I Must Repent! (and Christmas 2012)

So it's been about 6 moths since I've been on here. Yes, we are alive up here in the wilds of Alaska. It's been a long and a strange winter. It's been warm when it shouldn't be and cold at odd times. Currently it's been below 10 degrees in the mornings and I was just told its going to snow in the morning. Shouldn't be surprised. It is Alaska.
Christmas this year we had the privilege of Grandma Lois joining us. I don't think she will ever come back though as a week after she got home to UT she still couldn't get warm.

We took in a Aces Hockey game with her, which she said was for the rednecks.

 Then later that night we watched Paul play a hockey game until we were all too cold and went home for the night. Most of the pictures were really bad these are the better ones... Next time someone else is in charge of the camera.

 We made Christmas sugar cookies and had the missionaries and friends over for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. One missionary in particular was just a little special to Calleen. Elder Higley is from her parents ward in Missouri and he is the same age as her brother Daniel. So it was special for her to be able to share Christmas Eve with him.

One of the things Calleen got for Christmas was a noodle maker which the kids like to help with. Yummy spaghetti with whole wheat noodles! I've been wanting one for years.

September 29th

 What were you doing on September 29th of this year? I bet you weren't playing in snow! We got our first snow of the year VERY early this year.

Normally snow doesn't come until the end of October or first of November. It didn't stick and we've had a bit more since then but nothing to stick long. Any day now the snow will start and it won't be gone until spring...

Calleen's Newest Creations

I have been very busy crocheting lately. This pattern is called the Savanah Belle dress. I made a matching one with opposite colors too, and I think it was my favorite of the two as the purple was such a beautiful color. I forgot to take a picture of before I gave it away though. Hopefully the person I gave it to will oblige me with one with her baby in it.

This one is called the Pemberly shawl. It took me about a year to finish. I did take it out a lot as Paul can attest to my frustrations, but moving and other projects just got in the way of finishing it. It's finally done though and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Coming soon... This year's birthday dress for Reagan. She's totally psyched.

Paul Got a Bear

If you follow me on Facebook you already know this, but for all those not on Facebook and in my continuing quest to catch up with blog posts, here is Paul with the Black bear he shot last month. I told him he can now cross that off his bucket list. He couldn't have been prouder I think by the look on his face.
 He's having a bear rug made of it (to the tune of $1000) and we gave some meat away and froze some. About half of the meat we kept we had made into peperoni sausage.
Not being a fan of bear meat. It's not bad tasting if you take off all the fat but it has so much gristle I'm just not keen. So I usually make it when I'm going elsewhere for dinner. But the pepperoni- now that stuff is good! If he ever gets another bear, that's what we are doing with all of it. Come visit and we'll feed you some bear meat.

Project for Dad and Son

Daniel has been driving us crazy asking for a Pirate boat. Paul decided to make one for him after he couldn't take the incessant requests. This was a joint effort and still continues to get things added to it. The steering wheel really turns and the spindle that holds the thread for the anchor does too causing the anchor to drop. Daniel added the ladder from his Legos and made the sails. We are still deciding whether to paint it or leave it. But they sure had fun making it!

Pyrah's Pioneer Peak Farm Fall Festival

 

There is a farm in Palmer Alaska that used to be a church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) farm. It's now rented to a family and they have a U-Pick farm there. It's where we went to the winter festival last year and Reagan and I had our hair done like the Who's from Whoville.

 

Every year they have a Fall festival as well and this year they added an extra day just for kids with special needs and made it free just for that day. What a blessing! We were also blessed with good weather after having horrible rainy days preceding it. Unfortunately it wasn't well advertised so not a lot of kids were there.

 

But that just meant my kids were able to enjoy it more and not have to wait in any lines which was fabulous for us. We were there for about an hour and a half  until Daniel decided he couldn't handle any more.

 

 They had so much fun bumping into each other doing this. They were laughing so hard they could barely stay on their balls.

 

Cabbage bowling anyone?

 

They also loved the bouncy toy. Since no one was there they got an extra long turn and I was able to just sit and enjoy the beautiful day.

 

It took a lot of coaxing for Daniel to ride any of the rides. Anything that moved he wanted nothing to do with. But Reagan and I persisted and he enjoyed it once it started.

 

These are cool tractor trikes. As it was something to ride Daniel wouldn't get on but he was more than willing to help Reagan do it.

 

It was a fun beautiful day. We picked up some pumpkins and brought them home. Enjoyed some pumpkin custard from them. I hope they do it again next year!

A Drawing to Get Excited About

Looks like not much right? Well for Daniel it is a huge step forward. There is more than one color in this drawing. This is the first and only one that we have seen of this kind but hope more will follow. It's a developmental step for him. He has to think further about what he is drawing and plan the different colors. It's not so linear.
Daniel says that it is a picture of him driving a 4 wheeler with a trailer hooked to it. He's holding onto a shovel so he and Daddy can dig for pirate treasure. The trailer is full of camping gear for them and the flag is a pirate flag of course.
Just have to shout hooray when something like this happens.