The McNair's 2023 Year in Review

Hello there friends and family! WE LOVE YOU! Happy New Year! I see our family photo, which we took with timer record as our brave little cellphone balanced on a flimsy tree branch, has lead you to our family's blog. Welcome! Make yourself at home! Here are some of our last year's memorable highlights.

We spent the year in Alaska, settling Randy’s late father’s estate. And what a soggy wet and/or snowy year it was. We can probably count on one hand the amount of dry days we experienced. Okay, we exaggerate…we can count them using both hands. That didn't stop up from working and playing hard though!

Thanks to endurance, as well as dozens of small miracles we have sold off the Bunny Boots and other inventory (over ten overflowing storage units worth.) We are still in denial that we accomplished as much as we did! (You know when you are down to an inventory of basically two odd sizes of boots and you get three weeks of orders for only those sizes that someone is looking out for you.) We are almost done, we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Some more elbow grease and a few more visits to Alaska seem to be in order with but nothing as extreme as what we have already accomplished. We spent the summer camping in the driveway in our beloved Prowler and enjoyed getting to know Dad's second wife Cathy who was incredibly patient with the constant ebb and flow in the living room (because it was too wet to work outside most days) as we sorted and clean out the estate.

We started off the year in a classic Alaskan way. Snowed in. Randy took on temporary gig last winter managing a storage unit facility. Alaska got record breaking snow fall and what was supposed to part time job turned into overtime nightmare of plowing and managing the units.

A blizzard hit just when the company plow was in the shop (a weekly occurrence.) The long private driveway of the house we were sitting got snowed in three feet high with 10 foot drifts and then hardened with a wind storm, making it impossible to drive to and from the road. To leave the house we needed to walk at least half a mile, one way, in a below freezing winter wonderland full of moose lurking at every turn, sneaking in the shadows, leaving their droppings as warning of what might happen should we get careless, cleaning our salty snowbound van with their giant tongues whenever our backs were turned.

Three weeks later, with still not a tractor to be rented, a good friend came to our rescue with his side by side, and we were able to drive out of the garage again.

We ended off the year with a bang! The night before our scheduled flights out of Alaska we were involved in a hit and run car accident. The police contacted us later that night informing that the other driver was drunk. It was scary but incredibly humbling. If you will, please use this as a reminder to be safe, alert and aware, as well grateful for your loved ones and life in general daily.

(Just needs a little paint.)

In between, we had many grand adventures. We’re able to witness many marvelous northern lights shows and incredible starry winter nights. Didn't get in much hiking of mountaintops due to the rain, but took up foraging for wild Mushrooms. Over a whole year of careful tasting and delicious feasting and we aren’t dead yet. Lara even still has a liver! Ask us for tips, we are pretty much mushroom expert now. Fun fact, did you know that the hallucinogenic effects of the Fly Acacia can be experienced up to 5 times if you save/drink your urine. (We haven't tried that one yet, just many other non-hallucinogenic culinary delights.)

Yummy Puffballs and Meadow Mushrooms.

Fly Acacia, Siberian natives have been known to trade a good reindeer for one of these. (Don't eat.)

Don't eat this one either.

Our fully potty-trained Evelyn Poppie-Fae enjoyed her first dance/tumbling class. She became enamored with dance ever since witnessing one of her cousin’s dance performance and insisted that she needed her own dance class/performance. Such a little entertainer, soaking up every second of the limelight she can get! Her new found love for Paw Portal runs deep. Doodling, painting and scribbling will occupy her for hours at a time. She loves to compose/sing her own songs and make up jokes, most of which end in blowing raspberries.

Randy has unfortunately obtained a deep hatred of carpenter ants. When the garage ceiling started sagging one day he was overjoyed to discover that 4 joists on the roof had been eaten clear through. Trying to replace a roof in an arctic rain forest during a wet year turned out to be showered with challenges. Thank goodness for family and friends who answered prayers and came to help. It took nearly a whole year to complete all the necessary repairs.

Yoga is Lara's new addiction! She is true believer of its benefits and tries to covert everyone! Lara also picked up a new hobby of turning vintage upholstery and thrifted fabric into wearable fashion. A small selection of her handiwork is featured below:

One of Lara's video art pieces showed at the IGCA-International Gallery of Contemporary Art, in Anchorage. Poppie also had an art piece (an abstract painting) in the same gallery the following month!

A few years back, YouTuber Andymation commissioned Lara to build a low budget T1000 killer Terminator inspired robot to use in an advertisement. They finally uploaded it! Fabulous people to work with and the final product is pretty hilarious and worth watching. Check it out. Also, we're sorry for helping bring about the apocalypse.

Link to Killer Robot Video

Link to Behind the Scenes Video

More art and passion projects are on their way since the estate is no longer dominating the majority of our time. Stay tuned!

We added a new member to the family!! Yes, Ferral Derral the kitten who wouldn't shut up after his mother left and kept us up for 2 days was finally trapped and tamed and neutered. He re-payed us by giving Randy cat scratch fever which colored the whole summer with extreme pain and suffering which Randy thought was just his auto immune disease since they have eerily similar symptoms. Right now, Derral is still in Alaska catching mice and waiting for his trip out next summer to reunite with us.

After a vacation in California to thaw out form our Alaskan experience, our little family is staying in Utah for the time being to be close to Lara’s family for the holiday season. We are actively looking for property somewhere, who knows where we will end up. So Utah (and close by) friends and family please reach out to us. We would love to hear from you and possibly plan a visit! (p.s. Lara got a new phone number recently, if you don't have it, please reach out through Messager, email or Randy.)

Our testimonies of God's love have grown, His attention to our prayers, His constant companionship through our trials is sure. His joy, our joy as we struggle and overcome in-spite of challenge and through pain is what it's all about. God loves you. He loves us all. He hears us. The gospel of Jesus Christ is alive and real and soooo good. There is a prophet on the earth to guide us if we are humble. The Holy Ghost guides us and pinpoints how to apply that prophetic direction. God is alive and well and right next to each one of us.

Our hearts are overflowing with joy and happiness as we remember all of you and the love/service you have freely given us. Thank you for rooting for us, we are rooting for you!

Unlit next time! Off to the next adventure!