Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope your holidays are beautiful however you celebrate. We opened presents a day early to make the most of our time together. We felt very fortunate as we drove to a friend's house for dinner last night and saw a man who looked like anyone you might know standing with a sign "Need Work" and a phone number printed on it. He was visibly not your average corner sign-holder in Anchorage. My husband looked at me and said, "Kind of makes any of our problems seem smaller, huh?"

Santa was very good to us this year and I feel blessed to be spending my third holiday season with my little family. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

 "Can I please open this now?"

Davin's Christmas progam

Davin's school performed an original play written by his teacher for the holidays. He played an 8-year-old boy (what a stretch...) in a play about a family who gave up their personal celebration to help make the holidays better for active duty military in their community. Scenes were punctuated by caroling sung by the smaller kids. To kick of the event we had music from the guitar students and a lone xylophonist.


1. The entire cast sings a final number. 2. Joshua sets up the video camera, preshow. 3. Davin takes his place for the first scene.

4. Playing Jingle Bells and I think of Schroeder. 5. Sheet music sits ready for the show. 6. Davin's guitar group does a last-minute rehearsal of their most difficult piece.

7. The Christmas programs. 8. The guitar sequence. 9. Students playing members of the military perform a patriotic song and dance.

A DIY Christmas

I don't know if it's the holidays or the 18 hours of darkness a day and single-digit temps, but I get the crafty bug this time of year. My Christmas decorating started on Thanksgiving Day when I hit a 5-9 p.m. sale with a couple friends and picked up this red and gold potpourri for my interchangeable centerpiece

1. With the leftover potpourri, I filled these martini glasses on my wine rack. It was the only other place I could think of displaying the stuff where my kitties wouldn't get into it ... which could be very bad for them. I also really wanted a poinsettia this year, but skipped it for the same reason.

2. I love this centerpiece because I can change it's look every season. This year, the potpourri with the gold candle to top it off.
This year I did a couple simple sewing projects.

3. New Christmas stockings for the boys so we would have a suedo-matching set. My mom made mine (center) and has lasted the years. I used red felt, green fleece and the silly reindeer trim for Joshua and Davin's stockings. I should have known that fleece is impossible to embroider names on, but wasn't thinking about that when I purchased it. Still searching for a way to add names.

4. A new Christmas tree skirt. I've never had one and have always improvised with a holiday tablecloth. This year I bought two yards of red felt and the snowball trim to finish the zig-zag edge. It cost less than $20 and was finished in one evening.

5. This is not my project, but one of Davin's classmates made him this tabletop tree and glued candy and fruit-rollups to it. Very creative and generous.

6. One of my favorite ornaments made by my mother has gotten several compliments from visitors this year. I was so inspired by the beaded ornaments that I was thrilled to find a beaded wreath kit at the craft store this year.

7. I knocked out about 12 of these beaded wreath ornaments with my feet kicked up watching Dexter one evening. They are shockingly similar to the ones my mom made for our tree when I was too young to remember.

I hope you're having a fun and creative holiday season regardless of how you decorate and celebrate.

Looking a lot like Christmas

We decorated our tree Sunday. We chose a Grand Fir this year and the needles are not kind to my carpet, but the general effect is nice. I also made a new tree skirt this year, but more on that in another post. I'll write late about all my DIY holiday projects.

It's my third Christmas with my little family and our traditions are starting to form. Davin and I talked a lot about our ornaments as we decorated.

I am thankful

Happy Thanksgiving! I thought I would celebrate this year with a pictography of people places and things that make me thankful today. This is just a sample, because if I were all-inclusive, I'd be here until next year!

First and foremost, this guy, who not only gave the greatest compliment in life by marrying me this summer, but is an amazing cook, walk partner and friend. I'm also so very proud of him, because he's embarked on a new career this month in advertising sales for the Anchorage Daily News. Always up for a new challenge and thinking of ways to improve the lives of his family, he amazes me every day.

 This beautiful and harsh place I live. I love/hate it's weather, daylight swings and distance from the Lower 48. It's been my most faithful subject in my study of amateur photography.

 My parents, who have loved, supported and inspired me through everything. Especially my mom who taught me to follow my dreams, where ever they lie, and can take her own advice. She too, is embarking on a new adventure this year at the Seattle Red Cross. This lady is my role model. My dad for encouraging all of us, his patience and stories.

 My boy, who brings love and laughter to our home everyday. Aspiring guitarist and comedian, this guy probably teaches me more about family and what's truly important in life than anyone.

 Sister and Boy Kitty, because everyone needs a little unconditional love. And these guys have lots of it. Especially at 4:30 a.m. when I'm trying to sleep.

 My big brother and his lady. He just got promoted to to head bigshot at his engineering firm, but none of us are surprised.

 

My girlfriends for being the amazing, beautiful people they are. And for all the big and little woes and joys we share.

 My new friend Kim and her beautiful little family who have made Alaska feel so much more like home in the last few months.

My sweet in-laws who have welcomed me into their family as one of their own.

Halloween ... a belated post

Davin dressed up as a gangster for Halloween and we did both Trick or Treat Street in downtown and Trunk or Treat at a friend's church with my parents while they were in town. Strangely, I never chased them with the camera while they were here like I usually do and am dismayed to not find any pictures of them to add to this post. We had a wonderful time cooking, visiting and relaxing with them.

 Trick or Treat Street was a cool idea but I wouldn't recommend it to parents. It was a lot of long, cold lines at downtown stores for not a lot of childhood sweet rewards. But Trunk or Treat was a ton of fun and will be in our future Halloween plans.

Snapshots of fall flavors

Sister cat wants to help chop carrots before a poker night at the Zepeda household. We always take snacks to share.

We've been doing a lot of roasting and crockery cooking in the past couple weeks. I've become a near expert at vegetarian roast.

 

Halloween cookies. We tested out get food coloring for the frosting and it's awesome. Way less messy than the old liquid stuff.

The start of butternut squash soup.

Home on the Range

Davin gets two hours of guitar each week at school. Last weekend he got to check out a school guitar for the weekend to practice and show us what he's learned. His teacher is raving to other teachers and parents about how quickly he's picking it up. He even gave me a refresher course on chords.

Cotton candy, giant cabbage and the gravitron

The Alaska State Fair is know for it's giant cabbage competition with a record of 127 from our intense growing season. But Thursday night, we went to the event in Palmer for the rides and the food. Above is a view of the grounds from the Ferris wheel. We ran into Davin's friend from school and her dad and hung out with them at the rides.

Here, missy got told she was just barely too short to make the cut for the Apollo, a ride none of us adults were brave enough to try.

 

So instead I braved the Gravitron with the kids and my stomach -- and equilibruim -- was angry with that decision. So was Davin's. But his friend was so non-phased she was riding upside down.

However, it was nothing a little over-price cotton candy couldn't cure.

Another two-wheeled adventure

We took another long bike trip last Monday. This time we took Chester Creek Trail the opposite direction. I've seen this creek before, but the greenbelt leads all the way to a community pool and a Chinese restaurant we like, so we are scheming future weeknight rides here.

New bikes!

 

My wonderful husband treated himself and I to new bikes recently. The day we bought them we rode several miles from our apartment, to Westchester Lagoon, along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, to downtown Anchorage. We stopped for lunch at a park and later in downtown to browse the Saturday Market. Then we looped back home up Cordova. Davin was a trooper, his first real long bike ride since he's previously had to stick to our neighborhood.

Kenai Fjords Tour

It's said that the Kenai Fjords Tour is one of the essential Alaskan tourist experiences. It's an all-day cruise from Seward into the depths of Kenai Fjords National Park. Two days after our wedding, we boarded a boat with my new in-laws and Davin. We saw orcas, seals, sea lions, puffins, a bald eagle and many more. We travels into one of the fjords and saw Aialak Glacier off the Harding Ice Field, which spans more than 300 miles, spawns 40 glaciers and is one of four remaining ice fields in the United States. We finished the amazing day with a salmon and king crab dinner on Fox Island where Davin became a certified junior ranger.

The only bad thing, was I was as tired as I have ever been in my entire life after a week of wedding madness. There was much napping between the pictures.

Our family friends and wedding guests, Dan and Jane Henderson, happened to be on the same cruise as us! One of them snapped the picture below.