Projects Projects and more projects?!

We were surprised on Saturday when our bedding came in! So what did I do? I insisted that we go get paint on Sunday and I spent ALL day Monday painting. :o) I'm not good at waiting... Josh offered to wait until the weekend and we'd get it all done - but I just couldn't stand it! So I painted the khaki walls BRIGHT aqua blue in little Lilli's room! It was brighter than we originally intended... we were going for a soft version of what was in the bedding - but ya know, we've kinda grown to love the rainbow bright look! It certainly adds a little pizazz to the room even when it's dark :o) Our crib came in on Tuesday evening - yippee... so what did we do last night on my suggestion? We put it together of course! It did provide to be more difficult than we anticipated - but after we figured out how the hardware was supposed to fit on - it wasn't too bad! So to put it all together... this is what you get! We're pleased! It feels girly without being super girly... and bright and fun! We're almost finished refinishing the furniture! I decided to do a little antique finish with a hue of the wall color on the one dresser. I'm in my creative thinking mode to work on the other dresser... hhhmmmm... And of course, to finish the day off - little miss Graci just had to give her approval on the whole ordeal. So she got her chance to sniff from corner to corner and inspect this new room and contraption. She actually cuddled up in the bedding in the foor before we put it on :o) I think she feels a little left out - we didn't do this much work on her crate :o)

22 weeks and 3 or 4? days...

WHAT HAPPENED??

Josh did feel little Lilli move and we could see my stomach morph with alien like properties just the other night for the first time!
Fun fun... getting fat is so much fun... ( I'm trying to convince myself that?!)

To the Alaska State Fair we went...

Welcome to the Alaska State Fair! Well well, after a very uneventful and rather unproductive trip to the DMV (arrrggg... we'll both be going back to accomplish everything we needed!) We headed up to Palmer (about 1 hour north) to the state fair. After waiting in traffic for about 1 hour... ick... we finally arrived. We were, um, a little testy after the drive - but we did find a few things to enjoy other than rude people pushing there way through the large crowd just to get their 2lb hotdog... The flowers were amazing! So much like the NC state fair, they have the competitions - and that's where we spent most of our time. The flower competition was just cool! Because of the high amounts of sunlight they get in the summer, they're able to grow some cool flowers with CRAZY vibrant colors! Aren't they cool???

Next we headed out to the produce section and boy were we surprised! We had heard of the "giant produce" and at first we didn't see it... but when we turned the corner, it was hard to miss! It was super fun to see and the pictures just don't do it any justice!! We saw a 0.5lb green onion, 6lb parsnip, 10lb zucchini, a 20lb turnip and a 56lb green cabbage!!!

We played around with the animals... saw a few things pooping :o) Some cool chickens with funky hair ... cheese... and we'd had our fill of fair-day fun! It was a beautiful day and we did enjoy being outside... but that was our first and last trip to the fair (at least on Saturday with EVERYBODY else in Alaska!!)

Josh did enjoy trying to snap pictures of a few people that just don't get it. Check'em out - we had a good time laughing at their, um, sense of style. Hey - we're all different, right? Some just more than others!! We're not sure - but we're assuming there was a hockey game going on somewhere? Long live the bald-headed rat-tail do... Let's just say I'm glad I wasn't drowning. (K)

So we took a little Alaskan cruise this past Saturday. We drove 2.5 hours south of Anchorage to a fishing town called Seward (sounds like "sewer" with a D on the end) and got on a boat with about 150 other people. The only difference among them and us is that we live here and they're tourists. Most of the other travelers thought it was cool to meet people that actually lived in Alaska. The boat ride was a 6 hour ride out from the Kenai (kee-nigh) Peninsula and around the Alkalai Bay. We saw just about everything you're supposed to see on an Alaskan cruise: 1 moose, 1 bear, 2 Humpback whales, 6 killer whales, 5 Sea otters, Lots of Arctic Puffins, 5 glaciers, 1 bald eagle, 15 sea lions (shown below), and a partridge in a pear tree! It was awesome! The only thing that could have made the trip better was dressing warm enough. As you can see from the pic above, it was cold. Ah, summer in Alaska...

The glacier shown here is Aialik Glacier. It doesn't look big from the picture but it's about 1 mile wide and about 300 feet tall. It was Carolina blue color and you could here it creek and crack as it moved. Well, it was more like a thundering than a cracking. Either way, it was pretty majestic. God was really thinking when he made something so cool (no pun intended). Our resident park ranger on the boat said it moves about 4 feet each day.

The moral of the story is if you come and visit us, you can see all these things too. The only thing is don't let the word "Summer" fool you. Bring your warm clothes.

The baby bedding!

Here is Lilli's baby bedding! It came in the mail to Grandma Pernell today! (free shipping to her...) The picture to the right is from the online store - it's NOT our bedroom, but it's the look we're going for! Just to get a sneak peak :o) We figured with all the winter snow and darkness - we needed to keep her room bright and cheerful and I think we'll do just that with this bedding!!

Our Address

Hey folks! Just a quick note with our address! We originally had it posted on our Totsite - but the zip code has since changed, so take note:
Josh, Kristi, Graci and Lilli Elston :o)
2675 Aspen Heights Loop
Anchorage, AK 99508
(907) 929 - 1495

Just another week in Alaska!

Hi friends! Thanks for all the emails about the blog. We really do enjoy hearing from everybody and getting to stay in touch this way! I probably won't email out every time we update it -- so just try and check in as often as you'd like! We'll probably try and put something up here every couple of weeks while things are changing so much (primarily my belly?! ) and to let you know what all we've got going on in these parts!

We finally found another car! Josh had to sell his beloved Acura before we left :o( They would only ship one car up here and we decided a two door probably wasn't going to work for very much longer! So after a bit of frustration and looking - he stumbled upon this Honda Accord that he bought from another guy on base that's moving to Japan. It's not the sporty car that he would love to have - but it's great for the new family we've got on the way! It drives great, still smells new and we're both pleased (and so glad to have 2 again!!) So we're glad that worked out!

We started on our next project concerning little Lilli too! We brought Scott's (my brother aka uncle Poopsie) old kiddie furniture up here with us. So, we've decided to "re-do" that furniture for Lilli! So here we are in action priming and painting it all up! We're going to paint it white, obviously. We'll have to shop for our new crib - but that's not bad!! You can see Josh is having so much fun :o) The project was fun - me asking him to pose and smile for pictures - that's the annoying part. HA

Finally, I did finish a project that's been in the making for a week or two now! We finally have bedroom curtains!! WHEW - it was a labor of love... or of like rather. HA - This was my first time really sewing anything all together, so there was lots to learn! It definitely got easier and after the sheers, the curtains were a blessing! So please, don't comment or ever pick up and check out my seams and craftsmanship - however, the overall mission was accomplished!

And again, my growing belly! We try and take a picture every week - but I probably won't always bore you with those!!! It's growing though, that's for sure and she's quite the active little bean these days! I started feeling her around 19 weeks but wasn't sure it was her until this last week or so - but now, I know it's her! She says hi to the world via my belly :o) So here we are - the both of us, at about 19 weeks and 4 days I think! CHEESE

Last, but DEFINITELY not least is our sweeet Graci! This was her one day this week after washing Josh's uniforms. They were hot out of the dryer and lying on the bed as both of us were getting ready for bed! We came back into the bedroom only to find Graci curled up in her Daddy's BDUs (battle dress uniform). How cute is little Air Force Graci?

It's a GIRL

That's right folks - we just had our "big ultrasound" and all signs were pointing to PINK. There's a a girl in there, best we can tell! So world, get ready to meet Lily (or Lilly or Lillie or Lilli??...) Elston :o)

Here she is at 19 weeks and 5 days! She was about 12 oz today. So on the left - we've got the inside looking out... on the right, the view from the outside in! It sure seems a lot bigger looking from the outside?! (J and K)

Here was our first "fun" outting in Alaska! We went a couple of weekends ago - July 21st I believe, on a little hiking trip! We stopped downtown first at the local festival that is open on the weekends all through the summer (mostly for tourists - ie us even though we technically live here now) We've been informed that during the winter, Anchorage is the "City of Lights" and apparently lots of people and business put Christmas lights out all winter long to liven things up. During the summer, however, it's the "City of Flowers" The pictures really do not show - but the flowers are GORGEOUS! They replant them every year - but because they get so much sunlight, they're super vibrant! The hanging balls (next to Josh's head) are my favorites!! You can't really see the yellow flowers growing on top.

Next, we headed out to a local favorite place to hike. It's just east of the city and it's named Flattop! It was a little more challenging than I expected (morning sickness, pregnancy, doggie and all...) but we managed to enjoy ourselves and get a few great pictures! Kudos to Josh for tagging back with me and encouraging me up the mountain ;) On the way up, we saw our first "horse" Hahaha.. I have to giggle and say, at first glance it does appear to be a horse and that was my sweet husband's comment... but after laughing, we soon realized it was a moose!!! Sorry you can't see him very well - we ventured off, as the tourists do, to get a bit closer to him - but this was as froggy as we were feeling! Cool though!!

On up the mountain, you got several views of the city!! You can see all of Anchorage in this photo! We're kinda looking from the Southeastern angle - the city kinda lies on the ocean like an acute angle... downtown, with the biggest buildings is about halfway up the top line in the angle. Elmendorf Air Force Base is just north and a little more east of downtown! I wish I could zoom in and show you everything :o)

Keep on traveling up... this is what you see through the little paths as you continue up the hike and around the corners.

Beautiful eh?? This is probably also about where I pooped out and we stopped to take a little break... eat a little PB&J and let Graci rest too! Yep, she made the hike with us!

And then, we made it safely back down to go home and rest! Don't think the festival corndog was the appropriate pre-hike meal - but it was way good!!! (K)

Here was our weekend project! The bedroom is almost set... you can see I've gotten some sheers made and up - but I'm still working on the curtains! We got the great idea (we meaning I, Kristi, and my great husband played along and even tried to enjoy it!) to paint stripes on the wall!! We just did the back wall and are considering the rest of the room... but they're just pearlescent stripes that still allow the existing paint to show thru! We like it... it's kinda fun and different!! One project at a time - that's the name of the game!

And here is Graci's new "post" She LOVES to sit and look out the window and especially loves it when the sunlight is pooring in over her!! It's quite the view for this little doggie! Not sure if you can see, but there are mountain peaks up over those trees! I think they're in the clouds today though?! (K)

Our First blog...

So I created yet another site so that we can keep in touch with everybody! We've found that we're re-telling, re-emailing, re-sending pictures all from the same stories and events to so many of you - our friends and family! So maybe this will help you all keep up with us and us keep up with you, not leaving out any details! We'll try and update this regularly with pictures, stories, happenings, and a list of perfect gifts to send us shall you feel moved. ;o) Enjoy... I have nothing to say just yet - but I should be able to get some pictures of the new house up soon as well as another little surprise! Wait and see!! (K)