Crunch time

While getting ready for the day yesterday I was braiding my hair when Lexie came in and said "I want pretty braids too, mommy!" I braided my

Little girls hair and she was so happy!! I snapped a picture of us together. There is no denying that she is mine! 

Yesterday was full of errands since we head to Missouri TONIGHT!! I still have lots to do today, but I have the whole day planned out and am hoping everything goes smooth.

Andrew was scheduled to fly home last night, but changes were made and he ended up flying to Gambell Alaska, which is rite next to Russia. Hopefully Andrew will be working there till this weekend then be heading to Missouri with us for a week! Fingers crossed it works out.

I am super excited about our trip and am super antsy!! My mind won't shut off! Lots of prayers needed for smooth traveling! 

Too cute

My kids are alway cracking me with what the things they say. I try to write it down so I am not forgetting. This I just a few of the things they have said this past week.

While riding in the car Lance will come up with the most random things. Lance said 

"I'm not allergic to snakes"

Me "o that's good"

Lance "ya they don't make me sneeze"

Lexie didn't want to come inside so I grab her and was carrying her inside when she said "stop it! Your choking my butt!"

At dinner time Lance prayed. He started his prayer be saying "God, good afternoon....."

When he was finished with his prayer in stead of saying Amen Lexie yelled out "surprise!"

Before bed Lexie was praying "Dear God, thank you for daddy and mommy and Lance and Lexie and Lance and chicken nuggets and ketchup. Amen!"

Bear paw time!

Friday, Saturday and Sunday were big days for the town of Eagle River, Alaska. There was so much going on; carnival rides, a huge parade, the running with the bears, teddy bear picnic, vendor booths, car show, and so much more. It was awesome!! 

Friday morning I took the kids to the teddy bear picnic. I wasn't quite sure what to expect or I would have had the kids being their teddy bears. The hospital had a small booth set up to have your teddy checked out and any boo boos bandaged. It was pretty cute! The kids got to decorate teddy bear shaped cookies too. Everything was all about teddy bears!

After the picnic we walked around the vendor booths and food court. Since it was Friday early in the day most people were at work so it wasnt crowded at all! perfect for a mom with her two little kids. First up was face painting. Lexie loves "hello kitty cat" and Lance picked a monster or at least I guess that's what it was. 

The kids seen the pony rides and went nuts! They love all animals so I knew this was a must! Secretly I wanted to ride too ;)

Lance rode the horse with a huge smile on his face. When he got off he said "that was the most fun ever!" Lexie kept yelling "yeehaw" and "giddy up!" They LOVED it!

After some super yummy fair food we then decided it was time to ride the rides. I may have done that in a different order but everything ended up ok. 

The kids had a blast. They weren't afraid of anything! 

As we headed back to the car we ran into Ms Alaska. Lexie seen her crown and yelled "look a pretty princess!" 

Saturday morning was a huge parade through town. I had planned on taking the kids but they were having so much fun at home and lance said they didn't want to go. Lance is a huge homebody!

Saturday night instead of making supper we decided that we needed fair food!!! 

We had a wonderful weekend enjoying the festival in town. It was so much fun and offered so much for small kids. 

I had a great time running my shift at the Pampered Chef booth. It was so nice to see so many excited costumers come in to the booth to book shows, place orders and find out what's new. Even the ones that just walked by would say things like "o that's Pampered Chef, I love that stuff!" It definitely made me feel so proud to work for such a great company with high quality products! 

Sunday morning it dawned on me, "we have just two days till we leave for Missouri!" I did laundry all day and cleaned up everything. I don't like coming home to a messy house. I got everything of Andrew's ready to go too. There is a slight chance that daddy may be going back to Missouri too. Not for the whole time maybe 5 days. Just in case everything plans out I want him to have a bag ready to go. 

The kids and I are super excited to be going back to Missouri. We will be meeting three little ladies for the very first time; my niece, Addylynne born in February and two of my really good friends both had babies, Jewel and Kahlia, in April. The weather there is HOT so we will be spending most of the time at the creak relaxing!! 

So much to look forward too!! God is good, ALL THE TIME!

Sweet time

I'm not sure why, but this time with daddy being gone has been a little more challenging for Lexie. Both kids are really really missing their grandparents! We had such great visits when they were here then they wake up and they're gone! Well , waking up with daddy gone on Tuesday was pretty upsetting. 

Here is Lance opening and closing his book to hear his grandpa Conway's voice. 

I made sure to be extra sweet to the kids this week and do some special things. 

Lexie loves for mommy to do her hair so the other night before bed I put lots of braids in her. She was in love with her kinky hair the next morning! 

The kids and I made some sidewalk paint . It was super easy: 1 cup of water, 1 cup of cornstarch and some dye is all you need. We had a blast making pretty pictures in the driveway. 

Yesterday on the way to gymnastics Lance asked if we could go fishing instead. I told him if he did really good at gymnastics we would go later in the day. 

Our day fishing turned into a swimming day. Mirror Lake is so pretty. The reflexions from the surrounding mountains are beautiful! We weren't prepared for swimming, but we made it work.  

Apparently we were pretty interesting, because A momma duck and her babies came to check us out. Lexie was determined to pet one. She chased them for quite awhile. 

The kids ended up playing in the sand while I loaded up the car. While I was chasing Lance to get him to the car Lexie was busy runnin around naked! Yep, she had taken off her wet sandy panties and was running around butt naked. It was definitely time to go!

We spent most of this morning at the park enjoying the sunshine. We have had some awesome weather here this summer, we spend just about every minute outside. 

After lunch Lexie was sitting in the floor playing with her toy dishes by herself. I cut up some cheese, made some lemon aid, washed up some of the dishes and set the table. When I told Lexie it was time for a tea party she ran to the bedroom to grab her princess dress. She was too cute. Lance loves tea parties too!! He loves to pour the tea for momma. 

This weekend is the Bear Paw Festival in Eagle River. There will be rides, food, vendors (yours truly will be there at my pc booth for a few hours), a parade, games and a RODEO!!! We can't wait!! 

Lets celebrate!

Last week daddy was gone Monday through Wednesday working in a place called Kotzebue located 33 miles North of the Arctic Circle. 

Wednesday evening I let the kids take a late nap so they could stay up late that night to watch the firework show at midnight. 

It was pretty weird watching the fireworks since it wasn't dark out. We did have some thick cloud cover which really helped block out our midnight sun. The kids were more interested in playing at the little playground we were parked by.

We celebrated Independence day by just hanging out and enjoying daddy being home from work.

It was a pretty rainy day so we made plans to watch a movie with the kids. Our favorite movie theater to visit is in Anchorage. It is older and not as fancy as the new ones so it isn't ever crowded. Plus, at $3.75 a movie ticket you can't beat that and a big added bonus: Lexie is FREE! That leaves plenty of money for popcorn, soda (caffeine free), & nachos. We watched The Croods. It was a very cute movie and very funny. 

Friday night Andrew & I were able to slip away for a nice dinner together at Eagle River Ale House. It was sooo nice! We sat for a long time enjoyed our meal and just talked, just us! 

Saturday evening Andrew had an overnight trip to Dillingham. He didn't have to be at the airport till 4 so we did some fun things in Anchorage. We took the kids to bouncing bears and had a blast. Mommy even played in some of the inflatables with the kids. After all, the sign said "kids only except parents of toddlers!"  

We have allot of little things happen this past week that I don't want to forget.

* Lance was able to climb up the rope at gymnastics some. He is still a ways from getting to the top but he is getting stronger each week and able to climb a little farther. I was a very proud momma watching him. 

* we have had a bear in our backyard! It laid down rite under our deck and left some "droppings" as proof of his visit. A few of the neighbors have seen him too.

* tickets to Minneapolis have been bought for September. ($20 using my airline miles) I am going to Pampered Chef's leadership training. I am super excited! Momma with no kids at Mall of America! It's gonna be awesome!

* only 8 more days till the kids & I leave for Missouri

* a little over a month till Aunt Sarah comes to visit us in Alaska

* Andrew and I booked our anniversary weekend getaway. This mite not sound awesome to too many women but we are going on a halibut charter! Andrew & I both LOVE to fish so this is perfect for us. We aren't ones to get all dressed up and go to a fancy place, but we are huge outdoorsmen (woman, in my case). We have a baby sitter booked and a cabin rented for the night. I can't wait!

This is our life. God has blessed me with a wonderful hardworking man who is so loving! I love our life. Things aren't always perfect but we got each other and we always have fun together. 

God is good, All the time!

Remembering

It's hard to believe its already been 11 years since this world lost an amazing person, Lance Fahrenkrog. Lance was a friend to all and just an amazing guy. He was so talented and had the most amazing voice.

I hope our son, Lance grows up to be the wonderful man he was becoming.

The Sunday before Lance died he sang a special in church called "I can only imagine!" WOW! It was just amazing! Every time I hear that song I can hear Lance singing his heart out to God. 

Lance, you are greatly missed!! 

I can only imagine 

What it will be like 

When I walk 

By Your side 

I can only imagine 

What my eyes will see 

When Your face 

Is before me 

I can only imagine

I can only imagine 

[Chorus:]

Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel 

Will I dance for You Jesus or in awe of you be still 

Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I 

fall 

Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all 

I can only imagine

I can only imagine 

I can only imagine 

When that day comes 

And I find myself 

Standing in the sun 

I can only imagine 

When all I will do

Is forever

Forever worship You

I can only imagine

I can only imagine

Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel 

{ From: http://www.elyrics.net }

Will I dance for You Jesus or in awe of You be still 

Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I 

fall 

Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all 

I can only imagine

I can only imagine

yeah

Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel 

Will I dance for You Jesus or in awe of You be still 

Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I 

fall 

Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all 

I can only imagine

yeah

I can only imagine

I can only imagine

I can only imagine

I can only imagine

I can only imagine

I can only imagine

When all I will do 

Is forever, 

forever worship you

I can only imagine 

Lyrics from <a href="http://www.elyrics.net">eLyrics.net</a>

Getting back in the groove of things

Since grandpa, grandma and Uncle Timo left it has take a few days to get the kids back into their normal sleeping pattern. Friday morning they were so wore out they didn't wake up till 10:30 and weren't very energetic at all. It was so weird. I keep checking to see if they had fever & were getting sick.

Daddy got home from work and was pretty wore out too. Lance was happy to help him nap. 

Andrew stopped and picked me up flowers on his way home from work. "Just because" flowers are the best!!! Andrew knows how much I love daisies too!! 

We had a pretty low key weekend of going to bed early and sleeping in. We did manager to wake up on time for church on Sunday! 

Yesterday I had a baby sitter scheduled for the kids so we could finally go on a date. Andrew called and said he has to leave super early Today so we decided to spend time as a family instead. The kids have been pretty clingy to daddy. I think it's because of everyone coming and going so much lately. 

We took the kids bowling, & We had so much! They even had little bowling shoes for the kids. Too cute!

The kids did great waiting for their turn. Lance decided he was too big to use the ball roller (not sure what that thing is called) so he would throw it by himself. He did pretty good too. It was pretty cute watching Lexie pushed the ball down the ball roller ramp thingy. It was almost like watching someone bowl in slow motion.

After a few rounds the kids discovered the arcade. After that they were done bowling. I cashed in a $5 and started passin out quarters. Daddy & Lane had lots of fun racing an hunting.

We had a great evening! Lexie was wore out and fell asleep before we got out of the parking lot.

Daddy left at 3:30 this morning for a town North of Nome. I hate that this is the normal. We are waiting to hear about a transfer to Fairbanks where daddy will be home every night. We are really praying about this. We know God has a reason for everything and has perfect timing.