Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

ALASKA!!

Sorry about some of the very large pictures, they were taken in landscape mode on my camera and they turned out big, but beautiful!!

                        Wild Alaskan black bear we spotted on the way back from salmon fishing!  Listen to how we wine and yell at Rex!  Poor dad!

 So, I went to Juneau, Alaska to visit my sister, Alexis and her family!  My favorite part was.....everything!  My desire was to spend every dying minute with my sister and her baby, Hazel, which I accomplished.  I also wanted to fish, I did that too, but the only catching was my bait on the bottom of the river!  But I was given a coho salmon by a very kind alaskan man, and with the help of Vinny and Lexy, we got it in the freezer and home to Indiana.

                      This is me in front of a Mendenhall Glacier, it was a sunny day in Juneau, RARE!

                                                My own Alaskan named beer, it was great!

Gus the French bulldog and Hazel

So we went to a remote cabin in the Tongass National Forest, we had to travel to the small cabin by boat on the ocean.  We had  a small oil stove and tiny kitchen.  There was a fresh stream right by the cabin that lulled us to sleep and had gold flakes sparkling in the sunlight.  The forest was somehow enchanting, moss covered  and the ground felt spongey.

There were mushrooms everywhere, all different shapes and colors.

Chilcat mountain range

Sister Alexis and Hazel

Our boat got stuck on the rocks when the tide went out!

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create a gorgeous, high quality wedding photo album at Shutterfly.com.

Amstutz Thanksgiving 2011

I went hunting with my dad at Harold Murphy's and we sat up this deer blind and covered it with corn stubble and I shot a button buck with my mom's muzzleloader.

Austin, Derek and Rex with a successful Thanksgiving goose hunt at the Dairy Farm

Amstutz Family: Back Row: Kevin, Amber, Austin, Dave, Stella, April, Rex Bottom Row: Addie Nova, Violet, Baby Hazel, Lexy and Deb

Mom and Dad (Rex and Deb, married for 36 years!)

They are heading off to St. Paul Island, Alaska to work as sea duck guide and mom will cook/bake for the hunters/clients.

Austin and Rex

Lexy, Deb and April

Grampa Rex and Lexy with baby Hazel

Halloween

Stella the Rock Star

Violet was little red riding hood and Addie was a Panera Bread manager! I was Olivia the pig!

My new baby niece: Hazel Rae Amstutz Fanelli

Has anyone ever seen anything any cuter?? I finally got to meet my new niece, Hazel (she came all the way from Juneau Alaska!) All I wanted to do was smell her neck and kiss it! She is so precious, thank you Lord for babies!

Putting our beloved dog to rest-JAIDA-

Amber at Jaida's grave. I called her "My Lady".
Violet and Addie loved Jaida. They fed her and cared for her in her last days.

This is Jaida sleeping before we took her to the vet to be put to sleep. She was deteriorating and just falling apart. She was incontinent of urine and very arthritic, although she still went out to pee and poo. She would go a day or two with out eating and just sleep all day. It was a week earlier that I witnessed her having a seizure that put me over the edge and I finally made the appointment.


Jaida's last drink of water. Violet was crying hard (you can see her red eyes).

We took her to the Grabill Vet to be put to sleep. We put her on a sheet in the back of our car and gave her a frozen chunk of deer meat. She loved it! When we got her to the vet, she was nervous, and I was a mess, crying under my breath. We took her in the room and the vet tried to put a turnequet on her arm to access her vein and she licked him, that is just one example of how loving and selfless Jaida was. It was like she was telling him, "It's okay, I know my time has come." Then he injected the medication and she layed down on the floor and stopped breathing almost instantly. He said she may gasp for air due to her nerves stopping and that's when I let out a cry that I couldn't hide or hold in and I plugged my ears so that I wouldn't hear her. The vet wrapped her up in the sheet and put her in my car! Addie and I ardusouly carried her to her premade grave and lowered her in. She was still warm and I sat there and stroked her fur and cried. I had a hard time making myself cover her with dirt, I wasn't ready to let go. So we went into the garden and collected rocks and then to the beach and got a load of beach sand. Finally we covered her, me, Addie and Violet all helped. Then we topped her off with sand, rocks and a cross. I will never forget that day and I still miss her so much.

Queen Jaida Jewel 1996-2010 Yellow Lab "Jaida" Seasoned water fowel retriever