My Guy, is a TOTAL STUD

So this week I decided to do a tribute to my awesome hubby :) He always works so hard and I feel like I need to brag a little bit about it for him! (Since he never would)

(This has nothing to do with the hard work-this was just from our date night tonight and I loved the face he made haha- Would you like some chips with that Salsa Bryce?)

Okay, now back to bragging about my man:)

As you already know, assuming you read our blog regularly, or even semi-regularly, Bryce drives buses and gives tours during the summer here in Ketchikan. During the month of June he got nominated for being a hard working, all around star employee. There were 5 nominees in Ketchikan to start with and Bryce was one of the final 2 to get his name and such sent up to the rest of the state for evaluation. And guess what?! HE WON! Bryce was 1 of 5 winners in all of the state of Alaska to be chosen as A "HAP Service Superstar" ( Hap is his company and Service Superstar is exactly what it sounds like haha)
Here is what they wrote about him:

"Bryce has a great team mentality and is an outstanding mentor to other drivers. His willingness to step in and help other Driver Guides with their dispatch, their tour and those who are scheduled on ADA is commendable. He displays an outstanding and extraordinary attention and dedication to guest satisfaction and team morale and sets the perfect example of what a great Driver Guide should be!"

And yes, that exclamation point was theirs, not mine! THAT'S MY HUSBAND! :) So proud of him! And did I mention that along with this amazing write up, he also won a 7 day cruise which we are very excited to take :) I wish you could have seen his face when he was telling me about it. He was pretty much beaming from ear to ear, but was totally humble about it. Yeah, can I just say one more time, STUD.

Also this week, Bryce participated in a friendly basketball game with his company against the other bus company (ACT) and the Capefox (Saxman) employees. Their team didn't win, but it was really fun to watch him play :) I tried to get some pictures, but my cell phone just didn't do the trick, but here they are anyways. Bryce is in gray with blue shorts if you can pick him out!

In other news, we are really excited to have Bryce's Dad and brothers here to visit us for a few days! Bryce and I are both going to request that Wednesday off to go fishing with them and my dad :) We're also excited to have the Bruners visiting us as well while in port on Tuesday! They're going to be in on a ship but we're excited to see them even though it's just for the day! Bryce is hoping to be able to take his family and the Bruners on a tour, and I'm hoping they'll come visit me at work either before or after!

We are also looking forward to being back in Utah for school and having our own apartment again :) We've been living with my Brother Russell and his wife Erika which has been fun, but we're looking forward to having our own place again and getting back into the swing of things at school. And we are so excited for California! Just a few more weeks :)

Sunshine and Burgers

It has been a BE-A-UTIFUL week here in the good ole' 907 (Code for Alaska, get it? The area code! lol) Anywho, pardon my silly joke- it's the Youngberg side coming out in me ;) But really, Ketchikan has had some gorgeous weather the last few days and Bryce and I were both fortunate enough to have a day off in the sunshine! Sadly we didn't get the days off together :( But hey, we both got breaks which is great! And we got to walk the docks at night too which is always a blast! That's actually how we spent our first time together in Ketchikan last year (right before we started dating). We sat on the docks and talked for like 3 hours. Good times and good memories and if I do say so myself, it had a great turn out ;)

I spent Tuesday at the beach for a few hours and soaked up some rays-I got a little burnt unfortunately but it's already gone off to a tan so all is well there :) Then I just walked around town with my friend Brianna and we got smoothies and killed time till Bryce was off work. Once he got home we went to Roses Caboose for some burgers and milkshakes. Boy was it DELICIOUS :) I love little hole in the wall (or cabooses on the side of the road) with their yummy greasy spoon menus. SO GOOD!

This is what a beach in Ketchikan looks like-and boy do I love it!

And I got the whole beach to myself pretty much which is shocking! Normally when there's sun everyone and their dog are at the beach. But this time there was just a few moms and their kids a little ways down from me. I chose prime time to go apparently!

Brianna Kay McLaughln-oh my goodness this girl cracks me up haha Best friends since 7th grade and you can see why in this picture lol She's never afraid to be goofy and have fun. She came with us to get burgers and shakes but she is crazy and doesn't like burgers-so she got a chicken strip basket instead (still delicious)

Bryce got the Hellboy Burger. It had red pepper flakes, chipotle sauce, jalepenos, and pepperjack cheese on it. He says it had quite the kick (and he's the one that wanted a picture with his burger believe it or not!) I just got a plain old bacon cheeseburger but that's my kind of burger right there :) SO GOOD!

Bryce got Wednesday off and he spent the first half of the day fishing with my Dad and cousin. They went salmon fishing and caught some Pinks, Bryce caught 5! Unfortunately Bryce felt under the weather for the rest of the day :( But he's doing much better now! So that is definitely a positive :)
Also some GREAT news! Bryce's Dad and brothers are coming to visit! I'm not entirely sure of the date yet but I believe they are booking their tickets this week and will be up at the beginning of August. Bryce's dad has already been here before (last summer) but it's gonna be fun to have him here again and fun for Conner and Reed to experience Ketchikan!


Well that's it in the McRae life this week but keep enjoying the sun for us to all of you who get nice summers! As for us, we're back to rain tomorrow- gotta love Ketchikan :)

Exploring the Docks and Name Changes

For those of you who don't know my nieces, they love going for walks on the docks behind my parent's condo. My parents actually live right in front of a boat marina-AKA the view is pretty sweet. So every once in a while after Sunday dinner when it's beautiful out-we'll go on a little adventure. 

And let me tell you, those girls love to look in the water and see all the little creatures. Last year Bryce was quite the hit, catching a jelly fish for them to poke. But this year him and Russell, my brother, as well as Kevin, the practically adopted 4th brother, took turns pulling out jellyfish for the girls to hold and poke and throw back into the ocean. The girls absolutely LOVED IT. Along the way though Bryce, Russell, Erika, and I got a little distracted by this red jelly fish. Turns out he actually got caught on the docks, but they helped him get free and then I tried to take some super amateur photos with my phone. 

Bryce also learned that if you touch the top of a red jelly fish, it won't sting you. When he first went to poke it he went so fast that I thought he had gotten stung. But no, turns out he was just being cautious in case it did ;) However, it kept throwing up its little "legs" ;) which he was careful to avoid. All in all it was pretty fun. 

Enjoy a few pictures from our lovely Sunday afternoon at Nana and Papa's house :)

The jelly all stretched out

Trying to escape

Look at them legs!

Nana and Addie

Addie wanted Bryce to give her a piggy back ride back to the condo-she loves him :)

Also a little update on the name change process:

I was told by the DMV that in order to get my license changed to say McRae that I needed to have applied for my new SS card. I accidentally left everything I needed for it in Utah so with help from my Visiting Teacher and from my Mother In Law I was able to get everything I needed. The day that I got it all I sent it back out to get from SS card changed. Today I had the day off so I went to the DMV and was told that it does no good to apply for the SS card with my new name. I just have to have my marriage certificate which I mailed YESTERDAY because they told me to. So now I have to wait to get it all back in the mail so I can change my license before we leave for school and before my license expires. Talk about stressful. Hopefully that will all get taken care of soon. And thankfully I have an awesome husband to help calm me down when I do get my little stress outs. I married a WONDERFUL man. I love you Bryce!

More next time!

Love,

The McRae's

4th of July Fun

This 4th of July was a little different for Bryce and I than last year. Although we did spend both of them together, this time we were married! Which...made it that much more enjoyable :)
Unfortunately we both had to work, but we got to end the day with a family BBQ at my brother John's house. There were burgers, hot dogs, deviled eggs, jello jigglers, baked beans, potato salad, pasta salad, chips, veggies, fruit pizza and more! And it was all delicious :)
After we ate we went outside and did some "fireworks" with the girls. Unfortunately, finding fireworks here in Ketchikan (especially legal ones) is nearly impossible, so we ended up with a lot of poppers from Wal Mart. However, they were PERFECT for my nieces (ages 8,6 and 3). These pictures will give you a little look into just how much fun they had with them ;)

As you will see-Addie, the 3 year old gets the award for best facial expressions!

Lexi had to pull really hard on the trigger to get her gun to go off, but it was a success!

Kaytlin kept decorating the plants and weeds with the insiders of her poppers

And Addie was fascinated by the whole process. 

1

2

3!

After the BBQ we came home and then about an hour later we went and watched the fireworks. In Ketchikan they don't start till 11 because that's when it gets dark enough. We watched from Cruise Ship Dock number 4. Another unique thing about the fireworks here is they do them out on a barge in the middle of 2 islands, Ketchikan and Pennock. So there in the middle of the water and you get to see their reflection. Unfortunately my pictures on my phone didn't turn out the greatest, but this will give you a bit of an idea of what it's like.

Hope everyone had a happy 4th of July! I know we did!