29 & 26 Weeks

We went for our 29th week appointment this morning. She is still doing great! It wasn't time for her to be measured so I am not sure how many pounds she is now. But the doctor did tell us she has some hair. She could see it and of course, I couldn't. Oh well! I like great checkups!

Here are two photos from today...

A great side profile!

Here she is flexing her muscles! :) I don't know what all the other stuff in the picture is and I don't think I want too.

And here are some photos from my 26th weeks appointment that I am posting for my mom. Her work is crazy and she isn't getting my e-mails. Here you go Mom!



I go back in two weeks to see her again!

Attemping to be Crafty

So, I was home alone the other night (Aaron was out on the range for the night.) bored out of my mind. I decided to search through all the craft blogs I had saved in hopes of some inspiration for Kinley's room. I came across a fun tutorial from Little Birdie Secrets and thought I would give it a try.

It didn't require a whole lots of skill, thank goodness! I don't have a lot of crafting skills to go around but here is the final result. I didn't have a cutter for the letters so I just purchased wooden letters at Michael's and painted them.

The lady doing the tutorial did one letter for each of her boys but I decided to do all Kinley's initials.

Click here to see the pros tutorial.

See below for mine...

If anything, it gives the room a few more colors and visual textures. I must have taken this picture at an angle because it looks crooked. It isn't in 'real life' I promise.

I have another project in the works from the same blog site. (If I remember correctly!) So I will post that one soon!

The Nursery: Bits & Pieces

We have been working on getting Kinley's nursery in order. All the furniture has been put together! We put the crib together yesterday. It completes the room! All that is left is decor on the walls. Ideas will come to me, I am sure. But for now, here are a few photos of the room so far...



As you can see there is still some fun stuff to be done. But the main stuff is done and put together. The little dresser is already filled with clothes from generous friends!

Little Susitna Float Trip

Floating to the next camp site...

Chris, our neighbor, with a nice spawned out 'Humpy' (pink salmon).

Aaron with a silver.

Another silver (spawning colors).

Extreme close-up of spawning silver.

His first fish of the trip!

Using our smokehouse

Smoked salmon, yummy! Salmon jerky, yummy!

The evolution of our smokehouse

Aaron constructed an awesome smokehouse! We caught some salmon to be smoked and our neighbor, Ken, brought over a king salmon for us today. Can you say yummy? I feel like an Alaskan! :)

Wordless Wednesday (sort of...)

...even Boone is hooked on McDonald's sweet tea! (Don't worry, Aaron was done drinking it.)

Fun Gifts

My friend, Erin, made this awesome diaper cake for me! Check out the cute pink pacifiers at the top. Didn't she do an amazing job?

Her husband is also a graduate of West Point so she showered Kinley with this WP gifts. I can't wait until she is old enough to wear the little cheerleading outfit!

Also, in the gifts was this neat little book. It is a baby view of life at West Point. It is pretty funny!

Still Growing Strong...

Kinley at 24 weeks!

Me at 23 weeks!

Ranger Graduation

Aaron has been away at Ranger school for the past two and a half months. The school is located at Fort Benning, GA. He was sweating to death while I was shivering!

The school is broken up in 3 phases: Benning Phase, Mountain Phase and Swamp Phase. This is by no means an easy school so I am not only really proud of him for graduating but proud that he never got recycled. You can pass the first phase and fail the second causing you to redo the whole phase. Not fun.

He started out with 374 people in his class and only 89 soldiers made it through without recycling. See, I told you I was PROUD! This is pretty normal. They say that usually only 20% of every class makes it through the first time around. By the end their were 157 in his graduating class. They pick up people along the way who have been recycled at some phase.

Before the graduation ceremony there is a show put on by the Rangers to help with families/friends understand more about what the Rangers will be asked to do. It was pretty neat to watch.

Here are just a few pictures from their demonstration:


Here are a few pictures from the graduation ceremony:

Saluting the flag at the start of the ceremony.

Aaron stood up front because he was given a Leadership award that was voted on by his peers.

Me, trying to pin on his Ranger tab. Not an easy feat in itself!

I was/am so proud of him. I love this man!

Lots of family traveled down to celebrate Aaron's graduation!

In case you are curious, here are some video clips of what they learn/do in each phase:

Phase I: click here
Phase II: click here
Phase III: click here

I didn't mention the whole Ranger school thing on the blog before this because he asked me not too. He wanted to make it through first! I can respect that. Who needs the pressure?!

I had a great time visiting friends in NC on my way to Fort Benning, GA. Although, the 100(+) temps did take a little getting used!