Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to our favorite guy! 

Star Wars Junkies

Even big boys sometimes need "themed" birthday parties and this year for David it was Star Wars all the way!  There is a Star Wars exhibit and the museum here so for David's special day, my mom bought tickets for our family to go.  It was awesome - we ended up spending three hours there!  My Star War junkies LOVED every minute of it.

Alaska girls

These are just a few of the fabulous ladies I've had the chance to get to know in moving to Alaska.  And what a fine group it is!  I can honestly say I would NOT have survived this winter without them!!  Within this group of women there is a Jazzercise teacher, 2 moms with triplets, a "Mother of the Year" candidate, a bishop's wife, an Italian, an Idaho farmer, a swimming teacher, a couple of marathon runners, and 29 kids between them.   Only one of them is originally from Alaska and the rest are like me - transplants.  That's probably why we've become such good friends - they knew what it would take to get me through this move and I love them for it! 

More spring break fun

 

Aside from sledding every day, we managed to fill our days!

I love this picture.  One of the days after sledding, we went to a friend's house for lunch.  This is what happens to your entryway when you invite people over in the winter...

I did a what?

It's the Iditarod!  The Great Last Race.  It starts in Anchorage and ends in Nome, over 1000 miles away with a team of dogs pulling a sled. When my girls were little they used to play sled dog, hooking themselves up to my laundry basket and pulling it around. They had so much fun viewing the real thing again!  And sometimes the mushers will throw some of the dogs' booties to the fans which the kids quickly grabbed some for Aspen. 

The Iditarod really brings out the Alaskans.  Here are some of the favorite fashions we saw that day...

The Perks of Snow

Now that we've been living in snow for a few months, I've discovered a few perks (aside from the obvious ones such as sledding and daily excuses to drink hot chocolate)  that make life sweeter in the winter...

• Beautification.  Even the trashiest neighbor's yard looks nice hidden under a few feet of snow. 

• More parking spaces.  Snow hides the lines of where cars are to legally park, thus allowing us to park pretty much anywhere. 

• Extra freezer space.  No need to purchase an additional freezer - my cooler out on the deck works great!

• Bad hair days eliminated.  Having a bad hair day?  Simply wear a hat.  It's fashionable (in Alaska anyway), it's warm, and it hides your bad hair!

Spring break?

My girls looked out the window of our first day of spring break and had a perplexed look.  "This is SPRING break?"  We're not in California anymore!  We had a new foot of snow.  And it snowed almost every day of our break.  And we loved every minute of it!

Not again

I thought this year I was safe.  I had a meeting at 8:30pm and when I left, no leprechaun house.  When I got back, leprechaun house.  The girls invited those mischievous creatures into our house again!!

But they are so cute and creative in the way they do it.  They just love it! This time they made a swimming pool, lined up green cars for them to play in, as well as made them very nice living quarters.  It's so funny!

Our day was complete with green eggs and pancakes (which Karsten wouldn't touch) and a package from my mom!  She got the kids the cutest shirts and green jello and all sorts of other green stuff.  Happy St. Patty's Day!

Switcheroo

Karsten is just thrilled to have a roommate!  Skyla is a good sport.  And Sierra loves her own space.  How is it that this worked out?! 

One year ago

One year ago doctors had some very bad news.  

We didn't know what would happen.  

We didn't know what to do.

We didn't know if there was anything we could do.

We were scared.

Yet what we didn't know was that 2 superheroes had emerged.

Out of the ordinary.

Two regular people who had superhero strength hiding inside of them

waiting,

until the world needed their powers.

One year later, we're celebrating superhero mom and dad.

For their strength, and their hope, and their miracle.

MOM has become a cancer expert, food nutritionist, healer, and most important of all 

hope guru.

When we had tears, she battled them with 

hope we hadn't dared look for.

She took our fears and asked us to be stronger than that 

and pray for a miracle.

Do we dare?

Us?

An ordinary family - ask for a miracle?

Superhero Mom said yes.

So we did.

And we got one.

Just because we dared ask.

My DAD is tough.  

Not your ordinary "my dad can beat up your dad" tough, 

but tougher.

He had to look death in the face.

He had to have the courage to say,

"Nope.  Not me.  Not yet."

And then he had to deal with that Every. Single. Day.

Even though his body had betrayed him.

Even though his mind knew the odds.

Even though it felt so unfair.

And he did that.  Every day.  And his body rebelled.  He felt sick.  He felt weak.  He felt tired.  Yet every day he got up.  And maybe he went to bed early, but he got up.  And continues to get up.  Every. Single. Day.  That takes superhero strength.

And so here we are a year later.  All together because really my parents are superheroes.  

They knew we had more memories to make.  

And so we are.

I'm so proud of my super hero parents.