Quick Trip

Haha. This was a pretty typical pose for these two. Chris being goofy and Heather trying to convince him to smile for real for just ONE picture! :)

 A bald eagle that we saw just as we were getting started with this sea life/glacier cruise.

 I love how the water is so green/blue in some areas!!

 Since Matthew and I already lived in Alaska when Heather and Chris met, we never really got a chance to get to know each other's husbands...so this has been a really fun trip to get to know them better!

 We saw tons of dall porpoises! They swim so fast so they are really tough to catch on camera!

 Papa trying to keep warm :)

 Mama and Papa. They've been married for almost 35 years and raised 10 children. They are amazing parents and I am so blessed to have been raised by them. Thank you for coming to visit!!

 The whole group in front of the glacier...although you can't see the glacier in the background :)

 So glad these two guys have joined out family :)

 The view from the chalet that we stayed at in Moose Pass. There was a jacuzzi on the deck too!

 We drove through a 2.5 mile tunnel to get to Whittier, AK and while we were there we ate at Orca Cafe.

 Then we drove back north to Girdwood and ate at Double Musky and stayed at Alyeska hotel.

 The Orca Cafe.

Celebrating 26 Years

Matt really likes strawberry rhubarb pie! So, Mama and I made him one for his birthday. I forgot to take a pictures post cooking it...but it was delicious. Last year I wanted to make him one of these for his birthday, but I could not find ANY rhubarb at ANY stores here in Eagle River or Anchorage. Thus, I didn't get to make him one last year. Thankfully this year my friend Emily gave me a lot of fresh rhubarb this summer and I froze a lot of it to use all winter.

We also went to eat at Glacier Brew House for Matthew's birthday.

Hailey helped Matt blow out his one birthday candle :)

We then took a walk down at Earthquake park while we waited for Chris and Heather's flight to get in.

 The first picture everyone was a little too sullen...so I had to help them out and make them laugh! :)

I love the colors of fall! Fall here in Alaska tends to be rather short. The leaves change very quickly and then fall not long after they change. But I love every second of the beautiful colors. I love the crispness of the air. The smells of fall. The need for fires in the fire place. Wearing sweatshirts and hats. Love it.

My parents are in town and my sister and brother-in-law get in town tonight! 

So, I will post pictures of our their trip next week!

Happy Birthday, Matthew!

It is amazing to me how quickly time goes by! I have gotten to celebrate 4 birthday's with Matthew already. What a blessing he is in my life. This year has had its ups and downs, but God has brought us through them all and is teaching us to rely on Him more.

We didn't do too much for Matt's birthday yet because he is working nights right now and then had appointments all day. But, this weekend we are going to go to Seward, AK with my parents and my sister and brother-in-law. We are going to go on a sea life cruise and stay in a chalet down there for the weekend! Tomorrow night we are going to go eat at Glacier Brew House to celebrate as well! 

Happy Birthday, Matthew! I love being your wife and I love sharing this life with you!

Faith Like a Child

Back in July when Matt and I found out we were pregnant, we video chatted with our friends Ryan, Jen and their daughter, Hailey. We told them that we were pregnant. To explain it to Hailey, Jen told her that I had a baby in my tummy. Today Jen told me that the other day Hailey asked her about the baby in my tummy (Hailey is 2 years old, I cannot believe she even remembered!!). Jen told her that I did not have a baby in my tummy anymore, and Hailey said, "but on the phone Aunt Jo Jo had a baby in her tummy".... Jen was trying to explain to Hailey that we lost the baby. And Hailey asked if Uncle Matt took the baby :) Jen then told her that the baby was in heaven with God. And Hailey immediately asked if Jesus was holding the baby. Jen told her that He absolutely was. I was so thankful that Jen shared this story with me. It was so sweet and I just wanted to share. I also hope that Tyler is holding Matthew and my two sweet babies there in heaven.

"Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I will eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death." -Philippians 1:18a-20 

Weekend Hunt

 

 We got up at 3:15am to head out for the hunting trip. We met up with Andy and Nic (two guys that Matthew works with) and drove about 3 hours north to Eureka. We got to see this gorgeous sun rise on the way. Although, I slept most of the way because I got home from work around 1:00am....so I'd only had a couple of hours of sleep :)

Once we got off the main road the guys would stop every mile or so and look for moose/caribou.

I, however, stayed in the jeep mostly because I was freezing!! I was inside my sleeping back in the jeep most of the morning because the heater in the jeep wasn't working that great.

At this point we had driven about 15-16 miles back into the tundra....and Matt's jeep got stuck. Andy and Nic were both on 4-wheelers and attempted to pull him out with no success. We then spent about two hours using Matt's jack to jack the jeep up and gathered branches and brush to put underneath the tires to try to get the jeep out of the deep mud a bit.

The jeep almost tipped over a couple of times while jacking it up because it was so off balance because the right tires were buried so deep! But we did finally get it out after about 2.5 hours of work.

The first morning we awoke to frost everywhere! It was rather cold that first night!

Just a little Alaskan traffic jam....

We ate lots of Mountain House meals. Yummmmm :)

Getting the caribou ready to transport it out of wilderness into our freezers :) We were about 40 miles back in the tundra at this point.

All in all it was a great trip. Matt and I had a blast hanging out and we are very excited to eat some caribou meat. I will definitely go hunting with Matt again if I get the chance!