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Mac is Back!

After several exploratory surgeries, we found out what mac needed to be revived and he is back and better than ever!I was excited to open him up and see all the memories I had stored in him, unable to get to for the past 4 months.I want to share with you all some of the photos I came across that I wasn't able to post while Mac was unconscious.

The APPLE of my eye (can you believe she is almost 2! and oh so terrible...) she even savors the core!

SK8R BOY

The one who has yet to break a bone in action.

Anyone who has spent anytime around Ty knows he is not content swinging on a swing sitting, or going down the slide feet first, or the stairs for that matter..he turns the simplest of task into an X game. Here he is doing what he does best. (thanks go to Tony Hawk for promoting helmet safety)

Hockey

Whats the happening thing to do in Alaska on a below zero dark day??

Take in a hockey game....

It was very entertaining, the kids loved it,even Rylie, if you haven't been to one we highly reccommend it, I believe Colton is the newest biggest fan!

... Anchorage VS Mercyhurst.... then the big one... UAF VS. Maine.

....Checkout wild Rylie's (post hairbow removal trauma) face in the background!

And the award for worst Mom of the year goes to...

Here it is my plea...to not be nominated worst Mom of the year...

I promise to pretend to eat all the play-dough meals my kids can make, making gulping sounds and enjoying it! I promise to let them wear what they want, like my mommy did, even if it's cowboy boots and green shorty shorts, and put their thumbs through make-shift holes in their sleeves if they so feel the need. I promise to look past ill-made beds, because little hands can't make military-style made beds (I may still remake them later). I will do endless loads of laundry even if half of it was worn for maybe 5 minutes, tops.. and ignore my childrens best attempt to put their clothes away, in the wrong drawers and unfolded (again, will probably have to correct it unbeknownst to them) but will praise them the same because they are learning to be independent.

I will kiss all boo-boos even the 1mm ones not visible to the human eye, I will keep calm when they continually get out of their bed with something extremely important that they have to tell me at 9pm that will eat them up if they have to wait until morning... but.... I may not be able to put my dear lil monkeys in cages to protect them from all their attempts to grow to be circus stars... so heres to many more accidents to come (or hopefully not) if I am the worst Mother of the year, My only wish is that my kids will still love me..

I am thankful, that I made it through High school even though I can't spell Sergeant....

The Husband

I am greatful for my eternal companion. For the memories we have made and for many more to come. I couldn't ask for a better husband (ask me again when he is back home and I am cleaning up after him).

The SEARGANT takes good care of us, and is an amazing FATHER.

More Thankfuls...

I am thankful for the beauty of this earth for a warm HOME because a house is a house but

when its warm and filled with LOVE its a home. ( I know it's hard to love in a cold house)

My Thanks-given....

I am Thankful for........My wonderful family each and everyone of them, on Earth and in

the spirit world each has touched me in someway or another, even my

Ancestors

(redhair,freckles, and abnormally large nostrils,better to smell with).

I am thankful for all the cute babies

our family has produced (check out Miles blog for the newest addition).

I am SUPER greatful for Temples, so that My wonderful family and I can be together forever

because this life is too SHORT.

Elmo says Es divertido ir al bano solito!

Being the multicultural-multitasking family that we are (grumble grumble ) we have decided to potty train and teach a new language at the same time! Rylie fell in love with the Elmo potty at the furniture store today (yes, furniture store????) so we brought the sucker home, holding it on her lap, out of the box the whole way... we quickly took it upstairs and she had her pants, thermals,onesie,off in a matter of seconds (thats our girl) and sat, and sat, and sat...and listened to Elmo encouraging her in SPANISH???? the manuel is in Spanish and English so we can translate for her what elmo is saying, it has a phrase page. We have high hopes that she will be going on the potty and speaking spanish by her second birthday, no doubt!! (bytheway.she did go #1 and #2, YEAH!!)

HALLOWEEN

What an extreme change from Halloween 08' in Florida... last year the costume possibilities were broad and on the other side of the spectrum, something to keep cool in no hat and gloves required (unless is was a costume accesory). This year we spent it in below zero temps, our costumes had to fit over snow pants, jackets and had to work around wearing hats and gloves. Ty's was easy, he wanted to be chewbacca a warm furry thing that had a mask and gloves (although the mask was too big so we used facepaint and hat) we found a deal on a mouse costume at Old navy it was warm with extra padding, had a hood and built in mittens! Cayley decided that since Rylie was amouse she wanted to be a cat. I had to use a clown pattern so that it would be nice and roomy for her winter gear to go underneath and her black gloves and Dad's black knit hat did nicely.

We trick or treated on base because the houses are duplexes and close together so more doors less walking, less time outdoors! I still think they should move trick or treatingto a day time activity in Alaska when its not so cold!!

The kids had fun though and we didn't hear any complaining, I guess it was worth it for the candy!

We are already thinking next year we will be a family of bears!!!

skipping stones on ice

One of things we discovered on our walk is how cool it is to skip stones across the ice covered slough (a slow moving river) not to mention the awsome sound it makes, with just a thin layer of ice on top it make an undescribable hollow kind of sound?? We couldn't get enough and ended up spending all the time playing and didn't get a whole lot collected for the project....

A family walk in Alaska

Cayley is learning about the Athabaskans in school and had to build her own model of an Athabaskan shelter. Although we have great resources in our own yard we thought we would take a walk to find items to build the shelter, or should we say a slide... the kids loved running and sliding in the snow, which was now packed down tightly on the roads..Ty thought it was great fun to let sally pull him on hs belly!I know it looks cold but it was actually very refreshing. I brought the camera because you never know what you will see around here, but we didn't run into any large creatures (I think we were way too loud and disturbed nature).

Winter is amongst us!

White surrounds us, our breath is visible, we must allow extra time to go anywhere, start the car ahead of time (not to cool it off anymore), slick roads, and lots of extra clothing...MOOSETRACKS IN OUR FRONT YARD!

Although, I am pleasantly surprised that 15 F is not as cold as I thought and is very tolerable. In fact I probably felt it colder in my yearspent in FL! Check my blog often to read my thoughts on -50F!!! We are excited to go to Birch Hill, just up the road to go skiing, snowboarding (not me) and tubing : ) The kids are driving us crazy to go, even after our 1st inch of snow!

Our New Dog, Sally, The Welsh Springer Spaniel

Last Monday night, we surprised the kids by taking them to a dog rescue for Family home evening.....Eric and myself were both very hesitant about getting a pet, but went open minded, to LOOK! We never thought we would find the perfect dog the first time! Right when we pulled up (all packed tight in Eric's pick-up) we saw her, she jumped up on the roof of one of the kennels and just stared, while all the other dogs were madly barking trying to get out, looking like they wanted to eat us for dinner. The super nice and knowledgable lady, got her out for us right away and she ran to us and wanted to be loved :) The kids loved her right away as she chased them around and licked the spaghetti sauce that I missed on Rylie off under her chin.

She is a big puppy,they aren't sure exactly how old she is, but she still has her puppy teeth and has awkward puppy movements. She belonged to a military family that had to move and couldn't take her with, but they did a very good job training her, she is already housebroken, doesn't beg for food (the kids have dropped food right in front of her and she doesn't even attempt to get it, she eats her own food only, we were amazed. She found the front door right away and when she wants to go out, she goes to the door and touches it with her front paw. We have still yet to hear her bark, Cayley said she did when she had her out the other day, but no one else has heard her yet. Even when someone comes to the door, her head perks up, but thats it! We are all still amazed , waiting for her to do something wrong.... but she is perfect, the only slight-ish complaint I have is she follows me around all day, but so does Rylie so I have just learned that I am the leader of the parade! She loves raw hide bones and that is the only thing she has ever chewed on or even put in her mouth besides her food and her tennis ball. The lady who had been looking after her at the rescue said she had only had her for a little bit, but was sad to let her go, she said she was such a sweet dog, very loyal and just wanted to be loved and to please. She called us yesterday to see how she was and wasn't surprised to hear how wellshe has settled in with us!

Cayley's blog

http://cayleybird.blogspot.com/
Cayley made her own blog, I will try to supervise it, but I apologize in advance for anything crazy, embarrasing, or overall out of control that she may post!

Cayley's Birthday

Cayley's Birthday came as fast as it went this year, poor thing: (

Amongst all the settling in and work to get ready for winter (we have been told its just around the corner, like any day now) we didn't do much. I tried to make it just as special for her, but nothing like we have done in the past. She had whipped cream for breakfast with some pancakes and chocolate syrup on the side (you know Cayley) and had a friend sleep over, we watched a movie on the big screen and had popcorn and candy, an icecream cake from coldstone, YUM! Oh and we went bowling, gosh I guess we didmore then I thought, it sounds like alot as I'm typing it, but went by really fast. Her friend who slept over name was Rylea. Poor girl everytime I was yelling forRylie she came running. The morning after she sleptover I was callingfor Rylie tocome and get her hair done, it went something like this "Rylie come here so I can do something with that mop on your head" she came to me in the bathroom with a sweet look on her face and said "okay". She must of thought I was crazy,because first of all she has the straightest finest hair in alaska, and what was this women talking to her like that?? So Cayley decided she would be Rylea and Rylie would be Ry-Ry.