cama-i (hello in yupik, the native language of bethel)

just to reiterate what i wrote on my profile:

a little over a year ago my husband and i left utah, not for the beach or sun... no no, we left for the frozen tundra of ALASKA. a tundra so cold, so vast, so miserable that we couldn't pass it up and now call it home. the only things that are keeping me from jumping on a team of sled dogs and getting the heck out of town are my family, friends, and this blog. this is my story of our little family in alaska... brians {and bryn} in bethel.

no mall. no target. no olive garden. we have one paved road and the rest is dirt. half of the people speak a language that i don't understand. i am a total minority. i am a dorm parent for the bethel alternative boarding school and share a home with up to 24 native teens. subway is our only chain restaurant. right now it is light outside, but for most of the year it is constantly dark, maybe three hours of light a day. we have giant mosquito's galore, some people even call them the state bird. i have never seen more drunk people in my whole life. at night i sleep with a hammer under my pillow, because i was once woken up by a drunk women in my own home. i couldn't have my baby here because the hospital doesn't offer epidurals. its lonely . . .

ugh. see my dift?

but wait.

i didn't tell you that everyone here knows my name. that no one cares what clothes i wear or what i drive. they just care that i am happy, healthy, and enjoying life. i might have forgotten to mention that the summers are beautiful and green. that kids don't sit around playing video games, but instead are outside biking, fishing, or boating. moving to a place where no one knew us taught my husband and i how to rely on each other in a way i never thought possible. and after some convincing, we have had two couples come and join us in bethel.

like to any situation there is good and there is bad.

i can't always promise i will tell only the good. actually i KNOW i will spend a couple posts venting, that i apologise for now.

so there you have it. i went from a city girl to a "middle of no-where" alaska girl and this is my way to journal it.

sorry for the personal junk. tomorrow we are back to some d.i.y!

 we're learning to make our own fantastic tote bags. oh, and just in case you don't have the time to make totes i also compiled a couple of my favorite places to buy some AMAZINGLY CUTE ones... cheap!