I LOVE Alaska (Part 2)

Week 2 in AK was a lot more low-key, with very little travel, but a lot of visiting and playing with relatives. The kids loved playing with their Alaska cousins, but Mom never thought to take a picture of them together. (What was I thinking?!)
They loved Grannie's house, riding bikes, throwing rocks in the creek, playing at Aunt Carol's and Aunt Lila's houses, and especially playing on the pond in Grannie's front yard. They loved the paddle boat and the little kayaks. So fun!
We all also enjoyed the garden vegetables and berries, which were available at every meal and anytime in between.

I got to spend some time wandering around through the gardens and greenhouses at Grannie's and Aunt Carol's. (Below is just one of Carol's three gardens.)
Between wandering around there and going on a farm tour around the valley, I spent plenty of time admiring (but NOT coveting) the vegetable gardens,

admiring (but NOT coveting) the flower gardens,

and admiring (but NOT coveting) the DIRT!!

I LOVE these little flowers and think I definitely need some of these in my garden next summer, so Mom, if you know what these are, can you order me some next spring? Thanks!

The kids also really loved playing with Scamper, the three-legged dog.

On the last night in Palmer, I decided to take the kids on a drive up Hatcher's Pass, which must be one of the most beautiful places on earth, and which, of course, I didn't take any pictures of. But, on the way home, we finally got lucky and saw a mama moose with two babies on the side of the road. You can only see one baby in this pic, however. We were all pretty excited about them!

Aunt Bonnie was gone on vacation most of the time we were there, but on our last day, we were able to go visit her at her home in Eagle River. This is the view from her deck. Fantastic!

Although the entire trip was amazing, I think what I loved most of all was just spending time with and around these two wonderful people and the life and legacy they have created there in Alaska! I am so honored to be a part of their family, and I hope that I can somehow carry on their legacy of faith, ingenuity, hard work, self-reliance, and charity. They are truly two of the best people I know, and I felt blessed each day I got to spend with them.

I LOVE Alaska (Part 1)

This summer, we went on the most amazing family vacation we've ever had! We had so much fun and saw so many things. The kids were into it right from the start. They were already giddy with excitement just riding the shuttle from the long-term parking to the terminal at the airport. They loved the wait, looking out the window at all the airplanes.

Connor loved that he got the window seat first. With a layover each way, it worked out that Connor got two flights with a window seat, and Mylie got the window twice. And Mariah had no idea what she was missing, so no fighting at all!
We got to Alaska really late and just settled in a recovered a bit the next day. Then it was off on a road trip to Fairbanks! I've been to Alaska several times, but had never been north to Fairbanks. We drove up through Denali Park, which was a beautiful drive.

We mad a couple stops along the way to get out, see some sights, and keep our sanity! Our favorite stop was at Byers Lake where the kids started out throwing rocks, then stepping on rocks, and before we knew it, they were in up to their knees!

The hike down to the lake was BEAUTIFUL!! Look at this GREEN! And this particular photo was not photoshop enhanced. It was really that green.

Once in Fairbanks, we went to Pioneer Park, which is a theme park dedicated to the pioneers of Alaska. It was really a neat little park. We didn't take time to see it all (some would have been more interesting to me and Tony, but not to the kids.) The kids really seemed to like riding this giant salmon, however. One of our main motivators to take the trip north was so we could take the kids to Santa's house in North Pole, AK. Strange little town, I have to admit. The lamp posts all look like candy canes and the street names all have something to do with Christmas. But it was also really fun!

Mariah wasn't sure what to think of this giant picture of Mr. and Mrs. Claus. This was as close as she got to Santa, however, because when we went inside and the real Santa was there, she didn't want to get too close to him! Connor and Mylie were pretty excited to see him, though. They liked his summer attire, which was pretty great!

We also got to see some of his reindeer, but not Rudolph. We concluded that this was his summer home, since in the winter time, he lives at the actual north pole. Rudolph must have stayed there this summer. Makes sense, right?

Another reason I wanted to make this trip was that I really wanted to see Denali, or Mt. McKinley. We stopped at a few places on the way up, trying to get a look, but it was completely covered with clouds. And it was overcast on the day we went back to Palmer, so I was pretty bummed. But just when I was about to give up home, I looked out the back of the car and saw THIS!!!!! It was so spectacular sticking up through the clouds like that. This picture is from a couple hundred miles away. Just imagine how big this mountain really is!

The day after we got back from our Fairbanks trip, we took a short trip over to Wasilla to see the Iditarod Race Headquarters. We looked through their gift shop, saw a really cool film about the Iditarod (which actually got me choked up a couple times), and then--the kids' favorite--took a ride on a cart pulled by actual sled dogs.

Although Mylie was glad we didn't see any moose or bears on the Fairbanks trip, Tony, Connor and I were a little disappointed at the lack of wildlife and wanted to see SOMETHING! So we took another one day trip, which turned out to be our favorite day of the whole vacation. First we went to Portage, where we stopped at a wildlife conservation area. We were able to see moose, elk, buffalo, musk ox, bald eagles, caribou, and bears. It was really neat.

From there, we drove on South to Seward, where we visited the Alaska Sea Life Center. It was really cool to see all the different types of sea life in Alaska's waters right there in aquariums. There were all types of fish, crabs, octopus, seals, puffins, etc. They had these fun touch pools where you could feel different varieties of crabs, starfish, and anemonies.

Probably everybody's favorite thing at the sea life center was Woody, the 1700 lb. sea lion. Looks like a WHALE, doesn't he? He was really cool, and we were able to watch him swim around and around for a long time from both above the water, and down under through the glass.

We also walked around the small boat harbor there. This was the kids' first time to the ocean, so all of this was very new and exciting for them. We even stopped to watch some fisherman cleaning their fish for quite awhile.

One the way home, we decided to stop at Aleyeska ski resort. Tony had been there once before we were married and remembered a really great hike he had gone on. When we got there, it was 7:30, and we realized that the hike we wanted to do was 5 miles round trip. We decided to just go and then see as we got into it if we wanted to cut it short. We almost decided to turn around several times, but I'm SO glad we didn't because just before the turnaround point, we got to see this amazing gulch, and ride across the river on a hand tram! It was well worth the hike! And because it's Alaska, it looked like dusk as we finally found a place to eat at 10:00 that night.

Two days later, Tony had to go home to work, but the kids and I stayed another week. But because I've already posted WAY too many pictures for one post, I'll have to make a part 2 to cover the second week of the trip.

JULY

July was a whirlwind! We entered July at a Micheli family reunion where the kids had a great time swimming, playing on the beach, boating, and going on nature walks with cousins all around the campground. Tony and I had fun too. We just love getting together with all his siblings and their spouses, and the tube riding behind the boat was a blast too! (Tony missed out on that, though, since he had broken a couple ribs earlier in the week and was still experiencing pain from even sneezing! Bummer.)


From there, Tony went home for a day while the kids and I caught a 4th of July parade in Perry, UT, with cousins before heading off to a Teichert family reunion. I forgot to take pictures there-oops!-too busy catching up with all my cousins.

After the reunions, I worked my head off at home for two days (one in the house, one in the yard and garden) so that we could go enjoy another day at Seven Peaks, where I actually got a couple pictures of my water baby, Mariah, this time.

The next week was the first of two volleyball camps for me. I still love coaching immensely, and hope I can keep doing it for a long, long time. During the first camp, which was here in MV, Livi came and babysat my girls. They had such a fun week of dress-up, make-up, and dancing. One night we went out and had a hot dog roast and horseback rides. It was a fun night, and Livi took some super cute pics of my kids that I just have to post.

After getting home from the second volleyball camp, which was in Greeley, CO, I had a day to regroup, do some laundry, and then it was off to ALASKA for a wonderful two weeks, of which I will blog about someday (hopefully someday soon!)

Branding

Normally, we (I should say THEY since I really don't help with this) brand calves by running them through a chute. Easy, but not too exciting. However, this week, they needed to brand some calves that were out on the range and so they did it the exciting way. They rounded them all up, seperated them from the cows and then wrestled them down one at a time and branded them. The kids and I (along with a whole slew of cousins and aunts) came along to watch, take the kids on horse rides, have a picnic afterward, and of course *take pictures*.

Tony is the wrestler. Some of these calves were pretty darn big, but he's oh-so-tough!

And this is why Tony absolutely reeks after branding! YUCK!

Connor, being seven years old now, is pretty much a real rancher, complete with grubby baseball cap.
So he gets to be in the corral helping. He's the hander, handing all the tools to Grandpa as he needs them.

Mylie wasn't so sure about this method of branding at first.

But before long, all the kids were totally into it! They even cheered at times!

Mariah is my shy little girl, and is scared of basically everything, at least at first. When we first got there, she wanted nothing to do with the cows or horses, and clung to my leg like this for about half an hour.

But before long, she was up on the fence all by herself

and even got in the saddle before the morning was through. Huge accomplishment for her!

Learning to Trust

I heard something this morning about a lady I know that shocked me and made me think, "What?!? I thought she had it all together in every way. She has five beautiful kids, a fun little business she runs out of her home, and always a smile when I see her. How could her life not be perfect?"
But, of course, nobody's is. That's one of the problems with blogging. We tend to always put our best face forward, only show the cutest pictures of ourselves or our kids (well, most people do, but my kids usually look like orphans, even on my blog!), and only tell about the most exciting parts of our lives.
But as a blog reader, I always appreciate finding out somebody else's imperfections in their life. It makes me feel like it's okay if mine isn't always perfect. It's not that I hope people don't have it all together--it just helps me feel like I'm still okay if I don't. I also can usually learn something from them in the way they have dealt with what life has handed them. I feel like this sharing can be helpful to both the writer and the reader.
And so I feel like it's time to share the imperfections of my life over the past year and a half or so.

I want to have a baby. And for one reason or another, I guess the time just isn't right. I know, right away, those who struggle with infertility will be saying, "You already have three! Aren't you grateful for that?" Of course I am--so grateful. And I don't even begin to compare my struggle with what you are going through, not in the least. But yet, this is my struggle.
In my perfect world, the one where I get to plan everything, including my family, Mariah would have had a younger sibling right around the time she turned two. We tried for that, and having been able to plan so perfectly my first three pregnancies, I was quick to get frustrated when after several months, I still was not pregnant. Then finally, last summer, I got pregnant. There. I had learned the lesson of patience and now I could have my sweet baby, just a few months later than I had hoped. But at six and a half weeks, I miscarried. I was so disappointed, sad, and frustrated. I had learned to be patient, right? Why would Heavenly Father make me wait to get pregnant only to have it end this way? I was full of questions that I didn't have answers for. But I moved forward and we tried again.
Once again, things didn't happen quickly. I had several talks during this time with a good friend who has gone through similar things and she just kept telling me that what we need to learn is that we are not in charge and that we need to trust in the Lord. I spent a lot of time thinking about this, pondering what it truly meant to put our trust in Him.
I'm a planner. I already know what I'm going to do first, second, third, etc. tomorrow morning. I know what I have planned for every week of this summer. I like to make plans and stick to them. But this was something that I could not plan. I had to learn to trust in someone else's plan instead. As each month passed and I wasn't pregnant, I had to ask myself, "Do you trust Him?" And with each month, the answer yes came a little more easily.
And then this April, I finally got the positive test. I was so excited! Around the first of the year, we would bring another baby into this world. I couldn't wait to tell the kids. But I decided to wait until I passed the 12 week mark since I was a little nervous about miscarrying again. The weeks passed and everything seemed good. I set up my first prenatal appointment and went in when I was ten weeks along. We went through all the routine questions, blood draw, etc. and then I waited for the doctor to come in and do the ultrasound. As I was alone in the room, I just said a simple prayer, "Heavenly Father, please let there be a heartbeat." I had never worried about that in previous pregnancies, but that day it was all I could think about.
He finally came in and started the ultrasound. As I looked at the screen, he identified the baby and then got quiet. I could tell right away that something wasn't right since I couldn't see any motion at all. He spent a few minutes looking for movement and specifically a heartbeat, but found none. He measured the baby and it measured to be over nine weeks. So if the heart truly wasn't beating, it must have just stopped in the past couple days. He sent me over to the radiology department for a more thorough ultrasound. As I talked with my doctor before leaving for the second ultrasound, I showed no emotion. I didn't want to get all worked up about it if everything was actually okay, and right now we really didn't know. So I kept it together. . . until I got into my van. Tears of fear ran down my face, but once again I told myself that we didn't truly know anything yet and that I just needed to calm down and get a second opinion.
The wait in the hospital seemed like forever, waiting to know the truth about this little one inside me. I said several prayers letting Heavenly Father know that although I wanted to have this baby more than anything, I had learned in the past year to trust in Him, and that wasn't going to change now. I felt peace as I said these prayers.
When we finally got the ultrasound brought up, the technician spent at least five minutes taking measurements and looking at different things before finally looking at the baby. I couldn't see the screen this time. He finally looked at the baby. He saw no heartbeat either, but technically couldn't rule that there was no heartbeat until he had watched for five minutes. I hated having to wait five minuted to hear what I already knew--this baby was gone from me. I kept my composure pretty well until he actually said, "I'm sorry, but there is no heartbeat." And then the tears flowed. But inside the only thing I felt was sadness--no anger, no questioning--just sadness. I truly felt like I trusted Heavenly Father's plan for our family. But no matter how much I trust, I still have my desires.
That night was tough. The next morning, I didn't know what else to do but go with the plan I had set for Tuesday, and that was to plant the garden. There couldn't have been a better thing for me to do. When you plant a garden, each seed is planted with hope. You don't know for sure if it will grow. All you can do is hope. And although I felt fairly hopeless the night before, by the time I had finished this therepeudic gardening day, I felt full of hope.
I don't know Heavenly Father's plan for my family. But I feel hopeful. He knows what is best for me and I am willing to put my trust in that.
I don't share this personal experience as a cry for sympathy. I only share this to hopefully help someone else realize that everyone has their trials in this life, and that often what we need to learn is to trust in our Heavenly Father. He knows us. He loves us. He wants what is best for us. He sees the big picture. We can't. We are extremely near-sighted. We need to acknowledge that and let Him be our guide.

Summatime!

We've had four AWESOME weeks of summer already! In between a whole lotta yard work, we've made a little time for some of this . . .

The clay hills--our favorite place for hiking and mallow roasting.

. . . and some of this . . .

We've been to Seven Peaks twice. Mylie likes her Seven Peaks like this--with a nice slow slide and a little swimming in the shallow water.

Connor, on the other hand, likes things to be a little more wild!

Mariah also loved Seven Peaks but I didn't have my camera the day she came. She rode the same slide over and over (at least 50 times) and once when she came out of the pool to climb up yet again, she pointed down at the NO DIVING warning on the edge of the pool and read, "Yiya's favite swide." So cute!

. . . and a little of this.

Connor is really loving baseball this year, now that it is a little more "real" than tee ball. He especially likes playing pitcher and catcher (of course).

Gotta love summatime!!!