Midnight Sun

Look who learned how to climb the stairs today!

He's a cute boy :)

Me and Jacob. Terrible picture of us, but there we are.

Jacob in the play room.

Why these pictures? They are all taken at 1am. We have to have curtains along with our blinds because it is light 24 hours a day now. The room on the left is the girls and the one on the right is the play room. It's pretty crazy.
We love life in Alaska!

Happy Faces

These were taken when Nettie and Travis were here. I have a bunch more from that trip, but I just had to put these up this morning. Happy faces for a happy day!

Just ignore the fact he is in a diaper. A saggy cloth diaper at that. It's bad when cloth diapers are saggy! At least his diaper matches his shirt :)

Train Depot

Fairbanks is an awesome place. Last Saturday they had free plane rides at the airport and free train rides at the depot. We decided to just go to the depot. 1 - because Simi is a train lover, and 2 - it seemed like it would be so much easier on Jacob and I, and 3 - less waiting in line and all of us could go at once. Anyway, it was lots of fun as you will see, and the weather was beautiful. The trees hadn't bloomed yet then, but this week everything has turned green. It makes me smile every time I drive somewhere or look outside. There is green everywhere, and it's t-shirt and shorts weather for us now. 65 degrees is beautiful! Joseph is so happy we have let him have his shorts back. We had to take them away during the winter because he tried to wear them every day even when we would go out. He's like Jacob was...he does not like pants at all!

Jacob and the kids walking down to the depot.

Climbing up steps to see the engine

They had a train sitting that we could walk through. There was the engine (which is HUGE) and a double decker passenger car. The passenger cars all had windows that curved up and met in the center at the top. It was neat, but I imagine on hot days it would be like an oven in there if there was no air turned on.

Waiting for our turn on the train...

and waiting some more...

The train pulling into the station. This is the one we got to ride on.

Did you know Simi LOVES trains? Can you tell? Hahaha! This was his reaction when the train pulled in right next to us. He's played with his trains even more since we went to the depot.

I'm in a picture. That is simply amazing! We had to wait about 20 minutes for the train to come back. John had fun smacking the balloon over and over. Lizzie thought it was hilarious.

I love these boys! They are both always so happy. I think it's a genetic thing, because all my boys are happy and have big smiles.

Bekah waiting in line for the train

Joseph didn't like how loud the train was when it pulled into the station

One of John's favorite games right now. NOT one of my favorites.

Watching out the window

Everyone got a balloon. Something on the ceiling of the train kept popping kid's balloons.
Sariah asked me to take this picture of her balloon and her pin. The pin is on her shirt. They got that from the drivers of the engine we walked through.

Happy John

Simi was exhausted by the end. He fell asleep in the car before we had gotten very far.

A real live train conductor. Can you tell he's still blissfully happy about the day's outing?

Watching out the train window.

Spring

Spring has finally arrived in Fairbanks! Hooray!
We have been waiting for a while for it to get here. It actually got up to 73 degrees today. Can you believe that is more than 120 degrees hotter than it was this winter? Did you guys know that Fairbanks has the largest temperature swing in the US?

In an effort to control the strep we have going around everyone has their own water bottle and it's the only thing we are allowed to drink out of. NO SHARING! See that cute little whale on the faucet? It's a drinking fountain so the kids can get a drink whenever they want. They love it. It's actually hot enough that they come back frequently to drink. Haven't had that happen for at least 8 months...lets see...that would be about the time we lived in Alabama.

Jacob and John watching a late night movie after the other kids are in bed. Does this count as bonding time?

Sariah has learned how to ride without her training wheels finally. Hooray! We have a big bike path that loops around the field behind our house. It's a little over .6 miles around, and the kids like it. Yesterday Rebekah ran it, and today she walked and ran with me for my morning walk.

The growing season in Alaska is short, but it is amazing. Everyone told us how fast Spring arrives once it warms up. They weren't kidding! These leaves all came out yesterday.

Alaska gives us beautiful midnight sunsets.

Two days ago it got up to 60+ and has stayed there. Two days ago this hill was brown. It is amazing what 20 hours of sunlight will do for plants! There was a strip of green down the hill and a few patches when I took my walk in the morning, and by afternoon it looked like this. I can't wait for what another week of this will bring!

The Little Holts

Well, we had an absolutely wonderful time with Jacob, Tiffany and the cousins. It's soooo nice to have family up here!! The baptism went wonderfully, unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any photos of Rebekah's beautiful Mom-made baptism dress. My camera ran out of batteries. :( We were able to get out and enjoy Fairbanks. We attempted to fish, but Fairbanks isn't the greatest place to find them. But we found fun lakes and rivers to visit (and the kids don't really care about fishing, anyhow!)

I'm gonna start here with Naomi's birthday pictures. Her birthday was on Easter, actually, and so she is wearing a pretty purple dress, with the bow Gramma Nancy gave her a year ago- it still fits! :) She's so pretty!!

Tiff and I enjoyed our shopping trips together. Leaving all 10 kids together with Travis & Jacob. One of the trips was from 10am-5pm at the homeschool curriculum fair, it was very therapuetic and relaxing! We love our hubby's soooo much! ;) They should be given Alaska's best Dad awards. On one of our escapades we purchased kites for all the kids because it was so windy.

More kite pictures. Tiffany, you will have to post the pictures you took, too. I didn't get a whole lot of the cousins. :(

Jacob and Trayton.

We went on a super fun walk over at Creamer's Field. They had some really good trails on wooden walkway/bridge thingys. Over looking the river.

All the kids, everyone. Tracker in a backpack, John in the Mai Tai on Tiff's back, Jacob pushing the double stroller w/Naomi and Smi? in it, there's Youhoo, Elizabeth, Rebekah, then Joseph, Tustin, Trayton and Sariah somewhere behind getting "encouraged" to hurry up. :)

On the lookout tower. Cute Jacob & Simi!

Cute smile, Tracker! I love this face!

At one of the lakes we visited trying to find fish. These two are so precious! John has the happiest smile!

Playing on the icy lake. We were very cautious at the first. Then we consented to allow them on the ice, but only by us, right by the shore!

I almost didn't come because this little boy here. Tracker was sick, throwing up. But what better way to spend your sick day, than lying in the warm sun out in the fresh air??? He slept pretty much the whole time. Poor kid.

Playing on the ice lake. It's like a foot thick.

Tracker fell asleep at the river we visited next, while drinking out of his sippy. Unfortunately, this is the last and only picture I took here by this river. It was so warm and beautiful, I even got a little nap.

Helping Hands at last!

A great day at the community center and live oak park! Lovely weather and good friends to work with. Lunch at the park catered by the Stake. So fun to reconnect with old friends and new. See Gary we really DID 'Helping Hands' in our stake.

The Sat. before Easter!!

Yes, those are not easter eggs, they're marshmallow guns!! It made a big mess, because marshmallows got on the floor and then people were stepping on them. Sticky icky fun!!!

The first thing Parley said was, "Could I use this for spit wadds?" Funny thing is when I gave one to Lincoln who's about the same age, he said the same thing. Aren't little boys so cute!...lol

Horray for Easter Egg coloring.

Funny story about Easter egg coloring. Lincoln was begging Guacy to let him eat one of the colored eggs they made, but she wouldn't let him, because she thought they were toxic???!!!! lol

Preparing for the Hunt!

It took Ezra and Tim like a half an hour to hide the Eggs or at least it seemed that long. A lot of the Chacolate filled eggs were melting! I like melted chacolate the best, but not with children.

Craziness!

Very Cute!

All the kids, small and big, trying to fit in this little space that Mary uses for blanckets...i think. What do you call this spot mary(built in shelf)? It's the one in the family room.