Lachlan's Birthday!!

At 12:34 pm today our Bug turned one.

It's been sort of a bittersweet day for lots of reasons. First, is that our little baby boy is growing up. Second, our friends, the Swanson's, had a little girl early this morning who had some lung complications and was flown to Anchorage to the NICU there. She is doing much better, and they are hoping they will be able to bring her home within a week. We are definitely praying for her and her family.

So...I've missed not having family up here a lot today. Sometimes I think it's not fair that all my other nieces and nephews got to have, or will be having birthday parties with our families, and yet here we are pretty much alone. I know we choose to live here, but still, I have a hard time on days like this. It doesn't help that there's a lot going on with most of our good friends. Here's an example; Angela had a baby 6 weeks ago, Darcy just had Maycee who is in Anchorage in the NICU, and Becky is developing toxemia will probably have to go on bed rest and end up taking her baby a couple weeks early too. So...we have opted to not have any birthday parties, like we had originally planned for this weekend. It's easier for everyone and especially all these newborn or yet to be born babies, and their mom's. So...I decided to still make Lachlan's B-day cake, wrap his presents, and try to have a little party with Shayne & I...before Shayne had to go to work tonight.

This morning, Lach already had a b-day card waiting for him when he got up. Shayne had stopped on his way home this morning and got Lach and I (Shayne's just like that to get me a one too) a birthday card. They were those cards that played a song when you opened them. Lachlan LOVED his! Seriously kept playing with it forever. I kept hearing "Sweet Home Alabama" for about an hour. Gotta love a daddy who loves his little boy.

Then, Lach and I went into town and did some birthday shopping. We got him a mylar balloon, which he loves, a couple of books, and a new toy. I also found a fun cake pan and some cake decorating "stuff" to make his basketball b-day cake. I didn't go all out on decorating the cake, I didn't have time. So, I just made due with what I had and what was quick. So, after quickly mixing up the cake, I wrapped his presents while it cooked, and then we opened them up about 5 minutes after I wrapped them. He got some fun things, and he was already enjoying them. You'll be shocked to know Shayne decided his big toy was a little basketball hoop with a basketball. They already started playing while I decorated the cake. I have some pics of that, but they are on the other camera and it's charging so I couldn't post them just yet. Lach wasn't sure what to do with the wrapping paper...mostly just watched me as I unwrapped them. He tried to tear the paper on a couple of presents, but it didn't last long.

I also got the cutest little birthday crown. He actually wore it long enough to sing to him, but that was it, which was perfect for me. However, his reaction to his cake after blowing out the candle was hilarious!

We sang to him, and then after Shayne blew out his candle, Lachlan freaked out! Seriously freaked out. He was trying as hard as he could to get away from his cake, and in the process got frosting all over his arms and chest. I had to get him out of his chair b/c he was shaking and crying so hard. Who knew a cake could be that scary?! Anyway...I ended up covered in orange frosting. Didn't think I needed to worry about my own clothes getting ruined from Lachlan's b-day cake. I had to move the cake away from him, tear off pieces of it to give to him, and every time we would bring the cake close to him, he would freak out again. Seriously...who's scared of their own birthday cake?! He ended up covered in orange frosting, so he took a bath and played with some of his new bath toys.

Overall it was a pretty good b-day. I'm still sad I didn't get to share it with any other family, but that's the way life is sometimes. I think we might go to Anchorage this weekend and have a little party with Kaye & Jared and their little girl Malia. They are our closest friends here in Alaska, and Kaye invited us to come up there for a little party, so I think we'll go have a little celebration with them.

I just have to say...

It is amazing how fast time flies and how much your life can change in a single year. Shayne & I cannot imagine, nor do we want to, what our lives would be like without Lachlan. He has brought so much joy and happiness and contentment and peace into our home. He has been such a good baby, even from day one. He's such a happy boy with a smile that is contagious. He loves to smile at everyone, and is constantly getting comments on what a cute little boy, or sweet little boy he is from strangers we come in contact with. We are grateful every single day Heavenly Father blessed our home with this sweet spirit. Every. Single. Day.

We love you Lachlan, and are looking forward to your next year!!

Lookie!!

Tomorrow our Bug is turning ONE!!! Actually by the time anyone reads this, it will probably be his birthday. We can't believe it's actually almost been a year since he was born. Craziness.

Anyway, I made this little announcement with my new digital scrapbook making skills. I made it with the intention of mailing it out to family since we are so far from them, and they haven't seen how much he's grown in the last year. However, I ordered the prints from Costco and opted to have them shipped to me...over 2 weeks ago. Ya, they still haven't arrived in the mail. So, instead of sending out these cute little announcements I worked forever on...I have to post it on my blog.

I'm not so happy about that.

Note to self...never order prints from Costco again.

But on a lighter note...our Bug is turning ONE!! I'll post some more pics tomorrow of his big day.

Are you kidding me?

Date: August 31, 2009
Picture: The leaves are starting to turn yellow...and fall off the tree and onto my yard.
Problem: I am NOT ready for our summer to end!!

You should see the trees now...there are many that have no leaves left...none. Naked trees. I'm so sad. And not ready for winter.

Binky Baby

Lachlan LOVES his binky. I was trying to take pics of him walking around...before he was 11 months old...but he got distracted.

Background: He only gets a binky for naps and bedtime, and when he's in his car seat. The one in his car seat has a binky buddy (from my HS friend Val), that is clipped to one of the straps. He cannot get it off the car seat.

Back to the pic: When he sees the binky on occasion(like this particular night), he sits down, puts it in his mouth, sucks on it for a bit, and then tries to take off...with the binky still in his mouth. As you can imagine, it doesn't go with him. It pops out of his mouth, which annoys him to no end! He gets so frustrated with the dang binky!! He cannot figure out why he can't take it with him.

It's pretty comical for Shayne & I.

Unfortunately these pics also show you how short he is...those pants are 12 month pants, but they are so long I have to roll them 3-4 times, just so he can walk. We don't wear those ones very often...at least not yet. I'm still very hopeful he's going to have a massive growth spurt and reach that "average" curve on the growth charts in the near future! See, I'm not asking for much...just average! :)

He does make a cute little bug though.

August 21st, 2009- Blueberries

Alaska is known for it's berries. In the fall the blueberries ripen and are great to eat. On Friday, August 21st, Shayne, Lachlan and I went blueberry picking with the Dan & Jeanette Pugh and Mary & Shawn McDonald in Moose Pass. The women are co-workers of Shayne's. Mary & Shawn live in Moose Pass and she knew where some great blueberry patches were. We loaded up the dogs and met them over there that afternoon.

We hiked about 1-2 miles to the location and then picked blueberries to our hearts content. Of course, Shayne had The Bug on his back, and of course he loved it. We ended up with just over a gallon of blueberries which I took home and froze. They are full of great antioxidants. They aren't quite as sweet as the store bought blueberries, but their slightly tart flavor means they have more of the "good stuff". Lachlan thought they were pretty great too, as Mary gave him his first taste of Alaskan blue berries.

After picking blueberries we went back to Mary's for a bit to let The Bug get out and run around a bit, before we drove to Anchorage for a shopping trip. As soon as we put him down he found the box with her cat. He was absolutely fascinated. He stood at the box talking to the cat, trying to pet the cat, and showing us the cat. The cat finally made her escape when he walked away. It was so cute.

Thank you Mary for taking us to an awesome blueberry patch! It was so fun. Sorry we couldn't come again, but can't wait to do it next year.

My Root Beer Float

I got a bike! You may not think this is a big deal, but I have not had a bike of my own since I was in high school. I've been wanting a bike for while now, b/c I've wanted to get out and experience Alaska in a new way. So, Shayne finally took me to the local bike shop here in town to get me a new bike. My brand new bike is AWESOME!! It's a Trek hybrid bike. I am NOT a mountain biker. I know I am not a mountain biker, and I know I will never be a mountain biker. I have no desire to ride a bike up and down hills/mountains where you are in danger of killing yourself. No desire.

So, I got a bike I knew I would use and love. It's got the frame for mountain biking, and tires that can go "off-road", but it has raised handle bars, and the biggest fattest leather seat for comfort. Shayne thinks it looks like a "grandma" beach cruiser. Whateva! When I asked him if he wanted to take it for a spin the day we bought it, he quickly declined. In fact, he "affectionately" calls it the Root Beer Float...or the Root Beer Popsicle, b/c the color of it is called root beer. He's just jealous of my AWESOME BIKE!! Seriously...it's awesome.

I got the bike in the middle of June, but didn't get a chance to truly use it until August. On August 19th, we drove about an hour to a little town called Hope and rode a paved bike trail along the Sterling Highway. We rode for 7 miles one way, 14 round trip. Shayne pulled The Bug behind him in the Chariot. We had such a nice time. It was very casual. I will have you know that after 2+ hours and 14 miles, my butt didn't hurt hardly at all! It's b/c I have the biggest fattest leather seat! Shayne's was sore, but I wasn't. Who's got the coolest bike now?! Huh?! :)

After the ride we drove into the actual town of Hope and had a burger ( a seriously greasy burger), at a local restaurant there. It was an excellent burger...I gained back all the calories I had burned off on the ride...great huh? It was such a fun day. We were going to go back and do it again, but the weather didn't cooperate. Next year however, I have big plans for my Root Beer Float! :)

p.s. Notice the last pic? Yeah...I still have the bike helmet on, b/c I had a serious case of helmet hair...not pretty. But...even better is the fact I have a pic posted of Shayne w/o a hat! Never happens people...never!

Pics of The Bug

These are just some random pics of The Bug, or The Monster, depending on the day. :) As you can see, being mobile has it's advantages...for him. He's found all the cupboards which provide all sorts of fun "toys".

He took his first steps on Wednesday, August 12th, when he was only 10 1/2 months old. But, it was only 2 or 3 steps. However, it only took him about a week to be walking clear across the room. I have a couple of videos of him as he was learning to walk and pushing his little walking/push toy around. They are pretty dang cute. But, my internet uploading speed has something to be desired so I won't be posting those videos just yet.

The bottom two are from the first time I took him running/walking in the Chariot. He loved the outing, while he was awake. However, as you can see he feel asleep and slept there for over an hour, after we got back. It was such a nice day, I just grabbed a book and read outside while he slept.

So cute.

The Bug's First Float...August 11th, 2009

On Tuesday, August 11th, we took The Bug on the Kenai River for his first, of hopefully many, float trips. We invited one of Shayne's co-workers, Bob Malvin, along as well to help out with "stuff". We floated the Upper Kenai River, using Aaron Swanson's drift boat. (Thank you Aaron for letting us "store" the boat at our house and use it, while you are insanely busy building a new house this summer.)

The Bug thought it was great. He would hang out on my lap while we were floating, just checking out stuff. When we would stop and anchor up, we would either get out and hang out on the bank, or chill in the boat. He loved Shayne's bead boxes...they make a lot of great noise when you shake them and pound them on the bottom of the boat. He fell asleep a couple of times, and when that happened I put him in his car seat, which fit in front of Shayne's rowing seat. I pretty much only fished when he was sleeping, and Shayne could only fish when we were anchored up...but it was still a fun day.

Shayne caught a trout on a dry fly...which is almost like the Holy Grail when fishing on the Kenai. The picture of him a ways off holding up a fish is that trout. I was sitting in the boat with The Bug and couldn't zoom in any more. The other pic of a fish is a tiny trout whose eyes are WAY bigger than his mouth, not to mention his stomach! He took a 10mm bead, which is the size of a King Salmon egg, thinking he could eat it...as you can see, the bead was as big as his mouth. Crazy little fish! Don't worry, Shayne got the bead and hook out and he survived to eat another gigantic egg.

The weather was GORGEOUS!! You could not ask for a better day to float the River. We had lunch on the banks of a beautiful river, we saw a brown bear "fishing" in the river (don't worry, we were never in any danger from the bear), and had one of the memorable days just b/c of the circumstances.

We had to take pics of The Bug in his life vest, to let the grandma's (and Uncle Aaron), know he did wear it. We just took it off when we were anchored up and hanging out on the bank. We used one of the life vests the State of Alaska provides at each boat launch for kids. We left it at the pull out for other kids to use. Hence, the logo on the back, "Kids don't float". Like we didn't already know. :)

Anyway, now The Bug can say he's floated the Upper Kenai River. I just have to say again, what a good little boy he is for us to haul him all over like this. He's such a little trooper...we love him so much!