lucy kate: bush pilot.

here's a story from our trip to alaska back in february. i have lots of friends that live up there that fly airplanes...and since i have a son who loves airplanes, i thought it would be fun to get him up close and personal with a real one. so, i started bugging my lifelong buddy, matt keller, to see if we could work something out. he was more than willing...so early one semi-cold, alaskan morning, the kids and i trooped over to palmer to check out his little plane. even with all my talk about the plane and what to expect beforehand, elijah would hardly go near it, let alone sit in it. so...lucy got to sit in it! (seeing as she really couldn't object) and now...elijah's fondest memories of "mr. matt's" plane is how he thinks lucy is going to be a pilot. *sigh*

matt took this picture. lucy was a little apprehensive around him...

i mainly set her in there so i could get some pictures without holding her...but she stayed put so we kept her there...and did this:

lucy kate: bush pilot!

this is about as close as he got...

this is me asking him if he's SURE he doesn't want to get in because this is his last chance before mr. matt flies away. he was emphatically sure.

and there he goes...

...off into the beautiful alaskan morning!

my lovely husband, grocery shopper extraordinaire.

so. funny story. (i don't share enough of the funny bits of our life on here...)

since we were in alaska for three weeks (two of those weeks john was here by himself), the refrigerator got pretty empty, to say the least. john's not a big chef...at all...so he took most of his meals over at his parents house. he probably went without breakfast (so bad! shame on him!) and had lunch out with co-workers. but, being the lovely husband and father he is, on the day before our arrival, he did the unthinkable: he went to the grocery store. by himself. to buy food (and not just beverages). a momentous occasion. he was VERY proud of himself. so much so that he told me all about it during our last phone conversation before we boarded our first plane. funny guy. a couple good things came of his trip to the store. first of all, we were able to have a lovely breakfast on wednesday morning (our first morning home). secondly, he learned for himself how much food really costs and that i'm not inflating our grocery bill. a blessed thing (for me, anyways). but the funniest part of this story comes down to what he actually bought. here is the complete list:

1. milk (mad props to him because he actually bought organic milk! hooray!)
2. eggs (he did good here too and got the cage free kind i get...)
3. bread (english muffins, sourdough and whole wheat. goodness!)
4. cheese
5. baby yogurt (for lucy)
6. deli ham
7. sausage
8. bacon
9. hash browns
10. half n half

and that's it. well...he also bought some shaving cream and razors for himself...but i don't count those. when i asked him where the fruit and vegetables were, he kinda looked at me funny and said, "oh yeah. i knew i was forgetting something!" ha! so different from my trips to the store... since the majority of my purchases are from the produce section. we had a good chuckle over his typically male purchases.

i'm so thankful i have a husband that takes care of his wife and kids...even if he did forget the vegetables.

a little peek

it's no secret i've been MIA from this blog once again. and once again, my reason is thus: i have been holed up in the great white north where blogging only exists in my head (at least for me it does). but...i am back on californian soil (though not completely willingly)...and once again, i am back with good blogging intentions. i have many memories and pictures to share but for tonight...i leave you with a brief peek at rachel and joel's wedding day! these were just few that popped out at me as i got my first look at the thousands of images i brought home with me. enjoy...