Alaska

We love Alaska!  I think I would have a hard time living here permanently, but living here seasonally is a great adventure!  Here are a few things I love about Alaska.

-It is BEAUTIFUL!  

-We love getting to see our cousins and friends.  We have made great friends here. 

-We live across the street from Christiana's soccer team and swim lessons.  So convenient!

-The air is so fresh and it rains a lot, which I can welcome after living in Arizona.

-It stays light outside till midnight.  I love it!  I am more sleep deprived them normal, but I love staying up. -Photosynthesis happens right before our eyes!!  It takes a few days for the trees to produce luscious green leaves.

-There are Moose and Bears around the city.  I was wigging out all day when a moose and her two calves, which are the size of a full grown deer, ran in front of my car on a busy street. 

-I love the huge mountains and the sea ten minutes from our apartment!

-There are lots of cool little towns to go see and explore.

-The Denali National Forest is enchanting and breath-taking.  

It is so fun to be here, but there are only a few hours a week of adventuring.  A lot of my time is spent trying to find ways to entertain the kids.  There are a lot of fun activities the community organizes for kids, so we are out and about a lot.  Living in a small two bedroom apartment with three kids is interesting!  I hate having to use quarters to do our laundry and sharing a bathroom with the family is interesting while potty training a two year old.  First world problems, I know!  We also miss our family and friends in "the lower forty-eight" as they say here.

It's also always a shock to pay four dollars for a gallon of milk and it seems like everything costs so much more.  When we returned home last year, it made grocery shopping take on a whole new meaning!

We've done some fun things this year that we didn't get a chance to do last year.  We went to the sand dunes, the kids had so much fun playing in the sand. We also went to Whittier which is a small town you get to through a two and a half mile long tunnel. 

 Small town of Whittier.  You enter into Whittier through a two and a half mile long tunnel on train tracks.

 Sand Dunes!

 View from the most hiked trail in Anchorage, Flattop.

 Nice dumpster, I know!

Cuties

We have been soaking up the Arizona Winter. It has been so nice to be here for an entire Winter. Our house has been for sale and I wanted it to sale right before we went back to Alaska and it did. Just as the heat is rollin' in we are rollin' out. I'm so sad!!! I have LOVED living in Arizona. We have made so many wonderful friends and I am going to miss the beautiful sun, blue skies and sunsets. Utah, here we come. I hope I still like you. I wonder how long it will take me to adjust to Utah again, because I consider myself an Arizonian! I've tried to take advantage and do lots of fun things with the kids.
We have played baseball most days in our driveway and then rested with pink blankets!

McKinley is quickly getting older and every day is so fun with her. She has been happy, happy since day one!! She is a tease and LOVES her brother and sister. What a doll!
My parents came out to say good bye to Arizona, we are getting to be a part of the building of the Gilbert Temple which is lovely!!
Anderson loves to play and ride his bike.
Christiana is a lady even in her sleep!
All McKinley wants to do these days is play and discover on the ground.


Preschool fun!!



We have LOVED having Grandma and Grandpa Clifford here for the Winter. We have spent so much time together, it's been wonderful.

We have been keeping our neighborhood ducks well-fed.

Loved/hated the Zoo. I'm not much into animals and either is Chris and it rubs off on our kids, so we aren't the best for the Zoo. We'd rather be at the Children's Museum or the park, but the Zoo is good therapy for us!! Christiana told me her favorite part of the Zoo was the drive home.

This is what happens when I take Anderson to Hobby Lobby!

We went as a family to get this photo and it was our favorite thing we did this holiday season. This Santa was the real deal. His eyes tell me he was thinking I have one too many kids and way too many for his lap!

Halloween anyone?

So, besides Anderson who likes to dress up in all our girlie Halloween costumes, does anyone else feel like it was just Halloween? I know I am busy these days, but man, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed to cruise by within three weeks. We've had lots of fun and had some growing pains!

*We went to the Phoenix Children's Museum as a family, it was loads of fun!!
*Christiana and I fight everyday on who gets to hold McKinley (Anderson just sits on her).
*McKinley turned three months and rolls like a pro!
*McKinley tuned four months and smiles A LOT!!
*Anderson turned 2 and got a basketball hoop that he LOVES and shows everyone his skills (when he's not wearing dresses and putting on Christiana's lipstick).
*Went to Utah way too many times, (too many road trips is unhealthy). Ring pops got us through though!
*Had so much fun with the Faux girl cousins at Thanksgiving. Parker and Anderson too!!
*Christiana still thinks she's 20.
*Anderson has played with his food since he mastered the pincer grasp and will continue until his dying day, I am sure.
*Chris hurt his achilles playing church ball and I pulled my groin working out so we both have been limping around for a month, we feel 70!

Welcome 2012!

We are in love!

McKinley's Blessing

McKinley's blessing was a wonderful day, so full of family and friends. She seemed to know it was her special day and that everyone was there for her. Her blessing was very tender. It was wonderful. It was so nice to have all three of my brothers fly out to join in the blessing, it was special to me. My 90 year old grandma also came, which meant so much, she rarely travels anywhere anymore. She is going senile, so to have her here as well as the rest of my family was so memorable. I love my family. We flew in from Alaska on Wednesday, but our excitement to see everyone overcame our fatigue, although Anderson and Christiana show it in the pictures. McKinley was very sweet and well-rested considering all the excitement.