Renovation Progress

Our first home remodel is moving right along! We've been in the house for 17 days now. Here is your enjoyment of the before pictures with a video at the end of the current progress. 

I forgot to exclaim in the video over my very first VERY OWN washer and dryer!! I have been sharing a laundry appliances with others since...well always, including five years of marriage this month. THANK YOU, for all of you who have so generously let me use your washer and dryer, especially when I forgot my clothes or left a mess or favored the dryer instead of the clothes line. Thank you genuinely. And now it is SOOOO nice to have my own I can hop down to throw a load in (and take excellent care of :) any time I want. Count your blessings!

I also should have said the bedspreads were from Nana and Popop. Of course! 

We are excited to host my father from L.A. who is coming for two weeks later this month. He wants to help us work, the day he arrives. Cyrus is super excited, and he is our first guest in our first house! It won't be a nice finished home, but at least the bedrooms should be done. 

So we currently have sunrise at 8:45am and sunset at 6:32pm. We are losing 6 minutes of daylight every day until the winter solstice December 21st. We have a lot of rain this fall, but today was blue sky and sunny, high of 46degrees and low at night of 36. Not too bad! All the snow sporters are wishing for snow instead of rain though. We are too, as we might get a snow mobile (or snow machine as the call them here) for some awesome family excursions!

Oh, and we are getting a stove tonight! It is a Jenn Air that Chadd got off a job at a great discount. Yay!

Home Ownership!!

  Wow, has it been a wonderful fall. Autumn is by far the most beautiful season in Alaska so far. With the yellow birch trees scattering their leaves in the foreground, and snow capped mountains in the backdrop, the cozy smell of chimneys drifting their smoke from first of the year fires in wood stoves mixed with dirt, decaying leaves, leather and horse. Riding with the three of us (actually four of us!) down birch leaf covered trails through the woods brings such fresh seasons joy. 

The pictures cannot even give you a glimpse of how beautiful it is. It's a 360 view, five senses experience. Imagine enormous rocky snow kissed mountains on three sides as you drive to church, babysitters, and walk out of Walmart. Pretty amazing.

We had our first snow that stuck October 1st. Enough to have snow ball fights, go sledding, and build a giant snowman! Cyrus loved it. And there was finally a clean ground for my usually mud drawn child to play in :) 

Cyrus in his beloved tree-house his daddy built for him.

A true before picture. Those bushes will be coming out too.

Our most exciting and recent update, we bought a house! Three bedroom, 1 1/2 bath. Split level with wonderful downstairs play room & utilities/laundry. We're pretty ambitious first time home-owners. Within the first two days of closing we had the shed renovated and organized with our belongings, those three curb-appeal-stealing, insurance-agent-scaring trees felled that were right next to the house, almost all the carpet tore up, and tons of junk thrown out. Now the yard is mowed, the floors scraped, and we're working on pulling those stumps out and finishing the flooring prep for a coat of odor-sealing primer. I never thought I would enjoy mowing a yard so much! But when you OWN it, and it makes such a drastic beautifying improvement, it is so rewarding. Even pulling carpet staples on my hands and knees with a pregnant belly is rather fun! Cyrus has been a great help, most to the time. He got his prayer though. Chadd hates the color (Sorry Mom! ;) and will paint it as soon as higher priorities are completed, but Cyrus prayed for a BLUE house, and he got it.

Chadd up the the tree to tie a rope and direct its fall. 

I'll have lots more house renovation pictures.

The rest are on Chadd's phone and he's working in Talkeetna overnight right now.

The "Before" of the living area.

Autumn in Alaska

Fall is here! This goes out to all of you in the peak of HOT summer that just doesn't seem to relent... :-P We wake up to a crisp cool morning with a dusting of fresh white snow on the caps of the surrounding mountains. Colored birch leaves scatter the ground. The smell of leaves and wood stoves fills the air. I love the smell of fall. There's a note of cleansing, so reviving! Cyrus and I went for a walk this morning with our beanie hats and thin gloves. It brings me to reminisce of fall walks at my Aunt Jenny's, where we frequently visited with extended family for Thanksgiving. I can't wait to see all of them in Florida this Turkey day!!! 

A view of our camper set up at the Stoffels.

Trail up to our Camper

 We're still enjoying our cozy camper home. But when the poop tank is full again, or gets STUCK Bleh! our shoes get rained on again, or I knock things off the lack of counter space and break them, I get excited that our season in tiny house square footage may only be a few more weeks!! We are in the throws of closing on our house. Anyone who has done it before knows the unceasing paperwork and phone calls involved. We are still set to close the 28th, 17 more days! Then we will relocate our mobile home to our very own property and begin gutting and replacing all the flooring and painting the walls. THEN we can move in.!!

Well, I'm just about to finish my first trimester and Thank the Lord, I am feeling a little better. Thank you immensely for anyone who had prayed for me. It was a VERY rough 2 months. I dug my dopplar out of our storage unit and heard the heartbeat (the doc wasn't able to at my appointment). Cyrus was my "doctor" and held the doppler to listen. He is fascinated. Every time I say, "we're going to have a baby in March (or April)!" He comments, "You already have a baby!" I love how it's so real to him even though he can't see him or her. 

woods behind our camper

Trail leading from our camper to the road where I took the picture below.

one of Cyrus' new friends,
Simon and Tamira's son Avery.
(it's not that warm now,
 photo was from the summer :)

 We are feeling more connected with our new church, Gospel Outreach. They started their women's Bible study up which I am attending, and I'm actually singing on the worship team this week! Chadd has gone on several men hikes with some new friends. Tonight we're invited to our friend's Simon and Tamera's house for
dinner. G.O. had a potluck last Sunday and it reminded me of the gatherings at some of the churches I grew up in, people and kids scattered everywhere, talking until late in the afternoon, laughing, sharing... it was fun.

's

Eggplant Parmesan, with

chicken Parmesan, Pioneer woman style, and...

Alaska made whole wheat pasta for the boys, and

Our own tomatoes grown on the Stoffels deck in
olive oil and balsamic vinegar. MMmmmmm!! I forgot
how GOOD fresh tomatoes are!

The Knick Glacier

Real live jousting at the Alaska State Fair. We witnessed a double unseating!
 Looks pretty painful.

A Home Depot build a tool box craft at the Fair

Don't even try to steal these boys' cheesy fries.

Cyrus' first roller coaster ride. I have a feeling we're going to be going
to some amusement parks in the future.

A stunt show at the fair. Pretty cool. They did flips and everything.

A little girl that reminded us of Biernie.

Local Fair Zucchini's for sale. Can you tell how big they are. HUGE!!

My men.