Fun in the Sun

This weekend the kids and I pretty much spent the whole weekend in the sun. It was perfect. Every night I would walk them down to the school to run around.

Jack learned how to climb part of the play structure. He was so impressed with himself.

Madeline has learned to pump her legs on the swings. It's soooooooo nice to not have to stand there and push her. She actually figured it out this summer in the neighbor's backyard swing set. Now when we go to the school she usually just swings the whole time.

Jack loved this swing. He just sat there forever in it...almost like he was hypnotized.

Cutie pie Maddy. She's so dirty from playing in the tire rubber.

It must of been a boy thing because they loved just hitting this blue pole.

This part of Alaska I'll miss someday. It's so beautiful here. Welcome to our neighborhood.

There is 108 steps that you have to take to get from our neighborhood to school grounds. I was STUNNED when Jackson actually climbed all 108. Usually I carry him but he started wiggling out of my hands when we got to them so I put him down and he started right up.

50% Free

This morning Aaron left for Portland to drive his car to Alaska. The great part us that he took Cakeb and Kali with him!!! That means till the end of the month I only have two kids- and those are kids that take naps! The kids were so excited! They'll be spending a couple of days with Aaron's parents and they get to spend the day with my parents also. Sometime in their trip Aaron is taking them to a Mariner's game. These times it makes me miss living back in WA. We would go to Mariner's games or Seahawks games. Sometimes we would just jump in the car to go eat Sunday dinner with Aaron's parents or take a long weekend at my parents house. I can't wait for those days again!

A sympathy gift?

With the last three kids I've got a new car. With Madeline it was the Ford Freestyle, Jack the Excursion, and now with #5 a Honda Odyssey. I think it might be Aaron's way of saying, "I'm sorry you're about to push a gigantic child out of you! So here's a sympathy gift."
I'm super excited about this car and we'll most likely have it until I don't need a van but until then I'm enjoying pushing a button and doors open, a moonroof (I always wanted one of those), and warm leather seats in the winter. (Okay , my leather seats in the Excursion weren't heated so when it's -25 outside your butt will freeze before it ever warms up that seat!) But the best thing about this van is that....it only takes $49 to fill it up!!! And it will last forever! The engine turns off part of it when you're going at a consistent rate to save you gas. No more filling up for over $150! Those days are long gone!

Thank Honey!!!

Hula

A couple of weeks ago my friend's daughter, Nelli, came home to visit. She has one of the coolest jobs ever- she dances for the Polynesian Culture Center in Hawaii and the Night Show. So if you ever go to Hawaii and watch the girls dance on the boats chances are that you're watching Nelli dance.

Nelli gave a week worth of Hula dance lessons to the little girls in the ward. For four days they practiced then gave us a little show. Us moms made their Pao skirts and tops.

Nelli actually said that Kali was a natural and that I should get her into classes.

These little girls had so much fun! And it was great to watch them dance!

Easter

Yes, I am that far behind in blogging that I'm just now LOOKING at my Easter pictures and actually blogging about them. As you can see, Jack made it memorable. All you can do is smile.

Caleb in his new tie.

The girls looking pretty in their new outfits- thank you Papa and Grandma Nettie.

Madeline is into a poka-a-dot phase right now so it wasn't a surprise when she picked out this dress.

With only half of his outfit on this was the best I could do.

No wagons for you

Sorry Kali but you'd never of made it as a pioneer.

Sent from my iPhone

Yep, we're officially crazy!

2009 edition coming in late November.

Guitar Hero

One Generation Teaching the Next.

Aaron's Graduation

Aaron's parents came to town so I could go down to Corpus Christi, TX and watch Aaron receive his wings. It was soooooooo nice to get away and just be free! Talk about TONS of tender mercies that were given on the whole trip. To start off with...while our plane was still accending Mt. Redoubt blew up. Captain over plane: "Mr. Redoubt has just exploded again. If you look outside the right hand side of the plane you can see it." This was taken with my iphone so it's not the best quality but definitely documents the event. Right after it erupted they shut down Anchorage airport for the day! If I had missed my plane I wouldn't of been able to see Aaron! TENDER MERCY!

The morning of his graduation all family was invited to eat with his commander. In his whole graduating class there was only 11 people, and only a couple of them were AF. Afterwards Aaron took me on a tour to see the plane.

He was being seriuos and trying to explain everything to me and I thougth it was just so cute- him in his little flight suit! Here he is trying to explain to me how they use that tiny bathroon he's sitting by. It looks like a 5 gallon bucket.

In the cockpit. I can't believe all that he remembers. There's like a billion little buttons. I would just want to wear the headset and feel cool.

And here's me looking like a 2nd grader on a field trip. The sun was bright and the wind was blowing super strong!

I guess Corpus is known for their very windy days. I was struggling the whole time to keep my skirt down. I'm so proud of him! I have TONS of pictures from his winging that I'll post when he comes home next week with his camera.

Here's Aaron's class picture and it's so appropriate. I swear these boys spent more time on Guitar Hero than flying. Maybe they should start logging those hours too.

I come bearing..Easter!

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Aaron's mom, Grandma (Nettie), is amazing on the sewing machine. She made each one of the kids a little bag that hangs on their chairs. Each has their name on it and she must know the kids well enough because it has plastic around it.

From what the kids tell me, every morning and when they got home from school the "Leprechaun" would leave a little present in their bags. (Grandma actually brought an extra suitcase that was full of gifts for these bags!)

This was my little treat. She quilted this table runner. It's so cute! Later one that night we did some surgery to my extra sewing machine on took out the moving feet some I can now do some quilting on it. I tested it out this week and it worked out perfectly. She has inspired me to do a really quilt Easter gift for the kids.

They're Alive!

Grandma and Papa were able to make through the whole weekend- what brave souls! While they were here they had tons of fun. From what I hear they did shopping, Chuck-E-Cheese trip, and even had a volcano erupt on them!I was able to spend a total of like...one day with them. We had the best time staying up late and laughing on night- we all had tears from laughing so hard. They truly are the best in-laws ever!

It was so hard to say good-bye to them but I have a feeling that we'll see them very soon. ;)

Am I fired?

While I was gone Grandma did some wash and a sneaky blue crayon snuck in the dryer. I found this little pile when I got home...... I think we'll keep her though!

The Big Surprise

Life has been a little...out of whack lately. Aaron surprised me and came home the Saturday before spring break and left yesterday. It was so great! Yesterday we dropped off Caleb and Kali at school and my friend watched Mads and Jack so Aaron could spend the day together. He totally spoiled me and took me shopping for a dress and shoes for his graduation, and then we met up with friends at a nice restaurant for lunch. It was just so good to have alone and family time for a whole 10 days!!!!!!! We took a photo last night and it actually came out okay. Everybody is looking at the camera so I can't complain.

Once again I have to express gratitude to a Heavenly Father who allows families to be sealed together. Amazing.

Snow Bunnies

Thought I'd share some pictures of my little snow bunnies. I love looking at Jack in his snow gear.

Caleb wanted to show Jack his snowboarding skills. He's actually really good at it! He can now lay a snowboard on the ground and go down the hill and jump over the snowboard on the ground. I tried it, not the jumping part just the making it down the hill part, and crashed. I totally blamed in on a rock.

It was a total miracle that Jack actually kept his gloves on the whole time. He usually finds a way to take one off and then suck his frozen thumb.

Blue and Gold

Caleb had a Blue and Gold dinner..well forever ago but I'm just now getting to blogging. They did a little skit from important people in the US history- Caleb was Barak Obama. Caleb also got his wolve that night. He's totally rocking in Cub Scouts and enjoying it.

Forget Bunny Ears

Forget the bunny ears because in Alaska we roll with the moose antlers.

Pat's quilt

I am so excited that I finished a quilt! I made this quilt for Aaron's pilot buddy, Pat, because he's just awesome. Seriously, he's a great friend to Aaron and gave my kids a Wii for Christmas. The blue squares that you see a lot of is this Penn State fabric, where he went to school, and I have some Navy fabric in there too because he's a Naval Aviator.

One block out of the whole quilt is different...see it?

My friend saved the quilt by quilting it on her machine! I think if I would of had to hand quilt it it would of never been done.

I know...improper tagging but I was in a huge rush to get it into the mail that day.