My two loves

Happy Easter!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

After Dinner

 

I really need to quit taking videos with my iPhone. Sorry the quality stinks. I will get out the video camera next time! I was being lazy.

Dyeing and Riding

This weekend was a busy one but full of fun! Saturday I went to the Salvation Army Trash for Treasure Auction/Luncheon. I don't know if you have ever attended one or if it is just an AK thing, but if you get a chance you should go. Every year people buy stuff from the local Salvation Army's and turn it into something amazing. I have seen jeans, bowling balls and garden equipment turned into the most beautiful things. I am certainly not that creative but it was a fun experience!

Later that day, we headed over to Tyler and Ginna's house to dye Easter eggs. I don't think I will ever be to old to dye eggs. Even at 33 years old it is still a lot of fun. And since we have Kinley now I can pretend we are doing it for her and not just for me! :)

 Averianna and Amanda getting started. 

 Cadence excited for her turn!

 Kinley not excited about bundling up to go outside.

 She is loving the blanket! She didn't dye any eggs but she had fun watching.

 Heather and Ian enjoying eggs and sunshine.

 Poor Declan just couldn't keep his hand out of the dye. We have been calling him the Hulk!

The finished product. Each kid got to dye a dozen eggs. Thanks G & T!

Sunday, Aaron and I went horse back riding. It was part of my early birthday gift. Aaron will be hunting bears on my real birthday. I don't mind. I figure how many people get to hunt bears in AK?! My day can be celebrated any time!  We rode for an 1 1/2 on a beautiful day. It was a lot of fun! I had almost forgotten how much I like to ride.

Me riding Duke. Appropriate right!?

Aaron is on Rusty. It was a lot of fun riding horses with the mountains as our backdrop. It was a gorgeous day! I would recommend Horse Trekkin Alaska to anyone wanting to ride horses.

UPDATE: The First Batch

 "That doesn't look so good."

 "There are you happy?"

 "I don't know how I feel about these sweet potatoes."

"Oh, cool! What is this?"

The verdict: She really didn't seem to care. She paid about as much attention to the sweet potatoes as she does the rice cereal or oatmeal. I will keep trying though! (Sorry the pictures were are so bad. I had it on the wrong setting and was just trying to catch any picture I could get!)

The First Batch

I was inspired by Crystal over at The Longest Year to try and make Kinley's baby food. CLICK HERE to read her post on how to actually do it. She made it seem simple enough that even I wouldn't screw it up! I am not an organic lover and everything we put in our mouths doesn't have to be healthy. But I did want to start her out on the right track. It was actually really easy and a lot of fun to do! Not to mention it is cheaper. I love a good deal! I am sure I will still give her Gerber food along the way but for now we will start with homemade sweet potatoes.

 I love the Ninja blender! If you are looking to buy a new one I would recommend it. It has one blade in the middle and one at the bottom making blending so much faster! I bought ice cube trays to fill up with the sweet potatoes. I know they make specific trays for baby food but they are basically the same thing. And the ones I bought were a lot cheaper!

 I chopped them up and steamed them.

 

 The put the sweet potatoes in the blender to puree them.

I filled up each little 'ice cube' hole with taters! Each little cube is 1 oz. Great to know if you are tracking how much your baby eats.  I only made one tray to start out. Once they freeze up I will take them out, put them in a freezer bag, label and date them. Kinley is sleeping but when she wakes up, she will get her first taste of sweet potatoes. Hopefully she will like them. If not, there is always next week to try something new.

The Northern Lights

I stole the following photos from my friend, Christie. Don't worry, she knows! Aaron and I have seen the Northern Lights but they haven't been this clear and I haven't gotten a good photo. Christie lives in Fairbanks which is about 6 hours north of us. She gets to see them quite a bit. The temperature and time of night have to be perfect for us to see them this far south. She has been able to see these amazing lights right from her back porch!

Aren't they beautiful!? The lights always seem to be dancing across the sky. I told you AK was magical! Thanks Christie for letting me share your pictures with my friends back home. I don't think I could ever describe how beautiful they are with just words!