{Important Note} I want to make a simple statement with complex depth – I know I am incredibly blessed.Not only does my immediate family get along well and love each other incredibly; my extended family is no different.There are now 29 of us (first cousins, spouses, and children) plus our 2 sets of parents; we have an amazing family heritage that none of us take for granted.We currently live in 3 states; 6 towns/cities; and 2 countries.

(our 2011 continued…)

mid-June: We landed late Friday night the 16th, my cousin J picked us up and took us to their house. My aunt & uncle were there as well for overnight because they’d driven up from Madison, WI. Saturday morning we all (11 of us – 5 adults + 6 children) piled into two suburbans and drove to N & C’s, house 2 hours away.We spent a couple days there with all of us (18) in one house and had a blast!

A little note of explanation: I grew up with my two brothers, three boy cousins (there are two more cousins, but I didn’t grow up with them), and family friends with three boys. At the time my cousins lived just up the road from us, I have many fond memories of all our family gatherings. They were good years with many good times. Now, 25+ years later we all have children and our kids all get along very well. Eight years ago my kids and I were living in my old childhood home to help take care of my grandparents (my dad’s parents). Three weeks after we got there my grandma passed away; shortly after my grandpa started kidney dialysis three times per week. My kids and I were able to stay on and help with his adjustment of not having grandma after nearly 60 years of marriage and the effects of dialysis. At that time N & C lived across the field and we got to know each other real well; it was so much fun.It was fun to have an adult relationship with my cousin; his wife, C, and I get along real well and have similar interests.

Then we went multiple directions for the week. My aunt & uncle returned to Madison and my kids and I followed J & K back to their house, near the border of MN and WI. It was really fun to hang out with J & K and their kids. We didn’t know them as well because we hadn’t had the chance while living with Grandpa to spend time together. On Monday evening K & I, with the kids, joined J at the Science Museum in Minneapolis. WOW! We’ve never been to such a big museum – it was a ton of fun. J explained so much more to the kids and made it so much fun – Science is his thing. 🙂 The rest of the week was spent getting to know each other better, late night visits, and my first antique store visit – in general lots of just hanging out together. It was cool & rainy and so much fun to spend the time just drinking coffee, visiting, and holding baby Gregory. One day we went to walk along the river, but there was a painting class all set up along the bank and at the “mouth” of the trail we had planned to walk – because it was cold & windy we decided not to disturb them to get 6 children past, just to turn around and come back … but we got good cousin pictures by the bridge :-)!

On Friday, my kids & I headed out to Madison on our own. It was very strange, it is landscape I recognize, remember, and love – so much farm country; yet it seemed so foreign too. We drove it several times when we were living there six years ago, but this time it was just us – without Grandpa. We went to Madison to celebrate my Uncle’s retirement. It was a wonderful weekend with many friends and family. Saturday morning a family friend (my aunts best friend) invited all of us to breakfast, then she took Christine & I to the capital for a tour. I didn’t know this was an interest of Christine’s but she LOVED it!  Then we went to Hobby Lobby (my first time ever!), we had to be quick …it was so hard. There was so much that was fun, but it wouldn’t fit in my luggage to get back to Alaska! When we got back to the house, N & C had arrived with their kids. My aunt & uncle’s landlord are very good friends of theirs; they have lived side-by-side in the duplex for nearly 20 years. Anyway, the landlord’s friends had invited us (kids and our children) to use their pool on Saturday afternoon. All of the kids loved the heated pool on a beautiful, sunny day. They played hard for a couple hours. Then we all went back and started to get everything finished up for Sunday’s party. C and I ran out to get a few more groceries and other items needed for the party. We did sneak another quick trip into Hobby Lobby, then Wal-mart, and brought back dinner. Sunday after church was the retirement party, clean up, and a late evening bonfire. So many friends and family were there, some I hadn’t seen since I was in 6^th grade. Then on Monday the guys were doing some packing and loading trucks, so we girls (16 of us) went to Olbrich Gardens. It was so much fun. My aunt, cousin, Christine & I went when we visited with Grandpa once and it was fun to go back. The rest of them had gone in different groups over the last year as well. When we got back to the house it was time for lunch and then N, C, and I with all our children (7 total) piled into the two vehicles and headed north. Only two came with C & I in the car, N took the other 5 and pulled the trailer. It was fun – so much happened in such a short amount of time!

N and C live near where I spent many happy childhood years growing up in northern Wisconsin. We spent the week hanging out, they live on a lake and the kids were wet and/or fishing most of every day. Tuesday evening C & I drove an hour to Sam’s Club in Duluth, MN, just to find they had closed a half hour before we got there. We were getting the groceries needed for the upcoming 4^th of July weekend…so we did a little other shopping and headed back home knowing we’d head back up Friday morning when the guys were going to go south to get a bunch of wheat. The weekend ahead was going to be 30 of us all staying at the same house. We spent the next couple days just relaxing and enjoying hanging out, much like the week prior – just a different family of cousins. Thursday night we had a plan and all was going well – my uncle would be coming in early AM, from Madison, and the guys, all of them even the 2 year old, were going to drive south to get the wheat. By noon, C & I and the 4 girls (ages 12, 10, 9, & 7) were going to drive north to do a girl day of shopping and get the groceries we didn’t get on Tues. The other 19 family/friends would then arrive Saturday morning.

July 1^st – 6:45am Friday morning started a bit stressful and not very fun, and the day went downhill from there – with an absolutely wonderful afternoon in the middle. So, very early in the morning N realized the water pump had gone out during the night. He was able to get a hold of a family friend who has a plumbing business, he said he’d stop by on his way to another job. He actually had the part and was able to get the pump fixed and up and running. Then we all loaded up to head out, the guys to the south and the girls to the north. We girls had a blast; I have never been on a shopping trip like that before. So much fun to just go from girly place to girly place and hear our girls’ hearts being filled with love just from hangin’ with us. We even found a few good deals and some more summer clothes (we hadn’t taken cool enough clothes for mid-west summer). When we walked out of the mall it was starting to sprinkle, one of the little ones was so excited to have a new umbrella and wanted to use it….well, the rain went from little sprinkles to DUMPING about half way to the car! She got to use her umbrella and many were taking cover with her before getting to the car. Those of us not under the umbrella were soaked, thoroughly. It continued to dump, hard. We decided to not go to a restaurant for dinner, but just head to Sam’s Club, the girls were all so content they were fine with just eating at Sam’s. We got our groceries and when we were leaving Sam’s it was raining so hard C could barely see while driving down the hill out of Duluth and across the bridge. It was about 7pm and we were headed back towards the house, but first needed to stop at Wal-mart (in Superior) to get a few more items. By the time we got to town we were aware there was really unfriendly weather all around us. Icky colored sky and dumping rain with thunder & lightening. We started hearing on the news there were tornado warnings and the wind was starting to blow like crazy….We were doing lots of praying and singing along with KLOVE to keep from going totally over the edge of being freaked. We knew Who was in control of all the circumstances and we just kept reminding ourselves & each other. C was in contact with her family who were camped at a campground near her house and found out they had just been told to leave, she told them to all go to her house even though there was no power in the area. In talking to C’s brother-in-law, who was on his way to her house (instead of the campground), he had to cut his way down the highway with his chainsaw. Okay, we were freaked. However, God had everything so orchestrated — we met up with our guys at the crossroads of the two highways – us driving south, them coming north, and we all needed to drive east. We were able to pass them some snacks and then we were off; from that point on we followed them. As they drove north they saw the mass destruction from the storm, where we came from the north and it was just rain. As we followed them, we often had to drive on the opposite side of the road because only the tops of the trees had been cut and that was just to clear one side of the road. By the time we got to the house it was 10pm. (what should have been a 30-45 min drive had been nearly 2 hours) There were three trees across the driveway that C’s BIL cut to get into the driveway. We then had to unload all the groceries in the pitch black with just headlights and flashlights to see with. All the freezer/frig food was sorted so it could all be put into the frig/freezer at once. As we drove and saw the destruction we knew the power would not be back on any time soon. The next morning the guys got us a generator and the rest of our family came. We proceeded to have a wonderful weekend! We spent the 4^th of July floating down the Namekagon River (and getting majorly sunburned!).

The rest of our time was spent enjoying each other; coffee and diet coke with lime; lots of hanging out; visiting; coffee and diet coke; swimming; fishing; enjoying the pontoon boat, with coffee or diet coke (of course) depending on time of day – morning, afternoon, or evening. After all the other families returned to their homes and we got the house back into order after a weekend of no water or power, but LOTS of fellowship; C and I took the kids into Superior. Superior is where I spent seven wonderful years of childhood; it was so fun to see places that are familiar and things really haven’t changed much. It’s not a city. I got to go into my first ever quilt store with the intention of buying material. We let the kids watch a movie in the car while we went in – it was soooo much fun to see all the variety, choose some, and then actually purchase it! {That could be addicting!!!!} I’m used to going in to touch and feel, but not buy. I’ve typically purchased fabric from Jo-Ann’s and their selection of good feeling material is much smaller {sigh} Anyway, the next day we went to another town half way to J & K’s (we had to do some return kid swapping) and went into an antique store, another quilt store and then the three of us took all 11 children to see Cars2. In the end the three youngest didn’t do so well in the movie, so it was eight children and myself who watched it all then walked the couple blocks to the scrapbook store……oh, the fun of tons of kids and family and all being together. Love it! After that, we had just a week of hanging and being slow when it was time to pack and head to J & K’s again for the last couple days. J was gone on a business trip so C and her kids joined in staying at J & K’s. The last couple days was more hanging (with coffee and diet coke with lime), packing (with coffee and diet coke with lime), and visiting (with more coffee and diet coke with lime) – what we didn’t do was sleep. The last afternoon K took the kids & I to the airport – it was so hard to say goodbye. Is it not a most amazing blessing to spend a month with family and still have it hard to say goodbye – on both sides?! Thank you C and K for your amazing, generous, and kind hearts – I love you both so much!

Rest of July & August:We flew back to Alaska on the 15^th. Within 18 hours of landing (at 11pm) we had come home, unpacked, washed laundry, slept a couple hours, got up, re-packed, re-loaded the van and headed to our family cabin six hours away. It is a six hour drive, then a half hour boat ride, then a half mile hike up the hill…At that point, I slept. Two days later Vince turned 14! Two days after that Christine, my mom, and I headed back home.Vince stayed to work on the new cabin with my dad. Once home again I started some house projects and minimal organizing…as well as finishing unpacking and actually putting some stuff away.(Finally, just three days ago I finished putting away some things from our trip that I’d unpacked, set down, and never got back to!) I actually started my first house project I’ve wanted to do for several years. I will post more on this later, but the end of July I ripped out my living room carpet! My dad wasn’t (still isn’t) impressed. I love it! My living room is just the plywood sub-floor (now painted), but I love it, Love IT, LOVE IT!

September: Before I knew it, it was time to start school! Then an opportunity came up for Vince and I to join my dad on a trip to Washington DC. I was so excited! I have wanted to go to Washington DC and the East Coast for forever (seriously, since I was like 8). Many hours were spent deciding what we would do in our time there. September went really fast with all kinds of life – cleaning, school, the fair, work, some projects, and lots of DC planning.

October: We had four days of exploring and a day before and after for travel days. Did you know that it takes 10 hours to get from Anchorage to DC and that was with a fairly quick stop over in Seattle; the trip back took us 18 hours! (we had an added stop over in LA) Christine stayed with mom; she didn’t want to go with us – she didn’t want to do the massive walking we were going to be doing. It was really cool to go and be with Vince; he was amazing on the subway! There were times I got a bit freaked about how far below ground we were – and going under a river – ack! We never got lost- once we were a block off from where we thought we’d come up from underground, but yea for my iPhone – we were able to find our location in moments. We didn’t make it into as many of the Smithsonian’s as I would have tried to see; I let Vince be the ‘driver’ of where we went and what we saw. We went to the Air & Space Museum – twice :-D! We stood in line and went into the Capital, but once we were inside we decided we really wanted to wait for someday, with Christine. She loves seeing capital buildings. It was close to 70* each day, we didn’t bring cool enough clothes – it was October. I brought layers, but the lightest ones were more than we needed. We were warm and walked lots! By the time we returned from DC we were four weeks from my brother Zach and his wife and kids to come home from the Philippines. This was the magical month I got to get my new camera – a Nikon D3100! So excited and anxious to learn more!! Lots more house projects, organizing, and cleaning were started, but I also had an unexpected increase in my work load which really changed things up.

November & December: Zach, Jane, and their kids arrived on the 7^th of November. Since then it has been lots of family – all day, every day. Five adults, five children, three generations, three sets of parents, three sets of siblings, two spousal sets, and a set of cousins all living in the same main 1600sf house (my apartment and the cabin in the back yard are not included in that) makes for fun times. When my other brother, his wife, and their little one come here that adds another parental set, spousal set, and cousin set to the mix of our immediate family of 13. We have had an incredibly, abundantly more than we could imagine, family-full holiday season. In November I was able to get my new sewing machine – for 14 years I’ve used a 1942 Viking Husqvarna. I still love that machine greatly – however, I really needed more than straight front and back stitching. {I’m sure more will come on this later :-D} Within three weeks it will be just my brother Matt and his family and my kids and I here. We will be back to living in two countries and two towns in Alaska. Crazy how accessible the world is now. I remember when cheap communication was snail mail and that took at least a week to get from the lower 48 to Alaska…now we can instantly talk to family via video when they’re in the Philippines – for free.

And that wraps up 2011. None of what I have written even goes into all the personal growth I experienced this last year, or even so many things I learned. What I feel comfortable broadcasting on the internet will come out in bits and pieces as time goes by I’m sure. For now though this is a nutshell of the big events of our last year.

….notice none of this very long winded year in review covered anything basic like crafting, organizing, home school, and being a mom to two. :-D! I promise, I won’t have more posts that are this long winded. And, I will start putting in photos of projects that have happened around this house over the last year and new projects I’ve been working on — like the doll clothes I made last week. So fun! Thanks for reading – if you’ve actually read all of this you’ve learned more about me :-).

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We had an amazing 2011! There were so many highlights I can’t possibly make this short. God was greatly gracious to us and we were very blessed this last year, with minimal hardships and frustrations. I’m sorry to say those hardships and frustrations have threatened to extinguish the overwhelming truths of God’s promises and love for me. There is so much more I could say, but won’t. After all, this is the world wide internet and it includes others. I’m sure as time goes on, I get things better sorted in my head, and I’m understanding the wisdom gained from the experiences and memories you will eventually hear about it. 🙂

This was also a monumental year for me personally. There are so many things I learned, I don’t think I could even put it all into words. There are times I read something and think – “yes, that is exactly it!” Maybe some day I’ll do a post of quotes to try to describe some of these ‘personal growths’. The year 2011 signifies the fact I have been out of high school for 20 years! This seems unbelievable to me. I don’t feel old enough to be out that long. The year brought opportunities I have dreamt of for much of my life. I understand better the saying of others, “I feel younger now than I did 15 years ago.”

{warning – this will be really long and may not be very enjoyable to you, but it is a trip down memory lane for my kids & I. If you want to just skim it – I highlighted the main parts :-D.}

January: I made the decision for our family to return to home schooling. It was for the best.If anyone has questions and I am happy to answer them via email. I’m just not comfortable with posting specific reasons world-wide. We did one week of out-of-the-home-school after Christmas break. The next day, Tuesday January 11^th, I un-enrolled the kids from the school they were going to, then finished the process of un-enrolling them from the home school program we use and in the same hour re-enrolled them into that same home school program. We had the privilege of watching my niece several hours a week. The kids loved having her come on a regular basis.

February and March: I was in my last class. A programming class. I HATE coding, I’m fine with using code and learning what to change for appearance changes, but please, please, please don’t ever make me write code for a program from a blank slate to follow through with all the possible errors! The first programming class I had was May/June of 2010. I was very close to quitting school at that point. I had a horrible teacher for that class and barely passed. At least the teacher I had for this last class was WAY better and I got a high B. For these months I was in the programming class, home schooling, part-time job, and being mom. I was tired, didn’t feel well, and living in a blur most of the time.

April: On April 10^th I turned in my last final! I was done with the associates degree in Information Technology and Web Design.I was done – 20 months after starting. Unfortunately, after starting (I realized during the above mentioned first programming class) that I didn’t really want this degree, I wanted Graphic Design. So, while I’m excited I’m done and happy I have a piece of paper to prove I did some college, I am looking at teaching myself what I really wanted to know…as soon as life slows down a bit. In April I bought one way tickets out of state to the cheapest location I could find…{yes, I realize that is a very backwards way to do things, as well as being very uncharacteristic for me :-D. Regardless, God blessed me in this moment of insanity anyways.}. I was just done with feeling yuck all the time, being confined to the computer (doing school), and the lack of sun we had the previous summer (and what sun we did have I missed because I was inside on the computer doing school), and the wind! I was so weary of the wind; and one morning about 10am I heard it start again. When I heard it everything in me went nuts. I got online, searched found a really cheap ticket, called mom (in Juneau at the time) and said “I’m going with the kids, you want to join us? I don’t have any more of a plan, but at the very least we can go for a few days, staying in a hotel, and fly back.” Shockingly, she agreed. Within 3 hours of the wind starting I had tickets out of the state. “Real life” seemed really far away and I was trying hard to recuperate from full-time school, part-time job, and home school down to “just” home school and part-time job. So…why not ‘run away’…it was logical at the moment; and I haven’t ever regretted it. I bought tickets to Denver, Colorado for $150 each! Just so you can understand how good that is – today tickets to Seattle are $530 one way/person! (granted that is no notice – wait a couple weeks and it’s $230 for one way/person). All I knew for sure was we’d go to Focus on the Family and see Whit’s End. Something I’ve wanted to take the kids to see for years. I knew the Air Force Academy was across the road and the Garden of the Gods was near as well. (I went to Summit Ministries in Manitou Springs for a session the summer I graduated from high school).

May: May was spent continuing to recuperate and learn to live life again without daily check-ins into class and no homework assignments. Doing “normal” things like cleaning, laundry, and planning possibilities for our summer trip. In late May I was told I needed to make the lifestyle change of going gluten free and dairy free. There were several health issues we were looking for answers to; one of which was to change my hypothyroid medicine. For the next three months I was to be very diligent about being gluten free and dairy free. How fun – switch to a totally different way of eating when heading out on what had become a six week trip to span Colorado, Wyoming, Minnesota, and Wisconsin … oh joy.

June: On the 6^th mom, the kids, and I flew from Anchorage to Denver. We left the car rental lot at 8:30am; went to a restaurant nearby for breakfast then headed to Colorado Springs. We went to Focus on the Family and visited Whit’s End. It was so much fun to “see” Whit’s End and the location of Adventures in Odyssey. The kids got one of Mr. Whitaker’s World Famous Chocolate Soda (Wod-Fam-Choc-Sod). After Focus on the Family, we went across the highway to the Air Force Academy. It was amazing to see the chapel – I haven’t seen it since 1991 and it was just as amazing as I remembered! Then we went exploring a bit in Colorado Springs (drove a bit in town), including the Garden of the Gods. It was so much fun to show the kids monumental things I saw so many years ago – plus, it is where mom grew up. After the Garden of the Gods we drove back to Denver – we returned the car at 8:30pm! My cousin and aunt were at the car lot to pick us up, we then went to my cousin’s house for the night where my uncle (mom’s brother) was waiting for us. I haven’t seen my cousin since 1991 either…It was fun to see her really cool house! I will be enjoying pictures ofher house and yard over the next cold, wintery months for sure! On Wednesday morning all seven of us loaded into her jeep and my aunt & uncle’s truck; we headed to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. What a gorgeous drive! My cousin had a photo shoot for her job and we got to join her. It was so cool to see a bit of her life. Mom & I got to go for a couple hours and see the end of their magazine photo shoot – for real! Oh, it was so wonderful. My creative thoughts started to thaw and there was a trickle of a desire again. The kids stayed with my aunt & uncle – in the pool – where else :-D. Friday morning we packed up and my cousin headed back to Denver while the rest of us climbed into my uncle’s truck to head to Cody, Wyoming. We drove for 14 hours – six of us in a truck – and it was so much fun! We got to drive along the Oregon Trail and see the ruts (still!) from the covered wagons, and into South Pass City & Atlantic City. They knew so much history – it was like we were on a personal narrated tour! It was so amazing to see the countryside and the truck was so comfortable we weren’t even desperate to get out when we got there. We spent the next week in Cody and it’s surrounding areas. The last time I was there was about 30 years ago for Christmas, so for all practical purposes it was my first time. It really was a history rich, enjoyable week and wonderful start to the summer. On the 16^th we went to the airport in Billings, Montana. The kids & I were flying to Minneapolis (via Denver?!) and a couple hours after our flight left mom flew back to Anchorage.

… to be continued later. I forgot how much went into this last year. This is just the timeframe from January to mid-June…. Wow, 2011 was a FULL year!

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