Lem's 30th Birthday

Lem and I enjoyed a mini-vacation getaway to Vegas to celebrate his 30th birthday a little early. We left Anchorage on Friday night, and then returned home Tuesday night. The girls stayed with Nanny and Papa for their first, semi-long stretch away from mom and dad and of course, faired remarkably well and probably missed us a lot less than we missed them! We did get to talk with them on the phone, send them texts (especially with pics of sites they’d enjoyed and would recognize from Vegas) and we also skyped one morning from the hotel. Traveling without kids was such a change from what we’ve become accustomed to. Just getting out of the car, checked in, through security and on the plane was such a delightfully easy relief! No unloading car seats, and tons of luggage, juggling a double stroller, bagging car seats, unloading and folding the stroller at security, reloading the stroller, re-unloading to get on the plane…what a difference! Not to mention the actually flights- we had free reign of the computer, we could watch whatever we wanted, and read and talk, and SLEEP…all uninterrupted! After getting off the plane we grabbed some delicious (and cheap!) fresh fruit for breakfast and go right to outlet shopping. Yes, my husband really does love me that much! We had a scrumptious lunch at Olive Garden, took a much needed nap and got ourselves ready for some Aces on the road hockey. After a tiny mix-up with our tickets we joined a few hundred other blue clad, cowbell ringing Aces fans in section 118 at Orleans Arena. It was so fun to watch our home team boys play on the road and to be surrounded with plenty of Aces fans not afraid to proudly show their support. Our section was by far louder than the Vegas fans and it didn’t hurt that the Aces won 5-1. Lem tried his hand at a little more video poker this visit and came out another $9 ahead or something like that. We enjoyed eating at some fun places and had some tasty drinks too. We spent some time exploring the Paris Hotel and had lunch there. We also had a frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity, made famous by the movie of the same name (one of our all-time favorites.) For Lem’s official birthday dinner date we ate a cute Italian place, in the courtyard area around the big fountains at Caesar’s Palace. We walked from Caesar’s to the Bellagio and spent some time checking out their amazing gardens. The flowers and displays were totally different than when we were there this summer and they had live butterflies in some of the greenhouse displays. We did lots more shopping including a super successful Gap Outlet experience which involved the outlet store prices, combined with crazy sale prices and then combined with a 30% off coupon-score! We also spent one morning at the Titanic exhibit which was super cool. It includes replicas of areas of the ship, items recovered from the site and even a huge piece of the side of the ship itself. We of course, made a few stops at Sonic for some yumminess. The weather didn’t exactly cooperate and give us much in the way of sunshine or warm temperature which was little bit of a bummer, but the freedom to go, stay, eat, and sleep when and where we wanted was sure a fun change of pace for us. We also celebrated Lem’s birthday a week later, on his actual birthday. Several of his students made him a happy birthday banner and a few brought in treats for their classes. Ella and I took him lunch, and one of his colleagues bought fancy cupcakes for us all. Sycely just happened to have that day assigned as her day to bring snack, so Lem was able to go over and share snack with her class and see her do “author’s chair.”

That evening we ordered up some Moose’s Tooth pizza and had a shared celebration with Jesse, (Lem’s twin cousin) his fiancée Rachel, Nanny and Papa, Ian and Kathryn (fresh off their honeymoon in Spain). We had cake and opened presents, celebrating the start of their 4th decade.

The Weddin'

Like alot of Alaskan weddings the pre-ceremony excitement started long before the wedding day. As Ian and Kathryn's nuptials approached, family and friends started arriving. Here are our house, we had just two extra guests-my mom and Aunti Eris. Rod and Bonnie were hosting Grandma and Paul for two weeks, their neighborhood put up Kathryn's dad and uncle, while her mom stayed with her and a few of Ian's friends bunked up at his place, with their families, and local hotels. It was fun to have dinner with some most of the visiting family on Wednesday night, then to get a chance to visit more with family and all the wedding party friends at the rehearsal dinner on Thursday night. Friday was WEDDING DAY! I got Sycely's hair washed and into curlers and Eris worked on Kathryn's make-up, while I got Kathryn equipped with snack and water for the rest of her busy day. Jesse and Rachel and Bonnie all stopped by, which added to our numbers which already included us four, Eris, my mom, Kathryn and her mom! It was such a fun time of excitement and anticipation that we will always look back on fondly. Just watching it all transpire around me in our home, brought a prayer of praise to my heart as I again saw how God was using this big, beautiful home he's given us as a place to pour out his love.

While Ella napped the rest of us girls got ourselves ready while Kathryn went to get her hair done. We got Ella up from her nap, did her hair and headed off to the church to get the girls changed into their flower girl outfits. They watched the guests file into the church from a window upstairs and waited in the girls' dressing area, anxious to do their job and get this "weddin'" (as Ella called it) started. Kathryn got a tear in one of the layers of her dress minutes before show time, but her friend Jaime and I used an emergency sewing kit and got it stitched up and ready to head down the aisle in no time.

The girls were simply adorable heading down the aisle, dropping red petals in their giant tutus and ruby red slippers. Kathryn and Ian exchanged vows in a lovely, touching ceremony in front of the fireplace, surrounded by family and friends. There's no better way than to start your marriage journey.

After the ceremony and some photos, everyone headed to the reception location to enjoy some local Chinese food, dancing and gourmet cupcakes. Lem gave a very touching, tear-jerking toast and we danced the night away celebrating the newly married couple.

We are so excited that Ian has found his perfect bride and we joyously welcome Kathryn (officially) into our family with wide open arms. I'm already so blessed by my new sister and our growing relationship. We pray God will continue to bless their union with His abundance and faithfulness and wish them the best in all that they will encounter in this incredible journey called life!

(February and) March Madness

The rest of February and ALL of March were a whirlwind of activity around our house! We celebrated Valentine’s Day with the girls. Lem brought each of them flowers and each of them got a little bag of treats and presents. We had a special fancy outing (that doubled as our Valentine’s date) to the Dare to Care Gala where we assisted with the auctions. Jesse and Rachel tried their hand at babysitting the girls, and even put them to bed in what was quite possibly the most successful babysitting experience ever!

We also celebrated Papa’s birthday with family dinner, cake and presents. To add to the flurry of activity, Fur Rondy took place in mid February so we took in some of the winter celebration’s activities, like the dog sled races.

Speaking of dog sled races, I got to be behind the ropes at the staging and starting area of this year’s Iditarod. It was a pretty awesome experience getting to be right in the throes of all the barking, excitement and hubbub. I got to meet lots of mushers including Rick Swenson, the “mushin’ mortician” and rookie, Scott Janssen, and Lance Mackey’s, 19 year old step-son, Cain Carter who was also running his first race. I got to spend quite a bit of time with Cain and his team and he quickly became one of my favorite musher’s to follow in this year’s race. I was able to be with mushers as they unloaded and hitched up their teams, got into line and headed down the shoot to the starting line. It was one of the most memorable events I did as Mrs. Alaska and something I’d love to continue to be a part of, behind the lines, in the future. For more details about this and other Mrs. AK events, check out my blog at: www.mrsak2010.blogspot.com.

February brought the state Model UN conference for Lem and his students. This year he was honored with the Advisory of the Year award and was celebrated for his hard work and commitment to the Model UN program. February and March brought not only a slew of Mrs. Alaska events and appearances, but also Special Olympics Local and State Games. Another successful season in the bag for these inspiring athletes. Spring Break was an event in itself that included tidying up, organizing and getting ready for company around the house. Next came the arrival of my mom and Eris, Grandma and Paul, Kathryn’s family and friends of Ian and Kathryn, all here for the wedding. Though it wasn’t quite the exotic vacation you’d dream of, it certainly was full of fun and visiting with family and friends. We did have one downer in the midst of all the happiness; we lost our beloved Mabel (our pet turtle.) She passed away a few days before the wedding, and as low maintenance of a pet as she was, her not being here took some getting used to. St. Patty’s Day, as usual, brought about a flourish of green. The girls had green, shamrock pancakes, green eggs and green milk for breakfast. Sycely and Ella both enjoyed their respective green lunches. The girls had green jello for snack. Dinner included green pasta, broccoli with green cheese sauce and green shrimp, and was followed up with bright rainbow cupcakes for dessert. Of course, they both dressed in their finest green outfits for the day’s festivities.

Lem and I finally got to take in some Aces hockey, enjoying one game with his parents, Uncle Gary and Aunt Lynda and Jesse and Rachel. It was fun to extend the wedding celebrating with dinner and the game with family the next night, and my mom being here allowed us to enjoy a kid-free date with all our usual babysitters!

The girls, are of course, continue to grow and develop quicker than you could imagine. Sycely is thriving in school and is reading and writing with gusto. She’s gained so much confidence in her spelling skills. This Sunday she wrote and illustrated (even numbered the pages!) of a book of Five Little Speckled Frogs during church. She got into the Open Optional Program at her school, so she will move into that pod in the fall and will be in a 1st/2nd grade class next year, and will have the same teacher for the next two year. We’re super excited for her to get to reap the benefits of this teaching method for the next 6 years and look forward to Ella being able to join her someday not too far off. Ella’s quite the character in her own rite. She’s really developing her imagination and dramatic play skills. She loves playing with babies and will doctor just about anything. She tells some pretty elaborate and detailed stories (the most recent about her friend in Hawaii and all her siblings and pets-which all had names and physical descriptions.) Watching our girls’ relationship blossom is such a blessing. Sycely is so eager to teach Ella things and Ella looks up to Sycely so much. Their sisterhood is such a tender thing to see growing. We’re so blessed for every moment and memory we share with them.