The kids woke up early the other morning and immediately went downstairs to play and dress up. We woke up to them dressed like this. They all have pj's on under there dress-up's. We love our little pretenders.

a quick pic before church...

Rebekah and her many costumes...

Rebekah loves to wear dress-ups all the time! her outfit is not complete without some dress-up theme. Her favorite is a too small pink tutu that grandma gave her. Its too small to pull up all the way but she wears it halfway and it makes her feel "beautiful". She also has green frog slippers and a Davey Crockett vest and hat that she is pretty attached to.

Notice the princess shoes... we had to pry them off her feet for bedtime.

Christmas Morning. Bekah loved her little kitchen set and the boys got some transformers and new blankets. It was a light Christmas, but a sweet one. Hello morning hair. Bekah must get her morning fro from mama.

We spent the Christmas holidays with Joe's parents. It was fun to spend some time with Nana and Papa. We took the kids sledding and made roasted marshmallow's in papa's fireplace.

Our ferry docked in Bellingham on Friday morning. We had scheduled to pick up our trailer in Seattle that morning, so we drove an hour to Seattle. We were a little frustrated when we got there and the dock yard was closed for the Thanksgiving weekend. We called all the people we had used to arrange the transport of the trailer and they all said it must have been a communication error and there was nothing they could do... we could pick up the trailer on Monday morning. So we spent the weekend in Seattle. The kids loved the swimming pool and we had pizza and PB &J. We also attended sacrament meeting in our jeans and sweatshirts.

On one of our stops we ran off the ferry in the pouring rain, across the docks to a small grocery store. We bought some sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles for the kids to frost on Thanksgiving Day. It was a little tight, but they loved it.

We saw some beautiful snowy landscapes during our 14 hours of driving to Haines.

Moving Back Down...

Our time in Alaska has been a once in a life time experience. We loved living by Mom and Dad and Erin and loved the beautiful Alaska scene. After lots of prayer and thought, we have decided to move to Idaho Falls. Its a long story but we feel truly blessed to have had the experience to live in Eagle River. We made wonderful friends and have many memories. We had originally planned to drive through Canada again like we did on the move up, but after some unexpected trouble with the trailor we decided to ship the trailor by barge and take the ferry. The ferry did not have an opening for two weeks, so we spent some time with Mom and Dad and then drove to Haines Alaska, where the ferry loaded. We spent 3 days and 4 nights on the ferry in a little cabin. It was a neat experience. The ferry had a little theater that played movies and we walked around the deck and played in the tiny cabin. We also had some stop overs in Juno, and Sitka. We got off and walked around the town and got ice cream.

Here we are on the ferry Thanksgiving day. The kids loved the bunk beds in the small cabin. They sat and played up there with little toys and coloring books. The picture is taken from the top of the other bunk bed.

An Alaska Summer...
Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to.

All the little dots of color behind us are people dipnetting. What a neat experience!

Last weekend we went dipnetting on the Kenai. It was a crazy sight to see. Thousands of people standing in a line in the ocean with huge nets held out to catch salmon. When they catch one they bring it in and bonk it on the head with a wooden club. Then right there on the beach they gut and clean the fish. The bones and head are thrown on the beach and swarms of seagulls eat them. My Dad and my brother and sister, Scott, and Erin caught 47 in all. Joe and I can't dipnet untill we become an official Alaska resident, after one year. Joe was on the beach with a table cleaning and cutting fish. The kids and I just watched in awe. The boys even took part in clubbing the fish. It was spectacle watching all the people and all the fish caught.

Some people also caught flounder or small halibut while dipnetting. Sadly this little baby halibut was left on the beach. Bekah was fascinated with this little guy.

The training wheels are off. Jace took to two wheels immediately.

Grandma and Grandpa took us to the beach in Homer. The tide was out and the kids found all sorts of treasures.

Camping at Ninilchek, and having a great time.

Here we are after a weekend in Ninilchek, fishing for king salmon with my parents. We traveled to homer for church on Sunday. Check out this view of Homer.
Here is Joe about halfway up.
Joe and I went on a night hike to half mile peak, a few blocks up from my parents house. It's more then half a mile, trust me, it takes you straight up to the mountains behind my parents house. It is so amazing to have such beautiful views and outdoor activities literally right outside your front door.

Jace had his 6th birthday on the 22nd of June. He had his first real birthday party, and of course it was a spiderman theme. We played musical chairs, hot potato, balloon volleyball, hide and seek, simon says, and follow the leader. Then the kids had macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets and decorated cupcakes. I was exhausted by the end. Jace loved it. The mommy in the pic is a friend Katherine.

Our house is on the end of our street. We have neighbors on our right, but on the left is a slight dropoff into the forest. This lush patch of grass is one of Bekah's favorite places to sit. Sometimes she is so deep I can only see her red hat. Behind us is also forest. The kids love to play in there and find sticks and treasures.

We hiked Thunderbird Falls several weeks ago. It is a Beautiful hike ending, of course, with a beautiful look at the waterfall. Of Course the boys and I went a little closer for a pic. This interesting tree was along the way, and since we have some expert climbers in the family, naturally they climbed up. In case your wondering... no this is not our dog... kodiak us my parents dog. The kids love him.

Daddy took the boys fishing early before work one day. A small pond is across the street and in the forest from our home. No luck with fish... but they did see a family of beavers hard at work.

On the side of our house the boys searched the forest and made this tepee. Many an hour was spent outside collecting materials.