*Recent happenings

*I attended a princess party, for a little princess that turned 3!

Her little brother got to wear a pink bowtie :)

She was (surprise!) loving the attention from the adults at the party.

*I drove to Williston and back multiple times. This is what traffic looks like on that drive.

*We went fishing! I have my own rod now, and I am learning how not to tangle my line.

*I reached the 20 week mark. This is not a very good picture, but gives an idea of my belly size.

*Jocelyn and Bre-Lyn came down for girls night coffee at the lake.

*I went to the Dinosaur museum here in town,

with this little man,

and these guys.

They have the most amazing rocks and fossils!

*And we got to see these kids and their parents.

It's been a busy couple weeks. Mark and I went camping this weekend, pictures from that still to come.

Alaska, parts 3-16

We ate dinner at Land's End, where they had this whale baleen on the wall. It was neat to see how large it was!

Group pic.

The sun was so beautiful setting over the harbor, we had to celebrate.

My camera made it a lot more orange than it really was.

On our way back to our bed and breakfast, we saw moose. Lots of them. Here is one eating grass outside the car wash.

And another chilling on the side of the road. Since the winter in Homer brought so much snow, the moose couldn't find food, and were coming into town to forage for things to eat.

The next day began with shopping- lots of cute shops in Homer! I got Amy a wedding gift of an apron and the book "Don'ts for Wives". It's a really neat little book published in 1913. A lot of the "don't" still apply today, though.

Next, we went down to the beach for low tide. In Homer, low tide can be up to a depth of 28 feet. This day, it was 26 feet down. We could walk so far out on the sand!

Here you can really see the low tide in the steep ramp and low water level.

Tim T (married to my cousin Andrea) was working on a boat that would soon take off for the open waters.

There's Tim!

Then it was back to Anchorage for some more sight seeing, courtesy of our trusty guide, Amy.

A plane flying in over Sleeping Lady.

Steph and I slept over at Rebecca's nanny house. We had some good girl talk until wee into the morning :)

And then, we got to see all of the Alaskan ladies one more time at a surprise bridal shower for Amy. The theme was "Alaskan" of course. Andrea did a great job of hosting! The food and fellowship were great.

 One last group picture.

The trip back home was long, but no big deal, because Alaska was so worth it. I would recommend going there to anyone who even remotely likes the out of doors. It was a beautiful adventure. Thank you to all the Alaskans who made it so fun!

Alaska, part 2

On our way to Valdez, in Thompsons Pass, we saw these kite boarders. It looked like great fun!

Luke and Steph went back country skiing- we picked them up further down the road.

Bridal Veil Falls. It was pretty, even frozen.

Thompsons Pass. This is a good picture of how high the cliffs were.

In Valdez, us ladies went for a walk in the freezing rain, down to the harbor and around the tiny town.

The next day, the sun peeked out in the morning, so we got to see the mountains!

Amy, Steph, Sarah D, Sara K, and Katrina. The three in the middle made the trip from the lower 48 to see AK.

On our way back through Thompsons Pass, we stopped for a short hike and so Luke and Steph could take one more run down with the skis.

There they are! It looked like a sweet run.

Katrina enjoying the white beauty around us.

Back in Palmer, we made it to Easter evening church at the Lehto's. This is the view from their front porch. It would be hard to tire of seeing that everyday!

Our next trip was to Homer. This was probably the favorite of the five of us (girls in pic, plus me). 

 

 Sara K's picture. She had a great camera, so we always told her to take the pictures! :) We saw a lot of eagles in Alaska, as well as moose.

The harbor in Homer, with the bluff in the background. We stayed at a bed and breakfast up on that hill. There was a bed for each of us, with two bathrooms and a full kitchen. Breakfast was delicious, so all in all, it was a good place to stay.

Still tuned in? Hoping to get the rest out soon.