Blog updates and pictures from my birthday hike

Yea! After some inspiration from my cousin Lindsay Cox, we changed my background and template a couple of times for demonstration and fun... annnnnd we landed on this template! Yes, its totally not me, but I really like it.. so we are going to keep this going for a while.

Another reason I am posting this blog is to share the birthday hike pictures as well. ENJOY!

Next time I post again, I will be in Florida! YIPPEEE!! I leave tonight and get there tomorrow around 4:45ish... soooo UNTIL THEN, bon voyage!

Blessings --- XOXOXOXO

My birthday and glacier adventures!

TOTALLY motivated to blog on STRONG! All because of a few necessities added to a blogger's life:

Recently, Andrew and I purchased a computer (which was badly needed since we really did not have one) and it has made trying to blog that much easier! Also, for my birthday... I GOT A CAMERA! A really nice one too! What a caring and loving husband I have :) Now I can take pictures of all sorts of great stuff... including our little darling, who is growing everyday!! Yippee!

Speaking of my birthday, I was really treated ABOVE AND BEYOND by my wonderful friends here in Alaska. Starting from the morning at 9:00am all the way to 9:30pm, we really partied the day away! We had pancakes and a yummy breakfast at our friends', Matt and Lindsay, house, then went on a day hike to see Thunderbird Falls (I will have to post pictures next blog-- I got carried away on the other pictures so much, I forgot to load the ones from the hike... soon enough!), then we went snow tubing on base for two hours (what fun!) and ended the day with fajitas and chocolate fudge cake (mmmm....) at, again, Matt and Lindsay's house. It was wonderful! I can't think of a better way to celebrate ones birthday other than being surrounded by great friends and eating all sorts of your favorite foods all in one day! OH, and I got to see family on my birthday too.... via Skype!

Andrew did get a picture of this fun little moment, just because it was too great to pass up! Who would have known technology could be so amazing! I love that I can spend time chatting "face to face" with family HALF WAY ACROSS THE WORLD.... amazing!

Ok, so the first night we got this camera, we had to watch the instructional DVDs and do a few practice shots... and who better to practice on but yummy cookies and puppies (you will see what I mean once you scroll down the blog-- sorry, most of these pictures are totally out of order... I am starting over again on how to figure out blogging on a computer once again...).

I should also mention Andrew gave me my present a couple of days early because the Friday before by birthday, the C-12 guys (which is another type of missional plane in the 517th squadron Andrew is apart of here in Alaska) made a special day for the spouses to fly around and see the great Alaskan terrain! It was wonderful! You will see what I mean with all the THOUSAND of pictures I took below.

(Oh, and here is a really cute picture of Duke sleeping too!)
OK, soooo like I said earlier, my blog posted these pictures from finish to start, so to START (bear with me) go to the bottom of the page and scroll UP! This picture is actually us landing.


























Here are the gals mid flight-- still having fun... Lindsay still hanging in there (she didnt feel good most of the flight... poor Lindsay!)
Me taking a HUNDRED shots every second ;)

Check out that Army helicopter! We are pretty far away from base by this time, so we were really surprised to see anything out here really.
That is a snow covered glacier by the way...


Here are some more glaciers... this one ends at a lake of some sort:

Do you see the glacier next to the mountain to the left?? Pretty cool-- there is another picture of it above this one.
Look at how GORGEOUS that is!!!









Before we took off, I did take a picture of Andrew's soon-to-be ride! Once we get back from his last training in Pensacola, he will be fly ready and complete qualified to officially begin his flying in this C-17.

Here is our crew! Starting from the left and going across: Emily, BriAnne, Jessica and me.
Cute little button eyes... :)
Duke!
Andrew practicing on our new camera....
Yes, we happen to make chocolate chip cookies that night just to test how much ooey, gooey we could capture in a shot ;) -- I thought it was a pretty good excuse to make cookies!

Well, I suppose I will leave you there. That is all the updates I have for now. Wish I had baby news... but our appointment Monday left us fairly disappointed as we really didnt learn anything new about our little baby (except that he/she is making mama gain weight and is as big as an avocado! How neat!). Anyways, have a wonderful blessed day!

Much love and many xoxoxoxoxos!!!!