Wildlife, Scenery and other AK pics

Though not very good, here are a couple shots of what we've seen.

Up close and personal? A little too personal!

Good thing its a rug!

Moose on the shoulder of the highway. They like to graze there a lot.

A view across the Cook Inlet on a clear day. About 5 miles from our house, just off the highway!

View of Mt. Iliamna (or Redoubt), from the highway. Volcanoes across the inlet.

Looking down a 50 ft cliff to the ocean below

Sun on the water.

Winter Solstice!

Sunrise:
10:10am
Sunset:
3:55pm
Dawn:
8:13am
Dusk:
5:51pm
Total Daylight:
5hr 45min
18 deg right now (at 8:30pm), high today was 26, I think. Been in the mid 30's, windy (which is unusual) and rainy, which makes a big slushy mess, which then turns everything to an ice rink, except the main hwys where they have gravel (not sand, as they claim). I've already had 3+ nasty chips in my windshield because of it. Everyone says it's been a weird winter. I believe it. Not exactly what I expected.

Not so bad.
But, more light is always good! Up and up from here. :)

I have like 4 drafted posts on my blog. Maybe some day I'll get around to finishing them!

We are doing great! Excited for Christmas. Wish we could come home for the holidays though. Miss everyone!

PS - I really need a new camera. My camcorder takes fuzzy stills and my phone just isnt cuttin it. My bro-in-law took this one. Its amazing up here, you all should come visit!
PPS - We had a moose kiss our window the other night! Darn things move too fast with those long legs! I have yet to get a satisfactory picture.

Grrr!

Okay, can I just tell you 3 things I HATE about Alaska?

1.
Okay, on to #2

2. Shopping suck!
First of all, I dont really love shopping to begin with. It is exhausting. Secondly, I live where the only descent shopping place is walmart or fred meyer (a little better than walmart). Anchorage is okay, but everything is so spread out! There are no good fabric places (only a Joann's on the peninsula, which I dont love) and they dont have Victoria's Secret ANYWHERE in the entire state! Grrr. I just want a bra that fits! Having babies has really messed things up in this arena. I would give you a description, but I'm not sure that would be appropriate. But if I did it would involve a balloon. An old one. Once inflated. Now it's not. I'm sure you can take it from there.

3.
Okay, so there's really just one big thing right now.

That is all. After a long, full day of shopping, and a temple trip (yeah for a temple!), I am officially just DONE!

Stupid bras!

Stupid boobs.


PS - the only redeeming factor in this whole depressing annoyance is that the Lord promised that one day I could have them back.

Picture this...

About a month ago, this is a scene at which I found myself in awe:
It's dusk. The whole sky is in watercolor. The sun is a gold coin melting into the western horizon, bathed with the misty clouds of (which seams more like south to me because of the layout of the roads and lack of mountains visible daily). With golds and reds and pinks circling outward, it reminded me of the saying, "the red sky at night is a sailor's delight.
In the opposite sky (east), there lies a sky of violet and crystal blue, fading to deep blue midnight. A full moon, touchable. Candy flocked evergreens. Picturesque.
Impossible! Delectable.


Here are some random photos. Unfortunately, no brilliant scenery. Just some of our adventure.

Azilyn and I at the Russian River Falls in July. We have a video of some fish jumping up the falls, but it was early in the season for it, so it's kind of a boring little clip.

Us at the Exit Glacier near Seward, AK. It was a fairly warm day, probably 65-70, but next to the Glacier it was like 30 and windy! The glacier actually creates it's own weather! Azilyn got car sick this day and vomited in the car. Awesome!

Azilyn and I under the giant leaf of a Devil's Club plant to get out of the rain.

Tolson's favorite fingers! LOL Before I took the picture, he was sucking his thumb and had his pointer up his nose! Awesome Tols.

Azilyn as a pirate for Halloween. What was Tolson you may ask...well, he was suppose to be a duck, but somehow we ended up with duck feet and no duck costume...?? We're still trying to figure that one out. So, he was just himself. Sorry bud!

We had our first snow on Halloween (3inches). Luckily we had a trunk-or-treat in our church parking lot. We drove home with no headlights. Yikes!

Mom did the pumpkin carving this year. Azilyn put her hand in and brought it out in disgust! LOL

Happy Halloween!

Autumn

Well, it's hard to say when the seasons actually change around here because the temperatures are so moderate, but if I were to guess, I'd say the Fall only lasted 1month, maybe 6weeks. One day, at the end of August I woke up and went outside to a chill in the air. The atmosphere was changing. Though the temperatures have only been 5-10deg cooler, from 55ish in August, to mid-upper 40's, low 50s as highs. The nighttime lows have dropped into the 30's and at the start of this week, we had our first frost (that I noticed anyway). Winter quickly approaches. Eeww. I'm kinda nervous about it because we are not prepared.
Last night I went visiting teaching to one of my ladies that lives about 2 miles from me. She is a brand new convert! I just got my VT assignment, so this was my first visit. I don't know her well, but I know already that she is a very strong and valiant spirit. Her conversion story is truly miraculous! I wish I could she some of it with you, but I feel I would breech her trust in me. I will just say that with the trials she has endured, the Lord sure works in mysterious ways.
I was at her house until 12:30 last night, helping her with a project that was simply too overwhelming for her to do alone.
Anyway, I started telling this because when I went home, it had been raining, so there were little water droplets on my car, but when I tried to open the door, they were frozen and it was a little difficult to open the door! It has turned cold quickly and we expect to have snow in the next few weeks.

Faith of a Child

A few weeks ago, Azilyn had a nursery lesson on the priesthood. So, on the way home, we were talking about what she learned. I asked her if she knew what the priesthood was and she didn't really understand, so as I'm stumbling aver how to explain it to her, Danny comes up with, "it's God's Magic." Um, ok. I guess that's a good way to explain it to a 3-year-old. As we kept talking she kept saying, "and when I'm big, I can have the priesthood too!" After trying to convince her that that wasnt possible, I gave up and said, "well, you'll have to take that up with Heavenly Father." Immediately, she began to pray and said, "Heavenly Father, will you help me hold the priesthood." Haaaa! Oh, the faith of a little child. Later that day she did something that, "made Jesus sad," so again she immediately prayed for Heavenly Father to forgive her! I'm glad to know that Azilyn realizes she can pray anytime, for anything. I love that girl. She teaches me so much.

Labor Day Excitement!

Well, I've just been busy and haven't been able to telling about our exciting Labor Day. We went to the Alaska State Fair! They were celebrating their 75th anniversary, which is really interesting to me because Alaska has only been a state since 1959. How does that work?? Maybe they count all the fairs they had while they were just a territory too. Alaska was actually a territory of the US since 1912 and before that was a district since 1884. Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867 and was primarily a military region.
Well, I wasn't planning on a history lesson, but there you have it. This is what I'm learning while a resident of another state! Anyway, we went to the fair. Danny and the kids had some fun looking at all the displays (here are some pictures)

Azilyn standing next to a world record breaking pumpkin, well almost. It was actually disqualified because of a quarter-sized hole.

Azilyn in a native costume head cut out thing

Tolson got a kick out of this

The kids enjoyed themselves while I was hard at work at the fair. A lady in my ward asked me to compete with her in the 1st annual dutchoven cook-off! It was so fun. My partner is really competative and has done these competitions before, so I wasnt surprised when we took 1st PLACE! Yeah!!!

My brother-in-law, Sam took 2nd with his partner! It was very cool.

Winning qualified us to go to the WORLD competition, but my partner already qualified with another partner, so we gave it to the 2nd placers. (but we kept the money, $500!)

Yea mommy!

However, just last week, my partner asked me if I could go with her to worlds after all because her regular partner is expecting and will be 8 months along when they have to go! And, she's paying for my plane ticket! It's in SLC, so I will get to see my family in March! Yea!! Also, it just happens to be during Danny's spring break, so I think we will all get to come! I know I owe this one to the Lord. This all came about so randomly, yet has perfectly fallen into place. The Lord truely knows us and works miracles!

Some flora of Alaska

So, I definitely suck at blogging! Sorry to be so sparse.
Saturday we went to the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. I thought they could take us on a "tour" of the area and we might actually see some local wildlife, but NO. Dumb! There's just a visitor's center and some "reserve land". Like Alaska needs that! Honestly. The biggest city (anchorage) isn't even 300,000! Pretty sure there's enough land for those wild guys.
Anyway, we actually went for their Annual Berry Fun Day. I was hoping we'd get to pick some wild blueberries or something, but instead they showed us local berries and which are eatable. Good information, and actually quite fun. Some of the berries we have here are blueberries, trailing raspberries, elderberries (poisonous when raw), high-bush (bright red) and low-bush (deep red) cranberries, red currants, wild rose hips, dwarf dogwood (very abundant), crowberries (very dark purple), watermelon berry (grows dangling underneath the leaves), cloudberries (look kinda like under developed raspberries), Timberberry (bright orange, looks like a pumpkin, edible, but distastful), Devil's club (grow in bunches, also poisonous).
We have some wild rose bushes and red currants in our yard, along with dogwood and low-bush cranberries in our forest and along the off-road path. It's cool to know!I took a few pictures.

I think this is a red currant. I don't recall. It looks very close to the high-bush cranberry.

Elderberries. Grow in bunches. Bears love them. Easy eating!

Azilyn and me trying to get out of the rain under the leaves of a Devil's club.

Ok, well, I thought there were more pictures, but I cant find them.
I do have some interesting mushroom pictures though. It rains here so much that they just spring up at random, and there are sooo many different ones! It's cool. In our yard alone, there are probably 20 varieties! I know most are not edible, even though we have some that look just like portabella. We do have one called a puffball that is edible! We even have some of those in our yard (I think). I dont think I'll try it though. They were too small to get a good picture of but, here are a few of the most interesting ones from our yard and the hike at the Refuge.

This one had been munched on by the bugs, but it was a beautiful red-orange.

Here is another view of the underside. They actually grow convex, rather than the normal cap formation.

This one is a red-purple. So cool. There is a turquoise colored one in our yard too, but my camera wouldnt capture the color.

This one is actually quite large, and another inverted-type.

Here is another view. I couldnt get a great picture.

Nickname is Mario's mushroom.

At first I thought this was bear scat, but it's actually a black mushroom!

This one grows this way. It wasn't smashed.

def. Temperate: Alaska

Okay, so not all of Alaska is temperate and cool right now, just where I happen to live. You know those days when its cold and rainy and you just want to stay in your pj's, curl up with a blanket and some hot cocoa? Well...welcome to the month of August in Kasilof! Average high: 58, avg low: 47. Ugh. I miss summer! And, I really hope I survive here for two years.
This whole week has been rainy or overcast. Yesterday we did see the sun in the afternoon, but it was cool and windy, like Autumn.

Our Alaska Adventure

Wow, how time does fly! I haven't had internet for the past month, so there is a lot to tell about. I will have to tell all about New Orleans later, when I have some pictures.
First off, a little about Alaska. We flew in the 29th of June, getting in about 1am Anchorage time (3am Utah time). The flight went fairly well. We had a super stewardess that helped up get all of our baggage checked and kids settled. That was a feat! I think we had a total of 9 travel items/bags; three carry-ons, the stroller, port-a-crib, 2 car seats, and 2 checked bags. We had a lay over in long beach. I thought it was going to be rediculous trying to get 2 kids, three bags, the stroller and a car seat transfered to our next plane, but the man sitting next to me helped us and the walk to the next plane was like 100 total yards. It's a super small airport. Plane ride number two was a little more challenging. Tolson fell asleep shortly after take off, but Azilyn was too excited. She played well for a little while, then pulled her usual, traveling at bedtime routine, which involves 10 minutes of crying and complaining before finally giving up in exhaustion and falling asleep mid-"my toe hurts, boo hoo hoo". It was a lovely display. I'm sure all the passengers agreed! They slept the entire flight, til the last 10 munutes and woke up upon descent when the whole cabin began to wake up an rustle around in their seats. Im sure the pressure change had some influence as well. Azilyn then cried the entire way to baggage claim until she saw her Daddy! Yeah!!! Tolson wasnt too sure of him at first. I think it was because his head was shaved (thanks, Hun! I really hate it when he does that.) We stayed in Anchorage that night.
The first few days all blurred together as we tried to adjust to the time change and long travel day/all-nighter. It's been a hard adjustment still. Adjusting to a new place, new house, borrowed car, few personal belongings (everything is still in Provo). Azilyn has been testing her boundries with Everything, on top of being her normal sassy, independent, "terrible" two-year-old self. We live in a little cabin 15 miles out of "town". It's a one bedroom house with an open common area for living, kitchen and dining. We have the only enclosed room with built-in closets that maybe a quarter of my wardrobe will fit. Danny's brother Sam is living with us too. There is an up stairs area big enough for a twin size bed and dresser where he stays, and he has his own bathroom. The kids are sharing a "room" for the first time. Their space is a sun room, featuring eight 6ft tall x 2ft wide windows and an exterior door. This area also has built-in cupboard space which serves as a pantry and entertainment cupboard for food and DVD storage. We do have 3 small drawers and no hanger space to put their clothes. Luckily, their room is big enough to fit a bed, crib, and a couple totes for toys. Oh, the room also has a 45" sq window like opening that opens up into the kitchen, and there's no door enclosing the room! This has served very interesting while trying to keep Azilyn in the room for naps, or out while Tolson is napping, or for mere sound and privacy during these times. It's nearly impossible to even do the dishes or vacuum while one of the kids is asleep.
Needless to say, it's been a difficult transition. I think I am doing rather well at keeping my sanity (although some days I wonder) and a positive outlook. We will be in this house for 1 year, maybe two before Danny will begin applying for jobs around the country. In the mean time, Danny will be doing some course work in Process & Instrumentation Technology, and aims to be a Plant Operator (Oil Refinery, Water Treatment, Power, etc.) someday. I will be putting in job applications this week, looking for a Physical Therapy Assistant position, or the like.
We are blessed to have some of Danny's family near (Mom & Dad, Brother, Sister, and several Uncles and cousins). We also live in a fantastic, young ward that is very strong in the church, tight-knit and active! I have met several new friends already and have been surprised at the small world in which we live. Our first week we met a family that were in our same ward when we first got to Provo. Last week, we met some close friends of Danny's cousin and many other young, pro-active and friendly families. Today, we ran into my Icelandic professor from BYU, who has always felt like family, and had dinner with our 32-year-old bishop and his family. All, wonderful people I am excited to get to know better!
Many people, even I, have questioned why we would to Alaska, of all places, and so far from my family, but I think the Lord really has our best interest in mind by sending us here. This is a great opportunity to finish up school, pay off some bills, meet new friends, contribute in His church, and grow together as a family. Though I am still hesitant about my surroundings and nervous for the up coming months, I am glad to be with my wonderful husband and together as a family in our cozy little cabin in the woods.
We have a bid yard for the kids to play in (supervised, of course) and many little forest friends that we look forward to seeing. A white bunny lives nearby and loves to eat his meals under the cool shade of our surrounding canopy. Grass, trees, and wild flowers grow spontaneously and abundantly here and our little bunny loves to eat all the dandelions and clovers in our yard. We have a black cat that visits occasionally, her keeps the rodents under control, and a family of squirrels nest in one of our sheds. We have seen 3 moose in our yard, a momma and her baby, and a small (6ft) bull, with antlers about as big as his ears (about 8 inches), stubs really. All of which scared the crap out of me as I saw them out of the corner of my eye, through the window and thought they were bears! Luckily, we have seen no bears around our house. The moose like to eat the young, tender trees and plants around the yard. The other day I saw a planted garden surrounded by an 8ft leaning fence to keep the moose out! Good luck with that. We see grazing moose off the highway daily, no big bulls yet, and there is a sign on the highway that says, "Give Moose a Brake," 252 moose killed on the hwy in the last year!
It is very beautiful here. We live less than a mile from the Cook Inlet, so it stays a little cooler. I think the high since I've been here was 76 degrees. Normal morning temp is around 45deg. My Icelandic friend told me it is colder here than in Iceland! Awesome. I think Danny stretched the truth about the weather as he was telling me about it before we came, telling me about only the best days. It rains weekly and is overcast 50% of the days, but usually just for 1/2 the day, then warms up to 60-70deg. The sun sets about 11pm now, but it stays very light & dusky til wee hours of morn. It's very strange and the kids sometimes have trouble with it (like when we're traveling after bedtime). We have descent blinds that block the light when necessary. Our bedroom can blackout.
Well, that's all I can think of about where we live. Some other interesting things that have happened since we got here include, Danny's $510 no proof of insurance ticket. Azilyn's attempt at breaking her arm (just a sprain though), and Azilyn and I having the flu.
Tolson is walking and talking more! He says Yes a lot, which is adorable! And he makes lots of other understandable words, though I know he's saying a lot which I dont catch. Today he said one of his first sentences, "she is sad," when Azilyn was crying. Then he wanted to go give her loves! We gave his his first haircut yesterday and he is so handsome! He loves his mamma best, and loves his sister and Papi!
Azilyn loves to use her loud voice, watch the bunny, and walk to the post office (1/4 away), pick flowers, and "help" mom. She missed her Provo house, grandma, and playmates, and needs to get out to play with some new friends.
I have been trying to get us settled and working on Azilyn's quilt. I was hoping to have it done for her birthday, but alas, it will not be so. It's kinda hard to make a quilt when your sewing machine is still in Provo!
Danny is working hard building a shop/apartment with his dad, brothers, and uncles. He will be back in Provo to pack our apartment the first week of August, will drive everything back the second week, then start classes the third week.
We have been able to do some sight seeing and fishing. We went on a hike to see the salmon jumping some falls. There were bear on the hike, but we never saw one, just heard it in the bushes! Ahhh! We also went Halibut fishing abt a week ago. The ocean was calm like a glass lake and we caught our limit. One 100 pounder and bunch of smaller 30-40 pound guys. Halibut are flat and have both eyes on one side of their body. Ugly! The ones I caught werent big fighters, but it's tiring reeling up a 30lb fish from 150ft, with the resistance of the water and the weight of the boat and tide pulling on your catch. This week will be the big salmon run and we'll get some good sockeyes! Yesterday we went to Seward, walked on the boat docks and saw a glacier. It was warm, 75 deg, but the glacier produces a catabolic wind of abt 20-30mph and it makes you shiver! Burrrr! It was lots of fun. Azilyn walked both 3 mile roundtrip hikes without complaint! I think she was just glad to get out of the house.
Our next adventures include clam digging and shrimping, and possible caribou hunting (well, just for viewing). I would also like to go to North Pole, Santa's workshop, and Denali NP this summer!
We love you and miss you all!

Day 1 NATA conference

Day 1 in the Crescent City, was great, mostly. I woke up still tired, my eyes burning, but got on my way. There is a little grocery store next door to the hotel, thats more like a glorified convenient store, over priced and all. Bought some breakfast then jumped on the street trolley to get to the conference center. I didnt really know where I was going, so I ended up getting off too early and walking a bunch. Let me tell you, 10 blocks in heals, not a good idea. By the time I got there, I had wicked blisters on multiple locations on each foot. A couple of bandaids and I was good to go, although they still killed! At least they werent getting worse. Well, needless to say, I walked many, many more blocks today and was much less productive because of it. But, I had a good excuse to try all the vendors products! Found some good new stuff even.
I also ate some dynamite food. Shrimp gumbo for lunch was AMAZING!! So yummy. Then Thai flavored bone-in ribs for dinner. Awwwhhh. My mouth waters just thinking about them. I am having a wonderful time.
Other than the blisters and lots of walking it's been fun. Even when I wondered off on a slower street that smelled like urine and weed, that was still a fun adventure! Well, I learned some stuff, and saw some colleagues. Tomorrow is a BYU alumni reunion and more fun education! I will be purchasing new shoes and walking much less, eating more good food, etc. As for now... SLEEP!

Six weeks ago our BYU married student ward was dissolved and we began attending our new, traditional family ward, which we have been happily avoiding for the past, well almost 6 years. And today, was our last Sunday in the ward. I am going to my conference next week and then we fly to Alaska! Yeah!!

Happy 1st birthday Tolson!!

Yesterday was my little man's 1st birthday! HOOORRAYY!
We had a wonderful, yet long day.
It started off with Azilyn crawling in my bed before 6am only to toss and turn for 20 minutes. Finally she got up and said, very indignantly, "I'm going to my own bed!" 'Yeah' I thought, 'I can go back to sleep!' Well, she made it half way down the hall and came running back in, "Mom, we have to go see the hot air balloons! C'mon, get up." 'Oh, man!' I thought. I was almost in the clear and she remembered. Hot air balloon festival started at 6:30am. And... we went. Azilyn woke up Tolson. (Happy Birthday) He wasnt very happy. Luckily, he's pretty forgiving and was good to go once I picked him up and snuggled him for a minute. Here are a few pictures.

We even rode in a balloon! Good thing it was tethered to the ground, cuz I'm not gunna lie, it kinda freaked me out. I'm a bit scared of heights. The only pictures of us in the balloon, however, are on some other lady's camera. She's suppose to email them to me, but I dont know if that will ever happen.

Anyway, after that we barely escaped an hour of bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeway and took an alternate route to Tolson's Dr. appt, still arriving abt 45 minutes late, oops. He is a healthy boy, with only some minor eczema, 29in (25%, his biggest % yet!) and 19.5lbs (only 6% - I blame this one on Danny. So does the doctor). Four shots and a sad boy later, we were off for lunch and naps, which also went well. Three hours later we had happy, hungry kids who got to go swimming and eat specialty cupcakes from The Sweet Tooth Fairy. Tolson dove into the box of cupcakes to get the one with the most frosting and then he devoured it! It was great. Here's a video of some of the action.

We got home pretty late and we all hit the pillow snoring! Long days make for good sleep. Good day!

Here's a few things about our little rolley Tolley Tolson:
Thumb sucker (right). Dimples. Cuddly. Mama's boy. My sweet boy. Gorilla crawler. Loves sister. Loves playing and giggling with Azilyn. Open mouth kisses (occasionally). Walks holding hands, both hands. LOVES balls. Throws well. Toy cars. Pots and pans. Blocks. Balloons. Opens/Closes doors. Attempts to say the following regularly - Mama, Azilyn, get up, what's that, that, milk (sign), yes, all done, book, see ya. Points. Waves. Claps. Shakes head. Misses Daddy, Da da da. Towhead. Straight hair. Chill little man.

We love you Tolson!

Even the long days pass too quickly

Well, it's been a long, wet spring, but I'm finally DONE with work! I made it through my first year of athletic training. I'm glad to be done, yet somewhat sad to see it go since I wont be going back next year. Danny finally figured out how to get me to Alaska, so that's where we'll be. We move in August. Crazy, huh!
Danny actually left for Alaska May 9th. It has been a VERY difficult three weeks. Azilyn absolutely adores Danny and he has never really been away from him, not to mention Mom being away at work half the day too. She has developed quite the attitude. She is quite sassy and disobedient. I'm guessing that part of it is the age, but hoping that once we reunite with Papi, she will cool her jets and stop trying to make me certifiable.
Tolson is doing okay. He is more clingy, but his calm demeanor makes his 'missing Daddy' a little less apparent. Though, every time he hears Danny's voice, he turns toward it and says, "Da, Da, Da." It's so cute, and makes me tear up every time. Danny recorded some stories and lullabies for the kids before he left. Azilyn listens to them all the time, but there have been several nights I try to put Tolson down for bed and he fights and crys (which is totally out of character) until he gets to listen to Papi's voice and make sure Azilyn is okay too. He has always loved Azilyn and gets worried when she cries, but now that Danny is gone, he often looks to her for reassurance and comfort. He has to be sure all is well with her before he goes to bed. Kisses and all. He's in the open mouth kissing stage. I love it! I love those little slobbers. He is so affectionate and loves to snuggle. He is standing up on his own and loves to walk holding your hands, both of them, but is still too chicken to attempt steps. You can tell he often thinks about it though.
I look forward to getting my house clean now that work is done, and not looking forward to packing stuff. And I hope to get some sewing in and lots of time with my family here before the kids and I fly out at the end of June. With my conference the week before, we dont have much time left.
I feel very torn about leaving Utah right now. I miss Danny incredibly and want our little family to be together again SOON, but it kills me to think of being so far away from all my family, especially my mom and grandma, since I know grandmas time is short and my mom is having such a tough time with everything. Both my mom and Trevor have threatened to steal Azilyn. Oh, how I hate taking her away from her favorite person! Azilyn and my mom are nearly inseparable. I feel like I'll be leaving my mom all alone. :`(
But Azilyn is super excited to see her dad...and the moose, and the bear, and the eagles, and the big mountain of ice... She list everything in Alaska she's excited to see. She can be so cute when she's not being a pill! We made her a countdown calendar to mark off the days to Papi. Oh I love my family and am so glad we can all live together in heaven, never to be separated again! But for now, we have each other a short while.

Last Day!!!

Today is my last day of work. Well, technically yesterday was, but I have to go in to finish up paperwork, clean up and put things away.
I've been sporadically telling the kids that I wont be here next year. It makes me a little sad to leave, for the kids at least, but I'm pleased when I get reactions of sadness and objection from my athletes. It tells me how much I truly am appreciated.
I have really enjoyed this Spring season. Everything was way more laid back. I had lots of athletes in for maintenance issues (stretching and massage type) rather than lots of injuries. It was also nice to be outside, even though nearly every game was in the cold wind, rain or even snow! All the athletes were very warm and personable. I made a lot of friends. I will especially miss the softball girls, most of which will be back next year. They were especially sad to see me go. Baseball too. I spent a lot of time with them working their sore arms from throwing. A pitcher's throw is very un-natural and they get all messed up if not taken care of. Maybe next year they will be a little less moody (their coach was kind of moody and set everybody off). Cute kids though. I was able to travel with them to a St. George tournament and just had a lot of fun!
Soccer made it to the State championship game. They played last night at Rio Tinto stadium. It was fun to be at a pro stadium, but they lost. :( Sad day. They battled hard the whole game, but especially the 2nd half. Kids who would normally cramp from dehydration were hydrated, but still cramping from sheer exhaustion! Poor guys! Better luck next year Bruins.

Happy Birthday to me! :)

Didn't do anything special today. Just another day at work, but Danny sent me flowers! Yeah. Mom came over yesterday with cake. German Chocolate, yum! One of my athletes was suppose to make me his famous brownies, but just gave me a great bear hug instead. I thought that was okay. Good gift from a goofy, teddy bear, 200lb lineman. Funny kid.

Here comes Spring!

Well, Lots of news from our neck of the woods.
First off, Winter sports are almost over!!! (Spring try-out are next week!)
We had 5 wrestlers make it to state and they all chocked in the first round. Our biggest chance for a state title ended when our kid tore his hami a week and a half before state. That kid gain like 14lbs in a week - wrestler, and emotional eater. Note a good combo! I was glad to see wrestling done. We hosted 2 big weekend tournaments and I was about ready to throw-up on wrestling. Also because we had A LOT of injuries in wrestling this year. Mostly minor, naggers, but a few biggies. One of my state kids decided, after agonizing through his only state match, that he would finally go to the doc - ER actually. I had been telling him to go get his back checked out for a possible fracture for like 5 weeks! So he went to the ER and what did he have??? Scoliosis. Yeah, gay! Okay, so there was a pinched nerve or two with tons of inflammation that was causing the symptoms, but still, crazy! I did have a wrestler at one of our tournaments who did break his neck though. Got 2nd opinion from his athletic trainer, who sent him to insticare, who took xrays, who missed it! Scary, huh!? Another doc saw the xrays and caught it, thank goodness. Yeah, he got surgery. Anyway...
Girls basketball went to state, yea!! The won their first game even though they played horrible. It was close, worrisome. Then they played defending state champs tonight (Springville) and lost, by one point. So sad! So they are done. It was a really fun game to watch since I knew most of the Springville girls from when I was interning there. They were all freshman then. Crazy. It makes me feel a little old. No good injuries to report there. Just a couple concussions.
Then there is boys basketball. Ugh! What a nightmare. Head coach must be friends with the football coach, cuz they are both, disrespectful, immature, AH's. We had two concussions in bbb and coach caused trouble with both of them. Long story short, he doesn't trust that I know what I'm doing, so he wants all the boys to see a doc over me and has deterred them from coming to me, deliberately undermining my expertise all the way along. We had a game yesterday and I seriously wanted to punch him when he wouldn't let me take care of an injury. Rahhr! But, they only have 1 game left, prob'ly. Season is done, but they play a game Sat to see if they go to state, which I'm guessing they wont. They're only so-so.
Next comes Spring! Hoorah! Fresh-cut grass, sunshine and warmth. Yes! Oh, and baseball, softball, boys soccer, track, boys tennis and girls golf. Wahoo. (Then I will have made it through my first, incredible stressful, year of training!) Not to mention summer is after that.

ON the homefront...

On a better note all together there is lots going on at home too! Danny is in his last semester of undergrad! Yeah. Well, kind of. He is actually planning to do, um, well, something. He hasnt really made up his mind, but he is looking into a safety program thats really like a minor. That will be another year or so. Otherwise, he would be doing pre-reqs for a masters in safety engineering. He hasnt figured out the best option yet. I say LETS GET ON WITH IT! He really drives me crazy. Oh, and speaking of feeling old, Dannys birthday was yesterday. He turned 31!

Tolson is a busy boy. He is rolling all over the place. Everywhere he wants to go he rolls, so you find himat opposite ends of a room within minutes, only to find hime in the next corners of that room minutes later. He's funny. Maybe this is why he has the nick name, Rolley Tolley. Check out the attached video of his greatest motivation yet. The Balloon. He has started to push up on his hands and knees and rock, but hasnt quite figured out the crawl yet. He'll get up on his hands and knees, then fall down, scooting backward in the process. He's so cute.

Oh, and he cut his first tooth last Wednesday! He's been so sad. We've all been sick with a nasty cold, and he's teething. Poor guy. It's the first time he's been really sad and clingy. He's such a good boy.

Azilyn is...well, I think we spoil her. She is really good at manipulative "faker" tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants. But she's been really "helpful" lately too. She really does try to help, but it usually ends up in a mess. Then she is sincerely apologetic, so I cant get mad at her for just trying to help. It's cute, but all very frustrating. I love that curly mop though. She is taking ASL lessons with a deaf girl at the high school, so she is around the training room more often and all the kids just adore she and Tolson both. I love it. Though its hard to concentrate when they're there. Her lessons are going well, but she is only two, so her attention span is pretty limited. Tutor is trying to figure out what to teach her cuz she really knows a lot of noun vocabulary. She's doing pretty well. Now if we could just get her hair to grow back!
Well, I dont get much done outside of work. Azilyn's quilt is on hold again. Too stressed about work stuff to work on it. Maybe when school is out! :)

Well, love ya'll! Sorry for the novel, but that's what happens when you dont blog for so long. Oh, we got family picture again. I will have to try and post it up here. Now to go rest my weary head and try to shake this nasty bug!

NATA Conference, Here I Come!

It's official! I'm going to New Orleans. I'm sooo excited - Aaaahhhhhhh! I booked my plane ticket today, booked my room last week. Just need to find a good deal on a rental car and plan all the fun things to do in the city of Jazz and Jambalaya.
My athletic training conference is three days, which I'm super excited about! Then my friend Hilary is flying in and I'll have another three days of touring with her! Wahoo! Now I just need to figure out how to convince my boss that he should pay for my conference entrance fee. Have to pay for those CEUs somehow.
It's not til June, but I'm sooo excited!!!! Anyone have any tips?

Happy New Year, and Christmas, and Thanksgiving!

Wow! I cant believe I havent posted since November! So much has happened in the last month or so! Here's the major things:

Another retarded coach got his panties in a knot (boys basketball). Lost his star player to concussion. Threw a big fit. Tried to go around the rules. Big headache!

My little sister left her abusive husband, Hoorah!!! At least for now. We dropped everything one day to help her. Very emotional day, and following few weeks. She and her two kids stayed with us for two weeks while she finished up her semester of school. That was hectic and just about pushed my sanity over a cliff, but we got through it. Glad we could help, and that she and the kids are safe.

Danny finished another semester of school! Whew. That was also crazy. He is good at procrastination, so he had lots to do the last two weeks of school. Hopefully he passed all his classes. [biting fingernails] Only one more semester to finish up his bachelors! Still trying to figure out if a masters is in the near future. Not looking probable.

Azilyn scalped herself. Yes, its sad, but true. She was helping Danny mix pancakes when she leaned under Danny's arm to tell her cousin, "we're making pancakes" and her hair got sucked into the electric egg beaters, ceasing the machine and breaking the shaft! Yanking a chunk of hair clean out, well, maybe not so clean, she was bleeding from the pores. Poor girl! She now has a bald spot, abt 1x2 inches. We hope it grows back.

Azilyn got her tonsils/adenoids removed. Now I have a hard time hearing her breath at night, being right next to her, let alone across the house (no joke). No more sleep apnea and snoring for this little girl. She has done amazing with the recovery! Wasnt too fussy coming out of anesthesia, didn't complain of pain until day 6 or 7 (probably when the scabs came off), and only complains after waking up, probably because her throat is dry.

Azilyn is now potty trained! I think it's been about a month. She was doing awesome during the day and woke up dry for a whole week, so we moved her to panties. No more diapers! Hooray!!! She even stayed dry under anesthesia! We put her in a diaper for her surgery, which she protested, and she stayed dry! Even when the meds were wearing off, she wanted to go to the potty! Wahoo. We've had a few "busy" accidents (makes it to the potty too late cuz she's busy playing or cant get her pants off), but no wet nights. You go girl! Oh, and she occasionally pees under the toilet seat and soaks her pants. Not really sure how that happens??

Tolson also hit a milestone. He has been sitting on his own for about a month. I'm glad too, cuz the back of his head is a bit mis-shapen. Hope we dont have to get a helmet. He has a well-check dr appt this week, will ask him then.

Tolson is such a delight! He is a great baby. Sleeps through the night, doesnt cry unless tired or super hungry. He is smiling and laughing. I love his dimples! He loves his sister and laughs at her and likes to grab her hair. He loves to grab my hair and/or face and attack, giving me slobber kisses. It's great! Hilarious! He loves his mamma! He likes to comb his hands through my hair. It's sweet (when he doesnt grab hold).

Because of Tolson's love of hair, I decided to chop mine off. It's about chin length. Danny loves it. I'm getting used to it. It's a major change. I think I whacked about 8 inches off. Tolson doesnt love it. I'm pretty sure he didn't know who I was when I came home. Azilyn says my hair is smaller. Funny.

The holidays came and went. We spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with my moms side of the family. It was fantastic and pretty low key. We were party-poopers for New Year's. but it still came. Toot. Confetti. "Happy New Year!" Kisses. There, I celebrated!

I have some New Year's "resolutions", if you will. But I'm not so resolute. I want to eat better (ie - actually make meals and eat them regularly), cut sweets, exercise, get better sleep, read scripture, pray, be a more patient mother (ie - not kill my 2yo). Ya know, the usual. Danny and I are planning an anti-fungal cleanse in the next two weeks to kick off the healthy eating goal (minimal carbs for two weeks the kill those nasty parasites), then healthy foods from here on out.

Upcoming things to look forward to this year:
Valentine's Day, no plans yet, but I'm sure it's going to be great (Hint, HINT)
Graduation (maybe)
Getting through my 1st year as ATC
Athletic Training Conferences (Albuquerque or New Orleans, cant decide which to hit)
Tolson's 1st Birthday
9 year wedding anniversary
Azilyn's 3rd birthday
Ashley's 10 year HS class reunion
Summer in general, etc, etc.