Carmel

Our family loves carmel so much that we adopted a new pet named Carmel. Ok, that's not really why because then we'd have a chocolate lab for a pet, but this adorable, big, fat bunny is named Carmel and he is now ours. It's not a problem that we have a rabbit and a dog since the rabbit is as big as the dog.

Welcome Carmel!

Spoiled

For my birthday weekend, Alaska gave me the gift of weather - it was beautiful!! We definitely took advantage of it. I love family time!!

Canoeing one day...

Hiking the next...

And Alaska King crab legs for dinner. YUM!

It was so wonderful and then I remembered what we're celebrating - me getting old. Ugh. Here's to another year older!

Feelin' the Love

Happy Birthday to me! What an amazing family I have! What amazing friends I have! What an amazing husband I have! I felt so much love. Thank you!!

Me and my loot!

Lamenting

So it's almost my birthday. Ever since I was 15, I would be sad the day before my birthday thinking about the ending of whatever age I was. Can you imagine being sad about turning 16?! Crazy, I know. So maybe that's what this is, but as I was driving home from dropping off Karsten at preschool today I saw two moms with strollers out for a walk. I burst into tears. I don't even have sippy cups at my house anymore! My babies are big. Next year Karsten will start kindergarten and it's my turn to do whatever it is I am going to do. It's my time to put my schooling to work and light the world on fire with my skills and ideas and life experience. It's very exciting, right? And yet my heart is just breaking that my turn for diapers and binkies and library storytime is ending. I remember "those" moms looking at me with my three kiddos having gotten no sleep the night before, snot on my shoulder, and still waiting for a shower saying, "It goes quick! Enjoy it while you can!" It did go quick! Way too quick. Now I'm really freaking out about the people who have kids in college looking at me with my three kiddos who are talking back, have endless activities, and daily battles over hygiene with those same eyes as they say, "Enjoy it while you can - it'll go quick!"

Say it isn't so!

The Lion King

"Stunning."
Mindy Hymas, mom

"It was AWESOME! I loooved it!"
Skyla Hymas, 8

"The animal's movements were amazing! "
Sierra Hymas, 11


The reviews are in and Lion King tops the list! It was one fabulous girls' night.

Calvin & "Frobbes"

I don't know why because he can't possibly understand the humor, but Karsten is obsessed with these books. He has David and I read it to him. He has his sisters read it to him. He reads it by himself. He laughs at them. He calls Hobbes "Frobbes".

My worry is it's his training manual...

Art-Attack!

My son does not like to draw, color, doodle, or do anything that requires him to use a writing utensil. So you can imagine my happiness when the other day, he started coloring!!!!

My fridge is so happy!!

Fabulous Fall

The air is chilly and the leaves have changed. It's gorgeous!

Celebrating Sierra

Sierra is 11! It's hard to believe that she's getting that old and harder to believe that I've been a mom for 11 years. (Shouldn't I know more?!) We had a wonderful time celebrating her today!

She came home from school to have a package from her best friend in the whole world waiting for her, and what a package it was! Adri had sent her a "party in a box" complete with confetti, party hats, goody bags, and more. It was so cute and so much fun for ALL the kids to open. We sure miss those guys! Adri knit her a beautiful scarf (featured on the left) with a note attached that said, "I made you this scarf. It took a lot of time and a lot of yarn." It was so cute of her.

She also had packages from grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles too and the day was so busy she didn't even get to open her presents until 9:30! Talk about patience! But we were too busy playing frisbee golf (a family favorite) and eating pumpkin pancakes at her favorite restaurant, IHOP. YUM!

We are so lucky to have Sierra in our family! She is smart, funny, thoughtful, and strong! She's really turning into an independent and beautiful young lady and I am so proud of her! Thank you to friends and family for making her day so special!!

Frisbee Golf

I love these action shots!

Watch out - Skyla is MAD!

Nice throw Karsten!

The birthday girl makes it in!

This is serious business!

Friends

One of the best things about moving back to Alaska is getting to hang out with these two women. I love Debbie and Jacquie! I not only got to hang out with them, I got to hang out with them at a resort for an entire weekend! (Thank you David, David, and Tom!!!!) It was so amazing. We didn't stop talking the entire time. We talked the entire time hiking, the whole time we were swimming and in the hot tub, all through dinner (which we had to wait to get a table even though we were there at 4:30 - there was already a line!!), all through the night even though we thought we'd watch a movie, the whole time driving, all the while shopping... we burned some serious calories just talking! I was so uplifted and felt so empowered and full of parenting ideas after it all. I've really been struggling with some things about my kids (mostly that they are growing up and I am trying to keep them little) and the insights and knowledge that these women were able to give me were so invaluable. I am a new mom today!


Here are some pictures of our fabulous dinner at the Double Musky Inn. Debbie is such a jokester pretending she just got a crouton for dinner. We split my monster steak. It was named the "Best Steak in America" by Jill Cordes of the Food Network. That might explain the wait...

Domestication

In our 14 years of marriage, I have never seen David mow a lawn... until now. I wouldn't agree to rent this house due to the size of the yard until he agreed to be fully responsible for it. I think it helps that his "responsibility" includes driving a riding lawn mower.