Anchorage's New Assembly Members

Tonight was another bittersweet family milestone. Jared was elected to the Anchorage Assembly.  The election results were certified, and the newly elected members took an oath of office and were sworn into their roles.  The five of us drove up and met Jamin at the Library. The meeting started earlier but the guess was the swearing in would take place around 8:30 p.m. 

It turns out Stanley and Theo, friends, had saved seats up front for us. Most the family stopped short of the very front row which they had for us. I went right on up and Michael joined me before the ceremony. There seemed to be quite a bit of last-minute amendments to be discussed and voted on before the new members were seated. 

This gave me time to think. Josiah would have been right up on the very front row with me. He would have been in the middle of the picture taking and hugs. I ached to hear his laugh and teasing comments. As is, we can only imagine what he would have had to say to Jared on such an auspicious occasion. 

Finally, at 9:24 p.m. the elections results had been certified, outgoing members had shared thoughts, and they were ready to swear in the newly elected members. 

4 in the middle are 1st time assembly members; 2 on end re-elected

Taking the oath

Signing the Oath

First time assembly members

Jared, ?, ?, Yarrow Silvers 📷by Theo

How did I get such front on shots...went right up with the real photographers! LOL Jamin caught me. 

Jamin, Allie, Stacia, Jared, Michael, De'Etta

Good friends who stuck with Jared after the first campaign. It was fun to celebrate with them. 

?, Jared, Stanley, Theo, Jamin 

Theo grabbed a shot of the whole family with two extras. LOL 

There it is - it's getting real. 

📷by Theo

One more family photo. 

Stacia, Allie, Mike, Jared, Me, Jamin 📷by Theo

📷by Theo

It was surreal to watch Jared swear an oath to a political office...to see his name up there...and him on the dais. All those years of civics and history lessons ran through my mind. He determined early he would serve somehow in politics and here he is being sworn in to his first post college elected role. 

The view looking back as we left the room to come home. The meeting still had several hours to go...but we were outta there! Jared is the 3rd from the left on the dais. 

A Very Busy Tuesday

 Some days are surprisingly busy. I have the margin in life to do spur of the moment grand visits as needed. I watched Benny, Danny and Ellie this morning while Arielle and Charles had a meeting with his teacher to plan the upcoming year for him. We have two free-range chickens, Stella (with the missing toe) and Myrna (just old) both were being picked on in the chicken yard. Stella has claimed the hay bale on the porch as her roost. Michael moved a box for her to the front...and now we have a porch chicken to greet one and all. Ready eggs.

Stella and Benny

I started teaching the boys the basics of Frisbee golf. The very basics. 

Little Miss was determined to be in the middle of the fun, though she couldn't quite get the hang of throwing. LOL 

The boys went on a treasure hunt to find things left over from Sunday (I am working on narrowing down photos and will blog Sunday later).  Their search netted them a ball, car, a moose, an empty plastic egg, and a couple of fun pieces of trash.  Then Danny wanted to play Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. 

Danny was persistent to encourage me to find the car battery and put it in...so he got the first turn. 

Ellie was pretty sure she was missing out in the wagon. 

I was RIGHT nearby. 

The battery ran down at the bottom of the yard. It cracked me up to see Danny pushing it up the incline. 

Once he got it going he jumped in....and worked hard to get the lagging battery to go just a bit further. 

Do you see Millie through the baby gate? 

The pace picked up after Arielle grabbed the boys. I needed Dad to get two papers notarized. 

We went to the lawyer and waited while he prepared the 5th amendment to the trust we are trying to submit with a state application for Dad. 

They notarized this trust and Dad's annual disability check from the state of Washington. 

We were feeling proud of our progress and went to lunch. Dad loves the family that runs a local diner. We used to stop in fairly often on Sundays but haven't hit them since we are attending church in Eagle River. The son was going off duty but stayed to chat with Dad for a bit. The daughter has been in Chicago but is home for a week so it was a good time to stop in. 

We went to the court to register the trust. I didn't have the Trust Registration form. 

We went back to the lawyer for the trust registration form. 

We went back to the courthouse and discovered we had the wrong form. We needed an AMMENDMENT to Trust Registration form. She printed me a copy, I'm not sure why she didn't do that before I was sent back to the lawyer. 

I filled it out she notarized it. 

We went to the post office and mailed the form to WA. 

We went to the pharmacy. 

We went to the library. 

We came home. 

It was 4:30. I scanned the new trust and the form showing it was registered so I could email it to the state today. I looked it over one last time and noted the court clerk notarized the form, but she did not STAMP it saying the court received it on this date....and I'm 98% sure if I submit this to the state, they will reject it because the stamp isn't on it. The courthouse closes at 4:30 p.m. I'll have to take it back tomorrow.  The lawyer said he is either never doing another one of these or he is going to bill himself as an expert and start advertising once they accept this one. I know how he feels. I told him I called the list of lawyers ADRC gave me and all of them told me they no longer do these trusts. I understand now. 

Dad is taking a nap. We will be leaving in about an hour for Anchorage. This may be the Tuesday that refuses to end. LOL