2 earthquakes....1 week, and Fall is here

We experienced two earthquakes this week. The first was last Tuesday and it was 10 miles out of town. The magnitude was 4.9 at 1:30 p.m. My chair started rolling around at work...freaked me out but everyone was fine. Last night at 4:00 a.m. there was a larger quake in central Alaska. The magnitude was 5.4. Jason woke up because the bed started to shake. The boys and the dog woke up too. Jacey and I slept right through it and didn't feel a thing. Everyone is fine....kinda glad I slept through it though.

The weather is now chilly and the leaves have all turned and are falling off the trees. It's quite beautiful. We are gearing up for the colder weather. With the cooler weather means more moose in town. Last weekend we went for a hike close to the ocean and came almost face to face with a bull moose. Badger (our yellow lab) was not on his leash at the time. I quickly called him, and he came luckily so I could leash him. Jason decided to get really close to get some pics. Jacey and I were not happy about that. We were pretty freaked out. Jacey was even in tears because she thought her Dad was going to get trampled. He got some good photos and as he walked away....the moose came towards him. It was an adventure. We also saw a cow moose with her twins further down the trail. They are pretty interesting animals.

Today is Saturday and we are working around the house today. We will probably go for a little hike later today as well. I'm excited about the Relief Society Broadcast this evening too.

Have you ever seen something so beautiful that you almost cried?

I did.......our family went on a road trip today. We saw many towering peaks and majestic views today. We headed to Seward today which is on the Kenai Peninsula. On the way we saw Beluga whales in the Turnagain Arm. There were spots of white popping up all over the ocean. We had lunch in Seward at a roadside joint and ate in a school bus that had tables in it. Jason and I shared fried halibut. We had fun playing on the ocean's edge in Seward. There was a cruise ship and many sailboats cruising on the ocean. We then headed to the Exit Glacier where we hiked to the glacier's edge. It was quite a fun hike and it was exciting being soooooo close to the glacier. The wind was blowing the cool air towards us which felt great after our hike. On our way home Jase spotted a black bear on the hillside so we all got out to look at it through his binoculars. The whales were out again as we headed towards home and it was fun to see them again. What a fun day!

A mother's job is to worry

Sometimes we worry for no reason. Sometimes we worry just to worry. But most of the time....Mother knows best. Some call it mother's intuition. I'm thankful that the spirit can help us to be in tune with our children.
My dear sweet Hunter now has an infection in his mouth from having his tooth extracted. He is now on antibiotics. His jaw is soooo swollen and bruised. He has been in a lot of pain too. He slept with Jason and I last night and ruled the bed. Jason captured a picture of Hunter and I this morning (which can give you some idea of how we slept last night).
Even though being a parent can be tough at times.....I wouldn't change it for the world. Jason and I just attended the funeral of a small 14 month old little boy who suddenly died. His mother is a co-worker of mine and now only has memories of him to hold on to until they meet again. Life is short and we need to cherish everyday. So even though it has been a tough couple of days....I realize how blessed we are. I feel blessed to have wonderful children, a loving husband, an amazing job with people I adore and that really care, and many loved ones in my life. I'm so thankful that my mother's intuition kicked in and that my little boy will be OK. Life is good!

Jacey's Open House

It's been a great day. I hung out with Hunter today at home since he is still recovering from his tooth extraction. His jaw and cheek is very swollen and bruised. Poor guy :(
Jacey was able to share her school with us this evening. We were able to go to each of her classrooms to meet her teachers and see what she will be doing. What a great school! We even saw a bull moose on the way home. There was a man walking down the street that crossed to the other side very quickly when he saw the moose. Alaska is amazing!!!

Hunter's Tooth

Hunter had an infected tooth that had to be extracted today. It was his back molar and it was huge! It took a while to get it out. I'm glad that he won't be in any more pain now that it's out, but I sure wish it had happened two months from now after we have insurance. I'm glad he's OK and he sure is a brave, tough little boy. Such is life!

A very cool hiking experience

We went on a family hike yesterday headed for Rabbit Lake. It's a 6 mile round trip hike in some gorgeous country. It took us about 6 hours to complete and we had such an amazing time! The hillsides were covered with blueberries and we enjoyed picking them. We made blueberry waffles last night for dinner with the blueberries we picked. Gunner found walking sticks for everyone (which definitely helped). We saw quite a few big huge bull moose scattered about the mountain side. We also saw Dall Sheep. There was bear sign all over the place, but luckily we didn't run into any (I made Jason by bear mace-Just in case). I have to say that I have some very tough kids!!! I barely made the hike-it was mostly uphill and was a long distance. My kids didn't even complain or anything. We all slept like logs last night and my body is soooo soar from the hike (note to self: don't wear shape up shoes on a 6 mile hike-my body is hurting. I guess that's a good thing though). I hope the pictures really show the beauty that we saw yesterday! What an experience!

The kids started school

Jacey, Parker, and Gunner started school this week. Hunter is in 1st grade and won't start until next Tuesday. Jacey is really enjoying middle school so far and the boys love their teachers. Gunner's teacher loves rocks and numbers just like Gunner and Parker's teachers are a lot of fun!
Hunter got to hang out at the school (since I work at the boys school in the office). He decided to build a huge tower in the principal's office out of stacking cups. It was HUGE! Ivan (the school's maintenance man), put Hunter to work. He was using tools, carrying boxes, getting recycling bins from classrooms, etc. He even paid him $1 at the end of the day. It's been fun!