Halloween...a little early.

My sister-in-law had this great idea to dress the kids up early and take pictures so you don't have to do it in the snow by the time Halloween is finally here. My kids didn't mind putting on their costumes and playing around. Shira picked out her costume, she is a princess butterfly fairy. Those are stickers on her face. She's a hoot. When Halloween comes we plan to paint a big butterfly on her face, but stickers worked for the moment.

Princess Butterfly Fairy deep in thought.
Asher picked out Curious George. So here is curious Asher....looks more like a puppy, but he's still cute.
There is the monkey!

kids

Just a nice moment when Asher & Shira aren't fighting with each other. I love these moments.
Asher was upset with me the other day because I wouldn't let him unwind all the toilet paper....I'm so mean. Here he is pouting on the toilet.

Camping at Ladasa

Ladasa is about a two hour drive north of Anchorage and it's owned by the church, usually used for scout camp, girl's camp, and ward campouts. But when it's not booked, we can book it. This year we did it the end of August with David's cousin, Brady and fam, and David's parents. We had a ton of fun and spent an afternoon at the lake, which we had all to ourselves. The water was very chilly. I think everyone got in except for me, Angela, & Jaben....the smart ones. Below you can see all the fun they had in the water. We also went canoeing and it was gorgeous. The train tracks run next to the lake so we would always run out with the kids to wave to the train and have the engineer blow his whistle. Way fun.

Becky got wet, accidentally, up to her waist, so decided to just dive in!

I love the kids cheering her on.

Good ole' grandpa showed up in dark shoes, blue dress socks, red shorts, and a maroon flanel......Gotta love grandpas!
But he was very brave and jumped in the lake!
Even Kenny jumped into his daddy's arms.
Brady relaxing on a sinking dock.
Becky & Brady in the cold water.
Shira holding onto daddy for dear life.

Asher and daddy trying to stay afloat.

What is a camping trip without Asher going potty....but in the lake,

come on dad!

David, looking thrilled again, with Shira canoeing on the lake.

Asher grinning on the canoe.

Becky, Katlyn, Kenny, and Brady.

Alaska State Fair 2007

The first week of Sept. we went to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer with Grandma & Grandpa Porter. We had so much fun eating yummy food, watching the kids on the rides, playing games, seeing all the big veggies and livestock, and spending too much money. We can't wait to do it all over next year.

Shira taking her annual pony ride.

Asher had konked out by this point.

Daddy took the kids on their first 'big' ride, the ferris wheel...ohhh.
Daddy was obviously thrilled to be on the merry-go-round with Asher.
The space ship ride.
And finally the train ride.
Who can forget the huge cabbage.

Shira' First Day of School!

Shira started school the end of August. She was so excited! It's fun to see her growing up and being so brave. She loves her class and teacher and is doing really well. She is a seal, thus the statue next to her. It's been an adjustment for her to be gone all day, but she is hanging in there. I get to volunteer once a week for a few hours and it's so fun to see her in school. I signed up with some ladies in the stake to do co-op babysitting. Twice a week I have a place to take Asher for three hours and get some stuff done I couldn't normally do with him, like volunteer at Shira's school. Then every fifth week it's my turn to watch all the kids. It's working out really well.

Right before she entered the school.

Shira concentrating at her table.

Can you guess boy or girl???

Can you tell what this is? It's a sonogram picture of our baby at 18 weeks. Yes, that is right, we are expecting another baby. We found out the morning we went camping to Hidden Lake, and boy were we surprised. This kid will be almost four years younger than Asher, so even though it wasn't planned,

it's about time.

This is a shot from below looking up. Those are two legs with some plumbing in between. Can you tell if the plumbing is on the outside or inside???

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Did you guess a boy? If you looked too close you probably saw the word Male! on the screen. But the plumbing is on the outside, so Asher will get a little brother. Shira was a little disappointed, but she's over it. I'm 19 weeks now and due Feb. 26, 2008.

Below is a quick little clip of the sonogram. I just thought it was amazing to be able to see him rolling around in there. We even caught him yawning, but that clip was almost 6 min. So enjoy this short one. He rolls around and ends up looking at you.

Orlando, Florida.....on business.

Well, last year David's company sent him out for training in Chicago, but I couldn't go because it was during the school year and granmda works, so I had nobody to leave the kids with. This year they sent him to Orlando the second week of July and I was all over it. David can't have all the fun. So, we spent a week in sunny Florida with a few other co-workers and their spouses....and we had a blast. We spent a majority of our time at Universal Studios with a week long pass. We also went to Cocoa Beach, shopping at the outlet stores (we don't have any in AK), and ate one of the best meals ever at Texas De Brazil. And who can forget the lounging at the pool time....something else we never do here in AK. We stayed at this gorgeous condo our friends found on-line. The nice thing was that David's company paid for a majority of the trip since it was after all 'training'.

Our beautiful condo with Grace & Vanessa at the pool.

David soaking in the rays at the pool.
Amy & Grace at Cocoa Beach.

We got there just in time for some thunder & lightning,

but that didn't stop us Alaskans from trying to get some sun.

Eating at Universal Studios with the gang of c0-workers (six auditors & two wives....too much fun). If you look close you can see that we are all drenched! We experienced the most amazing thunder & lightning rainstorm and got a little wet in the process. I think we also dodged a couple of lightning rods. Good thing this place let us eat, we left a puddle under the table!

David & Amy getting on the Hulk rollercoaster for the fourth time. We loved it!