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!!!!

Alaska in March!

Good morning from Alaska :)

(ok, so this picture was taken in the afternoon and on moving day-- like almost a month ago, haha. But the Starbucks in hand was so fitting for the greeting!!)


So it's been almost two months in Alaska so far (thus, this will be a long post since i have a lot
Of catching up to do) and let me tell you, it has honestly not been the easiest transition I have ever had to a new place. Its very cold here, I have been feeling very bad and making friends has been a challenge. However, God has not left me to myself!

I had been in a very deep and dark hole for the last month and I felt I would not be climbing out of it for a very long time. And now looking at it, I feel like a lot of it was a result of the first trimester blues with lifestyle changes and physical disruptions I was not used to... However, God has been so good to me and helped me dig myself out of my dungeon, even when I really didn't want to. It started with a simple thought He put into my head and helped me see the brighter side of this place he's called us to: we live in alaska, an unique experience that we might never experience again. Many people don't get to do the things we now have access to in our own backyard, even if it is dead cold outside. In our summer, we will have 24 hours of daylight... (And in honor of that, I'm going to start a garden and make crazy monstrous veggies!! Haha!) There is so much to do in this place and I need to start looking at the future instead of living in the the glory days of our past. Sure, I miss all the familiarity, but it's time I stop liking there and moving forward to invest the task God entrusted to us!

So being in my second trimester and feeling AMaZING, I have found many ways to start making this place home for both Andrew and I:

Starting with making some yummy blueberry muffins mom used to make me as a kid... Mmm...


...Changing up our dining room tables a bit (old on left, new on right):


Yey! My first project! I'm on a roll :)


...made Rice Krispy treats for Andrew!!


And yes, the Mickey head is the heart in this little "I love you" because... We're going to Disney world!! Woohoo!! I am so pumped! It will be the first time in the years Andrew and I have been together (dating and married) we have gone to Disney world together, as I have been annually. I am so excited to take him! It worked out that andrew has to complete water survival in pensacola, fl to meet his training requirements. I am going down to stay with a very missed friend Andrea and meet up with him after his training. From there, we are driving to orlando where we are meeting up with family, which will make it even better! We are getting so excited about our trip to the sunshine state ;)

Here is our calendar, counting down till the 25th of this month- yippee!


(Notice the end goal):


It's kind of what we are calling our baby moon right now ;) last Disney "woo-raw" for a little bit without a little one in the picture. But never fear, it's not the last... ;)

We also decided to attend some "unique alaska experiences" while we had the chance. Like the idiarod! Its the last great dog race that takes place annual here in Alaska. The ceremonial start always takes place in anchorage, ak and the real race start begins in willow, ak on a giant frozen lake! We went to both, so I will start with the ceremonial beginnings...

(I will have to post the video at a later time... My connection is too slow right now)

They have other events that go with the idiarod start.. Like the Japanese snowball fights (the winners go to japan to compete-- and I actually wonder how that's going to pan out after all that's happened there right now...) The game is like paintball and capture the flag in one. It was fun to watch, but I definitely wouldn't want to participate (the snowballs are made by machines and are literally ice balls-- trust me; one of the guys we went with tested them on his very trusty friend and it left a very bad mark to prove it...)


This other event was my favorite: it's called the reindeer run! It's when you literally pay money to run with a bunch of angry reindeer. Everyone dresses up and runs like mad! Like the running of the bulls... Except no one actually dies...


(Andrew is somewhere in the runners, but because there were a lot of people participating, I couldn't find him. Next time, we are picking neon colors ;) )

Can you find the carrot?





... How about tigger?


Love those fuzzy runners... Whatever they are..?





And now for the real deal:


Yes, the idiarod! We drove out with our friend Lacy to a cabin in Willow to watch the racers run by. Remember, we are on a giant frozen lake, with airplanes, snow machines and many many people... Never gonna be able to do this back in the states!



Off they go on their 10 day journey!

Here is an Aces hockey game we went to one night with some friends :


The aces won! Yey!






But the best part: the subway sandwich gun ;)


Oh! Another moose sighting!! Check it out:

In other news, even with eli's naughty behavior around other dogs lately, he still seems to be finding friends :) here is eli's good ol' buddy hank and his new buddy Duke, our cousins' Brandon and Lindsay's dog:


Oh! And we finally set up the house if you haven't noticed from that picture above, so I can finally show you what our alaska home looks like. We will start with our room:





...our bathroom:





Our living room:





The kitchen:


(thanks everyone for the thoughtful birthday cards! I look at them daily!)





Lastly, the "attic room", aka our guest room. If you haven't noticed, this room just sums up the eclectic theme I took with our house. I took everything ever given to us, plus some additional pieces we accumulated on our own, and made a warm, loving atmosphere that I am enjoying very much: Partially because everything we have has been lovingly given to us, and in that respect, it reminds me of how blessed I am to have such a loving and supportive family as I do. Thanking God for all of you! So here's to you family (come enjoy it soon!)





Ok, and lastly, a baby update:

I'm 15 weeks and baby is the size of an...



Thats right! An orange! mmm... Makes me want to get to Florida faster now! Haha!

Ok and because many of you requested it, here is the first bump picture of the bump:



I will be updating it again soon... Especially since the time I took this picture at 13 weeks I have grown a dramatic difference... But this is all I got for now. Next post will be more exciting.

Miss you all back in the states!! Many xoxoxoxos!

Until next time, be blessed ;)

1 Corinthians 7:17