Last Saturday we made the trip of a lifetime.  Per my (Will's) desire we went to one of the main attractions of Alaska the town of Circle, Alaska.  It was an amazing drive 3 hours up and 3 hours back to see the town at the end of the Steese Hwy on the banks of the Yukon river.  This drive included the paved road ending at mile 65, hundreds of trucks and four-wheelers getting ready for the caribou hunt, and rain the entire trip up.  As you can see the colors are beginning to change and we were lucky enough to see much of the wilderness.  Needless to say the day was long, but worth it as I was able to accomplish one of 3 feats required to become a true Alaskan...the other two involve catching a Salmon and getting it on in the Yukon river. 

Accomplishing 1 of 3 things to make me a true Alaskan

The Mighty Yukon River!

Book title a coincidence?  Or not?

We are getting ready for the arrival of our little girl.  As you can see we have all the requirements.  That glider is super comfy and I know that Case and I will be spending many an hour with our new addition, asleep in that chair.  The design of the room is all Case...eat your heart out Design Star!

Baby Bump week 22

My new shoes...many are shocked, but the shock is they are amazing!

A few weeks ago we got a break from the cool wet summer we have been having and took a few hours to visit the Fairbanks Botanical Gardens at the University (who knew).  As you can see there are some amazing flowers and it was truly a spectacular day.  These photos were all taken by Case.  There are many more and they are available for sale via me...

Until next time when there will likely be snow on the ground...

Parents & Nephews Visit

For Father's Day, I took Dad and the clan to a Car Museum. We were all really impressed with the vintage cars and also the many photo opportunities.Mom insisted that we put on hats!That would also include Steven.All Steven wanted to do was see and possibly skin (I know..) a polar bear.Yay...moose!We made the best of our time waiting for the ice museum tour.Mom had a few challenges getting in and out of the igloo. We drove to Anchorage for a few days and traveled to Alyeska. There was a tram that took us up a mountain. I thought this was a picture perfect moment!Josh was dancing a lil' salsa and I was able to capture a little bit of it. As we were driving out of Alyeska, we saw a moose, but this moose was different. It was walking on a beach! We parked and took pictures right in from of the local news crew doing the same.Dad tolerated Moose. Awww...Moose!Where's Moose? He is so lovey! Aww. Will's herbs finally sprouted. The red pot holds cat grass that Moose is occasionally fortunate enough to devour. I wanted to include flowers from around our house to show the beauty of Fairbanks in the summer.

My parents and nephews trip was amazing. One week was not long enough. I'm already looking forward to seeing them in 6 months for Christmas! 

Will is currently in Virginia right now for two weeks. I'm excited that he is able to see his friends that he misses. I will be leaving Sunday for a conference in Boston and swing over to Virginia to see my sister. 

Pregnancy update: As of today I am in my 18th week (5 month). I still have the occasional nausea moment, but yay to anti-nausea medication, it makes life great. We will find out July 19th what we are having. We are so very excited! I would post baby bump pics, but right now I feel more like a sausage. Ha. I will have Will take pictures soon!

Cat's Out of the Bag

Now that the news is out, I wanted to share a couple of my favorite pics and stories. When I found out I was pregnant, I was unable to tell will for about 5-6 hours. He was in a trial until 10:30 on a Friday night. When he got home we did the usual, "Who first?" (to share about our day). Will told me to proceed and I wanted to show him some cute pictures I took that day. He turned the camera on, saw the first pic on this post and truly was speechless, doesn't happen often. :) Will then decided to give me a high five and told me congratulations. I suggested a hug may be in order and it was probably one of the most awkward hugs Will and I ever encountered with each other. I told him I wanted to call our parents the next day and he said he wanted to wait until it was made official at the doctor. I asked if I took 4 tests and they all came back positive would he then believe me. He said yes, which leads me to my favorite picture...

At this point, he has digested the information and is truly excited. I'm happily in my second trimester trying to patiently wait for the morning sickness to pass. I thankfully received a lovely prescription from my doctor which is helping me through the process. Next month, we will find out what we are having. Exciting!!

My parents and nephews will be arriving next weekend! Yay!!

I'll start 'bump' pictures soon!

Sheep and moose and caribou, oh my!

Of course, we first have to start the blog with our sweet cat, Moose. Moose continues to help us around the house. He decided it was time to take the saran wrap (I know there’s a more ‘technical’ name) off the window for winter so he clawed it up. Moose always enjoys helping us fold clothes. What a cat! We attempted putting a harness on Moose, it’s actually Mattie’s, so he can enjoy the outdoors. For some reason, he didn’t like it. It may have been the pink.

Angela, Will’s mom, arrived on a Thursday night. Besides sightseeing around town, we traveled to Denali National State Park about two hours away. It was a great day to go because we saw a plethora of critters (moose, caribou, mountain sheep, Arctic squirrels, and my favorite…a porcupine). Mattie and Oscar companied us and there were still patches of snow everywhere. During one of our walks, Angela truly embraced one of the snow patches we crossed.

We even went and checked up on Santa’s reindeer.

On Wednesday, Angela and I went panning for gold. My large amount of gold panned totaled a whopping $8, Angela’s $16. We hit it rich!

Will and I were very happy to see green quickly appear across the area. We have even encountered one forest fire already. From what I hear is that the smoke will be bad this summer due to the mild winter a.k.a. lack of snow.

The sun is shining bright and we get about 20 hours of daylight. We already have our blackout curtains up in the bedroom and appreciate them each and every day. Because the days are so incredible it is hard to focus when we are at work, but make the best of it when we are done for the day.

We are going crazy with outside work and Will has potted three pots full of herbs. We also have hung a birdfeeder and are still waiting for the birds to come (it’s been a week and yes, we have changed the birdseed recently).

Up and coming…my mom, dad, Josh, and Steven will be visiting. Yay!