Happy Holidays!

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted - sorry! December has been really busy as we finally moved into our own place, yet continued to spend our days with Suzy to help her with her kids while she finished her substitute teaching contract. Then of course, Christmas was upon us and Andy's family came in from Fairbanks and we were busy with them. We had 30 people at dinner on Christmas - so different then what we were used to.

I've unpacked most of our boxes, only 6 left. My goal is to finish them today - my USB cable must be in one of them! For now, here's a "reprint" of our Christmas letter, in case you missed it.

Merry Christmas from Winter Wonderland!

One of these days we’re going to stop being so surprised by the changes each year brings – but not this year!

The year started with our annual trip to Florida to see Debbie’s family. We had a blast! Hard to say who had more fun, the kids or the parents! In addition to family, Deb was able to see her dear friends Michele, Joe and their sweet daughter Jenna. They had fun reminiscing about their crazy Florida days. We wrapped up the visit by spending a week camping in our tent at Walt Disney World. The kids loved seeing all their favorite Disney characters – their excitement made up for the freak cold snap that hit while we were camping – it was in the 20s and we hadn’t brought enough cold weather gear! Looking back I think it was a foreshadowing of our next adventure.

In May all the promises Andy’s work had been making about becoming a partner began to dissolve. Knowing that Deb’s job at PSU was ending soon, we had to make some decisions fast. Andy applied for jobs all over NH, but none of them came through. On a whim, he applied for a job near his family in Alaska. They were so impressed with him they called him the day they received his email, he flew out for an interview a few days later, and in exactly one week, they offered him a fantastic job. There was only one problem – they wanted him to start in two weeks! The next three weeks were a whirlwind in which we sold 90% of our belongings taking only our clothes, linens, a few family heirlooms, and our books (43 one cubic foot boxes worth!). If it hadn’t been for our wonderful ward family we never would have made it. Andy started his job on schedule two weeks later, Deb and the kids flew out the week after that.

Living in Alaska has been an adventure. It was been great to be so near Andy’s family and the kids love playing with their Alaska cousins. The winter, so far, is similar to New England winters, just longer. Andy’s job is going really well, Debbie is teaching online for Plymouth State University and the University of Phoenix; as well as home schooling the kids.

Katherine is in second grade and continues to love reading and science. She can often be found in the kitchen with the baking soda saying, “hey mom, I have a hypothesis…” Sarah is in first grade and loves reading and math. She always wants us to “quiz her” on her addition facts. They both are active in Brownies; Deb is the troop leader.

Benjamin is 3 now and very active. He loves tools and wants to fix everything with daddy’s hammer. He is learning his alphabet and continues to love all things Mickey Mouse. Christian just turned two and is also very active (the two have on occasion, been called the “tornado twins”). He loves music and will dance to anything that has a good beat.

As we are renting a house, we’ve decided to use a PO Box until we get more settled. Here’s our address: PO Box 995167, Eagle River, AK 99577. Our phone number is 907-440-9095. You can keep up with our Alaska adventures through our blog: http://andyndebbiebrown.blogspot.com.

We hope you have a warm and wonderful holiday season,
Andy, Debbie, Katherine, Sarah, Benjamin & Christian

Help us with names!

We have a fun project we need some help with - won't you put on creative cap and help us?

We have been blessed so much recently. On Monday are moving into our rental home "The Lodge" as it has become known (mainly because it's more like a cabin/lodge then a home, but more on that later)! We are so excited! We will continue to help Suzy for the next three weeks during the day, but we'll be spending nights and weekends in our own place. We're very excited.


That is not, however, the project I want YOUR help with! We need your help with some names as we are adopting some pets! We need some mousers for the Lodge and will be adopting two FREE kittens this weekend. One boy, one girl. Here is a picture of them.



We need help coming up with names! We've been tossing around everything from Henry and Beezus to Lizzie and Darcy (not Elizabeth - that's my mom's name and Katherine's middle name) to Harry and Hermione to Tristan and Isolde! Who are your favorite male/female characters?

As if that is not enough, we are also adopting a puppy! We've wanted an Australian Shepard for a long, LONG, time. It's never been the right time for us though. Well, we have found a 3 month old puppy that needs a home and she's also FREE! We'll be picking her up in two to three weeks. Here's a picture of her.

She's a red Australian Shepard mix. We met her tonight and have all fallen in love with her. She is so sweet and solid (important with our very active kids!). They had so much fun chasing her all around and playing fetch. We can't wait to take her home! I've always wanted a dog named either Darcy (Pride & Prejudice) or Bauer (as in Jack from 24). Andy has nixed both those ideas because this dog is a girl (understandably). After tossing around lots of names, the one we like the best so far is Chloe (also from 24). We are, however, looking for names for her too. Any ideas?

The addition of these animals is very exciting for an animal loving family such as ours! The kids are SO excited and understand that these animals are their Christmas presents this year (that and I'm making them each a warm quilt for their beds) and it will mean more chores for them. They are responsible for taking 100% care of these animals. I'm hoping they'll learn responsibility in addition to having some pets to love. It's also going to be fun for me to have a four-legged running partner - on days that it's above 20 degrees - less then 20 and I just hit the treadmill!

Let me know if you have any fun ideas for names.

Getting Colder!

It was -7 tonight as I headed out to Activity Days (I'm the leader for our ward up here - Katherine will join us in February). Just so you know - this is so cold that when you inhale through your nose your nostrils start to stick together. And it's only NOVEMBER!!

We are supposed to hit -10 to -15 overnight. Andy is worried that the car won't start tomorrow, we don't have an engine block heater thingy (that's the technical term for it of course!). We are supposed to warm up to the 20s this weekend because more snow is headed our way. If it doesn't, we'll be moving into the "lodge" this weekend as it has a heated garage. We'll have to see what happens.

Still looking for the dang USB cord! Took cute pictures of cute Ben's 3rd birthday Saturday. It was a Mickey Mouse day - he loved it! I really need to find that cable!

COLD!

OK, it's cold here now. Driving to church yesterday it was 2, yes 02 degrees outside - and that was at 10:55 am. We hit a high of 14 yesterday, low of -3 overnight. It's COLD!

I was grading papers last night and caught a chill. By the time I got to bed I was freezing! I wore sweats and socks and was still shivering under our very warm down comforter. As I laid there shaking I tried to think of what else I needed to do to get warm. I got out of bed, put on my Boston Red Sox knit cap, my down gloves, and crawled back in. A few minutes later I finally stopped shaking, but my back, neck, and shoulders were sore for a while. I took the gloves off not long after that, but the hat stayed on until around 3am when I woke up and felt warm enough to take it off. Brrr!

Right now it's 4 degrees outside with a high of 8. Tomorrow the high is only 7. Please think warm thoughts for us! I'm still looking for my USB cable for my camera. Once I finally find it I'll have a ton of pictures to share! Until then, we'll just keep working on staying warm!

An Ending and an Understanding

My pregnancy ended in a miscarriage this morning. I started spotting Friday but it was very light and I told myself not to panic as it was probably nothing. By Friday night I knew it was what I had feared, my 5th miscarriage.

I spent a good part of today in bed, the painful contractions mirroring the feelings in my heart. I couldn't help asking myself, why? Why do I have to go through this again? What did I not learn through the four other miscarriages that I needed to go through this one more time? I was so sure I was doing the right thing, that this was what Heavenly Father wanted for our family. I simply wasn't expecting it to end like this; it felt like I had the rug pulled out from under me and I'm left looking up and asking, "what was that for?"

Tonight, as I was getting ready for bed, I knelt down for a personal prayer. As I poured out my heart and my feelings, I felt my understanding increase regarding the worth of a soul. I have felt the crushing sadness of loosing not one, not two, but five lives. I know how precious each and every one of those children I have lost is to me. Sometimes I wonder if I can be complete without them and hold fast to my faith that tells me that I will be able to meet these children again in Heaven.

If I understand this, if I cherish these souls I have not known yet, how must Heavenly Father feel when one of his children, one of us, goes astray, gets lost? I know that Heavenly Father knows each one of us; we are his children. When we wander and stray away from him, when we turn our backs on him because we feel his rules are outdated and no longer apply to us "modern" folk - how he must grieve. He can't force us to obey him, any more than I can force an embryo not to die. Yet, I can testify that the resulting loss is crushing. I have only had to experience this five times. How many times has Heavenly Father had to feel the crushing loss of a soul?

This experience, while still raw and very hard to talk about, is really helping me understand the importance of missionary work. There are some sisters here in my ward that I befriended when I first moved here, but I haven't seen at church lately. Tomorrow morning I'm going to call them and offer them a ride. Just touch base and let them know they've been missed.

I know that if there was something anyone could do to bring me my baby back, I would want them to do it. Whatever it took. How then can I not do the same for Heavenly Father? I must help bring souls back, not only so Heavenly Father is spared one loss, but so that person who is lost can find their way back and no longer has to bear the burden of being alone. We aren't alone. We are cherished children, wanted and loved by heavenly parents. We must all help each other return home. The worth of a soul is great in the eyes of the Lord. They are great in my eyes as well.

Here we go!

No long post needed on this one! Baby is due in June. Keep us in your prayers as I have a 50% chance of miscarriage (this is my 9th pregnancy). I'll be in the "safe" zone in early December. I'm feeling fine, just tired. This pregnancy has been directed by Heavenly Father from day one - it was by His help that I was able to loose the 70 pounds to get healthy last year and it's His timing so I'm realy trying to just sit back and enjoy the ride this time. I'm not crazy about being pregnant, but I sure do love those afternoon naps with a newborn on my chest. Such a great excuse for a nap, don't you think?!

Fun Facts for Feeding Four Adults and Eight Funny Kids

Well, I'm wrapping up my first week of cooking for twelve - four adults and eight kids. We're dedicated to eating healthy, which means I've been baking my bread and making french toast (no syrup for my kids, a little for our cousins - change comes gradually!) for breakfast, baked potatoes for lunch for kids at home, homemade granola bars for after-school snacks, and milk at two meals.

Just for fun, I thought I'd share what we've gone through this week:

9 loaves of bread

5 dozen eggs

8 gallons of milk

7 pans of granola bars (13 x 9)

We ran out of fruit on Tuesday and had to start opening canned fruit. I go to the grocery store tomorrow and will buy a lot more fruit this time!

Overall it's been a very successful week. Suzy and I have a system worked out where we can clean the whole house in about 1.5 hours (which includes the kids "helping" us). We help each other out with running errands and child care, so it's nice. Still have a few kinks to work out (like how to arrange our school books so it doesn't look like we're cluttering up the family room) but it will come.

I'll include more photos of kids next week - I'm not sure where my USB cord is yet!

We've moved!

Well, it's been a very busy week here as we move into my sister-in-law's house. She's going to be long-term substitute teaching while the music teacher goes on maternity leave for two months. This means that she's going to be gone and/or busy giving music lessons from 7 am - 7 pm daily. I'll be helping out by preparing all our meals and helping with the kids before and after school. She has four kids, just like us, so it's a full, noisy, and very fun house right now! I'm so glad we all get along so well!

For conference this weekend I made some yummy strata's and casseroles, Rubens, Stromboli, spaghetti carbonara and pulled pork sandwiches. We had a lot of fun, watched some amazing talks, and enjoyed the weekend. I'm still adjusting to cooking for 12, we have about three days of leftovers in the fridge - which is good because I'm bound to not cook enough one of these days!

We plan to live with my sister-in-law until December. We're discussing rental arrangements that if work out, we'll move into the house in December. The house is huge - 3,000 square feet! It has a huge yard - 5 acres, and is at the bottom of a mountain with a GREAT sledding hill in the back yard. The house, um, needs some work. It's for sale (but they have taken it off the market for the winter) and it's listed as a "handy-man's special." It looks like the entire house is in the middle of a remodel, and then stopped. There are walls with just sheet-rock, light fixtures that are just a single bulb, some exposed wires, etc. You get the picture. We'd want to do a little painting and work before moving in to make it child friendly. But, it would be so nice to have space for the kids to run around and not worry that they are going to break anything. And, this winter, they could actually ride their bikes inside in the basement! We'll see how it goes.

Life is an adventure!

Winter is in the air...

Woke up this morning to snow on the mountains - termination dust it's called here to describe the end of summer and the start of winter.

It's cold too; high of 42 today, weather man says it won't get above 45 for the next ten days. I'm hoping he's wrong. Snow is expected at any time - you can feel it in the air. We're also loosing daylight - at the rate of approx. 5.5 minutes a day. We're at approx. 12 hours of daylight now, so every 11 days we loose another hour of daylight. Add in "daylight savings" (a joke up here), and it means by Thanksgiving we'll be down to approx. five hours of daylight. I understand it levels out at three hours of daylight each day for a few weeks and then starts climbing back up.

This makes me nervous. I'm a strong woman. There are few things I can't handle, and I know that Heavenly Father won't send me anything I can't handle, but I'm still nervous. Can I handle an Alaska winter? They aren't for the faint of heart. Can I do this??

All these feelings were going through my mind during lunchtime as the kids ate their baked potato and I made more granola for me and bread for everyone. I turned the radio on and just as I was getting teary thinking of all my friends in NH and our home just waiting for us to move back into it, a Garth Brooks song came on - "Sometimes I Thank God, for Unanswered Prayers." Then, as if in a movie, the sun broke through the clouds and came streaming through our window and lit up the kitchen. I knew then that Heavenly Father was very aware of me and my needs and we were going to be OK. Just like that. He hears me, he knows me, he's watching over us. I'm feeling better.

So, moving past my melancholy mood - we worked hard this past weekend getting ready for our ward party. I made 242 corn bread muffins. In case you were wondering what that looks like, here's a picture. There are 100 already in the box, 24 in the oven, and couple more batches left in the bowl when this picture was taken.

Andy painted some decorations for the party - it was the annual chili cook-off so we had a barn theme. This is Sarah and Christian posing at the church.

Katherine won the under 8 pie eating contest - she was heard to say, "I can't believe I won my first pie eating contest." I told her Brother Mierins and Sister Sansoucie would be so proud of her!

Earlier in the week Ben tried to get out of bed in the middle of the night (he slept - noticed past tense - in the top bunk of a bunk bed) and fell off, cracking his chin open and soaking Andy's shirt in blood. As there is no hospital in Eagle River, Andy took him at 2 am to Anchorage (a 20 minute drive), they got home around 4:30 am. Instead of giving Ben stitches they glued it shut. Yeah, that lasted about 10 minutes after he got home, he picked that off and then gave it to me (he was sleeping with us because I get a little clingy when my "baby" looses that much blood in my presence!). I asked some of the moms where the CHILDREN'S hopsital was, so next time we get a doc who knows that 2.5 year-old boys need something that can't be picked off so easily! Here is a picture of Ben proudly showing off his "boo-boo".

So anyway, that's another week up here in "The Last Frontier." Know we love and miss you all!

Fall is here!

I'm sorry it has been so long since I last posted, it is fall here and everything is getting busy as the temperature drops. The leaves have turned yellow - and while I appreciate the golden hue, it just doesn't compare to the magnificent fall colors of New Hampshire. I do love the beauty of Alaska and being near Andy's family (they are so kind and fun to be with), but my heart still longs for New Hampshire- especially this time of year.

So, what have we been up to during my absence from the blogging world? Well, school began the third week of August for us. We are still home schooling - here is our school table which holds our work for that day.

We start with Circle Time in which we include the boys. We then spend the rest of the morning focusing on Language Arts (sustained silent reading, reading aloud, spelling and grammar) and math. On Mondays and Thursdays we spend the afternoon exploring science, Tuesdays and Fridays its history, and Wednesday is arts and crafts. It's working out for us nicely.

Here is Katherine with her reading award - she officially finished her two-year reading program and was quite please with herself. She is an avid reader (just like her parents) and is flying through her gifted second-grade reading program. She'll probably start her gifted third-grade reading program in December if she keeps up at this pace.

Sarah is doing really well in her reading too. She's about half-way through her first grade reading program, she'll start the gifted second grade reading program probably about the time Katherine is finishing it. She is getting more confident as she practices her reading aloud to me, and is enjoying it more. Reading can still be a lot of work for her, but she's so proud when she finishes one of her reading steps. It's fun!

We also enrolled the girls in a two day "Horse Course" which they LOVED! We must have watched Spirit about 20 times after that course! Here is Sarah...

And here is Katherine...

Just in case you missed it - they are both adorned with the largest smile I've ever seen on their faces! Both girls either want a house right across the street from Aunt Suzi or a house with a barn and at least two horses. Both options sound fine to me too, but with my allergy to hay, a house across the street from Suzi is probably the better choice!

So, besides school and the occasional horse course, we have Family Night on Mondays, Sarah has ballet and I have Activity Days (I'm the new leader for girls 8-11 in our ward) on Tuesdays, the girls and I have Brownies on Wednesdays (I'm the new Brownie troop leader), Katherine has basketball practice on Thursdays, we visit the librarys for story time for the boys on Fridays, Saturdays are basketball games, and then Sunday is church. I don't know how I'm going to juggle it all when the boys start having activities too!

So that's what's going on with us. Life is good, life is full, we are blessed.

My Little Women

We've had another rainy day here and I've been a classics kick, so when I put the boys down for a nap I asked the girls if they'd like to watch Little Women with me. We had listened to it on our way to Florida this past January (unabridged - approx 16 hours I think?) and we all really enjoyed it, but I never got around to introducing the girls to movie. So, today I thought I would remedy my oversight and introduce them into the world of the March family, with one of my all-time favorite literary characters - Jo March. When I was young, I wanted to BE Jo (sometimes I still do)!

Well, while I can say I thoroughly enjoyed watching this classic story again, the girls watched it with interest - initially. After the first 30 times of explaining which character was which, amongst all their questions, "Is that Amy?" "Which one is Beth?" "Is Amy the one who dies or Jo?" "I like the main character best, Jo" "Why do they call the mom Marmie?" "Why are they giving their breakfast away, don't they like it?" "Why do they dress-up like boys to read? That's weird." "Mommy, why does Amy want Laurie to kiss her before she dies? Is she going to die too?"

They were silent for a while, then they started to squirm on the sofa. Then they thought it would be fun to watch the movie with their head upside down on the floor while their body was still on the sofa. They paused long enough to look over at me, just as Beth was dying, to ask me with shock, "Mommy, why are you crying?" Which, or course, I couldn't answer because I'm silently sobbing over the death of Beth.

So, I guess I'll put Little Women back on the shelf for a few more years and I'll just enjoy my Little Girls instead. I'm fine with that.

Trip Through Denali

We are just returning from a trip to Fairbanks for Stef's wedding reception. Fairbanks is a 5.5 hour drive north of us and is located in the center of Alaska. The drive is the second most beautiful I've ever had the honor of driving. The most beautiful would have to be the Hana Highway in Maui. I miss Maui, maybe Andy and I should go back next year for our 10th anniversary ... or maybe we'll just watch the video!

Anyway, back to our recent drive. The highway (it's really a two lane road) takes you right through Denali State Park and Denali National Park. The mountains were absolutely amazing. I had to share as I was just in awe throughout most of the drive.

And, here are my awesome travelling buddies! I stayed a little longer with the kids, so it was just the kids and I during our drive up and back. They did great and we had fun! We listened to Peter and the Wolf and Carnival of the Animals, our History of the World CDs (you know I have to squeeze in school time!), and sang various songs. We also ate our weight in blueberries and Sun Chips!

Of course, no trip to Denali would be complete without a view of the biggest mountain in North America - Mount McKinley! I was driving home when all of a sudden I round a bend and - BAM - there is the biggest, most impressive mountain I've EVER seen! It still has significant snow coverage (in August!) and rises above the cloud line. It looks twice the size of the dark mountains in front of it. I had to pull over and take a picture, next trip I'll try to get a better one. Check this out ...

So that was our recent trip to Fairbanks. We start school time up full-force next week. We're all looking forward to getting back in the groove. We've dabbled in school activities this summer, but as the boxes of new books and games started arriving, we've ALL been getting excited to get going again. We'll blog about that experience next week!

These are a few of my favorite things...

(I'll be singing that song all night long now!)

I thought I'd share a few of my favorite things with you. I've already shared my yummy runner's granola in a past blog, here are three more favorite things, in no particular order.

Home-made Wheat Bread

The recipe is a slight variation from the one Sister Hinckley used to make where her kids were young. I once told Andy that if it was good enough for the prophet's family, it's good enough for mine! Here's the recipe, I make this about every other day.

1. Dissolve 1T dry yeast in 1/2 c warm water and 1/2 T honey. Let rise.
2. Combine: 1.75 c warm water, 1/2 c oil, 1/2 c honey, 5 c wheat flour, 1 c white flower, 1 c powdered milk, 3 eggs, 1 T salt, add yeast mixture when risen. Combine all these in a KitchenAid. This is a very moist dough and would be hard to mix and knead by hand.
3. Knead (in KitchenAid) for 8 minutes.
4. Let rise one hour.
5. Divide into two loaves (oil bottom of pans)
6. Let rise one hour.
7. Bake at 300 F for 50-60 minutes
8. (my favorite part) treat yourself to a piece of the warm bread when done baking- be sure to add a little butter. MMMMMM :)

Chewy Fruit & Oatmeal Bars

This recipe is a version of the one I got from Gwynn Kinney. I make this about twice a week - the kids LOVE them. I might try to sneak in some wheat germ for a little extra protein, but I haven't tried it yet.

1. In large bowl combine 3/4 c honey, 8 oz yogurt (any flavor), 2 eggs, 2 T applesauce, 2 T milk, 2 t vanilla. Mix well.
2. Add 1.5 c wheat flour, 1 t baking soda, 2 t cinnamon, 1/2 t salt. Mix well.
3. Add 3 c oats (not instant) and 1 c craisins, raisins, and/or any other dried fruit you have on hand. Mix well.
4. Spoon onto a greased 9x12 casserole dish.
5. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes.

Now, once you have your warm piece of bread and yummy granola bar, you need to sit down, put your feet up, and feast on a fabulous book. My last favorite for this evening...

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

Oh what a fabulous book! I just finished it this morning and LOVED IT! In fact, I just ordered the DVD (BBC version) and can't wait for it to get here! I loved Charlotte's writing (I'm starting her next book, Shirley, tonight). I loved how noble and virtuous Jane was - how committed she was to doing Heavenly Father's will, and how that thread was woven so expertly into this wonderful tale. Books written in the 1700-1800s really are my favorite genre. I've loved the English authors from this time period, I'll have to venture out and explore other works written outside of England during this time period too. Good thing we know have access to a fantastic library! If you haven't read Jane Eyre recently, go grab a copy and lose yourself in a wonderful tale. Thank you Charlotte!

Dancing in the Kitchen!

It's a rainy, cool day today. The girls at their Hogwart's Science camp and daddy is at work. So, I pop on the radio in the kitchen, whip up a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies, and before we know it, we have an impromptu dance party going on! My boys sure know how to cut a rug (they get it from their daddy)!

My first 39th Birthday

I celebrated my first 39th birthday this past Sunday. I told myself it was no big deal, my age has never bothered me before, always joked about it, but this week it was there in the back of my mind. This morning I even found myself asking Andy, "do I look like I'm almost 40?" Andy, being the very wise and kind man he is, looked me straight in the eye and said, "no." What a good man!

So this is my last year in my 30s. My 30s have been so good to me, my favorite decade by far. So, before I bid them a fond adieu there are a few more things I'd like to accomplish. Here they are in no particular order:

1. Run a half-marathon


2. Increase my running per mile speed to a consistent 10 minute mile (I can do this on the treadmill, but not on pavement).


3. Spend a lot of time with the kids - "geeking out" with them as we indulge our love for learning.


4. Get an article published in a magazine (preferably the Ensign, but I won't be picky)


5. Have a baby girl. I'm ready to meet my Evelyn now, whenever Heavenly Father decides to send her to us. Sat behind a cute little red head baby girl in church today - oh yeah, I'm totally ready for a baby again. Love 'em!

So there you have it. I'd love to say be debt free, but that isn't going to happen in the next 12 months. I'd love to say buy our dream farm in New Hampshire, but that's not in the cards either. I'd be quite happy to say buy or build our other dream log cabin in Alaska, but until our house sells in NH that isn't going to happen. So, I'll just focus on what I can really do as I spend the next 12 months winding up this decade of my life. Then, I'll think about what I want to do in my 40s. Oh wait, that's right, when Andy turned 40 (2.5 years ago!) he outlawed the use of the "f-word." Did I mention he was a wise and kind man??

Living the Glamorous Life!

Well, we're just living the glamorous life here in Alaska, thought I'd share my day with you today.

I started off with a good breakfast. It's raining, so no run early this morning, I'll run 3-4 miles when the boys nap a little later. This is what I've been having for breakfast for the past several weeks. It's "Amy's Runner's Granola" with blueberries, strawberries and skim milk. SO yummy! I make the granola using my friend Amy's recipe, it's loaded with seeds and nuts so it has a lot of protein and healthy fats. I add vanilla and cinnamon to it for extra flavor. My favorite breakfast!

The girls have their first day of Girl Scout camp today. Yes, notice the sweaters in July; it's chilly today. Our high is only 54 (it's been in the low 70s last week, hoping today is just a fluke), and, as I mentioned it's rainy so they dressed warm and have rain gear in their backpacks. They have on t-shirts underneath their sweaters, but I doubt they'll be taking the sweaters off today.

The girls left around 7am with Andy, so it's just the boys and I today. Here are my big boys learning how to use the potty. The t-shirts were quickly replaced with long sleeves, but we tend to start the day with optimism!

In between trips to the potty, it's laundry day. OK, who am I kidding, every day is laundry day! I didn't to laundry Sunday, so I've got about four loads to do today. Here they are, waiting patiently for me to wash them.

Oh yes, and all the laundry that I did on Saturday is still waiting to be put away, here's Christian "helping" me with the laundry.

In addition to potty training and laundry, there is the standard cleaning to do, bread that needs to be made (we go through a loaf a day now - but it's the size of the Pampered Chef stone bread pans, not supermarket size). I bake two loaves at a time, so I make bread about every other day - give or take. I'm getting ready to do circle time with the boys (sing songs, read stories, and practice shapes and colors), so I need to get going. But I thought I'd share a typical day in my glamorous life with you all. :)

So Much Good Stuff!

It has been a busy, happy time here in Alaska. Let me get you up to speed.

First and foremost, Andy's sister Stefani got married to a wonderful guy, Ben, on July 9th. Here is a picture of the happy couple.

They were married in the Anchorage Temple. I almost made it through without crying! So close! They are spending their honeymoon in Hawaii and will be back later this week. They are so good together and we are having such fun with them!

In between wedding fun, we've also been exploring Alaska. Andy took us on a hike through a small part of the Eagle River Nature Center. There are so many trails to explore, but we did a short one as the kids were tired and it was hot that day. Here are some pictures, I don't remember the name of the mountains, I'm still learning the geography.

We also discovered a great hands-on science center for the kids. We quickly became family members as the girls impressed the staff in the Marine tanks by telling them that they had sea stars, not star fish.

Sarah and Ben INSIDE a bubble!

And Christian, practicing to be the next Shuttle Pilot!

We are having fun and staying busy. We home school Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Tuesdays we have Library day where we go for toddler story time in the morning, stay for live music on the lawn (and have a picnic lunch), then stay for the older kid story/craft time. About four hours and 40+ books later, we all leave the library excited to get home and start reading our books. We are so nerdy!! Thursdays are our Field Trip days, the science center has been our favorite so far. We might go to the zoo this week, either that or back to the science center!

Next week the girls are going to a Girl Scout camp in Anchorage. They are having a detective themed week and I think they girls will have a blast! The following week the science center is having Hogwarts School of Magic, Science and Imagination. I wish I could attend that one! While the girls are thus occupied, I'm planning on potty training the boys. My focus will be on Ben, but I purchased a second potty chair for Christian just in case we wants to try too. I don't think I'll be lucky enough to get two trained at once, but a girl has to try, ya know? Any tips on potty training boys, please let me know!

From Twilight to Breaking Dawn...

So I immersed myself in the magical world of vampires, werewolves and mythical creatures this week as I DEVOURED Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. Such fun! All told, I read 1,946 pages this week (I had read Twilight the week prior). While I did thoroughly enjoy her books, they were pure candy. Fun, light, and making me feel a little guilty after indulging in it. While I still prefer a steady diet of the classics, an occasional indulgence in candy is quite fun!

So, have you read the Twilight series? I had such mixed feelings about Jacob. He certainly seemed an easier fit then Edward at first (at least she wouldn't have to DIE to be with him!) and when he imprinted on Renesmee I could understand Bella's furious response! Yet, in the end, if it had come to that, he would have been the best care giver for Renesmee.

Bella and Edward, of course, will go down as one of the most romantic couples in literature. And, how wonderful is it that a book so extremely popular promotes the importance of families, chastity, and the self-sacrificing desire to love "more than my own life."

Thank you Stephanie, for a wonderful read!

Shaken - not stirred!

Well, we survived our first earthquake here in Alaska. It really wasn't a big deal, only a 5.4. It struck at 11:28 am. The kids were watching one of the Land Before Time movies while I was unpacking some of our books. All of a sudden things got really wobbly and the wall of the condo wavered a little. I heard this really low growl from deep in the earth, and then it was over. My legs felt wobbly and my head felt a little funny (I think my equilibrium was a bit off for a second), but other than that - no big deal. The kids were all excited to have experienced their first earthquake. No damage, just a little excitement - but not enough to pause the movie.

Saturday I ran in the Mayor's Marathon - the 5.6 mile race, not the full marathon! I ran it in 1:02:02, or 11:02 minutes per mile. It's my fastest per mile race time ever - but it certainly wasn't fast! My soon-to-be brother-in-law is running in the Santa Half-Marathon up in North Pole Alaska in August and he wants me to join him. I love the challenge, but am seriously doubting if I can pull off 13.1 miles in seven weeks. I decided to start training for it, and I really want to do it, but I haven't registered for the race yet. I want to get a couple long runs under my belt before I make that commitment. Oh, but it's so tempting!!

After my race on Saturday, we had a picnic lunch with my sister-in-law Stefani, her soon-to-be husband, Ben, and his three girls; known by my girls as "our new cousins!" Such a GREAT family! We had a blast! I thought I'd share some photos.

This is "Little Suz" in Hatcher's Pass - about an hour's drive from our condo.

The kids by "Little Suz" falls in Hatcher's Pass.

The girls with their "new cousins" - Katherine and Sarah had SO much fun with them!

The drive through the pass up to our picnic spot.

Our view of the top and our picnic spot. We could have hiked up there but it was COLD! Yes, notice the SNOW on the mountain! There is an old gold mine you can tour too. We'll do that next time - when we pack jackets and sweaters. I think we'll just keep extra blankets and jackets in the car for such excursions!

Alaska is gorgeous - I've totally fallen in love with it, as you can probably tell. Of course, it's summer and the weather is around 65-70 F and drops to 40s at night (perfect sleeping weather!). I'm still a bit worried about the winter, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there (in about 4 months).