28 Years!

Last weekend marked 28 years of marriage for this couple! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, Dad and Mom! We love you!

Augustine Logo!

After much teamwork, our AUGUSTINE LOGO t-shirts and hoodies are complete! Sketched by Miriam Sully & Kamirin Couch, and turned into digital art by Keslie Smith! And brought to you by Brian Couch! ;) "The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places, indeed my heritage is beautiful to me." Psalm 16:6

This is My Mom

This is my mom, and today is her birthday! She was probably around my age in this photo... and it means a lot to me. It says a lot about her: how she will go outside of her comfort zone and do hard things, she will "take the wheel" even if she's freaked out about it, and go anywhere and do anything if it means being with her loved ones. We love you, Mom! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! You are awesome!

Death by Halibut

We've been slaving away Halibut Fishing. Can't you tell? It looks like death by Halibut or something. ;)

Ben has been our personal tour guide, taking us girls (and Owen) on fun trips to fish at the mouth of the river. 

We uh... haven't caught anything... yet. But between things like hauling up the anchor together and old fishermen looking twice at our play pen and boat full of babies... the adventures never cease. 

Like THIS adventure, for example. Our tour guide took us to shore to enjoy the beach, and he ended up swimming. So, as our reliable guide, we followed his example. 

 I jumped in after him...

And Miriam jumped in after me...

Look at this. See what things peer pressure can do?

I've always heard tales of the freezing Alaskan Waters. "Never jump in" they say."And if you do, you are either trying to prove a point- or are in love- or both."I tell you, I've done it now, and forget what they say! The memories it brings back are worth every bit of the cold and sloshing back to the cannery in wet jeans and ExtraTufs. 

I think they agree with me.

I almost forgot about the Halibut. They must have all died, because they aren't biting. I will post a victory picture once we catch one. We plan to get good use out of our licenses, so the Halibut are doomed to die one way or the other.

Fishing with the Bros

Rolling with the Changing Tide

That's what we've been doing.
Rolling with the changing tide!

We've had some big fishing days, small fishing days, halibut fishing days, and birthdays.

The Augustine was pulled out of the water at the Kenai Cannery on Saturday to get some welding done, and that's where we ended up celebrating Natalie's birthday as a family. As I drove the truck to the cannery with Miriam, she typed a letter to her sister, Susie, and read me the result... I laughed so hard, I knew it had to be shared on here. So here ya go- meet Miriam, and meet us-
from another perspective. 

Party on the beach with the Augustine. ;)

Dear Susie,

 You would love fishing so much! Our families are very similar in some ways, and very different in others. To give an example: I was told last night that we needed to get up at 8:00 so that we could go to town by 9:00 this morning, so I set my alarm and went to sleep. I woke up around 7:00 and turned off my alarm, due to past experience. When I woke up, at 8:30, it was to Keslie telling us that we needed to get ready fast, as the boys (who were in another cannery due to a slight malfunction with the boat) were going to hitchhike home and we would all go to Homer (70 miles) in the RV to get parts for the boat, and do some sight-seeing. 

Out of the water for repairs.

Mrs. Couch and Keslie cleaned the RV to prepare for the journey, and all was in readiness. Around 10:00 Keslie called Mr. Couch, and he said they were having problems getting a ride, and needed to wait for some welding to be done. Kami, who is hoping to buy a fiddle today, said that we could go get the fiddle, and give them a ride.

Welding time!

She called the fiddle lady, the call got dropped, and a friend called. When she called the fiddle lady back she couldn’t get through, as the line was busy. She decided to take off for the lady's house, in the truck, and called Mr. Couch, who said that we might not be going to Homer, as he may be buying the parts he needs from Illinois (overnight shipping). 

Owen helps!

I got into the truck, and Kami went to tell her mom what was going on. She came back out in about 10 minutes, with the news that we were to meet the boys at a cannery down the road and celebrate
Natalie’s Birthday. 

Singing Happy Birthday to baby!

Blowing the candles... but the wind won... ;)

Opening presents on David's lap.

Kissing the Captain.

A girl with her hot dog and a potato chip.

We are off in that direction, but who knows where to! Mrs. Couch is driving the trailer, and it is incredible how she rolls with the changing tide. It is so different, but everyone is enjoying themselves, and having an awesome time. 

We have the most awesome family anywhere, but this one is pretty cool, too :)

Love you!

     Miriam

Guess Who's Two?

The 5th Generation

We are so excited and blessed to have the rest of our family here! This little guy is our family's 5th generation of commercial fishermen.

The Longest Day

I should be in my bunk right now. But time is flying, so I figured I will post this now or never. Life has been fast paced ever since we arrived on Saturday, and as usual- you live by the tides, sleep is sparse, time is irrelevant, and showers are worth celebrating. We logged 24.5 waking hours our first day here, and have seemed to keep up the pattern since. David and Keslie and Co. just landed in Anchorage and are driving here now! We kids decided we want to meet them at the end of our dirt road when they pull in at 3AM... We are so excited to have the whole clan as well as my friend Miriam with us in Alaska! This is going to be the best year yet!

I wish I had the time to tell more, but I am going to leave the pictures to speak for themselves. If pictures are worth a thousand words, I will spare them this time so I can head to my bunk and sleep for the next 4 hours... We might have "the longest days" up here, but it also means we have 2 times the memories.