Wedded Bliss

Ryan and I attended a wedding yesterday.  It was fun to get all dressed up.  It was also nice to listen to the ceremony and remember what it was like all those years ago.

I am so lucky to married to this man!  Thanks for being all I ever wanted or needed!

10 Year Trip

A few weeks ago Ryan and I took advantage of his parents being in town and took a trip to Anchorage and Seward.  It was so fun to spend time just the two of us.  We had gorgeous weather until we were driving back and enjoyed a few Alaskan things that we haven't done before.

The weather was perfect on the drive down and Denali was out!  Gorgeous mountain!

We spent one night in the Marriott in Anchorage.  It was super-nice!

We were able to attend the temple the next day and enjoyed the beautiful flowers there.

Then we drove to Seward.  We did a glacier cruise and saw a lot of animals.  Here are some sea otters.

Bubble-net feeding humpback whales were another treat.

Sea lions on the rocks.

The glaciers were amazing.  They were a lot bigger than they seem.  They were also really noisy.  We saw a few small calvings, which was awesome.

And the icing on the cake, orcas!  We went out of way and saw several pods of them.  They were wonderful.  There was even a little one that stayed right by it's mom.

The next day we went out on a fishing charter.  It was a little chilly and I got a little seasick, but overall it was a good time.

We caught 2 halibut (yummy!) and 4 black rockfish.

I am so lucky to be married to such a great guy!  It was nice to just focus on each other for a week.  We love our kids, but they always need things and sometimes it's nice to just remember why we love each other.

Girls Camp 2012

Since I am in the Young Women's now, I had the opportunity to go to Girls Camp for a few days.  It was a really fun experience.  I loved getting to know the girls better and seeing their fun personalities.

RESPECT

I was recently moved from the Primary to the Young Women. I have been doing this for about a month and it has been so fun! This week we had an activity and lesson on having respect for teachers, leaders, and parents. Our President had the idea to lip-sync to Aretha Franklin's "Respect." It was fun to dress up crazy and get down. It went over pretty well, I think. Thanks for the fun night!

Christmas Day

We had a nice Christmas. It was great to be able to attend Sacrament Meeting on Christmas Day and remember the real Reason for the Season.

An Alaskan Christmas tree is a little sparse, but still beautiful! Our main problem was making the very small trunk stay up in our tree stand.

Kim and Glade excited about Christmas morning.
Glade concentrating on driving his new RC car.

Dad helping Liberty build with her Marble Madness run. Such a fun toy! All the kids have been enjoying it!

Watch out! These boys both got a Nerf Dart Gun!
Kimberly with her long-awaited Polly Pocket Pool! Thanks Grandad and Grammy! Another favorite for all the kids!

Kim's biggest gift! A pink .22! She took it out with Dad, but got a little cold. She loves it and can't wait for summer to go out and shoot it more!
Cute pillowcases for all the kids from Grandma and Grandpa. I love Liberty's cheesy grin in this one! They use these every night.

Christmas Craftiness

I had a good time over the holiday break doing some crafty days with a friend. This is what I ended up with. I love it! It was such a fun project!

10 Years!

Ryan and I have been married for 10 years now! Time sure has flown. We had a good time going shopping for one more Christmas gift (Kim's pink .22), getting our temple recommends renewed, and having dinner at a nice Chinese place. Thanks for all you do for me, Ryan!

A Night at the Opera

Kimberly had an opera company come to her school and perform part of a children's opera they were putting on. She we really excited to go and see the whole thing, so she and I went on a little outing. She got to wear a new dress that she LOVES.

Before the performance.


Kimberly with "Little Red Riding Hood." It was a wonderful presentation of a classic fairytale. If you ever get the opportunity to go, do it! The music was great and got stuck in our heads.

Solo

I had the opportunity to travel to Arizona by myself in September to attend my sister's sealing. It was such a nice trip. It was nice to not have to worry about kids in airports and on airplanes. It was so wonderful to see my family and share the joy on my sister's happy day. I did take the camera, but didn't manage to take many pictures. It was fun to celebrate a nephew's birthday while there and stay a night with my brother's family. Also, I loved that my friend Karen took time to drive up to Seattle to see me on my layover there. Such a great trip! Thanks to my sweet husband who made it possible for me to go by keeping the kids happy and healthy while I was gone.

Oh, and by the way, it turns out September in Arizona is still very hot. I have forgotten what it is like, having not lived there for quite a few years.

A Project Finished

I cut this shirt out for Glade last year, thinking of getting it made for Christmas. I decided that it was a bit too big for him, but pulled it out and finished it up last week. It is yellow, one of his very favorite colors, which means he REALLY likes it. He even wore it to church on Sunday for the Primary Program.

The Wilds of Alaska

At the end of July, Ryan and I had the unique opportunity of driving up into the Brooks Range of Alaska. We dropped our appropriately named friend, Brooks, and his brother off for a backpacking trip in Gates of the Arctic National Park. It was a nice drive up into country that is wild and remote. It was gorgeous though. We saw lots of neat things and had a good time. Katie and her sister-in-law kept the kids so that we could take them up and drop them off. It was nice to have a little time with just us two.

We drove over the Yukon River. It was gigantic. Neat to see.

There is a Visitor's Center by Coldfoot, AK for Gates of the Arctic. It is a really neat place. We enjoyed looking at all of the neat displays they had. Here is a huge globe showing the Arctic Circle.
Another display of animal skins they had. Look at this enormous wolf!

One thing that is unique about the Dalton Highway (of Ice Road Truckers fame), which is the only one going into the Brooks Range that I know about, is that it is only paved on and off. After Coldfoot (about halfway to Prudhoe Bay) I think it is completely dirt. The mountains were beautiful and besides the big trucks driving by occasionally, it felt pretty isolated. We had a little rain and so the roads looked like this:

This is what happens when you drive several hundred miles on a dirt highway.

At the drop off location, Brooks, Jack, Ryan, and (of course) Jessie. She is a great dog for this kind of trip. We loved keeping her for a few days and were sad to see her leave.
The riverbed where we dropped them off. Cloudy, but beautiful!
They had to cross a river first thing. Looks a little cold, don't you agree? I think Ryan was a little jealous of them at this point.
The camp Ryan and I made up stream a bit. It was a glorious place to stay. So quiet and peaceful. We enjoyed a little fishing, but didn't have any luck in the blue crystal waters.
Not that many people can say that they've been to the Arctic Circle.
It was a nice little getaway from everything. We enjoyed being together and experiencing a new part of Alaska. Hopefully someday we can go see Brooks and Katie in the village where they are teaching, Anaktuvuk Pass.

Late Breaking News

In other January news, I had a birthday and was spoiled by Ryan, kids, and parents.



The sun returned long enough to actually warm our part of the earth. It's nice to have direct sunlight again.


Ryan got a new pair of back-country skis. He's enjoyed taking them out.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

I tried my hand at an Alaskan garden this year. It seemed to work really well. Turns out up here you aren't really safe to plant things in the ground until June 1st. I started quite a few little things in small containers, then transplanted them to the garden, which was prepared by my Visiting Teacher's husband. It was awesome that they did that for me! I also planted some things straight into the ground. We are reaping the harvest now. I have only ever had a square-foot garden, so it has been really fun and exciting to get quite a bit more produce than a small garden provides. Most of what we have harvested has been snap peas, regular peas, and a few little tomatoes thrown in.



Kimberly smelling some fireweed. She told me she looked like she was covered with dew. Actually, she was running in the water spraying out of the hose.


Glade is washing one of his peas in the hose.


Kim was trying to fill up her bowl with peas. Getting there!


Even Libby was getting in on the action, although I think she enjoyed eating the dirt more than the peas!