Day at the park

Well, today was sort of a do nothing day for us!! And, we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of doing NOTHING!!! We don't get many of these, so we took advantage of it! Although, after being asked many, many times, I finally gavei n and took the kids to the park and decided to take the camera along. (You guys probably didn' t want to see any pics of us sitting around!) My kids have become camera hogs. But, that is alright with me! These pictures were taken about 10:00pm. Yes, we are in the land of the midnight sun. The sun is just barely going down at about 1am. Then gets kinda duskish by about 3 am and then it is back up around 4 or 5 am. It was cloudy on and off today and just so happens to be really cloudy behind the kids. The clouds mostly stay on the mountains though. I don't know why! Hope you guys are all having a wonderful weekend!

Baby Crocs

You guessed it!! These are McKinley's shoes. These are so cute! She loves shoes!!! Almost as much as Emily!! They have to get a pair of shoes almost everytime we go to Wal-Mart!! (By the way, we are getting the first Supercenter in Anchorage!=)I think she needs some jibbets though.. But, I don't think they make them for baby crocs. Do they? You guys get everything about a year before we do, so you will have them first.

Oh and just to let you know, I did meet the Col. today, but with his schedule and Shane's appt. for today, we couldn't meet up, so we meet on Monday!! He has already involved about 2 other people, so things are getting done! Thanks for all your prayers! I can't wait to start with this new challenge!! I have already begun to think about what I want to capture!! Thanks for giving me direction Ame!

DAIRY QUEEN, FINALLY!!!

Today, Shane had appointment after appointment. So, while he was in one of them, he sneaked off to Dairy Queen. YES, I said Dairy Queen!! We have one now!! It has been opened for about 2-3 weeks and still we were in line for the drive thru for about 45 minutes. Hey, we had time to kill!! And since we have a DVD player in the car, the kids didn't mind too much! So, here is Jacob with a chocolate dipped cone. Well, actually he already ate most of it! Look at the drip of ice cream coming off his chin! LOL. (He was watching a movie.)


Here is my little princess eating an oreo blizzard!! I couldn't believe it, but she ate a medium blizzard all by herself!!

And here is the wee little princess eating her ice cream cone!! She doesn't quite know what to do with the cone yet!! So, when it gets down into the cone, she uses her fingers to dip it out like a spoon! I am waiting for her to act like Jerome (Ms. Elouise's brother) and eat the bottom out of the cone first!!LOL.

And, yes, we got into trouble because we didn't get Shane an ice cream. But, it would have melted!!! That is my story and I am sticking to it!!!

Good Big Bro!

I had to blog this picture today, because Jacob is such a good big brother. He always takes care of his little sisters. Now, that doesn't mean that he doesn't like to aggrevate the snot out of them, but he is so sweet with them. And, don't tell him, but they secretly love him too! Mackie watches every move he makes and tries to do everything he does, and Emily too. She does flips, she dances like Em, likes to have her nails polished, and shoots guns like her big bro. Jacob always sits on the arm of the couch and watches tv, and in this shot she climbed up there and sat right next to him and was watching cartoons too. Now, mom, doesn't Mac's face look a little like mine when I was little?? I have a picture here that she kinda looks like! Hallelujah!! One finally may look a little like me!!
The kids had a dentist appt. today, and on the way back home, we saw this moose. I think she just had a baby. So, she is a little skinny. Here she is having some chow! (as military folks call it).

My flowers

A short one tonight ladies........As I was watering my flowers tonight, I noticed the water drops on the petals. I thought it looked so pretty. So, I snapped this picture. Actually I am really proud of this shot. I think it might be one of the best ones yet!

Thunderbird Falls

I am pulling from the archives today. This shot was taken when we first got to Alaska, 4 years ago. This was taken right before Shane went to Afghanistan the first time! We went and hiked up to Thunderbird falls. It was about a 2 mile hike, I guess. Turns out when you get all the way up there, the falls is just a little waterfall, but all in all it was a good family outing. This was back when my husband walked faster than I did!! LOL. I guess Emily was about 2 and Jake was about 4, and Mac wasn't even thought about yet! It is good to look back at the good ol days sometimes!
PS. Ame do you remember this pic? You helped me get the camera strap out of it!!! Thanks again!!

Street repair

On our street, they have decided to take up the whole road and repave it. This has been going on for awhile now. It is kinda annoying as they start work at about 6am right outside my bedroom window. Not so good for sleeping. But, it is good for the kids because we can walk down the street without worrying about cars. So, this is the road we took while on our search for bear poo yesterday. They had all their equipment lined up and of course, no kid can resist going up to it and taking a good look at it. And you know for my kids, I guess it kinda runs in their blood! So, Mackie had to walk into this bucket and take a closer look. I am putting this picture in for Poppie, so that he can see how little Mac is! I guess this will put her size into perspective for him.
In this next shot, you see the first machine. I guess it is a roller, but it also has shaking ability to pack the gravel/dirt down. Maybe it is just a really big whacker packer. When it first started packing it down, I felt my whole house shake and thought, 'oh my goodness, it is an earthquake'. You know we have those up here. It scared me a little until I heard it and figured out it was just this piece of equipment. I can only wonder how the poor man on the equipment felt after running this machine all day. He probably shook all night long!!

I'm getting close...

My friend called me the other day and told me about a bear that was near our house and told me he left something that I might could use for my blog! So, this is what I found!! Bear POO!!! They call it bear scat, for some reason. Now, this is something you fellow bloggers probably don't see everyday!! Enjoy! Much different from moose poo, huh!! So, who wants bear poo earrings???LOL.
I took this shot of Mackie on our walk. I let her walk today for the first time without putting her in the stroller. She walked everywhere. And, what is even better is, is that she stayed with me!! Hallelujah!! What a cute face!! Jacob and Emily were with us too, but they are usually too far away to get good shots of them.

After our walk, we came home and I let the kids put icing on some cupcakes that I had made. Jacob and Emily were so busy decorating, and I was making sure they weren't making too big of a mess, then, I looked at Mac. She was EATING the cupcake that she was supposed to be decorating. This is a BUSTED picture, don't cha think?

Maters

I thought today that I would show ya'll my tomato plant. I have several tomatoes! I just hope that this year they will have a chance to turn red, so I can have me some tomatoe sandwiches or at least some tomatoes on my salad. I get so excited when my plants produce fruit, that I generally don't want to eat them because I want to show them off!! Crazy, I know!!
On this one branch I must have about 8 little tomatoes, and I am so proud!!!

Hopefully soon, I will be able to tell ya'll how just how good these little babies are!!

Applesauce, anyone??

Sorry ladies, once again, I know I missed my blog last night. We were extremely busy and in the land of the midnight sun, you never know quite what time it is. So......I am back now, and I know, I know, I have blogged my kiddos for quite awhile now. But, I had to share this with you. Mac was having some applesauce and she is very independent now, so she HAD to do it herself. And I promise she did have a spoon, but she preferred to use these utensils that everyone has!!
This next utensil, I think is the best! For pictures anyway....it probably wouldn't go over very well, say, at Olive Garden.

So after seeing these, I have to ask, Applesauce, anyone????

Wild, Wild West

I had something else in mind today for my blog, but they were really old pictures. So, I looked and looked and couldn't find them. Actually I think they are on my old computer, and I can' t figure out how to get them off of it!! Today was mine and Shane's 9 year wedding anniversary!! I can't believe that we have been married that long, seems like only yesterday that I married my best friend. And today marks the 4th year that we have been in Alaska. 4 years ago I remember thinking 'what an anniversary, moving to the fridged way NORTH??' We have lived here longer than anywhere else. I keep asking Shane why it is that we chose so far away to be for the longest.. Anyway, instead of the pictures that I had in mind, (they may come later), Mackie picked up Jacob's cowboy hat and his gun and started having a shoot out! It was so dang cute! She was in rare form. And, the more we laughed, the more she would shoot and laugh! Be careful...cuz...this town ain't big enough for the two of us!!!

Wanted: Mackie the Gunslinger Matthews!

Angel Face

I love this shot of Emily!!! We can see her freckles so clearly! And those eyes! This is truly an angel face. And, as for an update on Shane, he is home. He has been instructed to stay at home this week with his leg elevated. For those who have not heard, he was put in the hospital last Thursday for his migraines and yesterday they found another DVT, or blood clot, in his leg. So, he is on blood thinners again. But, God will see us through again! We have faith! Thanks for all your prayers.

Our hope, our future....

Watch out bad guys, we have a new and upcoming army growing up right before our eyes. They may be cute and look innocent, but really they are mean fighting machines. They, also, may change the uniform to pink battle dress uniforms (BDU). But, they can kick some butt, especially if your name is Jacob. Notice Em doesn't put the hat down on her head like she is supposed to, it might mess up her ponytail in the back!!

As for this new recruit, I think the flowery carseat will add that special touch to any humvee!!! And the new SOP (standard operation) will be that all personnel will be required to have a binky in their mouth. Ya know, to keep sand from getting in there!! Cuz really, who wants to have sand grit in your teeth???

So just remember BE ALL YOU CAN BE, or be an ARMY OF ONE, or whats the new one...........oh yeah, be ARMY STRONG!!!!! (which ever slogan it is for this year!!!)

Football Camp

Today was the start of football. Well, they had their day camp today. Which to Jacob is just as good. These are some that I took of him in order of his play. First he is trying to jook his defender or get the defender out of his way, which he did a great job at...

In this one, he is actually catching the ball!!! I am so proud. He can't seem to catch any of the passes that Shane throws, but I can't much blame him because everytime Shane throws them a ball it ends up hitting them right in the face!! Not on purpose, or so he says.......

And here is the football champ running it in for a touchdown.. His coach says that he is showing lots of promise for this season! He says that wrestling did a lot of good for him. It taught him to be more aggressive and to be on his toes.

I think that this kid just has HEART...... He even fell asleep with his helmet on a couple of weeks ago. Too cute. And so Shelia, you and me both will be screaming our heads off in a couple of weeks. And so another season of football begins.........

The Enemy

The sun was shining so bright today. It was about 73 degrees. Heat wave going on. So, while it was gorgeous outside, I cut my grass and we played outside almost all day!!! The kids even got some sun!! Emily's arms were pink. Isn't that so funny, and to think that when we first got up here I laughed at all the people globbing on sunblock because it was 75 degrees. Anyway back to my subject, I have a couple of spots in my yard that needed some TLC and some grass seed..... So, here is my baby grass. I am so proud. Mom, this is Shane's little patch of grass. Yes, he put the seed down and I have been doing all the watering and taking care of it. Isn't it funny how that always works out?? His project and I end up taking care of it????? I know you ladies don't have that problem.....Back to the grass, isn't it cute???
NOW, Meet my ENEMY!!!! These blessed dang dandelions!!! Every year I battle these little boogers. My yard is covered with them and I want my yard to look like green carpet. So, I tried squirting everyone of these danged things, I have tried turf builder with broadleaf killer..... all that does is make them wilt like this one! Now, I need some real AMMO.... Any suggestions????

Thanks for all your prayers!! Shane seems to be a little better, but because this medicine is taking his massive migraines away, he can feel his leg more. Go figure!! If it isn't one thing it is another! Hopefully soon, his leg will be better too!! God has a plan, and it will all work out!

Looking Up

This one's gonna be short today, ladies. Today has been sort of a crazy day, so once again I am pulling from the archives. This tree is also from our picnic at cottonwood park. This tree was really ginormous!!! I thought that it was cool to stand at the trunk of the tree and looking up at it! This was the view that I saw! Pretty neat, huh?

Bubble gum, Bubble gum....

Bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish, how many pieces do you wish?? This pic was taken of the kids out at Cottonwood too. They all had to put their feet in a circle to see who was gonna be it. They were playing tag! As you can see Mac also had to get in on the action!!

This picture is my absolute favorite. Hmmmmm, I wonder which ones are the girls feet!!! Tooo cute!!

I remember doing this as a kid. This and eeny, meeny, miney, mo,.......catch a tiger by the toe, if he hollers let him go... Some decisions to this day, I still use that method! Oh, to be a kid again!

This one's for Pop.......

Today me and the kids went to have a picnic in the park on post with our friends. This park is known as Cottonwood Park, and later in the summer you will see why it is called that. (It is from all the Cotton wood trees there. All the cotton starts flying everywhere and it looks like it is snowing.) Anyway, Jacob has been writing stories for a little while now, but lately he has been acting them out as he tells them. Pop calls them cowboy stories. So, Jacob has also been into Pirates lately. BIG TIME!!! Ask Nana. Any way, at Cottonwood Park they have one part of the playground that looks like a pirate ship complete with the plank shown below. So I will try to recreate his story from today. And of course it is a pirate story!! Be weary me mateys.
So, Pirates had boats like this and planks too. They used to make people stand like this on the planks! (I wish you could see the facial expressions). And they would say, Arrrgh, Walk the plank!!

(I'm not so sure why they had to stand humpbacked. Maybe that is what they looked like.) But, I don't want to walk it says the guy. I don't care, keep walking, Arrrgh!

But, please, NOOOO, (yells, yells, yells). I didn't do it!!!

Splash!!! (More yells!)................The End.............I wish I could remember it word for word. But, this one was a short one. Oh, my friend spotted a momma bear and a baby bear at the park yesterday while she was walking. She said that she was pretty nervous, as I would be! But, no bear sightings today!

My header

Just so you know, Shane thought the Sourdough Express sounded toooo Alaskan!! So, this brings me back to my roots!! And of course, as much as I miss Carolina and the beaches, Carolina is ALWAYS on my mind!!!!

The plaque and state bird

Well, I have two subjects for today. While Nana was here, we took Jacob and his state championship wrestling brackets, and his medal to Michaels to have it framed for him to keep forever!! So, here is ICEMAN and his framed medal and brackets.

Here, I decided to blow this one up so Nana could see the finished product. So, Nana, what do ya think??? I think it looks good. Jake, uh, I mean, ICEMAN, likes it and it is already on his wall right next to the other one that holds all his medals. I guess I should take a pic of that and let all you ladies see that one!!

This is my second subject of the day!!! This just so happens to be the Alaskan state bird. It is a mosquito! They are HUGE!! This is actually a little bit smaller on the picture. He is on my kitchen wall. These things are aggrevating! I think mom was trying to get a pic of one of these boogers while she was up here. Be glad that you guys are far, far away from these things!!

Can you say COLOR??? finally......

These are some of my flowers in my yard. I love this purple one. It is a petunia, right??? I love the vibrant color in this one. I think it is neat how the yellow bleeds into the purple! I guess you can add this color to Shelia's "God's Crayon Box" post!! I was trying that 1/3 thing that Ame was talking about!

This one is just as vibrant! This is my begonia. It is in a hanging basket with flowing purple lobelia hanging down! The lobelia doesn't look so hot just yet, but I will get it on here I am sure!! If you look closely you can see a couple of water drops on the little bud to the right. I had just watered them.

Hope everyone had a good day. It was beautiful here today. I hope just the beginning of many more to come. However, I don't want to get toooo hot because up here in the frigid north, we don't have A/C, only fans. But the warmth feels soooo nice!! It was about 70 degrees today!! And one more note, pray, pray, pray for LT and all our guys over in the sandbox!! They need our prayers desperately! I love ya bub, take care and keep your head down and for goodness sakes, watch your 6!!!

Our first Butterfly....

Well, here we have it guys, it is now, what, June 9, and I have spotted the first butterfly of the summer!!! I am so excited. And I was wondering if it really was summer. Maybe it will reach 75 degrees at least once from now to August!! Butterflies are so beautiful. I love to watch them putter around my yard flapping their wings like crazy to get away from all these kiddos playing in my yard. I actually feel sorry for them. I love their colors. I don't think that I have seen one like this before!
Today, was also another demonstration that Emily had. Her cheer team, the firecrackers, travel around to different places showing off their moves!! Today, we went to the senior center in Chugiak. They had a spring fair and the girls cheered and tumbled their heart out. Em is really getting good at her round-offs!! I am so proud!! Here, she is a 'flier' (cheer term). She is the top person in the stunt. This was called a chair lift when I was a cheerleader. She loved it!!!

In this picture, she is about to perform her very first back handspring!! She did really well, and I as a mom took this picture of the preparation, and I watched the actual back handspring. Sorry!! Shane says it is OK to watch sometimes. But, I will have you know I got in trouble by my husband. It was innocent. Emily tumbled with the big girls and all she was doing was a front roll. So, I yelled out into a rather quiet crowd, Em, DO YOUR ROUNDOFFS!!!! (I guess like I yell at Jacob in his games.......you know, the mommy yell for your baby yell.) Well, he (Shane) politely came over to me and said this isn't really a sporting event that you yell like that at!!! Oh well, I can't help it!! She ended up doing her round off and then trying this!!! And, I might add, she did very well for her very first time!! Next time, I will take a picture!!

The Release

Sorry ladies for not posting yesterday, I had all good intensions, but a certain little Mac decided not to go to bed until really late. After fighting with an 18mos old baby, I was exhausted. Anyway on to the new name....... I have been trying to think of a really good name for my blog and this is what came to me. This is the story behind it. The natives in Alaska call newcomers or people who have not yet experienced an Alaskan winter Cheechako's. After you have been through a winter and survived, you get to don the name Sourdough. So, seeings how we've been up here for so long, I think it is safe to say we are sourdough's. And, since my life is a whirlwind, thus became express!!! So there you have it, The Sourdough Express! Now, for today...... Today was the annual Military Appreciation Day on Fort Rich. They always have a picnic with some fun activities. The first pic is of my family, Mac was with me. (hey, who's that guy in uniform?=))
One of the activities was releasing a Bald Eagle back into the wild. I guess it hurt its wing and "Bird TLC" nurses hurt eagles back to health and then releases them. So today, they picked the wounded soldiers returning from Iraq to help release it. These 3 guys are some of our friends. So, here they are waiting for the word.

This picture is of them releasing the eagle. If you look in the middle you can see part of its wing.

I was really trying to get him as he flew away, and right when I snapped the picture, this lady stuck her head right in the way. It was a perfect shot too!! The bird never really flew very high up and there was too many people, but he happened to light in a tree not far from where we were. So these next shots are of him in the tree. He is a very HUGE bird. It was pretty awesome!! I am glad that they asked these guys to release them. It was a surprise to them! And some even admitted being a little nervous. I told them that my dad would have said NO WAY, NO, NO, and NO. I would hate for this bird to be looking at me like this!!!

I thought something was hanging off of his beak, but I think it is the curvature of it! They are awesome creatures!

Their eyes amaze me! And they can turn their heads all the way around kinda like an owl.. All in all, it was a pretty awesome experience!