Disney!!

As almost everyone knows, I love Disney. I LOVE DISNEY!!! I really do. I grew up watching Disney movies and my nursery was decorated in baby Disney. My parents love Disney. My grandparents took my dad to Disney World the second year it was open! I think...I'm sure my dad will correct me if I'm wrong :) my dad is from Florida so we would visit there often and every time we went my parents took us to Disney World. I have so many wonderful memories there. It makes me tear up to think about all our trips!  Disney World is so magical. You get there and you're immediately five years old again! Everything is fun!! Things that would creep you out on any other normal day are suddenly so awesome and exciting (people dressed up like cartoon characters? On the street I'd be thinking "wow what a freak" but at Disney I start crying when I see Belle or Cinderella...I know, pathetic hahaha)!!! I love the rides, the food, the music, the parades, the characters, the shows, the fireworks, the monorail, I love Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (oh yeeeeeaaaa! Court and Hay will remember!), Downtown Disney, I LOVE ALL THINGS DISNEY!! I love the opening ceremony of the Magic Kingdom. I cried the last time I watched it. When I see those mouse ears and the castle and hear the music on Main Street I start to lose my marbles. I'm five years old and can't stop the tears or the laughter! Nathaniel and I even went there on our honeymoon :) I so wish that I had some pictures of the family trips we took there as a kid. But my parents have all those and they aren't able to get to them right now because they're on their way to visit me!!! I'm so excited :):) next visit down to see them I'll make sure to get copies of all the old pictures!

Cue tears now

In April of this year we made our first family trip to Disney! We planned it out back in summer 2011 and saved up our money for almost two years. And this trip was every single cent!! We had originally planned on going January 2013 but we found little Briellabee (my niece, Brielle) was on her way and would be born exactly when our trip was. So we moved it to April and it just happened to coincide with Caden pumpkin's first birthday!! What a wonderful way to spend your birthday :)  I've had the absolute pleasure of spending a birthday or two there :) this was just so fun. We flew from home down to Oregon for about a week so that we could spend time with Nathaniel's grandparents. It was great to see them again!! I loved watching them love on Caden. It was the first time they'd seem him! It was precious. Then we flew down to Florida and had one day of just the three of us before the rest of my family got there. We drove to Tampa and checked out the Bucs stadium (Nathaniel's favorite team) and took Caden to the ocean for the first time. His face! He loved the water!! Once my parents got there we had a delicious breakfast with the characters. Caden was freaking adorable with the characters!! They got lots of hugs out of that little boy!! We also got to see my mom's sister and her family! I love my Aunt Jenny and her gang :) 

In the above pictures are Caden's great grandparents! They loved him!! And this picture is his first time playing the grass! He was amazed by it :)

Squinting in the Florida sun! First day there!!

First time touching the sand and feeling the ocean water

Bucs Stadium from far away

Reunited! 

 We love Mickey!

 Donald was the only one Caden was a little frightened by

 Caden's girlfriend ;)

 He loved Pluto!!

 Goofy!!

 If it was your birthday you got a birthday cupcake! And the characters danced around and sang. Mickey and Donald stopped right by us!

 Cousins! I love Steven's face, he and Caden were buddies :) Jo fed him chex mix and they quickly became best bud too :)

 This blurry picture is the only one I have of my family and their family

 The pool at their hotel! It was incredibly elaborate and so awesome! Feeling the water with me and Aunt Haley

Caden loved splashing around in the water! Brielle did not! haha

So I think I'll have to stop there. I wanted to talk about my entire trip in one entry but I've already said so much!! I guess this will have to be a multiple post kinda deal :) I'm only on day two! I have several days left. I get so excited about Disney!! I can't to get into the actual Disney Park part of the trip! :)

Busy little Bucks

Oh my gosh this week was SO BUSY!! Usually my stay at home mommy job keeps me at home most of the week. There's one trip to the grocery store, one or two park dates, and walks everyday...so not too much. But this week I had so much to do! And little things (like going to the post office) become an ordeal because all I need to do is run in for maybe two seconds and I don't want to take Caden out of the car but I have to. I can't leave him in the car so for every five minute errand add at least thirty minutes (and that's just with one kid...I'm a little worried about how I'll do it with two! haha) anyways, here's a run down of my busy week...

On Monday I took Caden to this little local weekly event called Music at the Park. This group of older people get up there and sing for the kids. It's so cute! They do interactive songs and pull out all these maracas and hula hoops for the kids to use. I love it! My friend told me about it last year but I never went until this summer. And I'm taking Caden there tomorrow! I'm excited! Plus we get to take a little walk downtown to get to the park and I love it. Here's an adorable video of my cutie dancing (and pointing to airplanes!)

                                               

On Tuesday Caden and I mostly stayed home but we did take a walk and play at the park in our neighborhood. He loves to play and I love to watch him (when it's a quick trip or we have a friend with us--see post entitled "The Park"). That evening I went to this girl's house to pick up some stuff I ordered from her. It's ADORABLE and I love it!! You can check her gorgeous stuff out at https://www.facebook.com/madewithlovekj

                                        

Wednesday I met an old friend from high school at a park called The Valley of the Moon park. It was fun! A teeny bit stressful just because Caden's so fearless and it wasn't a toddler park. But it was wonderful to see her again!! I haven't seen her in years. And now she has two little darlings who were just so cute! Later that day Caden and I did a little craft. It didn't turn out quite as I wanted because I didn't realize how big his hand is!! But I'm still proud of it!

On Thursday Nathaniel's grandparents and his cousins came over for a bit in the morning. Those boys just love my boy and it's sooo sweet! They totally wore Caden out and he crashed as soon as they left. After Caden's nap I took him up to the preschool that I used to work at. I got to see some of my old friends and Caden's got to play with the "big kids" which made me a little nervous! But he had a blast. That evening we had a friend's birthday dinner to go to but I wasn't able to go. It was at Benihana. I don't love Benihana and Caden was very ready for bed so I skipped out. But when Nathaniel got home with his leftovers I realized that I LOVE Benihana. Whatever spicy chicken rice thing that he got was amazing! Burnt the crap out of my mouth but it tasted soooo good.

Hanging out with his cousins :)

                                                            Playing at the preschool!

Friday the three Bucks met for lunch at the dining facility on base. That place is pretty good! You'd think it would be nasty cafeteria food but, no, it's actually really delicious! Caden and I then took a trip to Target (my happy place) to do some birthday gift shopping for a sweet little boy's birthday party! I ended up walking out with a bunch of stuff for Caden too...typical Blair haha I found a book called "God Gave Us You" and I cried right there in the middle of the book aisle in Target. It's precious. And I found a ton of excellent flash cards AND a huge bubble wand. It's AWESOME. I can't stop playing with it! Friday night I left Caden with Nathaniel and went to a Pampered Chef party. It was fun! I got some free scentsy stuff (yay!) and bought some new measuring cups and pizza cutter. And, I swear, if Nathaniel break this pizza cutter, that's it! No more pizza cutters in this house ever again.

 Pretending to choke during lunch 

 Snacks with daddy before I left for my party

On Saturday I FINALLY made it to the Commissary. I put it off for almost a week, I usually go on Tuesday but managed to get out of it until Saturday. And I didn't have to go alone! We also got Caden's hair cut. At first I was sad because it's a little shorter than I wanted but I like it now :) after Caden's nap we went to a very cute birthday party. There was so much love in that house, I actually teared up during the singing of their version of "Happy Birthday". Here's a video of my friend and her husband singing it (not at the party though): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVhmC_9Fl_w It was all very sweet and it was Caden's first time attending a birthday party! That evening we played with bubbles and ate popsicles :)

 Goofing off before grocery shopping :)

 Hair cut!

 Party time!!

We're addicted to those bubbles and Otter Pops!

Today was busy too. We had church this morning. I love our church. It's Cornerstone and it's just wonderful. We ran to Costco after our service ended and then to one of our favorite places Pita Pit for lunch. The absolute only thing I don't like about that place is that it's a chain. I wish it was a local place but that's ok :) I'll still eat there! Once we got home Caden refused to nap :( So we went on a nice walk together and then Nathaniel went golfing with his friend while Caden stayed home with me. We played outside and blew bubbles. I made pizza for supper and then he passed right out at 7:00. He was so tired! And now I'm about to eat a s'more (that I made in the microwave lol) while I'm waiting for Nathaniel to get home and then we can watch Psych (ADDICTED!!). Sorry for the length! But I wanted to share every single detail of my entire week haha well, not EVERY detail but most of the details :) p.s. If you want to comment you'll have to do so on facebook. I'm still working on allowing the non google users (and users of the other options on the drop down for comments) to leave me a note. I'll get it done soon! p.s.s. I just noticed that there's no sound for the video! You can watch it on my personal facebook page if you want :)

 At church, blurry but too cute 

Picking wildflowers on our walk

Garden

I'm so proud of my garden this year! It's actually growing and thriving! Last year the poor flowers all died. Immediately. Summer 2011 was our first summer back in Alaska and it was our first summer living in our own house! Nathaniel built me a little garden that year (with the help of a friend) and I was so proud! I said I wanted a garden out front so our house would look cute and he listened! haha :) He went to Lowes and picked up the wood and he and his friend set to work on it. I was so pleased with the finished product! My mother in law went with us to Fred Meyer to pick out the perfect flowers (I had no clue whatsoever on how to successfully plant a garden!). She was a great help, she even helped me plant everything! That year the flowers just grew and grew and grew. I even had to trim it back a bit because it was just over flowing :)

Summer 2012 I had just given birth to Caden :) I love that sweet boy! He was born in early April and at the end of May I planted all my flowers again. I did it without my mother in law that year. I just went back up to Fred Meyer and picked whatever flowers were pretty. I took Caden outside with me in his little bouncy seat and set to work on planting all those pretty flowers. He slept the whole time but it was a sweet little bonding time with my boy :) the pictures below are not from that day but one is him in his bouncy seat (which he grew out of way too fast!) and the other is him in his Bumbo seat while daddy washes the car. Almost as soon as I planted the flowers they all died :( that summer I was sooooo tired ALL THE TIME! I was struggling with breast feeding and up half the night every night and just didn't take care of all my little flowers. Caden's definitely more important but I was sad that I let them all die!

This year I was determined to have a beautiful garden! I talked to my mother in law BEFORE buying a bunch of flowers. She gave me some good advice, which I followed, and now my garden is flourishing! It's sooo pretty this year! I'm so proud! I weed it out and water it every day. And this year, unlike the last two years, we don't have an evil shrew living in our front yard eating all the flowers. I put rat poison down last year and it finally left us alone. I felt bad but I never found a tiny shrew body so I'm hoping the little guy just ran away to torture another garden. The garden isn't as luscious as the first year's garden but I still love it! Once we get into our new house I plan on having some hanging baskets and planters out front :) We'll be in New Mexico and I don't know we'll have good soil for flowers.

            

                            

Ok, this is not my garden, it's not even my own picture but it's GORGEOUS!! I wish I knew who to give credit to for this amazing picture of my home state!

Weekend

Nathaniel was off camping this weekend so it was just me and my Cadenpop. Nathaniel went near Seward and camped with a couple of buddies and had a great time :) the last time he went camping he said he ate so many hot dogs that he never wanted to see another one again! He came home on Sunday and I was so happy to have him back. I know it was just a couple days but I missed him! I have so much respect for the women who have to go through long separations from their husbands. I hate being apart. We were apart for about six months at the beginning of our marriage (basic training and tech school) and I HATED every second apart! I made the best of it but I missed him! Anyways, about the weekend Caden and I spent together...

On Friday we didn't do too much. I considered going to watch the rodeo with a couple friends but it started right at Caden's bedtime. I try to be flexible about his schedule but, honestly, I would rather him go to bed and sleep well than stay up late to watch a rodeo and be a total grouch the next day! So he went to bed at his normal time and that's when I began partying! And by partying I mean cleaning. I'm so lame. I went on a cleaning crusade and scrubbed the house from top to bottom. I even cleaned out my car! Which is a big deal because, well, my car is always filthy. I take all the trash out of it but it's always full of rocks and cracker crumbs. By 11:30 pm on my wild Friday night I had an unbelievably clean car, sparkling clean house, and a spotless vacuum (yep, I cleaned that too). 

Saturday morning Caden and I got up and he immediately wanted his flip flops on. I swear, he would wear those to bed if I let him! He wandered around the house for a while with a bouncy ball and his flops while I finished my hair in the downstairs bathroom. Then we drove out to Eagle River for the Bear Paw Festival. We watched the parade and walked around in downtown Eagle River for a while. They had a miniature fair set up with rides and everything but we skipped that. I was going to eat but once the parade ended the food area was swamped with hoards of people. I could hardly move my stroller!! It was worse than Disney World in the summer! I couldn't believe it. I bought some cotton candy and a bag of kettle corn that was as big as Caden! It's a three foot bag of popcorn. And it's aaaaammmmaaaaazzzzziiiiinnnnnggggg :) Then we came home, Caden refused to take a nap, and we went to Kohl's. I got a cute shirt and dress :) but the Caden size section was pretty bare. We had pancakes for supper that night...we eat so healthy haha

                     

                                   

                     

On Sunday we got up early and went to church. It was so weird going alone! But it was a great service and I'm so glad I went. We keep Caden with us for the worship so he can hear the music and he loves it! He claps his hands and dances along. It's so cute! He also loves the nursery. And I do too!! The people who work in there are so nice, especially the pastor's wife. She adores Caden :) it's so sweet! She always wants to hold him and hug him and it's just so wonderful to be in a church that is so loving and so personal. I wish we had found this church years ago. I'm so sad to leave it! But we'll find a new church down in New Mexico :) we came home and little Buck fell asleep right away. I decided to take a nap too, I rarely take a nap so it was pretty nice to actually take one! After we got up Caden and I had a snack but he sat there a stole mine! haha see the picture below. It was so cute!! Nathaniel came home and Caden kinda freaked out. He starting acting up and crying for about an hour. It was so weird but the he went back to normal. We met Nathaniel's parents, brother, and brother's girlfriend for supper at Cattle Company, it was so yummy! Nathaniel's brother had just gotten home from Hawaii and bought Caden some stuff :) I love that he loves Caden!! It makes me so happy. I'm so grateful for my in laws. They're all so nice and they love me and they adore my son. I'm so blessed to have such a good relationship with them!! 

                               

              Listening to the worship music :) 

                    

                        

                   

                    Daddy's home!!

So our weekend was fun, it was quiet but I still had fun with my little buddy :) 

Home Sweet Home

Alaska. Alaska is my home. I love it here!! Sometimes I HATE Alaska but, for the most part, I LOVE Alaska. I have so many precious memories here. I'm about to take you all down memory lane and recount my "Alaska story"...

                     

My whole life was spent longing to see my birth place. My parents lived in Alaska in the late 80's and I was born here. I wish I had some pictures of them from back then to share! But they're all at my mom's house, packed neatly away. Maybe I'll dig some out next time I visit them :) shortly after I was born they packed our life into boxes and moved down to Arizona. Every three years from that point on we moved. We would say prayers together as a family and part of everyone's prayer was "please let us go to Alaska!" I was only a baby when we left and my sisters had never been here but I think we all felt like Alaska was home, or could be home someday. We moved to Germany when I was eleven years old and while living there my dad's dream came true...we had orders for Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska. We were FINALLY going to see the place we'd all long dreamed of! 

                      

We began the looooong journey back to America in October of 2003. I remember getting up early to catch the bus from our base to the airport in Frankfurt (three hours away). I remember waiting forever in the airport for our plane and once it came time to board there was a problem. For some reason (that I can't remember) we couldn't board when we were supposed to. After a while they announced we could begin boarding and we all cheered. The plane ride was excruciatingly long!! I think we had layovers along the way...I'm pretty sure we didn't fly directly to Alaska...maybe we stopped in Colorado? I can't remember. But I do remember my glimpses of Alaska. My dad woke me so I could look out the window upon descent. He said "you're almost home"; we watched the land beneath us grow larger and the ocean fade away. Exiting the airport was one of the most exciting things I'd ever done. It was so cold!! I could see my breath! And it was only October! This new place was so amazing. But, unfortunately, our stay here didn't last for long...

In December 2003 we once again packed up and moved. My dear Grandma Shirlee was in the hospital. We moved on a humanitarian assignment down to Florida so we could be with her. On January 25, 2004 she left us to be with the Lord. I loved her so much. I still love her. My hands are shaking as I type because I still miss her. Does the pain ever go away? Can you ever stop loving someone? It's been almost ten years and I still mourn for her. It makes me wonder how the death of an even closer family member will affect me. We continued to live in Florida for a while longer, until my dad retired from the Air Force, and then drove back up to Alaska. Even though my heart still hurt I was so excited to go back that I could hardly stand it!!

                     

We got back up here in August 2005 and quickly realized the Alaska from my parents' dreams was not the Alaska we lived in. But we still loved it :) all three of us girls went to a private school (which is where Nathaniel and I met!!) and my parents bought a brand new house. Besides longing for Alaska, I longed for a house that was my very own...a house that no one else had EVER lived in before. Every house we lived in had at least a thousand previous occupants and I wanted something that was just mine. It was so exciting!!!!!! I love that house. I still consider it mine :) so many walks around the neighborhood, rides on the four wheeler around the woods, me and Courtney jumping out my bedroom window into six feet of snow even though my parents said "don't you DARE jump out that window" ;) long car rides into town where we fought the whole way, Nathaniel coming over after church very Sunday, birthday parties, Christmas parties, all the good times, all the bad times. That house is the place I call my childhood home. 

                      

A couple years passed, Nathaniel and I got engaged, us girls all grew up a bit, my family moved down to Arizona again, Nathaniel and I got married, he joined the Air Force. Neither of us expected to see home for a long time but we ended up getting stationed back here!! Alaska is Nathaniel's home too, born and raised, and we were both so happy to be back :) it's different now than it was when we were dating. But it's different in a good way...we have our own house, our own life, we have our Caden :) Yes, sometimes it sucks living here. It's cold and it snows for nine months out the year. The summers are short and half the time there's no sun. There aren't too many places to shop but we've got some amazing places to eat around here! You won't find an abundance of chain restaurants but we like it that way :) Sometimes it's awful and I wish for a warm beach...but when Alaska's good, it's GOOD. We've made so many wonderful new memories here and now we have to say good bye once again. But there's no saying goodbye forever, not for us Bucks ;) we'll be back someday. It'll be different but always our home.

                                  

I feel like this whole post has a sad undertone but its because I'm just feeling nostalgic and ended up pouring my heart out. Next one will be much more happy :) if you LOVED the pictures of Alaska as much as I do check out more of my sweet friend's work at jenhammer.com!! These are all her pictures (except the one of my old house and the one of the three little Bucks) and she's amazing :) I adore her work!