Kodiak Weather

We have been having just CRAZY weather! It has been snowing AGAIN all day today and it is forecasted to continue to snow all week! Yikes! While I sit here in my nice warm house watching my little Zi round around like a mad man and saying, "MOONEY" (which for some reason equals Thomas the Train and all of his other favorite things) I am reminded how super blessed I am that I am not required to be out and about in this nastiness! ESPECIALLY on the ocean! So far this winter we have had boats that have sunk in the harbor because of the weight of the snow... but this picture made it all seem more real. This is a Kodiak Vessel that got caught out in the storm and had to be rescued by the USCG. Wowza. Some of the crew had frostbite, but all were ok.

Also, Here is a link the video from the Coast Guard helo who rescued them. I am honored that my husband is in this elite service of rescuers! SO proud of my hubby and all of his shipmates who risk their lives to save others!

Also, Zion LOVES reading! :) Here is a little snapshot of him enjoying one of his favorite past times in his new chair. :) Have I said lately how much I love this little boy?!?!? Thank you Lord for making me his Momma! I am so so blessed!

SNOW

He thinks that he's being naughty when he eats the snow because he tries to eat it off the floor in the house when it comes off our boots... and that's just yucky. :) So this is his "I'm eating the snow mom..." sneaky look. :)
Loving the MOUNDS of snow we've gotten! And it's still coming down!
Another look at Barometer yesterday! I love this pic! Super snowy out and then BAM blue sky! :) That's Kodiak weather for ya!
He is a view of town from Dead Man's curve. (The main curve in the road between our house and town.)
Who is this big boy???? I barely recognized him when I picked him up from the nursery after church! (Which he is doing so good in, BTW) I thought, "surely that BIG BOY is not my Zion!". But, alas, my baby is growing up! Isn't he just the most handsome little guy EVER?!?!?
He was caught in the act of dumping out some toys here. :)At Deadman's, overlooking God's amazing creation!
Snow, snow, and more SNOW!!!
This ice collects around Deadman's curve. It's super cool looking! VERY thick! Some people climb it... no thanks.

My amazing little family!!! Thank you Lord for blessing me SO abundantly!!!

Blizzard Fun!

Kodiak has had some CRAZY weather the past few days!!! It has been quite something to just sit back and enjoy from the comfort of inside our nice warm home! :) (Until the fluffy white stuff lured us out for a little while, of course!) And then back inside we went for some more NASTINESS! Apparently the streets of Kodiak are flooded & have icechunks floating down them! Nothing like seeing that to remind you that you live in Alaska. :) 3 boats have sunk in the harbor because it rained for a while after many feet of snowfall and the snow became super heavy. Yikes! Stinks for those boat owners! Brandon is glad his boats get put away for the winter! :) Yup yup, the weather here has been super bad, then blue skies for a couple hours, and then back to blizzard white out conditions, then raining! Such is life on an Alaskan Island. :) What are we going to do in sunny AZ? :) (Go to the park and not freeze!) Okie dokie. Off to clean the house while the baby (can I still call him that please?) is napping. These naps are getting shorter! Yikes! Anyways... we are all well up here. Hope all is well down there in the lower 48. God bless your day today! AND enjoy this little video of our fun! :) Thanks for checking the blog! :)

Christmas Morning Joy

We had such a wonderful Christmas! We are so super duper blessed and thankful! Church was at noon, so we had extra time to just be home and enjoy our wonderful little family! Brandon made a breakfast casserole in the crockpot the night before, so I didn't even have to make breakfast! Awesome! :) And Zion coming down and seeing everything was such a fun experience! He was just in awe! :) Here are some pictures from our day! (Sorry they are in reverse order!) Hope you've had a wonderful start to 2012!

He loves opening presents now! :) (Opening gifts from Grandma Reed! Thank you!!! Love the hat!)
Christmas afternoon at 4pm: The sun is setting on a great day! :)
Off to church we go! :)
Loving this little cow that was on a truck from Grandma Miles... He just looks at it and says "awww....". So cute! He LOVES that truck! -THANK YOU! :)
Christmas morning candy in an adorable mug! Yum yum!
In our Christmas pj's! :) HIDEOUS picture of me...sorry. But this was our Christmas morning this year, so I thought I'd share! :)

From inside his Thomas tent! :) PURE joy!

Christmas morning books from Grandma Miles! (He loves them! THANK YOU!)
A bit overwhelmed with all the wonderfulness! :) And he LOVED his oranges in his stocking... one of the highlights of his morning! lol.
Our stockings this year... :)
This was taken Christmas Eve after Brandon and I had the joy of setting it up! We had such a good time being "Santa"! What a fun highlight of being parents! :)
We made cookies on Christmas Eve! Fun stuff!
For some reason he was rather afraid of the dough. lol.

It's About the Cross

CHRISTmas is about the cross.
I am determined to NOT forget why we celebrate Christmas. It is hard to do in today's society! Everything revolves around materialism. We love this song by Go Fish: It's About The Cross. And I found this impactful video to go along with it on YouTube. (I am not endorsing the website at the end, I haven't looked at it.) It reminds us of what Christmas is truly about. Christ's reason for coming down and being born: to save US by dying on the cross. Praise God that we do not have to suffer the penalties of our own sins; God gave us the opportunity to be saved by sending His Son Jesus to die and take the penalty from our own sin and put it on His sin-free Son: Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate gift! We just have to ask for it and believe in Him. Yup yup. :) Sooo... Merry Christmas and Happy almost Birthday Jesus. We will not forget why you came to Earth. Thank you!

The Sweetest Little Voice

This Kodiak resident put on a fantastic light display! :) For here especially , because it gets SO windy that not very many people put up lights outside. Many, including us, just put them up on the inside of the windows. lol. Yup, another Alaskan island random fact of life. :) SO, after Brandon's basketball game last night(which they WON! yay!) we took Zion over to see this house that we had heard about. You sit in your car (because it's too cold and windy to get out!) and tune in to a certain radio station set up just for this house's display and the lights go to the song. It was so fun. Zion LOVED IT! :) Here is just a quick clip that showcases his sweet little voice! :) Enjoy! Merry almost Christmas! :) xoxoxo

Applesauce

Here is the little man saying "applesauce". We think his intonation is just the cutest thing ever. He says it that way every time! hehe. I love it! Enjoy!