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I like to wear Chris’s shirts when he’s gone. And now that I have a baby belly, I like to wear them anyway since my shirts don’t really fit anymore. :) Bel was sweet and cuddly in the morning and got under the blankets for a bit. Cuddles are always nice. I wrote in my journal and read my scriptures before getting up this morning, which was unusual and really really enjoyable. When I got up I brushed my teeth with my nifty sonicare, and I’ve even been flossing regularly too!

Making the bed is much easier to do when just one person sleeps in it, though sleeping without Chris isn’t the greatest. I love this cream colored quilt of ours, my favorite color. :) But since the animals get on the bed all the time and half the time they’re dirty or hairy, we try and keep this blanket covered up. It IS really nice having Edel on the bed with me while Christopher is away though, and of course my faithful Simba. 

I usually like to eat or maybe have some tea when I first get up. I should drink more tea. 

Here’s our ever growing pile of mail that we don’t go through very well…and the exercise band next to the door that has been there for three years, and hasn’t been used for three years hahaha.

And there’s Edel, patiently waiting to get out, and little Piper outside wanting to come in. 

Piper says that she wants breakfast. 

Sometimes Bel and Piper follow along on our morning walks, and it’s so funny and wonderful. Usually they bolt down the trail in front of us at top speed. 

Today it was just Edel, my belly, and I. The cats were inside eating breakfast so they missed the family walk. I found a  few raspberries today and I loved that!

And while I was taking this picture I guess I dropped Edel’s ball launcher on the ground. 

Because when I get to the field, after Edel annoyingly pulled me down the muddy hill, I no longer had the launcher. So back to the woods I went. 

Found it.

Instead of going to the field like usual, we spent some time on the trail. Big juicy watermelon berries! These are fun for me to eat no matter what their stage of ripeness is. I even really like the green buds before they turn into berries. 

I was sloshing around in my Dutch girls, those yellow clogs, and my leggings were soaked. The forest was really wet today. 

And the devil’s club leaves are as big as ever.

Edel loves her walks each morning. We throw the ball and she runs and runs and loves playing fetch. We went to the field but there was already a lady there with her dog on leash, who said her dog is still getting used to other dogs. I put Edel on leash too, but then we headed back to the trail instead.

The fireweed has come early this year with the warmer weather. And it is ever so lovely. 

I’m so glad we have these trails and the field right next to our house. I love spending time out there, especially since my allergies seem to be getting better and I no longer die by just walking on the trail. I love this time of year, and my morning was a delight, until I got home and realized I had twenty minutes before I had to be at work haha. I had to shower and get ready really speedy, but I did it. Yay yay.

Piper cat is scratching at our bedroom window right now, wanting to go out and frolick in the dark rainy night. Our animals crack me up. Piper and Bel cuddle all the time, and the play fight a lot. Piper just lays on top of her mom and makes herself nice and comfortable. And she’s always going up to Edel and cuddling her too. Or if she isn’t, Edel is chasing her around the house to pin her down and munch on Piper, while Piper purrs along. 

I just let her out. Hopefully she and Bel don’t kill any birds or mice tonight. And since the window is closed, I know they won’t bring any live birds or mice inside to play with and kill, like they have previously done about ten times. Oh cats. 

Now I’m getting to sleepy to write about anything but our animals…

Well, the baby is moving lots and lots! Right this second he or she is wiggling around and I love it. Oh I love love love feeling it move. I love everything about being pregnant. Yes, I really do. 

I love the random comments and compliments from strangers and from friends. I love how beautiful the pregnant belly is. I love that I can nap when I’m sleepy. I love that I didn’t have to clean the litter box when we were cat sitting. I love how happy all our family is about our pregnancy. I love that my nieces always give me and my belly a hug. I love dreaming of the baby’s room. I love wondering how our half Chelsea and half Chris will become. 

Here’s a magical maternity photo that our friend Jeanee took the other day. 



I have one boat to clean. It’s been in for just over 3 hours. But I haven’t yet gone to the harbor because I’ve been occupied hanging out at home with the animals.

Chris’s brother and two oldest nephews have been here this past week, and they just left this afternoon. They all got some great man/boy/Alaska time, which was perfect for all of them. I got to spend some time with them too and I’m so glad they were able to come.

Honestly, sometimes you’re very glad to see people come, and you’re sometimes very sad to see them go haha. It’s just nice to get back to your regular life I guess. However, it would’ve been really nice to have Lincoln, Logan, and London around longer. Logan and I just started playing Super Mario World last night and we could’ve done more of that! :)

We usually get plenty of visitors here to Alaska and it’s nice to show people the land and life we love.

Some other visitors were the Darlings. We grew up with them as close family friends, and they hadn’t been here for 15 years or so. So nice to catch up with Frances and Amy and it was wonderful for them to be back here.

I’m so grateful to have Holly girl around. So glad we’re friends and that we have each other here. We miss our other sister Stacy girl too. How lovely to have siblings for BFFs.

And here’s my honey boy and I on a little boat ride. Boats… how nice they are! I love exploring around the bay and hanging out on different beaches.

I’ve done a little adventuring with my sister and brother in law and the girls, and that’s always a good time. Here’s me and my two favorites getting pulled in the zodiac behind the Arctic Assault. Haha it was so funny.

Our friend Jeanee took some pictures of me and of Holly and the girls. It was fun fun! Nice to get some pictures with my perfect belly that I love so much. I’m loving being pregnant and I love feeling the baby move inside of me~Dad and I went on a boating/kayak trip to Prince William Sound with a couple from our ward, Dave and Ann. They are actually the owners of the cabin my dad built and one of my childhood homes. We had a great few days on the water with them. I love this picture of Dad. I took the canon 60D with us and snapped some few pictures. It was nice to use a nicer camera than the iPhone, though the best camera is the one that is with you 

I love living around family and am grateful for all of them. My mom has been gone a lot this summer and we definitely miss having her around! My dear brother Jake and his girlfriend live just about an hour away, and it’s so nice to see them more often! I haven’t seen Chris enough lately though – WE MUST GO TO SUMMIT PASS.

Our weather has been stupendous, which of course makes life much nicer. I’m so glad to be tan again! Or to at least have a tan head and arms and some color on my legs. My belly is pretty white, but it’s stretch mark free, so that’s good!

Allergies haven’t been great for me, which has made me look forward to winter. I can’t be allergic and exhausted like this next summer with a little babe around. I’m excited to meet our little human and to become best friends with him or her!

I love feeling the baby move inside of me. Love it. I’ve gained about 15+ lbs so far I think. I’ve been trying to eat healthy and not be a sloth, and I’ve been doing alright with that. :) Been drinking water pretty well – gotta take good care of the bebe!

Oh! I watched a birth video and have been reading more about it, and I’m scared and nervous to push a baby out of me! But women have been doing it for ages, and if I’m good and in tune with nature :) my body should know what it’s doing. I need to do mo’ yoga because that’ll help me with everything. But seriously, birth, wow. But then… BABY!

Boat cleaning is going great, since I pretty much have one boat. It’s so nice to not be down there till 11 or 12 every night. Usually I’m always done by 8. Today I could’ve been done at 6, but here it is 9 pm, and now I’ll head down there. :) I wonder how many boat cleaning procrastination blog posts I have…

I feel really blessed and grateful for my good life full of people I love.

Hay-cent-chee-ment-chee… that means recently. 

Here’s some pictures that I’m too sleepy to write much about. :)

I LOVE MY BELLY. Thanks so much to our good friend Jeanee for taking some stellar photos of us!

A great kayaking trip. 

And Chris has had some great airplane time. All is well with us. 

What a great day. So many fun memories were made today. But Chris just left for Anchorage/Talkeetna for a few days, then I’ll be gone kayaking for a few days, so I won’t see him till Saturday night or so, and that makes me really sad. I just like him and I love him and I don’t want to sleep alone or be alone or take care of all these animals by myself. :( He told me to have fun while he was gone, but I’ve just been moping around the last hour and haven’t done anything but take care of my sims hahaha, and scroll through the same Facebook feed a few times. I need to go take the pooch for a walk, which will make us both happier, but I don’t want to get more allergic outside. Anyway….

Today was such a good day. We had the best boat ride ever across the bay to Seldovia this morning, to participate in the 4th of July festivities. We listened to some great classic music on the way like Peter, Paul, and Mary and Neil Diamond. And we cruised across the sea super speedy and even saw a whale!!

My house is so messy right now and it’s really bothering me. I don’t like having all this extra stuff around that we need to get rid of. Stuff stuff. I’m not doing much to fix it right now though, because I’m sad Chris is gone and don’t want to do anything. I’m maybe slightly more emotional being pregnant, but I’m still pretty level. 

I did run into the airplane wing the other day with my head, and that made me really sad even though I was laughing too. It was so funny when it happened. It knocked me to the ground and Chris and I started cracking up. Then I started crying and that was funny too. That was a day Chris left for a couple days, so maybe I was just sad too. 

Back to today… Lots of fun and festivity! And I saw one of my favorite high school teachers who I haven’t seen for years! It was so great catching up. It’d be wonderful and rewarding and difficult to be a teacher.

Seldovia is a pretty cool place, especially on the fourth. What a unique little town. I wonder what it’s like living there. 

We got a big cinnamon roll that I enjoyed some of, and ate too much of. :) And we watched Jordin and some others do some snagging. 

I came to Seldovia two years ago for Independence Day, but Chris didn’t. Our first time was a few years ago, which I can’t find the picture of. But we have some great fotos from that day, and this day as well! 

On our boat ride home we saw a load of whales! Most likely humpbacks in pretty sure. It was so awesome. We all loved it. What huge creatures… 

Chris and I started watching the Patriot when we got home. Good movie, but wow, it’s so graphic and violet! I turn my head away for plenty of it, but good and well done. And then Chris spilled his salsa all over the carpet haha. Good thing I haven’t cleaned the carpets yet! 

We all watched our Homer parade which was a hit, as always. Then we are at my sister and her husband’s house. Good food and good family! Then Chris helped me clean a couple boats. What a peach he is. 

I’ve been doing the spit run since the beginning of time. It’s our local 10k from the high school to the end of the spit. My BFF Carla and I did it together many years, and in the picture about, we made our outfits match perfectly.

This picture below, of me and my fam was probably in 1993 or 1994, and probably the year before I started doing the race. The past five years I’ve missed a few spit runs with being out of state or something, but it’s usually always a “fun” thing to do.

This year I wanted to do it again! Being prego with child I figured I should take it kind of easy, not that I’d normally over exert myself anyway hehe. I knew that my little niece, Natalie girl, would be a great race buddy and it would be her first time. We had talked about it for a few weeks and she wanted to, but didn’t have any tennis shoes that fit her. Her parents decided to do it though, and they registered.

Saturday morning came around and I woke up at the typical 9 am. The race started at 10. I called Natalie and we face timed and she found some shoes that would work, and we decided to do it! We got to the high school too late to register, so we were little bandit runners. But registration was $30! and I didn’t want to pay that. What happened to it being $5 like the old days?? Hopefully my silent protest made a difference and it’ll be $5 next year. ;)

I loved that Natalie and I both decided to wear tie dye! I had a really great time with little Natalie girl. We even found our friend on the way and spent about 4 miles with her. I only had to take one bathroom break on the way and I managed to control my bladder well, something that is becoming slightly more difficult. 

Natalie ran the first mile really great. My belly kind of hurt the first mile, maybe baby was bouncing around a bit too much. The rest of the race I did a slow jog and my belly didn’t bother me at all. Natalie walked along a lot, and we were great race buddies. Sometimes we held hands and ran along, sometimes she’d run up and dance around, and sometimes she’d walk slowly and I’d turn around and pull her forward. I had a great time with her.

We talked about how we wish we were registered. And we talked about how it’d be funny if her little sister, Katy did the race, running along in her high heels. I’m really proud of Natalie and me (and baby!) and her parents who did the race so speedy! Jordin got 19th place at 43 mins and Holly was at 53 mins. Fun day and I’m surprised I haven’t been more sore! It’s not like I trained much, unless you call running a mile or two every few weeks training. :) I’m grateful for my body and that we take care of each other.

And here’s a throwback from my 3rd spit run. 

Never mind. I can’t find the picture. But it’s a picture of when I made the paper! I was so proud. I was wearing my pink Pochahontas shirt and some clod hopper shoes. Good times.

Well, it’s 1 pm. I guess I better get dressed. I like summer. Except for the allergies, which have been bad. Okay, bye.

I love being pregnant.

Chris and I went to our first ultrasound yesterday and it was soooo neat. Our ultrasound tech was a delight and checked everything out, to make sure baby is growing and developing normal. All looks good! It’s amazing there’s a little baby growing inside of me, just amazing. Bebe baby was moving around quite a bit during the ultrasound, and so I think that’s helped me be more aware of when I’m feeling it inside of me. The past couple days I’ve felt a lot more movement and I love it. I love being pregnant, and I love that I have a baby belly.

I have neglected blogging lately, and plenty of other things, which is annoying. I have lots of free time right now and I don’t feel like I’m doing greatness with it. I just expect more of myself I guess, but my yogi yoga video today left me with a mantra that “everything is as it should be,” and that’s a nice thought. :) There was another mantra she said too, but I forgot it, but I’m really grateful for Yoga With Adriene.

I love doing yoga, just here in my living room. Yoga classes with a little community would be nice too, but yoga with the cats and dog is good for now. I don’t do yoga as often as I’d like, but some is better than none!

I’m just about to go clean boat, and I’m taking the pup with me. I just came home to pick her up to discover she had eaten part of our tasty watermelon! I left it cut in half on the counter a few hours ago and she decided to get it down and dig into it a little bit. She’s been a touch more rambunctious with getting into food she’s not supposed to when we’re gone, so I guess we just need to take better care of her. She’s still pretty good though. Good Edelweiss.

Hmmm, what else… we went to Utah for a week for Chris’s grandma’s funeral. It was a really wonderful and special week, and I’d like to blog about it later so I don’t forget about things!

Our summer weather has been spectacular so far. I’m so glad to be getting some brown on my skin again! I have a red, vein-y spot on my nose that I need to get checked out, but the rest of my skin is happier to be tan. My dad is finally home so it’s been nice hanging out at his house with his great property and view!

Allergies have been super annoying for me this summer. I hate it. I haven’t been walking with Chris and the dog in the morning hardly at all because I don’t want to go trampling through the grass. Bah, allergies are really frustrating to me.

I’ve been building houses for my Sims on the iPad, which is funny… I’ve been listening to lots of Harry Potter audiobooks. And I’ve been reading my scriptures everyday! I’m having a hard time managing my time, but I’m learning and growing, so that’s good. Gotta go clean boat now. Cheers cheers.

Landlines are almost obsolete, but my sister and her husband have to have one for emergency work purposes. So from the landline phone, I occasionally get happy calls from little Katy, “Hi, Chelsea!” It’s wonderful. Sometimes I call that house phone to talk with my nieces (it’ll be weird when they have cell phones someday). And yesterday I called to invite the girls over for a sleepover!

I prefer having Chris around, because I get bored if I spend too much time at home with just myself and I get sufficient alone time most days. So while he’s at scout camp this week, he told me to spend lots of time with my fam and to play with the girls. So I am. Well, now I am, since I finished watching the Great British Baking Show yesterday. I love that. :)

After I washed my uno first boat last night, I picked up the girls and we came home, after jumping on their new, borrowed trampoline for a few minutes. Katy played with Edel while I ate the tin foil dinner Sister made for me, then we played some gooooood Mario. 

Natalie has played quite a lot of super mario world on Super Nintendo, but Katy is a lot more timid with it. However, she was playing some last night and that was great. It’s always a good time when you get to those switch palaces!

I fell asleep on the floor – I’m kind of extra sleepy these days – but woke up to help build our fort! It turned out great and it we had a nice bed in there for us three and the dog and our stuffed animals. 

It was 11 at the time, so we decided to watch a movie. :) We could’ve easily gone to bed too, but it’s just fun to watch a movie in the fort. We all agreed on Pocahontas 2, and I made us a little fruit plate. I’m loving fruit more than usual lately and probably eating too much of it. I’ve been doing good with water drinking though! Need to exercise more. 

In the morning, after I had read my scriptures and taken a nap, and after Natalie played some Nintendo and read the gnomes book, we woke Katy up, made a smoothie, and went for a walk. We took the soccer ball and had a great time playing on the field. 

Then we came home and tie dyed! I love creating tie dye and have some old sheets that I’m excited to turn into a work of art. :) I love spending time with these girls!

Edelweiss and I were outside playing outside, and out by the neighbor’s pops Mr. Moosey. He seemed pretty curious about us and the cat and my car, Penelope, and he walked right over. Once Edel saw him, I put her inside. She was barking at him and I figured it best they not encounter each other. :)

He was just cruising around the lawn, eating leaves off the alders. I took a couple mediocre phone pictures, and a few snapchats for my homies, and then I watched the snapchat video. It was magical! All the birds were chirping and little moose was just scratching his back with his face, and tried getting a leg itch too. He has tiny little antlers budding and he’s just a yearling, so he’s pretty small. When I realized the magical moment I was having, I decided to get out the nicer camera.

Chris had a nice camera that we took on many adventures and got some exceptional photos with. Buuuut we dropped it in the ocean last year and it stopped working. We have my dad’s camera, which is nice, but not the same as our old one. But the best camera is just the one that’s with you! We haven’t used my dad’s camera much at all and have mostly just been doing iPhone pics the past year, which are pretty decent and extremely convenient. But I’d really like us to have super great quality photos again. It’s a lot of extra work to haul camera gear around, and take time for pictures and such, and then to process and go through them later, but a good photo capturing a lovely memory is worth it.

Tonight I went to the harbor to clean my one boat for the evening, and I decided to sit in the car for a half hour on my cellular, and then I got a call from the captain! He said he was out fishing with friends and didn’t need the boat cleaned. I was happy. :) I would’ve been totally fine cleaning it too, and then would’ve made some dolla dolla bills, but I’m always delighted when I have less boats.

So duh, I went and got some of my favorite pizza. And I magically ran into our good friends there and we ate together and caught up. It was great and perfecto.

Now I’m watching Snow White and growing a baby in my belly. Chris gets home tomorrow evening, or Saturday morning, and I’ll be happy to hug and kiss him and for him to hold me tight. I love him lots.

Christopher Robin has had some Boy Scout activities lately, which means less husband time for me, and more time with the animals :), and my family. I’ve been hanging out at my mom’s house more lately which is always delightful.

Chris had the boys over for a video game party, as a reward for some of them achieving their Duty to God goals, so I decided to go have a sleepover at my mama’s house, and it was so nice! When Chris finally went to bed at 3 am, he sent me this picture of Edel and Piper cuddling. Those two animals… adorable.

I think there were seven boys there, and they pretty much ate junk food and played video games, mostly Star Wars, until they were too sleepy. And then they crashed on the floor. Funny. But a really good time for them, good bonding time and hang out time. Glad I was having a party at my mom’s house instead. :) Because I got to take a bath in her lovely bath tub and then sleep in her bed, just like the old days.

The next morning, Mom had to go to her last day of school, and I didn’t wake up until she left, so I just hung out by myself. I made some flapjacks, watched the Magic School Bus, and worked on final touches of the dollhouse that I’ve been building for the past 1+ year. Good times and I felt like I was 12 again. :)

When I lived at Woodside apartments with Mom (and the older siblings probably), she worked at the assisted living place. She’d go to work at 7 (or maybe it was 8), so I’d go in with her and I’d watch Magic School Bus in the lounge until our friends picked me up for school at 8:15 or 8:30 or whatever.

And when I was leaving Mom’s house and going home, I saw Lacey girl laying in the extra bed. FUNNY. She just crawled right under the blanket and got all cozy.

Animals are funny little creatures that are nice to have around.

Oh! And Mom’s ol’ BFF came back to town after 14 years! It was so wonderful to spend and evening and afternoon visiting with the Darlings, especially for Mom and Frances I’m sure. So wonderful to reconnect.

My giant balloon cube says “Happy Mother’s Day,” but I always wonder why it’s not “Mothers’ Day” since it’s a day for all mothers, and not just my mother. Maybe someday I’ll decide or learn where I want to put the apostrophe.

My sister, brother in law, and nieces got me the giant balloon, my mom got me some happy, yellow tulips, and Chris left me a nice, little Mother’s day note. Chris was in Valdez for the weekend for the short take off and landing (STOL) fly-in. He took lots of great pictures and video and had a jolly time.

At the garage sale, I did find this treasure of a dress. Genuine vintage. :) I saw it laying on the table and knew it would be for me, so I washed it, and when I put it on sunday morning, perfect fit. And I wore my cute boots that I hardly wear. I liked my outfit, so I got a nice timer selfie with my balloon. :) Sometimes I feel weird taking selfies, but whatever

When Chris is gone, I struggle getting Edel walked and played with before I have to be at school/church. Normally I have just enough time to take care of myself, and I’m still running around the last five minutes. But sunday I woke up nice and early and had good time to take Edelweiss (and the kitties) for a little walk. Delightful. Except I walked in my dress and I got a bunch of bug bites on my legs, but that’s okay. I like my dress. And I liked the gray sunday weather.

After Saturday’s garage sale, I stayed outside to enjoy the sunshine and clean Miss Penelope Subie out. She was nice and clean for Sunday! But I got a ride to church with Mom, which was lovely. I ate my toast and drank my smoothie as we rode to church. I love living near family.

After church, my little nieces and I hung out at my mom’s house. We had a delightful flapjack feast! And I drank some chocolate cashew milk, which I’m loving these days. It’s full of sugar, but reeeeal tasty. I love Kodiak Cakes flapjacks.

Right after our flapjack feast, I was craving my father in law’s mashed potatoes and gravy. When we were staying at Chris’s brother’s house in Vegas last Thanksgiving, I had mashed potatoes and gravy leftovers over and over! And I was wanting some reeeeally bad on sunday. So I made myself a little Thanksgiving feast on sunday night after a rainy walk with pup pup. Funny. Buuuut my gravy was nasto and it didn’t quite satisfy what I was going for. The rest was still good though.

My first pregnant Mothers’ Day was a really great day. The rain was nice and I enjoyed outside time with the animals. And I felt really loved from all my family. I’m blessed with some great people and some exceptional mothers around as examples.

I spent a sunny saturday working at the youth garage sale. The best part was hanging out with these three! Fun times with our YW presidency and I’m really glad to serve with them.

Other than that, the garage sale was a load of work and I definitely complained a lot about it, and I still do haha. All of the funds go to the youth to pay for their girls and scout camps and so for many years now, our ward has been having a garage sale as the youth’s annual fundraiser. A lot of people help out, but it’s a lot of work, and I’m glad it’s over!

My belly is growing a bit! Some days it’s bigger than others, based on how bloated I am or something haha, but it’s definitely growing and I love that. I’m 14 weeks now.

The night before the garage sale, I went to Holly and Jordin’s for a family picnic and bonfire outside! It was fantastic. Even my brother was there and it’s so nice that he lives less than 100 miles away now. Aaaaand I got to play with the girls and their new baby chicks! Adorable. They got 6 little precious chicks. I want chickens someday.

5:30 am was my wake up call today… atypical. But those cats brought in a biggg mouse and were chasing it around the bedroom, then the dog was chasing the cats. It wasn’t my favorite to wake up to all their noises, and to see that poor big mouse running along the side of the wall. 

But now I’m awake and I feel rested, and that’s always a nice feeling. Especially when you can see the daylight and hear all the many birdies outside. I’m still in bed, but hopefully I get up and do yoga and maybe even go on a run! I don’t run too often, maybe like once a week. Actually, I’m probably delusional and it’s more like once a month. I did run on Saturday and it made me feel jolly good. 

There’s the 10k Spit Run every summer, and I do it every chance I get. I first started when I was 5 and I did it 16 ish years on a row. Since then, I’ve missed the Spit Run a few times, but it was always something I “liked” doing. One year I prepared for it. I was in a regular running habit and maybe that was the year I got 61 minutes at 38 seconds, which is like a 9:56 mile pace! That’s fine by me! The spit run is 6.2 miles and goes from the high school to lands end on the end of the spit. I realized I’ll be running with a belly this year, so I should probably get used to running and not shock my pregnant body with an hour long jaunt along the Homer Spit. :)

I’m really trying to focus on being healthy and strong. Growing a human, it’s kind of a big deal! I feel like my belly actually grew yesterday, or else I was just bloated from too many of my “healthy-ish” cookies that I made on Sunday. But I’m really happy about it. Can’t believe I have a pregnant belly. Still doesn’t feel supa real.  

The cats are still making a bunch of noise with the poor big mousie. And Edel is closed outside the bedroom door whining to come back in. Man, when I first saw the mouse run all the way across the edge of the wall, I jumped and panicked and tried to hide under the covers. Haha me doing that scared Chris and woke him from his slumber. 

The kitties (and mice too I guess) get in and out of the house through our bedroom window that we leave open. It’s just above our bed. So I’m worried the cats will drop their live mice toys in our bed! And if we keep the windows closed, I’m worried the cats will poop and pee inside, which is a bummer to clean up, but Chris would have to since I’m prego. Yay babies.  

I better throw some pictures in this post so it’s not just all words about my cats. They are making so much noise right now! I’m surprised Chris is still sleeping. I’m scared to get up haha, in case I see the mouse again. For some reason they’re scary inside the house. Oh, so basically something needs to change, because I don’t want mice in my bed, and I don’t want cat poop in the house. Not sure what our solution will be…

With allergy season here and increasing, I also need to keep the window closed and probably try and keep the animals off the bed, since they get covered with pollens and stuffs outside. Really, I’m just hoping to overcome my allergies and get my body to a natural, allergy free state. I just have seasonal allergies, hay fever, and I get sneezy, runny nose, itchy eyes, cough sometimes, short of breath and a little asmatic… so it’s really annoying and frustrating. 

Bel just jumped on the bed by my head and freaked me out. Thank goodness she had no mouse hanging from her mouth. That poor mouse. Bah! Piper just jumped up too, scared me haha. I’m all jumpy right now. And I’m scared to look on the floor to see a big dead mouse. I’m glad they haven’t been eating them inside and that they’re not leaving mouse guts around. That’s really good.  

Okay, picture time. 

Yesterday my funny dad brought my Subaru into town for me to start driving it again! In the winter Chris and I get by fine with one car, but in the summer we need the dreamy subie too. 

Yesterday evening we got together with the empty nesters from our ward for FHE. It was a beautiful evening at the beach and I had a couple bites of a caribou dog and way too many cheesy Doritos haha. We told them that we’ll be adding to our nest in November!

My sister and her girls came over after school to get some cookies, and the girls stayed to play. I was really glad because they’re so fun and loving. They do tend to make a lot of noise when they come over with my recorders, tambourine, harmonica, ukulele, and keyboard, but I like for them to make music. That recorder gets to me though!

We played with the little neighbor boys and that was great. Then we went to the field to play frisbee and soccer, and for Edel to get more exercise. Unfortunately she got so much exercise that she had to lay down in a mud pit to cool off! I was not happy. It was not easy to get her cleaned up. But I still like her. 

And here’s a picture on my walk to school in the morning. It takes me about five minutes to go from the house to the school and it’s a delightful walk. I keep pretty busy at the middle school, subbing there the majority of school days lately. I like it. It doesn’t pay well but that’s fine for us right now, because I enjoy it and the flexibility is priceless. Boat cleaning starts soon and it pays great. I need to work on my boat cleaning attitude so I enjoy it more. Summer is basically here!

I got a hankering to make and eat lasagna yesterday, so I made it happen.

I spent probably an hour yesterday looking at different recipes, trying to figure out the healthiest and most delicious combo. And then I spent like three hours making everything and went to bed very sleepy!

The red sauce was really tasty, and the cheese/kale mixture too. I used brown rice lasagna noodles so my gluten free niece could have some. But she’s dairy free too, so I made her some cashew cheese for hers. It was pretty tasty!

But it took a ton of work. And it was all worth it. I put it in the oven as soon as I got home from church and a half hour later, the lasagna was making the house smell tasty tasty!

This is no fancy blog food photography, but our family meal after church was delightful. My mom and sister brought veggies and a salad and we had a pretty peachy time together.

So glad we have family close by. And it’s so nice to share food together.

Ahoy (Alyssa)! :)

Home from our lovely Florida honeymoon like trip (actually it was a BABYmoon), and my body is sort of on a different time zone, so I’ve been getting up lots earlier everyday! It’s been really nice, especially since it’s light when I wake up.

Summer is well on its way to Homer and things are turning green again. I hope my allergies will be mild or nonexistent this year, but that’ll take some healing. Allergies are poopsmear.

Christopher Robin is still snoozing and I’m preparing my YW lesson for church today – Why do we need the Book of Mormon? That’s my lesson. To finish Personal Progress, the girls have to read the BoM as their virtue value project. I’ve been reading the Livro de Mórmon (portuguese) everyday for a while now and I’m proud of myself yay! I have had some non diligent scripture study habits, but I’ve been doing better lately and my appreciation is growing for the Book of Mormon since I’m reading it.

Anyway, we have some new cute neighbor boys. They like to come over when I’m playing outside with Edel. AND in our little grove of trees in this picture, I have put a bunch of little treasures – a Chris + Chelsea sign, a ceramic doll for Brazil, popsicle stick bird feeder I made, Christmas ornament, and my big pig! Well, the other day Chris and I noticed that the pig (and everything else) was in the doghouse! Turns out we found the culprits… hahahahaha. Really funny. I had taken the pig and sign and ornament out, and then they put them back in the dog house the same day! Little tricksters. They said they were trying to trick us, and they did!

Other news… growing a baby! We haven’t told a ton of non family people, but I’m maybe 12 weeks today! I have my first appointment in a week and a half, and then we’ll tell people after the appointment I think. I might tell the young women today. There’s no reason to keep it a secret, and it’s not a secret, it’s the best news ever!

We got pregnant on the first real try, which is super duper. With so many fertility issues these days, there’s always concern with that, but all is well here for now! I have felt pretty well, just hungrier, maybe sleepier, and definitely more bloated and gassy. Those symptoms are all maybe normal haha, but I think they’re pregnancy related. I threw up two times, and I’m glad it hasn’t been 200. So nice to feel good. And I’m excited for my belly to grow! I don’t think it’s growing much yet, but my baby should be 2 inches long, or maybe there’s babies…

Other news… I listened to audiobooks all day yesterday and it was great. And I cleaned house and that was great too. There’s always stuff to clean and organize, especially after being gone. I like doing it usually though, and I’m glad I have time for it. Buuuut Edel was unfortunately sick and she threw up on the carpet, right where I like to lay in front of the heater.

So in order to post some real life pictures on instagram/facebook, and not just pictures of my favorite happiest moments, I posted this picture. And I wrote “Edel threw up in the shape of Tahiti. Cool.” I did not think this was cool at all. If I did, I probably would’ve included an exclamation point, like “cool!”. Let me tell you, this was not cool. Apparently my sarcasm wasn’t apparent in my caption though, because people thought I was being optimistic about it, and I merely just know what Tahiti is shaped like. This was a pain to clean up, and will still need more cleaning up. But I like having Edel, even though there’s lots of hair and dirt and mess to clean up – she’s a good pup.

I think that’s it for my update for now, because I better get back to me lesson planning. Adios!

It’s time for a trip again! I’m headed to Flo-Rida to play with my honey husband and go to Harry Potter world before babies come!

I’ve been a poor blogger lately with my wordpress app not working, and with having some sloth like tendencies tee hee.

It’s my last day without Chris and I get to see him soon! While he’s been gone the past week, I’ve been very grateful for these creatures to cuddle with me and keep me company. They so funny.

It’s time for a trip! I’ll be in Seattle for a few days with Carlita, Portland for one day to go to a wedding of a Brazilian girl from my mission, and then Ojai, CA for a week to play with my sister and nephew and fam. 

It is splendid to be home, but it’s nice to leave every now and again too. I traveled without Christopher in a long time, and I’ll miss him lots and lots, but I’ll still have a peachy time. It is so lovely to have him around though. 

Carla just flew in from travels to Australia and New Zealand, and my $103 flight got there just 15 minutes before hers. Perfecto. 

I drove up to Anchorage all by myself, listening to a couple good CD mixes on the way. When I got there I gave the truck brother Jake and I got to meet his lovely girlfriend! They seem happy and in love and that makes me happy. Great to spend a little time with them.    
  

Driving away from our home sweet home! I love our home and life. 

My flight had so many empty seats. There was a guy in my row though, and we chatted for most of the flight. It was nice to talk with a human and not stare at a screen. At one point I was talking about the movie Alive, where the rugby team crashes in the Andes mountains and they have to eat their dead to survive for two months or something. Then when I looked out the window and saw endless snowy mountains below us, I figured it might be best to change the subject. 

We talked about family and religion. And we shared some of our faith with each other. It was great. 

Chris sent me this picture before he went to sleep, along with a bunch of funny, poorly taken selfies, and it cracked me up. I love our funny pets.   
    
 

  
I’m sitting in what I call the creation room, formerly known as Chris’s home office, and then the guest bedroom. We have a two bedroom home and since this extra bedroom is no longer husband’s work place, it’s open to become my craft room! And the place where I can make and do and learn other stuff. I’ve been excited about this room for a long time but I haven’t yet got it very organized, unfortunately. And junk and extra stuff keeps collecting in it. Need to actually get rid of stuff, instead of just putting it into a huge get rid of pile. 

I’m sitting in here burning some Christmas incense and listening to Sunday music. I’m also listening to the animals play roughly, which gets annoying lately, when the cats keep meowing because they’re bother by Edel. But the cats seem to like Edel’s affection and attention, sometimes. 

I was just doing some planning for young women’s activities and lessons for our lovely girls at church, and I was reminded of a very delightful moment in young women’s today! So we have nine girls that come regularly or once in a while and they’re all so pleasant and lovely. They get along well, they’re friendly and intelligent, and they have good families who love them. As their leaders, we try to help strengthen their faith in Christ, and to have a great time while doing that.

Personal progress is something that would help them now and in the future. Only 2 of our 9 girls really work on personal progress, but one more girl has been doing some lately and it makes me very happy!!!

On Wednesday we worked on a good works/missionary activity, and this young women finished the value experience on her own, and I’m so glad she’s doing that! At our activity we had three girls come, and we wrote letters to the sister missionaries from our ward. It was delightful, even though I was all stressed about it before. It turned out great. 

Sometimes I think the girls don’t like coming to mutual, because they want to have a better time, or they just feel like they have more important things to do, or something else. I feel the same way with plenty of commitments I suppose. Often I’d rather enjoy some home time with Chris, but I’m usually always pleased when I go, whether it’s an activity, meeting, volleyball, family home evening… I almost always am very glad I went. I want the girls to learn and grow and have a great time, but it’s been hard preparing and planning for that every week. We do what we can though. And we love our young women, which is most important.