Merry Christmas

This was our 1st Christmas as just The Messinger's.  We started new traditions of baking cookies and decorating a gingerbread house on Christmas Eve.  We also kept old traditions of opening PJ's.  

On Christmas Eve we Skyped the Mr's side of the family and on Christmas Day we Skypled the Mrs' side of the family.  It was fun to be able to open gifts with our family miles away.  We spent Christmas afternoon surprising our friends with cookies for both dogs and humans.  

Sierra opening a gift form the Mrs co-worker.

Even the pup got a candy cane. 

Sierra with her new toy

Baking

Lots of Cookies to bake

Sierra opening her P.J.'s aka Sweater

New robe after wearing the old one for 5+ years

Batman Shorts

Decorating the gingerbread house

Yummo

Sierra didn't realize she was allowed to open her gift

Play time...

As you can see we had a wonderful first Messinger Family Christmas.  Hopefully we will get to spend next year with our family in California but if not we know that we will be just fine.

Love, Mrs Messinger

Oh Christmas Tree

Oh DEAD Christmas Tree

Just days after Drew returned to Alaska from a TDY in Guam we purchased our first and last real Christmas Tree in Alaska.  Christmas Trees die really quickly in the dry Alaska winter air but we didn't want to drop $250 on a fake tree so we decided to go real and cross our fingers that it would make it to Christmas... Our tree is now 6 days old and completely DEAD. Oh well it will make a good story 25 years from now.

 

Here are the pics of our traditional yearly ornament.  We have grown really attached to purchasing our yearly Mickey & Minnie ornament.  Enjoy

Our 1st Christmas - 2009, Fox Wood Apartments - Fresno, CA

2010, Palo Alto Place - Fresno, CA

2011, Williamson Home - Bass Lake CA

2012, Moose Crossing - JBER, AK

Tradition of sneaking a kiss under Mickey & Minnie ;-)

Merry Christmas from Alaska

Merry Christmas to all of our family & friends.

Love, Mrs Messinger

Another project...

This past weekend I decide to make something with a really old frame. This is a special frame in that it held Andrew's Grandpa's Air Force Basic Training picture before I upgraded it to a frame that matched the one that Andrew's BMT picture is in.

With Love,
Mrs Messinger

Fall Outfits

It is nice and cold here in Alaska and I am enjoying it to say the least.  It has been so much fun layering clothes and wearing jackets and boots everyday.  Some call me weird but I love it!

Here are some of my recent outfits...

My favorite North Face zip up.

A great outfit to do Saturday errands in

I sure love those boots! Thanks for the Birthday $$$ Mom & Dad

Don't mind me standing on the toilet.  I liked this outfit! Dress with blue cardigan, brown tights, and long songs with boots.

Dog Park Outfit

Hat with white flower. Who cares about messy hair when it is 0 degrees out.

Love Mrs. Messinger

Front Door Wreath

Most days Sierra and I walk the neighborhood and ooh and awe at all of the cute wreaths hanging on our neighbors doors.  I tell you those military wives are creative...

After doing lots of research on wreaths I decided to give it a try.

The materials before...

The Finished Wreath

I sure love that dog peaking out the window as I took this picture.

Hope you enjoyed our wreath!

With Love,
Mrs. Messinger

Family Birthday Craft

After countless hours of "liking" and "pinning" pictures on Pinterest a group of my friends finally decided to put our $ where our mouth was and follow through with a Pinterest idea.  

We spent all day Saturday shopping for supplies, sanding, painting, laughing, talking, and eating.  

So what do you think of the finished project?  

Who wants to have a baby in November???

 Special thanks to Ashlie for finding the idea on Pinterest and making homemade chicken noodle soup for us to enjoy and Sam for helping me paint what felt like a million circles and drilling all of the holes because I was scared I would mess it up.

Love,

Mrs. Messinger

Happy Birthday Steph

I would like to take a moment and wish my dear friend Stephanie a happy birthday.  Steph and I worked together at Fresno State and ended up living together my sophomore year at Fresno State.  On a Sunday night you could find the two of us sitting on the couch chatting up a storm and procrastinating on a paper due the next day.  We both got married in the Summer of 2009 and then our husbands got looped into our friendship. Lucky for us ladies the guys hit it off too. In the fall of 2010 both of our husbands signed with the United States Air Force and ended up leaving for Basic Military Training just weeks apart.  Stephanie was the glue that held me together while Drew was gone and I will forever be great full for her friendship during those hard times.

Camping at Hume Lake

Dog Days...

Magic Mtn before the guys left for BMT

Some highlights with Steph...

• Early mornings at Dog Days
• Late night / early morning conversations
• Summer wedding prep
• Game nights
• Camping at Hume Lake
•   Vacationing at Disneyland
• Phone calls to each other from BMT graduation in Texas (X2)
• Random text about baby Jack

Happy Birthday Steph.  I love and miss you like crazy.

Love,
Taylor

Early Morning Snow

Sierra needed a potty break at 3:45 am and we were surprised with a couple inches of snow.

We were both so excited we had to play in it for a little while and take some pictures. 

Ghost Dog Sierra

Better get to shoveling the drive way before work...

Love,
Mrs. Messinger

Our Entry Way

With winter looming around the corner I decided that our Arctic Entry needed help and quick.

My first goal was to have an entry way that made a good first impression when you entered our home and secondly a place where we could sit and take off our wet or muddy boots.

Here is phase one of our redo... It still isn't perfect but I am starting to love it.

Bench made by the Mrs

The Mr and I started with removing the door to give us space to add a bench.  We started the bench the first week of September and then the Mr was deployed. Sadly this left the bench unfinished because the Mrs is banned from using a circular saw until the Mr returns.  This weekend I decided to enlist the help of the Marines (AKA our neighbor) to cut the finishing piece for the bench so I could finish it up. As the Giants were named the 2012 World Series Champions I added the last screw to the bench.  On a side not the Mr makes using the drill look so easy. I guess I need to work on my arm muscles a bit so I don't have to take so many breaks while using the drill.

With the removal of the door our living room was getting a little chilly so I added a thick set of noise and temperature control curtains to the front door which also adds some personality to our boring room. With the addition of the bench and curtains phase one of our entry way facelift is complete.  Stay tuned for phase two... 

Love, Mrs. Messinger

P.S.  If you have any ideas to add character to our entry way I would love to hear them...

Coffee Sweet Bread

Today our neighbor Autumn and I made Coffee Sweet Bread and a Pumpkin Roll.

It was so much fun passing on our family recipe to my military family. 

Autumn kneading the bread

Time for the oven

Ready to enjoy!

Coffee Sweet Bread

7-8 Loaves

3 Yeast cakes in 1/2 cup warm water with 2 tsp sugar

1 qt milk scalded

1tbsp salt

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

4 eggs beaten

1 egg beaten to brush on top of bread

1 tsp cardamon

5lbs + a little more flour

Scald the milk and cool to warm.  Add butter, salt, eggs, cardamon, sugar, and yeast mixture that has risen. (Takes 15 - 30 minutes)

Mix all ingredients together and turn out onto well floured board. Start kneading and add flour until it looses stickiness. Knead until smooth and velvety in texture.  Put dough in a clean oiled big pot.  Cover with a wet dish towel and let rise until it doubles in size (2-4 hours).  

Punch down the dough and turn over to let it rise 1 more hour.

Braid the dough with 4 strand braids and brush with 1 beaten egg.  

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. 

Enjoy with real butter.

Beautiful day for a hike

This morning Sierra and I went hiking with some friends. It was a bit chilly (15 degrees) and the ground was frozen however thanks to the clear skies we could see for days. Sierra had a blast sliding on the ice and running around with her new friend. Here are some pics from our hike.

As you can see the mountains were simply beautiful and Sierra and I were so happy to be back in the cold and snow.  I feel truly blessed to live in such an amazing place. 

Love,

Mrs Messinger

Who's That Doggie in the Window?

Welcome to the Messinger Home. I am the queen of starting projects but not finishing them so I am really excited to show you all my finished wreath.  Sierra and I are enjoying this rainy Alaska day and hope you are too...

With Love, Mrs Messinger

Williams Reindeer Farm

Some of our good friends here in Alaska invited me to go with them to the Reindeer Farm in Palmer today.  We had so much fun feeding the moose and reindeer, taking a hay ride, and walking through a straw maze.  Here are some pics from our fall day in Alaska...

Have a great weekend.

Kindest Regards,

Mrs. Messinger