Nome and a birthday

I am way behind from my trip to Nome.  I posted all the pictures on Facebook, so if we are friends there, you probably saw them.  If not, then here are a few.

I got to go to Nome as part of my Stake Relief Society calling.  We did a Visiting Teaching Conference and combined it with a day of projects with the sisters up there.  Sunday we went to church and we were able to visit with individual sisters in their homes in the afternoon.  I taught a lesson on Saturday as part of our conference and encouraged the women to know that they are indeed, a part of Heavenly Father's plan, and being in Nome, or wherever else we live, is the place He has in mind for us to learn, grow and lift one another up.  It went really well.

With many of the sisters we hung out with in Nome.  This is the Chapel.

Nome was different from Bethel.  Nome has roads that lead out of town 70-90 miles in three different directions.  Bethel had the roads in town and nothing but the river to get you out of town.

Nome has its utilities (sewer and water) underground.  This is due in large part to the artisan wells under Nome that the city can pump for water.  Bethel had to get water from the treatment plant which got its water from the river and everyone had tanks at their house that were filled once a week.  Nome had "city water."

Nome was right on the Bering sea, about 120 miles from Russia.  Nome was a strategic point for the U.S. during the Cold War.  Judging from the size of the "communications satellites," (read: spy equipment) that was left, I'd say it still is.

Giant gold pan anyone?

Bering Sea!

The giant Stonehenge looking communication satellites on a hill above Nome

Both had houses that looked nothing like what the Lower 48 has.  Many looked like sheds.

A fairly typical house, except this one is built on top of a Con Ex container (they are the freight boxes that come in on the barges full of supplies).

Nome was a "wet" town, meaning they sold alcohol and had bars everywhere.  Bethel was "damp," meaning they could drink it but not sell it in town.  One citizen of Nome commented that with all the bars at least it kept the drunks off the street.  She's got a point.  However, we did have a man approach us offering to sell us his food stamps.  Our guide, Marcy, informed him that she was a State Trooper's wife and he better know that selling food stamps is illegal.  He was trying to get cash to head back into the bar.

Nome has tourism that started when it was a gold rush town in 1898.  There were reports (and they were true) of gold nuggets scattered on the beaches here.  Since the fishing isn't that great in the immediate Nome area, the Native Alaskans never settled there.  However, when 3 Swedish boys went to check out the stories of gold nuggets scattered on the tundra and the beaches, and they found the nuggets they were talking about, Nome took off as a boom town.  Mining is still an important part of Nome's economy.

Along with gold, Nome is the hub of many of the Native villages and the Native Corporations who provide these services.  There is a hospital, the troopers, and the school offices all in Nome that service the 15-20 villages.  Bethel was also like this, but Bethel served 60-100 villages and these Native Corporations were the  main source of Bethel's economy.

Nome is also the home to the finish of the Iditarod.  Every year about 2000 people flock to this town of 4000 for the finish of the "Last Great Race."  The Iditarod commemorates the first journey in the early 20th century when dogsleds were used to ship vaccines to the town to save them from what I believe was influenza.  In fact one of the dogs from that original race is stuffed in the museum!

Me and a mummified Fritz, hero of the Iditarod!

When the Bering Sea freezes every winter, you can take you snow mobile out on the ice, drill a 4 by 4 foot square out of the ice, and drop you crab pots in for King Crab.

When the Sea melts in the spring, Harbor seals come up on the ice flow.  Walruses and Polar Bears are not often seen during this time as well, but its possible to see them every now and then.  The subsistence living that Alaska residents are allowed lets you hunt seals for both the meat, blubber and fur.  There were beautiful furs in all the shops in Nome.  Beaver, seal, fox mink, and wolf furs were there to buy as well as ones made into mittens, slippers, boots and hats.  Let me just tell you how warm a pair of beaver fur mittens are.  Oh and the spotted seal skin boots are beautiful.

The people in Nome are just as amazing as the people in Bethel.  We loved loved loved everyone we met. Some of the nicest, strongest people on the planet live in Nome.  Our hosts gave us warm beds, good food, great conversation and a chance to grow and share our testimonies of the gospel with each other.

When I got back I had about 5 days to get ready for Olivia's birthday.  She is finally 5!  She has waited for this day for a long time, insisting that "5 year olds can do anything."  This included things such as go to college (not Kindergarten but, college) get rid of sippy cups, get dressed alone, go outside without a coat, and shoot a bear or a bird.

OK maybe Mom wanted this for her birthday too, but now Olivia was so excited to get a doll that looks just like her twin cousins!

Sarah made the cutest owl for Olivia.  You can get these from Sarah directly on her blog http://pilloosandsuch.blogspot.com/

We had 8 friends over for a Cinderella party.  The girls came in thier grubby work clothes and I gave them a rag and had them work for me, the "wicked step-mother."  One little girl looked at me like, "This is the lamest party I have ever been too," the whole 10 minutes I had them cleaning.  Two other little girls were climbing on my baby grand piano and when I shooed them off they said, "But it's dusty up there!"

Dusting in their grubby clothes!

While they were dusting I turned into the Fairy Godmother and helped them get changed into the dress up clothes they brought with them.  Then we decorated paper crowns with jewels and stickers.  Had a game of freeze dance, opened presents, decorated our own cupcakes, and made beaded necklaces.  After all of that they went to change back while we left each girl a goody bag in her shoe.

Ethan was the hugest help! He even stayed home from gymnastics to hang out at his sisters party.  While Carter ran to his room and JaDee escaped to college football, Ethan was seriously my extra hands that I needed to make the party go well. He even wanted to dress up in his church clothes to be the usher and take the presents as guests arrived.  He was a true Prince Charming!

Here are the girls after the Fairy Godmother came.

Oh there were some greatly decorated cupcakes to me had!

It really was grand fun.  Olivia told me she had the best birthday ever.

This is Olivia with Grandma's present that came a day late.  Inside was the Breyer horses from the Nature documentary "Cloud" and the wild mustangs in the Rockies.  Those exact horses live about 20 miles from Grandma's house and our cousins there have seen them in person!  Olivia loves that she has the horses just like her cousins that live near Grandma!  She is thrilled!

After everyone left she asked her dad to dance with her like it was a real ball. So sweet!

I think she told me that last year too!

videos

Oh Girl

Out walks a naked Olivia into the room where JaDee and Ethan were playing Risk. Her eyes were covered by her hands.

"I don't want anyone to see me." she says. "I need a bath."

JaDee guides her by the arm into the bathroom and turns on the water. Only then does he notice the sweet smell of cotton candy coming from his daughter. But not actual cotton candy. It was in fact, my perfume, Pink Sugar.

"I don't want Mom to see me." I hear Olivia say from the TV room where Carter and I were just finishing the Amazing Race.

I trot back to the tub in time to see this:

peeking out from behind her fingers.

Surprisingly, not a lipstick was smashed. Nor was an eyeliner left on the counter. Her crime scene was very well put back together. And except for the nauseating smell of too much cotton candy, Olivia would have gotten away with it.

Good thing she has a such a sleuth for a mom.

And with no graceful segue...



...our turkey was stuffed, cooked and eaten.
Our pie was delicious even for breakfast the rest of the weekend.
We had 2 other "orphan" families over for dinner and divided the Thanksgiving tasks into manageable job sharing.
The day was very good.
Even when I was a drill sergeant getting the house clean.

The next morning 2 girlfriends and I hit Wal-Mart at 5 AM then Best Buy, Target and Old Navy. I am 3 gifts away from being done!!
We got our tree permit to cut our 13-15 foot tree on Dec 1 but the other decorating is done.
My blog is changed for the season.

All that his left is tree decorating, present wrapping, shipping to only 5 states, 150 or so Christmas cards (with our new address securly fastened to the corner so I am sure to get many cards in return), a ward Christmas party to help cook and decorate for, one work party for JaDee, a ballet recital, a band concert, service project to the old folks home with the cub scouts, and neighbor gifts.

Bring on Christmas!

the 4th birthday

Disclaimer: I have accepted my limitations in patience and my thresh hold for self inflicted torture, I did not make the cake. I bought it and was never happier with the results.

Olivia beamed all day long. Big cheeser grin from ear to ear every time someone wished her a happy day. She told me last night before bed, as her little head rested in her daddy's arms, "I had an amazing birthday, Mom. Thank you so much!" And gave me a big squeeze.



The day started with 6 of her friends joining us for a trip to Build A Bear. Last year we took her for her birthday with our family and she saw a birthday party going on. Olivia told me then, that was what she wanted when she turned 4. I can't say that bit of information stayed with me as we moved across a continent, but when I asked her a month ago what kind of party she wanted she answered without hesitating, "A Build A Bear party, me-member."

We had 4 boys and 3 girls all together. None of the boys had ever been here before. They were speechless or grinning madly and captivated by the magic of the place.

Like this guy here!

Our "host" was so good with the kids and made it all seem so real and important to there 4 year old minds. All in all a very, very well behaved group of kids.


Olivia is making a wish on the heart of her pink unicorn. All of her friends made a birthday wish for her and put extra hearts in her unicorn too. SO SWEET!



Of all the cute bears and cuddly rabbits, Olivia chose the ostentatious pink sparkly unicorn and promptly dressed it in a purple evening gown and pink Pegasus wings.

Oh and she named it herself....Fonda.

Which I don't think is because she is a fan of this:

Photo courtesy of this blog

but loves the book:

and got it confused.

Since Build A Bear doesn't have a party room or allow food in the store we ate sack lunches (seriously, I just bought everyone a Build a Bear, we were not buying Happy Meals no one really eats anyway) in the food court but then we didn't know how to do the presents since the tables didn't move and we had kids kind of everywhere.

How about Olivia, you sit in front of the garbage cans and we surround you with the gifts.

Yeah. that works.

A great day.

Happy Birthday sweet heart.

PS- Stay tuned for Ethan's version of the Christmas Story. Yeah he got his tongue stuck to the fence at school because when he tried it UT it didn't work and he didn't believe it ever would. This is after my story of getting stuck to a fire hydrant licking snow of one in kindergarten. He thought I was making things up for dramatic effect and had to see if it was real.

In case you are wondering. It is.

Guess what!

Courtney and Blake hanging out on this day

I found out where Olivia gets her toilet paper fetish from! It is my one and only sister!

Now, my beautiful sister could have shared a number of things with me. Most importantly some of her 5' almost 7 inches. See all of the women in our family are about 5' 2" - 5' 4". Except for me and her. Except I am 5' 0" and she is almost 7 inches taller than me!!! She could have shared just 2 of those inches, and still been so much taller than me.

(you should see family pictures. My 3 brothers tower from 5'11" - 6'2+" with JaDee at 6 feet and Blake at 6'4"! I am always in the front. And usually alone unless one of my kids are with me...But now Katie will be joining me on the front row. Again, another reason to thank her for marrying Ben, besides that he is a pain :0)

And at 8 years younger than me she had to share a room with me. Ugh! When I was a teenager there was nothing worse than a baby sister in the bottom bunk. Except when she woke up in the night and wanted me to crawl in bed with her to help her feel better. Then it was OK.

In fact I used to take her to the park all the time. And while I did enjoy the little walks in pushing her in the stroller or holding her hand, I must admit I had an ulterior motive. See there were boys that also played basketball at the park. And I may or may not have had crushes on them.

I was also using the outing to get out of chores.

So when I was telling my mom about Olivia taking trash to school for show and tell she says, "Don't you remember Courtney with Kleenexes?"

Apparently Courtney used them as blankets for her little animals or tied them up as dresses for them and flew them around the house as well.

And a trip to our Grandmother's house was pure heaven for her. See Grandma matched her tissues to each room in the house. So we had pink, green, blue, peach and white to spice up the fashion shows. I guess she could empty a box of Kleenex faster than the average swine flu patient.

Me and Brooke back in April when I was there for Wicked.

I hope I gave my niece, Brooke, my love of Scotch tape. My mom has stories about that too....

And since I am feeling particularly homesick, for no apparent reason, enjoy these pictures of the most delicious baby!

picture full

Olivia with her dress I got for free at our Stake's clothing exchange and her Build a Bear, Zoe, the Zebra in her pink evening dress on the way to pre-school show and tell. Usually she tries to take her toilet paper "Flying Things." But to let her teachers know I buy my daughter real toys, and do not force her to play with trash, (like the grungy ribbon she brought the week before) I talked her into bringing Zoe.

I am getting better at Olivia's hair. I have been inspired by some little hair do blogs I keep stumbling across. One day we actually got it pretty cute and she wore a dress to pre-school so I snapped some pictures of my little girl growing up.

And our grand friends J and J with their 3 kids moved last week!! The witness protection program had to relocate them (j/k, but they do ask to remain anonymous on here) and we are SOOOO SAD!!! J was my shopping buddy, decorating buddy, and BFF in Alaska. I tell ya, if it wasn't for her, I totally would be living with my mother in law waiting for JaDee to get done with Alaska. And her kids were my boys BFFs as well. The games these guys came up with! Oh we are going to miss them.

Monopoly Marathons were a favorite all last winter with J's kids. We had one last hurrah hours before their plane took off. They have an interesting set of house rules that include auctioning off unclaimed property. Ethan seriously knows the whole board by heart. Next time you see him ask him the rent of Indiana with 1 house and I guarantee you, he knows what it is.

And the last time I put these decorations away was when we were getting ready to move.



I can't believe it was this time LAST YEAR that we were getting ready to turn our lives upside down. But all in all we are doing great here. We just miss you all so very much.


And my new favorite thing ever is this:


A Scentsy mini lite. When it comes to fall I love the smells. While damp leaves may smell good outside I want cinnamon, and cider and cloves inside. This totally does the job and my house won't burn down! For all of you in Perry Alyssa Braegger (Linda Bergeson's daughter) sells it. Highly recommended!

I hope you are not someone I visit teach because if you are seeing this now then you won't be surprised when I give you this for October's visit. I actually made these at Kaye's house this weekend.

And here is Olivia with a Flying Thing tied to an emery board. I think the Flying Thing in this picture is actually being a parrot with the "real" parrot she has in the other hand.