Fall in Fairbanks...

Halloween Town at Pioneer Park

Emily makes 3.8 Honor Roll first quarter!

(Caleb did too, but no picture)

Emily danced in the production of The Little Match Girl

She was a "Soldier"...

A member of "The Choir Children"...

and "Breeze"

A piece of Emily's artwork was selected for display at the mayors office.

This is Emily with the Asst. Superintendent Roxa Hawkins and Mayor Luke Hopkins

Caleb and Cooper.

Shirt and tie on game days!

So handsome!

Just came off a shift. Caleb is playing JV this year, but they have one roster, 

so JV can be called to play Varsity on any given day.

Emily's touch...

She and I think SOOOO much alike!

Our actual tree...

Emily and her friends Kendra and Kara helped me bake a bazillion cookies,

then made this gingerbread train together.

After cookie baking, we went to the Carlson Center to view the gingerbread competition.

This one was my favorite... Hagrid's house.

But this was the winner... Gamma's Bakery... it was VERY impressive!

YES! I love living here!

Samarah, Emily, Laura, Katie... These girls all dance together.

We went out to eat at the Food Factory after their last show of Little Match Girl.

OK, hopefully the next blog won't take me months to get out.

I love you all!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

August and September

Emily and I at the Tanana Valley State Fair! 

Fun times :)

Our sweet Peanut is gone :( 

We last saw her August 17th

We hope she is ok or in kitty heaven.

Emily's Grizzly costume is complete.

Bring on the hockey games!

Emily and Madison at Walmart at midnight to buy

Hunger Games.  Crazy girls!!

Caleb's first day of High School - Go Wolfpack!

Emily's first day of Middle School - Go Eagles!

Crazy hair after dance!

Her dance company will be performing Little Match Girl in December.

Shall I reserve anyone some tickets??

Valdez (in the camper)

Waterfall just outside of Valdez

Life is pretty busy around here with school starting, hockey for Caleb, dance for Emily and house building for dad.  

That leaves everything else for mom - go figure!

I did complete my second Equinox marathon and did GREAT!

I beat last years time by 30 minutes and my knee pain was considerably less.

It's Sunday now, and my knees are definitely suggesting that we NEVER do that again!!

This is a picture I took at 17 mile

Hope you are all well...  LOVE YOU!

Tony's Wedding and other stuff

I was fortunate enough to sneak away from my family for 4 days to attend Tony and Tammi's wedding.  I flew into Chicago, Stayed with Nana, Papa and Aunt Lila in Indianapolis, and the wedding was in South Haven, Michigan. So, that means 3 states in 4 days!  What an adventure! :)

Horse and Buggy...

We saw these in Nappanee, Indiana where we attended the 50th Anniversary 

Amish Acres Arts and Crafts Festival.

The Dome of Notre Dame

We self-toured the campus... very cool!

Inside the dome looking up

The Gratto

Aunt Lila and me :)

We also got chocolate... YUM!

And visited the Football Hall of Fame.

This is my favorite picture during the wedding!  Tony and Tammi originally wanted the wedding to take place on the beach of Lake Michigan, but an unexpected storm derailed those plans. Fortunately, Len (and Tammi's brother, I think) managed to find a wonderful family willing to give up their porch and living room for the ceremony.  It was absolutely beautiful :)

Cutting the cake

Yes, they shoved the cake into each others' faces!  

This is how they got cleaned up.

The cousins... we're missing a few :(

I have several wedding videos, but am having trouble uploading them. 

I'll keep working on it and have them up soon, hopefully.

So, the drive from the Time Share to the airport was not short.  Aunt Lila and I did not want mom and dad to have to make that drive three different times so we figured out a way to take the train and the Blue Line to the airport.  After arriving at Millenium Station, I walked two blocks to the blue line.  This was my view.  Chicago is SOOO big.  I wished I could have stayed longer and looked around.  

It was an amazing adventure.

I hoped to buy a hot dog from a vender in Chicago, but didn't find one in the few minutes I was there.  

I settled for this Chicago Style dog at the airport.  It was good enough for me :)

Congratulation Tony and Tammi!

Best wishes and love to both of you and your new family together.

Championship Game: Cardinals vs. Dodgers

Caleb is up to bat and hit a great double to center field, bringing in two runs.

The Cards were down 12-4 and had an amazing comeback, 

but still ended up losing 12-10.

Nice job, Cardinals.  Good Season :)

The Team...

Caleb is front and center, Rodd is in the back row.

2012 Golden Days Parade

Yep... it was raining.

Just Em and I went with friends.

Caleb's Birthday Party #14

First... Knee Hockey tournament

Then Food

Wyatt, Caleb, Cole, Gabe, Calvon, Tayllor, Marcus

Then Cake

Yes, that is 1 2+2 = 14 :)

Then trampoline basketball

Then wii golf

7 big, stinky boys, 4 stayed the night.

It was lots of fun.

Emily escaped to Jordan's house for a sleepover!

Summer 2012

Our Friends' wedding this summer on solstice.

Cassie and Eric

LOVED the cake topper!!

The boys at Joe's Crab Shack

Colorado Springs Hockey Selects

Ethan, Calvon, Gabe and Caleb

Elitch Gardens, Denver Colorado

Matthew, Dylan, Gabe, Caleb

4th of July at the DuPont's hacienda

Me, Laura, Tracy, and Cassie (the new bride)

The drillers strike oil!!! I mean water!

Much more precious than oil at this point :)

Water was reached at 405ft

10gal.per min. (which is good)

Traces of iron (which is normal)

No official water tests done yet

More water pictures.  Look at that... yummy :)

Yes, it's true... Caleb got his driver's permit!

July 18, 2012   10:00 am

There were at least 5 or 6 other young and old people taking their tests while we were there and they all went home empty handed!  Way to go, Bub!

He practiced driving with mom a little bit, right after getting it, in the parking lot of the high school.

Hours later he's driving ALL OVER TOWN including the EXPRESSWAY with dad... UGH!

P.S. We had a BBQ on his b-day, but his official "party" will be Sunday the 22nd.

More pics on that later

He says "Thank You" for all the gifts he received.

Love you all!!!

Here's my dress for Dancing With The Fairbanks Stars.

We perform Friday, Aug. 10th

More pics on this later :)

Emily's new messenger bag...

THANKS, NANA and PAPA!!

(Drama queen)

We are watching Ringo (right) for a few days while his family is fishing and in Minnesota.

They have three holes started and are certain there is buried treasure in there somewhere!

We went to the dog park, too.  Sooooooo many dogs! Crazy :)