Happy New Year everyone!
I have to do a shout-out to my daddy back in Iowa. He caught me on the phone during an emotional, bad day of pregnancy and flowers showed up in my classroom the next day! :) So sweet!
Our beautiful Eagle River, there must be 100 pictures of it on this blog, but the views look different and so breath-taking each time!
We snow-shoed up Arctic Valley one weekend and found this monster of a snowman! Keep in mind Adam is 6'8"!!!!
The mountain called Sleeping Lady in the distance, sure is a pretty one!
The Arctic Valley behind us, was a nice day to snowshoe!
My boys taking in the view
Anchorage behind us
Winter wonderland! Even an ordinary street is beautiful when covered with snow or frost
Adam was awarded Employee of the Year at the Alaska Native Medical Center! WAHOO!!! So proud of him! The award ceremony was during the hospital's Christmas party at the big convention center in Anchorage!
The theme was a Masquerade Ball
ANMC's CEO administrator awarding Adam
Erin and Shawn were there too!
Another of the river
When it's dark at 4:30, you take the dogs for a walk with their lights on! Duke and Riley were staying with us!
Back in Iowa! A walk with Adam's mom, sister, and all the pups!
The high-trestle trail and bridge
Mama's boy! The bridge is a 1/2 mile long
Baby shower in Des Moines at the Cheesecake Factory!
Sisters!
Tradition= seeing Santa at Bass Pro Shop, Emma and Adam hitting the "shooting range", then bowling! Emma bowled a turkey! Her reaction was priceless!
Snowball fight!
Game night at Jess and Grant's.
The twins are getting so big and were very entertaining!
Games in the garage!
Ping pong was a hit!
Baby shower in Traer! I need to get more of the pics from my parents. We had it after the Kucera Christmas so most of my aunties and cousins were there....and even uncles! :)
Was great to see high school friends!
The lovely hostesses
cousins/friends!
Grandpa and Grandma making breakfast for everyone--- we had 7 munchkins sleeping over most nights!
tradition= creek walk
Adam and the kiddos had fun hanging from vines and climbing trees on this walk
Roasting up some hotdogs, brats, and jalapeno cheddar moose dogs
Another tradition is having an art/craft activity. We used glue, shaving cream, and glitter to make puffy paint pictures. Then mixed up some concoctions for sensory fun! Baby oil and flour. Cornstarch and conditioner. And one that I don't remember......
Bowling with the Kuceras! Kane being cheered on by all of his girls!
We also played games like Snorta, spoons, and gray wolf. We went sledding and had a snowball fight at a big snow pile in Traer, sledded behind the 4wheeler, visited the horses and kissed their noses, and decorated cookies.
Adam celebrated his 31st birthday while we were back! His Grandma Brown got him this really cool candle that starts with a big flame, then the pedals of the flower open up and it spins while playing "Happy Birthday". The instructions say to give it 3 feet of space when you light it, look at Adam's face! :)
And a homemade angel food cake!
When leaving Des Moines we had quite the scare. We were told we would have to land back in Des Moines after circling for 30 mins because the plane's wheels wouldn't retract into place. They said a fire truck or two would be on the runway for precautionary protocol. Then they had other pilots that were on the flight as passengers move into the emergency exit rows. We didn't think it was a big deal until we got close to landing and all we saw were emergency lights everywhere and roads being blocked off by the airport. There were several fire trucks and emergency vehicles that met us and followed us down the runway. IT WAS SCARY! Thankfully we landed safely! We ended up having to stay another night in Des Moines which was nice because we got to see most of the Harris family again but it put us back in Anchorage early the morning before we went back to work. Not to mention another delay on that trip. I got a couple hours of sleep and went to work, Adam got to work from home that day and started to unpack all of our bags of baby stuff!
Anchorage baby shower!
Thanks to Erin, Brittany, and Jessica (forgot to get a picture before she left) for a lovely shower!
Guests decorated bibs for baby Harris--- they were a hoot! Some were cute and some were funny! Example "Tundra Drools More!"
Walking the pup on the river trail
We didn't get much snow in our area this year :(
The further north you drive, the more snow there is! Check out the snow on this cabin at Byers Lake! We stayed here for the weekend with some friends and ice fished
Belly hanging out of the bibs!
We were missing Erin, and Ellie! A fun weekend away!
Just missing Chena!
These otters were entertaining! They would run, run, slide on their bellies, run, run, slide, all the way across the lake! I will try to put a video below.
Handsome pup
The only time we got out on cross-country skiis this year. It has been an icy mess in our area ever since!
Our neighbor went with and took this picture of Adam and I.
Tundra playing with Ellie in her tent! :) :) He will be a great big brother!
A picture of what COULD BE our last hike as the three of us! We keep saying and giggling-- "this could be our last _________ as the two(or three if Tundy is included) of us!"
We saw some ice skaters on the river last weekend, they were having a great time. I noticed their skates and asked....these are actually blades with bindings for their cross-country ski boots! He said they got them since there hasn't been any snow for skiing, so they have just been skating! We might just have to add these to our gear!
We went ice fishing-- were at the lake just before sunrise! There was a lot of pressure cracking and movement in the ice that day! We were totally safe because the ice was a good 3ft+ thick, but the sounds were eery! Tundra did NOT like it and was a big baby until the ice settled down. I tried to get the sounds on video but couldn't quite capture it.
First rainbow of the day
Tundra being a big baby!
Then he thought it was a fun game to bob for his ball in my ice hole!
Probably our "last ice fishing trip as the three of us"
Kevin and Adam pulling the sleds across the lake. Lack of snow made it much easier!
We caught rainbows, arctic char, and land-locked salmon. I don't remember which one Adam was "eating"
some belly pics before the snow/frost melted away
37 weeks
We are ready to meet this baby! We/I have taken classes, read books, and have prepared the best we can. Adam is surprising me by decorating the baby room (it's okay, he is MUCH better at decorating than I am-- a man of many, many talents!). I know that it is a forest theme (Alaska forest), my bear rug will be hanging on a wall, and what the crib/changing table look like. The rest is a surprise!
Adam is also in a busy time for his app, HappenShare. Right now is the Kickstarter Campaign. It is out on iPhone and soon to be on Android. Check it out and support him by spreading the word! It is geared towards Alaska residents and tourists, but anyone can check it out and appreciate his hard work and the great photos and "happenings" that get posted.
We got new carpet throughout our house in preparation for baby!
We had a 7.1 earthquake in January that gave us quite a scare. It was the biggest and longest that we have felt since we've been up here. We had a few things fall down, drawers/cupboards open, but no damage. Near the epicenter there were significant cracks in the road, gas line breaks that caused house fires, shelves of stores toppled over, and other damage. It was weird because some areas of Anchorage didn't even feel it while other areas had damage. All I could think about is from now on, we will have a baby to grab before we head for the door!
Hope all is well for everyone, can't believe we are 1/2 through February!
