Ristorante 'R

While looking through all my pictures tonight from last week, I realized this was the only one I had of the three of us, and the only one that had more than 2 people in it! I hope I can see more pictures from our fun, fun week from someone else? 

This was the day after the Halibut Charter that Mark, his dad and sisters went on. It was nice having a day for them to recuperate. In the middle of the table, there is fresh zucchini from the Reeder's garden (they are expert carry-on-ers), my 'White House' salad, red salmon and halibut, and our fancy water substitute for wine (reminds me of the latter-day church!).  My, oh my, it was a tasty dinner. Mont is in the back enjoying his whole milk, cheez-its, bread, and graham crackers... I'm tough on him. 

Dig in!

ps - Mont is such a computer wiz..

Eagle River: rafted.

This is the only picture I have from our adventure today... so I'm going to do my best to briefly describe the experience in words.

We borrowed this 8 man raft from our ward (I love Alaskan wards!), and set out this morning after my amazing VTers came over to give me some spiritual nourishment. I love those ladies. Hi Steph and Stacy!

We carried this heavier-than-I-thought-it-was-gonna-be raft to the river and hopped in. Mark jumped in last (he was the rudder), and shoved off with his oar. Marty was in front, I was on the left, Molly and Mamie was on the right, and Mark in back.

The river started off super calm, so we practiced our synchronized rowing as we dodged the tree-overhangs. The river was quiet, and solitary. We didn't see houses, people, or animals. We laughed as we thought of falling over the side into the freezing river water and tried to anticipate the rapids that were at the end of the trip.

Water droplets streamed from the oars as we lifted them from the water and swung them frontwards to row again. The drops of water sounded soft and soothing, reminding me of the fountain I had just outside my bedroom window as a little girl.

As we passed our house and church, we saw 2 bald eagles in the same tree... that was all the animal-life we saw. Well, I guess we did see one weird eagle/hawk thing, and a jumping fish (a salmon, perhaps?). But that was it. Oh, and a few bearded men at the end. Okay.. they count.

Once past the bridge, the rapids began. The were seemingly small at first, and were building our excitement as I would let out yelps and screams and hollers to get the girls laughing. It had us doubled over (not a good thing as we are being shouted at to "ROW! ROW! ROW" by Mark as we try dodging trees and rocks), but it did do the trick to lessen Molly's fears. She was pretty nervous, but with my fake rumbly screams she had found humor in it instead. It was great.

We did get stuck on a few big rocks (we couldn't even see them! - they looked just like the other rapids rather than what they truly were), and went over a few submerged trees. We were glad the raft bottom was so tough and thick, as we shifted our weight and rocked back and forth until dislodging ourselves from the rocks. We really didn't want to have to swim to shore. ha!

What a day... I loved every bit of it. Even the huge splashes that had us all drenched in glacier-water and shivering in the cool rain coming down. It was absolutely beautiful, and gave me a new perspective on the valley we live in.

Still wish I had seen the bears and wolves whose tracks we had seen all over the place, though! That would have been most excellent and exciting. Don't you think??

I want to count this as a hike.... so I will. I just asked Mark if I can and he rolled his eyes and said, "suuure."

It was 7 miles rafted, and 50 yards walked with raft. One little blister under my wedding ring, and two swoll (sp?) shoulders, and 10 sore fingers. What a rush! I loved loved loved it.

hike XI: South Fork Waterfall

So I am beginning the hikes again. My goal of 50. I have only documented 10, even though I've done a few small ones since, undocumented. I have not forgotten my goal of 50. Yikes.. 

Anyway, hike 11 was South Fork Waterfall. I went with a couple girl friends of mine from the ward, and we went the easy route. I want to maintain some of my 'tough-girl' regard, so I won't explain how easy it was. But here are the pictures from my phone (Mark still had the good one packed up).

The bridge you cross runs over this roaring river. Narrow... but roaring! btw, in this picture, the water is coming towards, not away!

The waterfall... at the time of the hike, we didn't know the name of the falls, so they came up with "Wet Water Waterfalls." They didn't like my "Archibald's Waterfalls." (I think I had read something about an Archibald earlier that day)

These are the girlfriends I went with. Jodi on the left and Nicole with her boy, James on the right. My boy was sound asleep with his sleeping papa bear. I left a note and was off for a very short (and easy) hike/walk. It was great!

The only hard part was getting from the platform down to the falls.. my legs were pretty sore afterwards. Glad I didn't have my baby backpack! Mont would surely have had some bumps and bruises from tree branches we used to climb up/down with. James had a careful aunt with him to help guide his cute head around them.

Sorry about the sunny/misty glare on these. The mist was insane, and pretty refreshing. This was a look back up the wall we scaled. HA. Just kidding. We went up a trail-sorta-thing on the right of these pictures.

It was beautiful.

bad things happen to good people

(photo via Britni's blog)

A friend of mine and Mark's today messaged Mark that he had some 'bad news'.. so Mark stepped into the other room and called him quickly back.

The news was of a murder.

Is your heart beating faster? Mine too.

Our friend had us look on adn.com (Anchorage Daily News) at an article entitled: Woman Found Stabbed to Death.

She was at an activity-hike for the singles' ward with our friend, and later in the night, when people were expecting her, they went out looking.

Being the nosy person I am, I looked her up on facebook. Her pictures are that of someone who loved and lived life to the fullest- every moment.

The news article referenced her blog, so undoubtedly I had to check that out as well. All her posts have to do with thanksgiving, love of life, helping others, the beauty she sees around her, her religion, and her outlooks. She was a beautiful person, and will have great work to do now that she is on the other side.

I did not have the honor of knowing her, but a few of my friends did. Please pray for them and her family. I do not like thinking of this sweet girl's last moments on earth, alone, and more than likely, afraid. I hope she had some peace of mind thinking of her loving Father in Heaven before she slipped into the life after this.

I pray that she had comfort.

I pray that her family will now have comfort.

fleeting moments

Two days ago, the clouds came rolling back into the valley where our treehouse resides, and here they have stayed. Our once warm air has returned to the chilly air I will be sad to leave one day. While Mark is gone, Mont and I do whatever we can to fill our hours and days.

I sew, he practices his scooting slash crawling.

We play with Buckwheat.

We knock heads together and he laughs while I fight back watering eyes as he comes crashing in for another killer nose crusher.

He is one hundred and one percent boy, and I love it. Though, I would survive a little better without the nose crushing. Is it possible to slowly break a nose?

When he starts to get sleepy, I wipe off the graham cracker crumbs from his small hands using a warm washcloth I call, "the blue monster!", and then we begin our ungraceful dancing.

There is music playing most every hour in our house. But when he gets sleepy, I turn on more swirly-dirly music and lower the volume a few notches. Then I begin our twirling and side stepping.

He begins in the upright position in my arms, and ends in the supine, cradling position I won't be able to do for much longer. This is the part I especially love. The last few days he has been more of a cuddler. Not much... but ever so slightly. I can hold his hands a little more easily, and he'll nuzzle me right back.

My days are full of these sweet moments. In so many of my prayers, I can only utter statements of gratitude with a sprinkle of, "please watch over my loved ones, wherever they are."

shhh

... the pacifier is no longer an available "mute button" at church; he just keeps talking!

"bababa" 

"....ah! ...ah! ...ah!"

"wa wa wa"

"mama ma"

"oowa!"

"AARRRRGH!"

"*click *click"

"rra rra"

tarzan boy

I think in each of us, there's a little bit of Sweet:

a little bit of Happy: 

a little bit of Wild:

and a little bit of Thinker: 

TARZAN BOY! ... 

*currently his favorite song/youtube video to dance to.