Starting my collection...

Went to a garage sale today, only to this awesome vintage crate!

I was pretty excited.

Our 4 day Extravaganza!

It has been a very adventurous few days for us! Sarah's parents came to visit from Texas! We were so excited to see them again! Our adventures included camping at Willow Creek, deep sea fishing in Seward, and the Anchorage Market & Festival!

Sarah's parents got here on Tuesday night. God totally worked it out so that Sarah got all 4 days off, and Devin got all 4 days off! So we went camping on Wednesday morning. We Stopped at Sportsman's Warehouse to pick up some fishing poles, and our fishing licenses. Once we hit the road, we drove about an hour and a half north of Anchorage to a campsite on Willow Creek, where some locals told us there was great salmon fishing. We got there around 3, and fished until sunset (which sunset isn't till 10:00 here!) All we caught that night were Humpys, which are a type of salmon but not good eating. So we threw all of those back.

Devin with his Pink Salmon!

Sarah was really excited when she caught the first fish of our trip!

This is a Humpy!

Mama, collecting wood for the fire

We were excited to get some more use out of our trailer!

Sarah holding all of the salmon eggs!

Devin will cure them and use them for bait.

GGROOOOSSSSSS!!!

We had a great time by the fire, playing scrabble, eating smores, and mama's delicious hot chocolate!

MMM...Smores!

On Thursday morning, everyone headed back out to the creek to do some more fishing. I stayed in bed a little longer... : ) It was so cold out, and my blanket that I was wrapped in was soooo warm! Anyway, I finally made it out to the creek. Mama fixed us some breakfast burritos, and I watched everyone fish. We were so excited when Sarah caught a Silver Salmon!!! Papa caught 2 Pink Salmon, and Devin caught a HUGE pink salmon. It was so much fun. I never understood what "combat fishing" was until we fished here. People were literally fishing shoulder to shoulder here. It was frustrating because our fishing lines could easily get tanged with the person next to you. But it was still really fun!

Sarah with her silver she caught!

We left Thursday afternoon, after Devin cleaned up the fish. We headed home to do some laundry and take showers. Then around 7:00 p.m. we headed south to Seward, to stay the night in a hotel. Our fishing charter left at 6:30 a.m. and Seward was 2 1/2 hours south of Anchorage. So if we would've stayed in Anchorage, we would have had to leave at 4 in the morning to make it. When we went downstairs for breakfast on Friday morning, our view from the breakfast room was breathtaking! we could see the docks, with all of the boats, with a gorgeous backdrop of snow covered mountains, and a huge cruise liner. We got some great pics. When we were done with breakfast we got all decked out like real fishermen. We got our boots, and neon orange jackets. Haha! We felt like we were on the "Deadliest Catch!"

We fished from about 8 (it took and hour and a half to get to the spot we wanted to fish) to about 4. We started out with Halibut fishing. Our limit was 2 per person, and we were all able to reach out limits. While we were Halibut fishing, I "accidently" caught a HUGE 25lb. Lingcod! It was awesome! Everyone on the boat was pretty impressed! I was so excited! Devin had to help me real it in because it was so heavy! Then we moved onto to Salmon fishing. Salmon fishing wasn't as excited as Halibut fishing because they were a lot tougher to catch. Papa caught one salmon, Sarah caught 2 salmon, and Mama got to keep 3 silver Salmon (but she didn't catch any of them, the people on the other side of the boat were catching them like crazy, our limit was 3 per person, and they reached their limit, so whatever they caught after their limit they had to throw back in, but the gave some to mama instead!) Devin and I were not able to catch any salmon, but we did catch a lot of rock fish! They were really fun to catch! We had a limit of 4 per person, and I think most of caught about 3. Like a friend of mine said, "We made out like BANDITS!"

My 25lb. Lingcod!

I was very proud!!!

Cute Sea otter, swimming on his back!

Mama and Devin got a little sea sick when we first got there and threw up over board! But thankfully after they threw up they were totally fine. There was a lady on the boat that just threw up the WHOLE time! She couldn't even fish! So her husband fished for her. It was really sad. Thankfully Sarah and I didn't get too sick. We just felt a little sick for a little while.

All in all, we had a GREAT time! What awesome memories we created! We came home after going out to dinner in Seward. Devin when straight to the store to buy a vacuum sealer. He packaged out cooler full of fish. It took him about 2 1/2 hours. So we were up till 1 in the morning. Needless to say, we were EXHAUSTED!

Saturday morning we slept in, and spent the day at the Farmers Market where we picked up some fresh tomatoes, homemade jalepeno and cheddar bread, and raspberry rhubarb jam! Then, we headed to the Anchorage Market & Festival and walked around for the afternoon. When we got home, Devin and Papa took naps, while Sarah, Mama and I put a 750 piece puzzle together. Later that evening we made fish tacos with our fresh fish we caught. It was delicious!

Sarah and I couldn't help ourselves, we had to try on the fur earmuffs!

We had reindeer corndogs for lunch!

Hahaha! I got Devin to try on a nice leather fanny pack!

A sled dog pup, they're going to train him to race!

Devin and I especially enjoyed getting to know Mama and Papa really well. We are throughly impressed with the Sheets family. They are amazing parents, that are so real, down-to-earth people that love God and their family! They raised 10 amazing kids, who all have grown up to love God above all else. And we have the pleasure of learning from them. What an example they are to us, as to how we want to raise our own family. We are so thankful that we were able to hang out with them this week!