consist of great stories and guidance and I realize, I need to read them daily.

The kids all learn so much and I am grateful for this summer tradition.

GO HERE FOR MORE ON Phelps Family Adventure.

SAD DISORDER

Do you ever get in a funk and cant get past your front door? I would never want to talk about it so I will just write. But it is the worst FEELING in the world. I know I am the kind of person that all the doctors talk about with SAD disorder, that is Seasonal Affective Disorder. I have always been this way, but growing up in TC ,the summers are my best time. Winters, I tend to not handle as well. But, this is why Juneau and I don't mix well on occation.
I tend to COMPLAIN...alot. I tend to have thoughts that NO ONE CARES and that bed time is a good time...where my children are all quiet and I can do what ever I want...so I think. But in all reality, I end up going and cuddling up in my blankets also.
For today, I'm going to have to open my curtains a little more, force myself to a 15 minute cleaning race, and set a goal to get out of the house in the pouring rain. It won't be until after that, when I will start to feel more human...I know these things.

LIFE INSURANCE

Today I went in to check out options for life insurance. We go through State Farm Insurance for all our insurance so finding a place wasn't a challenge. Andy and I are both on the same page and that is: that we would like our family to be taken care of in case of an accident.

IF there was an accident with Andy, I would like a monthly income...preferably the same as now.
IF there was an accident with me, we would like daycare coverage and for Andy to take a little time off of work.
So for my coverage, it would be 44.00/month and give us exactly what we would need. Not bad.
WITH Andy's income for the next 18 years, the total policy would be 1.6 million dollars...can you believe that! So, I sat there in the office.and the lady calculated it all out and the total would be about 78.00 a month...not bad right?!

Well, I said to her "Does it matter that Andy is an underground Miner?" She looked at me with huge eyes, pushed her chair back, and started typing those words in. She then turns the screen to me and it now says 570.00 a month!! Way more than I would have ever dreamed.

Why doesn't anything come easy? I could afford 78.00 for an insurance...but at 570.00 for nothing but a comfort of knowing I will be taken care of, I just can't see myself doing this. Well, theres got to be something I could do...but my first attempt doesn't look so great.

NORTH....TO ALASKA

DAY 1 AND 2-
The morning of July 4th, the day we got packed up and headed out the door. All our gear fit nicely in the truck/trailer, the Argo all ready to go, and the kids had all their travel bags ready. It was a beautiful day. The ferry left at 3pm northbound for Haines, Alaska. I couldn't believe the beauty we were leaving behind. It was picture perfect.
Traveling with 3 kids is...interesting you can say. Mattie was tired right when we got on the ferry and cried the whole 4 hours. Nothing was making her happy...unless she was running wild. Other people don't find that very cute. Morgan and Trey on the other hand were perfect angels.

Well, the ferry ride did come to a stop and the road portion of our trip began. We traveled until 11:00pm, crossing over the Canadian boarder and through some mountainous regions. We didn't have many problems crossing the boarder, except all our firewood we brought had to go. We hid it under some trees so we could get it on our way back.

The next day was all traveling. We stopped every so often, swam in moon lake.and got as close to Fairbanks as we could. We spotted a couple moose when we stopped for lunch. Then later down the road there was a cow and calf on the side of the road. It was beautiful.
Traveling that long with kids is a lot of fighting and crying. My husband was complaining about my travel planning and comparing me. Numerous times bad thoughts went through my mind...and this is what happens when your stuck in a car for 2 days. So, around 9pm, we put all the kids in the camper to sleep and continued driving. It was quiet. It was nice. This was the time that I needed to recoup and recoil. My camera is my friend when I am relaxed and it gave me the opportunity to take some pictures. It was 10pm and the sun was still high in the sky. We saw wildlife and the view was Amazing.The trip wasn't going to be so bad after all...

UNEXPECTED GLICHES

DAY 3-
Monday. This is the day we are going to start our camping trip. Woke up around 9am and our first stop is the North Pole, Alaska. Yes, this is where Santa is. It was 10am and already 75 degrees.We drive through the city of North pole and all the street lights are candy canes. We arrived at Santa's house and all the kids had huge smiles on their faces...especially Morgan. They ran out of the truck, headed for the reindeer. There was a lot to see but the kids wanted to go inside the house...imagine that. Well, we were disappointed because there was a sign on the door that said "Santa is out on Sundays and Mondays." Bummer. I still got a chance to show the kids all the letters Santa has received from little boys and girls.

Back on the road headed to Chena Hot Springs area where we rented a state cabin for 3 days. It was called the Colorado Creek Cabin and was ATV accessible. So there were 2 ways in: 1 was 5.8miles for snowmobiles in the winter, and the other was 18miles in good condition. Since we had our Argo I thought we were invincible to any obstacle. It is a mini tanker right? I decided to take the short trail in where we had 3 miles to the creek and then another 2 miles to the cabin.

We headed up the trail at 4:15pm and about 10 minutes into it, the Argo dies. Andy knows this happens often so he jumps off and fixes the problem. 30 minutes later, were back on the road. Then we get stuck. We take everything out, and about 45 minutes later, we are back on the road. Further on down the road, we get stuck again in a mudd bog. By now, we are too far to turn back but are wondering what this trail has in store for us. The trail was terrible and had to make our own trail most of the way. We pulled ourselves out yet again and are on the road, just to get stuck again.

It was 9pm. We were all covered in mudd.We hadn't even made it to the creek. We were in the middle of the mountains, stuck. with 3 kids. A little panic sets in me. The kids and I start walking while Andy works on the Argo. Walking helped to keep my mind off of everything. We walked for about 1 hour and came to the creek. I was excited to see a landmark. Even more excited to see a bridge going over the creek because I didn't want to get stuck in that. Andy came about that time. It was 10pm.
We looked at each other and I knew I had made a huge mistake making this reservation. It wasn't supposed to be this way. I was scared. We were half way there. What do we do now? I cried because I felt this was all my fault putting my family in danger. All the thoughts of my family lost in the middle of Alaska came to my mind. Bears coming and eating little Mattie because she cant fend them off...I was literally scared

We kept going until 11:00pm and we came to this point. A swampy valley below and no cabin in sight. We had gone 4 miles in 7 hours. Andy asked what I wanted to do at this point...there was no question about it. We were turning around. No matter how long it took us to get out, we were getting out of there.

Andy was calm throughout the whole event. If on the road trip I questioned why I was married to this man... this was my answer. I needed him. I need his ability to feel safe no matter what situation we are in as a family. I don't think anyone else could have made me feel safer in the middle of the mountains and help me to focus...that everything was going to be OK.

We made it back in 2 hours and the kids were great. We pulled up to our truck at 1:30am and the kids were not complaining.Mattie fell asleep while driving on the bumpy road. Morgan was hanging on. And Trey was helpful at every opportunity. I learned an important lesson...Things aren't always as they seem.

THE FISHING POND

DAY 4-5
We finally found a spot to set up our camp. It was just down the road at milepost 45 on Chena Hot Springs Rd. The temperature was 81 degrees. We pulled down a little road and there sat a fishing pond full of Grayling. No one was there and all you could see was the reflection of the sky and trees on the water. You couldn't have asked for a better spot. So, off we went setting up our camp.

The day went on, the kids swam in the shallow pond, and fished on the raft . It was pretty relaxing...until the mosquito's decided to join us by the thousands. I never knew there were so many mosquito's. We were running out of bug dope too. The poor kids and I got so many bites that by the end of the day, I was hiding in the tent.
Morgan, Trey, and Andy spent hours fishing for grayling. Trey was getting upset because Morgan was out fishing him. At one point she caught 2 at the same time. Mattie on the other hand loved the water and loved running around naked. I couldn't keep her clothes on her. She just swam and played in the water with her baby doll. We all got to bed at 11pm and woke up at 9:30am. You can't tell what time it is because it is always light. But the next morning it was hot! 75 when we woke up and it just got hotter from there. I had to run and get more ice and bug spray from a local grocery store about 30 miles away. On my way a moose walked right in front of me. They were everywhere. The temperature got up to 89 degrees that day and we were all hot and sun burnt. Camped next to us was a couple from India...Sir Lanca that is. They told us all about their journey through life. They came from a different country and had worked their whole life to get to where they are now. They were the nicest people and full of wisdom. They even fed Andy and I real India food...let me tell ya, that stuff is hot! I think it was hotter than the temperature outside and they were laughing at me....yeah, I should feed them moose heart..
Before I went to bed, I took a picture of the still, calm lake we would be leaving in the morning and the storm clouds that came in that night.