so before i go on, i need to apologize for the lack of pictures (as they always seem to express a thousand words... words that i don't have at that)...

so today was a wonderfully productive day! and on top of the fact that i was able to complete my solo cross country, God really blessed me with how it happened...
i was scheduled for a 2:00pm flight in N439AF (the plane) and was thoroughly prepared to make the trip BY MYSELF!! woohoo! i had chosen this slot weeks ago because the planes get booked rather quickly, and there are a limited number of available planes. the night before the weather looked like it might be questionable as the day progressed (winds projected to be between 20-40 knots by afternoon). i told myself... "self, you are going to get up early tomorrow to check and see if there are any planes open up and become available earlier in the day to make the chances of my being able to fly tomorrow successful". planes rarely become available, but every so often someone cancels there flight at the last minute. i got up early this morning and saw that someone had cancelled their flight and one plane (453SP) became available from 10am-1pm... so i jumped on it, shoved a bowl of cereal in my mouth, finished my flight plan (current wind conditions, temp, etc. so that i could have the correct headings to airports i'd only been to once), checked my work and i was on my way as quickly as legally possible ;)... the weather was gorgeous and i was excited because finally some favor was coming my way for the second weekend in a row (concerning the weather), when the previous month had been nothing but bad flying weather. i pre-flighted the airplane, filed my flight plan, called dispatch, got fuel, and i was on my way... did i mention it was by myself? ;) it was a beautiful flight, however on my way back into Wasilla Airport i started getting quite a bit of turbulence... more than i had expected. the wind was going one direction at 3000 feet and the complete opposite direction once i got low enough to land at 500 ft. it was quite the learning experience once i figured out which runway would be most suitable for the current conditions... but all went as planned once i realized the wind situation. Wasilla airport was my last stop before flying back to EDF, so i continued on and the rest of the flight went relatively smooth. the blessing was that, almost as soon as i landed the wind began to rise to the projected 20-40 knots and if i had not gone early i would have had to cancel yet another flight (a common theme this winter). God was gracious to me and i completed the flight safely and having learned more through experience. i give props to my instructor for preparing me as well as he has. although i was put into a bit of an unexpected situation (alaska flying... what can i say), i knew exactly what to do and had no hesitation to execute the actions necessary. my training really has been amazing looking back at 2-3 months ago and now. my abilities and confidence have greatly improved thanks to Keith (my instructor) and some grace from the man upstairs.
oh, so the camera i thought was in my flight bag... wasn't... thus the reason for no pictures (that's probably better not having that as a distraction though i guess ;)

New Year's this year was lots of fun. i got home on new year's eve around 3pm, went home, unpacked, and then headed out to the Shultz's place for a party! it was lots of fun seeing old friends that had come home for the holidays from college! good conversation, good games, good music, and as always... good fun (minus one... again)! at the end of the evening, the ball had dropped and 2008 was well in effect. hard to believe that it's a new year, yet again! this year has gone by both very slow and very fast and there is SOOOOO MUCH so reflect on this past year. an unbelievable amount of blessings, struggles, tests, life changes, and SO much more. 2007 has certainly been one of the most important, memorable, and grateful years of my life thus far. as it looks now, 2008 has an unbelievable amount to look forward to. God has been so gracious to me this past year and i pray that he will again as well as continuing his work within me as more change and life comes in 2008.



New Year's Eve at the Shultz's attempting to play a song with these bell thingy's


part of the crew!


the pool crew... well 3 of them at least.


we finished the puzzle by midnight... (dad aren't you proud... i actually participated in a puzzle!)


New Year's outing with the girls!




good picture of tsunami!



Skijoring on New Years...
so there's a good story associated with this video:
as i decided to take some video, most of you that know me know that i stink at cross country skiing, aka, i fall alot! so i was proud when i had finished filming without falling, and then... as soon as the camera turned off, i crashed... hard... i kinda wish i had the video still going, cause that would have been pretty funny, i guess you'll just have to imagine what it looked like. those people i passed on the trail in the video saw it all... i think they were laughing at me, but that's nothing new ;)