Merry Christmas!!!

We have had such a wonderful Christmas time! The kids and I enjoyed having daddy home for four days straight! Friday night Andrew and I finally got our Christmas shopping done.
Saturday we gave in and let the kids open one gift from grandma and grandpa Conway. Lance opened a tent and Lexie opened a box of puzzles. They were the perfect things to keep them busy till Santa came.
Andrew wanted to let the kids open their presents on Christmas Eve Morning so he could have two full days to play with them before going to work. I think it is because secretly he couldn't wait to play with their toys! So Sunday night we dressed the kids in their Christmas Jammies and put them to bed. Then we got busy assembling and wrapping presents. It was so much watching the kids open their gifts!!
We planned a trip the reindeer farm. We had wanted to go earlier that weekend but it had been windy in Palmer so we waited till Christmas Eve when the weather was prefect. As we were getting ready Lance was climbing in the pantry. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was getting a bag to put brownies in. He then said "I am going to give the brownies to Santa to say 'thank you' for the gifts" it melted my heart. He is such a kind sweet little boy!
The reindeer farm was awesome. It really was magical. The snow was falling all around while we walked through and petted the reindeer. We visited with Santa for a bit and Lance have him the brownies and told him thank you for his presents.
At the reindeer farm they had over 100 reindeer, 35 elk, 1 moose and 1 bison. We took a ride on wagon pulled by a tractor through the farm and seen all of the animals.
I do believe we will make this an annual tradition to visit the reindeer farm for Christmas
Here is a quick fact for you. Reindeer and caribou are the same thing. Reindeer are just domesticated.
Christmas Eve night we told the kids about Christmas and how we were celebrating the birth of Jesus and that we get present because it is Jesus's birthday. Lance had a few questions but never did he question Who Jesus is. As adults sometimes we tend to over think things and make everything so complicated when really we just need to have childlike faith and accept who God is!
Christmas Day was spent talking on phone to family, playing with toys, playing in the snow and baking. Later that evening we went to our good friends whom we have known since Missouri. We ate tons of yummy desserts and candies!

We love the holidays and making traditions for our family.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Lexie!!

WOW! Where has the time gone?! It was just two years ago I lay in a hospital bed in St.Louis watching it snow out the window waiting for the arrival of my baby girl. Now, here I am, two years later rocking my little (i mean big) two year old to sleep watching it snow out the window in Alaska.
Alexis Anna, you are the sweetest thing ever. I never imagined that I would have a little girl as girly as you are. I love the little person you are becoming. You are super sweet and love mommy to hold you and cuddle with you. You are so smart and such a good listener. You have daddy wrapped around your finger. It is so funny to see daddy let you put bows in his hair.
Here are a few things about you.
You LOVE music, shoes, hair bows, dresses, animals, all food, books,drawing, painting
You are talking so good! We can now have full conversations with you and understand almost all of it. Sometimes when you get excited you talk so fast and I can't quite understand you. It is funny to see you get all excited!
You are completely potty trained. I can not recall the last accident you had. You are such a big girl. You are wearing 3T clothes and a size 8 shoe already!!
Yesterday we had your birthday party! Mommy and Lance made you a princess doll cake. We had a few friends over. Mommy and daddy got you a kitchen set and an apron. You love pretending that you are cooking!
Mommy, daddy, & Lance love you so much!! We could not imagine life without you! You are the best daughter and little sister ever.

Count down to Christmas

Holy Smokes! Christmas is less than a week away! I have really been slacking this year! I just now got Christmas cards out and we have not bought the kids any Christmas presents or Lexie's birthday presents. Andrew left Monday for a small fishing village called Ekwok and will be back this evening. Maybe tomorrow evening we will be able to go into Anchorage and do our shopping. We already know what we want to get the kids we just have to go buy it.
I am also in the midst of planning Lexie's 2nd birthday. We have a party planned for Sunday. Lance and I made some decorations and even did a trial run on her cake I am making her. It turned out pretty good, but i now know what few little changes i need to make. I still can't believe my little baby will be two years old already!!!

Santa Clause in coming to town again

As it is closing in on Christmas I realized on Friday that the kids had not gotten to visit with Santa. I found out that Santa was coming to a candy store not far from the house, so we made sure we scheduled time to see him. We were the first people in line! The kids enjoyed sitting on Santa's lap and were not afraid of him at all. When Santa asked Lance what he wanted Lance said, "I don't know, I don't need anything". I think he has heard me say that a time or two lol. Lexie didn't say too much. She just said "Bye" and "Thank you".

What's new

Lexie has learned a new word "Why?"

Lexie's birthday is just 12 days away!!!

Christmas is 13 days away!!

2013 is just around the corner!!

Andrew is caught up on all the updates he was doing for his work, so he shouldn't be having to go out of town as often.

Winter is finally in full force here in Alaska. Snow is coming down heavy with lots more expected.

Lance is starting to keep his room clean on his own!! I have been telling him that if he keeps his room clean he can have friends come over.

Lexie is still going strong with the potty training. I still put a diaper on at night at a precaution but most mornings it is dry and she potties rite away.

No more sippie cups at this Conway household. My kids don't need them anymore!!! They are getting sooo big!!

My Pampered Chef business is going great and growing each week! Today I officially registered for Spring launch!

Preschool has been changed to once a week on Fridays. On Fridays they have a special day filled with music. Lance & Lexie love music so this will be perfect. Hopefully this makes it so much easier on Lexie too.

Lexie has become such a girly girl! She now knows a few of her colors and purple is definitely he favorite. She is all about jewelry and anything to go in her hair. She also loves shoes (already in a size 8). Lexie may be super girly but she is no wuss. She's as tough as they come. I am still trying to figure out how me, a Tom Boy, ended up with this little Princess!! I am loving it though!!

Used to Lance learned everything by watching what we did. Now he is learning by trying everything!! He is constantly getting into things. He is so curious! He wants to figure things out all on his own. I can't turn my back on him for one second.

Life is good! God has blessed Andrew & I way more than we deserve and more than we ever could have imagined!

Thawing out

The kids and I made one last trip home before Lexie turns two. Once Lexie turns two she will not be free anymore.....sigh

We left super early Friday Morning and arrived in St Louis Friday evening. Once arriving in St Louis we got our rental car and made the 2 hour trip to MaMa and PaPa Jordan's house. The kids did wonderful on both flights and even the drive. They have become Pros at traveling. Lance loved to have adult conversation with people. He would ask questions like "Hi! How you doing? Where you going?" When they would reply where he would then say "Do you live there or work there?" It was pretty cute how he would listen to other conversations then later I would hear him saying the same thing. Once he even acted like he had missed his flight. That kid cracks me up! Lexie did fabulous on our trips. I was kind of nervous about having her wear panties the whole time but she did great!! She was scared if the toilet on the airplane though. I learned something new about Lexie; Lexie does not like to go number two anywhere but at a house. The poor thing would hold it so long until she just couldn't anymore.

Once arriving at MaMa and PaPa's house the kids were super excited!! Lance was talking a million miles an hour telling them all about our trip and about Alaska. Lexie was pretty quiet but she couldn't stop smiling! It was pretty cute!

Saturday morning Lexie and I went to the Christmas Tea with MaMa. Saturday night we all went out to Aunt JuJu's house. My siblings and their families were all there except for Matt, We missed him by a couple weeks. We had tons of fun hanging out with everyone. The kids sure have missed their cousins. Lexie even had a little birthday party.

Sunday we almost missed church. We slept in till 10:30 (7:30 Alaska time). We rushed around and got ready just in time.
Sunday evening we spent with some really great friends, Joe and Sarah. Lance got to help Uncle Joe get ready for his big duck hunt the next morning. He was so excited to tell PaPa and MaMa that he fixed the boat motor. We had a really good visit with them. We can't wait till Uncle Joe & Aunt Sarah come to Alaska to visit 😉.

Monday, the kids and I met Andrew's meme an Uncle Ted for lunch at a diner in town then we stopped in and visited another friend. Once we got back to my parents the kids took a long nap. When they woke up MaMa decided it was time to open up Christmas presents! The rest of the morning was spent chilling out and playing with new toys. Our trip to Missouri went by way too fast, but we enjoyed seeing family and visiting with friends. We also got a chance to thaw out from the cold weather.

Our flights home went very smooth. We had a quick layover in Seattle and then was on to Anchorage. Lance was so darn cute getting on the plane. He would say, "Hi! How ya doing?" To everyone who looked at him as we walked down the isle. The stewardess got a big kick out of him. They made sure to let Lance help with the routine safety talk. He got to hold their bag and hand the lady the oxygen mask, seat belt, and life vest when she asked for it. At the end of the flight she presented Lance & Lexie with their wings. She pinned the wings on Lance's pullover. He was so proud to show of his wings to daddy. While waiting for daddy to pick us Lexie puked all over herself (I guess that smoothie in Seattle was a bad idea). We ran to the bathroom and got her cleaned up. I am just glad it happened at the end of our trip. It was pretty yucky!

While we were gone we got some more snow and the weather warmed up to high 20's. Snow is in the forecast for the next few days!! I'm so excited, Hopefully a ski trip is in our near future!

Trip Reveal

Monday night was our Pampered Chef Christmas Party. I had been looking forward to this for a while because this was also the night that the incentive trips would be revealed.
There was so much excitement as we learned that the trips to earn next year would be to San Diego and to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic!! I came home from the meeting and ran upstairs and yelled "guess where we are going!" If I keep going on the momentum I have now, I will be rite on track to earn a trip.

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Friday Night was a very special evening that we have been looking forward to for a while now.

We bundled up and went down to the town square. Local businesses in town had booths set up and were giving out free cookies, hot chocolate, candy, hot hands, and apple cider. We brought the wagon to pull the kids around. The kids loved sitting in the wagon eating cookies watching people and listening to the choirs singing. It was pretty awesome. Then Santa arrived with his reindeer and the night got even better. Lance was so excited to see the reindeer. He even got to pet Vixen. Lexie had taken off her gloves sometime thought the night and her little hands were frozen. She was crying that she was cold and wanted to go home. So we left a little early. Lance was a little upset about not getting to visit with Santa, but assured him that Santa would be making another trip to town very soon.

Earthshake!!!!

Yesterday I was sitting in the recliner just enjoying some peace and quiet while the kids napped. Then all of a sudden the house started shaking. It took a second for it to register what was going on. I had never been in an earthquake so this was not normal to me. I sat for a second staring at the fish tank slosh back and forth, then I jumped up and thought "o my goodness I don't know what to do!" I looked over at Lance who lay soundly asleep on the couch then I ran to check on Lexie. By the time I got to Lexie the earthquake was over.
Talk about freaky. I have never felt anything like that in my life. It was crazy. There was no damage done, Thank God!
Later we learned that is was a 5.8. I did some research and found out what to do during an earthquake so next time we will be better prepared. I also learned that Alaska like California is known for earthquakes.

So Blessed!

Yesterday I got an amazing phone call. A lady from the Pampered Chef called me and wanted to interview ME for our pampered chef magazine! I was/am so honored!! My director had told one of the higher ups in the company about my success and passed along my story. God has really blessed me in my business!! I had a great start in Missouri and have gotten off to a great start in Alaska. I am really enjoying it and can't wait for the future magazine to come out.

Seward

Yesterday we woke up and made the spontaneous decision to take a day trip to Seward. I love being spontaneous. Some of the best decisions Andrew and I have ever made were spontaneous life changing decisons; getting married, moving, having a baby, moving again.

This winter had started out very mild so traveling has not become to difficult yet. We decided that befor the roads gets dangerous or closed we would make the trip down to Seward. It was a beautiful 4 hour drive!!! The kids did great! Lexie wore panties the whole day and did not have a single accident!!
 Seward is a very small fishing community that is booming in the summer. Well, in the winter almost everything is closed, but thats ok. The Alaska Sea Life Center is what we were looking forward to and it was open so that was all that mattered.
We had such a great time. The place was just about empty so the kids got to run around like crazy and enjoy everything! It really was an awesome place!!
After spending a few hours the sealife center we had worked up quite an appitite. We managed to find one little restaurant opened and it was perfect. While we waited for our food we watched a sea otter swim around. The kids loved watching him float around on his back eating.

Our spontaneous day trip was a blast! We loved having the chance to drive down to Seward. Now we are ready for tons of snow to come! We can't wait for our first ski trip!

Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Friday evening was spent decorating the Christmas. The kids loved it. Lexie was just interesting in carefully looking each one over then she would hand it to Lance. Lance loved hanging the ornaments on the tree. He was a pro making sure to place each one on the tree spaced out just rite.
I got all sentimental as I pulled each on out of the box thinking about the past Christmases and the special people who have given us ornaments. Andrew made sure to place the special ones up high where nothing could happen to them.
I have found a few instructions off of Pinterest for making ornaments so making home made ornaments is definitely on our list of things to do this week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday evening Andrew ended up flying in to Kenai for work. He didn't get home till 2:30 am on Thanksgiving morning. I made sure to keep the kids quiet so daddy could sleep in. I started on all the prep work for our big dinner. It was so exciting cooking my first Thanksgiving meal. I had never made a turkey or a ham before. I decided to make a ham because I figured it was harder to mess up than a turkey.

I was a little bummed about not being able to be around family but we made the best of it. In years past we have either went to Pennsylvania to be with the Conways or to my parent's home in Missouri. We had a few friends who were unable to be with family so we had them over. We had my friend Erin who is a pampered chef consultant also and Susan and her two kids who are 4 and 1.5. Susan's husband, Marshal, works with Andrew. The kids had a blast having friends their age over. We had tons of good food. My ham turned out perfect. It was such a blessing to be able to be their Thanksgiving Day host. I am so thankful for all the wonderful friends we have made so far while living in Alaska. God has placed such wonderful people in our paths!

Team Leader

Today, I promoted to a Team Leader with pampered chef!! I am so excited and proud of myself. You may ask what does that mean. That means that I have built a team of at least 2 active recruits (i have 3) with team sales of at least $2,500. That also means that my commission goes up. I earn 3% of my recruits commissionable sales so recruiting is definitely good to grow my business.
The money I earn from Pampered Chef is great but what I get the most satisfaction out of is reaching my goals. I love having goals for myself. It feels so great to work hard and reach those goals. My goal for this month was to promote and to have $3,000 in sales. I am so close to $3,000 and I have 3 catalog shows to close next month.
Before Pampered Chef I felt like I was in a rut. While I enjoyed staying at home raising the kids I felt like I was doing the same things over and over again with no progress. It was so hard to go anywhere with two small kids so I basically had stopped. Everyday I looked forward to Andrew walking in the door and having adult conversation and being able to go somewhere on the weekend after being "trapped" all week at home.
Now I feel like I have something that is all my own. I get paid to have fun and socialize. Pampered Chef really has opened up a whole new world for me. I am so thankful to God for bringing this opportunity to me and to Carol who sees the potential in me and coaches me along the way!

Being a director is in my reach!!

Everyday life!

Anyone can tell from my post that we LOVE to bake!! Lance is such a good helper and Lexie is slowly learning how to help. She will say "I wanna make!". We love trying out all the new recipes from Pinterest and from Pampered Chef.
Lexie loves to help mommy do laundry too!!
Another thing we love is painting and coloring. We finished up our Turkey Day cards and mommy got them mailed off today. I know I am running a touch behind.
Also Andrew is still traveling quite a bit, but last week he got a little break. He had training all week so he was home everyday around 4:30 which was super nice! This week he was off again. Monday he left super early and drove to (a place I have to ask him and put the name in later lol). Yesterday he flew to King Salmon and didn't get back till almost 10 last night. I am glad the kids and I have things to keep us busy like gymnastics. Lance is really getting the hang of it and learning what all the terminology means.
Today he is scheduling and booking flights for next week. We are looking forward to a 4 day weekend with him. We are having some friends over for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Next Friday Santa and his reindeer are coming to town!!! We are definitely loving Alaska Life!
I have finally decided that my pullover isn't cutting it anymore! It is getting cold!