Alaska

I’ve been kind of holding on to summer, not ready for it to be over. I think because there’s plenty of things on my summer bucket list that I didn’t complete and because I didn’t adventure as much as I wanted. Buuuut maybe I should just turn my summer bucket list into a fall bucket list and add to it. That sounds like a good plan, Stan. I also need to finish blogging some summer fun we had.

Apollo’s first summer. It was great and thankfully we did a little bit of everything and got to spend time with lots of our loved ones. My dad was home most of the summer which was awesome. It’s always nice to have him around. And my mom, Holly, and nieces live here, so that’s lucky! And my brother is in Kenai, but I didn’t get to see him enough this summer. My sister Stacy and her boys came up and visited for about a month. “A month!” and I loved that. Chris’s mom and her husband came and visited too. And mine and Chris’s BFFs also visited at different times. Soooo good times in AK with some of our favorite people.

Chris and I spent a bit of time in Utah, Wisconsin, and California with family and good friends, which took us out of state for most of July. Summer is not the time to leave Alaska, but we had great trips out of state anyway. And here it is September and the weather is changing. Adios summer. You’ve been good to us.

A couple days ago it was still very nice and sunny and Apollo and I played outside with the neighbor boys for a while, and enjoyed our trampoline. It still felt like summer. And it felt like it was the end of summer. Especially since I FOUND TWO FOUR LEAF CLOVERS, which a big item on my summer bucket list. It was so awesome that I found them, or maybe they found me. :)

And then yesterday, it was very very fall-y. Gray, crispy weather, with yellow leaves falling and wind blowing. My nieces walked over after school and I had a great time hanging out with them. We worked on fall bucket lists and ate some chili that I whipped up supa fast. I’m now accepting that fall is here and embracing the new season.

Some carry over items from summer bucket list:

make bread, hand lettering, summit pass?, build something, walk Bishops to Diamond Creek, continue to minimize and simplify, grow something, Book of Mormon

Some new items on my fall bucket list:

temple, new passports, build a fort, go on a picket with a basket, do Homestead trail, weave something, make pumpkin pie, DIY Halloween costumes, make more musics, AK staycation, Captain Cook state park, drink lots of tea, yoga class, get Apollo’s birth certifico :), and clean the garage!

AND SUMMIT PASS, one of my favorite places in all the world… I’ve been going there for a loooong time and we haven’t made it yet this year. Not sure if I should give up on that Summit Pass dream till next year or still try to make it happen in the next couple weeks… decisions decisions.

Apollo is normally napping twice a day for an hour or so each time. Sometimes he naps for two hours and sometimes 20 minutes. Naptime is a special time – an important reset for me and the boy. 

Today he napped for just over two hours! Wowie! I did a lot and enjoyed myself and Apollo woke up a happy boy, after crying and cuddling for a couple minutes. :)

Our Amazon order came in today too, so now Apollo has more drool bibs, and an amber teething necklace, and a thermometer, and a run on sentence, and some stain/odor remover, and a deshedder for animals, and some dog food, and yay. Apollo is enjoying playing with the little boxes and things that came with the order. And now he’s enjoying playing with the lid topper from his baby soap. 

Apollo and I made banana cookies this morning. Yum. I like them with lots of chocolate chips and he gets them without. 

Aaaand it’s been very rainy lately. 

And! It’s my dad’s birthday! He’s the best and we need him around. I’m lucky and blessed to have him!

How did it become September? I feel like summer has flown by pretty quickly, probably because I spent most of July out of the great state of Alaska, and maybe because I haven’t done too too much adventuring. But maybe I’ve adventured more than I think. I better go back and look through my instagrams to realize all the great times I’ve had this summer summer. Or I could go back through Apollo’s Instagram and just see how precious he always is! Goodness, that kid has my heart. I adore him completely.

Apollo is asleep right now and I’m enjoying some Chelsea time. I’m listening to the Awesome with Alison podcast, which is always fun and inspiring. What a character she is and she and her husband seem like a great team. Tonight I’ve been listening to them talk about gratitude practices and I did that tonight on a walkie! It was a game changer and so enjoyable. <3

It’s been rainy today, which is totally fine, but I spent lots of time inside today and needed some nature therapy. I do loooove to be in my home, but I often focus too much on the negative things here, like things that are dirty or messy. I especially focus on ways the animals, specifically Edel, have worn down our home. It’s frustrating. BUT it’s best to focus on the positive and realize all the good around you! So my walkie was really helpful in changing my perspective and helping me recognize many of the blessings around me. And… CATS.

In the gratitude practice thing I listened to for part of my refreshing and delightful walkie, Alison said to take deep and slow breaths, lengthen your stride, and focus on some things your grateful for. Be grateful for them. If you can’t think of anything or negative thoughts creep in, focus on your surroundings, be grateful for the trees, the air, the grass, the earth… go through your body and be grateful for your toes, feet, heels, ankles, and all the way up to the hairs on your head. We have so much to be grateful for.

And she referred to Tony Robbins and how he said to say “I LOVE MY LIFE.” And to say out loud things you love, or things you want to love or need to love more. For me, I deeeefinitely need to currently love our dog more. And saying these things I love/want to love is what really made my walkie superb. Say it loud and proud, sister!

I LOVE my life. I love my life. I love my life. I love my body. I love my home. I love my community. I love my animals. I LOVE my boy. I love my husband. I love my family. I love my in laws. I love my God. I love the Lord. I love my calling. I love the earth. I love my room. I love the food. I love my stomach. I love my mouth. I love my hair. I love the trees. I love the water. I LOVE the air. I love my hands. I love my feet. I love my nails. I love my skin. I love my appliances. I love having carpet. I love being a mom. I love being a woman. I love my life. I love the Lord. I love September. :)

Nothing too too exceptional to see here in Alaska this morning, but I did see some really cool posts of my cousins’ and uncles’ instagrams in Idaho! It looked pretty impressive that it was so dark/dusky outside there. I also so some pictures of cool crescent shaped shadows.

I put my sunglasses on and blinked at the sun and saw a nice partial eclipse. And then I took some pictures of me and my boy with a snotty nose, and who was naked in preparation for his post breakfast bath. After I sort of looked at the sun, every time I’d blink I’d see about 10 mini eclipses, so I’d call that a success! ;)

Then Apollo and I took a nap together in our chair, and that is always a big success to me, especially when I am not getting super awesome rest at night. Once Apollo fell asleep, I scrolled through Instagram and read about people’s experience with the solar eclipse. Some were pretty funny, like pictures of cloudy skies and “this is stupid. I can’t even see it.” And other posts where some laughed at the big hype this eclipse was making. And some who expected it to be midnight dark outside, but they weren’t in the right location, so that’s also funny.

And then I came across a couple posts where people shared of the powerful energies and celestial alignments of this solar eclipse. They said things like this can be a moment where we can step fully into our light, where we can purify our old selves and let go of what doesn’t serve us, a time of progressive change – even it if may be uncomfortable, and a portal for exponential growth.

So here’s to moving from darkness to light and three cheers for spectacular natural phenomenons.

It’s early Sunday morning. I just woke up from a pretty great stretch of sleep, like 5-6 hours! So I am feeling rejuvenated and awake. 

With Apollo’s two top teeth, and now with us having a cold, sleep the past couple weeks has been not so great and verrrry interrupted. So, to sleep for hours without waking up… I feel on top of the world! :) Actually, I just feel awake enough to finish studying for and preparing my young women’s lesson for today. 

The theme for the month of August is marriage and family, and my lesson for class today is: HOW CAN I STRENGTHEN MY FAMILY?

It has been great preparing for this lesson and there have been some excellent talks from general conference that I’ve listened to that were very helpful to me. 

In Praise of Those Who Save by Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Defenders of the Family Proclamation by Bonnie L. Oscarson

More Diligent and Concerned at Homer by David A. Bednar

There’s nothing more important than our families and I’m grateful for the love in my home and family. Here’s a couple quotes that remind me of what I can do to strengthen my family:

If we look for imperfections in our spouse or irritations in our marriage, we will certainly find them, because everyone has some. On the other hand, if we look for the good, we will surely find it, because everyone has many good qualities too.

LOOK FOR THE GOOD. 

We really do find what we look for. 

And this. 

We may share the same gene pool, but we are not the same. We have unique spirits. We are influenced in different ways by our experiences. And each of us ends up different as a result.

Rather than attempting to force everyone into a mold of our own making, we can choose to celebrate these differences and appreciate them for adding richness and constant surprises to our lives.

And it all comes down to Christlike love. 

As we emulate the Savior’s love, He will surely bless and prosper our righteous efforts to save our marriages and strengthen our families.

May the Lord bless you in your untiring and righteous efforts to be numbered among those who save.

Another thing that stuck out to me was a picture I saw on Facebook this morning. It was of people living in great poverty, maybe even a refugee camp, I’m not sure. And the words said: remember the life you complain about is the life others dream of. 

A good reminder to count your blessings and recognize all the good around us!

And here’s a sweet picture of me and my boys from my mom’s birthday the other day. I busted out all our red plaid and Apollo’s adorable shoes and my dad took a couple quick pictures of us outside. PRECIOUS. 

I have so many thoughts I want to share and record, but lately I don’t feel I’ve had/made the time and energy to do that. But tonight is a rainy August night, and Apollo fell to sleep very easily, so here I am contently blogging.

First of all, I adore Apollo so much. He is a part of me, bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh, and we both need each other. What a joy it is to be his mother and to be so perfectly loved by him.

Secondly, my baby boy has been teething fiercely. It is exhausting. His bottom two teeth were no problemo, but these top two have been quite unpleasant. He’s been fevering, had diarrhea, constipation, a rash, puke, loads of drool, all making for a significantly less happy boy and mama. If he doesn’t sleep as well at night, I don’t sleep as well. This morning I felt like I slept an hour and then got run over. Not awesome. I did sleep more than that of course, but I just had restless sleep with lots of waking.

Fingers crossed this phase will be over soon! And then I’ll get an amber necklace for the boy and hopefully the rest of his teeth won’t come in so violently. I just don’t know what to do to help him and it hasn’t been like that with us before. If nothing else, usually breastfeeding always helps. But one day, little boy nursed for like three minutes all day and I was loaded with milk. He finally ate when he went to bed and then I guess his belly got so full of milk that he eventually threw up all over us while I was rocking him to sleep. So. Much. Vomit. Poor boy did not feel well.

Anyway, motherhood has been tiring lately and less of a fun party. I feel like a need a little recharge. And I am getting that tonight, hanging out on the computer by myself, looking through photos, recording thoughts, listening to musics, eating fudge bars… :) Now I just need to tie dye and make cookies and play my ukulele and I should be back to my old self.

Oh! Another thing that makes me happy is wearing a romper or overalls. And jumping on the trampoline. We just got my trampoline set up and I McLove it. So do all the neighbor kids, but we haven’t let the jump on it yet, basically because we don’t want them to break their arms in our front yard.

Another way I recharge is NAPTIME. It’s kind of essential, not as essential as showering and brushing my teeth and eating. Actually, maybe it is. Yes, it is. I’m mostly referring to Apollo’s nap time being a recharge for me, but when I can nap too, it’s all the better. Usually I use his nap time to do some house project though, or to scroll through Instagram and Facebook and Pinterest and regret it when he wakes up before I had to chance to do anything productive haha. I have had some exceptional naps with Apollo recently. And I love that so much. They’re some of my favorite moments.

I really have a lot of wonderful moments. It is delightful watching Apollo experience the world, to see him so innocent and curious and pure, to feel his love and light. It’s the best. And I am really looking forward to the painful teething phase being over, but I suppose it’s all part of the process and joyful big picture.

Speaking of motherhood… I have the most wonderful mother and mother-in-law. They’re both so wonderful and strong and loving and beautiful and giving and funny. They’re just the people I need. Really, I have so many loving and supportive women around me. I feel very grateful for that.

In one hour and five minutes it is my mother’s birthday! So it’s time for an ode to my mama!

I don’t have too many recent pictures with my mom and need more. But in scrolling through all her Facebook pictures tonight, I came across this gem from our wedding December 2013. There she is helping out and being funny and loving and giving! And the day we got married, she just whipped up my perfect bouquet. I loved it. Full of lovely white flowers and green things. Mom is great with the flowers. I just really love her a lot, and I don’t think she realizes how much I love her or how wonderful I think she is. I need and rely on her a lot, and she brings so much goodness to my life.

I love my dear ol’ dad a whole lot too, but it’s my mama’s birthday, so the shoutout is going to her today. :) I really have been blessed with goodly parents. <3

Apollo just woke up to eat. I love feeding him. It’s so sweet and I love watching him eat and hold him close and hearing his cute noises and looking at his perfect face.

So… to sum up my blogging thoughts tonight, I love being a mother, but I am tired. And I hardly want to say I’m tired because I know plenty of other mothers who are much more tired and worn out than me! But it is a rewarding work to have those babies or kids look at you, full of love, and just wanting their mama. I still have plenty of moments where I just want my mom, and thank goodness she is usually just minutes away! Happy birthday to my angel mother!

I went with my sister and nieces up the road for some Alaskan summer lake fun. :) Johnson Lake or bust. It’s about an hour drive north of where we live.

The sun was shining and Holly wasn’t working, so she and the girls decided to head to el lake. Apollo and I decided we should go adventure too!  It was great playing in the water and getting some sun sun sun.

The water temperature was a okay. Definitely not warm at all, but pretty bearable. We all did some great swimming and it was so refreshing. I LOVE WATER.

Natalie and Katy had some coolio floaties too, which made it really fun. I loved playing in the water with them while Holly tried to keep Apollo from eating too much dirt or little rocks. :) When I was sitting in the water with him, he loved pulling the rocks out to gnaw on them. He’s too precious.

I didn’t bring my trusty collapsible wagon but I sure wish I would have! It would’ve been perfect for this adventure. Great day wit my big sis and her girls!

I didn’t blog once in July!

We were out of state 3/4 weeks, visiting Utah, California, and Wisconsin. It was a grrrrreat trip and so wonderful to be with so many loving people! And we got lots of good sun. AND it was also really great to get home. There’s no place like home. And there’s no people like yo’ people. And then… and then… and then…

Apollo turned 8 months old… AHHH!

I love being his mama. It makes me really happy. And it’s bittersweet watching him grow so much, but he can’t stay a baby forever, that’s just not how it works. So you just have to enjoy the moments while you have them. I feel I’ve been doing a pretty good job of that and working on being present.

I love watching him progress and learn and experience the world. Now that we’re home from our trip and he’s all mobile, he’s so content to be cruising around the house investigating everything. This boy is such a light to me. Chris and I love him mucho mucho, as do his grandparents and aunties and uncles and cousins. He was born into a family that surrounds him with love.

Our Homer spit is a natural geological feature, probably a leftover glacial moraine from back in the ice age days. It is one of the longest spits in the world at 4 ish miles.

Every summer, there is a run from the high school to the end of the spit, the spit run, and more recently coined “10k to the Bay”. I do it every year. Always have, and hopefully always will. :)

I don’t really consider myself a runner, even though I diiiid do cross country in 7th grace haha. But I am a spit runner. :) I proudly started as a 5 year old and have done it every summer I’m around. 

Soooo the past couple years they started charging $30 to register the race! Not awesome. Think how many Bagel Shop bagels I could eat for $30. So the past couple years I silently protested by not registering and running anyway. :) Hopefully they’ll drop the registration price back down because I know I wasn’t the only bandit runner who didn’t want to pay. 

Stacy and I sort of unfortunately skipped the first two miles and did the last four, but that’s okay. She didn’t know how well he baby would do in the stroller for an hour and a half and so we decided to skip the beginning. But whoa, we still ran-walked four miles! That’s pretty much the only running I’ve done since the last spit run a year ago. Seriously. 

Our babies ended up doing great! But it was the toddler and my nieces that had a hard time haha. Buuuut we all made it. Hooray!

My dear ol’ dad was so kind and faithful to follow along and cheer us all on, just like the old days. That was nice.  

My sister Holly and her husband Jordin and their two girls ran too, but one of the girls went with me most of the time, and the rest of the time in Stacy’s stroller. So it was a good family affair!

Stacy previously insisted that we’d be walking the race with our strollers, and then out of somewhere she got a burst of energy and started running! It was funny, but she left me and Katy behind and it took us a while to catch up with her. Funny girl. I love her. She’s really good. 

When we did catch up to her, my other sister and other niece caught up too! So we were all together for the last mile and a half and it was the best. 

The weather couldn’t have been better. It was sunny and beautiful, but with a good breeze to keep us a little cooler. What a gorgeous day. 

I was thinking of only posting a couple pictures, but how can I not post so many when my boy is so adorable in every one of them!

I just adore this child so very much. I hope my love for him (and others) just keeps growing and growing. 

I think today was a good day for most of my family. We all got some good time together and some good time apart. My sister Stacy brought her babe Hudson over and it was delightful. It’s such a special experience having baby boys together and it’s so fun to see them grow and play. 

While Stacy and Hudson were over, Apollo and the pooch and a cat took me on a walkie. We sang our walkie song and headed toward the woods. I love our forest and being outside.  

Later in the evening we all reconvened at my mom’s house. We had some tasty food (zucchini muff muffs) and a good little time together. 

Speaking of food, Apollo has been experiencing some here and there. Apple and banana today! So messy, but pretty cute. We need to find a good high chair for our house but don’t have one yet. 

Also, every time the two babes are around each other, I am grateful to not currently have twins! I do sure love my twin friends da though! Everything is as it should be. 

PS we’ve started watching Anne with and E and we thinks it’s swell. 

PPS Edel is comfy cozy laying between my legs right now and I have very little room on our bed right now. 

PPPS new moon and big low tides right now!

👍

It’s Tuesday! 

That reminds me of the book Tuesdays with Morrie, which I never finished reading. Maybe I should listen to it…

Hobo Jim plays at AJ’s Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and tonight we took our guests to his show and had dinner. It was great!! 

Hobo Jim is an Alaskan music man. He makes such great music and Chris and I love jamming out to him in the car! 

It was such a good experience listening to him live and watching him perform. I loved it a lot. My in-laws and their friends enjoyed it too! Really nice to have RaNae and Ray and Wayne and Judy here with us. 
And before our dinner and show, I hung out at my mom’s house with my sister Stacy, and her boys, and my dad, and my cherub babe. I love having Stacy here visiting. I really love that sister of mine and she’s great to have around. And her boys are wonderful too. I’d love if she lived closer, but it’s great visiting her in California. 

While we were over there’d we all got a little snooze in! Funny assortment of pictures haha. 

Aaaanf here’s my perfect angel boy! Who has been keeping us up the past few nights. Buuuut we adore him anyway. So so much. He just fills my heart and life. 

Christopher and I are watching Call the Midwife right now. And my oh my, it is heartbreaking. Some of these episodes and stories are so heavy. But with that, there’s also a lot of joy at the birth of healthy happy babies. Nothing more magical than that!

Apollo just woke up and is watching it with us. Oh he is ever so precious. 

We had a couple of his cousins over today to play after church. And Apollo really enjoyed his new wooden hammer from his Grandma Nae. She is so giving and gave Apollo some perfect new toys!

We’re so happy she and Ray are in town!

When cousin Brady came over with Natalie, we made he and cousin Hudson some friendship bracelets. Join the club, kid!

The cat is snoring right now. Apollo is snoozing in my arms. And call the midwife just got over. Chris and I should probably go to bed so we can start our day well tomorrow. 

All of the heartbreak in call the midwife makes me think of people’s trials and struggles. Life is difficult for so many people and for so many different reasons. I wish happiness and peace for people through their hard times. I really do wish for that, every 11:11 I catch. And lately I’ve been catching a lot of 11:11s. 

Ugh. That’s how I feel about it. 

But. 

Hallelujah it’s over!

And I plan to never do it again. 

So hallelujah for that too. 

It’s just so. much. work. Yes, it makes a couple thousand doll hairs dollars for the youth camps, and it gets community members familiar with the church members and building, and it helps people get of stuff, and others to get some great deals, but, it’s a load of not very fun work. And a lot of that load goes on the youth leaders’ shoulders. 

It was nice hanging out with great people today, and it was awesome that it was sunny, but the garage sale kind of promotes consumption of stuff, stuff people don’t need. We Americans tend to have a stuff problem anyway. And then we’re try and get people to buy baked goods, hot dogs, and hamburgers, none of which are that great for our physical health. 

As a youth leader, I do really appreciate everyone’s support for the garage sale. People can be so so good. Many great people graciously donated their possessions, time, baked goods, and efforts to helping make the garage sale a success. It was a team effort. 

And our cute boys were so good. 

And wow. After being gone doing garage sale stuff for nine hours today, and busy with it the past week, I am soooo glad that fundraiser is over! And glad I plan to not do it again! 

PS I ate way too many baked goods today. And pizza. Some of which got taken away haha – funny story. But I don’t feel well after fillling my belly with crappy food. 

PPS There were some great moments today. One was seeing an old friend and neighbor and hearing about her happy, fulfilling life. It made me so glad to hear she was doing well, living homestead style, and expecting a baby! 

*My most favorite moment of the day was when one of the young men was holding and taking care of the babies. It was so sweet. And he said something like, “holding a baby always makes you feel better.” And true dat. 

School is out for the summer.

What a joyous time!

When I was a kid (okay, I’m still a kid, except I have my own kid now too), I loved the end of the school year festivities- parties, BBQs, field trips, beach days, classroom clean up, year book signing… Have a great summer!

And then to be FREE to play as much as I wanted.

Now, I’m pretty free to play as much as I want and it’s great. I just have an adorable bebe boy to keep alive and well, and a house and animals to take care of. Oh, and a dumb, growing pile of mail to sort through. We sort of always have a pile of mail… I haven’t mastered life yet.

Well, the nieces just finished 2nd and 4th grade, and now they’re out of school for summer. I think we’ll play a lot together, especially with both their parents working. Which reminds me, must set up the trampoline! But first, Chris needs to work on our lawn.

Anyway… today was a -5.6 low tide! That’s mega low! So of course I wanted to do a little beach excursion and tide pool. Since the nieces are now out of school, I took them with me. It didn’t go as I envisioned, but it was still super super great.

When I went to pick them up, they didn’t want to go yet because they were making people and things out of tin foil – they so crafty. Buuuut the tide was already on its way back in, so we left.

They were camping on out the Spit with my brother in law, and so we just crossed the street with their pooch, Cody, and played on the beach! It was so great. I loved it.

We took our boots and socks off and enjoyed the cold, wet sand on our feets. We played line tag, which was not easy whilst carrying the babe. And Apollo played in the sand for the first time! Actually, I just laid him on the ground on a coat and his monkey suit got all sandy, and he fortunately didn’t get much sand on his face and hands.

The girls made him sand cradles too and then decorated it. Good times all around.

Cody pup especially had a good time, being free as can be.

I love Homer. And I love summer. And it was really hard putting my socks and boots back on while holding Apollo and with wet, sandy feet. But I made it!

Apollo had fallen asleep and we were cuddling, one of my favorite things to do, so I went to take this picture. And surprise! He was awake and looking at the camera. Haha funny precious perfect cherub angel boy. <3

We had some friends in town this week and it was great to show them around our Homer. We ate good food, experienced some lovely  sun and wind and rain, and enjoyed Homer’s beautiful nature and artsiness. 

Love toting my boy around. I feel like, for the most part, Apollo is pretty easy to adventure with. And I love having him with me all the time.

We’re working on getting Apollo more familiar with his crib. He’s six months old now and too big and mobile to nap on the couch or in his rockers, so when we’re home he’s been napping in his crib, once finally falls asleep. :) This kid… fighting sleep this week. But he’s soooo cute.

I dressed the boy up in his lovely bowtie, and me in one of my new shirts, and we went to HHS graduation. It was pretty nostalgic and brought back plenty of feelings of my high school graduation TEN YEARS AGO. I still haven’t heard anything about a tea year reunion, but there’s plenty of people from my class still in town. 

I went with the YW presidency. It was a good time! And what’s also a good time is that us four are reading the Book of Mormon together! AWESOME possum. It’s exactly what I’ve needed to jumpstart my scripture study that has been slacking the past five years. :)

These pictures aren’t really in any order. Kind of just a usual photo load of recent happenings. Here’s me and my boy sleeping in the morning. I love being with Apollo and Chris. I love my boys. I love seeing Chris as a loving father. And I love cuddling with him at night and talking with him. And I love taking care of Apollo and feeding him and cuddling with him too. 

I know these two love me. And I love sharing life with them and taking care of them.My precious babe is SIX MONTHS old, so I’m feeling the pressure to get his birth story done! I’m working on it.

It’s Thursday, so here’s some things I’m grateful for.

My Body

Earth

The Spirit’s guidance

My body again, so grateful for it.

May 12 – May 14

Goodness, I do love where we live. I can’t say that I don’t spend time thinking about Hawaii days and traveling the world, but I love my Alaska land.

Our flight from Homer to Valdez was so so beautiful. What a perspective. And so grateful for our neighbor’s airplane and Chris’s piloting so that we arrived safe and sound. (Apollo looks so adorable here. Reminds me of my dad wearing his hat like this.)

We traveled to Valdez for the annual Short Take Off and Landing competition. Chris went last year for the first time, and I was hesitant to join this year, because I wanted to be home for Mother’s Day! Buuuut Chris’s cousin and her family from North Pole were going too, so that made me want to go. And weather depending, we were planning on flying home Sunday morning so we could be home for church and Mother’s Day and I could get my flowers and chocolate. :)

When we arrived, I saw my first aerobatic airplane! Wow! It was pretty crazy and hard to believe that this shiny green airplane was zooming upside down so low over the runway.

We got out of the airplane and friends came down to greet us! The people were so warm and friendly and so was the sun! I loved it all. It was such a nice gathering – so cozy and feel good.

Saturday was a much busier day. Chris and his friend Deon went to the Valdez airport first thing in the morning, but Apollo and I didn’t go until lunch time. He got a nice nap which was needed, and I worked on my Book of Mormon reading at our B&B. So proud of my recent scripture study! Oh! And we saw black bears… a mama bear and 2-3 cubs. PRECIOUS.
When Apollo and I got there, Chris was pretty busy and occupied, but we met up with Chris’s cousin, Melissa, and her family! It was really great to hang out with them and watch airplanes together. We got to check out this big old airplane. No idea what it is. But kewl. 

Melissa and her family didn’t stay the whole day since their great kids were ready to go play in their hotel pool. :) So then Apollo and I just kept wandering around the airport grounds. I pretty much just kept looking for what to eat haha. I found some fish tacos and these veggie kebabs which were a hit. Even my little monkey boy was eyeing them.

This monkey suit was so perfect for the weekend.

The weather turned pretty windy and rainy, so the boy and I went inside and I let him roll around on the floor. I had been wearing him in my baby carrier pretty much the whole time, so he was happy to stretch out. He was such a good boy. I love him so much and I’m so glad he’s my little buddy boy. 

We finally got to see Chris later Saturday evening. He and his aviator photographer friends were just shooting pictures and video for hours and hours while the STOL contest went on. Apollo and I watched some of it but we also just wandered around the booths and made some friends. 

Sunday morning we woke up in our little B&B and I wanted to go to Mother’s Day church! And our North Pole cousins said that the Valdez church was pretty great. So we all got ourselves ready pretty quickly and enjoyed sharing a bench together, singing songs, and hearing good words. I do love going to church. 

After church and lunch we said goodbye to our good friends Deon and Angie (but missed Ashleigh), and said cheers to our cousins and their little dog too. Valdez was BEAUT.

We then loaded up 2423Uniform and prepared for liftoff!

Apollo… what a doll!

Our flight home… BEAUT. It was pretty cloudy around Valdez and wasn’t just clear and calm like weather I had previously flown in. It made me a teensy nervous, but Chris took good care of us and knows airplanes and weather pretty well. And he’s constantly learning and often teaching. 

The views from the air, spectacular. I loved seeing it. And I loved the friends we made in Valdez and seeing Chris in his airplane and video element. I loved having people tell me how cute Apollo is. And I loved sharing it with husband and little babe. ❤️

Friday, May 12, 2017

We journeyed from Homer to Valdez in our neighbor’s Cessna 172. Apollo was a champ and the flight was stunning. 

We put him in his car seat and buckled him in the airplane. We strapped on his ear protection and he fortunately didn’t mind at all! This kid is so mellow and sweet. 

Once we were safely in the air I took him out and had him look around. He was content as could be and when I put him back in his seat, he took a good nap.  

We all enjoyed a meal in the air. Apollo had the usual breastmilk and Chris and I ate delicious bagels from the bagel shop. Seeing this picture makes me want one right now.

The flight was amazing. It was so beautiful. Apollo required some good attention for a while, but once he was asleep I couldn’t help but stare out the windows at our beautiful Alaska. So grateful to live here and to be an Alaskan and to have the opportunity to fly around with my family. 

Apollo woke up crying on descent, so I leaned over his car seat and fed him. Breastfeeding is like the magic cure-all and so far it works for any physical or emotional problem that Apollo may have. 

This kid is the best. Chris and I love him so much and we’re so happy to share our lives and world with him. 

Apollo’s first flight in a little airplane was a great success!

I’m grateful Chris will be home in a number of hours! I’m grateful for all of Apollo’s adorable clothes and for our washer and dryer and dresser to help with those clothes. Dressers are kind of hard to come by and my mom hooked us up with a perfect one. I’m also grateful for our bed and bedding and bedroom and closet and bathroom. I’m so grateful for our walkie or two everyday. It’s really really nice. It takes me some effort to get ready for the walks sometimes, but they’re delightful. And I do often do instagram stories while I’m out, but try not to get too distracted. I love when the cats walk with us because it is so funny! Always cracks me up. I’m also grateful that it’s not too muddy because edelweiss hasn’t been getting very dirty. 

I’m grateful for an app called POST! It’s made by social print studio who has some great photo products and even better customer emails. And with the code BOOYAH, each postcard is only $1. I’ve been sending quite a few lately and I’m grateful for that. 

I’m really grateful that our friend lent us this jumperoo for Apollo. How kind and perfect. This was his first time outside in it, because of the glorious sunshine today, but he enjoys it and I like dancing around to its music. And, grateful for Apollo’s sunglasses, because they’re adorable. Look. He’s so cute. 

I don’t normally wear my boy like this, but we tested it out for a bit. But I’m grateful for his wraps and carriers and car seat and especially for my arms! All these tools help to tote my boy around. Grateful for the time we’ve had together with Chris gone this past month and that I’ve even made food while he’s been gone. And that I rediscovered banana cookies. And that I’m breastfeeding so I didn’t have too much pressure to do a juice fast. And I’m grateful for breastfeeding in general because I really really love it.

I’m grateful for my recent Book of Mormon reading, for the young women presidency, for our car, vacuum, sunny weather, fridge, the russian guy at safeway, my midwife, my instax camera, our keyboard piano, our tall ceilings, hot water, ripe avocados, my phone camera, the notes app, instagram, Simba, planet earth, emojis, amazon.com, and portugues! Grateful my family will be complete in 5-6 hours when husband is home! AND! I’m grateful for my body. I’m appreciating it more and more and am so glad it’s works so wonderfully and looks and feels nice too.