Back to blogging!

I have a lot of catching up to do but for anyone still following us and eager to see pictures I am working on it. Stay tuned. The pictures are now mostly all downloaded and much more accessible for me to put here on the blog. It is good to be back!

Camping in the Abajo Mountains

 

This nice campground is just 5 minutes from our house. We decided it was a safe distance to try camping with our kids. It was a really spontaneous decision to go. We quickly packed up the van on Friday night. Grabbed our tent and a few things to eat and set off for our first camping adventure with children. Micali and Eli both did great and thought camping was pretty cool. They especially liked the HUGE tent that we bought. They had plenty of room to run and play.
We forgot the pump for the air mattress and the ground was pretty uneven with just sleeping bags but, we all did manage to get a little bit of sleep.

Back to School 2009

 

Luke just finished his first week of school. Along with that comes a lot of time behind books and papers. Micali stole his book from him today and decided to tell him all about it. This year he is teaching an AP Literature and Composition class and their first novel is Tale of Two Cities. This is the one Micali is sure she knows more about then him!
So far all is well here in Buckaroo country. Luke has succesfully completed 3 days of coaching football. You should ask him how much background knowledge he has of this sport. Remember he is a wrestler. As I am currently blogging this he is digesting: playbooks, practice drills, and football vocabulary terms. I am proud of my "Coach" for being so willing to help out where he can!
Despite our aversion to watching much TV or sports we may just have to buy a TV and get a few channels to become better acquainted with Football. Besides football they are trying to get him to coach baseball in the spring. Oh help us! He has already told them "no" but only time will tell.

Before leaving Alaska....

Before leaving Alaska we did a lot of fun things together. We spent some time at the park, drove to the "end" of the road to look for bears, took a stop by Kenai Landing, and finally on the way to the airport stopped in to see the animals at the wildlife place near portage glacier. I tried to soak in all the beauty on my last time through the most beautiful area I have ever seen. It was sad to leave and exciting also to think of what else is ahead.
The plane ride by myself with the two kids went pretty good. I wouldn't want to do it again but there were kind people who gave me a hand and I know all the people praying for me that day made it that much more doable. Luke was able to get a pass to help us through security which was AWESOME. Micali wasn't NOT at all excited about them taking her backpack, purse or shoes. We got through security as they were calling for those who need assitance to board so our goodbye lasted all of 5 seconds as wisked us away as soon as we showed up. I mostly held it together, with only a few tears down the jetway. Micali was afraid she was falling when we took off and laid here head in my lap asking me to hold her. She promptly fell asleep for the first hour. Too bad it is a 5 hour flight. My parents were so AWESOME to meet us in Minneapolis to save me from having to switch planes. So for the last two weeks now we have been enjoying family time in Kansas. But we are TOTALLY missing our daddy!!

 

 

 

Let's go FLY a KITE...........

 

Daddy was so excited to find a cool kite for Micali to learn to fly. We have loved spending lots of quality time with him before we leave him for 5 weeks. This morning after we ran some errands in town we decided to make a stop at the beach and see if we could make this kite fly. We got it up in the air a couple time but never for very long. Luke and I both forgot our kite flying skills from our younger years. Micali loved it all the same and Eli once again enjoyed crawling on the beach. As we were leaving we got some pointers from an old man who was evidently keeping a close eye on us. Tomorrow we shall try again!

This little man loves his hat!

 

 

Eli fell in love with this hat fast. He found it at a friends garage sale and instantly had it on his head. He seems to know just how cute he looks in it too.
I also got these cute church clothes from that friend. Eli, I must say, looked ADORABLE in them.

Packing up and moving out!

 

Fun Family Friday---Feasting on FRENCH FRIES!

 

 

Friday night Luke went out late to get a fishing license for a 3:00AM trip on the river. I was craving some french fries so I asked for a special stop by McDonalds for fries and a hot fudge sundae. On his way home, he spotted a momma moose and her NEW NEW twins just a couple houses down. He came in and got me and we walked down to see them. Meanwhile, Micali woke up while we were outside and was very sad and crying when we walked in. We took her out to see the baby moose too and her tears stopped instantly. After some great pictures and a dog scaring the moose away we came back inside.
Micali very quickly spotted the french fries and ice cream so we decided to spoil her a little and let her join in the fun. She was hilarious that night too. I took pictures to document just how tough Daddy RULES with an Iron Fist.
While I was taking pictures of the ice cream and french fry feast I decided to take a picture of the time on the microwave. Micali thought I was taking a picture of the fish tank right underneath the microwave. She looked over and said, "Hey, smile fishies!" We had a good laugh and put Micali back to bed about 11:00PM. We love these little oppurtunities to make great memories!

Miss Priss!

 

Micali found lots of old favorites while I was sorting through things last week. These are some pictures I caught on two separate days last week. She just comes prancing in and when I get out the camera she poses, says cheese and then says thank you mommy. Then she is off to find the next sweet looking outfit!

More foodstorage fun. (EDITTED)

 

It has been awhile since I got on to blog so today I just decided I needed to put some pictures on here and write more about them when I get around to it. This collage shows out lunch from a few weeks ago. Eli, Micali, and Luke have become huge fans of the bread recipe I have been using lately. It makes amazing bread, cinnamon rolls, and hamburger buns. I can't seem to keep up with the demands. I love seeing the kids and Luke get so excited over a fresh warm loaf. (for the recipe go to everydayfoodstorage.net and look under Wheat Bread and she even has a Youtube video with a how-to demonstartion)

In other news-----we are staying busy and getting ready for our move. We are getting rid of MANY MANY things and it actually feels good. We are enjoying our last summer here for now and are looking forward to our next adventure in Monticello!