Utah Trip Part 1

We recently went to Utah for my nephew's baptism. It was a great opportunity to see family. Half of Uriah's family came out, and my parents drove in from Colorado. The first thing we did was go to temple square. Isabelle LOVED it. We live 2 blocks from the Anchorage temple. So excitingly we get to see the temple every time we go to church. It's a mini temple on the church parking lot. So Isabelle was excited to see a temple so BIG! We were also having fun teaching her that there are many temples around.

Look closely. If you understand this picture, than you get our humor. I couldn't resist taking a picture of it!

While walking through temple square you always run into the sister missionaries ready to talk to you. It's funny how people react when you say you are from Alaska. It's almost as good as saying you're from Mars with how interested and surprised people seem.

We had a tour of the new conference center. (I didn't know that you could walk in and they had people ready to give you tours at a moment's notice.) While we were in there, Isabelle was getting restless so I let her walk away from the group and as we were walking up the isle, another tour guide started talking to Isabelle about how he loved her curly hair. He asked her if she would share her hair with him. Which Isabelle responded, "No! It doesn't come off!" I love how smart 3 year olds can be!

We of course had to take pictures of Abinadi with Abinadi, and Uriah Lehi with the Lehi. It was funny to me how no one in Utah was surprised that his name is Abinadi, but they were surprised that we don't call him by a nick name. I wanted him to grow up knowing and being proud of his name! I have no problem with friends and family giving him a nick name. It took a lot of prayers, and guidance by the spirit to finally admit that that is what his name should be, and when I finally came to that decisions I knew that that is what he should be called! And when you know him, you know that he is a strong willed child, ready to take on such a strong and difficult name! So we bought a small print of the picture to hang up in his room, thanks for that suggestion Aunt Heather.

Well that is the first instalment...keep tuned for more about our trip to the zoo next! We love and miss you all!!!

My Baby's Walking!

MY BABY'S WALKING!...and if you're a Mom you know what tone I am saying that in. One just oozing with pride but with a tinge of sadness as you realize that your baby is growing up.

Only in Alaska...

Recently we had the opportunity of eating moose. I truthfully have to say that it was good. And I am a person who can’t stand the taste of deer. I think it is too gamey and can barely stomach it even if it is smothered in sauce.

The funny part is how we came by the moose… In Alaska, non-profit organizations sign up to take turns and help “dispose” of wild animals like moose after they are found dead from a traffic incident or having to be killed for public safety. So our ward was called in for a moose that was killed by a car. All the men met up and “disposed” of the moose, which is now in several different freezers around the ward. We even had a brunch to eat up some of the moose. The funny part was all the men were clamoring to get in on the action of the next moose. So I can truthfully say that so far Alaska is the only place that I know of in the U.S. where it is socially acceptable to eat road kill! And not to just eat it, but to fight for who gets dibs on the next poor animal!

I don’t know about you, but that just cracks me up.

Monday Morning Photo Shoot

Well...we just got back from vacationing with family and I am trying to find time to write about that...and Abinadi started taking his first steps a couple days ago so I need to write a post about that too...but today is Monday and our impromptu photo shoot was too exciting not to post right away!

All from our back porch! They hung around our street for an hour or so snacking on some good food! They say anything's fair game for a moose if it's not fenced in. You can even be fined on base $300 for feeding a moose if you leave out a Jack-o-lantern and they make a snack of it. I'm curious too see if they ate the Jack-o-lanterns down the street.

Any Suggestions?

So this year for Halloween, we are trying to be smart. We are trying to be more economical all together as a family and finally get ourselves out of debt. So buying Halloween costumes every year doesn’t save money. I have decided to make Halloween a creativity game! We look all over the house for ideas of different things we want to be, and try to come up with different ideas of things we have to make different costumes, like unused curtains as dresses.
Isabelle has her heart set on being Cinderella this year. She has never seen the movie but thinks all the pictures of Cinderella are just Gorgeous! We found a skirt of mine that we are turning into a Cinderella dress. I have the basics of it made all with things that we already have. But I am stuck, so I am asking for any suggestions. I think the back looks good, but the front needs something and for the life of me I can’t make up my mind as to what I should add. So I thought I would get the opinions from others. Please let me know what you think or any ideas you might have!

Would adding a crown and jewelry be enough? I don’t have any but I was going to try to come up with a way to make those too. If you have any ideas for those let me know. Do I need larger ribbons, jewels, a sash? What are your thoughts? Oh and I don’t want to do anything too damaging to the skirt, I do plan on wearing it again, so no bedazzling like my husband suggested. Hee Hee!

Oh, yeah...Abinadi is probably going to be a Polar Bear; we found a fuzzy one piece outfit that I am going to alter for him.

Please, Please, Please, leave comments and let me know what you think! I am in a creativity slump with this dress and Halloween is slowly creeping up!