a blog of my own...

yep i did it.

i made my own blog.

no more sharing with cath!

brinleeb.blogspot.com

see you there! [:

i did it...

i made it through the summer in alaska.

and i didn't come home early.

so this is my moment to boast to everyone who told me i couldn't do it.

because guess what,

i did.

ok i'm done now.

the point of this post is to show how alaska helped me.

first off it taught me that i can do hard things.

don't get me wrong, i said i can do hard things, not that i like to or want to. trust me alaska isn't my number one job choice for next year. but if i had to come back i could do it.

and now i know that i can do a lot of hard things.

things i never thought i could do before.

i thought about coming home at least once every single day.

and trust me i wanted to so badly.

but i didn't i made myself  find something good about alaska every day,

and in the end i ended up having a fabulous time.

alaska taught me that i love my family more than i ever realized.

[confession time]

when my parents dropped me off at the airport to come to alaska i was so mad at them that i refused to cry in front of them. 

everyone knew that i was terrified to go but i refused to let my parents see that.

the moment i couldn't see my parents anymore i bawled.

i sobbed on the first plane ride.

sometimes when i would go running i would just start crying because i missed my mom and dad so much.

and once hunter called me and mack called me later that day and i started crying because i missed them so much.

so hunter and mack you truly do not realize just how badly i missed you this summer.

pathetic but i'm crying right now as i am typing this because i miss them so bad and i am so close to being home.

alaska made me realize that my mom is my best friend.

my brothers are there for me when nobody else is.

i could be perfectly happy if my dad was the only guy i ever had to have in my life.

i realized that it's ok to randomly call hunter because i want to talk.

random skype calls from my dad are the best.

and i actually like the fact that other people think it's weird how much i tell my mom.

other things alaska taught me:

you can get sick of french fries.

the sun is awesome, but it needs to set and disappear at night.

seagulls are of the devil.

public bathrooms will never be ok.

i hate when people stare.

alaska made me realize who i am and what i believe.

my testimony has grown so much and i know what i want in life.

i've seen problems that i never want to create in my life and i've seen things i would love to bring into my life.

i know that heavenly father hears me.

he does what is best for me.

and he protects me.

alaska was a good experience for me,

and to be honest i really enjoyed it.

i met people i will never forget.

i laughed and i cried..

don't worry i laughed more than i cried.

i found out who i was.

and most importantly,

i was O.K. in the A.K.

........and i did it! [:

gibson wins...

remember how i said preston and tami tried to get me wet but i was too quick and got away?

well ever since then there were a few people who were determined to get me wet...ok drenched before i left.

i had been doing a great job at avoiding these certain people or coming up with excuses like i had my phone or camera in my pocket so that i wouldn't get wet.

then on my very last day of work i found out that i had retorts. 

blah.

now meet gibson.

gibson works up in the retorts. basically his job consists of pushing a lot of buttons and sitting around.

he had gotten a hold of a tiny squirt gun where he found a lot of pleasure in squirting me while i was trying to work. then one day he sprayed me so i kicked water at him and i nailed him right in the face.

so then i was one up on him.

so the next time around he snuck up behind me and got me in the face with his squirt gun..

so then i stole his squirt gun.

i thought i was pretty cool and that i had won.

it was my LAST day of work.

we were on the LAST retort.

and i was pulling my LAST busse out of the retort

and then it happened.

i was in the middle of the retort pulling out a busse. 

the door i was facing was locked and closed.

the next thing i know the retort comes on and water starts spraying EVERYWHERE!

i start screaming bloody murder thinking that i was locked in the busse and that it had turned on.

for like 3 second i really thought i was going to be cooked to death in the retort.

i turned around and saw that the other door was open and then it all hit me,

gibson had turned the retort on to get me wet!

and trust me, he DRENCHED me!

it was seriously the funniest prank i have ever had pulled on me!

i ran out of the retort found gibson and gave him a huge hug to get him wet but i was wetter.

and gibson won.

so kudos gibson, 

you trashed me.

and it was so funny!

now here is adel.

adel watched the whole thing and found it all hysterically funny.

he then plotted out a way to drench homer as he was pushing a busse.

and he succeeded.

needless to say homer and i were drenched when we got done.

thanks adel!

what a fun way to spend my last day in alaska.

i also pulled an all nighter with tiff.

oh how i'll miss her!

we spent our night having a grey's anatomy marathon.

and it was fabulous.

garth came in to join us and we became a bit squished.

but it was so worth it.

and our all nighter worked.

today when i got on my first flight i was so tired i fell asleep before takeoff and so i didn't even have time to get scared!

mission accomplished!

and as for today,

homer and i are quite thrilled to be coming home.

can you tell?

that darn magnet...

for those of you who were not able to imagine the magnet closing on my fingers i was able to sneak a video of the magnet in action. 

i was going to be really realistic and stick my fingers in there again so you could get the whole effect,

but i decided to not relive that again.

anyways this is a video of the magnet when it closes.

just vision my fingers in there.

i am so blessed...

two things have happened in the last two days that have made me realize just how blessed i am.

i've been watched over and protected by my heavenly father while in alaska and i have also had a prayer answered.

yesterday while i was at work i was working with the bander. we were trying to move a pallet onto the saran wrapper and so the conveyor belt was moving. we also had another pallet being filled up with cans. i was helping with the pallet that was being filled with cans which meant that i was walking on the moving conveyor belt. i went to look at the clock and slipped. on instinct i put my hands out in front of me to catch me as i fell. the magnet was down and i grabbed a piece of the magnet.

bad choice.

the magnet let go of a layer of cans and when it does this the magnet shoots back up and locks while it moves back to pick up more cans. the magnet locked and clamped down right on both of my middle and ring fingers. it didn't catch my whole finger it caught me right at the tips of my fingers. barely above where my finger nail starts.  it scared me so bad and i looked at shelby who was running the magnet controls and yelled for him to shut it off. he turned it off and after a few hard tugs we were able to pull my fingers out.

i know it doesn't sound very intense but after it all happened i learned a few things. as shelby was trying to pull my fingers out he told me that he knew someone that had the same thing happen to them. the only difference was that when the magnet locked it cut the mans fingers off. i know i know that really wasn't something that shelby should have told me while my own fingers were stuck in the magnet but you get the point.

after my fingers were released adel and roland couldn't stop telling me just how lucky i was. the magnet didn't even make my fingers bleed. i still have all four fingers, and finger nails. my fingers aren't cut open and bleeding, they're just a little bit swollen and bruised.

as i went home that night and called my mom to tell her the story i realized that i wasn't "lucky" i had been blessed. i thought about how too many things just had to go so perfect so that the magnet didn't literally rip my fingers off. 

simple things like:

-the fact that when i fell i didn't put my whole finger under the magnet, i only had a little bit of my finger in there.

-when the magnet locks shut it instantly moves back over to the table to pick up more cans. had it done this i wouldn't have been able to move over with it because there was a pallet in the way. the fact that shelby was able to hear me clearly and turn the magnet off so fast is still unbelievable to me. not only that but when you run the magnet controls you also have to pull out more banding so you aren't always standing right next to the controls. the one and only time shelby was standing right next to the controls was the time when i needed him to be there the most.

-the fact that i stayed calm the whole time. i didn't even cry. usually when things like this happen i burst into tears and freak out. i don't know how i stayed so calm but i am so grateful that i did.

why i was not hurt more seriously than a few bruised fingertips is a mystery to me but i am so grateful that i was ok. of course i had to wait until my second to last day of work to get hurt, go figure, but i know that i was watched over. it gave my mom a little scare but don't worry i am perfectly fine i promise.

plus after that i got to work the easy job!

the second story deals with dallin. he gets to email me every monday. a few weeks ago he emailed me and said that he wanted me to give a book of mormon away to somebody in alaska before i left. he told me to pray about who to give it to and i would get my answer.

well i'd been thinking and asking who i should give it to and until two days ago i still had a whopping no one. i was beginning to freak out a little bit because i only had three days left and i didn't know how i was going to accomplish the task dallin had given me. then georgi, a guy i work with, asked me to go on a walk with him.

on our walk we were just talking when georgi started telling me about partying and drinking. he asked me if i liked to party when i started explaining to him that i didn't drink or party. he was amazed. he then started asking me more questions about my standards and he couldn't believe it. we then got into like a two hour long conversation on religion. georgi told me that he didn't believe there was a god but then he went on to say that sometimes he wonders why we are here and if there really is something more to life.

we kept talking and we got into the whole tithing issue. georgi

as we were walking back to peter pan he asked me to be completely honest with him in his next question. i said i would and then he went on to ask if i thought more or less of him because he didn't believe that there was a god. i told him that i didn't think any different of him. i told him that i believed in my religion with all of my heart but we were both entitled to our different opinions and beliefs.

and then georgi shocked me.

he then looked at me and said because of you i want to read your book.

(the book of mormon if you hadn't guessed)

i was so happy! 

one problem. i got home and realized that i didn't have a book of mormon to give him! i called my mom almost in tears because i didn't know what i was going to do. there wasn't enough time for her to ship me one and i just did not know what to do. my mom then told me to look in the phone book and find the howard family's number.

(the howard's are the family that invited us over on sundays.)

so as soon as i hung up with my mom i went and found their number. i called  them and they hooked me up with the missionaries number. i called the missionaries and nobody answered but i left them a message asking them to call me back.

well last night tiff and i decided to stay up until 4 watching grey's anatomy because we knew that we didn't have to work today. so my plan was to keep my phone on vibrate and sleep in for as long as i wanted.

well this morning i woke up randomly at a pretty early hour and i started thinking to myself that i shouldn't go back to sleep, i needed to stay awake. seriously not even 5 minutes later the missionaries called me back! had i been sleeping i would have missed their call!

i answered and we talked and it was figured out that i would meet them at safeway where they could give me a book of mormon.

seriously fastest mile and a half i've ever run!

i got the book and i was so happy! i'm going to write in it and give it to georgi tomorrow night before i leave.

my prayers were answered and it was the best feeling ever. i know that while i've been in alaska heavenly father has watched me over me. he has blessed me in so many ways and my testimony has been strengthened so much.

if this doesn't make you smile...

then i don't know what will.

nelson sent it to me yesterday.

this fact that the fish is bigger than he is cracks me up!

enjoy!

my brother is a stud...

well they all are actually.

first there's dallin who is one of the most awesome guys i know. i'm always thinking to myself i wish i was more spiritual like dallin or i wish i was musically awesome like dallin. i look up to him all of the time.

definition of the perfect child: dallin.

he's nice, curly headed, and way too funny.

and we all know mack. he's basically been my best friend since he was born. i hang out with him everyday and i would be lost without him. he's a stud, redsox lover, and the best person to watch movies with...especially if they are funny.

but this post isn't about dallin or mack and how fabulous they are.

this post is about my brother hunter.

we use to fight.

a lot.

and i don't know when i started to realize just how cool he really is but trust me now i know.

he sends me the funniest texts and pictures.

he lets me whine to him about how much i want to come home.

and he is a great friend.

and a stud.

he and mack raise and then sell pigs at the fair.

this year hunter had a super awesome pig.

probably could've been the grand champion pig.

then a week before the fair hunter went out to take his pig for a walk where something happened and his pig ended up dying.

did i mention that he stayed out in the field with this pig for 4+ hours trying to help it?

i know, he's pretty amazing.

now i know it's weird that this whole story is so sad and it's all about a pig but really when you spend months raising and taking care of a pig and then it dies on you a week before you sell it it's a big deal.

and if hunter was like me he probably would have thrown a tantrum and just given up.

because sometimes i like to do that.

but hunter is so much better than me, he's incredible really.

he was texting me and when his pig finally died he just said it will all be fine. we will get it figured out.

he ended up using the spare pig.

he didn't win grand champion.

he didn't have the fairs "best" pig.

and he had to settle for something less than he deserved.

but he did it, and i don't think he complained about it once.

he took it like a real champ.

and he is one.

and i heard he made a good amount of money from the spare pig.

which is awesome, he deserved it.

i don't know why i went so long without realizing what a great brother i had.

but i know it now, and i'm so glad i do.

so hunter i think you're really great, and i know we fight but in all reality i think you're pretty awesome.

oh yea...

3 days until i'm back with these two!

the countdown is on!

slightly pathetic...

so i've become slightly pathetic at blogging.

forgive me?

anyways, i will try to catch you up on a few of the things i've been up to!

so i was on the phone with my mom as usual when i told her i had to go because it was 7:45 and i try to go running every night at that time.

well my mom being the awesome, slightly overprotective mom she is asked who i was going with.

busted...

i just ran alone.

yea uh, she didn't like that at all.

so i was given a little lecture and the next day i made this guy start running with me.

and he was pretty good about it.

he only skipped out on me like twice.

what a gem.

[random]

one of the days ash didn't run with me i was on a trail and out of nowhere a baby fox ran out on the trail!

i was so bummed that i didn't have my camera

it was a bit sketchy being like 5 feet away from a baby fox but it was pretty cool after it ran away!

anyways, i've hung out a lot with these fun people.

we've had birthday celebrations for both cath and steve so we've had a whole lot of pizza and ice cream cake. it has been fabulous. 

i was so lucky to be able to meet so many great people up here. 

and to say we're not together a lot would be a huge understatement.

we are together all of the time!

the other night steve, cath, garth, george, ash, erik, tiff, and i were in the boys room just hanging out and we all ended up falling asleep..

but only for like 5 minutes because the rooms are so small that we were all basically laying our heads on each other and once erik moved it woke us all up.

such a fun night!

our case up boss tami left before any of us because she had to get back to teach school.

tami is all about pranks and has pranked us all summer.

she tried to soak us all the day before she left.

i say tried because i didn't get wet.

i left before she could get the hose on and i outran preston with the bucket of water.

but since she got most everybody else we decided to prank tami.

tiff stole the almost gone saran wrap rolls and that night we went to work on tami's car.

our supplies.

and the note we left on her car.

yes it was written with only my left hand,

and yes we did blame it on mark and shelby... [:

as we were saran wrapping her car she caught us...

but only through the window.

so we ran.

but we still had a bit of saran wrap left and i didn't want it to go to waste so ash gladly volunteered to let me have a bit of fun.

and i was super proud of my work.

and everyone else got a good laugh!

the only problem was that ash couldn't walk up the stairs and he got pretty tired.

so cath basically ended up carrying him up the stairs.

it was too funny!

once we made it back upstairs we were in the hall laughing when anders came out to see what was so funny.

anders = sketchy.

he took a picture and said he was going to turn us in for stealing the saran wrap.

too bad i was too quick for him.

jokes on you anders because last time i checked under aged drinking is still illegal!

he quickly called a truce after that picture.

on one of our days off ash and i got sick of doing the same old thing so we decided to spice it up a bit.

we went looking for bikes because the rule around here is you can use whatever isn't locked up.

well we found one bike...and it had a flat tire.

but we have nelson.

who really is the best.

he said give me one second then came out with the key to a bike for ash and then he let me borrow his.

ashton's bike was named "the stalker" which i found perfectly fitting [:

it was a super fun day minus the fact that it had been a while since either of us had ridden a bike.

the buns were burnin'

the thighs were burnin'

and we were exhausted once we were done.

but i loved it.

and then there was today.

i went on a fabulous walk with georgi and it was a blast.

i learned a ton about the bulgarian lifestyle and it was a fun break from peter pan.

and just for a little clarification:

as i was typing this and adding pictures i realized that i am wearing the same thing in basically every single one of them.

[facepalm]

i swear i DO wash my clothes!

i may have given up on the whole makeup thing but i do still care about hygiene!

wow, perhaps i should switch my style up a bit?

the things that made my day...

today was a good day.

it all started out when i was walking to work.

it was warm...well under armour and a v neck warm but hey, that works for me!

then while i was at work i was controlling the magnet and to be honest it was getting a bit boring.

just when i thought my life could not become any more monotonous one of our bosses, adel tapped me on the shoulder.

i turned around and he slapped this little beauty on my head.

he then started laughing saying i looked like one of those little dutch girls so guess who popped up with their camera...nelson.

such a flattering shot.

you are welcome facebook world.

my cute little hat gave everyone a good laugh and i felt really special wearing it around all day.

then when i got off work i checked my facebook and saw this darling photo.

for those of you who aren't aware that is jaxon, my boyfriend.

he is the greatest.

and if you don't understand why his feet are turned like that it's because i stand pigeon toed.

very VERY pigeon toed.

i also love to live in my boots and sweats.

the caption of the photo said jaxon missed me etc.

it made my day.

so just a shoutout to jax: i love you, and i can't wait to see your cute little face in just 13 days!! [:

so as i was sitting in my room laughing over that picture i got a knock on my door.

i opened my door and two phillipino men were standing in the hallway holding roses.

i was a bit shocked and super confused.

the one man told me i was beautiful and that they wanted to give these roses to me.

so sweet of them but to be honest, i don't even know their names!

no idea how they know my name...or my room number....

slightly creepy but hey, i'm looking on the bright side!

they were very nice and real gems.

(don't mind the crusty no makeup look...i've given up on it.)

i also found out that my homey is a boston fan...

we were destined to be homies.

he also bought me a dr. pepper.

the store downstairs ran out of them about 3 weeks ago and i've been deprived.

very deprived.

nelson is thee greatest!

and last but not least,

this lady topped off my day to make it great.

my mom is incredible.

today i had to call her to get my tuition all figured out.

now my mom is a busy lady.

and even though she could have been doing a million other things she listened and helped me get everything all figured out.

not only that but she also let me blabber to her about nothing.

she always knows just what to say.

and she is my best friend

i always told myself i wouldn't be one of those kids who leaves home and has to call their mom everyday.

well jokes on me because that's exactly what i do.

and i'm so grateful i have her.

he's a bit sketchy...

but we love him anyways.

this is mike the electrician...

you know, the one who gave me the twenty dollar bill when i let him use my phone..

mike is a loud alcoholic to say the least.

but he is also one of the most generous men i know.

i think that there is a party EVERY single night in his room which says a little about him.

mike will always give out free beer and cigarettes to anyone who wants it.

which yea, isn't the best but those two things are so expensive up here that i am amazed that he never gets mad when people take them.

mike also has his selection of "beautiful young people" as he likes to call us. we would be the handful of kids who don't drink or smoke. mike will buy us unlimited pizza whenever we want, pop, treats, anything we ask for. 

actually he buys it for us even when we don't ask.

all you have to do is sit in his room for five minutes and the next thing you know he has ordered pizza.

one night the pizza place was closed when he called and he paid the people double just so that us "beautiful young people" could have a treat that night.

that kind of says a little about the people we've met up here. and the whole lesson on "loving the sinner yet hating the sin."

i honestly would have never even considered hanging out with most of the people i do up here if i was still back at home, yet i am so grateful that i got to meet them. it's a whole different world and i am so glad i got to experience it.

so thanks mike for everything you've done! you may scare me just a little bit, but all in all i think you're a pretty great guy!

what we do...

today we finally got permission to take photos of the machines we use at work.

or better yet we got permission to sneak in and take photos...

either way, i now have photos so i can describe our job and it will be a little bit easier to understand.

and no, we don't look this good when we work.

we're usually in hairnets and our "crusty" clothes,

but today was the exception.

STEP 1: raking.

the cans come on this conveyor belt.

they are continuously moving and we wait at the table for all of the cans.

once we get a good amount of cans we use the handle and "rake" the cans into the busse.

once we fill up the busse we move on to...

STEP 2: retorts.

we take the filled busse's and put them into these retorts.

the busse's cook and once they are done we move them into the cooling room.

this is where the muscles come in.

these babies weigh a ton!

trust me, it's WAYYYY heavier than it looks!

now, welcome to the cooling room!

(i'm standing next to one of the many fans in there.)

the cans cool so that we can palletize them and ship them off.

and i know that this hill looks very small,

perhaps even non-existent,

but trust me, 

it's there.

and it is death when you're trying to push a full busse up it!

we also have to write the can codes down so that we don't mix them up and palletize them with other codes.

once the cans are cooled we move to

STEP 3: palletizing.

we move the busse's to the conveyor belt.

we call this step pulling the strap.

we literally "pull the strap" and it moves all of the cans onto the conveyor belt.

the cans move down the conveyor belt to the magnet where they are transferred onto pallets so that we can ship them off. the magnet was turned off so i was only able to get a photo of it on top of a pallet bus use your imagination.

this would be the lovely hard hat we get to wear when we are operating the magnet.

and this would be the magnet.

after we have all 8 layers on, the cans move down to be banded. we have to place a wooden picture frame on the top of the cans and cath is holding the bander.

once the cans are all banded they move to the saran wrapper.

we put a sticker on the sides it says pallet tag so that once the cans are shipped people know what kind of fish it is and how many cans there are.

after the saran wrapper the cans get taken away.

it's not to hard,

minus pushing the busse's of course.

but as you can see we are clearly ok in the ak.

we also work in crews so here are photos of our crews and our work schedule.

i hope that clarifies a bit on what we are doing here in alaska!

and if it didn't, 

i apologize!