Semi-retirement - YES!!

After Tom retired April 30th it was very difficult for me to go to work, so...with many mixed emotions, I turned in my letter of "departure" from Alaska Dental Center, effective May 24, 2013. It was difficut for my employer, Dr. S. Libby and Christina to accept, even though they had know for 9 months, that I would be leaving sometime in the summer of 2013. I had been with them for nearly 20 years, and we had become good friends in & out of the office. I will miss them.

Tom RETIRES!

 

After 23 years of being in Alaska, and the very LONG COLD winters, Tom retired from Spenard Builders Supply (now Pro Build). We were very thankful for this job he had, all the time we were in Anchorage.  I tell people it took Tom 5 years to get me up to Alaska, and it took me 10 years to get him out. :-) It was getting  more and more difficult for him to go to work with all the changes, and his friends getting laid off for no apparent reason. Things were NOT real stable for him. We decided to take an early retirement and get out while the getting was good.

It took 9 months of sorting and cleaning out closets, and sheds and closets again, to get ready for the BIG MOVE back to Colorado. Whew! I was very thankful that we had LOTS of time to go through our home in stages. We took one step at a time. It was kind of difficult on Tom, to let go of some of his collections. :-) So...we would took it slow and did what we could, as I was still working and mainly only packed and sorted on weekends. We took several loads to the Good Will, and Salvation army. We gave books and other things away, trying to downsize our collection of things from being in the same home for 23 years also. The ARC came and picked up several loads, and we STILL had OVER 6000 pounds of stuff we moved to Colorado.

THANK YOU PAUL!

Paul, Tom's brother, came  up to Anchorage to redo our deck for us in March 2013, so we could have it safe to put on the market and sell the summer when we move back to Colorado!. Yes, it was still cold and snow on the ground.  Him and Tom did a WONDERFUL job on it.

We finally got a little bit of warm sunshine, then...
 

Then came another COLD spell and we got about 4 inches of snow. Angel loved to go out and lay in it to cool, off I guess. Not sure why she liked it so much. :-)

38th anniversary

It's hard to believe 38 years ago in March, Tom and I were married in Grand Junction, Colo. We lived in a little tiny 2 room apartment, then graduated to a one bedroom apartment. Whew . Once Vaughn was born, 1 yr and 9 months later, we moved into a 2 bedroom apartment, upstairs. If I remember correctly, we moved into that upstairs apartment, not to long before Vaughn was born. Between the 2 families, we had the wedding party taken care of. My 3 sisters stood up for me, and Tom had his two brothers and a good friend stand up for him. (I'll try to find a wedding picture and post it some time) once we are able to get our things unpacked from the move from Alaska to Colorado. Our friend Skip P. married us, and a couple friends sang "The Wedding Song" for us. Everyone did a GREAT job. My colors were pink and purple, hmmmm. Still some of my favorite colors. :-)

I also remember, that my dad was not feeling very well, and we had to kind of hold him up, after he walked me up the isle. I'm glad he made it through the ceremony ok. Thank the Lord for a wonderful husband who has stuck with me through the good and the bad times.

LOVE IT

 After 23 years in Alaska-I was gifted with a silver fox fur coat and hat. :-) That is one of the things that I had always wanted. Thank you Linda S. for this wonderful coat. I LOVE IT! I know I will be able to enjoy it in Colorado also.

Snow in May 2013

The last couple years that we were in Anchorage, there were new records set. The winter of 2011 and beginning of 2012, we set the record for Anchorage, with over 6 feet of snow. The winter of 2012 and 2013, we had the LONGEST and COLDEST winter on record! We still got snow mid May 2012. :-(  It had warmed up a little, a couple weeks in April and beginning of May. The flowers were peaking through the leaves, so I uncovered them. Well...then came another COLD snap, and it froze the tips of the tulips, that are usually blooming around the 10th-15th of May. This year, it took them a while to  re cooperated from frost bite. They finally bloomed the first part of June. :-) Everything was about 2 or 3 weeks late turning green. 

3 precious kids

 

More of our adopted family in King Salmon, AK. The 3 (now 4) kids bring lots of energy and joy. Glenn & Lisa hosted Thanksgiving 2012 with ALL the fixings that were VERY YUMMY! There was always lots of good food and fun. Love them all!!

Just for fun

 

Thanksgiving weekend 2012, my best friend Karleen invited me to go visit them in King Salmon for the last time. As you can tell, we have a lot of fun.  Even though in pain, with her back, Karleen was still a good sport and did what she could. Mike, her husband, had just had knee surgery a couple days before, so both of them were gimping around, but...that didn't stop them much. :-) I love them all and will miss them.

Beautiful Sunset

King Salmon, Ak. sunset over the Naknek River, Nov.2012.  

Nov 2012 Ice Crystals

 

I know it's going way back in time from Dec. 2012. I thought my little tree and penguin was pretty cute. The ice crystals were beautiful on a beautiful cold sunny day.

Christmas 2012-

Thought I should get caught up a little, to keep track of things. This is my final Christmas party with Dr. Libby  and the group from Alaska Denta Center. I had been with them almost 20 years. They were good  to me and I enjoyed it.

 

Farewell to our Alaska home

The flowers are finally blooming, the trees and schrub and grass is finally green, the first of June 2013. After another very LONG winter in Anchorage. we packed up our things and moved to Colorado.