erry Christmas and Happy New Year wishes from the cold North land! (SMILE) Another year just flew by! I can�t believe how fast it went! December finds us all busy, as usual! Don and I took 3 trips this year. Two were planned, one was not.
irst we took a trip to California in February and March to visit our families and celebrate my parent�s 60th wedding anniversary. It was really nice to get to visit with everyone. We also squeezed in some sightseeing. Then in June we took a short trip to Denali National Park and took the bus to Wonder Lake, 86 miles back into the park. It was a great trip, except for smoky skies from forest fires nearby. We saw a lot of animals including Grizzly Bears, Caribou, Moose, Beaver, Porcupine, Marmot, Dall Sheep, Wolves, Foxes, Ptarmigan, Golden Eagles and more. Then in September, with just a week�s notice, Don and I had to drive to Anchorage.
will NOT go into great detail, but I had to have stents put in my heart. We drove to Anchorage for the procedure as we don�t have heart doctors in Fairbanks. I only spent one night in the hospital and then we drove home. I was fortunate that my problem was found early or I COULD have had a heart attack and been taken by medivac to Anchorage for surgery. I never had any pain. I got checked out because I had some shortness of breath when I walked too fast or went up and down stairs and sometimes had trouble sleeping. I know God was watching over me!
ince then I have been attending a Cardiac Education Class at our hospital and, of course, exercising and changing our diet. I am doing well! My heart is strong and the best part is, I am feeling great!! (SMILE) I also found out that I have obstructive sleep apnea. During a Sleep Study they said I stopped breathing twice a minute, almost every minute, for half the night. Then they woke me up and put a breathing mask on me and hooked up a CPAP machine and I slept like a baby the rest of the night! So now I sleep with a machine that helps me breathe and I sleep all night. I sound like �Darth Vader,� but no more snoring!! Ha ha ha!!
on is still staying busy with his job at the Fairbanks North Star Borough. He has been there almost ten years. Computers keep changing, so he is kept busy upgrading the systems and keeping viruses out of their computers. Sometimes we can�t believe he has been here ten years already; and other times it seems like we have been together forever! We just had our tenth anniversary. (SMILE)
race still works at the Fairbanks Daily News Miner, our local paper. Her job is doing the Legal Ads to be posted for the public in the paper. She will be 25 this year; that just doesn�t seem possible! Time just flies�. Grace was given a weekend airfare to Seattle this summer from a friend who was leaving Alaska, so she went and got to spend some time with her half-brother Scott, his wife Molly and their kids. She had fun visiting nephew Jack and nieces Olivia and Bella. It was a short trip, but she had a great visit with them.
(Barbara) still work part-time at the City of Fairbanks Federal Credit Union. I have been there 8 years now. I would have never guessed I would work in a job that needed Arithmetic Skills, (SMILE) but here I am. My boss is great to work with and a good friend; maybe that�s why I like it there. (SMILE)
e put some bird feeders out in the trees in our yard this winter. We have had several Black-Capped Chickadees and a Downey Woodpecker visit so far! The birds are always fun to watch and also relaxing. I love taking photos of them!
guess that�s all the news from Alaska this year!