Pick-Your-Own-Produce

On Wednesday I went with my cousin Carmin, and her son David, to a pick-your-own farm. It was up by the Reindeer Farm we went to not too long ago. I love it out there, it is just gorgeous. We couldn't have picked a better day to go, the weather was absolutely perfect. It's a nice, church-owned place right next to the cannery/bishop's storehouse. The produce was really cheap, and nothing beats freshly-picked food from a big ol' garden. I love opportunities to remind kids of where food really comes from--not just the grocery store! Kenny and I have dreams; someday when we're stable and own a home, we'll have a very big garden. But for now, this is a pretty fun place to go. Afterwards we enjoyed a nice picnic on the grass and soaked up some sunshine. Thanks for a fabulous morning, Carmin!!

 

Madison, Carmin, David, Brynlee, Tyler in front of Pioneer Peak--that beautiful mountain behind them. I seriously want to own a cabin out there or something, I love it!

Tyler, David, Madi: helping pick broccoli

 Collecting red potatoes

Flattop Mountain

Friday was a good day. Kenny was supposed to be home from work. He's technically supposed to have every other Friday off, but he very rarely gets to take that. And when he does, he goes fishing :) but that's besides the point. So anyway, he at least came home early. I wanted to go camping or something crazy like that, but we settled on a hike instead. I've been wanting to hike flattop mountain for quite a while, but I had heard it was a little too hard for little legs. But we weren't going to do the whole mountain, I just wanted to get to the blueberries. I'd never just hiked a mountain and picked blueberries that grew wild before, so I was excited about it. We packed a backpack with diapers, snacks, and water and headed out. Turns out, it's a lot colder up there than it is down here in Anchorage. It was also raining there off and on. But despite the cold, wind, and rain, we didn't let it set us back :). The berries were picked pretty clean (as we had suspected) but it was still a lot of fun. The view was absolutely gorgeous, and the kids did awesome. I carried Kelsey in the baby carrier and Kenny carried Madison on his shoulders, and wore the backpack. Going up was a lot more fun than going down. More crying, falling, and the cold was catching up with us. But we made it and everyone was glad we went.  

 

These trees were so cool looking. They were all growing out in crazy different directions. On the way back down they made for some nice shelter where we stopped to eat sandwiches and take a break.

 

When we got up here I broke out into song from Sound of Music..."Climb every mountain!!..." I just can't get over how beautiful it is here. I LOVE these massive mountains.

 

 

 

 

Our massive load of blueberries :) Had it been warmer we would've stayed longer and picked more.

 

I love this picture because when I stare at it long enough, it's hard to tell where the sky ends and the water begins.

 

Jeff and Kerri's Wedding!!

Last Thursday, August 16th, Kelsey and I flew out at 5 a.m. to go to Utah!! After 2 plane changes and 8-9 hours of travel time, we finally made it to SLC. My mom and Sarah were there to pick us up. It was such a FUN vacation for me! I only had one easy baby to worry about, so it was great to be able to visit when I wanted and really enjoy the trip. I was sad that Kenny and our kids couldn't come along this time, because I know they would've had fun too. But it was so nice to get away for a while and spend time with my family, especially my sisters, who I haven't seen in a really long time. Half of us were there on Thursday, and the other half showed up on Friday.

Also on Friday I drove up to Farmington and stopped at Jeni and Eric's house. I met up with the majority of Kenny's family there as they were all headed to Lagoon for the day for the Weston Family Reunion. I loved seeing all of them too, and wish we would've all had more time together.

 

The sealing, luncheon, and reception were all on Saturday. Weddings are always kind of a whirlwind, but I loved being there to be a part of it all. This trip was so good for me because I have really been missing family. My siblings and cousins are my best examples and closest friends, so it was so good for my spirit to spend time with them and catch up on each other's lives. I love going back and seeing old friends, too. Orem, Utah holds some of my fondest memories because that's where all of my high school days were spent and I just loved that time of my life.

 

I really appreciated Kenny and how he took care of everything while I was gone. He fed them well, did the girls' hair, and even took them to the zoo :). It was a great weekend for them to spend with their dad. 

 

 My mom did an incredible job with all of our outfits! When we got there she handed each of us a big bag full of clothes for our whole family, dressed from head to toe! Of course, she MADE all of our skirts, belts, bracelets, and matching dresses for all the granddaughters. She's amazing, and everybody commented on our outfits, which made me glad that people noticed her hard work. She did such a great job!

 

We all crashed at Kim and Caleb's beautiful basement apartment for the weekend. I felt so bad for them as they had only moved in about a week ago and are not even fully unpacked! But they were so nice to let us all bombard them. Even though it was a tight squeeze, we loved all being under the same roof and spending that short amount of time together.

 

I neglected to bring my camera, but I took some of the pictures from my mom's.

 

Eliza (Kim and Caleb's baby girl) and Kelsey meeting for the first time. They are only about a week apart!

My brothers, Jeff and Tim wrestling the night before the wedding. Isn't this what brothers always do when they get together? They are 4 years apart, so growing up Jeff always had the advantage. But now that they're both big and grown, the competition is even more fierce :).

Starting at the front and going clockwise: Camille, Laura, Steph, Kim, me, Sarah. Painting our nails for the wedding day. We were joking about how it would be if we were the ones throwing each other around and wrestling on the ground for fun. It just is so contrary to our nature that it was funny to think about slamming each other into the floor and such, just for fun :)

Waiting for them to come out of the temple. Back row L to R: Me with Kels, Steph with Dean, Camille with Millie, Leighton, Kim with Eliza. Front row: Laura holding Eva, Sarah, Tim. The 3 singles did a great job babysitting all our kids while we were in the sealing. What would we do without them??

Poor little Kelsey was teething and not liking it. Not only was she constantly soaking her dress with drool, but they hurt too! She had one tooth when we got there, and 2 by the time we came home :).

Me, Kim, and Camille with our baby girls. This is so fun to me! Our girls are going to be such close, fun cousins! They're all within 2 months of each other.

The happy couple finally wedded! I love these two and know they are going to great things and be very happy together. Welcome to the family, Kerri!!

The luncheon was at the Wilkinson Center at BYU. It was a lot of fun, and one of my favorite parts was when my mom and dad sang, "Marriage Lullaby". It was written by my uncle Tim--he and my dad were the best of brothers. He has passed away, but left an amazing legacy in his life, including that of beautiful music.

All of us standing up on the side trying to keep our babies happy and quiet :). It's so fun mothering at the same time and stage as my sisters. I love it!

I flew back Sunday night, getting in at 1 a.m. The poor kids were exhausted. Kenny had to get them out of bed of course, but I was SOO glad to see them! I really, really missed my little monkeys :).

 

Summer Days

Every once in a while I will get around to getting the pictures off my phone and onto my computer. Then I do a big photo dump in one blog post :). So here's some of the things that fill up our summer days. Feeding ducks and geese old bread at Cheney Lake. The walk around the lake afterward wore our squishy-cheeked baby right out. Notice: I caught Tyler's reaction when the duck ate it right out of his hand.

It rains a lot here. So we just wait till the rain stops, then go play in the puddles and dig for worms in our backyard.

Below: We finally made it in to see where Kenny works! We had never been inside to see his office, until last Friday. He's been working late quite a bit and this particular day we were anxious to see him and enjoy the nice weather with him. So I texted him and said that I was going to pick up a pizza and we were coming down to meet him for dinner. Sounds simple, but it wasn't. We got the pizza for really cheap using a groupon deal and I thought it was great, until I finally opened the box when we were now far away from Domino's and realized they gave us the wrong order!! I was on hold, on the phone with them complaining about it when I got rear-ended downtown. It was just a fender-bender, but it set us back in time even more. Anyway, Kenny and I had to laugh at how the evening had turned out. But it was fun to visit him and see where he works.

It will hit me at random times that I have 4 children. Like when I'm folding laundry and I have 6 piles for 6 different people! Or when we are hogging all 4 swings at the park. And I think, "Where did all these beauties come from? When did that happen?"

The swing put this sweet babe right to sleep.

We go on lots of walks around the neighborhood.

Yes, she's riding in her princess dress. She wouldn't put on her helmet because she "didn't want to mess up her pretty braids" but I told her since it was pink and purple it matched her dress. So she obliged.

We are trying to just soak up all the sunshine we can. We decided to take off the month of August from school for Ty because it just causes me too much anxiety that if it actually is sunny and warm outside, we were inside hittin the books. I didn't like to have to choose, so it just made sense to take a break. Other than some allergies and sicknesses that a few of us are dealing with, life is going well. I was just saying the other day how blessed we were that nobody had been sick in so long. That weekend, Madison was running a fever and threw up, and Tyler and I got some nasty colds. Lesson learned: NEVER SAY THAT. :) It sure makes me appreciate when everyone is healthy as I realize how being sick just causes so many interruptions to the normal flow of life. But all is well.

Goose Lake

I can count on one hand the number of times that we have broken 70 degrees here this summer. This was one of those days and we didn't want it to go to waste. We met up with my cousin, Carmin and her son, David at Goose Lake Park. It reminded me so much of the fun man-made lake/beach we had in walking distance of our house in Illinois. Oh, we miss that place! This was the one and only time we've pulled out our swimming suits. Okay, "we" didn't, but the kids did. I hate getting in freezing water. But these poor Alaskan children. They have no idea that summer swimming shouldn't coincide with goosebumps and shivering. Little do they know :). We had a wonderful afternoon!!

Some Things Never Change

That boy got bigger, but so did the fish.

Wildflowers of AK

One thing I can never get enough of is how beautiful it is here. There are so many different kinds of vegetation that just grows spontaneously. I love all the flowers. This first one is a forget-me-not, the state flower of Alaska. I love that it reminds me of one of my favorite talks!

Wrapping Up (Finally)

Jeni salmon fishimg



Grandpa's ipad = great entertainment

Just a few more pictures I liked from our fun time with family. We love visitors! Anyone want to come vacation in Alaska?? We will watch your kids while you tour around...yes, I'm resorting to bribery now. :)