Another Wild and Crazy Summer

Every year our summers are full of crazy adventures and this year has been no different! We sadly had to say good-bye to Alaska at the beginning of July, but were happy that we got to come home for a few weeks to visit family and friends and experience a little bit of Utah summer (a rare thing for us:)). We did a good job of fitting in all our favorite summer activities - swimming, shaved ice, sidewalk chalk and soccer games. When we couldn't handle being away from Reno anymore we jumped in our car and drove to Washington to live out the rest of our summer in the luxurious Travelodge. While we love living out of suitcases and doing dishes in the bathroom sink (ha!), we will be happy when September finally comes and we can all be back in Utah together as a family.

Good-bye Alaska! We loved the time we spent in Alaska and are so grateful for the opportunity we had to live there, even if it was for a short time. There are many things that we will miss...



We will miss looking out our window at 10:30 at night and seeing it this light outside...
We will miss all the beautiful rivers and trails and playing by the water in our underwear trying to catch fish...
We will miss eating pizza at the "Moose's Tooth", Oh the Lu-Wow and apricot pizzas, how I will miss you!!!

We will miss the beautiful mountains, glaciers and other scenery we were able to experience...

Marli and Reno loading up the car the night before he left. Reno was so set on not missing any work that he left early Sunday morning, drove through the night for 2 days to get to Washington on Tuesday.

4th of July - Marli, Laney and I took the red-eye flight to be home in time to surprise my family on the 4th of July. I hadn't been home for the 4th in five years so it was so much fun.

Laney loved all the yummy food from the BBQ

Marli loved playing with all her cousins that she missed so much!

It wouldn't be the 4th of July without the annual "freeze-off" homemade ice cream contest. My favorite was the snickerdoodle ice cream with a little of Dad's famous vanilla on top:)
All the kids were watching a movie on my parents bed while the fireworks show was being set up.

Marli and Laney didn't quite make it long enough to see the fireworks - it had been a long day!

Girls Night Out! + Dad - almost all of my sisters were in town when I was there so we went to Cheesecake Factory for a little girls night out. But we didn't want my dad to miss out on the fun so we invited him too.

Besides being all together, the best part was we all ordered different kinds of cheesecake then did the take-a-bite-and-pass routine. My favorite is still the Godiva:)

Summer Fun - Marli and Laney were both so happy to be back at their "toy room house".


Since we hadn't even seen a swimming pool in Alaska, Marli was a little nervous about jumping right into the water, but she quickly warmed up to the idea.

Marli was SO excited to get home and play with her friends.

Even Grandma came back to Utah to play with us

My little brother had his final soccer game at BYU so here is a picture with him and his biggest fans

Reno here we come!- Luckily my sister and her family were driving to Oregon the same day we were so we could caravan together and I could have some help along the way.

Home sweet travelodge? These are our lovely living conditions for the next few weeks - Only because we love Reno so much and can't stand being away from him for too long.

The girls are so, so, so happy to see their daddy again!

more adventures from up north

We have been busy trying to see as much of Alaska as we can in this short time we are here. Reno is busy working all week so Sundays are the only day we can go on family outings, but luckily we have lots of friends to go explore with during the rest of the week.

For Father's Day we went on a glacier cruise. It was unbelievable. This is just one of the many glaciers we saw. I love their bright blue color. We also some whales and other cool wildlife.


This was our view on the way to the cruise. You know its a good drive when there are "scenic photo" stops you can pull off to every half mile.
These were some rescued bears that we saw at the Wildlife conservation center a few weeks ago.

One of my favorite animals we have seen here are the bald eagles. Something about seeing them in the wild is so amazing to me!




One more reason why I love my jogging stroller - my girls will fall asleep in here on almost every walk longer than 15 min. (it also helps when I bring their blankies, and thumper of course:))
Marli found this heart rock on our walk the other day. There was even a small earthquake while we were on our walk that day - so crazy!
The other night Reno and I were able to put the kids to bed and sneak out for dinner. (thanks Thayne). Oh and this picture was taken at MIDNIGHT! You have to love the Alaskan daylight!
Last weekend we all walked in the Alaska Walk for Breast Cancer. It was a 5 mile walk and all the kids did so good! We made it the whole way without any major fits or breakdowns. Thanks to dvd players and iphones:)
For some reason Marli and Laney have been so accident prone this summer! It seems like it has been one cut, bump or bruise after another! Poor Laney fell and sliced her lip on our dresser drawer and earned us a trip to the ER. Luckily they super-glued it shut instead of stitches. She was getting restless while waiting for the doctor so I handed her a box of tissues and they kept her entertained.
We also went to the Alaska museum which had an awesome kids section where we stood inside this giant bubble.
Yay for days when Reno is with us! These two girls (mostly Laney) keep me running in circles all day and I am so happy when Reno is around to help keep an eye on them.

Picture Time

My friend Stephanie took some pictures of the girls before we left for Alaska. I feel like they have already changed so much and these were only like 2 months ago! These were Laney's 1 year pics and Marli's 3 year pics and I am so happy with the way they turned out.







Reality check - Just so you realize that getting these two to smile, let alone at the same time, was no easy task - This was the last picture of the day. It really made me laugh because by this time there was no face we could pull or song we could sing that would get these girls to crack a smile. Thanks Steph for the beautiful pictures and most of all for all your patience:)

Alaska

This summer we will be living in Alaska. We have only been here a few weeks, but quickly realized this will not be like any of our summers in the past. Reason #1 - The warmest it has been here is 58 degrees. Reason #2 - We can't go out on a walk without having a little anxiety that we may run into a bear or a moose. Reason #3 - We have yet to even see a pool (indoor or out) let alone get in one. I didn't even bring swimsuits or sunscreen. Reason #4 - The meat in our freezer consists of salmon, halibut, and moosedogs. Tan or no tan, we are happy to be here and are excited to see what memories we will make together as a family this year.

This is the window in our apartment. Marli and Laney love to wave to Reno as he leaves every day. The rest of the day they entertain themselves by watching all the people walking their dogs go by. Ok, so life isn't too exciting around here yet.


Discovering Alaska doesn't come without its fair share of bumps and bruises - The first hour we were here, Laney fell and hit her eye on the corner and gave herself a black eye and the next week Marli fell at the playground and had this instant goose-egg on her forehead. It was so scary and so big! Marli was very brave and hardly even cried until I mentioned that we should probably put some ice on it. Luckily the bump actually was gone by the next morning (without any ice) and the bruise is slowly healing. I think Reno is getting nervous about leaving me alone with the kids anymore.
(Laney has no pants on because I had just caught her playing in the toilet water and her pants were soaked! This girl is always getting into something)



Dinner goal - Nothing like taking your kids out to eat at 10pm. We will do anything for a free night out:)

Mother's Day - Sunday's are especially cherished this time of year because its the only day we get to spend with Reno. We had a great day just hanging out as a family. Reno even let me sneak in a nap while he and Marli went "grocery shopping" and had "dance class". Marli is queen of making up games and imaginative play these days.


We have some great trails by our apartment and have had fun going on walks and exploring the woods around us. We are so lucky to have so many fun friends to play with out here.



Laney's Birthday - Laney officially turned one last week and actually liked her birthday cake this time! I swear it was just yesterday that Reno was racing through the airport to make it to the hospital before she was born. Laney was the sweetest, most calm baby and all that changed when she started to crawl. She is still sweet, but no longer calm:) She is all over the place and into everything! (Hence the chipped tooth and black eye) Her stubborn, fiesty personality comes out more every day, I guess she is just trying to keep up with her older sister. Her latest tricks are playing peek-a-boo and blowing kisses. She still has her signature smile that she will flash at anyone who will look her way, and knows how to use it to get pretty much anything she wants from her daddy. Happy birthday Laney, we love you!