Phone trial run

It occurred to me that maybe "there's an app for that" and sure enough, there is. I quit blogging partially due to Facebook and partially due to my impatience for looking through 4,001 pictures of the same thing and trying to pick the best one (that's Doug's photography style).

So, I thought I'd see if this really works.

2013

Rather than make any sad attempt at a catch-up, I’ll begin with January.  We partied with friends for New Year’s and Doug played photographer:

This is what it looks like if you run around with a sparkler.

Our friend Ryan lit a fire using a Roman candle.

Every year in February we go watch the beginning of the Tustamena 200 dog sled race.

The kids found a hill of snow created by a plow and turned it into a slide.This picture makes me laugh because it looks like Cameron is a giant.Nolan was thrilled that one of the mushers gave him a high five.

Doug has been working 12 hour days most of the time with two jobs – and then there’s the commute of 45 minutes each way.  I became Primary President last August and it has kept me busy.

I love Alaska in the winter.  I went snowshoeing with the Cub Scouts two weeks ago and Doug gave me snowshoes for my birthday.  The kids ride the snow machines when they can and we love to go sledding.  We haven’t done much ice fishing this year with Doug gone so much.  Several of our snow machines need to be fixed, so we have been limited on what we can do with that.  We bought awesome tubes for sledding though, and we have had a lot of fun with those.  Doug hasn’t had much time for picture taking, so we’re lacking on some of those.  Here are some from my phone, some of which most people have seen on Facebook:

Cameron was horrified at the idea of potty training.

Nolan had a birthday.

He had cupcakes and ice cream for his party at the pool.

Brenden used the snow blower to clear the driveway.

The boys built a fort out of a huge box and insisted on sleeping in it.  There was only room for two – and barely that.

Doug made me a delicious and adorable dinner for my birthday.

We had Valentine’s Day.  Also with their lunch they had pretzels drizzled with pink colored white chocolate and red sprinkles.My lens was very dirty.

This little moose was spotted walking through the neighborhood.

Cameron loves head lamps.

I love my phone because I can take a picture wherever I am, whenever I want, but they aren’t easy to share that way and they don’t look as good as the ones from Doug’s camera.  I would share the pictures from Doug’s phone, but he has some kind of passcode that I don’t know.

So far 2013 has been great.  We’ve had a lot of fun and have avoided doing all sorts of things that need to be done.

Run for the River 2012

2012

2011

I purposely wore the same outfit as last year so I could compare my pictures.  I find it unfortunate that I think I looked better a year ago - a year in which I have worked out 5-6 days a week for anywhere between 1 and 3 hours a day and still gained 30 pounds.  Last year, I hauled Tiffany along with me.  This year, I met up with Charlotte, who "just needed to run a 10 mile training run anyway" so she decided last minute to Run for the River.  The rest of us aren't crazy and we did the 5K.  For a little while, I thought Whitney stood me up, but I found her after I wandered for 45 minutes, waiting for the race to start.  She is my boot camp instructor.  It was a good run, I was a bit disappointed, but it was still 2 minutes faster than last year.  I was on schedule to be 4 minutes faster than last year, but I had a side cramp and couldn't breathe.

One week until our triathlons and I just finally put my pedals on my bike.  I haven't ridden my road bike in 9 months or so.  I've only been to the pool once since the last triathlon.  Next Saturday might be rough...

Brenden and Nolan have been training.  They run on the treadmill, ride their bikes around all day, and I took them to the pool last week to make sure they can at least make it up and back in the pool (Nolan with a life vest).

Summer has been so much better than I expected.  Honestly, I was kind of dreading having everyone home, mostly for the mass destruction of the house.  It has been cleaner since they have been home than it was for the entire previous 9 months.  They have been very helpful.  Ahhhh the joys of slave labor.

This is how "northroaders," as we are called in Nikiski, grade their yard.  "Northroaders" is the Alaskan form of "redneck."

If the last days have plagues, the mosquito plague is most certainly in Alaska.  We are all covered in bites and can't stop itching!  I think there are just as many of them in our house as in the yard.  Nolan is having a great time catching them and sticking them into the mosquito zapper.  It doesn't get dark enough for the mosquitoes to actually go toward the light themselves, so the children direct them there.

If I finish my project that I started the summer we moved here next week, I might show you a picture.  You'd never think it would take me 4 years to finish, but it's almost done.  Makes me wonder what I have been doing with my last 3 summers...?

Mud Run in the Paper

Brenden and I made it to the front page of the local paper.  View it here.  The girl who wrote the article took my phone number and email address so she can talk to me about Brenden and Nolan's triathlon in two weeks.  Maybe they'll be in the paper again!

Mud Run

Brenden and I did the mud run today.  It was 3.6 miles and Brenden did awesome.  He was the only kid who ran the race!  The rest were all adults.

Doug calls the first series of pictures “Cut off and throw down.”

Double super powers!

Nolan waiting with my flowers for finishing.

Brenden and I won the award for the best entrance to the mud pit.

We won a canned ham because we “hammed” it up.  Brenden promptly opened it and my car smells like cat food.

Matt, Brenden’s best friend’s dad, came from the fire department to hose off the finishers.

Unfortunately, upon entry to the mud pit, we forgot to take off Brenden’s implants.  One was lost in the mud for about 10 minutes and they had to drain the mud pit so we could find it.  Ooops.

We’re still not sure if it works.

Brenden and I had a great time together!  We finished in 51:10 and we’re watching for ourselves to be in the paper tomorrow.