Good News!!!

So today I was unoffically offered a job! Finally! They can't offically offer it me until Monday, but yesterday they had me come up and fill out the paperwork and today called me with the salary quote. I'm so excited! My last day of work at Covenant was 19 November 2010. When I left there that night I never thought I would say this but I honeslty miss working! It's not that I have not had plently to do recently because I have. I have also loved being able to be home with Reed, since he was only working half days 3 days a week the last two weeks. However, I really miss feeling productive! I took at job the clinic with a new orthopedic surgeon who will be coming into town at the end of January. Although I never thought that I would work in a clinic setting I'm pretty excited about it! I love that I never have to work holidays or weekends and that the hours are 8 to 5. Although it is a bummer that I have to work 5 days a week, I love having the weekends off to spend with Reed, especially since he is deploying soon. Other news that we have to report is that our troublesome truck is back in the shop. I don't understand enough of what's wrong with it to explain to everyone. I just know that one morning we woke up and there was a bunch of gear oil by the back right tire. So, we took it in yesterday when the boys got off work and hopefully we will get it back either tomorrow night or Saturday morning, but we'll see. My hope is that this is the last time that it will have to go into the shop for a while...at least longer than a week like has been the current trend. Finally, right after Christmas Reed and I got each other Fable II (a video game we both love for x box). When we first got home with it our roommates thought we were crazy and made fun of us for how much we play. However, now they are just as bad! I'm embarrassed to admit that it's what we do after the sun goes down right now, but hey it's bonding right?!? Well, I guess that is all for now, 'night.

Blessings

After the story of our washer event last night, I felt like I should let everyone in on the many profound and amazing blessings that our family has had in the last month. The first major blessing came from Sister Mitchell in Lubbock. She is the Relief Society President back in Lubbock and has always been so kind and loving towards me. She was one of the first people to talk to us on our first day in the 3rd ward after we got married almost two years ago. She remembered my name after meeting me just once and always seemed to genuinely care about me and my family. Many Sundays while Reed was gone she would have me come sit with her so that I wouldn't be sitting through sacrament alone and always made me feel loved. Anyways, when she found out what a hard time we were having with the Army and getting my travel arranged, she took it into her own hands. She donated her frequent flier miles with Alaskan Air to me and got me a plane ticket from Dallas to Fairbanks completely free! I will be forever thankful for that! Next I had the problem of getting to Dallas for my flight. My loving dad told me that he wanted to drive me to Dallas. He donated his day off and gas and such to make sure that I got to Dallas for my flight. The next big blessing that we have had, although it was a blessing is disguise, is our apartment that we were in for the first three weeks. I say it was in disguise because it was so expensive and far away from base which really sucked down our resources. However, it was a blessing because it was right next to an automotive repair shop. One thing that we have not had a shortage of here in Alaska is car problems, which is why living next to the shop was a true blessing. We could drop it off at the shop, walk home, and then walk back when they finally fixed it. After the car didn't start one morning we noticed that the plug was broken. So, I took Reed to work and then headed to a place to get it re-winterized. That same afternoon it didn't start again and we ended up having to get new batteries. Great luck right? Anyways about two or three days later while Reed was driving home from work he heard a strange clicking and when he stopped to get gas and looked at what it was noticed that somehow the fan belt was all to pieces! He had no choice but to finish driving home, even with the risk of the fan cutting something in the engine and causing him to lose control of the car. Well, he made it home and the truck actually died right in front of the shop! What a blessing! Here in Alaska, especially when it is around -40 like it was that day, if you lose control driving down the road it is very easy for you to be killed! After spending the next day in the shop we finally got the truck back. Well, that very afternoon we noticed a new coolant leak. (They had also had to put in a new water pump because the people that winterized it had only rated the coolant to -20 and it was frozen/gelled and broke the water pump) Since that was on a Saturday we took the truck to them, but they said to bring it back Monday morning. Another important thing to note at this point is that there was a small brake leak that now was really bad. So we spent the weekend having to continuously add coolant and brake fluid to the car. Finally Monday morning rolled around. When we got in the car to take Reed to work, he noticed that the brakes felt odd, so he told me to allow extra room to stop and to go straight home and not stop anywhere or any reason. Well, I did that and when I dropped it off at the shop I asked them to take a look at the brakes. Well, when it was done the next day, the guy told Reed that when they moved the truck into the shop the front brakes blew and he nearly drove it off the lift! What a blessing! The brakes were so close to blowing while I was driving! We were saved again! Now the truck is fixed and we have moved out of our apartment. We have a beautiful house that's really close to Reed's work. We still have no official news on a job for me. I have interviewed at two places and last week one called me back. They told me that they had two positions open that I qualify for and asked which one I would prefer. They told me that they wanted to make me an offer, but I have not heard back from them. I didn't really think that I would hear back from them last week because of the holidays and such, so I'm really hoping to hear from them this week. I really miss working! Anyways, I guess that is all that I have for now! I hope everyone has a great day

Merry Christmas!

So, today was our first Christmas totally away from our families. Although it didn't really have that "Christmas" feel to it, we had a fairly good day! We were able to sleep in and relax this morning and this evening I made my first Christmas dinner by myself. While it was not the elaborate dinner that most people have for Christmas it was perfect for our small family and friends. I made a ham with honey glaze on it, potatoes, green beans and a "lazy man's peach cobbler." It all turned out delicious and everyone loved it! I'm sure ya'll have all heard about what I affectionately dub the "Ward Luck," and it sure didn't miss us today. Earlier this week we moved into our new place. I was so excited! We finally had our own washer and dryer! So tonight I decided to try out our washer and dryer for the first time so that Reed wouldn't stress about getting laundry done tomorrow night before returning to work on Monday. So I started the washer and came back downstairs...then a little while later we all heard a funny noise upstairs, so we ran up the stairs to find out that the washer and flooded the floor! Then while we were upstairs surveying the damage and grabbing all the towels we could we heard a funny noise back downstairs. One of our friends and I ran down stairs to find that water was leaking through exhaust fan in the half bath downstairs. Awww...I was ready to cry! As if this sounds bad...don't worry it gets worse! (That's the Ward Luck way...) Then after riping up the carpet and using whatever we could to prop up the carpet and padding to help it dry until we can either get fans on it or a wet vac we came downstair to discover that it was also leaking through the ceiling. Good thing I have a handy husband...I guess. As of now though we have a temporary solution and a plan for getting it all fixed. Now we are all just chilling. Me on the internet and the guys playing video games and watching movies. I hope that everyone had a very merry Christmas!

Welcome

Hey guys, it's Amanda. I'm not really much of a writer or anything really, but I figure that since Reed & I have moved so far from both of our families this would be a great way to keep all of our families & friends up to date with all the happenings in our life. So is a brief update on everything that has happened in the last year in our family. Back in April Reed joined the Army as an infantry soldier. He left for basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia at the end of April and graduated the end of September. Upon graduation he got stationed at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, which is in Fairbanks. While Reed was traveling around the country, I stayed in Lubbock and continued working at Covenant as an RN. Thanks to the love and help of family and friends I packed up our apartment at the end of November and prepared to moved to Alaska. I arrived in Fairbanks on 3 Dec. Although Alaska is vastly different than what I am used to in Texas, I have to say that I really enjoy it up here. It is extremely cold, but the cold in tolerable. As Reed would say, "It's not too bad unless you have to stand out in it." The most difficult thing to adjust to is the lack of sunlight. Although, I am very happy to say that the longest day of the year is officially over, and the days are going to start getting longer! The biggest news that we have is that we finally found a place to live here! We signed a lease this afternoon for a house right off base. We are so excited to finally have a place here to settle down in. We have been living in a corporate apartment for the last two weeks, and can't wait for a place that actually feels like home. We are slowly learning our way around the town and meeting great people in the process. I have learned a few things about being on an Army base. The most important thing that I have learned is to NEVER go the the Commissary/PX around lunchtime by myself. Talk about getting stared at! The whole place is full of soldiers (duh I know), most of which are single and looking, and they just stare at you as you walk though! If anyone is single or knows someone who is single, I know the place to go to meet men, you will just have to deal with the military. Anyways....I guess that is all the news that we have for now. I will try to update this every week or so & as new news happens. I also want to try to figure out if I can or how to post pictures on here. As soon as that happens I will post pictures of our new house and our adventures in Alaska