Kentucky Meets Alaska

After a year and a half of living in Alaska, I was finally able to get my family up for a visit. The weather leading up to their visit was awful. Rain and chilly every day, but after constant prayers for sunshine, we had pretty nice weather for the week. We ran (or should I say drove) our legs off while they were here. You have to remember that Alaska is about 3 times the size of Texas so anywhere you go, you're driving a ways to get there. We hiked to a glacier in Seward, went on an awesome glacier cruise in the Prince William Sound, and drove to Talkeetna to try to catch a glimpse of Denali (or for everyone in the other 49 states - Mt. McKinley) which proved a little unsuccessful since clouds covered the summit. We had a nice little picnic lunch there though. I wish we could have done and seen a lot more, but you definitely need a longer trip than 5-6 days. It takes most of that time to get used to the 4 hour time difference and the fact that it doesn't get dark here at night during the summer :) The whole family got to go to Colton's last t-ball game too. We had a great time though and hated to see them leave.

Where Do I Begin?

Well, needless to say, it's been awhile since I have updated this blog so I'm going to try to do the best I can to bring everyone up to date on things.

I should probably start at the beginning and mention that Chance was recognized in March as a Rising Star for his outstanding work on his architecture model. He modeled the World Trade Center Twin Towers which was no surprise to those of us who know his infatuation with 9/11 and everything about it.


We also experienced a first for our family and that was hunting Easter eggs in the snow. No pretty, Sunday best - snowpants. It was a pretty warm day in the scheme of things but I will definitely look forward to the Spring of 2012 when we can at least see the grass :)

Once the snow was FINALLY gone, we were so excited to be able to really enjoy ourselves outside (without bundling up like an Eskimo!)Colton played t-ball and really enjoyed it too.

Addison turned 4! My baby's not a baby anymore! She had a "playdate" birthday with a few of her friends at McDonalds and then a family celebration on her actual birthday. She's still a little princess and has not missed a day of her life without crying of some sort. We hope she'll eventually grow out of that :)

On June 18th, we followed up with Savannah's birthday. She's 9 this year and is such a fashionista! She's our peacemaker (most of the time) and has more patience than anyone else in the family. We celebrated by going to see Toy Story 3 and then had steak (her favorite) and homemade vanilla ice cream since she is on a cake strike.

Rising Stars

Colt and Savannah were among the students honored at Mt. Spurr Elementary this month as being a "Rising Star". They just started back to public school in January, so they were both tickled to be picked. Savannah was honored for her creative writing and her ability to learn new math concepts. Colt was honored for being able to put on his snow gear in less than 5 minutes! Funny, huh? When we first met with Colt's teacher, she said that he seemed to be on target with everything he needs to know for Kindergarten standards and the only thing she could suggest working on was trying to get his snow gear on faster. And, honestly, we HAD to work on this at home. Colt didn't really like going outside a lot in the snow before and when he did, he had his dear sweet mother to get everything on, so it took some practice. Chance's class had been learning a different type of poetry, so he participated in the program along with some of his classmates by reciting poems. All of the kids are doing great in school so far, they're first progress reports showed all O's (Outstanding) and 1 S+ for Savannah and straight A's for Chance. The older ones still miss homeschooling, but Colt wouldn't trade public school for anything!

Chance turns 12!

Chance turned 12 the day after Christmas. We had a little family party. Chance had his choice of supper - he chose Taco Bell. Then, we came home, opened presents and enjoyed a Dairy Queen Reeses Cup Blizzard cake (yum!). Yes, the bad mom that I am forgot to make sure I had the right candles, so we had to settle for 1 candle on one side and a 2 on the other to represent the 12 - adaptation :) The next day was Sunday and Chance was ordained a deacon at church. I cannot believe the years have passed so quickly!

Christmas 2009

We had an amazingly wonderful Christmas this year! We kept it simple, didn't even get out of our pajamas all day, and just enjoyed our time together. We scaled down on gifts to the kids so we could focus all month long on the true meaning of Christmas. Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Here's a slide show of the kids with their Christmas gifts.

Chance's Basketball

Here's Chance with his two coaches: Coach Bui and Coach Mitchell


Chance wrapped up his basketball season with a record of 9-4-1. He had a great time playing guard and learned a lot this year. He was really excited when he got a bloody nose during his last game of the season. Psycho C following in the footsteps of his idol, Psycho T. I wasn't able to get a picture of it (and yes, he wanted a picture for the record). He's hoping to play basketball at the church since he will soon be a deacon.

What a difference a day makes

One day you think you are deploying and 24 hours later you find you have been diagnosed with a 4 cm acoustic neuroma on the left side of your brain that is shifting to the right into your 4th ventricle and brainstem and you will not be deploying after all.

I will have to have surgery to have it removed. I am requesting your faith and prayers.

Thanks,

BJ

P.S. I am not dead nor am I dying so save the sympathy stuff (no flowers)!!!