A lot of things have happened in the last 2 months....My sister and her husband came, my cousin came, my parents came, and then they left and took Emma and Madison with them!  So for the last 6 weeks as of today we have been without them.  That has been a very hard thing for me to deal with, they are growing up, they are having fun, and they are still not quite ready to come home :( LOL We have been camping and had our own adventures just me and the little two, which has been nice for them.  It has been quieter here and I am beginning to miss all the comotion that comes with a bigger family.  Chad has still been working long hours, getting several big projects started before winter sets in here.  Our summer camps are over, but they were very rewarding and the staff volunteers will be missed and the hustle and bustle of summer camp life is missed as well!  Chad had wonderful guest helper/SOWER volunteers this summer that were able to accomplish so many small but invalueable tasks that again would be near impossible for James and Chad to finish on their own.  We had a Michigan team that came and built another new boys cabin for us, and almost had it completed in 2 weeks.  After camp we had another group come and do work projects for us that donated $1000.00 for the siding of the new cabin!!  We have raised the money for the foundation of the riding arena at the barn, and so that has been underway as well!  This week Chad and James have been working on getting everything ready for the foundation of the new refrigerator/freezer unit at the kitchen, and the list goes on and on!!  I will make it my project tomorrow to go and take pictures of all the new things that have been added to camp!

here is one of our adventures....playing around Captain Cook Park.....

On Friday my friend and I took our kids camping on the Homer beach, a little tradition that another one of my friends and I started a few years ago.  The whole week prior had been rainy and windy and not great weather for camping, but I kept checking the weather on several different sites and it said that it would be sunny on Friday and Saturday.  Boy were they right!!! Their was a slight wind that died down as the night went on, and the sun was warm.  The kids combed the beach for new treasures to bring home and were able to find several crabs, shells, and other sea life, much to their delight!  The only downfall to this trip was that somehow my sleeping bag did not make it in with everyone elses and I was a extrememly cold with just my blanket.  I tried using hot rocks from around the fire pit to help keep me warm, but it was no use, and the time kept slipping to the wee hours of the night!  Finally I decided to trade with Heidi who was sweating, and bundled her several times in my blanket and used her sleeping bag and was warmed instantly thankfully being able to slip into a deep slumber (with the minor exception of a bathroom break for the 4th time that night!)  and slept until 8 the next morning!  The other thing about beach camping is that there really isn't a designated site to camp and so many people are camping right alongside of you, which is fine unless they decide to do their set up at 2am or 3am and then stay up and blare their music! If you are not a light sleeper (which my kids really are not) then it is ok, but for someone who is, beach camping may not be your thing if you plan to sleep! Haha.  Over all we had a great time, and I got to play boggle, which is my favorite game, as well as watch the sun and the moon slip behind the mountains for the night, and missed the sunrise at 4:30am by 30 minutes, because I could not stay awake! I love the feel of the sun coming into your tent and warming everything up and listening to the waves crashing into the beach.  This is one of my favorite things to do during the summer and I plan on making the trip a couple more times I think! 

Looking at Mt Augustine from Homer

getting ready to roast marshmellows and eat smores after setting up our tents!

watching the sun go down

The kiddos

Summer Has Arrived!??!

Today starts another season of summer camps, as all the campers arrive for our disability camp at Lakeside, primary camp at wagon train, and junior/jr.high wilderness camp!  Lots of kids, lots of fun, and hopefully lots of opportunities for sharing the gospel with them.  Emma and Madison will attend horse camp next week and then we have family comming for much of July, and THEN 2 of my children will fly away for a few months with my parents to Montana and hang out with them and ride horses and camp!  Our summer is full of exciting things to come, hikes planned,swim team, swimming in the lake, fishing trips, beach time, races, family, Wednesday market booth, selling doTERRA, my photos up in our local coffee shop for the month of July, and camping!  We are hoping that all of you with 90+ degree weather will share or just send it all our way as we are getting of to...well no many of us feel summer has bypassed us and we have already started our fall.....We are all just a little ready for many days of sun! 

this is the project of revamping our sewer system at our home

this is after they were all done, but my yard is a little muddy!!  However the newly leveled yard down the hill will be awesome for future ballfield games!

Emma and I's view of Anchorage on the eve of our Triathlon.....Emma's first full tri that she did!

Our dog Mocha getting dressed up at a little "dog" party that a friend of ours put on for all her friends to bring their dogs to!  We all had a good time despite getting rained out!

This is why our sky has been looking like for the last 6 weeks.  While we have had a sunny day or two in there, it has mostly been cloudy, rainy and cold.

Sunrise at 5:30am....I had not been able to sleep and was working on the computer at 5am when I looked up and saw the sky getting all pink.  I decided to drive around and find a good place to watch the sun comming up and ended up down at Wagon Train and the lake nearby!  I was able to get some amazing pictures!

Was able to do the tile in the kitchen by myself since there was not anyone available to do it for me!  Chad did the tile cutting, but I scraped the linolium off and then put all the tile and grout in!!!  I am really happy with most of it....my grout is starting to come out due to a little movement in a few of the tiles.....I don't know what I am going to do about it....but anyway it was ok for my first time!!!

Phoenix Arizona, April 18-22

On my trip to Arizona, I went there to sell doTERRA essential oils at a women's convention.  I had a wonderful time with my friends and I thoroughly enjoyed the flowers, heat, and oh more heat!  It was 104 degrees all 5 days!!!  I know to some people that is overdoing it with the heat, but I was coming from temps in the mid 30's and 40's and a really long and cold winter, and it was just what I wanted!  To be warmed instantly when you walk out into the sun was refreshing and I soaked it up.  The first day I was there, my friend and I went to Olive Creek Mill and had lunch and sampled many fresh olives :)  definitely a highlight of the trip!  We also walked around the Desert Botanical Gardens entrance....but at 18 per person to get in we just observed from a distance! LOL The rest of our stay was spent setting up our booth and working it over the weekend.  While it was fun it was also a somewhat painful learning experience, and we probably won't be doing an Expo again.  We will do health fairs, and our local farmers markets and such, and our personal classes as they seem to be much more fulfilling and easier on the pocketbook! :)   

At Olive Creek Mill

One of the buildings that was being built next to the convention center, that looked to be covered entirely by copper!!  I am not sure that was the actual material they were using, but it looked like it, and if it was I can not imagine the expense of it!

The last morning that we were in Phoenix since I was up at 4am already taking one of my friends to the airport, my other friend and I decided to drive up one of the mountains around Phoenix to watch the sunrise.  It was such a wonderful experience even if it as early I was thankful to experience this with my friend and see God's creation at dawn!

My Dear Friends,

So much has happened in the last month and a half that I didn't even realize that it had been so long since a post on here!  I have been traveling and homeschooling and taking kids to swim meets and practice, along with Jiu Jitsu, and then other normal things of life!  I hope you have not all left! :) 

I have swimming pictures to post, along with pictures of my trip to Phoenix and other random ones recently taken around the house!  I have noticed that as time goes along though more and more are taking breaks from their blogging endevors, I just hope I can continue even as life speeds up, because I do want this to be a place for you all to come and read about our lives and what we are doing as a family and as a ministry in this beautiful rugged state called Alaska! 

Ladies Retreat 2012 Famous Women through the ages!

This weekend was our annual Ladies Retreat that the camp staff wives pull together to put on.  We had a great theme of  famous women through the ages and then had everyone dress up if the wanted to for our banquet dinner on Saturday evening.  There were some great costumes!!!  So I was part of a trio "the Andrews Sisters" which was a lot of fun....however we had quite a few dissapointed people when we did not do a song and dance routine!!!  We also had Cleopatra, Naomi and Ruth, Betsy Ross, Catherine Hepburn,  a representation of the young and older Queen Elizabeth (pictured below), 2 Amillia Earharts, Amy Carmical, and a few others that I do not remember the names of...but a great representation all the same, and we all had a lot of fun!!!

Young and older version of Queen Elizabeth

I also took Emma and Madison down to Homer for their swim meet on Saturday, and they did very well....even taking a few seconds off of some of their race times!!  I have  a few videos that I might try and post later!

Northern Lights

So here are a few of the pictures that I have taken of the northern lights.  I hope you enjoy them!

So for the last few nights I have been burning the midnight oil in hopes of seeing the northern lights and all their splendor, and also to capture them with my camera.  I am excited because the last few nights have been the most amazing displays I have ever seen, but dissapointed because the lens I need to capture them on film is in New York getting fixed!!!  While I was able to get some, they do not compare to the ones that others have gotten just because the zoom is in too close to really see the full splendor.  So anyway, I will put up some of the photos that I have taken in the last few days very soon.  Hopefully tonight will be the last night for aurora watching for a while, because my body can not take going to bed at 2-3am and getting up at 8 or even 9!!!! Haha

Snow and Snowshoeing

 

Over the course of 30 hours we got about 18 inches of snow, and so today as it was finishing up my friends and I went out snowshoeing through the woods!  We had a great time, and it was great exercise, and now I need money for another new toy I found that I love! Haha.  Snowshoeing was a blast and I am ready for more.  I have been invited a couple of times to go with people, but have not gotten myself a pair yet.  I have also done a bit of crosscountry skiing in the last couple of weeks now that our temperatures are above zero again.  It is such a nice way to get out and enjoy the peacefulness of the outdoors, while getting in excellent exercise as well.  My kids do well at home by themselves for the hour that I am gone, and so far no one has been harmed or injured while I am away!  (much to my delight) :)  So nice to know that my two oldest are getting old enough to do an ok job at babysitting!

So I have been spending a lot of time getting my photography shop set up, and editing pictures, and writing descriptions and all the other lovely details that go into that sort of thing, and well, the days just keep passing by and I haven't written on her in over ten days again.  I have been crosscountry skiing with a friend a few times a week.  I have been swimming with another friend a few times a week.  I still take the kids to swim practice every weekday, as well as ju jitsu on Monday's and Friday's, and Awana's is still on Wednesdays!!  I had a friend ask me if I was going to get back into quilting anytime soon, and I just had to laugh.....a lot!  There are days when I wish the time would go by more quickly, and then there are days when it seems to go to fast!  Where do we find the balance?  I have been trying to quit all my computer work, watching tv stuff and getting off to bed a bit earlier so I can read more books that have been put in a pile for me to read.  I just finished a book by Ret. General William Boykin, about his time with Delta Force and all the wars he went to and serving God and how his faith in God played a part in his role in the military.  It is a splendid read if you ever get the chance.  The book is called "Never Surrender."  He has written a few others that I may pick up along the way.  Now I am reading Dr. Dobsins book on how to raise girls, and I think I will read how to raise boys by him when I am done!!  Chad has been keeping busy with camp and at ju jitsu.  He really likes going, but it has made family time a bit harder since he doesn't get home until 8:15 or later most nights.  It is all for the better though as he gets stronger!! 

These last few weeks have been busy and full of events and places for people to be driven.  In addition to Cecile, our exchange student, we had a friend from MT staying with us for a few weeks!  It made our house just that more exciting, and we did not lack in the entertainment department.  On any given night there were about 10-15 people in our house!  The kids have swimming and swim meets, and swim lessons for the younger two.  We are in awana's and Chad is doing Ju Jitsu 5 nights a week for 2-3 hours a night.  Cecile joins him when she can, otherwise she is dancing on her school dance team!  Then there are weekend rentals that Chad works and and various activities for the kids to run off too!  Yes we lead a very full and exciting schedual, and we try to fit our school work and housely chores in there somewhere as well.  I am working hard at getting my photos ready for next July for my art show at the coffee shop, and in the process getting my website with pictures up and prices so they could be purchased if someone wanted to, and with that of course is also my facebook page which is just waiting now for my website to be finished.  I am so thankful for my sister and her help setting it all up for me!!!  And on top of that I have started another business with DoTerra Essential Oils.  I have a website for that as well as a facebook page and now am spreading the word!  They are amazing oils that really work with your body to help you become healthy.  My favorite is the oil blend called On Gaurd that has helped our family fend off colds and sickness.  Now it is not a magical cure all by any means, but when our family was hit by this horendous flu bug that was going around, instead of being really really sick for over a week like a lot of our friends, we were only kind of sick for a day or two.  This stuff has been tested in hospitals and has been proven to kill infections as tough as staph and MRSA!  I am truely sold.  :)  If you ever have any questions about these oils please don't hesitate to ask! 
Anyway last week we were in the midst of several blizzards and lots of snow, and after much snow removal we are now in the high 30's for temps this week!  The kids are a little sad, they don't think winter should leave us quite this soon, but I keep telling them this is only temporary.....we will get more snow soon.  We always do! I always have to laugh because Cecile keeps asking when all the snow is going to be gone, and I respond like the end of April!  She squawks just a little at this and then says....it's ok I like the snow! :)  We really have enjoyed having her here with us! 

Mason on his last jump off the diving board.....last of at least 5!  He was amazing this set of lessons and he passed level 1 and is ready for level 2!  He loves to be in the water swimming just like his big sisters!!

Heidi swimming to the edge at her last swim lesson....she passed level 2 and will start level 3 end of March!

Sunrise the morning of the meet after a whole lot of snow got dumped on us!

Emma and Madison's Swim Team at a home meet.....getting geared up for the start!

Just a few of the oils DoTerra offers!