Sweet 16

We decided to combine a big 16th birthday party for Heidi, with a youth group function and here are some pictures of the fun event. We think we counted 56 people here at one point. Of course we invited Max and Sherry and Tom and Chrystal and family. Then we also had U. Dwane and A. Gwen and Ken and Judy Thomas and their family. The rest were young people. And I am so impressed with these kids. They all had a great time and were very respectful of our property, etc.

Wouldn't you know it snowed last night and most of the day today, so we had to alter our thinking and deal with the cold.

Here's the cook, he grilled 80 hamburgers and 40 hot dogs and was a humongous help getting things done around here.

Thad Newton, Jeremy Ridenour, Ben Glenn, Jacob Ison (behind Ben), Ted Gillson eating supper.

Thank the Lord for Andrew's shop.... it is big enough to accommodate a large group of people. I had thought that we could all eat outside but with the snow and cold it was better to eat in the shop.

We had a soccer ball pinata for Heidi. It was kind of funny because I thought the kids would all think it was too childish for them. But they got into it pretty good. Several people tried to hit it with the bat, then Renee Langworthy knocked the hook thingy off of the pinata.

So, after Renee knocked the hook off, we had Ron Hunt pitch it to Thad .......

Then all the candy fell out.....

And nobody thought it was childish at all to jump onto the pile of kids on the floor trying to get all the candy.... soooooo funny!!

Standing around eating candy.

Ooooops ..... we fixed waaaaaaay too many hamburgers and hotdogs. We had almost as many "baskets" left over as Jesus had after his miracle feeding of the five thousand. :)

I wish I had a picture of the devotional time we had around the fire. Thad talked about God's goodness, His mercy and His truth, then there were several testimonies and we sang lots of songs and choruses. These kids all really seem to have a desire to serve the Lord. Many asked for prayer in areas of their lives that they need help with. They are honest and open. It was a very precious time and I'm glad I got to be a part of it. I hope we have many more times like it.

The firmament showeth His handiwork

This was our view of McKinley almost the whole way to Wasilla Thursday afternoon. It was so beautiful. I wanted to stop and just soak it in, but I didn't have enough time.

Here are the high school kids playing soccer. What a view from the soccer fields!!! Friday was cold and windy and miserable, but Saturday was beautiful and the sun was warm!! The kids didn't win anything but they got awards for having the best sportsmanship. They always get complimented on their attitudes, it really makes me proud to go down and "help out".

They have their eyes open

Two weeks old today, the puppies finally have their eyes open. We did lose one puppy over the weekend while we were away at the soccer tournament with the kids. It was one of the females. I don't really know what happened to it but probably it got squished by Aurora. We have been surprised that it didn't happen earlier. It looks as if another one might die. It is small and lethargic and it doesn't really want to eat. Heidi is trying to feed it now but I'm telling her that we don't even want it to live if it is going to be sickly. Anyway, they sure are cute.

Hunt 2007

Well, Andrew, Drew, Max and Tom went hunting. Tom and Max left Saturday morning from Ft. Yukon, in the boat. Andrew and Drew flew in the Cub on Monday, found Max and Tom and flew them further into the hunting territory. I don't know what day Tom got a moose, but he and Andrew packed out meat until it was too late to do any more and then went in the next day about 8:30 in the morning. As they were approaching the site where the moose was they heard a rustling. Andrew told Tom to get his rifle ready and they kept looking to see what was coming at them. Then they saw it, a grizzly that had claimed Tom's moose for his own. He was coming to get whatever was getting too close to his meat. Andrew had left his rifle with Drew, it was then that he became aware that his .454 Casull had better do the trick. He fired three times. Immediately after the first shot the bear started turning around and around. The first two shots probably got him, Andrew thinks the third shot was a little high.


This is the monster. It squared 7'6" or 7'8", which is really big for an interior grizzly. We took it by Fish and Game this morning and had the head measured - it was 24 5/16" which would put it in the Boone and Crockett record book if Andrew wanted to go to the trouble to do it. He doesn't think he will but it is nice to know that it would get in.

Drew got a picture taken by it, although he wasn't there when it was shot. He thought it was pretty neat that his dad got such a big bear.

Here is the paw/claws of the bear. The .454 shell is about 2 inches long. Fish and Game said it was about a 15 yr old bear.

Here is a picture of Andrew and Drew in the plane. Andrew got in about 18 hours of flying while on this hunt. I'm really glad he's getting in time.... the more experience he gets, the less nervous I'll be when he takes me up. :)

I am planning to post new pictures down at the bottom of the page. If they aren't there when you check it, keep checking back because I have every intention of trying to get it all updated soon.

The puppies are a week old!!

Here are the puppies a week old. I only count ten but I think I can tell in the lower right corner that there are actually 3 puppies there, not just two. This one is the biggest... its a female and already has a home. She is just a little piggy, pushing a shoving all the others out of the way so she can get some milk. And she just panics when she loses suction. It is the cutest thing to see her trying to get back what she lost. :)

Here is the dear mommy, Aurora, with Katie. She is much better about letting us get to her puppies and she'll go outside for a break whenever we encourage her to. She is a good mom, and obviously has plenty of milk for these puppies. They all seem to be thriving!!!

Been tagged... now it's your turn

OK, I've been tagged so I'm going to write 7 things about myself:
1) I love Jesus
2) I love being married to Andrew Bryan, for almost 20 yrs. now
3) I have lived in Alaska for 12 1/2 years
4) I have 6 children including a surprise set of twin boys
5) The northern lights were beautiful last night - oops that wasn't about me.
6) I have recently lost 58 pounds and hope to lose more
7) I am soon to be volunteering at our Fairbanks Crisis Pregnancy Center, doing ultrasounds
8) (since #5 isn't about me) hmmmmm, I can't think of anything very interesting about myself.:)

Our very first ice maker!!! :)

We have a little joke at our house that our appliances have to be used for three years before they actually work the way they are supposed to work. Well, about 5 years ago we finally bought a refridgerator with an ice machine in it. I teased the girls that the ice maker wouldn't get hooked up for three years. Meanwhile, we moved and got a new refridgerator with an ice maker. All of these 5 years the ice maker has not been hooked up, either on the older new refridgerator or the newer one. But a couple of days ago the refridgerator repairman came and hooked our ice maker up. So now - ta da da da - we have a fully functional appliance!! Yeehaw!! And just so you know I'm not being too hard on my dear husband, he laughs about it too and I fully understand how busy he is and things like ice makers are way down the list of priorities!!!