it's our anniversary

Yesterday we celebrated our 8 year anniversary. I think it was my favorite anniversary to date. For starters, we actually celebrated on the day even though it was during the week, and secondly we went waterskiing, which many of you may know is probably my most favorite thing to do and most treasured past time memory I have. Jeff had a team building activity yesterday at one of his coworkers cabin who happens to live on a lake, Nancy Lake. It was beautiful...cold, rainy, cloudy day (pretty much summarizes the entire summer), but beautiful. A 1930 quaint, rustic cabin set on a hill with a tree house for kids, an outhouse, and an amazing view. A neighbor who has a ski boat let us borrow it to have some fun. We took some kids on the "hot dog" and Jeff and I couldn't pass up an opportunity to go waterskiing...even if that meant being exposed to cold water. His coworker had some wetsuits that we put on. I've never had to use a wetsuit before, I've always gone skiing when it was hot outside (in california, florida, arizona, and utah). Now I get to add Alaska of places I've been waterskiing. P.S. What is the point of a wet suit? you're still getting wet. Jeff and I also exchanged our traditional letters that we do on our anniversary as well. I look forward to that every year. It's fun to reflect on the past year and remember different details of certain events for the year. Oh, and last Saturday he took me to see Eclipse. Sshhhh, he said it was entertaining (which I will interpret to mean that he liked it.) I look forward to many more anniversaries to celebrate with my husband who is soooo good to me, the kids, and he's pretty hot too...lucky girl I am. *Warning put your sunglasses on. Our pasty, white skin my cause eye damage.
Jeff on trick skis

Before plunging into the cold, cold water.
woohoo. I love waterskiing. Side note: This experience made me realize that I don't want to create a "bucket list." Often times, I thought it would be cool to write things down that I want to do, but if I'm consumed trying to knock things off that list I may have missed such a cool experience as waterskiing in Alaska. I would've never thought to put that on my bucket list anyway because I didn't think people did such things. So NO bucket lists for me just random, impulsive fun opportunities that come my way to enjoy the best life has to offer.

missionary moments

For the past year Jeff has been called as the ward missionary and I have been on his committee. We've had the desire to do missionary work for some time. It is sometimes difficult because with Jeff's job he can't really talk "religion" and when he's not working he hangs out with us, so he doesn't have many guy friends he just hangs out with. Thus, he doesn't have much opportunity to share the gospel. I on the other hand have made lots of non member friends. Here in our neighborhood there are about 5-6 friends that also have young children. We have play group once a month and have girl's night out and see each other throughout the week on walks, the gym, preschool, and other activities.
1. Last week I went running with Jeanette Legenza. She lives just 2 houses south of us. We went on a 5 mile run. We ran into our Bishop; I said hi to him. Then I explained to jeanette on our run who the Bishop is and that he recently called me to give a talk at church on 7.15.10. She asked what the topic was and again I explained that it was on trials and how Christ dealt with trials. One question led to other questions and about 30 minutes of conversation was in regards to our church and the gospel of Jesus Christ. It felt good to enlighten someone else about my beliefs and what our church means. It was awkward and jeanette seemed to learn more than what she knew about our church. I plan on inviting to her to church when I give my talk next week. She once came to a ward activity last year.
2. Last night a salesman came to our door. I wasn't excited to have him come since they usually come at a bad time. Last night was no different. It was 8:30 and I was ready to put the kids to bed. I noticed he was wearing garments and asked if he was LDS. He confirmed that he was and asked if I had a book of mormon. He had just had a spiritual conversation with a women who lives up our street and she seemed interested in the church. I gave him Jordyn's BoM. Today I plan to go to her house to introduce myself and befriend her. I hope again that I can be an instrument in the Lord's hand. That I can help this woman who recently lost her husband to cancer. I pray that although I don't know the feeling of losing a spouse, that I can say words that will provide comfort and peace for her. I know that through the Holy Ghost I can say the words she needs to hear like the Ammon and King Lamoni. King Lamoni thinks Ammon is reading his thoughts, but I believe it is the Holy Ghost that allows Ammon to say the things that KIng Lamoni happened to be thinking about.

Katherine's Wedding

Last friday 7/30/10 Katherine married Chase. Let me fill you in.....This past February, the month before Levi was born Katherine visited us for a month. A week before she left she went with a friend from our ward to play games with some people her age, I'm sure she was excited to interact with people older than 4 and younger than 30. This is where she met Chase. The last week she was visiting us, they pretty much spent every waking moment together. You know how it is, or in my case was, when you meet and date someone new...the getting to know each other, the butterflies, does he like me, will he kiss me, will he kiss me a second time, all those questions that consume one's mind. Also that last week, we hooked her up to a friend of ours that needed someone to nanny her children for the summer. Katherine wanted a job and decided that she would come back in the summer to do this job. She left the beginning of March and I'm assuming her and Chase kept in contact because when she came back the end of June, they started hanging out again. At first things were going slowly, but then one day she told us the news and she threw a wedding together in like 3 weeks. Everything fell into place with the wedding plans. She booked the night at a country club for free of charge, found the wedding dress of her dreams for 99 dollars, free photographer, free cake, and hair and makeup. It was a beautiful setting and the chaplin that married them was awesome. Now Katherine and Chase are living with us until Wednesday. They are flying to Utah to live and attend school. We're happy to have Chase in the family and look forward to their new future together. Here are some pictures of the event.

**I've tried to add pictures about 5 different times and it keeps saying "bad request" ughh.** Has anyone else had this problem??

Sydney plays soccer

This summer Sydney was old enough to play soccer. We were all very excited. She played at Eagle River High School which is just a couple blocks from our house. Most of her neighborhood friends played with her. It was fun for us to watch Sydney and mingle with our friends who also were there watching their kids play. Sydney DID NOT like soccer. She played twice a week and every practice she would play for about 10 minutes and then either sit or wander off and be her monkey self on the football equipment. Time after time she said, "it's so boring; all you do is run." I can't blame her, that was my reasoning as a kid and so I never played....but later ran cross country in high school so go figure. We made her stick with it and at the last practice she said she liked soccer because she got a medal and they gave her cake and ice cream. I was a bit disappointed though. She never played a game. All they did was play shark and minnows, duck, duck, goose, and kick the ball a few times. Finally the last practice the older kids played a soccer game. She somehow snuck in the game w/o the coaches seeing and loved it. She was kicking the ball and keeping up with the bigger kids....until the coaches saw her and kicked her out. I'll probably give it one more try next year but with a different league that allows kids to actually play soccer. But she insists on gymnastics and deep down I think she would do well. I'm scared she will love it. I know gymnastics can be very time consuming and expensive.
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Dip Netting

An amazing phenomenon occurs for a short time each summer in the Last Frontier as thousands of Alaskan residents, take a break from whatever they are busy doing at the time to storm the shores of Alaska's rivers. Last weekend we set off to the mouth of the Kenai River to dip net with the Pete family. Dip netting is only open to Alaskan residents. Since Alaska is known for world class salmon fishing, dip netting is an unparalleled and not to be missed, opportunity for all Alaskan residents to fill their freezers with prime subsistence for the coming winter.
(It was a beautiful 2 days i.e. the SUN was out so it was probably in the mid to upper 60's. I didn't know it was possible to get a sunburn at that temperature, but our faces show that it is not only possible, but inevitable. Don't waders scream sexy ? ;)

How does one dip net? First you need a long pole with a handle, usually 10 to 15 feet, with a large net no bigger than 5 feet in diameter. You wade out as far as you feel comfortable in waders and hold the dip net straight out in front of you into the current. Now you wait. You may wait a long time before you feel a tug in your net. You then give the net a quick twist to the left or right depending on the direction of the current so the salmon can't escape and then walk back towards shore pulling the net behind you and empty out your fish on the shore and then whack the fish, my least favorite part. I'm not desensitize to that part yet, a 12 yr. old did that part for me. Long story short, it doesn't take much skill, which is why I even caught one.



(To clarify, the orange thing in my hand is a fish whacker)

(My first Salmon, and only salmon caught. Jeff did the rest of the fishing, while I watched the kiddos in the camper and beach)

You might reach your limit in one day (25 for head of household and 10 for each additional person in the home) or over several days or weeks. Dip netting is like the luck of the draw or "the great equalizer" as Alaskans like to say about this adventure extraordinaire. Sound incredible? It is and it's only found in Alaska. If you happen to be fortunate enough to be in Alaska during this season, don't miss the sight of these elbow-to-elbow dip netters as they get together with family and friends to have a bit of fun while dip netting for their food for the coming year.



P.S. One must wear a hat of some sort because with all the seagulls feeding off the fish guts and eyeballs, a person will get nailed on top of their head with seagull feces. Did I mention this is a glamorous sport???

4 months

So LEVI is 4 months now, as of yesterday. I'm not sure why but this time around it seems like time is going by quickly. I'm trying to cherish each day, but like I said time is moving faster than I'd like. I love my eskimo baby. What's there not to love with a chubby baby who smiles and giggles and is so chill. Now at 4 months he is still wearing a 2 diaper, still only drinks milk, waking up once a night, getting closer to rolling over--he's done it a few times but I think it was a fluke, coos and babbles a lot, and he loves his mom and dad and big sisters.
love his cheeks

I got these shirt iron-on transfers from etsy. I love them and wished I had thought of this idea with the girls.
Levi recently discovered his feet and toes.
Levi's crazy sisters who I let play with makeup. Jordyn covered her whole face with eyeliner and Sydney preferred lipstick over her entire face and eyeliner on her neck. Thanks mom for all your old makeup...seriously. I don't mind them getting totally messy. They had a blast and they didn't have to ruin all my makeup so I'll let them do this again, only right before bath time.

4th of July

While my parents were up here visiting we decided to take a road trip around the Kenai Peninsula. From Eagle River, which is just north of Anchorage, we stayed a night in Seward, Homer and then to Kenai (refer to map). On our way to Seward we stopped in Girdwood and did the hand tram and Alyeska Resort. We drove to Portage, and drove through the animal conservation park. Once in Seward we drove around the quaint town with a population of 2000. In the morning we hiked Exit Glacier and ate at this burger joint, Red's burger, which was out of a white bus. The woman working was short a cook and so Jeff (totally something he would do and I LOVE this about him) knocked on the bus door and offered his services to help cook hamburgers. We then drove to Homer and stayed in this awesome hotel that overlooked the bay. We met up w/ my second cousins and ate dinner on the "spit," saw some sea otters while the girls threw rocks. The next morning my dad and Jeff went halibut fishing in Anchor Point, while my mom, me, and the kids drove around Homer and then headed to Kenai for our last stay. By the time we got to Kenai we were pretty tired of a long road trip. We swam and hung out that day. In the evening we drove to Kasilof and got our car stuck in the sand and ultimately damaged the whole back rear of the car. The next morning we went back to Kasilof and watched a ton of people dip net for salmon, which we are going to do the end of next week. We had a great time and I'm glad to have seen more of Alaska. It was a beautiful drive. We saw lots of wild life, culture, and small town charm. I loved it! The only bummer is my mom's memory card, with most of all the pictures, got erased or something so I only have a few pictures of our adventures. Jeff and I at Alyeska Resort. All the pictures are out of order.

All of us at the animal conservation place
I could relate to this picture
A cool name for a place "salty dawg" in Homer



Me and Levi at our first Glacier. Exit glacier. It was cool to hike to the glacier and see it close up.
I love this joyful picture of Jordyn. She was throwing rocks in the water in Homer.
Jeff with a halibut. Jeff and my dad both caught about 15 halibut. They taste better than they look. They also caught some huge sting rays.
And to end the trip, there's nothing like a big crunch to the back of your car. The short version to this story is that Jeff mistook our minivan for a dune buggy. We got stuck in sand. Two different people who tried to help pull our car out of the sand both hit our car. One was a 4 wheeler the other a huge truck with a winch.

Levi's blessing

A week ago, Levi had his baby blessing. Usually babies are a little younger for this event, but when you live in Alaska, family need extra time to book flights. My parents came up for the blessing and we had it on Jeff's birthday so it was a very special day for our growing family. Sometimes I have to remind myself that we are a family of 5. I feel old when I say that I have 3 kiddos. Jeff's sister is staying with us for the summer and she came to Levi's blessing also. We miss being close to family and having them attend such events as this, but are thankful for family's support and love despite the long distance. A friend took Levi's pictures in the clothes he wore for his blessing. For Jeff's birthday we had cake, his requested dinner (steak and potatoes), and he got some cool presents: fishing gear (which he already has used and we ate halibut that he caught just tonight) and a huge tent.

New Friends

The past few weeks we've seen some new friends in our neighborhood. They are pretty cute. I know it's kind of mean, but people tell us we shouldn't go outside and play with this new family that's been living down the street. I finally was able to get a couple great pictures of our new friends. See for yourself. You probably wouldn't want to run outside and have your kids play with this family either.

Camp Out

Last Friday night Sydney went on her first overnight camp out with another father and daughter friend. To say she was excited would be an understatement. She loved packing her backpack and watching us pack the car with camping essentials. I stayed home with Jordyn and Levi. Jeff told me that throughout the whole night Sydney's enthusiasm stayed intact as she watched Jeff pitch the tent. She was also elated to sit in the back of the truck to get firewood, roast marshmallows, hike by the river, read a book in the tent and sleep in it, and hike again Saturday morning.


Later that Saturday Sydney and Jordyn attended a Daddy/Daughter Princess Ball. All got dressed in their best attire and went to the royal family's house where girls and their dads danced the night away and snacked on some food. It was such a fun weekend for Sydney and Jeff.

All the other princesses.