Lily's nursery!

Well, it's almost complete... we just need some diapers, wipes, and a little bottom to clean :o) I'm sure I'll come up with other craft projects to do as well! What elst can I do on my days off? I finished her curtains today and got those up as well as made some flowers for the wall! I finally got her painted pictures up as well as the other dresser decorated and in the room. Yippee :o)

Fall has... fallen??

Well, the weather here is a'changing and we're well into fall. The usual temperatures are in the 50s throughout the days and down in the 30s at night! We've had our first "termination snow" - meaning it snowed in the mountains leaving a lovely, dusty white ridge all across the top... and the termination of summer! Guess it comes and goes quickly here?! That was just about 2 weeks ago and it was snowing on the mountains again this morning as we headed to church! It is really pretty... although we can feel/hear/see the folks here moaning and groaning as they realize (much more than we do!) that another Alaskan winter is just around the corner!

Josh and I did head out on a lovely bike ride this weekend, enjoying the brisk weather and changing leaves (they mostly change yellow here? not much red and orange... not much variation at all - but still pretty) We headed out to the coastal trail - which rides along the coast as *most of you would assume (* I realize a few of you are special, so I decided to explain...) My lovely husband got a new bike this week!! YIPPEE for carbon (you bike people would understand, the rest of us... just smile and act amused) It was a deal of a life time with parts and specs worth drooling over (again, just nod your head) So, thanks to me finally getting a pay check (and convincing him it was OK to spend money... he's not as good as I am at it ) and Josh promising to sell his current man toy (aka bike) he brought home a new one Thursday night. Lucky for him, he got to take it out on a whopping 5 mile bike tour with ME! His slow, aching, awkward pregnant wife. How sweet am I?? (again, 5 miles is a joke for those of you not familiar with my husbands love for 20, 30, and even upwards into the 50 mile bike rides) Now my pedaling stroke certainly isn't up to par with most cycling techniques... but the sack of potatoes I seem to be hauling around my middle is certainly a good excuse for now :o)
Now - look closely at this picture and tell me what you see... verrrrrrry closely.... hint hint - click on the picture and it will open bigger for you. For those of you that guessed Josh's face - WRONG, you lose - that's not what I was going for. Now, for the few of you that might have suspected something and guessed Mt. McKinley (aka Mt. Denali for the locals, which none of you are...) DING DING DING :o) It was a beautiful clear day and we could see clear across the water and flats to the highest peak in North America! 20,000+ feet... not to be confused with the famous Mt. Mitchell in NC - a whopping 6,700 feet :). Here's the best picture we could get...


PS - it's the bigger mountain on the right :) Yippee, so that's something to check off on our list of things to do... we've at least seen the peaks of Mt. McKinley. And speaking of peaks - Mt. Lilli seems to be making herself known to the wide world these days too! She just can't go without her spot in the lime light! So enjoy my little fashion shoot here... in all my glory and spandex. Who would have thought that even spandex doesn't fit the same these days?! Depressing...

26+ weeks and counting...

We giggled at my grandma in spandex pose :)

Mt. Lilli is bigger than Mt. McKinley in this picture!

Finally... don't I look racey on this bike? Whew... that's just hot right there!!! Professional!!

Boooooorn Freee.... :o)

Growing, growing... and more growing PAINS!

Moving right along... 24 weeks and 4 days I think... growing, growing, growing.... (hopefully this will slow down a little?) And for those of you not currently shlepping around an alien in your belly, let me tell you... it's NOT comfortable! I creak and crack like an old rocking chair!!! I'm just waiting for something to slip out of place - never to return to normal! SHESH!

Congratulations to Bill Elston!!!

Bill Elston, of Kingwood, TX is the winner of the "who will be the first to come and visit us in Alaska" sweepstakes. For winning the sweepstakes he was awarded with a 4 day and 4 night stay at the cozy household of Josh and Kristi Elston on Aspen Heights Loop in Anchorage, AK. He also received many a home cooked meals consisting of cornmeal pancakes and fresh coffee daily. He was further awarded with 2 days of cold, Alaska rain. But, due to his patience, we were blessed with abundant sunshine on Saturday and got to spend some time oogling over blue glaciers, 5,000ft mountains, and a short hike to a rocky river by a large mound of melting Alaskan snow. Also included in the winning package was viewing of some salmon on the creek behind us in the picture shown (could I please be more bow-legged?). Further included in the winning package was several good Alaskan food stops and accompanying, locally made beverages. Lastly, and certainly most importantly he was awarded with the humor of one Kristi and Josh Elston at no extra charge.

So, congrats Bill and good luck to all in the up-coming sweepstakes aptly titled, "Who will be the first person/people to hand deliver a large sack of cash to our doorstep"!

Painting for Lily...

Yep - so it was my idea (shocker) and my sweeet husband agreed to endure the crafting task of painting baby Lily a picture! So we gathered our supplies and started... just paint were the instructions :o)

You can see the enthusiasm on his face, can't you?? In all honesty, we both enjoyed painting the pictures! It's kinda a crumby, wet day here in Anchorage and we're a little under the weather - so it was the perfect activity for the afternoon! Please, please - don't bombard us with autograph requests, ok? An artist's hands must rest :o)

A trip to the Eagle River Nature Center

So Josh had the day off (yippeee) and we decided to take advantage of it! We headed about 30 minutes from the house, northeast to the Eagle River Nature Center to do a little hiking. A few of the hikes were closed because the bears are out to feed on the rivers!! Maybe we'll see one??...

So they're kinda hard to see... but these are the Sockeye salmon! They swim upstream this time of year to spawn... and boy are they ugly! They grow these humps on there backs, gnarly teeth and turn that famous 'salmon' color -- which basically means they're just about to die! They make this final trek upstream, spawn, and then die. It's hard to get a good picture... so this was the best I could do - but trust me, these fellas are UGLY!

We trekked on, kinda through the woods and the brush - just amazed at the dense forest bed beneath the trees. It was just beautiful! The trees themselves were quite amazing! Shown here - large, pregnant woman who was able to get IN the tree = large tree :o) So here I am, 23 weeks pregnant! In my 6th month according to the charts!

You could see the beavers' work in all the water areas... dams and such - but we didn't see any beavers :o( Check out the lovely background though! WHEW...

And this picture of Josh is my favorite...

Anywho - so we finally made it to our destination! The rapids...

We tried out the video option on the camera - just to give you a look at the scenery. Let us know if this is any fun?!

So we hiked back in... no more wildlife to be seen today! Josh has passed a few moose on his bike rides and I had the pleasure of letting one cross before me on a busy road in traffic - they really are funny creatures! And, as much fun as it seems - I suppose it's good we didn't see any bears either! We did get to see a paw-print in the nature center just to get the idea...