The Wilds of Alaska

Dear Family & Friends,

Walk at Kincaid Park.

Kitty writing this week. It's been a beautiful cool summer afternoon here in Alaska. Our three youngest children and an adorable grandson were here last week and left Monday night. We enjoyed their company and the beauties of nature. 

Campfire by the creek.

We started the week off with a senior missionary Family Home Evening at the Light's backyard nearby. We had pizza, salads, cupcakes, and homemade sweet rolls. The departing missionaries relayed their experience and testimonies. The incoming ones introduced themselves and expressed their thoughts on serving. The Elders and Sisters we serve with up here are the best. They have made our mission so wonderful. We will miss the ones leaving - the White's and Jenkin's. The Joseph's from Beaver left a couple of weeks ago. We picked up family from the airport late that night. It was a tight squeeze with luggage, a car seat and stroller, but we made it.

Plank position.

Our cute little grandson is learning to crawl. He entertained us with planks and downward dogs. He can say he was doing yoga before he could crawl. He has such a happy disposition and is the cutest combination of our youngest daughter and her husband. Grandbabies are the best. The last time we saw him was at Christmas at less than two months old. Daddy's planning on coming up again next year with them when he has more vacation time.

Day cruise on Kenai Fjords.

  We (minus Farrell who was left to tend to the missionary effort) had a great two hour drive down to Seward and a day cruise on the Kenai Fjords. Later in the week we walked around Kinkaid Park. We walked to where the planes are descending for a landing.

Path up to Flattop Overlook.

Then we drove up to Flattop Overlook and our daughter spotted two moose in the valley below. Our son went back to the car to get the binoculars. There were a lot of mosquitoes and I have my first two bites since arriving. They are big -- about double the size of a Utah mosquito. This place never disappoints.

Our son, daughter, & grandson.

Canadian geese.

          

Wild Siberian iris.

In the evening, we drove 6 minutes to Potter's Marsh and walked on the boardwalk. We saw cranes and Canadian geese and lots on Siberian iris. The weather was perfect. We met a Young Single Adult group as we were leaving and met Elder & Sister Kraut (the CES missionary couple) on the boardwalk. They had just seen a moose.

Bear paw print in bee frame.

Friday our neighbor, Sister Huffman, five doors down texted: "FYI there was a big black bear in the street early this morning around 1:30 a.m." Sunday at church I spoke with Sister Kiddle. She asked if I had heard about the bear and she told me more and showed me pictures. The bear climbed our neighbors fence and threw their beehives around destroying a few. Their fence backs the new Anchorage Alaska Temple site. Interestingly, the fence is being replaced this week with a new one. The hives were set back up with bees coming and going when we saw them this morning. We are reminded that Anchorage is a big city with suburbs and surrounded by 57 million acres of wilderness. Alaska is the last frontier.

20 June 2025 Courtesy of Jonathan Hughes

We have had a lot of visitors this week at the Visitors' Center. Farrell covered for
me part of the week, so I could spend more time with the children and grandbaby. There is lots of activity on the temple site. As we have said before, it is a challenge to keep up with all there is to do. The framing along with utilities continues on the inside. Granite installation using the Eclad system continues around the outside. The roofers are making progress up top. 

You can follow the progress online at: https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/anchorage-alaska-temple. 

The superintendent went home to St. George UT due to his wife's medical needs. She called yesterday to say goodbye and they will be in our prayers. The second, who has had time to get up to speed, is now taking care of things. His last assignment was the Toronto temple. He knows the Lord is in charge and we are grateful he is here. 

We pray you are all doing well. Keep in touch. #Think Celestial

Love, Elder & Sister Badger

A Whirlwind of Activity

Hello All,

Relaxing on this Sunday afternoon on Father's Day. Farrell writing this week.

Skilak Lake Overlook

I think we are back into our normal routine after Kitty recovered a week ago from being out of commission for two weeks. She seems to be fully recovered, except for her back is still sore and she is still clearing her throat a lot. We have noticed a few strange illnesses here (respiratory) that seem to be out of the ordinary -- maybe it was another Covid round. We didn't do any tests. It passed me over. 

Catch and release trout fishing on Kenai w guide JJ. 

We thoroughly enjoyed a visit this last week with our son Aaron, his wife HaLee and two grandkids. Our grandson celebrated his birthday here. They spent the day after with Grandma on the Kenai river fishing for salmon and trout. The trout are all catch and release and no motors are allowed on the river.

Brown bear standing up on Kenai River bend.

They had a great time, saw a 1-2 yr. old brown bear (grizzly bear) playing in the water and caught their share of fish from a drift boat (3-4 people in a small aluminum boat with oars and a motor). After the river they motored for 45 minutes on Skilak Lake back to the boat launch and drove back up the road. 

Fishing on Kenai River with family.

I drove everyone down and started out on the river but it didn't last long. They stopped about two miles down river to fish for salmon while I got out and tried to recover from motion sickness. After tossing my cookies, I ended walking back up the river, and crossed the ferry to spend the day relaxing in the car, watching lots of eagles, and talking to people at the boat launch. As soon as I felt better it was peaceful and relaxing. 

View of Whittier and port from top of top of Horsetail Falls trail.

On another day, Kitty went with the family to Whittier, though the tunnel, hiked one of the mountains, saw a black bear in the distance, and on their way down ran into our whole Temple View Ward Young Women's group and their leaders on their annual campout. That was quite a random event. An hour away from Anchorage, Alaska and they run into each other hiking a random trail. Anyway, they all had a great time. The neighbors just dropped off some Father's Day muffins and were joking that everyone in Alaska knows each other. Kitty, HaLee, and the two grandkids took the train back. It was very scenic and was not as enchanting for the grandkids. Now we know for the future . 

Moose cow and calves return.

Kitty reported on June 2 about the moose calves in our front yard. Well, they were back just in time for the grandkids to look directly out the front window at them. This time they were munching on our flowers just like their mother. Before, they were only nursing.

Watching moose and
 calves out front 
window.

I spent much of the week holding down our Visitor's Center and related activities. It worked out but I think I am due for some recovery time after filling in for Kitty for the two weeks she was sick and the week with family. The kids made it manageable by cooking some good meals (ribs & smoked salmon on the grill) and keeping things in order. They were great house guests (at least with two kids on the run all the time). Kitty acts like a new person after having their company. We have really missed our family and friends. She views it as a real blessing to have a Heavenly Father who knows our needs.

Trail of Ice.

Whittier AK hike.

View of Turnagain Arm from train.

We have VIP visitors showing up tomorrow. Most are connected to the construction company so probably won't see too much of them. Our Church Project Manager will also be here. He is the one that we report to for anything related to our assignment. He is also managing the Fairbanks temple build. The Westland Project Manager for that temple was here yesterday. He is finishing up a project in American Samoa. Can you imagine transitioning from there to -40F or lower winters? He is young (30s), and we learned today that he is good friends with Brother Light, our Sunday School teacher at church. They received their MBAs together, both ended up in construction, and now both are here in Alaska. The connections between people never cease to amaze me. I have learned that many, if not all, are not by accident.

Taking rendering pics.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago how fascinated I have been with the process of putting the granite stone façade on the face of the new temple. How do you put a hefty piece of granite high up on the side of a building? Very simple, lift it up to the scaffold level with an extending boom fork lift, then pick it up from there with a rolling trolley hoist (rolling on an aluminum I beam spanning the scaffold. It holds the stone with a rubber faced clamp mechanism. After it is in the air, they swing it into place and within five minutes it is hanging on the wall secure. I noticed that some of the decorative carved stone is now being set.

13 June 2025 Courtesy of Jonathan Hughes. 

I've pretty much lost track of all the steel stud walls going up inside. You can't do much good standing inside trying to take any kind of a picture through the maze of steel. There is ductwork, pipe, tubing, conduit, strut, sheetrock, etc. going up everywhere. I gave up and brought in the little 360 camera. We set it on a tripod and in one click it takes a picture of the ceiling, floor, and everything around. We think that is all they should use. There is only one problem, you have to have a viewer on a computer/phone to make the photos intelligible. They don't work in a pdf file which is what the church archives. There has got to be a way. The requirements of this mission have been quite technically challenging (computer wise). We push the envelope to try to improve it and make it all work.

Have a great week. Keep in touch. #ThinkCelestial

Love, Elder & Sister Badger

Summer Fun Begins

Dear Family & Friends,

Lilacs just starting to bloom in Anchorage.

Kitty writing this week...finally.  When I started to get sick two weeks ago, I was sitting down with terrible stomach pain and passed out, face planted, and wrenched my back. I think I had a virus combined with bronchitis. Thankfully no permanent damage to my face, but my back is still healing. I have osteopenia, so I am very grateful I didn't break anything. Incentive to take up yoga more regularly. I also ordered a rebounder. We used to call them a mini tramp. Now instead of feeling 20 years older, I only feel 10 years older:) Life is very fragile. I was feeling a little down last Saturday and then the moose and calves showed up! It made my day and I felt Heavenly Father was mindful of me and sent them to cheer me up. It worked. After breaking up the house cleaning over the course of the last week while I healed, I was able to get a manicure and pedicure on Saturday, so I'm feeling a bit more myself. The lilacs were blooming and the scent was heavenly. We heard in Utah they have already come and gone.

Cute grandkids.

Very early Sunday morning we picked up our son and his sweet family from the airport. For our 50th wedding anniversary next April we told the kids we wanted to give them all a chance to come to Alaska with their families. Our first group is finally here and we are so excited. We miss our family and especially the grandkids. That is really the only main sacrifice in serving a senior mission. The Lord has been very mindful of our family and we feel grateful for his watchful care of them in our absence. We attended the noon meetings instead of our 9 a.m. ward at church so we could get a good night's sleep. Our son smoked delicious pork baby back ribs on the Traeger. It has been rainy all day yesterday and today, but we were able to get in a fun two mile walk after dinner. Our grandson was drawn to every puddle. The fresh air up here has spoiled us. Our grandson wanted to play Alaska Alaska and it was close, but he won after our three rounds. It is hard for us to get to bed early as it never really gets dark. The little ones internal clocks don't let them sleep in. Today they are off doing indoor activities. We have a report due every Monday so we are at the Visitors' Center all day anyway. No moose spotting's yet, but we are hopeful.

We love the new location of our Visitors' Center. The trees and green grass behind us with a cute path winding down from the new parking lot for workers. We are about five feet higher in this location and have a great view of the new temple being constructed. We are on the same side of the parking lot as the existing Anchorage Alaska Temple. We even ordered a new larger sign that can be seen from the road. The 5' x 8' sign reads: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Anchorage Alaska Temple, Visitors' Center. I haven't been on site for two weeks, so we are heading there in a few minutes to see the progress and take pictures.

Have a wonderful week. We love hearing from you. #ThinkCelestial

Love, Elder & Sister Badger

New Life

Hello all, Farrell (again) 😌, 

Kitty is still on the mend and is in the process of writing our weekly report to the church. So after a joint effort on that this morning, she is finishing it up this afternoon, I am moving on to the delayed blog. Not sure what illness took her down this week, but sure glad she is doing better.

Ahh Springtime in Alaska -- new life! Mama moose and two newborn calves right outside our front window. Kitty wasn't feeling well or she would have ventured onto the front porch to take better pics. It really lifted her spirits to see them. We think this is the sixth time we have seen moose in our yard since we moved here. They are definitely less than a week old. How would you like to run into her on a back trail? If she lays her ears back and raises the hackles on her neck, you are about to get stomped. There were two injuries in Anchorage over the last month. One was a young women's president in one of the wards who ended up with a broken arm and a fatally injured dog. So we'll keep the moose out in the front yard. I have to stop and look around now on my walk over to the temple site. 

The third picture out our side window doesn't even do the size justice. They are so HUGE. She had gray hair, so definitely older, and looks a little rough for wear -- didn't do a proper job combing that hair when she got up this morning. We know she spent the night bedded down in the neighbors yard among the trees. See the flower bed in the first picture? The night before it was covered in bright pink Bergenia flowers -- very effective trimming job. Haven't seen any bears since coming.

Meadow Creek Primary from
Eagle River AK

Had some sweet time at the Visitors' Center. I have said this before, but one of the most spiritual experiences we have is to fill the place up with children and then sing with them.

We have lots happening in the mission organizationally. We will have a full turnover of the office staff Sr. missionaries including the Mission Leaders (President & Sister Larsen). It all happens this month. We don't do a lot of official business with them but over time they become good friends anyway. I find it extraordinary, the changes that take place in their characters. They soften. Because of our tenure here we now have moved onto welcoming some of them to their mission and saying goodbye to the same couples. The handoff isn't completely smooth so we scramble a little to put the pieces together.

I spent a little time in the yard Saturday. It is just getting warm enough to do anything. I planted some veggies in pots and trimmed up some flowers. It is now perfect pea planting time here -- compare that to Utah. It is the same temperature every night (mid 40s) and same temperature every day (mid 50s). Seems like a maritime climate.

It has been near perfect temple building weather, and the roof is nearing leak free status. The granite install is fascinating. Remind me never to apply for a sheetrocking job. The workers will cut the 10-12' sheet, with duct and pipe cutouts on the floor, then lift it 30-40' on a scissor lift to install -- and it fits perfectly. They are speaking Spanish I don't understand enough to know how they pull it off. Most are from Seattle or Portland.

Courtesy of Jonathan Hughes  ChurchofJesusChristTemples.org

The essential tools of the trade include laser levels, scissor lifts (17 total), computer tablets with shop drawings, Trimble survey equipment, boom lifts (5) and boom forklifts. I don't think I have seen one square. There are a few tape measures. It is a complete revolution from anything I did in the construction world -- much more precise, efficient and advanced.

The big news this week is that they took down the backyard fences of all the neighbors to the north. A temporary fence now holds the space and they are actively working on a much better looking and stable fence.

New location of our Visitors' Center

Note in the picture above, the trailer in the upper right -- the new location for the Visitors' Center. The existing Anchorage Alaska Temple is in the background. It has a row of flower pots along the front and hanging baskets. It really is something to spend so much time nestled in right next to an operating temple amid all the people coming and going. What a unique and uplifting experience.

Enough for now. We love you and think of you often. #ThinkCelestial

Love always, Farrell & Kitty

Elder & Sister Badger