Our Great Alaskan Adventure!!

An Angler I am NOT!!

2009-07-01T09:46:00.000-07:00

So, the weather up here in the Great Land of AK is absolutely amazing this summer. Our little family has been taking full advantage of Daddy's 3 day weekends and we have gone camping every weekend. It's been a lot of fun and we decided we are tourists this year and will try to see as much of this state as we can.
So like I said it's been fun, until this last weekend...
We went to a great CG on the Kenai River the first night, then off to Quartz Creek the next night and all was going along wonderfully. We decided to try our luck on the Russian River on Monday since the crowds weren't "so bad". Got ourselves armed for battle, took the Ferry across the River - still fun at this point - and then reality set in. One thing I know about myself is that I don't enjoy the fishing part of fishing, I only enjoy the catching part. I can sit in a boat and watch my kids fish, take pictures, eat all the snacks, etc... for a good long time and still remain calm and enjoy myself.
Standing 5 feet (because it had thinned out remember?) from someone on either side of me and constantly trying to snag a salmon as it is minding it's own business trying to populate the rivers is not fishing to me. I am sure if I had caught one this little post may sound a little different. Kent caught 2, and that was fun for the few minutes that it took to land them and get back into battle positions.

Needless to say the kids had a blast once they put down their poles and decided to play in the sand and war paint each others faces with a charred piece of firewood. - I will get those pics on here soon!- I wasn't smart enough to put down my pole, or is it a rod? I am trying to learn from my children though and hopefully not take it so seriously next time. What am I saying? Kent is on his own with the Russian River and I will let some other guy who has waited and saved his whole life for the opportunity to catch a salmon on the Russian have my spot.

Life in AK

2009-04-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

So, it's been awhile since I've been on here. I have been busy working at the kid's School lately and also filling in for our Church Secretaries. It's been a lot of fun, but makes me really appreciate my time that I am able to be home.
I fought Kent for quite awhile on staying home when we moved here, but as always, in the end he was right!! I love being able to go on field trips, work in their classes, go to the morning Bible Study with other moms, etc... and the occasional coffee in the middle of the day with my friends!

God has opened our eyes to so many amazing things lately. He has blessed us over and over again and each circumstance leaves us at a loss for words. The most recent "coincidence" was to happen into a rental that came available just before our lease will be up in our current house. The kids and I have been busy cleaning and painting over there. Yea! I get to paint again! (That has been the hardest part of renting for me. ) It is located RIGHT next to the kids school and our church, is considerably cheaper than our current place, a lot more square footage and a really big fenced in back yard ( Riley will be so pleased) complete with playhouse.
We are also thinking of adding another kid to the mix. Don't get ahead of your self Mom! It looks like we will be hosting an exchange student this next school year. We figure a crash course in "teenage girl land" might not be a bad idea. :o) She will be in 8th grade so at least we won't be tackling the driving thing for now.

Kyler has signed up for a cross-country running program for the summer and has his first 5k tomorrow morning at Alaska Pacific University. Very exciting stuff! His friend Bram is running with him and so this should be a fun summer for them to get to hang out a little more. Bram's Dad is an Army Chaplain so Kyler says we can't decide where we will move from here until we know where they will be at the time. He is pretty sure we can just move around every 3 years and follow them. :o)

As usual he and Tori have not slowed down in the growing out of clothes faster than seems humanly possible. Tori is about to finish up her first year of school. They only have 3 1/2 weeks left till summer break. She will hopefully be back into ballet this summer as well. We were going to do soccer, but that interferes with the whole camping every weekend plan.

We miss you all and I will get more pics posted this wknd...hopefully!

Toriana The Tough!!

2009-01-27T10:53:00.000-08:00

So... Being the amazing, wonderful, nurturing mom that I am I decided to see how tough Tori actually is.
Test: Fall while carrying her downstairs and see how she fares.

Result #1: Subject howls like never before, but soon calms down and we let her sleep with us out of pity and guilt

Result #2: 24 hours later - Subject still not wanting to put weight on it, but no swelling or discoloration.

Result #3: 36 hours later - Subject now has a slight discoloration and no ankle due to the swelling.

Discussion amongst myself and the senior colleague on the experiment decide we need further testing to determine the final result before proceeding further.
Course of Action: Take Tori to Daddy's work for an X-Ray.

For 2 days Tori had a broken leg and only complained when she lost her balance and put weight on it.

She has a spiral fx of the Right Tibia and will be in a cast for the next 5 weeks!!
The good news is the bone is not displaced at all, it missed her growth plate and so she won't need surgery or anything.
She is definitely our tough kid and her big brother, Bless is amazing heart, is helping her learn how to walk on her crutches and made breakfast for her this morning.
He is feeling pretty proud of the fact that his big brotherliness is being called into action.

Kent is threatening to not let me out of the house for a while. We are putting a new bumper on the 4Runner this weekend from the accident I had in it a few weeks ago and now this! Needless to say I have been grounded from carrying Tori for awhile.

Home!

2009-01-08T18:45:00.000-08:00

Okay, so in October the kids and I went home to see the Fam.
I have been selling lia sophia jewelry for the last year, so I did a few shows while I was down there so it was a business trip. he he.

The kids had a lot of fun going to the pumpkin patch with my sister and her family, "surfing" down the hill at Great-Grandma Liles, playing in the Winchuck River that runs through her place, getting spoiled, making apple cider, playing in the cold Oregon ocean, etc... all the great stuff!

It was a lot of fun to see everyone and get out of Alaska just before winter set in. Kent wasn't able to come with us since we used up all his vacation traveling earlier in the year to pick up the motorhome.

I will have to upload the pics later since my computer doesn't want to let me browse for them. I don't care what anyone says computers can think, feel and react just enough to hold a grudge and decide what, when and how we can do things. If you don't believe me, just ask my printer... the computer won't even talk to it! Apparently I have had them in too close of quarters for too long and they have had some type of disagreement. Sheesh!
Yeah!! They made up so now you can see my amazing kidlets!

Anchorage Symphony

2008-09-30T11:55:00.000-07:00

Kent and I went to the Anchorage Symphony Fundraiser this year. Kent didn't want to go, but decided it was a lot of fun once we got there! We went with the providers from the clinic and we all decided if Kent enjoyed it, then we needed to go every year!

2008-09-30T11:39:00.000-07:00

We went camping this last weekend one more time before putting the motorhome up for the winter. We could not have asked for more beautiful weather and McKinley was "out " in all it's glory. We had a great time and even got in a little hiking when the argo got stuck and the winch didn't have enough power to get us out . =0) A new battery was put in as soon as we got home!
The kids had a blast summiting "mini mckinley" as they named it. We thought Riley had sacrificed himself to the grizzly gods and just as we were giving up on being able to find him, he finally came back. Happy as could be, tail high in the air. AAAARRRRGGGGHHH! Oblivion defined.

2008-09-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

View from the front door of the motorhome

2008-09-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

2008-09-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

Accessories really do pull it all together!

Update

2008-09-30T11:09:00.001-07:00

So, it has been a busy summer and I have not kept up with this site. Sorry! I will try to do better in the future. Things are great here and we are hoping to go someplace sunny this winter, keep you posted on that if it happens. Our summer was pretty damp, but now that the temps are dropping we are having gorgeous, sunny days. We take what we can get!
Tori and Kyler are both doing well in school, however the newness has worn off for Tori and she is ready to tell you that she isn't sure she needs to be going anymore. =0) As soon as she is there however that all changes.
Kent just got an Argo 8x8 a week ago and so Kyler is pretty excited to finally have something he can drive!! We have done quite a bit of camping and fishing this summer. My mom and dad came up for a while in August and brought my grandmother with them. It was nice to visit and for the kids to get out fishing with Grampy. Kent, Dad and Kyler chased the elusive moose, but still had a great time.
We are househunting again and hoping that the prices will come down with the temperatures as seems to be the trend here. We have looked at what feels like a million homes and none are screaming at us as "THE ONE" to make our home. We'll keep pounding the pavement and praying that God leads us to the home we are to have.
We were able to visit with one of Kent's buddies from back in Idaho for a few days. Dan and Kent have known each other since they were about 3 and went all through school together. Dan is working up on the North Slope and stayed with us a few days before heading up to work. The kids loved having him here and even made me promise to pick them up from school early so they could help take him to the airport.
We have been really blessed this year with little trials to let us know that God is in control and things always work out for the best when we just let go and let Him take charge.
We love and miss you all!!
Tawni and crew.

First Day of School!!!

2008-08-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

So Excited For School

Well today is Toriana's first day of Kindergarten and big brother Kyler was giving her advice all through breakfast. Their classrooms are right across the hall from each other so they were pretty excited. Tori wasn't sure that we were supposed to leave her there by herself though. ;o)

Kyler's first hunting trip

2008-08-20T09:51:00.000-07:00

Grizzly tracks

Kent and Kyler

Kyler and Grampy

Kyler, Kent and my Dad went on a caribou hunt this last wknd and came home with some fish!

Arctic Thunder!!

2008-07-03T16:58:00.000-07:00

Army Airborn (above)
Rocket Car for the Army Reserve - 150mph in ~2 seconds

Thunderbird on takeoff

This was one of the many nice little maneuvers by the Thunderbirds

I'm terrible, I cannot remember what type of plane this is, but it is still sitting at the little private airport here, he must be getting in on some fishing before heading home:o)

F-22 Raptor. These fly over our house and we get to watch them do exercises all the time. Living this close to the air base is pretty exciting.
This is a F-22 Raptor and a WWII P-51 flying in formation. I cannot describe what it was like to watch these 2 planes fly and roll together. The Raptor can slow down to 40 mph.

So, this is Alaska's biggest event of the year, for good reason. Arctic Thunder is the name of the airshow on Ft. Elmendorf Air Force Base.

This was the most amazing air show. Since we have such large Army and Air Force bases up here, there is every kind of air craft known to the military here. Along with all the privately owned WWII airplanes and the Thunderbirds closed out the day with their formations. We just watched a special on the Thunderbirds first female pilot and she was one of the ones here so that was exciting.

We went with our good friends Dave and Jodi Peterson and their 2 little guys, Abe and Dallon. Dave is a Captain in the Army and his unit is jumping out of the planes in the parachuting pic. It was his first air show and he and Kent were more excited than the kids!!

It was a lot of fun and we are looking forward to next year's show.

crazy critters

2008-07-02T10:51:00.000-07:00

These guys were nice enough to be right beside the road for great photo ops. We actually had to wait for the baby Rock Sheep to get off the road (they like to lick the salt off the pavement) so that we could pass and then it mosied back out and started licking again as soon as we passed.

Kyler, Tori and all their cousins

2008-07-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

Kyler with cousin Spencer and buddy Nash Galemore

Tori and Paige

2008-07-02T10:36:00.001-07:00

Brookings cousins: Brittney, Kerri & Megan

in Great Grandma's walnut tree

2008-07-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

A sampling

of the wildlife

on our trip:

Tori singing by the campfire with a little sprout of some sort that was just the right heighth &

Kyler "discovering" fossils at the fossil beds near John Day, OR

Fashion Divas

2008-07-02T10:19:00.001-07:00

We were treated to a

fashion show in Fruitland

by Toriana and her new

friend Kinsley Kimball

2008-07-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

Playing on the beach in Brookings, OR

Here Goes!!!

2008-06-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

So, this is my first attempt at our web page. Please be patient. I wanted to update everyone on our family vacation that we just took and it was getting too long for an email.

We flew out of Anchorage May 21st and went to visit the Liles family for a few days, pick up our motorhome, watch the Azalea Parade and then hit the open road. We spent a few days crossing Oregon. We stayed just outside of Roseburg the first night and did a little fishing on the Umpqua River, then we headed across to the John Day Fossil beds and Interpretive Center, before heading into Idaho to visit the Sandquist side.

We were able to meet up with Tawni's best friend from Montana (our children's godparents) and spend a couple days in Cour de'lane with her and her little family. I just realized that out of the 497 pictures we took on this trip I didn't get a single one with them in it. :o{

We then went up into Canada and made our way back to Alaska. If you ever get a chance to drive up to Alaska, don't miss the Banff & Jasper National Parks. There was so much wildlife and awesome scenery. (Just don't do your laundry in the town of Jasper)

We had a lot of fun and made some great new friends along the way. We felt like we were still on vacation a week later when the McKim's -a retired couple from MN that we met along with their grandson from WI- called and they were staying just a few miles from our house. Kyler spent a lot of time with them and they even took him on a Kenai Fjords glacier cruise! We then went down to Homer the next weekend and camped with them again.

Kyler and Kent are already busy trying to plan out our next trip because this one was so much fun.

We really enjoyed seeing everyone that we got to see and will hopefully be back this fall to see a lot of people that we weren't able to see.