Thanksgiving 2011

The last 6 years of holidays, while living in Alaska, have been spent either at our house or Brandon's sister's house, excluding Easter two years ago when we were in Hawaii and last year when we were in Montana for Thanksgiving .  This year for Thanksgiving we ventured to Big Lake, AK where Brandon's cousin Christy lives with her husband Chancy and their 3 daughters.


~We hit the road about 11:30am.  The road conditions were great and the weather was clear until we started getting closer to Big Lake, at which time it started to snow, but the roads were still decent.  The drive took us about 6 hours with all of our stops.

A rainbow around the sun

The dogs hated being in their cage and whined most of the trip down and back

Tanner did awesome on this road trip!

~ The feast on Thanksgiving day was spectacular.  Christy and Chancy did an awesome job in the preparation.  My favorite sides were the cranberries and the dressing with moose sausage in it.  In my opinion the Turkey was cooked to perfection! It was so much fun spending the day with family we don't get to see very often.  I'm so thankful for all the family we have in Alaska. 

Our gorgeous turkey

A little bit of everything

Some after dinner wrestling

3rd-cousins in the tub

 ~ Friday we got out for a bit and played in the snow since the temps in Big Lake hovered around zero instead of -20 and colder, which is what we're used to in the Fairbanks area.

Getting ready to make a sled trail down the hill

Zhart Family

Cuddling and watching a movie after playing outdoors and drinking hot cocoa

Maggie and Duckie enjoying the wood heat

~ We had great weather and great roads all the way home.  We got some awesome shots of Denali on our way home.  We have always found Denali to be a bit allusive, hiding behind clouds and snow. 

~We saw a total of 15 moose on this trip and didn't even get a picture of one them!
~Tanner LOVED playing with his third cousins who are right around his age.
~I was so thankful for Jess rubbing my feet!
~Crocheting/knitting while catching up with Christy was so much fun.
~Brandon enjoyed getting firewood with Chancy.
~Learning how to play spades until 12am was a blast.

A very memorable Thanksgiving for sure!

Birthday Invites

I've made and ordered Tanner's birthday invitations. Not planning on too many people showing up since a lot of Tanner's friends will be out of town due to the holiday's, but we're going to make the most of it!

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

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Partying Kid Style

We had two birthday parties to attend this weekend.  Friday evening was Spencer's party. He had a Fire Truck themed party.  Sunday evening was Simon's birthday party. It was held at McDonald's.  Both parties were a lot of fun.  Tanner partied like a rock-star!  Lots of running, playing, screaming, stuffing himself with yummy food, eating cake!   

Partying kid style is so much more fun than partying like an adult! :)

 ~SPENCER'S PARTY~

Brandon and Tanner coloring some fire trucks

Tanner taking a cruise in the fire truck

Slowed down to give momma a snuggle

Spencer pinning the ladder on the fire truck

2 year old Spencer with his parents and brother Sean

Spencer with his loot and lots of kiddos checking out the loot

~SIMON'S PARTY~

5 year old Birthday Boy

Ready for Happy Meals
 

Spencer and Tanner started off shaking each others hands and ended up just holding them for a while

Spencer and Tanner having quite the treat for dinner

Simon, his momma Verna and his cake... with onlookers

Art with Friends

Susan and her boys came over to play today. I made some salt dough to put hand prints in. First I had issues with the dough wanting to stick together, so I added a bit more water. Then I was supposed to kneed it for 15-20 minutes... it was too stiff for that to happen after adding the water, so we ended up just rolling it out and cutting circles for little hands to make impressions. My kid wouldn't press his hand into the dough, Susan's kids were a little more cooperative. We baked the dough for about 25 minutes, though it probably could have used another 10-15 more. We needed time for the "hand-prints" to cool before painting, though, so they came out a tad early.    The boys had a great time painting. It ended up being a fun project and will make for some great gifts!

The boys very contentedly painting.

Sean

Spencer

Tanner

This is how we knew Tanner was done..Oh and he got down from the table and walked away!

Pregnancy Update *11/22/11*

11/22/11 ~ We had our 32 week appointment today with a doctor that we've actually seen before.  Our next appointment will be in 3 weeks with another doctor that we've also seen.  Maybe at this point I've seen them all... not that any of them ever recognize me.
The appointment itself was uneventful, which at this stage is a good thing.  I've gained a total of 20.2 pounds to date.  The doctor told me that I'm right on track as far as measurements, blood pressure, and baby's heart rate. 

I've started to feel more aches and pains in joints. I am still trying to walk most days of the week, though I've gone from 40+ minutes down to 20 minutes or so.  I tell myself at least I'm still moving.  I was doing a prenatal yoga DVD but it had too many squats in it that also caused me too  much pain! haha
Baby is very active.  In the evenings, as I'm winding down for the day. He likes to kick and roll around.  I have tried to get a little video of it, but it's hard to really see the movement.  I'll keep trying though.  My distorted looking belly always cracks me up. 

 

30 Weeks

32 Weeks