Cross Country Skiing

We are finding that in Anchorage cross country skiing is very popular. The city has numerous parks with large trail systems. The trails are groomed for cross country skiing in the winter and biking in the summer. We happen to live about 1 mile from Russian Jack Springs Park. We rented some cross country skis from post and decided to try them out. Joelle went in the backpack and we were off! It really is a lot of fun! We skied for about 30 minutes and Joelle was so comfortable she fell asleep! We will definitely be going more before spring hits.

Attack of the Lasagna!

Santa, Take Two

We got a second shot with Santa and it seemed to go better! Our neighbor is a fireman and he brought the Santa Truck into our neighborhood. The kids in the neighborhood got all bundled up to see Santa on the firetruck and then slide down the firetruck slide. It really was so cute!

Ok, so it wasn't all smiles:

Then again, maybe not

Joelle visited Santa Clause for the first time at our Battalion Christmas Party. It didn't go over too well. I was holding onto her hand and she walked towards him....slowly....and the closer we got the slower she walked. For a second it looked like she wasn't going to make it to him but then I had Justin go next to Santa to see if that would help. It did for a couple more steps and then......crying! So I picked her up and we got a picture and called it good. Yes, we officially now have a coveted baby crying with Santa picture. We will treasure it always!

Christmas for Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we were able to have my entire family up from Spokane, WA. It was great having everyone here! The best part for us was getting to be with family in our own house. We did start the holiday with Thanksgiving. Everyone in the family contributed to a dish or two for the meal, so our kitchen was packed! It was a lot of fun. And Justin grilled a turkey again...so yummy!

My nephew Xander as a Thanksgiving turkey :-)

It was a lot of fun getting the cousins together. Joelle is two months older but she is the smaller of the two. She is almost walking (she has taken a few steps by herself) and Xander is sitting up on his own. They really liked playing together. Mostly sticking their hands in each others faces.

We went into Downtown Anchorage to attend a Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. It was so sweet and innocent. It was outdoors (ok, a little cold at 12 degrees) and we saw soloists singing Christmas songs, youth putting on the play "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and then Santa came with his reindeer. Yes, REAL reindeer! We got to pet Prancer. It was so much fun!
We also celebrated Christmas with the family. Joelle and Xander got to open their first Christmas gifts. I thought both of them would be a little more excited about tearing apart wrapping paper, but they were both very delicate about it. They seemed to get a bit of stage fright with all of us staring at them. Xander got an Alaska souds book (push the button and you hear the sounds of animals in Alaska) and a hand carved wooden Army tank! Joelle got The Velveteen Rabbit, a play vacuum and popper and some baby DVDs.
My sisters, their husbands and my nephew left Alaska on sunday and my parents stayed until Wednesday. Sunday evening we went with my parents and bought Alaska King Crab legs and had a big crab dinner. It was a lot of fun! It ended up being a little too much fun for Joelle as she fell asleep in her highchair.
We all had such a great time! Hopefully we'll be able to do it again before we move from Alaska. Here's some more fun pictures from the weekend:

The worst week....

This was such a hard week for me I'm so glad it's over. Joelle got sick with the flu bug....vomiting, fever, diarrhea, etc. I felt so bad for her. But then two days later I got the bug! I never realized just how hard being a mom is until having to take care of a sick baby while being sick. I was practically bed ridden having to change diarrhea diapers, take temperatures and feed Joelle. Oh it was awful! By day 3 we were starting to feel better and by day 4 we were back to normal.

While being sick I also had to deal with some FRG yuck (rumors!) and that was a terrible thing to have to deal with while feeling yucky. We did seem to get it all resolved and squash the source of the FRG yuck, but through it all I sure felt like Satan was lurking waiting for me to give up.

Today was my first FRG meeting. On my way to the meeting I had a few butterflies in my stomach because of what had happened during the week. I had to stop by the PX to buy a few items and wouldn't you know it that my total comes to $6.66!!! I looked at the total shocked, started to laugh and asked the cashier if he could add a penny to make it $6.67. With the week I had it was a huge sign that Satan was still there waiting for me to fall. But the cashier laughed and I paid the correct price. I then called my mom and said "PRAY FOR THE MEETING!".

My meeting went very well! I am blessed with a great co-leader who has the same goals as I do. We had 10 ladies come out and some great conversations were made. So take that Satan! I won after all! The Lord was so faithful to me tonight :-)

So that has been my worst week ever. Of course I did spare you all of some details. I feel like even through the muck I continue to look to the Lord and He will prove Himself faithful and guide me to success. I defeated the week!!!

I've Been Tagged!!!! You could be next....

Thanks to Kinslee Pounder, I've been tagged! So here I go....

1. Justin and I have been married for almost 5 years and we've lived in 4 states and had 6 houses.
2. I love holiday foods. Bring on the pumpkin and eggnog! November 4th eggnog lattes are at Starbucks!
3. I just started leading worship at our PWOC, which means I play the piano and sing at the same time. It's really hard, but I'm getting better at it each week.
4. I hate dry hands! I constantly put lotion on my hands.
5. I can't eat without a napkin. It's pretty rare you'll find me eating without a napkin in hand.
6. I enjoy cooking and baking. I don't think I'm great at it, but I really enjoy it. It's hard when Justin is away but that's when I end up cooking for all my friends. Actually it usually turns into a big potluck and a big recipe exchange :-).
7. I'm obsessed with clean floors. I usually vacuum my floors 2-3 times a week. I know it's having two dogs that does this to me.

Alright, it's my turn to tag! I tag Erin Crowe, Kristin Seholm, Angie Houston, Kelly McCullough, Ashley McPherson, Jlyn Pritchard, Kelly Douglas, Heidi Maracle, and Shannon Chaput. Ok, it's all my friends with blogs :-)