Mexican Cruise

Not sure if you've noticed, but David and I are addicted to cruising. And living in Alaska makes it almost feel like a necessity in order to get through the long, cold, dark winters. Hey, when you need an excuse any excuse will do. :-) The first week of February we left our children in the hands of loving grandparents and took off to California where the fun began. With the looming threat of Mt. Redoubt (volcano) exploding and possibly not being able to fly out, we decided to take off a day early and spend the day/night with my dear old friend, Eva Jane (she's not really that old ;-)). Thanks so much for calling in sick in order to pick us up and spend the day with us....and for letting us crash at your super cool pad!!! Once on the ship we relaxed and enjoyed beautiful weather while getting our dose of vitamin D for the year! We stopped in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta and had a great time. Thanks to all that made it possible.

Here we are with Cabo in the background.

David with his travel guitar in Puerto Vallarta.

(that is how we pay for all our trips, hee hee)

The view we enjoyed at a resort in Puerto Vallarta.....poor us.

Makes me just want to go on another one.

Weekend at Alyeska

For Grandmda Kay's birthday they invited us to join them for a weekend out at Alyeska ski resort. That night we had key lime pie, played pinochle, went out to the Double Muskee, and played in the hotel pool the next day while the boys went snowboarding.....which wasn't that great, so they ended up joining us in the pool.
Kay is one of those people who has everything, so I let the kids each pick out a small gift for her. She got a candle in a log from Asher and a fake flower from Shira. I was able to find her something I was pretty sure she didn't have, a deer antler candle holder! It was super fun. Happy B-day Kay! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Playing pinochle while the kiddos sleep.Kay took over watching Bohdan in the pool while I kept the other two from drowning.
Lucky for me the boys showed up to play with the kids and entertain them.

Shira jumping in the pool to Grandpa Blake.

These two had too much fun.

December....a little late

I know, I know, I'm a little behind. But after a lengthy on-again off-again relationship with our internet, we are finally back on again for good....I hope. So, I'm starting where I left off.
The middle of December we surprised the kids with a train ride on the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Palmer and back, thanks to our good friends Keith & Amanda for sharing the idea and letting us tag along. Mr. and Mrs. Santa Clause paid us a visit on the train and the kids couldn't have been more excited.

Asher got this idea off an orange juice commercial and was determined to make it work.
This kid cracks me up!
Then we had a weekend out at G-ma Kays for a Christmas party and of course we had to stay the weekend and enjoy Kay's pancake designs the next morning.

And what kind of weekend would it be if we didn't get into Kay's costumes, which fill up her three car, yes I said three, garage! Her husband LOVES it and wishes she would buy more. ;-)

Then on Christmas Eve we went to G-ma Porters for dinner and the nativity story. This was my favorite shot. Lilli, who isn't fond of this tradition, agreed to be the Star, but here it looks like she's checking her watch and wishing it would just end. ;-)
And it just wouldn't be Christmas without turning Joseph's staff into a rifle!

On Christmas morning the kids were showered with gifts, even though every year we TRY to keep it under control, we just can't seem to control all the grandparents!

This year I decided to get a little crafty, it happens once in a blue moon, and with a lot of help from my close friend Amanda (thanks!) I made each of the kids their own little teddy bear. And thankfully they LOVED them.....which made it all worth it. ;-)

David decided he needed to get the kids their own little snowboards, just the inexpensive kind, and they loved testing them out in Grandpa Porter's driveway.

Joy School

We have been doing Joy School this year with Asher.....sometimes it is anything but joyful for me, but totally worth it. Here are the fun things we did at our place for the week of Halloween.

Carving pumpkins!

Singing the 'mean old witch' song...in costume.

Halloween

Since it's almost Christmas I guess I'd better blog about Halloween. ;-) My kids got really spoiled this year for halloween. They did the Trick or Treat in the Heat a few months ago, then dressed up for Shira's school carnival, then we went trunk or treating on Halloween. We are still eating candy! In case you are wondering who I am, I'm supposed to be Arwyn....come on, I look just as hot as she did in Lord of the Rings! You might as well just call me Liv. Anyway, Bohdan is a dinosaur and Shira is an Autumn witch....we doctored up her witch costume from a friend and I went a little crazy. By the time I was done it looked like fall had thrown up on the dress, thus an autumn witch. Then we have SUPERMAN! And yes, those undies are made of red duct tape! One must improvise when needed. ;-)

Arwyn & her Dinosaur

Shira the Autumn Witch

I think Superman is about to take off here.

A little dino

Space Needle, front tooth, & Beefy Boys

What, might you ask, do the Space Needle, a front tooth, and Beefy Boys have in common??? They are three things I haven't blogged about....duh.

Just the other night Shira complained that one of her front teeth were hurting her, it has been loose for months now, so I recommended her daddy pull it out. He did and here is the result.

My sweet friend Amanda gave Asher this super cool t-shirt....not sure why! But he loves it and got to wear it to bed. David went recruiting last month to Minnesota, Idaho, and Washington. These are the only proof I have of his trip. ;-)

What we did for Conference weekend

For general conference (first weekend in Oct.) the kids and I went up to Grandma Kays for the weekend since David was out of town recruiting. We had too much fun and Grandma Kay spoiled the kids as usual. I think we even watched a little bit of conference. hee hee.

Grandma Kay took the kids on a four wheeler ride around the house.

Kay said she found this little beauty on the side of the road, so she just HAD to pick it up!

Shira couldn't stop riding it, even though the battery was dying and it was moving slow as a slug.

I don't know where she found this one, but she did. We lost one of Asher's boots while decorating the house for Halloween, so he picked out these pink beauties from Kay's costume collection. Nice! He wouldn't stop wearing them. And yes, they are pink cowgirl/boy boots.Kay spoils the kids by making them pancakes in all sorts of shapes. Here Asher has a shark and Shira a butterfly. The kids are always begging me to make something cool whenever I make them pancakes, but I figure this can be Kay's special thing.....that and I'm super lazy!
We tortured Bohdan by putting pumpkins on his little hands.
I think we had more fun than he did.
Just a cute shot of Bohdan by the big pumpkin.

Shira playing with Bohdan.

Blueberry Pickin

I posted earlier about blueberry picking at Hatchers Pass, but wasn't able to find the pics. I found them! Hatchers was gorgeous, and we even got snowed on. It whited out the mountains in the pic, but it was beautiful as always and we did come home with some berries. Success.