March 2023

We're already almost half-way through April, and it still very much winter here...but we've had a few glimpses of spring here & there, which has us all kinds of excited! We had a couple of days with sunny skies and highs in the mid-upper 30s, and we quickly realized how "Alaskan" we've become. Temperatures in the 30s were once super cold to us, and now we think that is "warming up."

{Brady's first hair cut by someone other than Daddy since he was a baby!}

{The kids' first legit Alaskan snowman! Thanks to the warmer temps, the snow was finally wet enough to work with...file that under things we never knew about before living here}

{orchestra concert}

{breaking up ice off the sidewalks...the hunk in Brady's hands is all one piece! Can you believe we had ice that thick?!}

{checking out the new hydroponic garden}

The first half of our Spring Break {before our trip to Denali/Fairbanks} was spent at home. This is what our first official day of Spring Break looked like...perfection!

{making pumpkin chocolate chip muffins with Mama}

{lots of games in our jammies}

{Hadley zooming with her BFF in Texas}

{Shelby before her middle school youth night at church}

{writing a postcard to a friend}

My Grandma Jane {my dad's mom} passed away in March. Brady & I were able to make a quick trip to St. Louis to be with my family to celebrate her life.

{a gorgeous sunset in Anchorage on our way to the airport for our red-eye flight}

{after one movie, he fell right asleep in my lap and stayed asleep for the duration of the flight}

We arrived in St. Louis early the next morning to gorgeous weather! We made a quick pit stop at the zoo to enjoy the sunshine & warmth. We were delighted by all of the gorgeous flowers! It's been so long since we've seen anything other than white snow!

We weren't at the zoo long before the fatigue caught up to us, but the train rejuvenated us both!

After the zoo, we went to check in at our hotel. Brady fell asleep on the way to the hotel, which didn't surprise me. He woke up when I parked, and I was talking to him and explaining what we do for the rest of the day. I turned around mid-sentence and saw he'd fallen asleep again. So we spent the next couple of hours in our rental car. ;) Every time he would stir, I would think "Oh! He's waking up!" But nope, he would just find a new position and carry on with catching up on his missed sleep.

{a quick dinner with my parents & sister once they arrived....two desserts were on the menu for this guy!}

The service for my grandmother the next morning was beautiful, and I was so thankful to be able to be there. 

We ended the night with a grilled cheese and chocolate milk at Panera.

The next morning we met my parents, aunt, uncle, and cousin for breakfast at Chick-Fil-A before heading to the airport. Little did we know, the Minneapolis airport {where we had a layover} is amazing and also had Chick-Fil-A! So we absolutely had CFA for breakfast and lunch with zero regrets.

There was also a Dunkin at the Minneapolis airport {another place we don't have in Alaska}, so we had to stop there, too. ;)

{mid-donut with his feet propped up on his suitcase...this six year-old knows how to travel!}

{another flight, another nap in Mama's lap}

While it certainly wasn't easy to make this trip happen, what a gift it was to be there! And I brought a couple little pieces of Grandma Jane home with us. Hadley is sporting Grandma Jane's parrot earrings in the picture below. :)

{working on a Share Board about seat turtles}