Father and Son Caribou Hunt

Last week, Aaron and his dad had the chance to go on a caribou hunt of a lifetime. They took a plane up to Kotzebue, AK and then a little prop plane from there into the middle of nowhere. There they camped and hunted for 6 days. Joining them on the trip was our friend Ryan and his dad, Mark.

Here is a little map to show you an idea of how far up they went. They even went about an hour past Kotzebue but I don't know specifically where. I am not even sure they know! The arrow is about where we live and the 'A' (courtesy of Google Maps) is Kotzebue.


I am happy to say the trip was a success. They got 4 caribou between the 4 of them. Below are some pictures of them and their trophies. They spent all day yesterday processing the animals. I can't wait to try a caribou burger.

Clint and his beast! He got the biggest one. The caribou had just started losing his velvet that day.

Here is Aaron's caribou.

Mark, Ryan, Aaron and Clint before boarding the plane to fly into the bush. The pilot could only take two at a time. And from their stories, even that was a little too tight in that tiny plane!

All in all they had a great time! The outfitter they used wasn't the most professional but they managed to have a great time anyway. If you run into any of them, I am sure they will be willing to tell you their stories!

The AK State Fair

A few weeks ago, Aaron and I ventured over to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. It was one of the few sunny, beautiful days we have had this summer. We got lucky! Here are some photos from our day: (All photos taken on my new iPhone. Not bad!)

My favorite animal of the day. He is rocking the fur isn't he!? I bet his hairdo for the day was 80's inspired!

The fastest pig I have ever seen in my life. He took up two pens!

A friendly sheep or so I thought...he wanted to bite my coat. But he sure was cute!

My favorite food of the day and that is saying a lot because I LOVE FUNNEL CAKES but it was trumped by the deep fried cheese curds. I know what you are thinking...it is because I am pregnant. Nope! Baby or no baby, I would eat these any day of the week!

After the animals, we entered the 'ridiculously large vegetable tent'. All the sunlight we get up here works miracles!

An almost 20 lbs turnip. Insane!

I don't remember how many pounds this cabbage was but you can tell, it was B-I-G!

This pumpkin was over 1,000 lbs. That is a lot of pumpkin seeds!

And lastly, the beautiful day. I love the mountains!

We had a lot of fun! It makes me miss the Potter County Fair back home. It may not be as big but they have a lot more animals. And friendly faces of course! And it doesn't cost $12 a person to get in. That is insane to me. But I will be right back there again next year with $12.00 in hand.

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!