Deep Sea Fishing

Nate, Nichole, Tyler, and Ella left the house at 6 am to go to Ninilchik to go on a deep sea fishing trip.  Nichole drove part of the way.  It was the longest and farthest amount of time that she has driven. They got to the dock early so they had to just hang out there until the captain made it there. They loaded on to the boat and a tow truck pushed them into the water.  They sailed for 45 minutes to get to their fishing destination.  They cast their lines and waited for fish.  Tyler and Ella both caught 2 sharks and then they finally started catching Halibut. They caught six between the 4 of them.  The limit was eight.  After a while they changed spots and had no luck catching fish there so they headed in to the dock and then went to the captains house where his sons and him filleted the fish and his wife processed it.

  Nate loves deep sea fishing it is one of his favorite things to do in Alaska.

Tyler said that he liked fishing and would go fishing again.  He said he liked that he caught the biggest halibut.  He didn't like that he was sore the next day.

Ella enjoyed deep sea fishing too.  She liked sticking her head out of the cabin while the boat was going.  She didn't like that she accidentally hit her hand on the metal of the door of the cabin because it hurt.

Nichole didn't really enjoy herself. She thought that it was boring.

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First day of school

The first day of school really snuck up on me this year.  I think it is because we had such a busy summer that it passed so quickly.  I am usually really good at getting school clothes and school supplies purchased well before school starts.  This year was a little different because I was out of town and had company in town so much it made it that much more difficult to get things done.  After I got home from Utah we made a mad dash around Anchorage to finish school shopping and collecting the supplies that were needed. We did manage to get almost all of the stuff collected the first time we went out. 

The first day of school is always a little hectic for me and the kids.  Trying to get back into a routine and get used to waking up early is never fun.  But it did run smoothly.

Like last year Nate dropped Natalie and Nichole off at the high school on his way into work.  I then finished helping Tyler and Ella get ready for school and ran Tyler to his school.  Ella and I then came home for about 15 minutes and then went to her school to drop her off. I did get to walk Ella into school and drop her off at her classroom.  It is always my favorite tradition of the school year.  I didn't get to get any pictures of her at her desk thought.  Which is a bummer.  And as always she always claims that she doesn't want me to walk her into class but when I do she then doesn't want me to leave.

Between the time I drop Ella off at school and Natalie and Nichole get home from school I try to get the house work done, run errands, or go and visit my friends.  It does help the time go by faster. 

This is going to be the beginning of a good year I can feel it.

 Tyler started the 7th grade this year.

 Ella started 4th grade. Her teacher is Mrs. Hargraves.

The rest of the time in Utah!

After I left Lesley I got to spend a week with my family.  I had the best time just hanging out and chatting with my family.  The worst part of the whole thing was the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday after Lesley left I had dentist appointments and man do I get very anxious about going to the dentist.  He was very nice and it was relativity painless. I also got to see some other friends of mine.  As well as going hiking with my dad and spending ample time hanging out with my family.

 My mom was still in her cast for the majority of the time we were in Utah so there wasn't major shopping trips going on with her.  We of course spent some time in the craft room and we made this card together.  I thought it was so cute that I had to show it off.

 I got to spend some time with my high school friend Mindy.  She came to visit me while I was at my parents house.  We had a nice albeit short visit while she was in town.  It is always nice to catch up with old (not age just length of time) friends.

 I went to my sisters house one day and this is how her boyfriend parked the car.  On the sidewalk no less.  I did send her the picture and she didn't think it was as funny as I did.

 For as long as I can remember there has been a herd of deer living in my parents backyard and neighborhood.  I got to catch a glimpse of them while I was at my parents house.  Mama and Baby were so cute!

 One of the old sister missionaries from Anchorage came to see me while I was in Utah.  She spent the night at my parents house.  We stayed up all night chatting.  It was fun to see her again!

 One of my other favorite parts about coming to Utah was getting to meet my niece Olivia.  Olivia was born in July and she is such a cuddle bug.  I spent the night at Rocky and Meagan's house and got to hold this sweetie as much as I wanted to.  She is such a cute little girl and I can't wait to get to see her again when I go back to Utah in December.

I flew out of Utah on the 13th of August just a week before school started.  It was nice to be able to go to Utah and have a fun filled child free vacation.  As always it was hard to leave my parents and siblings as I flew home.  I miss not having them around. Hopefully the next base we move to will be a lot closer to home then this one was.

UTAH WITH LESLEY!!

I am so blessed to have Lesley in my life.  I was extra blessed to get to meet up with her in Utah this summer.  I was planning on going to see her sometime in New York and she was planning on coming to see me in Alaska but when she found out that she was going to be going to Utah to drop her daughter off at AFY she suggested that we just meet there instead.  I figured that would be a win win for me getting to see her and also getting to see my family.  I arrived in Utah around 8 pm on the 29th of July.  Lesley picked me up from the airport and I was almost in tears seeing her that is how excited I was.  After all I had not seen her for over 2 years which is the longest amount of time that I have gone without seeing her at all.  We then headed to Mapleton to stay at my parents house.  We didn't get to my parents house until almost 10.  We visited with them for a little bit and then went to bed.  It is a strange thing trying to go to sleep when the person sharing a room with you is 4 hours ahead of you where they live.  I was laying in bed thinking it is like 8:30 in Alaska what am I doing trying to sleep while she is thinking it is 12:30 in New York why am I not asleep yet.  But of course all of that gets thrown out the window when you also take into account that we can talk to each other for hours and still have much to say.  We ended up staying awake until the wee hours of the morning.  The tiredness that came the next day was well worth it.

Another cool thing about going to Utah at that time was that It was my sister's birthday.  I made everyone swear that they wouldn't tell her that I was coming to Utah.  So the following day after we got up and ready my dad called Joy and told her that he had a present for her birthday and that he was going to bring it over to her work.  We went to the hospital floor that she works on and I hid around a corner while my family went to get her (my family consisted of Rock, my mom and my dad).  When she had a little bit of a break they took her into the foyer of her hospital floor and told her to look out the window that her present was in the parking lot.  She looked but couldn't find anything.  Buy this time I am right behind her.  My dad told her to look harder.  To which she replied that she wasn't even sure what she was looking for.  My dad told her that maybe if she turned around she would be able to see it better.  So she turned around to see me! She was surprised! No one told her that I was coming. They kept the secret.  She smiled and gave me a huge hug!!! I was super excited to see her too!  We only got to visit a short time before she had to go back to work.  After we went to see Joy we went to lunch at Good Wood BBQ which happens to be one of my favorite places to eat in Utah so I was extra happy when my parents caught on to the blaring hint that that was where I wanted to go and eat. 

The following day was my sisters birthday.  We (Lesley and I) took her out to eat and then went swim suit shopping at the mall.  I can't remember that order that we did many of the things we did in Utah so from here on out I will just tell you some of the things that we did. 

One of the coolest things that we did while I was in Utah with Lesley is we went to the Springville Folk Festival.  The Springville Folk Festival is a gathering of people from different countries that travel to Utah for a week and dance their native folk dancing.  People of all different ages participate in this. The had people from Chile, MARTINIQUE, NETHERLANDS, and TAIWAN to name a few.  There was also a group that comes out every year they are a native American tribe that comes and does hoop dancing.  That one is always my favorite part!  We got Hawaiian snow cones and bought presents from the different countries for the kids.

We also went hiking up Maple Canyon with my Dad and the Dogs.  I love hiking and I really love Maple Canyon so it was fun to show Lesley how close I was too the canyon from where I grew up.

On Thursday we went up to Park City to hang out with her family.  We went to eat and to the outlet malls.  We also walked around the main street and did the ritzy shopping that they have there.  After park city we went to her other brothers house in Farmington (Lesley has 2 brothers that live in Utah).  We spent the night there which made it easier for us to leave to following day to go to Idaho to pick up her daughter, Kassy and two of her daughters friends from AFY.  It was about a 8 hour car ride to Rexburg and back.  We just chatted it up like the old days.  We made so many car trips with each other wither it was a trip to the mall or a trip to Utah we put in a lot of hours in the car together.  One of the great parts of having Lesley as a friend is that we always have something to talk about.  Even if its been a while since we have seen each other or talked to each other.  But to be honest there usually isn't a week that goes by where I am not on the phone with her even if its just for a few minutes.

After we made it back to Utah we met up with her brother and sister in law at a shopping center and had dinner and did a little window shopping.  Lesley and Giniel were showing off some of their favorite pieces of clothing from H&M.  After we had dinner we went back into Salt Lake City and spent the night at her friends house.  We of course stayed up all hours of the night talking (who needs to rest when you have your best friend to chat with and only for a few days.  Sleeping is over rated).

The following morning we got up bright and early and headed to drop 2 of the girls off at the airport.  Then we headed over to one of my other favorite places to visit while in Utah, the farmer's market.  We wandered around that for a little while and met up with my parents, Joy and Korey.  We did some shopping there and then headed over to the cheesecake factory for lunch.  At this point my ankle hurt so bad from being so busy on it for the last few days and I knew that we were going to be doing the whole temple square thing I just couldn't do it.  As much as it pained me to say goodbye to Lesley, I packed up my stuff and went home with my parents.  I may have definitely cried when I left.  I always have such a great time with Lesley that I just don't want it to end.  Until next time good friend. I miss you!

Musil Family vacation part 3 around town

After our fun getaway to Homer it was nice to go back home and show Nate's family some fun things that we enjoy doing in town.  We took Nate's family to the tourist trap part of town in Anchorage and shopped quite a bit and also went to eat at one of my other favorite restaurants in Anchorage called The Snow City Café.  It is a quaint little restaurant that is only opened for breakfast and lunch.  It is delicious.  I had the stuffed French toast there.  I then headed back to the house so that I could finish making some artisan bread and get ready for family pictures. I had a little bit of time to myself which was super nice having had little since school got out. Plus I had to pack for my trip to Utah that I was leaving for the next day. 

I started worrying about family pictures.  The lady that we had hired to do them had not contacted me for a couple of days about the family pictures so I sent her a quick facebook message.  Come to find out she was stuck in Arizona and would not make it back in time to do the family pictures after all.  Needless to say I wasn't that thrilled about that at all.  I was honestly more worried about telling everyone that it was going to have to be cancelled.  I did feel about how all of that had turned out. 

Because family pictures were cancelled Nate's family was able to spend more time shopping.  After  they got their fill Nate came home and got me and we headed up to there rental to spend the rest of the evening.    Where we had dinner and just relaxed.  I did take some family photos of Matt, Rachel, and Liam but only with Pam's point and shoot.