Our house is done!!!

Well basically. We had our final walk through the house yesterday. There are a few things they are still going to need to take care of before we close and move in next week. We are very excited. The plan is to close on the 19th, move in on the 22nd and then Emma starts school on the 24th. So here it is.It is amazing to me the just 5 months ago this house was just a drawing on a piece of paper.

Close up of all the pretty details on the front of the house

Here is the family room, nook, and kitchen all done now we just need some stuff to put in there.

I'm loving my pretty kitchen. Now I will spend the rest of my life trying to keep it that way. The other thing I only recently realized is that if you have 9 ft ceilings your cabinets are REALLY high up. I can only reach to like the middle of the upper cabinets and it will be years until the kids can use the microwave.

Just a few more shots of the inside. mostly the upstairs hall, master bath, and entry way.

Alaska trip the 3rd and final chapter

Thursday we spent most the morning still trying to recover from all the wedding stuff and the fun day we had had the day before. We met up with Carl's family at Outback in Anchorage. It was just over an hour drive from my mom's house in Palmer to most places in Anchorage and pretty much seemed to take 30 mins or more to get anywhere from my mom's house, so it seemed like the boys were always falling asleep in the van and then waking up grumpy when we got to where we were going. Going to Outback was no different, the boys fell asleep on the way there and it took a good 15 mins before they were happy enough to sit in the restaurant. After a quick bite Scott and I left the kids with my mom and Matthew and made it just in time for the 6pm session. While we were in the temple Mom, Matthew, Aimee, and Carl took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. Chuck's place happens to be one of Carl's favorite places too so they got a lot of tokens and got a lot of tickets so the kids came home with quite a few prizes.
We got home around 10pm and Scott and Matthew headed out to do a little mid-night fishing. They were out until about 2 am, came home and got a few hours sleep, and then went back out at like 5am. My mom's house is just a few mins from one of the best fishing spots. The day before Matthew caught his limit in about and hour, but when Scott went the fish just weren't biting and no one got anything. Scott went out one more time before we headed out to see my friend Ariane and her sweet baby Adelle. It was great to see them. Then we went home had dinner finished packing and headed off to the airport. We had a red eye flight home. Poor Logan was so tired, but had a hard time getting comfortable so he ended up crying a lot on the way home. He would fall asleep and the suddenly wake up screaming. None of us slept well, so I could totally understand how he felt. We had given all the kids ear numbing drops just before getting on the plane so at least I knew it wasn't his ears.
We were so wiped out when we got home I think we are still suffering 5 days later.

Alaska Trip Part 2

After the wedding we packed as much fun as we could into the few days we had left. Wednesday morning we headed into Anchorage to have brunch at IHOP with my Grandma and Grandpa, plus my Dad, Mom, Matthew, Aimee, and Carl. Then we headed off to Alaska Wild Berry products. They had recently added quite a bit so it is no longer just a chocolate factory with what is possibly the WORLDS LARGEST CHOCOLATE WATERFALL, but they now have a fun little trail leading over to some very nice and domesticated reindeer. Alan was happy to just look at them form a distance, but Logan and Emma LOVED feeding them. The funny thing was that every time Logan turned his back to the reindeer Logan would make this face. After the reindeer we headed into the factory to check out the chocolate falls and of course get some yummy chocolate. The kids eyes were so wide trying to take in all the candy. We also let each kids pick a little something out. Emma got a snow globe for her collection, Alan picked out a bag of pretty rocks, and Logan got a doggy key chain that poops. Aren't kids funny.



After the chocolate factory the rain had stopped so we decided to meet up with Aimee and Carl and risk taking the kids to the zoo. We lucked out and the rain held off until after we left. We got to see a lot of animals really well and Logan especially was so adorably excited about seeing all the animals.After the zoo we were all totally exhausted, but we were not done yet, after stopping by my dad's to pick up tons of salmon the bring home, we met up with my sister Kate and had dinner at Garcia's (the best Mexican and it is in my home town of Eagle River). We had few minutes to kill before dinner so we took the kids to a park across the street. All I have to say is man I miss Garcia's. It was great seeing Kate and after dinner we stopped in to see her new place. My sister has a pug dog, bull dog, snake, dragon thing, gecko and probably more animals that I am forgetting, Emma and Logan were in heaven. I guess stay tuned for part 3 of the Alaska adventure.

Emma loves her aunts and just had to sit by Kate at dinner.

Our Alaska Trip Part 1

On Thursday July 30th we flew up to Alaska. I swear that we almost didn't make it. There is a lot involved in getting 3 small kids through the airport. When we got in line for security, we suddenly realized that it would take about an hour to get through the line, and that our flight would start boarding in like 30 mins. About a minute after I realized that there was no way we were going to make it through in time, a nice man (or maybe an angel) walked past where we were in line, opened the divider, and said that people traveling with small kids could go to the front of the line. I almost started to cry. Once we were at the front of the line, there was just the small matter of removing 5 pairs of shoes, taking out 2 laptops, and getting our 8 carry-ons and personal items through the scanner. Then, once we were on the other side, there was putting the shoes back on, reattaching the carry-ons so that 2 adults could pull 4 of them while holding kids' hands, getting backpacks back on, and then making our way to the very most furthest away gate possible. We made it to the gate with just enough time for me to change Logan's diaper and get on the plane. It was only 4.5 hours up to Anchorage, and the kids did GREAT. There was a lot of snacking and coloring and many trips to the potty.
Once we got to Alaska, the next 4 days were spent doing everything wedding. Emma got up on Friday and informed everyone that we were going hunting that day. Really we were going shopping, but with the way we shop I guess hunting may be the right term. I spent most of my time helping to get decorations ready, making the cakes, and doing the flowers. Scott kept the kids busy with hikes to the river and outings to many different playgrounds. I think the kids went to 7 different playgrounds while we were there.

Aimee and Carl got married on Tuesday. I was so relieved when all of the kids walked (or in Alan's case marched) down the aisle without a problem, especially since at the rehearsal, they all started crying and wouldn't even go into the chapel. Aimee looked gorgeous, and the ceremony was very nice. I didn't really get any good pictures from the wedding since I was in it and a little busy, but there were two photographers there, so hopefully I will get some good ones from them. It was also impossible to get any pictures of the boys basically all day. I think they were a little excited and therefore by the time the camera took the picture they had already moved so all I got was a picture of a hand or something. Anyway here are some pictures from the first part of our trip.

This is the cake I made for Aimee. It is made from about 12 batches of cake, 5 pounds of frosting, 3 batches of fondant, and has hand applied edible pearls. It was actually the inspiration for the whole wedding theme. It was so great of Aimee to just let me go wild and do whatever I want.

This is the grooms cake I made for Carl. He is REALLY REALLY REALLY into the Florida Gators, so I sculpted an Albert and Alberta Alligator in their formal wedding wear getting married on the 50 Yard line. I was kinda going for an awesomely tacky look for this cake, which explains the M&Ms, plastic helmets, and well the cakes in general.

My Grandma and Grandpa Michaud made it up from Washington for the wedding. I hadn't seen them in about 4 years so it was so great to visit with them and for them to get to see the kids. This is from when they went with Scott and the kids to the park while some of us were setting up the reception.

These are from the wedding. I did the bouquet.

We let Emma ride in the limo with Aimee and Carl on the way over to the reception.

Everyone had a great time at the reception.