Alaska - Saturday (The Wedding)

Saturday June 18, 2011.  My oldest brother's wedding day. 

We have been waiting for this day for a long time and it finally arrived.   A little more than a year ago my brother Shane met a girl named Dawn.  They fell in love instantly and let me just tell you she is amazing.  We all love her and we are so happy for the both of them.

Saturday was their big day.  It rained all day Friday and the weather called for more rain on Saturday, but with a little luck (and many prayers) the wind blew all night and it blew the clouds right out of there.  Saturday was an amazingly wonderful day.  We prepared most of the morning for the wedding, setting up for the reception in the Saxman Community Center and then we all got dressed in our costumes.

Tabi did Dawn's hair and make-up and she looked beautiful. 

The ceremony was in Ketchikan city park.  It was sunny and warm and green and beautiful. It was a Renaissance themed wedding so we all got to dress up. 

Tori & Kollin

Shane with his vows in hand walking down the isle.

The river in the middle of the park

Dawn and her dad walking down the isle.

The wedding was non-denominational.  They had their friend Gene marry them and they each wrote their own vows.  It was so sweet.  I don't think there was a dry eye in the audience.

Tabi & her boys

Shane (the groom), Teran (the ring bearer), Henry & Jared (the groomsmen)

The wedding party

Katie, Becca, April, Kaelie, Dawn, Shane, Teran, Henry, Jared

My side of the family (those that were able to come)

Mary, Dad, Kleyton, Mom, Dawn, Shane, Tabi, Tori, Kollin, Henry, Me, Jared

After the ceremony Jared and I went to Dawn's sister April's house to put the finishing touches on the cake and take it to the reception.  The reception was at the Saxman Community Center.  There was tons of good food including tons of shrimp that there had cooked up.  Jared was loving that.  I loved being around my family.

My Mom & Me

The cake.  Dawn's sister April handmade all the flowers out of gum paste and fondant.  The bottom tier was dark chocolate with peanut butter filling, the middle tier was milk chocolate with espresso filling, and the top tier was red velvet with almond filling.  It was by far the most delicious cake I have ever had in my entire life.

They were so sweet when they were feeding each other the first bite of cake.  I was so glad that they were nice about it.  I hate going to weddings where they smash the cake into each others faces.  I think it's a bad sign and very disrespectful (that's just my personal opinion).  But they really were so nice.  What a great ending to a perfect day.

Both sides of the family

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to be at Shane and Dawn's wedding.  It was such a special day and I'm glad we got to be a part of it.  Congratulations you guys, we love you!!

Alaska - Friday

Friday morning we all slept in, which was not like us.  Especially considering the 2 hour time change.  But we all slept in until almost 8 am (Ketchikan time, which is 10 am Utah time).  Oh my, I haven't slept that well in years.  It was so nice.  

After breakfast we went out to see the town.  We ended up downtown where all of the cruise ships come into port.  It just one of the stops on an Alaska cruise.  Ketchikan has around 5 ships a day that stop in.  It's interesting because they post the # of expected people in their local newspaper and around  town so that everyone knows.  Then the shops are open accordingly.  So some days the shops are open early and stay open until really late and other days they are only open until mid-afternoon.  On days that they don't have cruise ships in, they don't open at all.  So no set hours.  

Downtown Ketchikan is really a tourists dream, plenty of shopping, shows, tour buses, and great food.  Plus oddly enough they have a lot of jewelry stores and fur coat stores.  Tabi said it reminded her a lot of the stops on the cruise she took to Catalina and Ensenada Mexico where she went on her honey moon.

Mary, Kleyton, Tabi, Kollin, Shane, Tori, Henry, Dad, Mom, & Me

Ketchikan is build on a hill, sort of like San Francisco.  It is also one of the wettest places in the US.  They get even more rain than Seattle.  Most of the houses are built on stilts.  Even the elementary school is built up off the ground and the playground and basketball courts are under the school.  They have lights to light it up so the kids can play outside all year.  The baseball fields are all gravel - no grass.  There is almost no grass anywhere, except the park.  Most people's yards are gravel in front and natural landscaping for the back yard.  Everything has moss growing on it and everything is beautiful and green.

"Bawden Street"  My dad said that means we are welcome there.  Haha!!

This place smelled amazing.  Chocolate everywhere!!!  YUM!!

After our little venture out into the town we went back to Shane and Dawn's house to rest.  Then we headed over to Dawn's sister April's house for a dinner and wedding rehearsal.  April made some amazing homemade macaroni and cheese.  We also had BBQ chicken, green salad, fruit salad, and crab.  Tons and tons of fresh crab.  They get amazing sea food there as you can imagine.  Dawn's sister Katie brought all the fresh crab.  Jared was in heaven.  He stood there and ate plate after plate of crab.

Alaska - Thursday

So our much anticipated trip to Alaska finally came around.  We have been waiting, (mostly impatiently) for the last 6 months for my oldest brothers wedding.  On Thursday June 16 we got up at 3:30am so we could drive to the airport and fly out.  

My awesome sister Julie came down on Wednesday night with her kids so she could stay the week to watch my kids.  Mary drove up from St. George to go with us. So Jared, Mary and I got to the Salt Lake Airport around 5:00am.  We parked the car and took the shuttle.  We got through security and sat around waiting for our plane.  I haven't been on a plane in nine years, so that in and of itself was a special kind of treat!!  We flew out around 7:15 and landed in Seattle just in time for breakfast.  

They have some of the greatest food in the Seattle airport.  They also have a Starbucks and Hudson News down almost every terminal.  But we had a yummy breakfast of eggs, sausage, and biscuits while we waited for our next plane from Seattle to Ketchikan.

At 10:00 they started boarding our plane and since we were flying standby we were a little nervous but we got lucky and they got us seated just fine.

We were on the plane with a bunch of rowdy men playing poker.  They were all part of some company out of California that were going to Alaska to fish.  There were 60 of them total.  But I just kicked back and read my book.  Now I'm not much of a reader but luckily MaKady is so I borrowed her books. (thank goodness for my teenage daughter and her wonderful collection of books).

We landed in Ketchikan just before noon (Ketchikan time - they are two hours behind Utah).  It was like coming home.  Weird, because we haven't been there in nine years when my brother first moved there, but it was so strangely familiar if that makes sense.  It felt like Christmas morning to me.

In Ketchikan the airport is across the harbor from the city.  So you have to take a ferry across the harbor.  It leaves every 1/2 hour.  Of course we missed it by just a few minutes so we had to wait 1/2 hour until it came back across.  That seemed like forever.  

Finally it was our turn and we boarded the ferry and very slowly (well maybe it just seemed slow to me) we crossed the harbor.  My brothers Shane (haven't seen him since Thanksgiving when they came to Utah for a visit) my almost sister in law Dawn, and my brother Henry (who lives in Ohio and I haven't seen him for a year and a half) where all waiting for us on the other side.  Woohoo!!!!  I wanted to just jump off and swim at that point, but I managed to control myself and wait for them to almost stop the ferry before I jumped off and ran up the ramp to greet them.  

This is the ferry, on the city side of the harbor.  We were on the airport side waiting.

The airport from the city side of the harbor.

After we hugged and all that we still had 4 hours until my parents were going to be there so we went were all people in Alaska go - to Walmart!!  HaHaHa!!  I love it.  But it's different from our Walmart.  They have winter clothes year round, and tons of fishing gear, stuff you would see at a sporting goods store like giant fishing poles and crab pots.  They do have like 4 rows of food but mostly soda pop and chips.  So they don' do their grocery shopping there, they go to Safeway.

For lunch we ate at a little seaside burger stand.  Oh it was soooo good.  I loved my hamburger and my sweet hubby even let me eat a few of his onion rings.

After lunch and shopping we went to Shane and Dawn's house to unload our stuff and relax for a little while, then back to the dock to wait for the ferry.

Let me just say that it's just as bad waiting on the city side of the harbor for the ferry as it is waiting on the airport side.  I was just so dang excited to see everyone.  Then all of a sudden the ferry was there and my parents, Tabi and the boys and Tori were coming up the ramp.  We had all (well not all of the family, but those that were able to come) had finally made it.  Whew!!!  What a fun first day in Alaska.  

Family Reunion

On Saturday we had a family reunion with the Stephensen's.  We met at the park in Levan for a potluck lunch.  They kids played bingo and got great prizes and the big boys played with water balloons.  It was a ton of fun.

Splash Pad kind of Day...