well!......i feel totally loved.

you all make me blush. my own self worth is extremely elevated as is the size of my head. thanks!

many of you have suggested some tips that might help this computer illiterate avoid the private blog. i'm going to just try monitoring my comments, and have tightened up my privacy settings per your lovely suggestions. we'll see how it goes!

in other news, i have some ideas a brewing. i was braiding a rug tonight (true story) and i'm thinking, "why in the cripes am i doing this?" sure it's very domestic of me. braiding my own rug is certainly industrious. but, it. takes. a. long. time. it's also really stupid. and who cares about being industrious?
so, i've come to the conclusion (again) that there may be a better use of my free time. do any of you have a crazy dream. something that seems impossible, out of reach? maybe even sort of ridiculous?
i do. i've been pushing it into the back of my brain for awhile. and so as i am surrounded by a giant pile of 1.5 inch strips of fabric, braiding furiously to get it finished, i decided how dumb it is that i'm filling up my time making a crappy looking rug, while watching nothing on tv, when i should be working on what really drives me. who cares how it turns out? i think i'd rather "shoot for the stars" and miss by a mile, than hit a pile of braided fabric dead center.

stay tuned.

dang it.

okay all you stinkin' spam bloggers out there. i am officially ticked off at you.
thanks for being so annoying and pervasive that i must resort to drastic measures.
you've really figured out how to beat the system.

but guess what. you haven't beat me yet. i can go private. and you can go to @#$%.

so to all my lovely friends. it's time. i hate the private button. but i do love you.
please please, please, take the time to leave me your e-mail address, so's i can leave you and invite. even if you are a friend, of a relative, of a friend, of someone i know. just tell me who you are and how you know me (admittedly i'll most likely figure that part out on my own) and that you'd like to keep reading. i know there are lurkers out there ( i'm talking about you rochester ny, Rachel?) and i would be oh so flattered to know who you are and why you read.

take that dirty rotten spammers.

snow machine

in alaska, we snow machine, not mobile. our good friends offered us a day of snow machining on monday and we had a BLAST!!
jace and the littlest goggles i've ever seen. by the end he could barely hold his head up.




bro. henri had a sled for the back of his snow mobile, the kids loved bouncin' around. avery, austin, and our neighbor meisha.



the beautiful woods. i love this picture. the birch trees with no friends for support lean from the weight of winter snow. ain't that poetic?



bro henri and crew.

me and avery. i don't know why this is underlining and i can't turn it off.

austin, quinton, and andrew. the helmets squished our cheeks. face cheeks.

gratitude

your support is overwhelming! thank ya'll so much for your well wishes and prayers. we are at 6 weeks. and life is busy and we are doing well. I really have to say, (and i'm not just trying to prove my spirituality here) that your prayers are bouying us up and we are so grateful.

here's what life has given us lately.

this time of year is a little rough in these parts. it's cold and dark. we don't see actual rays of sunlight until about 10:30 and sunset is at 4:00. which is actually an improvement on the 3:30 time a month ago. even so, what a beautiful "evening." (took this picture at about 2:30 p.m.) alaskan's go outside for relief from cabin fever, even when it's 19 degrees out. (which for us is actually quite warm.)

our nieghbor and avery and austin's mutual good buddy, giving jace a love. we went out side to explore a snow fort the boys have been working on. avery and jace and travis loved it.

the snow tunnel and my girl.
the little guy has discovered tv. (i blame uncle g, he has a spongebob habit.) it inevitably happens to all my kids, still one more milestone for the baby that makes me sad to see. but the fact that no one has ever looked so cute "watchin' a show" makes it a little easier to swallow.

conversation

Mike and austin like the new england patriots. austin especially. Last week when they played the ravens, Mike was watching in Iraq. I was talking to him on skype and asked hubs how they were doing. "they're gettin' killed." he replied. austin comes into the room, so i decide to give him the bad news.
"hey austin, dad says the patriots are gettin' killed!"
austin's eyes get big....and worried. "they are?'
"uhhhmm." i mutter.
"whose killing them? the afghani's or the iraq's?"

You all have good taste.......

....but,


.... none so much as logan. now that is actual perfection.