First Day of School

First day of school in Alaska and the boys were excited, mainly that they got to wear "real" clothes and not uniforms! Nathan started 7th grade and Joshua started 4th.

Nate's Birthday

Nathan turned 13 this year....yikes, a teenager! Where has the time gone? He had a great day. We took him to Red Robin for dinner(the night before) and he had his favorite breakfast, French Toast. He spent his birthday night, with the Young Men and Young Women from church at a "Back to School" party at a lake. He had a great time, but was embarrassed when they sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He forbid us to send a cake, so we didn't. He had the same cake as every year, German Chocolate, and got a new mountain bike. Josh also made him a jet out of modeling clay. We love this kid!

Triple Rainbow

Jared snapped this picture the other night.....we have never seen a triple rainbow before!

What a view!

Saw this as I was driving down the road. Picture quality isn't too great, but click on it to enlarge it. That is Mt. McKinley 's snow covered peaks. Gorgeous!

MUSHROOMS

While out hiking, Jared took pictures of all the mushrooms....AMAZING!

Scout Campout

Our second weekend in Alaska, Nate had his first scout campout. It was a 5 mile hike in, with backpacks, and then a fishing trip the next day. Jared was able to go, but not until after work. So I sent Nathan by himself. I was really nervous. It was pouring rain, but I was assured that this is just what you do in Alaska. The leaders gave the boys a lecture on bears, and the I got really nervous. It was all for naught, he had a great time, and can't wait for the next one.

Fishing in Alaska

While my dad was here, he and Jared were able to go fishing. They fished for halibut, trout, and salmon. They had a great time, and our freezer is starting to fill up. Although, Jared got sea sick on the ocean while fishing for halibut and he says that was his one and only time...we will see. There is nothing like fresh halibut and salmon. If you can see, the bears were a little to close for me.

More Fun on the Alaska Highway

Muncho Lake, Canada

We stayed here one night in a very rustic cabin. Not the best room, but great food and beautiful scenery!

Tok, Alaska

We finally arrived back on US soil! We were so happy. We stayed in a cute cabin. They had Alaskan Husky puppies, and Josh loved them! He is my animal lover. This was a fun stop.

A few more pictures taken from the truck on the way:

CANADA

Banff, Canada

This was so beautiful. Jared has decided that Yellowstone is beautiful, but nothing can beat Banff.

Lake Louise, Canada

This is a glacier fed lake. I was amazed at how gorgeous the water color was. So pristine and COLD! This lake was beautiful. There is a big lodge/hotel by the lake. Really pretty and expensive. Around $800 a night, so no we didn't stay there.

Mayhem ensues

Why did I think that we could make this LONG trip with no problems. First, we were driving down a stretch of road, and all of a sudden Jared yells, "look, a grizzly bear!" He quickly pulls over and tries to make a quick backward turn around, all for a picture. Well, he did it a little too fast and hit the trailer with his truck. Not good! And no we didn't get a picture! However, we did get to duct tape the trailer and drive like that the rest of the way. Second, we are driving down the Alkan Highway. We were on a really bad stretch of road. Holes and dips, and it was raining and muddy. And we are in the middle of nowhere. All of sudden my dad say's "Jared, I think you blew a tire!". Not only did the tire blow, but it took off the fender. Luckily we had a spare, but it was not a happy moment changing that tire, in the cold and mosquito infested wilderness. After this we really looked like a bunch of Southern Rednecks driving around.

Animals of the Wild

We saw a lot of animals on our trip. Lots of buffalo, bear, birds, elk, and more! This is Jared's favorite part of the trip...me, not so much!

Car Time

Lots and lots of truck time....56+ hours to be exact! The kids did great. Lots of movies, sleeping and eating!

One of America's Beauty

We took a few days on our adventure to Alaska and stopped in Jackson Hole and Yellowstone. We love this place. It was a quick vacation, but a must on our trip. We were lucky to run into my sister and her family at Old Faithful.

Sad Day

This move was really hard on our dog Wolf. He was never himself after we left Louisiana. We are not sure what happened, but one day he lost it and attacked Jared. It took us all by shock. After we got Jared taken care of at the ER (multiple puncture wounds to his wrist), we made the decision that we had to put Wolf down. Jared couldn't trust him anymore and he didn't feel like he could give him to anyone after what had happened. Wolf has been Jared's hunting buddy for many years. This was hard on all of us, but especially Jared. He was devastated and heartbroken.

Fast forward a few days.... He had a friend in Utah who was looking for someone to take his dog. After talking it over with me (it took a lot of convincing and I must say we had some pretty good fights over this one), we welcomed another dog into the family.

Meet Pete, our new English Pointer:

Jared is happy once again, the boys are happy, and mom is happy to not have to live with an unhappy Dad! Pete has turned out to be a great dog. He is so much more calm, and family friendly than Wolf was. I think this will be great for the family.

Utah Lake

My family is big into boating, so we took both my sisters boats down to Utah Lake one day. It was such a sunny, warm day and we stayed on the lake for about 5 hours. The kids were so happy and we couldn't keep them out of the water. It's days like this that really make me want to live close to family.

Bear Lake

Jared's family has a cabin at Bear Lake. Jared took the boys up this year. I opted to stay and hang out with my mom and sisters. (We just didn't have enough time this year to do all we wanted to.) They had a great time, probably a lot more fun than if I had been there. They hung out at the lake, went 4 wheeling, hiking, and played lots of fun games (thanks to Grandma Nancy).

The Ranch

What would a trip to Utah be without a visit to "The Ranch". My sisters family has land with a pond on it. The kids look forward to this every year. They play on the tramp, boats, diving board, and have so much fun with the cousins.

Camping

My parents bought a new trailer/toy hauler, so we had to try it out while we were there. We went camping up Spanish Fork Canyon. It was so green and beautiful. We had a great time: campfire, cards, movies, food, etc.

Joshua even got his horse ride. He waits all year for this!
We spent lots of time on the Rhino. Nathan thought he was so cool driving it around. And Joshua even got a turn.
Of course we had to try shooting the tin can! Nathan also tried out his archery skills.
We did a lot of hiking too. Something I NEVER did in Louisiana. It was so beautiful!

Movie Night

My sister set up an outdoor movie screen in her backyard and we watched "Yogi Bear". We had a hard time getting the kids to stop jumping, but once they settled in, they had a great time. Grandma popped popcorn and it was just like being at the theater. I, of course, had the best seat in the yard!

Provo Beach Resort

At the Provo Riverwoods, they have a new place called "Provo Beach Resort". It is so much fun. There is bowling, games, surfing wave, food, play sets, and a rope course. We took all the cousins over for the rope course. They had so much fun and it was all we could do to get them off over an hour later. Nathan was a little hesitant at first (he is afraid of heights), but he eventually joined all the others.

4th of July

We celebrated the 4th of July all day long. We had a great picnic at Jared's parent's house with GREAT food.

The boys are SO excited to be with their cousins.

We spent the night at my sister Katie's house for her annual "Driveway of Fire". Even the rain couldn't keep the kids from having fun. Fireworks galore!

Traveling to Utah

We left Louisiana and drove two 12 hour days to get to Utah. After late nights, packing, and lots of "boo hoo ing", we were exhausted. We (the boys and I) spent a lot of time sleeping in the truck! It was so HOT, that we had to put Wolf in the truck with us. We were crowded and I was very glad when we got to cooler, dryer weather and he was able to go back in the back.

Some of the beautiful country....flat plains of Texas, deserts of New Mexico, great red rocks of Moab, Utah and then finally mountains. Oh how I have missed these!

Last Days in Louisiana

My goal for the next while is to get caught up on my blog, so be prepared for overload!

Jared and Nathan were great friends with the Nye's. They stopped by on a Sunday, after church and had to get pictures on Ryan's Harley. They are wishing......but not in Alaska, boys!

We have great friends in Louisiana. The Huber's and the Otis's are two of the best families. The Huber's had us over one of our last nights for dinner, swimming, and smores. The kids had a great time. The Otis's are our second family. We will miss them the most. Nathan and Nathan have been the best friends and have spent so much time together the past 3 years. We spent our last night at their house. It was lots of fun, but VERY hard to say good-bye. Lots of tears were shed, by parents and kids. This is a family we will never be able to replace. We love you guys! Thanks for everything.

Chris let Josh try on his flying gear.....Josh was on cloud nine!

The crew, together one last time!