"The Box" My one foot by 2 feet box on my porch. This is the only space I have, really. The basil is on my back porch. It's pretty exciting to see some little plants growing! It's been about 25 years since I've participated in a garden! 
These are my spinach sprouts!
This is my basil plant that I planted a few weeks ago...maybe like a month or more ago.
This is a stuffed musk ox at the Anchorage Museum. He's a greeeeeaaat kisser! ;)
Me with Anchorage in the background. I'm standing at the edge of Earthquake Park where 75 houses once stood but got destroyed in the 1964 earthquake. The ground is still all lumpy, but that is behind me and you can't see it here.
Alaska didn't have a temple back in 1990 when we left, but now there is one there! It was fabulous to do work inside, when so long ago, the nearest temple was 3 hours by plane!
Blueberry! Delicious and wild! Mom and I went on a hike and picked a few. Mostly they had already been picked, so we mostly gleaned...
We hiked to Byron Glacier and took some way awesome pictures! A glacier is a "river of ice" made from compacted snow. It turns blue on the inside and is very pretty.
Byron Glacier. It looks like only a little way up there, doesn't it? It's a LONG way, I promise. The perspective is deceiving!
Mom and I went clam digging at Deep Creek by the ocean. This is called a clam gun.
Anchorage Museum exhibits. This is a replica of a Native dwelling and a woman making a basket.
Protage Glacier, a place we used to go when I was younger.
Me tasting shark meat for the first time. Delicious! Melts in your mouth!
This is me by some loaves of bread me and my friend Steve made. 
This is my first time bottling chicken. My friend Amber and I learned how to do it from a nice lady who grew up preserving food and making bread. We learned from the best!
Me cuddling a koala!
This is me petting a kangaroo.
Crikey! Went to the Australia Zoo which Steve Irwin and his parents started.
This is me under the water of Lake McKenzie
This is at Lake McKenzie on Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. It actually protects the Great Barrier Reef from getting smothered with sand by the "EAC"--Eastern Australian Current. Pretty cool. This is a fresh water lake with white sand. This is the life!
Some cool fish and coral. My brother may have taken some of these. I may have taken some of them, too. He owns both underwater cameras. :)
This is me snorkelling in the GREAT BARRIER REEF! Wow. It's so cool!
This is a family tradition...making gingerbread houses. Not the kind that come pre-cooked and cut out for $9.96 at Wal-Mart, this is the real thing! Therefore human error must be taken into account when constructing the structure...which sometimes leads to roofs sliding off, walls caving in, etc. Adds to the challenge! This is me and my sister and one of my adorable nieces keeping the tradition alive!
Somehow, I became old...pretty weird. Most of my friends were out of town for my birthday, as usual because of the date, but I still had fun with the friends that did come!
Free ice cream at Red Robin!
What kind of person gives someone a 2 pound sausage as a birthday gift??? This answers the question: My home teacher, Hyrum! "Gee, Merilee, when I saw this enormous sausage on the shelf in the Christmas clearance aisle, I thought of YOU!" Thanks, Hyrum, I feel loved!
