honeymoon

Ben and I have been brainstorming honeymoon ideas the past couple weeks and I thought I'd make a post to take a poll on great Alaskan honeymoon destinations. We are planning on staying in the state to honeymoon b/c of time, $$, and we both love being in Alaska. Neither of us has had a summer there in awhile and we may or may not move back there when all is said and done with seminary sooooooo we are planning on hiding out in beautiful country away from the big city life we are immersed in now. :)

Our tentative plan is to spend some time north near Denali and then head south to Seward to a B & B or cabin in the woods where we can get out and hike, maybe take a deep sea fishing trip and just REST in the MOUNTAINS away from lots of tourists. :)

Any great ideas or secret Alaskan get-aways you know of are welcome! Post your comment and let us know!

P.S. As a side note for all those who have been asking my mom about where we are registered we are registered at: Bed, Bath and Beyond, Target, REI, and Pampered Chef. Go to any of those websites and type in Eller/Mosier wedding and you can access our registry.

home made birthday cake

Being that last night was a late night after a long week for Ben and me we slept in today, had a slow start and then planned to get together later around 5 p.m. I was going to make dinner . . . actually have Ben grill hamburgers and we were going to do some wedding planning and just relax together.

To my surprise when I opened the door tonight Ben had a giant smile on his face and a home made birthday cake in one hand! By "home made" I mean a Betty Crocker box cake. It was amazing! He made a two layer circular chocolate (my favorite) cake with frosting (evenly spread), sprinkles, and a hand written/frosted message saying "Happy Birthday Anita!" I was blown away.

He spent the bulk of his afternoon getting it together. He bought the cake pans, mix, sprinkles, frosting, candles (two boxes b/c I'm 31 and he wanted to be sure I had 31 candles on the cake) and lighters . . . along with all the ingredients and slaved away. The cute part? Both cakes ballooned in the middle when they baked so he cut the bulge off of the bottom layer so they would lay on each other evenly. . . very baker savey. He also commented how the sprinkles kept rolling off the top so he did a little "magic" by throwing handfuls of sprinkles as hard has he could at the top and around the side to make them stick into the frosting. It turned out REALLY well. I was highly impressed. Truly it was the best birthday present I have gotten. A cake made with TLC just for me by the man I love. He made me feel like a million bucks! Thanks Ben! I love you!

Disney Land

in front of the Fantasy Land castle


in line for the tea cups!


Gettin' reved up


Peter Pan ride

So I am taking advantage of Southern CA perks and went to Disney Land for my birthday yesterday. Admission on your birthday is free and being that mine fell on a Friday this year I thought what better time to go. The perfect part? I had a speech path conference that day in Lakewood, Southern LA (15 miles from Anaheim) and Ben's work site that day was about 20 miles away.

After my conference ended, about 3 p.m. Ben picked me up and we headed over to the park for a night at the happiest place on earth! The last time I went to Disney Land was in 1985 when I was 7 years old. Much I'm sure has been redone but somethings never changes. Our favorite family ride the "tea cups" still very much a hit. Dad, Dave and I used to go on them over and over to see who could get going the fastest while mom watched and took pics. Tea cups made mom extremely motion sick. Ben had a similar experience when we got off. I was pumped to get our cup spinning and about half way into the ride he leaned over about ready to hurl. We "slowed the spinning pace" and he kept his food down but it took a few minutes after the ride for him to feel normal again. :)

It's a Small World, mom's favorite was still the same as I remember. Ben and I also went on the Peter Pan ride to reminisce the past, he loved it! We both thought it was too short though. We also hit Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones. We left the park just before it closed at midnight. It was a looooonng day but SO fun and memorable. The perfect way to celebrate my last birthday "single." I'm getting MARRIED! Yahoo!

profound statements from 2nd graders . . .

One of my roommates teaches 2nd grade at a private Christian school in Santa Clarita. We were going over some of her spelling test papers tonight and I thought I'd share a few. The bold words were the target spelling word, the rest is their conscious flow of thought. Enjoy!

* I ALMOST did the splits at the gym.

* I ALMOST ate the spoon instead of the rice.

* I like COUNTRY music when I get sad.

* I live in a free COUNTRY and I am happy.

* Everybody lives on EARTH except aliens.

* I ALMOST lied yesterday but I bit my tongue.

* Adam and Eve BEGAN living before all of us.

* I live in the north which is ABOVE the south.

* The roof on the house is ABOVE the people inside the house.

* Yesterday I ALMOST got picked when I raised my hand.

* The FORM of a tissue box is a rectangle.

* HOWEVER, Charlotte is going to save Wilbur's life.

* I like it when my teacher gives an EXAMPLE.

* HOWEVER, my sister is a little funny.

* An EXAMPLE of God's love is that he came down to save us. (so true)

* I will eat a cupcake DURING bath time.

* I don't think there are any ghosts in the WHOLE world.

* I once HEARD that Wilbur is still going to die.

And a final post for the evening, two answers from a Charlotte's web test.

"An example of Charlotte's friendship is she went to the fair with Wilbur even thoe she was having an egg sack. This is a good example of friendship because it is not easy to move when you are pregnet and she did it with a good additude."
~ Austin, age 8

photo website

For those interested, Carrie set up a website with our engagement photos on it. Go to "www.carrielambing.com/galleries/anita" and you can view our top 48 poses. Thanks again Carrie! They turned out great!

I would add a link to it but I haven't figured out how to do that with this blog! :)

friends and photos . . .

cala lilies


Carrie and I at the Descanzo Gardens (on the way to Pasadena) things were just starting to bloom


something beautiful that blooms in Japanese gardens (apple blossoms??) Carrie knows, I forgot


for-get-me-knots

Last week one of my best buds from Alaska, Carrie Lambing, came to visit. Carrie is marked as "my travel buddy" on this blog and I must say she of all my friends knows how to travel and make the most of life.

After finishing photography school this past summer in Montana she traveled around with her parents while they visited family helping take care of her dad who is battling cancer. When the states got too dull the three of them made a three week trek down to Brazil to visit family who are serving as missionaries. The day after getting back to Arizona, her most current home base she flew to LA to see me for 6 days.

I am thankful for her time it was great to have more AK visitors to help figure out wedding details AND have an engagement photo shoot! Yes, Carrie is officially a professional photographer and Ben and I got to reap the benefits of her shooting skills this weekend. She took over 480 photos that I narrowed down to 134 favorites that she will later narrow down (somehow) to 60 and then post on her website so we can purchase them . . . and any interested family.

Carrie's visit coincided with the Shepherds conference here at MacArthurs church, where Ben and I attend. It was a doubly blessed week with friends from Faith Bible: Ethan and Chris, Mike and Dalea, Darren, Chris and Heidi Rogey. For those who don't recognize those names they are all people that will be involved in our wedding in June. The week was filled with amazing fellowship!

P.S. For a sneak preview of our photo shoot check Carrie's blog!