A Day of Hiking in Utah...

One day Melissa, Jenn, and I went hiking! It was so much fun. Melissa kick our butts a little bit. She ran up the mountain!! First the three of us hiked Mt. Timpanogos and did the cave tour.



On our way up!


I was feeling like Super Women!


I didn't know Melissa was in the picture!


This is about half way up!


We were at the top waiting for the cave tours.


Inside the caves!! How cool is that!!


You are not allowed to touch the cave walls, so sometimes we had to squeeze by!


It was pretty cold in the caves. About 45 degrees. I was cold!




After we hiked Mt.Timpanogos Melissa and I met up with Rex and hiked up to the Y.

At the trail head.

Melissa too!

After hiking 2 mountains... I died on the Y!


We made to the top!!

My Family in Utah

I stayed at my Grandparents house while I was in Utah. I really missed my Grandma and Grandpa since they moved away from Fairbanks, AK. I loved seeing them again. My Grandma put on this dress for Delores and I. She made it!! How cool is that! I was impressed. And she is so cute modeling it for us.



I just love this dress. She did all that embroidery by hand!



This is my Aunt Delores. My Aunt Delores was also staying there. It was really fun to get to know my Dad's sister and her kids.



Here is my cousins, Heidi and Lyal. And that is Heidi's little girl.



Heidi's Husband, Shane, and Aunt Delores jumped in this picture.


And here is Heidi's cute family. Thanks for letting me spend the day at your house.

Carson's firat day of first grade!!

Carson had a great first day of school!! He was super excited to see his friends. After he found his name tag a group of girls gathered around him and helped him pick out his desk next to theirs. It was really cute!




He really likes his new teacher. I think he will have a great year!



After school he was a happy boy. Clayton wanted to be in the picture with his brother. They are best friends!

White Sand Beach again...

This last week in Kodiak the weather has been crazy! Since Sunday we have been on a every other day of rain and shine. One day of sunshine we just drove and ended up at white sand beach. We weren't really prepared to play at the beach, but had a sandy fun time! Here are some pictures of the beach.

"I am playing with my whopper."

We went fishing for part of my birthday. I hate fishing, but I was out numbered! It turned out to be pretty fun. The boys mostly got little tiny fish. But then Clayton reeled in a whopper. Well, compared to all the other fish. When they pulled up that one Jeremy shouted out, "Its a whopper!" Clayton thought that was the name of the fish. On the way home we let the boys hold the bucket of fish and told them not to touch them anymore. We caught Clayton touching and poking and playing with the fish. Jeremy asked him if he was playing with the fish. Clayton said, "I am playing with my whopper." Jeremy and I just looked at each other and let him be, we were almost home...



Clayton and his whopper.

All the boys had a good time. Even Jackson got in on the fishing action!

My Birthday!!

For my birthday we had a great day!! Jeremy let me sleep in and made me a delicious breakfast of french toast. After breakfast we went hiking somewhere we have never been before. We went to Near Island and hiked a trail in Northend Park. The trail went through the woods and ended at the beach. It was a beautiful day and perfect to be outside.

While we were hiking Jeremy found this cool little "woods house". The boys had fun checking it out.



On the trail lined with salmonberry bushes!

These are salmonberries! They are huge and taste similar to raspberries. And they are everywhere in Kodiak.



More trail pictures.


At the beach. It was low tide. During high tide all this is covered in water.


Jackson wants to climb the tree with his brothers.


All along the trail there were Salmonberries. The kids love to pick them and eat them. I had Jackson in a backpack on my back and every time we passed the berries he starts yelling, "I wanna a bite." If I didn't get fast enough for him he would whack me on the side of the head! My kids are too demanding!!

After hiking the boys wanted to go fishing. I hate fishing, but I wanted to have a fun day outside with the family. So we went fishing. But I need to post that one all by its self. I had a great birthday!!

Swimming Lessons

This was the last week of swimming lessons. They do 2 week sessions, This is Carson's second session and Clayton's first session. When Carson started he would not put his head under water. Now he is swimming! He swims like a stink bug. It is so cute! He swims all the way under the water except for his bum sticks out of the water. I was trying to get some of his swimming in the video. (I couldn't upload the video and I didn't have any pictures of him swimming. But I did get some other pictures to upload.)


Clayton also didn't like to put his head under water. He would just dip his face in the water when they did bobs. But now he goes all the way under!! He does a great job on his floats. He is so confident in the water. He will be swimming soon too!


I loved taking them to swimming. It was my time to just sit and watch the older boys. Jackson usually stay home with Jeremy. He came with me a few times. He is so silly while he is there. And just ignore the date on the picture.

I have never cut my kids hair... until now!

I have never given my boys a hair cut. I leave that up to Jeremy and if Jeremy is not around Grandma Christensen has always be there to help. Well, I got tired of asking Jeremy over and over to please cut the kids hair. So, today I just decided to get out the buzzers and do it myself. I figured if it was really bad I would just buzz their heads. I think I did okay. I am proud of my first hair cuts. They still have hair.

White Sand Beach

The first time we came here I had to call my mom to tell her about the white sand. It looked like Hawaii. It was so strange!

This is a beach at the end of the road. It is Monashka Bay, but everyone calls it White Sand Beach. These pictures the sand looks a little gray, that is because there are patches of white sand during high tide. The big spots of white sand are out during low tide. The first time we went there the tide was low, but we didn't have our camera with us. So for now this is the best I can do to show everyone White Sand Beach in Kodiak.

Jackson loves to get covered up with sand! This beach is one of my favorites because white sand doesn't seem to be as dirty.


All the boys had a blast in the sand!!



This is Carson while the tide was coming in. The other reason I like this beach is the water stays shallow for a long time. I went out waist deep to throw the stick for scout so she can swim instead of just walking out to get it.

No showing your privates

So my silly Carson says some funny things. I put him in swimming here in Kodiak. Today was the last day of the session. Next session starts next week and Clayton is joining him. This posting in not about how great he is doing in swimming, that is for another time. This posting is about the funny things he says. Last week when the session started his teacher went over the rules everyday and had the kids help list them.

Teacher : What are the rules of the pool?

one kid says: no wearing socks in the pool

another kid says: no running

Carson says : no showing your privates


The next day the teacher gives a safety tip. Her tip is to look before you jump in the pool or in the lake or the ocean.

Teacher says: You should look before you jump to make sure you don't jump on anyone or if there is a rock there...

Carson says: Or an enenamy

I thought he was funny!

Tide-pool Beach

This is Mill Bay beach. We call it Tide-pool beach. It is about 2 minutes from the house. It is Carson's dream come true. All kinds of sea creatures get stuck in the tide-pools. The easiest creature to catch are the hermit crabs. Carson has a handful there next to him in the picture. So far none of them have pinched him. I am waiting for the day to say, "I told you they might pinch you." But we have been there several times and he has been safe from the pinches. The top pictures are from one of the first times we went there.

The pictures below are from the last time we went there a few days ago. All the boys get into playing in the tide-pools, even Jackson. Carson found a crab, not a hermit crab, a crab crab. Anyway he was pretty excited. The dogs love going to the beaches too. Even little Bella is going in the water now! (When we first got here Bella ran away from the ocean. She acted so annoyed if her paw got wet.It was kind of funny.) Scout loves going to the beach and it wares her out, so I love having her go to the beach with us!

Carson's Birthday!! July 3,2003

What a great day!! It started of with blueberry waffles and sausage. While we were having breakfast Grandma Christensen called to make sure we let him open the gift she sent. He opened it while she was on the phone. He loved it!!


Next Jeremy took him fishing, just Carson and Dad!! They hiked to a lake and spent the day fishing. He caught a little tiny fish. He was excited to show me.


While they were fishing Clayton and I decorated the house for Carson. We had fun spending the day together too. And Carson loved the decorations!!




When Carson and Jeremy got home from fishing Carson opened presents and cards, Then we had cake (that Clayton helped me decorate). After Cake we went to Sometimes Island and did fireworks!! When we got home from fireworks we had Carson's birthday dinner of popcorn shrimp and cris-cross fries, yummy! It was a fun day!!

Levi and Jackson

Jackson loves Levi!! He started saying Levi before he was saying his brothers names. In the morning Levi is the first person he asks for. Here they are at fossil beach covering Levi with sand. Jackson is happy as can be.

Fathers Day (sorry it took so long to post it)

Jeremy and I really like Kodiak!! It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I love that we are surrounded by the ocean. We take advantage of the beach often. For fathers day we spent the day at the beach and went four wheeling up and down the shore. So much fun and very relaxing too. Jeremy also got out his fishing pole for fun. It lasted about a minute. It kept getting caught on rock and then it broke. It was fun while it lasted.

It was fun to spend time as a family. My boys are very lucky to have Jeremy as their father. He loves them so much and they know it!! I love Jeremy and am very happy to have him as the father to my children. Happy late fathers day, Jeremy. We love you!!

More pictures of our trip down to Kodiak

The ride down to Kodiak

We made it to Kodiak in one piece. We left Wasilla around noon. We got to Homer at about 8pm. We had lots of stops on the way. The dogs and the kids needed to get out to stretch a lot! Jermy and I also needed to make stops of our own too. Costco, Jeremy had to stop at work to pick stuff up and I had a couple of stops for Scentsy. Anyway, the 6 hour drive turned into a 8 hour drive. When we finally got to the ferry office they had our info wrong so the kids and I waited in the car while Jeremy sorted everything out. 45 min. later we are in line to get on the ferry. The kids were so excited! They have been waiting so long to get on the big boat! So we board the ferry and get in our little tiny room. We all go for a walk around the ferry to check it out. By now it is about 10:30pm. My kids usually go to bed at 7pm. So this was super late! We finally get the kids settled down and ready for bed. No one got very much sleep that night. No matter what time Carson goes to bed he is up around 6am. That morning was no exception. We ate breakfast on the ferry and waited to get in to Kodiak. The ferry ride was about 13 hours. We got to the Kodiak house at about noon! 24 hour trip!! No wait 24 hour trip with 3 kid under the age of 5. It was exhausting, but also fun. Carson and Clayton were pretty good for the trip. Jackson was not bad either, he is just a baby who likes to scream in the car for most of the ride down to Homer. Here are some pictures of our trip.

Poor Jackson

During Carson's play Jackson found something better to do. He was playing on the carts that they stack the chairs on. And having fun doing it. What a cheeser! The only nap that day was in the car on the way to Clayton's school. Once he was there he had a fun time. He loves playing outside.

Clayton's Last Day

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  This is Clayton's last day of preschool and it was also family day. So we went straight from Carson's spring play to Clayton's school. Carson and Clayton had fun blowing bubbles. Clayton was excited to have his family at school with him. In both the other pictures he was dancing around being crazy. I asked him to hold still long enough to take a picture. I think it is taking everything in him to hold still for it. He is so silly.
  
  

Purple Cat, Puple Cat, What Do You See?

This is Carson's class doing their spring play. He was Purple Cat, and the cutest purple cat ever. It was fun to watch. The class says,"Purple Cat, Purple Cat, what do you see?" And his line was, "I see a white dog staring at me." WOW, he was amazing! I was so proud!