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As promised, here is the second set of Alaska pictures. I forgot to do those last pictures big, so let me know if you like them big better. Also, some are un-edted. It’s my new pledge that I don’t have to edit every picture to blog it, I know you don’t mind.

 

We hiked out to a beach one day, it was a really cool hike through like an old mining village with lots of creepy old buildings like this one. We had some excitement on they way back when our body guard Krista, had a little run-in with an elderly lady. Lol. Never a dull moment with Krista.

 

 

The end of the hike

We interrupted this eagle’s peacefulness. He was sitting perched up on this log, and Brooks and I tried really hard to get close without him flying away, but I guess he didn’t like the paparazzi much.

 

Eli was a wiggle worm and wanted to be “DOWNNNN” the whole time so he could get as close as he wanted to the water and throw in everything in site.

Here he is tromping through the clams to get to the water.

This of course made me extremely nervous.

Boyd helped him pick out rocks and such to throw.

 

The wind up

And the release.

 

Although it’s cloudy, foggy and rainy, it’s still quite beautiful

Such a boy, and I love him to death

 

 

 

Cam and Aubbers

These logs/trees/whatever were really neat, wonder what they’re from.

 

If you don’t know my precious niece Allie, you ought to. She has more personality than anyone I know. She is usually dressed in a crazy way, in a dress and combat boots, pearls and a swimming suit, or in this case– a princess shirt with a multi-colored hat. Although she looks extremely mad at me for taking this picture, she is in fact posing for me as I said “Allie give me your BEST mad face” and this is what she gave me. Don’t know if I could have ever dreamed of a better mad face. I love you Allie!

 

Whale Watching

Thanks to Cameron and Alicia’s ‘get out there and go’ persistence to discover Alaska, we all got to go Whale Watching! It was super fun and one of my favorite Alaska memories over the last 4 years. Last year, I saw two bears, this year we got to see some amazing whales. I did not expect it to be as great as it was. Eli absolutely loved it, even though I almost left him at home (this was a no-nap day). He would say “SHISHIE SHISHIE” whenever we saw a whale and loved looking through the binoculars (even though I doubt he could see through them). I even bought him a little killer whale to remember the trip (although it caused some controversy with the other cousins)

The boys chattin’ it up

He was always on the lookout

Alicia, Hailey and Cameron. They got to leave the baby at home with Sharon

 

View of Juneau from the boat, see the glacier?

 

Eli loves Uncle Todd, he’s his buddy

 

With Daddy drinking “Chockey” (hot chocolate). It was ‘all you can drink’ hot chocolate and Allie and Eli really took that to it’s fullest meaning.

 

The most exciting part of the trip was seeing a humpback whale breech (jump) several times. This wasn’t even the ‘good’ one. He (or she I guess) jumped all the way out of the water and spun around on it’s back about 3 times RIGHT next to our boat. The tour guides said that is EXTREMELY rare and someone must have been wearing their lucky whale underpants. It was spectacular!

 

Closer shot of the glacier from the water

 

We also saw killer whales which they said only happens once every 2 weeks, we were just lucky! They travel in families, there were about 8 of them.

 

 

Eli and Hailey have to be watched very closely. Since they are so close in age, they are usually fighting over a toy or getting into some mischief somewhere (like finding my stash of fudge covered Oreos and eating the ENTIRE box…toddlers…) This time however, I found them wrapped up in a relaxing game of chess. It was hilarious, I don’t know how to play chess, but I’m pretty sure they weren’t actually playing, but it looked like it!

 

4th of July parade. Hannah was the Grand Marshall for the parade so we went down there to see her. It was FREEZING COLD, Eli has his hands in his little pocket here.

Our little super star!!!!

That’s it for our Alaska pic! Check out Facebook as Cameron and Alicia have posted some pics and videos and I’m sure Laci will too. Eli and I go home to AZ tomorrow and although I’m looking forward to it, I’m NOT looking forward to the heat. Alaska and Seattle have sure been a nice break.

Seattle pics in the next few days…

Ok so life has been crazy. In the last two and a half months, I have done a triathlon, found out I’m pregnant, packed up our house, moved our things into a storage unit, gone to Utah twice, gone to Alaska for a month, currently Eli and I are in Seattle, we go back on Monday, then we’re going to California, moving into a house, and then going to Utah. Makes you tired just reading it huh?

While none of that is really an excuse not to blog especially considering the amount of time I spend on my computer, I thought of some excuses for your amusement (you can decide which one(s) you think are true):

• Both my hands are broken
• My computer forbids me to blog
• Facebook has taken over my life
• I drank some magic potion to make me too small to reach the keyboard on my computer (I’m watching ‘Alice In Wonderland’ right now)
• I ate some burned popcorn that got stuck in my teeth and I’ve been trying to get the kernels out for 3 months, leaving me no time to blog
• I have an overwhelming urge to Photoshop every picture I’ve ever taken and end up not Photoshopping any of them and can’t bear the thought of posting un-edited pictures
• I packed everything I own, including my camera, my computer, my laptop, my USB cable, my keyboard, my mouse, my phone, my purse, my car keys, and darn-it, even my shoes
• I painted my nails fluorescent pink and I can’t stop looking at them

I’m trying to decide what to blog since I have probably 6,000 photos I could post from the last few months (I took 700 in Alaska—no joke). But since you have a life and aren’t going to sit and read this post for 35 hours, I’ll just post pics from Alaska for now. Then I’ll do a Seattle post and then go back and add highlights from April and May, which means I have a lot of work to do and you have a lot to look forward to…

(editors note: some of these pictures are not edited, please please forgive me)

                           

While we were packing up the house, Eli tried so hard to wheel around our suitcases so I bought him his own for our trip. He absolutely loves his ‘pack-pack’ or ‘packey.’ He had the entire Seattle airport in hysterics as he walked all the way through the airport like it was no ‘big thang’.

We were in Alaska for almost 4 weeks and we had a great time. A lot of the time was spent just relaxing (Boyd set up a little office there and worked most of the time). We hung out with Brooks and the kids, watched movies, and enjoyed the break from the extreme heat. Went on a few hikes and had a great time with family. Since my in-laws have been called to be the new temple president and matron of the Anchorage temple, this will probably be our last summer in Juneau. Sad! We will miss it for sure, but are excited to see what fun things await us in Anchorage!

Eli sporting his most common look: “messy”

Alaska beauty! A flower in Brooks’ yard

Towards the end of our trip, Cameron and Alicia arrived and Eli had all his cousins to play with. Here they all are at the Mendenhall Glacier.

View of the Glacier. Last year, Boyd and I got to take a helicopter ride and landed on top of the glacier, it’s amazing.

We went on a couple of hikes. Here’s the kiddies on the Perseverance Trail. After trekking it with my stroller, I know why they call it that! Rocky and hilly, but lots of fun and absolutely spectacular!!

The boy cousins

Hailey definitely has the “cheeeeese” face down

View of the mountains on the hike

Ebner falls. We had lunch right next to the falls.

Here we are crossing a little waterfall

Todd and Laci also came out and we went to DIPAC (a fish hatchery). They have a little touch tank and a sign that says in big print DO NOT PICK UP THE SEA CREATURES. This photo of Eli was taken seconds before he THREW that poor little sea creature. Ohhh toddlers…

Grandma helping Eli “touch” and not “throw”

Uncle Todd guarding Eli from the scary bear!

There was also an ‘aquarium’ (or depending where you’re from—large fish tank) and Eli and Hailey were in toddler heaven looking at all the ‘shishies’ as Eli calls them. Hailey was really looking forward to seeing an octopus (which was no where to be found) so I made one up. Hey it worked and saved her from major meltdown mode. I guess I’ll have to break it to her one day that a large piece of coral is not an octopus. The things we say for sanity purposes…

Eli’s “cheeeese” face

“Pip-Pip Cheerio!” The ‘younger’ couples (minus Boyd—my workaholic ) went to Glacier gardens, and Sharon really wanted to make sure we were all dressed warm (once a mom, always a mom ) and she handed us all hats. We took it to another level and decided to go all out on the ‘hat’ thing, Todd wears his well.

Glacier Gardens is spectacular—a very fun and unique experience.

They sell spectacular hanging flower baskets. I was giving my camera some serious lens candy…

Almost looks good enough to eat!

We took a little golf cart up the mountain (which I wasn’t entirely sure would get us to the top)

The clouds in Juneau are usually really low so we were practically up in the clouds, it was foggy and misty, awesome.

The hat club, it’s a very exclusive club. And we are very cool. Espcially Laci. lol. Oh and yes, it is July here—although you would never know it by our attire.

Cam and Alicia under the ‘upside down’ trees. These are tree stumps placed in the ground upside down. The roots serve as flower baskets. I want one.

Hey look there’s me!

Part 2 coming tomorrow…I promise