BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE!!!!

Well the ice fog has set in...and lets just say our dogs run out....pee...and run in!!! Poor Annie's little feet are frozen in no time.

For those of you who don't know what ice fog is, here ya go:


Ice fog is any kind of fog where the droplets have frozen into extremely tiny crystals of ice in midair. Generally this requires temperatures at or below −35 °C (−30 °F), making it common only in and near the Arctic and Antarctic regions. It is most often seen in urban areas where it is created by the freezing of water vapor present in automobile exhaust and combustion -products from heating and power generation. Urban ice fog can become extremely dense and will persist day and night until the temperature rises. Extremely small amounts of ice fog falling from the sky form a type of precipitation called ice crystals, often reported in Barrow, Alaska. Ice fog often leads to the visual phenomenon of light pillars.

In case this has not gotten me any sympathy, here is the latest weather report for the land I love!

• North Pole

As of 7:55 pm AKST

Fog

Visibility:

1.5 mi

Wind:

CALM

Sunrise:

10:50 am

Sunset:

2:52 pm

-44°

High: -36° Low: -50°

Tonight	Tomorrow	Thu	Fri	Sat	6-10 Day
Partly Cloudy	Sunny	Partly Cloudy	Sunny
High: -36° Low: -50°	High: -39° Low: -49°	High: -34° Low: -45°	High: -39° Low: -47°

Here is a picture of ice fog, similar to what we will be seeing for the next week or two, for those of you who have no idea what it actually looks like. It is very pretty to look at, but hard to see thru :)
I wish you all warm and comfy nights....keep us in your thoughts and send any extra down comforters you have around!

Go Ice Dogs!!!!

The Ice Dogs are the Fairbanks Junior A Hockey Team and they are awesome. Darin and I go the games as much as we can, and the kids love going too.
Sponsor Families help support the players by being their "family" while they are here playing. Darin and I are considering becoming one of those families when we can.
The Ice Dogs are all around good kids, who are required to have jobs, train like crazy, and do fund-raising for their team! The players are usually about 19-20 years old, and "sign on" to a college or team while playing here.
The players come out and talk to fans/supporters/kids after their games and are always so polite.
I have the pleasure of working with AJ, whose boyfriend is the Ice Dogs Training and Conditioning Coach. His name is Eric and he gets us comp tickets when he can which we greatly appreciate.
This year, the team has had "theme jerseys" that they bid to fans and it has been really neat. The first jersey bid off was their Halloween Jersey. The highest bid that night was $2000! Wow. Darin bid on a jersey for M.Benedict #4, from Thief River Falls. We have talked to him several times after games. Here is the Halloween Jersey Darin wears w/ pride :)














We all have players that we really like, even though we think they are all awesome. Now #4, like I said, is Michael Benedict from Thief River Falls. Very nice guy, and is one of our favorites. He and Darin talk and talk after games as they both know the same area and such, and might know the same people/families.

M. Benedict #4


Now I also have a favorite player, who just HAPPENS to be from my home town and high school! He is #21, Eric Kraft. He plays a forward position and is also, very well mannered.





E. Kraft #21

Another player we really enjoy watching, and have met and talked to several times, is #27 Brandon Martell. His sponsor family has a son who is one of Brendan's friends. He just celebrated his 20th bday and we made a nice glittery posterboard sign that we held up and gave to him after the game. He has already signed on to the Univ of MN, and he is from Andover, MN. There really are A LOT of MN players. Now his picture doesn't do him justice...he must not have got the memo that it was going to be picture day :) Much more handsome in person. But he is a huge guy with a lot of tackle force let me tell ya!!!



B.Martell #27
So....if you ever wonder where we are on a weekend evening and the Ice Dogs have a home game...we will be at The Big Dipper Ice Arena!!!
My next chance at a Kraft jersey (the last one went for $900 way out of my price range!) will be for Valentines Day....maybe Darin will get it for me for my gift!!! :)

Note from Kiefer :)

Howdy everyone,

Well i hope you all had a great Christmas!! Well as you all know i broke my toe and had surgery to get it fixed. There are 2 pins in it holding a piece of bone on. It does get painful time to time but nothing i can not stand. I'am missing out on mt entire wrestling season because of it which makes me mad because i did not even get to wrestle 1 match this season!! The doctor said even when i get the pins taken out i will not be able to wrestle cause i'll still be doing recovery afterwards for about another month! I get the stitchs out on monday the 29th. they take my pins out on January 13th which is a long time and i will not be fully healed till Feburary 17th which is my geuss, so my birthday. School is going good and everything and i'am still dating Sarah, it has been 3 months i think!!:)

Well love you all,
Kiefer

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!
I thought it would be a good idea to start a page that you can come to whenever the mood strikes, and maybe see what is new with the family or maybe a recent photo.
So anyway....we are all doing well and enjoying some time off of work and school. We opened our gifts from each other tonight, played some Wii games and broke a sweat, and then we all played a new boardgame I bought "Battle of the Sexes" so that was fun.
We have had fresh snow here and it was nice to see for the holiday. Temp has not been too bad. Average for this week has been a few below zero but we have been out a lot to get all our shopping done.
In case there are some of you that don't know, Kiefer broke his big toe a couple of weeks ago and had surgery to place 2 pins in the toe a week ago. He is doing fine, he had a follow-up appt this past Monday. The pins should come out sometime next month. He is however, the typical teenager who insists on standing etc though he was ordered not too!




Anyway, we wish you all a very merry Christmas and peaceful holidays!
Love to all,
Angela, Darin, Sam, Kief, and Bren (Jake and Annie too!!!)