Fall Pictures

Jon, Kyla and I went out for a nice fall drive today down to Girdwood, the ski town near Anchorage. We drove up a canyon to enjoy the nice fall colors and new snow on the mountains. We also stopped for lunch in Girdwood and Kyla ate about half of my grilled cheese sandwhich and some orange. She has just began liking the food that we are eating this week and is not longer liking all her baby food. I am glad that she likes our food now so that I do not have to spend all the time steaming, pureeing and freezing baby food.

Kyla had on her cute fall outfit so we decided to stop and take some fall portraits of her out playing in the leaves. Kyla absolutely loves playing outside and enjoyed the short hike, splashing in the creek and playing with leaves. While on our drive and walk Jon and I kept talking about how happy we are to be in Alaska and live near the mountains and ocean. We look forward to skiing, snowshoeing and snowmobiling this winter, but also to the sea kayaking and hiking we will do next summer.

Alaska's Kids Mommy and Me Playgroup

These are a few of the kids that are around Kyla's age in the Playgroup- Brooke, Jonathan and Lily



Kyla and I joined a new playgroup in town. The playgroup was just started 2 months ago by a local mother of 2 and already has 40+ members. It seems much better than the group I joined in Park City, it has a lot more activities planned that are for all ages of kids. Once a week the group meets up at a different park in anchorage, attends a weekly toddler story time at the library, goes to do gymnastics, hangs out at an indoor playground/coffee shop and much more. Besides all of the fun activities for the kids they also have a lot of mom only activities, like bunco, crafts nights, manicures and pedicures, movie nights, bowling... I am excited to have joined the group so that Kyla and I both meet some new friends now that we have moved. I really enjoyed hanging out with the moms and there were several kids around Kyla's age. The group organizer, Jamie, seems like a great lady and is very dedicated to getting together often and keeping all of the members well informed about playgroups as well as other activities and news in the area. I think that this group will play a very positive role in getting settled in a new place and getting to know all of the activities that Anchorage has to offer for little kids. The group is catered towards stay at home moms, with most of the activities taking place in the mornings and afternoons, but hopefully I will still be able to be an active member once I begin working, although I am not sure when that will be. I am glad to have found a good social group to be a part of and look forward to getting to know all of the members better and making great friends!

Autumn in Alaska

Helping Grandma pick tomatoes before it snows!!!



When Jon, Kyla and I moved to Alaska two weeks ago it seemed like Fall was just beginning with the weather cooling down and the leaves starting to change colors. Now, only 2 weeks later, the leaves have mostly fallen off of the trees, the temperatures have been 30-40 degrees and there is already snow on the mountains! Jon is so excited and looking forward to winter and I am just COLD!!! We are suppose to get snow in anchorage this week too, this is earlier than we normally get snow in Anchorage. Kyla is not yet to sure what to think of the cool weather. She has already experienced one winter living in Utah, but because she was so young we hardly ever had her out in the cold weather. Now, Kyla loves to spend time outside but does not like being all bundled up in winter clothes, a had and gloves. Today we went to the park and she just stood in one place most of the time we were there and stared at all of the kids rather than running around playing like she normally does. I am sure that she will soon get use to being bundled up in warm clothes and will hopefully enjoy playing in the cold temperatures and snow as much as she enjoys playing outside on a nice summer day.

14 months

Bull Moose in my moms yard, he was very mad and destroying my moms lilac bushes and trees.



Kyla going for a drive in her fur jacket and new car!!!



Kyla's Funny Face!



Making a mess of all her books



Kyla loves to read books!



Our little Rock Star!!!



Kyla is now 14 months old!!! At 14 months Kyla is a very happy and fun little girl. She is very energetic and always on the go. She has began talking a little more and now is saying several words. Her most used words are: MaMa, DaDa, BunBun (Bunny), BamBam (Her cats name), Ball, Bear, Shoe, Block, YumYum, Mine, Woof (Dog). She is really good about trying to repeat words that you say to her. She has said several other words, but has not idintified with what they mean and is not using them frequently. It is so fun to watch her learn all of these new skills all the time. I am really enjoying staying home with her and watching her grow.

Kyla's favorite toys this month have been her ball popper, her car that she rides in and gets pushed by us, stacking blocks and bath toys. We just unpacked all of her toys that we had sent up from Utah to Alaska and she is so happy to see them all again after having them packed away for about a month. Kyla is a very funny girl and lately loves to make this really silly face that shows off her four teeth. We laugh so much being around Kyla. She is really an amazing little girl!

Kyla has not had the opportunity to play with any kids since arriving in anchorage 1 week ago, but we just joined a moms/kids group and will start going to the childrens story time at the Library in order for her to meet new friends and me to meet other moms. Her first outing with the group will be to go do gymnastics (well, run around at gymnastics place), it should be a lot of fun. Kyla has definitly enoyed all of the time that she has been able to spend with us and my mom, but is ready to be around other kids too.

Kyla and I went for a walk with my friend Jessica in the Chugiack State Park the other day and enjoyed all of the pretty fall colors in the mountains and nice cool weather. I am looking forward to hanging out with and catching up with old friends. This weekend Jon, Kyla and I plan to get out for another hike in the mountains, Jon is getting antsy to get out and do something since he has been in Alaska for a week and has only worked and hung out around home. I will get him to take some cute fall pictures of Kyla to post.

We are very happy to have finally made the move to Alaska, after talking and thinking about it for so long. Park City was a wonderful place to live and had so much to offer, but being around family is so important to us and Alaska is another great place to live. We are beginning to get settled with Jon beginning his new job and starting to get all of the things done that you need to do when you move to a new state such as getting a new bank account, drivers license, care registration, car insurance, health insurance...the list goes on and on. This move will be a great change for us and we are really looking forward to all of the new things to come in our future: new careers, new car (for Jon), new friends for us and Kyla, new house...

Trip to California

Swimming in the hottub!



More Swimming!



Swimming



Kyla and Madeline playing with Madelines new doll house



Happy 2nd Birthday Madeline!



Mason, Madeline and Kyla playing with Play-Doh



Mason getting ready for his portraits



Kyla in her pretty fall dress for pictures with Madeline and Mason



The ball popper was one of Kyla's favorite toys at Mason and Madelines house



Riding Madelines Pony



Kyla got her first tattoo while we were eating dinner at Kings Fish house



Kyla's first visit to the San Diego Zoo



Amazed by the Monkeys



Checking out the huge Gorilla



Kyla loved watching the Giraffes



Kyla on the bus tour of the zoo



Madeline and Marcie on the bus



Mason checking out the animals from the bus



Cheering on the dolphins at Sea World



Dolphin Show at Seaworld, we were watching the last dolphin show of it's kind after over 30 years of this show at SeaWorld.



Watching the Penguins



Kyla and Madeline watching the Beluga Whales



Kyla, Madeline and Mason enjoying the Whales



Kyla loved playing in Madeline and Mason Car in the backyard, we are going to get her one soon



Kyla loves to play with balls and can say the word "ball" now



Kyla loved playing on the trampoline



Kyla's favorite thing to do at Madelines and Mason was playing in the Play house


Playing outside with Madeline



After being in Utah for a few days to finish up the move, My Mom, Kyla and I decided to head to California to visit my sister and her kids. Jon and his friend Nate are doing the 10 day drive up to Alaska and stopping for a couple days in Jackson Hole, Whyoming and the Banff/Calgary area of Canada, so we decided to take a vacation too. We went to Califonia for one week and while we were there went to both San Diego Zoo and Sea World. It was Kylas first time at both and she had a great time. She loved watching the dolphins and whales and Sea World and clapped while watching them perform in the shows. At the zoo her favorite animals were the bears and giraffes.

Others things we did on our trip included shopping, getting portraits taken with Mason and Madeline ( But, Madeline did not let the photographer take a single picture of her), swimming in their backyard pool and playing with lots of fun toys. Kyla really enjoyed playing in their playhouse, with cars, trucks and trains, with the ball popper and driving around the back yard in one of the cars with the handle to push. I guess she is going to need some new toys!!! The last day we were in Califonia was Madeline's second birthday. Mason will turn four on the 28th and they are celebrating together so we just had a small party for Madeline on Friday. Madeline got a lot of really cute girly presents and had a great time playing with all of her new toys.

After leaving California on Friday night my mom, Kyla and I went back to Park City for the night to get the cat and some more suitcases and then got right back on a plane first thing Saturday morning to Anchorage. I now have all of my stuff in Alaska, Jon just needs to sale his car or ship it from Seattle and get a couple more suitcases and then the move to Alaska will be complete. Now, we just need to find a house or Condo and get settled.

I have not posted on my blog for a while becuse my camera broke and my favorite part of blogging is adding all of the cute pictures of Kyla. So, now that I got a new camera I have a month worth of blogs that I am now posting.