The Hiking

We found a great new place to go hiking, it's called Nome Creek and it was a beautiful hike and place to camp for the future. Below is the gang getting ready to head out-Ali, Matt, Brando, Saige, Jeff with Hayden, and not pictured is myself and Canyon.

Who says princesses don't wear hiking boots, in our family they do!!!

What can I say, I try!

A rare family shot on top of a beautiful ridge. If it looks like fun, come and join us!

Happy Birthday To My Boys

Pre-birthday bottles, making sure we have the energy to open all those presents!

I can't belive it has been a year since I was soooo miserable waiting for these two little rug rats to get here and now look at them. They have grown so fast and have been such a wonderful addition to our family. It has been fun watching their personalities develop and they are every bit as much different in their personalities as they are in looks. We had a "we survived the first year party" and I made my favorite chocolate cake for me. I would say the first year was a lot of work but mostly because of dealing with sleep deprivation. We have now overcome that obstacle but have moved on to others. Regardless of the work, it has been a great joy to have these sweet wonderful boys in our life and we would not change a single day. We love you Hayden and Canyon and are so thankful you were able to come to our family!

Hikes, Races, Games

Ali, number 2, running the 100m at a kids track day. After waiting in the rain for 2 hours she finally got to run and came in third in her first heat and fourth in the finals. She was disappointed because the top three got a medal and she had gotten her hopes up because she came in third in the first heat.

Ali is also playing soccer this summer for the first time and loves it. She is very fast and is catching on quickly. This may just be her sport!

A few weeks ago we went on a fun hike with my friend Tammy and her two boys, Hunter and Chance, in the White Mountains. My brother Brandon and his friend, Matt, that are living with us this summer came along to help witht he packing. The whole gang, big and small, hiked over four miles that day, what a hike!

Just a dang cute picture of Brandon and Hayden!

The lucky man Hunter with two cute girls, Ali and Saige

A Beautiful Denali Weekend

A few weeks ago the kids and I went down to Denali while Jeff was teaching a two week class to hang out with our great friends and spend some time in the beautiful Denali that we love. We spend two days with our fun friends the Williams and went on a great hike behind their house.

Canyon loving riding in the backpack and watching the kids.The gang of our adventure hikers

Hayden asleep in the backpack

We played in the water and mud of the Nenana River with our great Denali friends!

When dad joined us we went on a fun hike up to our favorite lookout rock on Mt. Healy. It was our first real hike of the summer and the girls did great and the boys need a little more practice sleeping in the backpacks.

We also said goodbye to our wonderful friends, the Clarks, who are leaving Alaksa for New Hampshire. We will miss them terribly, they were just like family, but we wish them the best of luck and speedy return visits to Alaska.

Saiger's Graduation

Here's a few pictures of Saiger and her graduation from preschool. It was cute they had them wear little cap and gowns and the whole bit. We're going to miss her preschool and all her friends and teacher but she is excited for kindergarten and to ride the bus with her sister.