An Event-ful Week!

Not so much "eventful" as "full of events" and other happenings. It's been a busy week around here!!

(Oh, and I would just like to point out right away that this is my second blog entry since last Monday... that might be a record since the trip cross-country! Anywho... I digress....)

Of course, the week started off with Jason's birthday last Monday. I covered most of that in the last post. It was a pretty good day for him, I think, with the exception of having to get the backyard ready for hydro-seeding. But, he got chicken parm for dinner, and a NY-style cheesecake (my first attempt in years) for dessert. Give him cheesecake and he's a happy man anyway!

The rest of the work week passed somewhat uneventfully. Jason flew almost every night, so I had to meet up with him real quick on Thursday afternoon after I left work for the day, and before he went in, so we were sure we remembered each other! Luckily, Crab Fest - THE event in Kodiak - kicked off Thursday afternoon, so we met there to have some yummy (but TERRIBLE for you) carnival kind of food. For me, it was a Bruin burger, which is basically ground beef, gooey cheese, onion, garlic and whatever else they put in there wrapped up in a dough pocket and deep fried. Mmmmm. For Jason, the only necessary food item was meat-on-a-stick, though he followed it up with a brat. Sadly, my very favorite food from last year, the deep fried oreos, were no where to be found this year. You can't even being to imagine my level of disappointment!! I have been thinking about the stupid things all year, and cravings have only been worse because of being pregnant. I almost cried when we found out they didn't have them this year!!!

I survived, though, which was good because I had my last baby class that night, followed by my last EFM (Education for Ministry) class. As I sat outside for an extra 5 minutes before going into the church for class, trying to finish up the reading I didn't get to, my group was inside putting together a small surprise shower for me! I walked in to a bunch of balloons and a table that was soon covered in all kinds of food and some gifts. The ladies (and Fr. Paul) made me feel so special and it was just a wonderful surprise! And, although I love everything they all gave me, I'm especially excited about one gift in particular.... Yes, those are her first pair of XtraTufs.... next to Jason's so you can get a sense of scale. They're a size 5, so it'll be a while til she grows into them, but an Alaska-grown girl has to have a pair of those!!

The next event of the week was our anniversary. Amazingly, because it doesn't seem like it could possibly be that long already, Jason and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary on Friday. I really am amazed that we've been married for 10 whole years already - it seems like it was just yesterday! To celebrate, we headed out to the Buskin Riverside Restaurant at the local Comfort Inn. We'd heard there was a new chef and that the food was pretty tasty for being a hotel restaurant. Unfortunately, the atmosphere was totally hotel restaurant, but the food WAS really good. It was nice to have a different place to go and we both really enjoyed our meals. Sadly, there's not much else to do in Kodiak on a Friday night, so, home by 9pm, we changed into sweats and finished up our anniversary Kodiak style - comfy and on the couch!

This weekend we had a bunch of work to get done around the house, and we had hoped to spend some time down at Crab Fest. But, Mother Nature had different ideas for us, so we mostly hung out inside, working on the long list of things to do before the baby makes her arrival. I have to use Jason for manual labor when I can (he's scheduled for some more time at "Man Camp" this week), so he got to work hanging the 6 new light fixtures and ceiling fan we bought while we were over in Anchorage. We took a quick break to run to the brat booth at Crab Fest and run back to the car to eat the brats, but, otherwise it was a busy day of work! It's amazing what you can get done inside when you absolutely don't want to even TRY to step outside!

Sunday brought the final event of the week at church. We had a visiting Bishop come to our little corner of Alaska, so he was available for Baptisms, Confirmations and Receptions. After 13 years of going to church at an Episcopal Church, Jason decided he was definitely ready to be Received. Since he'd already been confirmed in the Catholic Church, Reception was a fairly easy process, and now he's officially an Episcopalian.

Here are all the candidates for Baptism, Confirmation and Reception. I don't think Jason's just looking out the window over there to the right, but you never know....

This is after the actual blessing from the Bishop - Jason is getting his certificate and a small cross from our Priest and the Bishop (behind Jason).

And, finally, this is everyone after the service. They're all laughing because the pregnant lady decided to stoop down to get the picture and someone made a crack about whether I'd be able to get back up again....

After church, with the skies the clearest they'd been all weekend to that point, we decided to skip out of some work and head back to Crab Fest while we could! Luckily, we scooped up the next batch of yummy food and got to watch the bed races before the rain moved in and we gave up again! Here's my favorite bed from this year. I don't think they won, but they were having fun!!

We wrapped up the Crab Fest fun with a show way outside of town at a local bar last night. Friends of ours called last minute with extra tickets to see Hobo Jim's show, and we couldn't turn it down. We're so glad we went, too!! He puts on an amazing show, and I had to quit before he did! He started at 9pm and didn't take his first break until about 12:15. As much as I wanted to stick around to hear some more, it was getting tough to sit in a folding chair, and the weekend of work was catching up with both of us. But I can honestly say I think that's the first time we've stayed out til 1am (by the time we got home) since we've been here. Sad, I know, but also exciting (bringing new meaning to the phrase, "You don't get out much, do you?")!


And now, at 9pm on Monday night, the sun has finally come out, though it's fighting with some fog, and my crazy husband just came in from puttering (his word) around in the yard. I think it killed him to stay inside all weekend!

So, that was our event-filled week! I'm super excited about the progress we made inside the house, including in Green's room. It's almost ready for her, and we'll still have about a month to finish up once Jason gets back from his last summer deployment. Where I was flipping out on Saturday morning, I'm feeling MUCH better now about being ready! We'll see how many time that changes over the next month and a half!

Speaking of Green... I almost forgot we took a picture tonight just because I was going to blog. So....

BUMP WATCH 2009

I don't think you can see much of a difference from last week, but I definitely FEEL different. It's getting really hard to bend over and I keep running into things with my belly, not realizing where it ends! I also had a doctor's appointment this week and found out the she's head down already, and everything is looking good. Thankfully I haven't been pushing on her head, but on her butt, which she likes to push around right near my ribs. I was a little worried I was causing trauma to her head, so it was a relief to find out it was her butt!


That's all from here for this week... hope it was enough! I feel like it was a non-stop week, but it was fun and productive, so that's good. Maybe the next entry will be from Jason, sharing this year's Man Camp experiences.... stay tuned!