Monday, June 29, 2009

Birthday Fun!!!

I'm finally getting some more pictures from last week uploaded. Brady turned 2 on Saturday. His party in Virginia is this weekend. But we couldn't let him leave without some cake and a party here! P.S. He loved the cake! P.P.S. So did I. I love cake. :0)


opening his present
pretty excited to be 2 years old!!!
i think tim is more excited than brady
strawberry cake with funfetti icing...yum

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Happy 1st Father's Day!

Jon celebrated his first Father's Day on Sunday. We had a wonderful day celebrating together with Kajsa and her family during their visit.




Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Having fun

Well, my folks are back in Virginia in their usual routine. Tabitha and Courtney left on Saturday morning so we are missing them too. We are loving our visit with Kajsa, Tim & Brady. They are spending this entire week with us. Too busy to add more right now but pictures to come!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Family photos

Got some family photos taken while we were traveling around. Enjoy!!!




the entire family at princess lodge in copper center, ak


the grant family


the averill family


my folks

tabitha and courtney

Double Trouble!

Well, it is official that Kaden and his cousin, Brady love playing together. Found some pictures from our week together to prove it!


riding in the boat in homer together


we had just turned it on and brady was like "woah!"


in the shopping cart getting groceries


brady playing with mormor along the coast in homer


kaden sleeping the day away when we were at the beach in homer

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Great visits and more

Back from our roadtrip across Alaska. On Friday, Jon and I flew down to Anchorage to pick up the family. We had a safe trip with not much activity. Kaden did great on the 6 hour drive down to Anc.

Saturday, we all drove down to Homer, Ak. We saw many moose and eagles. Had a great trip and good times visiting. Much of the drive was through the mountains and along the coast. Beautiful driving!

Sunday, the boys were up early to go on a fishing charter. They caught halibut, salmon and rock bass. They had a great time! They were glad to come home with fish. We were just glad they came home safe! Us girls spent the day playing on the ocean shore and shopping. We spent the night in Soldotna at a church camp, Solid Rock Camp. (the youth pastor at my folk's church has a buddy who runs it)

Monday was our longest day of driving. We drove from Soldotna, had lunch in Anchorage, pee break in Palmer, sheep watching along Caribou Creek, glacier viewing at Matanuska Glacier and then made it to Glennallen. Jon and I met in Glennallen and we have many friends there. We had dinner at the Princess Lodge with our friends, Anthony, Daisy and their son, Caleb.

Tuesday, we had breakfast with our friends and then drove to Valdez. Along the way, we hiked up to the face of Worthington Glacier. We saw many waterfalls and eagles. We did a wildlife cruise that afternoon, seeing whales, sea lions/otters, puffins and eagles. We had dinner in Valdez and then drove back to Glennallen.

Wednesday, we took a tour of Glennallen, seeing the clinic where I worked and the bible college where Jon went to school. We drove up to Fairbanks, stopping in Palmer for a pee break, Delta for a lunch break and in Salcha, to see Jon's folks house, our church and to get some icecream at the Knotty shop (a local tourist giftshop). We finally made it to Fairbanks!! We had dinner at our house, finally getting a home cooked meal after eating out and packed lunches on the road all week.

Thursday, we finally slept in!!! We had breakfast at our place and then did some shopping. I got to show my mom/sisters where Kaden goes to daycare and where I work. We had a cookout tonight with Jon's family, at Jon's sister's house along the Chena River. It was the first time for some of our family members to ever meet. We had a great time! Pictures to come!

Here are some of pictures of our travel:


Kaden playing with his buddy Caleb (Caleb is 8 months, Kaden is 7 months old)


bff (best friends forever)...they love playing together


jon hiked up to the face of worthington glacier with kaden


on the cruise in valdez, looking into a cave for puffins


a sheep on the mountain at caribou creek

Fishing in Homer

On Sunday, us girls spent the day shopping and playing in the ocean in Homer, AK. The boys got up early and went halibut fishing. They got a great catch and had a blast!


Kaden loved looking at the halibut



all the boys with their catch...L to R...jon, courtney, my dad and tim
jon with his biggest halibut. he also caught a rock bass.
daddy and kaden along the road on the way to homer

Cruise in Valdez

Finally getting some pictures uploaded from our vacation this past week. My entire family flew in last Friday night and we have been traveling through AK since then. We went from Anchorage to Homer to Soldotna to Palmer to Glennallen to Valdez to Delta to Salcha to Fairbanks. We had a great time together! Here are pictures from our wildlife cruise in Valdez. We saw whales, sea otters, sea lions, puffins and eagles!


hanging out with mama on deck


family photo on the cruise. it was a quick shot since the boat was cruisin!


kaden loved being outside on the water


cruisin in the prince william sound


my sister, tabitha and her husband, courtney checking out the water

Thursday, June 11, 2009

My family is here!!

After waiting for what seems like forever, my family has arrived in Anchorage! We are headed to pick them up as we speak. It is such a treat and blessing to have my ENTIRE family here. The 10 of us are sure to have a great time!

We are traveling for a week around Alaska. If you want to track our path, we are traveling from Anchorage to Homer to Palmer to Glennallen to Valdez to Glennallen to Fairbanks! We will cover some 1000 miles! We plan to fish in Homer, hoping to reel in some HUGE halibut. And we are going on a wildlife cruise in Valdez. Pray we see whales! We will see more than one glacier, more than one waterfall, lots of mountains and hopefully LOTS of moose and bald eagles. Maybe even a porcupine!!

Please pray for safe travels and good health. Pictures and stories to come!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Funny faces

One of the things Kaden has been learning is funny faces. We finally captured his funniest one on tape. Sometimes when we are talking to him, he is sucks in and puffs up his chest...and makes a funny, squished up face. It is hilarious!!!

puffed up with funniness


we went out on a date last weekend...all three of us. :0)


he loves playing with his toy basket...
this time, things got a little out of control...


...not that he minded, he was stuck and still having fun!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Fun times at Vacation Bible School

We started vacation bible school tonight at church. The theme is Marketplace at Jerusalem. Jon and I did the skit tonight, which was about Palm Sunday. We will work our way through the events in Jerusalem until Passover. The kids seemed to have a great time. Kaden was mostly with Grandma, but had fun seeing all the kids! P.S. I'm not so much into the Jerusalem fashion statement. :0)

Kaden's 1st VBS


Our Jerusalem features sodas from Taco Bell


Mama and Kaden


Our neice, Samantha eating bread, made and baked for her tribe.


Jon's dad ran the carpenter's shop...
Our nieces Megan and Tristyn were working well together!

Friday, June 5, 2009

Kaden & Dad

Kaden and I spent today at home. Daddy just came home from work for lunch. It was the highlight of our day. Kaden loves when Daddy comes home!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Friends from Tok

We have had a busy week! Our friends, Luke & Charity, and their boys, Wrangall and Stryder came up on Tuesday. They are leaving today so Kaden will be sad that his buddies are gone. Stryder has grown so much!! He can hold up his head and he sat up great in the bumbo. It has been a great visit.

all three boys hanging out, wrangall, kaden and stryder


buddies for life already. wrangall calls kaden "k k"


jon on boy duty...perhaps a sign of what might come? :0)


hanging out...luke, charity & the boys