Chase turns 3!!!!!

Oh my goodness is this a miracle or what? First of all I'm actually blogging and second we survived 3 years with the Chase-man! Actually he made it pretty easy, we love that little guy and are so grateful that he is a part of our family. What in the world would we do without him?!?! Below are a few of my favorite pics of Chasie along with a few bday photos...

Playing outside in Vegas.

Chase and I walking behind our house in Vegas on a bright sunny day - man I miss the sun.

LOVE this picture Mike shot of Chase - he was so not happy with us at the time!

Playing at the park before we made the big move!

Happy Birthday big guy!!!

Not sure but I think he was spitting more than he was blowing!

Chase's new favorite passion - his trains. :)

BEAR!

I'm sure most of you have seen my post on Facebook, but I thought I would put a post up here as well. I finally saw my first Alaska black bear! She was walking along the road on base and I had Mike do a uturn so we could find her. Sure enough she was still in the field next to the road with her 2 cubs! I shot a couple of pictures but, of course, she was running away from us so I didn't get a very good shot. Since I was in the car and protected it was a pretty cool experience!

Mama black bear - she eventually ran up a tree and then off into the woods with her youngin's.

Mama running away from us with her two cubs. If you click on the picture you can kinda see the cubs in the grass.

While I'm not a fan of "nature" it was really cool to see her knowing I could drive off if she decided to get crazy.

Seward, Alaska

Today we decided that we would take a trip to Seward Alaska (where all the cruise lines sail into). It's about a 2 hour drive one way...just right for a Saturday trip. When we got there it was a little rainy and chilly - around 50 degrees, but we didn't care, the scenery made up for it. Mike shot a few pictures while we were there - thought I would share!

Love this pic of Ashlee and Chase

Chase and the "fissies!!!"

He's so dang cute!

Ashlee pondering life during lunch at the port in Seward, AK

Happy Birthday my sweet Ashlee!!!

Wow, 7 years have literally flown by. My little girl is 7 years old and I have no idea where the time went. She is such a light in our lives and we feel so lucky to have this little spirit in our home. I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday - I had no idea what I had gotten myself into with the whole pregnancy thing and then LABOR. That was interesting, but so worth it! I pushed for nearly 2 hours before Ashlee made her grand entrance into this world. My parents and Mike were all in the room with me and I couldn't have been more proud when I first heard her cry. I remember the first thing my mom said was "oh my goodness she looks just like Mike!". She still does - I love it. Ashlee has always been such a blessing but especially since our little Chase-man came along. She is another mom to him and he just eats it up! They really do love each other so much.

We had a great day today, Ash went to school (and got to ride the bus which nearly outscored all the presents she got), I brought Rice Krispy treats by for her class and then when she got home we waited for Mike's friend Mungo and his little boy Caleb to get here and we started to celebrate! We had a pizza party and played Rock Band, Ashlee's most favorite game, and then she opened her presents.

I love you sweet pea - my life wouldn't be complete without you!!!

I pulled a few pics from the past - there are a ton because I couldn't decide which ones to pick!

Me and my girl - 3 months

4 months

Camping at Zion - 4 months

Computer nerd - 7 months

2 years old!

Finger painting with Maime - 2 years

3rd Birthday!

Swimming in the backyard - 3 years

Halloween - 2005

Disneyland 2005 with Abby Alyson

The best big sis - 4 years old

Birthday Party - 6 years old

Playing Rock Band with Daddy and Mungo - 2009


Happy Birthday Ashlee!!!

Home Sweet Home!

I know most of you have been keeping up with Mike's blog so I'm not going to go over the same stuff he did! Life is good here in Anchorage. It's not the prettiest place right now just because they are going through the "break-up" and all of the snow is melting and all of the dirt that they put on the road during the winter is EVERYWHERE. I went to Target the other night and you couldn't even see the parking lot - it was just all dirt and gravel. Soooo, I can't wait for the trees to leaf out - I can see where this place can be amazing! The temporary townhouse we are living is small but sufficient. It's old so it creaks no matter where you walk and there is only one teeny tiny bathroom that we all share - mornings can get interesting to say the least. We will be here for probably 4-6 weeks until our name comes up on the housing list and they can put us in our permanent home. I will keep you posted about that - can't wait to get into something just a tad bigger!

Ashlee and Chase are doing great - Chase is starting to get settled somewhat. Ever since we got here, with the exception of today, he has thrown MAJOR fits. I really think he is missing his LV home and can't quite figure out what we're doing. He seems to be doing much better today and is so sweet. Jabbering like a magpie!!! Ashlee has adjusted quite well and is really looking forward to starting school on Wednesday. She will be going to Mt. Spurr Elementary for a whole month! We will meet her teacher on Wednesday as well and walk her to class - will try to snap a couple of pics of that. I tell ya that girl is warm blooded. I don't think she has worn a coat yet and it's only getting into the high 30's to 40 during the day. She gets hot really easily, I'm thinkin' she will be able to handle the Freezer State just fine.

We had to go to Old Navy to pick up some pants for Ashlee. She has ripped the knees out of all of her jeans!

This was one of my Winshield Collection pictures during our trip up here. You can see our SPOT satellite thingy in the image as well. That thing was awesome. I felt a little bit more at ease knowing that if we got in trouble all we had to do was hit the 911 button and someone nearby would be alerted!

I know Mike has already posted this pic on his FB account, but I love it. It's my favorite picture of all of them. This was taken about 120 miles out of Anchorage - absolutely gorgeous! This too was taken as part of the Windshield Collection.

Tons of buffalo along the road in The Yukon. Some were right on the road - they are so prehistoric looking to me and HUGE! Ashlee and Chase really enjoyed seeing these guys.


Mike took this one today - Ashlee has been dying to go to the park across the street from our temporary "home". He took her over and let her play for a little while. She had a blast.

Thanks for your patience. I have been a little reluctant to blog lately - just trying not to be too sad. I really do miss Las Vegas and all of our friends and family. We all really miss mom and dad - can't wait for them to come up in a couple of months!

Seattle to Prince George BC

Wow, some really beautiful scenery on this leg of the trip. Just over the border into Canada the mountains are gorgeous. But when you get further north it's nice, but right now everything is kinda brown. I'm sure in another month it will green up and look totally amazing. After driving for 9 hours we decided to stop in PG. Wouldn't ya know the first hotel that we saw was actually a casino! Man, I just can't get away from Vegas. We figured because it was newer it would be pretty clean and we were right. Nice room, not too expensive and we kinda feel like we're at "home".

The kiddos were absolutely amazing this leg of the journey. Ashlee has kept herself busy reading books, writing stories and watching DVD's. Bubba only occasionally gets irritated at something and it's usually because the movie is over and we need to put another DVD in. I can't believe a 2 year old can be this good, honestly!

Looking forward to a much shorter day tomorrow. Mike built the route for us and he purposely put a couple of shorter days in the middle of the trip to help break it up. We will be in Dawson Creek sometime tomorrow and should only be in the car for about 4-5 hours depending on the weather. It's looking a little grim though on the weather front from here to AK - snow and rain showers every step of the way including snow packed and icy roads. This could push our trip out another day or two-but we'll do what we need to do to be safe.

Ok, off to bed - will try to post another update tomorrow night!

Redding to Seattle

Ok so we stopped in Redding, CA last night to rest and get some zzzz's. We booked a room at The La Quinta Inn which I thought was supposed to be a pretty nice hotel. Ummm, ok so it's not. Actually the room really wasn't that bad - but it felt a little bit like the Bates Motel walking down the hallway to our room. I think I have become a Hotel snob - I don't need a 5 star but I definitely appreciate at least a 3!

So we loaded the kiddos into the room, turned the Disney channel on and The Incredibles was playing. They piled into Ashlee's bed and began watching while I gathered our mounds of dirty clothes and headed to the laundry room. Now, I just need to know...why do people with the stomach flu follow me EVERYWHERE? I was getting ready to take some of our clothes out of the dryer when a lady walks in and proceeds to tell me about her 4 hour trip to Redding with her husband who was throwing up the entire way and she had to wash his clothes. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THIS. As most of you know I have a severe phobia to vomiting and needless to say I I really do not care to hear puke stories or be around anyone that has the flu!! I'm a paranoid freak.

Anywho - we got up bright and early and headed down for the continental breakfast afterwhich we headed over toWal-Mart to pick up a few necessary items. We then got back on our beloved I-5 and headed down the road. I'm typing as Mike drives and we're about 220 miles from Seattle - our final destination for the day. Oregon is really pretty, although their mountains are nothing like Colorado's. Oh and for some reason there seems to be an Adult Store at just about every exit. What the heck?

The kiddos are doing remarkably well. Chase gets tired occasionally but he has decided that he LOVES Finding Nemo so we're watching that movie...again. Ashlee has been an angel and has been keeping herself busy with a book that the Egberts gave her - THANK YOU, she loves it! I went and bought the other ones that go with it and she is hooked.

Sorry, we don't have any pictures...I think if you check out Mike's facebook page you will see a couple of pics he snapped through the windshield. We'll try to take more tonight and post them.

See you in Seattle!