{Pictures} 2013

Here's a sum-up of 2013 for me, through pictures. I'm going to try to go by month. Although, that's more organization than I can usually manage! :) And hey, we're only a week and a half into January, so I'm not so late with this post! :)

January:

Sledding is a winter highlight for me. We went several times last winter, and had some awesome sled trains!

February:

Sledding, again. :) But this time with some added.... flair. As in, sledding in a boat, and pulling skis behind the boat. :) It was fun. BUT, in order to ride the skis, you had to take off your boats and walk through the snow in your SOCKS! Brr!

March:

Spring kids! Little baby goats create a stir at our "farm".

April:

One of my cousins got married! Mom, Tyler, and I were all involved in the wedding. I really like weddings, and this one was so pretty! Country through-and-through. From sitting on hay bales, to mason jar cups as favors! :)

May:

 Nothing really exciting happened in May. There was mud, and we played in it. ;)

I ran across this picture of Sam I took in May. I really like it, she's so pretty, and spring colors are perfect for her!


June:

I spent June on my great Alaskan adventure. I enjoyed it so much, even if I got very homesick. I especially liked my dad surprising me on the way home. We went to the CUTEST donut shop ever, at 5:00 in the morning in Seattle. :) I loved that little store. I think working at a place like that would be a dream job for me!

July:

Rollerblading with some friends! Except for some people (HANNAH!) who quit rollerblading and just ran down the road without shoes on! Crazy ;)

August:

Volleyball started in August with my first tournament as a highschooler! Every year, I worry about my team. How will we work together? How can I enjoy it as much as I did last year? What if we loose every game? Every year, my worry is proved useless. I love each season more, and I love each different group of girls as much as the last. It's a crazy, exciting season. And so fun!

September:

Volleyball tournaments. Two CHIEF tournaments made for great team bonding time! Exhausting, long days. We got 3rd in the first, and 2nd place in the second tournament!

October:

Starting to see a trend? More volleyball and football. :)

November:

Mother/daughter flag football game. I've really looked forward to this game! It was SLIGHTLY more rough-and-tumble this year, thanks to some alumni who were invited because of low mother numbers. And, sadly, the daughters lost this time. It was a really fun evening, though!

December:

Family time. Enough said. Spending time with my noisy family is always a highlight.

{Life and Pictures} Adventuring in Missouri and Other News

I was born in Hannibal, MO. For the first six months of my life, I lived in a TINY little house in Curryville, MO (about 30 minutes from Hannibal.) Mom's been wanting to go back and visit our friends there for awhile. I think she has in her head that Tyler's going to graduate, leave, and we'll never see him again. I know better :) The first time he has to do laundry, he'll come back :) But anyway, we finally made it back for a visit last weekend.

Since we moved back to Kansas when I was only six months old, I have NO memory of our friends in Curryville. It was really strange meeting people who knew me, that I didn't recognize. I heard the phrase "You have grown up!" so many times! :)

While we were there, we visited our old babysitters (and their family. Who were SO, SO nice. They let ALL seven of us stay with them. That is a seriously big undertaking!), our old house, our old neighbors, our old church, and (the big one for me!) the CAVES behind our old house. Really, there was multiple (I think 4?) caves that can be explored near there.

My dad really loved the caves, so he wanted to be able to show us all. We tracked down the owners of the land (who graciously let us walk around in their woods), geared up in orange (we were tramping through the woods during Missouri deer season.), and explored the caves.

The first one was not so pleasant. It was basically just a rock jutting out that you could crawl under. Dad lost me at "Watch out for snakes. There's rattle snakes around here. They love caves like this." If we were brave enough to get wet, we could've crawled on hands and knees through water and reached the other cave, ladder cave. However, it was under freezing, so we opted for walking to the above ground entrance of ladder cave.

This was my favorite of the two. You climb down a a 20 foot, narrow ladder (which was the same ladder my dad put in 15 years ago-scary thought?) and wiggle your way between two walls to an open passage. It was much warmer in the cave, but the air was stale. We walked a little ways, then bent double to cross under a rock ledge. (More splashing!) The rest of the cave was really easy to walk through and just amazing.

At one point, dad turned off both the headlamps. It was the most complete darkness I have ever been in. So scary/interesting.

There was one freaky part.  I was innocently looking around the cave, when I noticed all my family staring at the ceiling 1 foot above my head. My dad said, "Look above you!" I just about screamed! There was a cluster of 6 bats right above me! *shivers*

Here's some pictures of the caves:

The first cave

Climbing down in ladder cave

End of the exploration

There's a bat near the right corner

Other news from the past week:

I have new baby goats, and some kittens showed up at our house. I do not like having cats... but when they just show up, what can you do? Obviously, I have pictures of that, too ;) (I'm realizing there's a lot of pictures in this post. Sorry :( I really enjoy pictures.)

"M" in front, "And M" in the back :)

Marshmallow

O'Malley...3

Gerdy

{A Few of My Favorite Things} A Roundup

Winter. Guys, these freezing mornings make me think it's finally here. I love winter. Go ahead and call me strange. :) I don't like freezing cold, stormy days when there's nothing to do outside. BUT the snowy, cozy days outweigh the "bad" days of winter for me. Don't worry, fall brings up a VERY close second.


TAZO "Wild Sweet Orange" tea. I am not a tea fan. Not even sweet tea. I just don't like that "tea" taste. But wild sweet orange tastes more like wassail. I add a little liquid stevia to mine. It's a wonderful alternative if I want something not as sweet or filling as hot chocolate!


Waiting. I am [not so patiently] waiting for my goats to have their kids. I go out there every morning expecting new babies. I was so convinced it would be one of these cold mornings. Nope. I think maybe I should try going out their thinking "There is absolutely NOT going to be baby goats this morning." :)


Painting. I'm making my mom a burlap wall hanging as her birthday present. Artsy and crafty things aren't generally an area I excel in, which means I don't try it very often. But, with a goal in my mind, it's been fun to try an artsy project. I used this picture (from pinterest) as one of my ideas. I'll post a picture when mine is done.

Bobby pins. I saw these bobby pins on (yeah, go figure) pinterest a few days ago. I love them. I can't explain why, but I think it's just so beautiful. So are these bobby pins.

Avery sent me this picture the other day. I laughed so hard. That kid's face, and the idea, It's just perfect and so true!

This dress. If I ever have a million dollars, and need to go somewhere formal, I think I'll wear this. OR, if I EVER see this at a thrift store or garage sale, I am absolutely buying it. No question ;) Doesn't it just look like a fairy?

This guy's  amazing ideas and pictures. Oh how beautiful! God does amazing things in nature! I am so glad someone uses technology to make them all the more amazing!

Ok, last thing. Have I ever mentioned I am VERY ditzy and absent-minded? Things go in and out of my head in just a few seconds. As a result, I often have notes written on my hands. It's not a fool-proof method if I was my hands too many times. So I think I need some of these :)  Wearable sticky notes. It's better than pockets!



What has excited you/what have you loved this week?

{Life and Pictures} Summer Adventures

I have now posted an "introductory" blog post. However, that post did not live up the the 300 word expectation, so I'm going to try again. :)
 Summer is over, but I'm going to give my summer in review (with pictures, because I love pictures!).

The biggest thing for me this summer (which also took up most of my time) was my vacation. I went to Aniak, Alaska for a month! (Go ahead, say "WHAT were you in ALASKA for?!") Well, my aunt lives in Alaska. AND two of my little cousins! So I went to the END OF CIVILIZATION to babysit for a month. And I had so much fun. Trust me, being away from my family for so long was hard, and I definitely couldn't have done it if I hadn't been with family as well. My aunt does come to visit, especially more recently since my cousins have been born, but the two weeks she usually stays really isn't enough time to get to know someone very well. Off I went to adventure in the wilderness :) I left Kansas in the afternoon and finally landed in Anchorage Alaska (where my aunt and her family met me) at about one A.M. our time. They are three hours behind us. From Anchorage to Aniak is about a one hour flight, but my aunt graciously met me in Anchorage for a mini-vacation. This also meant I didn't have to stay the night by myself at the airport. (Flights to her village only go at certain times.)

A little about Aniak: 
Aniak is only accessible by plane, boat, or in the winter snow machine. Yes, they do have electricity, but life is VERY different there! Aniak has a population of about 500. And, yes, like the map shows, the runway of the airport is longer than the village :)

Virgin Creek Falls Trail

At the top of Mt. Alyeska

Pictures from our mini vacation about 30 minutes outside Anchorage in a town called Girdwood.

This was just along side the road.

This, also, was just a stream along side the road.

This was near Girdwood glacier. There was about 2 feet of snow still on this road. Yes, it was June. :)

This picture is of Prince William Sound in Whittier Alaska. My younger cousin (Jena) and I climbed down these rocks to get a better view for me to take pictures from. I had JUST finished warning her to be careful not to slip when I lost my footing and splashed into the water. Things to be thankful for: (1) I caught myself on a rock, and only got one foot/some of the bottom of my pants, and my sleeves wet. (2) I barely got my camera wet (I was still worried- it was salt water. But my camera is still functioning!) (3) I got to experience the ocean with all 5 senses.
I still had to walk around for the rest of the day in only a t-shirt. It was much too cold for that!

The dike in Aniak.

Okay, so after four days, I had adjusted to a new time zone and we flew to Aniak. This spring, when the ice on the river broke up, it moved up the dike toward the town. The picture above was the amount that was still left after about a month.

The Cabin:
My aunt and uncle built their cabin. (It's the second little clearing from the left) As in, bought a saw mill, cut down the trees and built their cabin! It is only accessible by boat or snow machine. This year, they added indoor plumbing! They heat and cook with two wood stoves. (They also have a small propane cooking stove that can be used if they don't want to heat up the house. But it is difficult.)

Woodstove cooking- rhubarb pie. (ignore my bad photography!)

Adventures:

Bald eagles nest

This is down the hill from the cabin. Their "dock". It was about 75o that day, and my little cousins were going swimming.

Bear claw print in the mud. (With a little-girl print in the middle)

While I was there, they had "record high" temperatures- 89o. But there was also some cooler days. Nighttime was always chilly.

Baby moose. This is one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip. I saw about 14 moose the day I took this picture.

My cousins watching their "pet moose" (it was young, and wasn't very scared of humans. So it would come near the cabin often.) The green nets are mosquito nets.

Mosquitoes:
This summer was one of the worst summers in awhile for mosquitos. As a result, we didn't go outside very often without our trusty mosquito nets. They are NOT fashionable, but it was totally worth it. At night, when the house was quiet, you could HEAR the mosquitos buzzing outside.

Nighttime:
During the winter in Aniak, it gets to the point were there is only a few hours of dusky-daytime. During the summer, it's the opposite. I was there for the longest day of summer. There wasn't actually any DARK. It got dusky for a few hours, that was it.

The End of My Adventure:
After a month, I was soo excited to go home. I left just after lunch from Aniak. Then I had a 12 hour delay in Anchorage. By myself. My aunt had signed my up as an "unaccompanied minor", which means they made sure I got to the right plane at the right time. (They also gave me free movie players!) Anyhow, I had to have a guardian to sign me in at the Anchorage airport. My aunt TOLD me that she had a friend who was going to meet me at about 10 P.M. to sign me in before my flight. I innocently got off the plane, trying to figure out what I was going to do for 12 hours (toting a 50 lb bag.). As I got off, I saw someone video taping the people getting off the plane. I COULD NOT figure out who was being video taped on a plane coming from a village of 500?! (the most exciting thing in Aniak is the "4th of July parade". Which consists of about 5, undecorated four wheelers. I'm not kidding) :) I was soo shocked to see my dad waiting for me. :) Yes, I was REALLY close to crying. He has a video :) He took his first trip to Alaska for 24 hours to pick me up, so I wouldn't be by myself for that whole time. We tandem biked around Anchorage, and went to the botanical garden. Then he took me out to eat at a really nice restaurant. (Which was pretty funny, we were a little bit more casually dressed than the other diners :) We had a 9 hour delay in Seattle, Washington. We flew in at 5 in the morning, and walked to the space needle, where we had breakfast. (Which is what he originally wanted to do. I had told him I wanted to see the space needle, so he decided to take me!) We finally got back to Kansas in the afternoon. He was gone for exactly 48 hours! :) 1 month, 2 cousins, 6 airplanes, 16 moose, 800 some pictures later, I was finally home! I'm not sure if I'll do it again next year. But I am so glad I did this summer.

This was a few hours before we got there.

Anchorage, AK

Space needle at sunrise :)

Aside from that? My summer has been usual :)

Thanks for hanging in there!
~Bethany

This was from my aunt's front yard. As close to "sunrise" as I saw.