i heart my Elvis mug!

This might be terrible to admit, but I haven't recieved a present I've appreciated as much as this mug in a long time! Jennifer Harvey, what a good gift-giver you are! Yes, I am an Elvis fan. For several years now my love of Elvis has remained dormant, locked up in the guest bathroom, where Matt doesn't have to see it. And, I don't have time to watch my favorite Elvis movies anymore. But now, I can sip coffee out of my Elvis mug every day! And yeah, I know that he died of overdose and was pretty disgusting in his latter years. But this is how I know and love him. He's young, cute, and has a great voice. I don't need to know anything about his political views or infidelity or substance abuse problems. He's a celebrity. And one that I love.

I heart trampolines!

Many people think trampolines are evil. But I think they are one of the best inventions on the face of the earth. I mean, if you want to keep your kids completely safe and protected from all harm at all times, why not just send them out in a bubble? Or not send them out at all. Or, let your kids live and have fun! Trampolines are fun. They make my kids happy. We aren't the model parents when it comes to safety. Whatever. So far, in 7 years, we haven't made any trips to the ER! It's kind of disappointing, really, when we hear so many others' ER stories. :) This was last night in the torrential rain.

This is my husband's amazing photography!

Birthday Date

I had a really wonderful birthday. Matt gave me some flowers with a certificate for spa treatments at Allure Day Spa in Anchorage while he does hardware shopping! Then we went out to eat at St. Elias Brewing Company, which I love.

We checked out our new mail box in action! Note the new address. It's in Soldotna, AK 99669. You can send mail there!

We checked out the progress of the dirt work at our new home location.

breaking ground

More land pictures, featuring some of the nicer trees. We started digging the foundation!

 

 

 

2010 MOPS Int. Leadership Summit: Passive Passion

I enjoyed hosting the Summit a great deal! All the prep and work going into it was creating some stress. And then I learned that there would be no out of town attendees, which caused some disappointment, followed by relief! I relaxed and enjoyed myself with the 5 girls that came. I truly enjoyed the simucast speakers, especially Margaret Feinberg. If you ever have the opportunity to hear her, you should! During our networking time, I enjoyed serving the girls by making them waffles with the works in the big restaurant sized waffle maker.

my favorite jammies

 

I only just recently started Hallie's first year scrapbook. She's three, and up until last week I hadn't even printed any pictures since her birth! Horrible, I know. Anyways, I came across a picture of her in my favorite pair of snuggly jammies. This is Oliver in my favorite jammies of his, which he is about to no longer fit into! :( So I intentionally took this picture just for the jammies.

First (Pro) Haircuts, Finally!

 

Finally, the girls went along with me and we all had our hair cut! They behaved like perfect ladies!

videos I love

One day Hallie was on her little princess cell phone like all day! It was the funniest thing to listen in on her conversations. If it wasn't a fake phone, you would never know that there was no one on the other end!

Oliver loves to add some flair to his tantrums when he doesn't get his way. He'll pause when he gets distracted, then realize what he was supposed to be doing and get back to business!

Self explanitory, I think. This kid is talented!

Getting into his moves.

we found land!

After two months of looking for land that Matt and I could both agree upon as the perfect place to build our next home, we finally found it! I really thought I was set on staying near K-Beach and keeping the kids in that school. I was so determined to have another short drive to the church, which is where I spend a lot of my days. But land prices in the area were through the roof and we just couldn't find anything more than an acre that we could afford. We both agreed that we wanted more land. Some space for the kids to explore and plant a garden. To have pets if we choose and not worry about leaving toys on the lawn, etc. Once we moved to Kasilof with Matt's parents, I realized I could expand my range a bit, so long as I don't have to live as far out as them!

When Matt showed me this land he was scared of what my reaction would be. (Apparently I had shot him down quite a few times!) But, I was smitten. I fell in love with the rock and the hill immediately! 4.5 acres, north of town, off of Deville Rd. We have 4.5 ACRES! And, it's only a 6 minute drive to Fred Meyers and like 13 minutes to the church. Eventually, I had to think about what is best for our family in the long run and not my driving preferences right now. I hope we will be living here for a very long time! And I am very excited about putting our kids in Sterling Elementary next year! I love small schools! I went in yesterday and was welcomed by three people! I always feel out of place and uncomfortable at K-Beach. I have loved the kids' teachers this year, but I am not sad about leaving their school at the end of the year.

Oh, I would also like to mention that we have a view of mountains in two directions!

He is Risen!

 

 

 

 

This year I really struggled with the feeling that the emphasis on the Easter Bunny seems to outweigh the emphasis on the true reason we celebrate Easter. There's really not much you can do in such a short margin of time prior to church. I am thinking that in future Easters the bunny might just have to come on Friday night.

Birthday Celebration!

Two weeks after his birthday, we were able to celebrate with grandma home from her African adventure! I was excited to find this theme of party ware, since I love dots! And he is our little monkey! (He especially looked like a little monkey before he started growing extra hair!) Speaking of hair, I am holding out on cutting his as long as I can! So if you think he looks like a hippie, just keep it to yourself! :)

 

Spring Break

Girls having a picnic on the deck.

My little spring break "hot spot", where I was reading during naptime.

Oliver, carrying on, because he can't go outside and play with the girls. We can't wait for summer!

Happy First Birthday!

March 13, 2009

Here are some pictures and video clip from the day Oliver turned 1! I just can't believe how fast that year went by! It makes me so sad to think I won't ever hold my own tiny baby in my arms again, I just want to go back and do it all over again. Oliver is such a sweetie! He is a mama's boy, which I LOVE! He gives me loves -- hugs, kisses, and snuggles. He can also throw a good fit! He's an excellent sleeper. I love it that he just lays down and goes to sleep when I put him in bed. He's funny -- likes to laugh and make others laugh.

Our family wouldn't be the same without our Oliver!

I know, I know!

It's been awhile since I've posted. Facebook, unfortunately, makes it easy to upload a few pictures here and there, and thus I never seem to get around to blogging. That, and I have been quite busy coordinating two MOPS groups and the Leadership Summit. So maybe next week I will get on the ball and finally add some Easter pics and some cute videos. I did try to upload this great video of Ollie catching flies, but it took 3 hours and after 2, Hallie shut the laptop! ARG!